Opening up China to trade was supposed to liberalize and moderate them. Instead they became more antagonistic, and with much more capability to terrorize people than when they were broke. Opening up Russia to trade hasn't moderated their leadership either.unnamednewbie13 wrote:
I think shutting a country out helps authoritarian governments keep their country shut out and in control. It could be argued in some ways that long term sanctions haven't brought North Koreans or Cubans any closer to establishing democratic liberties.
"Mourning the Russian economy," at least be a little more lucid about this. Sanctions > nuclear war for the nth time, but it's also more than just the Russian economy.
Trade isn't not the only aspect, I figured it could go without saying, for encouraging a country to democratize and liberalize. While we're on the topic of terrorizing people though, erm, drone strikes, firebombs, etc. Some pretty hefty beams in our eyes it needs to be said.
Remember that one video of the old man getting dribbled on the sidewalk by police for daring to try and return one of their dropped helmets?
Remember that one video of the old man getting dribbled on the sidewalk by police for daring to try and return one of their dropped helmets?
I have seen some comments by average people in Russia like "Nobody sanctioned America for Iraq. Why are they doing it to [Russia]". Ignoring the fact that two wrongs don't make a right.
it is true that there's an underlying assumption, here, of western hegemony. the fact that states as large as russia can be booted out of the international financial system, with all the big corporations, services, brands, etc, pulling out within a week ... i can see why to historically 'non-aligned' countries this sort of behaviour is worrying.
obviously the war is wrong, but i'm sure many smaller states are thinking 'if the west can do this to russia, what might they one day do to us?' sanctioning the central bank and putting a block on their ability to trade in the global reserve currency must look pretty scary to most states who aren't in the US's back pocket, politically.
obviously the war is wrong, but i'm sure many smaller states are thinking 'if the west can do this to russia, what might they one day do to us?' sanctioning the central bank and putting a block on their ability to trade in the global reserve currency must look pretty scary to most states who aren't in the US's back pocket, politically.
We should still be cognizant of our own questionable actions and attitudes while casting judgment on other countries.SuperJail Warden wrote:
I have seen some comments by average people in Russia like "Nobody sanctioned America for Iraq. Why are they doing it to [Russia]". Ignoring the fact that two wrongs don't make a right.
I have heard literal boasts from Americans that W's war in Iraq was revenge for the (alleged) assassination attempt on his dad. A thing to be admired. Blood feuds in hillbilly fashion sounds like a great "after all" to impel a superpower to war.
The Duelfer Report, while long and dry as a bone, is still interesting reading in parts. Lots of summaries and commentaries made by other parties if you prefer pre-chewed material.
from ips:
Lots of retrospect to be had.While the ISG’s 960-page report, known as the Duelfer Report, does not address the assassination attempt, its chronology and depiction of Hussein’s worldview – adduced through lengthy interviews by one Arabic-speaking FBI investigator and other interviews of Saddam’s closest advisers – make the notion that the Iraqi dictator tried to kill Bush all the more implausible.
For one thing, Saddam, according to the report, was convinced that the CIA had thoroughly penetrated his regime and thus would know not only that he had dismantled his WMD (which the CIA apparently did not), but also would know about his plans for important intelligence operations. Under those circumstances, it is hard to understand why he would then order an assassination attempt on the former U.S. president.
Even more interesting, according to the report, was Saddam’s ”complicated” view of the U.S. While he derived ”prestige” from being an enemy of the U.S., he also considered it to be ”equally prestigious for him to be an ally of the United States – and regular entreaties were made during the last decade to explore this alternative”.
Indeed, beginning already in 1991, according to the report, ”very senior Iraqis close to the President made proposals through intermediaries for dialogue with Washington.”
”Baghdad offered flexibility on many issues, including offers to assist in the Israel- Palestine conflict. Moreover, in informal discussions, senior officials allowed that, if Iraq had a security relationship with the United States, it might be inclined to dispense with WMD programmes and/or ambitions,” it added.
The report even concluded that Iraq was willing to be Washington’s ”best friend in the region bar none”.
The fact that the U.S., under Bush Sr. and Clinton, did not show interest was apparently a source of bewilderment to the Iraqi leader, according to the Duelfer report.
If Saddam had tried to kill the ex-president, he probably would not have been bewildered by Washington’s lack of interest, but, by all accounts, he was.
”From the report, Saddam seems to be not a madman, but someone who would understand very well the consequences of an assassination”, notes Gregory Thielmann, a former senior State Department analyst who specialised in Iraq’s WMD programmes.
”If his top priority was getting the (UN economic) sanctions lifted (as indicated by the report), then it doesn’t follow that he would try to kill the president of the United States,” added Thielmann.
Mission accomplished by Republicans though I can see somebody screaming when they realize the demographics were 19 million more against them than they thought.The 2020 census undercounted the country’s population by 18.8 million people, the Census Bureau said on Thursday, acknowledging that the count had underrepresented Black, Latino and Indigenous residents.
