Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

You ever wonder why the US military is still developing human battle suits that would make the wearer near-immortal, even as battlefield infantry become less and less relevant and recruitment to non-commissioned military service remains entrenched within the lower classes? It's so that in twenty years time the richest among us (I say 'us' but, well) can cocoon themselves into living battle tanks and stomp though the cities like veritable gods, crushing peasants underfoot with little regard for human flesh or street lamps. Modern advancements into incredible longevity and medical health will see his type live for centuries. He has every right to be afraid, though - these next few decades are pivotal, when the world is teetering on the edge of oblivion and the chance remains for some of us to cling like rats to their coat tails as they soar away into majestic eternity and the rest fall into the abyss.

also i think they're finally getting ahead on that world of warcraft movie and blizzard are definitely going to crank out another MMO so these are truly blessed years

HookShot posted:

I don't watch or follow tennis so I actually didn't know this. That's crazy, and yeah, especially in a sport where the stakes are so high, and where doping would come in so handy.

Like, skiing they're tested approximately a million times a year on World Cup (the athletes seriously have to give FIS a schedule of where they will be every day of the year from 6am to 9pm, Ted Ligety once had to pee in a cup in an airport parking lot, and they get tested before every race on top of that) and that's one of the sports where I would argue doping would be least effective, since it's way more about technique/not loving up than physical strength.

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

The great thing about Nauru is that Australia has hosed their economy and way of life so badly that they're almost entirely dependent upon us for survival and we've corrupted their political process to the extreme so there's no room for self-determination that way either. It's like trapping a family into slavery for X generations, stripping their education and ability to survive or do anything other than the menial labour for which you've bred them, and then saying "well what do you want me to do, give them their freedom? They'd be lost without me!"

Good stuff.

e: To round out the shoddy metaphor you'd also probably want to specify that the menial labour that comprises this slave family's entire existence is essentially murdering and burying your business rivals.

wikipedia posted:

The Nauruan economy peaked in the early 1980s, as it was dependent almost entirely on the phosphate deposits that originate from the droppings of sea birds. There are few other resources, and most necessities are imported.Small-scale mining is still conducted by RONPhos, formerly known as the Nauru Phosphate Corporation. The government places a percentage of RONPhos's earnings into the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. The Trust manages long-term investments, which were intended to support the citizens once the phosphate reserves were exhausted.

Because of mismanagement the Trust's fixed and current assets were reduced considerably and may never fully recover. The failed investments included financing Leonardo the Musical in 1993, which was a financial failure. The Mercure Hotel in Sydney and Nauru House in Melbourne were sold in 2004 to finance debts and Air Nauru's only Boeing 737 was repossessed in December 2005. Normal air service resumed after the aircraft was replaced with a Boeing 737–300 airliner in June 2006. In 2005, the corporation sold its property asset in Melbourne, the vacant Savoy Tavern site, for $7.5 million.

The value of the Trust is estimated to have shrunk from A$1.3 billion in 1991 to $138 million in 2002. Nauru currently lacks money to perform many of the basic functions of government; for example, the National Bank of Nauru is insolvent. The CIA World Factbook estimated a GDP per capita of $5,000 in 2005. The Asian Development Bank 2007 economic report on Nauru estimated GDP per capita at $2,400 to $2,715.

There are no personal taxes in Nauru. The unemployment rate is estimated to be 90 percent, and of those who have jobs, the government employs 95 percent

Negligent posted:

How did Nauru get the gig, whatever happened to East Timor? After leading a successful invasion, Australia departed, leaving the place dependent on foreign aid. Surely an ideal destination for surplus asylum seekers.

Lid posted:

That's the same argument used by tennis people to support the "drugs don't work here" - that it's all technique and skill. Like you do watch prime Federer and he was so much more talented than anyone else, and indeed Novak and Nadal are both amazingly skilled. The issue becomes when its apparent that saying "its all skill" is starting to be chipped away by that its becoming more and more apparent its about cardio. Novak Djokovic for example is notorious for his ability to never stop playing, which he puts down to quote "a gluten free diet". More objective people would put it down to EPO. Nadal too was known for his ridiculous stamina and strangely timed leg injuries.

