Syria

[MATTHEW'S_DAD]

There would have to be some sort of financial collapse for that to happen.

[(SWGO)Kren]

What is happening in Afganistan now is that local factions are standing-up against the Taliban but don't think that means they love the west, they don't. When there was a armed presence there would be a battle in a region, the taliban would vanish and then come back. The people who are fighting the Taliban live there so they want to rid themselves of these people.

The same will happen in other ME countries, remove a dictator or presence and another group fills the void, becomes corrupt, it becomes known worldwide, the underdogs want help, the west want to help and the cycle begins again. There are different religious groups at each others throats (excluding Christians) who have been in conflict for a number of centuries. Destroying their country to help one faction simply causes more unrest.

The cycle of violence in the ME is timeless and so far endless. If we get sucked into these conflicts we end up losing lives, losing money and resources, being hated by the faction that was removed then targeted by radicals who want to bomb our citizens and show their gratitude for getting involved in something which is none of our business.

Afganisation, Iraq, Libya are prime examples of what happens when we get involved. It's about time Governments learned from past mistakes.

Stay clear or face the consequences of this folly.

Kren

[Duel of Fates]

There would have to be some sort of financial collapse for that to happen.

$16,000,000,000,000.00+ of debt. Hmmm. I sense no financial collapse here.

[(SWGO)Kren]

Our PM has just announced £52 million of aid for Syrian victims of the chemical attack...FFS!! Yes another example of giving money away to another country when our economy needs this.

***Edit: Just found out that's in addition to the £348 million already being given to Syria....

I shudder to think what the US is giving to Syria.

[Snipesalot]

As this sin't a straight forward 1v1 of Assad vs the rebels (who aren't to clued up on war crimes either), we can't win against them.

Help the refugees, but intervening with military action could make things even worse.

Brits rule.

[Mandalore]

Why bother spending a cool 600 million a year on the military if we don't wipe out a few cultures now and again. The mongols had it right, you just have to kill and rape everything when you invade somewhere.

But in seriousness, foreign aid doesn't mark more than 5% in any of the western nations' budgets as far as I can remember. Welfare is the major expenditure for Western Europe and a significant part (25-35% I think) for the US. Reform on this subject and in the mechanisms to aid upward social mobility are what I would peg as the defining question for the future success of governments. We've already seen where this road leads down with Japan which has by the far the greatest debt to GDP ratio and whose aging population makes it practically impossible to generate the wealth needed to redress the balance. A strong culture of saving needs to be embraced in the West and reliance upon the government for programs as we age needs to drop.

Our education system needs to be re-worked completely from the ground up. The idea of tenure and the monetary focus on the last stages of education have effectively ruined the goal that education is supposed to provide. That and the incredibly heavy "liberalization" focus on music, arts, and other faggotry during the priming stages of adolescence should be reversed to practical education with heavy focus on STEM, discipline, and financial training. If I had to bet I'd say that 90% of the people that I graduated with couldn't write a check or explain how loans work or the practical implications of how that will affect them in the future.

But I rant, on topic: There is no winning for the west in the situation that has developed. Early on when the rebel groups were largely secular if the weight of the west had been throw behind them things might have ended differently but with the bumbling of the democracies the west has now pushed itself into a bit of a corner.

[(SWGO)Kren]

Why bother spending a cool 600 million a year on the military if we don't wipe out a few cultures now and again. The mongols had it right, you just have to kill and rape everything when you invade somewhere.

But in seriousness, foreign aid doesn't mark more than 5% in any of the western nations' budgets as far as I can remember. Welfare is the major expenditure for Western Europe and a significant part (25-35% I think) for the US. Reform on this subject and in the mechanisms to aid upward social mobility are what I would peg as the defining question for the future success of governments. We've already seen where this road leads down with Japan which has by the far the greatest debt to GDP ratio and whose aging population makes it practically impossible to generate the wealth needed to redress the balance. A strong culture of saving needs to be embraced in the West and reliance upon the government for programs as we age needs to drop.

Our education system needs to be re-worked completely from the ground up. The idea of tenure and the monetary focus on the last stages of education have effectively ruined the goal that education is supposed to provide. That and the incredibly heavy "liberalization" focus on music, arts, and other faggotry during the priming stages of adolescence should be reversed to practical education with heavy focus on STEM, discipline, and financial training. If I had to bet I'd say that 90% of the people that I graduated with couldn't write a check or explain how loans work or the practical implications of how that will affect them in the future.

But I rant, on topic: There is no winning for the west in the situation that has developed. Early on when the rebel groups were largely secular if the weight of the west had been throw behind them things might have ended differently but with the bumbling of the democracies the west has now pushed itself into a bit of a corner.

Yeah we Brits just loving giving away things to other countries: http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/

Makes my blood boil, sry it's good to help people but charity starts at home and if you ain't got ur own back-yard in order don't go trying to fix someone elses.

Yeah art and music is not something anyone should learn, comon. How much do people invest in musical instruments, music artists, concerts, songs and lets not forget art like photography, craft, design, performing arts, multimedia, paintings etc. All of these are part of our everyday life. Without choices and all forced down the route of one path would make for a very boring and lacklustre society. I am not saving business studies, commerce and financial awareness is not essential but just not for everyone. Everyone person has their own unique skills and attributes.

The ME is a melting pot of conflict, intervention and liberation simply makes it worse the instability by recycling every the conflicts. Dropping bombs onto another country certainly does not make them friendly towards you.

Kren

[Mandalore]

Saying that people wouldn't be exposed to art without learning how to play a recorder is a silly statement. All I'm saying is that the current American educational system is very whimsical non practical.[poo] you not the people I go to school with don't know rudimentary financial skills at all

[(SWGO)Kren]

Saying that people wouldn't be exposed to art without learning how to play a recorder is a silly statement. All I'm saying is that the current American educational system is very whimsical non practical.[poo] you not the people I go to school with don't know rudimentary financial skills at all

I said musical instruments and the rest of the arts, I never mentioned a recorder, and I'm sorry you mistook my reply as a silly statement, it was not meant to be. Some people will never understand financial skills and then again perhaps it is beyond them whereas other topics come as second nature. Anyway I'll move away from this and back on topic to Syria.

The latest development according to the news is that Putin will provide weapons to President assad's regime, if America launches a strike. Let's see where the next piece on the chess board will be placed.

Kren

[Mandalore]

A recorder is a type of instrument that is used for instruction on young ones, at least where I went to school.