Re: gold hits $2,722 !
slider <[email protected]> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 23:00:43 -0000
| Newsgroups | alt.dreams.castaneda |
|---|---|
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <op.2xnt7h2i7eafsp@slider> |
On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:55:27 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 23:01:50 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 07:42:18 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Mon, 18 Nov 2024 12:08:24 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Mon, 18 Nov 2024 06:10:44 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Sun, 17 Nov 2024 00:32:25 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Sat, 16 Nov 2024 02:50:00 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Sat, 09 Nov 2024 12:33:42 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Fri, 08 Nov 2024 03:51:56 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:04:42 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Sun, 03 Nov 2024 11:56:39 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, 29 Oct 2024 10:15:43 -0000, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:55:37 -0000, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, 22 Oct 2024 02:44:42 +0100, slider <[email protected]> wrote: On Sun, 20 Oct 2024 10:36:54 +0100, He Who Sees All <[email protected]> wrote: On Sat, 19 Oct 2024 22:53:42 +0100, slider <[email protected]> wrote: ### - hmmm... with gold hitting $2,700 it definitely looks like we're now on the brink of a much wider conflict in the middle east, it being unlikely that anything can stop it now short of iran being nuked into submission overnight... and because how else could such a vast nation be suddenly brought to it's knees otherwise without them wrecking israel 'and' the global economy in the process to boot?? and because all this 'talk' about hitting just their military sites etc just wouldn't be enough to stop them launching just about everything they have, which is rumoured to be around 150,000 rockets! only a 3rd of which would literally flatten israel regardless of their iron dome! i.e., just can't imagine israel (or the west) taking such a risk?? so then methinks we've decided that iran has to go huh... and it ain't gonna be pretty! oh boy... Slider, you're doom mongering again. It won't happen. No party want's the global elites disrupted, let alone destroyed. ### - still in total denial of reality eh? (and that's why you come to me for info huh) well no one really wanted ww1 & ww2 either thang, but they still happened! Putin doesn't want to lose his $200 bn fortune, his dachas, palaces etc, nor do the Russian oligarchs. ### - 30+ million russians died in ww2, do you think russia really 'wanted' that? no, things escalated beyond anyone's ability to choose and everyone got sucked into it, that's what a world war is! The US billionaires don't want apocalypse, nor do the Jews in Israel who have vast fortunes through their contacts and networks. ### - what the 'west' wants (and that includes israel) is an end to fundamentalist islam as a competing entity on the world stage, the seat of which resides in iran... i.e., hammas is gone, lebanon is crippled, and iran's other satellites (like yemen and iraq) aren't powerful enough to make any difference on their own... the choice now on the table (for israel & the west) is to take iran down as well and thus end all this shia-shit once and for all... and they're genuinely thinking about doing it!!! (scary shit) or do you really think they wont take advantage of the current opportunity they themselves have engineered at such great expense?? Israel will not attack the oil or nuclear sites and Iran will make token, but strong, reprisals. ### - that was last year, things have changed since then... it's gone beyond all that now and israel is effectively in an open war with iran fully backed by the west, both sides trying to kill each other's leaders ffs! (which is how ww1 started?) incidentally, gold reached a record $2,740.91 on monday. Then everyone will settle down. There are more pressing problems, such as accelerated climate change and loss of global fertility. ### - lol talk about wishful thinking? the question you 'should' be asking, is 'how' is israel gonna emasculate iran without getting themselves destroyed in the process via an ever increasing tit-for-tat scenario! i.e., israel is only a small nation and can't handle being pounded whereas iran is a vast country! even carpet bombing iran wouldn't have any effect on their ability to retaliate en-mass! well imho there's only one way they could actually do it, and that's to level iran's capital(s) onetime when all their leaders are there, else iran can systematically destroy israel by firing 1000's of rockets into it day after day until there's nada left, or so so much damage done to