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2015-02-04/18347.php

Essentially all the drugs that destroyed Cycling are now rife in tennis but they don't want to do anything because tennis is a "gentlemens" sport and all these filthy precautions being called for are putting a shade on the beautiful game.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-08/federer-wants-more-drug-testing/5078070 I did misquote Federer's testing numbers but you get to see here Novak calling for less testing. Yes.

Negligent posted:

How did Nauru get the gig, whatever happened to East Timor? After leading a successful invasion, Australia departed, leaving the place dependent on foreign aid. Surely an ideal destination for surplus asylum seekers.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

So a huge loving anti-vax protest March is going down Adelaide Street in Brisbane Lol.

HookShot posted:

Skiing on the other hand rarely goes on for more than two minutes at a time (though cardio comes in handy in terms of not being totally dead at the end of season), and while more strength is definitely useful, it's way more a sport about not loving up than about being strong. And that's a sport where they do test the athletes like all the time. The fact that they don't in tennis blows my mind.

edit:

http://www.fis-ski.com/mm/Document/documentlibrary/Medical/06/94/81/FISStatistics2014-15seasonfinal_Neutral.pdf

Outside of competition last year FIS did 122 urine, 57 blood and 117 blood passport tests on alpine skiers. They did 134 urine and 22 blood tests during competition (apparently just during the world champs, I actually thought they did them before all the comps)

HookShot posted:

That's like my husband who swears that there's no way Cadel Evans takes drugs even though literally everyone else on the TDF does, because he's a good bloke and just wouldn't do that sort of thing.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nauru-guards-paid-for-sex-with-asylum-seekers-and-filmed-it-social-worker-claims-20150620-ght36i.html posted:

Nauru guards paid for sex with asylum seekers and filmed it, social worker claims

Security guards at Australia's detention centre on Nauru allegedly circulated videos of themselves having sex with asylum seekers who had been paid to participate, a former senior social worker on the island has claimed.

Charlotte Wilson was, until February this year, a Save the Children case manager at the Nauru Regional Processing Centre. In her explosive submission to the Senate inquiry, which is investigating allegations of abuse at the facility, she claims to have been told it was "acknowledged in management meetings between service providers" that acts of "solicitation" were occurring in the community between female refugees and Australian security officers employed by Wilson Security.

"It was also established that these acts had been filmed and circulated around Wilson staff," she said, of the rumours that began to circulate in January. She added: "I was also told that because prostitution is legal on Nauru that no action was being taken against the staff members involved."

In her submission, which hasn't yet been made public but has been obtained by Fairfax Media, Ms Wilson alleges she witnessed a security guard tell a group of single Somali women that if they run away, they would get "raped by the local boys".

In March, a review into sexual abuse at Nauru found evidence of rape, sexual assault of minors and guards exchanging cannabis for sexual favours from female detainees.

The independent inquiry was called last October by former immigration minister Scott Morrison after he removed Save the Children staff from the island, on the advice of his own department, that they had aided protests and coached detainees to fabricate abuse claims.

The review, led by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss, dismissed the claims made against Save the Children personnel.

"I felt disbelief when my colleagues were stood down," said Ms Wilson in her submission, adding: "Although no reason was given I surmised ... it was related to the protests. Many of my clients informed me that protesting was the only way they felt they could express themselves and they felt there were no other channels available to them."

Ms Wilson paints a bleak picture of living conditions at the facility in which previously healthy women had stopped menstruating and were experiencing "hair loss due to the stress on their bodies".

She said she had worked directly with clients experiencing "complete breakdowns in their mental health".

"On more than one occasion I have been present when an emergency code was called by security due to an attempted hanging. I have observed children at these scenes, which parents are unable to shield their children from due to the close proximity of tents."

She said "profound damage" had been caused to "nearly every single man, woman and child" who has been "arbitrarily interned" in Nauru through "prolonged deprivation of freedom, abuse of power, confinement in an extremely harsh environment, uncertainty of future, disempowerment, loss of privacy and autonomy and inadequate health and protection services."

