Comments on: American politics: from hope to grope

By: callixtus

callixtus — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 13:28:00 +0000

The USA should have stood up to Putin years ago. It should have armed Ukraine to resist Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Donbas. And it should have attacked Assad as soon as he started using chemical weapons in its civil war, before the Russians joined the conflict to prop up their puppet.

Bullies don’t understand appeasement. It didn’t work with Hitler. It won’t work with Putin.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 13:08:00 +0000

‘Identity politics and liberal deathwish’

Here’s another Savonarola preaching a return to a ‘moral’ past. One represented, funnily enough by the same evangelical right wingers who support Trump.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 13:04:00 +0000

And when was that? Shall we look at the ‘rights and duties’ of the Belgian King in Congo?

How about the ‘rights and duties of Winston Churchill viz the Jews, or the British re Palestine?

Shall we discuss the ‘duties’ of the US in Latin America, or Nixon in the US?

Shall we dissect the ‘duties’ surrounding the death of Aldo Moro or Bettino Craxi’s exile in Tunis?

Shall we discuss the duties of German, French and even Swiss citizens when it came to the Holocaust?

This ‘modern’ age is no more or less ‘decadent than any previous age. Enough of this superficial moralising please.

By: Ganni Muscat

Ganni Muscat — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 07:32:00 +0000

In reply to Mikhail Tal.

Where do you get the 72% percent undecided figure?

We’re talking about different things; in Malta we just elect MPs, in the US they elect the President directly (kind of).

Anyway, I beg to differ about the reasoning holding in Malta. Third party MPs don’t get elected in Malta because they don’t focus on a single district and a single candidate with patronage in that district; i.e. because they don’t act strategically.

In the US it is difficult for third party presidential candidates to get elected since they don’t have as much money as the main parties, and since the ideology they espouse is always clearly a minority one (Jill Stein does not believe in vaccines). And Jill Stein isn’t even on the ballot in all the states.

By: Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 06:23:00 +0000

That reasoning holds in Malta with 10% of floating voters.

But this time round, in the US, both main candidates are really bad. With 72% of the electorate still undecided, any third candidate (actually there are six in total) with a solid media coverage should stand a reasonable chance.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:09:00 +0000

So what would you do – let Trump win? I mean, honestly. And then you would no doubt think yourself the better person for not having sullied your hands with either of them.

By not voting against Trump you become responsible for bringing him to power. It’s the same argument I use here in Malta.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 13:25:00 +0000

Oh God! Another Jeremiah wailing in the wind! Or decadent modern society? When has society not been ‘decadent’?

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 13:22:00 +0000

In reply to missawt. How exactly is Hillary Clinton 'worthless'?

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 13:22:00 +0000

In reply to Stephen Forster. Into a major conflict with whom?

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 13:21:00 +0000

In reply to thealley. Paranoid much? What is this 'evil agenda' you talk about? "let's not forget how Mrs Clinton tried to cover up her husband's actions." what is the basis for this claim?