Tero

By dieseltaylor The really dangerous part is just that. If it does not take any new laws to strangle the flow of information between individuals AND to track down their devices they carry what do you think is the next step ? How does one define a terror regime ? How much looting took place in Japan after the tsunami when the entire infrastucture in the not directly affected area was seriously hampered and there was no police to guard the bussinesses still standing ?

By Vanir Ausf B What has that got to do with the way the haves suppress and oppress economically the have-nots ? If anything it makes the transgressions of the people in power worse than the actions of dictators as they abuse the political power to further the common good (supposedly) given by the people they abuse. That is a good guestion. Here in Finland the last election showed how a moderately acting party with an agenda close to the views and opinions of the "silent majority" conserning things like immigration can rally enough votes to destabilize system enough to cause a panic among the ruling class. With the help of middle class people like you who buy the media hype and disregard the bigger picture conserning social equity and distribution of wealth until the lower classes get sick of falling through the cracks in the system and take the laws into their own hands.

IMO there was no knee-jerk reaction but a planned response to get laws passed which are directed to secure and safe guard the ruling class and corporations, NOT civil rights of the populace.

Please reread what I asked: Percentagewise, how many of the looted businesses are privately/family owned and how may belong to nationwide/multinational chains who lose on a weekly basis more to shoplifting and inventory discrepencies than to these kinds of on-off calamities ? With all that in mind: I do not condone looting, I do think the looting was neither unforeseen nor unpredictable. As a good conspiracy theorists I think the people in power may even have had a plan to make things worse over time so that the rioting would ensure they could/would get laws passed enacting restrictions to human rights which they have been suitably abhored about in less developed countries (dictatorhips). Here in Finland the powers that be had a nasty wake up call when the party most noted for supporting nationalism and anti-immigration views won a land slide victory. When does such an assault become just and defendable ? When it is YOU who have lived under suppression ? The problem with this "wrong" is a relative term in no way connected with tangible and measureable parameters. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/17/looing-with-lights-off

By gunnergoz Percentagewise, how many of the looted businesses are privately/family owned and how may belong to nationwide/multinational chains who lose on a weekly basis more to shoplifting and inventory discrepencies than to these kinds of on-off calamities ? Says who ? They do claim to give jobs to the youth in the area but (IIRC) ~40% youth unemployment levels do not exactly support that claim. From what I have heard/red the stealing/robbing is the norm in the council flat areas. And the phenomenon is not unknown to the local police. With that in mind the outrage over these lootings is hypocritical at best.

Who decides the standards which define what is irrational ? The looters have been classed as "unemployable 2nd-3rd generation drop outs from society". By definition that means they live under different rules outside "normal" society. Sure, they have the telly which blasts them with the consumerism they can only afford if they resort to crime. I watched on SkyNews an interview with a few of the looters and it clearly showed how different the world looks from different banks of the Thames. What worries me is the fact that youth unemployment is at the same level all across the EU and with the capitalist economy on its way down the drain there is little the societies can do under the corporate fascism the economy of the region is being run. The Finnish elections showing how people in general are longing for a change in the global economy run affairs of states towards a more localized decision making, the Norway massacre and the UK looting seem to be isolated incidents but if there was a big picture the shape it is taking does not foretell happy times.

By Erik Springelkamp We have been training this by having the quarterly management imposed on us. True. But why is "the market" behaving like a 3-year old ? Instead of having a long term plan of sustainable growth the short term profit is what the market is after ?

By costard Yep. The association in the foreing press reported by URC is part of the ongoing smear campaing here in Finland by the Finnish media and press. I find it quite hilarious how the "liberal" and "tolerant" (also referred to as intellectual) circles display their absolute intolerance towards opposing views. I did not vote for them but I cheer them on as they are truly voicing the little peoples views on a wide variety of subjects currently important over here. How long do you think it takes before a strong central government is called for ? The slipery slope from a state federation to federal state is tilting..... IMO the core in this is the struggle between liberal capitalist economy and state sponsored subsidies and wellfare state. The "liberal capitalists" have been milking the system and now that somebody has called the hoax of the emperors new clothes it will become really hard for the current banking system to get state sponsored subsidies to transfer wealth from the masses to the rich.

Just out of curiosity: had this operation been conducted by law enforcement agents (DEA, FBI) against a violent drug lord in the US would the shooting be deemed justified under the same circumstances (target unarmed but resisting) ?

Even if they actually did rely on GPS "timing" it has nothing to do with running the lines according to a timetable.

