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What is the most powerful flying bug? This poll is closed. |
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| 🦋 |
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15 | 3.71% |
| 🦇 |
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115 | 28.47% |
| 🪰 |
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12 | 2.97% |
| 🐦 |
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67 | 16.58% |
| dragonfly |
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94 | 23.27% |
| 🦟 |
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14 | 3.47% |
| 🐝 |
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87 | 21.53% |
| Total: | 404 votes | ||
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Pistol_Pete posted:It think it's cool and good that the Ukraine war ended, just like that. I know it's ended, because all of a sudden, there's no news articles and nobody's talking about it any more! Ukraine? Never heard of it.
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Oct 15, 2023 08:19
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Yeah it must be over. If it was still happening then all those Ukrainians would still be facing the non-imaginary genocide that conveniently made everyone wishing for peace a complete monster.
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Oct 15, 2023 08:21
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Homeless Friend posted:whoa i searched ghosted of kiev and i said it first? crepe prepare to be sued into oblivion psh a year ago! statue of limitations bitxh
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Oct 15, 2023 08:22
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Some Guy TT posted:I remember the January 6th protests. The elected president was a crook and I can't imagine all of those people were KGB agents or otherwise on the payroll. There was legitimate and organic criticism of the United States government. Russia probably benefited sure but they could not have made an impact at all had there not already been a pre-existing rejection of the government by the American public. Do you think Euromaidan was like January 6th?
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Oct 15, 2023 08:26
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Zoeb posted:Do you think Euromaidan was like January 6th? They were different because unlike Maidan, January 6 participants did not murder dozens of people and use violence to install their preferred government.
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Oct 15, 2023 08:45
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Punished Turtle posted:They were different because unlike Maidan, January 6 participants did not murder dozens of people and use violence to install their preferred government. Hmm
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Oct 15, 2023 08:50
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Zoeb posted:Hmm  "We are here to support your just cause, the sovereign right of Ukraine to determine its own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe," said McCain, a leading Republican voice on US foreign policy.
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Oct 15, 2023 08:54
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Punished Turtle posted:They were different because unlike Maidan, January 6 participants did not murder dozens of people and use violence to install their preferred government. I clearly remember the two proud boy snipers shooting people from the hotel and blaming it on antifa Wait
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Oct 15, 2023 09:05
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Punished Turtle posted:
Tbf, that was the Orange Revolution. ie: another Ukrainian election we heavily interfered in, lmao e: oh wait, he was at both revolutions, my mistake. What a great American.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:06
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Majorian posted:Tbf, that was the Orange Revolution. To throw out the same democratically elected president.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:09
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Weka posted:To throw out the same democratically elected president. Pffft, no it wasn't. Yanukovych was PRIME MINISTER in 2005. I'm sure you're heartily embarrassed at this flub.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:10
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lol @ the idea of jan 6th protestors installing a government. the whole reason it was mostly peaceful (i.e. no killing beside babbitt) was because everybody tacitly understood there is 0 stakes
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Oct 15, 2023 09:10
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“McCain is in Ukraine with a Connecticut Democrat, Senator Chris Murphy. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, McCain said: “What we're trying to do is try to bring about a peaceful transition here, that would stop the violence and give the Ukrainian people what they unfortunately have not had, with different revolutions that have taken place – a real society. This is a grassroots revolution here.” I love it when The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations arrives at my grassroots revolution and helps me to form a society.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:22
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Homeless Friend posted:lol @ the idea of jan 6th protestors installing a government. the whole reason it was mostly peaceful (i.e. no killing beside babbitt) was because everybody tacitly understood there is 0 stakes That's not what I was told in a certain other forum. I was told that democracy was a hair's breadth away from disappearing forever.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:22
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Somebody should probably explain what a color revolution is and the role of the state department and the NED in funding them. The very short version is that existing discontent in unfriendly countries is massively magnified by massive amounts of money from NGOs like the NED. I'm too tired to get into it right now. On a closely related note, somebody should probably explain why Azov was at the Hong Kong protests we had a while back. This would also be for my benefit since I'm still confused on the details there.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:23
