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#2 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2024-03-18 01:31 PM
An insurrection it was.

#3 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-03-18 01:40 PM
An insurrection for anyone OTHER than the leader of the insurrection that is.

#5 | Posted by SpeakSoftly at 2024-03-18 06:52 PM
Oh so the founding fathers intended for insurrectionists to be banned from state office but not the presidency? Yeah that makes sense.
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The Supreme Court has turned away a convicted member of the Jan. 6 mob ...
Couy Griffin, the founder of "Cowboys for Trump" and a New Mexico county commissioner, was [previously] convicted of...

Not "presumed but never tried / never convicted..." of "insurrection" against/in some random state. "Convicted" makes all the difference... or doesn't it? Hence, 9-0 on that particular issue.
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#1 | Posted by Corky at 2024-03-15 11:32 AM |
Odd that this news would publish while the voting is going on...

Maybe because this has not been "news" for weeks and has been anticipated for months.

After four tries of announcing reduction in oil production that resulted in initial spikes in oil futures price which rapidly came down due to supply glut and slower demand by world economies, as well as exit of Angola from OPEC, Saudi Arabia flipped the script and started negotiating volume supply agreements at a discount with Indian and Chinese oil / energy companies, now directly competing with Russian crude and refined oil products.

3 top Chinese banks, including Bank of China, stopped payments in rubles to local recipients, citing caution of secondary sanctions for aiding Russian wartime economy - Chinese government reluctantly followed the sanctions regime rules and ordered many of its largest financial institutes to do the same. Only 10% of Russian importers were able to pay suppliers this month for goods from China. Traders said that making ruble transactions was like "playing roulette" with their money, with funds delayed, held up indefinitely or simply vanishing into the "financial system" with no recourse.

BRICS is a nice geopolitical "concept" but anyone, who is not economically illiterate, understands it has no economical power because of very different objectives of members, and disparity in currencies which cannot be reconciled equitably.
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Asymmetrical war is a bitch:

Russia's Gas Prices Surge as Drone Strikes Paralyze Industry

|------- Crude oil prices jumped this week after Ukrainian UAVs again struck multiple Russian oil refining facilities, as Kyiv continues its long-range effort to limit Russian mobility in the Black Sea...

-- On Tuesday, a fire broke out at a Lukoil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod 280 miles from Moscow... and an energy facility in the city of Oryol... The next day, drones hit refineries in Ryazan and Rostov-on-Don... Other oil facilities in Volgograd and Tyapse as well as St Petersburg have also been targeted in recent weeks.

-- Russia's top oil execs keep #dying #suddenly. Vitaly Robertus, VP of Lukoil, was found "hanged" in his Moscow office in an apparent suicide... This is at least the fourth death of Lukoil's top executive since Russia's war in Ukraine began.

-- Russian government reintroduced on March 1 a six-month ban on gasoline exports...

-- Russian traders reel from China payment problems. Russian businesses face challenges in their dealings with cautious Chinese institutions.

-- China, Russia, Iran join forces for war games amid US-Houthi clashes.

-- UAF missiles destroy Russia's floating 'command center' used to carry EW equipment and launch drones.

-- Ukraine's new group of Russian fighters serving with UAF, "Siberian battalion" joins "Freedom of Russia Legion" and "Russian Volunteer Corps / RDK," launching incursions into Russian oblasts (counties) of Belgorod and Kursk.

-- Russian arms exports cut in half over the past five years, compared to the previous five. US arms companies' weapons exports soar while Europe rearms itself in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

-- Russia's program to produce missiles experienced technical problems and has fallen months behind schedule, according to documents obtained as a result of Ukraine's more than a year-long cyber operation. The documentation identifies Moscow's intermediaries for purchasing weapons components. "Every company whose products the enemy uses to produce weapons will be known to the public. Relevant authorities have the data to block proxy firms and extend sanctions," NRC said.
-------|
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#13 | Posted by TomSawyer_jr at 2024-03-15 11:23 PM |
... if the Jews (Zionists) and Muslims can not figure out how to live peacefully side by side...

