JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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2
Confrontation
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3
U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
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taniwha
An excellent question. But it also begs the parallel question. Can you show us an example of capitalism in practice that actually works?
Socialism works when it is international. Just like capitalism, socialism is not workable when confined within a single nation state.
Capitalism is not forever, that is an economic impossibility. At this time capitalism appears to be in the last stages of disintegration. The longer it is held onto the more impossible it becomes for people everywhere to live.
Listen to Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for president, give his reply the 2nd presidential debate. That is courtesy of the YouTube URL I give above.
Moderator: All readers back on topic please.
Posted in: Race little altered by 2nd McCain, Obama debate
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taniwha
Voting either McCain or Obama for president, means a vote for the continuing enrichment of the already wealthy elite and the destitution of the working class of America. It will also mean a vote for bigger and bloodier wars, more of them, and starting with their 1st term in office rather than later.
One thing you can do is listen to the only real alternative on offer, that is Jerry White the presidential candidate of the Socialist Equality Party - no not Nader or the Greens.
Jerry gives his reply to the 2nd presidential debate on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f105OlulLAI&eurl=http://www.wsws.org/
Posted in: Race little altered by 2nd McCain, Obama debate
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taniwha
Hey Skip
We all have a right to defend ourselves.
But many who claim the right find themselves labelled terrorists, whereupon, like magic, they don't have any rights, not even to defend themselves.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Mudslinging match between the candidate?
Well what else can they do to define a difference for the voters who can't find one but to take the debate to the level of personalities and character. Apart from the age, the only substantial difference in deciding which to vote in for president is personality, and preferred posture.
The whole race has been formulated around identity politics anyway. Its the possibility of an African American as president, or yes, a woman for president - because the threat that McCain succumbs to ill health and old age is very real given the situation this president will have to deal with.
So which do you like the hot tempered, decisive, and experienced (at risk taking/gambling) McCain, or the supremely confident and layed-back, but double talking (particularly given his constituency), and largely unproven Obama?
The unsaid issue in all of this is that fundamentally both candidates are exactly the same policies with maybe the slightest tweaks and differentiated by the biggest lies. They one fact that most of you on this board do not dare think about, although its glaringly obvious at this point, is that the candidates are fronting exactly the same interests, i.e. the thin layer of financial elites in America, and their number 1 sources of funding, the corporations of Wall Street.
Posted in: McCain, Obama mudslinging grips campaign
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taniwha
Or on the other hand, lets just say year zero began the first year of the Carter presidency.
Still idiocy.
Posted in: Congress opens hearings on financial meltdown with focus on execs' compensation
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taniwha
Yes, that must be right. Lets just say the first year of the first term of the Carter presidency was year zero.
Idiocy.
Posted in: Congress opens hearings on financial meltdown with focus on execs' compensation
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taniwha
I think you are all skipping over the point somewhat conveniently. Nippon5 touches on it -
Iraq wasn't Iraq until the allies carved it out at the end of WW1. That colonialist desire to create a client state so that its resources could be harvested is still with us now. The problem the West faces is a direct result of messing with the locals to divest them of their resources/treasures. Today the imperialist aim is to control access to all the oil in the ME. That's about it.
Nippon5 is right, there will have to be some kind of "internal controls" in Iraq. But don't fool yourself, they won't be placed there by the common wishes of the Iraqi people. They will be placed there by a proxy government, like the one they have now, in the pocket of the US. Actually that is precisely what has already happening. And its not working. It won't work and it can't.
This is one of the main reasons the conflict in Iraq is not near over. The other reason is whole ME is totally destabalized at this point. It will blow up. That much is certain. Whether a major conflation just develops from here slowly growing, or explodes out of another major attack from the West, say upon Iran, it all can no longer be put back together.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Nippon5
Okay. this is getting away bit from the topic of the Kurds, but then Iraq is part of their story. What you saying now is a good deal different to what you said above.
I do think there are levels of stability. I find myself in agreement with much of CavemanLawyer's version of stability within a state.
