@the yell:
Its a long story but but I give you the short version: he passed one vote after another to escape a sentence. But he was found guilty on a lot of crimes. That he connections with the maffia is prooven. In most european countries this would kill your political carreer, and I bet the same counts for the US. But the guy controls the biggest part of the media so he get away with it.  He profiles himself as a "self-made" man, wich is ok i.m.o. but not if you got your money trough crime.

@fokker:
"And yet WW1 started in exactly the same way; and assassination of one undesirable leader."
You said so, but still you need more for a direct comparison.

"Regardless of society and tech the situations could play out very similarly."
Nobody can predict the future but some factors can be discussed about. In general I think nationalistic feelings are much lower as during that age. Also, todays opinion about war, and history books in school makes a future war less likely to happen. Before WW1, most stories about war were heroic. After 2 world wars, most true stories about war in europe discribe hell. Also think about the way most involved countries were ruled at the time. Far les democratic and free as it is now.

Not going into the way they make warfare now and the role of the media.

Its an intresting idee, but drawing direct conclusions would be one step to far.

fokker,
The situation isn't comparable to pre-www1 situations. Before world war one everybody thought war was a game to name something. The social situation was completely different.

Am I the only one being pragmatic here?
There is no legal system anywhere in the world who has a righteous and just system unless your morals are flexible 100%. The reason we trial people mostly is to prevent others from doing the same and the person to do it again. We need to label the person "bad" or "evil" to justify our actions for ourselfs and the people around us. Ironicly, this system is "just" in the way that it prevents crime from hapening. And it works.

The second reason is revenge but also the control over it.

Maybe we should take the discussion to some wider extend and debate about the possibility of a coup anytime, and also in european countries. What would happen if a coup is succesfull? I.m.o. it would make litle difference if it were an extreme left or right wing or just plain old dictatorship. What would happen if eg itally would fall into the hands of berlusconi? What will he do to the other countries?

true

"All I smell is cheap political opportunism."
you can smell that in any party in any country. Welcome to planet earth.

I feel like a lazy, uneducated, dumb person but can you sumarise this one for me? I have 2 jobs and evening school so I can't read very long intros unless I read nothing else. Nothing personal to you.

"Nuclear power has a few millenia left on the clock"
if you talk about nuclear fussion. Otherwise, the current supplies could deliver us only 6-10 years at our current powerusage level if we would use nothing else. I'm not against it but its also limited.

@han:
he means norway produces energy via watermills.

@noir
You are partly right, but it all depends what you do for exercise. And a lot of sports are unhealthy for a lot of things. A lot of athletes, even if they are amatures, are "broken" after they quit. Sprinters to name one sometimes can't walk normally after they are 30. Being fat can result in more heart/blood vessel problems especially if you got the wrong body for it.

There are problems with being skinny as well if you go to far. It depends on the person as well.

lol@einstein&yell

idd loz. Its a pretty pointless debate.