Comments by "David Ford" (@davidford3115) on "VisualPolitik EN" channel.

  1. The phrase "setting up for failure" comes to mind. NATO teaches the Ukrainians combined arms, and they fails to provide them the critical air component of that system. Fortunately, the Ukrainians have taken the elements they CAN use and have hybridized it with their Warsaw-Soviet system into something that is surprisingly effective and given the west something to consider going forward.
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  2. Indeed. Sacrificing the future for the present. There is a reason why previous generations to the Boomers were content to go without so that the next generation could live comfortably and thrive. Those in power and those retiring should be focused on child-rearing instead of their own comfort.
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  3.  @jamaicansunitedforchange5745  When nations like China and France heavily subsidize their industry, they are NOT participating in "Free trade". When your training partner is using back door tariffs like Value Added Tax to imported products at the shelves instead of the port is NOT free Trade, it is cheating.
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  4.  @HgHg-yp6ft  Battle of Tsushima. And considering the sad state of the Russian military today (Moskva and Admiral Kuznetsov), I am thinking that a repeat of that battle would occur if Japan decided to retake the Kurils.
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  5. Isn't that what George S. Patton said to do? "Rehabilitate the Germans to fight the Soviets"?
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  6. The problem isn't the Cold War mentality. The problem is that the politicians can't think outside of the box. John F. Kennedy was a Cold War president who COULD be creative and imaginative. Most of those in DC lack that critical skill.
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  7. I trust the Japanese a hell of a lot more than the Chinese. Michael Pillsbury dug into Deng Xiaoping's 100 year plan to defeat the West. Buying up debt was one of the top priorities. As for the Japanese, their national Constitution and relative lack of standing forces means they are heavily dependent on the US for their protection. If America is strong, they are safe. If America succeeds, they succeed. The Japanese have a vested interest in seeing the US remain strong. The Chinese only want leverage over us.
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  8.  @danielch6662  You got that bass ackwards. Taiwan is NOT the Donbas. For one, the Donbas has a land border with Russia. Taiwan does not. Secondly, the Chinese military's tussles with the Indian military have shown that they are just as unruly and unprofessional as the Russian military.
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  9. "Peace" as in complete submission under the bootheel of a tyrant.
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  10. Most of them still keenly remember their time as Warsaw Pact nations. That "mutual defense" was simply a pretext for Soviet occupation. It is amazing how the Putin apologists conveniently ignore that dirty little detail.
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  11.  @iche9373  Indeed. A Tale of two peoples. One who wouldn't fight for their country, another that has.
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  12. Yeah, I really wish the members of ASEAN would temporarily set their disputes aside and present a united front against China. The Vietnamese need to invite the Indonesians, Malaysians, and Filipinos to joint-base and operate in the Parcels. Likewise, the Filipinos need to invite their neighbors into the northern Islands on their side that are NOT in dispute so as to push the Chinese out of the are at the northern most location. Cut off the supply lines to the southern Islands and they will wither on the vine.
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  13. Forgive me but what border dispute does Japan have with South Korea? If you are referring to the Dokodo/Takeshima dispute, that is a rather minor spat over a few rocks that barely rise above sea level at high tide. I do agree with most of your other points. Only observation I will make is that the rural areas of Japan are not particularly conducive to building large factors and the like. 75% of the country is steep mountainous terrain which is why the population is concentrated on the Kanto Plain around Tokyo as well as the other lowland metro areas.
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  14. Yeah, nobody wants to talk about what scholars have known since antiquity: the strength of the nation comes from the integrity of the family as Confucius observed.
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  15.  @angelogarcia2189  Not entirely accurate. The DoD lost focus on what the mission was: to capture Bin Laden. Once that was achieved, all other considerations were secondary and nominally irrelevant.
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  16. Yeah, he seems to forget that Georgia had petitioned to join NATO before the Russian invasion in 2008. There is some discussion that the whole reason for the insurgency in South Ossetia was to give Putin a pretext to prevent Georgian ascension. In the process of nuking the application (can't have border disputes), Putin got a mostly compliant client government in Tiblisi. Me thinks that Putin's success in Georgia encouraged him to act first in Crimea, then in Donbas as the DNR/LNR folks followed the exact same playbook as Ossetia.
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  17.  @danilolabbate  Actually, his comment is on point. Chinese historically have been the great merchants of Asia, traveling between Dutch Indonesia, India, the Horn of Africa and parts unknown to trade goods. it is why the diaspora Chinese population has always been in better economic and financial status than mainland Chinese since the end of the conflict between the KMT and the CCP.
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  18. Good for them. I hope they continue to wisely leverage what they have to get out from under foreign creditors.
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  19. Immigration only works as a solution if assimilation is mandatory. Without assimilation, you get countries within a country which is what the Nordic countries are experiencing with their refugee/asylum populations or France and its Harams (Islamic no-go zones).
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  20.  @ArchonLicht  I do. Inflation is when the cost of bread or milk next week is 25-50% more expensive than it is today. Yes, I saw that crap in Guatemala and Chile in the 90s. We are very much on that path.
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  21.  @zilari3662  Actually, as an American, i trust the Japanese with Nukes. They know firsthand the cost of engaging in a nuclear arms exchange and so I have every faith that they would not cross that bridge unless their existential existence is on the line. WW2 showed that while the US COULD wipe the Japanese off the map, we did not once they laid down their arms. Indeed, the US was VERY magnanimous in victory, much to the shock and surprise of the Japanese who were told we would devastate the country during the short occupation. so long as they harbor no ill will towards the US, that existential threat that might trigger a nuclear armed Japan would never be crossed by the US. Hence, the US would see no threat from Japan having nukes.
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  22. Well, he also wears facial hair which makes him look older and more distinguished.
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  23.  @nid-jk2vx  I don't disagree that the US had made bad choices with regards to Pakistan. But if you are not willing to bury the past, then it WILL come back to hurt you in the future.
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  24. I suspect that trying to make them remain one unified country is also a part of the dysfunction. If the Serbia majority areas want to be annexed by Serbia, let them. If the Croat dominated areas want to be a part of Croatia, let them. And let the Bosnian Muslim areas be their own independent states if they so choose. This idea that it has to be one nation is based on 18th century chauvinism.
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  25. Indeed. Why does it HAVE to be one country? Why can it not partition down into smaller independent states? Why does San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra get to be independent nations, but the small areas of Bosnia do not?
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  26. Same here. The Korean Tiger is not to be taken lightly. I for one welcome the competition.
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  27. You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to fight your way out of it.
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  28. You are still thinking of it from a Western market base philosophy. Yes, China wants a market, but you are foolish if you think they care about the workforce in Africa. There is a reason why many countries have ended their contracts with China and have banned the importation of any goods. When the Chinese flood local African economies with goods, it bankrupts local businesses INCREASING unemployment. The infrastructure projects actually do very little to jumpstart and economy, merely facilitate an already existing one. And most of the ones China builds is so it is easier to extract resources from those countries and transport them to ports to be shipped to China.
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  29.  @kristiansandsmark2048  Considering that they are unaccountable and unelected, that means they are answerable to nobody but themselves, no different than a dictatorship. Until those agencies are punished for their failures, we will continue to be plagued by incompetence and corruption.
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  30. Hence why the Baltic states so quickly clamored to join NATO. Even the Latvian foreign minister has come out and said they would have been invaded and recolonized by Russia if not for NATO ascension.
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  31.  @jdw-616  You are assuming Putin's nukes don't detonate in the silo like they did on K-129 instead of launching like they are supposed to. Considering the state of both the Moskva and the Admiral Kuznetsov, I seriously doubt the competency of the Russian Nuclear Forces. Also, you trying to use scripture to push a political message is a blasphemy. It is exactly what the Carpenter of Nazareth and the Baptizer on the Jordan both critizised when they spoke of the corrupt bread of Caiaphas and Herod Antipas. "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." -Matthew 24:36
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  32. Screaming "racist!" just means you have no counterargument to refute. It is tacit acknowledgement that the people you disagree with are correct and you know it.
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  33. @Kam If indeed the rising tide did lift all boats, you would have a point. The problem is, free trade doesn't benefit everyone, it only benefits a few transnational businesses. The local regional and small-time operations suffer while the mega-corporations squeeze them out of the market.
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  34.  @thomasgrabkowski8283  That is not a solution if they are not assimilating. There is a word for that, one that I think the Germans are quite familiar with.
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  35.  @thatisme3thatisme38  Their "Self Defense Force" is neutered by their Constitution. They got a lot of flak for simply providing air refueling support out of Diego Garcia for allied operations in Afghanistan. Much like the Taiwanese military, the JSDF does NOT have the actual combat experience to say they can effectively wage war. In that regard, the South Korean military has a leg up over Japan considering all of the skirmishes that have taken place across the DMZ.
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  36. If the Serbians in Bosnia want to be annexed by Serbia, let them. If the Croats in Bosnia want to be annexed by Croatia, let them. And allow the Bosnian Muslims to live in their own independent nation-states just like San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra.
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  37. Blind leading the blind.
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  38. The Russian invasion of South Ossetia shares many similarities to Russian actions in the Donbas. Considering that Georgia had applied for NATO ascension before the invasion, it makes you wonder.
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  39. Legalizing it doesn't solve your problems, it just shuffles the deck chairs around. Trading one set of problems for an entirely new set isn't working the problem, it is an attempt to cover up the problem.
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  40. I too look forward to the day that Japan and South Korea can let bygones be bygones and stand united against the Dragon pretending to be a Panda. And I also agree with you that just because the West has become decadent on its largess doesn't mean it is weak. Though it remains to be seen how long that lasts with the current leadership of the West.
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  41. How about you actually debate the points instead of making an emotional outburst?
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  42.  @user-ob3ss1tkas  Molotov-Ribbentrop Alliance was only possible because they are cut from the same cloth. How quickly people (except Poles) forget the Pact of Blood.
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  43.  @Homer-OJ-Simpson  That tends to happen in time of war. It's hard on the furniture, and hard on the people.
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  44. Agreed. The Chinese having watched how the European powers bungled in Africa have chosen to be more subtle in their approach to colonization.
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  45.  @nishantmaderna6295  Old biases die hard. You may have papered it over for the foreign audience to see, but internally when nobody is watching, those old bigotries reveal themselves. Some of us see what goes on when you think nobody is watching.
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  46. Pakistan has been playing both the West and China for fools. It was the Pakistanis who supported the Taliban the whole time, even sheltering Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. I do agree that India has tried to play the same role they always have since WW2 as the neutral third world power. I give them credit for being consistent. The more interesting and I would say laudable action is ripping of Russia by demanding a 30% discount on oil. Allies don't exploit their friends like that.
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  47.  @Kongajinken  Actually, he would. Putin never invaded Ukraine while Trump was in office. As for China, they have been in an economic war with the US since the 90s, but Trump's economic policies were actually making Americans once again competitive against China. Trump gave us the best economy since the John F. Kennedy tax cuts, and that is irrefutable.
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  48. Indeed. People quickly forget the lessons of the Munich Conference.
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  49. "Republics degrade into democracies, and democracies invariably degenerate into despotisms," -Alexander Frasier Tytler quoting Aristotle.
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  50.  @mutegikimathi6258  If the West "milking the continent dry" as you put it is bad, then your excusing China doing the exact same thing is hypocrisy. The issue isn't bad ideas or differing opinions, it is the contraction and inconsistency that is at issue. You may THINK that China wants the population to grow its own wealth, but that is the exact same argument used by EUROPEAN colonialist during the mad scramble for Africa. If that was a lie then, it is a lie now, regardless if it was someone from Europe or East Asia that said it. And no, I an NOT kidding. Infrastructure by itself doesn't create anything. It will not spontaneously create a thriving economy if there was not anything there to begin with. The claim that "if you build it, they will come" is a myth perpetuated by those who love centralized planning, but lack any understanding about the invisible hand of the market or how economics actually work beyond a chalk board theory.
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  51.  @burnttoast9890  Truth doesn't care about your feelings. Truth is OBJECTIVE, not subjective as many would like to believe. People who parrot Kremlin talking points on cue like Pavlov's Dog are essentially bots.
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  52.  @刘振东-d6i  Yeah, the Indians have video of that engagement, and it tells a VASTLY different story. It shows the PLA behaving more like street muscle rather than a professional military force. When your army acts more like organized crime than a disciplined military, you are in deep trouble. That is something China has in common with Russia.
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  53. The irony is that Chinese Taipei has much affection for Japan, in stark contrast to many other Chinese populations. Even the Chinese Indonesian community has much better relations with Japan than mainland China.
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  54.  @reubenong8728  Sounds to me more like that is an issue with racial/ethnic supremacy. Minority populations in Russia have ALWAYS been treated as second-class to the ethnic Russians. Very rarely has Moscow allowed the regions to enjoy autonomy. Yakutia is a notable exception because despite its large land area, the population is quite small; Moscow doesn't view them as a challenge to their dominance.
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  55.  @Spacedog79  I am all for more nuclear. And US Navy nuclear has proven that it IS the safest form of energy that we can use. Thank Admiral Hyman G. Rickover for that.
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  56.  @VisibilityFoggy  Basically the same argument AGAINST reparations in the US. And why Soviet collectivism never works. Workers, unless they came up through the ranks into management, don't necessarily understand WHY a factory or business runs the way it does. Without that wider perspective, you may make choices that adversely harm the company. In a similar vein, some folks should take a look at Indonesia and ask why the ethnic Chinese tended to have most of the wealth after the Dutch left following WW2. The Dutch used the Chinese as the mid-level managers and the local Javanese and Sumatrans as the labor. The anti-Chinese sentiment under Sukarno and Suharto threatened to do to Indonesia what Mugabe did to Zimbabwe.
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  57. What progress? The world is less safe and the economics, particularly inflation are worse than they were during the previous 4 years. Oh, but mean tweets are more important to you than the soaring cost of living, particularly energy and fuel costs.
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  58.  @jdw-616  Many wiser men than you have tried to predict the end of days. They ALL failed. You are just as foolish if you think you know the hour of judgement. It will occur when you least expect it, so why are you trying to use fear of it to compel others? THAT is where you have blasphemed.
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  59.  @NewsGuyFred  You are ignoring that EU countries heavily subsidize their industries (particularly auto and aviation) that directly compete against Us businesses. THAT is protectionism under a different guise.
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  60. This, completely. Also, a tariff goes on any product subsidized by the government. Germany and France are notorious for propping up their local companies against foreign competition.
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  61.  @fturatti  Funny, because the most prosperous nations have always depended on their mercantile class. The most technologically innovative societies have had a robust merchant populace.
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  62. Your first point blatantly ignores a truism that the Koreans know which you refuse to acknowledge: The strength of the nation comes from the integrity of the family as Confucius observed. It has been conclusively confirmed in multiple studies that children of single-parent families have lower rates of education, higher rates of crime, teen pregnancy, and a whole host of other problems. Do keep in mind that Confucius himself was born out of wedlock and grew up in a broken family. His experiences are empirical evidence supporting his contention that a traditional core family unit is the best situation and that all others fail to sustain a culture.
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  63.  @fooo2241  How about the rules governing mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania? How about the changed to voter ID requirements in Georgia and Arizona? How about last-minute approval of ballot harvesting? There are plenty of examples that people just brush off. I'm talking NOT about questionable practices during the counting, but the PROCESS, and chain of custody issues that the court refuse to even consider based on the merits. Those changes should NOT have taken effect until the NEXT election cycle. And the excuses used to rationalize them going into effect mid-election are typical of those trying to game the system.
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  64. The reactions of Hu Jintao's protege on the other side of Xi is quite telling, as is the reaction of most of the other folks. The stone-face expression was just as much of shock as it was of horror and dread.
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  65.  @alterkooper431  Yes they do. When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. That proverb is in ALL three Abrahamic faiths.
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  66. No, they just simply strip mine and rip the country off while leaving half-completed projects, flood the local economies with cheap goods and force local businesses belly-up with market domination. Yeah, China's tactics are much less overt than military conquest, but certainly not any better.
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  67. From whom? The Russian Bots or the people pointing out the holes in the arguments of Negative Nacy?
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  68.  @olderchin1558  The Russia-Chinese land-based supply lines are unreliable at best. How much actually transits the trans-Siberian Railway from European Russia to Manchuria? Not nearly as much as you think. And the energy pipelines that feed Europe do NOT have a direct link to the Russian pipelines that connect to China. They are two separate systems.
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  69.  @sinoroman  The Finish and Swedes put that threat to bed. Joining NATO will not endanger Moldova any more than it did the Nordic countries.
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  70. Would not surprise me. And if the president/priemer of Moldova is smart, the response to those bills is "services not requested nor desired-refuse to pay".
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  71. It is interesting how the Japanese and South Koreans have become America's greatest advocates in Southeast Asia. It is something that American policy makers should NOT take for granted.
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  72. Other than tourism or seafood exports, I don't really see what industry many of these Island territories could develop.
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  73. Or you are just refusing to address the points they bring up.
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  74. "Peaceful majority"? Tell me, what has happened to the Christan populations of the Middle East? What about the Jewish congregations? Ask the Chinese Christians of Indonesia what they think about their Muslim Neighbors. Ask the Dayaks of Borneo what they think of Islam. Ask the Hindus of India how "peaceful" their Muslim neighbors are. A country doesn't go to 98% of the population being Muslim without violence being a factor.
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  75. Then refute it with rational, coherent points. Otherwise, the argument stands uncontested.
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  76.  @sharwama992  Yup, foreign men can't resist the charms of Korean women. There is a reason why Chinese Emperors and Japanese noble lords often took Korean spouses. Though their descendants would never publicly admit it (and Akahito cause quite a stir when he admitted to being related to King Muryeong of Pakeje).
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  77.  @ImLure  Wow, I think that was one of the plot threads in the "children's book" by Lois Lowry: "The Giver".
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  78. The irony is that since Ukraine is in the fight for its life, and existential crisis, corruption is viewed as helping the enemy. Where previously people could get away with it, now there is an incentive to put a stop to it.
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  79. The Baltic States know first-hand not to trust the Russian Bear (who happens to be geriatric).
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  80. GDP does not accurately reflect the health of a country. When local businesses are being bankrupted by China flooding local markets with cheap goods while the Chinese strip-mine the country is not healthy for an economy. What good is infrastructure if there are no jobs to feed your family? Infrastructure does NOT put food on the table.
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  81. You have a point. Compare the Fentanyl crisis with the Opium crisis in China which lead to the devastating Opium Wars with the UK. The parallels are startling.
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  82. That is exactly what it is. Since the UK is no longer top dog and has been replaced by the US, they still view it as sticking it to the Anglo-world.
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  83. I tend to agree. This idea that they HAVE to be under one flag and one government is an 18th century chauvinistic conceit. Let them fracture into localized governments. If San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra can all be independent nations, why can the various localities of Bosnia do the same?
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  84. Ukraine is not a strategic asset that Taiwan is. There is little upside to the US supporting Ukraine beyond grinding the Russian war machine to dust. And the benefit of that is mixed at best. Yes, it sucks for Ukraine, but it is their fight, not ours. While I am all for giving our old and soon to be expired gear to them, there is no reason for pallets of cash to be laundered by companies such as Burisma.
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  85.  @MrWhitmen1981  Stalin and the Austrian painter micromanaged battlefield decisions just like LBJ would later do in Vietnam. When did Trump ever micromanage choices made on the battlefield? He didn't. Hel let his subordinates make the call and then held them to account if they screw up.
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  86. I would assume you are referring to Formosa? It was the crown jewel in the Empire of Japan and was given preferential treatment over all of Japan's other possessions. My understanding is that the feeling of affection was and still is mutual
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  87. Indeed. If Russia collapsed, the China would try to take back outer Manchuria. And if THAT happened, I could easily see the Japanese move into Sakhalin Island as well as the Kurils.
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  88. Not really. Vietnam, particularly the French disaster at Dien Bien Phu proved that the French Empire as an institution was finished. The others just haven't seen a need to emulate the folks in "French Indo-China". And considering their (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) example, I don't really blame them (French Overseas) for rejecting that path.
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  89.  @jdw-616  Yeah, as Dana Louche points out, the devil can quote scripture too. You using religious text to make an argument doesn't give you the moral high ground, it just proves you have to use people's faith against them to create legitimacy for yourself. I also find it interesting that you chose to deflect into a religious argument rather than debate the merits of the original point. You have clearly lost the plot and are hijacking this threat for your own self-aggrandizement. "It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble." -Luke 17:2
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  90. Indeed. The Soviet officers who chose to de-escalate deserve all the praise for their coolness under fire and level-headed judgement of the situation. Vasily Arkhipov and Stanislav Petrov both deserve recognition for their actions in preventing a nuclear arms exchange. Yes, as an American I CAN praise Soviet Officers who acted with professionalism and honor.
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  91.  @TK199999  If it worked so well, why did almost every power except the US blatantly violate it? In particular, both the Germans and the Japanese created Heavy cruisers (Admiral Hipper, and Mogami respectively) with light cruiser guns that could be easily retrofitted with bigger ones so as to get around the limits? Then you have the fact that the Japanese absolutely lied about the true displacement of their capital ships. In particular, the true displacement of their battleships was 50% greater than what they claimed. Also, it wasn't Dolittle, it was Billy Mitchell who demonstrated the feasibility of air power over capital ships. Dolittle was the Lt. Colonel who led the Tokyo Raid from the deck of the USS Hornet. Don't try lecturing me on military history when you can't even get your basic facts correct.
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  92.  @Aksarallah  One head vs how many impaled? Yeah, i think I know who got the last laugh.
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  93. I think what you need to be considering is the difference in what constitutes wealth. Cash on hand (liquidity) or assets (property such as land, farming equipment, manufacturing machinery, etc.) Most of the super wealthy have much of it stored in assets. Maybe the thing to differentiate is that stocks and bonds be differentiated from physical assets such as property.
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  94.  @kasper2970  You seem to forget that both Germany and France heavily subsidize their industries. Without that government assistance, they would not be anywhere near as competitive with US manufacturers.
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  95. Kind of a similar thing with US Navy pilots in the Pacific. The carrier groups attached to the Akagi, Kaga, Souryuu, and Hiryuu were battle hardened fighting the Royal Navy in Southeast Asia by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It took Coral Sea and development of tactical air combat skills such as the S-turn to pull off the victory at Midway and Santa Cruz Skies.
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  96. A meme that will forever be remembered by Ukrainians.
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  97. I agree. The best thing he could do after his term is fade into the background and only privately offer advice to political leaders when solicited. He could become Ukraine's version of George Washington.
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  98.  @Homer-OJ-Simpson  "Furniture" in this case refers to the historic and cultural items and locations. Case in point: During the Korean war, Hwasong Fortress was pulverized with even the foundation turned to gravel. Bulguksa Temple burned to the ground from shelling during the desperate Pusan Defense Line. In both cases, the Koreans were able to rebuild them to exact replicas because detailed records of their original construction were found in local archives. Had those documents been lost, then those historic sites would never have been restored.
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  99. The Greeks culturally conquered the Romans as Roman culture basically became a continuation of the Greeks after the Latins conquered the Near East. Why do i bring this up? I see Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan very easily being to the West what Greece and Greek culture was to the Roman Empire.
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  100.  @JMM33RanMA  Indeed. When I was stationed over there from 2009-2011, I came to realize that while the deepest, darkest, most desperate desire of the older population was reunification, the younger generations were much less enthusiastic about that. They perceived it as a nice idea, but one with serious difficulties that could threaten to destabilize their society and culture.
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  101. hikikomori is Japanese, nor Korean. But you are correct about the alcoholism and suicide rates. But it isn't unique to Korea as it is also seen in many other Asian cultures.
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  102. Apples to oranges. Puerto Rico has time and again been given the choice between Statehood or independence. They have always chosen to remain a territory. Same goes with American Samoa and the Northern Marianas. Now contrast those with nations like Palau and Vanuatu which WERE given independence. Or the fact that the Philippines was also emancipated (those the Japanese invasion of the Island delayed it).
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  103. Which is ironic when you consider how the US Navy built up starting with the Spanish-American War. USS Oregon (BB-3, aka McKinley's Bulldog) was purposely built on the West coast so as to encourage more shipbuilding so that it was not exclusively on the Atlantic Coast. Then there is the fact that the US defeated Japan because we were producing ships faster than the Japanese could sink them. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese production was effectively at its maximum capacity with almost no room for expansion.
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  104.  @qjtvaddict  Cuts to education have nothing to do with that. In many states such as Indiana, 65% of the budget goes to education, and yet Indiana is NOT at the leading edge of breakthroughs. I will agree that choosing not to modernize and invest in upgrades has killed US productivity. Rather than use the extra money from profits to innovate, the CEOs, CFOs, and COOs have chosen to slim down and become "leaner and meaner" which actually is counter-productive in the defense industry.
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  105. I tend to agree with that assessment. The US has great potential to become the production powerhouse it was in WW2. But government taxation and over-regulation is hamstringing that capability.
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  106. Never actually visited the Korean DMZ have you?
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  107. Well, and it fails to consider Africa's notorious reputation for Brushwars. A large and young population can either be a blessing or a curse. If there is no significant labor market for which that population can be put to work (nominally in a free market where employers compete for the labor), it WILL engage in strife and conflict. How many child soldiers have been created since the 1960s because they were readily available to the local warlord?
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  108.  @ttemp2631  Yeah, they said the same thing in the USSR. Ronald Reagan even made a joke to Gorbachev about it. Just because the communist party CLAIMS something, doesn't make it true.
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  109.  @networkgeekstuff9090  I find myself wondering why Greenpeace is not a suspect for the Nrodstream pipe incident. They have MUCH to gain from putting it out of commission.
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  110. Kiev still stands. You claim that Ukraine lost carries no merit when the capital of Ukraine is independent of Moscow's control.
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  111. When they realized they were not breaking through as planned, the UAF very quickly changed tactics, something the media blatantly ignored. Ukraine pulled out the playbook of the WW1 Battle of Broodseinde. "Nibble and Hold" became the new plan and it HAS been more successful than its implementation in WW1.
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  112. Well, and she kept her opinions to herself, unlike Charles. The best thing he can do for the institution of the Monarchy is to keep his mouth shut and stay sequestered in Buckingham Palace as a recluse. Let his son William be "The People's Prince" and represent the crown in state functions. William has the class to emulate his grandmother and become beloved.
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  113. Yes, that would be in addition to employing what Erwin Rommel proposed (and was rejected by the German High Command) for the defense at Normandy. Hit them with subs in the channel. As the ships approach the littoral waters, bog them down in the coral and on the shoals. Then turn the beaches into an enfilading crossfire. And once they establish a foothold, engaging in a fighting retreat towards the caves and dig in like the Japanese did in WW2.
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  114. Yeah, the Ossetian insurgents make the EXACT same claims as the DNR/LNR folks. Same playbook. These guys are Astroturf.
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  115. Indeed. That is why there is a VAST difference in the caliber of LEGAL immigrant from East Asia as contrasted to "refugees" from Africa or the Middle East.
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  116.  @jaric82  Yeah, what is wrong with that? Take Japan for example. They are very resistant to naturalization of those who are not ethnically Japanese. But those Western gaijin they DO naturalize often become fluent speakers of Japanese as well as adopting distinctly Japanese names and identities as part of that naturalization process. It also helps that they have married a Japanese national so that the children will at least be part ethnic Japanese. Same situation applies to South Korea. So don't pretend that it is just an Euro-centric perspective. If anything, it is the typical and historic view on nationality.
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  117.  @dragosstanciu9866  Because it often goes hand in hand with cultural Marxism and moralistic relativism.
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  118.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  No you did not confirm it. You failed to provide your source claim it is a hoax which means you didn't disprove anything. Hamas themselves were boasting about it.
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  119. Probably not a popular opinion, but Russia should be partitioned. The area west of the Urals centered on the Volga River drainage area of Russia should become "The Volga Republic". East of the Urals becomes the Republic of Irkutsk, and the Far East district becomes the Amur-Kamchatkan Republic.
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  120. If the leadership in Moldova was smart, they would refuse to pay the bills for Transnistria. "Delivery of services neither desired not requested" is justified reason in international court for refusal of payment.
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  121.  @_Mohit_Joshi  The US never considered them client or vassal states, but partners (albeit junior partners). Client state is how the Soviet Union viewed its satellites. As for superiority, why shouldn't India be the big dog in that part of the world? Why shouldn't Brazil be the 800-pound gorilla in South America? Stop using the anti-US perspective and broaden your horizions.
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  122.  @kimandre336  I think you grossly underestimate Japan and South Korea. And you badly overestimate Red China and Russian ability. The fact that Ukraine last longer than the one week even the optimists expected shows that EVERYONE horribly overestimated the Russians. The Ukraine proved to be the sleeper in Europe. And they have Poland to thank in part for that.
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  123.  @headoverheels88  Indeed. As one foreign commentator observed, not since WW2 has the US put its full effort into a war. We have ALWAYS fought with one hand tied behind our back, often using our off-hand. Most people don't realize that.
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  124.  @zilari3662  Taking your example, Japan is NOT likely to use Nukes against China unless the CCP goes nuclear first. Hence, it will be China that would be "first use". And if China uses them first, NOBODY in the world would condemn Japan for retaliating in kind.
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  125.  @mohammed44_  Yes, they killed him and about 2,000 of his retainers. He impaled no fewer than 20,000 and possibly more than 100,000. Again, you are only showing your ignorance.
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  126.  @rohitsawant5805  You are conflating assimilation with multiculturalism. The two are NOT the same. Multiculturalism rejects assimilation.
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  127. Do you even understand what goes into being a rental property owner? They are entirely responsible for facility maintenance, which is often not cheap. Roof leaks? That is the property owner's responsibility. Pipes burst? Also, property owner's responsibility. HVAC breaks down? That is also up to the property owner to fix. Renters are not obligated to pay for any of those fixes as rental costs are supposed to factor that in on the front end. There is a reason why they say being a homeowner is more of a curse than a blessing.
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  128. That is a gross over-simplification. And it shows a complete lack of understanding. Try reading about the Korean War and WHY that conflict occurred. Then look up the history of the ruling Kim Dynasty of DPRK. There are irreconcilable differences.
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  129.  @eileenmcconnell8420  What encirclements? Except for the Azov plant in Mariupol, the Russians have failed to carry out any effective entrapments; the Ukrainians have managed to evacuate before they get into trouble. Because of that, the Russians are doing brute force frontal assaults under an umbrella of artillery fire; classic 1970s Soviet military doctrine, and one that is actually very easy to evade.
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  130. And likely to make the Russian complacent as well. When the capture vehicles had parade uniforms, it was clear that the Russians expected a cakewalk. What they got was a rude awakening.
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  131.  @sharathnair642  Not Highschool drama? You clearly have not been paying attention. World leaders are nothing more that glorified drama queens. It is neo-feudalism of a different kind, with all of them strutting about like peacocks! I understand India's historical neutrality, advocating for the Third world. But I also point out that Switzerland, Austria, Finland, and Sweden have also traditionally held that neutral stance as well. And all of them have moved away from that stance because they know it is no longer a tenable situation.
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  132.  @buddy1155  Because people in power refuse to let go of that power. The US has the "seniority rules" mentality. Those two things are why you have people who have held the same office for 30 or more years.
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  133. Closer or are they simply swindling us? A smiling face makes it MUCH easier to bamboozle a mark. Make no mistake, China's government cares only about one thing: the survival of its communist party. All other factors are secondary to that.
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  134.  @thatisme3thatisme38  So did the Islamic State. Doesn't mean they are combat capable. Until the JSDF actually performs in combat, they are effectively a paper tiger. Same with Taiwan.
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  135.  @Thorsten_Wiegand  What green power are you specifically referring to? When you factor in HYDRO-electric, then yes you can get that number because the prevalence of dams to generate electricity makes up for the steep cost of solar panels and the mineral oil required to operate wind turbines. As for Nuclear, much of the cost comes from regulations as Matt pointed out. The front end may be expensive, but it very quickly makes up over time at a much faster rate due to lower overhead operational costs. Solar and Wind NEVER make up the difference over time. Only Hydro-electric is able to do that.
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  136. That is a far point. Those on the top of the heap become complacent. And complacency breeds corruption and stagnation.
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  137. Which is funny considering that the Korean War started when North Korea violated the 38th parallel. And since the Armistice, it has only been the North Koreans who have violated the DMZ to attack the south.
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  138.  @Miinecraftserver  I visited that "FINE" city once. I have no desire to visit it again. "Controlled Pandemonium" is the best description I can give it. I felt like I was walking on eggshells in that simply sneezing could get me 20 lashes with a bamboo cane. And that was in 2011.
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  139. Yeah, not much has changed since the famous article described the city as "Disneyland with the Death Penalty".
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  140.  @mohamedosama7  Nice moral relativism argument. That is a logical fallacy, BTW. Also, most Middle East oils and gas goes to East Asia, not Europe genius.
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  141.  @krasserTerror  First, Chernobyl and Fukushima are grossly overblown. The fact that the exclusion zone around Prypiat has become reclaimed by nature to the point that previously endangered species are now at populations levels not seen since prehistory speaks to the ignorance of man regarding radiation. Secondly, Man is NOT the cause of climate change. The Milankovitch cycles have a MUCH greater impact than anything man has done. The so-called science around climate change activism is as flimsy as the fears of nuclear winter. Michael Crichton debunked BOTH.
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  142. Yeah, I think preventing the people repurposing Soviet bombs into reactor fuel is kind of counter-productive and undermines the non-proliferation agenda.
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  143. I suspect they have a GREAT appreciation for the US's bill of rights, particularly the due process of the 6th amendment as well as protection from unjust searches under the 4th.
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  144. Indeed. The problem isn't the ethnic background, it is the culture of dependency and entitlement that forms around government subsidies and handouts. Stop it at its source before it festers into something much worse.
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  145.  @allthingsafrica1111  You clearly didn't watch the video in its entirety. 30% of Chinese construction projects make zero economic sense and as such are a complete waste or resources. This is even more true for their projects in Africa as that continent is NOT China.
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  146.  @mutegikimathi6258  Proof by Verbosity huh? That is not an argument, it is a logical fallacy. So is appeal to emotion, which is the entirety of your post. It is not based on fact, logic, nor reason but to pull at the very heartstrings of the gullible. Brevity is the great charm of eloquence and is a virtue in ANY debate. You are using the cultural Marxist argument of the "oppressed" which as the core of anti-colonialism is nothing more than poorly disguised racism and bigotry cut from the same mold as anti-Zionism which is nothing more than "fashionable" anti-Semitism. And your choice of words "heart of a witch" goes to show you are NOT arguing in good faith. it shows your position is not based on anything other than emotional reflex. Saying "I'll keep it to myself" after having already typed and posted it shows insincerity in your claims.
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  147.  @dudeonyoutube  "When the wise man points at the moon, the imbecil examines the finger," -Confucius. "Wisdom sounds like foolishness to the stupid" -attributed to Socrates. Guess who resembles those quotes?
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  148.  @SovietBelka  "Right side of history"? Where have I heard that terminology before? Oh, yeah, from the 1930s when the apologists for the Third Reich claimed they were on the right side of history. People who have to make such an argument clearly are trying to persuade themselves because they don't believe their own claims. "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks" -Queen Gertrude; Act 3 scene 2; Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.
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  149. It can. Soil Alkalinity can be a factor when growing crops. Not that followers of modern day Lysenkoism would care to admit that.
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  150.  @succatash  WRONG on ALL counts. First, NATO is a DEFENSE ALLIANCE, not an equal opportunity employment agency. Its first and foremost priority is defense, ignoring all other considerations. If diversity and inclusion takes priority over defense, you are already dead. As for the Anglo vs non-Anglo divide in NATO, you are imagining something there that confirms your preconceived notions. It wasn't US/UK and all the other members. As I said, the former Warsaw Pact members of NATO were practically in lock step with the US and the UK. It was France, who historically was always obstinate, that was the cause of most strife in NATO. Germany since unification has been something of a joke as not even the Germans take the Bundeswehr seriously. As for the "Trip Wire" policy, that was more a result of the situation and pragmatism. I can assure you that American military planners before this year wanted to station troops in forward locations. Hell, Bush got flak for wanting to put troops in Poland. Did you know that NONE of the Bridges East of the Vistula are capable of handling Abrams Tank traffic? Not even the rail bridges are capable of handling the weight. It is little details like that which made it impossible to forward deploy many NATO assets. This is a weakness known to military planners since the fall of the Iron Curtain, but they couldn't do much about it.
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  151.  @ROTHSTEIN01  I hope so. But I don't think the Indians have been convinced to join that fight just yet. They have their own priorities to worry about which I entirely understand. The trick is, can the West convince India that it is in their best interest to join the battle?
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  152. That is exactly what I was thinking. They simply shifted their revenge against the Anglo-world from the UK to the US.
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  153.  @junkeatng  In theory, yes that MIGHT happen. But as is often the case, the most predictable plans fall apart once contact with the enemy is made. The fatal flaw in your plan is the markets for which China would sell. If foreign companies leave, do you really think that China would be able to sell their now counterfeit goods internationally? The domestic Chinese market would be a boon for local Chinese businesses, but they would NOT be able to take advantage of the international markets.
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  154.  @lie01234  What kind of anti-colonialist drivel are you muttering about? Taiwan is mostly Han Chinese, just like mainland China.
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  155. They had applied for NATO membership before the 2008 invasion nuked it.
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  156.  @sababugs1125  Ossetia belongs to Georgia just like Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
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  157. Everyone uses people to their own advantage, even Russia. Don't kid yourself. Oh, and ask Armenia how great an alliance with Russia is. Azerbaijan begs to differ.
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  158. Georgia had applied for NATO ascension before Russia invaded in 2008. There has been some discussion that the separatists in South Ossetia was merely a pretext to prevent Georgia from joining NATO. Considering that playbook was followed almost exactly the same in the Donbas makes you wonder.
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  159. Among some of the most loyal and effective forces fighting in Ukraine. The brotherhood between the Georgians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians is something to behold.
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  160.  @ruleoftwo6174  For mainland China, that is pretty much a given, and goes without saying because it is blatantly obvious. However, CCP propaganda has a much harder time permeating the Chinese diaspora population. Given the choice, most overseas Chinese identify more with the Taiwanese and Hong Kong folks than they do mainlanders.
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  161. Debt games are always a house of cards. There is a reason why most of the world' religions consider usury a severe sin. Debt is the first link in the shackles of slavery.
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  162.  @joseraulmiguens6699  Japan didn't surrender because of Russia joining the War. It was the nukes, plain and simple. Looking at the timeline, the Emperor had already prepared the surrender speech before the Russians even started moving.
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  163.  @teacup347  The Kuril Islands ARE Japanese sovereign territory that is illegally occupied by Russia. While it may have not been tenable for them to liberate those Islands in the past 50 years, today the West would not bat an eye if Japan reasserted its sovereignty over those Islands. As for Sakhalin, if the Japanese invited the South Koreans to join them in securing that Island, things might turn out differently. By making it a joint venture between two formerly hostile nations, it would act to circumvent a number of issues. Keep in mind, the scenarios I have listed ONLY HAPPEN IF CHINA INVADES OUTER MANCHURIA. Without that precondition, only the Kuril Islands would be in contention.
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  164. History. Japan and the USSR never officially ended WW2 with a peace treaty. Russia has never officially signed a peace treaty with Japan formally ending the state of war between the two nations.
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  165.  @FlamingBasketballClub  You haven't addressed ANY the points I brought up to counter you claim. Instead, you are resorting to typical logical fallacies of someone who knows they have lost the plot. ANSWER THE POINTS I MADE TO REFUTE YOUR CLAIMS.
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  166.  @willywonka4340  What was it that General Joe Stilwell said about Chaing Kai? "He is an SOB, but at least he is OUR SOB."
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  167. Yeah, tell that to the Allies in World War 2. Unless you would prefer to be speaking in German? Spare us your moral outrage.
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  168.  @bolsa3136  Agreed. Her actions were by design.
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  169.  @adrien5834  I do NOT support communism, I detest it. No, my position is that of President John K. Kennedy, a staunch anti-communist. But like a good little Grobbels propagandist, you accuse your critics of that which you yourself are guilty of. You can't win the argument on the merits so you engage in logical fallacies to confuse the subject. "When words lose their meaning, people lose their lives," -Confucius, author of "The Analects".
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  170.  @kolerick  "High income tax rates not only check consumption but discourage investment and encourage...the avoidance of taxes rather than the production of goods." -President John F. Kennedy
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  171.  @absolootely2571  Wow, completely wrong on so many levels. First, Bush's "Shock and Awe" was basically Blitzkrieg on steroids by using precision guided munitions, not "rattling the rubble" as you claim. When the Iraq's ministry building had to be hit a second time with people only 10 meters away watching, that is hardly leveling the town as you claim. Second, it is the Russians who are leveling the cities and towns in Ukraine because they failed spectacularly with their own attempt at Blitzkrieg. Because they couldn't even do enveloping maneuvers, all they can do is bulldoze forward with indiscriminate shelling. The polar opposite of "thread the needle". But I get it, your news is a steady diet of RT and Pravda, which is dictated by the Kremlin.
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  172. Funny because the people in the streets of Japan and South Korea tell a different story. And when you look at whom they elect to office, it speaks much about what they really believe.
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  173.  @Nucl3arDude  That sounds good in principle, but smacked face-first into certain cultural proclivities of East Asia. First and foremost, employees are expected to show up before their immediate supervisor and remain at work until after that supervisor leaves. In practice, that means that the junior most in a corporation is expected to arrive as much as three hours before the senior executive arrives. And will remain there as the mid level manager slowly trickle out according to rank in the company after the senior leadership leaves. The West has a radically different perspective of work hours than Koreans and Japanese do. Appearances are everything, so even if one is very productive and gets all of their work done, rather than go home early, they are expected to find something to make themselves look busy until the boss goes home.
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  174.  @JohnLee-db9zt  History is a great predictor. The problem is that too many people draw the wrong conclusions based on it. Taking Japan's example, you had MANY officers such as the entire Japanese Navy officer staff who were adamant about NOT going to war with the US. Yamamoto is often quoted about how much of a fool's errant it would be, as well as precisely how long they would have the initiative before it all came crashing down. So, to your point, while the Japanese ethno-nationalists were extreme, they were by no means the majority. They were simply the ones who held the power in a feudalist society. Japan is no longer the Feudal stratified society it was in the 1940s.
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  175.  @Kabup2  Agreed. The Indonesians have to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps because nobody outside can do it for them. The problem with Indonesia is the same as many other third world nations: plagued by corruption, borderline despotism, and internal ethnic strife. Look at their decades long war with East Timor and you understand much of what is going on in the rest of that country.
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  176.  @baronvonlimbourgh1716  You ignore the other factors that came into play during those times. First, you had the post-WW2 economic boom cause by the labor pool as well as resources no longer being sent to the war machine. Second, the culture was less frivolous and more focused on savings rather than consumption. Again, this is a result of Great Depression and War rationing. When people save, there is more productivity. Rather than just regurgitate slogans, try actually understanding the underlying principles and not pretend taxes rates occur in a vacuum.
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  177. TV Tropes page "Japan takes over the world" has a breakdown of the plight of Japanese workers today under the analysis tab. Short version is that Japan's lost decade, which the US is now replicating, resulted in zombie banking institutions, and the labor force being chronically under employed such that the sons of men who worked 40 years for the company cannot build a career because they end up changing jobs every couple of years due to a lack of steady work at those institutions.
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  178. Agreed. If they can improve their medical system and then invest in water purification and sanitation so that people can drink water straight from the tap, then tourism becomes a VERY viable option for economic diversification.
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  179.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  You are referring to a population that has been there since the 14th century invasions by the Ottomans. They didn't seem to be much of a problem after Lord Vlad Draculi of Transylvania made it clear what he thought of Islam.
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  180.  @GamerFromJump  That government may find itself toppled much like Yankovich was after both the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan protests. The Polish people are crying foul over the elections.
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  181.  @GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket  That is a distinction without a difference. Conversion still results in living under an oppressive dictatorship.
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  182.  @Eric-jh5mp  "A fool and his money are soon parted" -proverb. There is a very good reason why wealth generally doesn't last beyond three generations. Yes, the first generation busts their butt creating it. The second generation maintains it, but don't usually expand it, while the third generation squanders it. It kind of goes to the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, also known as the fourth turning. "Hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, and weak men bring about hard times".
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  183. Never going to happen. Seriously, do you even know why the Korean War was fought 70 years ago?
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  184.  @thomaslacornette1282  But not at the expense of the mission. It is always a balancing game, one that many generals and colonels fail at.
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  185.  @eileenmcconnell8420  Generals worth their stars use the wisdom of ALL military philosophers. "War is the continuation of politics by other means," -Carl Von Clausewitz. "War cannot be avoid, merely delayed to the benefit of one side," -Clausewitz.
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  186. I know not much about Ukrainian leaders. But I do know that had Zelensky fled, Kiev would have fallen that night. His resolve rallied the people of Ukraine to their banner.
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  187. So? Making money is not a crime. Doing it fast is not a crime either. Only when done by deception and fraud makes either of those a crime. And you are hard pressed to prove that.
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  188.  Seeyou Seemee  Sidelined, or being dealt with as part of the war effort? A nation in an existential fight for its very existence cannot afford graft and corruption, so there is a powerful incentive discouraging such behaviors. The blowback from the populace making sacrifices for the war effort alone is enough to make the corrupt think twice about their actions. "We must not rely on the conscience of good men, but rather create the conditions for which bad men choose to do the right thing," -Thomas Sowell.
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  189. I tend to agree. Let the locals sort it out. No reason for Western powers to waste blood and treasure. And if the local happen to engage in butchery and genocide, well, the West should merely observe and take note of who is doing what crimes against humanity and only prosecute them AFTER the dust has settled.
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  190. Don't count your eggs before they hatch. Same thing was said about the defense of Kiev. They said the same thing about Kherson. One thing you people keep doing is grossly underestimate the Ukrainains.
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  191. And yet that fails to explain the Abraham Accords. Or the Camp David Accords that preceeded them.
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  192. More likely than not, it would simply be the Arabs allowing the Israelis to fly through their airspace, getting mid-flight refueling from American tankers in the area.
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  193.  @chingron  While I agree with your first part, do keep in mind that ALL communist parties invariably become cults of personalities. Cuba's CCCP became the part of Castro family sycophancy, North Korea's "Worker's Party" became the religion of the Kim family divinity, the Khmer Rouge became the part of Pol Pot worship, Yugoslavia's communist party became the Josef Tito fan club, et. al.
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  194. Or, it may result in warlordism much like during the famine in Somalia that led to a certain incident involving US Helicopters. The video authors blatantly ignore the history of brushwars that have plagued the continent.
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  195. "Slightly improved" isn't innovation, it is called efficiency. The Japanese in the 1970s and 80s were masters of efficiency. Hell, the fact that they modernized so quickly to become a major military player leading up to WW2 was because of that proclivity for maximizing efficiency. But improving efficiency WILL hit a physical cap. Only recently have the Japanese gone from being masters of efficiency to becoming ACTUAL innovators, particularly in the area of AI.
