Brian Ross wrote on Dec 15^th, 2017 at 4:56pm:


Think about it Brian. You'll figure it out.

Brian Ross wrote on Dec 10^th, 2017 at 5:05pm:



freediver wrote on Dec 12^th, 2017 at 12:34pm:


Brian are you officially wunning away from this claim of yours comparing America to Iran? Or just slinking off?

Mattyfisk wrote on Dec 15^th, 2017 at 9:42pm:


Karnal.....why are you NOT afraid to spam OzPol tonight with your troll buddy Groggy?

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It took hundreds of years for western Civilization to develop its institutions, which paved the way for modernity.

South Korea and Japan were unique in the sense that they were able to quickly adopt westernisation and implement it into their societies. Japan was particularly unique in this regard because of its history of absorbing foreign institutions quickly. Japan was largely responsible for transplanting westernisation to South Korea.

Having said that you would be making a grave mistake to try and apply the same logic to Muslim majority countries.


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Protection of private property; development of the modern financial system; protection of patents; parliamentary democracy; bill of rights; rule of law; the Protestant religion etc.

Mattyfisk wrote on Dec 16^th, 2017 at 12:33pm:


Investment is only secondary to the issue. You can throw money at a country and the government squanders it. Look at foreign aid to poor countries.

Contrast this to what happened in Japan during the Meiji restoration. Many people think that Japan got rich after ww2 because of American foreign investment and the money they stole from China; but this is not the complete picture. Japan had the institutions in place long before world war 2.

Auggie wrote on Dec 16^th, 2017 at 11:46am:


Ah, so it takes hundreds of years, except when it takes mere decades. Or millennia in some cases.

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Are these the ones Diamond discussed on Collapse?

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Why do you think the modern social and political institutions in the Americas reflect so closely the ones that existed prior to European colonisation? But the relative wealth distribution is pretty much the opposite?

freediver wrote on Dec 16^th, 2017 at 3:16pm:


Not sure what you're asking here, FD. There are no Native American political institutions in the Americas.

freediver wrote on Dec 16^th, 2017 at 3:16pm:


They don’t reflect the institutions that once existed prior to European colonisation

Regarding diamond, I haven’t read the book Collapse.

If a country is transplanting westernisation to another country then it doesn’t take as long as clearly. But there have been only a few exceptions, mainly in Asian countries, such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. But in all cases they were spurred on by Japan anyway so they can’t really be counted. Japan is an exception to the rule.

Auggie wrote on Dec 16^th, 2017 at 10:01pm:


I've been watching road rules change in Thailand over the past few years. Now, everyone wears motorbike helmets. Drivers are licensed. Cars don't go through red lights - oh, and they have traffic lights. Why?

Because the big provinces in Thailand have had a concerted police effort to shape an orderly, safe road system. Police now issue fines. The government has seen the effect of the revenue this brings in, and the hospitals and morgues have seen fewer injuries and deaths.

The only people changing this are police. Tuk tuk and taxi drivers haven't suddenly slowed down and decided to drive safe. They're motivated to avoid fines.