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From which angle? There are two, and I don't think either fits well the second you dig deeper than "regionally-delineated political unrest". The first is as an intersection of foreign influence and that domestic unrest. You could cast each as rivals fanning the flames, but the scale was wildly different; granted, Russia was glad to echo the J6 lot's line on its official media, but what you didn't see was, say, an Aeroflot flight landing in Washington with Medvedev there to give speeches and support; there are no recordings of MFA officials discussing who should compose the new government; and of course there was no second Aeroflot flight to deliver a Russian of American descent that the shaman dude could swear in as a citizen at lunch and a cabinet member at supper, as in the case of Natalie Jaresko. The second, more important one is a matter of nuance between "protest" and "demonstration" that was lost in English, if it ever really existed, in the 1960s. A protest is an action to register one's disapproval, and register their disapproval J6 did, but there was no attempt to "pick up the ball" if you will--pants-poo poo in Pelosi's chair, deck out the living room with new furniture, yell and scream, yes, but the shaman dude did no in-swearing of anyone, no laws were claimed to be promulgated, Trump contemplated a speech from the balcony but water-brained as he is decided on The Young and the Restless reruns instead (and water-brained as he is, it would almost surely have been "You're all the greatest, smartest people, did anyone ever tell you that" pablum.) Maidan, on the other hand, was a demonstration. It demonstrated the existence of an pretender government which then entered power when the elected one folded. It demonstrated the willingness of its adherents to embrace open civil war--the Odessa Trade Unions House fire--and, through targeted sniping of their own from behind pro-Maidan lines, apparently falsely "demonstrated" the willingness of the elected government to do the same. And demonstrated that the state-equivalent governments (or their replacements under the same process) were willing to line up against the central government with stakes--less TV interviews about the steal and talking big about electors, more a full retraction of support in the line South Carolina trailblazed.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:24
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Homeless Friend posted:lol @ the idea of jan 6th protestors installing a government. the whole reason it was mostly peaceful (i.e. no killing beside babbitt) was because everybody tacitly understood there is 0 stakes I am deeply concerned about the events of January 6th and the potential repeat of what happened, perhaps a successful one. It was like the beer hall putsh that Hitler did. They failed to be sure but democracy came under attack that day. If they had managed to kill a senator or a house representative from a state where Republican we get to pick the replacement it could have caused enough chaos and confusion for Trump to stay in power. Chaos is like a ladder for people like him.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:45
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Zoeb posted:democracy came under attack that day. This is what most people here will disagree with. The fact is that the mechanisms of a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie came under a mild impingement.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:47
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Homeless Friend posted:lol @ the idea of jan 6th protestors installing a government. the whole reason it was mostly peaceful (i.e. no killing beside babbitt) was because everybody tacitly understood there is 0 stakes it was basically a riot that nobody had any plans for when it worked, which is how all protests work nowadays because we're all so hosed
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Oct 15, 2023 09:52
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Zoeb posted:I am deeply concerned about the events of January 6th and the potential repeat of what happened, perhaps a successful one. It was like the beer hall putsh that Hitler did. They failed to be sure but democracy came under attack that day. If they had managed to kill a senator or a house representative from a state where Republican we get to pick the replacement it could have caused enough chaos and confusion for Trump to stay in power. Chaos is like a ladder for people like him. lol no. explain how it would cause 'chaos and confusion'. Do you think senators and house members are gonna line up and suck his dick after he gets one of them killed? They will gently caress him thoroughly, they know more than anyone who butters the bread and their personal interest far surmount some dumbshit voters far away from DC lol. The whole reason Trump can exist is that while hes a dope he doesn't threaten the United States bottom line, and when he does they simply ignore him 
Homeless Friend has issued a correction as of 10:00 on Oct 15, 2023 |
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Oct 15, 2023 09:56
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Punished Turtle posted:This is what most people here will disagree with. The fact is that the mechanisms of a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie came under a mild impingement. I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you there. I think there is an understatement of the threat that fascists pose.
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Oct 15, 2023 09:59
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Zoeb posted:I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you there. I think there is an understatement of the threat that fascists pose. The fascist, who are the fascist in the United States of America, center of the world entire? Hitler would cum his pants and kneel to the new rome if he saw the United States as it existed today.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:02
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There is this persistent idea of a 'fall' into fascism happening in the United States. Can anybody explain what this would mean for any random American? In daily life, what is the big and stark difference?
