On April 03 2014 18:01 Simberto wrote: Yes. One needs a military because others have one, and if they have one and you don't you are fucked. Doesn't change the fact that a military fundamentally does nothing except allow you to either not get fucked by people with a military, or alternatively fuck people who don't have a military as big as yours.
It does not do anything useful, but if others have one you need one too.
A much better solution would be if people could agree to not waste gigantic amounts of money on something utterly useless, but sadly that is apparently impossible. The russians need a big military because the americans have one. Europeans need a big military because the russians have one. Etc. It's a giant circle that eats ressources for no gain whatsoever, but there is no easy way out either.
I would not say there is no gain. There is a limited amount of resources on this planet and the West has been exploiting those for a long time at the cost of most of the world. The military of the West is all that keeps those being exploited from saying "Fuck you" and not play ball anymore.
This would be at the same time that life expectancy, literacy, and vaccination in "most of the rest of the world" rose spectacularly, and poverty was halved globally, correct?
West is so good at exploiting global resources at the cost of most of the rest of the world that most of the rest of the world is better off now than it was before this dastardly exploitation started...
Nice fantasy about most of the rest of the world really just wanting to tell the West "fuck you" and not play ball anymore. Must be why most of the rest of the world keeps trying to immigrate to the US / Europe and not the other way around.
You just keep telling yourself that. That is same kind of logic super rich people use to justify their abuse of the system.
The poor countries are better yes, but that is only because a really small amount of riches taken from them did spill into their society. But if someone helped them to use their riches themselves, they would be in a much better state today. But of course, in a modern West society where everyone is just looking out for #1 that is how it is done.
And that part about immigration is funny, and it just proves my case when you think about it for more then 1 second.
It's always the delusion of the fringe that they are on the verge of breaking out into mainstream dominance. You may be itching to tell the West to "fuck off" but most of the rest of the world, sadly no.
You're clearly in the dark about why developing countries have been developing the last 60 years. It wasn't despite of Western investment and adoption of Western legal and financial practices, it was because of it. The idea that in modern Western society where everyone is just looking out for #1 is how it's done is pure ignorance or hilarious trolling. Hello, US spending well over $1 trillion a year on various welfare programs. Hello, literally all of Europe. Hello, New Zealand and Australia. Someone should alert all these countries that the trillions of dollars they collect in taxes and redistribute every year is just an expression of their capitalist greed. All those millions of foreign exchange students the governments spend a ton of money to bring to the West, get educated, with more and more of them going back to their home countries, because over here in the West we just love looking out for #1 by footing the bill for foreigners to get an education in our universities then go home and benefit their societies and economies more than if they stayed here like they used to.
People immigrate to the West because they can come live here under the rule of law with significantly less corruption and get a better education for their children. Those are the keystones of social mobility and economic opportunity. All of these things existed in the West and were a magnet for immigration well before Western corporations and intelligence agencies raped these poor countries so badly almost all of them are much more well-off now than they were two generations ago.
Ukraine is in "emergency" talks with its European neighbors on the possibility of importing natural gas from them, after Moscow sharply increased the price of natural gas to the country twice this week, almost doubling it in three days, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia have turned hostile since popular protests in Kiev ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich in February, after which Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region and formally annexed it last month.
Yatsenyuk said Friday that Slovakia, Hungary and Poland were the main candidates from which Ukraine could get natural gas through what are known as reverse flows, which involve sending Russian gas back down pipelines used to transit it through Ukraine to other European countries.
"We are carrying out emergency talks with our European partners. One way to solve the problem is reverse gas from EU countries," Yatsenyuk told reporters. "On a technical level, the idea of reverse gas raises no problems, and we hope our European partners make the right decision. If it will be to reverse [gas], then it means the price for gas will be $150 lower than Russian gas."
However, Valery Nesterov of Moscow-based Sberbank CIB said reverse gas flows from Europe to Ukraine would represent only about 8 percent of Ukrainian demand. Ukraine covers 50 percent of its gas needs with Russian supplies and also acts as a transit country for onward supplies to European Union countries.
