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Herstory Begins Now posted:Squalid, that the US is transparently trying to find excuses to start a conflict with Iran to distract from Trump's horrible domestic press (which by his own words he specifically considers a good plan, though when he brought it up a year ago he said it should be closer to the election) does not make it seem more certain that Iran was involved. Ironically, that was meant to be a precursor to strikes but the evidence they presented was so flimsy, like a video of an unmooring, seriously, that's all they had?, that they got laughed at internationally before they could put together a response. Now we're seeing round 2 of it where suddenly someone is whining about a dead contractor, which is a historic first. The entire point of contractors/mercenaries is that if you kill them, it doesn't start wars The contractor wasn’t working for a run of the mill pmc, he was a DOD Linguist. Not that it really effects the circumstances all that much, but there is a distinction somewhat.
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Jan 1, 2020 05:43
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Thump! posted:The contractor wasn’t working for a run of the mill pmc, he was a DOD Linguist. Not that it really effects the circumstances all that much, but there is a distinction somewhat. Thanks, yeah that's a really huge distinction. Doesn't change the absurdity of the response, but yeah you're 100% right.
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Jan 1, 2020 05:55
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Were the strikes not directed at the C&C centers of the attack or at least the point of origin?
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Jan 1, 2020 06:33
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pro starcraft loser posted:Were the strikes not directed at the C&C centers of the attack or at least the point of origin? Yes and Saddam was building weapons of mass destruction
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Jan 1, 2020 08:24
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pro starcraft loser posted:Were the strikes not directed at the C&C centers of the attack or at least the point of origin? Most US bases in Iraq can track where incoming ordinance is originated from, even small mortars / rockets. But unless they caught the guys who did it I’m not sure how they’d know who ordered and planned it. Doubt they will ever reveal any of that if they did.
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Jan 1, 2020 09:17
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GoluboiOgon posted:this is a supervillian speech. you richly deserve that red text. He's right tho
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Jan 1, 2020 12:14
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Cat Mattress posted:That's not wrong, but also it's not the full picture. While a lot of this is right, it weirds me out that you got Germany's population so wrong. It's at 83 million right now and still rising, not shrinking. In fact, the last time we had below 80 million people was between 1990-1995. And this is poo poo I pulled from Wikipedia in ten seconds, maybe next time try to confirm facts before accidentally posting your dreams instead Edit: What slays me however is that your argument would have worked better if you had pointed out that Turkey's population is growing at a rate about 4x times higher than Germany's, instead of that weird counter-factual shrinking bit. Libluini fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jan 1, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 13:37
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Libluini posted:While a lot of this is right, it weirds me out that you got Germany's population so wrong. It's at 83 million right now and still rising, not shrinking. Looking at the charts on wiki shows Germany's population falling each year starting in 2003 until 2014. I assume the reversal is from accepting so many refugees. Didn't Germany accept 1mil+? at the height of migrant crisis?
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Jan 1, 2020 21:54
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OhFunny posted:Didn't Germany accept 1mil+? at the height of migrant crisis? Something like that, yeah. In 2015/16 is when the numbers were highest. Doing some quick looking its not at all clear to me what the numbers actually were/are.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:48
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CherryCola posted:Well gently caress Imagine thinking that attack helicopters are "the right to self-defense" over a half-evacuated embassy. Got that empire disease all up in that brain.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:53
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Orange Devil posted:Imagine thinking that attack helicopters are "the right to self-defense" over a half-evacuated embassy. Got that empire disease all up in that brain. Worked for Crazyhorse 1/8 and 1/9
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Jan 1, 2020 22:54
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OhFunny posted:Looking at the charts on wiki shows Germany's population falling each year starting in 2003 until 2014. I assume the reversal is from accepting so many refugees. Didn't Germany accept 1mil+? at the height of migrant crisis? Which charts are you looking at? I'm also looking at stuff on Wikipedia and Germany's population isn't falling, it's still rising. Edit: Turns out the refugee wave saved Germany, see below What isn't rising is the number of registered German citizens, probably because of the number of deaths steadily being above the number of natural births. But the number of registered citizens going down while the population of non-citizens rises doesn't mean the population of the country is going down. That would mean a registered citizen dying would somehow delete a couple non-citizens by some kind of ontological failure, which is silly. And the tables on both German and English pages for German population show a slow but steady rise, so I'm guessing you're not looking at those but somewhere else instead: Demographics of Germany, German Demographics of Germany, English This data is from a Federal government agency, what data are you looking at, exactly? Edit: I've looked at the tables a bit more closely, and it turns out that there was indeed a population shrinkage in between 2003 and 2012. I somehow missed that, because I only looked at the years before and then jumped to the last five years to see if the trend still continued upwards. Sorry! That's all my bad. I leave this post mostly unedited as monument to my stupidity. Libluini fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jan 1, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 23:21
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Darth Walrus posted:Why do you keep conflating the Taliban and Mujaheddin, Yeowch? It's starting to get weird and vaguely racist. Yeah the Taliban didn’t gently caress kids so it’s unfair to lump them together. The Mujaheddin were incredible pieces of poo poo and massively incompetent. It took them 3 years to topple the DRA (who, in hindsight, were the least bad out of the alternatives).
