If the Libs could stand on their own then the Nats would become irrelevant.
They only get votes because they have a voice within a coalition. Take away that voice and suddenly they can do nothing for the electorate.
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They only get votes because they have a voice within a coalition. Take away that voice and suddenly they can do nothing for the electorate.
Never been a fan of Israel, so am very pleased at the major negative reaction to Netanyahu's judicial overhaul and sacking of his dissenting defence minister. None of this is going to directly help the downtrodden Palestinians, but there must be some satisfaction for them watching the unprecedented mass demonstrations against this arseh*le and his unpopular reforms. Can't understand why the man was elected. His election says as much about Israelis as the election of Trump did about Americans.
Netanyahu made major reforms to the economy that saw it become a major tech centre and attract a lot of investment
He also advanced relations with the Gulf States and Turkey - driving trade and peaceful relations
Netanyahu has also targeted defence spending on high tech defence and agile forces
That’s why many people voted for him
He did a devils compact with the far right to form government again and has over-reached with judicial ‘reform’ (Australia has some of the measures he is seeking)
Combined with some grubby receipt of gifts (including from one James Packer) and he is now loathed by some like Trump is loathed
But he is much smarter than Trump and much braver (5 years combat special forces)
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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Please rate the degree of difficulty for this achievement on a scale of 1- 10 where 1 is freakin easy and 10 is nigh impossible
Trump's IQ is above 106 (about average these days)
So degree of difficulty is above 5 on a 0 to 10 scale for the general population
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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I wasn't comparing Netanyahu with Trump. I was comparing people voting for him with those voting for Trump. I am a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, believing the apartheid practised against these people suggests the Israeli's learned little from their WW2 experience about the treatment of ethnic/religious groups with whom they are forced to share land.
Under Netanyahu's rule, the Israeli's have extended their land annexation and settlements in Palestinian territory. Ironically, the protestors are demanding democrat rights but have chosen to ignore the lack of rights afforded the Palestinians for many decades and the occupation of their land by Israeli settlers backed by armed forces.
Though it's pleasing to witness some form of revolt against the authoritarianism of the Netanyahu regime, it offers no solution to the problems confronting the Palestinians and the apartheid under which they suffer.
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Netanyahu likes to take credit for the tech boom but he is attaching himself to other people's achievements there.
The sources of the boom are basically twofold
First, the Soviet "Aliyah" after Gorbachev relaxed exit restrictions on Soviet jews, which accelerated after the fall of the Soviet Union, saw over 1 million jews from the former Soviet Union leave and enter Israel. A high proportion of those immigrants were technical experts than the existing Israeli population. In just four years from 1989 to 1993 more engineers, scientists, and doctors entered Israel than existed in the whole country prior to 1989. The rate of holding university degrees amongst the emigres was double that in the existing Israeli population. The government recognised it had an enormous resource and put in place a massive investment in technology and startups back then to make use of it. Likud wasnt even in sole power then, Bibi didnt even become leader until 1996 then lost in 99 and went back into private business for a while. Likud is now reaping the work done back in the 90's mostly by Labor.
By the way, if you want to understand why Russian military production is full of crap and the old Soviet stuff is still the best they have, look above. There is a reason the only area of technology they remain truly functional at with native capability is cybercrime, something that doesnt need the background of multi decade hard won expertise that is the basis of engineering, materials science, or medical innovation. The brain drain wiped out the vast majority of Russias real technical competence and it has never recovered.
Second, IDF expenditure was extreme. It peaked at 17% of GDP back in the late 80's early 90's and, and the IDF as a core customer with that much money to spend acted as a key initial drive for a lot of those companies. Once again, this was pre Likud and in fact that rate has dropped under Netanyahu to about 4.8%. Netanyahu is great at spruiking - he is a politician after all - and better still at attaching to results others put in place now they are coming to fruition.
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You people really seem to know your history.
Impressive. Seriously.
But.
Trump cited as having the I.Q of 106 is so Trump it's red ick u loss ...
I.Q is over rated as a rating... except when referring to our own Isaac.
There's been sòoooòo many people in life who had only a bit of education, but proved to be amazing at life in all of its multi layered ways ..
My Mum for one...
Trump is the worst case of a person in my life time
Impressive. Seriously.
But.
