122 posts shown.
Man, Che was a straight-up legend.
I mean, think about it. You win a guerrilla revolution, write the literal playbook on how to fight guerrilla wars, then head off to Bolivia to test those theories in the field, only to get taken out almost immediately. It’s wild.
Though... maybe he just made one tiny little mistake. 🤔
northernbison63 said:I don't give a damn about "constructive criticism." You guys have plenty to chew on right here. I’m not planning on laying out my whole theory on how society should work, because honestly? It’s just empty theorizing—we've seen enough of that nonsense over the last 180 years.
Quincy:
gerbnegoy
Oh, so you don't care? That's funny. I think you *should* start caring, considering how much energy you're dumping into this constant criticizing. What you really want is to drill your own little postulates into people's heads by chanting the same tired litany over and over again... |
You're twisting my words and arguing against things I didn't even say. Look, I’m not going to exhaust myself with more theories. We’ve had enough theorists; tens of thousands of them have accomplished less in the last 200 years than what Lenin did in his time.
I don't want to "drill my postulates" into anyone's brain. I just want people to wake up to something that's blindingly obvious at every single turn—capitalism is a crime. And as for singing litanies? I was never good at that... I always struggled to remember the lyrics.
Quincy:
gerbnegoy
That’s the problem with critics like you. Everything is bad, this is wrong, that is flawed, but on the flip side, you don't offer anything remotely constructive. You claim not to care, but you're actually doing capitalism a massive favor by being like this.
Well, if that isn't your goal, then maybe you should start giving a damn... |
You know what? You're right. I should just grab an assault rifle and charge straight toward Wall Street. Why don't you head out first? I'll catch up as soon as I finish this urgent business.
Quincy:
northernbison63
First, let's reach an agreement—or better yet, let's get mass awareness that capitalism equals crime. Once we hit that point, it'll be incredibly easy to set up a social model that minimizes the damage in the long run. |
Quincy:
gerbengoy
"It'll be easy," he says? Let's just tear everything down first without having any clear idea of how we're going to build afterward. "The perfect model will just present itself"... Out of thin air, right? |
Again, you're taking pieces out of context to fight me. I clearly said we shouldn't destroy things, because that's how you take relatively moderate republics like Carthage and Rome and turn them into one fast-moving cancer called the Roman Empire.
And yeah, once the vast majority of people start labeling capitalism as a crime—identifying every instance of it as a crime, especially when it's more capitalist and "liberal"—it will be easier than you think to form a model that minimizes crimes in the future. But we can worry about that later... the real question is how many crimes capitalism will commit before we get there.
Saddam Hussein said:The OP and all his little buddies just can't handle anyone threatening the Iranian regime.
...because of how the Iranian regime treatsits own people...
Rambi and her crowd just can't stomach the idea that nobody should be allowed to force their own version of "civilization" and order on another country.
While they’re busy having a total meltdown over killers in Iran or wherever else they hang people, they simultaneously—and I mean totally shamelessly hypocritically—call hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths caused by "smart bombs" just "collateral damage." And don't even get me started on how they conveniently ignore everything Saudi Arabia does, with their own executions and the way they deal with thieves and adulterers. It's unbelievable.
Like, why doesn't France send its generals to trial for the atrocities during the Algerian War? Noooooo....George W. Bush is much too busy for that. Because heaven forbid Iran builds a Russian nuclear plant instead of a French one, like they did in Libya. Hmm... something smells fishy here, right? Is maybe George W. Bush barking at Iran because they're using Russian tech instead of French tech? And let's not forget, just a few years back, Muammar Gaddafi was being treated like a bigger monster than Ahmadinejad is today.
quietbadger34 said:When Orange claims that capitalism is basically just one big crime, what they’re actually saying is that private property and the rule of law are criminal.
I mean, let's be real—without private ownership, there isn't a single shred of incentive to actually work hard or come up with anything new. Everything you build, everything you invent through sheer grit and brainpower, would just be handed over to everyone else equally.
The absolute, crushing inefficiency of setting things up that way has been proven time and time again by every single society that ever tried to make it work.
No, no—Verizon isn't saying private property and the rule of law are crimes, it's northernbison63 who's claiming capitalism equals crime.
And while we're on the subject, what's the actual point of the rule of law if the guy who used "original capital accumulation" to rig the game gets way more say over those laws than the person who had their "accumulation" stripped away? "Rule of law" is just a fancy little phrase people use to mask the rule of big capital. It's a joke.
And seriously, what kind of "private property" are we talking about when one single person owns, I don't know, half the farmland in the entire country?
Quincy:
| without private property, there's absolutely no incentive for work or innovation. |
Sure! And then some "lazy masses" have to use a Space Shuttle to drag a "privately innovative" Space Shuttle into orbit.