Last week, the Senate committee heard that staff treating asylum seekers on Nauru were advised to withhold details of psychological impact from mental health reports.

Peter Young, who oversaw the mental health of asylum seekers in all Australian-run detention centres between 2011 to 2014, said the immigration department told doctors it didn't want to hear about mental harm caused by detainment.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the more we learn about what's going on in Nauru the worse it gets.

"Worst of all, the women and children subjected to this abuse remain on Nauru, unable to escape those who have exploited and abused them. This is wrong on every level," she said.

"Nauru is a seedy, toxic and dangerous place. No women and children should be forced to stay there."

Lascivious Sloth posted:

it's like the perfect spot. it has no export except phosphate which has nearly all run out. the governmnet is corrupt as gently caress. australia has a presense there already in terms of 'aid' mentoring their police and courts. most wealthy nauruans have shipped off to brisbane. it's a tiny island with no way off unless you fly out on their state owned airline, and the locals are mostly semi-uneducated, impoverished, and hostile towards outsiders. i'd say something like 50+% of guards were locals too, who hated the asylum seekers. there was abuse daily and the locals were untrained to even be in a position of power, let alone over children. thing is, they were so desperate for guards they had to take what they could get, so it was the worst of the worst. the whitey guards were almost having to guard the local guards and make sure they weren't doing something they shouldn't

quote:

ALEX MCDONALD: Leaked emails show when David Adeang was in opposition, he received a $10,000 a month from the Australian phosphate company Getax.

In one email, David Adeang suggests Getax could take over the island's publically-owned phosphate business.
...
SPRENT DABWIDO: The only national asset we have that's worth protecting, he was offering to be sold so he could get some $50,000-70,000 for campaigning.

quote:

The government is not merely determined to strip away the rights of its citizens on grounds of terror, it is also delivering powerful new rights to corporations on grounds of trade.

Get used to seeing these four letters: ISDS. They stand for Investor-State Dispute Settlement. They are legal clauses common in trade deals and they lend a foreign corporation the right to sue a government if that government has the cheek to govern in a way that damages their commercial interests.

And there they were this very week: ISDS provisions interred in the minutiae of Australia's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China – provisions which may give the Chinese rights to sue Australia if they feel aggrieved by some change in our laws.

As corporations slowly but relentlessly tighten their grip over governments, it is worth considering how far they are prepared to go to enforce their rights, especially as the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal includes ISDS clauses too.

This is how far they have gone already: Egypt raised its minimum wage at the beginning of last year. It wasn't much by Australian standards, just $74 a month, but for a state employee on 700 Egyptian pounds a month ($102), a rise to 1200 pounds is not to be derided.

A French multinational with operations in Egypt, however, did not like this minimum-wage effrontery. A couple of months later, Veolia, the global services juggernaut, bobbed along and sued Egypt for the grievous disadvantage it had suffered thanks to the industrial relations changes.

Veolia's claim relies on ISDS provisions in a trade treaty between Egypt and France.

Then there is the fifth-largest pharmaceutical group in the US, Eli Lilly, which is suing Canada for having the temerity to make medicines cheaper and more accessible to Canadians.

Eli Lilly is demanding $US100 million ($129 million) in compensation because not one but two Canadian courts decided to uphold the country's own patent laws. They found in favour of a generics manufacturer.

So, here is a situation where a foreign multinational is trying to entrench monopoly protection for its products in the name of free trade; the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the treaty.

In the known ISDS cases underway in US trade deals alone, tribunals have ordered governments to pay investors nearly $US4 billion. Another $US38 billion in claims are pending. It is a global epidemic of pettifogging, whose only beneficiaries are multinationals and lawyers.

Germany is being sued by a Swedish company for phasing out its nuclear sector in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Australia faces a claim from Philip Morris for its world-leading plain packaging laws for cigarettes.

Oil and gas groups are demanding compensation for Canada's moratorium on gas fracking and Peru is being sued by a US company for $US800 million because the Peruvians are insisting it comply with contractual arrangements to remediate a toxic smelting site.

