Margaret Thatcher dies of a stroke.

[Mantis]

About that silly One Direction picture, The Falkland islanders want to be British though. I can completely understand those that were against her domestic policies but she was absolutely right to defend the Falklands from Argentine aggression.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Mantis

[blandy]

 

Her death is proving there is a class divide. Those with it and those without it.

Don't do yourself down, like that, there must be a bit of class in there somewhere, Richard  

[peterms]

 

 

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

the Khmer Rouge was over in 7th Jan 79  , Thatcher didn't become PM until May 79

apparently she supported them keeping their UN seat after they'd been ousted from power

 

sounds weird, hadn't heard of it before, but it's on Wikipedia and therefore absolute fact

 

She went on Blue Peter to explain that Pol Pot was a bad man, but we should work with the more reasonable parts of the Khmer Rouge.  Here.

[Corcaigh]

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

the Khmer Rouge was over in 7th Jan 79  , Thatcher didn't become PM until May 79

 

From Time magazine

 

Thatcher’s government is also alleged to have funneled arms to Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein and to have provided training and technical assistance to Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge, who, in Western eyes, was a hedge against Soviet-backed Vietnam in Southeast Asia. Defenders of Thatcher’s legacy argue that such policies were the necessary product of the realpolitik of Thatcher’s age. But as the image of Thatcher as a moral titan gets burnished in the press, they also cast a necessary shadow

 

http://world.time.com/2013/04/08/margaret-thatchers-foreign-policy-was-the-iron-lady-on-the-wrong-side-of-history/#ixzz2Pxy9ef6a

[Corcaigh]

 

 

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

the Khmer Rouge was over in 7th Jan 79  , Thatcher didn't become PM until May 79

apparently she supported them keeping their UN seat after they'd been ousted from power

 

sounds weird, hadn't heard of it before, but it's on Wikipedia and therefore absolute fact

 

She went on Blue Peter to explain that Pol Pot was a bad man, but we should work with the more reasonable parts of the Khmer Rouge.  Here.

 

Thatcher in 1945: "That Hitlers a bad lad, but Goebbels and the rest of the lads are reasonable sorts lets work with them"

 

[tonyh29]

 

 

 

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

the Khmer Rouge was over in 7th Jan 79  , Thatcher didn't become PM until May 79

apparently she supported them keeping their UN seat after they'd been ousted from power

 

sounds weird, hadn't heard of it before, but it's on Wikipedia and therefore absolute fact

 

She went on Blue Peter to explain that Pol Pot was a bad man, but we should work with the more reasonable parts of the Khmer Rouge.  Here.

 

Thatcher in 1945: "That Hitlers a bad lad, but Goebbels and the rest of the lads are reasonable sorts lets work with them"

 

there were many in the UK who would have done as much but for Churchill's refusal

 

who it should be noted formed an alliance with Stalin  , even though he hated everythign about Stalin and his regime

[KHV]

The best PM this country has ever had in my lifetime by a long way

[tonyh29]

 

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

the Khmer Rouge was over in 7th Jan 79  , Thatcher didn't become PM until May 79

apparently she supported them keeping their UN seat after they'd been ousted from power

 

sounds weird, hadn't heard of it before, but it's on Wikipedia and therefore absolute fact

the original poster said she "armed " them  ....

[Zatman]

should have been brought up for war crimes as supporting Khmer Rouge, Pinochet and funding Saddam were just horrible. not forget treatment of people in the North of Ireland and the sinking of the Belgrano. thats also forgetting how treated her own people

 

 

though I find it funny some of the people defending Thatcher are the ones who were happy wehn Chavez died and he didnt do half the things she did

[Corcaigh]

 

 

 

So 5 people dying would have been worth it if they'd have got her as well?

 

You are a disgrace. Pure and simple.

 

Where did I mention being OK about 5 other people dying? I'd have been more than happy to see her get taken out though. Millions suffered because of her, many taking their own lives because of her actions.

 

Any success for the ƒucking bastard terrorists on either side in Ireland was a terrible thing. 

 

Problem is, collusion between Loyalist Paramilitaries and British secret service's was at its height under Thatcher. Fine you might say when they were targeting the PIRA, not so much when they colluding to murder innocents like Pat Finucane.

 

His crime you ask? As a lawyer he defended republicans in court. Outrageous! 

 

All a shocking thing, but I am not sure if Thatcher was directly responsible for this? Much of her Irish policy was informed by the assassination of Airey Neave, which I am sure led to certain parties doing various illegal things

 

The reality is that if Thatcher had been killed, the death toll of innocents would have huge, as various groups took a tic for tac approach. Who knows if we would be where we are now?

 

'fraid not Paulo, the reality is that it wasn't until Thatcher left the scene and Major took office that the talks which eventually led to the ceasefire's and the peace process  could begin in earnest. Thatcher thought by continuing to fight a dirty war against Republican paramilitaries she'd eventually grind them down, this despite the fact the troubles in NI were already going on for a decade at by the time she gained power. 

 

Widening out this topic somewhat, Thatcher was forced by the Americans to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement, this in itself could be construed as the first step towards eventual peace in NI. Problem was not only did Thatcher not want to sign it, Ron Reagan forced her to do so, in her retirement she came publically expressing her regret at signing it, even after the peace process and the ceasefire's had happened!