On April 03 2014 18:01 Simberto wrote: Yes. One needs a military because others have one, and if they have one and you don't you are fucked. Doesn't change the fact that a military fundamentally does nothing except allow you to either not get fucked by people with a military, or alternatively fuck people who don't have a military as big as yours.
It does not do anything useful, but if others have one you need one too.
A much better solution would be if people could agree to not waste gigantic amounts of money on something utterly useless, but sadly that is apparently impossible. The russians need a big military because the americans have one. Europeans need a big military because the russians have one. Etc. It's a giant circle that eats ressources for no gain whatsoever, but there is no easy way out either.
I would not say there is no gain. There is a limited amount of resources on this planet and the West has been exploiting those for a long time at the cost of most of the world. The military of the West is all that keeps those being exploited from saying "Fuck you" and not play ball anymore.
This would be at the same time that life expectancy, literacy, and vaccination in "most of the rest of the world" rose spectacularly, and poverty was halved globally, correct?
West is so good at exploiting global resources at the cost of most of the rest of the world that most of the rest of the world is better off now than it was before this dastardly exploitation started...
Nice fantasy about most of the rest of the world really just wanting to tell the West "fuck you" and not play ball anymore. Must be why most of the rest of the world keeps trying to immigrate to the US / Europe and not the other way around.
You just keep telling yourself that. That is same kind of logic super rich people use to justify their abuse of the system.
The poor countries are better yes, but that is only because a really small amount of riches taken from them did spill into their society. But if someone helped them to use their riches themselves, they would be in a much better state today. But of course, in a modern West society where everyone is just looking out for #1 that is how it is done.
And that part about immigration is funny, and it just proves my case when you think about it for more then 1 second.
It's always the delusion of the fringe that they are on the verge of breaking out into mainstream dominance. You may be itching to tell the West to "fuck off" but most of the rest of the world, sadly no.
You're clearly in the dark about why developing countries have been developing the last 60 years. It wasn't despite of Western investment and adoption of Western legal and financial practices, it was because of it. The idea that in modern Western society where everyone is just looking out for #1 is how it's done is pure ignorance or hilarious trolling. Hello, US spending well over $1 trillion a year on various welfare programs. Hello, literally all of Europe. Hello, New Zealand and Australia. Someone should alert all these countries that the trillions of dollars they collect in taxes and redistribute every year is just an expression of their capitalist greed. All those millions of foreign exchange students the governments spend a ton of money to bring to the West, get educated, with more and more of them going back to their home countries, because over here in the West we just love looking out for #1 by footing the bill for foreigners to get an education in our universities then go home and benefit their societies and economies more than if they stayed here like they used to.
People immigrate to the West because they can come live here under the rule of law with significantly less corruption and get a better education for their children. Those are the keystones of social mobility and economic opportunity. All of these things existed in the West and were a magnet for immigration well before Western corporations and intelligence agencies raped these poor countries so badly almost all of them are much more well-off now than they were two generations ago.
This is a wrong topic to continue this discussion. I presented my opinion, you yours. We don't agree. I am only bashing Russia in this topic because I don't agree with their policy of "if west is doing it so can we", but the west which mostly means USA is just as bad, they only spin it much better and don't anex, but use puppets.
All those millions of foreign exchange students the governments spend a ton of money to bring to the West, get educated, with more and more of them going back to their home countries, because over here in the West we just love looking out for #1 by footing the bill for foreigners to get an education in our universities then go home and benefit their societies and economies more than if they stayed here like they used to.
As a graduate student with mostly foreigners in my field, I'd like to add to this. Sure, those that receive scholarships with the stipulation that they go back to their countries are doing that out of requirement (I don't personally know any of these across a few universities though), but anyone else who comes is completely intending to stay here. Not a single one of them from the extremely bad places to live (especially the overwhelming number of people from China, India, and Iran) plan on returning under any conditions, and they're relatively well-to-do people in those countries. They're not poor or anything even close. And yet their whole purpose in life for the next some odd years is to become a US citizen. Funny how that is.
