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Extreme0 posted:Actually my timeline would be to just have the good parts of England and Wales join. I always like the way Scottish nationalists say they'd let in Wales and the north to show how cool and inclusive they are, but either conspicuously avoid mentioning Northern Ireland or are openly hostile to the notion that they would have to shoulder any responsibility there despite having much stronger cultural links.
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Mar 9, 2016 03:28
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CommieGIR posted:230,000 active reservists versus 740k active Russian military and 2 million reservists. 'gently caress these guys, not for what they did, but for the inevitable legislative response'.
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Mar 22, 2016 21:21
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blowfish posted:Actually a good response. It's sad a couple dozen people got bombed, but all of Europe making GBS threads itself and making life suck more than necessary for three hundred million people is the wrong response to terrorism aka a method used by losers to have disproportionate effects on their victims. Sorry, what I had in quotes was a notorious response from some gun fanboy in GBS after another mass shooting in the states. Though that works too!
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Mar 22, 2016 21:34
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endlessmonotony posted:
I think its worth keeping in mind, despite the extreme degrees of romanticism around the winter war, the Russians weren't actually defeated. They actually imposed harsher terms on the Finns when the war ended than what was offered before it began.
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Mar 23, 2016 00:22
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endlessmonotony posted:True, but it kept Russia from having Finland as a satellite state they could dictate terms to. Finland would have been absorbed into the Soviet Union otherwise. Its more than a little contentious to argue that Stalin was seeking to reabsorb Finland under the Russian thumb as a primary aim. He could attempted to do so seriously during WW2 itself and the amount of resources required probably would have been a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the horrifying struggle that was the Eastern front. In any event the main impetus of the war was laid out by Soviet demands before it started and what they took after it ended, the surrender of territories around Leningrad to make it less vulnerable in the event of German attack, they even offered to exchange territory in Karelia to make an easier swallow, albeit frozen wasteland but it was something. This was very much in line with Soviet behavior in Poland and the Baltic, grabbing surrounding territory less to reconstitute the old Tsarist empire (though that's a plus on the side) but to create a buffer against the Nazis if the worst came to the worst. Given the horrific siege of Leningrad that followed its easy to see why the Soviets were preoccupied with making their second city as secure as possible. When the war ended they gained basically all of the territory they demanded and more without giving up any of their own, if the war continued it would probably have gone even worse for the Finns. The problem was such a victory took an utterly embarrassing amount of time, men and money, despite the huge disparity in size and means between the two countries, and worst of all this was gold for Hitler since it seemed to show what he believed, that the Soviets were a paper tiger that would fall apart if the right amount of pressure was applied.
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Mar 23, 2016 07:39
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computer parts posted:The equivalent scenario in Christianity would be every single Christian denomination apologizing for the Catholic Pedophile scandal. That isn't demanded. No it wouldn't, the equivalent scenario would be that Catholic communities apologize for systematically turning a blind eye to the Catholic Pedophile scandal, that is demanded. Where I live anyway.
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Apr 3, 2016 15:43
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computer parts posted:No, because Shia are expected to apologize for ISIS as well. According to who, exactly? If you go to France there lots of stereotypical 'Good ones' who tend to be Iranian and Lebanese. Even then, from my experiences in the Middle East thread and elsewhere it seems that Shia groups are often expected to apologize for Iran, Assad and Hezbollah. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Apr 3, 2016 |
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Apr 3, 2016 15:47
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computer parts posted:According to anyone who doesn't specify Sunnis (even though that's as dumb a standard as requiring "Protestants" to apologize for the Westboro Baptist Church). Chomskyan posted:Then I would like to see some examples of CH's take on other religions and why you feel they're at all comparable to the sweeping argument made in that editorial Yeah Hebdo made it abundantly clear they were talking about every sect of Islam and every single Muslim, from Ahmadiyya to Twelver Shiism as opposed to the Maliki Sunni branch that predominates among most French Muslims and the communities that contribute most to radicalism. It is very important to reduce CH to nothing but a bunch of racist raving islamophobes among certain types of people, I wonder why?
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Apr 3, 2016 16:09
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computer parts posted:They are, however, systems imposed by Europeans that were abolished after independence. You're kind of making a completely bullshit connection between their independence and the Abolition of slavery, except for Haiti of course. Like seriously, the Brazilians were super attached to slavery to the bitter end. computer parts posted:Or it could just mean Europeans don't want to point out their own shameful poo poo, like the Your are singularly obsessed with whinging about Europe aren't you?