 

Any kind of compromise was too much for her. Thank goodness she went when she did! 

[PauloBarnesi]

Thats nor what I was saying. I was saying if any British PM had been assassinated by the IRA, it would be unlikely that we would eventually get to where we are now at the speed we did.

[markavfc40]

[Richard]

Her death is proving there is a class divide. Those with it and those without it.

Don't do yourself down, like that, there must be a bit of class in there somewhere, Richard  

Does a comedy emoticon excuse everything then? 

[Corcaigh]

Thats nor what I was saying. I was saying if any British PM had been assassinated by the IRA, it would be unlikely that we would eventually get to where we are now at the speed we did.

 

So it was ok then for Maggie to drag her heels then for a number of years and refuse to engage in dialogue when everyone else - her own party, the Labour party, moderate nationalists in NI, the Irish government - were all saying its time to sit down and thrash a ceasefire out?

 

Doesn't exactly portray her in a good light now does it? for a job like PM you should be leaving personal grudges and animosity at the door.  

[peterms]

the original poster said she "armed " them  ....

On Thatcher and the Khmer Rouge, our government, under her, was part of a grouping of countries which secretly supported them, fed and armed them.  The UK government had the SAS train the Khmer Rouge-led coalition forces, with a diplomatic fig-leaf of a pretence that only the parts of these forces under Sihanouk were being trained.  All this was after the Khmer Rouge had been deposed and exiled by the Vietnamese invasion.

The driver for this was the US, still smarting from their humiliation in Vietnam, and viewing the Russian-backed Vietnamese intervention as unwelcome. Thatcher fell in behind them, as usual.  She specifically stated in a parliamentary answer that the British government played no part in equipping, assisting or training the Khmer Rouge or those allied to them.  This was a lie.

http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137397

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/jan/09/cambodia

So the dreadful commies were the ones who ended and exposed the killing fields, while the freedom-loving governments of the West surreptitiously aided the mass murderers. We don't tend to hear much about that. It's a funny old world.

[blandy]

 

Her death is proving there is a class divide. Those with it and those without it.

Don't do yourself down, like that, there must be a bit of class in there somewhere, Richard

Does a comedy emoticon excuse everything then?

It doesn't even excuse pomposity, self riteousness or a holier than thou attitude.

[tonyh29]

the original poster said she "armed " them  ....

On Thatcher and the Khmer Rouge, our government, under her, was part of a grouping of countries which secretly supported them, fed and armed them.  The UK government had the SAS train the Khmer Rouge-led coalition forces, with a diplomatic fig-leaf of a pretence that only the parts of these forces under Sihanouk were being trained.  All this was after the Khmer Rouge had been deposed and exiled by the Vietnamese invasion.

The driver for this was the US, still smarting from their humiliation in Vietnam, and viewing the Russian-backed Vietnamese intervention as unwelcome. Thatcher fell in behind them, as usual.  She specifically stated in a parliamentary answer that the British government played no part in equipping, assisting or training the Khmer Rouge or those allied to them.  This was a lie.

http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137397

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/jan/09/cambodia

So the dreadful commies were the ones who ended and exposed the killing fields, while the freedom-loving governments of the West surreptitiously aided the mass murderers. We don't tend to hear much about that. It's a funny old world.

later on It was pressure from the US not to upset China that prevented Thatcher from sending relief to Cambodia  ...

 

her crime wasn't that she was complicit in the Killing Fields , more that she later funded somebody that had 

 

of course you'll argue that is a heinous crime , but she wasn't the sole western leader caught up in this end game   ... as I said previously you only have to look at Stalin .. the Americans desire to let Stalin have Eastern Europe killed tens of millions , I don't hear anyone repeatedly hammering Roosevelt

 

 

Her death is proving there is a class divide. Those with it and those without it.

Don't do yourself down, like that, there must be a bit of class in there somewhere, Richard

 

Does a comedy emoticon excuse everything then?

It doesn't even excuse pomposity, self riteousness or a holier than thou attitude.

for shame blandy  , i expect better from you

Edited April 9, 2013 by tonyh29

[Corcaigh]

TonyH29, the ''original post'' you're referring to is mine I presume. Please read it again:

 

On comments about her backing a dictatorial regime, which one? Pinochet? The financial and military backing she gave to Suharto? Or the billion pounds she loaned to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons?

 

Don't forget the Thatcher government provided arms and support to the Khmer Rouge, yes that Khmer Rouge, the crazy communists who liquidated a huge proportion of their own population in a few short years. Mags decided toarm them after the killing fields.

 

So much for her fervent anti-communist credentials 

 

At no point did I infer that that Thatcher was complicit in the killing fields. Please edit your post to reflect that.

 

And while I have you here, a few hours ago you had no idea that Thatcher was involved with the Khmer Rouge, now you're trying to play down her association with it. Are you just making this up as you go along?

[peterms]

It doesn't even excuse pomposity, self riteousness or a holier than thou attitude.

for shame blandy  , i expect better from you

Absolutely. "Self riteousness" indeed. Shocking spelling.

[blandy]

 

Her death is proving there is a class divide. Those with it and those without it.

Don't do yourself down, like that, there must be a bit of class in there somewhere, Richard

Does a comedy emoticon excuse everything then?

It doesn't even excuse pomposity, self riteousness or a holier than thou attitude.

for shame blandy  , i expect better from you

Or condescenshun