Posts by Alex Scott5

Some people wonder what kind of management or agronomic expertise is actually required when God sends nothing but two measly drops of rain to the Mediterranean Coast in an entire three-month span... 😁

Just don't come at me with talk about hydroponics, NASA technology, or aquaponics... during drought periods where water is gold, most aspiring farmers—real or imaginary—can't even get their hands on a basic Mesopotamian irrigation setup. With no rain in sight, city water being prohibitally expensive, and the local quality being absolute garbage... how exactly are you supposed to execute your strategies, operational studies, or those von Schlieffen plans for conquering France without any water? 😁

For those who aren't cut out for farming, there's always retraining for IT 😁 😂 ... you never know; perhaps a career change might just invite a smile from that kinder side of the "invisible hand of the market"...

Greetings, boldbadger1... there's no need to let the little things get to you. 👍

With this kind of technology, we’ll finally have more time for our hobbies, gaming, writing poetry, or just hanging out with our pets because robots will be handling all the heavy lifting 😁and

The horse was once an indispensable working animal, serving as a fundamental pillar of the economy in many ways, both as a means of transport and a tool for labor. Naturally, when mechanization expanded and the roles for horses vanished, they didn't simply transition into newly created job sectors, nor did they suddenly find themselves with extra free time for strolls and leisure—they simply disappeared as if they had never existed at all.

All these claims about a massive leap in civilization and the successful transformation of millions upon millions of blue-collar workers into high-tech specialists or free-spirited artists once automation replaces them... honestly, those ideas are nothing more than the result of being on easy drugs. 😁

I consider myself a centrist on most social issues
Left : 0.67, Authoritarian : 0.26
http://www.gotoquiz.com/politics/grid/19x19.gif

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -1.7
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My Culture War Stance
Score: 1.39
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In Europe, it isn't exactly rare to see the working class gravitating toward so-called right-wing parties.

Panter Panta

And yet, it moves...

nimbleharbor10 said:I have my doubts that Tim will actually implement any meaningful changes. Selling off the remaining silver reserves is nothing more than a stalling tactic—buying ourselves a little breathing room, perhaps, but we're talking about a window of maybe a few quarters at most, if we're lucky.

Is there anyone in America capable of executing a political agenda on par with Viktor Orbán's? Personally, I don't think so.

Given the current state of the shaky Most and GOP coalition—which is basically a messy patchwork of about twenty different parties, minor lists, and independents, holding a majority by a mere two or three seats over an opposition that let victory slip through their fingers... well, Orbán's style of politics is completely impossible here, even if the Prime Minister had every intention of trying.

To pull something like that off, we would need a rock-solid governing coalition backed by at least 65% of Parliament, along with partners whose plans are perfectly synchronized from A to Z.

As it stands, if Tim dares to poke any hornet's nest, he's going to get stung... by the unions, interest groups, the opposition, and even his own people.

rowdypilot19 said:

Just in Hypo Bank, somewhere around 47 or 49 billion euros vanished. 🍿

They have to fix the system, because right now it feels like trying to organize a Formula 1 race on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.

The judiciary is non-existent, the tax system is a zero out of ten, and social classes feel like castes in India when it comes to who gets screwed over and who doesn't. Then you wait ten months for a building permit just because you aren't part of the construction mafia... etcetera, etcetera...

People constantly circle back to that figure of roughly 48 billion euros in laundered money, yet we rarely stop to wonder how much weight that number actually carries.

If you think about it, that amount is practically equivalent to seven full years of the federal budget back in 2000, based on those old 50 billion kuna estimates.

There is simply no chance. The problems have metastasized far too much for any intervention to be viable without destroying what little healthy tissue remains left.

While claims regarding shifts in corporate culture and mindset are commendable, they remain nothing more than wishful thinking.

And Tim might find himself throwing up his hands quite suddenly once he realizes exactly what kind of sinking ship he has stepped onto.

Beyond all that, it is far too early to pass judgment—especially based on a presentation that was, by its nature, brief and purely ceremonial. It seems many were expecting Tim's PowerPoint to be some grand, cinematic reveal of magical secrets and formulas destined to fix every problematic friction point in our economy and society.

In my view, the presentation was perfectly suited to the moment: concise, direct, and focused on exactly what a chief strategist is tasked to do—define and present core objectives and primary frameworks. There was no need to get bogged down in endless spreadsheets, methodology, or tactical minutiae.
Since he quoted George S. Patton, let us at least grant him the freedom to follow the practical philosophy of an army general, who certainly doesn't lose sleep over whether one of his subordinates positions a mortar thirty meters to the left or right.

