This is for topical issues effecting our fair world... you can quit snickering anytime. Note: It is the desire of the leadership of SFDebris Conglomerate that all posters maintain a civil and polite bearing in this forum, regardless of how you feel about any particular issue. Violators will be turned over to Captain Janeway for experimentation.
Madner Kami wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 4:54 pm
Those are the same terms as before, except keeping Zelensky in a powerless figurehead-position. I see what they are trying to do there. Placating the Ukrainians. They're afraid of having to slog through this quagmire.
Couple of points:
1. Given the PM is after the President, I wouldn't be surprised if Zelensky "fell down the stairs" after the PM was appointed. Its just Zelensky wasn't stupid enough to fall for it.
2. Putin's terms before included the complete demilitarization and replacement of the government so it is progress.
People need to understand how insane the first terms were. These are still horrible but less so.
CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:01 pm
I think a one party state precludes even that use of the term democracy.
BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:13 pm
Yeah I'm not sure if you can call it a republic for that matter.
I mean that would disqualify the US from being a democracy or a republic because we have a single party, the neoliberal big business party. That it arranges it's into wings with distinct names does not changes that they have explicitly had the same goals for the last 30 years.
Yes but that's more a matter of your opinion than anything.
Beastro wrote: ↑Sat Mar 05, 2022 11:39 pm
That's not how nukes are used in today's strategic environment.
Your statement is true, until the moment some nation decides to use them in vengeance as a Scorched Earth technique. "If we can't have Ukraine, no one will!"
It would indeed drag things down very quickly. But I can imagine some madman figuring that the world wouldn't be willing to risk a large-scale nuclear war in response, and being both petty and vicious enough to think it worthwhile.
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows." -- George Orwell, 1984
hammerofglass wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:02 am
It's weird seeing European far-right groups being pro-Ukraine when so many American ones are enthusiastic Putin supporters.
Not really. Political 'right' and 'left' are mostly relative in practice, with the only practical difference being the type of authority that authoritarian-loving people follow mindlessly. Most of the theoretical differences are mere rhetoric.
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows." -- George Orwell, 1984
Draco Dracul wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 7:46 am
If you think trolling is a major thing you have not been paying attention over the last 7 years
It's quite clear that actual trolling is incredibly rare and most of the time it's to give plausible deniability to genuinely held beliefs.
hammerofglass wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:02 am
It's weird seeing European far-right groups being pro-Ukraine when so many American ones are enthusiastic Putin supporters.
Not really. Political 'right' and 'left' are mostly relative in practice, with the only practical difference being the type of authority that authoritarian-loving people follow mindlessly. Most of the theoretical differences are mere rhetoric.
In the immortal words of Q, "Oh please."
"Believe me, there’s nothing so terrible that someone won’t support it."
— Un Lun Dun, China Mieville
Fuzzy Necromancer wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:38 pm
In the immortal words of Q, "Oh please."
Oh please, yourself. There are few practical differences between the Soviet and Nazi autocracies, and the ones that exist mostly center around the methods used. The Nazis wanted to exterminate other ethnic and cultural groups, while the Soviets wanted to homogenize and absorb them. The intended end results are pretty much identical.
Psychologically speaking, the preference for strong authoritarian rule exists across the Left and Right.
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows." -- George Orwell, 1984
Fuzzy Necromancer wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:38 pm
In the immortal words of Q, "Oh please."
Oh please, yourself. There are few practical differences between the Soviet and Nazi autocracies, and the ones that exist mostly center around the methods used. The Nazis wanted to exterminate other ethnic and cultural groups, while the Soviets wanted to homogenize and absorb them. The intended end results are pretty much identical.
Psychologically speaking, the preference for strong authoritarian rule exists across the Left and Right.
It's not like the coalition between the axis powers wasn't overt. They were each about expanding empires. That kind of territorial pursuit is comparatively unheard of today except for tight grip claims on nationally ambiguous international state lines.
I think though in time you'll hear from extreme rights groups in America being pro-Ukraine on the matter in spite of liking Putin for more contemporary political circumstances.
