Life has intervened on blogging for the last couple of days. Posting should resume with some degree of regularity from this afternoon/evening.
Apologies go out to my regular readers.
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No problem. Your lack of posting kept your post about me near the top sending a steady stream of readers to my blog.
People are funny. It was easy to tell those that came to my blog hating me to begin with. A good example was my post on a movie being made about the fight for Iwo Jima during WWII. The main actor in the movie, Ken Watanabe made the comment that the Japanese could learn from the movie and it could help them to accept the past.
I wrote, “I never thought of a movie as being able to help the Japanese accept their wartime past, but actor Ken Watanabe seems to think it might be the case.”
Pretty straight forward I think. I thought it was a bit much to think a movie was going to do what Ken says it will, but hey, we’ll look at it. At the end of my post I say that even without this happening, I’ll be interested to watch it.
So, what do you think the response was from a reader filled with hate and rage who, I must assume, thinks I’m the devil incarnate ready to drop bombs on Japan, rape their women and enslave their children? This guy goes off on what a complete idiot I am, how moronic I am to think a movie about WWII could affect Japanese citizens. He tells me how full of hatred I must be to think that the Japanese didn’t know their past without this movie and how, despite my claims otherwise, I loath Japan. He spends a few more paragraphs berating me for my ignorance and, of course, hatred for everything Japanese and in the end saying how sick I made him.
Pretty amazing considering all I said was it looked like an interesting movie and whether or not the ACTOR’S view was right or wrong, it should be fun to watch. His comment gave me a chuckle before I deleted it. Oh, yes, I delete rude comments for anyone curious as to why their diatribe is no longer there.
I really wish people would actually read what I post before excoriating me for my obvious hatred of everything Japanese. I mean, come on, at least save your vitriol for a post of mine that comes even close to showing in some way how I hate Japan. *sigh*
Better yet, understand that I don’t hate Japan, I just hate the current regime, the resurgence of nationalism, the acceptance of Yasukuni in its current form, the refusal to atone for the past and a few other things. The average Japanese person is just fine in my book. Gorgeous scenery, an amazing history (minus a few nasty decades), an incredible culture, an unbelievable work ethic, a fascinating language and many other commendable and wonderful things make up what I like about Japan. Why don’t I post about those things? Because that is what 99.999999% of blogs about Japan post about.
I could write a bunch more here, but hey, that’s why I have a blog.
Will be good to have you posting more again Sir Marmot!
This really upsets me as an American to see this kind of backlash from Koreans university student protesters given the U.S. military base relocation. What these people ought to be protesting is the cruel and inhuman treatment they suffered under the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians — and be demanding retributions — NOT GIVING THE HAND THAT FEEDS & PROTECTS YOU A HARD TIME OVER A MILITARY BASE. Open your eyes Korea, unification is not possible without American help.
If Americans had NOT given their lives to defend the Korean peninsula, South Koreans would have been living under a Russian-Chinese communist regime for the last 50 years. This makes me SICK, and a real slap in the face to my relatives that gave their lives to defend Korea! The NEW American military base is a mud pit for God’s sake.
Let’s put the blame squarely where it belongs for this mess, on the shoulders of Japan, China and Russia. The “evil” American empire has been extremely supportive and helpful to South Koreans. The U.S. ought to pull out of Korea and let it fall to communism. We ought to boycott their products, and ban their imports too. You’d think that after TWO COLONIZATION attempts by Japan, the Korean’s memory would be a bit better than it is apparently… maybe there needs to be more footage of North Korean life living under a communist regime to OPEN THEIR EYES. Or, simply depict how Koreans are treated under communist regimes in modern Russia or China. Hell, how about the way Koreans are treated in modern Japan?
These protesters, are mostly university students according to reports, it pains me to think this is the best Korea can produce for its future leadership. At least I can NOW CLEARLY UNDERSTAND why Koreans don’t even want to live in Korea.
America, just like any other country at war, did not fight for the prosperity of another country but rather for their own. They did fight against Chinese and Russians, but not because they loved the Koreans, but to have control over the area and not let the commies control the area. If you really think that US fought for only Koreans welfare , then I suppose you also think that they invaded Iraq to bring democracy to the country. Every country has a duty towards its citizen and towards only them.
Just an example – look up the Bangladesh liberation war. West Pakistan committed genocide on the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) when a party from the East won the elections. But US did nothing since they viewed West Pakistan as an ally to thwart China in the region .US infact went on to help Pakistan and even threatened India when India intervened.
