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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Silas, Sweden has been a better NATO member for most of the Cold War than most NATO members, completely unbeknownst to most of the world, including the Swedes. They were only second to the UK in terms of efficient co-ordination and norm-compliance. I can look up the sources once I'm home. There's a whole bunch of relevant literature, and by that I mean peer-reviewed papers.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.Sorry if this is part of a mini-derail, but the full context I was taught for the whole incident was that the old Hebrews of the time expected the Messiah to be the leader of an army of God to strike down their enemies and make Earth a paradise, so they were less than impressed by the local carpenter's son running around and claiming to be the messiah. So they started coming up with a bunch of questions to get what they saw as the loony trapped and contradicting either Talmudic law or obscure declarations of God, which would be a gotcha moment and show that he couldn't be the messiah.
One of those was about whether they should pay their taxes to Rome, since paying taxes funded the Roman war machine and supported a polytheistic empire that had little regard for the "chosen people". Saying yes would mean supporting Rome and would probably be in violation of some obscure Talmudic principle that was probably mentioned when I first heard this almost 20 years ago, saying no would be as good as advocating rebellion against Rome and they could sic the Romans on old Yeshua and be done with him already.
Jesus' answer was him wriggling out of the trap: he asked whose face was on the coins they held. When his questioners responded "Caesar's face" then came the "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God's". Basically, it could be taken as since paying the taxes had nothing to do with God and was a creation of the Romans, following through with it didn't make you violate God's rules. God and temporal life both have their place, without one supplanting the other or having to choose one to be supreme over the other, or at the expense of the other.
| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
We know the context. That's why we know the meaning behind the quote is "pay your dues to your government and the law of the land, and pay your dues to your God". That the two conflict is no excuse to refuse either.
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What Russian aggression? Sweden was "neutral", remember?
But yeah, in a trial as public as that of Assange, they wouldn't get away with violating their own law. It's more likely that his demise be extrajudicial.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.![]()
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Sweden's neutrality hasn't kept Moscow off their backs. A few years back Russian aircraft violated Swedish airspace and flew a simulated nuclear strike on Stockholm.
And the US won't try to kill Assange, or Snowden or Manning. The backlash isn't worth it. Assange is a figurehead, Snowden has already leaked everything he has and Manning is in jail.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Lovely case of paranoia there. You know there's medication for that, right?
Seriously, the USA doesn't need to kill Assange. The man's an accused rapist hiding out in an embassy so he can avoid facing charges. The only way they could kill him would be if he left the embassy, and if he leaves the embassy he's going to be deported to Sweden and locked up.
Even if the US was in the business of killing the likes of Assange, there's no need to in his case. If the man ever leaves the embassy, he's going to Sweden to at worst have his credibility destroyed in a trial, at best be locked up for the next decade or so. All the USA has to do to get rid of him is get out of the way and let the Swedes do their job.
We know the US does engage in (sometimes dirty) covert operations...that's what the CIA is there for after all...but they also have to deal with the ramifications of being a country with a mostly free press and an electorate that needs to be appeased. Snowden and Assange are far too public to be quietly removed.
edited 25th Aug '16 8:27:34 AM by Elle
Snowden at least, was born a US citizen and can't be legally executed without a trial. A habeus corpus trial. Assange, I can't speak for.
Of course, the government isn't necessarily above flagrantly ignoring its own laws sometimes.
Still. Constitutional rights and all.
Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you... Wait, if killing Assange would bring a lot of PR trouble to USA from within, then wouldn't any of the USA's enemies benefit from assassinating Assange and frame Washington for the assassination?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Seriously. The stereotype for an American is boorish, not evil. And even if it were, Even Evil Has Standards.
If America were evil, it would be the Pragmatic Villainy kind of evil. Assassinating either Assange or Snowden brings no profits of any kind. You can't even make them into racial scapegoats.
Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for youIsn't that rather self-affirm—
oh right
Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you

edited 25th Aug '16 4:52:44 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.