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I recenty heard that the current King of Spain told the president of Venezuela the following quote "Why don't you just Shut Up?" after the Venezuelan president insulted him. So my question is as such:
What kind of political/international backlash would this create between Spain and other countries?
From the Spainsh perspective: The king did nothing wrong, he was insulted and the person was punished. On the other hand, The Venezuelans would be digusted with the king because the King should not be rude in ANY situation. Would this small (or large) incident cause tension between the wo countires? If so, who would be to blame?
Thanks! ♥ ECH3LON ♥ 00:10, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I foresee other world leaders insulting Chavez to his face in the near future actually. He already is the subject of ridicule over much of the world and this incident could open the floodgates for further "official" put-downs of this man. Belicia ( talk) 05:00, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Is it just me or does Jimbo have an uncanny resemblance to William Tecumseh Sherman? -- 24.147.86.187 ( talk) 02:05, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Jot some idea pls
[ajin] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.102.255.222 ( talk) 04:25, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I personally think those people are still suffering from some sort of inferiority complex from their complete subjugation to the Japanese and then to the French. Belicia ( talk) 04:31, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Was Trotsky's role in the Petersburg Soviet of 1905 as significnt as he alleges? Zinoviev4 ( talk) 06:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
the one used in billiards with a bracket at the end on which the other cue can be rested for long shots?
thanks, Adambrowne666 ( talk) 09:29, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
wonderful - thanks Adambrowne666 ( talk) 22:03, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
we all know that GDP and per capita income is not about wealth but it is all about annual production and annual consumption. It is around $40,000. I came across a world bank study, but that study was confusing. What is the wealth per capita of america? Is $500,000 said in that report correct? When you ask an american what is your wealth, it means something. I want to know that exactly and not a study which says about natural resources and forest wealth. Can you understand me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.137.63 ( talk) 10:27, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
If USA's per capita income is 30 times that of north korea, then is an average american 30 times happier than an average north korean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.137.63 ( talk) 10:31, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Why did none of the European powers, Italy in particular, come to Austria's aid in 1938? Mustapha Fag ( talk) 12:30, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
In Austria at 1918 most people and parties wanted to join Germany. The monarchists and some conservatives wanted a Danubefederation or Austria ruled by Charles and later by Otto. In 1933 there when Hitler became the "Führer" the Conservatives tried to show Austria as the "better Germany", a Christian German State (see i.e."Sei gesegnet ohne Ende" the national anthem or Dollfuss speech at the Katholikentag 1933 in Vienna)and also the monarchists became more influence again. The socialists, communists and NSDAP was banned in 1933. But there was still the "Großdeutsche", which still wanted to become part of Germany. In 1934 chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß was shot by members of the NSDAP. Until 1936 Italy was the protector of Austrian Independence and supported the Heimwehr under Starhemberg,Dollfuß and Schuschnigg. In 1936 Germany and Italy become allies and so Austria lost its protector. In the Austrian population there were illegal Nazis (especially in Carinthia and Styria), there were the "Großdeutschen"(but the lost a lot of their followers to the NSDAP), there were the conservatives and monarchists.Especially the Austrian Jews, the monarchists, most of the conservatives and also among the Catholics there was a strong sympathy for an independent Austria. After Anschluss Jews, Austrian politiacians, members of the "Vaterländische Front",members of the Civil society (i.e.Georg von Reininghaus, president of the Catholic Austrian Boy Scouts), monarchists were arrested shortly of the Germans came to Austria. The day before the Germans came there were demonstrations in Salzburg und Innsbruck to show the independence will of Austria. There was also resistance against the German occupation. This resitance came from monarchists, communists, socialst, communists and Slovenians in Carinthia (see de:Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus), but his were not the majority. There were also about 12.000 Austrians killed in action fighting in Allied Armies. In exile they had the big problem that there was a strong fragmentation between the groups (communists, socialists, monarchists).And that the socialists had strong sympathy for beining a part of Germany. See: http://www.doew.at/thema/exil/exiloeid.html (in German). So there were not able to set up an Austrian Goverment in Exile and an Exile Army. The fragmentation was also a problem of the resitance in Austria. At the end of the war there were movements, which crossed the parties or sub-cultures (catholic, socialistic...) such as O5 or the Austrian movement of Liberation in Innsbruck.