To suggest that US soldiers lost their lives for Koreans out of the goodness of their heart and that Korea should be somehow indebted to US is nonsense.
It’s true that the U.S. did not defend Korea out of pure altruism — who would seriously claim it did to begin with? The upshot however is that S. Korea is a democracy and the world’s 11th-largest economy, and it stands among other major nations in the OECD. So half the peninsula has prospered, and the past is finished. That’s the way it goes–the future is much more important for Korea right now.
Remort, the people who are demonstrating in Pyongtaek against the base are the deluded hardcore “leftists,” and are a relative minority in the country.
The issue is not that America has helped Korea and Koreans are not grateful. The issue is that the war ended 50 years ago, yet America is STILL in Korea and that’s very annoying!
When a crook enters your house, and the sheriff comes to your rescue and scared the crook away, you are of course grateful. If the sheriff decides to stay with you for a few more hours so that you can sleep through the rest of the night, you are even more thankful. However, this particular sheriff decides to stay with you for not a few more days, not a few more months, but a few more years. This is despite the crook having not made any more attempts to enter your house, despite that he is already DEAD.
Would you not be annoyed at this sheriff if after he came to help you, he starts invading your privacy by never leaving your house?
If a sheriff stayed at my house like that, I’m going to be so ticked off at him that I’ll grab my stick and chase after that sheriff to get him to go, even if he had at one point saved me from that crook. He has simply became really annoying by invading my space and creating unrealistic danger scenarios.
The proper way for a sheriff to do his job, is to get the job done and go home. Not get the job done and stay at the victim’s home.
The man who started the Korean War, Kim Il Sung has been dead for more than 12 years. There has been no wars since the Armistice was signed in the 50s. Yet, the sheriff is still staying in the Korean house. The sheriff never leaves. He has an issue about letting go.
The mission is complete. South Korea is today a strong nation. It is under no threat of any realistic invasion from the North. Let the Koreans work this out themselves and get the hell out of the place before more people get annoyed. They already built a statue at Incheon to remember your contribution. If you don’t get the hell out soon, they’ll be so annoyed they’ll take that statue down.
The sheriff is also on duty in Saudi Arabia. He went there to protect Saudi Arabia in the even of an attack by Saddam Hussein. Now that Saddam Hussein is gone, the sheriff is suppose to withdraw his troops from Saudi Arabia. I’m putting my bet that he will not. He’ll stay in Saudi Arabia for a long long long time.
I try not to argue with people who clearly do not know anything about which they write, but for shits and giggles, let me ask whether you believe whether the lack of wars since the 1953 amistice and the fact that the “sheriff” was still in the South Korean house are in any way related.
Coincidentally, it’s not just the sheriff who has “issues” about letting go. And his “issues” are really quite small compared to the burglary victim, who had, has and probably will have for some time serious issues about letting go. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself why the Roh administration would crack skulls to enforce the Pyongtaek base move. And they’re the anti-American party.
Yo, M-F in da house! What up? How’s the weather in San Diego, 72 degrees and sunny as usual?
You know, I don’t see any starving North Koreans in Escondido, so there must not be any…Horton Plaza is a peaceful shopping mall now, so it doesn’t need police patrols…I got extra guacamole on my fish taco, so China is a democracy….
Ah, the simple life in SoCal.
“To suggest that US soldiers lost their lives for Koreans out of the goodness of their heart and that Korea should be somehow indebted to US is nonsense. They did fight against Chinese and Russians, but not because they loved the Koreans, but to have control over the area and not let the commies control the area. If you really think that US fought for only Koreans welfare, then I suppose you also think that they invaded Iraq to bring democracy to the country. Every country has a duty towards its citizen and towards only them.”
This is EXACTLY what I am suggesting. We were certainly not obligated to fight. Just because South Korea was under the U.N. protection, the U.S. could have voluntarily exited from the organization. It’s no secret, Americans didn’t want another war after WWII. The fact of the matter is, the communist leadership DID NOT BELIEVE America would go to war for South Korea. At the time of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces, the Korean peninsula was in absolute chaos. The very opportunistic Russians thought it would be a simple land-grab — just like the Russian incorrect thinking about Japan. There’s no way in hell after Americans died to stop German nazism and Japanese fascism, was America going to stand for communistic aggression. If Truman wasn’t such a pussy by recalling MacArthur for political reasons, Korea would now control the Korean peninsula, China, and Russia.