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Apr 3, 2016 19:54
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types here.
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computer parts posted:Well yeah, it is the Europe thread. We could be in Heavy Petting and you'd find the time to go 'Heh, Europeans  ' every two posts.(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 3, 2016 20:05
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computer parts posted:Ok, but the Mexican part of my family might not like that. They better be full blooded native Americans who can't speak any Spanish otherwise you need to answer for the Caste war of Yucatan. Unless they're Nahuatl because then people can go 'What about the Aztec empire?'
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Apr 3, 2016 20:19
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Brainiac Five posted:Well, see, the problem right here is that Austria-Hungary was run by incest fetishists. It's no wonder their empire failed given that they spent all their time sitting around in cousin-loving orgies and admiring their hosed-up faces in the mirror. So was France.
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Apr 11, 2016 23:59
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Friendly Humour posted:That's a failure of government, not technology. If a drat bursts because building regulations weren't followed when constructing it, that doesn't make hydropower a risky practice. Uh, yes it does.
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Apr 22, 2016 18:14
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Subjunctive posted:Hydro? I'd way prefer Nuclear, Hydro royally fucks up river ecologies.
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Apr 22, 2016 18:56
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Baudolino posted:Would be fun to see what happens in a Brexit situation. Vote leave for our entertainment Britgoons. Ah Jeez, I prefer when 'vote for most entertaining/ultimately disastrous' stays on the other side of the Atlantic.
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Jun 18, 2016 00:50
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CommieGIR posted:What's going on with the shooting in a theater in Germany? I can't see any indication that anyone died apart from the shooter, though I look forward to this incident being used in future gun control arguments regardless.
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Jun 23, 2016 21:46
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I must have missed the part where the United States agreed to take in a million Syrian refugees. Oh wait it was 10000? Oh wait it turned out to be about a fifth of that? Whoops!
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Jul 27, 2016 23:48
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computer parts posted:Yes, that was and is very common in the US as well, It turns out people really love rationalizing why they're totally unique and Not-Bad. That's utter bullshit, tons of people who live in Europe have just come into this thread to talk pretty bluntly about Racism in Europe, people do the same in the UK or Germany or Scandinavia threads on this forum. The problem is that the question of 'Is Yurp the racistist?' tends to be swallowed into the interminable Europe vs America cripple fight where its not really about a constructive, objective look at Racism in Europe and more about scoring points for team USA. We get people like you who really want to talk about how Europe (the whole thing) is uniquely terrible and just dodge any equivalency with the US by screaming 'WHATABOUTISM!'
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Aug 11, 2016 16:52
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Yeah, people don't generally like to just be lumped together for no reason other than the accuser not bothering to differentiate between them, especially when it comes from a (in this context) privileged party, which Americans pretty much always are due to their cultural dominance. I don't think its a good idea to say there's any kind of privilege difference between Western Europe and America.
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Aug 11, 2016 17:51
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doverhog posted:Perhaps you would like to give a definitive list of which countries are included in "Western Europe" in this context. 'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic...'
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Aug 11, 2016 17:58
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doverhog posted:That would be neat and clean, but sadly would also, for example, put Greece in the group with the US, while leaving Finland and Sweden out. Well, we'll modify it to kick out the Greeks and include Scandinavia. Although I always got the impression that Scandinavia was on the 'right' side of the wall as articulated by Churchill.
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Aug 11, 2016 18:09
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Don't try to ban clothing you dummies.
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Aug 12, 2016 23:09
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Liberal_L33t posted:Even if the clothing can't be banned due to reasons of individual rights I think we should all be able to agree that the burqa is an article and symbol of passive aggression the same way the swastika is. Until that basic premise has been agreed upon, it's hard to make arguments about the precise boundaries of free expression vs anti-discrimination in good faith. I really hate this loving argument because I have little regard or respect for the Burqa and the traditions it represents but comparing it to goddamn swastikas in modern European society is the stupidest thing imaginable. All this ends up doing is charging the garment politically in such a way that drowns out some of the questionable Gender Politics associated with it and contributes to the whole thing looking like(and actually being) a bunch of non Muslims (and usually non-women) telling Muslim women whats best for them.
