Cyclone Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 No. No-one needs to vote re whether there should or should not be a war. Are you answering on behalf of Arguendo, or just randomly answering questions directed at other posters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arguendo Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Well im sure when Iraq invaded Kuwait we had British citizens in the country and the same can be said for Libya. So if something kicks off, even you say we are duty bound to take action and if that is military so be it. Your 1st paragraph does contradict what you say in your 2nd paragraph. Having a strict policy of no interference, no ifs no buts is a rather simplistic view of things, the real world is far more complicated than that. I know how complicated the world is; it’s not all black & white, many of my posts on this thread are out of frustration. Yes it would be impractical to have a referendum on each & every conflict or foreign aid project, but it’s quite clear that goverment action should & must go by public opinion, and yes we always have the option in a general election to show our frustration, but unfortunately the political parties of this country all appear to stand for different agendas in regard to running the country, but in reality they all tend to do the same when it comes to world affairs, & that usually involves following at the heels of the US. Taking your points one at a time, whenever a country collapses into civil unrest or two countries go to war, British citizens are given fair warning & assistance to leave the country, those that stay behind or ignore foreign office warnings have themselves to blame, a classic example would be Norman Kember & his Christian Peacemaker comrades, a 50 man unit lead by the SAS, save his life & he pours scorn over what they do. Recently in Libya British forces helped repatriate many British & European citizens & that is about as far, as we should go. Our government role at present is at the behest of the US, O’Bama can’t afford for his popularity to be hit by another war, however I’ll ask you this do you believe it’s right go about an air campaign to carpet bomb in an attempt to de-stable Gadafi, in order to assist the rebels to take over, these rebels many of whom have been proven to be affiliated with Al Qaeda. It’s my belief on what I’ve read & seen that they as well as many other rebels within the region, are only being given assistance because they are more willing to cooperate with the west, namely the US, we are creating another time bomb in which the disposed Gadafi regime & others, on being ousted will one day look back recoup & take out their revenge through terrorism activities. History teaches a lot about the future, Sadam Hussain a friend to the West because initially he was supported in takeover by the US, the Taliban were supported by the US, they are now considered terrorists, Mubarak placed into power by the support of the US, President--Bashar Al-Asad according to the Clintons was an inspirational leader who the West should trust, now he’s a dictator & threat to the West. People have short memories, the lie after proven lie which led to the war in Iraq, would we have invaded if we had known what we know now, I doubt it very much. When it comes to the the Middle East, I look it this way; today’s friend is tomorrow’s terrorist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I know how complicated the world is; it’s not all black & white, many of my posts on this thread are out of frustration. Yes it would be impractical to have a referendum on each & every conflict or foreign aid project, but it’s quite clear that goverment action should & must go by public opinion Definitely not, public opinion would be a terrible way to run a country. What would be public opinion about cutting taxes, in favour I expect. Public opinion about increasing services, in favour. Public opinion about balancing the books, suddenly very quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Yet USA public opinion on balancing the books...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 We get a vote every five years (or less), on who will run the country for the next few years on our behalf. Those people, having been elected, get to vote for or against war. We get to vote every five years, for which political party we want to take us to war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arguendo Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Definitely not, public opinion would be a terrible way to run a country. What would be public opinion about cutting taxes, in favour I expect. Public opinion about increasing services, in favour. Public opinion about balancing the books, suddenly very quiet. Cutting taxes, public services & balancing books, completely different to interfering in another countries internal dispute, sending our forces to areas of danger to prop up some dictator. As for public opinion on internal politics, do you watch the news, I’m almost certain public opinion has played an important part in some of the conservative climb downs & back peddling of late, the NHS reforms for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 The point isn't different though, public opinion is mostly the opinion of people too stupid to be in control of the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shims Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 There is far too much money made from warfare to ever allow a general public, duped by notions of 'democracy' to interfere in the proceedings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arguendo Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 The point isn't different though, public opinion is mostly the opinion of people too stupid to be in control of the country. That’s incredibly patronising; as I’ve said public opinion plays an important role in decision making, unfortunately the one major fault of public opinion is intends to follow what lies the government wants us to believe, prior to any conflict & depending on the importance of the relationship with that countries natural resources, we are bombarded with media reports, remember Iraq, the country with the missile arsenal of ready to fire with chemical war heads, many would apparently reach the shores of the UK, & USA, the aerial photographs depicting chemical producing factories, not to mention the chemicals being smuggled in to the UK disguised as perfume bottles. All was propaganda by the government through the media to sway public opinion; it’s only stupid people who follow blindly without wanting to know the full facts. The amount of media time spent on Iraq is exceptional compared to other conflicts around the world in which true human rights violations are taking place. Take a look at appendix A, as the whole document maybe a little too long for you; http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:hrzjsn04ZH4J:clas.georgetown.edu/120347.html+public+opinion+government+decisions&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi-WKLkiKx5sjlS2-xXnqu0KJDTps7As_1s8LL8-PDeJrbqCIkQ1vRI7tZRygRr2p9W91ErHK4r1BiXJ6Un49M-6VGj6cGM7vqlOkzgHl6Toutdl4lG6Ib0jfvaNfT8lIEFAHe3&sig=AHIEtbSVo7VzRz4X1XmZ_csFIGKUpFNktg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Did you realise that 50% of people are more stupid than average in this country? And that the average isn't all that impressive either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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