it it can't function... and israel simply can't afford to let that happen! the west being only too happy to oblige coz they want iran out of the way as well... and because iran, russia & china are the 3 final obstacles to western global domination, remember? that's exactly what's happening sport... and it's happening.... TODAY! (or maybe tomorrow, but sooner now rather than later) for instance, am thinking such weapons have possibly already been smuggled into and secreted in iran just waiting for a signal to set them off current chatter however is about whether russia will come to iran's aid like they did syria that time coz then the whole world would be dragged into it 'regardless' of what anyone wants, whereas several small unannounced nukes would be impossible to reverse, with more deaths than hiroshima iran would be gone and there'd be nada russia could do about it that would be worth doing... so let's just hope they don't do that huh... As usual, in the passage of time, I'm proven right and you're proven wrong...again. Here it is on 28 October, the Israeli strike has happened, no big deal, acknowledged by Iran as very minor damage to some radar installations on the fringe of Iran - and NADA from Iran. Because, Brian, the global balance will not be upset by either state. Gaza is a different story, no one cares, no one at all. Nor is Lebanon a big deal. But Iran, and Israel, are. Sorry mate, no global catastrophe this time and probably never. It's a lovely day here in Perth, Western Australia - 32C today, tomorrow to be 37C, in November around 40C, moving right up to a hot summer around 45C or more to peak. Lovin' life! ### - that's genuinely the closest we've ever come to it sport & it's not over until the fat lady sings, plus methinks we were lucky there it didn't kick-off, israel not taking them out (this time) as expected, preferring to instead goad iran into retaliating, iran preferring to hold back and play the long game rather than risking the chance of looming annihilation at both israel and america's hand, they actually backed down! (quite surprising really) israel can't, of course, just settle for that nor leave things there, iran's not gonna go away and is only back to biding its time while doing repairs, a window that wont remain open for long if israel wants to go any farther before they make those repairs... cue then more goading! failing iran being drawn-into that, there's nada now stopping iran from developing a nuclear warhead (if they haven't already) and israel knows that, so something decisive will still have to be done before it ever gets to that point... https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-developing-nuclear-bomb-stockpile-to-destroy-israel-netanyahu-6894868 thus excuses will have to be made/generated to take iran down one way or the other, iran apparently not being as stupid as it looks agreeing now that the scores are even again, although in reality they've been badly damaged by this last attack in the eyes of the rest of the world and their own people, their last hope now being to nuke israel at some later point versus israel's hardly gonna wait until that happens, this creating yet another window that wont remain open forever, iran in the corner playing rope-a-dope wont work either... in the meantime, however, the world has dodged yet another serious flashpoint/bullet, for sure no one wants it, but also for sure is the fact that both sides are never gonna stop until something resolves one way or the other, plus also for sure is that iran wont just die without a fight either... so it's still all on the cards sport, we just don't know now how or when is all... i.e., presumably, israel will now go heavy on iran's satellites and proxy leaders hoping iran will respond with something that justifies israel hitting them again, that the goading will thus continue even harder than before, a win-win situation for israel either way as iran appears increasingly weak for not retaliating ever-harder as they threatened... iran is surely aware of all this, however, so why they didn't go all-in this last time is surprising, the west called their bluff and they backed down on what might have been their last chance to really damage israel: they bottled-out of it! (very surprising!) https://www.mei.edu/blog/weekly-briefing-following-israeli-counterstrike-iran-region-appears-pull-back-brink the west will, however, have to make sure they're no longer a threat so it ain't gonna stop pounding on iran now until they either surrender completely or go down in some final blaze of glory, so it's all only delayed/not over yet old bean... their blaze of glory option is rapidly fading, however, in which case it looks like the remaining muslim nations will all be slowly rounded-up and metaphorically kept on controlled reservations like the native americans were... this was their last