It's Friday. It's also been a couple of weeks since tragedy hit Burma, and we have yet another government preventing free aid reaching its citizens. This seems to me to be a case where military force to support aid workers could be justified. What say you?
But feel free to drop in and mention much more cheerier things. Just count your blessings, such as they may be.
But feel free to drop in and mention much more cheerier things. Just count your blessings, such as they may be.
Strange you should mention. Was doing the law of this today. There's very little hope of any legal justification for intervention, the political climate is not good either, everyone is still a bit on edge after Kosovo's declaration of independence.
ReplyDeleteAnd if a Western country used force protection to ship in aid, it'd be spun as "another colonialist adventure" by the media.
ReplyDeleteEvening all.
Burma is a client state of China, the chinese could fix this in a haeartbeat (notwithstanding their own major disaster).
ReplyDeleteNot everything is a colonial adventure or spun as such kg. The French have been quite welcome in certain parts of Africa these last few years. And Australia has even managed to moderately redeem itself in East Timor.
ReplyDeleteUsually these actions, often by the former colonial power are welcome and soundly praised. Please refrain from building straw men.
I'll refrain from whatever I please, Fergus--or not.Spare me the patronising tone.
ReplyDeleteAnd what the hell does "And Australia has even managed to moderately redeem itself in East Timor" mean exactly?
As far as I'm aware (but then, I'm just an Aussie) we have done nothing that requires redemption.
Speaking of cheerier things, Zen--I though gardening was supposed to be relaxing? All my first efforts have produced are blisters and a sore back.
ReplyDeleteWe need napalm and a bloody great excavator...
KG, I think fungus was obliquely refering to Australia's enthusiastic support of Suharto's Indonesian adventures in Timor back in the dim and distant past.
ReplyDeleteCompletely irrelevant of course. The Aussies have done a great job in timor since independence.
KG, when embarking on a large gardening project. First.... Roundup everything.
ReplyDeletelol! Roundup gardening (and a Bic lighter) are my usual style BB. But apparently (?) there are plants here that Must Not Die.
ReplyDeleteBeats me. I figure if I roundup the wrong thing then Gaia will promptly provide something to take it's place anyway.
The master plan was for grass and lots of toi toi thingies, but it seems we simply must have cute flowery stuff as well...sigh..
Evening all!
ReplyDeleteI have just potted on all the pineapple pups from last years effort aqnd put them to bed for the winter (got down to 11 deg c last night. Colder than Harry Clark's heart).
ReplyDeleteIf you want flowery shit, might I suggest rhododendrons for where you are, they seem to handle the cold.
Good evening to the good folk of cyberspace.
ReplyDeleteThanks BB. I just dug out a huge clump of aggravated panthers from around the rainwater tank--what a pain those things are!
ReplyDeleteFlowery stuff is very low on my list. Veges and grass are enough work, Especially since we have frosts every couple of days now.Gardening is not a fun occupation....
On the plus side, having no neighbours means I can burn heaps of stuff in the 44 gallon drum.None of that recycling bin business.
Eevning IV2. :-)
D4J..good evening to you.
ReplyDeleteEvening all. I say, bugger the legal justification, there is moral justification. If it's not illegal to kill their own citizens, it needn't be illegal to save them.
ReplyDeleteWe've stood by in Sierra Leone, DRC, Rwanda, Kosovo, Iraq, Sudan, and now possibly the South Island of NZ as Labour potentially devastate Invercargill, as they rip through Dunedin and others on the way down.
And as for gardening, it is dangerous, hard work, never ending, and exhaustion does not count as relaxation, although there may be similarity in the two states, from a distance. I definitely concur with the Roundup suggestion from BB. I also recommend a flame thrower. That might make gardening more interesting too.
It's Lucyna who likes the gardening, but with Polish heritage, I think they enjoy the tough, spartan life style. Anything to get fresh cabbage and Brussell sprouts, most likely.
Anyway, I'm off for a couple of days, which also means off line until late Sunday.
Have a good weekend all.
Enjoy your days off, Zen.
ReplyDeleteNow googling "home made flame throwers"...
Completely agree Zentiger, I blogged about this already, the Burmese government is utterly without legitimate authority. There should be aid flown in with military cover and distributed by foreign aid officials.
ReplyDeleteGood evening all.
ReplyDeleteIf it's lethal concoctions you are after then throw in a bit of brown down with the roundup ... quicker and more complete kill. I believe Whale Oil discovered this potion a couple of months ago and like most new discoveries it has resulted in overuse with gay abandon and compensatory testosterone driven displays (girls with guns, indeed)... could be seen as overkill, so caution is recommended in its use.
I don't have a garden to vigorously napalm so I'll stick to international law, more my thing.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, legal and political POV are separate, though their relationship in international law is more interesting that in our domestic context.
Politically I'd like some way to intervene and that may come but I can't see a way to justify it in international law, though there are some evolutions that might make it possible in customary international law. And I think all the big players are a bit on edge at the moment given the result of their last morally good, technically illegal intervention in a wee place called Kosovo so political will may be lacking.
Still hopefully the junta finally does themselves in with this, good article by British journo about being in country illegally and being chased by security forces if anyine wants to find it.
Zen Tiger, finally commented on your comment on my Planned Parenthood post - wrote a short post of your comment actually. Linked at Paul Singer: Killing newborn babies, A-Okay? Let's see if this is right/works.
ReplyDeleteMercy, my linking skills suck. Here it is: Paul Singer: Killing newborn babies, A-Okay?
ReplyDeleteThat post is linked to the one where you left your comment.
I see you are in mighty fine company here at New Zealand Conservative....Good on ya!
Zen Tiger, please let me know when you write your posts on Singer. I'll link to them. Deserves a series of posts. Once a society crosses the line so that killing the preborn is easy then it is only a matter of moving on to the next least desirable "group." Euthinasia is a slippery slope.
ReplyDeleteIn Socialist nations with "socialized health care" it is not in the interest of the STATE to keep people alive based upon the age of patient, the disease/injury, cost of projected care, etc. Private health care has a profit motive reason to keep patients alive with good health care; tax payer funded health care benefits from killing patients. It is, unlike Singer likes to rationalize, not a matter of morality - it is simple economics. And it has nothing to do with how much money a person mayn have paid into the system over a lifetime. The determining factor is the cost at the time of the illness or injury and the projected benefit or lack of perceived benefit of the patient to the society - who may love him is of no matter.
Singer does the Nazi-thing of dehumanizing all of us and training the "health care" people to become "maintainers of the "healthy" society" sluffing off what is nolonger deamed worthwhile to the society at large. Unfortunately, this same rational does not pertain to "criminals, murderers, etc." because they are productive to society - like drug dealers, human smugglers, illegal aliens - they require the development and maintenance of a whole host of agencies (police, lawyers, judges, social service workers, probation officers, prison guards, prison doctors, and on it goes) to chase, catch, judge, imprison, and then keep them on probation.
Looking forward to your posts on Singer...
Will do, Beach Girl.
ReplyDelete