Posts by Simon Grigg
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James,
i agree that, like most countries the US targets much of it's aid in the right direction. Although I would call into question your definition of "reasonable countries that are looking to protect themselves and do not threaten other countries". Israel is far and away the biggest recipient of all aid and I'm sorry, but I do not see it as fitting that description. The US was out of step with the rest of the world in its response to the recent war against Lebanon and I would suggest has been for some decades. Whilst the world was aghast at what was happening to the people of Lebanon, the US gleefully shipped more cluster bombs and the like..after it was apparent to all that they were being targeted at civilians. At any time it could have stopped the bloodshed but chose not to.I would also question the support for Egypt if one is talking about regimes which abuses and subjugates its own citizens. I understand why Egypt was bought off, the Israeli factor in play again, but its hypocrisy none the less.
India & Pakistan, no I'm sorry your argument doesn't work. Either there are rules for all or there are not. You can't apply them to one and not the other. And then demand that Iran plays ball. Iran is a funny one. The US has a very one eyed position, almost unreal, on the country. There are some interesting posts on this site from a very smart Texan who has recently returned from the "evil" nation with some very pithy comments about the ignorance his countrymen show towards Iran. Interesting stuff and worth reading through. i don't much like their president but I do see his comments from another angle. Firstly all Farsi speakers I have spoken to have said that his words have been twisted in translation quite a bit, and that seems to be the general academic consensus. but that aside, like many politicians, posturing is important. Take a step back...do you rationally expect (and this is a rational man despite the American media's portrayal) Iran to nuke Israel...seriously? I don't want them, or anyone else to have the weapons but the concept of Iran firing a nuke at Israel or handing one to Hezbollah is so absurdly ludicrous to not need further discussion. Much of what the man says is posturing and is silly..Bush is good at that..saying incredibly silly things that no thinking person can take too seriously..except he means it sadly. Quite frankly if Iran can use words to wind up and tweak the Bush administration, if their words have such power, then well done. More power to it. I think there are some broad smiles at the response in DC from time to time. In a way they are enjoying the reaction..like Chavez, who might be a bit tin pot but his description of GWB as the personification of something rather evil...well outside the USA I don't think you'd get a lot of argument from the majority.North Korea...they know there is nothing you can do and don't give a damn.
James, I live in a country which, after a US backed coup in 1965 had a death toll of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 executed, including a very large lsit provided by the CIA of those they wanted gone. In 1975 the US and Australia okayed an invasion of East Timor that took the lives of some 30% of the population. The dictatorship that was responsible or that was supported right up until 1998, way after the end of the Cold War and was only thrown out after a popular uprising which was not supported by the US, quite the opposite. It is now the only real South East Asian democracy (which it ha largely done unaided during the Bush era) but the largely unreformed army that was responsible for those crimes in the past is now being armed and trained again by your government, unconditionally.
Hypocrisy...
The hypocrisy for me comes from you accusing Iran and North Korea of being crackpot and by implication evil. I look at the blood on the hands of the United States, not only in the past half decade by the past fifty years..the millions who would probably rather be alive than, by America's definition, free, and see rampant hypocrisy.
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We in the west (and I count NZ in that) tend to forget there are several billion in the East buying and creating music. I agree there are some amazing things. I saw an incredible band from Jogja (Yogyakarta) on the beach the other day that merged an Indonesian pop sound (batak) with a ska-ish kind of reggae. Tight, no noodles, no nonsense and a killer version of Brian Wilson's I Get Around.
And a cloud of ganja smoke too. I guess there was a market for all that stuff that Schapelle tried to bring in..
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Multi year, multi-lateral diplomatic efforts to try to stop crack pot regimes in North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
because god knows the US has armed enough crackpot regimes over the years, turns a blind eye to the military dictator armed with nukes in Pakistan and is actively working with India who has flaunted the very treaties that Iran is accusing of breaking. Oh and currently spends about $20 billion a year on nuclear weapon research.
Frankly I think I'm more worried about the crackpot in Washington who has caused far more death and agony, and de-stablised the planet we all live on far more in recent years than any so called crack pots in Iran.
Ah, the hypocrisy...you have long since lost the right to point the finger at either NK or Iran.
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Hi Stephen...click on the link below my name for my site..rough as it is. I have a blog at ww.opdiner.blogspot.com too which is really just a bunch of unconnected thoughts.
Bali is just a very pleasant change of pace, rather more "in the world" for a change if you know what I mean (and I guess you do since you are in Tokyo) andI find that I can do pretty much everything I need to do in NZ right now via broadband and getting on a plane when I need to.
There are far worse places in the world to be than Bali.
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Funnily enough, one band that continues to pull massive live crowds around the world, especially in the non English speaking part, is Oasis. Then again, their last album was a UK number one so I guess their star hasn't fallen as far as it may seem to us watching from the other side of the world.
Talking of Korea, we get some Korean musical variety shows on the Korean language channel here in Bali..damn they're funny.
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Maybe you are right about the generational thing. But the difference is that whilst, like them or not, The Beatles, Dylan (and to a lesser degree..much lesser) Stones and Elvis created the very thing that made the RHCP possible, they wrote the book that the Peppers, as popular as they might be, are still re-writing, even down to silly little things like bands writing their own songs and having some real say in the way they are presented. It reasonable to say that these guys, over that period, invented the thing we call rock music. I would hazard that the Chilli Peppers would happily agree with that.
These acts, in their day, had global dominance in a way that no artist has now. The release of a Beatles album was a major musical landmark event, not just the release of a record, and each one changed the way that music would henceforth be made. Listen to Please Please Me and Sgt Pepper..these records were only 4 years apart but the difference is monumental, as if from another differing planets.
The Stones were not at the same level but they still broke down barriers. I would imagine that without the British blues boom and the way it influenced the US market the Chilli Pepper's early funk based stuff would've sounded a hell of a lot different.
That said, I wish the Stones had stopped doing what they are doing a long time ago, like The Who, its sad.
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No I think its all too fragmented now to produce another Stones or Beatles. These were cross generational/ cross genre acts who had a vaguely revolutionary aspect about themselves and their music. It's almost impossible now to get beyond a very large niche.
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there is no doubt that Creative make a vastly better product but it doesn't have the perceived cool factor. Apple has done a hell of a job over the years cleverly marketing themselves and their designs (justifiably in terms of the look they offer). Here in Asia Creative seem to have quite an edge. Ipods have a small and shrinking share of the market.
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From what I understand Bliss was more Ian Morris than DD
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Universal CEO Doug Morris - "These devices [MP3 players] are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it."
Oh, yes, and UMG have treated their acts historically so damned well! Pot / kettle....