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Well, if we're playing it as an anti-Russian thing, then stepping in against Serbia definitely was NATOs business; Serbia has generally been Russia's best friend in the Balkans an area which it (along with Turkey, Germany/Austria, Italy, and probably France too) have all seen as belonging to its...

Luck and geography: Europe was fortunate, in that it had a very long coastline which meant seafaring technology quickly outstripped what you got in China or India (yes, I know about the Treasure Fleets, but they were basically a one off - China could afford not to have sea trade at all, for...

If in doubt, blame the outsiders! I bet no-one's ever done that before! Oh, wait...

I think it's worth pointing out that, in many parts of the world, especially in South America, the Church pretty much is the left.

I agree, really - the Balkans should be Germany's (+/-EU) or Russia's responsibility, really, and Europe's complete spinelessness in the matter was really just embarassing. On the other hand, Yugoslavia was basically a Serbian empire, and when you consider things like the massacre of Bosniaks in...

Oh please. You (as in, America) could at least tinker with a social democratic party. I'm not a big fan of either (and am not even sure if they can really be called socialist), but China and the USSR were neither mediocre, nor did they have no impact on the world. Anyway, the real socialisms...

Probably because none of them have ever been presented with a proper Left-wing alternative to the status quo. OK, so out of 500 or so elected representatives at federal level, America has one self-proclaimed socialst, and a few fringe Left parties with no representation. That's pretty poor going...

Hey hey hey, I said that no socialist party developed in the USA. I didn't say Americans were right-wing. There's a difference.

Yup. When I went to visit my family out there I was surprised by the number of man-dog marriages. Quebec was probably worse: gay marriage turned them all into Frenchmen!! AAAARGH :P Here in the UK we got civil partnerships for gay couples, but incestuous paedophilia has been allowed ever since...

Would work if either the USA Democratic party or a majority of its voters were actually secular socialist utopians. They're not. They're utterly spineless, vaguely religious Social Liberals who get trampled all over (completely deservedly, IMO) by America's big scary Conservative movement...

So you grow your own food, generate your own electricity (from a generator you built yourself), made your computer out ofmetals which you mined with a pickaxe you made yourself and plastic from oil you extracted with a bike pump and seperated in your water heater (which you also made by your...

Well, perhaps not, but since the 1980's our two countries' Right-wing parties have essentially been on the same track, with our Tories just more watered down. Is that all? Why is rejecting authority actually a bad thing, anyway? Except we're all interdependent, all the time.

I'm.... not sure at all the extent to which Adam Smith would identify with today's modern capitalist. See his stuff on equality and the division of labour, in particular. A lot of the earliest classical liberals, up to about J.S. Mill, I'd imagine, actually have very little in common with the...

Really? I've found the exact opposite in this country: all the Conservatives are/were spoilt little rich kids. And poor people in rural areas in this country (or, at least, this part of it) don't vote Tory - they vote for the Liberal Party, just like they have in every single election since they...

Nobody (least of all a left-winger, I should hope!) would claim that unemployment is a result of laziness. High unemployment, however, is simply a part of capitalism. Indeed, it's one of the things that allowed it to develop in the first place.

Er, so my mum isn't a "real mother" because she didn't like being hit around by her husband? Eep.

I sincerely hope this is the conclusion most people reach in the next few years. In my mind, at least, it's the most sensible option. I wouldn't count on it, although I guess on the other hand places like France already have it: marriage in a Church has no legal standing - the mayor of your...

Why does he need to reach out to the Paulites? They ain't gonna vote for anyone else, they're not exactly what you'd call numerous (see Paul's performance in the primaries), and their views alienate many others in the GOP coalition.

Singapore does have some pretty strict laws, verging on the totalitarian, however. The interdictions on oral sex and chewing gum come to mind. The Singaporean government decided, at some point, that the only way for people of different cultures to live together on a small island is to stop them...

So, you want economic freedom, with virtually no political or social freedom?