FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
I updated my previous post with these links, but since the thread moved on to another page I'll also post them here. Sorry about the double-post.
Press Freedom Index
(Direct link to the map
)
It seems that Finland is #1! Yay!
Democracy Index (Just the map
)
Note that all of these are studies by various organisations (usually NGOs) with varying methods and standards, so they're not conclusive - but they do help you get a picture of how democracy and freedom in the world are generally distributed.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Indiana Solo
Well, Stupid Evil types don't last long in the real world. The Saudis seems to know how to balance the oppression enough that they don't get revolution.
I'm baaaaaaack
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Traditional monarchs have the advantage of their own tradition bearing down on them. Stuff like Noblesse Oblige that doesn't really have any bearing in the mind of a "modern" autocrat, as well as a strong sense of piety in many cases, so an absolute monarch might be preferable to a dictator in a lot of cases because they may feel that the same rules that allow them to rule with impunity demand that they also rule with a certain amount of grace and humanity. Compare how Tsarist Russia treated political dissidents to how the Soviets did.
United Earth
That dicothomy is Older Than Dirt; in Aristotle's Politics, that's the main difference he draws between Tyranny, which rules strictly by force, and Monarchy, which has some "clout"/"mystique"/"tradition" to it. "Kings" in general relied very much on Rule of Cool to justify themselves, rather than Might Makes Right, to the point that, according to The Bible, the ancient Hebrews wanted to have a King like everyone around them for no other reason than that it was a cool thing to have/you had to have one, despite having perfectly serviceable Judges for leaders. Then David became king and started Gilgameshing it up for everyone.
edited 9th Feb '14 4:26:41 PM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Beware the Crazy Man.
Thats why I honestly think any reforms done over time in the gulf monarchies (as opposed to revolutions or quick fixes) will be more likely to stick and evolve a la Europe back in the day (which is why I'm excited about the UAE's recent military reforms). The republics, due to the might makes right thing, have to actually actively destroy other cultural institutions to ensure that they are the only power. That'd also explain why the Brotherhood and the like gets so much clout, because they're a (over)reaction against that tendency.
Hell, thats why Yemen is in such a bad place right now. In former South Yemen, all the sheikhdoms that made it up were overthrown in favor of communism, while former North Yemen's centuries old imamate was overthrown by Nasserists because Egypt wanted a puppet on the peninsula. Then the two countries merged. It's really no wonder that there is such a kaleidescope of reactionary forces there now.
edited 9th Feb '14 4:54:58 PM by FFShinra
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
Also, in the case of the Saudis and the Gulf monarchies, there's much less dispute over the oil wealth, which of course lubricates the leadership's political machinery. In Iraq and Iran, a large amount of the infighting is over who gets to control the crude. Saudi Arabia has a king, it has a royal family that does its damnedest to keep its infighting in the family, and everyone knows exactly whose palaces that oil is supposed to fund. Contrariwise, with that oil wealth, the Saudis can fund a functioning government apparatus and propaganda machine that keeps the people more-or-less content.
I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.
Beware the Crazy Man.
The oil wealth helps. But it's not the end all be all. The monarchies are even aware of the effect of said oil and what happens once it runs out/is made obsolete. Tis why the migrant workers are slowly being kicked out...so that locals can get and do the jobs.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
scratching at .8, just hopin'
edited 10th Feb '14 2:22:17 PM by RadicalTaoist
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
betaalpha
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
The debauchery! The moral decay! :)
Harlem Shake seems to have taken its diabolical revenge against the Salafists...
edited 10th Feb '14 3:16:52 PM by betaalpha
Beware the Crazy Man.
Yemen to federalize into six regions according to state media via Reuters.
United Earth
To be fair, they're doing the "I'm happy to be alive" kind of dancing, not the "twerk and shake yo booty" kinda dancin'.
edited 11th Feb '14 12:26:45 PM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Lol. What is that from? It looks like comedy on adult swim.
Yeah the kinds of dancing people do when they are glad to not be dead can get odd or even crazy.
Who watches the watchmen?
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Now we can all take time to lament how Sym Bionic Titan was taken Too Soon
Beware the Crazy Man.
Topic please...
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
United Earth
My point is, a lot of dancing is debauched and sexualized. The integrists complaining isn't a matter of them being bigoted and stupid, it's a matter of Values Dissonance.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
V
UK suicide bomber in Syria named as Abdul Waheed Majid
The 41-year-old, from Crawley in West Sussex, is believed to have carried out a suicide truck bombing in the city of Aleppo last Thursday. Officials have not confirmed his identity, citing lack of DNA evidence. Anti-terror police are searching a house in Martyrs Avenue, Langley Green, as part of the investigation.
The suspect is believed to have been responsible for a bomb attack at a prison in Aleppo that resulted in inmates escaping. The bombing, in the north of Syria, is thought to have been the first to be carried out in the country by a Briton.
An al-Qaeda-linked rebel group, the al-Nusra Front, had named Majid by an alias - Abu Suleiman al-Britani.
People in Martyrs Avenue told the BBC he left some weeks ago for Syria. One, Nita Bateman, said Roy Whiting, who murdered eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in 2000 in West Sussex, lived in the house before Majid. She described him as a "pleasant chap" and said she was shocked by the revelations.
Majid's uncle, Mohammad Jami, said the family was shocked and devastated. "They are quite confused because they are getting all this news - unconfirmed news - from different sources," he said. "I don't ever think he could do something like that."
The BBC understands the suspected bomber was part of a study circle in Crawley, which also included Omar Khyam, a man jailed for life in 2007 for a bomb plot.
Wandering Jew
Syrian Electronic Army hacks Forbes, steals user data.
Obama tells Jordan's king he will seek more humanitarian aid for Syria's refugees.
Wandering Jew
United Earth
The war on Syria?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Who Am I?
Remember whose side he's on.
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Well, technically it is a war on "Syria", if by "Syria" you mean "Syria's official government in power, regardless of its legitimacy (or lack thereof)".
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
United Earth
If they actually go for this... what?
It's a confusing conflict.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Who Am I?
By "Arab political forces" he must mean Saudi Arabia, and why would they go for it?
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
United Earth
Cause it's a quagmire worthy of Vietnam and WWI?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
... Or maybe it's because of all the excess oil industry profits being too much for even them to completely hoard for themselves?
edited 9th Feb '14 3:14:32 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.