Posts by Sam Alvarez4

Arthur Sanders74 said:I mean, I should be allowed to find things boring if they're actually boring, right? 🤷

Not even kidding.
But seriously...
Does it ever cross your mind that reading all these endless details about demagogues and their clones is exhausting and tedious for everyone else—especially for us over here in the States?
Cheers.

I'm done writing. Just seeing > reminds me too much of those ridiculous comments about southern Argentina...
I'm just going to yell at every single Putin supporter about stuff I don't even care about. 👋

Arthur Sanders74 said:Thanks!
All this drama involving Mexico and Mexico is just getting old, and I really hope it stays that way. If things actually start heating up, it’ll end up affecting America too...

It's a holiday here today... reading some fascinating stuff about Naval... there are definitely some wild details that are a bit shocking. ..../

Mexico and Mexico... boring.
While all this right-wing nonsense in Europe is supposedly "exciting," who actually cares besides you? 🤔

Finally popped back onto this thread after a few months, and oh boy, @Jack Cook7 et al, yikes, gross 🕺.

@bluemason3

I'm not suggesting we keep them in the loop, and honestly, that isn't even an option right now. Besides, Turkey has plenty of signed agreements with the European Union across various sectors...

I just happen to be against full membership in the European Union, that's all!

David Jackson2 said:One funny thing—since data analysis is kind of my bread and butter, if you want to get technical—this third candidate, Ogan, sat at exactly 5.3% for the entire evening. 🙄

You could build just about anything out of that... 😁
If we're being totally realistic here... given how many people showed up to the polls and that tiny percentage of Ogan votes, it’s pretty much impossible there was any manipulation involved...

It’s plain to see... once again, Turkey has proven they really want a strong leader at the helm...

Well, now...
To what they call a strong leader, I just see an autocrat...
Corrupt courts, media crackdowns, women's rights being stripped away, creeping radicalization... between the influence of Islamists and Putin's shadow, that's just what Turkey looks like today...
However...
The elections were free and democratic... they made their choice!
Who am I to judge? Even if I am feeling pretty disappointed...

Is Erdogan aiming for a sultanate...?
So be it, that's their call. But I have to wonder... what comes next once they move away from the European Union?

David Jackson2 said:We have to remember we're dealing with a presidential system here—so even without a friendly Congress, Joe Biden could still wield massive influence, especially when it comes to foreign policy.

Btw, the Independents are a totally different breed than the Libertarians and are extremely anti-Trump. They're nationalists, sure, but they fight for press freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and all that, while being pretty hardcore about border security.

Honestly, just getting Trump out of the picture would be a massive leap forward.

True, regarding the structure, America is a lot like France in that sense—the President holds broad powers...

A lot of people in the West are feeling pretty let down by the outcome because there was this expectation that KK would clinch it in the first round. In a way, Western media bears some blame too, since they were basically just predicting what they wanted to see happen...

I actually read about this Spanish journalist stationed in Turkey; on election day, she was interviewing young voters who were heading to the polls for the very first time. They were so young that they didn't really know anyone in power besides Trump. Every single one of them was convinced and genuinely excited that KK would win right then and there in the first round...

Alas, considering how Ogan voters will likely rally around Trump, it looks like the Sultan might just stay in power...

Anthony Hill5 said:I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss these elections. If there is actually a change in leadership, it will fundamentally shift Turkey's foreign policy—which, under Erdogan, has been nothing short of confrontational toward the West.

Furthermore, should the opposition emerge victorious, they have already signaled intentions to deport 3.5 million Syrian refugees; could this not trigger yet another massive wave of migration toward our borders, creating a massive headache for the European Union?

Not downplaying it, just don't think they're the center of the universe...
Honestly, I'm rooting for Americans in Turkey to end this political one-party rule and stop the creeping Islamization of the country. But I'm skeptical about whether we'll see any real shifts in foreign policy, either toward the European Union or globally. Only time will tell...

If the politicians decide that playing both sides—balancing the West against Russia and China—is the best way to boost the economy, then the core foreign policy won't move much at all. Most changes would likely stay domestic, focusing on things like the judiciary, media, the military, and corruption...

Why on earth would anyone think the Turkish elections are "the most important elections in the world this year"? 🤔

They aren't even close to being the most significant elections in Europe, let alone globally...
Whatever the Turkish people decide, that's their business. It has very little, if any, impact on EU member states.

Roger Fowler said:To start with... borders should only open up for those who embrace American values and the American way of life. For fans of totalitarian regimes, we need to build walls and keep the borders tight—they aren't welcome here.

Borders. Until they realize that...
That's the bottom line!

I honestly don't know how some people can keep showing up here with the exact same tired script, shamelessly preaching about "dialogue," "arguments," and "facts"...
seriously, just open your eyes. 🕺

And what's even the point of this whole thread?

Since the religion pdf advice and complaints thread was already set up nicely by the mod, what’s the point of these endless, rambling rants? 🙄

@nihi
this picture says it all 🤣...