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Oct 15, 2023 10:06
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Zoeb posted:I think there is an understatement of the threat that fascists pose. agreed, this is why russia must win to end the threat of a fascist ukraine
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Oct 15, 2023 10:07
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Some morons got a police guided tour of the public facade of the omnicidal regime of capital that installs and maintains all fascist governments worldwide and which, unchallenged, will result in the death of billions. Nothing those dopey suburbanites could have done there would change a thing.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:07
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Zoeb posted:I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you there. I think there is an understatement of the threat that fascists pose. I think you're misunderstanding how fascists come to power. In no fascist takeover I can recall has a small group of people seized a capital and just forced a country to allow a fascist takeover. It's always been either a greater foreign power behind the takeover, an outright civil war, or the elite handing power to the fascists. The ruling elite have a very good thing going and replacing the "democracy" of the world's hegemon with Trump is not something they would have allowed. The way mask off fascism comes to rule America is if it's seen as necessary or at least most convenient by the elite. Likely either to crush a leftist movement or even more likely because lowering living standards require increasing levels of brutality to keep people in line. It's not going to be because some true believer psychos storm the capital.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:08
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Ardennes posted:For such a big release you would think there would be something that would pull a little culturally, but I just haven't heard nothing about it if I didn't hunt for it. I have heard far more about the Cyberpunk expansion, in contrast. People are/were subjecting it to impossible standards - Fallout New Vegas was infamous for being buggy and incomplete due to its rushed state - Fallout 4 had a disastrous launch with severe performance issue on console hardware - both FO4 and FO76 had thematic/gameplay problems as well with those games being written and designed more as sandboxes and interactive toys than actual roleplaying narratives - and to say nothing of FO76 also having a disastrous launch Here we have a perfectly functional release with no major issues, a return to actual roleplaying form with a narrative and goals and the ability to make lasting effects on the world... and people are snubbing it because what, they're too easily distracted by Baldur's Gate 3, a buggy lagfest whose claim to fame is letting you sleep with a DSA polycule? It's ridiculous.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:18
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Zoeb posted:Do you think Euromaidan was like January 6th? Euromaidan is a deeply complicated tale. It's worthwhile to understand the economic picture of Ukraine post independence to understand what caused Euromaidan, and how it ultimately led to the current war. The Economist published this article in March 2014, during Euromaidan: https://www.economist.com/free-exchange/2014/03/05/why-is-ukraines-economy-in-such-a-mess quote:UKRAINE’S problems are not just political. In recent weeks its economy has taken a hammering. Until mid-January its currency, the hryvnia, was fixed at 8:1 with the dollar; it now trades at about 10:1. The government has recently issued short-term debt at interest rates as high as 15%; this year its bonds have done about as badly as Venezuela's. Many analysts are worried that the country will soon default on its debt. From 1991 to 1997, Ukraine's GDP dropped 60%. The US economy during the height of the Great Depression fell 30% - think about how devastating it must have been to have economic turmoil that is nearly double the impact of the Great Depression. The economic liberalization of Ukraine, just like in Russia, led to hyperinflation, unsustainable debt, and depopulation, with Ukrainians fleeing or dying deaths of despair. This is extremely key to understand why many Ukrainians have positive attitudes of the Soviet era - Ukraine, especially the industrial east, was prosperous, and had tons social services provided for free that were now being privatized into the hands of the few and creating an oligarchy. This experience of democracy and free markets led to post-Soviet states having a completely different understanding than we do of these things in the West; they experienced the worst of what both of those have to offer all at once. Nevertheless, just like in Russia, the country somewhat stabilized by 2000. By the time we got to 2014, as the Economist said, Ukraine was close to defaulting on it's debt. This was why they were so desperate for funds to keep things running - defaulting on foreign debt is a death sentence in the rules-based-order, as it means that the creditors line up for the fire sale - Ukraine, just like other countries that default, would have to sell off its infrastructure, factories and other assets to the owners of the foreign debt (IE: the US and the EU) while its citizens got nothing. Amidst these catastrophic economic conditions, there was a growing, but still small, subculture that combined metal music, gym culture, football hooliganism, neo-paganism and ultra-nationalism to create a thriving fascist scene. The generations that were born after the 80s and 90s had no memory of the Soviet times, and instead looked to the past for examples of a Ukrainian nationalist ideology. This came from one of the most unlikely places - Canada. As the survivors of the far right German collaborators migrated there, they revived