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  196.  @gebys4559  You realize that most people in the US stopped using asbestos in buildings and cars in the late 80s? And that was driven more because of private company choices rather than government. Indeed, the major reason why asbestos continued to be used was BECAUSE of government intervention. The whole banning part was basically the government telling itself not to use it. So yeah, the Nanny state has NEVER done anything correct, being the biggest aggravating factor in society's problems.
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  197.  @peadarocolmain4850  Yeah, you don't seem to understand WHY so many Koreans flee their country.
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  198. I tend to agree. It "normalized" Qatarian culture and sensibilities as mainstream, even if those "norms" would be considered civil rights abuses in Western nations.
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  199.  @deebil8099  "Everything made in China is one big joke" Fair point, I concede that to you.
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  200. Yeah, that continent hasn't always had the brightest of leadership in the last 3 centuries. I blame the rampant nepotism and in-breeding.
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  201.  @wamingo  Yeah, wisdom looks like foolishness to the stupid. As I recall, that is an ancient proverb.
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  202.  @Gleifel  The Russians are NOT monolithic as the media would have you believe. Just because he has ties to Russians doesn't mean those Russians are pro-Putin. We must encourage the dissidents, not shun them because of their heritage.
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  203.  @raze3297  Indeed. The worthiest to hold power want nothing to do with it because they know how dangerous and corrupting that power is. NOBODY CAN WEILD SAURON'S RING OF POWER.
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  204. Except, the Asian immigrant population proves that a lot of the issues regarding redlining were fixed in the 1970s and 1980s. You can't only blame the fallout from those policies for so long before it becomes clear that the problem isn't historic discrimination but simply a lack of motivation from said populations. Thomas Sowell even points out with HARD STATICAL DATA that recent African immigrants are better off than native born Black Americans. Clearly the problem isn't discriminatory policies anymore.
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  205. Yup, you hit on the big issue, namely dominance via trade. Forcing locals to drop ALL trade restrictions and tariffs so that they can flood the market and bankrupt local business does far more harm to a nation than those in power dare admit.
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  206. There is more to it than that. China obligates these countries to remove ALL trade restrictions and tariffs on goods imported from China. The result is a food into the local markets bankrupting local businesses. While the aristocracy of those Africa countries may be making bank on Chinese loans, it is the regular population who pays the interest on those loans via taxation. Just because Chinese loans are "cheaper" than loans from Europe doesn't make them better. it is the strings attached that make them a Faustian bargain.
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  207.  @mutegikimathi6258  And again you assume that all white people are responsible for the woes in the world. I got news for you, many of Africa's problems since the end of WW2 are the faults of your own people, not mine. Further, the US is NOT and never has been responsible for the bloodshed in Africa. We are NOT to blame for the wrongs of Europe. My father's father fought in WW2 against Japanese Imperialism. My mother's father fought in Korea against Communist aggression. Before that my grandsires only fought in wars on US soil. So no, your indictments of "my grandpas murderous rampages" is nothing more than racist bigotry on your part. it may play well to YOUR country's domestic consumption to distract them from the failings of YOUR governments, but that is YOUR problem, not mine.
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  208. Snow and ice being solid means they are technically dry. Hence the difference between "wet cold" (+3 C to -7C) and "dry cold" (-7C to -20C).
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  209.  @succatash  Diversity by itself is no strength. Diversity for its own sake creates divisions and strife. Eastern Europe doesn't seem to have a problem with NATO being Anglo dominated. France could have had a bigger impact on NATO had Charles de Galle not unilaterally pulled out of NATO.
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  210.  @GraniteInTheFace  And yet studies out of Israel prove otherwise. Why is it that they have managed to create a pill that replicated the beneficial effects of marijuana WITHOUT the addictive side effects? And yes, the fact that user CANNOT quit cold turkey proves it is psychologically addictive.
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  211. Yup. Case in point is North Korea.
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  212. De Jure or De Facto. De Jure they are one country. De Factor, they have been two separate countries since 1950. Hell, the Koreans have been officially divided into two countries for at least one year less than the Two Chinas.
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  213.  @fenfenwang6356  Yes, Chang Kai-Shek's supporters who were mostly Han Chinese fled to Formosa so that Taiwan is Chinese culturally. But there are TWO Chinas just like there are TWO Koreas. Hell, the Koreans have been divided for at least one year less than the Two Chinas depending on if you are measuring from the outbreak of the Korean War or its conclusion. Tell me, do you pass through customs when traveling between the mainland and Formosa? If you do, then it is pretty clear there are de facto two countries.
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  214.  @tamasgyorffy1  Western Europe doesn't like to see their populations carry weapons in times of peace either. And Australia which did have that mentality at one time has also disarmed its population. The West is ripe for conquest because their governments distrust their own people more than they distrust China.
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  215. While Trump is left of Reagan, he is the closest to Reagan that the GOP has put up for president since the Gipper. Too many Rockefeller-Romney Republican RINOs.
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  216. Thank you! Nobody wants to talk about how promotions among the flag officers are held as political leverage with the results being deleterious on the combat readiness of the force.
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  217. @Whinkle Fourth turning, also known as the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory. And I was born in 1984.
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  218.  @auggieeast  Again, back in 2006 NATO was mostly supportive on Georgia joining the alliance. Putin instigating those conflicts is what has kept Georgia out of the alliance for the foreseeable future.
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  219.  @TomaTs1  Yeah, I am familiar with Stalin's favorite tactic of relocating populations as well as drawing absurd lines on a map. Only the British in Africa could be considered more foolish.
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  220.  @TomaTs1  I never was blaming NATO. The fault lies exclusively with Putin and the Kremlin. I was simply pointing out what was going on in their minds. Playing "devil's advocate" as it were.
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  221.  @okene  Spot on. I first heard its pronunciation in the 90s when that ambassador killed someone while drunk driving. Was quite surprised that the Georgian governement allowed the local authorities in the US to prosecute him (his own government basically revoked his diplomatic immunity).
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  222.  @mosh.4245  They have already commissioned a JS Kaga. And it is a carrier, despite their claims otherwise.
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  223. Hence why Thomas Jefferson said that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies.
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  224.  @Vaeldarg  Not really. You are looking at it from the top-down organization perspective. Most of the founders of religious movements (Zaurashtra, Jesus Christ, Father Abraham, Gautama Buddha, et al) were VERY skeptical of such to-down control. Most of them were actually critical of those who used religion to control people.
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  225.  @danilolabbate  Moving the goalposts (logical fallacy). China's problems have NEVER been a direct result of outside forces, it has ALWAYS been an issue of bad leadership from within. Blaming "European colonizers" is just deflecting blame and is typical of despots.
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  226.  @anitagorse9204  Tatarstan proves otherwise. If they could become prosperous under independence in all but name, so would Chechnya.
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  227. It is in no small part to the neighborhood they are in. When surrounded by people who want to "drive Israel into the sea" (the words of Grand Mufti and unrepentant Nazi, Haj Aimn Al-Husseini, chairman of the PLO) you tend to become just as hard as they are.
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  228.  @روسلان-ق3ض  Not exactly. Just becuase you refuse to pay the bills for moochers and leaches doesn't mean you relequish the territory. You are rationalizing squatting. Most people reject the idea of squatter rights.
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  229.  @prometheusjackson8787  Then why did Kiev not fall? Why are the Russians in full retreat from Kharkiv? You want to talk about Live-action Roleplaying? (what larping actually means since NPCs like you don't actually know) You are taking quite a huge dose of copium.
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  230. Agreed. China plans for 100 years. That is what Confucius, Author of "The Analects" pointed out in his famous quote.
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  231.  @theoutlook55  I think you are mistaken on both accounts. The US Navy builds nuclear reactor cores with great regularity. The technology has become cheaper over time. Most of the costs today are REGULATORY rather than technological. As for nuclear waste, we DID have a place to put it: Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository. It was slated to open in 1996 until Dingy Harry Reid and Dan Coats killed it. Trump tried to reopen it but was stymied by Congress. Indeed, Japan would have paid the US to store its waste in the 90s, and had Congress not killed it, Fukushima would NOT have been as bad as it was. So in short, while I applaud your openness to nuclear power, I hope that your eyes also are opened to the myths and lies surrounding nuclear power today. It is those myths that do more harm than the reactors and the waste itself.
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  232. "War is good for business," -Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34.
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  233.  @sa34w  What is your point other than to show you are throwing a temper tantrum? JFK and Art Laffer have time and again proven that low taxes increase productivity while high taxes stifle it.
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  234.  @felix0749  I think the French love of dictatorship stems from both Napoleon as well as Charles DeGaulle. Both men were charismatic leaders that convinced the French population that a "benevolent dictatorship" was in their best interest. Those of English heritage understood quite well the dangers of despotism, even if it was a "kinder, gentler" one.
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  235.  @joaquimdantas63  Thomas Sowell makes that rather nuanced argument, contrasting the former English colonies with those that were colonized by other nations as well as those that were never colonized at all. Makes for an interesting read/watch.
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  236.  @badluck5647  Japan, Germany, and Italy are not the same countries as they were 80 years ago. Japan is very liberalized, Germany is effectively neutered, and Italy, well, is just Italy without Mussolini.
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  237.  @plendafuture7451  As John F. Kennedy pointed out, the Chinese brushstroke for "crisis" consists of two parts: Dagner + opportunity.
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  238. Seems like Maduro is channeling Saddam Hussein, claiming Guyana in much the same way Saddam claimed Kuwait was a province of Iraq.
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  239. Saddam tried this in the early 90s when he claimed Kuwait was a province of Iraq. How did that work out?
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  240. And what is to say that the oligarchs in charge of maintaining his nukes didn't do the same? The Moskva and Admiral Kuznetsov makes me question the readiness of Russian nuclear weapons (Bent Spear/Dull Sword).
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  241. Indeed. Loose nukes in the hands of a rouge actor is a far more terrifying threat than a hundred thousand nukes in the arsenal of a military.
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  242. And that assumes that they don't detonate in the silo like they did on K-129 instead of launch as they are supposed to do. The issues regarding the Admiral Kuznetsov and Moskva casts serious doubt on the competency of the Russian Nuclear Forces.
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  243. They worked on Japan because they were new and provided a capability nobody else enjoyed. That is not the case now.
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  244. The nuclear control treaties are no different than the Washington Naval treaty attempting to limit the number of battleships. And the Washington Naval treaty failed spectacularly in attempting to prevent WW2.
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  245. The point isn't to stop it completely, but to make it onerous and burdensome. When the cost of your favorite soda doubles, that becomes quite noticeable.
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  246.  @ArchonLicht  Government takes from the private sector, then resells it? Think about what you just said. Oh, and Zimbabwe did just that under Mugabe. How did that work out?
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  247. LOL! Seriously though, South Korea is indeed dominated by the Chaebols. Those thirteen families are the real power behind the throne.
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  248.  @jolp9799  I guess you need context, huh? Ming Dynasty China often demanded tribute from Choseon Dynasty, with the most beautiful noblewomen of Korea being part of the demanded treasure. It was not uncommon for one of those women to give birth to the emperor's heir to the throne. Then you have Japan's numerous invasions of the Pennesula. Every time, the Samurai would carry off Korean women to be their concubines or just as often, their full status wives. This was well documented in the Imjin War. Then there is the issue that one King Muryeong of Pakeje originally grew up and lived in Japan before taking the throne as 25th monarch. One of his daughters later married into the Japanese royal family.
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  249. Indeed, on all points. Shalom and blessings on you, my brother from the lands of Judea.
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  250. Yeah, I kind of got that vibe as well.
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  251. @Kam I agree with you on both of those points. If America was as bad as people claimed, why are they willing to die to get here? And you explained the why perfectly. I also agree with you about the socialism part. Nikia Khruschev warned us that we would be subverted from within. That warning was ignored, particularly by the advocates of capitalism and free markets who for one reason or another are unable to articulate why socialism ALWAYS fails spectacularly. "The great problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money," -Maggie Thatcher, UK's "Iron Lady".
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  252.  @schadelharry4048  I will agree with that. You described exactly what Thomas Jefferson warned when he said banking institutions were more dangerous than standing armies. These speculators who extract wealth from the system without contributing anything of value into it. And Warren Buffet is the classic example. Not surprising when he is following in the same game that Alex Hamilton and Henry Knox did which lead up to Shay's Rebellion. And again, which lead to the Whiskey Rebellion. Same players, same problems, no accountability.
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  253.  @lostbutfreesoul  Part of the problem is that for almost a century the US department of the Interior forbade ANY burning in California, including the seasonal ones that use to occur every year. This resulted in the tinderbox situation that they are experiencing now. It took the Sequoias and Redwoods not producing a single new tree for decades to open people's eyes to the necessity of regular burns.
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  254. So what is the alternative? So long as oil is traded in USD, you are never going to get rid of it as the fiat world currency.
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  255. Yeah, that is not how it works. NOBODY is allowed to leave the "Korean Worker's Paradise".
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  256. I will agree that the population levels may be self-correcting. But I disagree about the population not meant to be this big. We have NOT even gotten close to what the environment can actually sustain. Advances in technology keep marching on. We have gotten nowhere close to maximum food production.
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  257.  @akshayganesh4144  Except, assimilation is NOT occurring in Europe. Take a look at the Muslim refugees in Nordic countries. Or France and its Harams (Islamic no-go zones).
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  258.  @zjeee  Agreed. The Ukraine has been a real sleeper who has exceeded the expectations of everyone. And their performance in counter-battery operations against Russia's artillery fire is wildly effective, getting the most impact for every round they fire off.
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  259. He was likely quoting Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz, but the point is still spot on. Too many generals try fighting the last war with what they want, not the current war with what they have.
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  260.  @tacticalcenter8658  Says the person who is in denial of reality. Seriously, you are not a very sophisticated propagandist.
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  261.  @tacticalcenter8658  Says the obvious troll. Pot meet kettle.
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  262.  @charlesmoss8119  I tend to agree. After his term is over, he should fade into the background and only offer advice privately to politicians and leaders who specifically solicit it. Become the George Washington of modern Ukraine.
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  263. Wow, someone needs to calm the hell down. Every nation has their radical elements, and every nation has its nationalistic streak. South Korea is NOT the expansionist ultranationalist bastion you make it out to be if only because they have been oppressed by their neighbors. For nearly its entire existence, the Chinese and Japanese have fought their wars in Korea, abusing the locals in the process. Most of the Korean independence movement during the 1910-1945 happen to be Christian which likely explains why the Koreans embraced the religion. Perhaps you should actually try learning their history before you start casting stones.
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  264.  @AmitCYT  That is the image you choose to show the world. But behind closed doors when you think nobody is watching, the truth is revealed. Some of us know what goes on when you THINK you have privacy; your true colors are revealed.
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  265.  @deedat81  A "perfect" victory is one in which you never fire a shot. That is essentially what Russia got in 2014. Their attempt to repeat it in early 2022 failed spectacularly.
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  266. Don't counter your eggs before they hatch. Ukraine always said their counter-attack was going to be slow and methodical. A Kherson style rather than Karkov.
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  267. If Ukraine didn't have a chance, then Kiev would have fallen on Day One of the invasion. It is now Day 514.
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  268. They don't. They have just come to the realization that the enemy of my enemy can be an effective ally. In short, they view the Persians as a greater existential threat than the Israelis. And as Hamas and Hezbollah gain in influence among the Arabs in Judea (who call themselves Palestinian), that drives the other Arabs into the open arms of the Israelis.
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  269.  @Channel-ml4qv  Yeah, funny how they conveniently ignore the Abra Muslim members of the Knesset.
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  270. Apparently, you are not aware of the Arab Muslim members of the Israeli Knesset. They are part of the currently ruling coalition government of Israel.
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  271. The printing of money with nothing to back it up is the biggest factor. We are approaching Weimar Germany levels of insanity in monetary policy.
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  272.  @levelazn  Not fact, that is nothing more than your OPINION. And opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one and they all stink. Don't conflate your worthless opinion with independently verifiable facts. The two are NOT the same.
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  273.  @levelazn  No, you are deflecting with a red herring. Trump had NOTHING to do with this discussion, yet you HAD to bring him into it because he is living rent-free in your head. Trump Derangement Syndrome, much like Bush Derangement before it is unbecoming of thinking, rational people. STAY ON TOPIC.
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  274.  @luftim  Yes, India has a beef with China. Russia does not. The Russians will lie to themselves about China until it is too late. They will only turn on their ally when the Chinese try to take back the Amur Valley and all of the territory south of the Stanovoy Range.
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  275. China is not your friend. You have your own problems to worry about. Or do you think that Kashmir is a lost cause?
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  276. Exactly. This war is ALL about energy. In trying to protect his near monopoly, he may have just destroyed it beyond repair.
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  277.  @shahzebk7899  Thank you for your opinion Nevile Chamberlain. When you show weakness and capitulate once, you invite further aggression. Lessons of Munich.
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  278.  @dt6559  Indeed. People seem to fail to realize that the German Panzer was hands down the best tanks in the world at the time. But they were defeated when vastly outnumbered by the inferior T-34 on the eastern front or the Sherman Tank on the Western Front. Likewise, the German Battleship was the most robust capital ship in the world, but they were never produced in the vast quantities that British and Americans shipyards produced. The Messerschmitt fighter was a premier fighter aircraft. But when facing off against multiple Soviet Yak-3s they were quickly overwhelmed. The thing is technology has to be above a certain point for both training and numbers to off-set the disadvantage in the gap in capabilities.
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  279.  @johndavidmanuel2189  Funny you mention Russian vs. Ukraine as a measure of quantity vs quality. In that case, training is the decisive factor as both are using Soviet Tanks. The Russians are just completely terrible while the Ukrainians are using much of the very same equipment and showing why combined arms is critical in warfare.
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  280.  @badluck5647  Iraq never actually gave up their weapons program. Libya was nowhere near completion of theirs. And as far as Syria, Bashar al-Assad is still in power, boosted by Putin. So, your examples all fail to prove your point.
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  281.  @badluck5647  Which is a strawman argument. For 60 years the US never invaded when they did NOT have nukes. No, the nukes are blackmail against Japan.
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  282.  @garyish  Complete agreement. Case in point is Japan. Much of the country is mountainous and not useful for either farming or living. But what suitable land there is benefits from hyper-rich volcanic soils making the few crops they do produce domestically some of the most productive in the world.
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  283. Never heard of OSHA have you? Its sole purpose is "worker protection" for all the good it really does. American organized labor means that ""worker protections" are just as strong in the US as they are in Europe.
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  284. Lots of quality points that speak to the slow decline of the US, sadly. And you point out places for improvement if only the people in power would admit to those weaknesses.
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  285. "You can fire anyone at will." You proud of your ability to ruin people's life on a whim ? Soi let me ask you this, do you want to go through all of the legal challenges to firing unproductive employees? Businesses don't exist to provide you a paycheck, they exist to turn a profit. They are not "adult daycare". Own and operate your own private business and you will quickly change your tune. I suggest starting with a restaurant.
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  286.  @Fantastika  Not really. That is just European Chauvinism and arrogance. Most of the developing world don't really care about European concerns unless it means getting free money in the form of aide. Most of them are more concerned about simply surviving than worrying about First World Problems. And yes, Europe is obsessed with First World problems.
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  287. Sure, we have a debt problem, but that has more to do with incompetence in government rather than our economic model. And without business and industry guiding universities, what are they but exercises in mental masturbation? Financial investment by corporations gives them a direction to focus their efforts. The universities can always turn down the sponsorship after all.
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  288. Was the British India Trading Company the downfall of the British Empire? How about the Dutch East India Company (VOC)? Things come in cycles. Those juggernauts will either adapt or die.
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  289. Yeah, people don't understand what moderation means. And bureaucrats in particular are drunk on the power they can lord over others via regulation.
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  290. And how is that working out for them with the Russian Bear knocking at their door? It is easy to live a life of largess when someone else is paying for your protection.
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  291. Which was rather common during the Arab Slave trade, but the wokistas don't ever want to talk about it.
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  292. That is ironically a result of the greenies. They were the same people holding up the "no nukes" peace sign in the 70s and gloating after the 3 miles Island accident. "Not in my backyard" they said. I say YES, build one in MY backyard!
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  293. How long does it take to build a nuclear reactor for a US submarine or aircraft carrier? The biggest issue really isn't the construction time but all of the red tape and regulations surrounding the process.
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  294.  @gushterell7989  The US has the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments to prevent exactly what China is doing. Does your country have the right to due process or protection from unjust seraches?
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  295. Yeah, that is exactly what the Soviets claimed in 1950s. It is what North Korea claims about the south today. There is a word for that: PROPAGHANDA.
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  296.  @wh34t_  Nice goal post and blame shifting there. You didn't address my points at all, you just bloviated with emotional outburst like a spoiled child. And since you brought up North Korean refugees, most of them agree with those of us who are critiquing your argument. They would call you out for supporting the very ideologies they fled from.
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  297.  @wh34t_  It is actually much easier that you think. When Cubans are making rafts made out of trash to get to the US, you don't get to whine and complain that it is too difficult to move from one country to a different one.
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  298. Yeah, they are kind of idealistic when it comes to the changes in Central and South America, as if they never studied the history of the region.
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  299.  @ionnanskilliorus6877  You are conflating SOCIAL DEMOCRACY with Democratic Socialism (aka Bolshevism). There are TWO critical points which make Scandinavia's SOCIAL DEMOCRACY work as well as it does. The first is that they are 98% ethnic homogeneous. They are more ethnically monolithic than countries like South Korea and Japan. It makes a MAJOR difference because of a lack of competing priorities when everyone holds the same cultural values. The second is the oil and gas deposits which are eclipsed only by Russia's Siberian deposits (which are technically in Asia, not Europe). The oil pays for EVERYTHING. Without it, Those Scandinavian countries would still be in developing economy status, just barely above mud huts. There are many documentaries about how the oil changed Nordic society in the late 1960s
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  300. Only tell half the story huh? You realize that most of the fuel in American reactors are from the disassembled Soviet nuclear arsenal? Then you also have the retired American nuclear weapons that have not been repurposed into newer systems. Also, Australia and Canada have uranium deposits. And that does not include the fact that the US has not mined its own in decades.
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  301.  @dersven4122  You would be speaking German or Russian if not for the US. You laugh, but it is the painful laugh of a child who knows they have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
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  302.  @johnmuthan286  Europe has only itself to blame for prostrating themselves before Putin and making themselves slavishly dependent on his cheap energy. Also, the War in Ukraine is solely Russia's fault, not the US. Or have you forgotten what happened to Georgia in 2008 over South Ossetia?
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  303. Europe has their own coal and gas deposits, but they refuse to exploit them. Not the US's fault that Europe is suffering from a bad case of "not in my backyard!"
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  304. Their own fault for not making use of their own resources.
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  305. Indeed. I think Winston Churchill said something to that effect as well.
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  306.  @johnmuthan286  Didn't watch any of the videos discussing this have you? The EU set a goal of 95% of winter consumption in storage by November. They reached 98% at the beginning of September.
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  307.  @hkchan1339  There used to be many more, but the Germans have over time become very resentful of the US presence. We were actually being nice when we shut down ones like Sembach AB.
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  308.  @iamaloafofbread8926  And yet Germany went to war with the Soviet Union in WW2 over the gas and Oil deposits in Eastern Europe. Look up "Bessarabia".
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  309.  @andypeutherer4218  How is he a Russian asset when he supplied Ukraine with military support in the form of arms and equipment? You have lost the plot dude. NO Russian agent would ever be assisting the people Russia is invading.
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  310.  @onlyfacts4999  If that was truly the case, then why are so many governments who have taken Chinese investments getting overthrown? Kenya canceled its contracts with China under pressure from the populace who were getting screwed by Chinese goods flooding their markets and bankrupting local businesses. I have to ask, are you part of the aristocracy in Nigeria who personally benefits from China?
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  311.  @paullnetinstitute4799  I don't disagree that corrupt African leaders misappropriate loans and that Western bankers don't hold them accountable for the fraud. But the idea that Chinese loans are any better because they send "specialists" is not seeing the forest for the trees. Those "specialists" are not advising what is in the best interests of the African countries, they are advising them to take actions that are in the best interest of China, even if it is detrimental to the nation. Trading one evil for a different evil isn't picking a lesser evil, it is just affirmatively making a bad choice when the best option is to not play at all.
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  312.  @jaybee4577  And you are a Chi-Com shill. See how that works? It doesn't, it comes across and petty and banal. Try refuting my points with reason, logic and facts rather than disparagements. Also I am pro-TAIWANESE China. They have just as much claim to the name of China as the mainland Red Government.
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  313.  @burnttoast9890  Not that I subscribe to the philosophy, but Stalin believed you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Considering that it is PUTIN who started the war, you should blame him for the carnage.
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  314.  @Puma-ph5ep  Apparently you have never heard the well know war proverb that dates from at least the time of Sun Tzu: "The best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy".
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  315.  @command_unit7792  The fact that Ukraine DID grind slowly forward isn't a failure, nor is it copium. Measured against WW1 trench warfare which is the closest analogue, the Ukrainians are moving faster than the Western Allies did against the Central Powers.
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  316. True. The fact that Kiev still stands is already a victory. As for the other territory, it remains to be seen. Ukraine hasn't given up the fight yet so we may still see something shift, especially as Russia is having more and more partisan actions occur behind their lines.
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  317. "Democracy" as a term has become conflated with Republic style governance. The two are actually not the same thing. "Democracy" is what gave rise to the Jacobin Faction and the Reign of Terror under Robespierre. Republic is what guards the "human rights" you get to enjoy. It is when those built-in protections become subverted that you get the "flaws" which critics of the West love to point out. "Republics degrade into Democracies, and Democracies invariably degenerate into despotisms, "-Alexander Fraiser Tytler quoting Aristotle.
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  318.  @octoslut  A paper tiger is what Russia clearly was. The US only becomes a paper tiger if its power is seriously challenged, something that nobody has done yet. A fight over Taiwan might prove that there is more fight in the US than you think.
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  319.  @olderchin1558  You must have issues listening or understanding as I already explained it to you if you bothered to actually read. Power of Siberia does NOT connect to the oil and Gas pipes that power Europe. And the European connected fields are far more productive and profitable than the ones connected to China. The Sakhalin wells are nowhere near as developed as you claim, barely breaking even at the best of times. Further, the LNG carriers are easy pickings for submarines if you know anything about how American subs like USS Albacore operated in WW2.
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  320.  @Dept246  You are rationalizing (ie making exuses fallacy). Fact is, the Indians have a disciplined, professional military while the PLA has degenerated into street thugs.
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  321.  @EvanFAF  We also have a shared heritage as colonies of the crown. We both advocate for local self-determination and de-colonization. The strife with the USSR and the fact that we allied with the UK is why India and the US have been strained since the 1950s.
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  322. It essentially is already. The Chinese are using it against the US in much the same way British traders used opium against the Chinese from the 1840s to the 1860s.
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  323. Exactly. The Chinese have long memories and play the long game. To them, the US simply replaced the UK as the representative of the Anglo-world and so all of their grievances against the British have simply been shifted over to the US.
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  324. THC products are a gateway. While not everyone who uses them move on to harder drugs, almost all who use harder drugs got started with marijuana. Those that didn't usually are a result of botched prescription drug regimes.
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  325.  @emps8992  That is a strawman argument and has nothing to do with whether Bosnia's localities can be independent states. How about you actually debate merits instead of gutter sniping?
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  326. Same here. Where is the French, Germans, and British lines of defense in Eastern Europe? THEY need to be on Poland's border, not the US. And I agree that Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea ARE worth defending. They appreciate us more than Europe does. And what they have to offer the US is more than what Europe brings to the table.
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  327. All very good questions. If their regular border skirmishes with India are any indication, the PLA is not nearly as effective and disciplined fighting force as the politicians in Beijing would like to think.
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  328.  @flyinpug3791  Your grasping at straws. The fact that Ukraine found parade uniforms among the captured vehicles left behind showed that the Russian MOD didn't expect ANY fight whatsoever. So while you are correct that they were not meant to engage in much of a fight, the REASON for that is completely off base. As for "diplomatic solution", I suggest you ask the Czechs in 1938 what they think about your proposal.
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  329.  @angelogarcia2189  If your contention about a small number of troops in Afghanistan were true, then Kabul would NOT have fallen like it did. The DoD didn't even expect it as it was a repeat of the fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh in 1975.
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  330.  @eleneesakia6973  Yeah, I am disappointed at how NATO dragged its feet on Georgia. And most Europeans consider the Caucuses to be one of the dividers between Asia Minor and the European continent. Heck, Europeans are called CAUCASIAN, after the Caucuses.
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  331.  @spookyengie735  There are a number of nations completely surrounded by another. San Marino, and Lesotho for example. Tatarstan would effectively be like them.
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  332. Diversity for its own sake is NOT a strength but a weakness. Some ideas are NOT valid and should NOT be given any legitimacy (pedos for example). Egalitarianism, not equality is the path to peace. The two are NOT the same thing. “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." -President John F. Kennedy [Remarks on the 20th Anniversary of the Voice of America; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, February 26, 1962]”
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  333. Yeah, funny thing how shells and bullets manufactured in Bulgaria during 2022 ended up on the Ukrainian front lines before the end of that year. Kind of like how Finnish weapons also mysteriously disappeared only to also show up in Ukraine.
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  334. Wow, someone has been drinking so much Vodka they are now hallucinating.
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  335.  @yakovdan  Funny, because firearms safety should be the FIRST thing taught in the military. if they can't trust their soldiers to properly carry firearms, then that is a failure of IDF leadership. And I can say this with complete confidence because the US has the highest per capital gun ownership but doesn't have anywhere near the highest per capita murder rates (that dubious honor goes to Honduras). The "gun violence" problem is exclusively an issue with "gun free" cities like Chicago who ban firearms ownership.
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  336. Agreed. This was perfect example of why every Israeli should be allowed to conceal carry the Uzi they are issued during the mandatory service in the IDF.
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  337.  @bsl025  Yeah, nice red herring augments. You throw out something without even addressing the nuances in the topic you bring up.
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  338. Except that NATO's expansion was completely voluntary. The members of the Warsaw Pact didn't have a choice whether to join Soviet Russia's military bloc. While I nominally agree with your assessment, THAT particular false narrative completely demolishes any point you were trying to make. The fundamentals are sound, but the application is improper.
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  339.  @scottwillie6389  You clearly do not understand the meaning of the word "occupation". Nor do you understand Japanese politics. Sit down because adults are speaking and children like you are to be seen and not heard.
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  340. Indeed. Russia was supposed to back China militarily after Ukraine when Beijing was going to go after Taiwan/Formosa. But Russia clearly cannot deliver on that support. Then there is the issue that despite claims otherwise, Beijing still has desires for "Outer Manchuria". They are still irritated with Russia over the Treaty of Aigun and want to go back to the borders originally established under the Treaty of Nerchinsk.
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  341. My guess is that they simply violated Ukrainian airspace to reinforce their forces in Transnistria. Before the invasion, who was going to risk shooting down an aircraft like that? Now however, there is ample justification by Ukraine to shoot down anyone who tries.
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  342. One can only hope that future generations of Russians remember it as such.
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  343.  @prometheusjackson8787  Out of the mouth of babies. The Tartars are NOT Russian, they are not even Slavic but Turkic. The Koryaks are not Russian either, they are a blend of East Asian and Inuit/Eskimo. Buryats are not Russian, they are Mongolianic. Your problem is you are trying to be clever. There is Russian nationality, and then there is Russian ethnicity. With regards to what I said, I was pointing out that the ethnic minorities of Russia which would be majorities pre-Tsarist times don't particularly care for Moscow and its ethno-nationalistic policies.
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  344.  @Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo  Would make sense to me. I suspect many of the Trans-Ural areas, such as Siberia, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, and Yakutsk are not particularly fond of Moscow. And I refer to the native populations, not the Russian "colonizers".
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  345.  @-whackd  Not entirely true. Achaemenid Empire was a very militaristic power, hardly the pacifists you claim they were. Four bloody long years and thousands killed to bring it into his dominion, culminating in the Siege of Sogdian Rock or the Rock of Ariamazes. The fact that you don't know those details shows you have zero credibility.
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  346.  @wabalaladabdab  Indeed. After pushing the Russians out of Luhansk and Donetsk, their targets should be as follows: reclaim Crimea, pacify Transnistria, liberate Belarus. After that, take a breath and see what develops next.
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  347. Russia had one until it met a determined defender. Now it has become something of a paper tiger. That is the great irony; the invasion has shattered completely the image of Russian invincibility. The "god" has bled and now the sharks will start to gather.
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  348. That was something my father and I always pondered on. The Ukrainians and Moldovans should add a third rail to their lines so as to be able to handle carriages from both east and west. Granted, the biggest hang-up would be the switches, but that can be dealt with on an individual basis as the needs arise.
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  349. Bonkers, isn't it? Marshall Zhukov would not have failed as spectacularly as these guys have.
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  350.  @prometheusjackson8787  Pot meet kettle. Like a good neo-Soviet mouthpiece, you accuse me of what you are guilty of doing. And again you are trying to deflect from the issue of Moldova and Ukraine with red herrings. STAY ON TOPIC.
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  351.  @monkeydank7842  Look at the US states that have already legalized marijuana. Colorado Democrats have already admitted that they made a terrible mistake in legalizing it. In place of incarceration, they have drug rehab which is ironically MORE expensive. Do keep in mind that prior to this, the Department of Corrections was the biggest drug rehabilitation agency.
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  352.  @assertivekarma1909  What would it take to call them evil by your measurement? Was not the brutal crackdown of the student protests in Tiananmen Square enough? Was the disappearance of political dissidents not enough? Was welding people's doors shut and leaving them to starve to death in their apartments and home to prevent the spread of the Wuhan Flu not enough? Was the fascistic crushing of Hong Kong not enough? Is the forced sterilization of particular minorities not evil? What will the CCP have to do before you finally acknowledge that they are truly evil.
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  353. Xiaoping had the humility to acknowledge weakness and when he or the CCP was wrong. Something both Mao and President Poohbear don't have.
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  354. How is Taiwan and the KMT colonial humiliation? It was the Chinese Nationalists who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and asserted independence from European colonialist ambitions.
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  355.  @sharwama992  I expect that. But better they fight among themselves AFTER China is told to take a hike, because if they keep fighting amongst themselves now, China will take everything.
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  356.  @theoutlook55  Youtube/Google is notorious for shadow-banning people and stealth deletes of posts that don't conform to the official orthodoxy. And yes, outside links seem to automatically get dropped, so you have to be clever about sharing it.
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  357. Probably something with him falling alseep.....and off his chair.
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  358. The Parcel Islands prove otherwise.
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  359. All of Asian has co-existed? Have you even read a book on Asian History? The continent has only really seen true peace in the last 50 or so years. Whether it is the Chinese and the Japanese, the Vietnamese and the Cambodians, the peoples of Asia have constantly been butchering each other over the millennium.
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  360. @Wilhelm Eley Hydro elected is also heavily dependent on rather drastic elevation change, storage capacity of said reservoir, as well as consistent rains to maintain that reservoir supply. While Bavaria can make use of damns (assuming their greenies don't make a big stink, and they invariably do), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, and Lower Saxony being relatively flat cannot make use of hydro-electric damns.
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  361.  @_TeXoN_  Actually, you have that bass ackwards. Per kilowatt hour, nuclear is hands down the cheapest and safest. Solar and wind have NEVER met claimed expectations.
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  362.  @antonella6317  They are all in South America. How many nations in South America are there to compare against? Unless you only want to contrast it with is immediate neighbors and nobody else on the continent.
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  363. Yeah, I am of the opinion that they should have handed over Hong Kong to Taipei in the late 1960s. Basically, negotiate a new agreement by which the UK could have had free-trade with Hong Kong and other perks, but that control would revert back to the Republic of China (Kuomintang) as the crown would be terminating their original lease early.
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  364. I tend to agree with you about French Indo-China and West Africa. However, I will refute one point about former French colonies in the United States. My home state of Indiana was first colonized by France before it was captured by the British in the Seven Years War. We are most certainly NOT among the poorest. Fort Wayne (Fort Miami under the French) is one of the boomtowns of our state, having transitioned from an early tech factory town to a medical device city. Lafayette (Fort Ouiatenon) is the home of Purdue University, where many of America's Astronauts graduated. It is also at the forefront of bioengineering with regards to soy diesel and bee cultivation against varroa mites (Hoosier Ankle biter bees).
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  365.  @golagiswatchingyou2966  I would prefer "WEST-CENTRIC" rather than "Euro-centric". As an American, I have mostly contempt for Europe, save for the Baltic States and Poland. By saying "West-Centric" we are also including our East Asian allies Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. I really wish the West and Europe would listen more to those Asian allies than some of the folks in Europe who want only capitulation to those who seek to destroy western civilization.
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  366.  @kolerick  "In those countries where income taxes are lower than in the United States, the ability to defer the payment of U.S. tax by retaining income in the subsidiary companies provides a tax advantage for companies operating through overseas subsidiaries that is not available to companies operating solely in the United States. Many American investors properly made use of this deferral in the conduct of their foreign investment.” -President John F. Kennedy.
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  367.  @eurobonapartiste  I agree with your first post about the French and American Republics being sisters. Though France's continued contempt for the Marquis de Lafayette will sour my opinion until his statute is returned to its rightful place of honor. As for modern Poland, I suspect it WOULD have been restored after WW2 even had Napoleon not established the Dutchy of Warsaw. I will agree with you that Napoleon was something of a populist which struck terror into the hearts of monarchists across Europe. As for Latin American independence, you realize that most of the Declared Independence not out of support for Napoleon, but in fear of him? it goes to the fall of the Spanish monarchy. Most of those Latin independence movements were to preserve the status quo of the nobility and continue the Spanish CASTA system without the crown. Yes, France helped Mexico, but Santa Anna was a monarchist of a different kind.
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  368. Thank you for pointing out how much Charles DeGaulle's influence is what drives France's relations with its overseas territories. He had an opportunity to establish a French equivalent to the English Commonwealth, but instead insisted on a very centralized system with him at the center of power.
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  369.  @adrien5834  He had every opportunity to emancipate the region and chose not to. He instead chose to continue the status quo as an occupying foreign power. You haven't disproven my point.
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  370. He also doesn't like to point out Charles DeGaulle. During WW2, many of these overseas territories had an opportunity to break away with the establishment of the Vichy government by Petain. While Petain was no saint, DeGaulle insisted on being the second coming of Napoleon. The fiasco of Vietnam in particular at Dien Bien Phu was in large part because DeGaulle refused to accept that the French Empire was finished as an institution.
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  371. Or on the British Commonwealth.
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  372. Talking about Zaire? That was one messed up situation.
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  373. Wow, racist much? The fact that you think you know a person's race simply from their comments shows you lack in the wisdom department.
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  374. Indeed. His hospital orderlies who call themselves "white house staff" are the ones running the show, and he is going off script faster than they can stop him.
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  375. It also happens to be Davos collectivism when they claim, "international community".
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  376. Indeed. That is Keysian neo-Marxist economics. And just like its predecessor, does more harm than good. Art Laffer proved that. So did Karl Meneger, Fredric Hayek, and Fredric Bastiat Baistait.
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  377. The 1980s was the start of the "lost Decades" which the West seems hellbent on replicating.
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  378. Not everyone in your list wants to live in peace. Tell me, have you actually met a Wahabbist from the Saudi Kingdom?
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  379.  @baronvonlimbourgh1716  And where did that consumerism stem from? RESPONSIBLE spending resulting from the hardships for which I mentioned. 1950s Americans were not running up massive credit debt on day-to-day luxuries like we are today. They could splurge here and there because they were managing what they had so they could afford those consumerist goods. Again, for someone who complains about others, you show a distinct lack of knowledge about nuance and details that completely blows your neo-communist premise completely out of the water. You accuse us of re-writing history when that is exactly what you are doing with your half-truths that lack CONTEXT.
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  380.  @olajong2315  Comparing modern Japan to Imperial Japan is an apples to oranges false analogy. The culture is significantly different. Nice anachronism on your part.
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  381.  @beng7654  I can trace my lineage to King Asa of Judea through my Pennsylvania Deutch Ancestors, the Schettles (anglicized to Shuttles). BUT I do NOT claim to be Jewish in any way. They fell away from the faith generations ago and so my family no longer has any right to claim to be a Jew. I bring this up because I am reminded of the promise given to Father Abraham that "through you a blessing to all the nations and families of the world". The Jewish people of Imperial Germany WERE a blessing on that nation, one that the leadership of the Weimar Republic chose to forsake. Men like your grandfather and Otto Frank who were loyal, patriotic Germans who happened to be Jewish. It is THEIR example to which I choose to honor Kaiser-Recht Germany.
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  382.  @beng7654  Indeed. Not many realize that Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank was a decorated officer in the Kaiser's Army and had endeared himself to the men who served under him. That made for something of an awkward situation for the Gestapo and SS who arrested him. As easy as it was for the Nazis to scapegoat Jews for the WW1 defeat, those who served with them knew the truth and could not be so easily fooled by the pogroms and libels.
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  383. Indeed. They need to re-embrace the Imperial Germany Kaiser-Prussian heritage and return to SOME of the better elements of Hindenburg's era, but WITHOUT the rampant antisemitism and jack-booted fascism.
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  384. Because Angela Merkel was a communist collaborator. In the 1980s she was a member of the East German Communist Youth League. So, it is no surprise that when she got into office, her first order of business was to prostitute Germany to Putin and Russia.
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  385. There is very little that the Kriegsman has to be ashamed of. Indeed, submariners like Gunther Prien (Bull of Scapa Flow) conducted themselves with immense compassion and restraint during the war, often rendering survival aid to the crews of the ships he sent to the bottom of the Atlantic. Indeed, Even the Wehrmacht itself acted with great restraint and honor as contrasted with the PARAMILITARY Schutzstaffel (SS). And before anyone goes on about "Wehrmacht war crimes" might I remind them that outside of the Field Marshalls of the OKW, NONE of the rank-and-file members face the Nuremberg Trials that the SS, Doctors, and Lawyers all faced.
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  386. The devil is always in the details. Part of the problem is that the organization who loses the contract bidding can and does sue the government and it is the major reason for the cost overruns and logistical backups.
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  387. Exactly. They are like spoiled children, complaining about the big scary Daddy keeping the wolves at bay.
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  388. Not going to be the same this time. More likely, it will be Poland who is more militarized than Germany.
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  389.  @Omer1996E.C  "The Magic Kingdom" is hampered by the Sharia police. That has NOTHING to do with the expenditures of oil revenues. Nice deflection.
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  390.  @daniel86250  "British stealing Latin American lands" I think you mean SPAIN stole the land from the natives, not the Brits. Nice job deflecting the blame their Jose. Anglophobia is not a good look, especially as most of the modern word benefits from the pervasiveness of English values. And I hope you get to personally experience the "tender mercies" of the Red Chinese government firsthand. In fact, I invite you to visit the Uygur camps in Xinjang.
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  391. Indeed. Between the hydroelectric dam project, improving their medical system, and then investing in water purification and sanitation, they could very well become the Singapore of South America.
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  392. It is interesting that some think of "Coolies" as being South Asian/Indian, while others think of Chinese railroad workers or Thai rice farmers.
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  393.  @faelirra  So, "Trust me bro"? Yeah, that doesn't give me confidence. Do keep in mind that Prigozhin had Putin's full interest, faith and confidence as you describe. How did that work out when it came to the field rations troops were supposed to be supplied with?
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  394.  @piotr2951  Say the guy with an obviously Russian name for his account handle. Pot meet kettle. Now how about you actually debate the merits rather than resort to guttersniping. PS, my ancestry is Lorraine German, from the province of Alsace. which is now French “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” ― Margaret Thatcher
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  395. That is the very question I have been asking since the sinking of the Moskva. Between the Black Seas Flagship and the Admiral Kuznetsov, I wonder if the nukes will detonate in the silo like they did on K-129.
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  396.  @gugulethuzangwa8358  He threatened nukes if the West supplied Ukraine with HIMARS and failed to deliver on that threat. He is bluff and bluster at this point.
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  397. Oil from Russia used to go through Ukraine. Me thinks that if the oil is still flowing, the Ukrainians are syphoning off a portion.
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  398. I am all for the Indians taking advantage of Russia.
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  399. West choses to work with winners? Tell that to Iran or the Taliban.
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  400.  @ArchonLicht  I am comparing ANY nationalization or government confiscation of private business to Venezuela. The result is ALWAYS the same.
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  401. Funny, as I recall, the US save you guys from having to speak German. TWICE. Oh, and we kept you from speaking Russian as well. If not for the US, Europe would be in constant conflict just like sub-Sahara Africa.
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  402.  @sal-the-man  The fact that there are Harams (aka no-go zones) and areas of Europe that are governed by Sharia law outside of EU law proves otherwise. If anything, YOU are showing your own racism because you chose to ignore hard irrefutable facts which contradict your preconceived biases.
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  403. What ship? My father loved when his, the USS Elliot pulled into Pusan.
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  404. Indeed. Korean men marrying foreign spouses (typically Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, and Indonesian) is still something of a culture shock. And this is DESPITE there being a history of their nobles and monarchs bringing home foreign brides (notably Heo Hwang-ok or Suriratna of India).
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  405.  @YouYou-sm8tf  The problem is that in the West where single parent families due to divorce is on the rise, they are becoming more and more unstable both socio-politically and economically. There is a reason why Confucius said, "The strength of the nation is derived from the integrity of the family".
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  406. East Asian counties very much consider ethnic identity to be a part of what constitutes a citizen of their country. That is why they are so averse to immigration. Which is sad, because if they were more open to allowing citizenship to the mixed children of one of their citizens and a foreign spouse, that could go a long way towards fixing their demographic problems.
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  407. South Korea under the Chaebols system IS neoliberal capitalism (ie corporate oligarchism). What Yoon is proposing is more akin to classical free market capitalism which the West hasn't seen since the 1950s.
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  408.  @johnsmith-cw3wo  You only THINK you did. You are like the pigeon playing chess: it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.
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  409.  @anonkiddo  Now that context, I will accept. You presented a more nuanced analysis than your first post, and I have a much harder time disagreeing with the follow-up. I retract my accusation of Anglophobia.
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  410.  @r0b0coffee  False. "Wealth tax" just means legalized theft. It is more that confiscation of assets without compensation. And no, income inequality is NOT a destabilizing factor because not all work is equal. Trying to make unequal things equal IS the destabilizing factor. The reason being that if regardless of effort everyone gets the same result, then the incentive to work completely disappears. "They pretended to pay us, and we pretended to work," -Joke about the reality of Soviet Socialism.
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  411. Okay, how about you take the locks off your doors and windows and let anyone who wants to enter your personal home. See how that works out for you.
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  412.  @Student0Toucher  Precisely.
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  413. The elitists in Washington certainly TRY to centrally plan the way the Soviet Politburo did. A pesky little think called innovation keeps getting in the way. The Shale Oil Fracking boom in particular threw a wrench in their plans.
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  414.  @gingernutpreacher  Honestly? Biden. When he made the money printer go "brrrrr", it made the problem EXPONETIALLY worse.
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  415.  @scottryals3191  True that. But at least some cultures ritualized it and attempted to channel it towards more productive ends. It is the Samurai of Japan in particular that I am thinking of, but you would be correct to point out how many chose to become ronin and act all the fool abusing the peasants and merchants.