At the same time, the census overcounted the number of white and Asian residents, the bureau said.
Is it a micro aggression to tell every white person I see "Happy St. Patrick's"?
I think that depends a lot on the person and the context. One white person doesn't necessarily speak for all white people any more than Morgan Freeman speaks for all black people. Read the room and you'll be fine, I guess.
What are you doing with the rest of your day?
What are you doing with the rest of your day?
Same thing I do every day.
vape copious amounts of weed and lust after the 21 year old teaching assistant with a lazy-eye whose up from montclair state?SuperJail Warden wrote:
Same thing I do every day.
Montclair State is actually a great college. One of my friends went there after his dad blew all of his college money gambling.
hahah
The Orthodox Jews in NY/NJ are commiting ethnic cleansing against non-Jews in several towns. They must be stopped. The Orthodox Jews are honestly worse than devout Muslims. At least the Muslims will let you convert to their system. The Orthodox are racist like Nazis.
Weren't orthodox jews being scapegoated for covid-19 over there? People posting how they should be denied medical treatment.
This problem predates COVID by at least a decade.
Care to substantiate any of that? I don't mean it as a direct challenge or anything, you live over there with more exposure to the local news and goings on. Are your Jews really running some sort of ethnic cleansing sort of pre-pogrom? It sounds like a typical anti-semite troll post.
unnamednewbie13 wrote:
Care to substantiate any of that? I don't mean it as a direct challenge or anything, you live over there with more exposure to the local news and goings on. Are your Jews really running some sort of ethnic cleansing sort of pre-pogrom? It sounds like a typical anti-semite troll post.
The 26,500 "white students" are actually Jewish students. There wasn't always that many. When the private schools took over the board, the demographics were against them. They drove out everyone else.Since 2005, the East Ramapo school board, which covers a few small towns an hour’s drive north-west of New York City, has been controlled by members who represent private yeshivas, or Jewish religious schools, according to a report by the New York state education department. The vast majority of the 26,500 children who attend private schools in the district are white. In contrast, 91% of the 9,000 or so children enrolled in public schools are black and Latino.
In 2009, the board began gutting the public-school system, the report states. Between 2009 and 2014, the board fired over 450 staff, including 160 teachers, three guidance counselors and all social workers. It also cut budgets for athletic and extracurricular activities in half.
Same thing happening in Lakewood NJ. They intimidate homeowners into selling their homes. They take over the school boards and then defund the education of non-Jews.
'White" actually means Jews. There are articles about non-Jew whites being bullied into selling their homes in Lakewood.The former resort town near the Jersey Shore is home to one of the nation’s largest communities of strict Orthodox Jews, and its recent galloping growth has left Lakewood’s schools in an odd situation. In a town where Orthodox Jews represent about half the population, nearly three-quarters of the town’s children attend private Jewish day schools. But the public school district, by law, must finance special education for everyone. And state education officials have found that among preschool children in special education programs in Lakewood, there is a startling divide.
A state review focused on the private storefront school, the School for Children With Hidden Intelligence, or SCHI (pronounced “shy”), a state-approved school that opened in 1994 to provide services for children with disabilities ranging from autism to developmental delays. Nearly all the white preschoolers receiving special education services in Lakewood are enrolled in full-day programs at SCHI or at another private school, while most of the black and Hispanic children with special needs are in half-day programs in the public schools, at much lower cost.
What caught my attention today is that a private Catholic school is selling their land in the area to open space for student housing for private Jewish school. The Catholics aren't perfect but they are not racist like the Orthodox Jews. The Catholic schools will take anyone. You want to enroll your kid in a Jewish school and they will ask for a blood certificate.
Religions closely tied to ethnic identity are awful. The Orthodox Jews being among the worst of all.
How correct of a word is "racism" if you say that white jews are bullying non-jew whites? It feels more like an ethnic identity.
Good point. We should instead call it white genocide.
But you say brown people are also affected.
Hmm
Segregation? Jim Crow!
Segregation? Jim Crow!
In other news
South Dakota hotel staff quit in protest after owner bans Native Americans
https://nypost.com/2022/03/23/hotel-sta … americans/
The headline may be a little misleading. If I skimmed right, she talked about banning Native Americans, though hasn't actually banned them yet. Point is though, I think it's hilarious that all the staff quit. I wonder if her next post will be about how nobody wants to work anymore.
South Dakota hotel staff quit in protest after owner bans Native Americans
https://nypost.com/2022/03/23/hotel-sta … americans/
The headline may be a little misleading. If I skimmed right, she talked about banning Native Americans, though hasn't actually banned them yet. Point is though, I think it's hilarious that all the staff quit. I wonder if her next post will be about how nobody wants to work anymore.
That's super illegal anyway
Yes but did you follow the dark money? You know, from the 'McAuthor' Foundation?