When the term 'stability' is applied to a nation state, then it is likely we are assuming we agree on the principles behind nation building. To be fair, I admit to being a bit too strident, claiming "Iraq WAS stable". But what I was trying to get across is that Iraq was a dictatorship.
A dictatorship by convention is about repressing dissent with absolute authority in the hands of the dictator, al be it one individual or a group of them. Under that definition Iraq remained a dictatorship for 20 years. Remember that Stalin's Russia, Mao's China and Pinochet's Chile were dictatorship that lasted longer than a decade also.
Since you were talking about stability in terms of state control than I think Saddam's Iraq qualified as being stable enough, that is, for a single ruler to maintain rule (through the repressive security forces) and stay in power for 20 years. Which all just goes to show that stability can be mean many different things to many different people.
How do the Iraqis you meet these days rate their country's stability? You know that since the 2003 invasion of Iraq there has been 1 million Iraqis killed, and on top of that the number of Iraqi refugee exceeds 3 million people. I would hardly think that we should start talking just yet about stable Iraq was under Saddam's dictatorship. People will start making comparisons.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Could still happen, but I would guess by default rather than out of decision the ruling powers make.
Actually, didn't Turkey earlier make a fair bit of noise about how should a Kurdistan emerge or be granted by the US or their proxy in Baghdad, it would lead to conflict with Turkey? Just prior to the US led invasion of Iraq there were warnings from various corners that Saddam's removal would leave the Kurds with oil underneath their feet, and a likely emboldened Kurdish state on the border would drag Turkey into the conflict.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Proffesor? Of a JT? Give me a break. You chose it pal, you came here.
If you go and make inane statements about issues others think important, or half arsed categorical statements with no evidence on a public board, what do you expect is going to happen? Someone is going to take you to task. It becomes a debate. Sometimes you are asked for evidence to support your claims.
That's the way it is. Its a jungle out here.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
SezWho2
Hey, stridency is a personal style choice, designed solely for the purpose of posting on this particular site.
Since Obama's campaign has presented him as the bringer of "change", and considering the kind of change desired by much of the traditional support base of the Democrats includes an end to America's wars, an end to the greedy parasitism of Wall Street, and more funding of social services, and a health system that actually works - yes, I have a solution for Obama.
He should align himself with the SEP, because they are the only political party that could possibly bring that kind of change to the American people. However, given the character of Obama, and of the interests he represents, will it happen? Not in your wildest dreams.
The essential issue here actually is not Obama. It is the contradiction between the interests both candidates serve and democratic system itself. Doesn't the preamble to the Constitution goes something "We the people..."? That line doesn't appear to include "and we the wealthy" or anything like "we the corporations". Think about it, really.
If Obama does make it into the presidency (and I am fairly certain McCain will be the one to get that job) then you will see him slash and burn what's left of the American dream.
Posted in: Obama assails McCain over health care proposal
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taniwha
Brandonklex
You are right. This is what a nation state is all about.
Of course the Kurds have attempted the democratic route and that didn't seem to work for them. And no one would expect it to either. No state in the world is going to allow its territory to be annexed by seperatists. That is not how nations states operate. It is not how they were intended to operate.
The nation state system is an underlying cause of war throughout the world. The nation state system should be done away with. That is a foundational precept of the 4th International.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Nippon5
Read the Meria article again notice that Saddam's forces did a pretty adequate job of repressing the Kurds. Resistance does not equate with rule or control of a territory. Resistance means fighting against the rule of another, i.e. the resister does the resisting and the ruler does the ruling. I appreciate you MAY have been serving in Iraq. But, well, big surprise, appreciate this, there are others of us here who in one capacity or another have also have served in the ME, and who also know a thing or two about that place!
The fact you MAY have been there doesn't mean you are correct in your facts. You have to present credible evidence if you want to go making a series of inane statements like you have above. This is a public board and someone will pull you up for doing that.