God, I bet the definition of incentive for hard work and innovation is a hell of a lot more complicated than just "owning stuff." Look at how motivated the Japanese are to work—it’s a completely different vibe than what you see in the US. Plus, the Japanese social system is built on totally different foundations than the American one.
Quincy:
| everything you create or invent would belong equally to everyone. |
Who does the invention of fire belong to?
Quincy:
| the inefficiency of such a system has been so clearly demonstrated in every society that tried it. |
Oh, so the "efficiency" of capitalism is shown by—the total destruction of the planet we're seeing right now? Is that it?
How is it that this "efficient capitalism" hasn't managed to even teach its own population how to read or write in 200 years, while "inefficient communism" pretty much pulled that off in 20? Makes sense, right? Not.
Efficiency without a plan... doesn't that sound suspiciously like the legendary, undisputed efficiency of Auschwitz? What's going to happen to most of the Earth at this rate?
stormymarlin90 said:Nicolas Sarkozy is headed for a head-on collision with Catholic social teaching.
Didn't the prime ministerial candidate Ivica Jurčić argue today that his version of social democracy is basically identical to the Church's social doctrine? We're seeing a situation where Western social democrats—including our colleague Orange, whether they realize it or not—have become nothing more than an extension of the Catholic Church.
Secularists like Nicolas Sarkozy are charging straight into a confrontation with the Church, standing on a razor's edge over a massive abyss.
Personally, I'm rooting for the chaos.
What social doctrine, though? You mean that "Rerum novum" stuff from the end of the last century, where the Pope back then basically gave capitalists advice like, "Hey, don't exploit the workers *too* much, or they might actually get back at you"?
Where was this whole church social doctrine for the last thousand years? Where was it in India? Even Mother Theresa ended up feeling like she'd messed everything up and lost her faith in God. And where was the church's social doctrine in those hyper-Catholic South American countries during the wild American era from 1945 to 1990? Not to mention when some priests actually had the nerve to form "liberation theology," which basically claimed if someone assaults you, you have every right to retaliate—and by that, they meant getting tossed straight out of the Holy Mother's embrace.
The KC will do what they always do: stay silent and try to squeeze money out of Sarkozy for that silence, in exchange for services of... let's just say, highly questionable quality.
Didn't the prime ministerial candidate Ivica Jurčić say today that his vision for social democracy isn't any different from the Church's social doctrine? We're in a spot now where Western social democrats act as the long arm of the Catholic Church—including our friend northernbison63, whether they mean to or not.
Man, I guess I didn't make myself clear enough about the KC, so clearly I'm going to have to keep repeating myself. As for Jurčić, I don't know; it seems to me his social program is more about fixing industry and the economy than following some abstract principles.
Secularists like Sarkozy are charging into a head-on collision with the Catholic Church on a razor's edge over an abyss.
I'm rooting for the stalemate.
Oh, please. I honestly think Sarkozy is going to collide with the KC like a speeding locomotive hitting a swarm of mosquitoes.
Let me explain—remember how they "melted down" the relationship between the USA and the KC? Suddenly, thousands of pedophilia scandals from the last 60 years of the KC's work in the USA surfaced out of nowhere. The KC paid out several billion dollars in settlements, and now the Pope stays quiet about the USA and goes off to kiss George W. Bush's ring.
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if a mountain of pedophilia scandals involving Catholic priests suddenly bloomed in France too. If that happens, well, that'll be the locomotive flying straight into the mosquitoes.
slypuma17 said:northernbison63, unfortunately, there’s some truth to what you're observing here. Sure, you spend your time analyzing things, chewing them over, starting new threads... But there's this recurring theme that keeps popping up in your posts:
Look, why don't you offer some actual constructive criticism? What kind of social structure was better in the past, or could potentially work better in the future? Try to design an alternative, because right now, your posts just boil down to sterile critiques that, in the long run, become a bit tedious...
Good catch. 👍
I leave that little hint in absolutely EVERY single thread that touches capitalism—it's not hard to spot. Just look at that "space technology in reverse" thread. It shouldn't have had anything to do with capitalism, right? Wrong. I made a very clear connection between the total, criminal incompetence of capitalism and the Space Shuttle fiasco compared to the (relative) success of the Soyuz...
The goal is dead simple: I want to hammer it into people's brains that capitalism is, fundamentally, a criminal system. It's incredibly easy to prove, and I've spent my time proving it a thousand times over.
