(Part 2) Best products from r/worldnews

I think part of the problem is really that people are looking at only granular parts of problems today and don't have enough historical context. Its useless to follow every story about everyone and every little thing. There are lots of ups and downs in politics and there's no reason to be so reactionary to every single new and probably manufactured "scandal".... that's what's exhausting. I like to keep updated on a few big issues, I follow the careers of a few people I find inspiring (and follow a few that do things that worry me), and spend the rest of the time reading up on topics in book form... they have the advantage of being written over time, and with more vigorous standards for accuracy. The news, while still important where immediate info is necessary, is essentially click bait now. You don't need to get caught in the rip tides that pull you everywhere constantly, just understand the general trajectory of the important things.

edit: to those curious about some book recommendations: I'm by no means an expert in anything really, and the books you read should really be about the topics you personally are interested in, so don't take my word as gospel (or any author's). I like American history, ancient history, international relations, and though I think they're more boring I force myself to read about the health care system and the American education system because I feel they're important. I'm also looking to read some books on the military industrial complex and cyber security/ big data because I don't really know anything about them other than the stuff I see in passing on the news or here on Reddit. So if anyone knows a good overview of those issues, feel free to let me know.

• For a good start on human history and the beginnings of modern economics/ intl relations (basically why the West has historically dominated), try Guns, Germs, and Steel I believe there's also a documentary if the book is too dense for your taste (it is pretty dense).
  
  
• Perhaps if you're interested in why people get so damn heated talking politics, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation
  
  
• If you wonder why people vote against their own social and economic interest: What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Full disclosure: I liked this book, but I lean left. I'm not sure if it matters, the point of the book is just to track how the Republican party went from being the party of elites, to the party of blue collar workers.
  
  
• If the Supreme Court interests you at all, I liked Jeffrey Toobin's, The Nine
  
  
• The achievement gap? Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria
  
  
• Health care? There's a lot, but this one is an easy read and it compares the systems of Britain, Japan, Germany, and I believe Cuba (which is very good for their GDP!) and the US's. The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid
  
  This is just some stuff I've listed off the top of my head. Another thing that I find helpful to better understanding intl relations are books about the major genocides of the past few decades, which are hard to get through (because of the brutal content) but... What is the What (Sudan), First they killed my father (Cambodian genocide), Girl at War (more of a autobiography, but still chilling) there's a couple of others I've read that I can't remember now.
  
  Anyway, just go to Good Reads and look at Contemporary Politics. Perhaps Great Courses has a political philosophy course too that you can draw from if you wanna go even farther back into the origins of society's structure and political thought.
  
  Also podcasts! I've just discovered these but there's a lot of audio content (FREE!) that you can listen to on your commute and whatnot. I like Abe Lincoln's Top Hat right now.
  
  Edit edit: wow thanks for the gold!!

>1 & 2: Settlements in Gaza were removed.

Unilaterally and with malicious intent. The West Bank is the prize. Dont take my word on it, [Take Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior adviser Dov Weisglass's] (http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/top-pm-aide-gaza-plan-aims-to-freeze-the-peace-process-1.136686)

>Clinton Peace Plan created a viable Palestinian State. Arafat walked away and started the 3rd Intifada.

Its really depressing having to explain things to people like you. Its like describing a jigsaw picture to someone where you can see all the parts but they only have half the parts. If you are an honest seeker of info please read this book.

Anyway, here's some more bits of the jigsaw for you
The Camp David talks continued without the US in Taba.

At the Taba summit (at Taba) in January 2001 talks continued based on the Clinton Parameters. The Israeli negotiation team presented a new map. The proposition removed the "temporarily Israeli controlled" areas from the West Bank which Arafat would not accept earlier, and the Palestinian side accepted this as a basis for further negotiation. However, Prime Minister Ehud Barak did not conduct further negotiations at that time; the talks ended without an agreement.

Barak walked from the table. Not Arfat. You write "Arafat walked away" This is wrong, Barak walked as rumors of his offers leaked and Sharon ran about screaming blue murder and Barak began to tank in the polls. The Palestinians wanted the talks to continue and had counter proposals. Here, the full story Promise me you'll read it. ( haha you won't)

This part was edited from the wiki article.