When America enters a conflict, it’s not just about the notion of spreading democracy, it’s also about freedom, providing a commitment of safety with peace, and economic prosperity through capitalism afterward. Had Turkey, Australia, and the U.K., and millions of brave South Koreans not been so outstanding with their militaristic support in this conflict the Korean War would have been called WWIII, because America would have had to certainly go nuclear given the massive number of Chinese involved, and the financial and militaristic support of Russia.
So yes, I do think South Koreans owe us a debt of gratitude. Not only do Koreans owe us (Americans) a debt of gratitude, but to every country that fought for Korea and their way of life they have enjoyed for the last 53 years. Those countries are: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.K.
“Remort, the people who are demonstrating in Pyongtaek against the base are the deluded hardcore “leftists,” and are a relative minority in the country.”
Good, let the leftists go live in a communist country, at the very least they will develop an appreciation for what so many people fought and died for… FOR THEM.
“Would you not be annoyed at this sheriff if after he came to help you, he starts invading your privacy by never leaving your house?”
Mark my words, North Korea, China and Russia have a score to settle with South Korea, and the U.S. It’s a damn shame President Truman prevented General MacArthur from providing that solution 50 years ago.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that communist countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos are funding terrorist activity.
Norway also sent a medical contingent, two of whom were shot for their troubles - they were non-combatants and so not often recorded; just felt the need to throw that in there, lest we forget and all.
peace.
Did you guys know “the sesame leaves” are not actually sesame leaves, they’re perilla leaves.
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Peri_fru.html
In Korea, where perilla is an important flavouring, the plant is known as tul-kkae [들깨]. This name literally means “wild sesame plant”, although perilla and sesame are not particularly closely related. Also kkaennip [깻잎] (“sesame leaf”) is a common designation for perilla in Korean. I do not know about the motivation behind those weird names; maybe, they refer to the fact that both plants have oil-rich seeds. Occasionally, names of the “wild sesame” type are found in Korean cookbooks published in English or German. It is to be suspected that the translators meant perilla and not a wild type of sesame.
“let me ask whether you believe whether the lack of wars since the 1953 amistice and the fact that the “sheriff” was still in the South Korean house are in any way related.”
You are precisely parroting the propaganda that is used to justify their stay. I recommend you think critically about hte matter. Just as the crook was scared away by the sheriff and made no more attempt to enter your house for the rest of the night, the deterence only worked during the first few years. In the past few decades, the scenario has been very different.
In the 1950s:
1) North Korea was the more industrialized nation. South Korea was mainly an agricultural nation with little industry.
2) North Korea has the stronger military
3) South Korea was too damn weak that it took just weeks for the North to nearly capture the entire South.
4) North Korea has the blessing to invade from Soviet
Today:
1) South Korea is the more industrialized nation
2) South Korea has the stronger military
3) North Korea are so weak, some people say they have a famine. They depend on donations for food. Cut of the food supply and they will become so damn weak
4) There is no blessing to attack South Korea from the Soviet.
Bottomline: The threat has been neutralized and it is time for the sheriff to go home. If the sheriff wants to continue to play an active role, he can help by providing intelligence to the South side. Having the 20,000 or so sheriff deputies around the peninsular isn’t going to make much of a difference as taking them all out of the region. South Korea military today has the capability to put up an effective defense of their nation against an attack by the North. If South Korea is not capable at that, even the US would not be capable.
I have learned a bit more about these “protesters”. That in fact many of these protesters are liberal union workers and ultra-liberal communist-supporting students, some of which are suspected to be paid-protesters.
Apparently, these protesters’ actions are not being well accepted by the majority of Koreans. Thanks for the information Hi. You can read his posting over at the Flying Yangban.
http://gopkorea.blogs.com/flyi.....l#comments
In addition, there was a warning issued to American citizens by the U.S. embassy to stay clear of the area. Besides the protests that were held on Saturday May 12th and Sunday 13th, there are more potentially violent protests scheduled for the next few weeks.
Mahathir_fan:
The fact of the matter is, South Korea, and largely Asia proper, requires a large American presence to maintain the peace and stability in the region. Don’t be surprised to see these numbers of American military personnel and allied forces massively increased, as North Korea and Iraq continue to be totally defiant toward IAEA efforts.
1. The Russians/Chinese would love to settle the score by encouraging North Korea to attack South Korea. What do the reds have to lose at this late date? They know the routine, start a war with the U.S. and we’ll clean-up/rebuild your country after kicking your ass.