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  416. Indeed. The Solomons were a major campaign in WW2. With the Japanese based in Rabaul and gunning for both Guadalcanal and Port Mosbey, there was a serious possibility that the Land Down Under would be cut-off from the supply lines to and from the US. That context is critical with regards to China's current ambitions in the region.
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  417. PWA has some great jokes about the EMU shadow government down under. And the Laser Kiwis.
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  418. Short answer: yes. They rarely bother to look into the long-term ramifications of their proposals. And most of them are anti-nuclear which is the only viable cheap energy to achieve their claimed goals.
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  419. And yet capitalism is also what lead to the explosion in population side. Have you considered that the system is simply self-correcting?
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  420. What is the old saying? "You can't legislate morality"?
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  421. Nobody is allowed to leave the "Korean Workers' Paradise". Seriously, try looking up the history of the Korean War before you make such an intellectually lazy comment.
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  422. "The strength of the nations is derived from the integrity of the family," -Confucius, author of "The Analects".
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  423.  @koushikdas1992  That is the definition of invasion. And the Koreans know full well that from experiencing the Japanese and Chinese forcing their culture on the Koreans every time the two went to war. The US is the ONLY military to have come to Korea, fight a war, and then go home WITHOUT forcing new cultural values on the locals.
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  424. Without assimilation, immigration is not a solution. It just replicates the same problems inherent with a caste-based society.
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  425.  @Obscurai  That is wishful thinking by someone who has zero understanding of the culture. Or of history for that matter. 6,00 years of history from KoChoseon to the Republic and you are trying to claim that a recent development somehow is caused by the very thing that kept Korea a cohesive society against invasions from the Japanese and Chinese. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. You are clinging to a false belief in neoBolshevism which has only had a track record of destruction as contrasted with Asian conservatism which has thousands of years of stability.
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  426.  @Obscurai  You are grasping at straws. Korea's population decline has very little to do with cultural contempt for single parent households. You are advocating for societal collapse.
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  427.  @Obscurai  Yeah, the US tried that with Lyndon Banes Johnson's "Great Society" program. It has been an unmitigated disaster that has made the situation worse, not better. Those social pressures stigmatizing single parent households serve to discourage deleterious and destabilizing factions.
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  428.  @antoniomromo  Sure, blame the society rather than hold individuals to account. Blaming society is just a cheap cop-out to avoid taking personal responsibility.
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  429. Good luck with that. I tried for two years to find a Korean wife while stationed at Osan AB. My experience is that many think they are too good for Western men. Ironic when so many older couples would have loved for me to marry their daughter.
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  430. I do NOT agree that it is a good thing. However, you may have hit on a point I will agree with. The population decline will reach an equilibrium level eventually. The idea that these populations will go extinct is farcical.
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  431.  @francisquebachmann7375  mandated nannies? I think you need to re-evaluate what public schools actually are. Parents constantly at work is the problem. Going full Bolshevik and demanding that they continue to slave away in the labour market is only doubling down on the problem, not fixing it.
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  432.  @frankierayo6291  Well, word is that they have already GPS and geolocation marked numerous locations and landmarks so that when the Russians move into areas that the Ukrainians have move out of, the Ukrainians can punch in the pre-calculated coordinates for maximum simultaneous impact from multiple guns. And this is also great for counter-battery operations.
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  433. The problem with redlines is that Obama drew so many that most of America's geopolitical rivals viewed the US as a paper tiger. The Fall of Kabul to the Taliban only further reinforced that assumption. But the Ukrainians have proven once again that someone defending their homeland greatly enjoys the advantage of terrain and intimate knowledge of the home field.
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  434.  @moviesunified6746  Repeating the same disclaimer makes that hard to believe. "The Lady doth protest too much, me thinks," -Queen Gertrude; Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
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  435.  @tacticalcenter8658  I don't have to prove anything. The burden is on you, not me. Don't try shifting responsibility because you can't debate merits, instead relying on logical fallacies.
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  436. How do you know a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.
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  437.  @ImGodSoAreYou  How? The Sagan Standard (Philosophical Razor) states that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Hitchen's Razor says that which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Put up or shut up. And circumstantial hearsay isn't evidence.
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  438.  @DavidHalko  Indeed. The Koreans, Japanese, and Taiwanese are filling the vacuum create by woke ideology. And I for one welcome their domination. May they be to the West what Greece and the Greeks were to the Roman Empire.
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  439. Wow, talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees. You do realize that in the US, the Koreans have the HIGHEST small business ownership of any ethnic group at about 30%? I would argue that we should want MORE of that and less of the woke shit.
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  440.  @sociolocomtsac  Indeed. Some of the best movies and TV series that came out of Hollywood were made on shoestring budgets. The classic Cowboy Western is archetypical of this, low budget and so focused more on story and plot than effects. And also, why those same productions also have more staying power over time. There is a reason why the Spaghetti Westerns are still watchable today.
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  441. Because Hollywerid decided to take a page out of 1930s Soviet "ministry of culture" where ideology and "right think" took priority over telling a good story. The Japanese, Koreans, and Taiwanese have managed to aquire that "secret sauce" of storytelling that Tinseltown has forgotten. And I hope our Asian allies bury the American industry.
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  442. I think you miss the greater context of why the US had overseas bases. 1991 was when the USSR fell and the Iron Curtain came down. Until that point, there WAS a very real and justifiable reason. The nearly 50 yearlong Cold War didn't just occur in a vacuum.
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  443. No joke, you would think after almost 200 years, they would realize that Joseph Conrad was correct in describing Africa as "The Heart of Darkness".
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  444. Oryx has the most accurate count as they require visual confirmation.
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  445.  @AmitCYT  That was not an argument, that was an ad hominin personal attack. It is the act of someone so desperate they have lost the debate. Saying someone needs to see a psychologist is a typical response from a petulant man-child (or woman child as the case might end up being). "When the argument is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -attributed to Socrates. "When your argument is weak, abuse the Plaintiff," -Marcus Tullius Cicero "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher
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  446.  @ARVINDKUMAR-dt1iy  And so quickly you forget about OTHER colonial powers in the world. Have you so quickly forgotten Japanese colonialism? How about Chinese colonialism BEFORE the 1700s? Zheng He's "treasure fleet" was all about projecting power and colonizing for China's emperor. Or how about the Muslim colonization of Iberia by the Moors? Or the colonization of Africa by the Arabs? Spare me your moral outrage, you are just grandstanding for your own ego.
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  447. Russian nuclear subs almost started WW3 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the level-headed Vasily Arkhipov, admiral in charge of the whole fleet that countermanded the order to launch nuclear torpedoes.
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  448.  @randommonkey4900  Ah, my mistake.
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  449.  @TechNinja_420  What, you mean how the PLA said that its goal is to drive Israel into the sea? How about calls by the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah to finish the Holocaust? I think you need to re-evaluate your blood libels.
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  450.  @DavidHalko  Indeed. Iraq should have been partitioned back in 1914 after the Arab Revolt. The European powers should have listened to TE Lawrence. The West had yet another opportunity when Colonel Lawrence's map showing the proposed borders based on HISTORICAL TRIBAL lines was rediscovered, but arrogance prevented that because we just HAD to not piss off Turkey by allowing an independent Kurdish state. Nevermind that the Turks could have deported all of the Kurds in their territory to that new state, solving their problem.
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  451. Indeed. The Suni-Shia spat is better described as a Persian-Arab divide. Or a Farsi-Arabic divide.
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  452.  @DavidHalko  Don't forget that as Hamas and Hezbollah gain in influence as proxies of Iran, that pushes the other Arabs into closer relations with Israel.
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  453. It is JUDEA, not Palestine. Also, Gaza is a free and independent nation of Arabs in the former British Mandate.
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  454. Indeed. They have become mouthpieces for the power mongers and the legacy media.
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  455.  @thetruthsetsyoufree1492  Some truth to that.
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  456.  @dennisholliday2454  Watch the pennies nickels and dimes, and the dollars take care of themselves." -William Lowndes "Those who wish to move mountains start by carry away the pebbles." -Confucius Author of "The Analects" "You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life!" -Hopper, "A Bug's Life Minor things add up, dude. It is called "Death by one thousand cuts". Grains of sand that add up to a heap.
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  457.  @wallace44able  I do travel, because I am on the road and can see the vehicles on the interstate. It is mostly family sedans or minivans on the road, not H2 or H3 hummers. Also, an F-150 is a full-sized truck, not and SUV, so you are being completely dishonest when you imply, they are the same thing. While an SUV nominally has a truck chassis, their performance is radically different. And it is apples to oranges false analogy to compare the US to Europe. For one, Europeans don't commute an average of 15-20 miles to work every day. -Secondly, their population density is an order of magnitude larger, which is why mass transit is viable in Europe, but not in the US outside of cities over 200,000 in population. -Third, unlike in the US, Europeans don't view driving as a right the way Americans do. Americans don't pay $200-300 processing fees to get a license like they do in Europe. It is clear you are only looking at the worst aspects of the US and only looking at Europe through rose-colored glasses. You are NOT debating in good faith, assuming that some such as myself isn't and well versed on the topic as you are, and it shows.
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  458.  @wallace44able  I drive an economy car that is supposed to get 30 miles per gallon. Most Americans don't drive gas guzzling SUVs. Especially as Obama's energy polices made them untenable. But I get it, you want to blame the victim because it defects for the real cause.
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  459.  @TheWedabest  James Carville
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  460.  @jjdelft3216  Dude, witnessing it with my own eye in those countries IS the evidence! Clearly you don't understand the term "self-evident". But I get it, you are a contrarian, no better than a petulant child.
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  461. Do you even know what goes into making Lithium-Ion batteries? Just look up how they source Cobalt in Africa for it.
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  462. Don't forget that the establishment really wanted Jameca Kamala only for Tulsi Gabbard to knock her out. And when Biden became their guy, they forced the one person NOBODY wanted as the VP on their base.
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  463. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  464.  @HexerPsy  I pointed out the fatal flaw in your green agenda. And that glaring hole is Asia. Yesh, China is the great copier. But that does NOT mean they will copy green technology when cheaper dirtier options which have greater payouts are still available. You believing they will switch over is just wishful thinking. While I do agree that we should use biofuel options as alternatives, the cold hard reality is that soy-diesel as ethanol gas is no substitute for sweet crude when it comes to high performance vehicles like Jet Aircraft and Abrams Tanks. There is just no practical alternative that can deliver the high-octane levels required. As for Sea Level rise, apparently you have not heard of Glacial Isostasy and lithospheric rebound. Take a look at the Baltic, particularly in Finland and much of that area was UNDER WATER as little as 100 years ago! As the glaciers in Scandinavia recede, the land uplifts and the oceans actually recede. Same thing is happening at remote arctic beaches in Canada. All in all, your claims blatantly ignore critical data points which reveal fundamentals in your theory that undermine the whole equation. Climate change hysteria is born from the same false theories of Peak Oil. And much like Peak oil, claims of man being the cause of climate change have been around since the 1900s and failed to ever meet predictions.
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  465. And yet you blatantly ignore the emissions from both China and India that make all of your laudable goals pointless. All of those years reductions you praise get wiped out each year by the increasing activities by Red China. All you are doing is trying to force people to give up their standard of living just so that you can feel good about yourself.
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  466.  @deinonychus3421  Any Bureau that is part of the executive branch is NOT independent no matter WHAT they claim. ALL offices and bureaus in the executive branch are answerable to the POTUS. That is the whole point of the executive. In this case it falls under the Department of Labor. The secretary is Martin Walsh and he DOES answer to the president and that Bureau answers to him. Take a civics class dude and lean about how government actually works.
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  467.  @deinonychus3421  Is that what Warren Buffet told you?
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  468.  @chris0000924  BINGO! Most people are ignorant that Buffett was the major financer of the protestors against the Keystone XL pipeline.
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  469.  @pratimabhattacharya1186  Touché! But I consider it good debate practice.
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  470.  @levelazn  And there you go making assumptions. You know NOTHING about me. You think you are right even when evidences proves otherwise. This whole conversation has been about YOUR obsession with "Orange Man Bad". Try swallowing your pride and arrogance and actually start using your ears and eyes rather than your proverbial mouth.
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  471.  @levelazn  Don't need to as the burden on proof is NOT on me but you. You are already so obsessed with him doing no right that he could cure cancer and you would still complain that he was putting doctors out of business. Your are guilty of your own cultish behavior when nothing will convince you as you have already closed your mind to different perspectives.
    2
  472.  @levelazn  And the Democratic Party was one for Obama for 8 years. Still is in many ways, so what is your point?
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  473.  @dusanpiscevic6213  When you use the talking points of the anti-colonialism movement (who are flaming communist BTW), you paint yourself as such. I don't need to make assumptions when you condemn yourself with your own words. And putting out a dissertation like that isn't an argument, it is a logical fallacy called proof by verbosity. See also: Gish Gallop.
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  474.  @dusanpiscevic6213  "US colonies"? What US colonies? The Philippines was emancipated in 1945 after WW2. Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Norther Mariana Islands have all desired to remain US territories. Seriously, stop with this anti-colonialism bigotry. It is just poorly disguised Anglophobia in the same way anti-Zionism is "fashionable" Antisemitism.
    2
  475.  @callmebigpapa  Buy it up slowly and then dumping it all at once is how you destroy an economy. Deng Xiaoping spelled that out in his 100-year plan back in the 80s. Michael Pilsbury and Richard Murdoch both wrote about Xiaoping's plan in the 90s. But our sell-out politicians didn't care. All they saw was the immediate payout rather than the long-term danger.
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  476.  @beringstraitrailway  So? what is your point. Bridges make invasions that much easier. UN forces got pushed south from the Yalu River in late 1950 because Truman refused to let McArthur or any of his successors destroy the bridges over the Yalu.
    2
  477.  @BeachSamuraiStudios  Yeah, the bats in the market were dumped there by corrupt lab technicians trying to make a few bucks on the side. Seriously, the Wuhan lab has been citied many times before for improper disposal of lab samples. The ONLY appropriate way to dispose of such samples is via incineration at temps well in excess of 1,000 Celsius.
    2
  478. I dig it. A few issues come to mind. First, unless it is built running from the Canadian Coast up to Baffin Island-Greenland-Iceland and then to Ireland, that is some seriously deep water to build under. Secondly, the greenies will have a cow over the environmental issues.
    2
  479.  @s9ka972  Asia is not just the Central part of the continent. South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Maylasia are also part of Asia. And India's relationship with Russia has soured, especially over the arms deals.
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  480. Most expensive on the front end, but not on day-to-day operations. It very quickly balances out to become the cheapest per kilowatt hour.
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  481. I understand the concept of wholesaler vs retail, but I tend to agree with you that by and large there is very little reason for a middleman if all they are doing is converting from one to the other.
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  482.  @Jake12220  If the war in Ukraine has taught us anything, it is that Russia's military capabilities are GROSSLY overestimated. All of your points while based in merit do not comport with the level of competence displayed by the Russian military. Competent training is sorely lacking in the former Soviet State.
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  483. But at what cost? The Russian war machines is being smashed by Ukraine. The Russian Bear has been revealed to be geriatric.
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  484. That is pretty much true of EVERY war ever fought. The US Civil War was just as much an economic one as a battlefield war. WW1 was a production war once trench warfare stagnated the fight. And finally, WW2 was won on both fronts because of American production outpacing everyone.
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  485. Sounds like Czechia has the same problem with "low information voters" as the US. Namely too many overly comfortable armchair quarterbacks with silver spoons in their mouths who have never experienced real hardship. First world problems, I suppose.
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  486. I think that yes, for the most part it would, save for having Russia not only return Crimea to Ukraine, but also pay reparations in the form of gas deliveries in place of cash.
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  487. The problem with price capping energy is that it invariably leads to rolling blackouts. Don't tell me that is prefereable.
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  488. Well, at the beginning Ukraine's mobilization was a cluster f(ire tr)uck. But to their credit, they quickly adapted and corrected their issues. Russia is 7 months behind the 8-ball and it remains to be seen if they get their act together. Something tells me that it will not without the same Western support that Ukraine enjoys.
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  489. Captured T-90 tanks in Izyum prove that Russia is NOT holding back its best gear. Perun has a great breakdown debunking that myth, if you can spare 1 hour or so to watch it.
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  490.  @andrewlechner6343  The Gripen is a 4.5 generation but its cost-value most certainly makes it a competitor. And the cost per flight hour completely demolishes the F-35. Just because something isn't made in the US doesn't mean it is automatically worse. That being said, you don't need to be the best, only good enough where numbers can make up the difference. That is how the allies on both fronts defeated individually superior German tanks and aircraft.
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  491. Yes and no. The training of Ukraine has only gone on since 2014. And during the first two months Russia had both the numbers and the equipment to crush Ukraine but squandered it. You belittle Ukraine's comeback by claiming that the untrained Russian conscripts are anything like the professionals who lead the drive on Kiev.
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  492. Today you would be correct. However, in WW2, the US shipyards were producing vessels faster than either the Germans or the Japanese could sink them. Just look at how many jeep and escort carriers were built in the war. Essex class fleet carriers alone outnumbered the total number of Japanese carriers.
    2
  493. Graft and corruption. All of those kickbacks in the form of campaign donations.
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  494. But how far behind schedule was that? And how grossly overbudget? The entire project is some 20 years behind schedule. Meanwhile, the Grippen was designed, tested, and perfected in that same time period.
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  495. WW2 is NOT debatable. The Soviets would have never survived Operation Barbarossa without allied supplies coming into Murmansk. For 30 years after WW2, the annual Mayday Parades on Red square featured American built trucks.
    2
  496. I agree about ending the handouts that encourage and reward large families. As for the world population, we haven't even come close to what the planet is capable of sustaining. That hysteria about overpopulation has been going on since the 1890s. And much like Peak oil hysteria, it has never come to pass because the doomsayers ignore technological innovation that changes the equation.
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  497. Indeed. Regulations ALWAYS stifle innovation, no exception. That politician showed how out of touch he or she was with the R&D process.
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  498. How? In most measures, Europe is VERY liberal, both socially, economically, and politically.
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  499. Depends. Most of the convivences you enjoy are a direct result of military spending. The internet you are using now? Military under DARPA.
    2
  500. I think you need to reexamine your claim. A US company can be a small as a local game store. There are still more brick and mortar companies than there are virtual ones.
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  501.  @-whackd  Part of the problem in the US is that vertical integrated supply chains run afoul of the Sherman anti-Trust statutes regarding monopolies. Standard Oil was broken up in part because it had just as much of a vertical monopoly as well as a horizontal one.
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  502. Indeed. The story of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is echoed in the fall of Detroit.
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  503.  @USAads2023  Wow, lots of word salad but very little on substance. Nothing in that was coherent except for "US is bad".
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  504.  @SamSam-qk5zr  Because of NATO, duh. Europe fought two world wars because the US chose isolationism instead of interventionism. The US is in Europe because Europe is not responsible enough to NOT start a war that consumes the entire continent. I very much think the US SHOULD completely and unilaterally pull out of Europe. Even more so today seeing as how the Ukrainians in conjunction with the Poles and the Baltic States have taken on the Russians so successfully. But I guarantee you that as soon as the US does, the entirety of the NATO alliance will be begging the US to stay. Think about how quickly the anti-US anti-military protests in South Korea almost completely disappeared when Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld went there in 2003 to discuss the complete withdraw of US troops.
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  505.  @USAads2023  Nukes are no replacement for boots on the ground. If you even bother to educate yourself on the use of nukes in a battlefield environment, you NEED infantry to capitalize on the deployment of such a weapon. ALL tactical level employment of nukes is predicated on using infantry as follow-up. There is just no getting around the fact that infantry is the fundamental and critical piece of ANY military. Without it, you can't do anything of value, as we have seen with Russia's lack of enough light infantry to support their tanks and artillery. And as far as turning enemies into friends, well, that is just wishful thinking. Some enemies NEVER want to trade or be your customer.
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  506. And yet most European business that directly compete with the US are monopiles. Airbus is a government owned monopoly.
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  507.    The problem with Europe achieving number three is the same as in the past: too many princelings overly concerned with maintaining their fiefdoms rather than doing what is pragmatic. Each country wants personal control over the process rather than setting up a framework where individual nations in the block could buy the equipment, they like from a shared procurement source. Perun has a great video on the basket case that is the German logistical procurement process.
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  508. Completely out of touch with reality. 90% of the convivences you enjoy today are a direct result of military spending. "Climate migration" is just as first world comforting myth rich people tell themselves so as to feel good about their patronizing and racist behavior.
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  509. Sad but true story. There is a reason why diaspora populations exist from Filipino to Chinese to Turkish, and everything in between.
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  510. Please watch examples of how human rights get worse AFTER those colonial powers leave. Colonialism is bad, but the anti-Colonialist movement that comes to power afterwards is often far worse. India is the best example of things going right (but not perfect). Somalia shows what happens most often.
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  511.  @alexsveles343  Yup, the Barbary Coast Corsairs. Not even the Sultan of Morocco's declaration of protection for American sailors could keep them safe from the Berbers. Word is that the Caliph of Algeria's favorite slaves were young American boys. Supposedly he found their screams form being lashed for the first time in their life to be particularly exquisite. That should tell you how messed up those people were (and still are in many cases). All of this would lead to the famous line in the Marine Corp song "From the Hall of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli". Steven Decatur is a man more Westerners should be familiar with.
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  512. Yeah, fearmongering around 3-mile Island and Chernobyl created hysteria over nuclear power. Fukushima gave that same anti-nuke crowd a booster shot. That stands in stark contrast to the history of the US Navy's nuclear power porgram.
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  513. The big problems, and one they didn't touch on is that dismantled Soviet nuclear bombs are having their cores reprocessed into reactor fuel. If we want to shrink the number of nuclear weapons, we cannot sanction the companies that are engaged in that process.
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  514.  @gargoyle7863  Indeed. And we are seeing the same thing today in Hollyweird. It is like they took a page from Stalin's "Ministry of Culture" circa 1932.
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  515. The problem is that nationality and ethnicity are often intertwined. The idea that a nationality could have different ethnicities is only a recent development in large part because of the United States. Historically, your ethnicity WAS your nationality.
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  516.  @prioris55555  Watched the same video I did and then did the follow up research I see? Well done, better than most other internet "experts". And that is not sarcasm, it is sincere praise for you. I also like to point out that they moved SLOWLY. They built up and modernized at a controlled and methodical pace, not rabid modernization which always topples because weak fundamentals.
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  517.  @Judaism44  I think you are conflating socialism with social democracy. The two systems are NOT the same. And yes, the claims that "capitalims has failed and socialism has never been tried" is the classic "No True Scotsman" fallacy.
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  518.  @6thsense79  While I don't disagree about corporate hacks manipulating tax law to benefit them, ALL attempts to have a "progressive" tax structure makes the inequality WORSE, not better, which is what the neo-feudalists want. Attempts to "spread the wealth" and directly fight income inequality ALWAYS makes it worse, not better. Income inequality will ALWAYS exist as effort is the primary factor in a truly open and free market (namely, one that has ZERO government intervention).
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  519.  @jcjaramillomo  Not as much time as you thing. The markets react to election results in less than a week. it is much easier to destroy an economy than it is to build it up. And all of that is true not just in the US but around the world.
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  520.  @jcjaramillomo  Look at the US economy under Trump's first 2 years and contrast it with Biden's first two years and you tell me which one was better for the US.
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  521.  @bang4buck326  Then explain China's invasion of Vietnam. How about their conquest of Tibet? And that doesn't even begin to discuss their violation of Indonesia, Malaysian, Philipine, and Brunei territorial waters, NONE of whom are part of the Quad.
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  522. Don't forget that their financial institutes are a house of cards about to implode.
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  523. You cannot possibly consider that eco-terrorism could be to blame?
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  524. Except nobody is talking about eco-terrorism being a real possibility.
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  525. I agree. Too much American blood and treasure has been squandered on those spoiled children in Europe who are not mature enough to fix their own problems.
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  526. Oh Putin's was all about gas and oil. Just look at the assessed oil deposits off the coast of Crimea. Or the gas fields under the Donbas. Or the Coal fields in Donbas.
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  527.  @Sam-tt6oz  For one, you are not outsourcing your sovereignty and rights to the Fourth Reich. But then I don't expect you to understand why the American colonies felt a need to break with the Crown in 1776. England's break with the EU was for the same reasons.
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  528. Indeed. Calling hard line Brexit conservatives "Hooligans" shows a blatant bias that discredits him. Name-calling isn't virtuous in debate; it is a sign of desperation and shows one cannot effectively argue the merits. "When the argument is weak, abuse the plaintiff," -Marcus Tullius Cicero "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -attributed to both Plato and Socrates.
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  529. Death rate as compared to what? Malaria, Tuberculosis, Ebola, Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera, Typhoid, Botulism, Yellow Fever (the virus, not the fetish), Bubonic Plague, Legionnaires disease, and Rabies all have much higher death rates than the Wuhan Flu and nobody bats an eye at them. Spare us your moral outrage.
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  530. The UK and the US haven't had REAL conservatives in office since the Reagan-Thatcher era. The so-called conservative politicians of the last 30 years are all liberals pretending to be something they are not.
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  531. What was it that Winston Chruchill said? "If you aren't a liberal before age 30 you have no heart, and if you are not a conservative after 35 you have no brain"?
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  532.  @aekanshaggrawal  The only people who believe that are people living off the misery of others.
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  533.  @rehabwales  You would be surprised. Not everyone in the West is monolithic. Take the contrast between Neville Chamberlain and Winston Chruchill. There are MANY politicians in the west who are no different than the infamous appeaser.
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  534.  @Rjsjrjsjrjsj  James Earl Carter was a lot worse than Trump. Unless you were born after 1980. But I get it, you have the myopia of tribalism and refuse to believe your lying eyes. "‘Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter (Joe Biden) loses his.’ -Ronald Reagan.
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  535. Yeah, I suspect the reason why he is making propaganda clips for the CCP is because his son is facing prison for drug trafficking charges. "Indeed, as a policeman, I would say, get hold of a man's brother and you're halfway home." -Yevgraf, "Doctor Zhivago".
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  536.  @fra604  Actually, in debate quoting a well-known source is the highest virtue. The fact that you chose to resort of name-calling (saying it is stupid) just proves you have already lost the debate. "When debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -attributed to Socrates.
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  537. I want to point out that the BigMac size in both Japan and Korea is smaller than the BigMac in the US. So that as an analogy is not exactly an accurate measurement as the sandwiches are not exactly the same. Also, as far as productivity, keep in mind that subordinates in a company are expected to show up before their superiors and are expected to stay until AFTER those same supervisors have left for the day. So, while top management may get to enjoy a strict 8-hour workday, the bottom of the work pyramid might expect to be on the job for as much as 12-14 hours.
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  538. Only because you have yet to experience what happens when China comes to collect their "pound of flesh".
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  539.  @onlyfacts4999  The two positions are NOT mutually exclusive. But I expect such shallow false choice thinking from rabid nevertrumpers. Nuance goes right over your head because you are rule by your emotions rather than by logic and reason.
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  540.  @itumo2645  Not entirely true. Many came into power with the help of the Soviets. Most of the ones since 2000 came into power because of the Chinese. Indeed, ALL of your anti-colonial despots came to power via communist revolutions because that anti-colonialism mantra was simply a vessel for anti-West resentment.
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  541. Debt to control other nations was planned out by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. The Chinese have always played the long game. And they have the population to conscript into an invasion force to collect on their debt. I do agree with you that geopolitically it remains to be seen how it will play out. And how China responds if the whole of the continent stops fighting each other and unites against the Red Panda.
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  542. Yes and no. You are correct about constant regime change and that IS biting China in the rear. The kicker is when they choose to back strongmen such as the ones who toppled Robert Mugabe instead of buying off corrupt local elected officials. Both sides are exploiting each other, but it remains to be see who comes out on the better end.
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  543. Then where is the hate for Taiwan? Spare us your cries of racism, you are the boy who cried "WOLF!"
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  544.  @jakedee4117  When you win a trade war through better quality products without putting your customer over a barrel, what is the problem? The UK was notorious during the 17th and 18th centuries of doing as China is doing today. The US during the 19th and 20th centuries didn't create a mercantile empire the way the British and the Dutch did through colonialism and military adventurism. We didn't create vassals beholden to us the way the British and the Chinese have done.
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  545.  @butterfly7562  Sure, as if race has anything to do with it. But sure, try to deny that the CCCP has not been engaging in a cold war. Your own military leaders have been boasting about their "Cold War" efforts against the US for 30 years now. Some of us "white guys" like Michael Pilsbury and Richard Murdock took the words of your military's Senior Colonels and Generals seriously.
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  546. Then why hasn't Russia steamrolled Ukraine yet? Spare me, Russia can't keep up with its losses. The Bear is geriatric.
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  547.  @thundermarkperun1083  If you are talking about Russian conscripts, you would be correct.
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  548. So you agree with Nevile Chamberlain that appeasement is the best option?
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  549.  @louisecorchevolle9241  How about you make a coherent argument instead of emotional outbursts?
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  550.  @sonneh86  Mine come from Perun's defense logistics channel. He aggregates the data and doesn't just rely on one single source.
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  551.  @sonneh86  Poland IS the top provider in Europe, bar none. The UK is number two. Your numbers are a shell game to make yourself feel better about Europe's dithering. "Figures don't lie, but liars figure," -Mark Twain.
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  552. The Russian MOD has yet to actually face Polish, German, or US troops. Ukraine is fighting this essentially alone. The Foreign Legion doesn't count as NATO forces; it is more akin to the French Foreign Legion, but for Ukraine.
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  553. How hard it is to explore the bottom of the Ocean? It is easier to get into orbit than it is to get to the bottom of Challenger Deep (Mariana Trench).
    2
  554. Ironically, it was the US who proposed the Antarctic Treaty. The White House at the time realized the extreme difficulty in trying to join any competition for claiming the continent. So instead they opted to take a different approach.
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  555.  @LesOubliesQuebec  Most people don't think like you. Most people are inherently selfish and can only think about the immediate payout rather than the long-term gains. Case in point: casino gambling.
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  556. In theory he could tell the Canadian Parliament to disband and hold new elections to form a new government, but the likelihood of that happening under Castro Jr. is slim.
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  557. Yeah, he has always come across as a spoiled child, even in his later years. The best thing he could do for the institution is to keep his mouth shut and stay sequestered in the palace like a recluse or hermit. Let his son William be "The People's Prince" and carry out the role of the crown in state ceremonies.
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  558. Thank you for pointing all of those facts out. People conveniently ignore that Stalin's Soviet Union was a psudo-Axis member up until Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa. And almost everyone on BOTH sides were content to continue that amicable and VERY profitable relationship. It was purely "Der Furher's" ego that sank the alliance of the Hammer and Sickle with the Swastika.
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  559.  @octoslut  Logistics, dude. You can't fight a war on ONE front with bad logistics as Russia has shown. The fact that the US could even fight two against an inferior foe on two fronts already shows a capability that far exceeds any other power. What is it that US Generals love to say? "Amateurs talk tactics, but professionals talk logistics"? Guess who is an amateur? Cope harder.
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  560.  @octoslut  You are just wildly speculating. The fact that US forces were fighting in both Afghanistan AND Iraq at the same time is proof that the US CAN fight a two-front war. The full might of the US military has not been brought to bear since Korea in 1950-53.
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  561. Yeah, the idea that China's industrial and production capacity would not be targeted in a war with the US is naive. The video's assumption of that point is not based on reality.
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  562.  @marcbuisson2463  Oh, I am not saying that it isn't grown there. Only that the local authorities take it seriously and deal with it harshly.
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  563. There may be some truth to your suggestion. Look at how South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Maylasia, and Indonesia deal with drug trafficking. They don't play around.
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  564. Guns didn't create the problem. But I do agree with you about not laundering money to the cartels. Hell, the US was basically facilitating the narcotics trade by protecting Afghan poppy farmers who were using the profits to fund the Taliban and Al Qaeda!
    2
  565.  @wesleapenknife1755  Except the CDC, FDA, and FBI statistics prove otherwise. Just because you claim something is not true doesn't mean it isn't. In this case, you have to prove a negative while I simply have to point to objectively verified data sets. Data sets you would rather pretend didn't exist.
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  566.  @wesleapenknife1755  Nice strawman argument. Not everyone drinks Coffee. And caffeine is found in naturally in other food products like tea and chocolate so your argument there is total rubbish.
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  567. Agreed. Pills should be the LAST choice, and only for those that are a clear danger to either themselves or others. If they are not at risk of harming someone, they don't need mind altering chemicals.
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  568.  @2KSnSLifestyle  Oh, I am sure that there is a coming economic crisis. Command economies invariably experience a brutal one when they try to control market forces. But I do agree with you that if you are a developing country, you don't have any justifiable reason to build nuclear boomers and carriers.
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  569. What do you mean by "mature" developed economy? The Chinese play fast and loose with that description. Case in point: a "developing" economy doesn't really have the resources to finance a space program. it is a luxury that only a developed economy can afford.
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  570. Makes one wonder how Josif Bros Tito was able to unite the disparate factions as Yugoslavs, overcoming the historic differences and animosities. Yes, Visual Politik has a video on Tito, but while the platitudes of Tito sound nice, there is something more to his mojo. And I suspect it has to do with him being something of a dictatorial strongman because emphasizing unity on share human experience (shared Yugoslav identity in Tito's case) is not a very strong glue, unfortunately.
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  571. I think a better option is to simply let the country further divide into smaller countries rather than force everyone to be under one flag and government. San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra all get to be independent countries, why can't the same thing occur in Bosnia?
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  572.  @1233-d3h  That would be the French you are talking about. Ever heard of the Vichy government?
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  573.  @1233-d3h  The idea that you keep Serbians in Bosnia under a pro-NATO government is a pathetic justification. Again, it is predicted on 18th century chauvinism rather than reality on the ground. There is very little threat to European stability if Republika Srpska is annexed by the Republic of Serbia. If anything, it may actually bring MORE stability.
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  574.  @Mohankeneh  All wishful thinking. Yugoslavia was NEVER a superpower. India, United Kingdom, and Maoist China had a better claim than Yugoslavia ever did. So just on that point everything else you claim can be discounted.
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  575.  @mikevarga6742  Unrest under Maduro in Venezuela is a direct result of Hugo Chavez' death. Yes, it can take as much as 9 years for a country to come apart. Things don't just happen overnight. And in Yugoslavia's case, it took some time for Tito's successors to screw things up.
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  576.  @Mohankeneh  How? Yugoslavia broke up NOT because of the US but as a direct result of Josif Bros Tito's death. He failed to groom an effective heir who could keep the disparate factions operating in harmony.
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  577. Wow. As bizarre and off the wall as that is, I just might actually work!
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  578.  @maximusgrandus  How would such a small state be a problem? If San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra can all be independent nations, there is no excuse for not letting the local regions of Bosnia do the same.
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  579. How? Details. Don't just spew CCP talking points either.
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  580. They do have experience in amphibious assaults, it just isn't good experience. Hainan Island was a success, but Kinmen Island was a total disaster. I do agree with you that China would need quite a few boats to pull this off, and the Battle of Guningtou shows that wooden ferry boats will not cut it.
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  581. Guns behind every blade of grass as often misattributed to Admiral Yamamoto.
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  582. Sadly, firearms training is also lacking in the US military. As part of the USAF, I only trained on the range TWICE in my 8 years of service. One time at basic at Lackland AFB, and the second time at Scott AFB right before I went to South Korea. Even after going from Korea to Fort Carson where deployments to the sandbox were a regular occurrence, there was still very little firearms training.
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  583.  @kimandre336  I blame romanization. One of the things that frustrated me the most during my time in East Asia is how many extra silent letters are put into Korean, Japanese, and Chinese word. Between American phonetic spelling and European romanization, nobody can properly pronounce when given the "official" romanization.
    2
  584.  @junkeatng  Land wise, yes. Share of the international market, not so much. You really think that 75% of the worlds nations which together account for less that 50% of the world's total trade are going to be a big enough offset? You are smoking some pretty strong reefers if you think so.
    2
  585. Sounds to me they have a similar problem as Russia, namely the development of an NCO corp. That is going to be a major problem especially as Mainland China has spent the last 20 years nurturing one.
    2
  586.  @xiphoid2011  Thank you for enlightening me. I knew that Singapore was part of the Malay Union at one time, but I thought it was a mutually amicable parting of ways. That it was not gives me a new perspective on that part of the world.
    2
  587.  @xiphoid2011  Hostile country? Maylasia or Indonesia? I was under the impression they are on good terms with their neighbors.
    2
  588.  @tianxiabai1185  Nice bloviating and goal post moving. Fact is, your PLA got its clock cleaned in Vietnam. Everything they learned fighting the US they put to effective use against you.
    2
  589.  @tianxiabai1185  Human wave attacks. Yes, when you have a swarm of bodies overrunning your position, you are going to run out of bullets long before they run out of bodies. But that is an amazingly large butcher's bill to pay.
    2
  590. Indeed. The disastrous amphibious landing attempt at Kinmen Island in 1950 shows the extent of poor planning by the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy). Unless their Navy builds dedicated landing craft, they will not succeed. Using wooden ferry boats is a recipe for another embarrassing defeat.
    2
  591.  @xt7519  For sake of argument? That is a fair point.
    2
  592. And yet Ukraine rejects your notion and insists on continuing to fight. If they believed as you think, then they would have simply allowed Russia to capture Kiev without a fight.
    2
  593. Indeed. People forgot the lessons of Munich. At least JFK didn't forget them during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
    2
  594. The fondness Japan has for its former prized colony still remains. Formosa was the crown jewel of the Empire of Japan and that affection hasn't diminished.
    2
  595.  @Chou-seh-fu  I saw that too. Which is why I contend that the ethnic Chinese population of Taiwan is becoming a separate ethnic identify. The Two Koreas at least nominally both claim the same culture and heritage. Taiwan having blended Japanese, Chinese, and the local aboriginal elements has become something completely different from mainland, having more in common with the overseas diaspora populations (such as Singapore) than they do with the mainland.
    2
  596.  @Rob_F8F  Don't need an Aegis, you just need the Vulcan Phalanx. While not specifically designed for anti-drone, it more than meets the challenge.
    2
  597.  @maritaschweizer1117  You are confusing Brandon with Orange Man. Everyone knows Trump is sharp as a tac while Joe Bite-Me is suffering from Dementia.
    2
  598.  @chrisdecokere2899  Or maybe his former advisors were all backstabbers. Everyone goes after the king if they see an opportunity to usurp his throne.
    2
  599. On what charge? The criminal cases are all falling apart under prosecutorial misconduct. And the ones he has "lost" are civil cases that don't result in prison. Even those will get overturned on appeal.
    2
  600. You confused tactical and operational but are otherwise correct. The funnel is tactical -> Operational -> Strategic.
    2
  601.  @justmenotyou3151  Isostatic rebound. It is why Scandinavia's shorelines are receding after their ice caps melt. Much of Finland was underwater just 500 years ago.
    2
  602.  @maritaschweizer1117  North Korea is no threat. And Russia has ALWAYS been in bed with Iran. Nothing has changed in the balance of power.
    2
  603.  @yellowcard7139  Wow, talk about creepy psycho-stalker behavior on your part. Do you always behave like this to someone who has gotten under YOUR skin?
    2
  604.  @theman9048  You didn't disprove his points.
    2
  605.  @jeffbob1776  Indeed. For the longest time, generals kept their politics to themselves. Somewhere along the line they broke that unspoken agreement.
    2
  606.  @selindenizcebi9952  Yeah, funny how becoming a shill for Putin suddenly makes the threats go away. There is a word for that: STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.
    2
  607. Indeed. The Donbas insurgency followed the exact same playbook as the one in South Ossetia.
    2
  608.  @ernestkhalimov1007  Yeah, it is easy to say that when you have the government effectively under your thumb.
    2
  609. The Insurgency in South Ossetia followed the same playbook as the one in the Donbas. The invasion of Georgia had more to do with preventing NATO ascension of Georgia than it did about protecting minority populations.
    2
  610. Indeed. Caspian Report out of Azerbaijan has an interesting video on the conflict, but I would like a different perspective from someone NOT a part to that conflict. For my own part, I greatly sympathize with the Armenians, but their poor choice in "friends" with both Moscow and Tehran sours it.
    2
  611. Deutschland remilitarizing is a joke. The Teutonic Knights have forgotten their legacy and refuse to embrace the parts of their history which were NOT dishonorable (such as the Kreigsmarine, particularly the U-boat fleet).
    2
  612. @lati long Sure, infantilize and trivialize key details that completely dismantle your argument. You can make a long decertation about why there isn't one, but that doesn't make it any less of a fact. Japan's willingness to go to war with Red China over Taiwan proves my point. Further, Taiwan inviting the Japanese to build a military base on one of their Islands south of Senkaku further drives home my point proving you wrong.
    2
  613.  @ivan7453  Agreed. Historically Imperial China was just as aggressive and Belligerent as Imperial Japan in WW2. President Pooh-bear has been showing the same militarism as Tojo Hideki. "Let China Sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world” -Napoleon Bonepart.
    2
  614. Not really. Even if you confiscated all of the wealth by the top 50% of Americans, it would not even make a dent in the US national debt. Same applies to China seizing Hong Kong or Taiwan. You don't kill the golden goose, which is what China has done to Hong Kong and will do to Taiwan.
    2
  615. I am inclined to agree. Warlord era China between the Two World Wars saw China still acting as a trade partner with most of the major seafaring nations of the world. Shanghai, Dalian, Hong Kong, Zhangjiang, Lianyungang, Quingdao, Taizhou, and Xaimen were all major destinations and boomtowns for foreign trade. Mao put a stop to that. It was Deng Xaiping who effectively re-opened China's trade with the outside world.
    2
  616.  @Vaeldarg  Talking about rejecting history, you realize that much of the Torah is independently confirmed by Persian, Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian sources? Cyrus the Great was an actual king, and the high priest of Zoroastrianism. Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Judea is documented by the Greeks, Egyptians as well as the Babylonians themselves. As to the Gospels themselves, Roman sources confirm that Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea, and that Herod Antipas was the governor of Galilee and Perea. And the head of the Sanhedrin being Caiaphas is confirmed by Jewish records. And that doesn't even go into what Josephus has confirmed. Do keep in mind that Josephus is considered just as credible as Tacitus, Suetonius, Lucius Cassius Dio, and both Pliny the Elder and Younger. it is clear that you yourself fail to abide by the standards you apply to me. It is YOU who needs to realize that you are engaging in quite a number of chronological fallacies simply because you refuse to accept a message from a specific source.
    2
  617.  @Vaeldarg  Just now you didn't debate the merits, you simply used a strawman argument (logical fallacy). You are attacking institutions of power and falsely claiming that it represents the entire faith. That is typical of militant secularist bigoty. And double negatives do exist in language for a reason, clumsy though they may be. Thye are often employed as a rhetorical device. Again, you are not debating merits, you are engaging in logical fallacies as if that somehow makes your position valid. It does not. Unlike you, I am NOT attacking the messenger, I am attacking your message but pointing out the inherent flaws in your arguments.
    2
  618.  @danilolabbate  "Making excuses" is called rationalization. Or colloquially "copium". This has nothing to do with tribalism, you are just making inane claims like a petulant child does when they know they are wrong. As the Marine Corp teach, failure is ALWAYS a result of bad leadership. China's problems have always been a result of bad leaders, whether military or political leadership. Try actually debating merits instead of making the logical fallacy of "appeal to emotion".
    2
  619.  @benghazi4216  Dude, your hyperbolae isn't making your point, it is showing your intellectual dishonesty. South Africans themselves would call your mischaracterization of Israel as an "apartheid state".
    2
  620.  @homersimpson408  A very nuanced and enlightened analysis. Thank you, for you have very nicely quantified the situation.
    2
  621.  @guvviyulg4821  Are you really interested in having a discussion or are you just here to troll? The DIE philosophy demands that we accept ALL views and perspectives, including those of deviance and perversion. The "diversity" cult demands that we not call out "minor attracted persons" (their words, not mine).
    2
  622. Yeah, westerners have a problem understanding when to pronounce a K and when not to. For example, the Palance if "Knossos" is pronounced "Gnossis"(think Gneisenau), but many folks mispronounce it with a hard "K". But of course, that is Minoan-Greek, not Hebrew as you so aptly point out.
    2
  623. And yet they were part of the Central Powers in WW1 and the Axis in WW2 against Russia in both wars.
    2
  624. India isn't helping Russia; they are ripping off Putin by demanding a 30% discount premium. Further, the Indians are irritated that Russia has failed to deliver on their weapons. In particular they are livid over the Aircraft Carrier. At best, India is playing the neutrality card as they always have since WW2.
    2
  625. They used bulldozers , tunnels, and paragliders to breach the wall. Do keep in mind that they had the North Korean example. Look up the infiltration tunnels under the DMZ.
    2
  626.  @scottwillie6389  Is the US enforcing law on the streets of Japan? THAT is what constitutes an occupation, genius. And since you are not paying attention, Japan IS an important player in world affairs. One cannot be the THRID largest economy in the world and not be one. Japan has already made security guarantees to come to the defense of Taiwan.
    2
  627.  @puraLusa  Just like Duffman says a lot of things, OH YEAH!
    2
  628. I don't think you understand what a Sigma Male actually is. Sigma don't care about being popular, nor do they seek power. They are the quintessential "Lone Wolf". On both counts Putin fails to meet the definition of a Sigma Male.
    2
  629.  @757Poppy  Clearly not.
    2
  630. I hate to break your bubble, but authoritarianism has been the norm rather than the exception throughout human history. The modern period of "Jeffersonian Democracy" is something of an aberration. And if prior examples are any indication, it is about to come to a violent in within the next 50 years.
    2
  631. He basically reinstituted the system under Brezhnev.
    2
  632.  @Ali-bu6lo  I did not watch either of those vides, but from my cursory digging after the death of his daughter, it became clear that Western media was making Dugin into the Russian version of David Duke. Another boogeyman they could whine about. So, your assessment pretty much matched my assessment, though we arrived there from different directions.
    2
  633. Yeah, something tells me Philip Short is one of Putin's biographers and is hardly unbiased.
    2
  634.  @prometheusjackson8787  "Figures don't lie, but liars figure" -Mark Twain. Again, you are trying to be clever and not telling the full story, cherry picking your data.
    1
  635.  @prometheusjackson8787  And again you are talking about yourself. The more you protest and try to affirm, the less believable you are. "The Lady doth protest too much, me thinks," -Queen Gertrude; Act 3 scene 2; Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
    1
  636.  @prometheusjackson8787  No, you claim I said that. You put words in my mouth that I never uttered. I simply said that the ethnic minorities East of the Urals are not fans of Moscow. Everything else is your delusional fantasy. But then that is typical of people who believe their own lies.
    1
  637.  @prometheusjackson8787  Talking about yourself again are we? Like a good little propagandist, you qualify what I say so you can claim victory when I never said what you claimed. You are trying to be clever by half and nobody is buying it. People see through your poor attempt at moving the goal posts.