"Uri Avnery of the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom attributed the failure to Barak, claiming that[11]: "It was not Arafat who broke off the talks at this critical moment, when the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly visible to the negotiators, but Barak. He ordered his men to break off and return home."

I'll post the final words as there's no way you'll read the article, you've got all the info you need to be comfortable supporting Israel whatever may happen.

The breakdown is often attributed to the political circumstances posed by Israeli elections and changeover in leadership in the United States:They had run out of political time. They couldn't conclude an agreement with Clinton now out of office and Barak standing for reelection in two weeks. "We made progress, substantial progress. We are closer than ever to the possibility of striking a final deal," said Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's negotiator. Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator, said, "My heart aches because I know we were so close. We need six more weeks to conclude the drafting of the agreement."

Please note there is no "It was all Arfats fault" Please stop with that. Please start using your new found knowledge to help spread the message that they once saw the light at the end of the tunnel and any new settlement will look alot like the Taba proposals.

I'm in the middle of an amazing book that goes into great details about the current narrative and academic belief of Pre-Columbus Americas. It counters most common notions and really has some interesting points to back it up. The main one being that North and South America were not pristine wilderness lived in harmoniously with its people; it was actually very much so engineered by the hand of man to accommodate extremely large civilization centers. Some far greater than any European city at it's time.

It's really cool to hear how they piece together some of the political dramas of the Mayan culture based on their findings. From what I remember in the earlier chapters, part of the reason the Maya didn't need iron/bronze weapons was because their method of conquering was through assimilation and trade. They would provide surrounding city-states vast trade networks to gain wealth and knowledge, then redistribute populations around their giant network. Once a city became dependent on the income, the Maya would instate their own leadership into said town and slowly it would become Mayan.

If you're interested. Check it out 1491 by Charles Mann

> Can you read Chinese? If not here is the best recent reference of political intrigue within the CCP.

No, but I'm learning. I read Zhao Ziyang's book - Prisoner of the State.

> http://www.amazon.com/Party-Secret-Chinas-Communist-Rulers/dp/0061708771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302713651&sr=8-1

Hmm, his impression of the PRC is the same as mine

> Starred Review. McGregor, a journalist at the Financial Times, begins his revelatory and scrupulously reported book with a provocative comparison between China™s Communist Party and the Vatican for their shared cultures of secrecy, pervasive influence, and impenetrability. The author pulls back the curtain on the Party to consider its influence over the industrial economy, military, and local governments. McGregor describes a system operating on a Leninist blueprint and deeply at odds with Western standards of management and transparency. Corruption and the tension between decentralization and national control are recurring themes--and are highlighted in the Party's handling of the disturbing Sanlu case, in which thousands of babies were poisoned by contaminated milk powder. McGregor makes a clear and convincing case that the 1989 backlash against the Party, inexorable globalization, and technological innovations in communication have made it incumbent on the Party to evolve, and this smart, authoritative book provides valuable insight into how it has--and has not--met the challenge.

Couldn't have put it better on the problems of the PRC model, though I'm more sceptical it is reformable

> I really think you and everyone else who characterizes China as an expansionist power are completely ignoring the big picture.

Actually I don't go for a characterisation that is as simplistic as that. The PRC could evolve in a fairly benign way to a more liberal society able to compromise with its neighbours. However I don't believe that it is inevitable that will happen. I definitely don't believe that planet wide peace and Liberal Democracy is some sort of pre destined "End of History" along the lines of Fukuyama. It would be good if that were true and it is something to aim for not something we can count on.

I think that the PRC - like the USSR - is essentially enigmatic. The best way to deal with it is to contain it militarily to discourage adventurism until it liberalizes. Having said that I'd say the odds currently favour China liberalizing over turning into some metastasising tyranny like Japan and Germany did in the 30's. But if the PRC thought it could get away with expansionism I suspect that sooner or later leaders will be selected who will pursue that expansionism aggressively.

Even liberalisation is not a panacea - in many ways it opens up even more danger. Imagine in the economy collapsed and with it the CCP's legitimacy and a Fenqing party even more committed to reversing historic humiliations took over and restores a one party system. I.e. China could go from a predictable tyranny to anarchy and to a very unpredictable tyranny rather along the lines Germany did.