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Jan 2, 2020 07:56
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Neocon and Liberal Hawks going to bat for Hardline Reactionary Sunni Islamists every time is one of the strangest things about US foreign policy. I’d never thought I’d see attempts to have Al-Qaeda rehabilitated but that’s what Liberals have been trying to do since at least 2016.
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Jan 2, 2020 07:59
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enraged_camel posted:Yep. And, importantly, the historical context here is a strong empire making Europe poo poo its breeches for centuries. Despite the fact that the Ottomans never managed to invade Western Europe, Europeans collectively still haven't gotten over having felt inferior for so long. It's the primary driver of their racist, xenophobic sentiments, and why they are so happy to be "returning the favor" today. My Balkan ancestors lived under the Ottoman yoke. For much of its later history it was an rear end backwards dysfunctional state and it’s European possessions were the poorest and most underdeveloped parts of the continent. I’m sure the French and Germans were massively jealous of the horrible, rear end backwards conditions and crushing poverty of rural Macedonia. Lmao. Get a grip. The Ottoman period is not looked on fondly in the Balkans generally. They left but the dysfunction and mismanagement stayed behind - the effects of it are still be felt. The Ottoman’s ex-European possessions are very corrupt and still some of the most underdeveloped in Europe. Also the Ottomans got their poo poo wrecked repeatedly by other empires and states. Frond fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Jan 2, 2020 |
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Jan 2, 2020 08:06
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Orange Devil posted:Imagine thinking that attack helicopters are "the right to self-defense" over a half-evacuated embassy. Got that empire disease all up in that brain. The US is now sending 750 more troops immediately, which they can up to 3k if needed, over this. Because this is clearly what the situation requires and definitely won't exacerbate existing tensions.
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Jan 2, 2020 09:57
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Maybe. Having your most expensive and well fortified embassy in the world overrun is probably a risk no one in Washington is going to take. Looks like the current PM will introduce a bill to permanently remove US forces, which seems to have removed the current threats to the embassy. Curious to who has anything to gain from launching attacks against US positions in Iraq. Is it just these militias trying to gain clout / legitimacy by poking the bear?
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Jan 2, 2020 10:28
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opcw are looking shadier by the day wtf were they thinking
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Jan 2, 2020 10:54
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They weren't thinking anything, it's just another chessboard for power politics. With different rules, but that is all. You know how the research arm of the IMF keeps concluding that IMF structural adjustment programs are turbobullshit, but the political arm keeps imposing them? That's the second rule of intl. organizations. Edit: there is nothing more political than saying that something is apolitical. Dawncloack fucked around with this message at 11:23 on Jan 2, 2020 |
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Jan 2, 2020 11:18
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Frond posted:My Balkan ancestors lived under the Ottoman yoke. For much of its later history it was an rear end backwards dysfunctional state and it’s European possessions were the poorest and most underdeveloped parts of the continent. I’m sure the French and Germans were massively jealous of the horrible, rear end backwards conditions and crushing poverty of rural Macedonia. Lmao. Get a grip. towards the end sure, but like the fifteenth to seventeenth-century ottoman empire was a legitimate superpower which regularly stood toe to toe with all of christendom. not sure to what extent that shapes policy today though, but it's also important to note that no great power politics types have ever seen the material wellbeing of humans as the goal of their empire
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Jan 2, 2020 13:20
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Speaking of Ottoman ambitions https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1212710157479796736
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Jan 2, 2020 13:21
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Dawncloack posted:Edit: there is nothing more political than saying that something is apolitical. Thish remindsh me of a shtory about Danishsh physhishist Niels Bohr...
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Jan 2, 2020 14:55
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Breaking news, the Turkish parliament has approved Erdogans request for military intervention in Libya. I don’t trust erdogan, but I really want to see the fascists and their Russian mercenaries eat poo poo and get destroyed so we’ll see what happens.
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Jan 2, 2020 15:51
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Both sides in Libya suck, I have zero sympathy for the GNA who are the usual lot of incompetent Salafi shitlords. I hope Haftar and the Takfir brigade or whatever the GNA is destroy each other so something positive emerges from it. I guess you missed the part where Turkey sent their own mercenaries from Syria (“Syrian National Army” my rear end) into Libya, eh Al-Sucker? I suppose it doesn’t count though when said mercenaries are a bunch of murderous sectarian thugs with ties to Al-Qaeda, as opposed to Wagner drug addicts. Erdogan’s aim for a caliphate in Syria failed, so now his FSA puppets will try again in Libya. Poor Libyans.
