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SMEGMA_MAIL posted:Okay your turn to provide examples of this ever happening quote:Grgic is finishing his doctoral thesis on Chinese projects like this one in the Balkans, and he says all of them have one thing in common. "These kinds of projects are always political," he says. "And it's basically how everything is done in the Balkans. You use public money to redistribute them to your crony network ... and then use it for political purposes, and so on." The previous government of Zambia had done similar, with the leader enriching his cronies while placing an incredible burden on subsequent governments. These have only surfaced in the international media because the states involved had transitions of power to new governments. Others undoubtedly have similar circumstances, just lack the press freedoms or rotating ruling parties that might shine a light on them. MazelTovCocktail posted:Well let's not go crazy here. Western Foreign Aid has been at times equally if not more hilariously corrupt then even what the East was doing (look at the France and The Central African Empire).
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Dec 6, 2021 22:01
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Cugel the Clever posted:
Also I always joked that Managing Nuclear Operations was like a strat guide for Bravo Romeo Delta...but looking at the manual...it's actually a cited source with a few other books.
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Dec 6, 2021 22:22
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Good news: Devin Nunes is gone Bad news: he's cashing out https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1467971604017815557?t=Uw5fpMrfEgoxCXKVJ5naMA&s=19
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Dec 6, 2021 22:40
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Good news: that cash out train is in a weird crypto coin nobody's heard of
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Dec 6, 2021 22:52
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Soul Dentist posted:Good news: that cash out train is in a weird crypto coin nobody's heard of
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Dec 6, 2021 22:56
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And hopefully it fairs as well as all the other conservative social networking train wrecks so far.
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Dec 6, 2021 22:56
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I wonder how his cow is taking this.
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Dec 6, 2021 23:01
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PeterCat posted:https://twitter.com/NatButterflies/status/1467598873334067215?s=20 Add to the 2022 bingo space list: "Murder trial outcome appealed using the third amendment."
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Dec 6, 2021 23:48
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Cool cool but that’s exactly zero times the United States “enforced democracy” or “prevented corruption” via IMF or similar loans. You’re not even responding to what I’m saying unless your point is “it’s okay for the US to do something bad because China did something bad”
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Dec 7, 2021 00:35
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https://twitter.com/Sulliedsubjects/status/1467870174887956489?t=WL9BF4ojzmv-z7dX1uUJjQ&s=19 Shitposters United Local 42069
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Dec 7, 2021 00:56
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Nick Soapdish posted:Shitposters United Local 42069 What are the dues like and can I join?
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Dec 7, 2021 01:01
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:What are the dues like and can I join?  You're already here, aren't you?
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Dec 7, 2021 01:54
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MA-Horus posted:
Yeah, but Lowtax stole it all.
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Dec 7, 2021 03:07
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MazelTovCocktail posted:Yeah, but Lowtax stole it all. Yeah, but thats a dead end...
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Dec 7, 2021 03:39
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facialimpediment posted:Good news: Devin Nunes is gone I mean if it's true it means dude golden parachutes into a cesspit, so how is that bad news? Like dude looked at the last forever history of Trump and Trump owned properties and thought to himself "yea, the checks will definitely always clear"....idiot.
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Dec 7, 2021 04:27
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Isn't Ways and Means Chair the third most powerful position in the house? And isn't he in an R+10 district? I don't buy this "retirement" to run an obvious bullshit money laundering scam. This feels more like "go away or we press charges".
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Dec 7, 2021 04:39
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I think he was about to get redistricted into nothingness.
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Dec 7, 2021 05:05
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I don’t understand US politics to puzzle that one. What on earth drove him to leave?
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Dec 7, 2021 05:40
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SMEGMA_MAIL posted:Cool cool but that’s exactly zero times the United States “enforced democracy” or “prevented corruption” via IMF or similar loans. You’re not even responding to what I’m saying unless your point is “it’s okay for the US to do something bad because China did something bad” I don't have anything specific to the aid and loans, though there are undoubtedly plethora articles, theses, and books written on the subject in the last century, each assessing varying levels of efficacy of expectations placed on the recipient (and, for that matter, the sincerity behind the ask). One obvious example of the US actively conditioning its support (in the form of trade policy, which I don't think is meaningfully shifting the goal posts) is when the US Congress overrode Reagan's veto of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which was a significant nail in the coffin of South African apartheid. Seems like a meaningful step to me and one I hope to see repeated to finally force Israel to its own apartheid regime.
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Dec 7, 2021 05:49
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MazelTovCocktail posted:Yeah, sadly there is very very little coverage out there. Luckily you can find the game all over the internet. This is pretty rad. I’m having fun just leafing through the manual.
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Dec 7, 2021 07:13
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FrozenVent posted:The idea is that if you’re already at DEFCON 2 or 3, you don’t do poo poo that could possibly piss off the other guy. It’s kind of silly, but so is the the scare that Able Archer created in the Soviet government, or that loving bear in Minnesota, or the Norwegian rocket incident.