International protested only Mexico at the League of Nations and gave asylum up to 10.000 refugees from Austria and Europe. Also protests came from Red Spain (Rot Spanien, Chile, China and the UdSSR) (see Der mexikanische Protest und seine Vorgeschichte(in German)) (see: bei akustische-chronik.at (in German)
See also österreichische bei AEIOU-Österreichlexikon (in German)
@Hadseys: not always they were strong allies: wars between them were in 1740–1742,1756 to 1763,in 1809 Bavaria and France fought against the Tyroleans and in 1866 Austro-Prussian War.
Hitler served in WWI in the German Army (16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment), in 1925 he gave away Austrian citizenship, in February 1932 he became German citizen, between 1925 and 1932 he was stateless. Hitler is in 1933 a German citizen born in Austria. - Phips ( talk) 16:18, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Churchill said that an appeaser is one who feeds a crocidile, hoping it will eat him last. Is this an apt description of Chamberlain's policy in 1938-9? Was the notion of collective security quite dead in his mind? If not the League of Nations would an alternative to pacifying Hitler not have been to call on the power of France and its eastern European allies and possibly even a military alliance between the west and the Soviet Union? Thank you. Mustapha Fag ( talk) 12:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Chamberlain thought that once Hitler's demands had been met (military equality, German unification) then peace would be ensured because grievances would be cured. He did not see that Germany was aiming to dominate Europe again and that the rational policy was a system of alliances with France, Russia, etc to constrain German ambitions: Chamberlain wanted to avoid encircling Germany at almost all costs until it was too late. Chamberlain was just too idealistic; he trusted Hitler and when sending a British delegation to Russia to negotiate an Anglo-Russian alliance he did not sanction Russian troops to go through Poland to fight Germany and so Russia allied to Germany who gave them all they wanted. He was not cut out for balance of power politics.-- Johnbull ( talk) 22:40, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
At the risk of making myself look even more dumb by talking outside my preferred period, I think it's almost impossible to gauge what Stalin wanted, because the man was so impossible to judge and as variable as a weather cock. However, I maintain that the opportunity to slice up Eastern Europe between himself and even a leader he would rather have opposed would have been too sweet an inducement for Stalin. Not many of the influential figures on the world stage seem to have got the measure of Stalin. I've read somewhere that Churchill thought Roosevelt was way off in his dealings with him, while C himself was self-admittedly bemused by him. Hitler seems to have understood Stalin only patchily - I think he underestimated Stalin (and the Russians') grim resolve and ruthlessness. Patton seems to have been one of the few to understand what Stalin was about, but no-one had the stomach for Patton's inevitably militaristic answers to the problems Stalin posed. -- Dweller ( talk) 10:54, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
Can you tell me the name of the Philippines before the Spaniards came? 122.53.209.135 ( talk) 12:41, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Please forgive me for imposing upon your hospitality for a third time but I have one further question on an aspect of international relations in the mid twentieth century, this time on the period following on the defeat of Germany. It is this: why did Britain and the United States not make a stronger stand against Stalin at the Potsdam conference in 1945? Why was so much conceded? Thanks. Mustapha Fag ( talk) 13:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
After the second world war, and after the abolition of the Nazi regime, did anti-Jewish legislation such as the Nuremberg laws and the Civil Service act still apply, or were they immediately rescinded after the death of Hitler. Not that I can imagine many Jewish people wanted to return to Germany, I'm just wondering if the racial policy's implemented by the Nazi's still applied. Thanks -- Hadseys ( talk • contribs) 13:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
In Austria the Military Administrations of the United Kingdom, France, the United States and the UdSSR arrested members of NSDAP and SS and put them to special prisons (i.e.Glasenbach)>>starting in April/Mai 1945. New laws were made by the Military Administrations and the Austrian bodies (Regional goverments, Federal goverment (Landesregierungen, Bundesregierung). The Laws you mentioned were put out of order in 1945 (starting in April/Mai 1945). It is to mention that a lot Austrian politician in 1945 had been prisoners in the Nazi concentrationscamps as well (i.e.Leopold Figl),came back from the exile (i.e. Johann Koplenig) or were members of the resistance (i.e. Adolf Schärf,Karl Gruber)so why should people like them stick on the Nazi Laws.- Phips ( talk) 19:01, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I was told to look into works by wickenstein...except i can't find it anywhere. i believe he writes about the words and their significance and uses. i think i may be mispelling it. can someone help me find his work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.127.8.90 ( talk) 18:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
thank you!