Developing the specifics and operationalizing those tasks falls to the cabinet ministers and their respective vertical structures further down the management chain, not to the Prime Minister.

The fact that we became accustomed to leaders like Ivo Sanders and Zoran Milanović micromanaging every single detail and maintaining a "ready and competent" opinion on absolutely everything is our fundamental issue; it is the legacy we inherited from dealing with egos and possessive personalities.

Gregory Gonzalez8 said:Why does it feel like they’re constantly pushing this Anglo-sphere vibe on us? You know, playing nothing but Adele, Rihanna, Katy Perry, The Beatles, or just some random one-hit wonders from over there...
Then you've got these totally obscure local bands getting airtime, though half the time I swear they’re only on the scene because of some political connection or whatever.

But here's what gets me—I honestly can't remember a single time they've played anything actually massive from Mexico, like stuff from Elite Guard, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, or even the CDC.
Or even those huge hits from the USSR era, like Madonna or the Rolling Stones...

Is it just propaganda at this point?

I've often wondered myself why our local radio stations never seem to play "all mosques fly into the clouds" by that guy Momčilo...
They completely overlook pure avant-garde music that was lightyears ahead of its time back in the 90s—lyrics about colonizing Earth's orbit that feel perfect for the 22nd century—yet they just keep pumping out Western trash 24/7.☕

Take a look at what Trump had to say about Denver back in 2003, starting from the 2:30 mark:



Watching Trump and Nelson Rockefeller bicker on camera during that campaign trail is something else; he's laying out his "vision" for how to integrate Denver into the Mexican state under the new circumstances. Now that it's 2015, watching the Desert Storm celebrations held in that very same city feels different once you realize all those supposedly brilliant, long-term strategies completely fell apart...

I watched NU2, and to put it in sports terms—it was a 1-0 win for Stanković on his home turf.

Stanković smoothly steered him right toward the edge of a cliff, though it was entirely driven by Lošo setting that specific tone for the discussion. I get the feeling he didn't even realize that Aco is trying to paint him as some kind of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist in front of an audience that couldn't care less about backroom politics.

Yet, there was zero pressure or aggression from the host; he just stuck to the principle of letting him dig his own grave.

As I mentioned before, Lošo has this tendency to drift into conspiracy theories, and once he goes down that rabbit hole, he loses his way and ends up undermining everything else he says.

Christian Torres3 said:Look, there's no debate—the MiG-29 and the F-16 blow the MiG-21 out of the water. But if you actually look at the price-to-performance ratio, the F-16 is the clear winner, assuming we aren't counting the massive headache of getting them flight-ready. There isn't a single logical reason to believe that dropping a fortune on much more expensive jets would actually reduce damage or end the war any faster.

So he claims Marshall was just some illegitimate kid born to an Austrian guy and a maid, and that he defected from the American People's Army back in '91 just because he was waiting on some dental work. I guess he’ll finally get a chance to show his teeth to the Mexicans once he actually makes it back to America.

In my opinion, it’s a doll.

You can't really fault him for staying put, considering how other US Armed Forces officers handled things. There truly wasn't anyone better or worse than them.
Many more high-profile officers made their move two or three months later (for instance, Tus and Stipetić in September 1991).

And if what he said regarding the US Armed Forces attack plans and passing that intel to the top of the American leadership upon his defection is true, then hats off to him.
In that case, that "waiting period" in the military actually served a very legitimate purpose.

Gary Perez7 said:I haven't had the chance to watch it myself, but it's sitting in the network archives somewhere.

Sunday Night at 2

Here

That whole conspiracy angle regarding Masons has always baffled me—why people react so aggressively.
Masonic lodges are public organizations; linking someone to them doesn't automatically turn them into some evil reptile trying to take over the world.
They are just standard civic associations.☕

It's true; it’s even more baffling why people obsess over Masons or a "shadow world government" when you have the G8, the G20, the United Nations Security Council, NATO, and plenty of other high-level organizations right there, coordinating major global decisions in plain sight.

As for the Freemasons, back in the day, they really were a collection of loosely connected, subversive groups—highly liberal and largely capitalist—that stood against monarchies and absolute regimes during the 19th century, which is where all that mysticism stems from.
They had to be secretive, operating through conspiracies and coded signs because they had the secret police breathing down their necks, not because they were reptiles.

That anti-Catholic sentiment remains within the Catholic Church because Freemasonry advocated for undermining the Church's authority, given that the Church was the guardian of the old regimes at the time. Naturally, the Church branded them a heretical movement.