In an odd sort of way a Brezhnev-esque ossification of the system with the CCP firmly in control is actually a better bet for China's neighbours and rivals than liberalisation. Brezhnev may have invaded Afghanistan but he sure as hell wasn't going to invade Western Europe. In fact you probably need a fresh and virulent new tyranny to replace the CCP for China to turn expansionist.

Still that could happen - and I think it is in everyone's interests if any Chinese government knows that they will lose badly if they try to pick a fight with another country.

>Um... you realize that Jesus was Jewish, right?

umm yes? So? Consider:

"the very presence of the Jewish people in the world, continuing to believe in the faithfulness of God to the original covenant ... puts a great question against Christian belief in a new covenant made through Christ. The presence of this question, often buried deep in the Christian mind, could not fail to cause profound and gnawing anxiety. Anxiety usually leads to hostility"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Judaism_in_early_Christianity

>Have you ever read the Bible? At least the New Testament?

Yes. In great detail. Read it. Studied it. Read books ABOUT the New Testament. Did you?

Bottom line is: It's pretty anti-Semitic (some gospels more than others)

Here is a good book to get you started:

https://www.amazon.com/Antisemitism-New-Testament-Lillian-Freudmann/dp/0819192953

Seen that research too. Good stuff. Now back to our convo.

I linked to this book to try and say I agree with you in that it does happen, it's just that prohibition adds an unnecessary web to untangle to do so. For everyone of those that was actually published, many that could have been never even got off the ground.

As for the topic at hand, I do find the idea that restrictions on certain chemicals necessarily has completely prohibited researchers to be untrue. Many have come up with very interesting ways around the legal minefield to come to understand a myriad of functions of receptor systems that do a lot more than just get people high. That's just one of their many great abilities :P

As for research you were involved in....

First. All aboard the dopamine train, that sounds interesting.

But I digress. What I'm trying to say is that it was probably slightly less headaches for them to obtain the chemicals they needed than schedule I stuff. Not that they couldn't have pulled it off if they wanted to do research with cannabinoids or hallucinogenic tryptamine analogs if they wanted to. Just that it would have taken a bit more effort and slightly higher possibility that your efforts will be met with sadness.

...seriously though, I'm intrigued by the research you did. Just for sake of my curiosity, what exactly were you studying about said systems?

Edit: i made done better a sentence

I read your comment. Then I look at the username of the comment above you. My head explodes.

Seriously though: you are 100% right in what you are saying, but I hope people is not thinking "yeah exactly people are dumb... they just need to be told off, they will wake up, and everything will be fixed". This is as efficient as "fixing" mass shootings by giving weapons to the teacher.

It is all about how the human brain rewards our actions, and how that influences how we act and think. We are designed to prioritize an easy chuckle (low effort, high reward) over a "computationally expensive" thought (source: Thinking Fast And Slow).

You want to convince someone? Be short, be precise, know how the human brain works and don't fight against it.

Washington, in essence, declared war on Russia by facilitating "regime change" in Ukraine.

This formal declaration of US involvement in an active coup is more than enough to put the Russian Military on alert.

The chapters of "Killing Hope" by William Blum point to a certain "pattern" of US behavior in this regard;

China - 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Zedong just paranoid?

Italy - 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style

Greece - 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state

The Philippines - 1940s and 1950s: America's oldest colony

Korea - 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be?

Albania - 1949-1953: The proper English spy

Eastern Europe - 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor

Germany - 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism

Iran - 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings

Guatemala - 1953-1954: While the world watched

Costa Rica - Mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally - Part 1

Syria - 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government

Middle East - 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America

Indonesia - 1957-1958: War and pornography

Western Europe - 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts

British Guiana - 1953-1964: The CIA's international labor mafia

Soviet Union - Late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing

Italy - 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal's orphans and techno- fascism