But they do - less than 75% citizens in Israel are Jews (religious or secular), more than 21% citizens are Arabs and/or Muslims (who are not subject to mandatory military service, but volunteers are allowed to serve - must be "apartheid"!) and life expectancy in Israel is in top 10 of the world.

Israel proposed creation of Palestinian state "side by side with Israel" at least 4 times... (BTW, the first and only nation that would make "Palestine free from occupation" in 2000 years) but all have been rejected, twice with Intifada, because Palestinians would not accept the existence of state of Israel - "from the River to the sea Palestine must be free" - the code for taking the land after "driving Jews into the sea." Why else have Palestinian refugee camps in Palestine? The Palestinian economy, which has suffered greatly since then.

When given the chance, the Palestinians also tried to take over Jordan and other lands/countries, Egypt dumped their "undesirables" in Gaza and Egypt's military on Sinai fought for years against Islamic militants there. Sunni Muslims and Shi'a Muslims have been fighting each other for 14 centuries and so on...
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#2 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-03-14 04:20 PM
Over 1 million children will need to be murdered by IDF for Israel to succeed.

According to Hamas itself, more than 30,000 "Gazan civilian women and children" were killed by IDF in 5 months. Nazi Germany was murdering 14,000-15,000 Jews every day in 1942. So, if Israel has only accomplished 2 days of "genocide," at best. At this pace, they won't ever catch up to Nazis.

Genocide is a bloody endeavor.

Sure is. When asked, one IDF Lt. Colonel said "If we wanted to commit genocide, we would have done it long ago. We have the means." They do have the means. So they are either doing a piss-poor job of "genocide" or really are concentrating on Hamas... and Hezbollah, and Iran puppet-masters. Because it's not about "Palestinians" or "Gazans."
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#8 | Posted by tres_flechas at 2024-03-15 08:19 PM
Real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid on Monday compared Israel to Nazi Germany and said that it was killing more children a day than Hitler did at Auschwitz.

"Congratulations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you beat him, you win, you win big time, you are the mightiest, you are Goliath," Hadid wrote on Instagram...

Apparently, the bankrupt father of the "celebrity models" Gigi and Bella doesn't do math and also reversed the outcome of the "legendary" battle between David, a Judean shepherd boy, and Goliath, Philistine warrior.

Makes sense coming from him: Mohamed Anwar Hadid was born into Palestinian Muslim family who fled Israel during the 1948 war, because his father "did not want the family to live under the Israeli occupation."

Hadid's financing source was the Saudi SAAR Foundation, which was a 50-50 partner in many of Hadid's ventures. In the late 1980s, he faced at least 30 lawsuits from creditors claiming he had not fulfilled various financial obligations. In 1992, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit by Riggs Bank against Hadid's partner in a construction project that involved a loan on which Hadid defaulted. Hadid closed his local office, lost his McLean home to foreclosure, and left the D.C. area.

In 2022 he has been hit with a wave of legal and financial troubles, including business bankruptcy and the demolition of his once-prized home. His half-built $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion was demolished, after a five-year fight with neighbors over safety concerns and lack of permits.
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#7 | Posted by horstngraben at 2024-03-10 04:05 PM
If our pols were really interested in unity, abolishing time change is the first best place to start.

I think the main issue is which one to ditch - standard time or DST?

The US Congress tried to settle on "permanent" DST in December of 1973 - for an experimental period of 2 years, to see if it would really save energy... but reinstated biannual time change just 8 months later, because people hated dark mornings. Instead, DST was expanded to 7 months in 1986, and to 8 months in 2007, from March to November - the usual rationale being to "stretch the daylight" as far as possible without having the negatives of late sunrises in the winter.

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#35 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-11 02:33 PM
I read Dostoevsky about a year ago. Good stuff.
#36 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-11 02:34 PM
war and peace, Tolstoy. Just this year.

You just made Madbomber's points.

Fyodor Dostoevsky - died February 9, 1881, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire

Lev / Leo Tolstoy - died November 20, 1910, Ryazan province, Russian Empire

Russia's Red October / October Revolution / Great October Socialist Revolution - born in October 1917, died in 1991...

