"I didn't think I would ever be in position that I would ever have to take somebody else's life"

That's the opening quote, from somebody in the military flying armed drone strikes. I am gonna call that unrealistic expectations, the army and military are not about negotiating with the enemy, their purpose is the threat of violence and death should negotiations fail. If you don't expect taking a life to be part of military operations, you didn't understand the entire concept of a military.

Then it's compounded, with this gem of a quote:
"I thought we were trying to rebuild their democracy"
Where did there exist a democracy in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or anywhere else he might have been flying a drone? Violent, repressive military dictatorships and stateless anarchy were the precursors.

Somewhere in between the cries to kill all Muslims and the Chomsky like claims that everything is the fault of the West is a middle ground I wish people would pay attention to and discuss.

There are parts of the world that are completely lawless, and for all intents and purposes have NO government despite the land itself falling within declared national borders. Tribal Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as many African states like Yemen and Somalia are relevant examples. There are powerful non-state organizations waging war from this regions. Al Qaeda and the TTP being only the most popular examples, Al-Shabab and Boko-Haram are others. These non-state entities are pushing ideologies that are not simply counter to western values, but that violate all UN agreed notions for basic human rights.

The question isn't drones good or drones bad. It isn't America good or America bad. It's not even killing good or killing bad. That's all just propaganda.

The real question is when powerful non state actors wage war with the declared goal of revoking many globally upheld human rights, how do we respond? The idea that drones should never be part of that answer seems equally facile to the idea that they always should be.

A "border shop" is a store located close to a national border. Such shops are targeted mostly at people living on the opposite side of the border from the shop, which mostly offers products that are taxed higher and/or are illegal on the customers' side of the border. You might see this with fireworks stores across state borders in the US. For Denmark/Germany, it's all about taxes on alcohol, which is why this "supermarket" is 90% alcohol isle. Nobody goes there to buy groceries beyond maybe a couple of hot dogs to help wash down their 10 crates of Tuborg. You can see that even the flat-bottom shopping carts are designed to be piled high with beer crates, not to hold on to baby food and cleaning products. >> ^dag:

What's a bordershop?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Eventually some company's going to get it - that national borders don't matter for this kind of thing.>> ^Gallowflak:

Because the BBC doesn't allow me, a British citizen, to pay for a TV license/subscribe to their programming from overseas. How many people from all over the world would be happy to pay to use the iPlayer? And suddenly all of their budget issues would vanish. Retarded.

But from the perspective of thinking globally and acting locally, strangely enough this is a local community to me. And you did a good thing here today @dag. >> ^dag:

If there's one positive about this - it's that the Internet is coming together as an entity - not a state, but something else. National borders are on the decline - we're all citizens of the Internet. Proud to live in the city of VideoSift. >> ^geo321:
This is an interesting interview. About how US censorship bills can become precedent setting internationally, as well as for US Americans..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdMacOguIQ

Cheers. That is my hope as well. It would be interesting if a movement took hold that is indifferent towards national patriotism. Citizens seeing each other equally. The truth is there's an empire that needs an ideology of exceptionalism to support itself and it's actions.>> ^dag:

If there's one positive about this - it's that the Internet is coming together as an entity - not a state, but something else. National borders are on the decline - we're all citizens of the Internet. Proud to live in the city of VideoSift. >> ^geo321:
This is an interesting interview. About how US censorship bills can become precedent setting internationally, as well as for US Americans..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdMacOguIQ

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I actually meant to quote your previous comment - but I stand by my words!>> ^dag:

If there's one positive about this - it's that the Internet is coming together as an entity - not a state, but something else. National borders are on the decline - we're all citizens of the Internet. Proud to live in the city of VideoSift. >> ^geo321:
This is an interesting interview. About how US censorship bills can become precedent setting internationally, as well as for US Americans..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdMacOguIQ

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

If there's one positive about this - it's that the Internet is coming together as an entity - not a state, but something else. National borders are on the decline - we're all citizens of the Internet. Proud to live in the city of VideoSift. >> ^geo321:

This is an interesting interview. About how US censorship bills can become precedent setting internationally, as well as for US Americans..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdMacOguIQ

AH-HAAAAA....I KNEW there was a reason we never saw you and @siftbot in the same place at once!!!

>> ^ant:

>> ^critical_d:
Los Angeles
>> ^dag:
You know, the thing that pisses me off the most about SOPA is that Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Lamar Smith is always quick to point out that this bill mainly targets "foreign websites" as if somehow that makes it all OK.
This shows a real lack of understanding of the way the Internet works - and the increasing irrelevance of national borders. Hands up if you know where VideoSift's servers are.


Yep, in my room.

Los Angeles

>> ^dag:

You know, the thing that pisses me off the most about SOPA is that Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Lamar Smith is always quick to point out that this bill mainly targets "foreign websites" as if somehow that makes it all OK.
This shows a real lack of understanding of the way the Internet works - and the increasing irrelevance of national borders. Hands up if you know where VideoSift's servers are.

>> ^dag:

You know, the thing that pisses me off the most about SOPA is that Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Lamar Smith is always quick to point out that this bill mainly targets "foreign websites" as if somehow that makes it all OK.
This shows a real lack of understanding of the way the Internet works - and the increasing irrelevance of national borders. Hands up if you know where VideoSift's servers are.


Sweden?

*raises hand*
>> ^dag:

[...] This shows a real lack of understanding of the way the Internet works - and the increasing irrelevance of national borders. Hands up if you know where VideoSift's servers are.

My hands are still down. Really, I have no idea where the servers are. >> ^dag:

You know, the thing that pisses me off the most about SOPA is that Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Lamar Smith is always quick to point out that this bill mainly targets "foreign websites" as if somehow that makes it all OK.
This shows a real lack of understanding of the way the Internet works - and the increasing irrelevance of national borders. Hands up if you know where VideoSift's servers are.