Vietnam - 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus

Cambodia - 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism

Laos - 1957-1973: L'Armée Clandestine

Haiti - 1959-1963: The Marines land, again

Guatemala - 1960: One good coup deserves another

France/Algeria - 1960s: L'état, c'est la CIA

Ecuador - 1960-1963: A text book of dirty tricks

The Congo - 1960-1964: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba

Brazil - 1961-1964: Introducing the marvelous new world of death squads

Peru - 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle

Dominican Republic - 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy

Cuba - 1959 to 1980s: The unforgivable revolution

Indonesia - 1965: Liquidating President Sukarno … and 500,000 others

East Timor - 1975: And 200,000 more

Ghana - 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line

Uruguay - 1964-1970: Torture—as American as apple pie

Chile - 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child's forehead

Greece - 1964-1974: "Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution," said the President of the United States

Bolivia - 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d'état

Guatemala - 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized "final solution"

Costa Rica - 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally—Part 2

Iraq - 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work

Australia - 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust

Angola - 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game

Zaire - 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven

Jamaica - 1976-1980: Kissinger's ultimatum

Seychelles - 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance

Grenada - 1979-1984: Lying—one of the few growth industries in Washington

Morocco - 1983: A video nasty

Suriname - 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman

Libya - 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match

Nicaragua - 1981-1990: Destabilization in slow motion

Panama - 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier

Bulgaria 1990/Albania 1991: Teaching communists what democracy is all about

Iraq - 1990-1991: Desert holocaust

Afghanistan - 1979-1992: America's Jihad

El Salvador - 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington style

Haiti - 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?

Haha - my girlfriend keeps telling me to start a YouTube channel. Personally, I think she just wants me to rant around the house less lol. But I've been thinking about putting something together - the lovely response from Redditors when I post comments like this make me think it might have a chance to be a successful way of getting the message out.

But if you're interested in reading about this stuff here are a few books by the people with real talent who did all the investigative legwork that I'm just repeating:

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307947904/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_V2.xDbT0G7T9Q

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101980966/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_23.xDbQ9EHJR5

Unfortunately, I don't think it can be said with full context. But I'll try. You can get what the book is about here:
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506716249&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+money

Basically, the trust fund kids (koch brothers and other billionaires) are creating/funding think tanks that focuses on whatever means to add to their bottom line. They are willing to skewer education in the way that teaches limited government is good for business. However, when the bailout idea came, they gladly took it. So they're not really taking on any ideological side, but whatever is easy for them to gain more money.

The reason for this is because the Koch brothers were brought up in a very militaristic style parenting by their father.. who teaches you must do whatever means to win. They were pitted against each other in fights, games, etc. so they carry that determination in business as well, and it's causing harm in our political system and society because they have so much control of wealth and thus influence.


There's a lot more to this obviously, the book is really a must read.

It's weird you're asking for academic sources for someone's armchair analysis and opinion that politics are best handled moderately. It's not really a thesis. If you mean you'd like academic sources about how certain sides get popular votes because of backlash from the other party, and how party alignment can lead to incredible bias, well that's kind of common sense. But here are some interesting academic articles and books about the subject.


https://ed.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/party_over_policy.pdf


https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America/dp/080507774X


http://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS234/articles/bartels.pdf


http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/williamson/files/tea_party_pop.pdf


https://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS125/articles/pomper.htm

Like I said, weird psychology. I know it sounds crazy, but it happens, and, actually, people are capable of even more counterintuitive behavior than that.

If you're interested, I highly recommend this book. The human brain is not really wired to be all that rational or consistent. As long as things are coherent at a given moment in time, the brain is just fine with that.

This is why stuff like the big lie work.

My favorite book was a Norwegian one by Sidsel Wold - "The country that promised everything". https://spartacus.no/boker/landet-som-lovet-alt-104 Not available in English I believe.


Basically a journalist who was a huge Israel fangirl for decades (leader of Norwegian friends of Israel, went to several kibbutzes etc) and later it soured when she realized the amount of groupthink involved.


A lot of colorful detail about the various ethnicities internally in Israel and the various protopolitics from the first settlers to Russian jews "invading" Israel at the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as constant sideglances to the implications for Palestinians.

This one is pretty unbiased, albeit maybe a bit overly academic: https://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Israel-Colin-Shindler/dp/1107671779

I've followed Noam Chomskys talks and writings on Israel as well, although that is, of course, politically charged through and through. He doesn't lie though..

Good point. If you want to read about superior alien intelligence, check out http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199678111/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420566893&sr=8-1 Our civilization is currently giving birth to an intelligent life form beyond our imagination.