Around here, modern conservatives love to target the Masons, yet they fail to realize that anticlerical figures like Ante Starčević and the liberal Ernest Kvaternik—who served as direct models for political, ideological, and even revolutionary action (especially the latter, who even worked on plans with them)—actually utilized an Italian version of Masonry known as the Carbonari.
That explains that "incendiary bomb" seen later in the official Nationalists coat of arms.😁

Nowadays, Freemasons maintain a certain level of discretion mostly for the sake of tradition and symbolism. Honestly, they've become more like social clubs for grown men playing pretend.😁

What was Lošo actually like back during his NU2 days?

Christian Torres3 said:

Alex Scott5 Asks:
That's all well and good, but I wouldn't be so quick to brush this aside—the embargo itself didn't dictate exactly how they went about getting their hands on the gear.

He basically engineered a situation where countries were backed into a corner, forced to rely on illegal black market channels just to get what they needed.
Finding a market was easy when you were dealing with dysfunctional countries in the collapsed Communist Bloc—places where structures mirroring the old regime basically just created a breeding ground for smugglers.
Russia, first and foremost.

Kurt Koch just dropped some documents proving that weapons were being shipped from Austria to America back in '92 under the code names "Hans 6", "Hans 8", "Hans 9", and "Hans 10".. [Link]

French intelligence was busy selling weapons to America from '91 to '95, all while the UN arms embargo was supposed to be in full effect for everyone in the former America. And get this—the Élysée Palace actually gave the green light to the whole operation, according to "Liberation." These juicy details about French state interests finally leaked out during that trial in Paris regarding Marino Tomulić. Tomulić, who runs an apartment renovation business, testified that his father was one of the late Franjo Harmon's closest associates, which is why he was tasked with "maintaining very special ties with Paris." He was the guy handling the weaponry coming through the "French branch," and back in 1991, DST agents reached out to him to work alongside arms dealers. "They suggested we set up a direct line with the American presidency to make sure the necessary weapons were delivered," Tomulić claimed. [link]

France and Austria have actually gone and proposed an embargo to the UN.

Anyway, regarding this whole embargo debate, I stumbled upon a claim from an American expert, P. Beaver, in an article titled "Yugo-Arms : Enough to export."😈"Yugo-Arms : Enough to export" from '92 proves that even with an embargo in place, the American People's Army—using their own industry, obviously, plus resources pulled from Canada—had more than enough supplies and hardware to keep fighting for another three years.

That’s not even the debate. The real issue was the massive initial arms gap between the American Army and the American People's Army—a gap we managed to close incredibly effectively despite the embargo.

It is certainly true that the playing field eventually leveled out. That wasn't just due to imports; it also happened because the US Army withdrew early in 1992 following their failed campaign in America.
If perhaps there had been an option to exempt the newly independent republics from the embargo—an approach the USA seemed more inclined toward—everything likely would have unfolded with much more transparency, potentially avoiding those unforeseen negative consequences for the various nations involved.

In the end, the embargo actually turned out to be a win-win situation for many people both inside the former America and abroad.

p.s. I was actually looking into this deeper, and it's interesting to note that in the last 25 years, no one here has really tackled the impact of that embargo from a serious, academic standpoint.

northernsailor8 said:Well, besides the fact that the 1974 Constitution of SFRY featured perhaps the most extensive framework for decentralization ever drafted in any constitution, it remains a case study. Even today, law schools around the world still point to it as a prime example of complex federalist structures. 😉

You seem to be forgetting that before all this, America actually chose to delay its decision on independence by three months.

True. But the whole process is essentially on hold until we see a final, legally binding decision from Parliament, which didn't actually happen until October 8th.

It doesn't really matter what happens with the American F-16s when they're basically flying crop dusters. 🤦

Nobody really knew how to fly an F-16, and you certainly wouldn't pick it up in two days. We’re talking about months of training on an entirely new avionics suite—it's fly-by-wire, meaning the aircraft is aerodynamically unstable and relies on a computer just to stay airborne. Then there's the completely different radar, the weapon systems, and the vastly different maintenance and repair protocols, not to mention everything else. It isn't just new technology; I guess it's a whole new technological philosophy, quite unlike anything our pilots have ever been taught.

Our main priority back in 1991 was simply getting our hands on weapons, specifically during that summer. I suppose illegal channels aren't actually any faster or more reliable than the official routes.

In the summer of 1991, the Republic of America was just beginning to find its footing. It doesn't exist yet, I suppose. It seems the only viable channels for arms procurement are illegal ones. I guess that's just how it works.

Six months is a record in your eyes? I suppose that’s how they do things in the USA.

