Censorship in the media

Originally posted by Stratos: My goverment cannot stop the killing in Sudan, if they could, they would. The only way for a small nation like Sweden to have something done is to create a opinion against the violence and the medium they choose for this kind of things is (Surprise!) the UN.

and Surprise...it is tragicly inneffective. Perhaps Sweden might want to find a more effective forum? I realize Sweden is a tiny nation with a small population but hey, you could always join forces with other small nations and actually do something, rather than talking it to death...while REAL people are being slaughtered in the time it takes to utter every word. Words are nice but they aren't saving lives.

[Stratos]

A more effective forum? Oh, you mean like the EU?

[Stratos]

Any form of military actions by the UN also requires that it passes the Security Council, a council Sweden currently isn't a memeber of.

Perhaps if the five permanent members of the SC would actually agree on something for once, changes could be made.

I am not tryingto be Unfair to Sweden here. They truely are a tiny country with a small population so their effective efforts alone would be limited. But you would think that year after year decade after decade that if the Swedish people really gave a damn about the Sudanese that there would be more of a stink about it....to be honest the only thing negative coming out of sweden that I have seen has been by a very very few people on the internet against the USA. It is quite possible they have been making a ruckus at the UN...but unfortunatley there don't appear to be any online links to show for it

[Stratos]

There's only a limited amount of ruckus little Sweden can cause about Sudan, especially when there's thirty or so other hotspots around the World that needs a good fixin'. Further, there are no other forums Sweden can use except the UN and possibly the EU. Despite what we think about the UN, it's the only one of it's kind and the only organization that can be even remotely close to actually accomplishing something. The only alternative is military actions by individual nations or groups of nations, and only superpowers or other large nations can do that.

The conflict in Sudan, like most other conflicts in Africa, is very complex and requires a very well-planned plan and probably alot of time to get any good results.

[promethius9594]

heh, my country would take care of it, but we already played our unilateral action card and europe hates america more than it cares about doing the right thing.

[Arvon]

I didn't read all of the rants on this topic. BUT there is one point to be made. ONLY THE GOVERNMENT CAN CENSOR MATERIAL!!!!A private publisher, film distributor, or broadcast media can for business elect to use some or any material or not as they choose.

[Stratos]

Originally posted by promethius9594: heh, my country would take care of it, but we already played our unilateral action card and europe hates america more than it cares about doing the right thing.

Yeah, we Europeans don't want to do the right thing, we just want to make life of all Americans a living hell.

Look, if all Europeans really thought that America did 'the right thing', don't you think we would have given you our full support then?

Originally posted by Stratos: Look, if all Europeans really thought that America did 'the right thing', don't you think we would have given you our full support then?

Not really. I recall reading about a scene between Charles DeGaull and Dwight Eisenhower regarding D-Day preparations. It appears that some leaders would cut off their nose to spite their faces.....It appears to me that in the world of international politics "Right" has very little to do with final decisions in most cases...as long as you can get kickbacks from oil sales with a sadistic dictator...you can conveniently overlook the use of Chemical Weapons on the various factions....and the mass killings of whole populations in other countrys.

The US may have dirty hands in some cases (note: I say MAY)...but I see a lot of people living in glass houses throwing stones.


[ 06-27-2004, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Stratos]

Yeah, you're right. What's right has unfortunately little to do international politics. Or rather, it's only a part of it.

Ultimately, I see the war in Iraq, for example, as an attempt to create some form of stability in the very oil rich Gulf Region. Instability in that region would affect oil prices, and since our societies are dependent on oil, our economies. By creating democracies in the Middle East, stability would hopefully follow and there would be less risk of an oil crisis. But that's ultimately also a selfish reason, isn't it?