You might be interested in Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America, which is written by Dr. Leonard Glick (who is Jewish), a physician-turned-anthropologist.

The official description of the book reads thusly:

> Glick shows that Jewish American physicians were and continue to be especially vocal and influential champions of the practice which, he notes, serves to erase the visible difference between Jewish and gentile males. Informed medical opinion is now unanimous that circumcision confers no benefit and the practice has declined. In Jewish circles it is virtually taboo to question circumcision, but Glick does not flinch from asking whether this procedure should continue to be the defining feature of modern Jewish identity.

Indeed, circumcision really took root in the U.S. after the Jewish obstetrician Hiram S. Yellen and his Jewish inventor friend Aaron Goldstein invented the Gomco clamp in 1934-1935 and promoted it tireless in the medical journals in order to make a business out of circumcision.

The media/entertainment industry in the U.S., which has a large number of Jewish writers and directors and producers, has been very pro-circumcision.

you are, in fact, wrong. but if you are truly interested then you can further your education on this topic through reading relevant material. here: http://www.amazon.com/Durable-Peace-Israel-Place-Nations-ebook/dp/B002SRL3JA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408887391&sr=8-2&keywords=a+place+among+the+nations
note the massive amount of positive reviews, many from people who are anti israel and/or pro palestinian.
enjoy!

You could also read a book? Complaining that you know nothing and want to know more, then asking for Youtube videos on the subject is like saying you're starving then choosing to feast on a whole M&M.

Shindler's History of Modern Israel is a little dry (feel free to skim the intricacies of Israeli cabinet politics), but it covers the internal but public Israeli debates really well and explains why the Israelis continue to occupy the West Bank and Gaza as truthfully and even-handed as you can get in this subject. Joe Sacco's Palestine remains not just a landmark in comics twenty years after it was written but also the definitive account of the Palestinian experience under occupation, and the drudgery and oppression that go with being unfree in your own land. Both books will help you empathise, in different ways.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

Your arguments are so rampant with slippery slopes its effectively pointless to talk to you. Read the book above, how fucking naive do you have to be to consider things like Super PACs, Citizens United, lobbyists, etc. to consider it a "theory". You are clearly beside yourself, and I'm sorry you can't have a level headed discussion without hitting every emotional branch on the way down.

The best part is is that I've never advocated for not voting, an implication you are desperately clinging to.

The novel, by Julia Leigh, is also fantastic. Very sparsely written. I thought the film did a great job capturing the feeling of the book.

yes the best is to inform yourself well, I would recommend reading Infidel
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Sure about what?

EDIT: I purposely left out the part about the U.S. supporting Wahhabist movements. If you're really interested in that topic, I highly recommend this book.

Prince Bandar is obviously a very powerful person and as such, after 9/11 on 9/13 specifically, Prince Bandar :

>President Bush and Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the US, hold a private meeting at the White House. Vice President Cheney, National Security Adviser Rice, and Bandar’s aide Rihab Massoud also attend. [WOODWARD, 2006, PP. 80] Bandar is so close to the Bush family that he is nicknamed “Bandar Bush.” Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) later will note that while little is known about what is discussed in the meeting, mere hours later, the first flights transporting Saudi royals and members of the bin Laden family are in the air (see September 13, 2001). Over the next week, they will be taken to several gathering points, and then flown back to Saudi Arabia, apparently without first being properly interviewed by the FBI (see September 14-19, 2001). Graham will say, “Richard Clarke, then the White House’s counterterrorism tsar, told me that he was approached by someone in the White House seeking approval for the departures. He did not remember who made the request… The remaining question is where in the White House the request originated, and how.” Graham will imply that, ultimately, the request originated from this meeting between Bush and Bandar. [GRAHAM AND NUSSBAUM, 2004, PP. 105-107] Others also will later suggest that it was Bandar who pushed for and helped arrange the flights. [VANITY FAIR, 10/2003; FIFTH ESTATE, 10/29/2003

http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091301bushbandar

Immediately after the attacks Prince Bandar was already brokering a deal with President Bush to fly high-level Saudis out of the U.S. before hardly any of them can be interviewed and questioned. A book has been written about the Bush/Bandar relationship titled - House of Bush, House of Saud if you are interested in learning more about how the two families are entangled.... http://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396

A scenario where such an AI becomes arbitrarily intelligent and capable of interacting with the outside world isn't beyond the realm of consideration. If it's smart enough to outplan us, a superintelligent Go engine of the future whose primary function is "become better at Go" might cover the world in computer processors. Needless to say, that would be a hostile environment for us...though I imagine such a machine would be frightfully good at Go.

