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GhostofJohnMuir posted:it reminds me of a russian short story i once read where a desperate nuclear engineer tries to sell radioactive material to the mafia only to have low level mooks kill him and then try to snort the powder assuming that it's some sort of drug There are a bunch of different times radioactive sources have been stolen and none of them end well. The big ones were some hospital x-ray source stolen in Brazil, a nuclear lighthouse source that was looted in Russia, and iirc there was another one stolen in Ukraine (I think?) that was passed around a bunch of teens and poisoned a ton of people. All of them are good reads and tbqh pretty brutal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_radiation_accidents quote:1989 – In the Kramatorsk radiological accident, a small capsule containing highly radioactive 137Cs was found inside the concrete wall in an apartment building in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian SSR. It is believed that the capsule, originally contained in a measurement device, was lost sometime during the late 1970s and ended up mixed in with gravel used to construct that building in 1980. By the time the capsule was discovered, six residents of the building had died from leukemia and 17 more received varying doses of radiation.[22] quote:December 2001 – Three lumberjacks in the nation of Georgia found two warm canisters near their camp and spent the night beside them. The canisters were discarded and unshielded heat sources from Soviet radioisotope thermoelectric generators, containing 30 kCi (1.1 PBq) of 90Sr each.[45] The lumberjacks started showing symptoms of radiation sickness within hours, and were subsequently hospitalized with severe radiation burns.[46] The disposal team consisted of 25 men who were restricted to 40 seconds' worth of exposure each while transferring the canisters to lead-lined drums.[47] 
Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Mar 19, 2018 |
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Mar 19, 2018 22:31
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Herstory Begins Now posted:There are a bunch of different times radioactive sources have been stolen and none of them end well. The big ones were some hospital x-ray source stolen in Brazil, a nuclear lighthouse source that was looted in Russia, and iirc there was another one stolen in Ukraine (I think?) that was passed around a bunch of teens and poisoned a ton of people. All of them are good reads and tbqh pretty brutal. i remember reading about that brazil case, crazy to think about
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Mar 19, 2018 22:39
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Al-Saqr posted:You guys can scream and sqwak all you like. I’m right and history proved it. I’m done even trying to argue the facts on the ground. Congrats. Fascism won. https://twitter.com/HenryKrinkIe/status/975557505051971584
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Mar 20, 2018 06:03
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I’m surprised he ever drives his own car, especially given what happened to his brother (being a dumbass driver). Also no motorcade? Im sure there is a car of armed guys behind him, but still. Or is the driving footage from a long time ago, mixed in with current footage?
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Mar 20, 2018 07:39
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lollontee posted:To the same end as my own country fought the Soviet Union a century ago for. At the end of the day, that too was a huge waste of lives with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end of the war. It’s banal and it’s pointless, but I fully get why YPG still fights on in Afrin. When the Empire comes, you stand and fight, even if it is hopeless. That’s just how it works. lol
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Mar 20, 2018 08:11
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Tom Friedman must be moonlighting as the social media manager for 60 Minutes. https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/975522490004000773
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Mar 20, 2018 12:21
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Sinteres posted:Tom Friedman must be moonlighting as the social media manager for 60 Minutes. In related MBS news, the abaya is seemingly going to no longer be required in KSA—and not even the headscarf at all. http://www.jordantimes.com/news/region/saudi-women-should-have-choice-whether-wear-abaya-robe-%E2%80%94-crown-prince Soon maybe women will even be classified as human beings. (Yemenis, however, are likely to remain animals in the eyes of Saudi administration.)
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Mar 20, 2018 13:12
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Sinteres posted:Tom Friedman must be moonlighting as the social media manager for 60 Minutes. the next 60 minutes will be critical.
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Mar 20, 2018 13:52
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R. Guyovich posted:
lol? I feel like I'm missing out on a real good joke here
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Mar 20, 2018 16:22
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So, what happens now? Erdogan is eyeing Manbij and Kobani for him and TFSA to clear next. If I remember correctly, the Americans have bases there, training SDF units. There was a report some time ago that Turkey had convinced USA to oust YPG forces from said regions, something that either didn't materialize or was fake news from the start. I assume that Erdogan has to consolidate Afrin first, before moving on. Is it possible that Manbij and Kobani are under threat in the summer?
