After all, the whole idea of the terrorist attack was to piss off America to hopefully bomb Mecca and Medinah (or something as stupid). These muslim loonies couldn't before instill an islamic revolution themselves their countries, so they thought to use the US. Hence the terrorists indeed got what they wanted. With the invasion of Iraq it was even better. — ssu

This lacks credibility. "well-known fact", "textbook strategy of a terrorist cell (did you just make that up?)" are statements that prove nothing.

gone to bed, but let me expand a bit on why some think that nations can not be judged by personal, individual standards.

A nation may be composed of 10 million, 300 million or a billion. More and less. The government represents the varied interests of its citizens. The government also contains separate interests such as the judicial system, the military, health agencies, economic agencies, and so forth. The citizens carry out all sorts of business, cultural, industrial, agricultural, activities, just to mention a few.

They who represent a nation in the world represent a vast array of interests. Somehow they must act to benefit as many of the particular interest the people have as possible. Every other nation has the same situation.

So, if a powerful nation (like Great Britain--back when it was great, or France, or the Soviet Union, or the United States can advance the good of its people's varied interests, it should and it will. That may mean empire; it may mean military dominance; it may mean financial dominance, and so on.

You and I can personally apply our ethical standards to our own situations and behave accordingly. We are only responsible to ourselves and several others, while the state executive is responsible to millions, or billions.

This sounds somewhat a-moral, and perhaps it is. But large nation states are at the top of the moral food chain, and who above them can judge? Only other large nation states are in a position to judge in a way that will possibly make a difference. Holland could denounce Nazi Germany, but UK, the USSR, and the USA were in a position to punish Germany for invading Poland. (Yes, I realize we didn't join the war just then.) — Bitter Crank

Then cut out the bullshit justifications and call it what it is. Oh, and quit chastising other countries for doing the same as you, i.e pursuing their own interests.

"You" is addressed to your politicians and their sympathisers. Kindly pass the message please. Thank you.

Would be interested for your argument to the contrary.

Interesting conspiracy theory but bears no more credibility than that of the Bush administration being behind the twin towers’s attack.

Do you wanna talk about Al-Qeda then? Meddling in other countries’ affairs creates and reinforces terrorism.

The world would be a better place without IS which was a result of the war in Iraq.

The bourgeois are at the top because they have shown themselves to be the most competent at taking care of their society. In a way, excluding at the moment corruption, the way to get rich is by selling a lot of goods to a lot of people - which means adding value to the world, giving people what they want. — Agustino

Are you for real????
The bourgeois is at the top because they pull all the strings to make sure no one else gets a fair share of the pie. Hierarchy is inherited to a great extent thanks to nepotism and corruption. Patrimonial capitalism makes sure that inheritance remains the main source of wealth, and it has nothing to do with competence, productivity or creativity.

Not trying to make any associations between stupid and Americans, by the way. It’s just an example.
My point is, just because someone may have a view that is typically attributed to a particular group, it doesn’t automatically mean that they are part of that group.

How many times have you done something stupid in your life (we all have). Does that discount everything possitive about you and mean you are a stupid person?
Just because someone has an American-style imperialistic view, it doesn’t mean they are American.

How so I know? I conducted a survey of 3329 practicing psychopaths (they're listed in the phone book) and asked them if they were happy. 22% said they were happy, 73% said they were not happy, and 5% said that providing me with a slow and painful death might make them slightly happier than they were at the time. — Bitter Crank

Sounds legit.

Some people spell it pedophile, which is not more correct or less — Bitter Crank

The correct spelling should be paedophile as it originates from the greek word "παιδο" = child, which contains an a=α and an e=ι.

Psychopaths are generally not happy — Bitter Crank

How do you know? It depends on how you define happiness. Everyone experiences it differently. They clearly derive some kind of enjoyment from their criminal activity or they wouldn't feel so urged to repeat it.

and thus some sort of a metaphysical explanation — BlueBanana

How so?

Nevermind. Just playing with you.

Which part of your anatomy are you pulling these ideas out of?

So I cannot base my life on scientific findings which exist today, — Agustino

Yeah, far more prudent to base it on unscientific gobbledygook.

he’d actually be engaging in a wee bit of furious onanism. — Ilyosha

I think that’s what he’d advise you to do. It seems you’re in desperate need of letting off some steam.

I find regular doses of Vitamin D3 to be very helpful. — Metaphysician Undercover

Anecdotal evidence of efficacy.

should trump individual rights. — Kitty

I see what you did there!

