International Thread 3

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 8/9/2019 at 7:52 AM, The Great Unwashed said:

You know, I decided to check out your claim so I ended up doing some research. Oh, and I do the best research by the way, the best. Everyone's been saying, how does he do research so good? They say, it's crazy they say, how you can't slip anything past him, you can't slip anyone past me. I have one of the great minds of all time and a memory like a steel drum and that's why I do research so good. And I'll have you know, they don't listen to any of that Lead Zeppelin balloon nasty music. It's nasty, nasty I tell you. They have this nasty, nasty little song they like to sing called "Immigrant Song". It's a nasty song, just the worst. Should have been called "Invader", because that's exactly what is happening along our southern border. Yes, yes, listen to them, don't you all worry, that's exactly what's going to happen. In fact we're already building that big beautiful wall right now. Here, I even have some pictures of it on my phone. Oh what's that? You can't see the pictures way out in the crowd? Well it's there, trust me, you can trust me because, see this beautiful, sexy Anerican flag over here? I'm just going to give it a nice big hug and a kiss. The flags let you do it when you're famous like me. And there, see? That's how you know the wall is getting built. But you see, as I mentioned, i do good research, the best! The best, best research and in this case, I found out exactly what the Indians and Pakistanis sing when they go on holiday together in Cashmere, goodness, isn't cashmere so soft? The softest wool, and the only place in the world it comes from is this Cashmere province. But I know the song they sing, and it's not what you think. I'm the only one who knows what it is they sing, I'm the only one that could find out. Now the failing New York Times is going to pop in here and say "the Indians and Pakistanis know what they sing!" Fake News!!!! Trust me when I say that I'm the only one that knows, you see, because after getting back from holiday, they forget what they sang while they were in Cashmere. But I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. Are you ready? It's going to blow your mind. It didn't blow my mind because I have such a big a-brain, but it might blow yours, but here it is. Are you ready for it? They actually sing "Buddy Holly" by Weezer! That's what has kept the peace in Cashmere for dozens and hundreds of years.

^^^^Omg this is hilarious, YOUR HIRED !!

Eta: And of course that is exactly how Trumpy would think Kashmir is spelled, lolol.

[DireWolfSpirit]

China censors some ridiculous things. As the author notes in this article, it's fascinating to try and think through their rationale behind some of it. 

The forbidden images of the Chinese internet

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/chinese-internet-censorship-images/index.html

[Altherion]

Here are two completely different explosions which have two things in common: they resulted in multiple casualties and my initial reaction to both was "Why???". First, a fuel tanker exploded in Tanzania:

Quote

The death toll from a fuel truck explosion in Tanzania rose to 75 on Monday as four more people succumbed to their injuries, a hospital official said.

...

The dead were trying to collect leaking petrol from the overturned tanker.

Witnesses said the truck tipped over as it tried to avoid a motorcycle, and locals quickly converged on the scene to collect fuel.

The explosion was triggered when a man tried to retrieve the truck’s battery, creating sparks that ignited the fuel, officials said.

Fuel is a lot more valuable to them then it is to most people in Western nations, but this is still insane. Do they not realize that it can explode?

Second, a Russian test missile exploded near the White Sea:

Quote

Russian scientists have indicated that they were working on miniaturised sources of nuclear energy when a rocket engine exploded last week, increasing scrutiny of the possibility that the accident occurred while testing an experimental cruise missile powered by a small reactor.

The explosion last Thursday at a military testing ground in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region killed at least five people and caused radiation readings in neighbouring cities to spike to 20 times their normal level for half an hour.

Again, I understand why they are doing this, but it's still insane. In fact, the US and USSR both looked at this idea at the height of the Cold War and decided that it's simply not worth it. It's not possible to even test such a thing without causing a radioactive mess.

Sometimes humanity is just confusingly disappointing.

[DireWolfSpirit]

I hope the radiation is contained, the White Lake accident is the 2nd recent Soviet nuclear mishap. I believe the military had a recent accident on a base that they are being very tight lipped about the details.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I hope the radiation is contained, the White Lake accident is the 2nd recent Soviet nuclear mishap. I believe the military had a recent accident on a base that they are being very tight lipped about the details.

Was that the 2017 one?

[DireWolfSpirit]

11 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

Was that the 2017 one?

I'm starting to think it was just differed reporting for the same accident (White Lake), it's just that the initial story was very cryptic and now we're getting bits more of the story. I mistook it for two separate accidents I guess?

It's no surprise as the Soviets tried to downplay Chernobyl at first, and then gradually everyone figured how serious that accident was.

I'm sure the Russian govt would be perfectly fine letting the World think this was just a random lab fire if they could.

[Zorral]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/world/middleeast/trump-israel-omar-tlaib.html?

Quote

 

Israel Said to Deny Entry to Omar and Tlaib After Trump’s Call to Block Them

JERUSALEM — Israel on Thursday barred the entry of two American Democratic congresswomen who had planned to visit the West Bank, the deputy foreign minister on Israeli radio said, hours after President Trump had urged the country to ban them.

Mr. Trump’s intervention was an extraordinary step to influence an allied nation and punish his political opponents at home.

It was reported last week that Mr. Trump was pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to deny entrance to the two women, Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, and Thursday morning he left little doubt. He said in a Twitter post while Israeli officials were still deliberating the matter that “it would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit.”

 

Yet tvillain has no problem with China mainland going after the protesters in Hong Kong.  So like him.

[DMC]

15 minutes ago, Zorral said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/world/middleeast/trump-israel-omar-tlaib.html?

Yet tvillain has no problem with China mainland going after the protesters in Hong Kong.  So like him.