It is here, in this arena of natural resources policy and environment, where Australia faces perhaps big risks under the China FTA. What happens if the Chinese invest in an Australian resources project but are refused permission to operate the mine on environmental grounds? What happens if the costs blow out? Investors may have an ISDS suit, indeed even a case for loss of billions in future revenues.

ISAS clauses are not finalised in the China FTA, yet, thankfully. The provision for ISDS is there, though the particular criteria for suing are yet to be established. That will be the job of a committee, which will preside over the detail.

It is only Parliament, however, that gets to vote on the FTA. The government has the numbers, and the present opposition leadership – so frightened of being dubbed pro-terror – is likely to be almost as loath to be wedged as "anti-trade" if it sought to eliminate some of the more suspect elements of the pact.

They will roll out the red carpet in the name of free trade.

This is the strangest deal though, redolent of a government in a rush to thrash something out. Cabinet has already signed off on it but a committee is yet to finalise it, therefore Parliament is being asked to approve a deal that has not yet been finalised.

They should be wary. As independent senator Nick Xenophon has compellingly argued, there is a slim case if any to support the contention that these deals work.

"There is little evidence that the latest deals with South Korea and Japan, nor the raft of previous FTAs ratified in the past decade, significantly improve Australia's terms of trade, economy or our overall wellbeing," Xenophon wrote in the wake of the FTA with Korea.

"Cheaper consumer goods for households eventually emerge, but at a huge cost to our manufacturing base, our natural trading strengths in agriculture and services, and our overall trade performance.

"In short: our FTAs tend to favour our trading partners more than us here at home."

Along with independent academic experts on trade, Matthew Rimmer and Patricia Ranald, Xenophon has called for a more "hard-headed" approach to FTAs.

"We are laughed at internationally as the 'free-trade Taliban' because of our purist and fundamentalist approach to these issues, compromising our national interest for a free-trade mantra. We get taken for mugs and this has to stop."

Xenophon cites the dearth of hard evidence that Australians have benefited from FTAs with Singapore (2003), New Zealand (2004), US (2005), Thailand (2005) and Chile (2009), the countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations and New Zealand (ASEAN – 2009), and Malaysia (2013).

Despite the hype in the press and political classes, a survey of 5000 Australian firms by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2010 found just 51 firms reported "little if any" benefits from FTAs.

If ISDS mechanisms are in the deals Australia will almost certainly lose.

Bill Shorten, AWU official posted:

I think sometimes some of the critics say this is all bad for myself and for Labor," he said. "You know, I think it demonstrates why the Labor Party's got a better vision for the future because we're not into dividing the joint, we're not into dividing worker versus employer.

SynthOrange posted:

This week should have been a free kick Abbott's head in but how Labor managed to gently caress it up I'll never even be able to understand.

Ragingsheep posted:

Just remember who's leading Labor and it should all be clear.

Anidav posted:

Frank Blunderwood.

Kim Jong ill posted:

Cross-country skiing at an elite level requires similar aerobic capacity to elite road cycling, with suggestions that some of the most fit aerobic athletes in history, going by vo2 max, have been cross-country skiers. So given the whole point of poo poo like EPO is to boost vo2 max, I'd like to think the FIS is testing as hard as UCI.

HookShot posted:

HookShot posted:

This is how his leg looked after that crash

Pred1ct posted:

Their government is a mess. There was recently a story about how the AFP was investigating claims that an Australian phosphate company provided bribes to the former opposition leader (now president) of Nauru, who used the funds for election campaigning. The government since being elected has suspended five opposition MPs, removed the police commissioner and removed the chief justice plus any other foreign officials they don't like the look of.

And one of the offers for those bribes was to sell off the only resource the nation has.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4250993.htm


Our government says that Nauru is a sovereign nation so basically what happens over there is not our responsibility. Oh and it's also not our responsibility to have any oversight of whether we deal with a country that is hugely corrupt and does not have the resources to house asylum seekers. Don't you love outsourcing?