The obvious thing here is that even with Donbass Russia wouldn’t have a land route to Crimea, so they have an obvious motive to keep demanding chunks to get there. Next it will be Zaporizhia and Kerson, then it’s going to be some excuse for another reason (control of the Dneipir maybe), then on and on.
Russia has a land route to Crimea. They built a bridge.
A land route that can't be blown up at the start of hostilites...
I mean, I would assume he's doing it because what are his other options? Open war with Russia? The status quo isn't really tenable to be able to just keep it up.
They've just got to hold out until Putin dies or Trump leaves office. Nothing about the status quo right now is stable, so letting the stalemate fester until the current crop of old men in power die is probably the best option.
Putin is only 66. Holding out for multiple decades just doesn't seem likely. Especially since it is a border skirmish instead of an invasion, like Afghanistan. Russia practically lives there too, so it isn't as big of a resource drain. Especially since Russia has ~100m more people than Ukraine.
Russia is looking to move the border by force of arms, and likely will be looking to do so again in the near future. I'm not sure what sort of line you're trying to draw here.
That Russia's supply line is entirely through Russia or Russian held territory, which they are also populating. Not across an ocean and other sovereign States that can legitimately cut off access to "Not Russian" troops.
Ukraine just waiting things out for the foreign invader to exhaust themselves isn't really viable here like in Afghanistan or Vietnam. As also demonstrated by the last multigenerational occupation of Ukraine by Russia.
This was, I think, a factor which helped make Chechnya "winnable" for Russia. Besides other political and doctrinal factors.
I mean, I would assume he's doing it because what are his other options? Open war with Russia? The status quo isn't really tenable to be able to just keep it up.
They've just got to hold out until Putin dies or Trump leaves office. Nothing about the status quo right now is stable, so letting the stalemate fester until the current crop of old men in power die is probably the best option.
Putin is only 66. Holding out for multiple decades just doesn't seem likely. Especially since it is a border skirmish instead of an invasion, like Afghanistan. Russia practically lives there too, so it isn't as big of a resource drain. Especially since Russia has ~100m more people than Ukraine.
Russia is looking to move the border by force of arms, and likely will be looking to do so again in the near future. I'm not sure what sort of line you're trying to draw here.
That Russia's supply line is entirely through Russia or Russian held territory, which they are also populating. Not across an ocean and other sovereign States that can legitimately cut off access to "Not Russian" troops.
Ukraine just waiting things out for the foreign invader to exhaust themselves isn't really viable here like in Afghanistan or Vietnam. As also demonstrated by the last multigenerational occupation of Ukraine by Russia.
This was, I think, a factor which helped make Chechnya "winnable" for Russia. Besides other political and doctrinal factors.
that and their complete disregard for civilians lives
There is something really sinister going on in China that I only just heard about.
Basically, China has the shortest waiting lists on Earth for organ transplants, but no tradition of organ donation. Instead, organs are harvested from executed prisoners. That's yucky enough on its own. But that also seems to be insufficent to supply the organs needed. The horrific inference is that prisoners are being extrajudicially killed for their organs, usually dissidents or religious minorities.
So China may actually be worse than Duterte or bin Salman. After all, bin Salman only had one guy dismembered.
This is actually old news to me. We have a population of Chinese immigrants here in Ottawa who are Falun Gong practitioners. They routinely protest, put up signs and hand out flyers in front of Parliament attesting to this. According to them, Falun Gong members are routinely rounded up and "harvested" for this purpose. Been seeing them around town for years now.
Then why are we not talking about it? That’s easily the worst human rights abuse in the world today, if true, and right up there with the 20th century genocides.
As I grow older, I understand more and more how the Holocaust happened.
No-one likes the Falun Gong because they are a cult, so everyone turns a blind eye to their slaughter?
I mean, I would assume he's doing it because what are his other options? Open war with Russia? The status quo isn't really tenable to be able to just keep it up.
They've just got to hold out until Putin dies or Trump leaves office. Nothing about the status quo right now is stable, so letting the stalemate fester until the current crop of old men in power die is probably the best option.
