Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

predict 2015 independence for Scotland. they will of course join the EU and adopt the euro currency.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Thing to bear in mind, if israel bombs stuff close to the US election, its impossible for Obama to call them on it because of the political reaction. He HAS to support them.

Oh, and if israel bomb stuff, there is no way Iran will leave ships/refineries/etc. unbombed in return. Then the US (and tangentially the UK and Aus) will be involved as TSHTF.

Paradoxically, Romney is Iran's best hope.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Some have argued that the best course of action is simply to let Iran weaponize its nuke capability. This would form a stability in the ME as opposed to the current somewhat one-sided situation. The irony is the more the Israelis bomb these places at will the more vulnerable they feel and the more they want the bomb.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

And I predict there is more chance of Wiltshire getting independence that Scotland!

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Best course of action would be to deweaponise israel - and give them a slap about the face at the same time. However, since that's v. unlikely, israel will continue to bomb places to make itself feel safe - until they get nuked in return.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Steven Keen is not an investment guru and he has readily admitted that market timing is not one of his strong points. Real house prices are down about 9% (in real terms) in Australia from their peak in 2010 - after they were artificially boosted by the first home owners grant. Keen thinks they have a lot more to fall, but it could take several years.

Frankly I'm not sure Keen is right about the magnitude of the housing price slump, but he is an impressive theorist of the macro economy.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Do they not have the right to defend their country in the same way other countries have?

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Well, they don't have a right to nukes.

The non-proliferation treaty means if they were treated the same as Iran is, they would have been embargoed decades ago. Talk about double standards.

And every time they bomb the hell out of someone, all they do is make more enemies. Eventually one of those will have a nuke and a desire to prove himself in caliphate terms - and israel is no more.

They have been VERY dumb.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Er, how about economic statistics? How about facts? Or maybe the UK bureau of statistics is just making it all up, including the falls in GDP and the sky high debt levels as some sort of global conspiracy theory?

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

So Iran can fund the missile attacks quite legitimately, these missiles kill Israeli civilians, both Muslim and Jewish as well as some Christian. Iran can fund the suicide bombs which kill Israeli civilians and that OK but Israel are not allowed to retaliate? Thats odd because Bin Ladan recruited Saudi bombers to attack America on its own soil and we bombed the crap out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

People need to stop the silly ownership games, the Jews were in the are LONG before the muslims arrived, they lost much of the land due to the very complicated Jewish Diaspora which the muslims capitalised on brilliantly and for many, many, many thousands of years the people of the area lived together. The west caused this and we are expecting some magic fix to sort it out, when people learn that the only option available is to allow the region to sort its own problems out without outside influence we might find some sort of equilibrium.

I for one would not like to go and disarm the Israelis, the door that would open to Iran and every other country out there would be huge and uncontrollable, like it or not, Israel acts as a rearguard and the West is happy to allow that to happen.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

And israel has done much worse, killed more people, invaded countries.

All of which misses the point - be friends with your neighbours, don't piss them off and don't throw your weight around - win friends and influence.

Actually IIRC, they don't have much call on the area - maybe 500 years of occupation in total. Most of their biblical claims don't stack up, particularly the appeal that "our god said we could have it".

It's worth remembering that the jewish state was created via terrorism - kind of ironic - and the idea was Palestine with no religious bias - which the jews screwed up. Whilst the Balfour Treaty was not the UK's finest hour, its not fair to put the majority of the blame on the west.

Israel acts as the fly in the ointment (which is partly the point) - but eventually that fly is going to get fished out and it's not likely to be pretty.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

All typical anti-Jewish crap, I've heard it dozens of times. We, the west, lied and cheated both sides out of land, we forced the Grand Mufti or Jerusalem to go to Hitler in order to secure the broken promises we made before the whole mess of the Second World War screwed things up. The FACT that Jerusalem is the centre of the Jewish faith, a faith that is more than 3000 years old should tell you how long they have been associated with the area and the comment I made was with regard to the Jews and Muslims living together without any issues. Its well documented that it is the influx of Christians that spelled the end of religious tolerance in Israel.

With regards to the other tosh you have written, come on, Iran? Getting on with its neighbours? Are you kidding me? Syria? Getting on with any of the countries around it? Didn't Egypt invade Israel with help from certain other countries in an effort, and I quote, "To eradicate this Jewish threat to our culture"? I'd really like to see how many countries have been invaded by Israel, how many its has killed in relation to the death terrorism has meted out on the Israeli people and providing a link that quotes the Bible as proof of when the Jews are supposed to come to the region? Are you kidding?

The problem again is that people think the answer is simple, get rid of the Jews, let the Muslims have the land back and everything is great, except it wont be, it will create a war that none of us can contain. The answer is for the West and Iran to piss off and for the Jews and Muslims to sit down and come to realise that genetically they are too similar for words, don't forget, before Jew and Muslim, before Christian they were simply Palestines.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

Well, considering that this is well off-topic, board and thread-wise; and you aren't about to listen to arguments - I'll leave you to your belief that israel are full entitled to their 'promised land' and aren't storing up a whole heap of pain via their actions.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

You think occupying Iraq and Afghanistan was done the West wonders?

Israel have as much right to the land as the Palestines, as soon as they can do that without influence the world will be a happier place. Try living in the Middle East, Iran is hated as much as America.

Re: Britain: an economic train wreck
 

I guess it depends whether your glass is half empty or half full ;)