I thought the responses to the earlier question on Marxism and tyranny very interesting indeed (The God that failed-19 November). I now have a question of my own arising from this. Is there a fundamental intellectual weakness in Marxism as a body of thought that somehow leads to a process of degeneration? Was the worm already in the bud? I hope my question is not too vague. Stockmann ( talk) 19:22, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Let's reduce this question, Stockmann, to the most basic terms. What is Marxism? Oh, I know what the standard answer is: it's a synthesis of German idealism, French politics and English economics. But at an even more basic level Marxism is no more than the intellectual process behind this supposed synthesis. Marxism, in other words, is Pallas Athena emerging fully armed from the head of Karl Marx in the shape of a nineteenth century Zeus. He conceived and he encompased in one mortal life a doctrine which supposedly explains the whole procees of human history and evolution. In this shape it is as absolute as the most doctrinare of Medieval scholasticism, because it envisiges and embraces the end of history itself. This, in all of its appealing simplicity, is its strength; and this, in all of its ambition and arrogance, is its weakness. For the process of degeneration, or, better still, the process of ossification, begins with the death in 1883 of the prophet himself. You see, while Karl Marx stopped, history did not. Clearly, with the master no longer present, the doctrine required interpretation and adjustment. The canon was safe for a time with Friedrich Engels in the role of Aaron. But with Engels's departure in 1895 there is no sure path left, no way of adjusting Marx to the continuing evolutions of history.
By the turn of the nineteeth century the German Social Democrats, by far the strongest Marxist party in the world, had turned the doctrine into sacred text rather than living practice, something to be visited on high days and holy days, and largely disregarded thereafter. It was Eduard Bernstein who recognised that Marxism, as it stood, was becoming historically obsolete, and was bold enough to suggest that there was a better, more modern way of dealing with the problems the party faced. He was attacked for his challenge to accepted orthodoxy by Karl Kautsky, the guardian of the sacred flame, though, for all his efforts, the theory became steadily more instrumental and less relevant. There was no one left to say, with authority, what Marxism was, and what it was not-at least not until Lenin took it in an entirely different direction from the Social Democrats-and from Karl Marx.
With Lenin Marxism moves in steadily decreasing circles; no longer the doctrine based historical inevitability and the mass party, but a doctrine of political action embraced by a self-selecting and conspiratorial elite. Lenin wins in Russia by a process that in no way corresponds to Marx's historical model; but political victory brings intellectual authority. Alternative views, like that of Rosa Luxembourg or Julius Martov are disregarded, because Marxism has now become predicated on political success; it becomes, in turns, what Lenin, or Trotsky, or Bukharin or Stalin say it is, with authority always and everywhere derived from power, and power alone. In the end it becomes no more than an intellectual excuse, cynically exploited to justify the power and practice of the Soviet state. And so it continues, fragmenting and dividing, finding homes further and further from its origins, degenerating to ever more oppressive and ever more murderous forms. It is one of history's greatest frauds, a supreme exercise in bad thinking and bad faith; bad as theory, worse as practice. Clio the Muse ( talk) 00:13, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
I've been looking for a ref for this statement and can't seem to find it:
Muhammad is reliably quoted in a hadith as saying that “water, greenery, and a beautiful face” were three universally good things.
Anybody got one? I'm pretty sure it's true, as I've found sources that allude to this, but I haven't found any that quote it exactly and attribute it to Muhammad. Wrad ( talk) 22:00, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Please give every detail on the difficulty, I am very interested in Sitars but the difficulty scares me. MalwareSmarts ( talk) 23:26, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Humanities desk | ||
---|---|---|
< November 20 | << Oct | November | Dec >> | November 22 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
I recenty heard that the current King of Spain told the president of Venezuela the following quote "Why don't you just Shut Up?" after the Venezuelan president insulted him. So my question is as such:
What kind of political/international backlash would this create between Spain and other countries?