Putin is only 66. Holding out for multiple decades just doesn't seem likely. Especially since it is a border skirmish instead of an invasion, like Afghanistan. Russia practically lives there too, so it isn't as big of a resource drain. Especially since Russia has ~100m more people than Ukraine.
Russia is looking to move the border by force of arms, and likely will be looking to do so again in the near future. I'm not sure what sort of line you're trying to draw here.
That Russia's supply line is entirely through Russia or Russian held territory, which they are also populating. Not across an ocean and other sovereign States that can legitimately cut off access to "Not Russian" troops.
Ukraine just waiting things out for the foreign invader to exhaust themselves isn't really viable here like in Afghanistan or Vietnam. As also demonstrated by the last multigenerational occupation of Ukraine by Russia.
This was, I think, a factor which helped make Chechnya "winnable" for Russia. Besides other political and doctrinal factors.
that and their complete disregard for civilians lives
There was also a perceived disregard for their own casualties. Their "victory" in the Second Chechen war was relatively timely (just under ten years) but it came at a relatively extremely high cost in both blood and treasure (in both cases relative to our modern COIN efforts).
The disregard, and sometimes active contribution to, non combatant casualties was one of the doctrinal considerations mentioned.
The Russian government also had a control over media coverage of Chechnya during that time which made WW2 US media coverage look as free as Vietnam media coverage in comparison.
There is something really sinister going on in China that I only just heard about.
Basically, China has the shortest waiting lists on Earth for organ transplants, but no tradition of organ donation. Instead, organs are harvested from executed prisoners. That's yucky enough on its own. But that also seems to be insufficent to supply the organs needed. The horrific inference is that prisoners are being extrajudicially killed for their organs, usually dissidents or religious minorities.
So China may actually be worse than Duterte or bin Salman. After all, bin Salman only had one guy dismembered.
This is actually old news to me. We have a population of Chinese immigrants here in Ottawa who are Falun Gong practitioners. They routinely protest, put up signs and hand out flyers in front of Parliament attesting to this. According to them, Falun Gong members are routinely rounded up and "harvested" for this purpose. Been seeing them around town for years now.
Then why are we not talking about it? That’s easily the worst human rights abuse in the world today, if true, and right up there with the 20th century genocides.
As I grow older, I understand more and more how the Holocaust happened.
No-one likes the Falun Gong because they are a cult, so everyone turns a blind eye to their slaughter?
More like Falun Gong is a cult so we are all very wary about accepting what is said at face value. There hasn't been much strong evidence that they are being rounded up for organ harvesting but it looks like that is changing.
There is something really sinister going on in China that I only just heard about.
Basically, China has the shortest waiting lists on Earth for organ transplants, but no tradition of organ donation. Instead, organs are harvested from executed prisoners. That's yucky enough on its own. But that also seems to be insufficent to supply the organs needed. The horrific inference is that prisoners are being extrajudicially killed for their organs, usually dissidents or religious minorities.
So China may actually be worse than Duterte or bin Salman. After all, bin Salman only had one guy dismembered.
This is actually old news to me. We have a population of Chinese immigrants here in Ottawa who are Falun Gong practitioners. They routinely protest, put up signs and hand out flyers in front of Parliament attesting to this. According to them, Falun Gong members are routinely rounded up and "harvested" for this purpose. Been seeing them around town for years now.
Then why are we not talking about it? That’s easily the worst human rights abuse in the world today, if true, and right up there with the 20th century genocides.
As I grow older, I understand more and more how the Holocaust happened.
No-one likes the Falun Gong because they are a cult, so everyone turns a blind eye to their slaughter?
More like Falun Gong is a cult so we are all very wary about accepting what is said at face value. There hasn't been much strong evidence that they are being rounded up for organ harvesting but it looks like that is changing.
Well, the PRC calls them a cult, sure, but is there any evidence that they are outside of PRC propaganda?
According to the 2006 Kilgour-Matas report (one of the authors is a former Canadian MP) link
Based on what we now know, we have come to the regrettable conclusion that the
allegations are true. We believe that there has been and continues today to be large
scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners.
