EPTUS Politics Mega-thread - Page 1457
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Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting! NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets. Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source. If you have any questions, comments, concern, or feedback regarding the USPMT, then please use this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/website-feedback/510156-us-politics-thread | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Danglars
United States12133 Posts
On May 15 2019 05:01 IyMoon wrote: Do you mean better in a moral way or as a strategic ally way? Either way can you list why you think that? I think the Qatari ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and that organizations terrorism makes it marginally worse than SA’s version of exporting radicalism and Egypt’s authoritarianism and repression. I have to reiterate that both stand low in my moral estimation, generally, for a host of other reasons that would take too long to go over. Strategically, the SA/Egypt axis is more stable in foreign policy and more inclined to get along with Israel and oppose Iran. I think both those inclinations serve the US’s long term strategic interests in the region. I’m not particularly well informed on the specific leaders each axis is backing. I’ve only read two or three news articles on the subject. | ||
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semantics
10040 Posts
On May 15 2019 05:22 JimmiC wrote: It does for the moral outrage you get to have when the popular vote is 15 million different! I suppose if the popular vote is so far removed from the electoral college it can finally be removed and my vote will always count for president. Also maybe campaigns will finally visit more states outside of the token rally instead of the 10-15 swing states they usually operate under. | ||
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farvacola
United States18876 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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semantics
10040 Posts
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IyMoon
United States1249 Posts
On May 15 2019 06:56 semantics wrote: Picking and choosing winners in business. Too bad our economy's is so heavily integrated with China that this hurts more US companies than it helps. I remember when Obama got so much shit for 'Picking winners and losers' | ||
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NewSunshine
United States5938 Posts
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iamthedave
England2814 Posts
On May 15 2019 02:10 Plansix wrote: In general I have not noticed until now when a lot of folks I know who are into board games were like “Get what games you want now, because the price is going to go up by like 20%.” And that seems to be the narrative across the board game community online as well. How come? Are they all made in China? | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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semantics
10040 Posts
Parts and materials. Modern economy is raw, semi finished and finished goods | ||
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Taelshin
Canada420 Posts
Can we get a fucking decade without starting a new "war" ? | ||
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Ben...
Canada3485 Posts
On May 15 2019 09:00 Plansix wrote: Th war drums continue as senator dumb ass Cotton goes on camera and says we could “beat Iran easy.” I was waiting for him to say we will be greeted at liberators. It’s like the Republicans are loom back at the Bush administration and think “the Iraq war got him re-elected. We should do that again.” They're sending so many mixed signals on it. It's almost like nobody has any idea what is going on. It does appear that Pompeo and Shanahan are pushing a narrative that Iran has become increasingly hostile, while the person actually in charge of the coalition forces in Iraq and Syria said there so far is no increase in threat level from Iran. The Pentagon seems to be disputing this, but under this administration they've been doing what seems like a lot of this kind of stuff. Remember that strange episode last year where they suddenly had the need to bomb several targets in Syria, and all the news folks thought it implied the US was going to go to war in Syria? This reminds me of that. That ended up being nothing, and was buried in the news within a couple days. Of course, Trump outright denied the 120,000 troop plan today and said there was no plan to attack Iran. So really, there's no way to actually know what their plan is because they don't even know what their plan is. | ||
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Doodsmack
United States7224 Posts
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GreenHorizons
United States24505 Posts
On May 15 2019 09:00 Plansix wrote: Th war drums continue as senator dumb ass Cotton goes on camera and says we could “beat Iran easy.” I was waiting for him to say we will be greeted at liberators. It’s like the Republicans are loom back at the Bush administration and think “the Iraq war got him re-elected. We should do that again.” + Show Spoiler + That comes on the heels of Senator Rubio reminding folks that military intervention in Venezuela is "always" an option because of "national security", "drug cartels", Russia" and of course "Marxist terrorists". He goes on to say Guaido needs it, because despite several western nations recognizing Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, the issue is far less settled for residents of Venezuela. Rubio goes on to say that Guaido urgently needed outside help and "has no instruments of formal power," Senator Marco Rubio said U.S. military action in Venezuela was "always" an option, citing