People are lazy, don't like to think, and it shows. It's far too easy these days for someone to pick up — LD Saunders

Or perhaps people are overworked and busy, don’t have the time to do the research.

Failure to understand that words are not reality — T Clark

Not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean words are not facts? Words, as soon as they are spoken, written or typed, no longer exist in one’s mind but become part of the shared reality.

Cheers. Now correct yours.

P.S. English is not my first language. What's your excuse?

What response, if any, is taken by various countries - of whom those most concerned are those near Russia, not the United States, which Putin would not dare attack - will be dictated by geopolitical and diplomatic tactics, not by naïve notions of moral superiority. — andrewk

Well done, Sherlock!

The West doesn't have a foreign policy. — andrewk

You are clutching at straws trying to disprove a point you know darn well is correct. NATO is a cluster of countries who have common policies on foreign matters. When I mentioned the west having a foreign policy, it goes without saying that each individual country would have its own foreign policy unless they act as part of a military alliance. Anyone with a shred of common sense would see that, but I do understand that this might be asking too much of you.

Pretending to take the higher ground' is a notion you've just invented. — andrewk

Since you are preaching about the correct usage of English, I urge you to take a look at the definition of notion on the dictionary so you can see that a notion cannot be “invented”.
...
Knowing the level of your intellectual motivation, I decided to spare you the inconvenience by pasting the definition here:
notion
ˈnəʊʃ(ə)n/Submit
noun
1.
a conception of or belief about something.
"children have different notions about the roles of their parents"
synonyms: idea, belief, concept, conception, conviction, opinion, view, thought, impression, image, perception, mental picture;
2.
an impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind.
"she had a notion to ring her friend at work"
synonyms: impulse, inclination, whim, desire, wish, fancy, caprice, whimsy
"you can't expect us to fire any of our staff just because you get a notion to come back"

His English is superb and I bet is way better than any language you can speak, other than your mother tongue.
And that was correct usage of the word “typical”.

The West (America included) shouldn’t pretend to take the higher ground on Russia’s foreign policy when its own foreign policy is ten times worse. I didn’t drag the West into the discussion. It was already mentioned in the post from which the above quote was taken. I just zeroed in on it’s main player which is the US.

Is that clear enough for you, son?

1. I can explain something to you but I can’t understand it for you.
2.Get off your intellectually lazy ass and connect the dots by yourself.

which the West should respect — SophistiCat

America is part of the West. No?

Ah well, if America is doing something wrong, then Russia can do no wrong. (Or something like that. The "logic" of tu quoque is hard to grasp.) — SophistiCat

Duh!

You took that too literally. I wasn't referring to your fingers, mate. It was figure of speech. Duh!

Μὴ ἄρχε ὑβρίζειν Do not begin to be insolent — Bitter Crank

Wrong translation. άρχε means rule - do not rule with arrogance

I never said that what America does justifies what Russia does in return, although it does help to explain it. Everyone knows that two wrongs don’t make a right. My point is, as Bob Marley put it very nicely, “before you start pointing fingers...make sure you hands are clean!”

serious sybil sensibly said — Bitter Crank

Funny that. I've always thought it was the ancient Greeks who said that.

Oh, you mean Sibyl!

Another enlightened response from you.

not a lone wolf then

Ah well, if America is doing something wrong, then Russia can do no wrong. (Or something like that. The "logic" of tu quoque is hard to grasp.) — SophistiCat

néant point for the misinterpretation.

global warming is fixing that within my lifetime so I'll be able to retire at the Dutch riviera. — Benkei

If you don't get swept away by the flood.

Only nuclear superpowers are entitled to carve up the world as they see fit, right? — SophistiCat

Talking about carving up the world, USA is leading by example.

which the West should respect — SophistiCat

The West should mind its own business. Nothing good comes out of meddling with someone else's affairs.

I agree and I am thankful to academics like Steve Pinker and Jordan Peterson for having the courage to literally put everything on the line — Dachshund

Bigotry is risky business, for sure.

and how much time they wanna allocate to family versus career and so on — Dachshund

Just because bringing up children with certain gender-coloured expectations, which naturally affects their answers as adults on poorly constructed polls like this one , it doesn't mean that there is some kind of DNA-predetermined inclination for one gender to desire and aspirate to certain things in life over the other.

And terrorism, go to the Global Terrorist data base, and you find that worldwide the overwhelming majority of suicide terrorist attacks are committed by Islamic extremist groups — Dachshund

Depends on how far back you wanna go. The crusades were extreme form of religious terrorism committed by Christians.