We have concluded that the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of
the country, in particular hospitals but also detention centres and 'people's courts',
since 1999 have put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of
conscience. Their vital organs, including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas, were
virtually simultaneously seized involuntarily for sale at high prices, sometimes to
foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their
home countries.
Seems pretty credible to me. China, of course, denies this.
This atrocity is being swept under the carpet. We’ve known this since 2006?
If China was doing this to Christians we’d be up in arms. It doesn’t matter whether we “like” the Falun Gong religion - no-one deserves to be carved up for parts while alive.
After reading the Wikipedia entry on Falun Gong this ignorant westerner thinks they sound a lot like Buddhism. Lots of emphasis on meditation, physical exercise and good karma. Perfectly harmless. They have some issues with race and homophobia but no more than any religion.
And yet China is filling concentration camps with them.
I find it possible to both vehemently disagree with someone's religion, and also think they shouldn't get carved up for parts simply because they have it.
After reading the Wikipedia entry on Falun Gong this ignorant westerner thinks they sound a lot like Buddhism. Lots of emphasis on meditation, physical exercise and good karma. Perfectly harmless. They have some issues with race and homophobia but no more than any religion.
And yet China is filling concentration camps with them.
They're also filling concentration camps with Muslims and ethnic minorities like Uighurs. China is an authoritarian state.
Engineering and construction can move fast when you have a lot of money and don't care about environmental impact or local concerns.
For what is possibly the ultimate (hypothetical) example of this, see Project Plowshare. Digging harbors and canals with nukes!
Russia: Where "Go Big or Go Home!" really is a mutually exclusive choice that requires careful consideration.
Project Plowshare was a US program. :?
Oops, I assumed* that was a link to Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy, where in Russia irradiates a distant town while playing around with the idea of nuclear fracking.
*(I guess the biblical reference was probably a clue.)
After reading the Wikipedia entry on Falun Gong this ignorant westerner thinks they sound a lot like Buddhism. Lots of emphasis on meditation, physical exercise and good karma. Perfectly harmless. They have some issues with race and homophobia but no more than any religion.
And yet China is filling concentration camps with them.
They're also filling concentration camps with Muslims and ethnic minorities like Uighurs. China is an authoritarian state.
An authoritarian state that's very paranoid of foreign competition for the minds of its subjects, which always means religion is a fucked up issue. Catholicism is officially recognized and allowed, but they can't recognize any foreign authority, including the Pope. So not only are they not technically Catholic in the Catholic definition, if it follows to closely the Roman Catholic ministry, it risks accusation that it recognizes the Pope, which is considered sedition, so they can barely be Catholic in their own defition.
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists face the same issue, because authorities of each religion exist outside of China and even coincidental agreement raises eyebrows. Literally the only safe bets are stalwart atheism or the old city-god cults (and their blurring into the edges of Buddhism puts them uncomfortably close to recognizing the foreign Dali Lama).
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Mx. QuillI now prefer "Myr. Quill", actually...{They/Them}Registered Userregular
This atrocity is being swept under the carpet. We’ve known this since 2006?
If China was doing this to Christians we’d be up in arms. It doesn’t matter whether we “like” the Falun Gong religion - no-one deserves to be carved up for parts while alive.
They are doing this to Christians, just not at the same scale and not equally across denominations. It's been a major issue for U.S. evangelicals for years.
This atrocity is being swept under the carpet. We’ve known this since 2006?
If China was doing this to Christians we’d be up in arms. It doesn’t matter whether we “like” the Falun Gong religion - no-one deserves to be carved up for parts while alive.
They are doing this to Christians, just not at the same scale and not equally across denominations. It's been a major issue for U.S. evangelicals for years.
The problem is not who is being targeted, it's who is targeting them. Like with Hong Kong, what is the US gonna do to China exactly?
This atrocity is being swept under the carpet. We’ve known this since 2006?
If China was doing this to Christians we’d be up in arms. It doesn’t matter whether we “like” the Falun Gong religion - no-one deserves to be carved up for parts while alive.