The "Russian culture" happened way before Bolsheviks came to power - The original "War and Peace" book has a lot of French sub-notes in it - because French was the language of the "cultural elite" in Russia at the time, and many fled to France after Bolsheviks took over, with the help of Russian intelligentsia... who later paid the price being the main objects of the "purges."

Every Ukrainian I run into at work is bright, energetic, gives you a false impression of Ukraine they tell me.

A lot of "Ukrainians" (and "Russians") you meet at work are immigrants or are children of immigrants who have emigrated in several waves prior to 1981, and were mostly of Jewish origin or had Jewish relatives, often by marriage, in the USA, or by way of Israel - and later in several waves after USSR breakup was finalized in 1994 - mostly from Ukraine, Russia, Armenia and some other [former] Soviet Republics.

For example, Sergey Brin (cofounder of Google) was born in Moscow and "came to America in October 25, 1979 at the age of six with his two parents" - father, a math professor, and mother, a research scientist at NASA.

OpenAI's chief scientist Ilya Sutskever was born in Russian SFR, family emigrated to Israel when he was 5, studied in Open University of Israel, emigrated to Toronto where he studied under one of the "Fathers of AI" Geoffrey Hinton and co-invented AlexNet neural network with Hinton and Alex Krizhevsky (himself a Ukrainian-born AI/ML/DL Canadian scientist, and the first to use Nvidia's GPUs in ML) - he is currently Israeli and Canadian citizen.

Plenty of stories like this - the "brain drain," from Russia particularly, but not limited to it - look at how many Indians, Chinese, Israelis are founders, cofounders or at the top of the US most valuable and technologically advanced companies.

Sure, you can find some cases of single "talents" that are stuck in Russia, particularly in some sports, or some possible outstanding works of arts, but the overall "Russian culture" is not translating well to the world outside its borders.
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#62 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-03-08 01:50 AM
Legwork, please. The crew walked off the set because their safety concerns weren't being addressed.

When the camera crew walked off, they were not complaining about or justifying it as "safety"... at least not then, that came later. They walked off as they explained: "after filming began, the crews were told they instead would be required to make the 50-mile drive from Albuquerque each day, rather than stay overnight in nearby Santa Fe. That rankled crew members who worried that they might have an accident after spending 12 to 13 hours on the set."

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#33 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-03-07 01:35 PM
"How would labor unions look at that solution?"
- - - This was a non-union crew, so...

My comment about unions was clearly not regarding this particular movie set, but about general, industry-wide automation of some safety aspects, so...

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... is this a time when [gasp] government has to step in an provide standards?

Government can provide all the standards it wants, in fact, pretty sure there are many federal and states' governments standards for the movie / filming sets, including those insisted on by AFTRA-SGA and OSHA... but you are still dealing with "human factor" and mistakes. Considering how rare these accidents are already... how many more / better "standards" can be made that are immune to human error?

... what has Hollywood said they will be doing to address that issue?

"That issue" being a human error - especially in this case possibly as a result of being "under the influence" - maybe the best way to "address" it is eliminating / automating out humans from the "process" of testing the ammo? How would labor unions look at that solution?
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#23 | Posted by REDIAL at 2024-03-06 11:49 PM | Reply
They don't care about thousands of ordinary folk being killed by guns, why would they care about this?
I can think of maybe 3 or 4 accidental shooting fatalities on movie sets out of how many millions of movie rounds fired?

They care even less about hundreds of thousands of ordinary folk being killed or ruined by street drugs - opioids or not - in fact more and more governments (e.g., Oregon, California, Colorado etc.) seem to actively encourage it.

And particularly in "entertainment" industry, I can think of dozens of "accidental" ODs... yet see them regularly making light of the casual "practice" while often bragging of personal use (especially where [still?] illegal) and dismissing the [obvious and well known] effects and consequences and cheering on legalization / decriminalization of even strongest hallucinogenic and addictive drugs... then calling on "the government" (i.e., taxpayers) to provide more money and services for "prevention," fighting addiction, mental illness, homelessness, rising crime rates and/or suicides, and other societal ills caused by increased drug use as well as usually corresponding reduction in law enforcement.
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#62 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-03-01 10:20 PM
And everybody reading this knows it. Including you. So can it.