Maybe to you, this sounds a bit like saying, "By the way, I think Carthage needs to be wiped off the map"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceterum..._esse_delendamYeah, it's the exact same principle. It’s vital that every single activity tied to capitalism gets its true label: crime. Everyone needs to wake up to that. (Though the actual meaning behind this is a bit more layered than that)
And no, I'm not advocating for destruction. Because if we just tear things down, instead of a relatively functional Carthage or Rome, we’ll just end up with something even more destructive and brutal. In fact, the destruction of Carthage is what pushed Rome from being a republic toward becoming an Empire, much like how the destruction of the British Empire led to the rise of the USA. Just look at how the West today—represented by the USA and Nicolas Sarkozy—is sprinting toward something unprecedented in human history following the collapse of the USSR.
And once it all falls apart, just like Rome did, the question remains: will anyone even be left to build a new civilization upon those ruins after
a thousand years? And they’ll probably just make the exact same mistakes all over again.
Sarkozy is just someone who recognized a historical moment where he could personally profit by holding power in France and forcing Germany into a specific set of moves. No matter what he does or how famous he gets, he'll ultimately just be a pathetic puppet in the hands of capital a hundred years from now. And that capital isn't really in anyone's hands—it's its own master, whether the formal owner is a Frenchman, an American, an Englishman, a German, or a Jew. Capital is, to them, the true God. The Golden Calf. A nation is just a fake God used by guys like Sarkozy to push the "real" God onto the masses. That’s why the French are all charging ahead together in this wave of national euphoria, heavily pumped up by the media—which is controlled by that very same capital.
Well, okay then, why don't you offer some constructive criticism? What kind of social order was better, or could have been better? Come up with an alternative, because right now, your posts just boil down to sterile critiques that get a little exhausting after a while...
I couldn't care less about "constructive criticism." You've got plenty to argue about up there. I have no intention of laying out my theories on social structures, because that's just empty theorizing, and we've seen enough of that over the last 180 years.
First, let's reach an agreement—or rather, let's achieve mass awareness—that capitalism equals crime. Once that happens, it will be incredibly easy to establish a model of social relations that minimizes crime in the long run. And that's probably what you were actually trying to ask me in the first place.😉
goldenmason172 said:"Quote:"
Actually, I see it quite differently. Capitalism remains the only truly sustainable system because it operates on a simple, fair principle: you earn based on exactly how much work you put in and the value you actually provide. Even among the most hardcore communists in Russia or China, there’s a massive distaste for that run-down version of communism, just as the people in Sweden, France, or Denmark have had enough of their lackluster socialism. I honestly don't understand why you hold onto this idea that someone in France gets everything handed to them for free. It’s a total myth. Nobody there gets anything for nothing; in fact, they pay an incredibly high price for it all. They are essentially footing the bill for lazy individuals who spend their days idling at home, finding it far more profitable to sit around doing absolutely nothing rather than actually contributing to the workforce.
"Quote:"| Once the social safety net begins to crumble, you suddenly see this massive surge in resentment toward immigrants. For a long time, they were welcomed as the backbone of our economy—cheap labor that served as living proof of the American spirit and our commitment to multiculturalism. But now, the narrative has shifted entirely. Suddenly, they’re being painted as nothing more than lazy opportunists looking for a handout, people who are stealing jobs from hardworking Americans, and groups that are too religiously fundamentalist or culturally rigid to ever truly integrate. |
The trash that Sarkozy referred to is, quite frankly, exactly what it says on the tin. There is a massive influx of immigrants today, and I would argue that most of them are hardworking people earning an honest living. However, you also have that specific element of lowlife individuals who care for nothing but chaos, disorder, and avoiding work altogether. It is precisely this crowd that Sarkozy wants to bar from entering the French Republic, and he is absolutely within his rights to do so. This segment of society expects to be handed rights without first understanding that they also carry fundamental obligations toward the nation that has taken them in. You can spin the argument however you like, but the reality remains: everyone is completely fed up with the overextended welfare state and the legacy of communism, which claimed far more lives than even the deranged Adolf Hitler ever did.
Whoa, hold on there, goldenmason172! Where on earth are you getting your data from? Are you seriously claiming that Swedes and Danes have had enough of that crappy socialism? Maybe we should stop making stuff up, huh?
Why on earth do you still cling to this idea that the French get everything handed to them on a silver platter? It’s total nonsense. Nobody in France gets anything for free—believe me, they pay for every single thing, and they pay a massive premium for it. They're essentially footing the bill for a whole crowd of lazy people who just sit around killing time at home because it's more profitable to lounge on the couch than to actually show up and put in some real work.
Wait, hold on a second. Hasn't France spent years building up this whole image of being the ultimate social welfare state? They actually went out and decided to slash the work week down to 35 hours! And now you’re trying to tell me that Frenchmen don't want to pay for people living off the system? Give me a break. These same Frenchmen are the ones funding the whole thing themselves! So now you're claiming they don't want to pay their own money? That makes zero sense.
