Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 26, 2018.

  1. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    I always wondered what was inside his head.
     
  2. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    Meanwhile in Europe:



    What's that Sun Tzu quote about defeating your enemy without fighting them?
     
  3. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Pipe is made from Olive Wood since the owner of the Pipe said Trump brought peace for Israel.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Sun Tzu would have advocated containment, which worked for decades. US Adventurism (by its definition) and Merkelism (idiotic hope that mercantile engagement could actually make despots democratic) undid all that.

    None of this matters.

    Everyone I know under age 50 in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia: they look toward the West, look at the massive strides nations such as Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, etc. have made, and don't want anything to do with "OG Russian culture", the one where people seem to embrace suffering, eating bitter, no eating shit. In past several hundred years, and possibly before that, every time Russia has an opportunity to break from the cycle of despotic tyranny, it gets all fucked up and ends up vertical (everyone lining up behind the strongman) again.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2022
  5. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    What the people want is just the surface level of this conflict and anyway Eastern Ukraine is predominantly ethnic Russian and would want to join Russia.

    Writing it all out starts to look pretty

    [​IMG]

    after a while but the tl;dr is that China is poised to capitalize on this economically and geopolitically with the other two nuclear superpowers posing a diminished threat and will likely pick up Taiwan (which unlike Ukraine holds vital strategic interest) in the near future without much fuss.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    That's assuming everything is hunky-dory in China which it ain't. I know people have been saying China is due for a reckoning for quite a while now. That day has finally come. Palpatine and 1984 methods can do so much, delay so much, when the fundamentals aren't sound. Xi is probably the best thing that happened in favor of the West in the "Great Power Competition". Xi has more to worry about inside China than with Taiwan. The Taiwan shit is just a distraction to placate the masses, the stupider gong-ho ones who play World of Tanks too much. The Chinese generals know they can't fight with a military that has zero combat experience, especially against another country with a big moat around it. With respect to arms tech, the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed are learning a ton right now in Ukraine - they most certainly are collecting telemetry info. For all the crap that the USA military-industrial complex gets from peaceniks, it's already thinking two generations ahead with respect to weapons.

    The USA is hardly weakening nor will be weakened from this. That sentiment is largely from those inside the USA who couldn't compete in a non-socialist society, those who whine and bitch about how America needs to be great again when it already is great. Strong demographics, people work their asses off and take little vacation, massive opportunity for small businesses, plentiful arable land, a small gold mine of gas and oil, climate in large parts conducive to wind and solar power generation, an open society that brings from around the world: the best, the smartest, the hardest working (including illegals who pick our lettuce and strawberries).
     
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    Last edited: Oct 23, 2022
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This is what I would realistically expect at the end. Both sides have shown signs of softening their stance because the way it's currently going, it's lose-lose. I doubt Europe will put up with this for another year. So make that lose-lose-lose. We'll see if Russia in the long term will be able to hold on to its other non-slavic statelets in the east and south after all this is over.
     
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  8. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    Not to mention using the petrodollar hegemony to f**k over the rest of the world (the Cantillon effect), and turn around and weaponize the reserve currency.
     
  9. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

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  10. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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  11. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I just go by what people tell me from over there. Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Lots of IT, computer, software engineering talent in those parts. Most people I know over there are under 40 though, so my perspective is skewed.

    I hate old people anyway even though I am one of them. Well, at least old people who think they will live forever and won't get out of the way to let the younger generations make their own decisions. It's just not over there, it's also here in the USA too. The US Senate today looks like an old people's' home. I bet half of them wear diapers.

    The thing about aging is that minds and attitudes become hardened and more rigid, especially with men. Old people who can't at least see this should be subject to the Logan's Run treatment. The cool wise old people are the ones who are going to mentor, prepare, and empower the ones who will take their place. The shitty old people who think they are going to live forever, they should be laid out to the pasture.
     
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    Last edited: Nov 6, 2022
  13. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Sounds like FL to me. I'm betting hard that FL will slowly turn to the next California in two-three generations after the baby boomer generation (with their pensions and attitudes) die out. We will see....but I hope I won't be in FL before that happens.
     
  14. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Thanks for posting this. The truths (e.g. the corruption of western Ukrainians who pose as western Lockean democrats to gain our $billions$) it talks about is not usually found in English language reporting.
     
  15. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    That’s right. f**k you Dr. Oz you f'ing quack.
     
  16. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    I blame the need for dumb down simple narratives. dumb deliberately not tensed properly.

    On the flip side, regardless of how corrupt the Ukraine was or is, how much money laundering or shady stuff US / EU / other officials may be doing there including Hunter Biden dubious activity, how much aid money disappeared, how undeveloped the country may be, or whatever other accusations are thrown... it blows my mind that some people use stuff like this to justify war. If some bad behavior was all it took to allow violence between states, the whole world would be on fire right now. Most likely including our own homes.
     
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    Last edited: Nov 9, 2022
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Herschel
     
  18. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Have to admit, as much as I wasn't a fan of other aspects of his presidency, getting North Korea somewhat in line and somewhat financially dependent on South Korea and China for a while and smoothing things over between Riyadh and Israel was definitely not properly recognized, here or abroad. Other than maybe by some in SA and Israel - I didn't personally follow up on what the reaction in these places was other than seeing (in passing 1 time) that the new Riyadh-Jerusalem flight route had more than the token demand that I expected.

    Maybe it's the same need for simple dumb down orange man bad arguments again. idk.
     
  19. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Not surprised one bit about what happened in FL. Dem Voters just didn't show up to vote + shitty Dem Gov candidate + all the new arrivals since 2020 (mostly GOP folks who escaped NY). Now FL is firmly politically like Texas on top of a GOP supermajority in FL capital, for better or worse.

    And all of the above was not a surprise one bit at all.
     
  20. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Again control of the US senate (probably) comes down to a runoff. France and Brazil have also given us some similarly entertaining moments in recent months. As much as American democracy seems dysfunctional and under threat of late, there are elements I enjoy watching no matter the outcome. Here in Canada most everything is boring First-Past-The-Post. It is nice to see in the US some variety - runoffs in Georgia, ranked ballots in some other states, electoral college splits based on votes in yet others, and of course state-wide voter initiated plebiscites (or propositions as you call them).

    Of course all these things are open to their own unique forms of manipulation as well, but if there is anywhere we can watch how these diverse ideas work in practice in a larger macrocosm, I'll give you props for that.
     

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