For the record: I don't think that Mid-East is ready for democracy yet (the majority wouldn't support basic human rights IMO) so the biggest mistake was for the "West" to support the Arab Spring. Yeah, those dictators were bad, but they were predictably bad.
Nature abhors vacuum and radical Islam is filling in.
Iran had democracy in 1953. The democratically elected prime minister was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the CIA in order to protect the profits of BP. This isn't a conspiracy, this information has since been declassified. Look it up on Wikipedia. If there's any truth to your statement that the middle east "can't handle democracy" it's in no small part due to our interference.
For instance, the CIA couldn't care less about BP. Now, MI6 surely did. Rather, the CIA influenced action against Mossadegh because it thought he was a Communist.
Whether MI5 convinced the CIA that he was a communist threat is the more critical question. Some have thought that MI5 simply convinced the CIA of such a story to take out their own bogeyman while keeping their hands clean. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
Of course, whether or not he actually was one is less notable than his association and support for those who were, as well as his nationalization of the oilfields (technically not the nationalization of BP, but close enough).
1764 America was a subjugated colony of a monarch, I'd hate to live there. 1863 America was embroiled in Civil War, I'd hate to live there. 2017 America? Democratic global superpower, lots of room for improvement but I still love living here.
What about Germany? 1944 Germany was a fascist racist shithole. 2017 Germany is one of the leaders of the free world.
We don't control the past... shit happened, get over it. We learn, mature, and build the future.
The time will come when Westerners stop pretending Democracy is more important than a roof over your head and food on the table. All the praise in the world for North America and Western Europe for managing do develop with democratic governments, but China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and others are there to show that prosperity reaches a broader definition than liberal democracy. Developing countries need growth, not ballots.
From someone who would be really happy with a Pinochet-style dictatorship instead of their current gov
The saying is "A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch"
By democracy I mean a system where basic human rights are protected and cannot be voted out. Would most Saudis, in a fair vote, allow for Catholic Churches to be open here? If the answer is no (and I think it is) then democracy is bad. Same for women rights, criticizing their faith, gay rights etc.
Given the current US climate I think a public vote about mosques being allowed might well fail.
Gay rights in the USA is a fairly recent thing in the scheme of things, and it's still not evenly distributed or enforced across states.
And if you think you can get into any public office in a large number of states if you criticize Christianity or even support a women's right to abortion, let alone gay rights, you must be joking.
All I'm saying is America isn't a basition of equal rights by a lot of measures, some in name more than in practice. The last lynching was in 1981 for Christ's sake. So lambasting other countries for not being so tolerant is not a great point to make, IMO.
upvoted; I think you're wrong, but that is a position worth discussing.
Fascism and fanaticism are primitive modes of society, a stable society with extensive trade inevitably learns and matures towards liberal democracy.
The Middle East was making progress before the west destroyed stability in the name of exploitative exports and proxy wars. We are directly and exclusively responsible for the return of fascism and fanaticism. Violence only begets more violence; ISIS is just another head on the hydra, murder everyone and 3 more organizations will take their place.
The path to peace is deep and sustained economic aid, funding native education centers, rebuilding national identities, and facilitating mutual demilitarization... in addition to weening the west off of oil through deep investments in modern energy sources.
Well, yes it is! Trump may not be the liberal, modern president you might have wished for, but compared to pretty much any non-democratic leader, and even many supposedly-democratically elected leaders, he's pretty good if you ask me (I don't support his policies, but he seems to defend his country's interests sincerely and honestly, something most people in the world wish they could say about their leaders).
Have you ever been on an ops-heavy software team? Change never happens until the right level of management feels pain. Politics of all forms is the art of managing pain. It's never perfect, and will never be perfect.
If you really care about this stuff, focus on the second derivative. The status quo doesn't matter, the present is too short to fix. The direction we're headed matters a little bit, but 300 million people take ages to change so that's a very laggy metric. What's important is how we are changing the direction we are moving in.
America has flaws, we feel pain, and now we're self-correcting :) Lots of change in the pipeline, Trump is a symptom of how bad it got and now good it's about to become.
Because they have a LOT of money. Like over $100,000,000,000 to invest https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-20/japan-s-s... . They don't have time /resources to hand out $20k investments to the future Zuckenbergs and guide them through, so the invest in what seems like a sure thing.
That too! My initial idea was "There aren't enough startups out there to YC", which led me to "That's why YC tries to boost yield by enabling marginal startups to succeed via office hours and support", which led me to "But the system as a whole probably has limited resources suitable for support."
I think Hong Kong is also owned by the state...you can lease it for as long as 999 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_rent_in_Hong_Kong but you do not own it. But in reality you own it and 999 years later you're related to half of the world (give or take :))
Let's not forget that for land in many countries, if a squatter uses your lad for xx years without being challenged, it is theirs. So it's recognized as different.
* What they can do is deny you entry. For citizens, not even that.*
Job lost. Father died without you seeing him. Thousands of dollars gone in lost ticket, reservations. That's more than enough for 99% of people. The other 1% don't even try to enter USA
"Then there is no way of restoring at the airport."
IIRC, the border agent has the power to turn you back, visa or no visa. So there might be a price to pay for getting too cute. They want what they want and trying to avoid that might make them angrier.
If you are a US citizen they can make you wait in a room for a few hours and maybe add your name to the "make his life miserable every time he flies" list.
Yeah really. A Craigslist post to do such a transaction at some back alley isn't going work; they'll wipe your entire family for $1 million. If you get ripped off, probably can't even complain, I'm sure cash transactions above a certain amount are illegal in many countries.
According to the ALS Association, the treatment’s list price is $1,000 per infusion, or about $146,000 annually, and it is expected to be available for use by August
A whole new class of drugs is reaching these prices. "The insurance" doesn't really pay; those xx% increases every year in premiums do.
Yeah. Other countries generally solve this by not covering these treatments; for example there's no way this would be available on the NHS at this price. Somehow I suspect this would be a political non-starter in the US through.
How many people with some sort of inflammation are on anti-TNF-alpha aka. Humira (for arthritis, psoriasis, intestinal inflammation diseases, etc.) in the UK? It's a treatment covered by the NHS. While "only" £10,000 per patient per year, so an order of magnitude cheaper than what is discussed here, it's typically prescribed for orders of magnitude longer (as in several decades).
Yup, adalimumab is another name (naming of biologicals is weird). That data suggests about 500 people in the UK are on Humira; a bit lower than I expected, but I gather they only prescribe it as a drug of last resort.
However, if you click to get map data in the second link you give it's really weird. There's basically no subscription in most of England, but very high in a few small pockets, and not in any sensible pattern (e.g. if you scroll back a couple of months there's none in all of London, and these items are prescribed in a very regular way). Maybe this search somehow doesn't get all the data?
No, a huge portion of the US is on board with the idea that the government shouldn't be covering any medical care.
Apparently they don't even want the federal government having standards for acceptable insurance plans (but they want a federal law saying that the standards set by any state can be used to market plans in all states).
The government will have no realistic choice but to legalize them and give them ownership of the land. Maybe they'll sell it to them and reimburse the real owners. When everyone does it, it's no longer illegal. It has happened in a lot of countries.
Septic tanks will probably be holes in the ground--right next to their water well.
Maybe he knows that he has a safety valve, he can survive in that bubble for x days until rescue comes. I'm claustrophobic (not actually diagnosed but IMO) so unless I could save my children's lives, I wouldn't even try.
Maybe all the stars will align, but if I had to bet, for his next attempt, he already has his food supply.
Nature abhors vacuum and radical Islam is filling in.
P.S. I don't care about down votes.