Is it our fault?

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/6hs5oee

First we sent into Libya the SAS, to help out the rebels, only for them to be captured and then kicked out of the country, now we have situation were our aid workers were stuck in Tokyo airport and then they are sent home because they don't have the correct papers.

Mistakes have been made by our Foreign Office maybe, but our media can't wait to cry out for British blood, yes Haigh must go, the civil servants at the Foreign Office must be weeded out etc, etc. and just as some on AB.are always quick to point out, the Brits are the ones to blame.

Wouldn't it make a refreshing change , for the media to state that 'Johnny Foreigner' just does not want our 'proffered help' so s0d them, let them get on with it, and keep our resources for our own peoples?

[jackthehat]

Dear POF,
Please feel free to ignore the parts of my post which do not chime with your
blinkered-view......

.........oh, you already have.

[DTCwordfan]

Then AOG it is the repsonsibility of the Japanese, not the fault of the FO to secure them papers - I bet you a tenner they didnt contact the Embassy until they realised there was a problem........and I wouldnt think that the team were seen as "top priority". One has to allow that there will be local confusion and cock-ups in major disasters such as this. To call for Haigh's blood over this is frankly pathetic and Daily Mail hype.

If the Editor of the Daily Mail was in charge, then they probably would have been mistakenly sent to Greenland.

[anotheoldgit]

Zeuhl

<<stead of them refusing them entry>>

/// That's a lie Old Git and you should know it. ///

How dare you call me a liar, I demand that you withdraw that untrue accusation.

They were refused entry, that is a fact.

If they wasn't then the team would now be in Japan, helping out.

[jackthehat]

They weren't refused entry, POF.
They couldn't actually proceed any further than the airport and thus never left..........this is a very different animal from being 'denied entry'.

[jackthehat]

*never left it

[andy-hughes]

Zeuhl - you are in danger of getting this thread pulled if you insist on posting personal insults against AOG.

Your first post in which you referred to the untruth could be perceived as pointing out that the statement in question was untrue, which is importantly different that syaing you are accusing AOG of lying for quoting it.

However, you rthen go on to post that he is " ... either a liar, or stupid or illiterate ..."

I have debated with AOG many times, often heatedly, and I fully expect to do so in the future, since our views are almost always opposed.

However, I will defend him as i would anyone else, against unfair and untrue postings - he is none of the three adjectives with which you have saught to label him.

I suggest that you re-think your approadh to this thread, and I do believe that you owe AOG an apology.

And the gentleman that he is - i am sure he will be gracious enough to accept it.

[Zeuhl]

I think mant reasonable people might question whether AOG is a gentleman on the evidence of many of his posts.

The suggestion that he is either a liar, stupid or illiterate is not an insult it is a perfectly reasonable and rational observation based on the fact that he posted a link and then put forward his own assertion that the japanese had refused entry to people when they had done nothing of the sort.

So an apology is not appropriate. Especially as I seem to recall myself and others asking AOG for such when in fact they were justified and being rudely ignored. Some gentleman.

You sir, may be tolerant to a fault.
.

[anotheoldgit]

Thank you so much for that Andy, very well put, but I am afraid Zeuhl is that type of person, and will not change I am afraid.

So it is for that reason only that I have now reported him to the Ed, and I will not be debating with him in the future.

All this unpleasantness is a pity and completely unnecessary, which spoils the otherwise enjoyable cut and thrusts, that most of us enjoy on AnswerBank.

[ummmm]

Bit harsh AOG as you're not a stranger to throwing a few insults yourself.

[Zeuhl]

While the Old Git is whingeing about being caught out spreading mis-information, I thought you might like to hear about the conversation I've just had with a japanese friend in Tokyo.

I asked her about the Emperor appearing on TV (following a Boxtops post yesterday) but she had hardly registered the fact.

Hardly surprising really, she has a second floor apartment and there is no running water, no heating (no gas), electricity for a few hours a day and no food in the shops except flour.

The pharmacy she owns is in downtown Tokyo and can’t open because it relies on electricity. She can get water at the apartment building from a ground floor tap sporadically during the day and carry it upstairs in a variety of containers.

Her daughter is in bed with the flu. It’s very cold in the flat.

Now everyone is worried about the possibility of a radioactivity emergency affecting the city.

Her focus currently is on survival.

Sorry if I don't worry too much about hurting the Old Git's ego and losing the opportunity to debate with him.
.

[McMouse]

You're wasting your breath Dave. AOG will never let the facts obstruct his opinions.

[andy-hughes]

Zeuhl - I fail to see what that has to do with your comments on the AB?

[anotheoldgit]

triggerhippy

/// cut and thrust - my arse you blindly defending daft statements is not cut and thrust.///

Mmmmn What a nice choice of person one gets on AnswerBank, makes one wonder if it is worth carrying on.

I wouldn't mind if they disagreed with everything I say (which they often do) that is what the news section is all about, one arrives at opinions from some news stories and then enters them in AB. for general debate

Obviously others have their own slant on things either because of their political leanings, or their own personal agenda etc, etc. this being so, they should then enter into debate without the need to try and belittle a person, simply because they disagree with them or just for the hell of it.

[Zeuhl]

Some people have a low tolerance level when faced with misinformation, misleading generalisations and dishonest distortions of the english language.
.

[ummmm]

Some people can give it but not take it....

[Zeuhl]

Andy - <<I fail to see what that has to do with your comments on the AB? >>

What 'that' specifically?
Which comments?
.

[Zeuhl]

Quite right yummy.

And may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy St Paddy's Day
.