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egypt
Feb 11, 2011 0:04:56 GMT
Post by kralex on Feb 11, 2011 0:04:56 GMT
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egypt
Feb 11, 2011 16:35:47 GMT
Post by MightyKhan on Feb 11, 2011 16:35:47 GMT
well, he's gone now
:')
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egypt
Feb 12, 2011 0:49:23 GMT
Post by FunkySwerve on Feb 12, 2011 0:49:23 GMT
I find myself smiling every time I look at the tv screen. A nearly bloodless revolution (meaning no pitched combat), with prospects for true democracy looking good. Hopefully this will be a shining success story for the rest of the region to aspire to.
Over, why did you not follow up on your remarks about belligerent US foreign policy? One of the most sensible contentions I've seen you make on these boards. US foreign policy in the region has been a mess, with roots in the Cold War thinking of holding the line against communism by any means necessary, keeping down revolution in favor of stability. It's thinking that's well past its expiration date, and puts us in an awkward position of being the 'city on the hill' example of democracy, while propping up dictators abroad. It's made an utter mess of our relations with the Middle East, of which Al'qaeda is merely the most recent development.
Funky
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egypt
Feb 12, 2011 8:07:29 GMT
Post by Werehound Silverfang on Feb 12, 2011 8:07:29 GMT
I find myself smiling every time I look at the tv screen. A nearly bloodless revolution (meaning no pitched combat), with prospects for true democracy looking good. Hopefully this will be a shining success story for the rest of the region to aspire to. From everything I've learned in my history classes, shows like this are far more successful than bully countries forcing smaller, non-democratic countries to change.
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egypt
Feb 12, 2011 11:32:49 GMT
Post by MightyKhan on Feb 12, 2011 11:32:49 GMT
This was truely a beautiful thing to behold, something I hadn't seen before ("live" that is).
The most irritating about how the dutch media are covering the subject is that they are talking half the time about america, instead of full time about egypt! "what must america do now?" "victory for obama?" I mean come on! Do those idiots (dutch media) honestly think the egyptians care for ONE SINGLE BIT about what the rest of the world thinks? I doubt it. They did this themselves and no-one could've, or even should've, stopped them. Or changed anything about the way they made it happen.
I've seen the place and those people deserve it.
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egypt
Feb 12, 2011 14:49:11 GMT
Post by Starcub on Feb 12, 2011 14:49:11 GMT
Nuclear has a MUCH lower cost and effort for the MW output than most other options including Solar (I think solar's costs is about 20-25x). According to DOE EIA figures the life cycle $/MW cost estimate of new Nuclear is 2-3 times that of solar (for base load plants). However here in Florida, we've been told that FPL's capital cost estimate for the 2 new nuclear plants that are planned to be built here are significantly higher than the those used in EIA estimates. There were also plans to construct 3 new solar plants here; I believe at least one of them has already come on line, but I don't know the cost status of them. Moreover, residential solar is cost competitive with grid power in some southwestern states, and residential solar is more expensive than base load solar. Thus, there is good reason to believe that the EIA estimates are not accurate. The majority of the cost of both solar and nuclear energy is capital cost. In the past year alone, commodity price increases have caused a 37% rise in capital cost estimates for new nuclear. Commodity price increases have also caused rising capital costs for other traditional energy sources. In fact only three technologies have seen capital cost decreases in the past year: solar, biomass, and natural gas. Solar PV capital costs decreased the most: by 25%. I think it is reasonable that as the global economy continues to develop and pour more money into renewable energy, these cost trends will continue. Then there is the issue of subsidies. Nuclear stands on top of 60 years of massive federal subsidies. Among the most popular of traditional energy sources, nuclear is by far the most highly subsidized. However, solar is currently far and away the most highly subsidized energy source, but those subsidies are very new, and the technology itself is far from state of the art. The US has only 6% of the solar market and most of the development/cost drivers will occur overseas. China for example plans on spending about 600 billion on renewable energy over the next ten years (almost as much as their defense budget), and the sector that will see the largest proportional increase will be solar. There remains a very large question mark in the subsidization of the handling of nuclear waste. The US still does not know what it will do with the waste. Responsibility for waste storage and disposal belongs by law to the federal govt. In the 35 years they've been trying to deal with the waste issue, the govt has yet to find even one site to build a storage facility. In the mean time, the taxpayer has been paying nuclear power companies to build on site accommodations for waste. Wind power and natural gas can be cheaper than conventional coal, are looking to be popular in the future. Nuclear and clean coal cost about the same.
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egypt
Feb 13, 2011 13:45:48 GMT
Post by tomaan on Feb 13, 2011 13:45:48 GMT
This was truely a beautiful thing to behold, something I hadn't seen before ("live" that is). The most irritating about how the dutch media are covering the subject is that they are talking half the time about america, instead of full time about egypt! "what must america do now?" "victory for obama?" I mean come on! Do those idiots (dutch media) honestly think the egyptians care for ONE SINGLE BIT about what the rest of the world thinks? I doubt it. They did this themselves and no-one could've, or even should've, stopped them. Or changed anything about the way they made it happen. I've seen the place and those people deserve it. For real? Hilarious! There's some of that going on here in the American media as well, but most of seems to be focusing on the long term implications. And yes....it is a beautiful thing to witness "live". I wasn't around for the African independence movements of the 50s and 60s but I have very clear memories of the fall of communism. What we're seeing now in the Middle East is, imho, just as impactful as those two movements and it will be very interesting to see where the dust eventually settles. For example, there are more than a few in the media and elsewhere who are absolutely convinced that the Muslim Brotherhood will takeover. Most base their convictions on the mistaken belief that all Muslims are uber anti-American terrorists (and no...I do not believe that for a second). A secular or moderate government rising out of this chaos would go a long way to shutting them the heck up. It may be wishful thinking, but supporting fair elections and their outcomes in Egypt would probably help America's image in the war on terror. The terrorists ideology argues that America wants to take over the Middle East and destroy Islam. Standing "with the people" of Egypt, Tunisia and others demonstrates that America respects the "will of the people" and their religion.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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egypt
Feb 17, 2011 20:48:46 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2011 20:48:46 GMT
Over, why did you not follow up on your remarks about belligerent US foreign policy? One of the most sensible contentions I've seen you make on these boards. US foreign policy in the region has been a mess, with roots in the Cold War thinking of holding the line against communism by any means necessary, keeping down revolution in favor of stability. It's thinking that's well past its expiration date, and puts us in an awkward position of being the 'city on the hill' example of democracy, while propping up dictators abroad. It's made an utter mess of our relations with the Middle East, of which Al'qaeda is merely the most recent development. Funky Honestly I saw that leading to a really polarizing political argument and knew I would fail in properly articulating my perception of the situation. We can facilitate the kinds of reformations which had lead to enlightenment in the west which in turn has lead to advanced 'first-world' civilization, or we could facilitate the mess that is there now. We chose the latter and really I think much of that decision making is at play in determining how we are facilitating the contemporary development of our own nations. WE, not the bankers or execs or evil leaders. We vote, we buy. What more collective power could we ask for??
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