Trump cited as having the I.Q of 106 is so Trump it's red ick u loss ...
I.Q is over rated as a rating... except when referring to our own Isaac.
There's been sòoooòo many people in life who had only a bit of education, but proved to be amazing at life in all of its multi layered ways ..
My Mum for one...
Trump is the worst case of a person in my life time
I agree the above significantly contributed to the Israeli tech boom:
Continuing...
Post the 1973 war, Israeli military telco advances were parlayed into multiple start-ups, including several in Australia (1 ex-Israeli General made himself a centi-millionaire). These tech inventions pre-dated the arrival of the Russian brain power in the nineties and post-dated the arrival of European brain power post-WW2 and from earlier pogroms. Also, the low-hierarchy philosophy of the Israeli military meant units could quickly pivot, which is aligned with entrepreneurial business thinking and action.
Yozma, a 1993 Israeli government initiative, provided tax incentives to foreign venture-capital investments in Israel, and where the government matched external investment funds. Israel's annual VC outlay subsequently went up more than 5000% in the next decade. You referenced this process.
Netanyahu...
As Finance Minister, between 2003 and 2005, Netanyahu cut individual taxes from 64% to 44% and corporate taxes from 36% to 18% making it much more attractive to stay in Israel as an entrepreneur, re-locate to Israel as an entrepreneur, and be an external investor to Israel (foreign investment reached record highs). Perhaps hyperbolic, and certainly from the view of capitalists, Netanyahu was internationally acclaimed by many as having created an 'economic miracle'. Staying narrow band on tech investment (not going to if health, education, and infrastructure etc could be better)
The tech VC funds I invest in, my buddies who are tech VC fund managers, and my broader Israeli investor mates found that these changes by Netanyahu made the Israeli tech economy more attractive to invest in.
Some of these guys are Netanyahu supporters, some neutral, some dislike the guy a lot.
Some support his actions on Palestine, some don't. They debate with each other like we do here.
All of them I can recall chatting with, support Netanyahu's resistance to Iran.
Edit: I am not Israeli or Jewish and have sympathy with many Palestinians (but not the Arafat tradition).
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Nobody did
(I said his IQ is above 106)
So was Mao's, Hitler's, and Stalin's - the 3 worst mass killers in the past 100 years
Trump is a traitor and mediocre business person who inherited a large sum
But he isn't stupid
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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Interesting - thanks Walter - I worked on a Kibbutz for a few months years ago. Israel is a fascinating country - parts of which are the cradle of civilization - Islam and Christian.
There are parts of Israel where Israelis and Palestinians do co-exist quite well.
That said, it is a gross injustice that Palestine has been reduced to a "Strip" and a "Bank". The expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land is unjust and at one point was in contravention to s ruling by the Israeli High Court.
For all the tech boom in Israel I believe it's an Australian company which provides Dara encryption services to the Knesset.
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Even Sid Vicious convinced a part of a generation that he was how the shit should or could go down. Sid was hard done by and ****ed up. He was dumb and angry through circumstances. Trump is just an utter evil bastard who can't see the strings.
He is dumb. But smarter than his truly dumb following.
Including his poor wretched family .
He will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons.
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Walter my good man.. you've got me sussed.
Welcome aboard
This is general commentary, not specific to you TGG…
We run the risk of treating Israelis as a monolithic block in their regard for Palestinians and being hypocritical as Australians
How many of us in this forum have consistently protested about Aboriginal deaths in custody? Massive incarceration percentages? Out on the streets on Australia Day / Invasion Day ?
We know our forebears didn’t treat indigenous Australians well - their treatment had more genocidal characteristics of the holocaust than Israel’s bad treatment of the Palestinians
Should we condemn each and very one of us for this non-action ?
For our collective non-action on child incarceration in immigration detention centres ?
Israel and Israelis can be an acceptable target of armchair outrage
So can Putin and Russia, Xi and the Chinese, or indeed any country which seeks to impose its will on minorities or weaker countries be seen as 'acceptable targets of armchair outrage'. Much depends, too, on the video footage available and the coverage given. Some nasty places from the past, like apartheid-practicing South Africa and Rhodesia, have disappeared from the outrage list as conditions within the countries have changed. Some countries have despotic leaders but a population that seems relatively benign despite the handicap.