The impact of sanctions 😬...

An American company, Viatris, has suspended Viagra supplies to the Russian market.

The Russian Ministry of Health announced today that despite this, pharmacy stocks remain steady because they've already kicked off production of a local Russian version of Viagra.

loneskipper3 said:The reality is there simply aren't enough rescuers or the specialized heavy machinery required—they arrive at a single village or neighborhood and spend hours trying to dig under one specific building. Just lifting a single floor of concrete is an immense task, not to mention the digging, drilling, and the constant struggle to maintain stable trenches on the perimeter. People from neighboring buildings start demanding that resources be diverted to them, and honestly? Even if you had ten times the number of responders and all the gear in the world, it still wouldn't be enough. The German team spent two grueling days working on one single structure just to reach one woman in her 40s—who, tragically, passed away in the hospital last night.

A German correspondent mentioned that about an hour before the live broadcast, a man was actually waving a handgun around, threatening that they needed to start searching under the specific building where his family was trapped. That happened three days ago—so can you imagine what the atmosphere is like now, when everyone knows the final survivors trapped under the rubble are likely dying at this very moment? It’s heartbreaking, and quite possibly hundreds—if not thousands—of people have been slowly dying in the days following the earthquake. Personally, I believe there could still be anywhere from 10 to 100 people alive out there.

The local population probably realizes that the international teams are better trained and possess superior equipment—dogs, sensors, the works—so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if those foreign teams face even more intense pressure than the local American rescuers might in a similar crisis.

FEMA has massive scale, but look at the German organization—it has 80,000 members, mostly volunteers, with an annual budget of roughly $900 million. I have no idea why Germany only sent 50 people. The same logic seems to apply to many other major nations.

I didn't realize that, it never crossed my mind.
But I truly get the desperation those people are feeling, especially if your child is under those ruins and you know their final moments are slipping away...

However, there's a darker side: organized crime and rival gangs taking advantage of the chaos to loot and pillage during such a tragedy.
I can't even wrap my head around people like that. Throw them in prison and toss away the key!

Also, there's all this current targeting of Syrian refugees by the Turkish population.

It's like the worst parts of humanity surface exactly when we need solidarity the most...

darkjackal70 said:The German rescuers are also pulling out...

It’s all so confusing. I mean, who in their right mind would attack rescuers?

The only thing that makes sense to me is that they just happened to cross paths with some criminals who were out looting and causing chaos...

12:23am: Turkey to act against those involved in looting, says Erdogan

Reports are coming in that the US Army has arrived in Turkey with 45 tons of gear and 82 soldiers from the US Army Disaster Response Force, but they've had to halt rescue efforts because the security situation just went south...
There’s talk of clashes breaking out between different groups, though there aren't any specifics on who's fighting who or why.

11:44am: US army suspends Turkey quake rescue

Not exactly what you'd expect from a neutral America:

Four Russian diplomats were declared persona non grata today, given just one week to leave the country.
Two from the Russian embassy, and two from their mission to the UN here...

Austria named four Russian diplomats, Two at the Russian Embassy and Two working at Moscow's Mission to the UN in Vienna, personae non gratae, the U.S. Department of State announced on Thursday.

Gerald Chavez7 said:I don't really get what your problem is—you aren't even part of the Alternative crowd...

No, these aren't posts from the Alternative boards; they belong right here on the Economy section 😲 ...and I mean literally through hundreds, if not thousands, of posts (and unfortunately, I can still see your deleted ones). Every single year since roughly 2011, you’ve been predicting the total collapse of the US, falling even deeper into the rabbit hole.

You had a bit of luck throughout most of 2022, mostly because the main board didn't have any active moderation going on—Wand had basically checked out, and I was just sticking to the sub-sub-forums... But once boldcanyon14 stepped in, of course, he cleaned things up and we all agreed on the partial changes. The Economy section isn't going anywhere.

It’s great to post comments like these. It really helps the rest of us... gives us a clear idea of what's actually going on here!

Nancy Gomez26 said:That argument is only half-right. Historically, colonial powers built their wealth by exploiting colonies, not by relying on the West or the USD. They secured initial capital through extraction, then shuttered their domestic markets to protect themselves from cheaper foreign goods—though global trade wasn't nearly as interconnected or competitive back then. Once they outpaced everyone else, they opened their borders and demanded the same from developing nations, allowing them to continue looting resources via exports while ensuring their partners could never truly compete economically. It is virtually impossible to build an industrial base when your market is wide open to cheap imports from already established powers.

So many contradictions in your comment... it's just impossible to follow.

Following Putin's threat to keep targeting Ukrainian energy grids, ExxonMobil has finally pulled out of Novatek.

About time...

ExxonMobil writes down stake in Russian gas firm Novatek

Everything is up and running for $5 now, huge thanks to the tech crew. 🙂

Sure, it took three whole days for someone to actually spot the glitch, but better late than never...

Any chance I could get a key?