Curtains

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Posts by Curtains

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  54

  Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  historian niall ferguson made some extended remarks recently arguing that the american empire may be closer to the edge than many suppose.. he starts out observing that while the fateful decline of american supremacy is now widely accepted, it is still generally expected that this will be a protracted process.

  after all empires don't fall in a day.

  rome took centuries to crumble did it not?

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  Curtains

  yes we do live in interesting times podo bear and I agree with both you and satanus regarding capitalism.

  Capitalism has good and bad effects. On the one hand it has brought us many liberties but on the hand some of these liberties have come with a heavy price - a cheapening of some aspects of life in reducing it to monetary value. But we are in a position to take back our lives during this time in which capitalism is showing its costly unsustainableness in the West. I don't think capitalism it will go away completely or fail to the point of complete collapse, but it will allow an increasing large space for innovation.
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  18

  On being reasonable

  by Lion Cask in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recap.

  non-jw man with jw wife.

  she joined after we were married, against my wishes.

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  Curtains

  lion cask

  I took early retirement a couple of years ago and now have a whole lot of time on my hands that I didn't have before

  I have problems with the blood doctrine and the exposure, however remote, it manifests on her, our daughter and our grandson. I also have problems with the shunning of a family member. If there was compromise on these two things, I could turn a blind eye to a lot of other stuff, but there is no room for compromise on either front. Not because she doesn't want to but because she is forbidden to.

  a while back a jwn member suggested making a documentary. I thought this was an excellent idea and have put it on my to do list for after I finish the lengthy project I'm working on. You seem to have lots of resources, time, business acumen etc at your disposal - would you consider doing something like this now? It would be constructive, you would be leaving something for future generations and most importantly you may be able to influence WTS policy makers, the very ones who are forbidding your wife to compromise.

  To an extent though it can be said that your wife and daughter have exercised a certain degree of choice as they chose to become JWs. But there is a small possibility that a documentary may present them with facts they were unaware of (if they watch it). However the greatest impact could be on your granddaughter's future and her choices .....hopefully she would be more receptive to something like this, and even if she chooses to become a JW it may be that by that time the leadership will have changed some of their more harmful policies because of outside media pressure.
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  18

  On being reasonable

  by Lion Cask in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recap.

  non-jw man with jw wife.

  she joined after we were married, against my wishes.

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  Curtains

  lion cask, my advice is to try and get busy with new interests and hobbies. Wear a mask when you are with her friends - she probably does the same when she is with yours. Try and neogtiate some sort of compromise with the turn your life has taken since you have retired.

  People choose to live in all sorts of extreme ways that may seem dangerous to loved ones. Up to this point you have both allowed each other the freedom to enjoy a certain amount of independence and risk taking. Can you not continue to do so even in retirement? I wonder if this may not enrich your life together in the long run?
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  60

  Hello. I have made myself a footnote.

  by NewChapter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first time poster.

  i guess this makes me the scary a word.

  arent apostates jealous?

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  Curtains

  I'll say hello again although I feel I know you a little already via another thread.
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  54

  Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  historian niall ferguson made some extended remarks recently arguing that the american empire may be closer to the edge than many suppose.. he starts out observing that while the fateful decline of american supremacy is now widely accepted, it is still generally expected that this will be a protracted process.

  after all empires don't fall in a day.

  rome took centuries to crumble did it not?

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  2. 
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  Curtains

  lion cask

  I'm thinking empire in the Athenian sense and this is also how I understand slimboyfats perception of empire.

  shame this thread has died and I apologise for not coming back to it sooner.
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  19

  HI

  by recovering in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am giving an update to my health.

  i would like to thank everyone for the support you have given me.

  i have been undergoing treatment for the cancer and so far so good.

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  Curtains

  Hi recovering thanks for the update. Keep perservering
• 
  54

  Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  historian niall ferguson made some extended remarks recently arguing that the american empire may be closer to the edge than many suppose.. he starts out observing that while the fateful decline of american supremacy is now widely accepted, it is still generally expected that this will be a protracted process.

  after all empires don't fall in a day.

  rome took centuries to crumble did it not?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Curtains

  
• 
  54

  Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  historian niall ferguson made some extended remarks recently arguing that the american empire may be closer to the edge than many suppose.. he starts out observing that while the fateful decline of american supremacy is now widely accepted, it is still generally expected that this will be a protracted process.

  after all empires don't fall in a day.

  rome took centuries to crumble did it not?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Curtains

  interestring article - (I do love America, but facts are facts)

  http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/hugh-gusterson/empire-of-bases

  Empire of bases By Hugh Gusterson | 10 March 2009 Before reading this article, try to answer this question: How many military bases does the United States have in other countries: a) 100; b) 300; c) 700; or d) 1,000. According to the Pentagon's own list PDF , the answer is around 865, but if you include the new bases in Iraq and Afghanistan it is over a thousand. These thousand bases constitute 95 percent of all the military bases any country in the world maintains on any other country's territory. In other words, the United States is to military bases as Heinz is to ketchup. The old way of doing colonialism, practiced by the Europeans, was to take over entire countries and administer them. But this was clumsy. The United States has pioneered a leaner approach to global empire. As historian Chalmers Johnson says, "America's version of the colony is the military base." The United States, says Johnson, has an "empire of bases." Its 'empire of bases' gives the United States global reach, but the shape of this empire, insofar as it tilts toward Europe, is a bloated and anachronistic holdover from the Cold War."
• 
  54

  Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  historian niall ferguson made some extended remarks recently arguing that the american empire may be closer to the edge than many suppose.. he starts out observing that while the fateful decline of american supremacy is now widely accepted, it is still generally expected that this will be a protracted process.

  after all empires don't fall in a day.

  rome took centuries to crumble did it not?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Curtains

  On refuting lion cask and agreeing with slimboyfat - excellent article here regarding empire.

  http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713720197

  The Heart of Empire? Theorising US empire in an era of transnational capitalism

  Author: Doug Stokes a

  Abstract Contemporary critical theorising on US Empire tends to diverge in two ways. First, more traditional approaches tend to foreground the national basis of the USA's imperial project and the subsequent ongoing inter-imperial rivalry inherent between rival capitalist states and regions. A second 'global-capitalist' approach rejects the notion of US Empire and instead posits the transcendence of a nationally based imperialism in favour of an increasingly transnationally orientated state and global ruling class. I argue that both accounts fail in their singularity to capture the nature and role of the US state within a global political economy. Instead, I argue that the US state has long been both subject to and demonstrative of a dual national and transnational structural logic that seeks to enhance US national interests while reproducing a world order favourable for global capital as a whole. Crucially, the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks on 9/11 have exacerbated the tensions between these dual logics; these will potentially affect both the hegemony of American Empire and the future of international relations in profound ways.

  View Full Text Article Download PDF (~219 KB) View Article Online (HTML)
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  58

  What crisis will set the W.T on a new path?

  by acolytes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or what are the forces of inertia that keep jehovers witnesses from changing?.

  acolytes.

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  Curtains

  apostates