Leopards can change their spots as we have done or are in the process of doing with our indigenous people. People are still mistreated for their colour and religion. Aborigines still die in custody, and come Australia day, many whites join the aborigines in lamenting their lot since white man's arrival on the shores of the original inhabitants. We appear determined to atone for past errors.
What is important is people learning from past mistakes and seeking a path that will rectify the errors of their forebears. Some countries don't make any effort to change, but rather continue to hold resolutely to attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that they believe best serve their interests. America's attitude to gun control falls into this category - the more shootings that occur, the greater the advocacy for more guns. To outsiders, this style of thinking makes no sense, or with the extension of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, is morally wrong.
I accept your point that armchair outrage can be too readily targeted against particular countries, though this largely occurs where the general population seem to fall agreeably in line behind a dictatorial or dislikeable leader. Netanyahu is a known quantity. His resumption of Israeli leadership in murky circumstances has again focused attention on a country which would otherwise have slipped under the radar of armchair vision, given Russia and China currently have a monopoly on outrage emanating from lounge rooms throughout western countries.
It's one thing to have done wrong, yet another to acknowledge your error and seem determined to change your ways. It's when wrong is done and not only is no error admitted but the same words and actions continue to occur, that the lounge room outrage become most vocal in it's condemnation. Having a leader whose character and history makes them a lighting rod for publicity certainly helps.
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Might want to drop "aborigine".
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Israel, and Jews in general, remains in the spotlight of racists and conspiracy theorists more than most nations
This happened before Netanyahu
It will happen after Netanyahu
We will continue to hear that Jews are the puppeteers of global finance and that they are temperamentally greedy etc
Casual and deeper anti-semitism finds a ready theatre in discussing Israel
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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At least among Middle Eastern nations, Israel has elections - the outcome might be distasteful but it's better than the state of governance in some of their neighbours.
I wonder if Brioni would tailor Trumpy prison garb?
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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Fake silk?
Huge historical win in Aston tonight.
Dutton now a wounded duck. Only a matter of time.
Libs still haven’t understood where they are going wrong. The last week of the VIC Libs only reinforced the view that they are a party of exclusion, not inclusion.
VIC Lib leader actually stood up took a stand that election results show is sympathetic to the electorate view.
And he now is a lame duck leader waiting for the chop.
Dutton now a wounded duck. Only a matter of time.
Libs still haven’t understood where they are going wrong. The last week of the VIC Libs only reinforced the view that they are a party of exclusion, not inclusion.
VIC Lib leader actually stood up took a stand that election results show is sympathetic to the electorate view.
And he now is a lame duck leader waiting for the chop.
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Bad news for the world - Finland's babe PM got voted out of office. It seems that she is likely to be replaced by a bloke who looks like a part clone of Scomo.
It's enough to propose the temporary suspension of democracy until the current lot of baby boomers have died off....although we would need to do something about evangelicals and the blokey groups with their hitler salutes.
Meanwhile, better news in australia where there a tons of parties and independents getting votes, but no one wants to vote for peter dutton. He was a good cop. Go back to queensland and man the breathalyser....
No one to take his place? How about Peta Credlin who must look sensational in jack boots. The right wing boys will be melting in her hand if she took over the reins.....and the whip...Such a waste to have her on Sky.
It's enough to propose the temporary suspension of democracy until the current lot of baby boomers have died off....although we would need to do something about evangelicals and the blokey groups with their hitler salutes.
Meanwhile, better news in australia where there a tons of parties and independents getting votes, but no one wants to vote for peter dutton. He was a good cop. Go back to queensland and man the breathalyser....
No one to take his place? How about Peta Credlin who must look sensational in jack boots. The right wing boys will be melting in her hand if she took over the reins.....and the whip...Such a waste to have her on Sky.
I am just glad Labor is safely ensconced in all but one Australian state. Now I feel enveloped in a cocoon of safety. If I ever feel the need to make a large donation to the country's coffers, I need do no more than drive through a few red lights in a couple of states and my life savings will be wiped out in the flash of a camera.
There is nothing more comforting than the security of living in a tightly controlled society where the world's longest lockdowns can be instantly imposed should the need again arise, with the added bonus of knowing that high world oil prices don't impact drivers subject to a 5km limit.
What's not to love about this country's politics and politicians?
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