As for the students who come from decently functional nations, the only thing on their mind is going back home heh.
And yes, I think the US does infinite favors for foreign students, even from countries where the most popular socio-political trend is to hate anything to do with the United States. My field of study is living proof, even actively preferring foreign students over domestic ones as far as the universities I'm aware of.
Stepping stone is an understatement. If this has any degree of validity, this is a huge deal. "New Ukrainian govt. can't keep a leash on its own radicals? Better intervene." And Russia which has a history of dealing with terrorism is going to make a deal out of it.
Call me paranoid but it looks like a stepping stone for Russia to continue aggression against Ukraine.
I like the idea of a common one price European market for gas but it's sorta anti-capitalism.
Political gaspricing is even more anti-capitalistic and is the primary problem. Common fair gas pricing policy is just a way to fix what is already broken.
Seems Crimea - possibly with the help of US sanctions - has won a temporary victory against american tyranny here personified by McDonalds:
Additionally, due to the suspension of necessary financial and banking services, we have no option but to close our three restaurants in Crimea. It is important to note that this is strictly a business decision which has nothing to do with politics. We are taking numerous steps to support our employees during this time.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky seems to be ecstatic and tells how he wants McDonalds out of mainland Russia and that Pepsi Cola are next on his wishlist for companies to be made disappear.
Crimean politician Temirgaliyev didn't see a problem in it since Russia has her own cafes including fastfood with the ability to take its place promptly. Source
The documents found in the water were carefully dried, scanned and uploaded onto a new website called Yanukovych Leaks. But the shredded ones need to be carefully reassembled, bit by bit.
The Pynchuk family and scores of other volunteers gather together in donated office space - a basement which was used by Ukraine's Communist Party.
They could be gluing and sticking for several months. But however long it takes, they are determined to help investigative journalists, accountants and lawyers to shed more light on the way business was done when Yanukovych was in power.
Last week they had 40 people a day but in the last few days the numbers have dwindled to 20 a day. More people come at the weekend.
They stick the paper randomly on to sheets so it can be read by the sophisticated computer software programme. Some are long strips and others are short like confetti. Other documents have been torn up by hand.
Yarosh is disbanding the armed units of the Right Sector. Active members would attend military training in one of the army's training camps. Basically that means only a political wing of the Right Sector will stay. So much for the nazi threat.
Nice video showing russian foreign politics from the inside. For those who'd like a short summary or weren't satisfied with a mediocre translation, the major points: 1) the discussion between the two ambassadors was flooded with swearing. 2) they were very happy to dream (or not?) about how Russia would "take away" other parts of Western countries, including Scotland, Catalonia, Alaska, Venice. The bigger picture is probably that breakaway provinces can be used to blackmail the state involved, or Russia will support and even assist in their claim for independence. But those two are probably too dumb to look that far. 3) Insults regarding other countries were common. - Scotland was called "Cattleland" (similarity between the words in Russian. Transcription: Shotlandiya (proper Scotland), Scotlandiya (Cattleland. The word does not exist in Russian language, so no, he didn't just have misused it). - one of them said they "would kick Bulgaria and Romania to where they fucking belong". - used word "shitty" to describe Baltic countries.
P.S. Baharev's photo is an incorrect one. Russian MFA declined that the conversation was real. But Chubarov previously confirmed it. He explained they were merely joking about the situation and the conversation had no political context.
Indeed, what a bad joke. I think they were joking, that's clear from their saying about holding referendums. However, there is a bit of truth in jokes, so they were honest about something at least. Possibly about Baltic countries and Scotland.
Russia recalled its ambassador to NATO for consultations Thursday, two days after NATO member countries suspended cooperation with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Russian state media reported.
Col. Gen. Valery Yevnevich will return to Moscow in light of NATO's actions, official news agency ITAR-Tass said, citing Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov's remarks to journalists.
