International Politics Thread - Disease and Disaster

[Kara]

I  L O V E dat Soviet largesse.

 

[benjipwns]

Somehow it feels so wrong and yet so right to be an egotistical socialist intellectual and turn the island's interior into a strip-mine while the coast is just all tourist traps, with that cheap degrading public housing for all the citizens. 

[Kara]

Lee Harvey Oswald?

[benjipwns]

Nazi culture was so good Germany had to ban it out of fear it'd take over again.

[benjipwns]

Progressivism. 

[benjipwns]

Ice Road Truckers?

[benjipwns]

The autobahn is pretty decent.

[benjipwns]

I'd have to check CivFanatics as I don't recall what science boosts you get from Autocracy.

[Rufus]

Hey guys, what's going on in this th-...

[Rufus]

I have no idea, honestly. I don't have the necessary perspective.

The most visible thing I can think of is our sceptisism of patriotism. It's fine to wave the flag during the World Cup, otherwise it's still skeeves many people out. Others are increasingly annoyed that you can't be proud of your country. You can see the resentment of feeling like you still need to be ashamed of the past in comments sections sometimes. Never mind that shame isn't really the point. Only other thing I can think of are very personal. Family history, basically. Was ((great)-grand)dad a good guy? That sort of thing.
There are tabu topics and ideas of course, sometimes it's just about specific terminology. People can wreck their reputation going anywhere near it. It's also very precarious to cast aspects from that time into a positive light. That's as far as public statements are concerned, anyway. Under the surface things can look very different. It's not like "de-nazification" evaporated every NSDAP member, right? Many found new positions in politics and other institutions of government.

Other than that... I dunno, a commitment to peace? Well, in Europe anyway. We do sell a lot of weapons.

[Kara]

Progressivism. 

[Joe Molotov]

Progressivism. 

(Image removed from quote.)

[Joe Molotov]

Keynes himself()?

Obviously.

[Kara]

My favorite thing about that picture is that I got it from a post Computer (the self-described Rothbardian) made on GAF. The weight of irony was inescapable.

[benjipwns]

[Rufus]

MP minister Babulal Gaur says rape "sometimes right, sometimes wrong"
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/uk-india-rape-idINKBN0EG1EX20140605

[Raban]

MP minister Babulal Gaur says rape "sometimes right, sometimes wrong"
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/uk-india-rape-idINKBN0EG1EX20140605

tl;dr rape is wrong when we know about it, and right when we don't

[Rufus]

It wasn't too long ago that I learned that Sikhs can carry swords around in Punjab and now there's a sword brawl on video.

That reckless old guy swatting his way down the stairs actually drops his. Tsk tsk.

[Joe Molotov]

lol @ the suggested video for that:

[chronovore]

"As a snake, how did you enter her body?"

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Rufus]

MP minister Babulal Gaur says rape "sometimes right, sometimes wrong"
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/uk-india-rape-idINKBN0EG1EX20140605

And another idiot chimes in:

Indian minister's 'accidental rape' remark adds to rising public anger
Ramsevak Paikra, home minister responsible for law and order, sparks outrage after saying rapes did not happen on purpose

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/08/indian-minister-rape-remark-anger-violence-women

[Broseidon]

Shit's going down at Karachi airport, in case you missed it.

[Broseidon]

ISIS have taken a bunch of Mosul. Shit's getting bad.



Hearing stuff about large Peshmerga units moving towards the city but dont know much about that atm.

[Phoenix Dark]

They were better off under Saddam.

[Phoenix Dark]

Esch showing his bias against a great nuclear power

[Great Rumbler]

They were better off under Saddam.

I used to buy into the line that ousting Saddam and setting up a democracy in Iraq would help spreading freedom through the Middle East.

[Phoenix Dark]

Esch showing his bias against a great nuclear power
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We gonna be using troll smilies if lashkar-e-taiba has their finger on the button?

(Image removed from quote.)

Let's hope they're better with buttons than swords

[Phoenix Dark]

Esch showing his bias against a great nuclear power
(Image removed from quote.)

We gonna be using troll smilies if lashkar-e-taiba has their finger on the button?

(Image removed from quote.)

Let's hope they're better with buttons than swords
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Confuse trained pan-islamist terrorists with old fat sikhs brehs

(Image removed from quote.)

Sounds like I qualify to give paid speeches at neocon events.

[Brehvolution]

They were better off under Saddam.

They still get to deal with a Hussein. 

[Phoenix Dark]

This liberal plantation can't hold me back

[Mandark]

Conservative groups need black people to co-sign their domestic agenda, not their foreign policy one.  Now if you were an Arab/Persian Muslim willing to endorse drone strikes and invasions?  $$$

[Phoenix Dark]

Conservative groups need black people to co-sign their domestic agenda, not their foreign policy one.  Now if you were an Arab/Persian Muslim willing to endorse drone strikes and invasions?  $$$

I disagree. Africa is the next battlefield for the war on terror. Who better to argue that there would be no terrorism in Africa today if more Africans had come to America as indentured servants than myself? After all, if it wasn't for "slavery" I might be an illiterate victim of terrorism in the mother country.

[Rufus]

http://www.france24.com/en/20140610-germany-merkel-backs-juncker-candidacy-president-european-commission/


Euro-Boritos, yall know anything about Juncker? I'm assuming since he's buddy-buddy with Merkel i'm not going to like him much, but aware me.

He's basically an honorary banker. Luxembourg is the new Switzerland thanks to him. Gotta keep competing for the lowest tax rates in a monetary union (the rotten cunts).

