Comments on: Winner of the Week – 13 September 2015: The Free World https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/ My take on our world Tue, 15 Sep 2015 19:00:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 By: paxton marshall https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5110 Tue, 15 Sep 2015 19:00:09 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5110 Thanks Heather. It’s refreshing to see a realistic, confident analysis of the progress of freedom, when all the fearmongers of the world are saying we are doomed if we don’t wage war against Islam. As you and your commenters acknowledge, we still have plenty to work on in our own countries to secure justice and equal opportunities for all, without trying to remake other countries who are not as far along the road to freedom as we are.

]]> By: Heather Hastie https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5054 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 23:37:10 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5054 In reply to Ken.

Thanks Ken – I saw this at the time, but had forgotten it. I recommend people check this link out.

I’ve updated the start of the article now. I hope I can get the post finished before the day is out. There are still some places on the planet where it’s Sunday!

]]> By: Heather Hastie https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5052 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 22:59:43 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5052 In reply to AU.

I remember when the one came out that had NZ at #1 in the world when they aggregated all sorts of data. It made me think, “If we’re #1, imagine how bad everyone else is.”

I agree with your assessment of the USA too. It’s no wonder the voter turnout there is so low – no feels like they have any influence on who gets elected.

]]> By: AU https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5047 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 21:46:13 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5047 UK@number 16 on the full democracy index? We don’t even have an elected Head of State, how on earth can anyone say we are a democracy?

USA a democracy? Hardly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

]]> By: Ken https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5037 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 08:50:40 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5037 In reply to Heather Hastie.

Not to delay you further, but I just came across this translated “letter to America” from bin Laden in 2002. It would seem relevant to your posts.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver

]]> By: Heather Hastie https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5034 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:57:39 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5034 In reply to Max Wallace.

You’re right – there’s still a lot to be fixed. I usually watch Question Time in parliament on TV, and I cringe every time the opening prayer is said. It’s embarrassing we still do that.

]]> By: Ken https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5033 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:54:59 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5033 In reply to Heather Hastie.

Cheers, Heather. Look forward to the next post.

]]> By: Max Wallace https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5032 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:18:23 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5032 To get a more complete reading of a nation’s democracy, the first separation of powers – separation of church and state – should be taken into account. In Norway, the Lutheran church is the official religion of the state. How democratic is that? In NZ
* there is no constitution, hence there is –
* no constitutional separation of church and state
* the head of state is the Supreme Governor of a major religious tradition
* the parliament opens with Christian prayer
* the national anthem is ‘God Save New Zealand’
* knighthoods, which are a throwback to an old religious ritual, have been reinstated
* the flag, with its Christian crosses in the Union Jack will probably go, but not because it’s a Christian emblem
* the state funds religious schools
* the state funds Schools of Theology in universities, training priests
* all religious organisations are tax-exempt i.e. they are funded by all citizens, including the 43% who said they had no religion at the 2013 census
Conclusion: NZ is a soft theocracy. The government/academia/the media keep up a pretence that this is not so. It’s much the same in Australia and elsewhere.

]]> By: Heather Hastie https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5031 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:06:38 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5031 In reply to Ken.

I’m currently writing the Worry of the Week, which is going very slowly, and may not make it out until tomorrow, but that’s where I’m tackling that part of the story. I’ve just downloaded the first 12 issues of Inspire, and the post is about those and Issue 14, which was released this week. It’s clear from Inspire that the #1 goal is, as you say, to destabilize the Middle East. Their goal is the Jerusalem, and to provoke Armageddon. You’re completely correct in your criticism. I usually release these posts in tandem, but things aren’t going so well, and I didn’t explain things very well in that first post. I need to re-write it a bit probably. Sorry – I’ve stuffed up a bit. I also changed what I was writing about in this post half way through, so I’ve probably done a bad job of the editing as well, and I’m getting both posts mixed up in my head. That’s all a bit mixed up, but I’ll sort it out in the end.

I decided on the two Sunday posts to make sure I wrote something at least one a week, but this week I’ve done a couple, and I’m finding doing two more today a bit beyond my limits.

]]> By: Ken https://www.heatherhastie.com/winner-of-the-week-13-september-2015-the-free-world/#comment-5029 Sun, 13 Sep 2015 01:34:57 +0000 https://www.heatherhastie.com/?p=1321#comment-5029 Heather, there’s plenty here that I have no issue with, but your starting point that the goal of al Qaeda with 9/11 was to spread Islam around the world just isn’t true. Robert Fisk documented in his discussions with bin Laden three reasons for his turning against the US:
– support for Israeli oppression of Palestinians
– sanctions in Iraq that killed more than a million people
– US troops stationed in Saudi holy lands

More specifically, he told Fisk his intent in attacking the US on 9/11 was to create an over-response in the Mid-East so large that it would destabilise and topple “corrupt Arab govts” like Saudi.

Judged against this criteria, the action was logical, if not fully successful. It was by no means a complete failure though. First, there is no doubt that the predicted over-reaction occurred. Second, the region has been severely destabilised as shown by the rise of Daesh and the refugee crisis. The main thing bin Laden didn’t achieve is toppling the Saudi dictatorship.

I’ve made all these points on your blog in the past and you’ve never countered them. Yet now you claim it was only about religion. What gives?

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