Plip on "The Karadzic trial and Bosnian realities "
Dear Martin Shaw, Thank you for your excellent article. I agree with you that the international community has an urgent responsibility to compel the domestic leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina -- one way or another -- to institute reforms and to create a functional state that respects the rights and dignity of all its citizens. However, what at this point is the realistic possibility of that? If I were to write a book about the history of the international community's behavior regarding Bosnia-Herzegovina, it could accurately be titled They Don't Care. This describes Western officials' attitude all the way back to James Baker and 1991: "We don't have a d

owly on "Cameron and the EU"
Your argument is simplistic at best, and silly at worst. Slavery had ceased to be economic by the time it was abolished - oh and slavery was stamped out by the power of the Royal Navy and not by the EU and all its directives. What I said is patently true, as you well know. For example paternity benefits have now become so numerous that you would have to be insane (if you own a small business) to employ a woman of child bearing age. The costs and disruption caused isn't worth the candle. The whole subject of employment law etc should be directly under the control of National Parliaments. It should be a matter under the control of voters, not imposed upon the people by some re

Not logged in on "Antichrist: the visual theology of Lars Von Trier"
There are many elements not alluded to in Ms. Beattie's fine review that I will touch on: Adam and Eve's Fall entails a curse: man scourged working in the fields, and woman suffering in childbirth and under the domination of man. But these are curses, and those curses are lifted when one abides in agape (love/charity), a restoration of unity. So it makes sense that von Trier's exploration of the curses that befell man and woman remain that, because that is what we persist in not looking at. I believe the main reason that the Christian church claims that we sinned in Adam is that Adam and Eve cannot be viewed apart/separate before the Fall (the word "Adam" represents man and

alfredo.bremont on "Lonesome metaphysics"
we should determine what a mind is to an individual. once that establish we should inquire into what is false and what is real. once that understood them we can go forward to understand the dimensions of reality and how many of them we perceive. if we perceive just 3 of them our reality will be presented as A. but if we perceive 4 them our reality could be B. therefore one individual that perceives just an A form of reality might not completely understand another individual that is capable of understanding a B form of reality. however the B individual will completely understand the individual that exist on a A form of reality. no matter how much they argue the A individual will never g

Anthony Barnett on "Cameron and the EU"
I don't accept "all that" Owly/Tom is by it you mean: "Every time you impose some new 'right' it creates a cost. Those costs have to be paid for by someone - there aint no such thing as a free lunch - and it is the consumer who pays. It is the unemployed who pay because all your good deeds price them out of a job." This is an argument against the abolition of slavery. Of course everyone (except the very largest slave owners) can benefit from legally regulated high standards that raise demand and the level of life and well being. These are not costs in a zero-sum situation.