From the Spainsh perspective: The king did nothing wrong, he was insulted and the person was punished. On the other hand, The Venezuelans would be digusted with the king because the King should not be rude in ANY situation. Would this small (or large) incident cause tension between the wo countires? If so, who would be to blame?
Thanks! ♥ ECH3LON ♥ 00:10, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I foresee other world leaders insulting Chavez to his face in the near future actually. He already is the subject of ridicule over much of the world and this incident could open the floodgates for further "official" put-downs of this man. Belicia ( talk) 05:00, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Is it just me or does Jimbo have an uncanny resemblance to William Tecumseh Sherman? -- 24.147.86.187 ( talk) 02:05, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Jot some idea pls
[ajin] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.102.255.222 ( talk) 04:25, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I personally think those people are still suffering from some sort of inferiority complex from their complete subjugation to the Japanese and then to the French. Belicia ( talk) 04:31, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Was Trotsky's role in the Petersburg Soviet of 1905 as significnt as he alleges? Zinoviev4 ( talk) 06:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
the one used in billiards with a bracket at the end on which the other cue can be rested for long shots?
thanks, Adambrowne666 ( talk) 09:29, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
wonderful - thanks Adambrowne666 ( talk) 22:03, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
we all know that GDP and per capita income is not about wealth but it is all about annual production and annual consumption. It is around $40,000. I came across a world bank study, but that study was confusing. What is the wealth per capita of america? Is $500,000 said in that report correct? When you ask an american what is your wealth, it means something. I want to know that exactly and not a study which says about natural resources and forest wealth. Can you understand me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.137.63 ( talk) 10:27, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
If USA's per capita income is 30 times that of north korea, then is an average american 30 times happier than an average north korean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.137.63 ( talk) 10:31, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Why did none of the European powers, Italy in particular, come to Austria's aid in 1938? Mustapha Fag ( talk) 12:30, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
In Austria at 1918 most people and parties wanted to join Germany. The monarchists and some conservatives wanted a Danubefederation or Austria ruled by Charles and later by Otto. In 1933 there when Hitler became the "Führer" the Conservatives tried to show Austria as the "better Germany", a Christian German State (see i.e."Sei gesegnet ohne Ende" the national anthem or Dollfuss speech at the Katholikentag 1933 in Vienna)and also the monarchists became more influence again. The socialists, communists and NSDAP was banned in 1933. But there was still the "Großdeutsche", which still wanted to become part of Germany. In 1934 chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß was shot by members of the NSDAP. Until 1936 Italy was the protector of Austrian Independence and supported the Heimwehr under Starhemberg,Dollfuß and Schuschnigg. In 1936 Germany and Italy become allies and so Austria lost its protector. In the Austrian population there were illegal Nazis (especially in Carinthia and Styria), there were the "Großdeutschen"(but the lost a lot of their followers to the NSDAP), there were the conservatives and monarchists.Especially the Austrian Jews, the monarchists, most of the conservatives and also among the Catholics there was a strong sympathy for an independent Austria. After Anschluss Jews, Austrian politiacians, members of the "Vaterländische Front",members of the Civil society (i.e.Georg von Reininghaus, president of the Catholic Austrian Boy Scouts), monarchists were arrested shortly of the Germans came to Austria. The day before the Germans came there were demonstrations in Salzburg und Innsbruck to show the independence will of Austria. There was also resistance against the German occupation. This resitance came from monarchists, communists, socialst, communists and Slovenians in Carinthia (see de:Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus), but his were not the majority. There were also about 12.000 Austrians killed in action fighting in Allied Armies. In exile they had the big problem that there was a strong fragmentation between the groups (communists, socialists, monarchists).And that the socialists had strong sympathy for beining a part of Germany. See: http://www.doew.at/thema/exil/exiloeid.html (in German). So there were not able to set up an Austrian Goverment in Exile and an Exile Army. The fragmentation was also a problem of the resitance in Austria. At the end of the war there were movements, which crossed the parties or sub-cultures (catholic, socialistic...) such as O5 or the Austrian movement of Liberation in Innsbruck.
