Abraham Lincoln was a pure politician, and with today's media his ability to flip-flop on issues, depending on which region of the country he was in, would be non-existent. Abraham Lincoln told the audience exactly what they wanted to hear, and definitively stated that if he could end the war without freeing a single slave he would. His goal was to keep the Union together, not to end slavery. However, he was instrumental in the passage of the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery; Sadly, his assassination prevented a successful "Reconstruction" of the United States. Although, I'm not sure had he lived, things would be any different. The Radical Republicans of that era were able to capitalize on the tragedy to ensure passage of significant legislation, the 14th and 15th Amendments!!

But, with the way Citizens United has perverted the 14th amendment it would be interesting to see what old Abe thinks of Corporations being considered people and political contributions protected as free speech!!

I hope everything resolves itself quickly though! Or do you guys think Thailand will be better off with military rule?

My favorite leader is Abraham Lincoln .. He was simply a genius.. Had he be ruling the country now, the world would have been an all together a different place surely..

When people find out that governments are hiding something from them ( if it is something big ) how can that same people trust that government on some little things ?!

The most conspiracy Theories are coming from US the most democratic country in the world nowadays what citizens of other country can expect in some less democratic system
I watched that North Korea projects how they feed people only with information they want ... and 10 year's old boy in North Korea thinks that their president is best soccer player , best chess player , best tennis player and he is going to live with that fact - sad story

Its not strange, but the things happening around are strange.. but since we are not in power, all we can do is just sit and conspire about the things happening around.

Washing will choose its interest. In this case I guess they will keep certain cooperation with Vietnam, just enough to send China some necessary messages without pissing China off while strengthening their support to Philippine.
US will not unilaterally jump in a war with China. No way. A smart move is they will wait for some country or UN to start first, then they will join. Then presently US will wait and see.

the website is an appreciated effort of the government for a democratic environment. Some people just go too far. Anyway I think many of them do some strange or funny things on purpose. For example this petition, it will not ring a bell in the white house but it will definitely raise hate of Chinese to people who petition against them, in this case it is Vietnamese.

It would depend on the specific theory, some of them are pretty far out there...others are spot on!!! Those in power willing to do whatever they deem necessary to maintain control and stay in power is not really a conspiracy...it's standard operating procedure!! The conspiracy is keeping it secret who actually does have the power!!

Ignoring all real political and economical reasons for US not to (or not be able to) put any sanction against China, the approach of this petition itself is ... allow me to say stupid. First of all this is for US people to raise their voice to their government and thus, of course, it should be (and must be) for the interest of US and its citizens, I mean direct interest. Those guys across the ocean better protect their land by themselves than waiting for a move of foreigners. The White House has enough worriness recently.

What a joke!

Godzilla - Been waiting ten damn years for this movie, hearing nothing but rumors in 2009 and 2010 and now it's finally in cinemas, I will go to see it next week .

Facebook. Tried to delete it but i stopped getting asked to party’s nights out etc because no one texts or phones its all facebook its kind of depressing

The Trial - Pink Floyd
Love the lyrics, and the whole Pink's inner judge is. I’ve had an obsession with Floyd recently.

Well, first you should give her some more time to get over it. Don't try and rush the healing. After,If she doesn't seem to be getting over her ex maybe it would be wise to go your separate ways.

Someone please tell those people that if Obama could, it would be the first thing he does. Nobody wishes to stop China to become a superpower more than US does. Come one give me a break, life is not that easy.

It is funny that it is even showed in the petition that 100k signatures are adequate.

There is no signal that China may compromise. Since Asian has been deeply divided, Washington has too much concern around the world, especially after Ukraine, China won’t miss this chance to go further.
I don’t think this is a test for south east Asia. China already did it (and greatly succeeded) in the Asian conference last year with help of its loyal ally Cambodia. Now Beijing is testing Washington

yea but I really do not think China will be able to grow that fast (i.e. 5 - 7 years). They already have lots of problems inside. I mean lots. Internationally, their biggest problem I guess is that: nobody welcome their growth as a superpower. And the west, Japan and Korea will try their best to prevent it. 5 - 7 years, no, it is not that easy.

Agreed that China took advantage from current situation of Russian, but Putin is a tough cookie. Well I just guess Beijing used the oil rig in the south china sea to prove that they have absolute advantage on the table: China can go forward to the south in case the gas agreement is not reached, while the east is only direction Moscow can go now.

Washington is undoubtedly shaken by the deal... Read online that it doesn't want any other nations to do business with Moscow... Monopoly characteristics are coming out in the sun now!

China has proved itself again... I guess within another 5-7 years, US is going to slide down and we will see China empowering itself.. Coming back to the topic, I guess now Japan and Korea will be the sufferers and they will be the ones facing tighter supply..

Yeah I also have issues quoting parts of the thread,  I try to take pieces out but get the whole thing wrong and it shows up big mess,  sucks they dont have an easier way to do quotes, also this forum wasnt made from scratch was takes from software company who provides forums.