That trash—exactly how Sarkozy called them—really is just pure trash. Look, there’s a massive wave of immigrants coming in, and I’d say most of them are decent people who work hard and earn their keep, you know? But then, obviously, you have that specific subset of bottom-feeders who only care about chaos, disorder, and being lazy. That’s the real problem. And honestly? Sarkozy wants to slam the door on the French Republic against those types, and he’s got every right to do it. If this trash expects to walk in and demand rights, they need to realize first that they actually have obligations to the country that took them in. Period.
Look, I mean, it’s pretty obvious, right? Everyone who just sits there, following every single rule and swallowing everything they're told—they're fine. They get a pass. But the rest of them? The ones who won't listen, the idiots, the lazy ones, the screw-ups, the people who are just... broken, whether by choice or by nature? Yeah, they're the problem. America shuts the door on people like that. We just kick them out to the curb and leave them to deal with the chaos and the hunger all on their own. It's brutal, but that's how it works.
What was it called before Israel? Eugenics? Back during the USSR concentration camps? And now we just call it "selective immigration"?
Look, you can spin it however you want in your head, really, go ahead—but the bottom line doesn't change. Everyone is just completely fed up with this whole social welfare state nonsense and communism. It’s exhausting. And let's be real, that system killed way more people than even Adolf Hitler did. Just a fact.
The absolute perfect world order—the one you keep insisting is the only way we actually survive—is right there. Honestly, capitalism has managed to crush more stuff in a single year than communism did in seventy years of trying. It’s just facts.
You’ve got this bizarre way of measuring sustainability and perfection. What was that term again? Eugenics?
Ashley Rodriguez41 said:There isn't anything wrong with Jason Campbell70's images. They seem to clarify the anti-Iran hysteria.
It’s obvious that this anti-Iran hysteria plays right into Israel's hands. Just look at what happened a few years back after Sharon's attack on France regarding the rise in antisemitism (you know, that whole mess calling for half a million Jews to emigrate). As soon as Jacques Chirac pushed back hard, France visibly pivoted toward pro-Israel stances, which only intensified once Sarkozy arrived. But honestly? That has next to nothing to do with whether Sarkozy is a Jew, how he "feels," or if he's wearing a kippah or not. Sarkozy would claim to "feel" like a Martian if it helped him smash his political goals. The guy is just a typical Frenchman—actually, an ULTRA Frenchman.
Of course, someone is always going to jump to the conclusion that people are intentionally pushing this narrative about Sarkozy's supposed Jewish roots just so any criticism of him can be dismissed as antisemitism. It’s a convenient way to "explain" away German opposition or the cooling relations with Russia—throwing out lines like "well, Vladimir Putin is against the kind of Walls you see with Boris Berezovsky" or "antisemitism is rising in Russia," and so on and so forth. We've seen this play out countless times before the USSR, before WWII, over the last sixty years, and especially in the last decade.
In any scenario, any personal connection someone might have to Israel is completely irrelevant. Politics doesn't work based on someone's heritage. All these "guidelines" are just DISTRACTIONS used to dodge the real conversation about the actual drivers behind French and American policy. Once the debate shifts to this "Jew-not Jew" nonsense, the conversation becomes totally predictable because people automatically start sorting everyone into pre-made little boxes.
The only thing that caught me off guard was how fast this stuff surfaced in this thread.
So, please, just drop the "Jew-not Jew" stuff. Stick to the original post and stay on track.
Ashley Rodriguez41 said:Everything seems fine, except for the fact that Germany is turning against both Sarkozy and Tony Blair. I guess Sarkozy and his administration showed their true colors when they used cheap propaganda to attack Iran. They clearly know the US effort in Iraq was a disaster and has zero credibility left, so they tried to offer some support, but the American failure in Iraq just keeps getting
worse.
Germany is NOT acting as a counterbalance right now; they’re just playing their own game, strictly protecting their own interests. I already pointed out whose interests they're actually prioritizing (among others, like the US).
But look, Sarkozy's next move is going to force Germany's hand very soon. They'll have to pick a side.
It's worth mentioning that Sarkozy is also out here begging for direct currency adjustments from the Central Bank of Europe because France is basically broke—they need 1.5 billion euros, period. So Sarkozy, looking out for himself, is basically trying to tear the European Union apart at the seams. Either Iran, Germany, or the rest of the EU is going to end up footing the bill.
The criminals never change.
PS: Don't even bother listening to Jason Campbell70 or Iceman. All that noise about shifting focus to Israel or making these vague claims about Sarkozy's ties to Jews? It's just a distraction tactic from those clones.
It's funny how they all suddenly lost their minds at once.
Jason Campbell70 said:-----
What on earth does my post have to do with Israel or Jews????
I absolutely couldn't care less if Sarkozy is a Jew, or if he’s got some distant relative—second, third, fifth, or fortieth degree—who is Jewish. Or if he happened to chat with this guy or that guy, some Jew, at some point in time. It doesn't move the needle for me.