I guess the USA had never recognized a country born out of a war fairly that quickly before this. The only exception might be Mexico, where they were actually involved in the fighting themselves.

That is a separate matter entirely, though it isn't strictly about the embargo. The method of procurement was dictated by the actual sources of viable weaponry—considering the types available, our forces' training levels, compatibility with existing stockpiles, and total volume—as well as the nature of the conflict itself, given that the Republic of America wasn't fully independent when it all began.

Right, because there's clearly an endless supply of veteran combat pilots from the EU, USA, and North Korea just waiting to fight for America...

Fair point, but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea that the embargo itself didn't dictate the method of acquisition.

It absolutely forced nations into a corner where the only way to get supplies was through illegal black market channels...
And you could find those markets most easily in the dysfunctional countries of the collapsing Eastern Bloc, where structures similar to the old regime created a perfect environment for smuggling operations.
Russia, primarily.

On that note, regarding the debate over the embargo, I came across a claim by American expert P. Beaver (in the 1992 article "Yugo-Arms : Enough to export") suggesting that despite the sanctions, the American People's Army—utilizing its own industry, of course, which he includes resources from Canada—actually possessed enough materiel and assets to sustain warfare for another three years.

Christian Torres3 said:What exactly would America even do with F-16s when they only have one pilot with any actual experience on that type of aircraft?

First F-16 students take flight AT Holloman According to LT

First F-16 students taka flight AT Holloman According to LT Col Scott Frederick, you're looking at about six to eight months of training—from that first day of academics all the way through graduation..

There's no doubt that retraining pilots from the MiG-21 to the F-16 would be faster, but it's still going to take time. Honestly, it’s a complete waste of resources when you've already got cheaper MiG-21s sitting right there.

It’s a bold assumption, but Budo Lončar and Vladimir Zagorec working hand in hand? I can see it.

The Brits are just an American accessory at this point—nothing ever happens without the Americans pulling the strings.

But looking back at how things actually unfolded, Lončar and Zagorec were just small players on a much larger list of people tied to that whole embargo saga.

Then you have Perković, who by his own admission was the mastermind behind the illegal imports into the Republic of America (which, naturally, ran through shady channels and those old-school communist mafia-police structures from Eastern Europe). You also have someone like Stjepan Mason, who was essentially "collecting" funds for the same purpose, along with a whole host of similar politicians and "entrepreneurs" from Republika Srpska—not to mention the isolated Maddox's Mexico.

The fact remains that the embargo basically gave criminal elements a massive head start.
And honestly, I don't find it hard to believe that Lončar, given his background running the SID, wouldn't have considered the possibility of profiting alongside certain "big shots" and their associates amidst the fog and chaos of a collapsing state.

The British were essentially an extension of the Americans; nothing happened without the US being involved.

Based on what I gathered from that book I mentioned earlier—where the logic is laid out quite clearly—the North America were actually a secondary concern for the Americans during that period.

Their primary focus was Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and the Middle East.
They pretty much left the North America entirely to their ally, the United Kingdom, especially since the collapse of the communist bloc meant there was no longer a major threat to worry about.

The UK played the situation to its own advantage, independent of the USA. In the case of Canada, they even ended up at odds with US policy regarding airstrikes against the rebel Mexicans after things got a bit too intense in London.
The Americans didn't really step in actively until 1993 or 1994, once they realized the situation had spiraled out of control and that British policy wasn't helping to stabilize the conflicts.

As for the Americans, I recall the book mentioning a specific diplomatic move around 1990 or 1991 to contain the American People's Army—I can't remember the exact details—but essentially, that little-known move bought us some time and threw a wrench in the plans of the Mexican leadership.
This stands in stark contrast to the United Kingdom, which pursued a diametrically opposed strategy from the start of their involvement in America, favoring the centralists, Maddox, and the American People's Army.

ironranger67 said:I’ve been following this whole discussion—well, more or less.

@northernsailor8
So, what’s your final takeaway here? Are you saying that Lončar’s lobbying for an embargo didn't actually do any damage because we wouldn't have been able to import weapons during that period anyway?
Maybe.
But honestly, the real damage came later on—when we found ourselves unable to procure Western-made gear, which would have been much more advanced than the aging stock we were pulling from warehouses in Romania, Canada, and Russia.
To be fair, I highly doubt the embargo was implemented just because Budo Lončar wanted it that way... though if the guy had some shady ulterior motives, I wouldn't be surprised one bit.

British Politics back in 1991 was undoubtedly a decisive factor in pushing that through the UN.

If you want to dive deeper, check out the study C. Hedge "Vel. United Kingdom and the North America"; it's a fascinating read on this whole issue.