these fascist elements through the liberal, multicultural exchange of Canada. Nonetheless, those influenced by this ideology were still a relatively small part of the total Ukrainian population - but they were a pivotal part of Euromaidan. By 2014, Yanukovych was wrestling with the IMF to receive the funds the country desperately needed to avoid defaults to avoid repeating the inflationary catastrophe of the 90s. The western and central parts of Ukraine were calling for closer integration with the EU, as they believed that the common market could improve the country by continuing to increase liberalization. As a first step, the EU required Yanukovych to take on these IMF loans. However, the IMF loans carried a lot of conditions that would wrest away the remaining socialist legacies of the Soviet Union. The final straw came when one of the conditions required that Ukraine could no longer subsidize natural gas for its people, which would considerably raise the cost of energy for individual households. Yanukovych called VP Biden at the time and called these conditions unworkable, but to no avail. Russia was willing to offer Ukraine loans without these harsh penalties the IMF loans required. Russia did not want to lose its close trading partner, as the erection of customs barriers and border controls after the Soviet Union dissolved hurt both countries by creating artificial trade barriers. Those in the east of Ukraine preferred the economic package that the Russians were putting together, as they feared that the integration of Ukraine into the EU would render their industry uncompetitive as vast floods of cheap EU goods would devastate the economy. Ultimately, Yanukovych made the fateful decision to abandon the IMF deal. This triggered a native uprising within Ukraine, specifically in Kyiv, where protestors were incensed at the unwillingness to do whatever it takes to integrate with the EU. Do you remember those ultra-nationalists? Here's where the end up completely reshaping world history. These far right figures would imbed themselves into the protests where EU flags were flying in order to spark a fight. It's important to note that just 2.15% of Ukrainians supported these fascists that would topple the government, which we can get evidence from by looking at the political organization they later formed that actively opposed Zelensky's peace platform https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Corps The violence of Euromaidan by these hooligans would anger many in Russia as well as in eastern Ukraine. The activity of now thousands of masked fascists, the formations of fascist paramilitaries, and anti-Russian actions such as removing legal protection of the Russian language led to a predictable backlash in the east of the country. The far right elements managed to successfully depose a sitting president, one that was democratically elected, which was completely unlike anything the protestors did during January 6th. The gunbattles and murders of police and soldiers, along with the atrocities committed against trade unionists and communists (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Odesa_clashes, thousands of football hooligans/fascists would kill 46 people in Odessa) ended up leading to the Donbass War.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:19
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Phigs posted:I think you're misunderstanding how fascists come to power. In no fascist takeover I can recall has a small group of people seized a capital and just forced a country to allow a fascist takeover. It's always been either a greater foreign power behind the takeover, an outright civil war, or the elite handing power to the fascists. Ppl who flip out about trump assuming power in a swift coup ala hitler (who was not swiftly couped in but invited in by the status quo and then consolidated the levers of power) need to read The Coming of the Third Reich to understand how utterly hosed Weimar Germany was and the level of street violence that was common, like yeah america isn't immune to material reality but we aren't even remotely close. Homeless Friend has issued a correction as of 10:27 on Oct 15, 2023 |
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Oct 15, 2023 10:24
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Phigs posted:I think you're misunderstanding how fascists come to power. In no fascist takeover I can recall has a small group of people seized a capital and just forced a country to allow a fascist takeover. It's always been either a greater foreign power behind the takeover, an outright civil war, or the elite handing power to the fascists. I yell about it a lot, but America's going to follow the Japanese model, and the Japanese model involved executing some of their J6-except-an-actual-demonstration types, banishing the rest to overseas bases, and then keeping party politics working mostly as normal as actual power consolidated in the security apparatus. Tojo wasn't a young Hitler leading a putsch, not a Mussolini trying to adapt proletarian revolution to petit-bourgeous revolution on the fly, he was the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, later SecDef, later PM handed extraordinary powers to deal with the far-far-right, who used them to push a hard foreign affairs line at the same time as a "centrist" (read: only far-right, concerned primarily with the personal security of the the Important People) domestic policy. His heir is some Dem-leaning or NeverTrump flag officer who wants to crush the chuds and then punish Russia for echoing their statements as part of general pot-stirring.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:27