Yeah this is fucking ridiculous.  Just read an LA Times piece on this and the following quote just baffled me:

Quote

“Israel has decided. We won’t enable the members of Congress to enter the country,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told the Kan public broadcaster. “We won’t allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter Israel. In principle this is a very justified decision.”

Um, when have Omar or Tlaib denied Israel's right to exist?  Great job swallowing Trump's horseshit!  Man does Bibi needs to go already.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

As a Jew, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Israel is only a stone’s throw away at this point from South African  Apartheid.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Democracy Now headlines around the World this week- 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Since we've been talking a lot about recessions in other threads, we certainly can't miss this one as it hits a country near and dear to me. Argentina just had the second largest single day drop of any stock market since 1950, falling 48%. The peso also dropped 15% against the dollar. Argentina was struggling when I lived there, and it's only gotten worse since then (in 2010). As this article points out, it looks like they will default again. 

It's all Messi's fault! 

[Karneol]

18 hours ago, Zorral said:

Yet tvillain has no problem with China mainland going after the protesters in Hong Kong.  So like him.

Can somebody please explain me what Trumps opinion on China is? For a non-American his swinging between Tariffs and Tolls and "I kiss your ass"-tweets is very confusing. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 hours ago, Karneol said:

Can somebody please explain me what Trumps opinion on China is? For a non-American his swinging between Tariffs and Tolls and "I kiss your ass"-tweets is very confusing. 

He’s schizophrenic on China.  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Karneol said:

Can somebody please explain me what Trumps opinion on China is? For a non-American his swinging between Tariffs and Tolls and "I kiss your ass"-tweets is very confusing. 

Donald Trump is a man who has not thought out many positions, is easily influenced by the last person he speaks to, and is surrounded by people with diametrically opposed ideas. That’s why he is so inconsistent.

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

He’s schizophrenic on China.  

Clinically speaking, no, that’s not what’s wrong with him. He most likely suffers from a combination of NPD, ADHD and sadism. And the latter is getting worse because he likely has ED, making him derive pleasure in other ways, i.e. attacking people constantly.

[Which Tyler]

5 hours ago, Karneol said:

Can somebody please explain me what Trumps opinion on China is? For a non-American his swinging between Tariffs and Tolls and "I kiss your ass"-tweets is very confusing. 

He's jealous of their wall, and their authoritarianism; so he swings wildly between hating them for having what he wants, and loving them for having what he wants.

[Zorral]

Quote

Can somebody please explain me what Trumps opinion on China is? For a non-American his swinging between Tariffs and Tolls and "I kiss your ass"-tweets is very confusing

He's an ignorant, insane sadistic narcissist, who is suffering from a host of mental and emotional disorders that drive him to the destruction of the entire world and everything in it, while believing that everyone loves him and admires him as the hero par excellence, and those who might possible disagree with him should be killed.

See, also: 

"How 'world leaders' destroyed the global economy."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/opinion/recession-stock-market.html?

Quote

Why are so many key global leaders pursuing so many stupid economic policies?

~~~~~~~

Nearly two years ago, Cuba began to do serious planning for the rising sea levels, as we see in this article from January, 2018, but it had been making plans and doing studies before that.

"Cuba embarks on a 100-year plan to protect itself from climate change"

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/cuba-embarks-100-year-plan-protect-itself-climate-change?

Of course, the initial work included fund-raising from nations well disposed to the efforts.  And this was before the global white supremacist and destruction of everything unleashed by the US election of 2016.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I made the first iteration of these friends because I always listen to 1A's weekly international round up, and on today's episode they covered two things we've talked about here before: Beijing vs. Hong Kong and India's handling of Kashmir.

Regarding Beijing vs. Hong Kong, they were fairly certain that Beijing would prioritize cracking down on the protests over fears of an international response, especially after Trump told Xi that he was going to stay out of the affair. I can't see the E.U. acting if the U.S. does nothing. 

Regarding Kashmir, it sounds like the reason India acted now is because, surprise surprise, Trump and his big dumb mouth. India had been planning on potentially doing this, but they sped up operations after Trump lied to the world by telling us that India wanted him to mediate the issue of Kashmir with Pakistan. Not surprisingly, his comments spooked the hell out of them. It's quite possible that a war between India and Pakistan could go down, and if so, it will have been kicked of in part because Trump can't control his pathological need to lie. 

[Raja]

17 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Regarding Kashmir, it sounds like the reason India acted now is because, surprise surprise, Trump and his big dumb mouth.

Yeah - I don't know. I think there's a combination of a lot of things but putting it down to Trump seems a little far fetched. I would put Trump's effect fairly down the list of reasons as to why this has occurred, sure it *may* have had some effect, but it's like the 5-6th thing on the list, imo.

Firstly, Modi's hard line approach during the first term hasn't helped and has slowly turned the heat up since he was first elected, in addition the BJP ( Modi's party) has always had this in it's manifesto ( and has been for years) and the resounding victory that the BJP had in the recent election with *terrible* results for the opposition has allowed Modi to do this without any fear of a proper push back, Congress barely has a functioning head of the party at the moment.

I'd also read Arundhati Roy's piece for the Times on this ( Imo, a lot of regional conflicts are looked through the lens of outsiders i.e. people not familiar with the history of south asia ( more bluntly by reports/ historians that are on the other side of the world), but I think Roy does a really good job of giving the required context from the ground so to speak)

It's pretty grim at the moment. I don't know how this gets better for the people of Kashmir. The election and my vote a couple of months ago felt so useless given that the state I vote is pretty much the BJP heartland. Sigh.

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

I think many westerners would be blown away to see the stunning beauty of Kashmir. 

 

[Samsaptakas]

It's not just Kashmir, it is State of Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh has one of the oldest Buddhist community living there.