41–50 of 81 posts
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.
If cold war communist Russia became the limit now, I'm sorry to say that we're screwed.
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.
Also, the fact that you have the freedom to discuss and criticize CIA on a public forum. A strong democracy's pros outweigh its cons by a large margin - almost always.
As a french humorist (Coluche) used to say :
Tyranny is 'shut the fuck up'
Democracy is 'Talk to the hand'
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Playing a rigged game is never a threat to the game-rigger. Do more than that[0][1] and the kid gloves come off. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_%28journalist... [1] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coo...
The second link looks particularly scary. Does anyone have a rebuttal to this?
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.
It's a shame you would compare a Developed country, supposedly one of the best, with one that's knows to be not so good. It's like comparing your sports team to one that consistently finishes low on the ladder - your team will always look good, even when they are far from the top. If you want a comparison that will lead to improvement, compare your country to those known to have excellent human rights and freedom of…
The OP compared one member of the UN Security Council with another. There are five permanent members.
Are any of the UNSC on your list?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a shame you would compare a Developed country, supposedly one of the best, with one that's knows to be not so good. It's like comparing your sports team to one that consistently finishes low on the ladder - your team will always look good, even when they are far from the top. If you want a comparison that will lead to improvement, compare your country to those known to have excellent human rights and freedom of…
Please name some countries with excellent human rights and freedom of information track records. The OP compared one member of the UN Security Council with another. There are five permanent members. Are any of the UNSC on your list?
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.
It's a shame you would compare a Developed country, supposedly one of the best, with one that's knows to be not so good. It's like comparing your sports team to one that consistently finishes low on the ladder - your team will always look good, even when they are far from the top. If you want a comparison that will lead to improvement, compare your country to those known to have excellent human rights and freedom of…
For example if we would take into account the incarceration rate, USA has a higher one than Russia.
On a more subtle analysis, it's unfortunately possible that there is actually a (undergoing) way to silence dissidence, which is "just" different from directly killing people, for example legal rape, or manufacturing of doubt, just to mention a few.
Essentially, I think that there's no such direct comparison, and constructive analysis should take into account many many factors and contexts.
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.
It's a shame you would compare a Developed country, supposedly one of the best, with one that's knows to be not so good. It's like comparing your sports team to one that consistently finishes low on the ladder - your team will always look good, even when they are far from the top. If you want a comparison that will lead to improvement, compare your country to those known to have excellent human rights and freedom of…
So actually the OP's comparison seems fair. "The US may be bad these days, but at least it's not (yet) as bad as some of the worst in history!"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may not be directly associated to the democratic process for electing a government, but I think you'll find that it's still closely related to democracy in general. Democracy is fundamentally anchored on the idea that the legitimate right to govern derives from the people, not from the sword or from the blessing of a priest. This means that governments exist to serve the people, not the other way around. The freed…
Fun historical fact: In medieval Karantania[1] the "king" was appointed and crowned by the people. He still inherited his title and whatnot, but had to be approved by his people and a free peasant performed the coronation. So, not a democracy, but right to govern still derives from the people. It has been done. From wikipedia: > The ritual was performed in the Slovene language by a free peasant who, selected by his p…
As bad as governmental abuses can be in the U.S. I find it somewhat comforting that suing the CIA doesn't mean some people are going to start disappearing. I'm guessing not too many Russians sued the KGB.