They are doing this to Christians, just not at the same scale and not equally across denominations. It's been a major issue for U.S. evangelicals for years.
The problem is not who is being targeted, it's who is targeting them. Like with Hong Kong, what is the US gonna do to China exactly?
The U.S. has concentration camps for children. This is more a discussion for the EU and the UN.
I don’t know enough about Zelenskyy’s personal politics, but man is he in a shitty position.
He has to suck Trump’s ass just to talk to him, then get minimal help because Trump is in Putin’s pocket, so he’s forced to cede ground in the hope it will buy some time before Putin wants to take another bite out of Ukraine. What will he get for that time?
Probably a noose around his neck by his own people.
I hope the next President can actually accomplish something for Ukraine and punish the ever loving fuck out of Putin in general.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
I know I shouldn't ask this, but I'm going to anyway.
Why are we doing this exactly?
Airline thing is actually not as stupid as it looks on its face. Airbus was getting government subsidized, in violation of the trade agreement, in the form of interest rates that were impossible to otherwise get. Lawsuits related to this have been going on for 15 years. US is allowed retaliatory tariffs to "even" the playing field.
Agricultural tariffs are among "punitive" tariffs which are allowed to theoretically recoup damages from the above.
If we didn't have a gibbering baby who screams "tariff" at any perceived slight, this would honestly probably have all been above-board. Guessing another President would have limited it to just the airline ones and maybe related industries.
I don’t know enough about Zelenskyy’s personal politics, but man is he in a shitty position.
He has to suck Trump’s ass just to talk to him, then get minimal help because Trump is in Putin’s pocket, so he’s forced to cede ground in the hope it will buy some time before Putin wants to take another bite out of Ukraine. What will he get for that time?
Probably a noose around his neck by his own people.
I hope the next President can actually accomplish something for Ukraine and punish the ever loving fuck out of Putin in general.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
I’m just appreciating the extreme nature of his position.
He’s in charge of a country that for years was ran by a puppet for Putin that looted the country. Then when that guy was finally ousted, Putin stole a large chunk of Ukraine as well as killing thousands of people. Putin has continued to do this and now one of Zelenskyy’s hopes for saving his country, is another Putin puppet that’s looting his own country!
Zelenskyy not only has to debase himself in order to appease Trump just to get the minimal assistance, which inflamed the people of Ukraine, but he was forced to cede more territory to Putin, which further inflamed the people of Ukraine.
On top of that suck salad, he’s also in the eye of the largest US’s political storm in decades.
The man is in one unenviable position.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
I don’t know enough about Zelenskyy’s personal politics, but man is he in a shitty position.
He has to suck Trump’s ass just to talk to him, then get minimal help because Trump is in Putin’s pocket, so he’s forced to cede ground in the hope it will buy some time before Putin wants to take another bite out of Ukraine. What will he get for that time?
Probably a noose around his neck by his own people.
I hope the next President can actually accomplish something for Ukraine and punish the ever loving fuck out of Putin in general.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
I’m just appreciating the extreme nature of his position.
He’s in charge of a country that for years was ran by a puppet for Putin that looted the country. Then when that guy was finally ousted, Putin stole a large chunk of Ukraine as well as killing thousands of people. Putin has continued to do this and now one of Zelenskyy’s hopes for saving his country, is another Putin puppet that’s looting his own country!
Zelenskyy not only has to debase himself in order to appease Trump just to get the minimal assistance, which inflamed the people of Ukraine, but he was forced to cede more territory to Putin, which further inflamed the people of Ukraine.
On top of that suck salad, he’s also in the eye of the largest US’s political storm in decades.
The man is in one unenviable position.
Let that be a lesson. From Netanyahu to Putin, national borders are defined for "So, what are you going to do about it?". The UN talks a big game, but at the end, everybody will just acknowledge the new owners once things settle and move on, since ownership is purely defined on who has the biggest military.
I don’t know enough about Zelenskyy’s personal politics, but man is he in a shitty position.
He has to suck Trump’s ass just to talk to him, then get minimal help because Trump is in Putin’s pocket, so he’s forced to cede ground in the hope it will buy some time before Putin wants to take another bite out of Ukraine. What will he get for that time?