If you're interested in (much) more along these lines, I'd recommend Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom. I got it as an audio book, and it's thought provoking.

ok, good that you are researching

Here is a fantastic source: "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali , who came all the way from a Sudanese village trough genital mutilation and arranged marriage to Dutch parliament. She also did a movie Submission with Theo van Gogh who was butchered for this by a muslim

Any history text book ever and literally a quick google search would confirm what xboxmodscangostickit (sorry if I misspelled that) said but anyways if your really interested I recommend this book Guns, Germs, and Steel it goes into detail on why the native Americans did not develop technologically as much as Europe and how foreign diseases helped wipe them out. http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425368583&sr=8-1&keywords=Guns%2C+Germs%2C+and+Steel

They only admit what had already been evidenced by the way of declassified government documents. There are about 50 of such cases since WW2.

At this rate it's going to take a while until people realize that the US government overthrowing democracies in favor of dictatorships is the rule rather than the exception. In spite of rhetoric of "spreading freedom and democracy" what matters to tptb is whether a nation wants to play economic ball with the US on terms set by the US. (the same is true to a lesser degree for "the west" in general)

Killing Hope - U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II
http://www.amazon.com/KILLING-HOPE-William-Blum/dp/B007K517VE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope

Friendly Dictators
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

The point of a comment like the one I wrote is to make sure that some people who wouldn't read it go back and do so because it's important.

I guess to appease you I'll drop this Bill Moyers interview, which helps explain the longstanding unholy alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is the world's largest exporter of Wahhabism:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CGxYkSEJZy8

Relevant book, written by Craig Unger (the man interviewed by Moyers above):

https://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396

Or, and this is a bit more likely from my point of view, the claim that CEO salary is justified by performance is bunk since it's objectively difficult for any given human to assign a number to the performance of CEOs relative to their competition, and the group size of the people who do make such decisions is small enough that it can't lean on wisdom of the masses.

I'll admit this is mostly speculation (as is basically 100% of everything said in this thread that isn't a direct quote from the article) but I myself am pretty happy categorizing this as the same phenomenon that causes individual stock brokers to routinely lose to the market.

Most people are just bad at assigning numbers to something that involves so many variables (highly recommended relevant book).

Can you read Chinese? If not here is the best recent reference of political intrigue within the CCP.

http://www.amazon.com/Party-Secret-Chinas-Communist-Rulers/dp/0061708771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302713651&sr=8-1

Recent interviews with Chinese officials within that collection support the assertion that Hu Jintao faces stiff PLA opposition from within the military.

The Anti-secession law was absolutely meant to pacify the hawks within the PLA.

Think about the fact that that this administration has done to ensure the status quo. I really think you and everyone else who characterizes China as an expansionist power are completely ignoring the big picture.

They actually did another study on dmt (the active psychedelic in ayahuasca) at the university of New Mexico from 1990-95 where they synthesized pure dmt in a lab and gave over 400 various doses and placebos to nearly 5 dozen human volunteers. I've read the book and watched the documentary on Netflix (dmt: the spirit molecule) and it is very interesting if you have some time to look into it. You can find the book here DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/0892819278/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_iYm6wbA6J3V5V and the wiki link here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Strassman

I gave you a real answer.

>The one that calls itself a Jewish State. The one that says this state is for the {insert ethnic group here}

And i'll give you this last bit of attention in regard to your diversity shtick

>"In my heart, there was joy mixed with sadness: joy that the nations at last acknowledged that we are a nation with a state, and sadness that we lost half of the country, Judea and Samaria, and , in addition, that we [would] have [in our state] 400,000 [Palestinian] Arabs."

