Political Posts

[Luke]

11 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

What is your problem dude? I made it very clear.

 

He avoids ANY mention of why China is NOT trusted on the world stage - namely uncontrolled biological weapons and the potential coming invasion of Taiwan. Not a fucking word. Really?

 

Then the moron goes onto spout off about Israel intentionally poisoning 1M Palestinian children.

 

Why would I take a word of this guy seriously?

 

 

And I have replied to these two things, his comments regarding Pelosis Visit and the Situation around Taiwan are also actually quite interesting. I disagree with your "biological weapons" and also how you asses China with Taiwan. I also disagree with your comments about Chomsky. Why is it necessary for you to insult him so much, you can also just state your disagreements. 

 

Lets agree to disagree and move on

 

 

[Luke]

17 minutes ago, james22 said:

Here's a start:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Chomsky-Reader-Peter-Collier/dp/189355497X

Thanks for sharing, it looks interesting!

[Libs]

Chomsky (to his credit) was on a conservative talk show  years ago, and after a long anti- U.S. rant, the host calmly said: "I'm not here to debate you, I just want clarity. So, would you say the existence of the United States of America has been a net positive or negative for the world?"

 

Chomsky: "Negative."

 

Loony indeed.

[cubsfan]

1 minute ago, changegonnacome said:

 

Read Macron's recent statements on European or more precisely EU security and military capability and what he calls the 'strategic' independence thats required and would bring....subtext is that Europe can see the stupdity of American foreign policy in Ukraine......in the backrooms of Europe this Ukrainian conflict and the impact its had on Europe is very much viewed as another American foreign policy disaster folly......where the Ukranian people are the direct collateral damage and the European economy is too. 

 

As I've said before idealism (democracy & freedom) is something that can get applied in other peoples neighborhoods (Vietnam/Afghanistan/Ukraine/Iraq) and it leads to disastrous consequences almost without exception. The record here is just abysmal and not a single person can argue with America's attempts at nation building overseas they are a solid F MINUS. What Macron is getting at is in his recent comments.....is a Europe that has the military wherewitdawl to be a counter balance to US counter productive interference that usually occurs in far flung places......but in the case of Ukraine US nation building/interference blew up in Europe's face this time precisily because Europe is too junior a partner to US military capabilty (but lets be clear the US likes that......the US wants a vasal state Europe.....one dependent on US energy versus Russia). 

 

Macron is completely spot on in his recent comments.......the EU needs it own military/security capability......and to not let the US play its nation building/strategic games with enemies on the European continent again..

 

Huh? Macron?

 

Macron and Merkel are why Europe is in this predicament. They totally blew this by not standing up to Putin. Macron is covering his ass. IMHO.

The USA does NOT run Europe. Nor should we. The Europeans run their own show, as they should. They created this mess - the US is here to help.

 

Western Europe has always been dependent on US military might, but they set their own foreign policy.

[Luke]

1 minute ago, Libs said:

Chomsky (to his credit) was on a conservative talk show  years ago, and after a long anti- U.S. rant, the host calmly said: "I'm not here to debate you, I just want clarity. So, would you say the existence of the United States of America has been a net positive or negative for the world?"

 

Chomsky: "Negative."

 

Loony indeed.

I wish you would provide facts of why his argument is wrong or bad instead of just commenting "loony"

[cubsfan]

1 minute ago, Luca said:

I wish you would provide facts of why his argument is wrong or bad instead of just commenting "loony"

 

@Luca.  Uh, you just don't want to hear this. You've made that very clear. 

 

 Chomsky has complained about being ignored by mainstream publications such as the "New York Times," but in fact his steady stream of polemical works, like the best-selling "9-11," have made him the center of a veritable cult. In "The Anti-Chomsky Reader," editors Peter Collier and David Horowitz have assembled a set of essays that analyze Chomsky's intellectual career and the evolution of his anti-Americanism. The essays in this provocative book focus on subjects such as Chomsky's bizarre involvement with Holocaust revisionism, his apologies for Khmer Rouge tyrant Pol Pot, and his claim that America's policies in Latin America in the 1980s were comparable to Nazism. Scholar Paul Bogdanor writes about Chomsky's hatred of Israel. Ronald Radosh and David Horowitz discuss his gloating reaction to the September 11 attack.

 

There is your go-to source.  YOUR source, YOUR clip.

[John Hjorth]

1 hour ago, Xerxes said:

... we don’t know what will happen. ...

 

@Xerxes,

 

You simply don't discuss in this topic, as if you have some skin in this game [, which is to you as a Canadian citizen as a fact at the most by now indirect and immaterial]. To me, the only thing to change this attitude of yours and wake you up would be an agression from the North from Russia, over the North Pole.

 

I'm not going to spend time to comment on similar posts from you in this topic going forward. I'll leave it here.

[changegonnacome]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

the US is here to help.

Reminds me of this:

 

 

I’m sorry it’s ultimately naive to believe such things. Nations have interests not friends.

 

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

Western Europe has always been dependent on US military might, but they set their own foreign policy.

That statement is an oxymoron.