chance/hope and they blew it, they're basically screwed... this making russia & china up next then huh Today the Supreme Ruler in Iran commented that there will be a retaliation and it will "shatter their teeth" or somesuch. So, another step up the ladder if it does happen, and if it does, it evidently will in the next 2 days. I would think if US interests are to be struck, then right in the guts of election day would be a good time to do so. ### - am just surprised they's draggin' it out this long? perhaps for israel to have public opinion more on their side when iran maybe hits something more important to them than just open fields and the occasional car park, the 'justification' for reducing iran to nada perhaps not being quite there yet in the minds of the rest of the arab world, who will then later comfort themselves by claiming that iran only brought it on themselves, kinda thing... surely iran realises tho' that this is prolly their last chance and that they're unlikely to get another, so it 'could' get more interesting yet as the time for 'token' hits has already passed, and because if they don't go all-in this time then the west surely will and iran will be gone back to the stone age overnight lest they be allowed to do too much damage... unless, of course, that 'damage' is useful in some way to western interests Western interests have just radically changed in all ways with Trump's ascension. He despises Iran and adores the jews, loves hard men of Bibi's style, so things will change after January. In the meantime, we have that useless, dribbling mess of a loser lame duck Biden barely able to hold the reins with his palsied hands - he won't do a fucking thing, too stupid and too old. Weak as piss. He may, however, in his waning few months, give Ukraine the ability to hit Russia hard and deep with long range missiles before Trump takes power. Who knows? I'll be sitting back with popcorn (figuratively) and beer watching the lovely chaos unfold. Won't affect me in the least. ### - whatever america does always affects the rest of the planet, the credit crunch started there, austerity started there, shit trickles down ya know? :))) he didn't even win via some sudden surge towards trump-ism, but by 13.5 million voters who previously voted for biden not bothering to vote at all, such mass apathy putting that idiot back in office without any restraints whatsoever lol, even after all the shit that went down before about him being impeached twice, convicted of several felonies, fined millions for sex abuse & outright lies, drummed out of new york for questionable business practices, trying to rig the election, getting the capitol building stormed by armed mobs, etc, etc, etc, etc... and what do they do? did they learn anything from history and vote for some kinda sanity?? nope, after firing his ass from the job the first time they put the fucker BACK into power with no restraints upon him whatsoever LOL, and THIS time he's pissed-off! and THAT'S completely... INSANE!!! in which case am inclined to think they rather deserve anything they get huh, they really do, only i also know/realise that they're all basically damaged goods with no real lives to call their own, that they don't actually know what they're doing! 'slaves' perforce having no other real recourse than to vote for their master every time, no matter how despotic or cruel that master might be... that humanity is very damaged/disabled in that sense, effectively crawling along on their bellies in the shit; they're certainly not free like they love to imagine! all that's just bs in their heads! sigh, no matter 'how' hard i try i just can't see them surviving, ya know? coz they haven't got anything going for them and there's no one to even look after them! added to which, they're all a bit thick innit haha: as dumb as a bucket of rocks it's hard not to feel sorry for 'em knowing it ain't gonna be at all easy for them... all that crap in gaza being only the beginning: a blueprint of things to come! The vast majority of Americans are stupid as a box of rocks. They will now get the government they all so richly deserve. Don't stress, it won't concern you too much either, it's the fucking yanks who are gonna get drilled up the arse by this fella...:) Grab a beverage of your choice, sit back, open the popcorn, and watch America go down the tubes. Lol. ### - it's not just america, or americans though is it, it's everyone... i.e., america's merely the current best example of human society and how advanced (or not) it all is... america is humanity's flagship! which, let's face it, is a pretty piss-poor and dismal example lol :))) coz is that 'really' the best we can do, the best we've gots?? the election fiasco just revealing what a pile of shit it all is, even more!? actually 'highlighting' it LOL ! but it all seems quite normal to them huh... little do they