the unstable presence of drug cartels, Marxist terrorist organizations and "hundreds" of Russian military advisers in the South American nation. The Florida Republican, who is a member of both the Senate's Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, said Juan Guaidó, who was leading the efforts to oust President Nicolás Maduro, needed help in Venezuela against an international network of terrorists and drug cartels that have thrown their support behind the socialist regime. Rubio told Breitbart News Tuesday that U.S. military intervention was "always there" as a possibility because of Russia's own military presence in Venezuela at the invitation of Maduro. In January, Maduro's leadership was declared illegitimate by the country's National Assembly, which named Guaidó president. But the move created a power vacuum as foreign countries, including Russia and the U.S., quickly propped up opposing sides. Rubio said Guaidó urgently needed outside help and "has no instruments of formal power," including no security forces, no internet and no access to news media. "That option [military intervention] is always there simply because the United States has a right to defend its national security, and there are national security interests assigned to this,” Rubio told Breitbart News in an interview this week. “As an example, you have the presence of Russian military advisers on the ground…and not 10 people, you’re talking hundreds…you have [the] potential of a permanent Russian naval presence.” It doesn't stop there though, Rubio goes on to tell the reporters at Breitbart that Iran and Hezbollah are supporting Marxist terrorists from Columbia Rubio said that in addition to Russia's growing strength in the region, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah were providing passports and support for Colombian-based Marxist terrorist groups to roam freely in and around Venezuela. “You have the likes of Hezbollah and Iran, and government officials who are more than willing—for the right price, but it’s not very high—to sell official but falsified travel documents, passports, so that terrorists can move around freely in the region,” he noted. “You have the open support of drug cartels who aren’t just tolerated, but cooperate and work alongside the regime…there’s a migratory crisis triggered by this regime that is destabilizing our strongest anti-drug partner in the region in Colombia.” www.newsweek.com The war drums are beating indeed and we went from Mad Dog being the voice of reason to Trump's aggression to Trump being the dove to Bolton/Pompeo/CIA hawks. One concern this raises is the appeal Rubio is making there doesn't just tempt hawks on the right but has been adopted and defended by members of both parties. What military conflict would look like in Korea, Venezuela, and now Iran have all been in the news since Trump took office and most people are just hoping he keeps bluffing and it doesn't cause catastrophe. Worth keeping in mind the Dem 2016 campaign was in no small part that Trump would definitely cause a catastrophe and couldn't be trusted not to just screw it all up. | ||
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semantics
10040 Posts
On May 15 2019 09:26 Doodsmack wrote: Republicans should be first in line for the draft for any war with Iran. They chose war, we chose diplomacy. It's a very clear party divide. I can't remember but was the reneg of the Iran deal just a Trump thing or a GOP thing during their primaries... | ||
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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ZerOCoolSC2
9077 Posts
I'm just glad I'm out of the military. Gen Mattis, had he declared that Iran or Venezuela needed liberating, would have been able to rally every soldier to fight. Now that he's gone, I expect a lot of senior officials to kinda push back on it. They don't see the justification. There isn't any. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On May 15 2019 10:11 semantics wrote: I can't remember but was the reneg of the Iran deal just a Trump thing or a GOP thing during their primaries... Obama made the deal, so of course it was bad and must be destroyed. All Republicans ran on either backing out or attacking the deal. Talking about bombing Iran has been a big talking point for Republicans and hawkish Democrats forever now. It’s a joke in Iran, if the US threatened to bomb them today or not. There is a section of congress with both democrats and Republicans that are very happy with the status quo with Iran and the deal Obama work out under cut that. | ||
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iPlaY.NettleS
Australia4462 Posts
On May 15 2019 06:30 Plansix wrote: This thing is going to completely fuck up the board game industry as well, since all of their parts for games are made in China. And most of the company, like Fantasy Flight, are not big. The will have no choice but to jack up prices or fire people. It seems small, but there are tons of small industries like that in the US that are going to take it in the teeth. Honestly i doubt it will have much impact. Companies will just move production to Thailand or Vietnam if the tariffs are too steep.Williams-Sonoma just did this, as well as increase US production slightly https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/13/williams-sonoma-ceo-says-it-shifted-operations-ahead-of-tariff-hikes.html China can retaliate by devaluing their currency to nullify any tariffs.And we’re back to square one. The change to ultra low sulphur fuel for container ships on 1/2020 may have a bigger impact since the price for low sulphur fuel is 55% more per tonne : https://www.maritime-executive.com/blog/twelve-months-to-d-day-is-the-industry-ready-for-the-sulfur-cap | ||
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