I presented facts that are not in dispute and are not controversial, which you couldn't refute, so instead you responded with the usual non sequitur and non-responsive opinion not related to the facts presented (i.e., invitation to typical deep and long "Snoofy's rabbit hole" of ignoring the stated facts and presenting own opinions as facts, conjectures, moving goalposts, changing subjects etc.) ... so, no thanks, I decline to follow.

As for your usual projection and displacement (which I was hoping not having to discuss or mention again) and obvious shades of PTSD - I would ask you to "can it" but everybody reading this, including you, knows you "can't"... so, you do you and have the last word(s).
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#59 and worked to get UN sanctions and "no-fly-zones"
s/b and worked to get UN sanctions and "no-fly-zones" removed.

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#58 | Posted by Robson at 2024-03-01 07:38 PM
Ukraine is not officially our ally. They've never helped the USA.

Ukraine was involved in the Operation Iraqi Freedom shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Ukrainian troops were limited to a peacekeeping role, as part of the Multi-National Force, but they engaged in combat with Iraqi insurgents. Mission - at the time largest ever military operation ever undertaken by the Armed Forces of Ukraine - ended on December 9, 2008.

More than 6,000 Ukrainians performed military service in Iraq and Kuwait, including a permanent presence of 1,600. 18 Ukrainian soldiers were killed - only below US, UK (179), Italy (33) and Poland (30) coalition forces.

France and Germany (NATO members) didn't participate due to no explicit authorization of use of force by UNSC, which would be met with Russia's veto.

One of the big reasons for the war was that Saddam Hussein relied on explicit promise of Russian (our "new friend" Putin's) veto of any UNSC resolution of military involvement, and Saddam didn't heed the multiple public and private warnings, so he ignored more than 17 UN resolutions to allow inspections (Hans Blix later described his experience in Iraq's "sham inspection" as "cat and mouse games" where he was not allowed to go where he requested and/or even take photos of places which were shown to him) and stop corruption of UN Food-For-Oil*** program from which Russia, China and France benefited:

In 2003 Iraq was under UN, US and IAEA sanctions and was violating and not cooperating with at least 17 UN resolutions and kept refusing inspections, while sending caravans of trucks to Syria

Russia also has been supplying Saddam with then-advanced military weaponry (like MiG-31 planes, many of which were blown up before they could take off, and some were later found in the underground/under-sand warehouses) and worked to get UN sanctions and "no-fly-zones."

So it was essentially first proxy war between USA's "Coalition Of the Willing" and Putin's Russia. Ukraine was part of our coalition.

On December 19 2003 (6 days after Saddam was pulled out of the "spider hole") Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi asked the US and UK to dismantle his WMD nuclear program and oversee the destruction of his chemical weapons stockpile.

This war was allowed to take off instead of being negotiated to an end.

The only "end" and "negotiation" Putin understands is military defeat (like USSR in Afghanistan) - anything else is "All this land is Russia (mine)"
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*** The corrupt UN's Oil-For-Food-Programme (OFF) allowed Saddam, his henchmen and various crooks within the UN and around the program, like Benon Sevan, Nadhmi Auchi, to skim billions of USDollars from the program that was supposed to provide food to Iraqi people. The evidence uncovered after Iraq was taken under Coalition's control showed that "less than 2/3 of $64B went to food aid" and "much of the food aid supplied... was unfit for human consumption." Various entities involved in the corrupt program included French TotalFina/Total oil company, many Russian firms and individuals, even Russian Orthodox Church were on al Mada list of illegal oil trading.

Top 3 violators that paid kickbacks to UNOFF to receive Iraq's oil were Russia (30%), France (15%), and China (10%) - all were strongly against Iraq war.
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#12 | Posted by Zed at 2024-03-01 02:21 PM
The man recently devalued the local currency by 50%, if memory serves.