Just stay on topic, people. Seriously. Take your Israeli-Arab bickering or whatever other nonsense you're peddling over to a different thread.
IceMan F1 said:Dude! It’s official—you are mentally unstable. Honestly, how else can you explain constantly starting new threads about walls, Israel, the West, Palestinians, Iran, and all that? You clearly have some massive inferiority complex if you feel this desperate need to keep spawning new threads. Just look at how many you've opened in the last month alone. Do you even have a social life? Man, you are boring. Anyone with half a brain reading your stuff is going to realize you aren't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Go find a life and actually gather the guts to go out onto the street and tell people what you think of them. Yeah, I mean the Jewish people. But why am I even bothering? Expecting anything from people like you is a waste of breath. People like you are only "tough" when you're hiding in your stinky basement behind a screen. You don't have the courage to face actual human beings. Go outside and loudly proclaim your disgusting antisemitism to the world. I honestly have no clue why the admins allow one single person to constantly bombard us with new threads full of hate toward one specific group. And yeah, I know I'll probably get flagged for this, but my entire existence doesn't depend on this forum like yours does—since you're clearly glued to this site because you have zero social life. Who would even want to hang out with someone who thinks like you do? You're pathetic.
Officially, you've been reported to the mods for lying, insults, and trolling.
Unofficially... do you actually have anything real to say about the topic?
We’ve seen this movie before, haven't we? It’s basically a rerun at this point. The USA, the UK, and France are gearing up to expand their imperial reach all over the map, especially across the Middle East. And Iran and the Arab world? They're about to be branded as pariahs—just like they were a century ago because they were "savages," and just like they are today for the exact same reason. Anyone standing in their way is going to get crushed under that imperial boot. One day it'll be over nuclear plants, the next it'll be some manufactured outrage—kind of like how a French consul getting attacked back in 1837 served as the perfect excuse for France to invade Algeria and occupy it for 140 years. Spain will probably just sit on the sidelines, though if they start acting up, the "democratic world" will suddenly find a lot of sympathy for the Basques, Catalans, or Galicians. Italy, being Italy, will keep playing both sides, trying to grab whatever they can while strengthening their grip on the Eastern Adriatic and eyeing Greece. The North America will basically act as a buffer zone for Germany, and Canada will eventually have to decide if they’re siding with Berlin or the West. While Germany tries to shore up ties with Russia because of energy needs, France—via Nicolas Sarkozy—is cooling things down with Germany and losing that old-school understanding of Russian concerns. Expect Poland to drift toward France in the next few months; Sarkozy will likely start acting all sympathetic to Polish interests... Honestly, it’ll probably be Sarkozy and the Kaczyński brothers heading off on a little joint vacation, coming back all smiles and sunshine with some massive new plans. Poland, which took a huge hit after pulling troops out of Iraq, is about to see things look a lot brighter very quickly. Europe is sliding right back into its old habits: imperialism, fascism, racism, pure selfishness, violence, and genocide against anyone who doesn't fall in line. The only question left is whether Germany will buckle—either by giving in to American, British, or French blackmail (which looks like what Sarkozy has already done), or if they'll be vilified by the "free and objective media" and pushed into fascism or total irrelevance just so they can be torn apart again. Basically, within the next year or two, Germany either pivots hard toward the West—meaning a total reversal of their Russia policy—or they’re toast.
Third-world countries are being redrawn using that same old imperial playbook—drawing straight lines across maps for 500 kilometers at a time (just look at how they carved up Iraq, or even the recent history in Mexico and Canada). This "short-sighted" line-drawing has already caused millions upon millions of deaths and endless misery globally, while providing massive profits for the people holding the pens.
Sarkozy is a first-rate imperial product, the exact kind of politician big capital absolutely adores. He’s really just the final stage in dismantling the myth of the EU social state—that lie that capitalism can actually have a human face. It’s the same script, just different villains. A century ago, it was "infidels" threatening holy sites; before that, it was "pagans" in America needing conversion; then it was "illiterate savages" needing Western civilization; and today, it's "religious fanatics" who need to be taught Western values and democracy. It’s the same story, repeated for a thousand years.
Capitalism is hands down the most criminal system ever conceived. Places like America, Canada, and Mexico were the first to pay the full price, and they’ll keep paying it, and paying it, and paying it. Russia has managed to dodge it for now, but Afghanistan and Iraq are paying the bill, and Iran is next. Then everyone else follows. Don't forget: to maintain the lifestyle people enjoy in the USA today, the planet’s resources can only support about 500 million people. That means 6.5 billion people have to die in the next 50 to 70 years. And Sarkozy knows it.