 

And exactly what Macron is getting at in recent statements…..setting your own foreign policy is completely dependent on having your own independent robust military capability. Macron is lamenting the EU’s lack of military muscle and as such he knows that Europe will remain a price ‘taker’ of US foreign policy…..until such a time as it does have something akin to a common military capability crudely a United States of Europe Army/navy/Air Force.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by changegonnacome

[Ulti]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

Macron and Merkel are why Europe is in this predicament. They totally blew this by not standing up to Putin. Macron is covering his ass. IMHO.

Agree....Just a bunch of greedy ass politicians (along with Schroder) who put themselves above their people..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/02/germany-dependence-russian-energy-gas-oil-nord-stream

 

Is it a fallacy to believe that you can change authoritarian regimes with trade ?

Hasn't worked out too well with Russia and China....

[james22]

2 hours ago, Luca said:

Thanks for sharing, it looks interesting!

 

Sobering.

 

What is it about Western intellectual culture, and American academic culture in particular, that has led so many potentially talented people to turn into such blind and hate-filled critics? There is no answer in this book, but it sure makes you wonder.

 

https://newcriterion.com/issues/2004/9/a-disgraceful-career

[Xerxes]

36 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

@Xerxes,

 

You simply don't discuss in this topic, as if you have some skin in this game [, which is to you as a Canadian citizen as a fact at the most by now indirect and immaterial]. To me, the only thing to change this attitude of yours and wake you up would be an agression from the North from Russia, over the North Pole.

 

I'm not going to spend time to comment on similar posts from you in this topic going forward. I'll leave it here.

John 

I was born in Iran during the Soviet time. And was on the receiving end of Iraqi invasion and Scud missiles when lived in Tehran. I am more aware than most people on this thread about living life during war. I live it for 8 years. Wasn’t as bad as being on a frontline city like Khoramshahr. 
 

And historically am well aware of Russian aggression and expansionist policy toward Iran and Europe. I should say that I trust Kremlin even less than the fools in DC when it to foreign policy. 
 

That said, I don’t believe I (myself) have any special ability to predict the future just because I like history. Or taking a snapshot of today as things are and making CAGR projections like it is some sort of investment. 
 

Hence the comment: “we don’t know what will happen”. There has been simply too many twist and turns.  

[John Hjorth]

8 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

John 

I was born in Iran during the Soviet time. And was on the receiving end of Iraqi invasion and Scud missiles when lived in Tehran. I am more aware than most people on this thread about living life during war. I live it for 8 years. Wasn’t as bad as being on a frontline city like Khoramshahr. 
 

And historically am well aware of Russian aggression and expansionist policy toward Iran and Europe. I should say that I trust Kremlin even less than the fools in DC when it to foreign policy. 
 

That said, I don’t believe I (myself) have any special ability to predict the future just because I like history. Or taking a snapshot of today as things are and making CAGR projections like it is some sort of investment. 
 

Hence the comment: “we don’t know what will happen”. There has been simply too many twist and turns.  

 

 

@Xerxes,

 

Nothing you posted above was about your in casu skin in the game. Please let it go, as I will from here.

[cubsfan]

32 minutes ago, Ulti said:

Agree....Just a bunch of greedy ass politicians (along with Schroder) who put themselves above their people..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/02/germany-dependence-russian-energy-gas-oil-nord-stream

 

Is it a fallacy to believe that you can change authoritarian regimes with trade ?

Hasn't worked out too well with Russia and China....

 

Precisely.  The Merkel/Macron/Obama view - we can change the bad guy to a good guy by continuing to extend magnanimity to tyrant. Yeah, my speeches will bring him around...

 

The problem with Macron is - he thinks he's the second coming of Obama. 

 

And when the situation backfires on him - he blames the US!  You can't make this shit up.

[Luke]

2 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

@Luca.  Uh, you just don't want to hear this. You've made that very clear. 

 

 Chomsky has complained about being ignored by mainstream publications such as the "New York Times," but in fact his steady stream of polemical works, like the best-selling "9-11," have made him the center of a veritable cult. In "The Anti-Chomsky Reader," editors Peter Collier and David Horowitz have assembled a set of essays that analyze Chomsky's intellectual career and the evolution of his anti-Americanism. The essays in this provocative book focus on subjects such as Chomsky's bizarre involvement with Holocaust revisionism, his apologies for Khmer Rouge tyrant Pol Pot, and his claim that America's policies in Latin America in the 1980s were comparable to Nazism. Scholar Paul Bogdanor writes about Chomsky's hatred of Israel. Ronald Radosh and David Horowitz discuss his gloating reaction to the September 11 attack.

 

There is your go-to source.  YOUR source, YOUR clip.

You have never read this book and assessed its quality or legitimacy. It has some pretty bad ratings too, i will have a deeper look the coming weeks. Nothing has changed for the arguments i have been making, also not some allegedly off-topic holocaust revisionism by chomsky which is ridiculous to begin with. 

[cubsfan]

1 hour ago, changegonnacome said:

 

I’m sorry it’s ultimately naive to believe such things. Nations have interests not friends.

 

I would never argue with this. You're completely right. The US is not a charity - nor are the allies.