realise, however, that we're gonna be punished for having embarrassed the fucker before, coz he's nursing quite a deep grudge ya know and has mentioned 'revenge' several times, it just kinda inadvertently slipping-out a few times, but that's what's coming for sure oh boy... and with him being totally fucking insane we just don't know how far he's likely gonna push that agenda! e.g., can ya remember the several 'executions' he authorised just before his last term came to an end? it was actually a very strange vibe to invoke/evoke in the populace, completely unnecessary, expressing the complete opposite of compassion?? i even mentioned it at the time coz imho it was actually a bit kinky/twisted, a: let's chuck another body on the fire kinda vibe and everyone cheered? (it actually made my skin crawl and that's not good...) and so NOW what we gots, in the white house, to all extents & purposes the central hub and humanity's guiding light in the world, is the modern equivalent of 'Caligula' running the whole fuckin' show LOL !!! (and he's already made his fav. horse musk into a senator lol) as to them/us deserving it all... i personally think we (humanity i mean) could've done better, we could have learned from our mistakes instead of compounding them, we could have grown-up a little instead of becoming even more retarded, we could have voted for a better world instead of one filled with just more violence, revenge and abject division... put it this way: the loonies just made 'Miss Ratchet' the president of the asylum! everyone head for the hills lol :))) Haha, well put, and accurate to boot. Hitler had his "Night of the Long Knives" when he despatched his numerous enemies, real and imagined, including such good comrades as Rohm & his cohort. Trump will also have his night of the long knives, he and his buddies are already naming those who are going to go down, deep deep down, when he takes the reins. Americans are gonna get it up the arse, big time. They are far too stupid and cowardly to even have any idea of what's coming at them like a train Like I said, don't stress. It will make for great entertainment, you on the other side of the pond, me about as far away as one can get from where the fuse is about to be lit... By the way, great move by Biden to permit Ukraine to hit deep inside Russia with American missiles. Defuse that one, Donald, you Putin loving snake. ### - lol night of the long knives is right, is spot-on! plus let's see if he's not out to trump stalin's 'terror' for doing exactly that lol... and coz everyone who stood in his way before (judges, politicians, everyone!) have all long since gone! a bunch of obsequious arse-lickers/kissers being what we're all gonna be exposed to next haha, even internationally hah! you're either with him or against him in his reductive view of the world... biden merely handing trump an extra bargaining chip when it comes to russia with those missiles, the 5% surface-difference existing between them, both in terms of personality and even their respective politics, being meaningless compared to the 95% business-as-usual that continues/progresses relentlessly behind the scenes regardless of whomever's in office at the time (call me cynical but that's what history suggests) but for a little time, anyway, they can throw some heavier shit at russia and blame it all on biden who wont be there anymore to hit back at, see? meanwhile russia will no doubt retaliate some, and then that can be used to further blacken their name/demonise 'em, thereby justifying anything we might wanna do to them next... but it's gonna be islam/iran that gets it first huh, as an entity they're already badly wounded and it wouldn't take much more to finish them off/set them back decades! (it would already take 100+ years to rebuild gaza for instance...) it IS gonna be interesting, but also very brutal and cruel... and i've never found either of those entertaining. Interestingly, a local article (Sydney Morning Herald) talks of the world now being a camp of herbivores under threat of a herd of carnivores - the herbivores are no longer under the shelter of the US, and haven't been for quite a while. ### - it's always been a world of carnivores preying on the herbivores, it's an intrinsic part of nature's arms-race to intelligence, the human race being the baddest carnivore of them all: the end result of evolution's arms-race to awareness and intelligence... IF they can live long enough they might even become wise... You're straying from the present. We, both you and I, were originally talking about what's happening now. The future is unknown and the past carved in rock, called by some "history". The current world is composed of the western axis and the impoverished third world threateners who are frustrated by the grip the first world (us) has on global resources. Putin, Xi, Kim, the fucking Supreme