Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Zeihan on Geopolitics" channel.

  1. In October 2002 a group of Chechen militants seized a Moscow theater and took nearly 700 spectators and performers hostage. In the ensuing rescue operation, some 130 hostages died—mostly as the result of inhaling a narcotic gas released by security forces that was meant to incapacitate the Chechens.
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  2. My sister-in-law was part of the educated class who left Venezuela thanks to Chavez's heavy-handed and grossly incompetent leadership/dictatorship. Even though the country appears to have hit rock bottom, they are trying to dynamite the hole deeper.
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  3. Via el catsupo!
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  4. If the green tech industry could harness the power of wishful thinking they would generate a surplus of energy.
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  5. And once Iran gets it money back, what prevents them from reneging on the deal or snatching more American citizens as hostages for future negotiations?
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  6. I always raise this point to people who don't understand why the Donbas and Crimea are critical to Ukraine's survival as an independent sovereign country. Russia's systematic approach to strangling Ukraine began when they took over these areas one by one. The invasion was simply the culmination of this long term plan.
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  7. Which window did he fall out of?
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  8.  @jimgraham6722 Yes, it was even worse - 334 dead, 186 of whom were children.
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  9. I'm old enough to remember when Banana Republic was a mail order clothing company, not the country I live in.
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  10.  @FGBFGB-vt7tc  Maggie Thatcher said the problem with socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people's money. Venezuela's answer is to print more. At least they won't have a toilet paper shortage.
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  11.  @timschmidt4466  Only gringos call it kechupo in Spanish.
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  12.  @beibei93 You mean Detroit is not a success story? 😉
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  13.  @dalehill6127  "Tomorrow is another day . . . without electricity." Cue end theme.
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  14. How do you define very capable? When we went into Afghanistan we had to provide the French with basic logistic support because their capabilities were extremely limited. That was 20 years ago. Maybe they've improved since then.
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  15. Here in Montana the Public Service Commission just approved a 28% rate hike for electricity. On top of that, winter weather arrived suddenly last week. We went from 65 degree days to 5 degree days overnight. We're back into the 30s and 40s now, but the warm days are gone. There is no way an EV can survive here or be economical even if there were no production issues. Reality won't allow it.
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  16. I think Peter meant 1000 km, not 1000 miles. Still, it is impressive.
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  17. If it's cheaper than Charmin, I'll pick some up.
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  18. I see nothing has changed in the Saudi mindset since I worked with their Air Force in the 1980s.
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  19. More importantly, when are you going to respond to Ryan McBeth with your own spoof of him?
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  20. Which town was this and what company bought it?
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  21. All the more reason to keep a ready cash reserve on hand when you don't want Big Brother or Big Bank nosing into your business. I firmly believe it will be abused by government and corporate entities, especially if cash is ever banned.
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  22.  @FGBFGB-vt7tc  An outhouse with an old coffee can filled with water and corn cobs was a staple for many folks in my area when I was a kid. My Dad even sold chamber pots in his hardware store. This was in the 1960s and early 70s.
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  23. One likely outcome of these decentralized operations will be a call by governments everywhere to ban, restrict, or heavily regulate all private drone ownership and operation.
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  24. He's already teaching a course I like to call Learned Ignorance.
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  25.  @Etymon-jt3zw  I think it wisest to worry about all of them, but in order of priority. Right now it is Russia that posses the greatest threat to Europe. Once that threat passes, the next in line will become the next great nemesis. In the case of Europe I think this will be the EU leadership and its never-ending desire for greater control over its supposedly sovereign members.
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  26. No mention of Iran? Their fingerprints are all over this operation.
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  27. When I first moved to SA in 1978, Loop 1604 was a two lane road where you risked getting stuck behind a slow moving hay wagon for an hour. Camp Bullis, Leon Springs, and Helotes were in the middle of nowhere. I went back in 2007 and the place was nearly unrecognizable—wall to wall strip malls, apartment buildings, and offices extending well beyond an expanded Loop 1604. Camp Bullis was surrounded by urban sprawl, and the flyspecks of Helotes and Leon Springs had essentially vanished. All the charm was gone. It must be much worse by now.