    1
  638.  @prometheusjackson8787  Pot meet kettle. The fact that you cannot differentiate between nationality and ethnicity shows you have no interest in truth only in pushing your agenda and then accusing others of doing what you are guilty of. But then that is typical of Kremlin stooges.
    1
  639.  @prettitalented  Well, the US, Canada, Australia, and News Zealand WERE part of the British Empire. One fought a war of independence. The others were granted their autonomy almost a century later.
    1
  640.  @prometheusjackson8787  More Kremlin lies. You are not convincing anyone, you are only showing you are a tool of Putin.
    1
  641.  @prometheusjackson8787  Palestine was a word the Roman invented after they expelled the Jews following the revolt in 73 AD. Jews never stole land because it was already theirs to begin with. If anything, it was the Romans who stole it. But then again, you are pushing the same false narrative as the "Give back Texas" folks who themselves stole the land from the people before them. You are not an honest debater; you are a hack pushing political agenda. If anything, Moldova and Ukraine are as the Jews, defending themselves from the actual oppressor, namely their neighbors who refuse to let them live in peace.
    1
  642.  @prometheusjackson8787  Palestine or JUDEA? Use the proper name for the region, not one given to it by the occupying British. The Turks NEVER called it Palestine when it was part of the Ottoman Empire.
    1
  643.  @prometheusjackson8787  Sure, because picking on someone who was not part of the conversation is so mature on your part. You engage in a logical fallacy of non-sequitur: does not follow. It does not follow for you to bring Israel into the conversation except to crop-dust anti-Semitism just like Ilhan Omar does. No, Iran hates the US because the paedo Ayatollahs tell them to hate the US. You clearly don't understand Salafism. You don't understand how religious zealotry from the followers of the Twelfth Imam is what drives Iranian politics. You are precisely the kind of people they first throw off a tower when they get power. Learn a little about Islamic Conquests before you push infantile drivel about so-called interventionism by the west. That part of the world has been constantly overthrowing their local governments since antiquity.
    1
  644.  @prometheusjackson8787  First, there was no reason to bring up Israel except to show you are a raging antisemite. Anti-Zionism IS Anti-Semitism no matter how much you try to pass it off otherwise. Secondly, you grossly mischaracterize the US. Neo-liberalism is simply a by-word for Soviet Fascistic Totalitarianism. America pushes CLASSICAL liberalism. And the fact that countries that previously lived under communism prefer America today over their past which you advocate for them to return to speaks volumes, Iran calls the US "The Great Satan" because our ideas and philosophies win the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. You hate that because your ideas are not convincing, just like Joe Biden's defenders are unconvincing. In short, you are engaging in sour grapes.
    1
  645.  @prometheusjackson8787  Sure, because instead of actually fighting the enemy, the American generals were more interested in a body count; they made the exact same blunder as the Soviets did 30 years prior. Your explanation is just like the empty claims about the US losing the Tet Offensive. Words of an arm-chair general who actually has zero understand of battlefield tactics. The problem with Afghanistan is that Western powers refuse to emulate the two men who DID bring Bactria to heel: Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan.
    1
  646.  @archeopterix22  Desert Storm/Desert Sheild doesn't ring a bell does it? Nor does Grenada? Your ignorance of recent history is astounding. Stop listening to neo-Soviet propaganda.
    1
  647. @Asif Iqbal I never said you were from Russia. Only that you are being what Lenin called a "useful idiot" by repeating the Kremlin's talking points, all of which are bunk. And you want to talk about hypocrisy, there is plenty of it in your neck of the woods. The entire Gulf Petro-area is a living contradiction and hypocrisy.
    1
  648. @Asif Iqbal Stop listening to Kremlin propaganda. Reality is vastly different than what you wish it was. What I stated in independently verifiable FACT. Don't believe me? Even Al Jazeera confirms it.
    1
  649.  @jont2576  So 94 million people murdered by the Soviets is justification for spiting the US? You have lost the plot. You might as well be arguing in defense of Nazism and their policies. Soviets killed more people than the Holocaust.
    1
  650.  @looseycanon  Certainly not all of the lines, but most definitely the major ones such as to Kiev as you point out.
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  651. Yup, Commissar Putin has delusions of Stalin-hood.
    1
  652.  @prometheusjackson8787  More Protocols of the Elders of Zion garbage. Zelensky's religion is Judaism, but he can't even convince the Kisanet to support him. It goes to show that you have lost the plot and are following fringe psychotic beliefs.
    1
  653.  @prometheusjackson8787  Middle East Wars have nothing to do with the conflict in Ukraine possibly spilling into Moldova. You are deflecting again like a typical propagandist. Nobody is falling for your red herrings.
    1
  654.  @prometheusjackson8787  Again, Israel has nothing to do with this conversation, you are just crop-dusting anti-Semitism like Ilhan Omar does.
    1
  655.  @missmaddy  That does not surprise me. I am amazed at the number of people making excuses justifying the mooching by Transnistria off the Moldovan people. There is no such thing as squatter's rights.
    1
  656.  @mmarques2736  I was using the criminality regarding alcohol as an analogy. That you can't understand that shows a lack of critical thinking skills on your part. I was using a frame of reference; one you clearly reject and so there is no point trying to explain something to someone who refuses to entertain an idea for the sake of argument. I HAVE answered your question, you just don't like the answer because it doesn't comport with your myopic view of the world. "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ― Aristotle, mentor to Alexander the Great.
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  657.  @mmarques2736  Because you falsely believe that by being legal, they would automatically change their "business practices". Bootleggers still flaunt the law despite alcohol being legal. And people are still murdered over moonshine. It will be no different with any legalized controlled substance.
    1
  658.  @tylernorby4939  The devil is in the details. And the details paint a VERY different picture than the claims. Also, you seem to not realize that the local department of corrections is the biggest drug rehabilitation agency. Further, your long prison sentencings are a result of mandatory minimums pushed by the very politicians pushing for legalization. It is a giant grift and you are being played by the people purposely trying to tear down society. This comes straight out of the revolutionary's handbook.
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  659. That won't solve your problem, it only creates an entirely new set of problems. Furthermore, the drug cartels don't stop literally murdering their competition just because you made it legal.
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  660. Indeed. Narco-States are active participants in pushing the drugs as the politicians are often on the payroll of the cartels. Mexico better fits that description than Belgium.
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  661. That will not solve the problem, it will simply make the government become the biggest drug dealer.
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  662.  @monkeydank7842  As I said, you don't solve the problems by legalizing, you are simply papering over the underlying problem by creating an entirely new set. The problems society has with Alcohol and Tobacco shows that legalization only creates more problems. Data out of Colorado prove this with regards to marijuana legalization. You haven't made any coherent arguments for legalization. And my points only reinforce that.
    1
  663.  @monkeydank7842  Bootlegging Alcohol still occurs. The media just doesn't report on it. NASCAR in fact is a direct result of bootleg culture. Eric Garner was killed by police for selling cheap cigarettes across state lines subverting the taxes on then. But the media wanted to only focus on his race, not WHY the police were really busting him up. Then there is the issue about Cuban Cigars. They can be made by Cuban expatriates in Florida, but big tobacco makes a stink about it not being "the real thing" and hence they can't sell or advertise them as Cuban Cigars. Hence the whole thing with smuggling them in from Cuba despite having a legal alternative that is exactly the same thing.
    1
  664.  @monkeydank7842  Yes, they would. Legalizing it doesn't change that fact. It just makes it easier for them to conduct their business without worrying about the government actively shutting them down.
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  665. No, it would not. It simply trades in one set of problems for an entirely new set. Also, the violence would not stop as the cartels will still murder their competition to maintain their monopoly.
    1
  666.  @tyquonjackson7728  Except, the UN is NOT a world governing body. Its "laws" have zero force backing it beyond those willing to use armed conflict.
    1
  667.  @manguanxu3612  Yeah, the classic deflection and logical fallacy of communist governments such as Red China's.
    1
  668.  @manguanxu3612  Oh, I agree. China has historically been a colonizing power. Zheng He's treasure fleet was all about exerting colonial power over subject and vassal nations. And of course, Japan in the 1930s had colonialist expansionism, though they were quickly broken of those ambitions.
    1
  669.  @hadtrio6629  Again with more false analogies (logical fallacy) comparing apples to oranges. Typical response from an ideological partisan who doesn't actually care about facts. Oh, a Moor huh? Don't get me started on the brutal Invasion of Iberia by the Muslim Moors.
    1
  670.  @hadtrio6629  Wrong. For one, the "independence movements" of Doneski and Luhansk is nothing more than what Russia did in Georgia with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Nothing more than a pretext for stealing territory and rebuilding the old Soviet Empire. Your blatant disregard for that shows you are not acting in good faith. And for Catalonia, their beef with Madrid is NOTHING like the spat between Taipei and Beijing. But i get that you are completely ignorant of Franco's Spain and the history of that country since WW2. In short, you are guilty of doing exactly what you accuse me of doing. Your chronological snobbery makes your perspectives infantile and irrelevant.
    1
  671.  @hadtrio6629  Apples to oranges false analogy. They are NOT the same and it is intellectually dishonest to claim that they are.
    1
  672.  @hadtrio6629  "Mandate of heaven" is anathema to China's official atheist stance. "Mandate of Heaven" is monarchal doctrine and runs counter to the official ideology of Communism. So, no, but the CCP's own standards, they do NOT nor cannot claim to be the legitimate successor because they reject on principle that which would give them such a claim. And no, it is NOT hypocritical of the West to point this out. It is holding them to their own standards.
    1
  673.  @hadtrio6629  Agreed. HISTORIC China first controlled it during the late Ming Dynasty. But the current Red Government is NOT the successor state to the Qing Dynasty despite their claims. That honor would fall to the Republic of China currently residing in Taipei.
    1
  674. If you have learned anything about communist, it is that they ALWAYS re-write history. "Good facts" which uphold the fictions of the CCP are always more correct than "real-facts" which contradict the narrative.
    1
  675. Nero did something similar. Had the Legions collect seashells on the beach as "tribute" from Neptune after swishing his sword in the Mediterranean.
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  676. Taipei has never acknowledged the Red Government as legitimate.
    1
  677.  @thomassecurename3152  Yeah, it is sad that the members of ASEAN would much rather squabble among themselves rather than present a united front against China. If they agreed to temporarily set aside their individual disagreements and mutually agree that China has no claims, they could present that united front in the Parcel Islands and effectively push China out of the area.
    1
  678. Not always. It was only during the late Ming Dynasty that mainland China first took control over the Island. Before then, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty never controlled it. Neither did Song or Tang before them.
    1
  679.  @merlingeikie  Yeah, didn't Nero send the Legions down to the beach to collect seashells as "tribute" from Neptune after he swished his sword in the Mediterranean?
    1
  680.  @winstonmaraj8029  That is a religious prayer based on wishful thinking and no objective data. You are a religious zealot.
    1
  681.  @winstonmaraj8029  Apples to oranges false analogy. But then that is typical of con artists and snake oil salesmen. "Tell a lie often enough and people take it for the gospel truth," -attributed to Joseph Goebbels.
    1
  682.  @winstonmaraj8029  I would take the bet, but you will never pay it out. Again, the advocates of green energy made the same prediction in 1970 and 50 years later it still hasn't come true. You will never admit you are wrong because this isn't about environmental protection, this is poorly disguised neo-pagan Gaia worship.
    1
  683.  @winstonmaraj8029  I have, much Adu about nothing. These are the same empty headlines as the ones in the 1970s about the same topic. Almost word for word exactly the same, in fact. You are being sold a bill of goods. "A sucker is born even minute," -P.T. Barnum
    1
  684.  @winstonmaraj8029  Famous last words, dude. Men and women smarter than you have said the same thing and have been wrong. All of the advocates of "green energy" for decades before you were wrong, and NOTHING has changed since then. If "Renewables" really were as you say, then someone would have already cornered the market and become the John D. Rockefeller of green energy already. It hasn't happened and is not likely to happen anytime in the near future.
    1
  685. That prediction has been made since the 70s and still has no panned out. If "renewables" really were viable, someone would have already dominated the market and build a fortune like Rockefeller.
    1
  686.  @kennethli8  The problem with that though is you get Weimar Germany or Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Just printing money with nothing to back it up makes the currency worthless.
    1
  687.  @harun776  And the Baltic states of Poland joining did present a security threat? Spare us the Kremlin drivel. The ONLY reason why Finland and Sweden abandoned their historic neutrality was BECAUSE of RUSSIAN aggression, not NATO expansion.
    1
  688. Al Jazeera is still heavily bias towards jihadism, though.
    1
  689.  @winstonmaraj8029  Cool!
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  690. You have hooked my curiosity. I am most certainly interested in hearing more.
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  691. Okay, so why not fill in the land? That is what the South Koreans are doing to the areas of the sea they are targeting for reclamation.
    1
  692. No, most people in the west are oblivious to the oil and Gas deposits off the coast of Crimea. Or the Coal and oil deposits beneath Donbas.
    1
  693.  @khai96x  Finland and Sweden beg to differ. So do the Warsaw Pact nations who eventually joined NATO. Your blanket statement shows your myopic views.
    1
  694.  @lachlanp3365  All of those are fair points.
    1
  695. There has been talk about morphing ASEAN from a purely economic one into a military-economic block. Sadly, the disputes over the Islands have been too much of a hindrance for that. A real shame because if they COULD temporarily suspend their dispute and present a united front, they could form a defense line in the Parcel Island pushing the Chinses out at one spot instead of individually.
    1
  696.  @Martincic2010  I would not be so proud to declare your support for communism. You ideology murdered more people than the Holocaust. And ask the Colombians how many people FARC murdered for your goals.
    1
  697. There are easier targets to pursue than Taiwan. The Amur Valley and Outer Manchuria for example. The ONLY reason why China puts Taiwan first is because of national pride.
    1
  698.  @5552-d8b  You do realize that it was the US backed government in Phenom Pehn that the Khmer Rouge toppled? No, the US NEVER supported Pol Pot or his terrorist movement.
    1
  699.  @FarnhamJ07  Yeah. part of the problem was the Diem was more interested in fighting Buddhists than Commies. The Buddhists should have been natural allies, not enemies. President Pak of South Korea did NOT make that blunder.
    1
  700.  @khai96x  That is not an argument, that is an emotional outburst typical of a myopic and childish mind.
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  701. Wow, talk about drinking the Kremlin kool-aid. The US didn't force China and Russia together. China is simply taking advantage of a weakened Russia. For someone so worried aobut American Imperialism, you seem to ignore Russia's Czarist Ambitions in Eastern Europe and China's expansionist moves in Asia.
    1
  702.  @danielch6662  You are delusional. China wants the whole pie and does NOT want to share. They have proven time and again with actions that they ARE willing to kill to take possession of those Islands.
    1
  703.  @vietucofficial5813  Yeah, Vietnam after WW2 was one country just like Korea is just one country. Sit down and let the adults talk.
    1
  704.  @lehoang3532  Sounds to me like you just want to lick the boot of Beijing. You cannot have an alliance with Japan and Australia without the US. It just isn't going to happen, particularly when the Japanese are so reliant militarily on the US. Second, do you really trust that the Indians would come to your rescue? Just because you may share a common enemy in Red China doesn't mean that they will risk nuclear war on your behalf.
    1
  705.  @danghoangluong2942  Yeah, I am no fan of them either. They have proven time and again to be dirty cowards fleeing at the first sign of trouble. And yes, the US did initially help Ho Chi Mihn which is why his early works drew heavily from Thomas Jefferson.
    1
  706. Yeah, I wish the ASEAN nations would temporarily put aside their disputes and present a united front against China, preferably in the Parcels and Northern Spratley. Once China has been disabused of their claims then they can hash it out.
    1
  707.  @lehoang3532  If you don't put stock in it, then why are you here except to troll on behalf of your propaganda ministry?
    1
  708. All dictators claim to be democratically elected. Just look at Alexander Lushenko of Belarus. The problem with Erdogan is that he has purged his political opposition and subverted the system of checks and balances that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk put in place to PREVENT a dictatorship.
    1
  709. Because corrupt corporate leaders exploit the poor labor conditions in communist counties. They think that they can buy off the communist leadership. Do keep in mind that China's "State capitalism" is simply Leninist-Socialist oligarchism under a different name.
    1
  710. @Wilhelm Eley Is that what the Kremlin told you? The oil deposits off the coast of Crimea alone would make Ukraine the 6th largest proven reserves in the world, just behind Norway. Shell had signed contracts in 2012 with Ukraine to exploit the fields under Donbas before Russia instigated rebellion in that area. Or have you forgotten those dirty little details?
    1
  711. Russia doesn't like competition. Ukraine's oil, gas, and coal reserves threatened Putin's Europe monopoly. Get you head out of your rear; this war is all about oil.
    1
  712. Indeed. Folks have forgotten the old saying "the bigger they are, the harder they fall".
    1
  713. Merkel was a member of the East German Communist Youth League. Making Germany completely dependent on Russia for energy wasn't madness, it was by design. A communist is like a tiger; it never changes its stripes.
    1
  714.  @TheMrgoodmanners  I was not trying to get into a pissing match with Alabama, or Crimson Tide for that matter. As far as Redstone goes, where do you get the technical knowledge to design and test those rockets? My point about Purdue still stands. And you trust US News? That legacy rag who hasn't published an accurate report in almost 20 years? How often have they had to issue a correction or retraction again? Only establishment shills read their publications. Also, I find it interesting that you only compare Indiana to other Midwest States and not the entire US. Contrasted to the Deep South, Indiana is luxurious.
    1
  715.  @golagiswatchingyou2966  Wow, Nazi apologist now huh? You are defending the indefensable now. Oh, and I take the word of the Flanders over you. if they say the Butchers of the Rhineland violated their neutrality just to defeat France, I believe them.
    1
  716.  @golagiswatchingyou2966  America is not the cause of the worlds problems. In fact, we solve more of them than we make, despite what you may claim. Ever heard of "The Great War"? We ended that. Ever Heard of World War 2? If not for the US, you would be speaking either German or Japanese. As the Billy Joel song goes, "We didn't start the fire, no we didn't light it but we tried to fight it"
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  717.  @borhanuddin9715  Nature abhors a vacuum. what do you think will fill it if Western dominance disappears? Considering what most of the world was before Western dominance, I suspect that your proposed alternative will be harsh and brutal. "Human Rights" is a direct result of Western Hegemony.
    1
  718.  @adrien5834  Pot meet kettle. Typical leftist.
    1
  719.  @adrien5834  Neoliberal? I think you are describing yourself. Neoliberalism is just repackaged Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology. I am describing sound economic tax policy, one that has been proven time and again. And you reject it simply because you detest the idea of people keeping their own money, even if that means moving it to places with lower rates.
    1
  720.  @adrien5834  Your refusal to acknowledge JFK's points about taxes and your obsession with tax haven shows you are not debating in good faith. Debate the merits, of which my point did NOT take GDP into consideration. You are bloviating because you hate people wisely investing their wealth in places that will not simply steal it via force of government. Taxation is legalized theft.
    1
  721. France is no superpower. Their defeat at Bien Dien Phu was the end of France as a major global player. Even the UK was more significant until the Falkland's War.
    1
  722.  @kolerick  Yeah, Papa Doc and Baby Doc really screwed up Haiti.
    1
  723.  @eurobonapartiste  "First Democracy in the modern world" huh? Yeah, I think the French Terrors under the Robespierre faction shows us exactly what "French Democracy" entails. As far as Poland goes, I think the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth predates "The Litte Corporal". All he did was to reestablish it as the Dutchy of Warsaw. As far as his "progressivism", it was also predated by the American Revolution. Much of what you attribute to Bonaparte finds its origins not in him but other people and movements. All he did that was good was to empower the average man. "In every private's backpack is a Marshall's baton" was his words. Words that simply echoed that of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
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  724.  @thetrist333  And yet it has always been the US pulling France's bacon out of the fire. For someone who claims to be well verse in history, you sure are ignorant of it. ""To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?" -Marcus Tullius Cicero, 45BC.
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  725.  @thetrist333  How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? Nobody knows, for it has not been attempted.
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  726.  @maxcream6726  At this time, perhaps. But there is discussion of it becoming a free trade union among its members.
    1
  727. Yes they do. And it is a major staging area for US forces in the Middle East and Indian Ocean theaters.
    1
  728. Quorum. Even with a 70% yes vote, if less than 50% of the people participate, you don't have a simple majority of all residence agreeing to it. At best you have a plurality. Quorums are just as if not MORE important than having a simple majority.
    1
  729.  @kolerick  And yet the US has held fewer overseas territories than France yet has "de-colonized" more of them than France. You just don't like the fact that France is the world's biggest hypocrite. Nor that it is getting called out for it.
    1
  730.  @kolerick  What territories has the US colonized in the 20th century? Have you forgotten that the Philippines was given its independence after WW2? Vanuatu and Palau were US territories that were emancipated. Purter Rico so far has chosen to remain a territory and refuses independence. Guam and the Marianas likewise refuse independence.
    1
  731.  @lakshaysingh9743  Therre is no pint in arguing with this paid troll. He refuses to accept hard facts and instead engages in progoms typical of religious fanatics.
    1
  732.  @_Mohit_Joshi  You seem to conflate Washington DC with the rest of the country. Middle America cannot engage in international relations because the US constitution forbids it; all actions MUST go through the state department. I agree that Pakistan is trash and Washington's continued support of them shows how completely out of touch with reality they are. They really are the ivory tower hacks who hold the "unwashed masses" in contempt. As far as "human rights" Europe loves to lecture the US just as much as they claim we lecture them. Perhaps more so. The truth is, it has only been during the last 80 or so years that Europe even acknowledged them, while the Bill of Rights has been there since 1787.
    1
  733. Sure, because in the absences of guns, knife stabbings simply replace it at a rate of 4-5 times. Just take a look at Londonstan.
    1
  734.  @parthparekh9924  Where did I say it did? That is the problem with America haters like you. You are so blinded by your zealotry that you jump to foregone conclusions and engage in broad generalities without actually looking at the merits in their proper context.
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  735.  @parthparekh9924  Yes, the "American Century" is basically a continuation of the Royal United Kingdom's prior Century. The US does indeed owe much to the Crown for without them, there would be no United States. Oh, and before you whine about Columbus, he was following the legends that the Vikings told of Vinland. And the Vikings were themselves preceded by the Irish with Saint Bartholomew. And before you bloviate about the "Natives" who crossed Beringia to the New World, there is discussion that Clovis people who preceded them by as much as 1,000 years may have followed the ice shelf along a similar route as the Vikings.
    1
  736.  @terrestrialextra4790  Indeed. He came in there like a bull in a China shop, and then promptly acted like one (seriously, this has been tested, they act timid). But you are correct that most of the career politicians are basically copies of each other regardless of party. Which is why the American people will NOT be so kind next go around.
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  737.  @iamaloafofbread8926  And Biden is the hang-over with the ugly bedmate surprise in the morning. If you think 2016 was the American people throwing a temper tantrum, you have yet to see what will happen in 2024. "I fear our efforts are for naught, for we have awakened the sleeping giant, AND FILLED HIM WTIH A TERRIBLE RESOLVE," -Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor.
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  738. What coherence? The Biden folks have been completely flip-flopping on whether they would defend Taiwan from an invasion. Biden effectively invited Putin to invade Ukraine with his "limited incursion" statement. Trump emulating Richard Nixon's sending out the nuclear bombers every time a Soviet General sneezed did more to maintain peace and stability than Biden's James Earl Carter policies. But I guess mean tweets is more harmful to you than causing instability across the globe. The world respects a strongman and holds a weak one in contempt.
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  739. His hospital orderlies, I mean staffers are the ones calling the shots.
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  740.  @iamaloafofbread8926  Like what? Details, not bloviation. And "restore respect" is not a valid answer. Respect is EARNED not given. "Better to be feared than to be loved if you can't have both," -Niccolò Machiavelli.
    1
  741.  @iamaloafofbread8926  And "Cheeto dictator" is living rent free in your head.
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  742.  @ahmedlusajogibbonsmwaikamb6099  Wow, nice apples to oranges false analogy (and a logical fallacy).
    1
  743.  @absolootely2571  Complete delusional fantasy on your part. You clearly haven't visited either of those cities, only watch the propaganda from Jihadi videos. "Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities" -Voltaire
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  744.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  Nice revisionist history. More people have died at the hands of the Russians in the last three months than have died in the entire 20 years of the US in the middle east. But I get it, you are a rabid partisan who refuses to acknowledge hard facts which contradicts your religious-political view of the world.
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  745.  @kimandre336  It isn't that Western media censors what is going on in East Asia, it is just that they don't really care. APATHY is more dangerous that outright censorship. Why? Streisand effect. Censorship paradoxically gets the message out BECAUSE it is censored. As far as "rose colored glasses", I don't disagree that Japanese leadership has screwed the pooch with regards to their lost decade. I also agree that their currency manipulation at the behest of Washington elites is also ruinous. If the Yen is strong against the dollar, that is the fault of the Federal Reserve, not the Japanese economy. That being said, I much prefer the leaders of East Asia's economic Tigers over the feckless cowards of Washington who kowtow to the totalitarians in Peking.
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  746.  @_Mohit_Joshi  The Bidens and Burisma? I can agree to that. Then there is Joe Bite-me's comment about "minor incursion" that was basically an invitation to Putin on par with Dean Acheson's blunder with the Pacific Defense Perimeter excluding South Korea thereby inviting Kim Il-Sung to invade the South.
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  747.  @_Mohit_Joshi  I don't disagree that Putin lost the influence war over Ukraine and decided to use force instead of continuing to lose the soft power game. HOWEVER, the reason for Poland and the former Warsaw Pact joining NATO was precisely BECAUSE of Russia's history as the preeminent force in the USSR. In the 90s under Boris Yeltsin, there was an opportunity to bury the past and start anew with their former satellites. Russia could have rejected the Soviet past and sought to repair the relationship with its neighbors. Chechnya and Georgia's breakaway provinces showed them that the Bear was up to its old habits.
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  748. Nice revisionism. When traditionally natural Sweden and Finland want to join NATO in response to this, your narrative falls on deaf ears. Not even the historically neutral Swiss believe your story.
    1
  749. Indeed. They have become globalist shills.
    1
  750.  @brandonhernandez116  Sure, keep lying to yourself, you are convincing nobody. People know how feckless Joe Bite-Me really is.
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  751. Sure, because they are basically continuing much of what Trump started. Save for the fact that Biden basically invited Putin to invade with his "limited incursion" statement. Was just as much of a strategic blunder as Dean Acheson excluding South Korea from the Pacific Defense Perimeter, thereby inviting Kim Il- Sung to invade South Korea in 1950. And the administration's flip-flopping over whether they will defend Taiwan is only inviting Red China to call their bluff. But I guess "mean tweets" is worse than destabilizing the globe with uncertainty. Try to learn from history instead of relying on your feelings.
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  752.  @parthparekh9924  Nice job cherry picking your information (logical fallacy). But I get it, you resent that we kept the peace for 80 years. You resent the fact that you can't keep your own house in order so you blame the very people you would otherwise demand to fix your problems because you are too stubborn to fix them yourself.
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  753.  @_Mohit_Joshi  I as an American don't like nor trust the Pakistanis. They are two-timing, double dealing hacks. They sheltered Bin-Laden and lies about it. They regularly deal with China, subverting US interests in the region. I very much prefer the land of Rajahs over the land of Jihadis. It is a shame that our mutual history as a colony of the English Crown isn't a stronger starting point for a better relationship.
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  754.  @parthparekh9924  Elected or installed? "Shadow campaign" ring a bell? Chaning the election rules one month before ballots are cast (11th hour rule change) is one example of cheating and stealing an election. But I get it, you folks in Europe are used to the parties picking who will rule you long before your ballots are even printed. Illiberal Democracy is what that is. And the reason why the world's problems are America's problems is that TWO world wars started because of American isolationism. You people can't keep your continent from exploding in violence without America's presence. The recent war in Ukraine is just further proof of this.
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  755. They don't trust the US because we have weak leadership. People respect a strong horse. The hold weak men in contempt.
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  756. Indeed. They have become sycophantic lickspittles to the globalist elites.
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  757.  @kimandre336  You think Americans really elected Joe Bite-me? When precincts report turnouts at 120% of voter registration, that is glaringly obvious what happened. Trust the American people, not our "rulers". Our rulers lie to us as much as they lie to you.
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  758. Yeah, in many ways their political system is similar to the UK's Constitutional Monarchy. Though unlike Queen Elizabeth, I don't think the Emperor has the power to dissolve the government and force the Prime Minister to form a new one with new elections.
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  759.  @astrahcat1212  Agreed on almost all of those points. And Thomas Jefferson warned about the bankers acting like gamblers. He saw Alex Hamilton (father of the US Federal Bank) doing exactly that in conjunction with Henry Knox in Massachusetts sparking Shay's Rebellion. And then repeating that same dirty game in Pennsylvania with the Whiskey Tax, begging "big Daddy Washington" to save him. Same story since antiquity; wannabe feudal lord abusing the peasants and merchants who butter their bread by manipulating currency and the markets.
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  760.  @jxz107  You are probably correct on all of those counts. Sakhalin Island is the more intriguing issue. As per the Treaty of San Fransisco, the Japanese have zero legal claim at this time because its southern reaches were capture in war, even though those conquests predate control of the Kuril Islands. And when Japan did occupy it, Koreans were settled there. South Korea and Japan together taking that Island from Russia would be quite the odd-couple situation. That is assuming that Red China doesn't try to take it first since it is considered part of "outer Manchuria".
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  761.  @vorynrosethorn903  I am inclined to agree. Both the American Right and American Left care more about holding onto power than to right by the people. And while I cannot speak for Europe's left-right dichotomy, the fact that the same selected few families running the country in dynastic succession despite having an electoral process, I am also inclined to view those hereditary Republics with the same skepticism.
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  762. There is a major difference between Japan and Nordic countries. Namely, Japan doesn't have the oil deposits the Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians have. Or have you forgotten that they fought WW2 because of their lack of native oil sources?
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  763.  @dragonesryan282  I was stationed in South Korea from 2009-2011. I saw a much different presentation of Korean history than you imply. Yes, they are obsessed about the 35-year brutal occupation by Japan. But beyond that, there is a certain pride, not victim mentality in Korean history. particularly their defeat of the Japanese in the Imjin War over Hideyoshi.
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  764. @H J DANGER as well as opportunity. Destruction is part of the nature of chaos. And without that destruction there would be no opportunity. Now, I do agree that pure chaos (ie entropy and enthalpy) is nobody's friend and is truly an "equal opportunity" agent. But one can take that into consideration when planning and minimize the harm as best they can while capitalizing on the opportunities.
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  765.  @vorynrosethorn903  The nobility lost everything or they simply married into the "new money" so as to maintain the status quo? The dirty little secret is that marriage among the nobility was never about love, only about power. The nouveau riche wants the legitimacy of noble status, even if titles are meaningless, while the old guard landed gentry view such marriages as a way to maintain their lifestyles. When push comes to shove, nothing has really changed.
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  766.  @vorynrosethorn903  Well, there is a very good reason why most of the ancestors of Americans today got out of Europe. The Feudal families who ruled back then are still effectively running things today with very little change in the stratification of society.
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  767. True, a vote for Trump in 2016 was a middle finger to the establishment power mongers. It just happened to result in one of the most productive and economically saucerful periods in American history until it was killed by the liberal establishment regaining power. And the backlash against that will be even greater than the one that originally put Trump in office. "I fear our efforts are for naught, for we have awakened a sleeping giant, AND FILLED HIM WITH A TERRIBLE RESOLVE," -Admiral Yamamoto, "Tora, Tora, Tora".
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  768.  @futureshocked  First, economic analysists have confirmed that FDR's policies made the Great Depression worse, not better. Government NEVER creates anything except debt. FDR's government spending only took resources from productive areas and wasted them in places that produced very little return on investment. It was World War 2 that brought the US out of the Great Depression, that is a FACT. The 1980s prosperity is fake? Art Laffer again proves you wrong. As does Fresrick Hayek. The Reagan tax cuts, modeled off the JFK tax cuts prove beyond a reasonable doubt that LESS government taxation creates wealth while more taxation kills it. And the Trump tax policy confirmed and validated the Reagan-JFK economic policies. I agree that debt-based economics made BANKERS and SPECULATORS wealthy because they were extracting and pillaging the economy without actually adding anything of value. That has nothing to do with less government, that is actually a result of MORE government reward such behavior via bail-outs and printing money. Read Thomas Jefferson and the problem with banking institutions. There is a reason why most cultures consider Usury to be an evil practice. Killing the golden goose NEVER pays out in the end. Sure, it may make you feel better depriving the Zaibatsu or Chaebols, but it only makes things worse in the long run. Why? Because those oligarchs end up controlling government when the government tries to take their assets. This is just as true of Japan as it is in the US. Oligarchism only exists BECAUSE governments regulate. Without government regulation, there would be no need for oligarchs to seize control of the government.
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  769. Wealth redistribution never works. Giving something for nothing kills productivity and stifles economic growth. Japan was badly mismanaged in the 80s due to corporate cronyism, and the government intervening hasn't helped the problem, only prolonged it much like FDR's policies prolonged the Great Depression. Keysian economics is just Leninist-Marxist theory repackaged and rebranded. But it still failed spectacularly as Art Laffer's curve has proven time and again.
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  770.  @baronvonlimbourgh1716  Not everything you read online is true. Any smuck can post anything. Go to the original paper sources. Anyone someone says "I read it online" I automatically discount it as hearsay and with good reason. A physical copy of Encyclopedia Brittanica is more reliable than anything you find online.
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  771.  @baronvonlimbourgh1716  ​ Yes, they are. Tariffs are NOT placed on individual people bringing their possessions across national boundaries. It is levied on corporations carrying bulk good across boundaries. Congratulations, you show you have zero knowledge on the subject. You clearly have no economic experience because you are regurgitating Debunked Keynesian platitudes on cue like Pavlov 's dog. Karl Menger, and Fredrich Hayek completely disprove all of your theories and is backed up by hard data. Indeed, Art Laffer confirmed everything they described and time and again it is validated.
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  772.  @prometheusjackson8787  And you are too foolish to realize that just because China claims to have "free trade zones" doesn't mean that they are. It is a gimmick referring to tariffs, not actual free markets. When 90% of the companies are "State Owned Enterprises" that means they are effectively organs of the government. Basically, Soviet Communism by another name. Good job, you have just proven to everyone you are a good little soviet that regurgitates talking points on cute like Pavlov's Dog.
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  773.  @baronvonlimbourgh1716  Yeah, but how much of those business taxes were covered by TARIFFS? That is the dirty little detail you left out. Tariffs don't cover domestic business transactions, only international trade. And repeating your same slogan doesn't make you educated, it makes you a broken record (logical fallacy). You are guilty of what you accuse the rest of us. You are the one re0writing history according to your neo-communist THEORY which fails when it meets hard economic data.
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  774.  @prometheusjackson8787  "Not relevant for 30 years"? The Chinese Communist Party begs to differ. But keep putting your foot in your mouth, please. It only makes you a laughingstock.
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  775.  @prometheusjackson8787  "Higher Wages"? You realize the minimum wage in 1950 was $0.75? Not all of that 2,000% increase is attributable to inflation. For someone who claim to be intelligent, you show a distinct ignorance of objective hard fact.
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  776.  @lyampetit144  At this point, I would the US was like Belgium. A few months WITHOUT the US government operating would do wonder for us. "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." -Thomas Paine.
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  777. Yeah, their lost decade seems to be the one thing the West has become really good at emulating. And that is NOT a good thing.
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  778. Just like China's "State Capitalism" is just Maoist communism with accountability that punishes the nepotism that infests all systems. The end result is still the same: Soviet communism and all of its horrors.
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  779. Naw, what they need is another Hindenburg. Prussian-Kaiser Imperial leadership, not the National Socialist kind.
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  780.  @bastisonnenkind  The problem with Democracy is that it is a hydra whose heads are trying to kill and devour each other. There is a reason why even Aristotle held it in certain contempt. As for Angel Merkel, she knew exactly what she was doing by prostrating Germany before Putin and making her country almost entirely dependent on Russia. She was an active and enthusiastic member of the East German Communist Youth during the 1980s, so it is hard to claim her actions were not by design.
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  781. @M W Nice Anglophobia there. You do realize that the former Warsaw Pact VOLUTARILY joined NATO? Hell, when DeGaulle pulled out of NATO, American troops left France. Not that you would bother to actually know that dirty little detail. Your whole argument is based on a hysterical hatred of English culture.
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  782.  @tavish4699  No, Russia was NOT the best option. You complain about American liquified gas so you would rather put a Russian leash around your neck? There ARE other options, you just refuse to consider them. How about the energy deposits under the Netherlands that were shut down? How about those oil deposits in Norway? Your problem is that you lack the creativity to think outside the box, instead following what the feudal elites in Europe tell you.
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  783.  @kerstas10  So did the Ukrainians.....until the Germans started slaughtering them alongside the Russians. When it became clear that Stalin's Red Army was going to be unstoppable, they quickly changed back to the Soviets (begrudgingly).
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  784. Germany today is not the Germany of even 30 years ago. Time to put the past in the past.
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  785.  @rockyoh  Finances do NOT equate to personnel issues regarding volunteer verses non-volunteer. That is yet another red herring. The transition from compulsory military service to all volunteer is not an issue of finances unless you are purposely ripping off your young population by using them as a cheap labour pool below market value in the military. And Germany clearly doesn't have that problem as the military pay clearly shows, though Russia certainly does.
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  786. That is a false canard. The US has been all volunteer since the end of the Vietnam War and the end of the draft. An all-volunteer force IS possible, but it requires a cultural change. The bigger point for South Korea has to do with making sure their male population is capable of taking up arms should the North march across the DMZ. German hasn't had the Sword of Damocles over their head that South Korea has.
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  787.  @Delgen1951  That is a red herring and you know it. American blood and treasure have NOTHING to do with the incompetence and corrupt system of procurement regarding the Bundeswehr.
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  788.  @thefool1086  Why? That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence (Hitchens's razor).
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  789. I second that recommendation.
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  790.  @difficiliscarere9838  The only people really surprised by Russia's invasion were the people who thought that Putin was just a swell guy that you could buy gas from. Most folks who advocated for a strong European defense (namely Poland and the Baltic States) were not at all surprised. That is in fact WHY they joined NATO in the first place!
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  791. I tend to agree. The former Warsaw Pact has shown to have more of a spine than the traditional members of NATO. And I am actually all for Poland becoming the new 800-pound gorilla in Europe keeping the peace.
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  792.  @williamlloyd3769  Same here. I have always heard it used in connection to railroad workers in the post-Civil War era. Or to refer to the hats worn by Thai rice pickers.
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  793.  @shauncameron8390  I will not, but maybe they will surprise us. Best to keep expectations low, sadly.
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  794. Indeed. What a wonderful turn of events if Guyana can avoid the curse of other oil-rich nations and becomes the Singapore of South America.
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  795.  @robwongls4948  That is not a rebuttal if you fail to provide evidence or rationale to back up your contention. I used an analogy, but if you don't understand what an analogy is, that is your problem. "Life is VERY simple, people just insist on making it overly and needlessly complicated," -Confucius, author of "The Analects".
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  796.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  If you want to talk about British colonialism, then it is fair game to bring up Turkish-Muslim colonialism. Shall we discuss the Moorish invasion and colonization of Iberia? What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And as far as drawing lines, if it wasn't the British who drew them, someone else would have drawn lines, and you would still be bitching about it. Spare me your moral outrage, you are the emperor with no clothes on.
    1
  797.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  Sure, blame the Brits for the Persians and the Arabs fighting each other since antiquity. Blame the Brits for the Arabs finding any pretext to fight among themselves over water, land, or even which Imam is the true successor to the Prophet. About the ONLY thing the Brits are guilty of is ignoring T.E. Lawrence's proposals. Even he knew that dividing the region along tribal lines was no guarantee for peace. The Howeitat and Hashims had plenty enough reasons to fight.
    1
  798.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  Sure, you keep lying to yourself about that. The Kuwaitis vehemently disagree with you.
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  799. I agree with roads along with that hydroelectric dam. I also believe that after upgrading their medical system, they should also invest in water purification and sanitation. Doing that will put Guyana in a position to become the Singapore of South America.
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  800.  @navinkv7024  Vassals, or equal partners? That is the problem with Americaphobes like you. You cannot possibly contemplate that Americans view the Brittans as half-brothers and the Norwegians as first-cousins.
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  801.  @daggerin4life726  Sounds to me like you are engaging in wishful thinking yourself. Russia is finished as a world power. China is unreliable and treacherous as an ally, just ask the Solomons or Sri Lanka. And you would drink the water straight from the river? Who is joking now? You clearly have never heard of Cholera, Giardia, or Dysentery.
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  802. I hope they are smart and use the revenues to first build that hydro-electric dam and then upgrade their medical system. They should then follow that up with sanitation and water purification so as to get a stranglehold on typical tropical diseases such as Malaria, Yellow Fever, Dysentery, Typhoid, and encephalitis. Once the water is safe to drink from the tap, then opening their beaches to tourism becomes a real viability, thereby diversifying their economy. There is great potential for Guyana to become the Singapore of South America.
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  803. What is the old military saying? "A combat ready unit will never pass parade inspection, while a parade ready unit will never survive in a combat situation"? The Russians even have a name for it: Sukhomlinov Effect.
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  804. Illusion of competition. When the government owns everything, you are not competing to provide the best product, you are competition to win the approval of your superiors. Case in point is the Trabant of East Germany.
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  805.  @robderich8533  "Ability to cooperate"? Eusocial creatures include bees and ant colonies. One could argue that they display MORE altruistic and cooperative behavior than humans. But humans are NOT insects in a colony as socialists would have us be. Your argument is fundamentally flawed.
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  806. Humans are creatures of conflict. We thrive in adversity and stagnate in periods of absolute harmony and cohesion. It is why when all of our needs are met, we STILL find trivial reasons to fight.
    1
  807.  @ABanRocks  It may be hurting Europe, but Gas Station Putin is feeling it harder. India and China are ripping off Russia.
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  808. And the fact that Russia doesn't have the storage capacity. Oil can freeze in the pipes.
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  809. Nagorno-Karabakh is not Armenian. Sto pushing fictions.
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  810.  @МаксимСоколов-д4я  Funny, because the deaths of civilians are a direct result of Putin's "little Green Men" entering the Donbas. Further, the casualties quadrupled AFTER the Russian drive to Kiev. If anything, that is the Russians fault, not the Ukrainians.
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  811. US agents bride Putin? That is some really strong Vodka you are drinking. Putin's Invasion of Ukraine is no different than the German annexation of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s or their invasion of Poland shortly thereafter. The biggest advocates for Ukraine have been the Poles because they know firsthand what happens when you appease a dictator.
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  812. Many went to the central Asian Republics where they were NOT particularly welcome.
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  813. If sanctions don't work, then why has it been relatively successful with neutering Iran's Airforce? The point of sanctions is to make the cost of doing business more burdensome. It is basically economic warfare.
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  814. If Russia could have ended the war, Kiev would not still stand. Putin could call home his forces and end it all but he won't. He is hurting Russia more than he is Ukraine's allies.
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  815.  @dragosstanciu9866  Only because Putin can't accept that his dreams of imperial conquest are over.
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  816.  @j.k.1239  Put down the vodka, Private Conscriptovich, you are so drunk you are hallucinating. Have you forgotten the mass exodus of Russian men to avoid the conscription (ie Putin's draft order)?
    1
  817. Indeed. Unemployment doesn't take into account people not looking for work. Considering that the MOD is issuing draft notices to places of employment, that is an incentive by Russian men to NOT hold a steady job.
    1
  818.  @ArchonLicht  Governments who seize private assets invariably destroy them. Or have you forgotten what Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela?
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  819.  @igory3789  Nice gish gallop there. Big on fancy words but lacking in any depth nor actual understanding. Most of your talking points are the same ones used by the "White Monkey" shills that China's CCP regularly employs .
    1
  820.  @igory3789  You are grasping at straws. An economy barely the size of Italy doesn't change global trade as drastically as you claim.
    1
  821. Russia's economy is barely the size of Italy. Throwing them out of Swift hurts Russia more than it does the rest of the World.
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  822. What you consider "proper alternatives" is not necessarily what they consider acceptable alternatives. LNG for the US is a viable one for many nations in Europe. Only Germany is against it because their insane green movement is also against nuclear power.
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  823.  @memesofproduction3  You forget the secondary sanctions that get the rest in line. Your naivety is astounding.
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  824.  @VladimirPutin-p3t  I see what you did there. My guess is that he honestly thinks Dihydrogen Monoxide is a poison.
    1
  825. Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Philippines, and Taiwan are white? Dude, you need to get better talking points than just racism.
    1
  826.  @aravgoel  That isn't an argument, that is an emotional outburst. It is also tacit acknowledgement that you can't back up your disparagement with facts. The truth points to itself and doesn't need your whinging to support it.
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  827. Islamophobia is the disparagement used by people who refuse to accept the truth. It is slander meant to scare people into silent obedience. How often do you hear Christans, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zorastrists, or Hindus screaming "Allahu Akbar!" ?????
    1
  828.  @MilanTheMan69  Yeah, and how many of those who joined ISIS were from Muslim dominated areas? How many were already radicalized in their local Mosques? Oh, and have you ever heard of the Bosnian SS? Lead by Haj Amin Al-Husseinini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, they did things that made even Himmler blanch.
    1
  829.  @crusaderboi9659  Nice apples to oranges false analogy. The fact that the Muslim word has NOT advanced at all regarding civil rights since the 14th century means your contention has zero merits. Don't make excuses by point to Christianity's past when we are discussing Islam's current behavior. Unless you want to first acknowledge cultural and legal stagnation in the Muslim world during that same period.
    1
  830.  @UnDEADToutom  "Christians in the middle east left because of conflict" So basically, you admit that they left because of violence from Muslims. If anything, you killed your own argument about generalization as you did exactly just that by making excuses.
    1
  831. How? Seems to me that the leftist leadership of Europe caused this by importing people from countries that hold incompatible values.
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  832. I don't think it did. The radicalism simply went underground to fester just like European Nazism had gone to ground.
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  833. They would have you believe in the "Stand Alone Complex". Except, that is something out of Japanese fiction, not reality.
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  834. "Evil" crusades? Don't make me laugh. The crusades were in response to raids by Islamic slavers on Mediterranean coasts. But the Islam apologists ignore those dirty little details. Ironically, Richard Lionheart and Saladin came to mutually respect each other. Makes you wonder how much different the world would be had their two houses been united as proposed before a sniper's arrow killed the King of England.
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  835. All part of John F. Kennedy's push for reducing taxes. He famously said that cutting taxes now will paradoxically raise future revenues.
    1
  836.  @bourbon4033  Wow, accuse me of what you did previously? You are only digging yourself into a deeper hole and convincing nobody. Now you try to act morally superior by saying you won't waste any more time. You are showing classic sour grapes.
    1
  837.  @bourbon4033  Yes, seriously. And your three posts one right after the other just further prove it. You are desperate and it shows.
