Posts by Ben Austin
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It is possible they don't read stuff before they post it, and if they do, perhaps they need to do that old forums trick *SPOILERS AHEAD LOL*
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This has convinced me to stop trying to get a tan, if I'm to become the darling of Egyptian TV News like I plan!
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Rawr numbers is one thing, actual capacity to move said rawr numbers to a far away point and supply them is different.
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While I like the London newspapers I sometimes get a little shocked by their unashamed advocacy of some issues. I guess it is honest, but I kinda prefer them at least trying to hide it.
Anyway - saw Taking Liberties today at a local cinema. If you haven't heard of it, it basically catelogues all the changes Blair has made to civil/political human rights while in office as PM. It is a pretty depressing film, but worth watching, given how influential UK trends can be in NZ.
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Well sending soldiers overseas is about force projection, few countries have the ability to send soldiers to say Dafur or Timor and keep them supplied and the like. They rely on countries that can do so, and there are not too many of those.
If we look at say Germany, it is a large, rich country, with a large military. But how many of those soldiers are just consripts there for 18 months? Can / should those conscripts be sent overseas to be peace keepers? Can the Germans afford to? Would their government provide extra funding to send the professionals over? Or would they need to stop doing some activity in order to fund said peacekeeping activity, like close a base or two (what about local unemployment?), or cut back a procurement programme (who cares what we'll need in 10 years right?). Do they even have the planes to supply such soldiers? Or would they need to rely on the US or UK?
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So you predict many more weeks of coverage. Ugh, well, makes a change from Rachel Hunter or Paris Hilton stories right? Or do you think someone will try and write a comparison feature between the two? Man I wish i worked for a tabloid sometimes.
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There is a lot of international intervention going on at the moment (not sure if it is more/less than 10 years ago). I have a suspicion that military capacity for further efforts amongst the usual suspects is probably quite low, especially if the Iraq mercenaries are still getting paid so well.
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I think the expression is kind of new, but it has legs because it basically involves looking at beautiful young women who hang around with sporting icons.
Just in case that isn't enough to get it printed, it also offers the journalist/publication the chance to sound off about usesless celebrities, sort of like what they love to do with Paris Hilton. Even better, one can write all sorts of cutting columns about why it is terrible girls aspire to being the wife of a sportsman rather than an astronaut. Failing all of that you can resort to getting angry at sportsmen being paid enough to afford such WAGS - after all, shouldn't the money be spent on lowering ticket prices for the fans?
BTW, how is Paris, any updates?
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Well perhaps you are right Neil, that people will use this as an excuse to cover their general unwillingness.
But with all the lying that went on with Iraq, and the hideous mistakes made in post war reconstruction how can that not affect humanitarian intervention? Also with the willingness of Russia to be contrarian, and China's interests in the third world it may be hard to get Security Council sanction on actions.
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Well, it is good to see the Herald is keeping with the trend to run with children of celebrity gossip stories. Classy.
Oh and random prediction for the week's coming gossipy news in either Stuff or the Herald: WAGS! I've seen at least three big papers run with it this week alone, so its bound to circulate to NZ.