[jaguar]

Hmm, ok tw, personally I do read Time magazine, lol, mostly coz a: I live in Australia and I can't get the economist, b: there is no Australian substitute. Admittedly it’s biased as hell, skips facts etc, but it still does open my eyes to a lot of issues I would otherwise be entirely ignorant about.

Media must cater for the masses and all the masses want is that a: a fire happened, b: is anyone we know dead, c: some pretty pictures. Sad as it is that’s the case. You have in some ways a similar mentality to me and guys I know in elite military units, when you go somewhere you check out everything, everyone, notice everything, it can be very useful.

I have Israeli friends, some of which are joining the army over there in the near future. The currant situation is tit for tat, and they are happy to admit that 'the killing of 2 14y.o Israeli boys will not go unpunished. SO the next day, 5 Palestinian cops suddenly get shots by Israeli troops thinking they are force 17. BOTH sides have to stop, but Arafat cannot control most/all of the terrorist groups who carry out these attacks. I entirely agree Sharon is scum, and should be anywhere but in power, but frankly, if I was a Jew, after persecution by pretty much everyone, I’d want some land to myself too.

As for Europe taking a lead, hopefully the new ham-fisted bush administration will force them to, because he’s just so damn stupid, to go along with him would be political suicide. Yes, sadly Europe has a lot of trouble agreeing on anything, but they do eventually get things done (euro?), but fast response to events is not their strongest point. Maybe if the long-held idea of a single European army came along there would be a much faster response.

The other reason you often get a slow response to anything with politicians is because in the end what matter to them is if they get re-elected, you need someone who is very sure of his position (Clinton) to make bold moves, most of the time.

Plato himself argued this one, because democratically elected leaders have limited terms, they will not undertake politically risky or LONG TERM SOLUTIONS (global warming, transport alternatives, etc) because they won't be around to reap the political benefits. He proposed a system of a benevolent dictator, personally I don’t subscribe to that line but I just thought I’d mention that.