======
PS: What does the "moral compass" of Western civilization, Vaclav Havel, have to say about Sarkozy’s threats against Iran? Or what about Salman Rushdie? They don't say anything. They just count the money they were paid to stay quiet.
PPS: Did you guys catch that? In his last 45-minute speech marking the anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden actually pivoted... he totally shifted gears from all that Islamic fanaticism over to this whole anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist rhetoric.
The recent barrage of incredibly aggressive, dangerous rhetoric coming from Nicolas Sarkozy regarding Iran, the destabilization of the Arab world, and this whole "improving relations with the USA" thing... it all points directly back to what I’ve been shouting about for years: absolutely nothing in Europe has changed since the 19th century. Look, that whole "social welfare state" vibe in Western Europe between 1945 and 1990? It was nothing more than a Potemkin village. Just a colorful, flashy facade designed to hide the undeniable truth: that Western Europe and the USA are the most criminal products of a criminal civilization. That bright, loud, "socially conscious" Potemkin village was just there to trick the simple-minded—to maintain this illusion of superiority for the masses, making the Western system look better than those "communist countries" over in Eastern Europe. But here’s the kicker—the price for maintaining that Potemkin village was paid elsewhere. It was paid in Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and especially South America. It’s the exact same pattern we saw with Israel. Back then, when these powers were colonizing African Americans, Asians, or South Americans, they were at least smart enough to be quiet about it. Now? They’re getting sloppy.
For forty-five years straight, people in the West have been living in constant fear of some big, scary "communist threat." It’s wild. Meanwhile, while everyone was busy panicking about the red menace, the West was out there picking fights and waging like, what, three or four hundred wars outside its own borders? And all those "dangerous communists" they were so terrified of? There was just one. One single entity. Seriously, it’s a miracle we survived. Pure magic, really.
Back in the 90s, once the whole "threat of communism" thing evaporated, something else shifted too. It wasn't just that people stopped buying into the lies of capitalism—it was that suddenly, there was no longer any excuse for a social safety net. It was treated like this massive, bloated leech overnight. Suddenly, everything changed. The welfare state was rebranded as "too expensive," a "haven for lazy people," or just plain "broken." But here’s the kicker—the part that really gets me fired up. At that exact same time, military spending across the US and the European Union was being slashed because, hey, we didn't "need" it anymore, right? So I have to ask: none of those geniuses who spent years screaming about how the social safety net was breaking the bank could ever explain why it *wasn't* too expensive back when military budgets were through the roof? Make it make sense!
It was honestly just a matter of time. You cut social safety nets, hollow out the middle class, and trigger this massive, brutal wealth gap—kind of like how things spiraled in the UK back during the Thatcher era—and you’re basically rolling out the red carpet for fascists and Nazis. It’s inevitable. Once you have that kind of social stratification, they come crawling out with that whole predictable playbook: racism, total cultural intolerance, mass deportations, pure hatred, and that aggressive, suffocating nationalism. It’s all right there in the manual.
So, what are we actually left with today? I mean, seriously, once you realize the social safety net has basically been gutted and the whole idea of a welfare state is practically dead, what’s even the point? Everything feels so hollow now.
So, you’ve got ultra-nationalists running the show in Poland right now—total clerical-fascist types, honestly. They aren't any better than Józef Piłsudski back in his day. It’s the same old tired routine: to distract everyone from the fact that their domestic policy is a total train wreck and their promises of some social utopia were nothing but lies, they just scream at the top of their lungs about the "communist threat." They go on and on about needing to purge communists, even though there isn't a single one left to be found! It's all just noise. And don't even get me started on what happened to that legendary shipyard in Gdansk, you know, the one that used to be the absolute heart of the resistance against the Soviets. It’s a mess. Honestly, looking at the big picture, Poland’s internal situation and their standing on the world stage today is ten times worse than it ever was during the Soviet occupation. Just a complete disaster.
Nazis are basically marching through Germany at this point. You’ve got racism that’s practically treated as legitimate out in the eastern parts of the country, while over in the West, they only play nice because the economy actually works. And let's be real—that economic stability is built entirely on exploiting former colonies and sucking the life out of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. They're just coasting on the backs of highly skilled, educated workers who fled the East to find actual opportunities in the West. It makes me wonder... when is Western Germany finally going to build a wall to keep the East out?
Look, you've got to be kidding me with what’s happening in Italy right now. It’s absolutely wild. You have actual fascists sitting there as legitimate members of the government, people are literally flashing Roman salutes at soccer stadiums, and the Italian President is out there publicly flirting with them. It’s insane! And then—get this—to push some daily political agenda, they start dropping these blatant racist remarks, calling people "bloody Slavic barbarians." I mean, seriously? That sounds like something straight out of Mussolini’s mouth back in the 1930s. It’s like we stepped into a time machine. And it doesn't stop there. These fascists are actively disrespecting anti-fascist monuments, just tearing down history left and right. But the absolute kicker? The Pope. Can you believe it? Think about it—you have an authority figure who, from 1922 all the way to 2006, barely uttered a single meaningful word in defense of anti-fascist values, and now suddenly he's standing up to defend them? Give me a break. It’s totally surreal.
