Bombs in Bali
I'm never one to look very far ahead in a game of chess. 
10-15-2002, 06:29 PM
#116
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Just to set the record straight, East Timor was never a Dutch colony. It was, however, a Portuguese colony for many hundres of years up until until 1975 - have you never noticed the Portuguese names of most of the people there? e.g. Xanana Gusmao.
10-15-2002, 06:49 PM
#117
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It's clear most of our US visitors to this forum have decided I'm a coward.
My original rationale was that if we leave people alone, they generally don't come and blow things up in my yard.
If leaving people alone and not trying to enforce our will on them makes one a coward, so be it. I thought that was what democracy was built on. I must be wrong.
My original rationale was that if we leave people alone, they generally don't come and blow things up in my yard.
If leaving people alone and not trying to enforce our will on them makes one a coward, so be it. I thought that was what democracy was built on. I must be wrong.
10-15-2002, 07:02 PM
#119
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie
[B]My original rationale was that if we leave people alone, they generally don't come and blow things up in my yard.
[B]My original rationale was that if we leave people alone, they generally don't come and blow things up in my yard.
10-15-2002, 07:52 PM
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I think I have been more strident on the East Timor issue over the past year than most so it should be obvious that is not my view.
We do turn our backs on others. What is an injustice, Aus?
Is China's occupation of Tibet an injustice?
Is Anwar Ibrahim's detention an injustice?
Were the horrors that went on in the former Yugoslavia an injustice?
Was Hussein's eradication of the Kurds an injustice?
Is denying the civilian populace of Iraq their basic needs of modern medicine an injustice?
We're doing a pretty good job of standing by doing nothing so I'll stop. That said, is collateral damage an injustice? Oh, well, we didn't MEAN to kill you so that makes it all right. That is like the terrorists in Bali telling a rickshaw peddlar's family that he wasn't the target.
Maybe I am naive and I care just a little too much about people (which makes me a coward in some people's eyes), irrespective of who and what they are but justice is a concept of convenience for most.
We do turn our backs on others. What is an injustice, Aus?
Is China's occupation of Tibet an injustice?
Is Anwar Ibrahim's detention an injustice?
Were the horrors that went on in the former Yugoslavia an injustice?
Was Hussein's eradication of the Kurds an injustice?
Is denying the civilian populace of Iraq their basic needs of modern medicine an injustice?
We're doing a pretty good job of standing by doing nothing so I'll stop. That said, is collateral damage an injustice? Oh, well, we didn't MEAN to kill you so that makes it all right. That is like the terrorists in Bali telling a rickshaw peddlar's family that he wasn't the target.
Maybe I am naive and I care just a little too much about people (which makes me a coward in some people's eyes), irrespective of who and what they are but justice is a concept of convenience for most.