Probably a noose around his neck by his own people.
I hope the next President can actually accomplish something for Ukraine and punish the ever loving fuck out of Putin in general.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
I’m just appreciating the extreme nature of his position.
He’s in charge of a country that for years was ran by a puppet for Putin that looted the country. Then when that guy was finally ousted, Putin stole a large chunk of Ukraine as well as killing thousands of people. Putin has continued to do this and now one of Zelenskyy’s hopes for saving his country, is another Putin puppet that’s looting his own country!
Zelenskyy not only has to debase himself in order to appease Trump just to get the minimal assistance, which inflamed the people of Ukraine, but he was forced to cede more territory to Putin, which further inflamed the people of Ukraine.
On top of that suck salad, he’s also in the eye of the largest US’s political storm in decades.
The man is in one unenviable position.
Let that be a lesson. From Netanyahu to Putin, national borders are defined for "So, what are you going to do about it?". The UN talks a big game, but at the end, everybody will just acknowledge the new owners once things settle and move on, since ownership is purely defined on who has the biggest military.
I don’t know enough about Zelenskyy’s personal politics, but man is he in a shitty position.
He has to suck Trump’s ass just to talk to him, then get minimal help because Trump is in Putin’s pocket, so he’s forced to cede ground in the hope it will buy some time before Putin wants to take another bite out of Ukraine. What will he get for that time?
Probably a noose around his neck by his own people.
I hope the next President can actually accomplish something for Ukraine and punish the ever loving fuck out of Putin in general.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
I’m just appreciating the extreme nature of his position.
He’s in charge of a country that for years was ran by a puppet for Putin that looted the country. Then when that guy was finally ousted, Putin stole a large chunk of Ukraine as well as killing thousands of people. Putin has continued to do this and now one of Zelenskyy’s hopes for saving his country, is another Putin puppet that’s looting his own country!
Zelenskyy not only has to debase himself in order to appease Trump just to get the minimal assistance, which inflamed the people of Ukraine, but he was forced to cede more territory to Putin, which further inflamed the people of Ukraine.
On top of that suck salad, he’s also in the eye of the largest US’s political storm in decades.
The man is in one unenviable position.
Let that be a lesson. From Netanyahu to Putin, national borders are defined for "So, what are you going to do about it?". The UN talks a big game, but at the end, everybody will just acknowledge the new owners once things settle and move on, since ownership is purely defined on who has the biggest military.
That’s why everyone wants nukes now.
With climate change applying pressure, is hard to assume that countries without nukes will even exist in a century.
In a briefing on Tuesday Oct. 1, Trump showed no interest when aides detailed North Korea’s new efforts to develop missiles that can be fired from a submarine, two U.S. officials who participated in the White House briefing tell TIME. Trump decided talks with North Korea should continue despite that country’s evident intention to develop the new military capability, the two officials say.
But the President “didn’t care” and “showed no interest,” one of the officials says, and decided the tests should not derail talks between U.S. and North Korean officials scheduled for the coming days. Those talks are designed to pave the way for a fourth face-to-face meeting between Trump and North Korea’s autocratic leader Kim Jong-Un.
Officials have put together incentives Trump can offer Kim in exchange for beginning to dismantle his nuclear program. Trump is prepared to offer Kim a three-year suspension of United Nations sanctions on textile and coal exports if Pyongyang agrees to dismantle its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon and halt its production of highly enriched uranium, said the two U.S. officials. If the United Nations is not willing to follow Trump’s lead, one of the officials said, the U.S. could temporarily halt its enforcement of those sanctions, the officials said.
First, said the intelligence official, there are an estimated 200 nuclear facilities in the Yongbyon complex, verifying their closure is impossible without on-site inspections that the North has always refused to accept, and the North is believed to have other, hidden enrichment facilities. In addition, all three officials said, the proposal would give the North three more years to improve its arsenal, which includes chemical and biological weapons.
