Blog Tools
Edit your Blog
Build a Blog
RSS Feed
View Profile
« January 2005 »
S M T W T F S
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
You are not logged in. Log in
Entries by Topic
All topics  «
Misc.
Poker
Politics
Religion
Television
Sleepless in Fulham: Rambling and gambling by David Young
Monday, 3 January 2005
Reality Check.
Topic: Politics
A writer on the Hendon Mob forum (anonymous of course) says: "For the height of tastelessness, go to DY's blog. There he argues that neo-con inspired democracies are sooo much better at handling natural disasters."

Well, well. Whatever could give me that idea? Let's have a look at the real world:

1994 - Los Angeles Earthquake - Magnitude 6.7, Death toll: 51

2003 - Bam Earthquake (Iran) - Magnitude 6.6, Death toll: 43,000

Iran, a nation with about six decades worth of known oil reserves, is now spending BILLIONS on a nuclear power programme. Might not a casual observer wonder whether this money would be better spent on improving the quality of the nation's buildings to make them better capable of withstanding the next earthquake? It hardly seems uncaring to say this. Quite the reverse. I actually care enough to want to see something done before the next quake, rather than afterwards. I hope the regime there collapses as soon as possible and if this can be made to happen with a push from the West, that's fine by me.

Update

Another pompous and anonymous moron has pounced on me on the HM forum for this view. To show you how stupid this person is, I shall quote him in full:

"Unlike the Camel, DY is not man enough to apologise for inappropriate comments on this tragedy in south East Asia. Indeed he continues to maintain that the death toll is so high because these countries aren't American enough.

Unfortunately they were not as prepared as the Californians because there hasn't been an earthquake there for 500 years. Also they commit the crime of not being rich. Using this tragedy to pontificate on silly neo-con arguments is tacky and a little sick."


How do I start to pick apart the loose thinking here? Well for a start, the reason I'm not apologising is because I've done nothing to apologise for. I have stated what I believe to be the best way to prevent future deaths. I've also provided some reasoning and some facts to back that up. The line 'he continues to maintain that the death toll is so high because these countries aren't American enough' is especially odious. I have no desire to make the whole world into a replica of the US, but there is no shame in wishing that it had the same or better protection from natural disasters.

For another example, Japan is a wealthy democracy that from 1981 introduced tougher standards for earthquake protection. It could afford to. As a consequence, the country was able to restrict its losses to about 5,000 when a very powerful earthquake struck in the Kobe/Osaka area where the population density is extremely high.

His phrase 'Also they commit the crime of not being rich.' is particularly silly. Does he actually think that the majority of people in poor countries choose to be poor? They are that way usually because their leaders either steal the national resources for themselves or impede trade for ideological or selfish reasons. He fairly points out that the Indian Ocean region had not seen such an earthquake for centuries but this hardly undermines my point about Iran, does it? His parting shot 'Using this tragedy to pontificate on silly neo-con arguments is tacky and a little sick.' is most odd, as it seems to suggest that politics and saving lives are somehow unrelated. I hold the foreign policy views that I do precisely because I believe that they will save lives in the long term. It is entirely consistent that I should wish for Asians to be governed by those who best provide them with security and prosperity. I have no personal gain to make from this, other than knowing that others are living as comfortably and securely as possible.

If my anonymous and cowardly critics can't understand that, then that's their problem not mine. I don't intend to go back to writing on the Hendon Mob forum, so if people want to pursue this with me they can comment in the box below.

_ DY at 3:44 PM GMT
Updated: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 4:33 AM GMT
Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink

Tuesday, 4 January 2005 - 2:48 PM GMT

Name:

"Meanwhile, if any good is to come out of this disaster, I hope that it's the realisation that the best way to save lives in future disasters is to encourage representative government and economic growth in the developing world. Only when governments exist to respond to the needs of their people and their economies generate the wealth to invest in flood warning systems and sea defences will there be the starting point for a 'cure'."

David, Indonesia (the worst affected country), with an abundance of natural resources, a plethora of US energy companies working overtime to extract said resources, a democratically elected government and the backing of Bush for its role in the war on terror, is presumably your idea of neo-con heaven.

Moreover, Bush is so enamoured of the country that he even intervened to prevent Exxon-Mobil being sued for alleged complicity in the abuse of human rights by the Indonesia military in the Aceh region ? the area devastated by the tsunami.

Incidentally, in the past decade alone, Exxon-Mobil (number one contributor to Bush campaign funds) has extracted some $40 billion from its operations in Aceh. I?d imagine that would more than cover the expense of an early warning system.

And don?t get me started on the 1 million+ killed during the 1965 CIA-backed coup which brought General Suharto to power. Nor on the 1975 US-backed invasion of East Timor which resulted into 200,000 civilians being killed.

In case you think this is just another anti-US rant, it?s worth pointing out that fellow democracy, the UK, was the biggest arms provider to dictator Suharto and another, Australia, his biggest ally.

I know, I know, the Bush administration should not be held responsible for the sins of previous administrations.

But, in May 1997, a year before Suharto was driven out of office, everyone?s favourite neo-con Paul Wolfowitz (who served as the US ambassador to Indonesia) told Congress of "the significant progress" Indonesia has made under the "strong and remarkable leadership of President Suharto".

Another of your quotes:

?I should like to stress that the reason that I'm a neo-con free-marketeer is not because I'm heartless, but precisely because I'm not.?

You may not be, but the architect of neo-conservatism is happy to endorse a man responsible for not one, but two genocides.

Perhaps you?d like to reconsider your slavish devotion to these cunts.

Other than that, happy new year.

Jamie

View Latest Entries