You are out of your depth here. Come on, move on.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Nippon5 Thanks for providing your links. I checked on the first. This is a quote. "Since the creation of the modern state of Iraq, the history of Iraqi Kurdistan has been one of underdevelopment, political and cultural repression, destruction, ethnic cleansing and genocide.(2) Al-Anfal (The Spoils) was the codename given to an aggressive, planned, military operation against Iraqi Kurds. It was part of an ongoing, larger campaign against Kurds because of their struggle to gain autonomy within the Republic of Iraq."
Resistence does not equal control. Saddam's military dictatorship controlled Iraq, all of it. That didn't mean he some like the Kurds resisted. But resisting the rule of a dictator does not equal the 'rule' of the resistance! You have a problem with terminology.
You also have a problem with facts. The Kurds did NOT wander into Turkey as you state in your post. They already lived there. Only it wasn't known as Turkey, and Iraq did not exist either. It was the victors of WW1 that created the two countries, outsiders, Western powers. The Kurds who were promised a state never received one. Why don't you at least read the damn posts you are attempting to engage with? I've already clarified this above.
You have even presented a link which clearly shows you to be totally wrong. You picked the link.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Nippon5
The PKK's fight to establish an independent state can be compared with that of the Palestinians or for that matter the Zionists prior to the establishment of the state of Israel. The Kurds have been the victims of the machinations of the great and regional powers in the Middle East for more than a century. The history of the Kurds is replete with tragedies, not least the treatment of them by Saddam. They fought for both sides in the Iraq-Iran war, they were basically treated as cannon fodder.
The PKK is not a terrorist organisation, but a mass nationalist organisation that has won influence and support due to decades of oppression of the Kurdish population, which continues to this day. It will probably shock you to learn they have also been supported in the past by many of the Turkish population.
First up Iraq WAS stable. Iraq under Saddam was one of the most sophisticated and cultured of countrys within the Middle East, and btw that doesn't excuse the brutality with which Saddam repressed dissent within that state. Secondly and related to the last, the Kurds never "ruled the North".
Either you just came down in the last shower or you think everyone reading your post has.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Nippon5
Actually that potted summary of the history of the Kurds in Iraq and with Turkey and is myopic in the extreme.
Despite what Fox TV and CNN might tell you it isn't 'the Kurds' involved in military action against Turkey, it is the Kurdish Worker's Party (the PKK). All Kurds and certainly not all of those in Iraq are interested in armed conflict.
The victorious allies at the end of WW1 divided up the ME and created Turkey, a portion of the Ottoman Empire. Originally it was envisaged the Kurds would have their own state, as well as would the Armenians.
However, Turkish nationalists forced a revision of Treaty of Sevres in a 3 year war of liberaton. The British Empire had already tried to position the Kurds against the Ottoman Empire in order to control the oil-rich province of Mosul earlier, and did succeed in adding Mosul province to Iraq. Whereupon flushed with their success the Brits left the 26 million Kurds to their own ends.
That's how Turkey's borders emerged. No state for the Kurds though.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Iraq is being bombed by Turkey. It comes down to more than one country militarily striking at a group of rebels on its own soil.
This situation underlines the disaster that was the decision to invade and then occupy Iraq. There is absolutely no way to re-stabalize the place. There are too many forces of both the immovable and unstoppable kind that are at work from both the inside and the outside.
Pity the poor Iraqi people. No matter what ethnic group they belong to they live in a thoroughly busted up country, with an all but totally destroyed society. The war there is far from over.
Posted in: Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebels in Iraq
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taniwha
Masswipe,
Sometimes I get so stuck in my dogma it gets difficult to relate to the subtle nuance of a messages such as yours. Easier just to call it as you see it, don't you think so?
Posted in: Biden, Palin spar over Iraq, economy in debate
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taniwha
Nessie
Do you want like...names? As well as the numbers?
.
Posted in: Biden, Palin spar over Iraq, economy in debate
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taniwha
Taniwha dude, that was wrong.
I mean they've socialized the losses and privatized the profits.
If only they HAD nationalized the profits - but then that would be Socialism!
Posted in: Biden, Palin spar over Iraq, economy in debate