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Mar 20, 2018 16:30
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Saladman posted:In related MBS news, the abaya is seemingly going to no longer be required in KSA—and not even the headscarf at all. I'm seriously impressed that he hasn't been couped, assassinated, or otherwise deposed. Their security services must be shockingly loyal and effective while the traditional centers of power were apparently rotted away underneath the government maintained facade.
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Mar 20, 2018 16:49
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quote:
It's laughable to say the USSR was an empire.
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Mar 20, 2018 17:15
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SickZip posted:I'm seriously impressed that he hasn't been couped, assassinated, or otherwise deposed. Their security services must be shockingly loyal and effective while the traditional centers of power were apparently rotted away underneath the government maintained facade. Or, this is also a mere facade, and the new ruler is simply showing a modicum of separation from the middle ages so as to consolidate his position abroad and gain an aura of modernity. Either way, I'd still take it if I was a woman in that country. It's not like I have an option here.
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Mar 20, 2018 17:15
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Dante80 posted:So, what happens now? Erdogan is eyeing Manbij and Kobani for him and TFSA to clear next. If I remember correctly, the Americans have bases there, training SDF units. When presented with a relatively quick and easy victory, Erdogan doesn't seem the type to think "I'll stop here, we don't need to capture more territory."
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Mar 20, 2018 17:31
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WhiskeyWhiskers posted:
It's laughable to the people who have ideological reasons for denying reality, I guess.
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Mar 20, 2018 17:32
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Dante80 posted:Or, this is also a mere facade, and the new ruler is simply showing a modicum of separation from the middle ages so as to consolidate his position abroad and gain an aura of modernity. I understand why he's doing it and that it's completely self-serving. The surprising thing is the rest of the country rolling over and going along with it. After decades of exporting religious fanaticism and terrorism, there isn't a single domestic nutcase whose willing to take up arms to defend the status quo? He tortured and robbed a bunch of the royal family and there isn't anyone who wants revenge and a shot at the top?
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Mar 20, 2018 17:40
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Deteriorata posted:It's laughable to the people who have ideological reasons for denying reality, I guess. Nah.
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Mar 20, 2018 18:00
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Maybe people are working with different definitions of "empire" here. I'm not using it as a slur, but wasn't the USSR the very definition of an empire? quote:an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority
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Mar 20, 2018 19:12
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SickZip posted:I understand why he's doing it and that it's completely self-serving. The surprising thing is the rest of the country rolling over and going along with it. I'm pretty sure there is, but if they're weak, incompetent or prone to too much infighting, they can't do much against someone who, at the very least, seems to have covered the basics of dictatorial power. Even if he still lives a bit behind the times while presenting himself as not that.
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Mar 20, 2018 19:25
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Flavahbeast posted:Maybe people are working with different definitions of "empire" here. I'm not using it as a slur, but wasn't the USSR the very definition of an empire? You're forgetting there's people so dedicated to stupidity that they think "empire" means "America" and maybe "Britain".
