The ghost in the box

[shkrobius]

If liberty is inalienable natural right, as we hold it, how can the convicts be deprived of liberty as just punishment? The Bible does not consider imprisonment (as opposed to jailing before a trial) as the lawful mode of punishment. There is no "tradition" justifying this barabarian practice except for the perverted sadism of Germanic pagans,

Comments

[i_eron]

1. I have made an Afghan comparison once - "И краснеют, коль завидят шапку нашу невзначай". I believe very much in looking up the real facts and then thinking a bit, as opposed to seeing the warring countries metaphorically. And in the importance of demography ( "Демография - это судьба"2. I am no Batman, but I think you are wrong - the technology gaps are closing. Also, the organizational and the ideological gaps are. The national nuts - hm, is it the "nuts and bolts" or the "nuts and berries" variety? Because if you are referring to the anatomical variety, I am reminded of the hated Spengler again. Yuck

[i_eron]

All right, let us just agree to draw different conclusions from the Liberian experiment.

Yes, the French do love Polanski, perhaps he will now even replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as their favorite presidential candidate.

But you are talking about 2.3 million Americans now in prison. The ones that are on parole or on probation should probably be added, bringing the total to 7.2 million. Not many of them are famous as talented film directors or brilliant socialists. A large majority of them are black and male. Also, presumably, a large majority of them are criminals. This is not a combination of qualities that would be easily voted in by any democracy.

[poltorazhyda]

>Please notice that in most examples of colonialism it was a large and competent (plus technologically advanced) nation conquering a small-incompetent-backward one

[i_eron]

Russia has colonized the _empty_ part of Eurasia. There were exceptions, right, but the bits with significant population were conquered one by one, by a much bigger country.

The whole of Latin America and Caribbean (and Spain has colonized about two thirds of it) had a population of 39 million which has quickly fallen to 10 million according to wiki. And the rich Spanish monarchy could draw soldiers from its Italian and other European possessions. Spain was bigger than its American colonies. People typically look at the world in its current proportions (actually, in the proportions that were when they were at school). The proportions were very different onceThe Dutch have colonized Indonesia via trade domination, it was not a "typical" military conquest