"The policy of (deliberately) whipping up tensions is not our choice. Nonetheless, we see no possibility to continue military cooperation with NATO in a routine regime," Antonov is quoted as saying.
He accused NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of making "confrontational statements" at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers early this week and questioned NATO steps to bolster its presence in Eastern Europe.
Darth Vader has been rejected from running for the presidency:
Ukrainian authorities have rejected a bid from a man calling himself Darth Vader, who wants to run in the presidential elections.
The man, who appears in the costume of the fictional character from the Star Wars films and is often accompanied by people dressed in other Star Wars outfits, was nominated for the presidency by the Internet Party of Ukraine. Earlier he told the party's congress that he wanted to turn Ukraine into "a galactic empire".
But the country's Central Electoral Commission says parts of Darth Vader's application were "questionable" and some paperwork was probably forged. Apparently, the man is really an electrician called Viktor Shevchenko, who changed his name to Darth Vader in March.
Ukrainian authorities have rejected a bid from a man calling himself Darth Vader, who wants to run in the presidential elections.
The man, who appears in the costume of the fictional character from the Star Wars films and is often accompanied by people dressed in other Star Wars outfits, was nominated for the presidency by the Internet Party of Ukraine. Earlier he told the party's congress that he wanted to turn Ukraine into "a galactic empire".
But the country's Central Electoral Commission says parts of Darth Vader's application were "questionable" and some paperwork was probably forged. Apparently, the man is really an electrician called Viktor Shevchenko, who changed his name to Darth Vader in March.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has condemned a recent decision by Russian authorities to cut off all remaining radio transmissions by U.S. international media in Russia.
In a one-sentence letter dated March 21, Dmitry Kiselev, the director of the information agency Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), stated that “we are not going to cooperate” with the BBG’s request to continue a long-standing contract for broadcasting on Russian soil. Effective at the end of March, this decision removes the last vestige of Voice of America programming – including news in Russian and English-language lessons – from a local frequency in Moscow (810 AM). Source.
It's kinda' hilarious that they're doing exactly the same that they so forcefully lambasted Ukraine for a few weeks ago:
“It certainly can be considered only in terms of the an attack on democratic freedoms, and a violation of international obligations by Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign ministry's commissioner on human rights Konstantin Dolgov told RIA Novosti. Source.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has condemned a recent decision by Russian authorities to cut off all remaining radio transmissions by U.S. international media in Russia.
In a one-sentence letter dated March 21, Dmitry Kiselev, the director of the information agency Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), stated that “we are not going to cooperate” with the BBG’s request to continue a long-standing contract for broadcasting on Russian soil. Effective at the end of March, this decision removes the last vestige of Voice of America programming – including news in Russian and English-language lessons – from a local frequency in Moscow (810 AM). Source.
It's kinda' hilarious that they're doing exactly the same that they so forcefully lambasted Ukraine for a few weeks ago:
“It certainly can be considered only in terms of the an attack on democratic freedoms, and a violation of international obligations by Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign ministry's commissioner on human rights Konstantin Dolgov told RIA Novosti. Source.
What ours is ours, but what yours is negotiable has been a standard Russian tactic since the Soviet days.
Whoa, great (and very long) article from the New Statesman (of all places).
Defend the west: is it time to re-arm? Europe should not underestimate the Russian threat, argues historian and professor of international relations Brendan Simms. We must show how seriously we take Putin’s assault on Ukraine by working towards unification and moral and military rearmament. Keep reading
Pretty sensasionalist, considering that 71% back in the day were against the iraq-war. 60% were against the afghanistan war. Guess what, german citizens are still against war, so they're against this as well. Doesn't mean we didn't fight there. Germans are war-tired, who would've thought they'd vote against another probable war. Again.
Only 21% of american citizens (who, i think, get war tired as well now) think the NATO should get involved if Latvia gets attacked by russia.
NATO was never about support of the population, but about support of governments. And the last time i checked, germany/us/etc always uphold their promises, even though the respective population was (partially almost unisono) against it.
EPT