2. Russia does have a weaker military than the other potential participants if you remove their nuclear capacity.
3. China has the largest standing military in the world.
4. North Korean spies are regularly caught spying in South Korea, and throughout Asia.
5. The American food drops post-Korean War era, and the subsequent continued massive international food aid efforts to North Korea especially since 1996, have simply kept the unification process on the table for further negotiations.
6. Weak, if you mean weak enough to hold out for 53 years, yes I see your point.
7. Modern warfare isn’t about a large ground invasion anymore, it’s about dropping a few strategicly placed bombs, conventional or otherwise.
8. The game is up, it’s time to put up or shut up — Russia and China know this too well, it’s just a matter of getting North Korea and Iraq to come to this realization.
9. How ever effective South Korea might be in terms of defending itself now, it’s certainly a more united and powerful influence with continued American support.
10. South Korea has been a model democracy, and a good ally to America. The ROK deserves our continued alliance, support, and protection at any cost.
11. I’m quite sure Seoul’s 48 million residence feel a bit safer at night knowing we’re going to defend them, given North Korea’s proximity, you can spit on North Korea.
12. With republicans controlling all three branches of the federal government, America isn’t going to accept another partial victory, like they did in Vietnam or Afghanistan given the past communist intervention in the conflicts. The ridiculous “containment” U.S. foreign policy isn’t applicable for today’s conflicts — it’s all or nothing. BETTER DEAD THAN RED!!!
13. I might be highly skeptical, but I’m sure in Moscow and Beijing, they don’t call it the “orange dust”, but rather “the red dust”. A little reminder of Russian/Ukrainian Chernobyl disaster and the Chinese pending ecological disaster with every passing breath.
14. Bottomline/free intelligence information: the communist threat HAS NOT BEEN NEUTRALIZED.
“Not only do Koreans owe us (Americans) a debt of gratitude, but to every country that fought for Korea and their way of life they have enjoyed for the last 53 years. Those countries are: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.K.”
Ethiopia? Didn’t know that. Did they actually have guns?
Anyway, I hope regular posting resumes soon… I need my “Marmot-fix”.
%%%DISCLAIMER: I’m not a military historian, if there are any errors in these numbers I apologize in advance.%%%
The Ethiopian Army had sent 1 infantry battalion to the Korean War, which fought with the U.S. Army 7th Division (07/1951), & I Corps (12/1952).
Country Killed Wounded Missing # Served
————————————————-
Australia 339 1,216 72 17,164
Belgium 101 336 5 3,498
Canada 312 1,212 32 27,000
Colombia 163 448 28 6,200
Ethiopia 121 536 0 3,518
France 262 1,008 19 4,000
Greece 192 543 2 5,000
Luxembourg 2 13 0 89
Netherlands 120 645 3 5,300
New Zealand 23 79 1 4,500
Philippines 122 299 57 7,420
South Africa 34 0 8 811
Thailand 129 1,139 5 6,500
Turkey 741 2,068 407 15,000
U.K. 746 2,533 1,157 60,000
U.S. 54,246 103,000 8,142 480,000
ROK 150,000 *** 850,000 civilian deaths***
The Ethiopians are in fact said to have fought very bravely, and were crucial to one particular victory in the Chuncheon City area. There is a large Memorial Monument commemorating the Ethiopians soldier service in Chuncheon, in a park near the Uiam Lake.
“The fact of the matter is, South Korea, and largely Asia proper, requires a large American presence to maintain the peace and stability in the region.”
Nope. I recommend you study the history of South East Asia after WWII. Despite numerous border disputes, SEA leaders have gotten together, and resolved differences diplomatically(ASEAN). There is no foreign presence in SEA and it has been declared a ZOPFAN area since the 1970s.
“1. The Russians/Chinese would love to settle the score by encouraging North Korea to attack South Korea. What do the reds have to lose at this late date? They know the routine, start a war with the U.S. and we’ll clean-up/rebuild your country after kicking your ass.”
From reading about what you have to say, I think it is the US that wants to settle the score. China already pulled out from North Korea in the mid 50s. Besides, China never wanted to enter the war knownig darn well they would be proxy soldiers for the Soviets. But the Soviet’s refusal to enter the war forced the Chinese into the war to keep the Americans at bay. Why? It was feared that America in North Korea would encourage the ROC government in Taiwan to invade the mainland.
