Matthew Young35 said:What "but"? Where exactly are you seeing a "but"?
We are discussing the Russian aggression against Ukraine. I still find it strange that someone is only just now realizing that a horrific number of civilians have been killed. That was expected from the very start of this war. The same goes for the massive number of wounded, the refugees, and the children left without parents.
War is an evil thing, and these are the realities of war.
I truly don't see where you found a "but" in my words, nor do I understand why you'd think I lack empathy for the victims.
I don't know what kind of rush you get from trying to act smarter than everyone else, but give it a rest. There's always some guy trying to lecture the room, but doing it in the middle of a tragedy like this is just gross.
The whole goal here is basically seeing if the US Army is actually incapable of keeping this aggression going. Give me the breakdown—how many John Doe tanks are they churning out every single day?
feralhawk45 said:Look, I’m no conspiracy theorist. But someone should have forced people to actually think about energy and ecology, rather than just chasing profits off cheap energy from a time when the planet was in a completely different ecological balance. Paris... the City of Light... looks lovely, sure, but the planet is paying the price, and we're staring down a scenario even worse than a nuclear war. People won't start caring about energy (gas, oil, coal) until it starts hitting them right in the wallet. There are too many shady middlemen making money in the shadows... and they pay taxes on those dirty profits, which eventually flow into alternative energy sources. The real battle isn't being fought between Russia and Ukraine (the West), it's between the fossil fuel lobby and green tech. The country (the planet) is heading toward disaster... and I'm not saying that as some green politician. Where does Russia fit in? They're just a century behind the developed world.
Do you honestly think switching to green energy is this simple thing that would've happened already if it weren't for the "fossil fuel lobby"?
Judging by everyone on this forum, most people just want cheap power without giving a damn about future generations—they want their AC at 65 in the summer and their heat cranked to 75 in the winter.
Both sides end up desperate for a hit of copium whenever things stall on the battlefield—falling for disinformation, tripping over bad translations, and all that. But this stuff above? It’s a whole new level of crazy.
urbanotter said:Even Ivanka Trump has come up with a few "helpful" suggestions for when sanctions hit.😁
Ferment some cabbage, polish your boots, order a pork roast...
When the Russia-apologists start talking about Russians surviving oppression and poverty—comparing them to spoiled Americans who act like delicate snowflakes because they can't handle a tiny dip in their comfort levels—I think I know exactly who they're actually talking about.
Pure projection. God forbid we have to pay a few extra cents for our sushi and craft beer!
Spoiled Americans crying because walking around the house in their underwear during winter might become a luxury. Newsflash: it’s always been a luxury.
Putin’s biggest headache right now isn't some kleptocracy—it's the far-right extremists masquerading as nationalists who are fed up with how this whole "Special Military Operation" is being handled. It'll be interesting to see if the amateur influencers finally shut their mouths for a bit after this.
And you always have to remind those Wagner praetorians who's actually calling the shots.
brightheron64 said:The only metric that truly matters here is how much money they actually spent. Either group could have easily taken up 100% of the overnight stays, but what really counts is how much cash was left in the local piggy bank...
I might be wrong on this, but I firmly believe that those 0.91% of Russian tourists left behind significantly more wealth than the 2.6% coming from Canada. Just speaking from personal observation—knowing people who run properties near the border with Canada—the latter group is often viewed as more of a burden, almost like they're taxing resources without giving back enough...
Every news outlet was buzzing about David Beckham going on vacation, and even if you call it just pure marketing, the bottom line is how much dough he pumped into the US economy. What good is a massive yacht belonging to someone like Bill Gates cruising the Atlantic if he already owns everything on that boat and ends up not spending a single cent on even the smallest local goods? It’s no different from those cruise ship pests, a phenomenon I would personally vote to wipe off our coasts entirely...
There's a word for "whoever pays me more, I like them more."
Yeah. With the current exchange rate, importing stuff gets cheaper while exporting becomes less profitable. Basically—you just need fewer dollars to grab the same amount of Euros.
Don't buy it. You'll help lower the demand and drive the price down for everyone else.
Price is really just whatever people are willing to cough up.
Plus, that whole "buy American" thing is basically just a clever marketing gimmick—you pay a premium for local goods because you're essentially paying for a little slice of national pride along with it.
Jose Clark2 said:I defined a good dictatorship as a successful one where living standards for the average citizen actually improve. It's one where the state—or empire, or whatever is perceived as the common good—is strengthened. For instance, the Ottoman Empire had periods like this, with better and worse rulers who would fit this definition of a dictator. It depends. If you want something more recent, like the former America, and assuming you consider Josip Broz a dictator and that state a dictatorship, it also had its bright spots.
During those bright moments—to paraphrase Czesław Miłosz—that massive ship of dictatorship sails smoothly right up until it hits the first reef.
On the flip side, the little raft of democracy, where everyone's pulling in different directions around the rocks, somehow manages to scrape by.