IOW, he finally adjusted the value of the "local currency" (Argentinian peso) to actual market rates - due to triple-digit inflation in Argentina [which he / his new government had nothing to do with but many consecutive cycles of socialist / Peronist governments did] people were hoarding and in many cases only accepting as payment USDollars which retained or often increased in value daily relative to "local currency" due to inflation which made payments in "local currency" more expensive.

|--- "Argentina's Inflation Rate increased to 254.20% annual in January 2024 from 211.40% in December of 2023 and declined to 20.60% from 25.50% month over month, respectively. It is projected to reach 315.00 percent by the end of 2024Q1, according to econometric models and analysts expectations. Inflation Rate in Argentina is projected to trend around 30.00%.

... Average LatAm region annual inflation rate is 8.4%

- Argentina never fully recovered from an economic crisis in 2018 when its peso lost nearly half of its value against the US dollar.
- The IMF responded by loaning Argentina a record $57 billion. The loan failed to stabilize the economy, and the country later defaulted on it and on its own government loans. Annual inflation has stayed above 50% ever since.
- During the pandemic, the government printed money and implemented currency controls and price freezes, laying the groundwork for inflation to soar.
- In 2023 the economy has been crippled by low GDP growth, high prices, reduced consumer spending, and droughts destroying key agricultural exports." ---|

Inflation Rate in Argentina averaged 189.87% from 1944 until 2024, reaching an all time high of 20262.80% in March of 1990.

Year Argentina - USA Inflation Rates
2021 ... 48.41% ... 4.70%
2020 ... 42.02% ... 1.23%
2019 ... 53.55% ... 1.81%
2018 ... 34.28% ... 2.44%

What do you think that does to the poverty rate?

Absolutely nothing - prices paid adjusted as well, that's how "planned government devaluation" works everywhere. This is supposed to make currency more competitive in international goods trade. But, in and of itself, it doesn't change the rate of inflation, however, because it doesn't address the causes (spending, money supply and shortages) - that would need execution of policy changes, which he clearly had no time to implement yet. Judge him and/or his economic policies after a year or so.

I understand that one of his plans was to eventually "dollarize" the economy, i.e., peg the AP to USD ratio (or within USD range), which is not a bad solution - it works for many countries, including Singapore and China.

https://socialism.com/the-roots-of-inflation-in-argentina-debt-plunder-and-capitalist-super-profits/ - Maria Alvarez of the Argentina's Freedom Socialist Party

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#31 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-02-29 07:35 PM
Ukraine isn't a Democratic nation, its cancelled its elections.

There are many reasons for that, the main being that holding elections while "at war" and "under martial law" would be unconstitutional according to 2015 law, well before Zelensky was elected.

Moreover, no one was exactly pining for the "job" though I am sure they could find few opportunists like Dean Phillips, Robert Kennedy Jr, Cornell West.

Even if Rada changed the rules / Constitution to make one legal and possible, there would also be tremendous logistical, security and financial funding problems associated with trying to hold "free and fair elections" in the middle of the hot war, with a large part of population outside of Ukraine in many foreign countries, and many displaced in Ukraine or at the fronts... All just for show, as Lindsey Graham suggested?

|------- Zelensky responded, saying that "according to the legislation, it is forbidden to hold elections" and also said that Ukraine would not be able to finance elections: "I will not hold elections on credit. I will not take money from weapons and allocate it to elections, either." -------|

Do you think that Putin holding fake elections makes Russia "democratic" or you are just parroting Tucker Carlson who accused Zelensky of "... canceling the elections to create a dictatorship"?

Or do you enjoy looking unserious and uncredible?
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*** Tucker Carlson throws Putin under the bus
The former Fox News host dismissed part of Putin's justification for invading Ukraine as "one of the dumbest things" he's ever heard.

Russian neo-Nazi unit defying Putin's orders to cover up "war crimes"
Russian paramilitary group Task Force Rusich published a post "about the execution of prisoners."
A Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group says it has defied President Vladimir Putin's order to delete a social media post that called for the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. The group... had links to the now-dissolved paramilitary outfit the Wagner Group, whose late chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed after his private jet crashed in Russia's Tver region in August 2023.

Russia is deploying former Wagner mercenaries near the Donetsk town of Avdiivka, which was recently seized by Moscow's forces, taking the same approach they used in their brutal assaults elsewhere in the region. "Russia was forming a volunteer corps of 18,000 troops, including all former Wagner mercenaries... managed by the (Russian) Ministry of Defense."