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Aug 12, 2016 23:18
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icantfindaname posted:It means a particular kind of secularism which seeks to use the power of the state to roll back the influence of religion on individuals as much as possible because it is seen as a negative influence on rational individualist values I come from a country where we had plenty of theocracy without the (blatant) totalitarianism and let me tell you Laicite would have been way preferable. The truth is Catholicism in the whole of Europe and beyond had an illiberal, oppressive element to it prior to about Vatican II that made a lot of the most derided elements of Laicite hard to avoid if they didn't want the country to end like Spain.
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Aug 12, 2016 23:31
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Liberal_L33t posted:How is it possible for a garment that makes such a strong statement not to be politically charged? It will always be politically charged but dummies like you have charged it even further hopelessly unintentionally with elements of Muslim resistance to an intolerant west thanks to your brutally clumsy actions and rhetoric that can't even be squared with your oft cited love of freedom against the supposed oriental despotism.
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Aug 12, 2016 23:39
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icantfindaname posted:France did almost end up like Spain, though, and the Spanish left was vociferously laicitist, so I'm going to go with no not really on that one But they didn't end up like Spain, in the brief period where those who wanted to return France to the glory of a counter-revolutionary openly Catholic state found success they needed an outside Nazi invasion to achieve their five minutes in the sun, with the post war fallout being predictably disastrous for them. Jesus, the Papal denunciation that you pointed out here for Action Francaise was stripped away just in time for world war 2 when the Catholic Church decided that working with Spanish style notfascism was A-OK to heed off those drat commies.
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Aug 12, 2016 23:50
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icantfindaname posted:They'll have to wait until next year's election to do that, yes. And lol if you don't think laicite is a big part of why the French right is so awful Being racist against Arabs is the main reason why they are so awful and the current crop like the Front National obviously descend from the Catholic Supremacism of the French Right, its notable that openly Catholic voters favor them more strongly. Some of their rhetoric has revolved around Catholicism being superior and more intrinsically French than Islam, while they tend to take a familiarly conservative view on things like Gay marriage and abortion. It doesn't change the fact that they spent most of their existence being furiously opposed to Laicite and everything it represented. But then the poor Catholic Church, it get such a hard rap in France, and for what? Supporting the Ancien Regime for centuries? Being integral to Counter Revolutionary movements right from day 1? Normalizing virulent Anti-Semitism and anti-Protestantism in French society for decades, helping to lead to things like the Dreyfus Affair? Cosying up with proto-fascist groups in opposition to the Third Republic? ...um. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Aug 13, 2016 |
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Aug 13, 2016 00:19
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icantfindaname posted:People have a big ole hardon for French style secularism, despite the fact that France in the 1800s was not a particularly successful state, had a very weak democracy and a weak economy, and arguably still does to this day for the same reasons as then Would France have been a more successful state if it went back to the good 'ol days of the Church running roughshod over everything else?
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Aug 13, 2016 02:11
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icantfindaname posted:The Church in Ancien Regime France was pretty well subordinated to the state, actually. The church and the state were thick as thieves and the question of the true extent of the pope's authority has been endlessly controversial. You can't disentangle the Church from the state of the Ancien Regime. Its also probably worth noting that throughout the majority of the 1800s France was not a secular state and the conception of Laïcité that you aren't very fond of didn't exist. The Third Republic only came into existence during the 1870s and most of the previous 50 years had seen one monarch or another who tended to cultivate close relations with the church. Napoleon the Third in particular buttered up to the pope to a sometimes ridiculous degree, safeguarding his position in Italy militarily and supporting Catholics in the Middle East. Prior to that the resurrected Capetian monarchy made a fair stab at returning things as closely as possible to the old ways. As much as anything this is where these problems sprang from. Republican hatred towards religion didn't come out of the blue, the Catholic Church at every opportunity supported Monarchists who tended to be very hostile to Liberal and Democratic values. The Syllabus of Errors in particular just ended up being a blunt 'gently caress You' towards Liberal reform throughout Europe, and the Church's choices of allies basically made it as clear as day to most French Liberals that trying to find common ground with them basically meant installing another king, abandoning anything approaching Liberal reform and handing over most of the reins of the State back to the Church. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Aug 13, 2016 |
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Aug 13, 2016 02:40
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Nitrousoxide posted:The Church in France was actually an early supporter of the revolution. Until the Republicans decided that the clergy should swear an oath to the state. Its more complex than that, they supported some of the reform movements that would evolve into outright revolution, but there tended to be great division within the church over what they did and did not support. Bishops and Archbishops tended to be drawn from the same strata as the Second Estate and had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Obviously they had the most control over the direction of policy but lowly priests and curates, who were often commoners, were often great allies of the Third Estate thanks to their direct connection with the parishioners.