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Zoeb posted:I am deeply concerned about the events of January 6th and the potential repeat of what happened, perhaps a successful one. It was like the beer hall putsh that Hitler did. They failed to be sure but democracy came under attack that day. If they had managed to kill a senator or a house representative from a state where Republican we get to pick the replacement it could have caused enough chaos and confusion for Trump to stay in power. Chaos is like a ladder for people like him. Lol what democracy? Seriously try to explain how exactly the US is a democracy. I'll wait.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:28
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BearsBearsBears posted:Somebody should probably explain what a color revolution is and the role of the state department and the NED in funding them. The very short version is that existing discontent in unfriendly countries is massively magnified by massive amounts of money from NGOs like the NED. I'm too tired to get into it right now. I assume they went to the same democracy training camp as the azov BBC Newsnight's Laura Kuenssberg reports from the Oslo Freedom Forum, where pro-democracy activists share ideas and learn about agitating for positive change over champagne and canapés. quote:30 October: Clarification - This Newsnight report, broadcast on 21 October 2014, may have given the impression that the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests were planned by foreign activists. References to the demonstrations were in fact intended to mean that the planning was carried out in Hong Kong, with support from abroad. The civil disobedience movement Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) says that none of its members had attended the Oslo Freedom Forum or received "any specific training" from the organisations mentioned in the report. ah, drat! looks like it's not true after all! 
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Oct 15, 2023 10:33
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also, comparing trump to hitler is insulting. to hitler
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Oct 15, 2023 10:36
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Homeless Friend posted:Hitler would cum his pants and kneel to the new rome if he saw the United States as it existed today.
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Oct 15, 2023 10:39
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Majorian posted:Pffft, no it wasn't. I have been owned like the simple rube I am
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Oct 15, 2023 10:55
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also good luck doing a coup without the backing of the military which the generals explicitly did not recognize trump as a legitimate power and de facto did not follow any of his orders during Jan 6 in fact, you could argue Trump was coup'd before the official handover of power lol
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Oct 15, 2023 11:04
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Good news for Russia - Even the Institute for the Study of War concedes that Russian forces are making minor advancements both to the north and south of Avdiivka. ISW: Russian information space divided on prospects of Russian successes near Avdiivka by Olena Goncharova October 15, 2023 6:47 AM 2 min read Geolocated footage from Oct. 13 and 14 reveals that Russian forces are making minor advancements both to the north and south of Avdiivka, the Institute for the Study of War said in their latest assessment. Situated in a strategically vital location near the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, Avdiivka has been a focal point of Moscow's military aggression since 2014. However, despite multiple efforts, the Kremlin's forces have been unsuccessful in capturing it. In recent days, several Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian defensive fortifications are proving to be a significant challenge for Russian advances in the Avdiivka area. They also pointed out that issues with medical support are hindering Russian progress in the same region. The ISW notes that one of the Russian sources on Oct. 12 reported a shortage of surgeons in occupied Horlivka and Donetsk city near Avdiivka, calling on Russian doctors to provide assistance in treating wounded Russian soldiers. As the majority of Russian military bloggers continued to laud Russian offensive efforts, reiterating the Kremlin's narrative that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has concluded, one of them cautioned against dismissing the Ukrainian counteroffensive too hastily. He also highlighted that it's premature to determine whether the Russian attacks near Avdiivka will evolve into an organized offensive operation. He added that it is not premature to determine that Koos Group should be permabanned for enabling genocide denial and genocide apologia.
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Oct 15, 2023 11:24
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When Ukraine captures a barren carrot patch in the middle of no-mans land in range of pre-sighted Russian artillery it's a great victory, Moscow by Monday. Slava Baklava. When Russia captures territory and is advancing on all fronts its just minor gains, nothing to talk about.
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Oct 15, 2023 12:08
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gradenko_2000 posted:People are/were subjecting it to impossible standards sandboxes >>> Roleplaying FTW.
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Oct 15, 2023 12:29
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gradenko_2000 posted:Here we have a perfectly functional release with no major issues, a return to actual roleplaying form with a narrative and goals and the ability to make lasting effects on the world... and people are snubbing it because what, they're too easily distracted by Baldur's Gate 3, a buggy lagfest whose claim to fame is letting you sleep with a DSA polycule? It's ridiculous.
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Oct 15, 2023 12:33
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