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Comment Re:Was this supposed to be a review, or... (Score 1) 100

When we don't pay attention to wars on the other side of the world, those wars end up finding us.

Historically, many countries have tried the "build a big wall and ignore the rest of the world" strategy. The Siege of Tyre, the Siege of Constantinople, pre-WW2 France, etc. That doesn't mean attacking Iran was the right idea at this time.

Peace is the idea we should work towards. You have to accept the world as it is, without giving up your ideals. That means trying to solve the problems (in this case, the problem is "war exists and the reasons are complicated." You must analyze and understand the reasons or the problem won't be solved).

Comment Re:clown show (Score 0) 152

If they can't do something simple and popular like get rid of daylight saving's time they probably can't do anything like balance the budget.

If politicians produce a balanced budget, they will either increase taxes or cut benefits.

If politicians do either of those things, they will be voted out of office.

We have the politicians we deserve (collectively).

Comment Re:Did it really work? (Score 3, Interesting) 20

Kyoto university rushed into stem cell research after it got banned in the US, thinking it would give them an advantage in research.

After two decades, it didn't come up with much, and research funding is drying up. This looks like an attempt to "save face" by at least getting one drug on the market, even if it doesn't end up with a Nobel as they had hoped, even if no one ever prescribes it.

Kyoto University is often called "the Harvard of Japan," and it matches since both of them are more interested in politics than in solving problems or knowledge.

Comment Re:Yeah, whatever (Score 1) 112

That seems like an important question. It seems there are two parts, "was Iran complying with JCPOA?" and "was JCPOA sufficient to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons?" Wikipedia doesn't seem to clarify, although after reading through the Wikipedia article, I do have more respect for the JCPOA. It seems like they were basically complying, but did not release all information relating to prior nuclear programs. That seems like a minor issue though. It's very clear that Saudi Arabia has been pushing just as hard as Israel (if not harder than Israel) to attack Iran.

Going back to the question of whether they were trying to build nuclear weapons, it appears that until 2003 they were trying to build them. Iran has multiple power centers. It appears some of the power centers were trying to build nuclear weapons, and some weren't. In particular the IRGC really wanted to build them. Khamenei did not want to build them.

The compromise they ended up with was the IRGC built deep bunkers and infrastructure as if they were preparing for war, but did not actually use them to build the nuclear weapons they were intended for.

Comment Re:Yeah, whatever (Score 1) 112

If I remember right, under Bush the argument went like this:

1) "Iraq is supporting terrorists!" Nobody believed it.
2) "Iraq is trying to build nuclear weapons!" Almost nobody believed it. There were some aluminum tubes transferred.
3) "Iraq is trying to get weapons of mass destruction!" Almost no one believed it.
4) "The president has secret information that he can't tell us!" 60% of the population (especially congress) believed it, because 9/11.

In the end it turned out that the Soviets prevented America from deposing Saddam during Desert Storm, so Jr decided to finish the job when the Soviets left.

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