Comments by Delta88

The Industrial Revolution was built by people of the like of Josiah Wedgewood who had a passion for what they were making. Years on, the idle landowning class and its second sons etc. had taken over the direction of many of these companies. Directorships became the fiefdom of the public school excreta: highly intelligent, highly motivated, devoid of passion for whatever endeavor was their assignment, highly ambitious to become (or remain) country gentlemen and ride to hounds.
C&W fits all too well into this pattern.

So sorry! Should have said Eurozone bail-outs

PC MS Based.Thinking of upgrading within existing chassis etc. to a new cpu/motherboard. Have bought the Lap-Link software for migration, but find it confusing and un-convincing. What to do?

Proposal for EU treaty amendment: those countries receiving EU Bail-outs no longer have voting rights (nor veto powers). This would deny Greece its role of despoiler over Macedonia and Cyprus. Hands up all those that would vote for this?

As for another commentator I had an account with AOL. When I tried to terminate this (looked in vain on their website as to how this could be accomplished) I was informed that termination was not possible except under exceptional circumstances. So I paid the balance and cancelled the credit card used for AOL billing. They continued to bill me for months on a cancelled credit card!

Read the first biography of Turing (forget the name - 1980's) by an admirer who was a gay companion. Turing was living with a guy that stole from him and Turing went to the police over this and the guy was prosecuted for theft.
Friends of Turing begged him not to do this as his homosexual relationship (criminal at the time) with the guy would come out in court. This happened and Turing went to jail.
Turing should have had an official minder (his proclivities were well understood at Blexely Park) who would who would ensure a Queen's pardon, or whatever, was immediately available. Not so.
What was George Brown apologizing for? Was it to all of those gays convicted of criminal activity, since God knows when? Or just the failure of the Government to protect the outstanding personal contributor to the winning and shortening of WW2?
A sorry story.
Mathematicians are thought of as cold and calculating: Turing, concerned about a German invasion, buried all his silver. Subsequently he spent days searching for it, unsuccessfully.

Read the first biography of Turing (forget the name - 1980's) by an admirer who was a gay companion. Turing was living with a guy that stole from him and Turing went to the police over this and the guy was prosecuted for theft.
Friends of Turing begged him not to do this as his homosexual relationship (criminal at the time) with the guy would come out in court. This happened and Turing went to jail.
Turing should have had an official minder (his proclivities were well understood at Blexely Park) who would who would ensure a Queen's pardon was immediately available. Not so.
What was George Brown apologizing for? Was it to all of those gays convicted of criminal activity, since God knows when? Or just the failure of the Government to protect the outstanding personal contributor to the winning and shortening of WW2?
A sorry story.
Mathematicians are thought of as cold and calculating: Turing, concerned about a German invasion, buried all his silver. Subsequently he spent days searching for it, unsuccessfully.

So it fails!
Misrata falls. The front line is pushed back to the outskirts of Benghazi. Benghazi falls and a Libyan Government in Exile takes up residence in Paris (?).
The consequences: US has proved its point that the Europeans cannot even police their own back-yard without major US involvement (much back-slapping in US Defense Department, some hand wringing in State, silence from the President) ; NATO is shown to be dysfunctional, witness other major powers (Germany , Turkey etc.) refusing to support their, supposed, NATO and European allies; and, a re-energized malevolent state is back in full power just across the African Mediterranean.
Shades of the Suez debacle of 1956. France: withdraws again from NATO, once again indulges in the luxury of automatic hostility to US initiatives. The UK: has to be a re-assessment as to what a US alliance is worth, less than it was in 1956 - perhaps a lot less now that NATO is shown to be a "straw man"; major gains from dissociating the UK from US policy (or the lack thereof) for resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
The situation can be retrieved, but only if Obama knocks heads together. Starting in Defense: perhaps Gates should retire immediately (extraordinary service to his country, but now noticeably tired and ageing, and all those Senate hearings). Then, on to NATO allies who should be forced to see where their long term interests lie.
Time is running out.

The Economist reminds us of our humanity on many occasions; notably the "Obituaries". Prospero writes powerfully in that tradition.

'Along with other Mediterranean countries...' Those Tectonic plates have been active again.

Charlemagne, what of the EU and Turkey? Surely the Turkish example of democratic reform and free elections has been highly influential in the uprisings? The example of an Islamic party governing under democratic rules has surely encouraged both secular and religious that their goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
If the EU (read France and Germany) had a credible timetable for Turkey's membership, this would send a powerful message to all the other Mediterranean littoral states that the EU is a power for progress in the region.

We do seem to have wandered off topic. Does what the 'Founding Fathers' (US) may of believed have any possible relevance to today's situation?
The Egyptian revolution injects a new party into the tired stalemate of the ME peace process. Turkey has set a regional example that there is a moderate Islam that respects democratic process. Egypt has surely taken inspiration from this effective government. The two, between them, can force a ME peace settlement without military hostilities. Those that push for a 'Greater Israel' will be the losers ( a small minority - have visited and have friends in Israel)and the cynical US political groups that see this issue as another vote gathering ploy.
Yes, I am an optimist. What other position is worth inhabiting?