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Aug 13, 2016 02:47
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Majorian posted:Actually it's militant atheism that belongs in the dumpster of history. Most people in the world are theists and most don't use their beliefs to oppress other people. Enforced secularism makes it near-impossible for Middle Eastern immigrants and their children to fully assimilate into Western culture, and is a big part of why France and Belgium are such fertile recruiting grounds for DAESH. Majorian posted:That's simply untrue. The fact that the U.S. has done a considerably better job of bringing Muslims into the fold, yet is considerably less discriminatory in its enforcement of Western norms, is proof of this. I don't mean to poop on America or anything, but I'm a bit wary lately about this idea that America's just simply integrating migrants better and stalling terror that way. Like you use France's supposedly totalitarian Secularism to suggest that its pushing native Muslims towards Jihadism In contrast with the better integration in the US. But by my count the United States is actually the second hardest hit country between the European Union and North America by homegrown Islamic terrorism in terms of body count in the last decade, only behind France. San Bernardino, Orlando, the Boston Bombing, that Muhammad cartoon contest thing, the Fort Hood shootings if you include that, in the last decade most of these attacks have been performed by United States citizens similar to how most of the Paris attackers were French citizens. Considering that America has a pretty small Muslim population both absolutely and proportionally that ain't great. Is secular policy or a specific European problem with assimilation having that big an impact then? Admittedly you could argue that this has as much to do with America's difficulties with Mass Shootings and the profusion of guns, but it looks to me that something like the Boston Bombers aren't that different from that guy who blew himself up in that concert in Germany. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Aug 15, 2016 |
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Aug 15, 2016 21:28
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Stockholm Syndrome posted:Yeah that's true, but in Europe it seems to be a little higher. Its actually not, its about 2.1 for the Muslim population spread around Europe. Astute people will note that's just about replacement rate.
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Aug 19, 2016 22:31
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Nitrousoxide posted:But like why? Here in the USA we don't really have Romani. But we have Amish, and their communities are like tourist attractions. I mean I'm sure they get a bit of the other shoulder from some people, but people travel from states away to see how they live and buy trinkets and awesome fudge from them. A lot of people of Romani descent live in the United States, how similar are their lives to their counterparts in Europe? Anyway I think its mostly because the uprooted lifestyle can make it very difficult for Gypsies to integrate, education can be erratic, they don't have much access to social services and amenities without fixed residences and usually seem to be distinct from and resented by many communities. Over the centuries mutual distrust grew up between the two groups, settled Europeans tend to have stereotypes of Travelling people as criminal, unwilling to integrate and and economically unproductive, Gypsies tend to see settled society as racist and hostile to just about every custom they have. Its not really comparable to Amish who at least have settled, if insular, communities that are popularly perceived to have such good 'ol American qualities like Godliness and hard work.
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Aug 27, 2016 15:51
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Kurtofan posted:Gypsies don't live in carriages carried by horses I admit I'm probably treating the situation for Irish Travellors and Gypsies in Europe too interchangeably.
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Aug 27, 2016 16:02
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Nitrousoxide posted:Apple owes 15 billion in back taxes This country is pathetic.
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Aug 30, 2016 14:12
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ReagaNOMNOMicks posted:Nothing about France effectively axing the TTIP? Slightly makes up for their recent Burka bullshit.
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Aug 30, 2016 17:01
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His Divine Shadow posted:Bitch some more, see if it helps. The death of the euro project will be great for workers rights and a great backlash for the neoliberals and free trade wankers. Here's the horrible truth that I would have thought even some of the dumber leftists would have realized after the Brexit debacle. The European project is all about neoliberalism and free trade wankery because the constituent parts are madly in love with neoliberalism and free trade wankery. Additionally Popular anti-EU sentiment tends to be really xenophobic.
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Sep 9, 2016 22:27
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Nonsense posted:Good thing it's dead. Kill the EU and Neoliberalism will only return, stronger, faster, sexier.
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Sep 9, 2016 22:58
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Attack the Euros on a sunday, they shall be weak and distracted.
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Oct 10, 2016 00:50
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I don't really see how FPTP is getting much justification in the countries its most prominent in atm.
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Oct 16, 2016 02:57
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