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Mar 20, 2018 19:48
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SickZip posted:After decades of exporting religious fanaticism and terrorism, there isn't a single domestic nutcase whose willing to take up arms to defend the status quo? He tortured and robbed a bunch of the royal family and there isn't anyone who wants revenge and a shot at the top? The Saudi state exports fanaticism and terrorism specifically so they don't have to deal with it in their own backyard, and have since the siege of mecca in '79 kickstarted the reactionary wave that MBS is now "reforming" If the KSA were burning I wouldn't spare a squirt of piss to bank the flames, but even I gotta admit the Saudis keep a clean house via the precise methods they very specifically accuse Iran of doing.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:03
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WhiskeyWhiskers posted:It's laughable to say the USSR was an empire. Based on what exactly
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Mar 20, 2018 20:16
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WoodrowSkillson posted:Based on what exactly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Empire Whether or not you want to call it an Empire is up to you but there's definitely a debate to be had.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:18
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self unaware posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Empire The only reason to call it anything other than an empire is their own propaganda and the fact they did not call Stalin a Czar an Emperor.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:25
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Regardless of what definition you use I don't think there's much of a case that the USSR was an empire in 1918, though.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:26
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i feel like "empire" is a suitable descriptor for both a system of amoral trade ideology enforced at gunpoint, as well as a system of ablative states generally subservient to a central power geographically between all of them, in that its equally inaccurate for both in a postcolonial context as to serve for further conversation of the invariably unrelated original topic as long as everyone agrees to not start an undue shitfit about taxonomy as if it could ennoble or condemn histories and behaviors. *farts softly*
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Mar 20, 2018 20:29
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WoodrowSkillson posted:The only reason to call it anything other than an empire is their own propaganda and the fact they did not call Stalin a Czar an Emperor. I guess? I mean, the word does have like an accepted academic use and the USSR/Soviet empire is not usually included. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire Call it what you want, but it's a stretch to say the only reason to not call it that is because of propaganda.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:33
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self unaware posted:I guess? I mean, the word does have like an accepted academic use and the USSR/Soviet empire is not usually included. "In the aftermath of World War I the Russian Empire also broke up and became reduced to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) before re-forming as the USSR (1922-1991) - sometimes seen as the core of a Soviet Empire." What traits did the USSR have that separate it from what is now called the American Empire or French Empire.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:37
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Cerebral Bore posted:Regardless of what definition you use I don't think there's much of a case that the USSR was an empire in 1918, though. In 1918 the Soviet Union and the Whites were fighting over who got to be the empire on that territory and what land would stay in said empire. At most you could say the Soviet Union was seeking to claim less of an empire because they were more willing to give up certain chunks of the Russian Empire for the time being to focus on maintaining as much as they could.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:38
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Cerebral Bore posted:Regardless of what definition you use I don't think there's much of a case that the USSR was an empire in 1918, though. Uh, ok? So could we call it one when it reoccupied most of the Tsarist empire's old territories (apart from Poland and the Baltics, for a while at least for the latter) a few years later?
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Mar 20, 2018 20:38
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WoodrowSkillson posted:What traits did the USSR have that separate it from what is now called the American Empire or French Empire. Protectorates? Colonies? I mean, there's a reason you're quoting things that say "sometimes seen as". It's because the past 60 years of Russophobia have rotted brains away to the point where they want to change the definition of Empire in some vain attempt to play "but they do the same thing as us!" even though they don't. 90s Rememberer fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Mar 20, 2018 |
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Mar 20, 2018 20:40
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self unaware posted:Protectorates? Colonies? A lot of Russians settled into Kazakhstan over the Soviet period, usually with a lot of government prompting, it's one of the reason there are so many Russians there now. There's also Kaliningrad.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:48
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empire early 14c., from Old French empire "rule, authority, kingdom, imperial rule" (11c.), from Latin imperium "a rule, a command; authority, control, power; supreme power, sole dominion; military authority; a dominion, realm," from imperare "to command," from assimilated form of in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + parare "to order, prepare" (from PIE root *pere-(1) "to produce, procure"). Not etymologically restricted to "territory ruled by an emperor," but used that way. The Empire, meaning "the British Empire," first recorded 1772 (it officially devolved into "The Commonwealth" in 1931); before that it meant the Holy Roman Empire (1670s). A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority. A political unit that controls at least one kingdom under its vassalage. A group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to a foreign power. A state ruled by an emperor. An empire is defined as "an aggregate of nations or people ruled over by an emperor or other powerful sovereign or government, usually a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, as the former British Empire, Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, French Empire, Persian Empire, Russian Empire, German Empire, Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, or Roman Empire". An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire. Aside from the more formal usage, the term "empire" can also be used to refer to a large-scale business enterprise (e.g. a transnational corporation), a political organization controlled by a single individual (a political boss) or a group (political bosses). The term "empire" is associated with other words such as imperialism, colonialism, and globalization. Empire is often used to describe a displeasure to overpowering situations. An imperial political structure can be established and maintained in two ways: (i) as a territorial empire of direct conquest and control with force or (ii) as a coercive, hegemonic empire of indirect conquest and control with power. The former method provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter method provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion. Territorial empires (e.g. the Mongol Empire and Median Empire) tend to be contiguous areas. The term, on occasion, has been applied to maritime empires or thalassocracies (e.g. the Athenian and British empires) with looser structures and more scattered territories. Empires are usually larger than kingdoms. This aspiration to universality resulted in conquest by converting 'outsiders' or 'inferiors' into the colonialized religion. This association of nationality and race became complex and has had a more intense drive for expansion. ----- The Russian Empire (Russian: Российская Империя) was an empire that existed across Eurasia from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917. The third largest empire in world history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire. It played a major role in 1812–1814 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe and expanded to the west and south. ----- The Soviet Union (Russian: Сове́тский Сою́з, tr. Sovétsky Soyúz, , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyúz Sovétskikh Sotsialistícheskikh Respúblik, abbreviated as the USSR (Russian: СССР, tr. SSSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Russian nation had constitutionally equal status among the many nations of the union but exerted de facto dominance in various respects. The Soviet Union was one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. It was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) and the Warsaw Pact.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:54
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self unaware posted:Protectorates? Colonies? Ah yes, eternal Russian soil, Vladivostok.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:54
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self unaware posted:Protectorates? Colonies? Georgia, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all conquered by the USSR and either annexed into the fold or turned into the satellite states of the Warsaw Pact. Their cultures were dismantled and Stalinized immediately. The USSR waged an interventionist war in Afghanistan identical to the US' interventionist adventures. They provided military aid to conflicts throughout the world and the KGB participated in nearly identical fuckery in foreign govts as the CIA. They brutally cracked down on dissent and attempts at revolt in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. They behaved literally the same as any "imperialist" state.
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Mar 20, 2018 21:04
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The informal term "Soviet Empire" is used by critics of the Soviet Union and Russian nationalists to refer to that country's perceived imperialist foreign policy during the Cold War. The nations said to be part of the "Soviet Empire" were officially independent countries with separate governments that set their own policies (to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the country), but those policies had to remain within certain limits decided by the Soviet Union and enforced by threat of intervention by the Warsaw Pact (Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Poland 1980). Countries in this situation are often called satellite states. Though the Soviet Union was not ruled by an emperor and declared itself anti-imperialist and a people's democracy, critics argue that it exhibited tendencies common to historic empires. Some scholars hold that the Soviet Union was a hybrid entity containing elements common to both multinational empires and nation states. It has also been argued that the USSR practiced colonialism as did other imperial powers, Maoists argued that the Soviet Union had itself become an imperialist power while maintaining a socialist façade. The other dimension of "Soviet imperialism" is cultural imperialism. The policy of Soviet cultural imperialism implied the Sovietization of culture and education at the expense of local traditions. Overall, the Soviet Empire was a political-military construct. Its hub, Russia, was not a colonial state in the classical sense of holding colonies and exploiting their natural resources. The economies of various parts were both diversified and interrelated, frequently specialising in one type of production and fully dependent on others in both the supply and demand chains. For example, while Uzbek SSR may have been viewed as a typical example of a monoculture country producing cotton, its capital, Tashkent has become a major industrial centre, and Russia itself was a major supplier of raw materials for all its "colonies". In cases where political control wasn't yet firmly established, the satellite states were economically exploited at full scale, as it happened in post-war Poland and Baltic states. The penetration of the Soviet influence into the "socialist-leaning countries" was also of the political and ideological kind: rather than getting hold on their economic riches, the Soviet Union pumped enormous amounts of "international assistance" into them in order to secure influence, eventually to the detriment of its own economy. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Russia declared itself successor, it recognized $103 billion of Soviet foreign debt, while claiming $140 billion of Soviet assets abroad. Part of contemporary Russian nationalism considers the USSR to be a continuation of the Russian Empire and thus considers geographical and political expansion of the Soviet Union as continuation and further achievement of the Russian ethnos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Empire You really can argue either way, depending on the broadness you ascribe to the term and its attributes. This really is a silly debate (at least, for the middle east thread).
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Mar 20, 2018 21:10
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posting entire wiki articles is dumb as poo poo you can link them goddamn
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Mar 20, 2018 21:16
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WoodrowSkillson posted:posting entire wiki articles is dumb as poo poo you can link them goddamn counterpoint: it dilutes time and space between fishmech posts about definitions counter-counterpoint: this entire tangent is dumb in every thread and i kind of hate all of you.
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Mar 20, 2018 21:17
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