Peter_Puget Posted March 15, 2004 Posted March 15, 2004 Gotta say I am saddened yet not surprised by the election in Spain. These quotes seem of interest. Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering. -- Seneca, Letters to Lucilius Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in one of his famous "fireside chats" to the American people over the radio in 1940 said, "There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb." "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists," Prodi said. "Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago," and all of Europe now feels threatened, he told the paper. The victims of the commuter train bombings in Madrid and the Spaniards who came out of the streets last night surely deserve more than party political responses. Europe too needs to mould a different response to its September 11. Spain has a history which places it at the crossroads of the European and Arab worlds. It understands both traditions. It is a country where once Jew, Muslim and Christian lived together. An international conference, to bridge the divide between Muslim and Christian communities [edit: what happened to the Jews?] , should be one first step. But there are many others. We need to take the fight against terror out of America's hands. We need to get beyond the them and us, the good guys and the bad guys, and seek a genuinely collective response. Europe should seize the moment that America failed to grasp. My prediction: In 50 years Western Europe will be far far less important than it is today and have a much lower standard of living. PP Quote
catbirdseat Posted March 15, 2004 Posted March 15, 2004 No doubt about it. The terrorists scored a huge victory. They will be greatly encouraged to commit additional acts in countries such as Poland, Italy and Great Britain. Quote
jjd Posted March 15, 2004 Posted March 15, 2004 France has proposed an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to coordinate Europe's response to terrorism, while Germany has suggested a meeting of EU security officials to draft a "common assessment" of terrorism risks. Western Europe gets hit with an awful terrorist attack and the German and French response is to have some meetings. Greeeaaaaaaat..... Quote
Jim Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 WTF are you talking about? The incumbent government was on its way out. Their decision to go to bed with the US was extremely unpopular and they got tossed because of it. It didn't help that the current government tried to point the finger towards the Basque sepratists to try and simmer tempers. It's always a good ploy to bring up the terroist connection between Iraq and our invasion - about as much truth to that as the WMD card. Quote
scott_harpell Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 I think P.P hit the nail on the head with the title of this thread on Europe's answer to the question that lies in this statement. "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists," Prodi said. "Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago," and all of Europe now feels threatened, he told the paper. So what is the way to deal with terrorists? Quote
klenke Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 Yes, I'd like to know the answer to this too. Come on all you armchair politicians. Let's have it. Shall we do a quarterback sneak or just punt now and get it over with? Quote
Peter_Puget Posted March 16, 2004 Author Posted March 16, 2004 WTF are you talking about? The incumbent government was on its way out. Their decision to go to bed with the US was extremely unpopular and they got tossed because of it. It didn't help that the current government tried to point the finger towards the Basque sepratists to try and simmer tempers. It's always a good ploy to bring up the terroist connection between Iraq and our invasion - about as much truth to that as the WMD card. Before Thursday, the Popular Party had been favored to win by a comfortable margin. PP Quote
Loose_Brie Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 How about we make the entire midle east irrelevant by getting off thier oil? Quote
scott_harpell Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 How about we make the entire midle east irrelevant by getting off thier oil? That might be a sligh oversimplification, but I agree on getting away from high oil usage. Quote
Jim Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 WTF are you talking about? The incumbent government was on its way out. Their decision to go to bed with the US was extremely unpopular and they got tossed because of it. It didn't help that the current government tried to point the finger towards the Basque sepratists to try and simmer tempers. It's always a good ploy to bring up the terroist connection between Iraq and our invasion - about as much truth to that as the WMD card. Before Thursday, the Popular Party had been favored to win by a comfortable margin. PP Opps - you are correct. I misread. The article says that 90% of Spainards disagreed with the decision to back the war - it didn't translate that into predicted voting. Quote
whirlwind Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 (edited) How about we make the entire midle east irrelevant by getting off thier oil? hey u actually make sence, we will have none of that... terrorism is the only way to have a revolution against globalization, the only way to make a point now days. not that i nessisarily agree with it btw is pulling out of iraq such a bad thing? Edited March 16, 2004 by wirlwind Quote
whirlwind Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 how else do u motivate people to make change, media is biased, independant investgations are shut down, or called crazy, so the majorty of the population really has no clue what is going on, and therefore no reason to revolt Quote
scott_harpell Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 Do you feel that if we were in an anarchic state, we would have more knowledge of what is going on? Would the World be a better place? Quote
cj001f Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 Before Thursday, the Popular Party had been favored to win by a comfortable margin.[/url] PP PP - Part of the Spanish response probably lies in actions like this from the ruling party (from the Economist): This came as one of Spain’s leading newspapers, El País, revealed a memo that it said the foreign minister, Ana Palacio, had sent to Spain’s diplomats. In it, she instructed them to “use any opportunity” to blame ETA for the attacks, “thus helping to dissipate any type of doubt that certain interested parties may want to promote.” Add that to 90% of the country not being for the war in Iraq in the first place.... Quote
scott_harpell Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 So ARE you saying that terrorism is the only way to promote change today? Or are you not? Quote
Dru Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 So what is the way to deal with terrorists? i think we should get them involved in something more worthy of their fanaticism like timing dan -'s land speed record, or serving as jurors on the martha stewart appeal trial Quote
j_b Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 hey PP, you seem so eager to fight it out, i am surprised you haven't signed up yet. what about putting your feet where your mouth is? in the meantimes, some of us will continue saying that fighting this kind of terrorism by force while we keep trying to impose our will on the populations they are issued from is a no-win situation. if you want to remove the threat of terror, give them something to lose such as the right to self-determination. it seems obvious enough. Quote
whirlwind Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 i agree with j-b and no its not the only way i souldn't have said that earlyer, its not even a good way but it is a very effective way and if it works it going to be used, right now it is the only way that seems to work consider the begaining of the war when like a 1/4 of the population was in active protest, did that stop bush? Quote
jjd Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 depends if you are an anarchist. Hayduke Lives! Quote
cracked Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 depends if you are an anarchist. Hayduke Lives! The Monkeywrench Gang rawks! Too bad the sequel blows. Quote
jt Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 So what is the way to deal with terrorists? this is an incomplete list, but 1) Get off the relience on mid east oil 2) don't go to war against whole countries (Bush is a moron) but work with governments to find them in their small groups without so much global attention. 3) Work with their countries to increase their quality of life, by their ideals not ours 4) stop pushing our "business" on the world (ie mcdonalds etc., not that you will find them in the mid east) 5) EDUCATE THEM!, help build the things in life that build good people and communites, ie schools, housing etc. All these would be a better use of our tax payer $$$ than overthrowing Sadam. Scrub is just pisssed he tried to kill his dad and drew the whole world into it. Quote
nonanon Posted March 16, 2004 Posted March 16, 2004 That's democracy. How sad'll it be when the Iraqis vote for an Islamo-fascist regime? "Okay, that was your vote. Now, everybody back to the madrassa!" Quote
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