Leader (Seig Heil!) - what a mob of evil, lurking scumbags. Stick with the subject Brian. ### - you're dropping the ball here? - 'you' brought-up the subject of carnivores/herbivores re, and via, SMH's comments, and am responding directly to that by saying/suggesting it's nothing new, that it's always been that way on this planet, that 'intelligence' is the direct result of evolution's carnivores versus herbivores game, each set evolving separately to keep the game going: the prey set developing ever greater, more effective, defenses wherein only the fittest survive, while the predator set develops ever greater skills in defeating those defenses, it's nature's arms-race that originates with, and when, multicellular organisms suddenly put in an appearance, which experts on the subject agree is 'how' and 'why' intelligence ultimately evolved... and yes, we're still talking about 'now' and the current state of the world, but we can't just forget how the world has arrived in it's current situation, said current situation not just appearing over night out of the blue, it evolved over many years to get to where it is right now, it has a known 'history' that has clearly led-up to the current situation The carnivores are Russia, China, NK and Iran. Iran will soon be scratched and none of the other three will come to its aid. However, the other 3 are nuclear powers and they are on the prowl... ### - the SMH is clearly just doing their romantic-best & part to support/promote the current "Hate Hour" (from Orwell's 1984): to identify the 'enemy' and to demonise them in the public mind... Late breaking news: Putin threatens London with MIRV'd ICBM attack. I think, Brian, that Putin and his evil ilk are doing well enough demonising themselves, without any help from the SMH or anyone else ### - have you not read orwell's 1984, or seen the films made of it? in one of the scenes there's something called "The Hate Hour", a nation-wide televised hour in which everyone stops what they're doing to collectively and very enthusiastically hate 'the enemy' lol, up on huge public tv screens there's the face of the leader of 'the enemy', saying they don't want war, that they want peace and an end to war, that negotiations should commence etc, etc, while the gathered watching crowd below scream, shouts and ridicule him... and what am saying/suggesting is that the SMH is just doing exactly the same thing in that sense, are merely doing their part to keep the public hatred going at the currently identified 'enemy', are having their very own hate-hour and thus reinforcing the current party-line via a series of evolving lies about that enemy... e.g., the west allows ukraine to start using their longer range weapons, a clear escalation similar to when they gave them tanks and f15's, heavier weapons/items that effectively ups the ante, and when russia responds in-kind in order to adjust to the now increased tension of the situation, the west accuses 'them' of raising the stakes, of escalating the situation like they suddenly did that completely out of the blue for no reason?? no thang, there's an element of cause & effect here, one side escalates and the other side is forced to respond in kind in order to maintain the status quo! there being only one intelligent way to deal with such blatant propaganda being rammed down our throats, and that's to simply reverse it haha... the complete reverse actually being closer to the truth than the way they're always presenting/portraying it... the US being the actual carnivore in that scenario, everyone else just fighting to survive... But what does all your blabber really mean? You don't like the British welfare state? You're unhappy with the price of apples? Are you saying you would prefer to LIVE in Russia, Iran, NK or China? Is that what you are saying? A simple yes or no will suffice (but you won't do that, you won't commit, you're far too brilliant for that...) ### - lol that's NOT what am saying! you're putting words in my mouth haha :))) what am saying (still in context) is that the SMH is merely part & parcel of the state propaganda machine, an extension of it, and now here it is bashing its readers over the head with a pile a deliberately misleading, almost romantic, bs... the same bs all the other western media outlets are currently putting out as well about 'the enemy', their own little smh-contribution being to draw a comparison between carnivores/herbivores, with the 'enemy' perforce being the carnivore, when in truth - if/when we examine things from the pov of history - it's all actually the reverse of what we're being instructed to think and to believe... and that what am 'giving' you is a means to 'see-through' all that bs via the application of a very simple principle: reversal! for example: if, in the time of galileo, people had simply 'reversed' what they were being told to believe