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Dec 7, 2021 08:03
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SMEGMA_MAIL posted:I don’t understand US politics to puzzle that one. What on earth drove him to leave? Census made California lose some seats. Districts get redrawn and now he's got an election coming that he will almost certainly lose. So he takes his reelection fund and just walks off with it. Goes grifting with trump.
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Dec 7, 2021 08:24
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I'm honestly here to talk about Twilight Struggle more but in a bit of an oopsie it looks like the US Navy has managed to infuse Pearl Harbor's ground water supply with delicious fuel products. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/03/1061194511/pearl-harbor-tap-water-petroleum-fuel Not a lot of other aquifers when you're on an island so kind of an extra poo poo move. MazelTovCocktail posted:Like I said I do get it, just the idea of Andropov sitting at the opening games and going, "oh they didn't show up GLASS EVERYTHING" is just very silly, but that's the point I assume. IIRC the instructions actually mention something that it's a game designed to simulate the assumptions of the Cold War, so things like domino theory are actually kind of supported by the gameplay. It's a pain in the rear end to set up but if you can get the digital version on Steam for < it's probably worth a spin if only to read about all the cards.
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Dec 7, 2021 09:04
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https://twitter.com/KToropin/status/1465450133341065221?s=20 Not bad!
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Dec 7, 2021 11:45
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Platystemon posted:It’s kind of silly, but so is the the scare that Able Archer created in the Soviet government, or that loving bear in Minnesota, or the Norwegian rocket incident. What about a bear
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Dec 7, 2021 12:44
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Milo and POTUS posted:What about a bear A bear tried to climb a fence in Minnesota at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and because the “intruder” alarm was miswired as the “Soviet hardware incoming, get airborne” alarm, pilots scrambled to do just that. There was also that time in 1960 when U.S. early warning RADAR mistook the Moon for Soviet ICBMs.
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Dec 7, 2021 12:56
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Hah wild I never heard about the bear story before. The others are familiar at least.
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Dec 7, 2021 13:01
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https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1467983264484835329?t=Gzj6EU1prRUg3xp2kuGtSg&s=19
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Dec 7, 2021 13:10
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Bored As gently caress posted:https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1467983264484835329?t=Gzj6EU1prRUg3xp2kuGtSg&s=19 o7
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Dec 7, 2021 13:12
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https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1467893125171617801?t=RzRrHHqpV8tjadE-cx_KnQ&s=19
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Dec 7, 2021 14:59
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Platystemon posted:A bear tried to climb a fence in Minnesota at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and because the “intruder” alarm was miswired as the “Soviet hardware incoming, get airborne” alarm, pilots scrambled to do just that. Didn’t a lightning strike take out a transformer somewhere in flyover country once, loving up SAC phones lines and leaving them to think the Soviets were for sure coming since they were degrading their C3?
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Dec 7, 2021 15:15
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Update on this critical topic: https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1468225920565719043
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Dec 7, 2021 15:30
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The Futurama suicide booth is now a reality in Switzerland ! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10281763/3D-printed-coffin-like-suicide-capsules-legalised-Switzerland.html You can even be buried in it when you are dead.
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Dec 7, 2021 15:33
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pantslesswithwolves posted:Update on this critical topic: Aww damnit
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Dec 7, 2021 15:41
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I am an “eat my rear end” truther. Does anyone have enough mandarin to confirm that the translation is correct? Just curious; not contemplating a new tattoo.
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Dec 7, 2021 15:44
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Baconroll posted:The Futurama suicide booth is now a reality in Switzerland ! Why is it that while I agree with the idea that suicide should be made available to those who choose it in the correct conditions, every motherfucker I see that's publicly related to the idea gives the vibe of "I jerk off to the thought of each person I help kill"
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Dec 7, 2021 15:46
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Loucks posted:I am an “eat my rear end” truther. It’s correct
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Dec 7, 2021 15:49
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/\ Sweet. Dum Cumpster posted:Why is it that while I agree with the idea that suicide should be made available to those who choose it in the correct conditions, every motherfucker I see that's publicly related to the idea gives the vibe of "I jerk off to the thought of each person I help kill" Kevorkian would never have been jailed if he just told people to buy a shotgun and a box of slugs.
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Dec 7, 2021 15:49
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Omicron updates (still fuzzy, wait a week): https://twitter.com/megtirrell/status/1468222459652489224?t=_RENRtWavTGI4lsejdnz5g&s=19 https://twitter.com/Misopogon/status/1468229745057935361?t=_cuZ961TVxzx5GW3WVJ7Pw&s=19 The one development is that the Merck anti-COVID pill really took a poo poo in the final numbers. End-effectiveness was only like 30%, after being like 70%-plus in early clinical data. The FDA advisory panel went 13-10 in favor of it, for only emergency use, because it turns out the end data was so iffy - the scientists were worried it could be a variant-maker if people don't finish the course of pills. The Pfizer pills use a different mechanism completely, so everyone's hopeful the end-stage data matches the early data, unlike the Merck.
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Dec 7, 2021 16:07
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Seems like it’s going to be a rough winter even if Omicron is potentially less deadly.
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Dec 7, 2021 16:09
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