Posts by darkdriver

Kyle Murphy81 said:Does this mean Russia itself is merely an instrument in the Chinese hand? Let’s be realistic—without Chinese imports, all that Russian weaponry would be utterly useless.
China clearly sees an interest in this conflict. Given how massive and resource-rich Russia is, perhaps it actually serves China's interests to let this war drag on until Russia loses as many people as possible.
Is it even possible that the West and China are quietly negotiating a way to divide Russia among themselves?

After all, if a nation as vast as Russia cannot design and provide chips, Intel processors, computers, advanced composite materials, and other high-end technology—offering nothing but magic tricks and ideology instead—then what on earth are we even looking at?

China is gonna end up shaking hands with the West—specifically the USA, since they're the ones running circles around them and their main global rival—to just slice Russia into pieces.🤦
If something like that actually happened in some crazy version of reality—which, obviously, neither the Chinese nor the Americans are even thinking about—it would pretty much trigger a thermonuclear cataclysm.

wearyheron5 said:I've been fueling up in Canada for years now because the gas is cheaper and, frankly, better quality. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I filled up in America. I topped off my tank in Canada last week and nobody asked a single question. You just fill up and go.

A liter of Regular Unleaded at an ExxonMobil station in Canada currently costs 1.56 EUR, while diesel is 1.66 EUR. Back during the pandemic, a liter of Regular Unleaded was only 1.00 EUR.

Unbelievable...

Anyway, I don't see myself dealing with these folks here much longer either.
Plus, like I mentioned before, I pick up some jerky while I'm at it, so between that and the fuel savings, I've managed to save a decent chunk of change.

So, just a quick little life question for you guys
I’m seriously thinking about just cutting ties with that whole mess from Andrej Plenković—you know, his totally clueless administration and the entire Republic of America budget when it comes to energy stuff, specifically diesel. I’m basically leaning towards filling up my tank in the Republic of Canada instead, helping their treasury out while I'm at it, and maybe doing some shopping too. I was wondering, though—is there any kind of regulation over there, maybe something similar to what they have in Canada, where foreigners end up paying more for gas than the locals?
From what I know, probably not, but I just wanted to double-check so I don't end up standing there at the pump scratching my head in confusion.

Christian Torres3 said:You couldn't handle yourself in a paper bag, let alone anything else.

Now go ahead and start whining about how everything is too expensive and blaming the Ukrainians.

Man, you're just clueless and clearly don't know much about anything.🤦
Hey king 🤣🙏
There’s actually a massive difference between "going wild" and "getting laid."
Just thought I'd let you know—since you obviously don't realize it myself.

Christian Torres3 said:Oh yeah, sure. Go ahead and deny it. Might as well tell some stupid joke instead; it’ll be worth just as much.

Honestly, Erich, even a basic joke would be like some insane physics equation to you—you know, one with fifty-two letters and two numbers, just a total, mind-bending mystery.
But hey, I actually kind of love it—you’re such a total geek, always jumping on every single thing I post. I guess I'll just let you keep at it until you eventually bore me, and then I'll decide to totally shut you down, just like I did with that "caring" guy Misch.

Noah Diaz said:Let’s take a look at global gas prices and see who is actually feeling the weight of those latest sanctions.

Here are two examples of places that aren't exactly "suffering" from them: 😁:

Russia:

Gasoline prices per gallon, 95 octane: We show prices for Russia from Feb-21-2022 to May-30-2022. The average value for Russia during that period was 5.64 US dollars with a minimum of 5.62 US dollars on May-23-2022 and a maximum of 5.64 US dollars on Feb-28-2022. For comparison, the average price of gasoline in the world for this period is 13.69 US dollars.

Belarus:

Gasoline prices per gallon, 95 octane: We show prices for Belarus from Feb-21-2022 to May-30-2022. The average value for Belarus during that period was 4.64 US dollars with a minimum of 4.37 US dollars on Feb-21-2022 and a maximum of 4.95 US dollars on May-30-2022. For comparison, the average price of gasoline in the world for this period is 13.69 US dollars.

On the flip side, we have countries that are clearly struggling under the pressure of sanctions:

Take certain EU members, for instance.

