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Taliban shoot Pakistani schoolgirl campaigning for peace

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  • #31
    I am not calling anybody "aliens". What I refer to as alien is the mindset that declares the execution of a young girl to be a moral imperative.

    Raise a Taliban child in any other setting, they'd not grow up to be what we've seen of them in the last decade or three.

    The more important part of my post, I believe, is in our future response, if any. We respect moral behavior in others. When faced with something different, we do in fact respond in kind, in "their language." The spectrum of behavior during WW2 varied wildly between Western and Eastern Fronts, and the Pacific.

    I believe instead of building dams and medical clinics, we should have focused a bit more on another "style" of war.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Chogy View Post
      I am not calling anybody "aliens". What I refer to as alien is the mindset that declares the execution of a young girl to be a moral imperative.
      Again, not that long ago, a Western civilization was sending little girls to gas chambers. More recently, a Western civilization was sending women and children out to freeze and starve during winter.

      Originally posted by Chogy View Post
      The more important part of my post, I believe, is in our future response, if any. We respect moral behavior in others. When faced with something different, we do in fact respond in kind, in "their language." The spectrum of behavior during WW2 varied wildly between Western and Eastern Fronts, and the Pacific.
      The Western Front of the ETO was a war of technology and technique ... of which the Germans were badly outmatched but it was just as bloody and no less barbaric than the Russian Front. The Western Front had their share of concentration camps.

      Originally posted by Chogy View Post
      I believe instead of building dams and medical clinics, we should have focused a bit more on another "style" of war.
      Even the Soviets during their Afghan War could not stomach ordering their soldiers to collect 300 heads each.
      Last edited by Officer of Engineers; 19 Oct 12,, 18:14.

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      • #33
        Originally posted by Chogy View Post
        I believe instead of building dams and medical clinics, we should have focused a bit more on another "style" of war.
        In a similar vein I recall Mihais earlier comments about the Mongols.

        Then i think Mongols wanted to build an empire whereas that isn't the case today.

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        • #34
          Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
          Read here what all the politicians are saying and then see this tonight from Australia. Wow, she really lit into him.

          The speech every woman should hear - CNN.com
          One of the most stunning piece of hypocrisy ever. Gillards support of Peter Slipper was unconditional despite his abuse of both women and gay men, his sexual harassment and his constant thievery.
          In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

          Leibniz

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          • #35
            Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
            Again, not that long ago, a Western civilization was sending little girls to gas chambers. More recently, a Western civilization was sending women and children out to freeze and starve during winter.
            And the vast majority of Western civilization burned that civilization down to the ground for doing so. And we place that civilization in the same category as the Taliban.
            “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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            • #36
              Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
              And the vast majority of Western civilization burned that civilization down to the ground for doing so.
              Actually, only two. Anglo-Saxon and a Slavic and the Slavic was at a civil war also. The rest of the West was surprisingly neutral and at least sentimentally siding with Nazi Germany. Argentina comes to mind.

              And if not for two Asiatic civilizations (Turkic and South Asian), we would have been hard pressed to drive Germany from the field.

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              • #37
                Gordon Brown joins the cause

                Malala Yousafzai's courage can start new movement for global education | Guardian | Oct 24 2012

                Less than two weeks after being left for dead by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai is standing up on her own two feet.

                Her remarkable progress, reported by doctors at the specialist unit of a brilliant hospital that I know well – Queen Elizabeth, in Selly Oak, Birmingham – reveals yet another dimension of the courage and resilience of the world's most famous 14-year-old girl.

                Today, signatures on the Malala petition – led by the UN education envoy site, Avaaz, Women of the World and others, and reached on iammalala.org – are approaching 1m. The petition calls for action to ensure every girl has a place at school in Pakistan and around the world. It is directed to Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, and to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

                I will present the petition to the president during a trip to Pakistan on 10 November, a month after Malala's shooting. This day has been designated as a global day of action for Malala – and I'm calling on you to make your voice heard in support of this amazing young woman and in support of the cause that she championed.

                Malala's story, portrayed in a film on educationenvoy.org, is being told around the world. Footage of her in tears explaining that she wants to be a doctor but is unable to go to school has understandably captured the imagination of girls everywhere.

                Not just the British people, who are offering the best specialist medical care, but the whole world is wishing Malala well. Determined to ensure that their message is heard at the highest levels of the Pakistani government, the campaign is being supported by friends of Malala, who are wearing "I am Malala" T-shirts across Asia and in the west.

                Malala is being adopted as every child's sister and every parent's daughter. For one Malala shot and temporarily silenced, there are now thousands of younger Malalas ready to come forward who will not be silenced.

                We may not yet be seeing a 2012 Asian equivalent of an Arab youth revolt, but the spontaneous wave of protests demonstrates that children are more assertive of their right to education than the leaders who promised to deliver it. Indeed, the protests reveal a world no longer willing to tolerate the gap between the promise of opportunity for all and the reality of 61 million boys and girls shut out from even the most basic primary schooling.

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                • #38
                  It is still disputed whether Mr. Edmund Burke actually spoke (or penned) the words "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Please remember that this is not my personal quote. I'd have changed the word "men" to "people.) Regardless of who may (or may not) have said it, I do believe it rings true.

                  & if this is indeed the case, now that it has been brought to our attention, shouldn't we (the "people) share some of the blame for not taking a more active role in correcting the situation?

                  Reading the quote from Double Edge above, the lines "Malala is being adopted as every child's sister and every parent's daughter. For one Malala shot and temporarily silenced, there are now thousands of younger Malalas ready to come forward who will not be silenced." has caused me to view the old adage of "The children are our future." in a new light. Let us hope that we can help bring about positive change more quickly, such that these "younger Malalas" won't have to correct this themselves, & can then live in a better world.

                  But alas, what others have said previously is true--that we cannot hoist our way of life onto anyone else. They must find their own destinies. We all suffer the consequences of our own decisions...
                  If you know the enemy and yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. - Sun Tzu

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