"I cannot ignore your post, for I have seen it and will continue to acknowledge that you removed a post that may/may not have had significance. Good day :p "

Thank you so much for this very informative, enlightening and trustworthy clarification xD

Edited 1/9/2015 13:52:22

Welp, as expected, too late for a trial now.

Okay so I'm the first one to make fun of the french, but for once I'd like to tip my hat to their special forces and to whoever was in charge of dealing with this shit. Faced with a double hostage situation, they did'nt pussy out and led two simultanous assaults, swiftly neutralizing both threats within minutes.

They deserve a round of applause I think.

*starts slow clap*

Edit : Weeeeeel okay, a bunch of hostages were killed during one of the assault. But...you know...eggs...omelets...right?

Edited 1/9/2015 17:06:23

With three of them down (including a 26 years old unarmed city policewoman) I didn't expect our elite squads to show any mercy if the terrorists were not to surrender, especially with hostages involved.

About hostages casualties, we do not know, at the moment, if they were killed before or during the assault.

The toll is bitter, but this threat has been dealt with, thanks to the courage and expertise of our boys. I fear that we're not done with this madness though.

In these dire times, I hope we will stand united, with dignity and solidarity, for it is the only shield a democracy have.

Don't speak so metaphorically. A democracy has the same defences as undemocracy.

Not necessarily. For example, those in the American and French revolutions fought so hard because they had something to fight for: freedom, while the British only fought because an imperial ruler miles away told them to

One can not put full blame on the people for every decision made by the government.

Where is the blame to be put, then? The government isn't some ambiguous body independent of the people, it is, at least in a democracy, composed of the people.

On another note, the downfall of America seems to be the paralysis created by an extremely bipartisan government. I don't think that Americans are stupid. Lazy, ignorant, unwilling to research, perhaps. It is very upsetting to me how concerned some people in the US are with social issues like birth control, same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization when billions around the world are living in oppressed poverty and tens of millions are dying each year of starvation and easily curable diseases.

I say again, Americans aren't stupid or unintelligent, they are just often too concerned with issues in their own lives and don't bother to think of what the world's real problems are.

+1 Thulk's post

Edited 1/9/2015 23:35:34

1st off, im the first one to make fun of the French, but certainly, they deserve respect for what they've done today.

2nd Why should America be the world problem solver? We have our own issues, I don't agree with a lot of what we've done in these last 10 years in America, but, I live here, I support my country, and until they begin to infringe on my rights or begin to infringe on the rights of others, I will continue to support it. I believe we look weaker than we have since the civil war on the world stage, we appear broken economically, and all we make is empty promises. This country is great, but we are not the only great power anymore. The Russians are slowly rebuilding some kind of soviet empire, Europe wants less and less to do with us, and the Chinese and Indians are superpowers in their own rights, poorer than us? yes. but they have the workforce advantage on us and will for a long long time. Our schooling is falling behind, our children learn less and less every year, and watch more and more TV in replacement of schooling. In the next 50 years America is heading for its own reckoning, and call it whatever you want, but we will not be the same country afterwards.

I agree with most of this. In 50-100 years, US will be about as powerful as modernday Argentina.

Also, you forgot the Japanese and Brazil, also powerful.

Edited 1/10/2015 02:16:53

until they begin to infringe on my rights or begin to infringe on the rights of others

The Snowden, Assange revelations was lost on you mate ? Also the little matter of arbitrary drone strikes, invasions, consistent ignorance of Human Rights and so on and so forth.

we appear broken economically, and all we make is empty promises

You have Bankers and the MIC's ( Military Industrial Complex's ) to blame. Issues consistently ignored by Americans if I may add.

False promises are in the rhetoric of any powerful nation. The problem here is America, unlike the Colonialists before them who enslaved for their national pride and proudly proclaimed so, claims they represent all that is benevolent and good. People believing that facade is the ultimate problem.

