Politics and Islam in UK

[zorkan]

Prime Minister speech from yesterday.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/01/extremists-trying-to-tear-us-apart-says-rishi-sunak-in-impromptu-no-10-speech

The Guardian is a leftist newspaper.

[Tank]

[zorkan]

He should have auditioned for Cats.
When the latest Member of Parliament met Saddam Hussein this is what he said.

George Galloway told Saddam Hussein: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability ... I can honestly tell you that there was not a single person to whom I told I was coming to Iraq and hoping to meet with yourself who did not wish me to convey their heartfelt, fraternal greetings and support."

[Asmodean]

George Galloway told Saddam Hussein: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability ... I can honestly tell you that there was not a single person to whom I told I was coming to Iraq and hoping to meet with yourself who did not wish me to convey their heartfelt, fraternal greetings and support."

Yeah, but did he want something? Because that sounds remarkably ass-kissy, even for a British politician.

[zorkan]

Galloway sworn in as MP yesterday.
I wonder if they asked him about his tribute to Saddam Hussein?

https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/IraqCoverage/story?id=2761722&page=1

Amazing what you can get away with in the name of religion.

[zorkan]

Extremism discussed in Parliament today, specifically aimed at Muslims who want to undermine the UK democracy that has been built up in the last 100 years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-strengthens-approach-to-counter-extremism#:~:text=Extremism%20is%20the%20promotion%20or,democracy%20and%20democratic%20rights%3B%20or

[billy rubin]

not everybody over there is enthusiastic about the how the UK has ruled the region for the last 100 years.

just sayin.

[zorkan]

Irish independence gained in 1921.
Queen Elizabeth born 1926.

So what is it you are referring to?

[billy rubin]

i lived in britain during tbe troubles.

i am referring to the conflict between all irish and their colonizers. the imprisonment of citizens for as long as eight years without charges or trial. assassinations, gun battles in tbe streets.

we could also refer to the british slaughter at amritsar. the tortures and death in kenya during the mau mau. the concentration camps during the malay emergency. the hostility to the royal family during their recent visit to their former colonies in the caribbean.

and on and on. UK democracy has a very checkered history over the last 100 years that is worth remembering. america is no better and may be much worse very soon.

[Asmodean]

...And yet The Empire(tm) was also the mover of progress.

It's a bit like the more-recent Soviet Union. While most were happy to see it burn, a lot of people starved when it did. I think it's perfectly fine to gloat about the one as long as one does not hand-waive the other.

Few stories are their surface-level buzzwords - and those that are, are usually the stories not worth their listeners' time.

[zorkan]

i lived in britain during tbe troubles.

i am referring to the conflict between all irish and their colonizers. the imprisonment of citizens for as long as eight years without charges or trial. assassinations, gun battles in tbe streets.

we could also refer to the british slaughter at amritsar. the tortures and death in kenya during the mau mau. the concentration camps during the malay emergency. the hostility to the royal family during their recent visit to their former colonies in the caribbean.

and on and on. UK democracy has a very checkered history over the last 100 years that is worth remembering. america is no better and may be much worse very soon.

Okay, I do get the point.
Raise a glass for the IRA.

https://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/troubles/troubles_stats.html

Killing in the name of Christ. That's why I'm atheist.

[billy rubin]

ireland is a special kind of mess.

[zorkan]

Ireland was the only nation that never persecuted the Jews having never let them in. Old jokes are the best.

In the case of the great moral USA.
Vietnam War Casualty Estimates:
U.S. troops   58,220
North Vietnamese troops   1.1 million
South Vietnamese troops   200,000 - 250,000
Vietnamese civilians   2 million

[billy rubin]

that leaves out the cambodians and laotians, who are still dying from vintage american cluster bomblets.

iirc the conservative estimate for viet cong mia is 250,000.

we had no business being there and did nothing but damage. like invading iraq the second time which only created isis and removed the main counterbalance to iran.

[billy rubin]

i remember when we bombed cambodia to try to disrupt the ho chi minh trail. a peaceful adjacent nation with no power to extricate itself from either hanoi or washington.

nixon kept the bombing secret from the american public, but i was living in southeast asia, and pictures of the little pineapple cluster bomblets were all over the straits times. those anti personell bomblets are still there, still killing people every day.

our contribution to world peace. along with my lai.