International protested only Mexico at the League of Nations and gave asylum up to 10.000 refugees from Austria and Europe. Also protests came from Red Spain (Rot Spanien, Chile, China and the UdSSR) (see Der mexikanische Protest und seine Vorgeschichte(in German)) (see: bei akustische-chronik.at (in German)
See also österreichische bei AEIOU-Österreichlexikon (in German)
@Hadseys: not always they were strong allies: wars between them were in 1740–1742,1756 to 1763,in 1809 Bavaria and France fought against the Tyroleans and in 1866 Austro-Prussian War.
Hitler served in WWI in the German Army (16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment), in 1925 he gave away Austrian citizenship, in February 1932 he became German citizen, between 1925 and 1932 he was stateless. Hitler is in 1933 a German citizen born in Austria. - Phips ( talk) 16:18, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Churchill said that an appeaser is one who feeds a crocidile, hoping it will eat him last. Is this an apt description of Chamberlain's policy in 1938-9? Was the notion of collective security quite dead in his mind? If not the League of Nations would an alternative to pacifying Hitler not have been to call on the power of France and its eastern European allies and possibly even a military alliance between the west and the Soviet Union? Thank you. Mustapha Fag ( talk) 12:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Chamberlain thought that once Hitler's demands had been met (military equality, German unification) then peace would be ensured because grievances would be cured. He did not see that Germany was aiming to dominate Europe again and that the rational policy was a system of alliances with France, Russia, etc to constrain German ambitions: Chamberlain wanted to avoid encircling Germany at almost all costs until it was too late. Chamberlain was just too idealistic; he trusted Hitler and when sending a British delegation to Russia to negotiate an Anglo-Russian alliance he did not sanction Russian troops to go through Poland to fight Germany and so Russia allied to Germany who gave them all they wanted. He was not cut out for balance of power politics.-- Johnbull ( talk) 22:40, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
At the risk of making myself look even more dumb by talking outside my preferred period, I think it's almost impossible to gauge what Stalin wanted, because the man was so impossible to judge and as variable as a weather cock. However, I maintain that the opportunity to slice up Eastern Europe between himself and even a leader he would rather have opposed would have been too sweet an inducement for Stalin. Not many of the influential figures on the world stage seem to have got the measure of Stalin. I've read somewhere that Churchill thought Roosevelt was way off in his dealings with him, while C himself was self-admittedly bemused by him. Hitler seems to have understood Stalin only patchily - I think he underestimated Stalin (and the Russians') grim resolve and ruthlessness. Patton seems to have been one of the few to understand what Stalin was about, but no-one had the stomach for Patton's inevitably militaristic answers to the problems Stalin posed. -- Dweller ( talk) 10:54, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
Can you tell me the name of the Philippines before the Spaniards came? 122.53.209.135 ( talk) 12:41, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Please forgive me for imposing upon your hospitality for a third time but I have one further question on an aspect of international relations in the mid twentieth century, this time on the period following on the defeat of Germany. It is this: why did Britain and the United States not make a stronger stand against Stalin at the Potsdam conference in 1945? Why was so much conceded? Thanks. Mustapha Fag ( talk) 13:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
After the second world war, and after the abolition of the Nazi regime, did anti-Jewish legislation such as the Nuremberg laws and the Civil Service act still apply, or were they immediately rescinded after the death of Hitler. Not that I can imagine many Jewish people wanted to return to Germany, I'm just wondering if the racial policy's implemented by the Nazi's still applied. Thanks -- Hadseys ( talk • contribs) 13:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
In Austria the Military Administrations of the United Kingdom, France, the United States and the UdSSR arrested members of NSDAP and SS and put them to special prisons (i.e.Glasenbach)>>starting in April/Mai 1945. New laws were made by the Military Administrations and the Austrian bodies (Regional goverments, Federal goverment (Landesregierungen, Bundesregierung). The Laws you mentioned were put out of order in 1945 (starting in April/Mai 1945). It is to mention that a lot Austrian politician in 1945 had been prisoners in the Nazi concentrationscamps as well (i.e.Leopold Figl),came back from the exile (i.e. Johann Koplenig) or were members of the resistance (i.e. Adolf Schärf,Karl Gruber)so why should people like them stick on the Nazi Laws.- Phips ( talk) 19:01, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
I was told to look into works by wickenstein...except i can't find it anywhere. i believe he writes about the words and their significance and uses. i think i may be mispelling it. can someone help me find his work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.127.8.90 ( talk) 18:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
thank you!