The Snowden and Assange cases were not lost upon me, I believe in free speech and freedom of the press. However, I also believe in the protection of national interests. Whats lost on you is that you are not in America, we tend to know a bit more about what happening in our own country than the people outside of it. Do I agree with the NSA's spying? Hell no, were they overstepping their bounds as a monitoring agency? Yes. BUT, they were doing what they felt was necessary to secure the United States from foreign threats. It is not the MIC's and Bakers we must blame for our issues, it is ourselves, we had our chances to stop this, but instead Obama was elected for a second term, don't get me wrong, he is the President and I respect him, but his policy is awful, and pull the Bush card if you like, at least when he drew a red line, he backed it up. We are defenders of human rights whether we want to be or not and we allow atrocities in the nations we call our "friends" "allies" "global partners". False Promises are the rhetoric of a weak nation attempting to retain or regain power. (Example, though not a nations the League of Nations, weak, but threw promises around to hold on the the Ruhr, and other areas, promised protection to the nations of Eastern Europe, then let Germany take them all, proving their weakness) I am merely waiting for something big enough that will prove how weak we have become. I will fight to preserve this nation if need be, whether it be run for office, or be it they hand me an M16 and a Beretta and point me at bad guys. All empires have fallen, but we are not an Empire, America is an ideal, it stands for much more than 50 states and borders. It stands for freedom, equality, justice, and, in this day and age, something more important. Power.

Ok, Ehrm. You've digressed from the subject. Let's leave the USA alone for now.

Apologies to ARC and others who share his views, but I'm interested in an opinion from 'the other side'.

PM. Views on these events and(or) Islamic extremism/fundamentalism in general?

Onward Hebdo.

Whats there to talk about, turn on Al-Jazeera if you want to learn about terrorism or extremists, not the bland shit they play here, but the real al jazeera, the one that airs in Lebanon and Syria.

Let's facilitate and diversify.

Edited 1/10/2015 04:30:32

But I spent so long writing my fiery response on the prev. page...

This is what satrists do:

Just as it was getting interesting Julius.

It is not the MIC's and Bakers we must blame for our issues, it is ourselves, we had our chances to stop this

We are in agreement. But judging from the past, I expect no change.

All empires have fallen, but we are not an Empire, America is an ideal

Do you really believe that ?

We are defenders of human rights whether we want to be or not

America is not the last bastion of Freedom. Freedom is a belief that transcends borders and societies. That sort of undertaking is why America is in the situation it is.

Daisuke: Jihad's part of Islam. Though in the 21st century, its conducted in a vile manner. Islam does not condone harming innocents. Heck, in a state of war, Muslims are instructed to not damage property or attack anyone who has surrendered.

Jihad as a teaching has been hijacked. Muslims cannot condone the attack on innocents. Nor is is justifiable to arbitrarily target and attack victims of their choosing. What I do know is that Islam's schools of thought are too divided to address that threat. Saudi, Egyptian and Pakistani schools of thought all differ. Ripe ground for clerics who can twist their words.

One thing is for certain. The true threat is the clerics. Anyone who can convince another to be that cold-blooded, that merciless is truly a danger, to society as a whole.

Amerca will not fall. There is absolutely no way it can happen. There's all this bullshit about the Russians slowly taking over, while they just entered another recession. China's growth is slowing. Indias may be quickening, but it's population will make it impossible to make it surpass 10 trillion within half a century. EUROPE wants nothing to do with us because they're in the shithole themselves, not us. And the US economy is slowly speeding up. By 2020, we could have a boom like that of the 1990s. In Texas and South Dakota, that is already happening (though the latter is only due to fracking). And if the US does go down, it will take most of the world economy with it.

How has this gone from people showing respect to the victims of this tragedy to fucking americans trying to show they got 'dem biggest balls in the free world.

It's sad when americans live up to their egocentric reputation. Not everything is about you.

Russia is still growing, both in population and economy. It's exaggerating to say Russia is taking over, but Russia is doing well. China's growth is slowing, but it's still way more than the US. 10 trillion? That's an awfully big number...of what? Clarify. EU is mediocre, but it's been stagnantly mediocre. And US economy has actually been speeding down since 2010. 2010: 3%; 2011: 2.8%; 2012: 2.6%; 2013: 1.9%. The fracking boom is wasteful and dangerous.

And if the US does go down, it will take most of the world economy with it.

Tshhh... Let me give you a list of the only countries that will have 5% or more of it's economy affected. Mexico, perhaps the rest of Central America, Canada, British Isles, Iceland, Norway, China and, of course, Sierra Leone. And even then, it's less than 10% for most of these, easily replacable. You may try to point out China, but look at this: 20% of the US imports come from China. Less than 10% of Chinese imports come from US. Countries aren't as dependent on US as you think.

The catalyst for the US fall would be China pulling the plug and defaulting for the loans (in which it's entrenched US over 100% in debt). And don't give me that China will suffer as well, China will suffer, but not nearly to the same amount as the US will.

I am simply responding to an earlier post about how America will die out.