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  838.  @bourbon4033  That isn't an argument, it is an emotional outburst. Also, you clearly don't understand the Laffer Curve which proves that raising taxes ALWAYS decreases revenues. It becomes something of an economic deathspiral when you try to raise taxes.
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  839.  @jwillsher80  Keynesian economics is NOT honest, nor is anyone who claims to subscribe to it. It is very much a form of top-down economics of the Soviet Command-control type that pretends to be market driven. Austrian economics, conversely, disproves the false assumptions of Keynesian. Carl Menger, Ludwig von Misses, Milton Freidman, Fredric Baistat, and Fredrick Hayek have all been proven right time and again.
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  840.  @jwillsher80  Well, President John F. Kennedy disagree with you on corporate rates. And most HONEST economists agree with him and Art Laffer.
    1
  841.  @lukabosanac2671  Funny, because the Japanese and South Koreans actually like the US. Unlike the Chinese, the US is the only country that came in to fight a war, and then went home. Even the Japanese were shocked at the magnanimity of the US, having helped to rebuild them after practically bombing them back to the stone age.
    1
  842. Indeed. The US needs to return to the tax rates John F. Kennedy advocated.
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  843.  @craigkdillon  Devil is ALWAYS in the details. Infantilizing them like that is exactly how socialist utopias degenerate into kleptocratic banana republics.
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  844.  @YouYou-sm8tf  Putting forward proposals that only exacerbate societal problems is NOT the answer; it only doubles down on those problems. Stop making excuses for policies that make the situation worse.
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  845.  @YouYou-sm8tf  Your proposals are not actually solving the problem, just putting a new bandage on top of the dirty bandage. It isn't solving the underlying societal problem. If anything, it is at best treating the symptom. Worse, it is only covering up the problem.
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  846.  @YouYou-sm8tf  The US National Park service warns NOT to feed the wildlife for it makes them dependent on humans and both a nuisance as well as a danger to themselves and the park guests. Same logic applies to welfare programs.
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  847.  @YouYou-sm8tf  You completely missed the point. It isn't about foreign vs native. The issue is that government subsidies is NOT the correct answer to single mother's financial problems. It only encourages MORE of them. And there IS a measurable correlation to single parent children and higher rates of poverty and crime in adulthood. This isn't new; it has been well known since antiquity.
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  848. There are benefits as well as drawbacks to a parliamentary system which you advocate. One only needs to look at the fiascos of Canada recently under Pretty boy Trudeau to see how a Parliamentarian fails spectacularly.
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  849.  @aoh4905  Funny how greed gets blamed for the evil of GLUTTONY. Consumption culture isn't greed, it is gluttonous. And for those who don't know the difference, the greedy tries to maintain value so will eat the oldest product first (even if it really should be thrown out). Gluttony hoards to the point of allowing perishables to go to waste (rot) just because they can.
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  850.  @Eric-jh5mp  Fair point. And I agree that a good patriarch (or matriarch is she was the brains behind the business) should teach their heir how to property manage the system. Even better when it is the grandchildren who are trained to run it and eventually inherit it directly.
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  851. Clown show on the US right? Surely you jest. Most of these economic policies are what the GOP BASE actually supports. It is the GOP establishment who is economically left-wing along with the Dems.
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  852.  @CoreIation  The problem is that most Asian countries still hold ethnic identity as defining part of what it means to be a citizen of that country. Years ago, there was a push in South Korea to adopt military service for citizenship, which the Korean population balked at. Even if you married a citizen of that country, there is no guarantee of citizenship. For my own part, they need to get out of the ethnic purity garbage and embrace the mixed children of their citizens who procreate with foreign spouses. Let the children born to a member of the US military and a local citizen have the choice of becoming a citizen of said country.
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  853. Bourgeois capitalism is what created the computer you are using right now. Bourgeois capitalism expanded on the DARPA program to give you the internet you are enjoying. If you hate capitalism so much, I invite you to move to North Korea where the ruling Worker's Party shares your ideology.
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  854. After the Ukrainians expel the occupying Russians from their territory, including Crimea, they should support the Belarusian rebels and dissidents with supplies and arms without going into the country themselves. Allow those dissidents to operate from their territory but do noy actively participate as it should be the Belarusians themselves that liberate their country from Putin's puppet.
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  855.  @badluck5647  At a time when Americans were experiencing the greats growth in personal income. I think you are looking at numbers without actually looking at the whole picture. "Lies, damn lies, and statistics," -Mark Twain. "Figures don't lie, but liars figure," -Mark Twain
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  856.  @KevinLyda  "Renewable energy" is a sham. If it was truly profitable, there would already be a John D. Rockefeller of green energy. That there is not one shows that it is a boondoggle.
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  857.  @johnsmith-cw3wo  Learn to debate. You haven't proven anything except that you are ruled by emotions and can't be bothered to do your due diligence.
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  858.  @johnsmith-cw3wo  Nice job attacking the messenger rather than debating the merits of the message. Thank you for essentially tacitly admitting defeat.
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  859.  @Homer-OJ-Simpson  Wow, you just proved Perun's point about Russian propagandists. You fill out all of the checkboxes: 1: Lack of commitment of Objective Reality: you hold emotional claims that you agree with as automatically correct regardless of facts. 2: Unilateral Thinking: You cite as evidence things that directly contradict your narrative. 3: Lack of commitment to consistency: You will make contraditory and conflicting claims that are mutually exclusive. You ignore nuance in favor of absolutism. And the goal is to chaff the information space and create just enough confusion to make people simply disengage rather than debate.
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  860.  @Homer-OJ-Simpson  You didn't even watch the video did you? At 15:25 they address all of that under the WTO's Favored Nation clause. But like a typical America hater, you chose to ignore the dirty little details that destroy your narrative.
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  861.  @willjapheth23789  Intellectual laziness I take it? The Great Depression was caused by out-of-control banking institutions, not trade tariffs. Try reading the Glass-Stegal Act and you will understand the WHY that created the Great Depression.
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  862. Wow, talk about an Anglophobic perspective. Purchasing power is only part of the equation. You seem to forget that in the trade, the partner nations DOES get something of equitable value DESPITE the purchasing power disparity. Where you are taking issue has more to do with the ruling elites of said trade partner not sharing the wealth with their laborers who are exploited.
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  863.  @jeffreyschnedar8020  And yet again with the false narrative. You are only looking at the top 100 companies, not the vast majority of businesses. Trying to compare the Fortune 500 to the rest of the business world is apples to oranges false analogy. MOST small business CEOs are also the principle investor. Which means if the company loses money, THEY personally lose their shirt. If the business folds, the employees lose their job, but the CEO loses EVERYTHING. Again, don't pretend that the top 100 in any way represent the rest of the world.
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  864.  @kasper2970  The grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence. For one, your "universal medicine" is abominably bad. Zero innovation and breakthroughs. You have to wait as much as six months to see a doctor. Affordability is NOT the same as accessibility; you experience medical rationing. As far as education, yet again you are being dishonest. The elites and well connected do get good education, but the regular citizen does not. You hide it behind testing that skews in favor of the elites at the expense of the working class. Education is treated just like medicine: those with power can get it, but the commoner doesn't. And don't get me started on the abuse of labor with regards to doing the bare minimum. When you can't get fired for incompetence, there is no accountability and much graft and corruption. "They pretended to pay us, and we pretended to work," -joke about the "workers' paradise" of the USSR.
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  865. @Kam Exactly. The most vocal advocates of socialism have never actually had to live under it. And they contemptuously dismiss the experiences of those who have. Yeah, the Tytler cycle you quoted reminds me of George S. Patton's speech to the Third Army about how the cowards will breed like rats.
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  866. And the fact that America's elites have benefited while allowing foreign interests to rip off the country hasn't helped either.
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  867. When "free trade" partners are subsidizing their local industries to complete with foreign companies, that is NOT free trade.
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  868. Free Trade is the Globalist's wet dream. Globalism cannot occur without it.
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  869.  @kasper2970  Yeah, why is it that for all of those supposed "research" subsidies, very little in the way of actual innovation occurs in EU countries? Why is it that the US and Israel dominate with the South Koreans and Japanese a distant third? Actually, goes to a very simple answer, one explained quite well in the book "Wealth of Nations". It is the top-down model which stifles creativity and innovation because it upsets the status quo. You can make excuses and use all the deflections and verbosity you want, Europe just isn't competitive against the US without the local governments putting their thumb on the scale.
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  870.  @gingernutpreacher  Oh, I agree that Obama was an Anglophobia. That was in part because of his man-bitch father and floozy of a mother who was just as rabidly anti-west. My point is that Biden is Obama's third term will ALL of the Obama activist radical staffers carried over. I also agree that the nations of the English Commonwealth ARE natural allies because of our shared heritage. Sadly, the precepts of English common law have fallen by the wayside.
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  871. Chomsky isn't entirely correct, though. NAFTA has empowered the "workers of the world unite" unionist movement. In particular, his complete embrace of Marx's labor theory of value is rather bizarre considering that it has been completely disproven by the likes of Carl Menger, August von Misses, and Fredrick Hayek.
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  872. Very well described. I wish more people realized what you see.
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  873. Trump, yes. Biden, no. Biden's policies are basically a repeat of the Obama policies.
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  874.  @DiviAugusti  TPP isn't a self-own, it was acknowledgement that the agreement was basically giving the store away to China. Keep shilling for the globalist elites who think of you as nothing more than chattel.
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  875.  @skp8748  "Force Imperialism"? I don't think you understand what empire building. entails. The Soviets built and empire of "Democratic Socialism" by the sword. The US built a free world through trade, not by the gun.
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  876.  @somethingelse9535  That is the logical thought process, but those who often start wars rarely use logical reasoning. They often think it is simply easier to conquer and steal by force than it is to trade. Just look at Russia's actions in its former colonies (namely the Central Asian States)
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  877.  @davidtaylor351  Yeah, it is just a shame that MacArthur was such a prick that he didn't let the Aussies and Kiwis form parts of the vanguard during many of those battles. In particular, had Operations Coronet and Olympic been carried out, they would only have succeeded with the critical participation of Commonwealth troops. As Erwin Rommel said, if he was to take hell, he would use to Aussies to capture it, and the Kiwis to hold it.
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  878. If only that were true. Australia is "little brother". And I say that with great affection. The relationship between America and the Land Down under is closer than the much talked about "special" relationship between the US and UK. In EVERY war the US has engaged in, Australia has ALWAYS been there watching our six.
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  879. Where is the dividing line between the two? As the smallest Continent, it arguably blurs the line.
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  880.  @dragosstanciu9866  As George Carlin pointed out, it is all a farce. The people whining about climate change were saying global cooling in the 1970s only to change their tune to global warming in the 1980s. Truth is, they are pushing neo-pagan Gaia worship.
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  881. I think the US already has such an agreement with the Aussies and the Kiwis. But for the most part the US leaves everything south of the Equator to them making such stop-over mostly irrelevant.
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  882. Indeed. These hysterics to the point of farce are not building any credibility to their points.
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  883.  @phillipheaton9832  Paradox. Some things produce the exact opposite effect that you think will occur.
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  884.  @nortonnevis7252  Yeah, some of what you read in books is complete fiction. Capitalism, for all of its flaws has improved the human condition in ways that no other economic system has. More people have been lifted out of poverty by capitalism than ever were lifted out by socialism/communism.
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  885. Good for you. The planet can sustain more people and doesn't care about your feelings. As George Carlin quipped, "the planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas".
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  886. Claiming that Korea will go extinct is hysterical to the point of being a farce. The population will decline to an equilibrium point and then stabilize.
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  887. What is bad for men is also bad for women. It takes two to tango. It takes both genders to sustain the species. Kill all of the men and the women will not have breeding partners, and vice versa.
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  888. Good luck with that. My experience is that Korean women think they are too good for Western men. In many ways, they are just as picky as Western women, only they are not nearly as obnoxious.
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  889.  @samthesuspect  Token concessions are grasping at straws. The Kaesong industrial complex was a sham that allowed the Kims to get hard cash to finance their weapons programs. And that is but one example of them playing people for fools.
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  890. Yeah, something tells me you have zero knowledge about the Korean war and why your proposal is intellectually lazy.
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  891. EXACTLY! More people need to read up what Confucius said about the strength of the nation being directly tied to the integrity of the family.
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  892.  @divx1001  Increased productivity occurs whether governments want it to or not. Innovation occurs DESPITE government attempts to stifle it. And no, you thinking that a smaller tax base will produce more revenues is a misapplication of production formulas to fiscal policy. Increased productivity doesn't inherently increase the tax base as the pay compensation doesn't directly correlate. And no, you are completely wrong about government investment. Government doesn't do ANYTHING correctly, not even national defense which IS the one thing it is good at. Government is destructive force and the taking from one to give to another. Free Markets are ALWAYS more efficiently than top-down command ecnomics.
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  893.  @Sol-ps8ox  Omnivores tend to be apex predators. However, the shift towards herbaceous heavy diets means that the classic predator pyramid doesn't apply anymore. We have become more like foraging herd animals: dumb and stupid as a group. You know how that population is kept healthy?
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  894. "More food available"? You realize that the West has NEVER reached peak production capacity with regards to food production? And you are sounding an awful lot like Mao Zedong and Pol Pot. They got rid of several million people as you propose. Was that really a good thing?
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  895. Right now, the ONLY way one can become a Korean citizen is if they are ethnically Korean. That kind of discourages any immigration. They should at least allow a foreigner who marries or is married a Korean national to have a path to citizenship. Fast track it if the marriage produces mixed children.
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  896. As Ukraine has proven, technology, training, and terrain are force multipliers. The North may have the numbers, but the South has the same advantages that Ukraine is enjoying over the Russians.
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  897. Not really. The planet can actually sustain MORE people because we have no gotten anywhere near full agricultural capacity.
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  898. Immigration is only a solution when assimilation into the host culture is mandatory. That is why the East Asian immigrant populations are so successful in Western nations: they adopt the culture they move into, not try and completely replace it.
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  899. You repeat exactly what Partick J, Buchanan points out in his book "Suicide of a Superpower". He got fired from MSNBC for making the same points you have.
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  900.  @Latinoamerica837  Yeah, Partick J. Buchanan made a similar observation in his book "Suicide of a Superpower" which got him fired from MSNBC. He notices that orthodox and traditionalist families in Israel have 8-10 kids while the liberals rarely have 2 kids. That invariably means that in such a nation, the trend will be towards to politics that creates the most offspring. In Israel's case, that means the future belongs to Netanyahu's coalition.
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  901. Yeah, Israel tried that with the Kibbutz system. It failed spectacularly, in no small part because the lack of genuine parental figures in the lives of the children. Further, the children raised communally failed to develop adult relationships within their cohort, treating them as siblings rather than potential partners.
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  902. Yeah, I think that is already happening. Or have you not been paying attention to the flood of illegal aliens flooding into but the US and the EU?
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  903.  @Obscurai  And yet again you engage in intellectual dishonesty. You conflate recent developments with historical norms and pretend that they are one and the same. You are NOT debating in good faith but instead engaging in moral relativism to push an ideology of destruction and devastation.
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  904. No joke. Numerous studies have conclusively linked single parent families to a rise in crime, lower education and employment opportunities, teen pregnancy, societal collapse. It is a truism that Confucius knew from personal experience and warned future generations not to repeat.
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  905. Indeed. As Confucius observed, the strength of the nation comes from the integrity of the family.
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  906. Not going to happen while the Kims still rule DPRK with an iron fist.
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  907.  @Obscurai  And yet most of the people holding the power in government are boomers, not the yougner generation. Boomers have held the levers of power longer than any other generation in history. They were the first of the silver spoon cohorts who never actually had to struggle just to survive unlike their predecessors.
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  908. Koreans will not go extinct. The authors of this video are being hyperbolic to the point of being a farce. The population will decrease to an equilibrium point, then stabilize.
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  909.  @casualsuede  And that is the kicker. Everyone wants to live in Seoul hence the high rates. Costs in smaller towns like Pyongtaek, Suncheon, and the like are much lower.
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  910.  @vaccinatedanti-vaxxer  Yeah, Suncheon has a very stable population with plenty of young folks. I almost married a girl from there, but she wasn't ready. Most Korean wait until their late 20s, early 30s and she was just getting out of college in her early 20s.
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  911. I tend to agree. Most social safety nets in the West are glorified Ponzi schemes. Japan has come to terms with their stagnant population and have accepted austerity, unlike the spoiled adult-children in the EU and the US.
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  912. Yeah, the hysterical and hyperbolic statements about "extinction" is over the top to the point of farcical. The population will decrease to an equilibrium point. Either the system will implode FORCING people to have more children, or the pressures discouraging people having children will self-correct.
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  913. Ah, but then there is a perverse problem in your proposal. By prioritizing mothers first and dads second, you actually DISCOURAGE proper child rearing. You actually destabilize the situation and make it worse. I don't fault you for trying to find a solution, but there are underlying factors that run counter to the foundation of your premise.
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  914. I think they want to maintain their cultural identity. The US is having a bi-polar personality disorder with regards to its cultural identity.
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  915.  @JohnCSmith-lp1qr  No, they don't. That is pure Kremlin propaganda. Most of the civilian casualties are a direct result of Russian artillery.
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  916.  @tacticalcenter8658  Talking about yourself again? You clearly lack self-awareness.
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  917.  @tacticalcenter8658  And you are a Russian troll.
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  918.  @tacticalcenter8658  You would know, considering that you are a victim of the Kremlin's lies on a daily basis.
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  919.  @tacticalcenter8658  You don't see both sides either. You reject anything that clearly disproves your myopic narrative. Learn to debate rather than use emotional appeals (logical fallacy).
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  920.  @tacticalcenter8658  Yeah, the Russians, particularly Putin. Ask yourself why so many Putin critics end up dead under suspicious situations.
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  921. Jews are the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
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  922.  @matthiasmuller7677  Your logic is fatally flawed. Your claim that it is a moral issue is emotional argument. And your use of insults and ad hominins only shows you cannot debate merits and is a tacit admission that you have lost the plot. "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -attributed to Plato. "When your argument is weak, abuse the plaintiff," -Marcus Tullius Cicero "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” ― Margaret Thatcher
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  923.  @matthiasmuller7677  Wow, that whole post was nothing BUT emotion and lacked any logic. Your strawman about measuring territory in bodies is a logical FALLACY. That you keep clinging to it in the fact of data that disproves it is an emotional appeal. The fact that Ukraine successfully fought off the siege of Kiev against a better equipped and numerically superior foe is already a victory. That they fought the nominally 2nd strongest military in the world to a draw for three months is also a win. Your problem is that you are a defeatist and a negative Nancy. You are the kind of person that thinks the UK should have surrendered to Nazi Germany after the Battle for London. You are the kind of person who believed that after Coral Sea, the US should have gone to the negotiation table with Japan in the Pacific.
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  924.  @matthiasmuller7677  That you think this is unwinnable for Ukraine shows your complete contempt for what they have already achieved. Takes a troll to know a troll dude, pot meet kettle.
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  925.  @matthiasmuller7677  Typical response of an armchair Quarterback general who is completely ignorant of military history. Why do you try picking up a book about the Pacific Campaign in WW2 or the Battle of Verdun in WW1? Or even the costly battles of the US Civil War such as Cold Harbor or Stones River? "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic," -Jospeh Stalin. "In him I found a man who can stomach the awful arithmetic of War," -Abraham Lincoln when he refused to fire Ulysses Sam Grant.
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  926.  @matthiasmuller7677  RUSSIA USES CONSCRIPTS. Most of Ukraine's frontline fighters are volunteers. Or have you forgotten that at the start of the war the Ukraine government was turning away volunteers? Funny how you accuse Zelensky and his government of the very things Putin and his government have been doing. Perhaps you need to reassess whom your vitriol is directed at.
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  927. He has a domestic audience to consider. The international audience is secondary. And what foreign politicians think about how he looks is irrelevant.
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  928.  @ImGodSoAreYou  Wow, triggered huh? Keyboard warrior, pot let me introduce you to Kettle.
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  929.  @nobblkpraetorian5623  Didn't actually read my post, did you? What part of "AFTER HIS TERM" did you not understand? An honest reading of what my post was would assume that I was equating to Washington's presidential term and NOT his tenure as General of the Continental Army.
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  930. Nice job victim blaming. Russia didn't have to invade. Don't make excuses for unjustified military incursions.
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  931.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Wow, prance around the issue without actually addressing the elephant in the room. My flesh and blood heirs are mixed race. Fetishism only cares about sexual gratification, not about procreation, legacy or inheritance. I am glad we see eye to eye on the issue of open markets of ideas. John F. Kennedy was absolutely right that the American people CAN be entrusted with foreign ideas and alien concepts. And be able to judge truth from falsehood. (basically restructured his quote there) You touched on Greco-Buddhism wish is one of the great stories of antiquity that most people are not aware of. While I have no doubt that Buddhism did make it to the near East in Antiquity, I find myself wondering how much different the world would be if those Eastern philosophies had taken root in the West. A final interesting point relating to Greco-Buddhism is that Raiden(Rajin) in Japanese Shino myths is basically Zeus and Fujin is Aeolus/Zepher. Both evolved on their trip west to the land of the rising sun to what the Japanese remember them.
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  932.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Your point? And yes, I DID marry an Asian girl. And have two mixed Hapa sons. To the operative point, I am VERY much a fan of cross-cultural pollination. It makes the gestalt greater than the sum of its parts. Modern Asia shows what the best of East and West can achieve when they play off each other.
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  933. Tinseltown at one time had that power. But they have squandered it over the past decade. When ideology and "correct think" take priority over producing a quality product, you get something akin to the Soviet "ministry of culture" in Stain's 1930s USSR.
    1
  934. How big is Central and South America? After Africa, Latin America taken together is the fastest growing part of the world, rivaling even India.
    1
  935.  @maccurtis730  Nice copium. Woke is a LEFTIST ideology. Mindy Kaling (Velma showrunner) is a leftist. Most of your dictators in the world today are leftists. The right does not have the institutional power your ideology has enjoyed over the last three decades. If people are being driven to the right, it is because your ideology's failures have been exposed for all to see.
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  936. Put down the vodka, comrade, you are so drunk that you are hallucinating.
    1
  937. While it is never a good idea to handle radioactive materials with bare hands, not all radiation is the same. Alpha particle emitters CAN be handled safely as the radiation cannot penetrate the skin. The Beta emitters will easily penetrate skin. The bigger concern is the gamma radiation that both produce.
    1
  938.  @LC-fe7be  " some incel American libertarian loser virgin pos" And with that you just proved that you are NOT here honestly. Calling someone an incel just proves you are yet another woke scold anti who can't debate but has to resort to insults because he has lost the plot. BTW, I have two biracial sons. How is that for a virgin incel?
    1
  939. Yeah, and he was not particularly fond of blacks. A lot of people don't realize that he was a raging racist.
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  940.  @internetzone165  Spare me. Even the French didn't think the Ukrainians had it in them. And the French are often the contrarian in the NATO alliance.
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  941. And a lot of folks don't realize he was calling for genocide of blacks in the Americas.
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  942. The Lower Planes Blood War between the Baatorians and Tanar'ri.
    1
  943.  @M-J-qn8td  Yeah, I see lots of Anglophobic attacks and zero acknowledgement of France's own culpability. Were the British perfect? Hardly. But the record DOES show that the French were far worse. And they were just as exploitative as the Brits. Don't make excuses for French colonial atrocities and exploitation.
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  944.  @M-J-qn8td  Yeah, I am calling BS on your claims. French Africa had its own resources (oil for example), otherwise the French would not have bothered with it.
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  945. The point they are making is that early on the Brits did develop their colonies while the French dithered. Yes, you can say that the Brits had a head start, but that misses the point they were making in that you have to consider the respective timelines of the colonizing power. Compare 20 to 30 years into the endeavor as a side-by-side comparison and the difference is stark.
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  946. I agree. Tuva and Yakutia should be independent nations.
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  947.  @heralds5662  Just wait. A good commie will eventually act like the Venice Banker demanding that pound of flesh. And they will ALWAYS demand the most valuable cut.
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  948.  @SBU_007  Just wait. The Ukrainians are chomping at the bit to take it back.
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  949.  @robw6954  Yeah, and who was causing death and suffering before the US got involved in the Middle East? Ever heard of TE Lawrence and the Arab Revolt? Sorry, the Muslims have been fighting among themselves since antiquity, so you cannot place all of the blame at the feet of the US.
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  950. I think a more nuanced perspective is better than an absolutist approach you are taking. While I agree that the French is Africa has been an unmitigated disaster, the American presences in Europe has kept the peace for almost 80 years. If not for the US, most of Europe would be speaking Russian today.
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  951. The US has already experimented with "adventurism" in Africa, namely the nation of Liberia. After Doctor David Livingstone's misadventures, there has been little appetite in the US for playing around in the "Heart of Darkness".
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  952.  @ernestkhalimov1007  That is a false choice dilemma you present along with a strawman arugment. I am for a third option: namely empowerment of the locals. They can self-finance WITHOUT needing to submit to a foreign colonizing power. But the only reason why that won't happen is because of corruption in local leadership, which has been a problem since antiquity.
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  953.  @CharDhue  Debt is the chains of slavery by other means. Don't think that there is any actual difference between the two examples you used.
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  954. Yeah, India is ripping off Russia by demanding a 30% discount on oil. Energy security has nothing to do with it, they are being opportunists, not that it is a bad thing. I actually applaud them for ripping off Putin.
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  955. "Lastest technologies"? Have you not seen how Russia's most advanced MiGs and Sukhois have performed? Have you not seen how their beloved T-90 has fared? And as I recall, India is greatly disappointed in the carrier Admiral Gorshkov they received. Make no mistake, with Russia you get complete garbage.
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  956. The enemy of my enemy can be an ally. if China chooses to go to war with India, it would be of great benefit to India if the West opened a second front with China to divide their power. India cannot face the Dragon on its own and hope for a certain outcome.
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  957. @Reeshi Tas Considering that India is demanding a 30% discount on oil from Russia, I don't blame them for ripping off Putin. Further, if India takes Russian oil at a steep discount, it relieves pressure on the price of oil from other locations.
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  958.  @akarshchandrashekar552  American has gotten over its historic exploitation of minority populations. Yours has not. Even the Japanese treat the former burakumin "untouchable" populations better.
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  959.  @harshdata5784  And your post shows you are a pigeon knocking over the pieces of a chess board thinking it is accomplishing something. The highest virtue in debate is by quoting a well-known source. If you can't understand that, then you have no business even trying to engage in a debate.
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  960.  @shobhanamishra8259  And the details of that case showed that he had a lethal dose of fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine. Your narrative is a complete lie.
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  961.  @prajjwal1010  When someone makes a moral argument about and against the West, don't be surprised when the response (ie clap back) is in kind. If you can't understand that, then you have lost the plot.
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  962.  @AmitCYT  Not really, Sure you can attempt to turn it in your favor all you want, but I am pointing out objective facts, while you are engaging in guttersniping. But then that is not surprising considering the cultural Marxist ideology you are espousing.
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  963.  @nishantmaderna6295  More lies and myths to sooth your own ego huh? The easiest person to fool is yourself. "Belief in myths allows for the comfort of opinion WITHOUT the discomfort of thought," -President John F. Kennedy.
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  964.  @madpete6438  Does not surprise me. I have found that Indians have their own haughtiness, though they try to deny it. It just manifests in a way less obvious to Americans or many Europeans. If one is familiar with East Asian concepts of "saving face", it becomes MUCH easier to spot Indian arrogance.
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  965.  @madpete6438  Oh, they ARE doing something, just not as loud and boisterous. They are demanding a 30% discount on Russian oil. They are ripping him off at the same time they are throwing a life-line.
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  966.  @adurpandya2742  There you go again shifting the blame. Exxon leaving was a direct result of Putin's war of aggression. He is responsible, not western companies. Also, there are NOT billions of people in Russia's Far East territories, much less Sakhalin. There isn't even a billion people in all of Russia! Nor is there a billion in the US. Your hyperbolae undercut your argument. Further, it is quite clear from the conscription and mobilization that Putin doesn't give a dead rat's butt about the people of Sakhalin. He is clearly an ethno-nationalist and couldn't give a damn about the Asiatic peoples of his Far East territories. I will point out that those people would be living a VASTLY different lifestyle if Sakhalin Island was under either Japanese or South Korean jurisdiction
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  967.  @adurpandya2742  And you think Putin cares about any of that? It is Putin who chose to invade Ukraine. It is Putin who chose to engage in oil brinksmanship. It is Putin who could end all of this today if he just pulled back his army. Put the blame for all of those deaths squarely on whom it belongs: the Napoleon Complex in the Kremlin.
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  968. India is demanding a 30% discount on oil from Russia. And since Russia has no other options, they comply. India is NOT experiencing the oil price crunch the rest of the world is experiencing.
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  969.  @jont2576  I think you greatly underestimate the love of gold. Mammon's charms make even the most reasonable and principled men succumb. Just look at Washington DC. Rand Paul is about the only man in that city to remain untainted by the corrupting influence of money.
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  970. Everyone is motivated by money in some fashion. Some are just more honest about it than others.
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  971.  @garyish  Starting at 8:30 in the video, they cover ALL of this. Again, you prove that at best you were not paying attention and at worst not even bothering to see what the video even had to say. And yes, Russia being the beggar can't be choosy. Which is why the Indians are taking them to the cleaners.
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  972.  @garyish  Just because YOU don't think it is an appropriate analogy doesn't mean I am wrong. The parallels are undeniable. Again, you have not even bothered to watch the video and EVERYTHING I have said is pointed out. And all of your talking points are debunked if you even bother to watch and do your due diligence.
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  973.  @garyish  Wow, the analogy went completely over your head, didn't it? I didn't call Russia a rabbit, I was saying that its oil revenues were akin to eating rabbit. And no, some revenues is NOT better than no revenues. As you even concede, they could refuse to sell if they are taking a loss. You in effect proved my point.
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  974.  @garyish  You have never heard of Rabbit Starvation, have you? Sometimes nothing at all is better than a sub-par diet. India buying Russia oil at a steep discount is just that, rabbit starvation. The prices that India is demanding is just barely above cost of production. And bulk will NOT make up difference because as the video points out, the gains selling to India does NOT make up the losses from elsewhere. Seriously, did you even watch the video in its entirely or are you just commenting to troll because you have nothing better to do?
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  975.  @garyish  Except, they ARE ripping off the Russians. The buyers' market is just a flimsy excuse by people who are not looking at the whole picture. Russia should be getting a premium for their oil, but they are NOT. Anything less than full price on the open market is a net loss for Russia.
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  976. Well, and India is ripping off Russia by demanding a 30% discount, so they are clearly not doing Russia any favors. The way I see it is that by India taking Russian oil at a discount rather than from other oil producers, it is effectively just moving around the deck chairs. The added benefit is that Indian demand being removed from the equation helps to keep things form being FAR worse.
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  977.  @mr.nobody125  You are fooling yourself if you think you can stay out of war forever just by staying neutral. Sooner rather than later Red China will decide it is time to pluck the feathers of the Peacock of South Asia. And no, you will NOT lose your momentum by picking a side, that is a strawman argument. "War cannot be avoided, merely delayed to the advantage of one side," -Carl von Clausewitz.
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  978.  @sharathnair642  Wow, high and mighty yet completely ignorant of your own history. All of the little Rajah principalities fighting amongst yourselves is precisely WHY the British conquered you. The unity against Alexnader the Great having been lost forgotten. Yes, your values are different. But not so different that one cannot understand them clearly. Again, your own history has shown that when not presented with an outside threat, you are more than happy to fight amongst yourselves. As far as the "Third World", the video even points out that your own leaders coined that term to describe their position of neutrality. While I disagree with neutrality for its own sake, I can applaud the message of empowerment and self-determination that India has wanted to champion during the Cold War.
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  979.  @shashwatmaurya8599  Wow, talk about a response similar to petulant child. You would cozy up to China just to spite the West? Me thinks you are an Anglophobe. You gain nothing but doing that.
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  980. Don't count your eggs before the hatch. How long did the Kherson offensive last? Longer than the current one, that is for sure.
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  981. Territory that Russia stole from TUkrey, who stole it from Kevian Rus. We can play the very same game that La Raza loves to play regarding Texas and California.
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  982. Funny how people conveniently ignore that Russia has violated every agreement it ever made with independent Ukraine.
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  983. The Black Sea Fleet has already essentially relocated to Novorossiya. What remains there now is just a token force just to say that they are still there.
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  984. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, the presumed fall of Kiev. Just like then you people vastly underestimate the Ukrainians.
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  985. Kremlin propaganda will make you think the sky is green. Oryx tells a vastly different story. One that makes me ask where you even get your statistic of 30% from. BTW, Oryx uses visual confirmation, so your "Russian sources" unless they have photo evidence is just embellishment (vranyo).
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  986.  @coderentity2079  Why is it that people think Trump wouldn't support Ukraine? Putin didn't dare do anything while "orange man" was in the White House. He stole Crimea while Biden was directing Obama's foreign policy. He invaded after Joe Bite-me got elected. If anything, it is the Bidens who have been Putin's greatest ally. It has taken the Brits to brow-beat the White House into getting off its duff. While the US has been supplying the most, it is only because the UK and the Warsaw Pact NATO members have shamed the White House into doing so.
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  987.  @coderentity2079  The Russian Black fleet has essentially retreated to Novorossiya. Sure, they can lob missiles as Odessa, but the possibility of capturing it is astronomically small and would first require a complete collapse of Ukrainian morale.
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  988. Since the sinking of the Moskva, the threat of Odessa being invaded from the sea evaporated. And the Kherson retreat closed the door on a land invasion of the city. So, to answer your question, there isn't even a reason to ask.
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  989. So long as Russia holds Crimea, they threaten Odessa. That makes it a non-starter to any peace deal.
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  990.  @skp8748  Yeah, I suspect your "Crimean celebrations" were staged just like Russia was going to do when they marched into Kiev. Look up what a Potemkin Village is.
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  991. Russia already lost when they failed to capture Kiev. They failed to prevent the expansion of NATO since both Sweden and Finland are now members. By and REASONABLE metric, Russia has already lost as thoroughly as the Japanese did at Midway and Guadalcanal.
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  992.  @jeremypuckett9533  Ukraine tried to set expectations low. The Russians will try to claim anything less than a rapid breakthrough is a failure. The Land battle for Guadalcanal in WW2 was several months long.
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  993.  @apsurd.apsurda  Nice appeal to emotion logical fallacy. Also, Russia and the US are NOT the same. Apples to oranges false analogy. For one, Russia forbids private ownership of firearms. Second, the fact that Wanger got so far down the highway unopposed shows that not even the Russians are willing to defend their own territory.
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  994.  @apsurd.apsurda  If over a thousand days go by of active combat, it is likely the UAF will be at the doors of Moscow. The elite units of Russia such as 1st Guards Tank Army and the 155th Naval Infantry have been ground to dust.
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  995. Yeah, I think most of them remember how obnoxious the Palestinians were when they lived in Jordan and Lebanon. Hamas and Hezbollah are simply proxies of Iran, and the Arabs don't trust Persian puppets.
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  996.  @dswynne  Those two points are something of a red herring, often used by the leaders of Arab countries as a strawman argument to distract their own domestic populations. To the first one, the "Palestinians" (really just Arabs in Judea) already have their own territory and government in the Gaza and what have they done with it? The Saudis, Lebanese, and Egyptians are getting tired of both Hamas and Hezbollah, especially as they have effectively become proxy agents of Iran. As for Fatah, they have shown to be just as corrupt and so the other Arabs have chosen to no longer waste money on them. As for the Al-Aqsa Compound, Israel has had ample opportunity to dispose of it yet have chosen not to do so. Time and again they have allowed it to remain unmolested, and it is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. So, no, those two issues are NOT obstructions but merely distractions and excuses.
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  997.  @randommonkey4900  Israeli Army has time and again defeated numerically superior foes. They are about the only Western Nation that can truly claim to be battle tested.
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  998.  @puntmannoor3403  Wow you ignore history. But I get that as you don't want peace, so you ignore the data points that refute your claims. Jordan and Lebanon have made peace with Israel because they have learned first-hand that Israel is no greater enemy, no better friend. Having been crushed by the IDF, they opted for trade instead and have flourished. Now contrast that to Iran who nominally does have a say in their government. How great have things really been for that nation? Your problem is that you refuse to accept living alongside the Jews because you refuse to let go of the legacy of Haj Iman Al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, commander of the Bosnian SS, and first chairman of the PLO. As Golda Mier pointed out, peace will only come when Arabs value their children more than they hate Jews.
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  999.  @dunnowy123  Not denying that the US was a bridge. Simply pointing out the fallacy that peace is not possible between Israel and the Arab states. UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Trans-Jordan ALL have formalized relations with the Jewish state.
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  1000. Large Hadrion collider, my friend.
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  1001. Arab NATO would fall apart without Israeli support. The Arabs fear the Persians more than they fear the Jew.
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  1002. Indeed. It is as if they blatantly ignore the fact that the Abraham Accords was on Trump's watch. They want to pretend it never happened so they can incorrectly attribute it to Joe Bite-Me.
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  1003.  @Cataclysm-08-36  As opposed to the Muslim Conquests of the past? How about the sacking of Constantinople? How about the Moorish invasion and occupation of Iberia? For all of the charges you throw at the west, I can point to five in the opposite direction.
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  1004. Apparently, you not aware that Arab Muslims are part of the ruling coalition government in the Israeli Knesset.
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  1005. Agreed. The ASEAN members need to temporarily set aside their disagreements among themselves and present a united front against China, preferably in the Parcel Islands. Stop the Chinese there with a joint coalition force consisting of Philippines, Vietnamese, Malayans, and Indonesians and it would force the Chinese completely out of the area.
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  1006. The closets Arab country to Isarel is Trans-Jordan. And they would be the first to tell you that they chose the Israelis over the Arabs who call themselves Palestinian. Most of them still remember the Dawson Field Hijackings of the 1970s.
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  1007. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1008. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1009. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1010. Exactly. PLAGUE ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES! At least Trump came in like a bull in a China shop and shook things up a bit. Status Quo in DC is death to the nation.
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  1011. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1012. You are correct that abominable monetary policies by the Fed are the main reason for American economic woes. Thomas Jefferson warned us about the dangers of banking institutions and those institutions taking control of the money supply. It is the same system manipulation that Alex Hamilton and Henry Knox engaged in that lead to Shay's Rebellion.
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  1013. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1014.  @johnmyster  Why? What is the rational? What is the reasoning? I have news for you, the average age for the Delegates to the Constitution Convention of 1787 were under 35. Those men were much smarter than you or I. You ignore them at everyone's peril.
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  1015.  @tauceti8060  Minimum is 45 years old. The US founder set it at that for a reason. Anyone younger doesn't have the life experience to be the executive of a country. Interestingly, GOVERNORS make the best presidents. Probably because the tow offices have many of the same responsibilities.
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  1016. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1017.  @nuclear1617  I will agree with your second point. The Boomers have held onto power far longer than any other generation in American history. it is long past time they hand over control to someone OTHER than their own kids.
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  1018.  @lSeKToRl  "Needs" like a Netflix or Amazon streaming subscription? Spare me. Yes, big business took advantage of the carveouts meant for small businesses. But then that was the point, wasn't it? It was corporate welfare for the campaign donors of the politicians who passed it. I agree with you about the market correction part though. And the more the government tries to interfere with that correction, the worse the rebound is going to be. Deflationary periods ALWAYS occur after artificial inflation caused by government and hedge funds manipulating the system to extract wealth while putting nothing of value into the system.
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  1019. No, inflation is cause by more paper money in the system than there is product to buy with it. In this case, the "Quantitative easing" (ie just printing money with nothing to back it ala Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe) programs in conjunction with the Covid stimulus checks put money in the hands of people not producing anything. Then you have the issue of people getting paid more to NOT work than they would by returning to their jobs.
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  1020. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1021.  @jeffersonwright9275  Yeah, none of those will actually solve the problems they claim to address. ALL of them are giveaways of tax payer money to campaign doners. Stop making excuses for the people stealing from you. Stop rewarding your abusers.
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  1022. Wow, what rock did you crawl out from? The facts don't support anything you imply.
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  1023. The GOP has not shifted to the right, they have actually shifted left over the years. It is the LEFT who has gone full Bolshevick. Trump on social issues was left of Both Bushes and Reagan. He was actually left of Bill Clinton on a number of issues as well. But starting with Obama, you had Democrat candidates who make Leon Trotsky look like a conservative.
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  1024.  @st.m7865  How? Details. Incidentally, Joe Bite-me through his son Hunter clearly undermined the US. As Yevgrav said in "Doctor Zhivago", if you have a man's brother, you are halfway to controlling him. Hence, if you have a man's son, you are likely 80% of the way to controlling him.
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  1025. In theory, yes. But The House has long given away the power over the purse to the administrative state.
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  1026. Look up Jonn F. Kenney's observations about taxing the rich. Your country, the UK tried taxing people at 90% during the 70s. How did that work out?
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  1027.  @fooo2241  Changing the rules at the 11th hour after early voting has already begun IS a form of cheating and stealing an election. Say you are playing a ball game and the other side changes the rules mid-game. Don't tell me you would not call that out as cheating. What the GOP establishment in conjunction with the Dems did to change election laws is exactly the same thing.
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  1028.  @fooo2241  People underestimated Trump in 2016. He lost in 2020 because the establishment GOP DID finally take his seriously and colluded with the Democrats to change election laws after early voting had already started (that IS a form of cheating, changing the rules mid-game). I think the thing most hamstringing the Democrats is that they never analyzed WHY Trump defeated Hilrod in 2016. Nor did they actually look at WHY people voted against Trump in 2020. Just because they vote against a candidate does NOT mean they are voting FOR your guy. Jake Paul said it best when he said that those who voted for Biden and don't regret it are part of the problem. And Jake Paul is a rabid leftist.
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  1029. Ah, but that is the rub. if you are running against something, that does not automatically mean you are for something. It is the danger of running a negativity campaign; when the other guy is out, only you are to blame for what happens next. In this case, buyer's remorse means that if Trump runs again, he is practically a shoo-in against Biden because it will be a referendum on Biden and the Democrats, one that Trump can easily contrast with his own term. "If you won't stand for something, you will fall for anything," -Attributed to Peter Marshall.
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  1030. Oh, I am SO going to wear a monocle when I need glasses. And pair it with an aristocratic British accent.
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  1031. Indeed. He practically invited Putin to invade with his "minor incursion" comment.
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  1032.  @wallace44able  Yes, I have gone outside the US. My wife is from Indonesia and left that country for the first time in her life to come to the US to marry me. I was stationed in South Korea for two years with the USAF. Unlike most stationed there, I went out and fully immersed myself in the local culture. I can confidently say that I know more about that society than anyone in the US baring South Korean expats and a few professors who specialize in Korean history. As to your points, you are making THOEIRTICAL arguments which while they make sense on a chalkboard, fail completely when put into practice. The devil is in the details, dirty little details you choose to blatantly ignore. The reason why fuel is more expensive in Europe is a direct result of VAT tax. European rulers mark up the cost on the order of 300% of wholesale cost. But I get it, you are an ideologue clinging to your agenda like a religious zealot. Indeed, your ideology IS your non-theistic religion. And much like the Spanish Inquisition, you demand blind obedience.
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  1033. And NATO expansion was more of Putin's doing than anything else. The former Warsaw Pact do NOT want to return to the 80s.
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  1034. Indeed. Nobody is talking about the elephant in the room, namely that there are more US dollars put into circulation in the last ten years than the entire history of the country proceeding that. We are talking about Weirmar Germany and Zimbabwe levels of insane monetary policy.
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  1035.  @ricardoospina5970  No, but "if it bleeds, it leads" IS the media's doom and gloom.
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  1036.  @tsuchan  Pot meet kettle. Just like a good acolyte of Saul Alinsky, you accuse your opposition of the very thing you are guilty of doing. Here is a hint: if you are attacking a person's cognitive abilities, you are engaging in an ad hominin logical fallacy, and it is tacit admission that you have lost the debate. "When your argument is weak, abuse the plaintiff," -Marcus Tullius Cicero.
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  1037.  @tsuchan  Your choice of words made it self-evident that you thought it was everyone's problem, INCLUDING MINE. But I get that you don't understand the very words you type and the unintended meaning you communicate when you speak in haste. To your second, while it may be true that your OPINION is subjective, presidential elections are anything but. And you choosing to look at them subjectively rather than objectively shows a certain flippancy. And don't move the goal posts about needing to agree on everything, that is a strawman argument used by apologists to justify their objectively bad choices. Nobody said you had to agree on the irrelevant issues. What matters is that you DO agree on the critical issues. Too many people say "I agree 80%" while blatantly ignoring that the 20% they disagree with is much more important than the 80%. As in fatal failure importance.
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  1038.  @tsuchan  Then you are looking at presidential elections the wrong way. And that is YOUR problem, not mine. I HAVE voted FOR a candidate like liked. I have voted for a candidate that I didn't like but felt was more qualified for the job. That you choose to throw away your franchise is your loss, not mine.
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  1039. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
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  1040. 1: Machin is thinking about his constituents, certainly more than most of the GOP and all of the Dems. Those policies he blocked would have hurt the people hurt the citizens of West Virigina. You are just pissed he is actually being a statemen unlike most of the DC critters who are only out to line their own pockets. 2 Inflation occurs when there is more currency in circulation than there is goods. This massive printing of money with nothing to back in by the US Fed is devaluing the Dollar, which is the world's reserve currency. 3 Just because the treasure says so doesn't make it true. They have changed the inflation index no less than FIVE TIMES in the last ten years to hide how bad it really is. 4 Taxing the rich will never produce the revenues you think it will. Paradoxically lower rates INCREASE revenues. John F. Kennedy proved this. Reagan confirmed it. Trump codified it. Taxing the rich will only cause the rich to move to another country with a lower tax rate. 5 The child tax credit is just glorified welfare. And the purpose is nominally to encourage people to create MORE tax slaves (which is how the government views children who become adults). The system is a giant Ponzi scheme and the only way to keep it going is to create more suckers paying into the system (ie growing population). 6 I agree that Afghanistan was a debacle and there was not point to the waste of money we sunk into it. 7 COVID relief and infrastructure bills is just more graft and corporate welfare under the guise of an emergency. Never let a crisis go to waste.
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  1041. I think the MythBusters DID manage to polish a turd and make it shiny. But to your point, it was still just a turd.
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  1042.  @TheLordFrog  Indeed. Neo-pagan Gaia worship. And while I have no issues with people worshiping that Greco-Roman goddess, they should at least be honest about it rather than try and force the rest of us to participate under false pretenses.
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  1043. That is like saying that FDR's polices helped with the Great Depression. Honest economists will tell you ONLY WW2 wartime production pulled the US out of that. FDR made it worse. Likewise, there was ZERO reason for the lockdowns. And there was ZERO reason to put over half the population out of work. The bankruptcies were a direct result of top-down fascistic government policies.
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  1044. Would have Zero difference. The White House staff (aka Biden's hospital orderlies) would not change.
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  1045.  Hecktor RhyanM  Indeed it does because nothing of value backs it up. That devaluation on occurs faster when they simply print more money like they did with "quantitative easing".