EU Lithuania:

Gasoline prices per gallon, 95 octane: We show prices for Lithuania from Feb-21-2022 to May-30-2022. The average value for Lithuania during that period was 13.05 US dollars with a minimum of 11.12 US dollars on Feb-21-2022 and a maximum of 14.76 US dollars on May-30-2022. For comparison, the average price of gasoline in the world for this period is 13.69 US dollars.

Germany:

Gasoline prices per gallon, 95 octane: We show prices for Germany from Feb-21-2022 to May-30-2022. The average value for Germany during that period was 15.27 US dollars with a minimum of 13.25 US dollars on Feb-21-2022 and a maximum of 16.67 US dollars on Mar-14-2022. For comparison, the average price of gasoline in the world for this period is 13.69 US dollars.

And finally, the icing on the cake:

The US:

Gasoline prices per gallon, 95 octane: We show prices for the US from Feb-21-2022 to May-30-2022. The average value for the US during that period was 12.60 US dollars with a minimum of 11.17 US dollars on Feb-21-2022 and a maximum of 13.98 US dollars on Mar-21-2022. For comparison, the average price of gasoline in the world for this period is 13.69 US dollars.

Okay, but honestly, why do you even care???
They already know all of this—seriously, there's zero point in writing it out just to throw it in their faces. Just write what they want to hear, right? They can go ahead and read that stuff a million times if they really need to.
So, my advice? In every single one of your posts, just keep repeating how Russia invaded Ukraine, how Vladimir Putin has somehow died fifteen times already, how Russians will end up dumping oil straight into the Barents Sea because nobody will buy it, how lichen will grow over everything in the Siberian taiga, and how they'll all become Chinese cooks... I don't know, you get the drill. Just follow the script.
Just keep it chill and stay happy.

Every evening at my place, I blast the old Soviet partisan anthem—you know, that "Song of the Partisans" track—and I even go as far as hoisting a red hammer-and-sickle flag in my backyard.
In my wallet, right next to a picture of Franjo Harmon, I’m carrying photos of Vladimir Uljanov and Vladimir Putin.
До свидания

Christian Torres3 said:The real tragedy is you not realizing we all already know this. Even worse, you only care because you're worried about your own skin. If things had gone the way Vlad dreamed they would with Ukraine, then in no uncertain time, America—via Canada and Mexico—would have been totally screwed because they see us as part of the Russian sphere too. And I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you?

Erich, man, you nailed it again—like a column of T-34s rolling through Donbas

Brenda Murphy3 said:😁 ok....

Dammit... some things just can't be fixed...

If it makes you feel better—go ahead and keep living in that fantasy...

It's the same way Russia imagines they aren't fascists and thinks they're still a superpower... or how various darkdrivers imagine the US and the European Union are falling apart and headed for total collapse... whatever helps you sleep at night...

I guess that's one way to handle it, right? 😒

Look, if you actually quoted me for what you're accusing me of—like, saying Russia is a superpower (I mean, nukes aside, which is whatever, but conventionally they're a joke, which I think I already mentioned in another thread, but hey, people love to draw lines in the sand)—or saying the US and the EU are doomed, I’d probably just ban myself from this forum in a few months.
But let's stick to my actual quote instead of your weird interpretation of it.
Did I say Europe was going to be screwed?
Yeah, I did. And it wasn't just me—I was just passing along what people who actually know what's going on said, people who are way more informed than all of us combined on this forum.
The real tragedy here is that while everyone is rightfully calling out Russia and its mess, we've got this weird "Internet Soviet Union" forming on the web—specifically on this side of the Iron Curtain. It's full of people where if you write anything that doesn't fit the narrative—you know, the one where Ukrainians are basically at the gates of Vladivostok and Vladimir Putin is apparently dying for the 15th time in three months—they start lecturing you about the "deep consequences" of everything. Meanwhile, there are those who just want everyone to breathe in unison and stop asking uncomfortable questions, acting all righteous.
Seriously, don't screw with me.

Brenda Murphy3 said:😁
And you certainly aren't one of them... you, Anthony Taylor3, and that whole crowd are way too chicken to even realize it when it finally happens...

