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1. alistairConnor - 7/26/2002 7:20:30 PM ... Now I must go and prepare a barbecue lunch for the in-laws. 2. Snowowl - 7/26/2002 7:40:43 PM If Jim has anything to do with it UF will certainly be the coalition partner of choice. Personally I think that bodes extremely badly for Labour. Quite apart from the fact that apart from Dunne I doubt anyone could name any of the members of his party that are likely to get into parliament, the composition of his proposed line-up worries me.
The only consolation I've had in this election is seeing the absolute slump of National - it's received lowest percentage of the vote that any major party has got since 1902. I have the sneaking feeling that Don Brasch is the next leader of the National Party. 3. jexster - 7/27/2002 12:08:09 PM I've run across the phrase "va banque" as in "Saddam Hussein was playing a game of va banque" in GWI and again...Saddam Hussein might fall (this is why the game was va banque)...
Can't find a definition anywhere...
Am certain one of youse international brainiacs has on the tip of her silver tongue
4. jexster - 7/27/2002 12:11:19 PM Best I can do is "heads I win tails you lose" 5. jexster - 7/27/2002 12:32:47 PM On second look..."They might be able to reach independence but this is a va banque game, all or nothing. It is very risky and shared with a lot of blood shedding but the last will happen in both cases."
Seems to be a gambling term also the name of a chess move.
6. mrsOckO - 7/27/2002 3:06:34 PM I agree that the United Party would probably be Clark's best choice. However, she has to deal first with the Greens, specifically their GE stand, before doing anything else; it's a matter of credibility for both parties.
One possible scenario as to how they will resolve the impasse is for Clark to agree to a referendum on genetic engineering, which would allow both parties to appear true to their positions. (This is what the conservatives did with superannuation in 1996 in order to get Winston Peters into their fold. You'll recall that Peters' proposal was soundly defeated in the subsequent referendum.) But it would only postpone the inevitable as far as the Greens are concerned, since Clark's position would almost certainly be vouchsafed in any poll. Will the Greens agree to it? 7. mrsOckO - 7/27/2002 3:12:13 PM The prospect of a grand center-right coalition seems pretty remote. New Zealand has no experience of European/Israeli-type parliamentary arrangements, and to try to introduce it right now would be a hard sell. But the biggest argument against it happening is the parlous state of the National Party. The conservatives are in no fit shape to be governing anybody. 8. jexster - 7/27/2002 10:29:15 PM Despite President Bush's repeated bellicose statements about Iraq, many senior U.S. military officers contend that President Saddam Hussein poses no immediate threat and that the United States should continue its policy of containment rather than invade Iraq to force a change of leadership in Baghdad, [a position long-espoused by noted Mote geo-political analyst, Cmndr Baba Jex]
Search for Intelligent Life in Texas Bush: Pentagon Continues to Dump on Machismo Iraq Schemes
But he GASSED HIS OWN PEOPLE (Daniel Sickles) 9. jexster - 7/27/2002 10:31:26 PM AC...
To what extent do national Green Parties cooperate with each other? How are their platforms same, different? What about fund raising, party ops? 10. Marc-Albert - 7/27/2002 11:51:39 PM New Zealand politics is definitely an acquired taste... But I did surf through the Dominion Post yesterday: crime, juvenile delinquency, kidnap-for-ransom. Is there indeed a crime wave in NZ, or is it just the DP?
11. jexster - 7/28/2002 3:48:41 AM Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling Foreign Office fears of an extremist takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on terror.
Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom in the past months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Prince Abdullah.
At the same time, Whitehall officials are concerned that Abdullah could face a palace coup from elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret conference to look at options if the royal family fell.
Saudi Arabia could fall to al-Qaeda 12. PincherMartin - 7/28/2002 9:23:11 AM Saudi Arabia falling to Al Qaeda is too much to hope for. 13. wonkers2 - 7/28/2002 10:16:15 AM Yeah, that would be great! We wouldn't have to worry about the Saudis flooding the market with cheap oil. 14. mrsOckO - 7/28/2002 4:13:03 PM Message # 25209
New Zealand and Australia are pretty violent by world standards. Although there isn't as much gun violence as there is in, say, the U.S. or Russia, there's plenty of the old-fashioned variety.
I suppose, sad though it is to admit, that the most violent societies usually appear to be the most ethnically mixed. Is there any other reason why Switzerland and South Korea are considerably less violence-prone than Australia and America? 15. RickNelson - 7/28/2002 7:34:49 PM Dunne and that United-Future party seems interesting. Leans on family values and has members with rather strong christian backgrounds. I read Mrs. Turner's excerpt explainging they're not a party of extremist right-wingers. She went on to express that family in any form is the most important focus. Good, that. What about contentions?
It appears those MPs think they'll have no troubld with Labour. True?
National lost pretty big. Is that good? 16. Rama - 7/29/2002 12:42:09 AM Is there any other reason why Switzerland and South Korea are considerably less violence-prone than Australia and America?
Yes there are. While ethnic diversity is a major cause of violence, it is not the only cause. Culturally conditioned socialization effects the threshold at which individuals will respond by physical violence to frustration and fear. In both Switzerland and South Korea, loosing control is embarrassing, and so activities that would result in violence in Australia or the U.S. result in a call to the authorities. Additional socialization factors include the degree of individual autonomy individuals are encouraged to experess and plain old modelling: If you see violence succeed, you are likely to copy the behavior. 17. jexster - 7/29/2002 1:06:28 AM Marc-Albert....the article referenced in the New York Times link that got you all worked up about Goat Island....
Puissance américaine, faiblesse européenne, par Robert kagan
La différence fondamentale entre les Etats-Unis et l'Europe tient moins à une question de culture et de philosophie que de capacité à agir. 18. jexster - 7/29/2002 1:09:10 AM Traduit pour les Americains...
POWER AND WEAKNESS
Why the United States and Europe see the world differently
Robert Kagan 19. jexster - 7/29/2002 2:26:09 AM Looks like Rummy is leaking again....
New York Times...another leak 20. jexster - 7/29/2002 2:41:54 AM THE MORALITY AND LEGALITY OF A WAR AGAINST IRAQ
A CHRISTIAN DECLARATION - Pax Christi
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