Two of the officials feel that the administration’s push to resume negotiations, coming as it does after the departure of former national security advisor John Bolton, a North Korea hawk, is likely to be interpreted by the North Koreans as a sign of weakness and an indication that Trump may be willing to abandon his demand that Pyongyang denuclearize completely and, instead, agree to a timetable for negotiations in order to get another summit with Kim.
I would say I am unsure what Trump's strategy with NK is but there is clearly no thought out strategy.
The North Koreans would probably be right about Trump if they thought that. Trump is obviously willing to give up a ton and not as part of an overall reconciliation push like between NK and SK.
I know I shouldn't ask this, but I'm going to anyway.
Why are we doing this exactly?
Airline thing is actually not as stupid as it looks on its face. Airbus was getting government subsidized, in violation of the trade agreement, in the form of interest rates that were impossible to otherwise get. Lawsuits related to this have been going on for 15 years. US is allowed retaliatory tariffs to "even" the playing field.
Agricultural tariffs are among "punitive" tariffs which are allowed to theoretically recoup damages from the above.
If we didn't have a gibbering baby who screams "tariff" at any perceived slight, this would honestly probably have all been above-board. Guessing another President would have limited it to just the airline ones and maybe related industries.
I wrote about this in the economy thread.
The WTO found that the US could impose tariffs of 7.5 billion USD per year in punishment for the illegal subsidies of Airbus (which harmed Boeing).
Incidentally, the WTO has found that the US has illegally subsidized Boeing (which harmed Airbus). The WTO is still deciding on approriote punishment.
Reports are Iran tried to hack the Trump campaign.
Oh god, don't let this be an actual causus belli.
I think this means worse news for election cycle talking points than military action. Trump tried to get at least five (that I can remember (and counting)) foreign governments to help him win the election, but ITS NOT ILLEGAL IF THEY DON'T ACTUALLY HELP LOOK THE DEMOCRATS GOT THE WORST ONE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF WORST ONES EVER TO ACTUALLY HELP.
Posts
A land route that can't be blown up at the start of hostilites...
This was, I think, a factor which helped make Chechnya "winnable" for Russia. Besides other political and doctrinal factors.
Engineering and construction can move fast when you have a lot of money and don't care about environmental impact or local concerns.
For what is possibly the ultimate (hypothetical) example of this, see Project Plowshare. Digging harbors and canals with nukes!
that and their complete disregard for civilians lives
Then why are we not talking about it? That’s easily the worst human rights abuse in the world today, if true, and right up there with the 20th century genocides.
As I grow older, I understand more and more how the Holocaust happened.
No-one likes the Falun Gong because they are a cult, so everyone turns a blind eye to their slaughter?
Russia: Where "Go Big or Go Home!" really is a mutually exclusive choice that requires careful consideration.
There was also a perceived disregard for their own casualties. Their "victory" in the Second Chechen war was relatively timely (just under ten years) but it came at a relatively extremely high cost in both blood and treasure (in both cases relative to our modern COIN efforts).
The disregard, and sometimes active contribution to, non combatant casualties was one of the doctrinal considerations mentioned.
The Russian government also had a control over media coverage of Chechnya during that time which made WW2 US media coverage look as free as Vietnam media coverage in comparison.
Project Plowshare was a US program. :?
More like Falun Gong is a cult so we are all very wary about accepting what is said at face value. There hasn't been much strong evidence that they are being rounded up for organ harvesting but it looks like that is changing.
Well, the PRC calls them a cult, sure, but is there any evidence that they are outside of PRC propaganda?
According to the 2006 Kilgour-Matas report (one of the authors is a former Canadian MP) link
Seems pretty credible to me. China, of course, denies this.
If China was doing this to Christians we’d be up in arms. It doesn’t matter whether we “like” the Falun Gong religion - no-one deserves to be carved up for parts while alive.
And yet China is filling concentration camps with them.
They're also filling concentration camps with Muslims and ethnic minorities like Uighurs. China is an authoritarian state.
Oops, I assumed* that was a link to Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy, where in Russia irradiates a distant town while playing around with the idea of nuclear fracking.
*(I guess the biblical reference was probably a clue.)