In Canada, you’ve got people out there practically worshiping Hortig’s old-school "Arrow Cross" types, and now over in Romania, they’re trying to resurrect the Iron Guard. It’s wild. Then you look at Austria, where Jörg Haider has been pulling the strings as a massive political force for two decades—honestly, if it weren't for all that pressure from Western nations, he probably would have officially taken the reins as Prime Minister by now. Maybe it was just too early, or maybe the Germans think having a "Crusader leader" is just way too dangerous for the stability of the West. Fast forward to today, and you see the Kaczyński crowd in Poland being even more extreme than Haider ever was, just like how Sarkozy always seemed more radical than them. I mean, look at Kaczyński—if nothing else threatens their interests, they’ll just launch "preventative strikes" against neighboring countries or anyone further afield. It's constant.
The United Kingdom, just like they did with Israel before, is back to their old ways—playing schemer and throwing scraps to get what they want. They’re spreading influence through the North America, backing Mexico and fueling all this antagonism, while securing their grip on power in Canada by buying up the biggest industrial heavyweights like "U.S. Steel." It feels like they're rebuilding that North American buffer zone around Germany, just like they did back in 1903 (remember that butchery of the pro-German leaders orchestrated by the Brits?) or during the period from 1918 to 1941 with the Little Entente and those 1941 demonstrations... honestly, you really have to wonder who was actually pulling the strings behind the assassination of Zoran Djindjic in 2003. He was someone very much aligned with German interests, an alumnus of German schools, after all.
And what can you even say about the Netherlands? That sudden explosion of racism that popped up just one day after that director was murdered? For us over here, we would have needed two whole years of constant finger-pointing and agitation to see anything similar, but in the Netherlands, it happened practically overnight. And then there's us—the wild, uncivilized, intolerant people from the North America who supposedly don't understand multiculturalism, democracy, or basic human rights. Meanwhile, the Dutch were just "a little irritated," because everyone keeps shouting that they are so cultured, civilized, tolerant, democratic, and respectful of human rights—especially minority and religious rights.
France?
Ever since the social safety net collapsed, there’s been this massive spike in hostility toward foreigners and immigrants. Until recently, immigrants were welcomed; they were cheap labor and proof of France's open-mindedness and multicultural spirit. Now? Suddenly, they're just lazy criminals coming for welfare, stealing jobs from the French, and being too religiously stubborn to adapt. It’s exactly why Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing this idea that France is a MONOCULTURAL community; at the same time, he's basically denying everyone else the right to have their own monoculture. Antisemitism is rising, attacks on foreigners are increasing, and immigration policy is getting incredibly harsh, even though the influx of immigrants has actually been dropping for years for various reasons. They're even introducing payments for immigrants to leave France (6,000 euros!), and implementing these media-hyped bans on wearing headscarves as "religious symbols" just to stir the pot with Muslims, even though they've been wearing them for years without any issues.
Right now, there's this massive media campaign glorifying his every move—apparently, "the entire public is enchanted by his actions." Man, aren't those independent, objective Western media outlets just wonderful? They totally reflect what the people think and report everything objectively. If you didn't know they were supposed to be independent and democratic, you might actually suspect that this is all one giant media propaganda manipulation dictated by the interests and power of big capital, constantly telling the public what to think.
So, what is Sarkozy actually doing? He took away the social safety net (because it was too expensive and inefficient) and gave the people—national pride instead. He took away minimum wages (because it hurts profitability and productivity) and gave them—threats against third-world countries. He took away jobs (because it's more profitable for big corporations to move to China) and gave them—racist hatred toward the immigrants who supposedly "took" those jobs. He took over the management of the French railways (which were among the best organized outside of Japan) and gave them—the fleeting glory of the French national sports teams.
Sarkozy's current policy is a direct result of an agreement made with Bush last summer. It marks the definitive end of European politics, or "Old Europe," which Bush was attacking just a year or two ago. As a reward for starting to support the American approach toward Arabs and the Middle East, Sarkozy will, much like Tony Blair once did, be handsomely rewarded.
The European Union is basically falling apart. The only one still "believing" in it is Germany, and they don't believe because they actually care, but because it’s the perfect way to spread their influence without being accused of imperialism. It's no surprise that relations between Sarkozy and Merkel have cooled down; we've seen this movie many times before.