Those where the words of David Ben Gurion, Israel's first leader. Found in:
https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Victims-Zionist-Arab-Conflict-1881-2001/dp/0679744754

I've always found the relationship between the US and Saudi governments to be very fascinating, especially in light of modern concerns about terrorism and religious fundamentalism. I'd highly recommend the following books for people interested in getting a more in-depth understanding of Saudi Arabian history and US-Saudi relations and how it relates to and effects issues of oil, energy security, anti-communism, religious fundamentalism, and terrorism.

• Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004)
  
• Global Energy Security and American Hegemony (2010)
  
• Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring That Wasn't (2013)
  
• The Battle For Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power (2003)
  
• Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil (2011)
  
• Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (2006)

Very good point- I'm currently reading (or trying to read...) this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Superintelligence-Dangers-Strategies-Nick-Bostrom/dp/0199678111

I think you'd like it also.

Tip for the future. When linking amazon products click on the small share button on the right of the page. It gives you a link like so

http://amzn.com/080507774X

Two book recommendations:

Killing Hope - explores the United States' covert and overt operations globally, including crimes like Colombia and Guatemala.

Kill Anything That Moves - focuses specifically on Vietnam.

It's actually not an article, it's a discussion. You could just read the book the discussion is about, but that will take longer.

That being said, if you're willing to dismiss anything based solely on being from one source or another (even though there are plenty of alternative sources for you to Google), then you're not really interested in learning anything, you're just keeping yourself in the echochamber you're already comfortable with. That's fine, but don't get all high-and-mighty and pretend that makes you some arbitrator of what's reasonable and what is not. It just means you're narrow-minded.

Just finished reading 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. You would like that book if you haven't already read it. It describes Islam as it actually is and not how many of us would like it to be.

There so many other factors. If you want to feel superior, you'll find some reason to. But that doesn't mean it's objectively correct. You may need to do some reading on the subject of why those cultures are "better" than others. You'll probably find it has absolutely nothing to do with the color of people's skin. Try reading this. It's a book about why cultures are the way they are.

Sorry for comment jacking but this is a real good book that talks about these labor camps and how the regime works.

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Loving-Care-Fatherly-Leader/dp/0312322216

Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader by Bradley K. Martin has it all. A long but gripping read.

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

This book, I can't think of where without it in front of me atm :(

There are some really interesting things about the Amazon in it, I highly recommend it.

>You've not mentioned the sources of your quotes, and you did so for a reason -- all of these quotes are from "jewsagainstzionism" and other hate-sites.

Ah, the old "You're an anti-Semite" argument. Very credible peaker.

I'd like to point you to this because I was the ONLY one in that whole thread that commented on these terrible photos, the holocaust is an event I hope will never happen again to anyone, including the Jews, Romani, Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and civilians, Polish, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses and other political and religious opponents. Unlike you, I have learned from the injustices of the past. I will be the first one to speak out against any of these things if they were to happen today. To dilute the meaning of such an event by overusing the claim of anti-antisemitism is not only not good for you, but for everyone else.

I cited Benny Morris several times in there. Benny Morris is a well know, respected Israeli author.

Here's the source for the first quote
http://www.amazon.com/America-Founding-Israel-Investigation-Morality/dp/0964515709
http://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Victims-Zionist-Arab-Conflict-1881-2001/dp/0679744754


Yosef Weitz quotes are all legitimate.

Archaeologists are finding increasing evidence that large portions of the Amazon are, to a certain extent, man-made. 1491 discusses these finds and I highly recommend the book if you like popular history reading.

Edit: People destroy things, the only that changes is the scale of the damage.

Everyone thinks this. Everyone. That they are above being influenced by something as minor as free things. The problem is that everyone IS influenced by it, in subtle and hard-to-detect ways.

Thinking: Fast and Slow has a great section on this, particularly on why lobbying works so well even though individual politicians tend to think it has no effect on their decisions.

I just finished this book and she describes it in gory detail. But then she grew up in Somalia. So your map checks out. Thanks.

A good entry level book on your question: http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552

That isn't entirely accurate. I suggest you read the book "Infadel" by Ayaan-Hirsi-Ali where she describes the cultural motivations of her grandmother when she underwent FGM, against the will of her father. All too often FGM is characterized as men's attempts to control women's sexuality, when that is fairly inaccurate. It is largely done, just as male circumcision in the US, as a form of social conformity. She even describes how other girls would call her names (kintirleey) because she had not been mutilated. Liken unto such name calling in the USA, "anteater dick", for example.