It seems to me these scholars would benefit from getting a few children of their own before they start associating understanding of the relative value (purchase power) and numerical value of currency units. And they should have embedded in their study the development of virtual money in the equation. With kids of my own the concept of money has chanced even in the last 10 years or so. Yes, we converted from markka to euro but even so the increased use of plastic and virtual money as the mode of payment has resulted in a vicious circle. An item may cost 20 euros/pounds/dollars but it may as well cost 200 000 Martian rupies at least as far as my kids are concerned. The amount has become a number detached from reality as a monetary value pertaining to the value of the item and the relative purchase power of said amount of currency. As it happens the story about the sign language people missing the point in the story the fact is the monetary unit value may have been presented in the story prominently but the deaf do not follow the stories the same way hearing people do. Unless the story was contructed by deaf people who are proficient in English the study is null and void as the deaf follow the story differently.

By dieseltaylor We have state monopoly and in this case it is a good thing. Sure, they raid establishments but so far they have only shut down businesses for actual crimes like serving the underaged. Serving intoxicated patrons is a no-no but in practise they slap you for that if the place is violating other, more serious, laws.

By Noltyboy Burning hardened circuits is not needed if you can disrupt communication between the UAV and the base long enough. By any means available. Yes, what is clearly needed in low level conflicts is a bunch of autonomous trigger happy UAV's flying over hot spots.

By flamingknives Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, but how long will it take someone to come up with a low cost device for spooffing/jamming IFF signals and/or say, an EMP device which will render all the remote, autonomous and piloted, rather useless. And the more autonomy you give the more you risk friendly fire as yet again hugging enemy troops becomes a viable option in negating the technical superiority. If danger close parameters are strict in the programming moving close enough to an IFF source will prevent firing on targets.

By costard Speaking of armed conflict how many wars (in a broad sense) has the US actually won since WWII ? Korea was a draw, Vietnam loss, Grenade a resounding success, Iraq I a draw, Iraq II winding down towards loss, Afganistan leaning towards loss. By my count the US has won only non-fighting political Mexican stand-off type conflicts. Wars by proxy have resulted US technolygy emerging as better but them bones have little or no meat around them.

By Blackhorse Sorry, no linky as my google-fu is defective at the moment. The claim I made is based on news reports about how relatives of US KIA have been slapped with demands by the US military to pay back salary paid before the person was killed but paid until the (say) end of the month. The same reports have had the US military claim the relatives for reimbursement for equipment not returned/recovered.

Just found this link. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26521.htm The claim is the cost for each killed Taliban soldier is 50 million a pop (pun intended or not, depends on your POV). EDIT: if that is true or even close to being plausible then it is no wonder the NATO militaries are starting to feel the need for cut backs.

An interesting parallel (of sorts) is the US practise concerning cutting payment of combat pay and even reclaiming paid combat pay from fallen soldiers. Do they justify it as "breach of contract" for defaulting before the signed term of service is up ? Seriously: it seems cost effectivness is the order of the day. The development in engagement profile in terms of cost has shifted to favour the low-tech, low-cost paramilitary style force. A single sniper can elicit a response worth a couple of million €/£/$ with little or no results except friendly casualties and a bad media hose down. And in keeping with the "duck and cover" theme it seems the WWII German military thinkers were right: against hordes of motivated indiginous fighters smart, tailored, precision small unit tactics backed up by a few high cost quality pieces of equipment and lots of low cost infantry assets IS better than hordes of (in this case) high cost gizmos and gadgets and state of the art electronics.

Just read a bit of news about how Facebook will soon know where you are. These kinds of things are commonplace these days. Everybody with a cellphone could and can be tracked down with ease. But what is the Big Picture (if any) ? Are we being set up for a global facist police state ? When will it be too late ro resist or is it already futile ?

I was SO wondering why our lads turn ape always after eating tons of stuff with more E-codes, trans-fat, artificial flavouring/sweeteners, HFCS and other such things than actual natural incredients in the list of incredients in the label.

Not to mention the fact that (AFAIK) the Afganis received Stingers from the US and training to use them by members of US Special Forces during the Soviet occupation. As far as the extent of the leak goes I would say it is fair to assume a fair amount of disinformation and propaganda is injected among the data.

I always thought the Brits are a bit goofy in a quaint sort of way when it comes to reactions. This obsession they have about PC and what is offensive however is starting to be borderline lunacy. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286620/Churchill-non-smoker-How-todays-PC-censors-airbrushed-cigar.html

By Bugged That is what I have read in reviews: the story works well enough without the 3D. One review even remarked that it would be better for the sake of the story line to first see the 2D version and after that the 3D version.

I do wish we had gotten around to see the 3D version. But from the 2D version it is clear which sequences were done just the 3D tehcnology in mind.

By gunnergoz We bought the DVD the other day. Not having seen the 3D version we sat down for crap-o-rama Pochahontas in Space. And to my surprise the movie did NOT suck through the garden hose, it actually is a good movie. Yes, it is Pochahontas in Space. But without the 3D-hype the story IS well structured and the world believeable. Even if the story is predictable the spiritual aspect of the story is not invasive or impropable (within the context of the story). I had read that the movie is supposedly better in 2D than 3D and I for one think any 3D sequence is superfluous to the story.