Waters is a lightweight who doesn't even know basic history. Isolationist? What about WWI?
Pearl Harbor was a trigger point but Normandy did not have a lot to do with the Pacific War. Not worth my time refuting any more of his garbage.
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Posted on 08/08/2022 11:45:32 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Roger Waters engaged in a heated argument on TV, challenging a reporter’s position on world politics and war – but adding it had been a “pleasure” to debate with him.
CNN’s Michael Smerconish appeared to have set out to push Waters into controversial territory, although the musician is well-known for happily going there anyway.
The interview – which can be seen below – began with a question about the introduction to Waters’ This is Not a Drill shows, where he tells the audience: “If you’re one of those ‘I love Pink Floyd but I can’t stand Roger’s politics’ people, you might do well to xxxx off to the bar right now.” Asked if he really wanted people to leave, the musician replied: “You never know; those people, if they sit in a community like my audiences… there is such a great feeling of communication in that room between me and the audience, and between us combined with all our brothers and sisters all over the rest of the world.”
He continued: “If This is Not a Drill has a message, it is that we have to communicate, one with the other.” That led Smerconish to say he didn’t always agree with Waters’ messages, but he countered: “I’ve only got one message: ‘Two strangers passing in the street / By chance two passing glances meet / And I am you and what I see is me.’ That is my message and that was on Meddle which was in 1970; and basically my message hasn’t changed – I recognize your humanity but I recognize all the Russians and the Chinese and the Ukrainians and the Yemenis and the Palestinians.”
The discussion turned to Waters’ labeling of U.S. President Joe Biden a “criminal” who was “just getting started” after he’d previously hammered Donald Trump during an earlier tour. Waters blamed Biden’s administration for failing to prevent the Ukraine invasion from taking place, saying: “This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border – which they promised they wouldn’t do when Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the U.S.S.R. from the whole of Eastern Europe.”
When Smerconish argued that the United States had a role as “liberators” Waters responded: “You have no role as liberators… you got into World War II [because of] Pearl Harbor. You were completely isolationist until that sad, that devastating, awful day. … Thank God the Russians had already won the bloody war, almost, by then. Don’t forget 23 million Russians died protecting you and me from the Nazi menace.”
Drawing a comparison to the Russian view of the current East European conflict, Waters said: “Try to figure out what the United States would do it the Chinese were putting nuclear armed missiles into Mexico and Canada.” Smerconish countered that China was too busy “encircling” Taiwan to turn on the U.S. but Waters argued: “They aren’t encircling Taiwan – Taiwan is part of China and that’s been absolutely accepted by the whole of the international community since 1948.”
He went on to described allegations of China committing human rights atrocities on its own citizens as “bollocks,” saying that, unlike the U.S., “The Chinese didn’t invade Iraq and kill a million people in 2003.” He insisted: “You can’t have a conversation about human rights and you can’t have a conversation about Taiwan without actually doing the reading.”
Drawing the debate to a close, Smerconish said that when he read, he read Waters’ liner notes. The pair ended with a handshake as Waters laughed: “It’s always a pleasure.” Smerconish deadpanned: “Is it?”
The This is Not a Drill tour runs until Oct. 15.
Love him or hate him… Roger sure is a live wire, ain’t he?
Whatever one may think about Roger Water’s opinions on other issues, on this one (Ukraine) he is correct.
The interviewer took Waters apart...What fool this guy is.
Roger’s dad was a Communist, who was killed in Anzio.
He is right about Ukraine, this is “Hunter’s War”.
And Roger blames Winston Churchill and the U.K. for his father’s death, not Hitler or Nazi Germany.
If Roger Waters were an American he would vote for Bernie Sanders, and, thinking his chosen candidate too conservative, hold his nose doing so.
Waters is a lightweight who doesn't even know basic history. Isolationist? What about WWI?
Pearl Harbor was a trigger point but Normandy did not have a lot to do with the Pacific War. Not worth my time refuting any more of his garbage.
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LOL, Zappa sure had his share of controversial statements.
It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black ‘forty four
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while
And the Anzio bridgehead
Was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives
And kind old King George
Sent mother a note
When he heard that father was gone
It was, I recall
In the form of a scroll
With gold leaf adorned
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp
It was dark all around
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company Z
They were all left behind
Most of them dead
The rest of them dying
And that’s how the High Command
Took my daddy from me
Any enemy of CNN is a friend of mine.
Taiwan is NOT part of China. China belongs to Taiwan, it’s been this way since 1948. At last he recognizes the Clinton/Obama/Biden axis of evil for the criminals they are.
Before listening to Meddle (see post #14), I listened to the reissued version of The Final Cut which includes this song. Weird day.
later
Yeah Zappa was a rabid atheist and detested Christians. He got on a rant in a mid to late 70s concert and I came close to leaving. That night he would go on and on and just wouldn’t shut up.
Zappa could be quite an ahole on stage. But he was also a brilliant composer and musician.
““You have no role as liberators… you got into World War II [because of] Pearl Harbor. You were completely isolationist until that sad, that devastating, awful day. … Thank God the Russians had already won the bloody war, almost, by then.”
Did not Waters forget that the west helped arm the Russians? If Russia had already won the bloody war by then ... then why was there a D-Day? A Battle of the Bulge... etc etc etc. He’s a few ounces short of a full can of tuna in water. But hey, if it drives the left media into further madness that he criticizes Xiden, I don’t care how inaccurate he is on some details.
Four years ago, I met a “visiting scholar” from China university at the local track where I go almost daily. She was quite nice and of course she was there to “practice her English.” Over time we discussed Chinese history and politics. Because she was at US university in university town, she thought America was entirely leftist. Anyway, one day we were discussing Taiwan. She spoke the party line about history and Taiwan belonging to China and wanted to know my thoughts. I asked her why it would be necessary for China to kill many people in Taiwan to claim a right to the island? Why can’t we just accept things as the way they are and move forward? But more importantly I made the point you made - how would she feel if there are people outside of China who believe that China really belongs to Taiwan? And that undermining the CCP was acceptable to restore the “party of Chang kai-shek” to rule over China. Why was the CCP position the only correct position? Maybe it isn’t?
It was like a small earthquake. I am sorry to say when she returned to China after a year, I lost all contact with her, but as she was a married woman with two children further communication that would be CCP monitored - realistically for cultural an political reasons it could not go on. I will say that by the end of her sabbatical, she said she learned much more about America than she ever imagined, despite living in a college town, and that she was going to miss the freedoms that we have here, including the freedom of thought.
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