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  28. It's not. China would have to put nukes on the island, but they won't because they aren't needed. What Peter did not discuss was the reason Kennedy stood firm agasint the Russian operation. In the early 1960s there was no missile gap and Kennedy knew this. We were militarily far more powerful and capable than the USSR. The Soviets lacked long range accurate missiles at the time, so they believed that planting intermediate range missiles in Cuba would allow them to instantly threaten all of the southeastern US. This was intended to be a stopgap measure until they could field ICBMs from their homeland. As a fig leaf to cover their humiliating withdrawal, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove medium range Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Within a few years the Soviets built up a massive ICBM fleet which negated any need for offshoring their nuclear weapons.
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  29. Welcome to the new cheap.
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  30. Sounds like Saudi Arabia hasn't changed any since I was last there in the 1980s.
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  31. Ditto.
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  32. Venomous, not poisonous critters. No rattlers or moccasins?
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  33.  @bradenglettkd8zm69  That's very interesting. I grew up in Florida where both species are very common.
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  34. Who doesn't want to own a piece of Transylvania? 🤔
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  35. These facts must make the green "industry" angry.
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  36. Peter is a YouTube god. Not anymore.
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  37. A Finn being cheesed off is akin to a Brit being quite peeved.
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  38. The Dutch have always been party animals.
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  39. I've been pondering the same question for some time, but the field is still very immature and in need of much development. I suspect even food and medicine may be potential candidates as the technology matures. Imagine a future where almost anything you want can be made at home with a few base materials and some assorted printers. "But what will become of Amazon?" asked nobody.
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  40. I've never seen a community that was happy and economically viable when their population was shrinking. Those who think otherwise should take a look a the history of Detroit.
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  41. Austin is about as relatively blue as San Francisco.
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  42. Which one is this?
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  43. I have a friend of Armenian descent who is currently in the country trying to assess the situation. Meanwhile, the president of Azerbaijan was quoted as saying "The Armenian population of Karabakh can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I said this before, and I want to repeat it: the Armenian population of Karabakh are our citizens. Armenian nationalists, war criminals, and the so-called leaders of Armenia and Karabakh took these people hostage and poisoned their brains. They concocted endless lies about Azerbaijan and its people… I am sure that the Armenian population living in Karabakh will soon see a change for the better. We intend to build a life together based on peace, mutual understanding, and mutual respect. We have no problems with the Armenian people. We have no enmity." My translation: If they don't leave the country quickly and peacefully, we will starve them and freeze them to death, or maybe rape and shoot them. We haven't decided yet.
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  44.  @FGBFGB-vt7tc  I do. I also pray your country returns to normal.
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  45. The current situation brings a whole new meaning to the expression "Up the Republic!"
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  46.  @ivan-xt  As my Dad used to say, "Don't confuse me with the facts".
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  47. Everything they made was crap? Obviously Peter has not used East German shower heads.
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  48. The US Air Force is so desperate to fill vacancies in some specialty codes that a request has gone out for retirees to return. I doubt they will get many takers.
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  49. Deflation was not the cause of the "Great Depression", but an effect of it. The dollar was very strong, but few people had many dollars to spend. There is nothing inherently wrong with having a strong dollar, indeed, it can be desirable. One could argue that some of the possible causes of deflation are economically unhealthy, such as a contraction in the money supply, but even this does have to lead to a reduction in consumer demand or productivity. By comparison, inflation is the opposite of deflation and can be very destructive if it is artificially induced by government printing presses, as happened in Germany in the 1920s and still happens today in Zimbabwe here trillion dollar notes are common.
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  50. I like your backdrop. That's a very interesting view of the world map.
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