Ukraine is negotiating a security agreement with U.S. ally Japan as the Kremlin's war against Kyiv continues
"The agreement with Japan is being negotiated as with any other. ... we have concluded several agreements... There is a clear understanding between G7 and Ukraine that those security guarantee agreements will be concluded by each country," said Ukrainian ambassador to Japan.

NATO ally tells Ukraine to cross Putin's red line
Finland approved a new $205 million military aid package for Ukraine earlier this month.

Ukraine gets defense boost from Israel
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called Kyiv an "ally" and compared Russian aggression with Hamas attacks.

Russia forced to cut exports amid Ukraine strikes on oil hubs
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Posted by Claudio at 2024-02-28 07:15 PM
Honest question: what makes Ukraine our ally?

If this question is really honest, then this is your brain on "TrumPutin" - IOW, your brain has too much of "TrumPutin" in it.

For one, we are fulfilling an obligation under 1994 Budapest Memorandum that USA, UK, Russian Federation and Ukraine signed on December 5, 1994 as part of relinquishing and transferring nuclear weapons as part of Ukraine's accession into NPT (Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty), and which Putin violated under several stupid, unlikely pretenses ***.

Better questions:

What makes many other democracies our allies, even if sometimes we don't like the way they do some things and they don't like they way we do some things (and both/all may be correct in their opinions)?

Why do so many countries (32 after long-"neutral" Finland and Sweden joined) in Western and Eastern Europe (formerly aligned with Soviet Union/Russia in Warsaw Pact) decided to join NATO (military defense alliance with the USA) instead of simply staying neutral or even joining Russia or some other alliance?

What makes Putin, hell-bent on reconstructing "Russian Union of former Soviet Republics," our "friend"? If it's his / Russia's "Christian values" then :

1. Ukraine has larger percentage of Christians than Russia - pre-war data showed nearly 90% of Ukraine's population were Christians, compared to 60% of Christians and 10% Muslims in Russia - and Ukrainians have not been looting the Russian churches of religious, cultural valuables, arts and artifacts ("by February 2023 "Industrial-scale Russian looting destroys Ukraine's historical sites and artifacts - museums, historical buildings, churches...").

2. Look at allies and supporters of Putin's Russia :
Communist dictatorship of North Korea,
Ayatollah and mullahs of Islamic Republic of Iran,
various Iran-backed Arab terrorist groups and factions in the Middle East (working to destabilize region even more, open new fronts and jack up price of oil) and
Xi's Communist / fascist China

.

Much better questions:

Why do you think Russia attacked Ukraine and not much weaker militarily former Soviet states of Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)? Hint: Is it because they are under Article 5 of NATO charter?

Why do you think famously "neutral" Finland and Sweden decided to become members of NATO immediately upon Russian invasion into Ukraine?

Why do you think Putin just now openly threatens to "annex" Transnistria in Moldova... after essentially securing a tacit support from "Trump-enabled" Mike Johnson?

Why do you think that Russian "mini-NATO" (CSTO formed in 2022 - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) is falling apart (Feb 26, 2024 - "Russia Presses Armenia Over Exit From Putin's 'Mini-NATO'") and Russian southern neighbors are looking for "diversification" of their economies away from Russia and closer to the West - EU and USA - and, like Republic of Georgia, are aspiring NATO members. Why are they all looking for protection from Russia, which apparently just being a NATO member affords them? Do you think you know better than Russia's neighbors and long-time "allies" or "involuntary members of the club" whose friends they want to be... and why?

Do you think that Russians getting their hands on second largest landmass in Europe (after Russia's European part itself) and rich natural and agricultural resources and products (which Russia is trying to prevent Ukraine from selling to poor countries in Africa) as well as two largest nuclear plants in Europe that are located in Ukraine, is a good thing for us and our allies and partners in EU?
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Ooops!
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Dmitry Medvedev: "Kyiv and Odessa are Russian cities and Russia needs them back"

After recent gains, Russia signals it could try to seize Kyiv again - saying the 'regime must fall' - Feb 22, 2024

Medvedev signaled that Moscow will not be satisfied with occupying four Ukrainian regions and could again try to capture the capital, Kyiv.