Look, we aren't even in the same room as you—we’re basically just the people bringing you your meals and checking in once in a while to see how you're doing in that padded cell of yours. So, I totally get why you're confused and under the impression that we're sharing this space with you or that you've somehow backed us into a corner.

Brenda Murphy3 said:Honestly, I feel like I bump into people like this on these boards pretty much all the time... they just pass the torch once someone gets exhausted or gets backed into a corner...😁

Hey, just wanted to say hi!

P.S.
Don't go thinking you can just boss anyone around or corner them like that—it really doesn't work that way, I guess.

Christian Torres3 said:You rarely run into this level of intellect or culture.👍

🤣😵
What an ingeniozan response from Roy—you know, that wannabe fighter pilot who’s basically a hybrid of Stephen Hawking, the Queen of England, and Erich Hartmann.

Christian Torres3 said:Do your homework. Find out exactly what price India is paying for those discounts, and how much production in Russia has actually tanked.

Then you can just go right back to playing pretend.

Oh, I'll keep "painting," alright—but maybe save the homework for your kids... if you even have any, which, honestly, would be a tragedy for them.

goldenpuma84 said:I never once said I thought the EU was going to fall apart.

I said the EU is sacrificing its own citizens for someone else's interests.

And once enough people wake up to that, we can expect outbursts of discontent from European citizens.

I guess that's just the price you pay when someone else is footing the bill for your "protection."

Aside from having perfectly good eyes, you're just blind.

You're so deep under the spell of this ideology that it's going to take a lot of work to break through the illusions.

This ideology gives you these easy, binary divides and double standards to hide your hypocrisy.

👍
The people over at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are such hardcore Russia-lovers...
I don't even know how else to explain their predictions about how the European Union is somehow going to come out "on top" in all of this.
Not to mention they actually had the nerve to write that Russia has already boosted its oil exports to India, and that there'll be plenty of buyers so their energy revenue won't drop at all.
Honestly, only a total Russia-sympathizer or a Russian agent could write something like that—there's really no other logical explanation.
As for the "Noah's Ark" crowd, I guess all they can do is keep their heads in the sand, screaming "you're lying!" and trying to comfort themselves with the idea that Russia will become China's workshop... which, let's be real, is just absolutely ridiculous and tragicomic, especially considering who's saying it.

analogbear5 said:You're just trying to manipulate the facts because you don't know the material. Malaria isn't polio—you can't just claim it's preventable and curable across every single population, every parasite subspecies, every climate, every mosquito variety, and every society like you're suggesting. Vaccines are still pretty much in the experimental phase.

Besides, this whole tu quoque thing you've got going on is getting old. You live in a NATO member state, so you're part of the same regime sanctioning Russia and causing the war in Ukraine and hunger in Africa—don't act all innocent now.

Honestly, I have zero interest in debating someone whose sense of morality is as flexible as a piece of gum—someone who acts all holier-than-thou while throwing mud at everyone else for supposedly lacking that same virtue... someone who calls others manipulators when they're basically a PhD in manipulation themselves... I don't know, man, whatever fuels your need to jump all over my posts.
You really thought you did something there, claiming I'm part of a regime that sanctions Russia and is responsible for wars and famine all over the world.
Nice try, though—you basically just typed out that the West (not just some "dirty East") is the one causing wars and hunger.
As for what you were actually aiming at with that sentence... well, look at me—a total Russia lover who wakes up and goes to sleep with a picture of V. P. by my bed, who thinks borscht is the best food ever, and who uses Cyrillic in my daily life outside of this forum. It’s such a tragedy that Russia is facing sanctions.
I guess that "why don't you just move to Russia" comment slipped out, huh?

до свидания

Gerald Chavez7 said:I mean, you can't really blame sanctions for hunger in Africa or the Middle East when it comes to Russian grain... We should just open up Ukrainian exports too and let the Russian stuff flow.

