Comments on: American Parallels

By: Mommybrain

Mommybrain — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:00:51 +0000

Peony, is the configuration followed by another re-ocurring configuration? If so, what characterizes it? Is there hope in the stars?

By: peony

peony — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:54:52 +0000

Ian, regarding the statement that history does not repeat, perhaps not always and in precisely the same way, but I would argue that planetary archetypes express themselves through history and culture with a kind of regularity that is unmatched by any other means that I am aware of. To give you one example, there is one configuration that has manifested consistently and was operative during both the First and Second World Wars, the beginning of the Vietnam War, the Cold War, every major war in the Middle East from the War of Independence in 1946, the Suez War in 1956, the Six Day War in ‘67, the Yom Kippur War in ‘73, and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Iran/Iraq War 1981-1984, the war in Bosnia, 911 and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

By: peony

peony — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:29:24 +0000

ThingsComeUndone: I didn’t know we had a source here, but thanks for the heads up. For some reason, I haven’t seen an astrological perspective ever given, but I have been away since the new format…

By: GorillasGuides

GorillasGuides — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:35:28 +0000

Ugh all of that was pretty much what he said. He also said that some of China’s dam projects in the Himalayas were already causing friction.

By: Ian Welsh

Ian Welsh — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:31:08 +0000

I used to predict an India breakup. I’ve lost too much touch with India (in my teens I kicked around it a long following my Dad, who worked for the UNDP but that was back in the 80s) to keep my confidence in it, but I do know that the Naxalites are doing better than most westerners know (and most of India’s elites want to admit). India is also cruising for a huge water crisis, and then a crash in food production, within about 20 years. That will lead to rather large amounts of violence and/or repression, probably both. And the “Indian miracle” strikes me as more shallow that people want to admit, and still based too much on the western money flows that will turn to a trickle if the US really has serious economic problems

I don’t know if that will manifest itself as Hindu extremism, but the foundations are certainly there for it to do so.

By: GorillasGuides

GorillasGuides — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:16:18 +0000

Fair enough Ian but for how long? There was a talk a while back by a threats analyst at the Academy I got chatting to him and he said if we think Islamic extremism is bad just wait ’til you see the Hindu version. He gave it about 10 years.

By: Ian Welsh

Ian Welsh — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:11:12 +0000

India has english as one of its official languages. And, if you’re in the right social class India’s a more decent place to live than you might think.

By: GorillasGuides

GorillasGuides — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:01:14 +0000

I amn’t - from my POV as a European your internal politics are your affair and I expect your country to behave the same towards me.

Also as a European the biggest threat to my liberties and the survival of my country is a belligerent USA running round the world throwing deadly temper tantrums whenever it bloody well feels like it. It’s in my interest for a drastically weakened US to realise that it can no longer do that and turn in on itself and start fixing its internal politics. You could do worse than have a look at how Europe does things because here are some basic facts about the “average” EU citizen.

On average even after we include the new EU countries from the former Soviet bloc we live longer than you.

We’re better educated.

We’re healthier.

By and large we have a way better quality of life.

To take a fairly extreme example. Ford’s most productive workers in the world are the people in Sweden who design and build Volvos. High skills, high wages, high productivity, and damned good unions to keep it that way.

But your problems are your problems for you to sort out in your social and ecomnomic context. Policies that would work in our society would not necessarily work in yours.

“People get the government they deserve” is an American proverb not a European one. We are far less deferential to government and to elected officials than you are by and large. You could start by scaring the living shite out of your so-called opposition by giving them some very viciously fought primary contests.

By: PhysioProf

PhysioProf — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:45:32 +0000

All Republics end, and so do all Empires. There is, in human history, a series of cycles of renewal, decay and renewal. Each one ends in a crisis period, and each crisis must be overcome. It is never inevitable that you’ll fail – but it’s never guaranteed you’ll succeed either.

But, but, but we’re America! We’re different!

By: MarkH

MarkH — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:43:32 +0000

Leadership (and sometimes just simple survival) demand that we react and in many cases avert disasters before they arrive. We have to know, as the article above outlines, problems are coming, so we can creatively find a new ‘way’.

We have to imagine a better world and create a new way that’s beneficial for everybody.

In light of what we know of the past, what is to be the new way of the world?