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  1046. His policies are a continuation of the Obama years. The difference is, the Democrats don't have the GOP blocking them like Obama did. When ALL of the White House staff under Biden are the same people as Obama, you can't claim that it was a lack of foresight. The problem is more that the polices are just abominable, and that was the goal. or have you forgotten Obama's "energy will necessarily skyrocket" quote?
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  1047. 'If You Voted For Biden And Don't Regret It, You're The Problem' - Jake Paul
    1
  1048.  @deinonychus3421  They changed how unemployment is calculated no less than five times in the last three years. They changed how inflation is calculated just as many times. You can't trust anything that comes out of a mouthpiece of the White House. "Figures don't lie but liars figure," -Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. "Lies, damn lies, and statistics," -Mark Twain.
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  1049.  @deinonychus3421  Wrong on ALL counts. Trump was able to fix the economy in a mere two months. Obama couldn't fix it in 8 years. And Biden crashes it just as quickly as Trump fixed it. There is an old saying, "shit or get off the pot". The only thing liberals do when they have the white house is change how numbers are tabulated to make thing appear on paper better than they actually are. "Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter (Barak Obama, Joe Biden) loses his," -Ronald Reagan.
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  1050.  @DSTKO-w7z  If it wasn't viable, then why were folks willing to finance it? That is the problem with you greenies; you don't have any understanding of how market forces actually work. If it wasn't viable, nobody would have even tried to build it.
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  1051. Minimum age is 45 years old for a reason. Life experience. Biden's problem is that he has too much life experience.
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  1052.  @antixocialman  You don't win the argument by name calling. You just proved you are as out of touch with the people as Marie Antonnette.
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  1053.  @meneither3834  When you are not counting the people who have stopped looking for work, sure. That is the dirty little detail people are not being honest about.
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  1054.  @simonjones9455  Except, your own words betray your true colors. Anti-West IS anti-White. You talk about not dominating other peoples and yet it is the West and western ideals of liberty and democracy that sets people free. To be anti-West is to be against liberty and self-autonomy. It is to advocate for totalitarianism. Oh, and my wife speaks Hakka, not Mandarin. Though she is also fluent in Teochew. "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks," -Queen Gertrude; Act 3 scene 2; Hamlet by William Shakespeare
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  1055.  @simonjones9455  And your anti-white bigotry is blatant for all to see. For all of your arguments of colonial domination, you are just as guilty of it but in reverse direction. Anti-colonialism is simply fashionable racism against whites in exactly the same way anti-Zionism is fashionable anti-Semitism PS, my wife is Chinese-Indonesian. Which means my sons are bi-racial. Wokescolds like you don't have a response to the fact that my heirs are NOT white. But I expect you to make yet another racist disparagement about white men marrying Asian women.
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  1056.  @simonjones9455  The US NEVER controlled China. Mao was always his own man. If the US really did control "The Middle Kingdom", then it would have been Chaing Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang that won the Chinese Civil War in 1949. We don't hate the Chinese people; we just detest the totalitarianism of the Red Government. I think you are conflating Greed with GLUTTONY. The two while similar are NOT the same. Gluttony is about consumption while greed is about hoarding. Greed seeks to maintain value and so tries to be efficient while gluttony is wasteful. Why you are correct that the US is choking on its own vices, that doesn't mean we are finished. And by racism, if you mean liberal-progressive racism fanning the flames of strife, you are correct. If you mean racism against minorities, then you are clearly suffering from a psychotic delusional fantasy.
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  1057.  @levelazn  No, you can't admit that you are clinging to an urban legend created by the power mongers to fool you into submitting to their fascism. But then that is to be expected from a good Soviet lickspittle.
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  1058.  @levelazn  Pot meet kettle. You keep parroting the completely debunked myths of the liberal progressive establishment. But that is typical. Tell me, how much money is Georgie Boy Soros paying you? Your lack of creativity in your arguments shows you are using one of his canned scripts rather than coherent throughs.
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  1059.  @levelazn  You mean the ANTIFA folks who were the ones who busted windows? Doo keep in mind, the capitol police LET THEM IN. Hell, the officers were even posing for photos until one of them murdered Ashli Babbitt. But once again, you prove that you believe in psychotic delusional fantasies. NOBODY besides the ANTIFA activists saw themselves as rioters. They were simply citizens exercising their first amendment right to assemble and protest, not that you actually care about those rights.
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  1060.  @dusanpiscevic6213  And yet people like you NEVER cast disparagements at the French, Spanish, Dutch, nor Portuguese. Your drivel filled rant just proves my point that you are simply a hater of all things English.
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  1061.  @thequandlecultiston3157  Three posts in a row? You really are frantic. As Cicero pointed out, never underestimate the eloquence of brevity. Again, you are not debating, you are engaging in spurious personal attacks because you have been called out and you are panicking because your position and choice of words are indefensible.
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  1062.  @thequandlecultiston3157  Actually, properly quoting a well known source is the STRONGEST argument one can make in a debate. Just because you lack the humility to rely on the wisdom of men and women greater than yourself is why you lose. "Self-pride"? More like arrogance, narcissism, and self-aggrandizement. The fact that you have to put down and belittle others only goes to prove that you are trying to convince yourself.
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  1063.  @thequandlecultiston3157  The fact that I am quoting men and women smarter than you shows my wisdom and your hubris. If you think that quoting others makes me look stupid, that speaks more about you than it does about me. "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." -Margaret Thatcher.
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  1064.  @thequandlecultiston3157  No, you didn't answer ANY of my objections, merely presented logical fallacies. And if you are watching the clock for how long it takes to respond, then you really have no actual argument because you are simply trying to feed your own ego. And political spectrum has little to do with American or not. Looking at the politics of the UK, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan shows that the conservative-liberal split is very similar regardless of national affiliation. Once again you are using fallacious logic to make arguments because you lack substance. And saying I "deserved the insults" is only doubling down on your desperation. The more you lob insults at me, the more you prove my point. "The Lady doth protest too much, me thinks," -Queen Gertrude; Act 3 scene 2; Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
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  1065.  @thequandlecultiston3157  "The debate is over" Yeah those are the words of someone who cannot argue and so tries to silence any further discussion because they know they are losing. Typical liberal woke scold behavior. Insults are an act of desperation because you have no valid argument. It is a logical fallacy called ad hominin. it also means you have lost the plot. You mischaracterize the Opium Wars to push an anti-Anglo (and in effect an anti-white) bigoted narrative. Do NOT conflate the actions of the British Indian Trading Company (and by extension the British government) with those of European Heritage. It belittles you and discredits anything you have to say.
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  1066.  @thequandlecultiston3157  "Smart-ass"? That is the best you can come up with? Insults and disparagements are not arguments but tacit admission you can't debate merits. When you make all of your arguments about the "evil white man" you are engaging in race pimping. Your arguments are poorly disguised Anglophobia and anti-Europoid racism. "When you argument is weak, abuse the plaintiff,," -Marcus Tullius Cicero "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -Attributed to Socrates.
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  1067.  @thequandlecultiston3157  Wow, really? Talk about racist canards. The Opium Wars which you allude to concluded over 100 years before Chairman Mao came onto the scene. No you clearly don't understand Recent Chinese history. You blatantly ignore the Civil War between Mao's Communists and Chain-kai Shek's Kuomintang Nationalist Party. You seem to forget that in CLASSIC Marxist theory China much like Russia was the LEAST likely place for a "worker's revolution" to occur. Imperial China was much like Tsarist Russia, which explains why Mao was able to make inroads much as Vlad Lenin did. Instead of race pimping, try making rational, coherent arugments.
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  1068.  @username65585  And yet the Japanese and South Koreans bring it in that way rather than a pipe that crosses half the planet.
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  1069. For almost 50 years after WW2, Europe has done just fine without Russia. Don't fool yourself; everything you say about Russia is a recent development mostly in the aftermath of the fall of the USSR. The former Warsaw Pact nations can attest to that.
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  1070. Not as cold as in Siberia.
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  1071. He is a real gasshole isn't he?
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  1072. Depends on where you build it. As the crow flies would put it under seriously deep water like the Laurentian Abyss (Transformers, Hunt for Red Oktober). But if you ran it along the Canadian coast to Baffin Island-Greenland-Iceland and then to Ireland, it might be more workable.
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  1073.  @Thorsten_Wiegand  Who would have guessed a year ago? You guys laughed at Trump when he warned you THREE years ago about this very issue. Part of your problem is that Germans kept telling themselves that Angela Merkel was no longer a member of the East German Communist Youth League (the same folks who trained the Munich Olympics bombers). Clearly a Tiger does not change its stripes, so she was more than willing to serve her country up on a silver platter to the Russian Bear (a geriatric bear it turns out).
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  1074. Yeah, because capitalism is so bad, it has raised more people out of poverty than any other economic system. It is even responsible for the computer you are using right now. The problem behind why there is so little investment in green energy aside from nuclear and hydro-electric is that they are just not viable on their own. If they were, then someone would already be the John D. Rockefeller of Wind and Solar.
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  1075.  @FrontLinePub  Nobody is forcing the Ukrainians to fight the Russians. They chose to fight when Putin marched on Kiev. If they didn't support this war, they would have simply rolled over and let Putin march in just like the French allowed Hitler to waltz into Paris in 1940. As to volunteering in Afghanistan, that is a strawman argument. I served 8 years and several times offered to be the next in the queue to deploy, but my leadership ALWAYS denied my request. You can imagine the frustration when the guy who has already been on three prior tours gets sent instead of me. I agree that Europe needs to learn to fix their own problems, yet two world wars started because the US felt it was not our business. Like it or not, we are there because we are the responsible parent to the spoiled children of Europe. In that I respect the Japanese and Koreans much more; they are worth defending unlike Europe.
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  1076.  @Jake12220  Well aren't you just the Debbie downer?
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  1077.  @Jake12220  There are MANY life hacks that you can employ to prevent pipes from freezing. For one, you can keep your sink cabinet doors open to let heat from the rest of the home circulate around the leads to the faucet. Further, even with heating particularly cold snaps can still freeze the pipes even with regular heating. Some people PURPOSLY allow the faucet to slowly drip as a nearly continuous flow through the pipes helps to prevent the water from freezing.
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  1078. I have always had difficulty with Chinese pronunciations. Peking or Beijing? It is not as crisps as a hard "P", but not as soft as a "B". And likewise, not a hard "K", but not as soft as a "J" either. For the longest time I mispronounced the j as a hard "Z". My time in South Korea fixed me of that.
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  1079.  @thegreatdane3627  And with that you prove that you never learned a damn thing. Obama in 2014 was telling the EU exactly what they wanted to hear. Mostly about how America is bad, and Europe needs to pay reparations to the third world.
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  1080.  @Jake12220  NATO and allies such as Australia, Japan, Israel, and South Korea are not going to attack their own infrastructure. I think you need to step back and look at the whole picture. Sure, Russian assets are VERY vulnerable, but the West is NOT going to cut its nose off despite its face. And crippling strike by the West will be very surgical and attempt to minizine the damage, unlike how the Russians have been operating.
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  1081.  @Jake12220  True, but REACH and capability factor into it. Russia has shown in Ukraine that their reach only goes as far as their artillery can reach. Even their strategic rockets have failed to deliver effective results.
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  1082. Because the media has no creativity. They have to be as melodramatic as they can so as to sell clicks and advertisements. it is a sloppy business strategy.
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  1083.  @potatofuryy  Can't possibly consider that the greenies could be to blame? The followers of the Chruch of Greta Thunberg have ample reason to sabotage that pipe.
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  1084. Indeed. Their hard-on for top-down command economics blinds them to the invisible hand of the market.
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  1085.  @thegreatdane3627  Trump has been correct about LOTS of things. Obama doesn't have an original idea in his head, particularly about geo-political factors, relying entirely on Joe Bite-me's "expertise" in 2014. Tell me, how has Biden's foreign policy acumen worked out?
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  1086. Gas produces less emissions than coal. If you are all for coal, then there is no excuse for being against gas.
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  1087.  @thegreatdane3627  "If it bleeds, it leads". That is the mantra of gossip mongers who call themselves "news reporters".
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  1088.  @stunimbus1543  Thank you for sharing!
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  1089. That is quite surprising. Then again, DPRK equipment is much older than the Russia arsenal. While the Russians are fielding the old T-72, the North Koreans are fielding the even older T-55!
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  1090.  @pond_people  The Japanese celebrate Christmas, and most of them are not even Christian, they are Shinto. Get a grip. You are just an anti-Christan bigot.
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  1091.  @Jake12220  I tend to agree, but I point out that the biggest opponents of both Hydro-Electric power and nuclear have been the greenies. THAT is why both has languished over the last four decades.
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  1092.  @Thorsten_Wiegand  I pray that you are correct on this point. You used an EXCELLENT analogy.
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  1093.  @chuapg1518  Considering that the Minsk PROPOSAL was never actually signed by the participants, you are using a strawman argument and a talking point of the Kremlin. And I find it quite telling that you blatantly ignore Russia's violation of the Budapest Memorandum which WAS signed by Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, United Kingdom, and the US. When are you going to demand that Russia be invaded for violating that international treaty?
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  1094. Ah, yes, always the "trust the government" argument. I got news for you, governments are corporations of a different kind, and often not interested in efficiency, only in protecting the status quo and nepotism.
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  1095. Wishful thinking. You simply make yourself dependent on TWO masters. And you know what they say about someone who has two masters: he loves one and despises the other.
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  1096.  @prettitalented  Pointing out your myopic disregard for hard facts is absolutely appropriate in debate. You are just getting pissy that your position is becoming untenable. Again, RUSSIA paying for the rebuilding of Ukraine from their gas sales very much is possible, especially if it is Western banking institutions who process the payments. Keep in mind that since the start of the war, Russia has had great difficulty with foreign trade BECAUSE they were cut-off from the banking institutions. While Russia tried to create an alternative infrastructure, both the Indians and Chinese have since pulled out of participating in it. Your problem is that you lack imagination, much less creativity. And you show a blatant ignorance of historical conflicts. Status quo ante bellum is a much more common outcome than you admit. Examples include the War of 1812, The Korean War, The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and the Iran-Iraq War.
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  1097.  @prettitalented  Only from your limited perspective. You need to take the horse blinders off and look a little wider. The fact that Russia loses an entire generation of men (who won't have children) to the meat grinder of war coupled with the cost of paying the bill to rebuild Ukraine should be enough of a lesson to discourage future leaders in Moscow or Petrograd from ever again trying to subjugate the Ukrainian people.
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  1098. Because Russian success in those areas was so rapid as to make supporting the resistance not with the effort. Ukraine's first two weeks defying all of the expectations made supporting them a more viable prospect.
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  1099.  @pflernak  That is why you need strong contract laws. Signing one should be as airtight as a Faustian Bargain with Satan himself, to use an analogy.
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  1100. Wow, completely oblivious as to how nuclear energy actually works. You do realize that much of the fuel used in the west comes from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons?
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  1101. The problem is that the Greenies are also anti-nuclear.
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  1102.  @tutotutot5193  You are making a distinction without a difference, race baiter.
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  1103. Uh, you realize that North Africans are considered "Mediterranean" and hence white? it is when you get into sub-Sahara that a racial distinction is drawn.
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  1104.  @aleksabenovic6046  I seriously hope you learn that Putin and Russia doesn't really care about you. They are using you just like they always have in the past. Whether the Czar in WW1 or Stalin in WW2, the leadership of the Russian Empire views you and the Serbian people as nothing more than expendable proxies in their war with Western Powers.
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  1105. Yeah, I am all for completely pulling out of Europe, save for a few forces in Poland. It is Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan who are worth spending blood and treasure protecting.
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  1106.  @groMMit1981  Yeah, something tells me that is merely what the defense industry claims, not the actually costs since politicians don't actually look at the fine print. The developers will tell you the materials and labor cost, but then conveniently leave out the premium they add to cover the R&D.
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  1107. I call hogwash on that. The system is still grossly overbudget and 20 years behind schedule.
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  1108.  @ClockworksOfGL  Just because propaganda says it has been debunked doesn't mean it is true. The F-35 has never been in actual battle conditions, unlike the F-22. And the few times the F-22 has seen combat, serious issues have come up, particularly with regards to potential "friendly fire". Truns out the stealth creates ambiguous situations were non-stealth airframes mistake allied stealth fighters as hostiles.
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  1109.  @andrewlechner6343  6 to one is nice, but the Chinese are planning on throwing 20 of their J-16s at each. F-22 or F-35. They will use the "throw bodies at the problem" mentality. And I guarantee you that American war planners are grossly underestimating Chinese capabilities. There is a reason why Michael Pilsbury playing as the Chinese in American wargames ALWAYS wins (just like Erich Marcks who correctly predicted the Normandy Invasion).
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  1110. At what overbudget cost and how far behind schedule? It is still a boondoggle, especially as there is very little reason why they could not have simply sold the F-22 Raptor to the Aussies and the Kiwis. In many ways, the Grippen is a better airframe.
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  1111. Switzerland requires mandatory two-year military service. And you are required to possess and maintain a rifle in your home at all times. How successful do you think Congress mandating small arms ownership would be?
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  1112. And that is why the West will lose to Red China. Much like the Soviet Red Army, the military is more interested in pandering to "the Boss" rather than being competent. It remains to be seen if there is an American Gregory Zhukov who will turn the US military around.
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  1113.  @tbyte007  Yea a dirty little detail you are overlooking is that the existing 777 frames have NOT been decertified. It is the modernization elements of the 737 that they are trying to put into the tiple 7 that are not getting approved. Which means it isn't the airframe but the upgrades that are causing issues. Keep in mind that the 767 shares the same cockpit and nose as the 777 and it has not been having issues.
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  1114.  @tbyte007  You are obsessing over a 55-year-old airframe and its recent modernization. And you blatantly ignore the much younger 20-year-old airframe with zero design flaws.
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  1115.  @tbyte007  WH o care about the triple 7? Only because it has become THE choice replacement for both the 737 and the 747. it is rapidly replacing the previous workhorses because it has found the near perfect balance of capacity, range, and efficiency.
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  1116.  @tbyte007  Yeah, you are talking about an attempt to modernize a proven design that first flew in 1967. What is the old saying? "If it isn't broke, don't fix it?" I noticed you didn't bother to even address the Triple 7's safety record, unmatched by any other airframe in history. It truly is the Magnum Opus of aircraft.
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  1117.  @howard6433  Funny you say that about Boeing because the East Asians passenger carriers have invested more in Boeing aircraft than they have in Scarebus. The A380 has NEVER delivered on ANY of its promises. And while the 787 has also failed to meet expectations, its immediate predecessor, the Triple 7 has become quite the ubiquitous airframe with its only accidents being exclusively operator errors. No other airframe can match the 777's safety record.
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  1118. Israel is everyday fighting for its very existence against hostile neighbors (Jordan has made peace and wants to keep it while Egypt is quietly undermining their official peace). Survival is a significant motivator for innovation.
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  1119.  @msimon6808  I don't disagree that Russia is worse. But that is no excuse for the largess in the West.
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  1120.  @JoelSalazarM  Yeah, no other military project in history has been given the indulgences that the F-35 project enjoyed. If we went by the 1970s or even 1940s standards, it would have long been abandoned in favor of alternatives that actually delivered. Hell, numerous WW2 era and Cold War airframes and ship designs were abandoned because of the cost overruns and delays that the F-35 was permitted.
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  1121. Pure bullshit. The airframe is 20 years behind schedule. There are supposed to be in excess of 1,200 airframes in service, yet only 360 are currently flying, mostly of the B configuration when they should already be on the F configuration.
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  1122. Because an Abrams tank is not the same as a Sherman. It is like comparing an economy car to a high-performance NASCAR vehicle.
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  1123.  @sirdo946  Don't conflate facts with OPINIONS. Truth of the matter is that Finland IS doing performance testing of both F-35 and Gripen as are a few other nations, not simply taking the hype at face value. While the results are not yet in, the F-35 is not doing anywhere near as well as the advocates claimed.
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  1124.  @sirdo946  And you have drank the military-industrial complex's kool-aid if you take their claims at face value. The F-35 is NOT as cheap as they claim as accounting gimmicks have been used to artificially reduce the numbers on paper. And yes, the Grippen is being seriously considered by Brazil, Ukraine, India, and Indonesia. and the Swedes and Fins have no intention of replacing theirs with the F-35 anytime soon.
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  1125.  @Intelligence_History  The Su-57 HAS been used in this conflict, but only over Russian controlled areas like Luhansk because they don't want the propaganda coup of Ukraine shooting one down.
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  1126. Collaboration on a project is NOT competition. The two are actually diametrically opposed. Right now, the only real competition with the F-35 is the SAAB Gripen. Not even the MiG-35 nor the Su-57 are in serious competition as their performance in Ukraine has greatly reduced their image.
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  1127. No, the F-22 and F-35 are not useless, but both are grossly overbudget. The F-35 was supposed to be the cheap and affordable version of the F-22 much like the F-16 was the cheap version of the F-15. but that has completely been ruined. In that regard, the Saab Gripen fighter is the better bang for your buck. And I agree with you about a War with China. Their j-16 interceptor was designed to be a F-22 Raptor killer. And the goal wasn't a one-on-one fight, but rather a 4 or more on one raptor fight. As you correctly point out, it would be a VERY messy fight for both sides.
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  1128. Asymmetric warfare. That is how all great Empires were defeated by an inferior foe. Much like with the Matador, you don't stand right in front of the bull; you let him pass just off to the side and wear himself out charging at a distraction.
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  1129. I tend to agree. SAAB with their Gripen has shown to be a very viable alternative to the F-35.
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  1130. Funny how that works these days doesn't it? The elites of socialist dystopias get fatter while their people starve to death. There was a line in the movie Spartacus about the worst dictators being skinny. They apparently never met the Kims of DPRK.
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  1131.  @redsamson0023  Spare me your moral outrage. The "Wrongs" of America are nothing compared to the evils done under the Red Star of communism. Oh, and Snowden lost all credibility when he got in bed with Kommissar Putin. You don't get to lecture America about censorship and spying when you ignore the former head of the KGB's totalitarian crackdowns.
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  1132.  @redsamson0023  So is your contention about Uncle-killer Kimmy being a nicer guy than Trump. Pot meet kettle.
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  1133.  @samanth.  No consistent war in Africa? Let me educate you. Pick an area of Africa. Any location. This list is hardly comprehensive. And all of them have cited sources confirming that they actually did happen. h t t p s :// en. wikipedia . org /wiki / List_of_conflicts_in_Africa PS, and calling me "Racist" for point them out only proves that you know I am correct and cannot win the merits of the debate. In effect by calling me racist you are admitting defeat.
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  1134.  @samanth.  By "stable" do you mean the nearly continuous Brush Wars? I suppose consistently in conflict is a stability of sorts.
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  1135.  @haroldmorris5901  Wow, you are completely delusional. First, guns are not the problem. Man will kill with spears, axes, or bows just as easily with guns. If anything, guns make people more polite. And before you bloviate about gun deaths in the US, keep in mind most gun violence in the US occurs in areas where the population is forcibly disarmed. Second, Africa has always been ungovernable by outside forces and remains so. Thomas Sowell has great documentaries explaining why this is. Geography, geology, and topography is but one reason as to why. Your last paragraph is nothing more than word salad of fancy words you think you understand, but clearly don't. Most of them are completely unrelated to each other. Put down the sherry and stop engaging in hysterics.
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  1136. You make a good point. The forecasts are seen through rose-colored glasses and ignores the issues that have plague the continent for decades. Hand-in-hand with the corruption is the proclivity for warlordism. The authors blatantly ignore the numerous brushwars that have plague the continent.
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  1137.  @stephanledford9792  Agreed. I think we are on the same page, just coming at it from different directions.
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  1138.  @samanth.  "Most fertile lands in the world"? I think you are sorely mistaken. It is a well-documented fact that volcanic soils are among the most productive rivaled only by the Chernozems of Ukraine and Russia. As for Rhodesia, I seriously doubt that they ever outperformed the Assam Tea plantations of India. Something tells me that those areas were growing cacao rather than tea.
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  1139.  @Farhan917  QUALITY is more important than Quantity with regards to supporting population. Japan's soils being volcanic in nature are VERY fertile. Can the same be said of areas of Africa? Something tells me the answer for most is no. There is a reason why the British Empire's Tea Plantations were in India rather than Africa.
    1
  1140. Indeed. They blatantly ignore the history of brushwars. Odd considering that they have discussed them in previous videos, but not here.
    1
  1141. I agree on Finland and Estonia. As for Germany, they are the epitome of bureaucratic monstrosity. The reason why the Bundeswehr is in such a decrepit state is BECAUSE of the bureaucratic bloat.
    1
  1142.  @Fantastika  Again, I just don't believe you. I have a sneaking suspicion that there ARE other sources, it is just that they don't have the market dominance that Holland has. Having 80% of the market doesn't mean you are the only source.
    1
  1143.  @Fantastika  I seriously doubt that the Taiwanese would only source that from a single supplier. If that was truly the case, Red China would not be so focused about capturing the microchip foundries on Formosa intact when the opposition can simply cut the supply lines for them from Europe. Think about their Achillies Heel regarding oil and the Strait of Malacca, and then remember that the Suez Canal as a second choke point makes it even worse.
    1
  1144. Microchips are made almost exclusively in Taiwan.
    1
  1145. Europe is regressing into the very same cesspool that colonists to the new world fled from. Look into why people left Europe in the 1700 and 1800s and you will see a similar pattern developing.
    1
  1146. And yet those very same proposals have resulted in the US beating out Europe every time. President John F. Kennedy pointed out that both taxation and regulation take away resources better used on research and development. But ignore his warnings all you want.
    1
  1147.  @AizenVonKleiss  Yeah, Japan's problems today are very much in large part a result of their titanic rise. Much like with WW2, they advanced rapidly only to be undone by their own hubris, resulting in the "Lost Decade" and the collapse of their workforce. Yes, Japan has great potential, but they need to find a way to moderate the excesses that have led to unproductive behaviors.
    1
  1148. I would agree with you on South Korea. Not so much on China. Even the Chinese themselves will admit to you that their "national skill" is copying, plagiarizing, and reverse engineering.
    1
  1149. Wow, listening to propaganda again huh? The media lied about everything he said. Inject bleach? Completely fabricated.
    1
  1150.  @brunolima7402  Considering that most Italians think they are too good to make Pizza, it is actually Libyan chefs in Italy catering to American tourists who make the pizzas there.
    1
  1151.  @miroslavhoudek7085  "Every GOP administration"? Spare me, the GOP doesn't dismantle government, they merely hold the growth of those ABC agencies where they are at the time they take power. Not ONCE has the GOP EVER disbanded or abolished a single government agency. Not Reagan, nor Trump. And the reason why private sector union membership have collapsed is because of the corruption. Those organizations have become more concerned about power than actually serving their members. What happens when you achieve all of the stated goals? Does the organization fade into obscurity? No, they find another reason to justify their existence. If they don't have one, they make one up.
    1
  1152. Yeah, cutting your nose off despite your face doesn't solve problems, it makes it worse. Just because US companies leave doesn't mean that a viable domestic one will spring up in its place. More likely than not, a government financed replacement with all of the associated nepotism and corruption will replace it.
    1
  1153. Europe with original ideas? Surely you are joking. The last time Europe had an original idea was when Otto von Bismark united Germany.
    1
  1154.  @fedexpress14  When everything is racist, nothing is. It has lost its meaning. That disparagement has been so overused that it is now a meme: "I won a debate against a Liberal; he called me a racist".
    1
  1155.  @fedexpress14  The accusation of racism today just means you can't win the argument. It is the same as the boy who cried "Wolf!". Thank you for effectively telling the world that you have lost the debate.
    1
  1156.  @fedexpress14  Not really. That is the problem with you globalist folks who detest nationalism and patriotism. You have no loyalty to your own people or to a homeland. And you hold in contempt people who do value such ties of kinship (since nations are made up of clans and clans are made up of related families).
    1
  1157. @Ovis Militaris And you think that anyone in that chain has the balls to defy the God-Kings of North Korea? Seriously, they worship the Kim family as if they are living deities.
    1
  1158. Don't fool yourself, the North Korean nuclear program was encouraged by both the USSR and PRC. In China's case, the Kim dictator can't fart without Beijing's permission.
    1
  1159. They would be doing the US a favor by fumigating the cockroaches.
    1
  1160. Delusional. The ONLY way the Kimmies will allow the two Koreas to unite is under their totalitarian bootheel. If that sounds like a good idea, then I invite you to move to DPRK.
    1
  1161. They did during the Soviet era. How many deaths at the hands of communist guerrillas and revolutionaries do you think are acceptable just to spite the US and the West? You are sick in the head.
    1
  1162.  @1neer5op99  "Every Dictator"? Ever heard of Park Chung-hee of South Korea? He WAS a dictator that managed to transition his country into a western Democracy proving you wrong. Then there was Ferdinand Marcos who was the dictator of the Philippines. The US harbored him after he was toppled from power. Then you have the Shah of Iran who was sheltered in the US after he was thrown from power. Augusto Pinochet was also a dictator and he managed to also transition Chile into a democracy, and he survived. So no, you are completely wrong.
    1
  1163.  @1neer5op99  Abusing, oppressing and exploiting his people is the only way to survive? Wow, you really do have a hard on for jack-booted totalitarian despotism. Maybe you need to experience it firsthand.
    1
  1164. No, the US does care, it is the corrupt Kimmies who don't care about the suffering they inflict on their own people. Keep in mind, that in over 60 years, the US has NEVER violated the DMZ nor the Armistice despite ample justification by North Korean actors (Axe murder incident just to name one).
    1
  1165. The West didn't have the example to follow that everyone else does today. You are making the presentism chronological fallacy.
    1
  1166. In other times that would have been an excellent solution. With the war in Ukraine, that is a less viable option.
    1
  1167. Nobody believed the Iraqi Olympic Stadium built by slave labour under Saddam was a good thing.
    1
  1168.  @sabbasdsouza  China does as well. Beijing and Moscow are cut from the same Marxist cloth.
    1
  1169. The UN is a playground for tyrants and despots. The last time they ever did anything of consequence was in 1950 during the Korean War. After that it became nothing more than a symposium for grandstanding by world leaders.
    1
  1170. Wow, chronological snobbery is strong with you. No problems with slavery and human rights abuses? Have you not heard of the Arab Slave trade? No enemies before Israel? Have your forgotten the Western Power's Mesopotamia Campaign of 1917? How about the American presence in Iran in 1942, running supplies to the Soviets via Persia? Keep parroting anti-West hatred.
    1
  1171. @Ghost Rider "Looking at someone wrong gets you shot"? Nice strawman argument. "Gun nut capital of the world" Plano, Texas is THE SAFEST city in the world BECAUSE of all of the guns. But I get it, you prefer the comfort of slavery over uncertain liberty. You would rather submit to a fascistic dictator rather than trust in free will. As for Singapore, only its history as a former Crown colony prevents it from becoming just as monstrous as the Tyrants in Beijing.
    1
  1172.  Handsome T  Most freedom loving people were against the Wuhan Virus lockdowns. Only the jack-booted totalitarians and wannabe despots and their apologists believed that locking people in their homes was a good idea.
    1
  1173. Was it the UK or was it an evolution from the Arab Slave trade? Not everything is the fault of the English.
    1
  1174. Yeah, it irritated me how blatantly bad he mispronounced it. It's not like we in the West has had some 20 odd years of familiarity with the word.
    1
  1175.  @danieleyre8913  Militant atheism shares many of the same values and fatal flaws as religious fundamentalists. Don't pretend that only the religious has a monopoly on incoherence.
    1
  1176.  @arslanrauf3641  It is funny how you choose to blatantly ignore anything that does not comport to your myopic view of the world.
    1
  1177.  @danieleyre8913  In Europe, that is correct. In the US, late-term, is the norm in States like Illinois, California, New York, Viriginia, Massachusetts, and Oregon. Don't forget the Ralph Northam (aka governor Blackface) said that abortionists should let a fetus from a botched abortion die on the table. Then you have the fact that Robert Gosnell was actually the norm, not the exception when it comes to abortion.
    1
  1178.  @danieleyre8913  After 24 weeks, it IS infanticide. And that is NOT Fundamentalist Christian, that is how Europe classifies it under their laws. So don't say it is not killing babies. I don't disagree that he is choosing to side with Salafist Wahhabism, but they are NOT allies of fundamentalist Christians. If anything, the hard-core left is who regularly allies with the Jihadis.
    1
  1179.  @danieleyre8913  I think he is referring to abortion. It is a stretch, and something of a non-sequitur, but I understand his angle.
    1
  1180.  @thomassecurename3152  Except, you said sustainable in your very first post. Don't try moving the goal posts or attempt to gaslight because you cannot argue against the points I made. Do keep in mind that Fukushima is grossly overblown. Chernobyl was almost 40 years ago and Prypiat's levels are only slightly greater than Fukushima. If you are following the rule of Seven, then that means that Chernobyl was several orders of magnitude worse (ie factors of ten).
    1
  1181. More sustainable? Have you not heard of US Navy's nuclear program? If it was not sustainable, then the US Navy would have abandoned it long ago. There is a reason why both the US Army and US Air Force abandoned their nuclear reactor programs. PS, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover set the exacting standards that even the IAEA follows. The man for all of his eccentricities (and rather abusive behaviors) was the foremost leader with regards to nuclear power.
    1
  1182. Funny thing is, under Yeltson, Soviet bombs core were being reprocessed into reactor fuel. You CAN have weapons for war and still use them for peace once those bombs reach their "expiration date".
    1
  1183.  @Yeomen1986  Wrong on ALL counts (sans Rickover's passing). Your claims show you know NOTHING at all about nuclear power. Don't try relying on the Gleman-Amnesia effect, because it is easy to debunk your claims.
    1
  1184.  @Yeomen1986  Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of US Navy's nuclear program disagrees with you. There is a reason why even the IAEA takes their cues from his legacy.
    1
  1185. Even the companies that are turning Soviet bomb cores into reactor fuel? Don't tell me that you would rather Russia sent those bombs to Iran or North Korea.
    1
  1186. Even the companies turning decommissioned Soviet bombs into reactor fuel? That kind of undermines non-proliferation.
    1
  1187.  @gregorymalchuk272  Agreed. And of course, Saint Greta is now against wind farms. There is not satisfying these theologians pretending to be scientific. Michael Crichton very accurately called them out for their behaviors which emulate zealots and fanatics of yore.
    1
  1188.  @gregorymalchuk272  "10 years ago, we were turning nuclear bombs into nuclear energy. We can do it again." Vox article Feb 14, 2023 by Irnia Wang.
    1
  1189.  @PavorVenetor  VOX has an article dated February of this year by Irina Wang detailing exactly what I am talking about.
    1
  1190.  @krasserTerror  While Thyroid increased in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, the numbers in Germany did not. Anecdotes are NOT indicative of trends. You are using a sob story to make an appeal to emotions (logical fallacy). Yeah, most sources claiming man is the cause of climate change are sus. The data is circumstantial at best, and completely fabricated in others. Particularly when you claim, "consensus concludes". "Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths. " -Michael Crichton September 15, 2003 interview.
    1
  1191.  @gargoyle7863  I cannot say that I am surprised. The education system in the West has been infested by the ideology of the old Soviet Union, substituting reason and hard data in favor of feelings and emotions. "The cause" is more important than producing results.
    1
  1192.  @gargoyle7863  Indeed. German industrial innovation is second only to the US. It is sad that the leaders of Deutschland care more about pandering to globalist ideologues rather than encourage the people of the Rhine to do what they do best.
    1
  1193. The Communist Party has always been paranoid and distrustful of others, this is nothing new. Companies who are lamenting the situation have only themselves to blame. A Tiger doens't change its stripes, and communists are ALWAYS going to act in a VERY predictable manner, namely censorship and top-down totalitarian control over others.
    1
  1194. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. Anyone who got in bed with the Chinese Communists Party should not be surprised that they caught the legal equivalent of a venereal disease.
    1
  1195.  @lv3609  Not really. You are engaging in classic whataboutism typical of communist regimes who can't otherwise defend their position. Industrial theft and corporate espionage ARE international recognized crimes covered by reciprocity clauses in treaties. The Huawei executives arrested in Canada clearly violated those statutes. You are rationalizing (ie making excuses) to justify hostage taking and kidnapping by governemnts.
    1
  1196. There was material evidence showing Huawei was engaging in corporate and industrial theft. China simply took Canadian citizens hostage so as to pervert Canadian law. Such behavior is expected of criminal syndicate, not legitimate governments.
    1
  1197. Yeah, the keep doing business despite knowing the risks. THey have only themselves to blame. A scorpion can't change its nature.
    1
  1198.  @ttemp2631  China upholds its inherited traditions? May I remind you about the Cultural Revolution where Mao's Red Guards destroyed that history wherever they found it? Communists don't take care of the poor, they exploit them for personal gain while claiming to act with compassion. it is all a sham.
    1
  1199.  @ttemp2631  That is a bloviation. One can value hard work and merits but still be fascistic and authoritarian. For all of its flaws, the US has the Bill of Rights as part of the Supreme law of the land. China has no tradition. THAT is the actual difference.
    1
  1200.  @mojewjewjew4420  That isn't an argument, that is an emotional outburst. Xi believes and Mao that Law comes from a gun (might makes right). US tradition rejects that.
    1
  1201. The US Patriot Act is still NOMINALLY limited by the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments as much as they have been curtailed. China has not such due process protections. In China there is not Supreme Court to overrule the government.
    1
  1202.  @wumaobot  Not really. It fails if it is easily identifiable. Even Gorbbels admitted that nobody does propaganda like the US. Even Lavrenty Beria had to admit that too.
    1
  1203. And this is why the US constitution's Bill of rights exists. China is doing today what King George III and his courts often did. Arbitrarily jailed and punished people on flimsy charges of treason (espionage is China's favorite crime to prosecute). Read the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments because they were written for this exact reason.
    1
  1204. The US has a bill of Rights which protects due process. China doesn't have that. This spying law is no different than the ones King George III used to incarcerate people on a whim.
    1
  1205.  @koushikdas1992  Their corrupt leadership is doing that, selling their fellow citizens into financial slavery to the Chinese government.
    1
  1206.  @titus_philemon  You seem to forget that the Catholic Church is anti-gay. So, in Catholic dominated Latin America, being pro-LGTBQ is VERY progressive and left leaning. There was a time in the not so distant past when gays in the Latin community were persecuted and, in some cases, murdered and the government simply looked the other way.
    1
  1207.  @wh34t_  You have clearly never read Karl Marx, Vlad, Lenin, Chairman Mao, or Pol Pot. Socialism by definition REJECTS private property ownership. "Workers seizing the means" is just a fancy way of saying theft of property which is the lynchpin of a successful economy. Without property rights, NOTHING can function properly. Instead of simply repeating empty slogans, how about you look at the country who have "Socialist" in their name. Most of the ones in Central and Eastern Europe will tell you EXACTLY what Socialism is because they lived under it. Incidentally, the Trucker and Farmer protests ARE the "workers revolution" you call for, but one that REJECTS your ideology and proposals.
    1
  1208.  @NickSteffen  Which isn't socialist. It is right wing capitalism. Socialism by definition is centrally controlled and planned command economy, while free-trade and Laissez-faire is capiitalist.
    1
  1209. Indeed. They don't actually dig deeper into the issues and the history of the region. They just take left-wing talking points at face value and ignore the nuance.
    1
  1210.  @ky6632 Yeah, their Trump derangement syndrome is blinding them to accurate analysis.
    1
  1211. Maybe because left wing politicians and policies never deliver on their promises? And don't say it has never been tried, because Biden is just continuing the disastrous left-wing policies of Obama and Carter.
    1
  1212.  @6thsense79  Pot meet kettle. It is clear you subscribe to the neo-Marxism of Keynesian economics which has time and again been proven wrong. I however am a follower of the Austrian school of economics pioneered by Karl Menger and confirmed by the likes of Fredric Hayek, Ludwig von Misses, Art Laffer, Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. You accuse me of not understanding and yet you keep parroting the talking points of theorists who have ZERO experience in economics. Your small business owner knows more about economics than your college professor. It doesn't take an "expert" to understand tax law and know that the bureaucracy which you are defending and the high tax rates that go with such a machine of government is what destroys an economy and a society.
    1
  1213.  @6thsense79  And you are not telling the full story. Investments, particularly capital gains are DOUBLE TAXED. First when the company makes the profit, then again when those profits are distributed to the shareholders. In effect, the government gets TWO bites at the apple. So, stop complaining about the very tax system you and yours demanded and got not producing the very revenues you foolishly believed it would produce. Your math never takes into account the human reaction to your attempts to steal their money via taxation. "It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, AN ECONOMY HAMPERED BY RESTRICTIVE TAX RATES WILL NEVER PRODUCE ENOUGH JOBS OR PROFITS" -President John F. Kennedy.
    1
  1214.  @cjlooklin1914  Yeah, and you seem to forget that there were numerous loopholes that made those claimed tax rates effectively lower than they claimed on paper. Ben Shapiro has time and again debunked your false claims about the 90% corporate tax rate. You are pushing the same great lie that all neo-socialists claim. For one, only people who made over $200,000 (1950s, not adjusted for inflation) paid that rate. The UK tried doing that in the 1970s and it practically demolished their economy. When effective taxes rates are greater than 50%, NOBODY works. Art Laffer and the Austrian School of Economics has been proven correct time and again, and not just with the US economy.
    1
  1215.  @cjlooklin1914  And your point? Wealth is not something to be ashamed of. As Confucius observed, in a country poorly managed, wealth is something to be ashamed of, while in a country wisely managed, it is being poor that is shameful.
    1
  1216. Because it is easier to fool people by claiming politics is a linear spectrum rather than a tesseract.
    1
  1217.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  "The lady doth protest too loudly, mee thinks" -Queen Gertrude, Act 3 scene 2, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Yeah, move the goal posts because you don't want to address the points I have made. You propagandists are not very sophisticated, regurgitating talking points on cue like Palvo's Dog.
    1
  1218.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  I get that Bejing is paying you to shill for them, but at least get your facts straight. The US under Roosevelt gave Mao's forces the same weapons that were given to Chaing Kai Shek's forces. But unlike the Chinese Nationalists, the Commies used those weapons against their fellow Chinese instead of the Imperial Japanese Army. And during those 4 years, the Commies never stopped fighting the nationalists. The KMT was never given any time to rebuild. A good way to describe WW2 in China is a three-way Mexican Standoff between the Chinese Communist Party, the Kuomintang, and the Imperial Japanese Army. Only, the IJA and the CCP agreed not to shoot at each other.
    1
  1219.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  Only because the Warlords were too powerful to crush and the CCP (a rebranding won't change who they are) didn't have the support to seize power yet. No, they waited until the Japanese did their dirty work for them.
    1
  1220.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  The Communists were just as active during that period. Only difference is that they didn't have the international support from Lenin yet.
    1
  1221.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  Tibet was an independent country until the Chinese invasion of 1950. The Warlord era that the PRC loves to ignore was when Tibet gain their independence. Nice try attempting to rewrite history. As for the Khymer Rouge, Pol Pot was a commie just like Mao and Ho Chi Mihn. But like all good communist leaders, they turn on each other when the opportunity arises. When they are not murdering "bourgeoisie swine", they are more than happy to butcher each other.
    1
  1222.  @peekaboopeekaboo1165  Then prove it. Explain exactly WHERE my information lacks proper context. "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence" -Hitchens's Razor.
    1
  1223.  @deezeed2817  The US doesn't want War? Then why were wars ended under Trump and not a single new one started with him in office? Why did Putin wait until Obama's "foreign policy expert" Biden was in office to invade? Why under Trump Xi don't DARE threaten the US or Taiwan? The world respects a strong horse, and the US is lead by cowards and panty wastes. When the US is perceived as strong, the world has been at peace. When the US appears weak, the world explodes with violence.
    1
  1224. If Trump's Trade war was not well thought out, then why has the Biden administration continued it? Most of the targeted restrictions you attribute to Biden were proposed during Trump's time but were not executed because of pushback in the Congress.
    1
  1225.  @abcdedfg8340  Indeed. The numbers are juiced and manipulated. In many ways the Chinese system emulates the Russian/Soviet one where they simply pencil whip the numbers without actually checking.
    1
  1226.  @deebil8099  So you think Fu-Go balloon bombs are a joke? Let us see if you laugh when one starts a fire at your place.
    1
  1227. Fear over carbon emissions is a joke, and a bad one at that. The amount of carbon on the planet hasn't changed in 5 billion years. It was here when the planet formed, it will be here when the planet becomes burnt to a crisp by the Sun.
    1
  1228. Because of their infestation of militant greenies.
    1
  1229.  @bachelor3846  Can't possibly consider that it was done by eco-terrorists?
    1
  1230. Africa's problems have always been with their own leadership. Before the mad scramble for Africa, the tribes were fighting each other and selling their fellow Africans into slavery (typically the Arab Slave Trade). And when the European power left, it once again reverted to those very same bush wars. Don't blame outsiders for the sins of the locals.
    1
  1231. Indeed. I could see the Canadians simply building the infrastructure to pipe their excess supplies to American facilities rather than build their own.
    1
  1232.  @johnmuthan286  You keep telling yourself that. Truth is that your freedoms and liberty is protected by American hegemony. Don't believe me? Just ask the Baltic States and the Polish who lived under Russian Hegemony. Oh, and tell me, when was the last time the British, Canadians, Australians, Japanese, or South Koreans felt like they were being extorted by the US? Yeah, that's what I thought.
    1
  1233.  @coderentity2079  Which is more apt to energy blackmail? Depending on Russia or trusting the Spanish?
    1
  1234.  @anastasiab9506  Wow, parroting Putin's talking points about Ukrainians not even existing by applying it to the Baltic States? You really are a Bolshevik. Lithuania, one of the Baltic States was part of the great commonwealth of Eastern Europe. But ignore the historical documentation all you want; it doesn't make your delusional fantasies true.
    1
  1235. Yeah, you would think after two world wars and almost a century of peace under the US's defense umbrella, they would learn not to bite the hand that feeds them.
    1
  1236. Because the Russians veto every attempt to build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea. Moscow doesn't want its former subjects to enjoy independence.
    1
  1237. Evil capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than any other economic system. Hate it all you want, but profits are what drives innovation and technological advancement.
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  1238. Thorium reactors are overhyped. The US Navy experimented with them on the USS Seawolf and found they NEVER produced the predicted output. There is a reason why Admiral Hyman G. Rickover rejected Thorium reactors in favor of water moderated Uranium and Plutonium reactors.
    1
  1239.  @graham1034  You realize that the US has not had to mine uranium for decades because our power plants are running off the uranium and plutonium from dismantled nuclear bombs?
    1
  1240.  @108chapin  Funny how she lives in a nice warm home and expects the rest of the world to live in misery.
    1
  1241. They did it to themselves, so they have only themselves to blame. Of course, it also helped Putin that Angela Merkel was a member of the East Germany Communist Youth League. Once a Commie, always a commie.
    1
  1242. Okay wise guy, how many wars has the US pulled European power out from? How many messes have irresponsible Europeans created that we have had to clean up? You are just pissed that the US is the responsible parent telling you when you are wrong.