"Yes, probably it should be Kiev. If not now, then ... maybe at some other phase in the development of this conflict..."

Medvedev commented that "this regime must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world."

Kyiv was a "Russian city," he claimed, warning that in Ukrainian hands it was "a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation."

"An international threat, because although Kiev is a Russian city in its roots, it is controlled by an international brigade of opponents of Russia led by the United States of America," Medvedev said, echoing Moscow's much-repeated claim that Western nations have coerced Kyiv into fighting Russia in a bid to destroy the country.

Moscow has generally toned down such rhetoric recently, given that its forces are tied up in intense fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, with little apparent appetite to open a new northern front again. ...

Close followers of Russian politics warn that it's unlikely that any peace negotiations or eventual political settlement to the war will dampen those ambitions. ...
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Dmitry Medvedev: "Kyiv and Odessa are Russian cities and Russia needs them back"

After recent gains, Russia signals it could try to seize Kyiv again - saying the 'regime must fall' - Feb 22, 2024

Medvedev signaled that Moscow will not be satisfied with occupying four Ukrainian regions and could again try to capture the capital, Kyiv.

"Yes, probably it should be Kiev. If not now, then ... maybe at some other phase in the development of this conflict..."

Medvedev commented that "this regime must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world."

Kyiv was a "Russian city," he claimed, warning that in Ukrainian hands it was "a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation."

"An international threat, because although Kiev is a Russian city in its roots, it is controlled by an international brigade of opponents of Russia led by the United States of America," Medvedev said, echoing Moscow's much-repeated claim that Western nations have coerced Kyiv into fighting Russia in a bid to destroy the country.

Moscow has generally toned down such rhetoric recently, given that its forces are tied up in intense fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, with little apparent appetite to open a new northern front again. ...

Close followers of Russian politics warn that it's unlikely that any peace negotiations or eventual political settlement to the war will dampen those ambitions. ...
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Dmitry Medvedev: "Kyiv and Odessa are Russian cities and Russia needs them back"

After recent gains, Russia signals it could try to seize Kyiv again - saying the 'regime must fall' - Feb 22, 2024

Medvedev signaled that Moscow will not be satisfied with occupying four Ukrainian regions and could again try to capture the capital, Kyiv.

"Yes, probably it should be Kiev. If not now, then ... maybe at some other phase in the development of this conflict..."

Medvedev commented that "this regime must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world."

Kyiv was a "Russian city," he claimed, warning that in Ukrainian hands it was "a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation."

"An international threat, because although Kiev is a Russian city in its roots, it is controlled by an international brigade of opponents of Russia led by the United States of America," Medvedev said, echoing Moscow's much-repeated claim that Western nations have coerced Kyiv into fighting Russia in a bid to destroy the country.

Moscow has generally toned down such rhetoric recently, given that its forces are tied up in intense fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, with little apparent appetite to open a new northern front again. ...

Close followers of Russian politics warn that it's unlikely that any peace negotiations or eventual political settlement to the war will dampen those ambitions. ...
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Munich, February 19, 2024 - Speaking to an audience at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said that Israel is not a peace partner and that world leaders are too preoccupied with Hamas's October 7 massacre.

... Shtayyeh also said the Palestinian Authority (PA) seeks unity with Hamas:
"We are ready to engage. If Hamas is not, then that's a different story. We need Palestinian unity. ... One should not continue focusing on October 7."
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... Russian soldiers gunning down the Ukrainians who had already surrendered.

... Russia has abducted many thousands of Ukrainian children. Some were told they were being sent on vacation, only to end up in Russia. The scale of abductions only became clear when the Ukrainian army began liberating Russian-occupied areas. Large numbers of children had apparently disappeared, victims of a criminal plan devised by Moscow.

|-------
Russia invites Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other terrorist groups to Moscow - Feb 19, 2024

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow at some point in late February, the latest Russian move to increase its influence in a post-October 7 world. Moscow hosted a Hamas delegation already in October, as Hamas sought to do outreach to Moscow. In October of 2023, Hamas delegation, led by senior Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk, met in Moscow with the Russian and Iranian deputy foreign ministers, Mikhail Bogdanov and Ali Bagheri Kani.

