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Cat Mattress posted:There's a difference between giving a prize to someone who hasn't yet done anything, and a giving a prize to someone who has already done a lot of things. I think you mean he lead to long-term peace in Chechnya, defended the brave people of South Ossetia, stood up to a CIA backed coup against a democratically elected President in Ukraine &...yeah, OK, I'm not being serious. I'm well aware of the differences between Putin & Obama circa 2008. Though giving him the Nobel in 2008 was really loving stupid anyway. There's 8 billion people who didn't get anything for "not being George W Bush", and the overwhelming majority of us didn't go on to be quite as bloody as Obama.
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Oct 9, 2016 12:44
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forkboy84 posted:Though giving him the Nobel in 2008 was really loving stupid anyway. I did not say the contrary.
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Oct 9, 2016 13:06
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Yep, it was stupid to give the Nobel Price to Obama for not being Bush, seemed more like a "gently caress you" to Bush than anything else. The Nobel committee often focus on encouraging changes towards more peaceful behavior than rewarding people that have achieved peace, since peace are not often achieved through peaceful means and often involves people on both sides who in a just world would be facing a court trial, if not a firing squad. Which is why they gave the award to the Colombian President in order to encourage the peace negotiations to continue, and Obama was given it as an encouragement for using other means than arms to achieve his goals, and to condemn Bush's war of aggression (still loving stupid). It could be noted that the Nobel Committee these days have shifted more from center left to center right, which some believe was part of the reason they gave the price to the president instead of giving it to both parts, even if Farc is not recognized as a terrorist organization by Norway (I think?). The Nobel Committee can be a bit pragmatic, since they feel that the reluctant Colombian public needed a push without giving the appearance of rewarding their enemies at the same time. As an anecdote, it's speculated that one of the reasons Theodore Roosevelt got the reward straight after Norway's independence, was not only his mediation between Russia and Japan, but also because the committee were dogmatic enough to realize it would give US a more positive image of Norway, even if Roosevelt was a hardcore imperialist. You can also say that giving it the President of Colombia was the safe option, the White Helmets had also been considered to be favorites by many, but would been more controversial, since Russia and friends like to harp that they have connections with jihadists and are finaced by the west, not to mention it would been awkward to give the award to an organization that by the end of next year have would have been eradicated, with their members in Assad's mass graves.
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Oct 9, 2016 17:58
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edit: Wrong thread
HUGE PUBES A PLUS fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Oct 9, 2016 |
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Oct 9, 2016 22:28
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Anybody w/ a more technical knowledge of the subject want to weigh in on the cancelling of the Airbus helicopter deal? Reuters: France angry with Poland after it scraps Airbus deal
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Oct 11, 2016 00:33
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Rinkles posted:Anybody w/ a more technical knowledge of the subject want to weigh in on the cancelling of the Airbus helicopter deal? Simple. There are three companies that build helicopters that have factories in Poland. - Airbus - Sikorsky - AgustaWestland Now if you look at where these factories are located, you'll notice that the Sikorsky and Agusta ones are in PiS territory, while the Airbus one isn't. The Airbus offer was, in exchange for Poland buying 50 choppers, Poland would get - 100% offsets, meaning all the money spent by Poland would be invested right back by Airbus in Poland - Full transfer of technology - Lots of hires to triple the size of an Airbus research center in Poland What happened next? PiS declared that Airbus was difficult to deal with so they scrap the deal, and instead they're gonna buy some US choppers. Now, commercially, the offer wasn't profitable to Airbus. They'd have lost money and intellectual property on that deal. This was deemed an acceptable sacrifice in exchange for getting Poland to be one of their customer, and make of this European country a partner for the European defense industry.
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Oct 11, 2016 01:30
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Somehow missed this: Wajda died yesterday. Cat Mattress posted:Simple. The official line is (vague): the offset offer was ultimately unsatisfactory. Any comment on the actual hardware involved? Rinkles fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 11, 2016 |
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Oct 11, 2016 03:11
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A couple months back, before the matter became hot, PiS was a bit more forthcoming with the details i.e. that Airbus was trying to weasel out of installing the navigational systems. They've gone tight-lipped since, though.Rinkles posted:Somehow missed this:  I guess tonight would be a good time to watch Kanał and raise a glass.