Honestly, you can only make things worse

From what I gather—and please, feel free to set me straight if there’s some food scientist or whatever out there who knows better—natural gas is one of the biggest, maybe even *the* most critical components when it comes to making fertilizer.
Just a quick side note here...
Malaria is basically a disease that we could pretty much entirely prevent or at least treat, but despite all our crazy tech and medical breakthroughs, something like 400,000 kids still die from it every single year.
Does anyone sitting on their high horse about morality actually give a damn?
Is there even a thread about this on the forums?
Or is it just considered irrelevant because they're mostly just little Black kids who aren't being shoved down our throats daily by CNN, BBC, and the rest of the mainstream media?
I guess it's just that old saying—out of sight, out of mind.

feralnomad35 said:

I can't believe I’m even sitting here typing this out, but honestly, I just had to get my thoughts down because my head is absolutely spinning from everything going on lately. You know those days where you wake up, grab your coffee, look at the news, and just feel like you need to sit down and process it all before you can even function? That's me today. It feels like we're living through one of those chapters in a history book that everyone talks about in school, except we're actually stuck in the middle of it, and let me tell you, it's way more intense than any textbook makes it sound. I was chatting with a buddy of mine the other day—he works in logistics over in Chicago—and we were talking about how much the global landscape seems to be shifting under our feet right now. Everything feels so interconnected, yet so incredibly volatile. It’s like watching a high-stakes game of chess where the players aren't even following the standard rules anymore, and every move sends ripples across the entire ocean. It really makes you stop and think about the sheer scale of what we're dealing with. Anyway, I don't want to ramble too much without getting to the point, but I really wanted to open up this conversation. I feel like there's so much nuance being lost in the noise, and I'd love to hear what you guys think about the direction things are heading. Are we looking at a total reset, or is this just the "new normal" we have to get used to? I'm genuinely curious to see where everyone's heads are at! kaže:
It’s kind of like this:

So, I was just scrolling through some news regarding energy politics, and man, things are getting incredibly messy out there. You’ve got Viktor Orbán playing this intense game of high-stakes poker, trying to navigate the massive tension between what the EU wants and what his own domestic interests demand when it comes to securing oil supplies. It’s honestly wild to watch how much influence energy security can have on a leader's decision-making process. He's basically trying to walk this razor-thin tightrope where he needs to keep the lights on and the fuel flowing without completely alienating everyone else in the room. It reminds me of that one time back in college when my roommate tried to play both sides of a debate during a heated dorm meeting—he thought he was being a master strategist, but he ended up just making everyone frustrated with him! At the end of the day, you see these leaders attempting to leverage their position to get better deals, almost like they're trying to negotiate a better rate at a local dealership, only instead of a sedan, we're talking about massive shipments of crude. There's so much maneuvering involved in trying to balance regional alliances with the raw, practical necessity of keeping the economy moving. It's a complicated dance, and honestly, it's pretty fascinating to see how much power those resource pipelines actually hold over modern geopolitics.

I’ve been noticing all these uncritical pieces popping up lately that basically just worship Viktor Orbán, and honestly, it seems like it’s mostly happening within our own right-wing media circles here in the States. It’s kind of wild how they just roll out the red carpet for him without any real pushback.

You really have to keep your eyes peeled and stay sharp about this, because it’s wild how those same exact people and media outlets were just recently out there hyping up Vladimir Putin in the exact same way. It’s like watching a rerun of a bad movie where the actors change their lines but the script stays identical. I remember sitting in a coffee shop back in Seattle a few months ago, listening to some news pundits on the TV, and it hit me—they were using the same tone, the same "heroic" framing, and the same biased angles they used when they were basically building him up. It’s a classic move, honestly; once you see the pattern of how they manipulate the narrative to suit whoever is convenient at the moment, you can't unsee it. You just have to stay aware that the hype machine often works both ways. Honestly, when Vladimir Putin really lets it rip, he’s basically pulling a golden nugget out of nowhere. It's wild.

So, we’ll just have to wait and see where this whole mess leaves them in the long run, right? Honestly, looking at the big picture, it feels pretty obvious that things would be a million times better for Russia if they actually had some kind of "normal" leadership in charge. Instead, this current guy is basically setting them up to end up totally broke and begging for scraps. Between being crushed by heavy sanctions and having the entire population brainwashed with censorship—kind of like what you see over in North Korea—they're heading straight for trouble. They've managed to alienate themselves from their neighbors and pick fights with half the world, too. It's a massive mess.