about the sun orbiting the earth, they would have actually been far closer to the Truth of the matter than what they did believe! and i'm simply suggesting that this same principle can still be applied today, possibly for nearly everything people have been told to believe! that the 'reverse' of what people believe is more 'likely' to be correct in many instances! especially when it comes to propaganda! (see, it's not blather, i was just adding a bit more to it, all within the same smh context) try it and see heh, everything makes far more sense if/when ya turn it all around to face the other way, just like the sun orbiting the earth was literally 180-degrees out of whack and yet that's what everyone was forced to believe upon pain of public strangulation/death No idea what you're talking about. ### - but you do now, right? i.e., am suggesting that 'one' way to see-through all the bs and propaganda is by a process of applied reversal... which doesn't work in 'every' instance for 'everything', but is still a bloody good gauge/tool to use on occasion... 'try it and see' being an invitation to try applying such reversals yourself (am not saying/suggesting to absolutely/blindly believe anything, only to contrast & compare and then you've got at least 2 opposing pov's to work with, one pov on it's own being like only ever seeing/examining things from one direction only, a pov that may or may not be correct, as such one has to be deliberately objective or risk forgetting what you're doing... Macron and your guy (Starmer) are waking up to reality and becoming, at the least, omnivores. ### - oh c'mon get it right... the uk was the great carnivore of old, no? I'm sticking with the present, the world you and I live in. Nothing else really matters. The past is history. You may as well talk about Genghis Khan and his mountains of skulls, or Hitler and his ovens, or Turkey and the Armenians. The Romans and practically everyone... Let's talk about the world WE inhabit. ### - i am! the uk USED to be the master of the world no? the british empire and all that? a genuine fucking monster on the world stage for which it's still apologising today lol, thus the smh's misleading bs about the poor old uk being a helpless herbivore being picked-on by a carnivore 'enemy' etc, is totally misleading crap! the uk is the 'previous' ruler of the known world! the past carnivore wolf who's now a pet of the current, even more massive/brutal ruling power: america! this being an instance wherein reversal actually reveals the truth! the fact that we're now only the fav lap-dog of america (one of 'em heh) only revealing the sheer power & might of the US currently! tony blair that time playing the role of grand vizier to the ruling masters of the world, all of europe in the direct control 'of' those masters as evidenced by a so-called military & economic alliance, and all currently at-war with the last of the hold-outs, such as russia, is no coincidence... Russia is a "hold-out"? That's an unusual way to paint naked aggression and the killing of men, women and children throughout soveriegn Ukraine. Even Staliln realised that Ukraine needed to be a separate unit to Russia, as did all of the successors, until that flat faced cunt Putin came along... ### - yes, russia's a hold-out in that sense, as is iran and china... i.e., they don't want to be part of western ideology's rule of law or capitalism, they claim to have their own, fairly successful systems... only that's not good enough for the west, the west doesn't want to share anything, it wants the whole thing as the only way of ultimately feeling secure, and thus everything we see today, in fact every war on the planet to date, is, and has been, the direct result of the west's drive to empire the world... iow: we've (the west i mean) caused ALL the wars and then always BLAMED those wars on 'the enemy' - the enemy being anyone who wont join the club! 70+ years of demonising russia now has everyone believing they're responsible for all the trouble when actually the reverse is true and russia just wants to be left alone, ditto china... e.g., we give ukraine more powerful weapons and when russia responds we accuse 'them' of escalating the situation, see how it works? You might be feeling Putin very soon in your neighborhood, air raid sirens followed by very bright second suns, you'll have just enough time to admire the flash as the universe around you explodes and you are atomised and rising towards the stratosphere... ### - there's no need to get so morbid heh, the uk/europe would be just the first ones to get it, everywhere else would then follow including oz because oz is one of the west's important outposts and strategic nuclear listening posts, oz sold-out to the west a long time back/has always been it's little slave, it was created by the monster/british empire ffs! Germany is as usual a