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Oct 11, 2016 07:15
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Rinkles posted:The official line is (vague): the offset offer was ultimately unsatisfactory. Yeah they're being blatantly dishonest with their official line. The hardware was fifty H225M Caracals, which were to be configured as such: - 16 for simple transport - 13 for combat search & rescue (CSAR) - 8 for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) - 8 for special forces (SOS) - 5 for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) Now instead they'll get Black Hawks, I don't know the precise details though since they've just started negotiations with Sikorsky.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:46
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Airbus wrote an open letter: http://www.airbushelicopters.com/website/docs_wsw/RUB_151/press_2028/2016-10-11_AH_Open-Letter-to-Polish-PM_EN.pdfGuillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters CEO posted:Open letter to the Polish Prime Minister IMO Airbus should close up shop in Poland. With technical issues on Super Pumas, and a general slow-down in helicopter sales, they're going to lose money in the helicopter division. Outside of helicopters, they have two albatrosses in the A380 nobody buys outside of Emirates, and the A400M which is only now starting to resolve its design problems; and then you can add that their Eurofighter joint venture with BAE and Alenia isn't going great either, so they're looking at finding ways to save money through downsizing; and the Polish employees just got themselves a nice big bullseye painted over them by their beloved government. And I'll add some more, courtesy of a Polish guy on another forum: Apparently, Gazeta Wyborcza has published the information that the Polish minister of defense, Maciarewicz, was a high-ranked member of the US lobbying foundation Friends of Poland. Another member of this foundation is this guy, whose marketing company Park Strategies counts Sikorsky among its customers. After publication, the website for Friends of Poland apparently went offline? Cat Mattress fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Oct 12, 2016 |
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Oct 11, 2016 22:58
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Oct 12, 2016 05:31
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Cat Mattress posted:Now if you look at where these factories are located, you'll notice that the Sikorsky and Agusta ones are in PiS territory, while the Airbus one isn't. Wait, how does that work exactly? Do they rule some kind of fiefdoms of their own somewhere where those factories are located?
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Oct 12, 2016 23:29
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jonnypeh posted:Wait, how does that work exactly? Do they rule some kind of fiefdoms of their own somewhere where those factories are located? No, nothing set like this, just talking about electoral results. You know, like the blue states and red states in the USA, it's not like these are fiefdoms, it just reflects the way the majority or at least plurality of the population in an area votes. In this case, the people of Lodz mostly voted for PO, not for PIS; while the people in the areas with the competitor factories voted for PIS.
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Oct 12, 2016 23:49
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So the proposal for a total abortion ban in Poland was rejected last week in the Sejm which has caused a lot of consternation for a section of PiS electorate so yesterday duckman assured them that PiS was working on its own law which will ban what they call eugenic abortions, i.e. the current provision which allows for abortion in cases of severe fetal defect. He said that their goal was for women to give birth to even severely deformed and non viable children so that they could be named, baptized and given proper burial.  The reaction from women has not been what you'd call warm or receptive. It's fun to watch them twist on the hook for this bullshit though I must say.
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Oct 13, 2016 09:00
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Kaczynski's poison laws will make heaven too loving crowded. Joke theory: Kaczynski is making a gambit that the image of having to give birth to slithering bundles of teeth and hair filled cysts and then having to have them baptized and proper buried will put off even the most ardent religious extremists. Anne Frank Funk fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Oct 13, 2016 |
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Oct 13, 2016 09:16
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The former president Ilves of Estonia who recently stepped down, well... In 2006, before he even knew he was going to become a president, he applied for support from the state foundation that hands out money for developing private enterprises, provided that there is an adequate plan, criteria, all that. His business plan foresaw fixing up the farmhouse that belonged to his grandparents before the war, for use as a guesthouse, so he received €170,000. Then he became the president, this was quite an unusual situation, for security reasons the place could not be run as a guesthouse. So an exception was made, that business project of his was suspended until the end of his term. Now he is no longer interested in running the guest house, which means he has to return that money. But in 2012 said foundation ruled that he would only have to return 10% of the sum he received. Unlike with other projects that fail or do not meet the set goals, which have to return *all* of the money. So the media is luckily having a field day with this. It would be a shame if this was ignored. With one headline being: "see what the president said about the corruption in previous years when he was not profiting from it". Of course as the place was designated as his residence his office paid for most of the expenses over the years anyway, even down to every last trash bag, but no-one's bothering with that. Not yet anyway.
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Oct 13, 2016 14:25
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Well, it's finally happened, Trump has had his "Slobo did nothing wrong" moment.  http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-apologizes-serbia-yugoslavia-bombing-509417
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Oct 13, 2016 16:13
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AceRimmer posted:Well, it's finally happened, Trump has had his "Slobo did nothing wrong" moment. Dwesa fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Oct 13, 2016 |
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Oct 13, 2016 18:12
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New Levada poll, on trustworthiness of various state elements as seen by Russians. Top to bottom: (Dark red) President (Red) Army (Light red) State security agencies (Dark bluish) Church (Bluish) Government (Light bluish) Parliament (Grey) Court [system] Edit: In other Russian news, Emel'yanenko's critique of Kadyrov's preteen children MMA fights has totally not resulted in his oldest daughter being attacked and clobbered on the streets of Moscow. cinci zoo sniper fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Oct 13, 2016 |
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Oct 13, 2016 18:20
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poo poo the rating is going down again, who's getting invaded next?  Also lol at the judicial branch being ranked the lowest. That's got to be a sign of a lawless strongman shithole, doesn't it? For reference:   (Greece)
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Oct 13, 2016 19:07
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It's also a sign of the judiciary serving mainly to siphon money from private citizens' pockets to cops', judges' and prosecutors' bank accounts.
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Oct 13, 2016 19:11
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Is there a reason that the church is that low?
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Oct 13, 2016 20:44
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aphid_licker posted:Is there a reason that the church is that low? Also, church is pretty high compared to European average, if I remember stats on Europe correctly.