I thought the responses to the earlier question on Marxism and tyranny very interesting indeed (The God that failed-19 November). I now have a question of my own arising from this. Is there a fundamental intellectual weakness in Marxism as a body of thought that somehow leads to a process of degeneration? Was the worm already in the bud? I hope my question is not too vague. Stockmann ( talk) 19:22, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Let's reduce this question, Stockmann, to the most basic terms. What is Marxism? Oh, I know what the standard answer is: it's a synthesis of German idealism, French politics and English economics. But at an even more basic level Marxism is no more than the intellectual process behind this supposed synthesis. Marxism, in other words, is Pallas Athena emerging fully armed from the head of Karl Marx in the shape of a nineteenth century Zeus. He conceived and he encompased in one mortal life a doctrine which supposedly explains the whole procees of human history and evolution. In this shape it is as absolute as the most doctrinare of Medieval scholasticism, because it envisiges and embraces the end of history itself. This, in all of its appealing simplicity, is its strength; and this, in all of its ambition and arrogance, is its weakness. For the process of degeneration, or, better still, the process of ossification, begins with the death in 1883 of the prophet himself. You see, while Karl Marx stopped, history did not. Clearly, with the master no longer present, the doctrine required interpretation and adjustment. The canon was safe for a time with Friedrich Engels in the role of Aaron. But with Engels's departure in 1895 there is no sure path left, no way of adjusting Marx to the continuing evolutions of history.
By the turn of the nineteeth century the German Social Democrats, by far the strongest Marxist party in the world, had turned the doctrine into sacred text rather than living practice, something to be visited on high days and holy days, and largely disregarded thereafter. It was Eduard Bernstein who recognised that Marxism, as it stood, was becoming historically obsolete, and was bold enough to suggest that there was a better, more modern way of dealing with the problems the party faced. He was attacked for his challenge to accepted orthodoxy by Karl Kautsky, the guardian of the sacred flame, though, for all his efforts, the theory became steadily more instrumental and less relevant. There was no one left to say, with authority, what Marxism was, and what it was not-at least not until Lenin took it in an entirely different direction from the Social Democrats-and from Karl Marx.
With Lenin Marxism moves in steadily decreasing circles; no longer the doctrine based historical inevitability and the mass party, but a doctrine of political action embraced by a self-selecting and conspiratorial elite. Lenin wins in Russia by a process that in no way corresponds to Marx's historical model; but political victory brings intellectual authority. Alternative views, like that of Rosa Luxembourg or Julius Martov are disregarded, because Marxism has now become predicated on political success; it becomes, in turns, what Lenin, or Trotsky, or Bukharin or Stalin say it is, with authority always and everywhere derived from power, and power alone. In the end it becomes no more than an intellectual excuse, cynically exploited to justify the power and practice of the Soviet state. And so it continues, fragmenting and dividing, finding homes further and further from its origins, degenerating to ever more oppressive and ever more murderous forms. It is one of history's greatest frauds, a supreme exercise in bad thinking and bad faith; bad as theory, worse as practice. Clio the Muse ( talk) 00:13, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
I've been looking for a ref for this statement and can't seem to find it:
Muhammad is reliably quoted in a hadith as saying that “water, greenery, and a beautiful face” were three universally good things.
Anybody got one? I'm pretty sure it's true, as I've found sources that allude to this, but I haven't found any that quote it exactly and attribute it to Muhammad. Wrad ( talk) 22:00, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Please give every detail on the difficulty, I am very interested in Sitars but the difficulty scares me. MalwareSmarts ( talk) 23:26, 21 November 2007 (UTC)