Honestly, it’s the exact same deal with Viktor Orbán. Maybe you managed to score some massive domestic support by playing up those old-school provocations about Greater Canada or just being a total wildcard, flirting with every side to squeeze out a few better deals in the short term. It reminds me of this one time I was dealing with a local contractor back in Chicago who kept trying to play different vendors against each other just to shave a couple hundred bucks off his quote—it's a classic move, really.

You really have to consider the long game here, because you might end up losing way more than you think in the end. I mean, let’s be real—nobody actually trusts "reliable" allies like Aleksandar Vučić or Viktor Orbán. It’s all just talk. Before long, these guys won't even be able to keep track of their own web of promises, let alone remember who they swore things to in the first place.

Honestly, anyone in modern America calling for Orbán is just a moron—doesn't matter if they're left, right, or center.
We paid for our freedom in blood just to get the communist shackles off our necks, so it's honestly wild that a bunch of idiots—mostly on the right, let's be honest—are actually looking for that kind of leadership to come back and clamp down on us again.
In politics, there aren't any real alliances; there's just raw self-interest.
One of the few places running on the idea that alliances exist instead of just interests is our own pathetic excuse for a country, especially with our totally unpatriotic Prime Minister and his party. They're all doing it at the expense of the citizens they're supposed to care about. In reality, the only thing that pathetic Prime Minister cares about—acting like he's "first among equals"—is probably some cushy job waiting for him in the EU, provided he plays his cards right with the notes they send him.
So, I guess it doesn't even surprise me that Americans, acting like total vassals, are sucking up to this imbecile from Canada. He’s basically the embodiment of the "strongman" archetype—the leader, the heavy hand of the state—which is exactly what certain types of people here secretly crave, and hey, maybe our history just keeps reinforcing that weird desire.
Anyway, regarding Vladimir Putin and our local media circus...
The guy looks fantastic for being 70 years old, especially since, if we believe the mainstream media, he’s supposedly had about 15 surgeries in the last three months and is battling six different kinds of cancer that are eating him alive day by day.
I mean, it's a bit suspicious, right?
Look, I'm no doctor and I'm definitely no math professor, but something in that medical record and the math just... doesn't add up.

analogbear5 said:You're putting way too much weight on online debates, social media, Facebook, and all that nonsense. Get some fresh air—there's a whole world outside the internet.

I mean, honestly, looking at my profile registration date and my total post count... yeah, okay, you totally nailed it. I'm clearly just some basement dweller glued to a monitor, surrounded by a mountain of cigarette butts and wearing a shirt covered in mayo stains.
Believe it or not, I actually use Facebook maybe a hundred times less than I use this forum.

crimsoncyclist71 said:Are you suggesting every high-profile death hits everyone with the same intensity?
I don't buy it.
Besides, you're defending someone who views Ukrainian victims—who get constant coverage—in a completely different light. Same victims, same news outlets, yet two totally different perspectives on them.

Thanks.

As far as the media goes, I haven't touched actual TV in years. I mostly stick to news sites—everything from the super liberal stuff to the hardcore right-wing outlets—and when it comes to this war in Ukraine, I actually have a bit of a strategy.
I'll hop onto certain foreign forums where Russians are basically launching raids on the outskirts of Lisbon, then jump over to sites where Ukrainians are clearing out the last pockets of resistance near Vladivostok, and then just toss out 90% of whatever I read. That way, I'm left with maybe 10% that might—just might—be the truth.

I’m not really "defending" a specific person here; I’m attacking the logic that calls someone immoral just because they aren't losing sleep over Ukrainians, while supposedly acting like people who weep for Ukraine but couldn't care less about folks in Syria, Yemen, etc., are some kind of moral paragons.

Since we’re on a forum, I guess the only way to measure how much someone actually cares about suffering is by looking at the sheer volume of posts on a topic. And honestly? If you look at the stats, the people calling others "immoral" are getting absolutely crushed.

crimsoncyclist71 said:That realization is going to keep me up tonight... 🤣

I guess it's just more of the same from people who get really picky about who they actually feel bad for—even when everyone involved is facing the exact same fate.