Palestinian Authority has been increasingly open to Hamas, since October 7. Hamas seeks to increase its influence in the West Bank - for instance, in trying to get prisoners from other factions exchanged for hostages.

Speculation that a weakened Hamas may be willing to form a partnership with the Fatah-led PA - to govern Gaza and the West Bank jointly - have been revived by a Russian invitation for Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on 26 February.

Russian TASS reports that Kremlin invited 14 Palestinian groups, including Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), for meetings from February 29 to March 2.

This shows another attempt by Moscow to ratchet up international pressure for ceasefire - Moscow is looking for ways to try and assert influence at a crucial juncture in Israel-Hamas war. Current assessment in Jerusalem is that it will take another two months to defeat Hamas in Rafah and other areas in Gaza. ...
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'Birds of a feather...'
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"Capitalism in and of itself, as an economic system is neutral, in the "center" of politics - not in and of itself a political / political-economic system."

------ So, uh, how do you square that with
"Any flavor / sect of "socialism" - whether "national" or "international" may be considered "left of" capitalism."

Do you even understand what "center" or purely economic, IOW apolitical / agnostic is? I gave you an example right before!

What a waste of $50K in student loans!

Good night.
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#92 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-02-18 08:44 PM
That's a lot of words for Capitalism is Right-Wing.

Stupendous observation... and a fallacy, just like betting on both red and black in Las Vegas roulette will in the long run lose you money (0 and 00), your "logic" again fails you.

Capitalism in and of itself, as an economic system is neutral, in the "center" of politics - not in and of itself a political / political-economic system.

IMF: Capitalism is an economic system in which private actors own and control property in accord with their interests, and demand and supply freely set prices in markets in a way that can serve the best interests of society. The essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit.

But if you want to "assign" a right angle / "right wing" to Capital, and "'right-wing' bad, 'left-wing' good" works for you and makes you happy - fine.

Good night.
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#87 | Posted by Corky at 2024-02-18 06:28 PM
As Goebbels noted in his diary, Hitler rejected socialism in lieu of nationalism

No, you didn't even read your own reference correctly, and you are mixing terms : "national[ism]" and "international[ism]" are just different flavors / forms of "socialism" - Hitler clearly rejected the Marxist / Communist "international" one - "workers/proletariat of the world, unite!" - (didn't hurt that many of those, like some leaders and intelligentsia of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in Russia's "socialism on the way to communism" were Jews) - and then-popular conspiracy theory that "Communism was a Jewish plot."

Even from that Vox article, again:
|------- Whatever interest Hitler had in socialism was not based on an understanding of socialism that we might have today - a movement that would supplant capitalism in which the working class would seize power over the state and the means of production. [my comment: "power" as "total ownership" or as "total control"? Maybe Hitler and the Nazi leadership understood the economics of "socialism" much better (see reference to Lenin's Soviet NEP in my previous posts) than Marxists? After all, as "25 Points" - and especially Hitler's 'clarification' to point 17 - make issue of "private property and business" in NSDAP-run German "national socialism" abundantly clear.]

He repeatedly pushed back efforts by economically left-leaning elements of the party to enact socialist [my comment: author's terminology - clearly not "socialist" then and now, but "Marxist / Communist"] reforms, saying in a 1926 conference in Bamberg (organized by Nazi Party leaders over the very question of the party's ideological underpinnings) that any effort to take the homes and estates of German princes would move the party toward communism and that he would never do anything to assist "communist-inspired movements."
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"Right-wing" / "left-wing" terminology depend on current-day arbitrary assignment of "political Cartesian coordinates"... at least according to Horseshoe Theory, which seems more and more like an almost full circle today. Any flavor / sect of "socialism" - whether "national" or "international" may be considered "left of" capitalism.

For example, "right-wing" Trump- / Putin- / authoritarians-loving MAGAts are no different from "left-wing" authoritarians-loving "liberals" in 1970s-1980s who loved and supported with various legal tactics Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and various other Communist movements and parties in LatAm and elsewhere.

We learn from history that we learn nothing from history. - Georg Hegel
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