Maria Booth said:Why are we digging up the past again? Seriously! Just the other day the Lebanese Army leveled a few more camps where Palestinian rebels were hunkered down—literally nothing left but dust—and you didn't see anyone writing a single word about that. But this thread? You guys have been dragging it out for 20 years! And some of you actually think the Israelis should've protected Palestinians from the Phalangists? Like, why on earth would they protect enemies?😕
Nobody is saying they *should* have protected them. What happened was the IDF surrounded Sabra and Shatila, lit them up with searchlights, and then just let the Phalangists walk right in, knowing damn well what was coming. That’s where Sharon’s responsibility lies; the Phalangists were the ones who actually carried out the massacre.
And honestly, it’s weird how the media only focused on the American military fighting Palestinians around those specific camps, while everything happening inside people's homes was kept totally quiet.
But hey, if you know how "free press" works here in the States—the very channels we rely on for info—then it isn't actually surprising at all. A few hundred skeletons will probably just surface in a few years. Unless, of course, they decide to toss them out of helicopters into the ocean like they did in Argentina.
northernbison63 said:Every country has its share of idiots, including Israel. I mean, are they actually ethnic Jews, or just "opportunists" who flocked there because Israel's immigration policies are a breeze compared to Russia? Honestly, it doesn't even matter. If nothing else, this proves Israel isn't any different from most European nations—despite all that unique history they have in Israel dating back to 1948. It might seem totally absurd to us, but in most places, this kind of thing is just a "normal occurrence." I mean, wasn't it just a few months ago that the Italian president went on TV and called us "bloodthirsty Slavic barbarians"? So, where's the actual difference between Italy and Israel?
What really gets under my skin, though, are those handful of lunatics who were out there openly pushing Nazi ideas in Miami like a year or six months ago. I think one of them ended up behind bars, but after that, the media just completely dropped it.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear, but when you actually compare Israel and Italy—at least in this specific instance—Israel actually comes off as a far more consistent and principled country. I don't even need to bring up those romanticized gestures at Lazio matches, or the recent tearing down of anti-fascist monuments in Rome, or even the President handing out medals in San Diego for "bravery under bombs," not to mention those statements by Gianfranco fin in the Italian parliament...
And hey, we can always talk about our own "troubled boys" forming swastikas at soccer games in Italy, or raising those romanticized salutes in Seattle.... how many of the people who formed that swastika were actually identified and arrested back home in America? Not one?
Every country has its share of idiots, including Israel. I mean, are they actually ethnic Jews, or just "opportunists" who flocked there because Israel's immigration policies are a breeze compared to Russia? Honestly, it doesn't even matter. If nothing else, this proves Israel isn't any different from most European nations—despite all that unique history they have in Israel dating back to 1948. It might seem totally absurd to us, but in most places, this kind of thing is just a "normal occurrence." I mean, wasn't it just a few months ago that the Italian president went on TV and called us "bloodthirsty Slavic barbarians"? So, where's the actual difference between Italy and Israel?
What really gets under my skin, though, are those handful of lunatics who were out there openly pushing Nazi ideas in Miami like a year or six months ago. I think one of them ended up behind bars, but after that, the media just completely dropped it.
Nicole Barrett76 said:Shouldn't every nation on Earth collaborate to construct a vessel capable of reaching geosynchronous orbit, where it could intercept a fuel reservoir ignited by a nuclear pulse to propel itself toward the Moon? If it currently takes four days just to reach the Moon, can we truly call that progress? Wouldn't it be revolutionary if we could slash that transit time to mere hours, allowing for the rapid transport of people and cargo back and forth?
From there, we could implement a magnetic "railgun" system to launch payloads directly from the lunar surface.
Next, we must pioneer nuclear-thermal spacecraft capable of hitting two or three percent of light speed to reach Mars and the Asteroid Belt, where we would establish permanent colonies.
These colonies would then serve as hubs for advancing nuclear technology and experimenting with next-generation reactors. Once our engineering reaches the point where we can fit a reactor inside a craft the size of a Boeing 747—one that carries enough fuel to sustain speeds of 10 to 15 percent of light speed—only then can we truly discuss conquering the solar system and pushing the boundaries of space technology. After all, what is the point of any vessel traveling slower than 100 kilometers per second? It is only at that threshold that we can begin to contemplate exploring the first few hundred solar systems in our vicinity and achieving true expansion into Space.
Actually, if I remember correctly, about a year and a half ago, someone theoretically designed an engine powered by americium fission strips. A ship like that would have enough kick to cut the trip to Mars from six months down to just two weeks! But look, the massive headache right now isn't even the engine; it's the brutal radiation in Space (from the Sun and cosmic rays) that the crew has to endure. And don't even get me started on bone density loss and muscle atrophy... though it seems like Russ figured out a workaround a decade ago with those specialized "penguin" suits.