You could argue that war is always an irrational act, and yet many states enter into military conflict out of rational calculation or national interest or the stability or longevity of their regime.
quote by William Kirby
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Defying A Protest Response Egyptian Curfew
Mubarak called for stability
but this late political appeal
appeared to cut rigid little no ice
with inflamed reform protesters
who surged onto Egyptian streets
immediately as Mubarak finished
speaking defying a protest response
curfew as other hard line protesters
who had earlier been pressure forced
into nearby side streets by military
could be heard chanting 'People
want to change the regime'
immediately after Mubarak's
broadcast to the nation finished
daring defiance foretells regime end
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Life Is Like A Number Line
Life Is Like a number Line,
Between negative infinity to positive infinity,
At the middle have that zero,
All are finite numbers,
Zero stands for nothing,
Infinity for everything,
But zero is some how useful,
When it is with numbers on proper side,
Infinity is useless as it engulf all!
Numbers are special on their own,
Some are positives, have mirror images in negatives,
May be integers or fractions,
May be rational or irrational,
Some are real and some are imaginary,
These make number of life complex,
Polynomaials with complex roots,
Or with complex coefficients,
If we take them on XY plane, they act and interact with one another,
Some make us laugh, as we find the answer,
Some brings us to sober, as they remain as mystery!
But life Is not to dimensional,
Multi dimensional it is,
So multidimensional space of life make it wonderful,
A wonder out of reach of all!
But modular sets can draw some with some similarities
If you want to become mathematician,
Learn to play with them, bearing all headache they cause!
Otherwise either multiply all numbers by zero,
And yourself too, become zero,
Or merge all in infinity to wash your dirty hands,
If you want to know what is life,
Become a mathematician to play with numbers,
Life Is nothing but interaction of real with real or real with imaginary, positive with positive,
Negative with negative,
Or positive with negative,
Rational with rational,
irrational with irrational, most of time a rational with irrational,
But noone is perfect like zero among finite,
And no one can't say anything about the infinite!
The Soul is that space on which all numbers play according to the karma and thoughts!
Oops this interactions of numbers is life!
poem by Ramdas Bhandarkar
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At the same time the Constitution sets in stone the Stability Pact and risks preventing member States from implementing a policy of growth. So we are not able to do things at the European or the national level.
quote by Laurent Fabius
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Conflict Of Interest
How can you make such preposterous declarations.
That I have a conflict of interest?
When each and every interest I have,
There is not one conflict...
Have I ever expressed about them.
None!
And I would like to know this...
Who believes better than I do,
What my interests are?
'I 'think' you are misunderstanding,
Your position as treasurer of the committee.
You see...
You can not champion the act of integrity,
And then take the money you are trusted with...
To establish your own loan company.
THAT can also be construed as either theft or fraud.'
Well,
Make up your mind!
Are you accusing me of being a thief...
Without integrity?
Or one who maneuvers fraudulently with interest?
And may I add this to your unfounded claims,
Where am I suppose to have this conflict?
I am perfectly aware of my activities.
And I vehemently protest your absurdities.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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From time to time, the irresponsible acts of the Cuban government remind us that this is far more than about the freedom of one country, but it really is about the stability and security of the region and the national security interests of the United States.
quote by Mel Martinez
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sections Of A Book
This section deals with politics,
And this one economics.
I am a book of longevity,
Inexact and imprecise,
Like people who want long life.
They decide with self-interests,
As volumes are written on them.
Reports form hold on information
That came from longevity,
Loathing some of the reports
As politicians argue with economists
To form some new empire
In which we live and work
In happiness.
poem by Naveed Akram
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In this era of uncertainty and conflict, the United States - blessed with the world's strongest military, most ingenious economy, and most tolerant society - remains a model and leader to the world.
quote by Joe Lieberman
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Our nation must manage significant national security challenges over the next several years. We are already facing a potential conflict with Iraq, new challenges on the Korean peninsula, and key decisions in the president's plans to transform the military.
quote by Duncan Hunter
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The pessimism is a rational tendency in an irrational world.
aphorism by George Budoi from Aphorisms (2013), translated by Dan Costinaş
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.
quote by Barack Obama
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Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.
quote by Vladimir Nabokov
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There's no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than women. Both sexes seem to be equally irrational.
quote by Albert Ellis
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In a way, one gets stability from being able to order the rational mind.
quote by Richard Gere
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If our nation goes over a financial Niagara, we won't have much strength and, eventually, we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not, as our military friends say, a 'robust strategy.'
quote by Mitch Daniels
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But if our nation goes over a financial Niagara, we won't have much strength and, eventually, we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not, as our military friends say, a 'robust strategy.'
quote by Mitch Daniels
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Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing buy rational actions.
Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged
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Smart Power
The word and rod are both a part
of power, soft but also hard,
together they are very smart,
each one the other’s guard.
Without the word you can’t inspire
confidence and mutual trust,
but rod must be its pacifier,
or word will quickly gather dust.
Be smart and let them both combine,
the smartness of the word and rod,
and cautious people won’t consign
the combination to their God.
Joseph S. Nye, the Harvard University, political scientist wrote in Foreign Affairs on July 1,2007:
The willingness of other countries to cooperate in dealing with transnational issues such as terrorism depends in part on their own self-interest, but also on the attractiveness of American positions. Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade rather than coerce. It means that others want what the United States wants, and there is less need to use carrots and sticks. Hard power, the ability to coerce, grows out of a country's military and economic might. Soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies. When U.S. policies appear legitimate in the eyes of others, American soft power is enhanced. Hard power will always remain crucial in a world of nation-states guarding their independence, but soft power will become increasingly important in dealing with the transnational issues that require multilateral cooperation for their solution.
One of Rumsfeld's 'rules' is that 'weakness is provocative.' In this, he is correct. As Osama bin Laden observed, it is best to bet on the strong horse. The effective demonstration of military power in the second Gulf War, as in the first, might have a deterrent as well as a transformative effect in the Middle East. But the first Gulf War, which led to the Oslo peace process, was widely regarded as legitimate, whereas the legitimacy of the more recent war was contested. Unable to balance American military power, France, Germany, Russia, and China created a coalition to balance American soft power by depriving the United States of the legitimacy that might have been bestowed by a second UN resolution. Although such balancing did not avert the war in Iraq, it did significantly raise its price. When Turkish parliamentarians regarded U.S. policy as illegitimate, they refused Pentagon requests to allow the Fourth Infantry Division to enter Iraq from the north. Inadequate attention to soft power was detrimental to the hard power the United States could bring to bear in the early days of the war. Hard and soft power may sometimes conflict, but they can also reinforce each other. And when the Jacksonians mistake soft power for weakness, they do so at their own risk.
11/7/07
poem by Gershon Hepner
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It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.
quote by Thomas Huxley
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It may sound terrible, but I often say that the military saved me from a conventional life in the United States and I've never really thanked them for it, because I haven't exactly been pro-military in my work.
quote by Robert Jay Lifton
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There's no doubt that it's still a dangerous place, Afghanistan. The fortunate thing is that the United States was helping to provide security for Chairman Karzai. And it shows that the United States is committed to that regime.
quote by Condoleezza Rice
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