It’s time for another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.
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John Quiggin 
As a small donor to the erection some years ago in Canberra of a memorial to the Australians who went to Spain to fight for the Loyalist Republicans in the Civil War, I can’t accept as a general principle that it’s wrong to go to another country to fight in a war there. Whether it’s right to fight in a war depends on many factors, but not on which country you yourself happen to come from.
@Megan
For someone like me who supports radical change, I start from the position that 99%, maybe more, of people don’t see the world the way I do! This is not trivial because if you are action-oriented (rather than just happy to ventilate your anger and die being “right” in your own mind, a disgraceful indulgence), then you need a methodical longterm process (strategy), starting from the realistic position of “now”.
So, if trying to change their views (since we can’t exterminate them), there’s a need to understand them and look at the differences and similarities in an exact way ie. measure, as much as is possible, what is relevant. This gives a basis for trying to understand the people who will have to be won over. The alternative way is unscientific and hit or miss, and probably undemocratic, so it is flawed from the start.
Arabs (mainly Lebanese and Palestinians) in Australian society are from the lower sociological class and “outsiders” in Aust society (see the book “Australia’s Immigration Revolution’), and I suspect in Denmark and other destination countries also – they come from a downtrodden society. Foreign Jews who identify as Israelis are much less so. I think (others can correct me if I’m wrong) that overseas Jews are expected to do compulsory military service in Israel for a year, with some non-combatant option. Like bourgeois people everywhere, I suspect they believe they are high minded compared to the foreign jihadis. But is their practice different?
So I’m not going to rank ordinally Jews and Israeli expat combatants (to demonstrate what?) but just say they are different in origin and worldview. Both fatally flawed.
Alcoa’s Port Henry aluminium smelter is closing, which is likely to reduce Victoria’s electricity consumption by around 10%. Predictably, Tony Abbott has blamed the carbon tax, despite Alcoa expressly stating the the now-repealed carbon price was not a factor in the closure.
@Tim Macknay
Snap!
Heh!
Anyone seen this from Sen Leyonhjelm? Looks like he may have a regular column, JQ?
http://www.theland.com.au/blogs/agribuzz-with-david-leyonhjelm/price-takers-not-rulemakers/2706825.aspx?storypage=0
“Being a price taker should not be an excuse for claiming victim status”.
Showed it to my dairy-farming inlaws who were horrified. The True Libertarian doesn’t believe in political economy.
Israel has killed about 90 Palestinians after breaking the “ceasefire”, as they always do.