pitiful wreck with lots of baggage still from WW2. Poland has balls, so do the three Baltics, and Italy - well, it's Italy, one forward gear, 5 reverse. Australia down here is full of resources, one of the wealthiest countries per capita on the face of the earth. Ripe for the picking? There are a lot of islands between us and China, and we are (or were) good friends with the US. But we too need to develop our own means, and soon. ### - you've gotta be kidding no? australia will never be independent, ever, and only retains the seeming independence they 'appear' to have for as long as they pull their weight, that SMH article being the equivalent of oz rubbing itself, cat-like, against the leg of america in the most blatantly obsequious manner: we love youuu america... please feed us and protect us from the big bad wolf lol... are they really THAT naive?? :))) Jealous much, Brian? lol ### - not at all... have told you before, many times, that am a dog of no nation thang, i just so happened to have been born here so you wont find we waving any flags or supporting any 'teams', am an outsider for real, a cuckoo born in some strangers nest, i don't belong, have never belonged, am only passing-through in that sense, a stranger looking-on at what appears to be a god-awful unholy mess called planet earth lol... a pile of shite so big and sooo high ya can't see the feckin' end of it in any direction hah, and WHAT a pile of shite it is huh? lol you couldn't make this shit up! we've turned this whole world into one massive shithole and are actually proud of it - look what we've dun! we dun did that! - what time's gladiators on honey, are we missin' it?? if oz genuinely wanted to be independent they could, for example, tell the US to remove all their nuclear crap from their soil and sign-up to the growing BRICs accord, oz would soon then see the pile of shite that would soon land on them from the west to make them conform... I said we need to be independent, not we are independent. Then again, I guess the nuclear deterrent held by the UK hasn't really deterred Putin from threatening to kill you, your relatives and everyone you have ever known along with everything else in London and elsewhere in your little island. ### - oz DOES indeed need to be independent, just like everyone does, but never will be for the reasons already stated... oz isn't 'allowed' to be independent anymore than your abbo's are allowed to be independent, anymore than the native americans (or blacks) are allowed to be independent either! in wallyworld one is either with 'em or against 'em on this monkey-minded planet - that's how they think Unlike you, who has never been to Australia, I've visited London so my views of your town are more valid than yours of mine. I've been to the British Museum, it is fantastic, especially the stolen Egyptian artifacts guarding the doorway And, I've eaten Nandos there before it became a massive thing. ### - afaic oz is no different to anywhere else, it's got a different accent and slightly different cultural mannerisms, and defo better weather, you can dress it up any way ya want but it's the same old shit-show as anywhere else in the western world, your smh being no different in message terms than any other western media outlet worldwide: all putting out completely one-sided information, they even went so far as to ban RT here in the uk lol + so much then for freedom of the press huh: another lie! no, that ain't EVER gonna happen thang, never in a million years will oz be free! As for Trump, it's right, the system is entrenched in the US for centuries, Trump will make a splash and a few waves and then it will be business as usual. The swamp will end up draining him... ### - he IS the swamp lol: a physical manifestation OF it in-action no less!!! smile, saw a cartoon on FB the other day... of a ravenous looking wolf preaching/electioneering to a packed crowd of sheep, saying: "if you vote for me i'll immediately become a vegetarian!" lol, and they's ALL gonna believe it aren't they haha! whoo-hoo he's gonna make us all great again!!!!! riiiiiiiight :))))) (remember him waving a bible in one hand while the police brutalised/gassed a crowd of peaceful american protesters that time outside some church? that's a clear pic of who he 'really' is and what we can expect, caligula indeed: which all ended very badly for caligula coz he was a total nutjob: a Tyrant! and they've already tried to shoot the fucker twice...) He's a 79 year old old man, who will be 83 when and if he finishes this term. Reminds me of the fucking cannibal who ran Rhodesia/Zimbabwe until he packed it in close to a hundred years old. ### - well imho, if 'anyone' can 'really' fuck this planet up a good bit more, and do it quickly too, it's him! in fact methinks we'll be lucky if there's a world left after he's gone... am thinking 50/50 it goes either way?