“3. China has the largest standing military in the world.”
And America has the largest military spending in the world despite being bordered by 2 relatively friendly and harmless nations: Canada and Mexico.
“4. North Korean spies are regularly caught spying in South Korea, and throughout Asia.”
Ameican satellites at least 200 of them are regularly circling the globe. The Echelon program regularly picks up telecommunition transmissions. Spy planes are regularly sent to foreign countries to pick up intelligence data.
“7. Modern warfare isn’t about a large ground invasion anymore, it’s about dropping a few strategicly placed bombs, conventional or otherwise.”
In which case, those ground soldiers would really do no good. Exactly my point.
“9. How ever effective South Korea might be in terms of defending itself now, it’s certainly a more united and powerful influence with continued American support.”
Unfortunately, that is no way to run a country. Every country in this world is constantly under threat by its neighbours. It has to learn to deal with this threat. If South Korea wishes to be very safe, it should petition to be America’s 52nd state. Or it should allow itself to be a protectorate. Unfortunately, Koreans have chosen that they want to be in charge of their own destinty of their own sovereign nation. You may disagree with their choice, but you must defend to your death their right to make that choice.
“10. South Korea has been a model democracy, and a good ally to America. The ROK deserves our continued alliance, support, and protection at any cost.”
South Vietnam was a model democracy too and a good ally. Why did you abandon them?
“11. I’m quite sure Seoul’s 48 million residence feel a bit safer at night knowing we’re going to defend them, given North Korea’s proximity, you can spit on North Korea.”
Most Koreans I have met admit to me that they consider their country a semi colony. And I swear I am not making this up.
“12. With republicans controlling all three branches of the federal government, America isn’t going to accept another partial victory, like they did in Vietnam or Afghanistan given the past communist intervention in the conflicts. The ridiculous “containment” U.S. foreign policy isn’t applicable for today’s conflicts — it’s all or nothing. BETTER DEAD THAN RED!!!”
OK. So it isn’t Soviet/China that wants to settle the score, but America. So that’s why America is still in Korea to settle the score with North Korea when the time comes. So those protestors do have a point that American presence makes the peninsular more dangerous because they want to settle the score with PyongYang at some point in the future - according to your point #12.
“14. Bottomline/free intelligence information: the communist threat HAS NOT BEEN NEUTRALIZED. ”
Its been neutralized but the score hasn’t been settled.
Yesirree! No doubt those Burmese and the Cambodians (under the Khmer Rouge) wake up every morning thanking their lucky stars. SE Asia has got its shit together.
Boy, those Koreans are talkative in San Diego, aren’t they?
Damn that San Diego weed must be good. And I’m the one “parroting the propaganda.” And since we’re going to trot out the hearsay, let me just say that most Southeast Asians I’ve talked to admit that the only reason anyone ever respected ASEAN was because it was implicitly backed by the U.S. presence in East Asia (coming as no surprise, given how its original members—Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and yes, Malaysia—were Cold War clients of the United States). And I swear I am not making this up.
P.S.—It’s also clearly wrong that there’s no foreign presence in Southeast Asia (you could say “No foreign ground troops, but this, too, would be incorrect, and historically irrelevant, as there has been a major U.S. ground presence in the region up till relatively recently), but then again, it seems you make most of this stuff up as you go along, so I guess that’s par for the course.
mahathir_fan, could you bring scope to the number of Koreans with whom you’ve had these many different conversations in which they’ve used ’semi colony’ to describe their country’s current state? I’m just trying to get a handle on what “…most Koreans I have met admit to me…” means in rough numbers. Thanks in advance.
FWIW, I surely haven’t found that Marxist terminology (such as ’semi colony’) rolls off the tongues of most of the proletariat here.
mad_hatter_fan has been absorbed by the Borg. He will not answer anyone’s comments because the hivemind does not speak directly to mere earthlings. Follow him to a parallel universe where China is a democracy and no North Koreans go hungry. Resistance is futile.
Michael, you’re very funny.
Malaysia a US client? Actually, the US is our client. We sell more stuff to them, so we are like the store owner and they are our customers/client.
To be serious, not all SEA are as strongly principled as Malaysia during the Mahathir era. Yes, we were a British client after independence, in fact, this was the major reason why our independence struggle was bloodless. But it all changed when Mahathir came to power. Mahathir was the first prime minister to be locally educated - a true local boy compared to his previous pred-asors who were all British educated. Thanks to democracy, everything the British had planned for Malaysia became undone overnight by Mahathir. Malaysia began to have a mind of its own. And that served the country very well during the Asian Financial Crisis when it outright rejected IMF proposed solutions and it turned out to be the correct move.