And of course, we have common interests - and therefore declare to be allies.

 

1 hour ago, changegonnacome said:

 

And exactly what Macron is getting at in recent statements…..setting your own foreign policy is completely dependent on having your own independent robust military capability. Macron is lamenting the EU’s lack of military muscle and as such he knows that Europe will remain a price ‘taker’ of US foreign policy…..until such a time as it does have something akin to a common military capability crudely a United States of Europe Army/navy/Air Force.

 

So look - what Macron is saying is fine. Who is stopping him from funding NATO or the other NATO members?  Who is stopping them from devoting major portions of their GDP to the defense of Europe, whether it be through NATO or their own armed forces?  The US? No way.

 

The Failure of Europe in this situation is the failure of Germany and France to LEAD Europe - period.  The leaders of France & Germany look like fools - but of course, they are going deflect the blame for this disaster to someone OTHER than themselves. They have always been pacifists. Now they're paying the price.

 

They have always owned their own foreign policy, their own armed forces - and this happen on their watch. 

 

Now they shit bricks and look to save their own asses.

[Spekulatius]

Germany has turned the page on Merkel, I can say that much. Although, there are still people in Germany that think they can bury the head in the sand and this will all blow over without doing anything. There are fewer of them fortunately, I think.

 

[cubsfan]

@Luca  You dug this hole yourself putting this fool up as the expert on China. You ought to be more careful with your sources. It's abundantly clear from Chomsky's own writings (in print - unfortunately for you) - that he's a radical loon.

 

But you continue to stick up for your hero Chomsky - your China expert.

 

 

[Ulti]

The same greedy bullshit happens in all countries including the good old USA

https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/business/iraq-war-contractors/index.html

article is a rehash of a financial times investigation.

[changegonnacome]

10 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Germany has turned the page on Merkel, I can say that much. Although, there are still people in Germany that think they can bury the head in the sand and this will all blow over without doing anything. There are fewer of them fortunately, I think.

 

Yeah agree - i think Germany's time has come.......time to leave its ugly past behind.........nobody in the German administration should feel personal shame or embarrassment for the past.....there should be a collective remembrance

of the dangers of totalitarianism or dictatorships......but it shouldn't cloud the fact that Germany to my points above (along with France) need to develop an independent military muscle which befits their size and that can be a counterweight to the US's strategic aims in both Europe and in Asia......as U2/bono says.....the US and Europe....can be....ONE, but not the same.

 

Macron, for all his failings domestically in France, has an excellent read and instinct on international relations.........you can see his recent trip to China recently......as an independent flexing of France/the EU's strategic economic muscle.......what its missing currently a quirk of history........is a German military machine commensurate with its economic machine. In this regard Germany is indeed finally stepping up and France will be sure to follow. 

 

Its a good thing......I think a multipolar world dominated by the USA and China but with a resurgent military EU moderating the excesses of each might be how we avoid WW3 in my lifetime.

[cubsfan]

43 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Germany has turned the page on Merkel, I can say that much. Although, there are still people in Germany that think they can bury the head in the sand and this will all blow over without doing anything. There are fewer of them fortunately, I think.

 

 

Great chart. And good for Germany. I'm pretty stunned by France. Macron is a disaster for France.

Unfortunately, I'm quite biased since my wife is French and her whole family still lives in France.

 

Macron is a pacifist and weak, which is too bad for France.

[Spekulatius]

3 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

Great chart. And good for Germany. I'm pretty stunned by France. Macron is a disaster for France.

Unfortunately, I'm quite biased since my wife is French and her whole family still lives in France.

 

Macron is a pacifist and weak, which is too bad for France.

I think these are numbers for 2022 only and recently France has delivered  their light AMX tank and other material recently. Even Italy (which has been leaning pro Russian somewhat ) has recently started  to deliver more aid to Ukraine.

 

Macron has received quite a bit of ridicule for his diplomatic ventures in Europe. 

[Dinar]

Let's keep in mind that nobody owns Ukraine anything.  Zelensky's ungratefulness is not helping by the way.  It was the job of the Ukrainian government to be ready for Russian invasion, not the job of Macron, Merkel, Meloni, et all to provide for Ukrainian defense.  

 

 

[cubsfan]

Just now, Dinar said:

Let's keep in mind that nobody owns Ukraine anything.  Zelensky's ungratefulness is not helping by the way.  It was the job of the Ukrainian government to be ready for Russian invasion, not the job of Macron, Merkel, Meloni, et all to provide for Ukrainian defense.  

 

 

Yes, that’s completely true. But in the case that European countries don’t trust Putin - what is your alternative?

 

Do you roll the dice and let him take the Baltic States, etc?

[Dinar]

21 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Yes, that’s completely true. But in the case that European countries don’t trust Putin - what is your alternative?

 

Do you roll the dice and let him take the Baltic States, etc?

Aren't the Baltic countries part of Nato?  So then obviously the mutual defense treaty applies.   I don't understand why American taxpayers ought to bail out incompetence and graft of the Ukrainian government.  

[Dinar]

https://www.ft.com/content/dc658252-6acd-44fc-8e0c-51a284009762