An authoritarian state that's very paranoid of foreign competition for the minds of its subjects, which always means religion is a fucked up issue. Catholicism is officially recognized and allowed, but they can't recognize any foreign authority, including the Pope. So not only are they not technically Catholic in the Catholic definition, if it follows to closely the Roman Catholic ministry, it risks accusation that it recognizes the Pope, which is considered sedition, so they can barely be Catholic in their own defition.
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists face the same issue, because authorities of each religion exist outside of China and even coincidental agreement raises eyebrows. Literally the only safe bets are stalwart atheism or the old city-god cults (and their blurring into the edges of Buddhism puts them uncomfortably close to recognizing the foreign Dali Lama).
CNBCnow is the official handle of CNBC
The idiotic tarrifs continue to get more idiotic.
They are doing this to Christians, just not at the same scale and not equally across denominations. It's been a major issue for U.S. evangelicals for years.
The problem is not who is being targeted, it's who is targeting them. Like with Hong Kong, what is the US gonna do to China exactly?
I know I shouldn't ask this, but I'm going to anyway.
Why are we doing this exactly?
The U.S. has concentration camps for children. This is more a discussion for the EU and the UN.
What are the better options here for any leader of Ukraine?
Like, it's all well and good to sit back and say "This is bad" but Ukraine does not have any leverage here and there's little to no reason to think any other leader could pull much of a better outcome form all this. Sometimes you are just a small country next to a big hostile foreign power and you get to eat shit.
Airline thing is actually not as stupid as it looks on its face. Airbus was getting government subsidized, in violation of the trade agreement, in the form of interest rates that were impossible to otherwise get. Lawsuits related to this have been going on for 15 years. US is allowed retaliatory tariffs to "even" the playing field.
Agricultural tariffs are among "punitive" tariffs which are allowed to theoretically recoup damages from the above.
If we didn't have a gibbering baby who screams "tariff" at any perceived slight, this would honestly probably have all been above-board. Guessing another President would have limited it to just the airline ones and maybe related industries.
I’m just appreciating the extreme nature of his position.
He’s in charge of a country that for years was ran by a puppet for Putin that looted the country. Then when that guy was finally ousted, Putin stole a large chunk of Ukraine as well as killing thousands of people. Putin has continued to do this and now one of Zelenskyy’s hopes for saving his country, is another Putin puppet that’s looting his own country!
Zelenskyy not only has to debase himself in order to appease Trump just to get the minimal assistance, which inflamed the people of Ukraine, but he was forced to cede more territory to Putin, which further inflamed the people of Ukraine.
On top of that suck salad, he’s also in the eye of the largest US’s political storm in decades.
The man is in one unenviable position.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
Let that be a lesson. From Netanyahu to Putin, national borders are defined for "So, what are you going to do about it?". The UN talks a big game, but at the end, everybody will just acknowledge the new owners once things settle and move on, since ownership is purely defined on who has the biggest military.
That’s why everyone wants nukes now.
With climate change applying pressure, is hard to assume that countries without nukes will even exist in a century.
I would say I am unsure what Trump's strategy with NK is but there is clearly no thought out strategy.
The North Koreans would probably be right about Trump if they thought that. Trump is obviously willing to give up a ton and not as part of an overall reconciliation push like between NK and SK.
I wrote about this in the economy thread.
The WTO found that the US could impose tariffs of 7.5 billion USD per year in punishment for the illegal subsidies of Airbus (which harmed Boeing).
Incidentally, the WTO has found that the US has illegally subsidized Boeing (which harmed Airbus). The WTO is still deciding on approriote punishment.
Oh god, don't let this be an actual causus belli.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I think this means worse news for election cycle talking points than military action. Trump tried to get at least five (that I can remember (and counting)) foreign governments to help him win the election, but ITS NOT ILLEGAL IF THEY DON'T ACTUALLY HELP LOOK THE DEMOCRATS GOT THE WORST ONE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF WORST ONES EVER TO ACTUALLY HELP.
Yup. This is the basic issue with any praise for Trump's foreign policy. It has no goal beyond flattering his ego.