    1
  1243.  @rhythmicmusicswap4173  Yeah, keep up the petulant child act. You deserve to live under the bootheel of Putin, begging for his mercy. Incidentally, it is entirely possible that eco-terrorist sabotaged the pipeline, but you Anglophobes automatically blame the US and UK because you have unhinged derangement against anything English or American.
    1
  1244.  @johnmuthan286  Your myopia is blinding you to other possibilities. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -Sherlock Holems by Arthur Conan Doyle.
    1
  1245. Can't possibly consider that maybe the Greenies might have the motivation to blow up a gas pipeline?
    1
  1246.  @johnmuthan286  Wow, completely off base. The Franking boom was a result of $100 a barrel oil. Franking stops being affordable when oil drops to about $50 a barrel. Interestingly, that is also the price where Russian oil breaks even. You want to know who is the biggest rival to franking? Look no further than the gulf states. The slowdown of the franking boom is to their benefit. Most of the anti-fracking campaigns were financed by the gulf oil states.
    1
  1247.  @ThePoopsmith-12345  What do you think helped to bring about that innovation in fracking? High oil costs in the wake of 9/11 helped to accelerate that development.
    1
  1248.  @azz2  That I can get fully onboard with!
    1
  1249. Why? Cheap energy is the mother's milk of a thriving economy. All of the above is the best option, though I prefer the investment in nuclear power.
    1
  1250. Indeed. The results of the One Child Policy are just as drastic as the impacts of WW2 on Soviet Russia.
    1
  1251.  @freeman10000  The party elitists, particularly around Beijing and Shanghai got to that modern and wealthy status. But you are correct that the rest of the countryside did not. And China wants to claim they have the advancements and prestige of being a first world developed nation while demanding third world developing country status in regard to IMF, international trade, "climate change" agreements, and what have you. I wish more people would call them out on that.
    1
  1252. Ironic that China is now finding itself in a similar position as Japan did in the 1980-1990s.
    1
  1253.  @RUTHLESSambition5  You went to China and only saw what the CCP wanted you to see. Ever heard of a Potemkin Village? While not as overt as North Korea, you saw a carefully cultivated mirage. Laowhy86 LIVES in CHina and tells a much different story. He also explains point by point why your arguments are carefully scripted.
    1
  1254.  @fra604  Yeah, sometimes it takes an outside to point out the blatantly obvious. You are the frog isn't in a boiling kettle lying to yourself that you are in a jacuzzi. You don't have the objective perspective because you are so stuck in the minutia. And you criticizing me for not having a valid argument simply because I am an American is a logical fallacy of appeal to authority. it is the classic tactic of despots and tyrants to silence valid and legitimate criticism. So tell me, does Brussels really make policy for the EU or is it really Berlin and Paris wo dictate terms? Poland has made NUMEROUS valid objections to how business in conducted in the EU, specifically calling out the Franco-German overrepresentation in that block. After having lived under the hell of Soviet-Russian despotism, they are calling out the very same tyranny in Brussels.
    1
  1255.  @kazeryu4834  "Treason" is the favorite crime of tyrants and despots. It is funny how easily you throw that accusation around....much like a dictator does to dissidents. "Enemy of the state" are the words of villainy and evil. Seriously, you have an astounding lack of self-awareness. Support for the state is by definition support for fascism and totalitarianism. Your blind acceptance of the "official state narrative" speaks volumes about you. You are the very kind of person George Orwell was talking about in his famous novel. The only thing I DO agree with you on is that Trump was advised by some really bad people. Mike Pence was to Trump what Grima Wormtongue was to Thoden of Rohan in Lord of the Rings. And Jared Kushner was not that far behind.
    1
  1256.  @kazeryu4834  Decent people DID support Trump. It is the radical and violent leftist who oppose him. He said it himself; they are only after him BECASUE he is in the way. Elitists HATE populists like him. Are you an elitist who hold the "unwashed masses" in contempt? Me thinks you are.
    1
  1257. Yeah, something tells me that "Orange Man" will return to the White House with a landslide the likes of which has not been seen since the Reagan blowout of Mondale in 1984.
    1
  1258.  @andypeutherer4218  Who? BoJo or Corbyn?
    1
  1259. Indeed, the closest one COULD claim that England had one would have been Queen Victoria. Of all the British Royals, I think she could have claim to be Empress and it would have been acclaimed.
    1
  1260.  @ProlificInvention  Trolling and hijacking a thread on a non-sequitur isn't virtuous, it is a mental derangement.
    1
  1261.  @Rjsjrjsjrjsj  And yet your slobbering sycophancy over James Earl Carter proves my point. You are not grounded in reality because all of your pints and arguments are based exclusively on emotions, not data, logic, nor reason. Your "anyone who says otherwise is living in a fantasy world" is proof of that emotional derangement because it rejects the empirical data refuting your contention.
    1
  1262. Not if China implodes under the weight of its own corruption like the USSR did. The Chinese financial system is a house of cards just waiting to collapse.
    1
  1263. Indeed. There may very well be a de-Jingpinging purge in much the same way the USSR was "de-Stalinized" after Stalin's death.
    1
  1264.  Diego Lima  Yeah, you are making a distinction without much of a difference. Most comments on youtube videos become debates, particularly on ones involving politics.
    1
  1265.  @Hartley_Hare  What does Trump have to do with this? Oh, that's right, he lives rent-free in your head.
    1
  1266. Or learn the lesson of the Cabrini Green projects of Chicago. Namely, that government subsidized housing invariably becomes ghetto slums. It has nothing to do with ethnic background and has everything to do with the deleterious motivations created by handouts and "freebies".
    1
  1267.  @glitzerplastikchichi  The devil is in the details though. You don't get into debt, but unless you have the connections (ie nepotism), you don't get into the schools that will actually give you what you need to thrive. The vast majority are stuck going to third rate schools and then to dead-end jobs. As for "healthcare" the wait times are two to three years to get a major surgery. There is a reason why most people LEAVE Europe and come to the US for those kinds of treatments. Sorry, Soviet medicine is exactly what you guys have. And the rationing that is to be expected from such as system.
    1
  1268.  @b1kReviews  Not really. it enhances what is already there. If there is nothing there to begin with it will not create something out of nothing. Ever heard of "bridges to nowhere"? Many of China's infrastructure projects are just that, as useful as a bridge to nowhere.
    1
  1269.  @hloc  There was only a "possibility" that Poland would be invaded in 1939. The funny thing about extortion is that it typically starts out with a voluntary agreement. If you think the Sri Lankans could ask the Chinese to leave that they would you are fooling yourself.
    1
  1270.  @hloc  IMF has other ways of forcing compliance, ones that don't need the sword. And if you think Chinese bases in Sri Lanka are not in fact Damocles Sword hanging over their head, then you have very little understanding of international affairs.
    1
  1271. No joke. When one country is in debt to the other, the debt hold often comes with soldiers to collect their "pound of flesh".
    1
  1272. Debt and financial obligation are the first links forged in the chains of slavery.
    1
  1273.  @ankur.mahajan  Preach it brother!
    1
  1274.  @andysol.4593  Wrong. Putin's GRU was able to pull off the Fait Accompli in the Ukraine because they got their practice supporting guerrilla movements in Africa. Keep in mind that during the 1970s and 80s the KGB was a joke, but under Putin, the successor to the KGB, the GRU has become the effective force that Putin had always wanted while running the KGB during the Soviet era. And much of that is because they learned from watching others in action as well as practice doing it themselves. No, the CIA is too busy spying on American citizens overseas and at home (in flagrant defiance of US law) to be bothered to overthrow Africa governments. Since the 90s and the break up of the Soviet Union there has been no need for that kind of activity. Start thinking things through logically instead of reflexively blaming the US for Africa's woes. There is absolutely no gain for US interests overthrowing sub-Saharan African governments, certainly not when American politicians are in bed with the Chinese.
    1
  1275.  @onlyfacts4999  What world are you living in? 1942? Putin considers China a close ally. About the only thing that would turn Putin against China would be if they tried to take back Outer Manchuria (Amur Valley and Sakhalin Island) and everything south of the Stanovoy Mountain Range. You have been listening too too many people pushing the Russian Collusion Hoax. Christopher Steele and his Russian "source" are both under indictment for perjury.
    1
  1276.  @onlyfacts4999  Always the CIA's fault isn't it? You folks are just as paranoid about the West as the Arabs are about Mossad(though Mossad's reputation is well EARNED). You realize that most of those regime overthrows are being backed by RUSSIA? Yeah, Putin is the one choosing to check Chinese power in Africa, not the US or Europe. And more power to them. The Fait accompli he accomplished in Ukraine with the GRU was a result of backing similar actions in Africa against Chinese bought puppet governments. Seriously, you give the CIA too much underserved credit. They couldn't pull off toppling the Castros in Cuba. Nor could they dislodge Pol Pot in Cambodia. No, the CIA is spending most of its time spying on American citizens overseas and at home (in flagrant violation of US Law) than they are in messing with African governments. The CIA has become just as incompetent as the KGB was in the 70s and 80s. Maybe more so. If you were to blame Mossad instead of the CIA, I would be more inclined to believe you.
    1
  1277.  @sharjiljafric-3184  One is more sincere and honest. The other is a con-job. I prefer the "universal way of saying you don't like someone"(Geordi LaForge) over the smiling banker.
    1
  1278.  @Bolsonaro_em_Haia  They don't. Unlike the West, they are more than happy to do business with strongmen.
    1
  1279.  @funldn193  Lots of rationalizations there. Sure Chinese products may be cheaper, but what is the point if flooding the local market demolishes local businesses? And China is very much engaging in neo-colonialism. You are making an argument for trading one slave overseer for a new one. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Ask the Vietnamese, Laotians, Burmese, Cambodians, and Thai about their historic experiences with Chinese colonialism.
    1
  1280. They hate hearing it, but Joseph Conrad was correct when he called Africa "Heart of Darkness".
    1
  1281. It is funny how you think white as the only colonizers. Japan was a colonizing power in the 1920 and 30s. China was a colonizer in antiquity. Ever heard of Zheng He's treasure Fleet? They demanded tribute from East African kingdoms before the Age of Exploration.
    1
  1282. Considering that Patreon is going to be shelling out big cash in a settlement with both Owen Benjamin and Count Dankula, nobody in their right mind would put money through that laundering system.
    1
  1283.  @uydang9941  PLEASE TELL ME OF THE ARAB-MUSLIM EXPLOTATION OF WEST AFRICA THEN TALK TO ME ABOUT EUROPE's COLONIALISM. Spare us your racist anti-white moral outrage. Blacks in Africa sold their own people into slavery.
    1
  1284.  @kofia9716  If you are reading wikipedia for your sources of information, you are being gaslighted. That website has become a blatantly political propaganda outfit such that its founder has even called it out. As for Afghanistan, you are trying to blame America for a part of the world that has been in constant turmoil since the time of Alexander the great. You are just a blatantly anti-American, anti-west hack. You clearly fall for the original position fallacy.
    1
  1285.  @kofia9716  The attempt to oust Maduro was a domestic movement with ZERO support from either the US or any western power. I assure you, if the US had backed such as movement, it would not have failed. But that hadn't occurred to you, has it?
    1
  1286.  @kofia9716  More communist lies and propaganda by the anti-colonialist movement who wants to blame all of their woes on the US. China understands to "not interfere"? Tell that to ousted Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe. Tell that to the Solomon Islands. You are lying to yourself to justify accepting the chains of a new feudal lord.
    1
  1287. And you have only empty Kremlin talking points to back up your claim. By every reasonable measure, Ukraine is inflicting on Russia what the Winter War did to the Soviet Red Army.
    1
  1288.  @DaCaRy1  Russia is following EXACTLY the Soviet playbook when it comes to conducting war. They have not changed one iota since then, having repeated the exact same plans in Grozny that they did in Afghanistan. And as far as nukes, that is an often grossly overplayed argument that has lost much of its value, mostly because those who use it don't understand that the great strength in nuclear weapons is the threat. Once used, it loses most of its value.
    1
  1289.  @DaCaRy1  Overkill is the only thing the Russians know. Or are you not away of how Marshal Zhukov conducted the Eastern Front in WW2? And that doesn't even begin to touch of the Soviet "Seven Days to the River Rhine" plan.
    1
  1290.  @JL-tm3rc  Spoken like a child. Soviet Pilots exist. Thye just now claim Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Uzbek, of Tajik nationality. The breakup of the Soviet Union did NOT change the fact that they were Soviet Air Force. But you clearly just want to "win", regardless of the facts or details. The fact that I am getting flak from BOTH the Russian bots and the Ukrainian Shills tells me I am over the target.
    1
  1291.  @JL-tm3rc  Yea, do the math. Western Pilots fly more hours in one month that Soviet Air Force Pilots fly in their entire career. That has ALWAYS been the difference between NATO pilots and Communist Block Nations. It is why Chuck Yeager was able to do things in a MiG-15 that were believed impossible by Soviet Pilots.
    1
  1292.  @JL-tm3rc  I don't disagree that the MiG Fulcrum is the superior fighter in a DOG FIGHT. And that assumes the MiG can achieve an ambush. But that is not what Ukraine needs right now. What they need is airframe numbers and stand-off distance.
    1
  1293.  @zjpdarkblaze  Nice, resorting to ad hominin (personal attack) logical fallacy. I never said Ukraine didn't have an air component. Only that it was barely keeping up with the Russians, in no small part because it cannot afford to engage in the attritional battle that Russia insists on fighting. NATO aircraft, however CAN engage in that fight for a whole host of reasons.
    1
  1294.  @zjpdarkblaze  I didn't imply anything. That is you reading into something that just was not there. As for the Western Tanks, the UAF forces LOVE them, especially the crew survival rates. They HAVE made a difference. The offensive didn't make the breakthroughs last fall was not because the tanks didn't make a difference, it was because combined arms was missing the air component. And that just circles back to the original point.
    1
  1295.  @zjpdarkblaze  I didn't say that. Again, you are jumping to false conclusions. With the Soviet equipment they do have, they have fought Russia to an effective stand-still. Both sides have achieved air-denial to the other, but otherwise the air campaign has not been the decisive factor that NATO doctrine assumes. Knowing that NATO aircraft are in the pipe, Ukraine can now afford to take greater risks with the Soviet Equipment they have because BETTER equipment is on its way to replace any losses. And when that equipment finally makes it to the battlespace, it will tip the balance in Ukraine's favor, breaking the aerial gridlock.
    1
  1296.  @zjpdarkblaze  The current Ukrainian Air Force consists of 1980s Warsaw Pact airframes. It is near impossible to replace those or find spare parts to keep them flying. The East German MIG-29 Fulcrums were first handed over to Poland in the mid 90s. And then the Poles started transferring those same German MIGs near the start of the invasion. F-16s while from the same time period are VASTLY better than their Soviet counterparts. Only now is Ukraine getting access to them, and it WILL show in the air campaign going forward.
    1
  1297.  @zjpdarkblaze  I never said that they did not. But they cannot expose those assets to the level of danger that close-air support requires. Only now that F-16s are on their way have the Ukrainians started being more aggressive and taking risks with the airframes they do have. And if the USAF is so hell-bent on getting rid of the A-10 Warthogs, I'm sure the Ukrainians would LOVE to make use of them.
    1
  1298.  @AlmightyNOG  Where are the NATO troops deployed on the front line? The ONLY thing from NATO that Russia is fighting is the equipment, not the personnel. Put down the vodka, you are drunk.
    1
  1299.  @DougAldrichFan  It took them over a year to take Bakhmut. It has taken them over FOUR years to simply surround Advika. They still have yet to reclaim Isyium after their pathetic and panicked flight which resulted in the T-90s of 1st Army Tank Guards in the hands of the UAF. So tell me again how Russia is regaining lost ground in a matter of days.
    1
  1300. Then explain why Kiev still stands. Explain why Russia retreated across the Dniper with its tail between its legs. Explain the defeat of the 1st Guards Tank Army, the Pride of Moscow at Iysium.
    1
  1301. If the was war over as soon as it began, why does Kiev still stand? Besides, appeasement NEVER works; not in 1938, nor today. Put down the vodka private conscriptovich, you are drunk.
    1
  1302. Accuracy is more important than the number of shells fired. Even Russian Mill Bloggers are lamenting at how much better Ukrainian counter-battery fire is contrasted with Russia's own fires. If anything, you have been drinking the Kremlin's vodka. And it is making you hallucinate.
    1
  1303.  @youruncledarnell  Spoken like the fool. The fact that Kiev is still a free city not occupied by Russia is proof that you have lost the plot. "When the wise man points to the moon, the imbecilic examines the finger," -Confucius Author of "The Analects."
    1
  1304.  @youruncledarnell  Thank you for proving Confucius's point. "Better people THINK you a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," -Mark Twain.
    1
  1305. If the war was lost on day one, then why does Kiev still stand? You are drunk private conscriptovich.
    1
  1306.  @UnKnownv5  So the EU is just supposed to roll over as Russia waltz to the Rhine River? Put down the Vodka private conscriptovich, you are drunk.
    1
  1307.  @oliveryt7168  I never claimed to own it, much less have a monopoly as propagandists often claim. That was you making a false assumption. I am simply dispelling myths and comforting falsehoods. And it would seem I clearly triggered you.
    1
  1308. @@user-sm5qt1sn7s Nice chronological snobbery on your part (logical fallacy). And your "nobody has a clue what is going on" is you simply admitting that you can't actually argue the merits. It IS possible to know what is going on as Perun takes a look at the logistics, particularly the consumption of armor and artillery on the Russian side, which is unsustainable.
    1
  1309.  @OLDACCOUNT740  You realize that any correlation IS an association? That doesn't immediately make it a fallacy. I did NOT make the insane troll logic argument that because Stalin liked dogs, that dogs are evil. What I DID point out is that ALL over the world's worst atrocities were caused by people who claimed they were on the right side of History, from Robespierre's Jaboins to the Third Teich, to the Soviet Union, to Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. And the connecting thread is NOT a logical fallacy. So, learn to actually debate the merits. And touch grass while you are at it.
    1
  1310.  @-Faze-  "Lost more land"? You haven't been paying attention, only listening to Putin's propaganda machine.
    1
  1311.  @sonneh86  Yeah, that number includes the material that POLAND provided to Ukraine. That is the dirty little detail that you chose to ignore. Take the Poles out of the equation and your number falls painfully short.
    1
  1312. Indeed. The former Warsaw Pact members of NATO know what is at stake, and they have ALWASY been appreciative to the US. Can't say the same from Western Europe who have freeloaded off the US and been derelict in their responsibilities to NATO (save for maybe the UK)
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  1313. Israel has free and open elections. Hell, there are even Arab Muslim members of the Knesset. It is a shame you don't hold the Arabs who call themselves Palestinian to the same rigorous standard. Hamas has refused to hold an election in over a decade.
    1
  1314. Don't forget that they have pulled out the lessons from WW1's trench warfare (Bite and Hold ala Battle of Broodseinde), which has been much more effective than the media wants to admit.
    1
  1315.  @seanlander9321  I think you completely ignore historical context. Look up the history of the Antarctic treaty.
    1
  1316.  @freetolook3727  It has been a popular idea since the 1800s, particularly in fiction (specifically steampunk fiction).
    1
  1317. Indeed. Classi example of an out of touch elitist. At least William earned the trust and loyalty of the men he served with.
    1
  1318. If the Monarchy is dissolved, it will be Charles who caused it. Elizabeth 2 should have named William the heir on her deathbed and abdicated so as to place her grandson on the throne. A wasted opportunity.
    1
  1319.  @Rjsjrjsjrjsj  He is just showing Anglo-American phobia.
    1
  1320. The obsession with Nitrogen fertilizer causing climate change is just repackaged Lysenkoism.
    1
  1321.  @ArthurCSchaperMR  Because this channel are true believers in man-caused climate change. And I say believers because climate activists are theologians of neo-pagan Gaia worship.
    1
  1322.  @jimgaston9863  He is talking about the Holocaust and the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbour. Or did that not come to mind when talking about World War 2?
    1
  1323.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  You regurgitate Cultural Marxist talking points. You bloviate with anti-colonialist drivel. You falsely ascribe hegemonic implications to words which carry none. You are clearly a social justice keyboard warrior trying to convince yourself rather than anyone here. You need to get off your own high horse. You need to touch grass. "When words lose their meaning, people lose their lives," -Confucius, Chinese philosopher and author of "The Analects".
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  1324.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Nothing I say will convince you because you are a zealot. You refuse to listen because you are close minded. THAT is why you need to touch grass. It is self-evident, and I was simply making a statement of fact. I understand perfectly the desire of isolationism. But that is NOT what we are talking about. You just want to virtue signal your moral superiority. It is a farce, and nobody is buying it.
    1
  1325.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Dude, touch grass. You are out of touch with reality.
    1
  1326.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  And you haven't many any single point either. You are bloviating about how you think referring to a geographic area as someone's backyard is colonialist and hegemonistic. Your arguments are predicated on emotion, not reason. But of course, you brush off our rebuttals as "never understanding" because you are guilty of the very myopia you accuse us. And yes, Arizona, Texas, and California ARE in Mexico's backyard. As is Belize and Guatemala. But you can't accept that can you? You are engaging in Anti-Colonialist rhetoric, rooted in Cultural Marxism of "oppressor vs. oppressed". Nobody is being oppressed when a region is accurately being called "backyard". Get over yourself.
    1
  1327.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  "Never underestimate the eloquence of brevity," -Marcus Tullius Cicero “Brevity is the soul of wit.” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet. “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.” -Fredrich Nietzsche “Be sincere, Be brief, Be seated.” ― Franklin Delano Roosevelt “If you can say it in a paragraph, don’t write a book.” ― Frank Sonnenberg "No weapons are more potent than brevity and simplicity." Katherine Cecil Thurston "The more you say, the less people remember." Francois Fenelon "If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought." - Dennis Roch "It is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn." -Robert Southey "It is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn." -Robert Southey If you need to write an entire dissertation to make your point, you have engaged in the logical fallacy of proof by verbosity. It shows that you can't actually make a coherent point because it lacks clarity and is not concise. And I have made substantive points, you just refuse to acknowledge them which discredits you. You however, engage in emotional guttersnping because you can't debate on merits. And of course, you are accusing me of doing exactly what you are guilty of doing. Typical Alinsky troll tactic. And unsurprising from someone who has Anglophobia. And I have made this post entirely too long. Each of the quotes was more than enough.
    1
  1328.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  And again three posts one right after the other. You are proving that you are throwing a temper tantrum rather than actually making any rational point. Between your Gish Gallop, Proof by Verbosity, and appeal to emotions, your use of logical fallacies shows that you cannot actually debate the merits.
    1
  1329.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Your argument of "reeking of hegemony" is neo-Bolshevik, anti-West, Anglophobic hysteria. It is Marxist anti-colonialist dogma, light on substance but heavy on emotionally charged rhetoric. All of your arguments could just as easily apply to ANYONE. You are just reacting emotionally because you don't like the cold hard truth. We are using EXACT terminology that is quite descriptive. You just want to bloviate and whine. "When words lose their meaning, people lose their lives," -Confucius, author of "The Analects"
    1
  1330.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  The Caribbean is America's backyard. The Yellow Sea is South Korea's backyard. The South China Sea is Maylasia's backyard. Perspective, dude. In lexicon, calling an area someone's backyard has less to do with exerting regional power and more to do with acknowledging the geographic location as being very close to them.
    1
  1331.  @typicalprocrastinator_1395  Why would the US bother with Sri Lanka when it is in India's backyard? American presence in the Indian Ocean Basin is much smaller than it is in the Pacific or Atlantic Basins. India is not the strategic threat that China is. In this, the US and India are natural if unlikely allies.
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  1332. Your Trump derangement is discrediting anything else you have to say. Trump's stance on NATO was because NONE, save for the former Warsaw Pact and the UK were meeting their defense spending quotas required by the terms of the alliance. He was doing what is called "The Big Ask". He was bluffing them into meeting their obligations by threatening to pull out of NATO. As far as military commitments, you seem to blatantly ignore the fact that Obama pulled out of Iraq against the advice of the neocons only to have to enact "The Surge" because what they predicted would happen came true. Afghanistan was a collapse in slow motion because nation building was NOT the goal, capturing or killing Bin Laden was. Afghanistan became a repeat of the very same blunders of Vietnam where in the body count was more important than any strategic or even tactical gains. Take a look at how much of the country the Taliban controlled in 2014 and it becomes no surprise that the fall of Kabul was only a matter of time because the generals didn't know what they were really doing. Further, under Obama, the US military shrank to numbers not seen since BEFORE WORLD WAR ONE. So don't blame Trump for the actions of those incompetent leaders before him. His biggest screw up was that he listened to the advice of "experts" in Washington rather than the input of the men on the ground and in the fight.
    1
  1333.  @succatash  You are not listening at all are you? No, you are so stuck on your woke ideology and identity politics that you would put the defense of Europe at risk because diversity is more important to you than showing a united front against an aggressor. It is people like you who break ranks and display cowardice before the enemy. It is people like you that use Americans as cannon fodder with no gains on the battlefield. YOU are the cause of strife that weakens the NATO alliance because your identitarianism takes priority over the lives of the men in the field.
    1
  1334. Or fixed to silver, then it would be the most reliable currency in the world.
    1
  1335. Don't forget France, The Franco-German alliance is what keeps it afloat as Deutschland itself can't do it alone. if those two turn on each other, then that is the end of the EU.
    1
  1336.  @j.m.palacios5318  "Failed" because they can't control their finances and have to rely on an outside force to keep them in check. Keep in mind that national banks are directly controlled by the governments that sponsor them. Often those nations simply print money until it is as worthless as the Weimar Deutschmark or the Zimbabwe banknote. ""The issuing power of currency shall be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -Thomas Jefferson
    1
  1337.  @Rjsjrjsjrjsj  New Spain is not modern Latin America. I fail to see how Age of Sail applies to today.
    1
  1338. The only way a Latin regional Peso would work if it was fixed to the price of silver.
    1
  1339. And THAT would be their salvation, a regional Peso fixed to a stable commodity likes silver as you propose. Hell, I would convert to using it if it was backed by Silver.
    1
  1340.  @danielch6662  And that 2-3 generation old US equipment being used in Ukraine is absolutely mauling the Russians and their Chinese made equipment. Cope harder.
    1
  1341.  @deanzaZZR  Garbage in, garbage out. The numbers that the IMF uses is based on the worthless numbers that China gives it. Money spent on bridges to nowhere may raise the GDP and LOOK like growth when in fact it does nothing of value.
    1
  1342. I suspect that the Taiwanese would use Erwin Rommel's plan for the defense of Normandy that Hitler rejected. The Taiwanese would make Bloody Omaha look like an elementary school slap-fight.
    1
  1343. China does NOT have a market economy; the government still controls everything. All business assets can be confiscated by the CCP without due process. And the implosion of the financial system in China only drives home that fact. Secondly, reason has nothing to do with invading Taiwan. It is about PRIDE. Xi thinks he is the reincarnation of Mao, and wants to forcibly reunite Taiwan for his ego and vanity.
    1
  1344.  @k.k.c8670  Didn't bother to read my other posts, only the first one huh? I addressed that. Power of Siberia is NOT connected to the oil and gas infrastructure that connects to Europe; they are two separate systems. The Trans-Siberian Railway has pittance as far as cargo delivery and completely incapable of fully replacing the sea-based transportation. Try do a little more research before you open your mouth in complete ignorance.
    1
  1345.  @olderchin1558  India and China are ripping off Russia, demanding a 30% discount on oil and gas. Don't pretend it is any way helping the Russians. If anything, it is hurting them. You are grasping at straws.
    1
  1346.  @LONEWOLF-rq5tl  You have no understanding of how either amphibious landings or airborne assaults work. China has shown zero capacity to do either effectively.
    1
  1347. Yeah, the idea that China's industrial capacity will remain intact after a conflict with the US over Taiwan is kind of naive. The whole purpose of strategic bombing campaigns in WW2 was to demolish the ability of the Axis to manufacture their war materials. I doubt that China has hardened their infrastructure to the degree that Ukraine has.
    1
  1348. Well, it doesn't help that the US is still in bed with Pakistan, despite them being in the Chinese orbit. I would gladly trade the Mullahs of Islamabad for the Rajahs of India.
    1
  1349.  @eddyr1041  No, it should not. If anything, government is responsible for creating the conditions that has lead to people using drugs to cope. Government does NOTHING right, not even national defense.
    1
  1350. Look at the Opium Wars between China and the UK and ask yourself why there seems to be a number of similarities between that crisis and the current Fentanyl crisis.
    1
  1351. The Chinese have long memories and play the long game.
    1
  1352. I like the cut of your jib!
    1
  1353. Ask the Chinese how that worked out with Opium in the 1840s.
    1
  1354. The fact that you immediately jumped to the race card shows you can't actually debate the merits.
    1
  1355. Indeed. The Chinese play the long game. They have simply shifted their animosity towards the Anglo-world from the UK to the US.
    1
  1356. The problem is when they start causing problems for the non-users while experiencing withdraw. Have you had a drug addict going through withdraw harass you for cash for their next fix? Scary.
    1
  1357. Compare this to the Opium Wars between the UK and China. It is as if the Chinese have taken the role of British traders and the US has assumed the role of China.
    1
  1358. The problem is that those idiots will harm the rest of us while going through their death throes.
    1
  1359.  @HappyHighwayman  Alcohol and Marijuana is an apples to oranges false analogy. Nice try buddy. Now if you were to have compared it to Tobacco, then you would be onto something. But ironically, the similarities to Tobacco reveal uncomfortable truths the marijuana lobby doesn't want to talk about.
    1
  1360. What says it hasn't? Afghan poppy farmers were growing it for the Talban and Al Qaeda, yet the US government turned a blind eye.
    1
  1361.  @2KSnSLifestyle  Yeah, and how much of that product was delivered BEFORE China shut down their ports? You clearly don't understand how logistics and delivery works. Closures of the ports have a delayed reaction. Waldo, do keep in mind that Russia used to be SECOND World order. The only reason why they are third world status now is because of the collapse of the old Soviet Union, something they never truly recovered from. And @K ', I have clearly triggered you. That fact that I got under your skin so easily shows how superficial you and your arguments are. Your problem is that you don't realize when you are wrestling with pigs; you get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.
    1
  1362.  @2KSnSLifestyle  Not really when you are starting from next to zero. Percentages are meaningless. What really matters is the raw numbers. Again, China's ports have been closed to outgoing trade for over a year now, and your numbers do NOT reflect that.
    1
  1363.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  "It was a mistake for me to reply to you. I should have known this man doesn't have it in him to move on." Sour grapes dude. learn not to poke a bear unless you want to get mauled. Touch grass.
    1
  1364.  @2KSnSLifestyle  Yeah, up from what? Near zero in 2021 because of their zero Covid lockdown policies? Don't forget that the port of Shanghai was practically closed for almost an entire year. You are making a mountain out of a molehill. "Figures don't lie, but liars figure" -Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. "Lies, damn lies, and statistics," -Mark Twain.
    1
  1365.  @user-jt3dw6vv4x  Back for more trolling I see. You blatantly miss the point that money wasted on a space program could be better spent to improving the economy and the livelihood of the citizens.
    1
  1366.  @eduwino151  And rural parts of the US are also third world. Hell, the state of California is more third world than most of China now! So that argument doesn't cut it. PS, it isn't your wifie and cell phone coverage that makes you a modern country, it is the plumbing and sanitation that does. Can you safely drink the tap water?
    1
  1367.  @anartapoashan5714  You would be surprised to hear that most Socialist-Marxists call themselves humanists. As did a certain German National Worker's party. And before someone brings up the strawman, the US Constitution is NOT a Humanist document, it is based on Natural Law. Humanism is about MAN's law, not Natural Law.
    1
  1368. I tend to agree. There is no reason why they all have to be under one flag and in one country. If San Marino, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Andorra can all be independent nations, there is no reason why the same can't occur in Bosnia.
    1
  1369.  @yolson2376  Possibly. What I know is that the "experts" often times have no clue how things will play out because they can't properly account for the unpredictability of human behavior. "Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system." — Marcus Tullius Cicero
    1
  1370.  @williamthebonquerer9181  Apparently you have not heard of Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog in Belgum. Nor the crazy border of Cooch Behar district between India and Bangladesh. You just lack creativity and imagination, as well as knowledge of examples that have come before of how it is possible.
    1
  1371.  @williamthebonquerer9181  I have a sneaking suspicion that very few of the villages and communities are ethnically integrated, especially AFTER the genocides of the 90s. I am rather confident in saying that you CAN partition out individual hamlets, so they are NOT in the same counties, which are nothing more than lines arbitrarily drawn on a map anyhow. All I am hearing is excuses from people who foolishly subscribe to 19th century collectivist arguments about national boundaries.
    1
  1372.  @1233-d3h  Your point being? So, the Serbs are aligned with Putin, so what? Keeping them under a government and system they don't particularly support nor care for is just as tyrannical and despotic.
    1
  1373.  @1233-d3h  It also says that foreign outsiders can dictate to them their lot and denies them agency and self-determination. Yes, crimes against humanity are bad, but if you use that as justification for forcing them into a union, they don't want to be a part of, you are no better than the butchers. America's biggest mistake in Iraq was not letting the Sunnis and Shias get the fight out of themselves. Probably in no small part due to the fighting in Bosnia. Yet the same interventionism was not done in Darfur. Nor was it engaged in Cambodia during Pol Pot's reign. The cynic in me thinks that NATO members care more about Slavs than they do sub-Saharan Africans or Southeast Asians.
    1
  1374.  @tarik6990  No, it is not common sense to become the very monster you are fighting. For one, the fascists don't actually care about the country being partitioned, they just want to be the ones with the power. So, that fear of giving them what they want is not occurring and will not occur because you don't even know what they really want and that is power and control. "As long as they live there and actively support their fascistic entity while threatening non-Serbs with new war crimes and massacres, to me they are just as guilty. " And that is guilty by association, a hallmark trait of fascism. For someone who is worried about fascist, you are certainly acting like one yourself. Perhaps YOU are the actual fascist. What is madness is your myopic and obsessed desire to control people you disagree with. You don't even see that you are advocating for the policies of the very ideology you claim to fear.
    1
  1375.  @tarik6990  That is a strawman argument (logical fallacy). You would punish the people who did NOT participate in the crimes against humanity for the actions of those who did? That itself is fascistic. You don't oppose fascism with more fascism.
    1
  1376.  @scooter21ba  That is not an argument, it is ad hominin personal attack. And for the record, my ancestors are Lorraine- German, thank you very much. My ancestors fled Europe for the very reasons now threatening to tear apart the Balkans yet again. Namely feudal elites who think they can dictate to the locals which flag they have to prostrate themself to. Incidentally, some of the Slavic girls in my middle and high school years were quite the lookers. Sadly, they would not give me the time of day on account of my strongly Anglo-German looks.
    1
  1377. Putin is trying to stir up trouble in the region. Just like the Tsars did in the lead-up to World War 1.
    1
  1378.  @scooter21ba  Nice bloviation and appeal to the extreme. I never said to dissolve Andorra, Liechtenstein, or the rest. I was simply pointing out the hypocrisy that you can rationalize those nations as being Sovreign yet Bosnia becoming several smaller nations isn't acceptable. And as far as the natives, might I remind you that many of them have their own local governments on reservations that while nominally subject to the US Constitution are effectively their own autonomous countries? You are making a red herring argument (logical fallacy) bordering on a non sequitur.
    1
  1379.  @scooter21ba  You are morally equivocating without actually addressing the question nor debating the merits. You are only reinforcing my point, not refuting it.
    1
  1380.  @scooter21ba  And now you are making the argument of Putin about Ukraine and Kazakhstan and applying it to Bosnia and the former Yugoslav constituent nations. It is also the same argument today as for why Poland and the Baltic States should not be independent nations but part of the Russian Empire. Most would reject your argument as denying the right of autonomy and self-determination.
    1
  1381. When you consider that Ukraine was expected to fall in three days and it is now three months in, I think it is quite easy to say they have already won. And this is hardly over yet. The Third Reich took ALL of Ukraine in just four months. They held it for about two years before the Soviets ejected them completely. Moral of the story: don't count your eggs before they hatch. Don't underestimate the Ukrainians.
    1
  1382. Once the lead starts flying, you don't think the Taiwanese would not return the favor?
    1
  1383.  @J_X999  The Pentagon was completely wrong about Ukraine. The Pentagon blundered in Afghanistan last year. American intelligence has no intelligence. I trust their analysis about as much as I trust gas station sushi. If it were Gordon Chang, Richard Murdock, or Michael Pilsbury who made that assessment, then I would be much more concerned. They HAVE played team China in wargames. And when they have been permitted to play the Chinese how the Chinese would fight, they ALWAYS win.
    1
  1384. The kicker is, WITHOUT US SUPPORT OF TAIWAN. Yes, Taiwan on its own cannot hold out forever against a giant, just like Poland could not against Germany in 1939. But China has not shown particular advancement in military doctrine. Innovation includes adaptability, which is not really something is known for.
    1
  1385.  @kimandre336  Democracy is a multiheaded hydra that is constantly trying to kill its other heads. REPUBLIC governance which the West has forgotten, works when people respect the rules of the system. As far as the UN, it is the playground of dictators and tyrants, so anything they say has zero value.
    1
  1386. WASPs, WAVEs, and WAACs of World War 2. Yes, that was the US, but the concept can be employed almost anywhere.
    1
  1387.  @MrPeng-yg9iz  Sounds to me like it was the lap dog Hong Kong government that escalated things, not the population of Hong Kong. And yes, the Hong Kong government is run by Beijing Sycophants who were basically appointed by the CCP. "Elections" in Hong Kong is basically the people voting yes or no to whom the CCP choses to lord over them.
    1
  1388. You can always draw lessons from the experience of others. But I will agree than the crossing of the channel is the first hurtle the PLA needs to surmount before any of the lessons from Ukraine come into play.
    1
  1389. Don't forget the collapse of the Japanese Empire. However, the fall of Imperial Japan as a military power ushered in a mercantile Japan very reminiscent of the Dutch during the 18th century. Probably not surprising since before Commadore Perry's expedition, the only outside contact was with the Dutch.
    1
  1390.  @fransdebruijn6763  The best answer to a deranged gunman is an armed population. By your logic, a semi-auto pistol is more dangerous than a revolver. And yet, a revolver with a smaller number of shots and slower reload time is often able to defeat a semi-auto in a fire fight. Also, the class three full auto weapons are NOT banned in the US. It is just so prohibitively expensive that most don't bother with it. The fact that those folks who have them have NOT gone on a killing rampage is proof that your fear is unjustified.
    1
  1391.  @FiveStringCommando  Now if only Taipei would acknowledge the merits of this an allow their population to arm themselves in the same way.
    1
  1392. Kicked American butt or Kick South Vietnamese butt? The problem with the Vietnam War is that LBJ and Nixon refused to invade North Vietnam and capture Hanoi. Had they done that, things would have been much different.
    1
  1393. Or Erwin Rommel's proposed defense of Normandy that the German High Command rejected.
    1
  1394.  @chrisdt2297  American service members, even the ones sent into a combat zone rarely get to fire off 300 rounds. I agree with you that they should. The funny thing is, many observers have noted that when a firefight occurs, the American side is rather quiet. Those with AKs often engage in "spray and pray" while the US forced show discipline and control by making sure every shot counts.
    1
  1395. Don't be so sure. You haven't read about the Warlord era immediately after WW2 have you?
    1
  1396.  @andia968  The Ukraine never had a defense treaty with the US. Taipei DID. Major difference buddy. Ask yourself why the Communists attacked in Korea but not Taiwan. Dean Acheson's Pacific Defense Perimeter INCLUDED Taiwan, but not South Korea.
    1
  1397.  @libertylivesin1776  Sadly, I fear you are correct. Or rather, Biden's "hospital orderlies" pretending to be WH staffers would not allow the US to assist Taiwan.
    1
  1398. Yup, you basically described the Erwin Rommel defense plan for Normandy which the German High Command rejected. Something tells me that Red China would be repeating the blunders of the Battle of Guningtou at Kinmen Island as they do NOT have the amphibious landing craft to handle all of the troops needed to take the island. And using wooden ferry boats to supplement their numbers would be a recipe for disater.
    1
  1399. The problem is that Beijing is in no mood to negotiate. War occurs because diplomats fail to properly assess the situation. The brilliance of Reagan at Reykjavík was that he was not going to piss around knowing full well that the Soviets had no intention of negotiating. Him walking out on them FORCED them to actually negotiate rather than play games.
    1
  1400.  @elmohead  I think you are selling Taiwan short. They are more that just their silicon chip factories.
    1
  1401. And that is one of the strategies for Taiwan. Scorched Earth to deny China those factories. It acts as something of a deterrent.
    1
  1402. The KMT of today is not the KMT of 1950. Chaing Kai-Shek and Sun Yat-Sen are rolling in their graves at what it has become.
    1
  1403.  @junkeatng  Again, you grossly underestimate the power of Eurasia as a market. Its size has NOT increased much since the 1980s when contrasted with the West. It will simply return to the same system that existed during the Cold War.
    1
  1404.  @gonzalos4379  I am not against European nations putting their own interests first. I actually sympathize with nationalist movements and sentiments. The nationalist mentality is VERY easy to understand. The problem is that American elitists and European Elitists are both globalists that don't actually care about what is best for their people. For 80 years Europe benefited from American might being projected on that continent. If Europe doesn't want the US there, I am okay with that. They just should not come begging the US to save them should their bad choices result in the Russian Bear marching through the streets of Paris.
    1
  1405. Indeed. They should temporarily table their disagreements over the islands and present a united front against China in the Parcel Islands. Stopping China there together secures their collective claims against China's aggression.
    1
  1406. My opinion is that they should actually up it to at least 5% GDP.
    1
  1407. Ukraine will not stop being a country. Poland will see to that, even if nobody else will.
    1
  1408. Don't forget Israel. They have been in a state of readiness since 1948 while still being a democratic society.
    1
  1409. Hey Jose, I think your nose is brown from kissing Putin's hind end.
    1
  1410. ANY use of nukes is a STARTEGIC escalation that WILL result in Trident missiles being fired in response. Western nuclear doctrine does not make ANY distinction between "low yield" and "high yield". Using a tactical nuke is crossing the Rubicon, which is why Putin, while threating it, has not done so.
    1
  1411.  @mokiloke  Not really. It would force the West to restart production in their own countries. Yes, it would hurt for about a year, maybe two, but you badly underestimate how motivating need can be to gear up a society for drastic change.
    1
  1412. Terrain, tactics, morale, and equipment all perform as force multipliers.
    1
  1413. Eh, the Koreans are the same on both sides of the DMZ and yet they are still at each other's throats.
    1
  1414. Ukraine was expected to fall withing three days. It has now been three months. While I don't disagree that there are domestic issues on Formosa that can cause problems, the same thing was going on in the Ukraine. The people of Ukraine stopped bickering amongst themselves and united against an existential threat. Taiwan could theoretically do the same and set aside their internal squabbles in the face of a greater threat once the lead start flying.
    1
  1415.  @papabetadine724  I was not contradicting you, I was in agreement and providing more evidence in support of your position. And you are completely correct about the Chinese Communists in WW2. They NEVER fought the Japanese. In fact, they signed a secret protocol with Japan wherein the Reds could evacuate through Japanese controlled areas. It was Asia's version of the Molotov-Ribbentrop alliance.
    1
  1416. One, the Red Chinese government has failed to effectively use soft power. The South Koreans and Japanese have made complete fools of China on that front. As for Taiwan itself, they could adopt Erwin Rommel's proposed defense plan for Normandy which the German High Command rejected (much to their later chagrin). Once they pull back to the mountains, adopt the WW2 Japanese strategy of digging in.
    1
  1417.  @elmohead  Actually, there is. The West foolishly followed Red China's directives via the WHO. Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea took a different path. I know because most Western media was slamming Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea for NOT following in lock step with Europe's disastrous policies.
    1
  1418. It may have been bad, but it was far better than what most of the West did. Europe and the US should have followed Taiwan's example, NOT Red China's.
    1
  1419.  @fromfareast3070  You seem to forget that the Japanese have already promised to come to the defense of Taiwan. They WILL fire torps at the Chinese. And THAT WILL drag the US into the fight, regardless of what the politicians may try to do. The US Navy WILL respond to any reports of Japanese ships under fire or engaged in hostilities as a matter of standing orders and will NOT wait for Washington to grant permission to engage.
    1
  1420.  @50megatondiplomat28  The subs are a concern, but then American subs are even better at it than the Chinese. Between the Los Angeles and the Seawolf class, nobody can match the American Attack subs.
    1
  1421. Reading Michael Pilsbury, Gordon Chang, and Richard Murdock? Sound like it, and if you have then you are 100 times more qualified to direct a war against China than the Generals in the Pentagon.
    1
  1422.  @John_Doe448  How does Russia transport that grain? SHIPPING THROUGH THE BOSPHORUS. No joke, it is cheaper for Russia to ship grain to China via the Turkish Straits, Suez Canal, and Strait of Malacca. You clearly have done little research on the topic.
    1
  1423.  @wangyaohan8824  Not as much comes from Russia as you think. Have you actually looked at the rail traffic along the Trans-Siberian Railway? And Thailand can be compelled through secondary sanctions to cease its trade with China. Choosing between the CCCP and the West, Thailand will choose the West hands down.
    1
  1424. Cuban Missile Crisis. Look to that should Red China try to blockade. If not for Admiral Vasiliy (Laim Neeson's character from K-19 Widowmaker), the American blockade would have been hit with a nuclear torpedo.
    1
  1425.  @k.k.c8670  The PLA may have shiny toys, but that doesn't mean they know how to use them. China's combat effectiveness is as trustworthy as claims of the Russian military in 2020.
    1
  1426.  @motowntaiwan9079  Not with a Green water Navy, they can't. Russia has a better claim to Blue Water Navy capabilities than Red China does. Just because you have nuke subs and Aircraft Carriers does not a blue water navy with global reach make. You have to be proficient with the use of those tools. Part of having that proficiency is a PERMINANT on-station presence 24/7/365. Only the US, France, and the UK have that kind of sea power.
    1
  1427.  @ninglu4846  How can China do that? Specifics and details please.
    1
  1428.  @kenh758  How easy do you think it is to transport billions of tons of food across the trans-Siberian railway from European Russia to China? It isn't the slam dunk you think it is.
    1
  1429. The US would not need to fight though a Taiwanese defense. But I agree with your assesment.
    1
  1430. Tell that to Czechoslovakia in 1938.
    1
  1431. Thucydides Trap. Look it up.
    1
  1432. Tell that to the Czcehs and Slovaks in 1938.
    1
  1433.  @ajaykumarsingh702  Put down the vodka, you are drunk. Russia has already maxed out its production capabilities. Only 10% of the stuff getting to the front line is new build with 80% being refurbished Soviet legacy equipment and the remaining 10% being recovered salvage front he battlefield. The West is only now starting to ramp up its production lines. Until now, defense production in the west has been bare minimum to maintain the technology, not to actually fight a protracted war. There is LOTS of room for expansion. After 2022. Europe has completely weaned itself from Russian energy. Only scabs like Hungary are still getting it from Russia. As for the "secondary means", even those are easily replaceable. And you got the trade issue backwards. Most nations are NOT helping Russia lest they get hit by secondary sanctions and feel the backlash of loosing trade with the West. Russia meanwhile, is begging China, North Korea, and Iran for supplies. Even the Indian's are reassessing their trade with Russia. They take the oil and gas because they are ripping off Putin.