It is hard to see Israel as an ally of the US in any normal sense. How many of their troops are in Iraq, or Afghanistan? It is, surely, a dependency. Without the support of the US, how would it survive? Only by seeking accommodation with its neighbors, and mending fences with nations that wish it well but will not support an Israel beyond the 1967 borders. In short, a peace process.
A fall-out from the Wikileaks is that if Israel was not prepared to go forward with the major concessions that, supposedly, the Palestinians were prepared to make, what is acceptable to them?
Polish Jews displaced by WWII on their return to the country of their birth found (with few exceptions) that their property was occupied by others. Local and official hostility to repossession by the lawful owners forced emigration. Sad to see a nation,that has a strong moral call on the West, subjecting people under its control to the lawlessness and despair that its own citizens fled from.
I do hope that the Economist will continue to explain the long term consequences of the US failure to end the Israel/Palestinian conflict. Due to the power of the pro Israel lobbyists in the US, the subject here, in the main stream press, is taboo.

What is an 8 year US presidential term (effectively 4 years) compared to a ME autocrat 30+ year term. He can always hunker down under US pressure waiting for the next new broom. There has never been the continuity of US policy in the ME that was so effective in the confrontation with the Soviet Union; helped by the absence of legal lobbyists for the Soviets. The US administration of the day ends up trying to deal with brush fires. Tactics, not strategy.
I believe the present US administration is doing as well as could possibly be expected.
Are we ever likely to see a US bipartisan overall strategy for the ME? Only when the situation deteriorates to the point at which US voters can no longer, with equanimity, indulge their passions for soaps, sports, and religion.

The regime is now putting its own supporters on the street (paid and unpaid). From what we understand, the major opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood has taken a 'wait and see attitude' to the unrest. Surely, that time is now over and they now will have to put their supporters into the fray.
The whole dynamic of the protests will then change. The moderates will be marginalized, and Mubarak will be lucky to escape with his life.

Surely Lexington can do a better job than this uninformed critique. How much does Bush understand of what was going on during his two terms?
After the first term it was obvious that it was the Cheney, Rumsfeld , Bush Presidency. Yes, Bush had a free hand on education reform: not the defining moment, but at least a major impetus in getting this nationally vital and neglected issue to center stage. Enduring legacy?
Apart from the errors of commission (failure to follow through on Afghanistan, invasion of Iraq) there were those terrible ones of omission. Remember the 'Road Map'? Remember Cheney in Israel: 'Of course we will never ask you to do anything you do not want to do'. Death of peace in the middle east. Encouragement of right wing Jewry. Closure of options: a much bleaker position today than when the CRB Presidency took office. To his credit Bush, towards the end of his second term tried, through Condoleezza Rice, to resuscitate what CR had killed. Too little, too late. I believe he came to understand that history would judge the two terms as the 'Bush' Presidency, and that CR would be but a footnote so had best hustle.
The anti-missile missiles in Poland? Were the Russians expected to roll over on their backs with their feet in the air? No sense by CR of any need to engage the Russians. Now we need them over Iran and Afghanistan, but they are rather distant.
Remember the oil crisis. At any time Saudi Arabia, by simply saying they considered that oil was over-priced, could have brought stability to the market. Although entreated to do so, they declined to make this statement. CR Had made it clear to all that allies were there to serve the greater glory of CR. Amongst others, the Saudis declined this subservience. Enduring suspicion of America as an ally.
Remember Harriet Myers? Obvious that Bush had no understanding of why Republicans had elected him.
Remember Greenspan? Presided over the 'dot-com' bubble and then allowed to preside over the housing bubble. It seems that Bush had to step up to the plate alone on this. R, of course was gone, C - supposedly the business man - uncharacteristically silent. I believe this was Bush's finest hour, and indeed the man rose to the hour.

Can follow the philosophical argument: seems we are in a mess where the political restraints work fitfully, at best. Left to rely on the rule of law, if you have the money.
Cannot follow the rest. Who are Citizens United? Why is Williams considered part of the presence of "continued national prominence of a handful of entrenched pundits"? Who are Bill O'Reilly and Thomas Friedman? What do they have to do with the firing of Williams?
Martin Horn has a point. But isn't OSBL reported to have scurried away from danger in a bur-qua?
Cannot see the justification of this "knee jerk" reaction by NPR for voicing a sentiment, however irrational, shared by many. At least let the man explain, and apologize - should he think fit. But then I am not an opponent of profiling where race is part of the profile. Would this get me fired from NPR?

Lived in B.. for two years in the 70's. Rickshaw wallahs held in contempt by the middle class. The sight of a crash (often); thin limbs bent around whisted metal would be an occasion for laughter from the passerby's. Most of the rickshaws were rented for as long as the mal-nourished driver could pedal-no more than six hours. How long could you support a family on physical strength only?
B... was a nation of factions. Even at the village level there were factions: common purpose was bedeviled by factional divides.
Have things changed? Thimm! Do you see anything but the surface?