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Oct 13, 2016 20:48
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This is gonna sound really paranoid, but should we worry about the possibility of nuclear war with Russia?
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Oct 13, 2016 22:46
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That seems to be the new thing I hear people who don't normally follow Russia/Eastern european news suddenly freaking out that nuclear war is coming soon and oh my god hillary is an anti-russian hawk we're going to totally launch the nukes.
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Oct 13, 2016 22:48
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mobby_6kl posted:poo poo the rating is going down again, who's getting invaded next? The regime has no legitimacy and all must resign.
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Oct 13, 2016 23:24
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AceRimmer posted:Well, it's finally happened, Trump has had his "Slobo did nothing wrong" moment. Trump is written 'Tramp' in Serbian hee hee
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Oct 14, 2016 00:38
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Doctor Malaver posted:Trump is written 'Tramp' in Serbian hee hee
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Oct 14, 2016 00:44
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Putin doesn't seen to have much control over his attack dogs. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/attack-on-daughter-of-kadyrov-critic-underscores-putins-chechen-problem-55736 https://sports.yahoo.com/news/daughter-of-fedor-emelianenko-attacked-after-criticism-of-child-mma-fights-in-moscow-220127501.html Fedor Emelianenko spoke out against Kadyrov's freakshow ultimate fighting children, and then his 16-year old daughter got beaten by an unknown assailant shortly afterward. I'm guessing that Putin's stooge in Chechnya is too valuable and potentially explosive to be punished for this.
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Oct 14, 2016 00:50
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He won't get punished directly but his pawns are dead men by now, with Putin's secretary Peskov and Russia's Patriarch Kirill speaking out in support of Emel'yanenko.
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Oct 14, 2016 01:17
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cinci zoo sniper posted:Should be most if not all Slavic languages that use Cyrillic. He's Tramps in Latvian too, and I imagine it's Trampas in Lithuanian. Right, they write all names like they're pronounced, which sometimes makes it an interesting exercise to guess what is Maikl Dzekson or L'yuis Kerroll.
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Oct 14, 2016 02:29
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Nenonen posted:Right, they write all names like they're pronounced, which sometimes makes it an interesting exercise to guess what is Maikl Dzekson or L'yuis Kerroll.
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Oct 14, 2016 02:36
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Uh, do some languages still do that for modern names, I thought transcribing foreign names to fit pronunciation died around the time of the American Revolution. I certainly don't ever remember reading about Jiří Vašingtonský or Tejlor Svift.
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Oct 14, 2016 07:14
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mobby_6kl posted:poo poo the rating is going down again, who's getting invaded next? 0,4% of acquittal decisions in criminal court by 2015 data. Last Chief Prosecutor thought it was a good sign because it means that the investigation works too good!
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Oct 14, 2016 07:26
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mobby_6kl posted:poo poo the rating is going down again, who's getting invaded next? Don't worry, there were 500 explosions in Mariupol this week, Ukraine is still target number 1.
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Oct 14, 2016 08:49
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steinrokkan posted:Uh, do some languages still do that for modern names, I thought transcribing foreign names to fit pronunciation died around the time of the American Revolution. I certainly don't ever remember reading about Jiří Vašingtonský or Tejlor Svift. I think it happens mostly with Cyrillic writing - your options are to write foreign names in Latin or go the full transcription route. Eg. Jack Daniel is written Джек Дэниел, or Dzhek Deniel. Suppose you wrote it more straightforward Як Даниэл then Russians would pronounce the name "Yuck Doniel" or so unless they beforehand knew that it's an English name. OTOH if it's a trademark then it'll be usually written just Jack Daniel's with no transliteration which is strange.
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Oct 14, 2016 11:32
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Nenonen posted:I think it happens mostly with Cyrillic writing - your options are to write foreign names in Latin or go the full transcription route. Eg. Jack Daniel is written Джек Дэниел, or Dzhek Deniel. Suppose you wrote it more straightforward Як Даниэл then Russians would pronounce the name "Yuck Doniel" or so unless they beforehand knew that it's an English name. OTOH if it's a trademark then it'll be usually written just Jack Daniel's with no transliteration which is strange. In Serbian language it is also used when written in Latin script, so it looks something like this: Michael Jackson - Majkl Džekson - Мајкл Џексон George Washington - Džordž Vašington - Џорџ Вашингтон
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Oct 14, 2016 11:45
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steinrokkan posted:Uh, do some languages still do that for modern names, I thought transcribing foreign names to fit pronunciation died around the time of the American Revolution. I certainly don't ever remember reading about Jiř Vaingtonsk or Tejlor Svift. E: Vitnija Hjūstone from Ņuarka, Ņūdžersija. cinci zoo sniper fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 11:49
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Topical phoneposting (so no copypaste) on names in Latvian: https://deepbaltic.com/2016/09/23/why-you-will-almost-definitely-have-to-change-your-name-when-speaking-latvian/
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Oct 14, 2016 14:50
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Tonton Macoute posted:Topical phoneposting (so no copypaste) on names in Latvian:  I've never heard of Sharm el-Sheikh debate before. That's so Latvian it hurts.
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Oct 14, 2016 15:06
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