[Brehvolution]

Thread title change is regionist.

[Phoenix Dark]

How do you think the US should respond, if at all? Personally I don't think we're going back, nor should we. Obviously we don't need to "go back" in order to respond in some way, but I'd prefer complete hands off.

[Kara]

ISIS cake celebrating the liberation of Mosul:

(Image removed from quote.)

I like the juxtaposition of real guns and icing ones

ش م ه

[Mandark]

Biz, any sense of the composition/loyalties of the Iraqi army?  I haven't followed this for years, and even then probably not as closely as you have.  I just have vague and jumbled memories of de-Baathification, promises (probably empty) to go back and maybe reverse some of the de-Baathification, the sense that the new Iraqi army was going to be Shia-only, and the legitimization of political/sectarian militias (where individual ministries would have their own security forces, who were the militant wings of the parties who had been given control of those ministries as part of the coalition deal).

Like, it all looks like a clusterfuck, but what's the current shape and direction of the clusterfuck?  Or what's a good place to find a summary, if you don't want to milsplain it.

[Broseidon]

Sounds like they've reached Tikrit

[Broseidon]

http://justpaste.it/kasr_hodod

Mark Sykes am cry

[Great Rumbler]

And this is the kind of foreign policy that neo-cons want to go back to.

[Rufus]

What a clusterfuck.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/promises-modern-history.html

[Steve Contra]

Those Danish special forces are seriously going to be in 13 bro-shooters next year.  Count on it.

[Great Rumbler]

This one's for The Business

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/73EzH

fascist porn

[Madrun Badrun]

ISIS?

[Rufus]

Hiding the muzzle flash maybe. So that he can suppress (hurr durr) without being shot at.

[Rufus]

Vidya game flavour text teaching things, aw yeah.

[Broseidon]

Why would you suppress an LMG? Aware me, Biz.

So you dont show up on the minimap when you shoot.

[Phoenix Dark]

Sounds like the US is going to help. Bah.

[Joe Molotov]

Get involved in a land war in Asia, brehs.

[headwalk]

if you follow the money i'd wager that the majority of ISIS' funding comes from an anonymous collection of major videogame publishers looking to reverse declining sales.

[Great Rumbler]

Looks like the Kurds aren't going to be sitting on their hands while the rest of Iraq flounders:

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/12/rise-of-the-kurds.html

[brawndolicious]

That does look like propaganda meant for impressionable young men. Even has Call of Duty sound effects in the sniper videos. And you weren't kidding about the graphic violence, I didn't know you could show point blank executions on YouTube.

[Rufus]

White subtitles in the desert, tsk tsk.

And you weren't kidding about the graphic violence, I didn't know you could show point blank executions on YouTube.

Yeah, how is this on Youtube? This is Liveleak material.

[Great Rumbler]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday warned that Islamic militants' insurgency in northern Iraq could lead to another massive terrorist attack.

"This is another 9/11 in the making. The FBI director has warned us in Congress that Syria and Iraq present a direct threat to our homeland," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The senator urged President Obama to take action in Iraq.

"Put American airpower into the game. These guys are not 10-feet tall. Stop the advance on Baghdad. Get people on the ground that the Iraqis trust. Maliki must go. Get a new government in place, right, and hit Syria," he said. "If you don't deal with Syria in a coordinated fashion, maybe with Turkey, regional Sunni Arab states, you will have this happen all over again in Iraq."

Graham suggested that the U.S. work with Iran to stabilize Iraq.

"The Iranians can provide some assets to make sure Baghdad doesn't fall. We need to coordinate with the Iranians. And the Turks need to get in the game and get the Sunni Arabs back into the game, form a new government without Maliki," he said.

 

[Phoenix Dark]

Referencing 911 is like telling people Dr Dre produced tracks on someone's album. It's meant to generate a specific response and greatly increase interest. Graham knows no one gives a shit about Iraq, so the best way to gain attention is to raise the specter of 911.

[Great Rumbler]

Referencing 9/11 is bad enough, but what really gets me face-palming is how he's all "Well, just do X and Y and then doo-doo-doo problem solved." As if getting Maliki out of power is the easiest thing ever. Or getting Iran to support Iraq. Or finding someone that more than 50% of Iraqis like. Or getting the Sunnis involved in a nation-wide government.

That's exactly the kind of simple-mindedness that proponents of the war used way back in 2003.

[Phoenix Dark]

Referencing 9/11 is bad enough, but what really gets me face-palming is how he's all "Well, just do X and Y and then doo-doo-doo problem solved." As if getting Maliki out of power is the easiest thing ever. Or getting Iran to support Iraq. Or finding someone that more than 50% of Iraqis like. Or getting the Sunnis involved in a nation-wide government.

That's exactly the kind of simple-mindedness that proponents of the war used way back in 2003.

View the middle east through a WWII/cold war lens brehs.

[Great Rumbler]

Referencing 9/11 is bad enough, but what really gets me face-palming is how he's all "Well, just do X and Y and then doo-doo-doo problem solved." As if getting Maliki out of power is the easiest thing ever. Or getting Iran to support Iraq. Or finding someone that more than 50% of Iraqis like. Or getting the Sunnis involved in a nation-wide government.

That's exactly the kind of simple-mindedness that proponents of the war used way back in 2003.

View the middle east through a WWII/cold war lens brehs.

View world problems like it's a match of Civ 5, brehs.

"Trade 5 tanks to Iran for peace accord with Iraq."

[Phoenix Dark]

Man, imagine Obama having to meet with Graham and McCain saying ridiculous shit to him in person.