Also, I am not anti US. In fact, I am a Bush supporter. When I read about what is happening in Iraq, I definitely support what Bush is doing - to bring democracy. I remember also that he has a plan to bring democracy to the rest of middle east and I am also very supportive of that idea. My critics will say that it is nothing more than an attempt to install puppet governments. But in Malaysia’s experience, we once were “puppet” too. But the beauty of democracy is the “puppet” will be eventually replaced. Then there are those who fear democracy especially Moslems. To which I say, just look at Iran today. What would Iran be today had the students not overthrown the Shah dictatorship and brought democracy to Iran?
Everybody seems to jump into a conclusion that because of what I write, I must be anti Bush, anti War, anti democracy, anti freedom. That’s completely wrong. I would not completely say I am pro war, but I am definitely pro Bush pro democracy and pro freedom.
Whoa. Tell me I’m not dreaming.
This doesn’t actually jibe with comments you’ve made elsewhere, M-F, but it is a coherent statement…and of course, being pro-freedom and democracy you should also welcome such a development in North Korea. Cheers.
mad_hatter_fan:
I wrote:
““11. I’m quite sure Seoul’s 48 million residence feel a bit safer at night knowing we’re going to defend them, given North Korea’s proximity, you can spit on North Korea.”
Mad_hatter_fan responded:
“Most Koreans I have met admit to me that they consider their country a semi colony. And I swear I am not making this up.”
This is understandable that some Koreans might feel this way 53 years ago, after being colonized by Japan twice. Korea has some mighty powerful neighbors. But, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re speaking of modern South Korea. Ok, show me 10 signatures from your “Korean friends” that said this TO YOU, and I won’t write you off as defeatist, ultra-leftwing, doesn’t-know-anything-about-Asia idiot.
By the way, are you SURE you’re speaking to Koreans, not Mexicans?
Yes, just imagine what Iran would be today had the students not overthrown the Shah and brought “democracy” to Iran. It could be in the grip of a flagrant anti-semite and terrorist supporter, who is hell bent on defying world opinion and developing nuclear weapons. And he, in turn, could be answerable to a shady Islamo-fascist clique that summarily dismisses candidates from the ballot in the country’s “elections.”
Oh, hang on…
Well, I’m still waiting for my reply, but I haven’t asked for any specific number. I simply wish to learn how many South Koreans, roughly, mahathir_fan has spoken to who have shared that view with him.
I’m not even asking him to provide the number of South Koreans who actually used the term ’semi colony’ to describe the current condition of their country. I think we all know that that is an amazingly small number of individuals, and I’d actually like him to respond without yet again burying a blog about South Korea in a mire of Malaysian political history.
So, how many?
Let’s see:
Iran’s result of last Presidential election.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 6,159,453 21.01 10,046,701 35.93
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 5,710,354 19.48 17,284,782 61.69
Looks like he’s got the people’s mandate to pursue the freedom of scientific experiement and exploitation. That’s the beauty of freedom and democracy.
In Palestine, Hamas controls the government. Chavez is democratically elected, and so was Dr. Mahathir.
If you cannot stand people who disagree with you to win power, then you should support facism - not democracy and freedom.
On the other question:
Look at the banners held up at the last US-Korea soccer match to see if it is semi colony.
Let’s see:
Results of Saddam Hussein’s presidential election in 2002.
Saddam Hussein: 100%
Looks like he definitely had the people’s mandate to pursue the freedom of mass torture and murder.
On the other question:
Look at the banners held up at the last US-Korea soccer match to see if it is semi colony.
Ah, so you’ve a stadium full of conversation partners, then. And they all attended the same game, did they?
You see what I’m getting at, don’t you, mahathir_fan? I believe you were being untruthful in that statement above, in order to sway opinion. That wouldn’t be such a great issue - I’d guess it’s hardly the first time someone’s lied in a post. But I’m having a hard time correlating that with the ‘And I swear I am not making this up’ part of the post.
See, if the first part is untrue, then that second part would also be untrue, and that would make you a Big Fat Boring Liar, as opposed to having an amazingly different experience than most everyone who actually lives here.
The counterfactual is the main weapon in his arsenal. It throws the opponent off-guard.