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On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 1:43 PM, Ant McWatt quoted John McConnell: "There's no point igniting a God-bomb in that bunch of theophobes on MD. Here at least you and I understand each other. You know I'm not out to evangelize you, and you are at least tolerant of my faith." John: eek. I've been chastised in the past for posting offline comments online, but nothing as egregiously incendiary. John M must hold some very unpopular views to be treated so. Ant McWatt comments: No John. Firstly, this off-line post was blocked (almost certainly by Micros0ft) because the main body of my off-line reply to John contained the term “Russ1a”. This was the only way I could reply to John (and the other intended recipient who will remain nameless). Secondly, the main body of John M’s e-mail remained private. I actually rang-up him (via a trans-Atlantic phone call) that evening to explain what had happened. Thirdly, if Horse has reprimanded you for posting off-line comments at MOQ Discuss then you were almost doing something out-of-order. Ant McWatt continued March 4th 2014: > Well, I wouldn't worry about this too much. As I said to Paco > recently, Horse (being rather political AND a pragmatist is rather like > me and I think Paco too). If someone is helping out the vulnerable of > this world then they can call themselves the Pope, the Czar of Russia or > even the "Queen of England" (aka Grayson Perry ;-) ) as far as I'm > concerned as long as they are helping out with this critical objective > especially with the recent dominance in recent decades of multi-nationals, > right-wing governments and a rather corrupt and "loaded" (especially > against the poor) global banking system!!! > John: An interesting point in light of recent developments with Russia and the Crimea. Would you call Putin's government "right wing", Ant? I'd certainly say it was an intellectually - guided government. Ant McWatt comments: I have just two words to say to this glib comment: “PUSSY RIOT”. Google it if you don’t already know about issue. John Carl continued March 5th: They've been very smart. We didn't realize it at the time but when we granted the powers of global banking and free market capitalism to the Russian mindset - they just love a good strong hegemony - we were opening up a pandora's box of infinite future trouble. Ant McWatt comments: Just sounds like Anti-Russian propaganda to me. Tell it to your red neck friends at the local golf club bar. Otherwise, I think most political commentators - who know what they are talking about - think the early 1990s (just after the end of the Cold War) was a lost opportunity. If the West had actually helped Russia a little more with reforming their political institutions etc (rather than basking in smart ass triumphalism) then we would probably not be in the situation where we find ourselves today with the Ukraine. Anyway, as far as the four main political players in the region are concerned (the new national government of the Ukraine, the Russian government, the EU and the USA) all should be given credit for the lack of bloodshed in the region – so far. Maybe that’s the power of the global media and the internet (where it has become more difficult to hide atrocities). Either way, it shows a move to reaching political solutions through talking rather than using weapons which can only be a good thing. ----CUT---------- John Carl continued March 5th: America with its openness and freedom... Ant McWatt comments Think again John (and maybe get a passport while you’re at it too). With all those guns around on my last United States trip in December 2012 (I was in Vegas the same evening a guy got shot to death in a casino near me) and, a few days later, drove through Sandy Hook, Connecticut just a day before the atrocity with that heavily armed disturbed teenager, I actually now find the States quite a repressed place to be in – despite the candy coated appearances. I just feel if you say the wrong thing to the wrong guy in the wrong bar, there’s far more chance that you’ll have your head blown off with a gun than you would in the UK where people (other than a few city centre gangsters - who just tend to blow each other away than "members of the public") simply don’t carry guns around. As ever a little black humour shows my concerns in this regard: http://www.youtube.com/embed/Vt7FDTpzGvo?rel=0 --------CUT------- Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