Ultimately, both procedures appear to most often be motivated by a form of elitism, where the mutilated person is placed above the intact person in some way or another. In her case, she described mutilated girls as being made "pure", while in the USA uncircumcised men are stereotyped as "dirty".

"Political Islam" is a philosophy that grew in the 2nd half of the 20th century on Western money and influence so western big business could prevent that part of the world from becoming socialist and tap their economies, and it is quite separate from the religion. I highly recommend reading this book to educate yourself on the issue

https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Game-Unleash-Fundamentalist-American/dp/0805081372

You should read 1491. You'll drop the romanticism of a mystic native culture quickly.

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Everyone should read the book 1491 by Charles Mann! He talks about this a lot. There is actually already a significant amount of evidence that the hypothesis humans came across the Bering Strait and migrated southward during the Ice Age is not correct. There were some people that crossed the Bering Strait but some evidence in the past couple decades has been tending to show that the people that crossed tended to stay up there, and the people that made it farther south got there by other means.

For one, the speed of it is implausible because during the Ice Age most of Canada was covered in massive glaciers that early humans would not have been able to traverse. There was a melting period where it would have been traversable, but this was only for a few hundred years (if I remember the numbers correctly). It takes much longer than that for populations to permanently migrate. Archaeologically speaking, that amounts to a sprint southward, and there is no apparent reason why they would have pushed so far south so fast. There is also a curious dearth of archaeological evidence of human presence to be found along the proposed routes.

For another thing, the language evidence is consistent the Bering Strait crossers staying up north. The language of present day native peoples of the far North seem much more distantly related, or not even part of the same language family as those of more southern native peoples.

And there is also the fact that OPs post is not the first time archaelogoists have found evidence of human presence inconsistent with the Bering Strait hypothesis.

If I remembered more specifics I would say them but my friend has borrowed the book from me. But everyone should read this book!

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

While I agree that there is discrimination; however, by law people in most western countries are equal. However, many cultures have a patriarchal society that even when they immigrate to a society that by law women and men are equal their cultural traditions trump this. I just finished the book infidel about a woman that immigrated to the Netherlands from Somalia and she explains how women have the same rights as men in Netherlands but it is the Islamic patriarchal culture that keeps women from being equal actors in the dutch society. Also, the utopian society you speak of in a few decades will only be achieved in this kind of world which I believe is next to impossible to achieve.

The biggest reason is that the two families have business links.

Great book to get started with that doesn't fall into the conspiracy tropes.

https://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396

You all realize this is a "conspiracy theory" right?

I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying that if you think this story sounds plausible you are a "conspiracy theorist."

But as long as we are conspiracy theorizing may I recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463158766&sr=1-1&keywords=house+of+bush+house+of+saud

Can we be honest for once and admit 9/11 did help the neo-cons. They are the single group that clearly benefitted from the event. Can we start being adults and admit that dismissing something as "conspiracy theory" is beyond asinine.

Edit: Now if you really want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes read this:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september112012/cia-911-visas-tk.php

It is a US Consulate-turned-whistleblower that claims that he was ordered to give visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers. Visas that would've otherwise been denied. What the fuck?

Read the book..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1400032059?pc_redir=1408504945&robot_redir=1

Read Dark Money

You need to read a book;

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Loving-Care-Fatherly-Leader/dp/0312322216

http://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396

right on the money, it's their responsibility also. Rarely do they go to the root of why they tolerate this shit

recommended: Infidel

Part of Trump's calculus for running was wanting to create a new political dynasty.

The Trumps (and Kushners) been moving in the same circles as the Clintons and Bushes for many years, and had probably heard about the House of Bush and House of Saud relationship.

It wouldn't surprise me if Trump and Kusher were stupid and arrogant enough to think they could replicate what took the Bush dynasty several generations of political corruption to set up, but to do it all in Trump's first year in office.

B'Tselem:

"According to the last official estimate, some 23,000 Palestinians were interrogated by the GSS between 1987 and 1994. According to the experience of B'Tselem and other human rights organisations, it is very rare indeed that the GSS interrogates Palestinians without using at least some of the methods described below."


First Intifada

"Righteous Victims" by Benny Morris