The world has gone mad

[DodgyAgent]

The Middle East has never been less stable, the world is just recovering from a recession and the austerity measures have not even ended yet........

The Russians are sending 25 fighter jets to Iraq
The US is sending 36 F16s in the autumn (to be fair they are allowing Lockheed to sell them)
Obama is finding $500m to send to Iraq

Give it a year and they will be well set up to attack Iran again and probably take over half of totally destabilised Syria

Mutter, gnash....

So how should the problems of the middle east be solved?

[tractor]

...

So how should the problems of the middle east be solved?

IMO they are not. Leave them to it. Their problems are many centuries old and (most of) the rest of the world has moved on from tribal conflict.

As for the resulting oil shortage, go and actually develop the alternate solutions that governments have been pretending to pursue for decades (and taxing us on).

BTW, I don't pretend to have a solution, I just found the news that I highlighted quite ridiculous given the quite recent history of the US funding the Mujahideen for a decade against Russia then the same people under a different banner fighting the Americans with the arms they were given when their new enemy was their friend and like always, history seems to be about to repeat itself.

[scooterscot]

Bollocks - "According to the IMF, there have been four global recessions since World War II, beginning in 1975, 1982, 1991 and 2009, respectively. This last recession was the deepest and widest of them all. Since 2010, the world economy has been in a process of recovery, albeit a slow one."

Would that be the same recession South America, Australia or China has been enjoying since 2008? Perhaps Gordon can save the world.

Honestly it's bad enough when people start spouting what the media produces but when they start believing it - shudder.

I've travelled to two of those countries since 2008. Believe me they were a million miles from recession. You've no idea how badly living standards have fallen in the UK until you leave it, but for goodness sake don't start believing it's the same throughout the world.

[oscarose]

You've no idea how badly living standards have fallen in the UK until you leave it.

Make the best of it.

[tractor]

...

Would that be the same recession South America, Australia or China has been enjoying since 2008? Perhaps Gordon can save the world.

Honestly it's bad enough when people start spouting what the media produces but when they start believing it - shudder.

I've travelled to two of those countries since 2008. Believe me they were a million miles from recession. You've no idea how badly living standards have fallen in the UK until you leave it.

The IMF is not media.

I went to the Isle of Wight once - does that count? Actually, I have travelled quite extensively to 3 continents, soon to be 4 and hopefully before I kick it, all 5.

Given the way of the world and the way globalisation works, there will always, always be countries that buck the trend simply because the average human is too tight to pay top dolla for anything. This is why houses are full of third world tat. Prosperity is quite relative. The average Brazillian is quite well off given that they usually have 10 kids to put to work making your Nike trainers. The Chinese people are not well off, most are still peasants. Oz is a special case, they are selling the very ground beneath them to China. It will end at some point and they will have nothing.

Just because 3 countries did not suffer did not stop 2009 being a world recession.

To get back to the point though, does the UK or the US have so much that they can afford to perpetuate the mistakes they make time and again. Are there better things that they could spend their money on at home?

[DodgyAgent]

IMO they are not. Leave them to it. Their problems are many centuries old and (most of) the rest of the world has moved on from tribal conflict.

As for the resulting oil shortage, go and actually develop the alternate solutions that governments have been pretending to pursue for decades (and taxing us on).

BTW, I don't pretend to have a solution, I just found the news that I highlighted quite ridiculous given the quite recent history of the US funding the Mujahideen for a decade against Russia then the same people under a different banner fighting the Americans with the arms they were given when their new enemy was their friend and like always, history seems to be about to repeat itself.

So you think that the problems of the Middle east can be contained within the sovereign borders of the Muslim states?

[DodgyAgent]

Would that be the same recession South America, Australia or China has been enjoying since 2008? Perhaps Gordon can save the world.

Honestly it's bad enough when people start spouting what the media produces but when they start believing it - shudder.

I've travelled to two of those countries since 2008. Believe me they were a million miles from recession. You've no idea how badly living standards have fallen in the UK until you leave it, but for goodness sake don't start believing it's the same throughout the world.

Yes I stopped off at Kuala lumpur airport for 10 hours once which means of course I know everything there is to know about Malaysia and its economy

[tractor]

...

So you think that the problems of the Middle east can be contained within the sovereign borders of the Muslim states?

Did I say or even intimate that?

Would the rest of the world's problems be less if they were? I think probably yes.

[scooterscot]

The IMF is not media.

I went to the Isle of Wight once - does that count? Actually, I have travelled quite extensively to 3 continents, soon to be 4 and hopefully before I kick it, all 5.

Since 2008?

Just because 3 countries did not suffer did not stop 2009 being a world recession.

Okay lets add a few more. Canada, Norway, Russia (before Ukraine), Philippines, and take you're pick from several African countries that are doing quite well in terms of oil production.

To get back to the point though, does the UK or the US have so much that they can afford to perpetuate the mistakes they make time and again. Are there better things that they could spend their money on at home?

They don't have any money. Companies do. The countries are broke between them. If there was opportunity for the UK government to exploit interest rates would have went up long ago. Yet they've not because the country would breakdown if rates went back to their 5% norm.

[scooterscot]

Yes I stopped off at Kuala lumpur airport for 10 hours once which means of course I know everything there is to know about Malaysia and its economy

Impressive.