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Jan 2, 2020 16:50
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Frond posted:Both sides in Libya suck, a lovely coalition of people who arent fascists are better than lovely fascists. Be mad that your fascist general wont win this round in Libya , it's bad enough Syria is back in hell. If Fascists can import Russians to fight their battles, then I dont care what people who dont believe in utter fascism does to defeat them. It's really funny how you pretend about sectarianism when you support the literal sectarian nazi regime of assad and how he imported Iranians and lebanese and Iraqi screeching maniacs to kill his own people for him. anyways, it doesnt matter, talking to you doesnt matter. I know that western fascists like you dont care what happens to people like me when fascism wins, I know that you think arabs are all terrorists and takfiris and alqaeda or whatever else no matter what I say or do. so honestly trying to talk to you about what the intricacies of the situation is, how the fascists caused the situation, how they kill and destroy society for the sake of foreign powers, it doesnt matter. talking is over. the GNA is the elected representative body, recognized by the UN, against a rebel general who wants to instill a Sisi style military regime that serves the UAE and Egypts Fascists, so as far as I'm concerned they should be supported against this fascist menace and for Libya to return to the political process that was undermined by Haftar. I'm done. I'll cheer for whoever and whatever destroys the arab fascist axis, if it's the lovely turks who can turn back the fascists in Abu Dhabi and Cairo's palaces, then so be it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 2, 2020 17:07
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Charlz Guybon posted:Speaking of Ottoman ambitions Erdogan invokes the whole "Ottoman Empire" thing in order to gain popular support for his military excursions. The real reason Turkey is interested in Libya is that it doesn't want to be frozen out of the hydrocarbon exploration game in the Mediterranean. Someone posted a map a few pages back: 
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Jan 2, 2020 17:12
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Frond posted:eh Al-Sucker? 
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Jan 2, 2020 18:03
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Cant wait for the 60 mins documentsry on erdogans " Turkey rising" after the bylgarian annexation in 2024
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Jan 2, 2020 18:09
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Al-Saqr posted:a lovely coalition of people who arent fascists are better than lovely fascists. Die mad that your fascist general wont win this round in Libya , it's bad enough Syria is back in hell. You cannot go around telling other posters to die. This has been a repeated issue with your posting and while I understand that you have a local perspective that informs your feelings the rule against wishing harm on other posters is enforced zero tolerance and you need to start respecting it.
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Jan 2, 2020 21:08
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Trying and failing like that should cost money.
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Jan 2, 2020 21:13
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Helsing posted:You cannot go around telling other posters to die. This has been a repeated issue with your posting and while I understand that you have a local perspective that informs your feelings the rule against wishing harm on other posters is enforced zero tolerance and you need to start respecting it. ok I removed it, but it wasnt me wishing death on him it's an expression meaning "go kick rocks".
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Jan 2, 2020 21:47
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The GNA is not an elected government by any means. the only reasonable response to libya from the rest of the world is enforcing the arms embargo. Instead the world stands by idly as the Gulf and Turks funnel guns and drones into another pointless meat grinder. Frond, you'd be much more sympathetic if you weren't now wishing unending war and misery on the Libyan people. You seem to spend a lot more energy wishing for death than you do wishing for peace. It hardly matters who wins now, the only thing that matters is that the war ends.
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Jan 2, 2020 21:52
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Helsing posted:You cannot go around telling other posters to die. This has been a repeated issue with your posting and while I understand that you have a local perspective that informs your feelings the rule against wishing harm on other posters is enforced zero tolerance and you need to start respecting it. It’s a forum man. They are just jokes. I don’t think he should have ate a probation. He’s an Islamist sympathizer so obviously he’s gonna back whoever supports his side.
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Jan 2, 2020 23:01
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Squalid posted:The GNA is not an elected government by any means. For whatever it’s worth the GNA is recognized by the UN as the legitimate government.
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Jan 2, 2020 23:04
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If anybody has democratic legitimacy in Libya it's the house of Representatives that's under Haftar's thumb. Not that it really matters much. International recognition is about the only thing the Tripoli government, if we can even call that motley collection of criminal syndicates a government. I hope al Saqr comes back but wishing death on others, both in this thread and anywhere else, is the one thing that should be banned from this thread. That goes for you too Frond. You're just as bad as al Saqr. More Libyans dying in Haftar's pointless war, whether authoritarian fascists or salafists, isn't going to help anyone. It's just more fruitless waste. You should trying wishing for peace rather than more death and misery.
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Jan 3, 2020 00:09
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https://twitter.com/AlSuraEnglish/status/1212875885520379905 i am gonna assume this is an insanely stupid escalation that trump/US just did.
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Jan 3, 2020 00:46
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Dante80 posted:https://twitter.com/YousifHashimi/status/1212872779265171456 so what the gently caress happens now. can someone explain to me the political situation. i know PMU is basically the new republican guard and represents the interests of the Shia majority in iraq. i know parts of the goverment is in bed with iran and we have been at quiet war with iran in iraq for a while and now they basicaly won.
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Jan 3, 2020 00:56
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Dapper_Swindler posted:so what the gently caress happens now. . now we wait.
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Jan 3, 2020 01:00
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 One hell of a way to deescalate the situation
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Jan 3, 2020 01:11
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