    1
  1434.  @ajaykumarsingh702  The USSR had more production capacity in the 1940s than Russia does today. if you were trying to make a point, you failed spectacularly. "Backed by China"? China is doing the bare minimum they can without getting blowback from either side. If China really was supporting Russia, then Russia wouldn't be begging North Korea for shells. Sanctions are not an overnight defeat. It took months to years for economic sanctions on Japan and Germany to actually start making an impact on their WW2 performance. Yes, the West is facing a birthing crisis, but in this race to the bottom, Russia is ahead of only South Korea, Japan, and China. And as far as population, I don't think you are comparing the entirety of the EU with Russia.
    1
  1435.  @ajaykumarsingh702  And how did that work out in the long run? The USSR was LOOSING until the US joined the fight and started sending them supplies via Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Without those American supplies, the USSR would not have even been able to launch their counterstroke. Russia is facing a demographic collapse today which is a direct result of 80% combat deaths of all makes born between 1920 and 1930. That is an entire generation that never hand children. And their grandchildren don't exist today either to fight Putin's war.
    1
  1436.  @ajaykumarsingh702  When the Russians are losing 7 men for every 1 Ukrainian killed, that is NOT victory by ANY measure. And don't get me started on the rapid attrition of their armor.
    1
  1437.  @peterpanini96  But it is going far worse for Russia. Bakhmut and Advika are what is called a pyrrhic victory.
    1
  1438.  @kenh758  European schools are not much better. Only the politically connected actually get the privilege to go to the prestigious schools.
    1
  1439.  @kenh758  Apples to oranges false analogy. But that is to be expected by products of a failed education system that doesn't actually teach history.
    1
  1440.  @TheRomanianRegent  How did Ukraine poke the Russian Bear? You are blaming the victim.
    1
  1441.  @walkingcarpet420  "The Poles are oppressing Germans", they cried right before the 1939 invasion.
    1
  1442. Nor have they heard of the term "pyrrhic victory".
    1
  1443. "Tyranny of Distance". The US Navy already figured out how to do it during the 1920s, coming up with "War Plan Orange" for fighting Imperial Japan. A modern war with China will play out very similar, which is why the Chinese are so keen on securing allies in the Solomon Islands.
    1
  1444. And be willing to fight. The fall of Saigon and the Fall of Kabul both occurred because the locals refused to step up to the plate. Kiev and Seoul both stand free because their populations DID fight for their country.
    1
  1445.  @Chou-seh-fu  Red China is an ethno-nationalist society despite their claims otherwise. Taiwan's Han Chinese population has evolved over the last 75 years into a distinct sub-culture much like the Hakka, Teochew, Hokkien and Tanka are a subset of Han.
    1
  1446. I agree on all except Russia's goals. Their march on Kiev was clear that at a minimum Putin wanted a puppet government much like in Belarus. It is an open debate as to if he would have simply annexed the entire country.
    1
  1447. "Fool you"? Ukraine CHOSE to fight, otherwise they would have let the Russians take Kiev without a fight. Also, the US has already worked out how to supply Taiwan. US war planners in the 1920s called it "The Tyranny of Distance". That is how they came up with War Plan Orange. And I guarantee you that modern war planning follows a similar formula.
    1
  1448.  @alex4863  You clearly missed the point. How long did Okinawa hold out? Or the Defenders of Iwo Jima? How many Japanese soldiers continued to fight long after Japan surrendered? Siege warfare takes YEARS to break the defenders. The Islands that fell fast in WW2 only did so because the US was willing to spend lives to take those mission critical Islands and bypassed the ones that didn't directly contribute to the war effort.
    1
  1449. Ask the Japanese how they held out against the Americans during the Pacific theater. Bloody Tarawa was but the beginning of the blood bath.
    1
  1450. The US is the ONLY way Taiwan can stand up to Red China. And Taiwan is NOT Ukraine. The US has a vested interest in Taiwan that doesn't exist for Ukraine.
    1
  1451.  @GothPaoki  Funny, because their attempted invasion of Kinmen Islands shows that mainland China had zero capabilities of invading Taiwan. They have yet to show any improvement in amphibious operations.
    1
  1452.  @chris0000924  Taiwan is ALREADY independent. This whole "declare independence" thing is simply a charade. Kuomintang refused to accept that they lost the Civil War. Mainland China doesn't want to accept that Formosa was never theirs to begin with. The whole situation is a farce. THERE ARE TWO CHINAS!
    1
  1453.  @chris0000924  The Chinese have been separate entities longer than the Two Koreas have been divided. The idea that they are one entity is a delusional fantasy. And the fact that you assume I am a neocon shows your political myopia. It is the neocons who want to maintain the status quo.
    1
  1454.  @chris0000924  Make a deal like was made in Munich on September 30 of 1938?
    1
  1455. Taiwan can't fight without US support. Do you really think the Kiwis and the Aussies can seriously supply Taiwan?
    1
  1456. Have you actually looked into their destroyer-escorts? The Kidd-class (aka Dead Admiral or Ayatollah class) is one of their best investments despite being a ship built in the 1980s.
    1
  1457.  @kenh758  I was talking about a historical truth. You chose to take it to mean that Japan wants to re-colonize which is so beyond the pale that it should not even be dignified with a response. I have no idea what you are talking about regarding "One China" and Christianity. That sounds like gobbledygook by someone who has no idea what they are even saying.
    1
  1458.  @kenh758  Puerto Rico has on several occasions been given the option for either independence or return to Spanish rule. They continue to choose to remain in Union with the United States. Your example is an apples to oranges false analogy (logical fallacy).
    1
  1459. Formosa was once the crown jewel of the Japanese Empire. The fondness still remains for its former colony.
    1
  1460.  @_Alfa.Bravo_  On what charge? The Georgia case is imploding. The New York case is going to get overturned on appeal and is so beyond the pale even liberal lawyers are calling it out.
    1
  1461.  @networkgeekstuff9090  The cracks in the US system have been chipped at since the Progressive Era of the 1920s under Woodrow Wilson. Same people then are pushing the same things now, only they are more overt about what they are doing.
    1
  1462.  @networkgeekstuff9090  It was a slow and painful fall. Cincinnatus, the Sulla tried to restore the Republic only to fail with Jullius seizing power.
    1
  1463.  @maritaschweizer1117  Russian collusion was proven a hoax beyond a reasonable doubt. Even the media who pushed it have given up on those claims. You are in complete denial.
    1
  1464.  @maritaschweizer1117  Everything. Not a single "fact" of theirs told the WHOLE story. Context matters.
    1
  1465.  @TheRealZeke2003  If you think "Human rights" are simply something that bureaucrats can legislate, you would be correct. But then what is the point of trials for crimes against humanity?
    1
  1466.  @GothPaoki  World Health Organization? The people who lied about the Wuhan Flu? The same organization that covered up a cholera outbreak in Ethiopia? THAT WHO? And you trust them to know what human rights are?
    1
  1467. Ah, but healthcare is NOT a right. If it were, then people of Africa would be able to enjoy it without leaving their continent. Rights are inherent to people, not entitlements handed down from government. Rights granted by government can easily be taken away at the snap of the fingers.
    1
  1468.  @doujinflip  When? The entire 2020 Biden campaign was that the 2016 election was stolen.
    1
  1469. Indeed. How quickly they forget that Hillary claimed the 2016 election was stolen.
    1
  1470.  @maritaschweizer1117  You are confusing Trump with Biden. Trump is sharp as a tac. Joe Bite-Me is clearly suffering from Dementia.
    1
  1471.  @Develpup  Propaganda hit piece no different that the Russian Collusion Hoax.
    1
  1472. You are no independent, you are a liberal who just can't bring themselves to vote for the party. Until now, because your cult has told you to drink the kool-aid.
    1
  1473.  @JT.Pilgrim  The DNC is left of Justin Trudeau. Don't fool yourself.
    1
  1474.  @JT.Pilgrim  Wrong on BOTH counts. The DNC is LEFT of Justin Trudeau.
    1
  1475.  @McClane4Ever.  Republicans still oppose abortion, and LEGAL immigration. The party base hasn't changed, its leadership has gone further and further left, abandoning the values held by the people they are supposed to represent. What has changed is people like you have moved the Overton Window far to the left.
    1
  1476. On what charge? The Georgia case is imploding, and even leftist lawyers admit that thew New York sham trial is beyond the pale.
    1
  1477. Same here. I joined the USAF in October of 2005 and already saw the wokeness and political motivation for promotion erode combat effectiveness. Our flag officers are all as worthless as a Russian General.
    1
  1478.  @Jonny-uu7wf  Then why didn't Putin invade Ukraine while Trump was in office? Why did he wait until AFTER Trump left the White House? We can wait for your answer.
    1
  1479.  @LibertyFirst1789  Pot meet kettle.
    1
  1480.  @maloted1111  I hope you are being sarcastic about actually liking that. It is stuff like that which cause me to realize the real enemy wasn't Haji in the Middle East but our own leadership.
    1
  1481. Indeed, That flag officers push diversity sensitivity programs to cover their blunders and buck for promotion has had a deleterious effect on the military.
    1
  1482.  @LibertyFirst1789  Funny, because dictatorship is exactly what we have under a judiciary that doesn't respect its own rules of decorum. When trust in the legal system implodes because of political prosecutions, you get civil war. This is what the left has called for (no justice no peace, remember?) and when you plant the seeds of conflict, expect to reap the whirlwind.
    1
  1483.  @justmenotyou3151  Storm surge has been around forever and known since antiquity. If people didn't build on stilts, that is on them. You would think people would have learned from Galveston, Texas after their 1900 super Hurricane.
    1
  1484. And it is all a farce. Isostatic Rebound is causing places in Scandinavia that were previously covered in ice to become higher elevation. Parts of Finland for example were completely underwater 500 years ago but are now high and dry.
    1
  1485. They can't be specific because all of their claims can just as easily be laid at the feet of others. They are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
    1
  1486. Funny, your first part of the UCJM is correct, but everything else is complete fantasy. The veterans didn't change their positions, YOU changed while they remained exactly where they have always been.
    1
  1487.  @_Alfa.Bravo_  That isn't an argument, that is making excuses.
    1
  1488.  @_Alfa.Bravo_  From what? That is the same kind of justification all traitors make.
    1
  1489.  @brucegordon9007  The Senate acquitted him of insurrection during the January 6th Impeachment attempt.
    1
  1490.  @yellowcard7139  You didn't teach me anything. You conflated the two to try and move the goalposts (logical fallacy). And whether I have worked at an embassy or not is an irrelevant red herring that has no bearing on the topic. It is an emotional appeal. My quick response leading you to make assumptions is yet another logical fallacy, this time an ad hominin personal attack. Either way, your use of those fallacies shows that you are desperate because someone debating merits would not need to resort to them to "win". Learn to code and debate.
    1
  1491.  @yellowcard7139  The USMC has ALWAYS been responsible for Embassy security. Consulates, however, are a different matter. I can forgive you for not knowing the difference between the two. If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING. "Better people THINK you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," -Mark Twain.
    1
  1492.  @yellowcard7139  Embassy security is provided by the United State Marine Corp, a part of the Department of Defense. The fact that you don't know that shows your ignorance on the subject. And the State Department RARELY uses PMCs in no small part because of the grey area they fall into regarding Mercenaries under the Geneva Convention.
    1
  1493.  @yellowcard7139  You are making a distinction without a difference. Who provides security for the State Department? The DoD and State Department in some ways are independent of each other and in other ways act in unison. As for the withdraw of armed forces, that was entirely DoD.
    1
  1494.  @somerandomguy4919  Funny because the bulk of the military draws from traditionally conservative areas. Liberals servicing in the military are the exception, not the norm. Consider this: legacy military families are generally of the nationalistic bent, a hallmark of conservatism.
    1
  1495.  @maritaschweizer1117  Trump is sharp as a tac, but I get it that you can't tell the difference between Orange Man and the invalid currently in the Whtie House.
    1
  1496.  @sandromain  Yeah, the Ossetia insurgency has about the same legitimacy as the Donbas one. Namely NONE. Putin's "little green men" are who most of your Abkhazia fighters actually are. Oh, and your long dissertation posts are not an argument, they are proof by verbosity (logical fallacy). Brevity is the great eloquence of charm.
    1
  1497.  @samsungtv4u  Wow that Vodka you are drinking must be pretty powerful for you to hallucinate. Being occupied by the Muscovites does NOT mean that they own Ukraine. But then someone completely ignorant of history wouldn't bother to know that. PS, Mexico stole Texas from Spain, so no, Texas does NOT belong to Mexico.
    1
  1498.  @2211gk  No, but if the Kharkov and Kherson offensives have shown, the residual forces there are a paper tiger.
    1
  1499. Yeah, I found myself wondering why they didn't take the opportunity in mid 2022. Finding out that there is a compliant government in Tbilisi explains much.
    1
  1500. There was much opportunity in the Gorbachev/Yeltsen era. Sadly, that was lost with Putin's arrival in the Kremlin.
    1
  1501. Yeah, I was wondering why they didn't take the opportunity to expel the Russians in the middle of 2022. Now that I know they have a compliant government, it makes more sense.
    1
  1502.  @ernestkhalimov1007  Will they be able to again after Ukraine has mauled them?
    1
  1503.  @ernestkhalimov1007  Make a coherent argument. Your appeals to emotions show that you have nothing to back up your empty boasts. 1st Guards Tank Army, the Moskva, and now the 155 Naval Infantry show that the Russian Bear is geriatric.
    1
  1504.  @williamsherman1942  I never said anything about Georgian chances against Russia in a conventional war. I was pointing out that fear mongering over nukes is just that: fear porn based not of fact but emotional blackmail. Looking at the Moskva, Admiral Kuznetsov, 1st Guards Tank Army, and now the 155 Naval Infantry Marine Brigade, it casts great doubt on the state of the Russian nuclear arsenal. if the most elite units of Russia's military are having a pathetic showing, then what builds confidence in the nuclear forces?
    1
  1505.  @ernestkhalimov1007  ALL talk of nuclear war invariably degenerates into hysteria over a nuclear winter. You refusing to acknowledge that only discredits you, not me.
    1
  1506.  @ernestkhalimov1007  Michael Crichton demonstrated why "nuclear winter" is an unsubstantiated myth unsupported by ANY hard data. Further, the rebuilding of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after only 20 years shows that the radiation left after the detonation is significantly lower than predicted. The reason is that most if not all of the fuel is consumed, and the daughter products have only moderate duration hazards. For further proof, look no further than Bikini Atoll where people are able to dive on the wrecks of the Operation: Crossroads test subjects.
    1
  1507.  @ernestkhalimov1007  Russian nukes are more likely to detonate in the silo than actually launch. Get over yourself.
    1
  1508.  @georgekaradov1274  Yeah, where have I heard that story before? Oh yeah, the Russian pretext to invade Ukraine. Put down the vodka comrade, you are so drunk you are hallucinating.
    1
  1509. Pure copium. If the King of Artillery was a great as you claim, there is no reason why Russia is not in Kiev right now.
    1
  1510.  @bhaashatepe5234  "Internationally recognized peace keepers"? BY WHOM? Who recognized them? NOBODY. You are ret-conning history to support Kremlin fictions.
    1
  1511.  @markdowding5737  Fair points. A real mess indeed.
    1
  1512.  @markdowding5737  Yeah, I find myself wondering why they didn't reach out to Kazakhstan or China to help mediate the dispute. China isn't any better than Iran, but at least they have more credibility in guaranteeing the peace.
    1
  1513.  @georgekaradov1274  Not everyone born under the communist flag is a communist. Ever heard of Ayn Rand? How about Victoria Spartz? No, once one has declared their allegiance to communist ideology, they have made a Faustian Bargain. As Yoda once said, "If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will". Funny how quick you are to bring up typical leftist talking points not mentioned on cue like Pavlov's Dog. Who is the Russian Asset now?
    1
  1514.  @georgekaradov1274  Once a communist, ALWAYS a communist. A Tiger does NOT change its stripes. Further, Ukraine has EVERY right to have a national defense force (ie Army). Belarus has one, but I don't hear you bitching about that. And the Minsk "agreements" were never valid to begin with. They blatantly ignored the Budapest Memorandum which had legal standing. The issue about wokism infecting the DoD is a red herring (logical fallacy) and is a deflection on your part because you don't actually want to debate the actual issue at hand.
    1
  1515.  @georgekaradov1274  Angela Merkel? You cite the woman who was a member of the East German Communist Youth League who sold her country into slavery to Russian oil? But I get it, you are so hard on for Putin that you would blatantly ignore that the US alone could wipe the floor with Russia if they wanted to. The thing is, American's don't have the imperialist mindset of Muscovites.
    1
  1516.  @georgekaradov1274  You do realize that the first two months Ukraine WAS ALONE? Maybe they got some support from Poland, but with the exception of HIMARS and possibly the M777, the Kherson and Kharkov offensives were fought using only Soviet and Warsaw Pact equipment. NATO gear is only now getting to the frontlines in significant quantities.
    1
  1517.  @guydreamr  Indeed. In most cases, DipImn covers minor infractions like jaywalking or parking fines. Most governments take a very dim view of their diplomatic agents engaging in serious crimes such as drug trafficking or manslaughter. Usually in those cases the host country declares them persona non-gratta and they are deported to prevent claims of hostage taking.
    1
  1518. Why would they? How would that benefit them?
    1
  1519.  @leihtory7423  The CCCP telling you they are peaceful is like asking a shark not to take a bite of something in the water. China has not fired a single shot? India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tajikistan would disagree with you. They have ALL had incursions by China. ALL of them have traded lead with the "People's Liberation Army" who have acted like petty thugs rather than a professional military force. You are just an anti-West troll who cares nothing about actual facts, only what the CCCP tells you to believe. Gobbels would love people like you.
    1
  1520.  @leihtory7423  China hasn't invaded in 40 years? May I remind you of their invasion of Vietnam where Charlie kicked their ass? Then there are the numerous border fights China has picked with India. Don't fool yourself, the Chi-Coms are just bad at War. The ONLY thing going for them is their superior numbers, but as Ukraine has shown, that can easily be overcome.
    1
  1521. @lati long Keep repeating to yourself your fictions that reinforce your delusions. Facts on the ground matter, and indisputable fact is that Japan and Taiwan's economies are intertwined in a way that the Chinese CCCP envies and detests. That would not happen if not for the population being closer to Tokyo than they are to Beijing.
    1
  1522. @lati long Wow, no concept of history, do you? You think that anything before August of 1945 never happened. You ignore anything that does not fit your myopic politically driven narrative.
    1
  1523.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  Negative population growth is NOT fine. You need two babies per woman to break even and maintain a stable society. Demographic collapse leads to societal collapse.
    1
  1524.  @unklmonk651  Fishing, and natural resource rights. If they can claim the Island, then everything between it and the home Islands can be claimed as sovereign Japanese territorial waters.
    1
  1525.  @ivan7453  The problem is that the age of battleships is over because of guided missiles. Between ship-based rockets and carrier-based aircraft, engagements are at distances well beyond the horizon and outside the range of cannons. In fact, the last time ships did engage in a direct fire-fight was in the Battle of Samar which featured Yamato being dueled by tin-can destroyer-escorts that fought as if they were battleships. It resulted in about the only carrier ever sunk by naval gunfire: USS Gambier Bay. Now, I DO believe there is a place today for battleships as a mobile artillery platform, especially for shore bombardment and close support (think USS Nevada during Normandy). But Heavy Cruisers fill that role on the rare situations it comes up. Battleships could also serve as a command and control (ship version of an AWACS ), but today Cruisers also tend to fill that role. Finally, they can also act as an anti-aircraft platform to protect the carriers on the off chance that enemy planes do get past the Combat Air Patrol. But since US doctrine calls for air dominance, it is not considered a justified use of resources.
    1
  1526. Japan converting hulls into aircraft carriers is not a new thing. That being said, I would love to see a modern IJN Akagi, IJN Kaga, and IJN Shinano nuclear super-carriers.
    1
  1527. Considering the Japanese propensity to adopt new technologies quickly and maximize their efficiency, I have no doubt they would quickly be on par with the best of the NATO block.
    1
  1528.  @rsuriyop  More drivel from someone who thinks word salad is "educated". Some of us have actually been to Japan and South Korea and know the truth having experienced it firsthand.
    1
  1529.  @rsuriyop  Japan's economic downturn has NOTHING to do with the US and everything to do with their own bad economic choices. When the Yen is typically strong against the USD, your claims of America keeping the Japanese on a leash is utter garbage born of Ameriphobia. Incidentally, since Anime is eating Disney and Hollywood's lunch, that is further evidence that Japan is its own master.
    1
  1530.  @eirikarnesen9691  You are correct. I mistakenly tagged you instead of rsuriyop. My apologies.
    1
  1531.  @eirikarnesen9691  Wow, seems like I triggered you. You are clearly an Anglophobe pretending to be an anti-colonialist (which is just fashionable anti-European racism)
    1
  1532. "Cold hard fact" huh? I think you conflate opinion for fact. Do keep in mind that Japan has NOT always been in agreement with the US. There have been numerous situations when the Japanese have stabbed the US in the back (selling of the F-15/F-16 to unapproved third parties such as the Chinese). You calling the Japanese puppets effectively denies that Japan has any agency to make its own choices. That is a very myopic perspective and frankly, a lazy infantile one.
    1
  1533. Can they be trusted? Well considering they have experience first-hand nuclear weapons; I trust them more with nukes than I do the French.
    1
  1534. Yeah, the definitions today are jacked compared to WW2 standards. The retired Spruance-class Destroyer was easily TWICE the displacement of a Fletcher-class of WW2. In the wake of WW2, the Frigate/Destroyers and Light Cruisers became one mission profile while the Heavy Cruisers took over the role of Battleships as artillery platforms.
    1
  1535. Indeed. The hacked details of the F-35 are showing that it is the modern equivalent of the Norden Bombsight: overblown and its failures classified to protect the corruption in the industry.
    1
  1536. I saw it too. Are they implying that the giant of South America condones piracy?
    1
  1537. Unlikely that they would use the names of their Super Battleships for mere destroyer-escorts. I could see them using those names for Heavy Command Cruisers (which have basically replaced the WW2 battleship).
    1
  1538.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  Have you considered that they are only counting those who stayed in the country? Many Japanese who marry foreign spouses LEAVE the country. And considering how Hafu children have historically been treated, even since the end of WW2, I don't blame them. What Japan needs to do is NOT castigate their "half-caste" children and instead embrace them as one would a prodigal son who has returned.
    1
  1539.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  I vehemently disagree with the mass migration argument as a solution to any nation's demographics problem. That is NEVER a workable solution. What I DO wish the Japanese would consider is to allow the naturalization of those who marry a Japanese national. Expedite the process should the couple actually produce half-Japanese children.
    1
  1540.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  Declining population makes it impossible to get out of debt. It makes defaulting a dangerous possibility. Or are you one of the Klaus Schwab acolytes who believes in population control?
    1
  1541. I would have more respect if he used the nickname "figlettes". Most sea dogs know what that means.
    1
  1542.  @wroughtforge7547  I seriously doubt you are Japanese. You are pushing hysteria and hyperbole which only serves to create anti-Japanese bigotry.
    1
  1543. Fukushima was nothing compared to the Windscale Fire in England. Or the Swiss Lucens accident. Or Kyshtym disaster in the USSR. Stop the anti-nuclear fearmongering by people who have political agendas.
    1
  1544.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  How do you get from Texas having 2 million bullets to all 50 states having over 12 billion? Your math does not compute, for it is off by 900 million. Or are you having difficulty with the zeros and commas? If you are trying to use Texas per capita bullets, I would remind you that states like California, Illinois, and New York are effectively gun-free states so you cannot honestly apply the numbers for Texas to those states' population.
    1
  1545.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  Texas has 2 million bullets. And how many bodies does China have? Something on the order of 1.5 BILLION. Almost three orders of magnitude larger?
    1
  1546.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  You missed my point. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be good enough and then numbers make up the difference. You also don't seem to understand that the Chinese have more bodies than we have bullets. The CCCP doesn't care about taking massive casualties. To them life is cheap and expendable so long as the goal is achieved. You would think their lockdown policies that starved people to death would make that abundantly clear. And as far as 1940s strategies being obsolete, might I remind you that in the 1980 Iran-Iraq war, the Iranians used human wave attacks and almost overwhelmed the then Western backed Saddam military?
    1
  1547.  @songhan1586  Indeed. It is the opponent you underestimate that defeats you and cleans your clock. So, it is better to assume they are more competent than they might actually be so that the only surprises are good ones.
    1
  1548.  @user-pn3im5sm7k  Yes, they overstate their capabilities. But as Stalin said, "quantity has a quality all its own". The Chinese fighters only need to be good enough such that their numbers can overwhelm the F-35. There are only so many AtAM that a fighter can carry; the Chinese can put up more planes than the west has missiles to shoot them down.
    1
  1549.  @mosh.4245  Yeah, i wasn't talking about the ship sunk at Midway. I was talking about the Izumo hybrid carrier. Context, dude.
    1
  1550. Command economies always end up a disaster. Cuba, Venezuela, USSR, DPRK, et. al. Soviet Central Planning NEVER achieves what true open markets accomplish.
    1
  1551.  @hughmungus2760  Is it a flaw of capitalism or is it a result of unscrupulous local governors and bureaucrats who took kickbacks to look the other way when they saw the money laundering going on? Those same politicians and bureaucrats were obligated under Chinese law to put an end to it. Much of that "private speculation" was encouraged and rewarded by the local municipalities who were incentivized to accelerate it. Now, I do agree that it may very well lead to more top-down authoritarianism, but then that is often the whole point of the exercise: create a panic and crisis so as to clamp down and centralize power.
    1
  1552. Yeah, the Soviets did implode under their own weight. Since 1955, a majority of the Soviet GDP came from oil and gas sales to Western powers like the Federal Republic of Germany (west Germany). It was Western Europe propping-up the Soviet Economy all of those years. Hell, the ONLY reason why they were able to defeat the Nazis in WW2 was BECAUSE of American supplies to the USSR. Ask yourself why for 50 years all of the trucks in the Mayday parades were of American manufacture.
    1
  1553.  @Vaeldarg  I am asking you to think outside of the box instead of simply accepting an misotheist perspective. Religions do not exist to enslave people; they act as guard rails to prevent societal collapse. But sure, show your contempt for the anti-religion "humanist" movements are responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the 20th century.
    1
  1554.  @Vaeldarg  Wow, historically revisionism. You seem to ignore the cynical actions of Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicene. You fail to realize that they were just using the popularity of the faith to grow their own base of power. Constantine continued to make burnt offerings to the Greco-Roman pantheon long after supposedly converting in flagrant defiance of Christian precepts. How about you ACTUALLY READ SCRIPTURES from an academic perspective. The gospels and the words of the Nazarene are VERY anti-establishment. They are HIGHLY critical of government and organized religion. "It is said my house shall be a temple of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" -Jesus of Nazareth; Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15;' Luke 19:46; John 2:13
    1
  1555.  @danilolabbate  Again, you are just making excuses. Like a typical cultural Marxist, you blame a perceived "oppressor" rather than admit that there are internal, domestic problems. And in doing so, you completely buy into the racist "noble savage" stereotype. When you have Generals like Zho Zongtang, the Marquis Kejing putting down the Taiping Rebellion, you can't claim that it was the Opium Wars keeping China down. Indeed, all of the Rebellions against the Manchu Qing Dynasty shows how corrupt and terrible their rule was. And as far as Japan's invasion of China, do keep in mind that Chairman Mao cut a separate peace with Japan such that they could move through each other's territories unmolested. It was only the KMT who was seriously fighting the IJA as Mao was more interested in fighting his fellow Chinese. My perspective isn't strange, it is taking all of the facts into consideration, not cherry picking what you like to confirm your own biases.
    1
  1556. "State capitalism" is merely Soviet Command Economics by another name.
    1
  1557.  @containedhurricane  What you fail to point out is that full 70% of those listed deaths are self-inflicted homicides. Mostly suicides. Nice try buddy.
    1
  1558.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  The more you protest, the less believable you are. That is the problem with wokescolds like you; you seem everything as racist and cast it as such. Intersectional praxis drives your choice of words which betrays your true nature. Case in point is your getting triggered over the phrase "calling a spade(a type of shovel) a spade". Only racists automatically assume a spade is not a garden tool but instead a racial epitaph.
    1
  1559.  @ArawnOfAnnwn  You just hate the cold hard truth. Reality is, you yourself are judgmental and look down your nose at people you disagree with. You are doing it with your gutter sniping posts. But then that is typical of people who cry wolf on racism because they can't argue MERITS.
    1
  1560.  @FalconfromRF  Funny you mention the Armenians because the Azerbaijanis are curb-stomping them. That province they have been trying to "liberate" has remained tightly under the control of Baku. Russia is MUCH larger and more spread out. The ONLY reason why China or the other Islamic Republics haven't invaded is because of the blow back if they did.
    1
  1561.  @allenk6373  That isn't an argument, that is a deflection because you don't want to debate the merits. The fact that you chose to ignore my examples of San Marino and Lesotho shows your insincerity. But I guess for someone who complains about Americans being ignorant of Alaska, you have never heard of those two countries. Pot calling the kettle black.
    1
  1562.  @allenk6373  Russia doesn't like that Ukraine and the Baltic States are independent, so what are you complaining about? The bigger issue is the local's willingness to engage in an insurgency to achieve independence.
    1
  1563. Chechnya and Dagestan together could make for an Independent Islamic Republic.
    1
  1564.  @joseraulmiguens6699  That they were trying to reach out to the Soviets to negotiate peace instead of the Allies showed a complete insincerity. You don't go to a neutral power to ask for terms.
    1
  1565.  @danielhutchinson6604  Have they now? What is your source? RT? India and China have been buying up oil at a steep discount, much lower than the cap price set by international agreement.
    1
  1566.  @HgHg-yp6ft  Russian nukes are more likely to detonate in the silo than actually launch. Ever heard of K-129? It was a nuclear ballistic sub that tried to attack Pearl Harbor in the 1960s. The missile blew up in the silo sending the ship to the bottom of the Pacific. So, your nuclear threat is meaningless at this point. Putin has already threatened the West with Nukes for sending weapons to Ukraine. They threatened to use nukes if Russia was attack and nukes were NOT launched after the attack on the Kerch Bridge.
    1
  1567.  @benghazi4216  Israel's neighbors better fit the description of apartheid and regularly engage in the very behaviors you accuse Israel, but of course you don't care because the truth doesn't matter to antisemitic bigots like you. Again, you show you are not interested in truth, only in pushing blood libels and hatred against Jews. Jospeh Gobbles loved people like you.
    1
  1568.  @benghazi4216  You didn't but the narrative quickly becomes that and thank you for proving that. There is nothing funny nor joke worthy of casting blood libels at Israel. Jews are treated FAR worse in Arab states than Arabs are treated in Israel. That is a provable, objective fact.
    1
  1569.  @benghazi4216  Israel is NOT like Nazi Germany. The Arabs in Judea are NOT being exterminated, though the Arabs would love nothing more than to complete Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al-Hussein's promise to "drive Israel into the sea".
    1
  1570. Indeed. Nobody wanted to ally with the Arab party in the Knesset because of the rabid anti-Semitism. In ousting Bibi, this was the first time they EVER allied with anyone. That should tell you how rabidly jihadi they are.
    1
  1571.  @cthoadmin7458  Funny you mention paper because every peace agreement Israel has made with the Arabs has been shredded by either Fatah, Hamas, or Hezbollah. Not once has the international community punished them for breaking the land for peace agreements.
    1
  1572.  @sshender3773  Please parse down your points into bite sized paragraphs that are easier to read. I agree that there was at one time an attempt to establish a socialist utopia (the Kibbutz), but that was hardly the majority view and more a result of misguided idealism. The fact that they collapsed in no small part to their "it takes a village to raise a child" and the collectivist approach to rasing children showed its folly. I do agree that the demographics have changed, especially with the Sephardi, Ethiopian, Bene Israel, and as you point out Mizrahi being allowed to hold citizenship has brought these groups into a cosmopolitan and eventually mixed heritage pool. It is kind of interesting that Patrick J. Buchanan pointed out much of this and almost all of your points in his book "Suicide of a Superpower". He predicted these results back in 2011.
    1
  1573. What genocide? Isarel is NOT rounding up nor exterminating the ARABs in Judea. On the contrary, it is the Arabs who want to "drive Israel into the Sea" as Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini said he wanted to do.
    1
  1574.  @guvviyulg4821  Israel and Hebrew claims to the area is much older than that, closer to 7,000 years. Your Africa comment is pure hyperbolae and does not help; it shows insincerity and intellectual dishonesty.
    1
  1575. @Guvv_iyulg To answer your question, the Jewish people have a history in the land call JUDEA. The word" Palestine" was created whole cloth by the Romans in AD73 in an attempt to erase the history of Jews in the region.
    1
  1576. Considering that Bibi came to power with the religious right, perhaps the lesson that should have been taken is that the opposition should have been more thoughtful than just "anyone but Netanyahu". Be FOR something, not simply against. Bibi was pushed into the hands of the religious faction by the actions of his opponents.
    1
  1577. Eh, it is kind of par the course. Bulgaria was an unreliable ally to the Axis in WW2. They were also not very dependable to the Central Powers in WW1.
    1
  1578.  @diktrejsi8214  Tade and commerce isn't stealing. The US hasn't stolen anything. Unless you believe in unhinged and psychotic cultural Marxist strawmen claims.
    1
  1579. I don't know about kicking them out, but Hungary and Turkey's membership should be put in either a "suspended" or "probation" status. In that they cannot block entry of a new member, nor can they have a representative as the chairman. The latter point also driving home the point that their ability to direct or have a say in strategic goals and objectives is also suspended.
    1
  1580. Looking at the historical record, Bulgaria was at best an unreliable ally. Whether WW1 with the Central Powers or WW2 with the Axis, their forces were usually among the first to break or switch sides.
    1
  1581. And yet Bulgaria sides with the Germans against Russia in both WW1 and WW2.
    1
  1582. JUDEA will be free.
    1
  1583. Israel is way worse? Israel has ALWAYS fought with one hand tied behind its back. If they were as bad as you claim, then the Arabs who call themselves Palestinian would have been wiped off the map decades ago.
    1
  1584. There is a major difference between the Russians and Hamas. At least the Russians PRETEND to abide by the Law of Armed Conflict and do NOT stockpile their guns, missiles, and mortars in hospitals. The Russies DO use schools as barracks much like Hamas does.
    1
  1585.  @yakovdan  What part of "gun free cities" do you not understand? The problem isn't gun ownership, the problem is politicians that disarm their citizens so that criminals can butcher them much like Hamas did to the unarmed Israelis. Try looking up Bill Whittles" Number One with a Bullet" video. He goes point by point why your anti-gun positions are false and why "gun nut capital" Plano Texas is the safest city in the US.
    1
  1586. Free JUDEA!
    1
  1587. Free JUDEA!
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  1588. Yeah, sure. Make up any excuse you can to justify your irrational hate of Bibi.
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  1589.  @jeanmoke1  Free JUDEA!
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  1590. Free JUDEA!
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  1591. Free JUDEA!
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  1592. Didn't even bother to do your due diligence. Elon Musk isn't even censoring them instead allowing Hamas to hang themselves with their foolish broadcasting of their atrocities.
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  1593. Why? They left it in 2005 and had no desire to return. No, this was just an intelligence blunder much like the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
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  1594. Indeed. The greatest victory of the Jewish people is when Jews like Werner von Klemperer, John Banner, Leon Askin, and Howard Caine played Germans to mock and ridicule the Nazis. To make a farce out of those who tried to kill you isn't belittling the horrors, it is showing how much greater you are than those who seek your obliteration.
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  1595. There are Arab Muslim members of the Knesset. Apartheid South Africa didn't have a single black member of that government. On that alone your claim is nothing more than an antisemitic blood libel.
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  1596.  @jeanmoke1  Free JUDEA!
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  1597. Free JUDEA!
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  1598.  @Marvlesz  Wrong. In the 1948 partition, the Arabs got all of the good farmable land and the Jews were given the swamp and desert. In the time since, the Israelis turned the desert into a pastoral paradise while the Arabs polluted and spoiled their land.
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  1599. Free JUDEA!
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  1600. Free JUDEA!
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  1601. As I recall, the Eastern Chruch views St. Mark as the founder of the faith rather than St. Peter.
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  1602.  @joeybwalsh  That is not an argument, it is a logical fallacy. And it is you tacitly conceding that I am correct. Learn to debate and make better arguments. "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -attributed to Plato. "When your argument is weak, abuse the plaintiff," -Marcus Tulliuc Cicero "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher
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  1603. Your first mistake is that "Evangelical Fundamentalism" is NOT monolithic. Secondly, it does NOT the institutional power that either the Eastern Orthodox Chruch, nor the "Western Orthodox" (ie Catholicism) has enjoyed. But as typical, people like you grossly misunderstand nationalism and patriotism. Just because the philosophy is simple doesn't mean that its adherents are simple minded. Sometimes a simple concept can have vastly nuanced interpretations.
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  1604.  @LittleNoiseBoy  The Baltic States and Poland would point to the invasion as specifically WHY the joined NATO. Hell, the leader of Lithuania even said that they would be occupied by Russia now if they hadn't joined.
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  1605.  @DanSolowastaken  ​ @Dan Herr Clown boots? You resorting to insults makes you guilty of the very thing you accused me of doing. it is also a sign of desperation showing that you know you have lost the debate. Thank you for effectively throwing in the towel and admitting you have lost the debate. Yes, Putin is an ethnonationalist, but that does NOT make him a conservative by American standards. But considering that the Euro-Centric view of conservatism has been skewed by a bias towards monarchism, I can understand your confusion. Oh, and Religious supremacy may also be a Euro-centric view of conservatism, it also happens to be the preferred position of Islamists whom the left on BOTH sides of the Atlantic love to apologize for. Are you referring to Giovanni Gentile or Mussolini? Because Gentile is the FATHER of Fascism. Any definitions that deviate from his principal points is Soviet-Communist disinformation to hide from the fact that they share much in common. So, are you going to actually debate merits or are you going to continue to parrot leftist talking points on cue like Pavlov's Dog?
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  1606.  @DanSolowastaken  Wow, take a dose of your own medicine.. Putin combines the WORST elements of every totalitarian dictator. But that does NOT make him a Fascist by precepts laid out by Giovani Gentile. Tell me, are you aware of the Molotov-Ribbentrop alliance? It was only possible because Stalinism and Naziism have so much in common. But of course, leftists like you want to ignore that alliance of the Hammer and Sickle to the Swastika because it reveals leftist ideology for what it truly is. And funny you accuse me of ad hominins when you do exactly that. Again, you throw around the term Fascist with the same intellectual dishonesty as those who accuse black conservatives of being White supremacists.
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  1607.  @DanSolowastaken  Calling people who disagree with you fascist only proves you don't even know the meaning of the word. Kind of like how calling someone racist has lost its meaning. Name calling doesn't make your point, it simply proves you know you have no argument left to make. "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser," -Attributed to Plato "When your argument is weak, abuse the Plaintiff," -Marcus Tullius Cicero "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher
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  1608. Oligarchism and Plutocracy. To claim that it is Fascism shows a clear misunderstanding of what Fascism is. Italy under Mussolini was Fascistic. Spain under Franco was Fascist. Germany under that Austrian Chancellor was NOT Fascism, it was "German National SOCIALISM".
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  1609.  @DanDanJanJanJP  Yeah, I don't think Dugin is as influential over Putin as the media likes to pretend. Dugin is simply a Russian talking head, not a policy advisor. To the more to the original point, it is highly unlikely that Japan would trade the US for Russia if only on the grounds that the US supports Japanese claims over ALL of the Kuril Islands. By joining Russia, they would relinquish their claims over any of the Islands.
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  1610.  @nsevv  You didn't read the part "OF THE BALTIC"? Basically, the city should be for that region of the world what Singapore is for Southeast Asia.
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  1611. I am all for KONIGSBERG becoming the Singapore of the Baltic.
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  1612. Don't play the blame shifting game or whataboutism.
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  1613. Indeed. Putin simply reinstated the very same system they had under Leonid Brezhnev.
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  1614. Indeed, Soviet Russia under a different name, but all of the same Hallmarks of what Reagan called "The Evil Empire".
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  1615.  @scottwillie6389  I agree that normal countries don't allow unauthorized entry. So tell me why Joe Bite-Me and his cabal are allowing that on the US-Mexico border? Those Russia ex-pats don't support US, genius. They just don't want to die in a pointless war started by a man who has a "Short Man" Napoleon complex. Just because Beijing CLAIMS their disputes are settled doesn't make it true. To this day there are still spats between Pakistan and China over their border, you just don't hear about it because neither side wants to talk about their embarrassments.
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  1616.  @scottwillie6389  Pure copium. Either that or you are a paid shill for either the Chinese CCCP or the Kremlin. China wants Outer Manchuria back. And the fact that they have reinforced their border to prevent Russians from fleeing Putin's conscription only drives home the point that they are NOT friends, merely "business partners" with no love lost between them.
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  1617. I tend to agree. Thought I think China would be the biggest danger for them. Out of the Russian orbit and into the Chinese.
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  1618. Indeed. Putin managed to unite almost all of the Slaves.....agianst HIM!
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  1619. It does seem like he has as Napoleonic "Little Man" Complex.
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  1620.  @FlamingBasketballClub  You are not making any logical argument, only words salad in an attempt to claim that correlation is somehow causality. Yet again you are pointing to events that occurred AFTER the invasion to justify Putin's invasion. That is called putting the cart before the horse and is an example of intellectual dishonesty and anachronistic fallacy. And you thinking you repeating my snide little remark makes you smart only shows once again that you do not have a single original idea in your head, instead parroting others in a poor attempt at mimicry. Every time you repeat it, you are praising me and engaging in a self-own.
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  1621.  @FlamingBasketballClub  I DID make legitimate points, you just refuse to accept them. You think that by not even dignifying them that it somehow renders them irrelevant. I got news for you, it does not. If Zelensky is a Jew, why the hell would Nazis in Ukraine support him? They would not, disproving your claims about Nazis in Ukraine. Even the Kremlin has dropped that blood libel. American support for Ukraine's resistance didn't start until almost a month AFTER the invasion. It was POLAND and the Baltic States that were supporting Ukraine exclusively during the first month. ANWSER THAT POINT! The EU's fast tracking of Ukraine's application does not in any way abrogate the fact that Ukraine has to first meet all of the requirements of a member, something they still have not achieved. You seem to ignore that their previous applications were rejected. It being considered now is a direct result of Russia's invasion. Hell, just you pointing it out is a red herring (logical fallacy) meant to distract rather than make a coherent point.
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  1622.  @FlamingBasketballClub  Pot meet kettle dude. But then what should I expect from a Troll with zero original ideas in his head? Learn to debate. You are only making yourself look foolish. "Better people THINK you a fool than to open your mouth a remove all doubt," -Sameul Clemens, aka Mark Twain. "I learned long ago never to wrestle with pigs. You get dirty and the pig enjoys it," -George Bernard Shaw.
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  1623.  @FlamingBasketballClub  Put down the Vodka, Comrade. For one, the US didn't provide direct military aide to Ukraine until two weeks AFTER the start of the Invasion when it became clear that Ukraine was not going to be overrun. Secondly, Zelensky IS A JEW! Nazis would NEVER support a Jewish leader. Conversely, the Wager group are unrepentant Nazis, if you bothered to pay attention. Your claims are easily debunked, and you are not convincing ANYONE.
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  1624. I tend to agree. Under Yeltsin, there was a real possibility of engaging Russia in a meaningful way and help transition them away from their centralized command and control out of the Kremlin. Putin, unfortunately, went back to the very same system under Brezhnev, undoing the reforms started under Gorbachev. Islamic terrorism was yet another area that Russia and the West could have allied, especially in the wake of the Beslan School Siege. That should have been the moment when Bush and Putin locked hands and made the effort to put down radicalism. Russia's long history with central Asia would have been of great value to the West.
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  1625. Sounds to me like Kiril has done what the Kims have done in North Korea: perverted faith into a cult of personality. In North Korea, they believe in the Trinity: Kin Il-Sung the Father, Kim Jong-Il the Son, and the Holy spirit of Juche (Korean Communism).
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  1626. ICBMs may have global reach, but zero staying power. Blue Water Navies are mandatory to be considered a Superpower, and Russia hasn't had once since the collapse of the USSR. China wants one, but still isn't there yet. The UK and France have one, but theirs are not nearly as powerful as the US Navy. India COULD build a blue water Navy but has no aspirations hence no desire nor need to build one.
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  1627.  @Tespri  Again false narratives, strawman arguments and blatantly disingenuous claims. Much like Nicolo Machiavelli, I am pointing out the blatantly obvious, but rather than see it for the critique it is, you improperly see it as a tacit endorsement. Such is typical of the worst readers as Fredrich Nietzsche observed. Actually, I did if you bothered to even pay attention. Cicero was highly critical of the people who empowered first Pompey, then Julius Caeser then finally Mark Anthony before the last one had him put to death. "So mass murdering people on basis of their ethnicity/class/opinions is less bad than "selling of own people". Yet another strawman argument and a non-sequitur. But I get it, you are trying to act virtuous while achieving nothing. "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." as Shakespeare aptly said.
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  1628.  @Tespri  That is NOT what I said, and you know it. How about you actually read what I said instead of trying to twist and contort meaning that doesn't exist in what I said. I said those who CAUSE the fall into despotism are worse than the tyrant. Why? Because they are slavers on a national level, having sold their own people into slavery to the whims of an autocrat. An inherited despotism, whether Monarchy or Shogunate is less terrible. "Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome. Julius was always ambitious, but he was just one man," -Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator, lawyer, and politician: 45 BC.
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  1629.  @Tespri  You are making a distinction WITHOUT a difference. And those who cause the descent into despotism are WORSE that the despot himself.
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  1630.  @rejvaik00  Where did I defend Russia? I didn't. You simply jumped to that conclusion because I offered a different perspective. I was simply pointing out that as much as the West like to hubristically praise its form of government, it is not the typical state of human existence. I agree that Russia needs to break the cycle. But them breaking that cycle will not matter if the West degenerates into the very same despotism as the old Soviet Union.
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  1631.  @rejvaik00  The Greeks whom the West love to claim descent from are who arguably pioneered both modern Democracy and Republican governance. And as Aristotle pointed out, they invariably degenerate into despotism. Even the Hebrews who started out as a decentralized confederation of tribes eventually became a dictatorship under an absolute monarch.
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  1632.  @freetolook3727  Indeed. Reminds me of some funny insults to WW2 German vehicles: A Mess of Messerschmitts. A Junk of Junkers. A Putridity of Panzers.
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