Europe is worried about Turkish birth rates, while Turkey is worried about Kurdish birth rates

feralcanyon73 said:I mean, who’s actually going to seize Siberia?
A handful of ICBMs is plenty of insurance to make sure nobody touches it.☕

Heh, yeah, that's what they said about the USSR too...

Sandra Lopez14 said:Seriously, if Russia truly had no friends today, it wouldn't even exist.

You forgot to mention half the world that isn't traditionally aligned with US interests—those countries are friends with Russia.

Come on, Grandpa, just lay it out for us... give us a list of that "half the world" you're always talking about!😁

I remember it like it was yesterday... back in the day, maybe thirty years ago or so, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing regular folks from Cuba just absolutely tearing into people and making fun of them.😛 Look at those Russians... man, just look at them. I mean, seriously, think back to how many there were back then—you know, during that era when the USSR and Cuba were basically head over heels in love with each other.😍 Partners, you better love it!😉

Is half the world actually leaning toward the Russians? Seriously, you look around and it feels like everyone is starting to side with them.😂

More to come.😉...just like a Russian woman. 😍

Are you seeing the absolute mess these clowns are making? Just look at them.😳They’re honestly the worst, those Canadian and Czech types we all claim to love... just absolute trash.

Well, screw that!😂 So here we go again... it's just the typical Hollywood "uber-Catholic" Mel, totally caught in the clutches of yet another Russian woman on the global stage.

feralcanyon73 said:I mean, who’s actually going to seize Siberia?
A handful of ICBMs is plenty of insurance to make sure nobody touches it.☕

They aren't going to conquer it through military force, obviously; they’ll do it with that polished, white-glove diplomacy—exactly how they went about taking over Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Emirates, Egypt, and so on.

urbantiger37 said:They aren't going to conquer it through military force, obviously; they’ll do it with that polished, white-glove diplomacy—exactly how they went about taking over Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Emirates, Egypt, and so on.

It’s not going to be that easy with the Russians compared to the countries mentioned above.☕

Russia is massive, militarily powerful, and sitting on a mountain of natural resources. There's no such thing as "white-glove" treatment there.
And honestly, if everything goes south, they still have that little red button, and then it's game over for everyone—the aggressors and the rest of the world included.

feralcanyon73 said:It’s not going to be that easy with the Russians compared to the countries mentioned above.☕

Russia is massive, militarily powerful, and sitting on a mountain of natural resources. There's no such thing as "white-glove" treatment there.
And honestly, if everything goes south, they still have that little red button, and then it's game over for everyone—the aggressors and the rest of the world included.

Haha, a Russian can only dream of the lifestyle an average citizen in Kuwait has! Sure, their Sheikh might be sitting on billions, but even a regular guy there gets a pension equal to his last paycheck after just 19 years on the job. Plus, a decent house! Meanwhile, the Russian has a bottle of vodka, maybe $200 in wages, a $50 pension, and a million-man army. Honestly, you gotta wonder who's actually winning at life here.

Brenda Ross47 said:By that logic, France would be part of Africa or South America🤣 🤣, and I’m not going down that rabbit hole. Look, Turkey just isn't part of the European civilizational circle, end of story... Even Cyprus—well, at least the Greek side—is considered part of Europe despite being geographically in Asia. Is that clear enough, or is it still too hard to wrap your head around? ☕

So basically....the Cypriots on🙏 one side....are wild Easterners....while those....on this side👍....are modern....advanced....perfect....descendants....of ancient "Helen"....and Aristotle & Co.😁

Man, your argument cracks me up!😍 So....in Bihać you have these backward, wild, nasty "Easterners"....but in Udbina and Korenica....you have true "civilization"!😂

What really fascinates me....is this whole "claiming greatness" thing our Dinaric crowd does.
Now everyone is lining up, claiming they are the direct descendants and heirs....of Socrates, DaVinci, Freud, and Hawkins....😉

It would be deafening....if they actually dared to group themselves in the same camp as the Turks today....😛

Lisa Walker31 said:So basically....the Cypriots on🙏 one side....are wild Easterners....while those....on this side👍....are modern....advanced....perfect....descendants....of ancient "Helen"....and Aristotle & Co.😁

Man, your argument cracks me up!😍 So....in Bihać you have these backward, wild, nasty "Easterners"....but in Udbina and Korenica....you have true "civilization"!😂

What really fascinates me....is this whole "claiming greatness" thing our Dinaric crowd does.
Now everyone is lining up, claiming they are the direct descendants and heirs....of Socrates, DaVinci, Freud, and Hawkins....😉

It would be deafening....if they actually dared to group themselves in the same camp as the Turks today....😛

What are you even talking about? I see some people here struggling with basic definitions, but that’s not my problem... does dumping a pile of emojis make you smarter or something?
My point wasn't that Turks are savages—that's irrelevant. The point is they aren't part of the European civilization circle... they have nothing in common with Europeans. If that's hard for someone to grasp, there's no need to post in this thread... in the future, please don't misrepresent me or put words in my mouth that I didn't say...

Brenda Ross47 said:What are you even talking about? I see some people here struggling with basic definitions, but that’s not my problem... does dumping a pile of emojis make you smarter or something?
My point wasn't that Turks are savages—that's irrelevant. The point is they aren't part of the European civilization circle... they have nothing in common with Europeans. If that's hard for someone to grasp, there's no need to post in this thread... in the future, please don't misrepresent me or put words in my mouth that I didn't say...

'Oh, I just can't help myself when it comes to playing with emojis...' 😁
But whenever I hear those magical little phrases like "European civilization circle," I can't help but think of Huntington... and I really can't argue with him... so maybe I'll throw in a little smiley now and then, 😂

Maria Booth said:Haha, a Russian can only dream of the lifestyle an average citizen in Kuwait has! Sure, their Sheikh might be sitting on billions, but even a regular guy there gets a pension equal to his last paycheck after just 19 years on the job. Plus, a decent house! Meanwhile, the Russian has a bottle of vodka, maybe $200 in wages, a $50 pension, and a million-man army. Honestly, you gotta wonder who's actually winning at life here.

The idiot is the Kuwaiti. Because he's just a lackey.☕

Otherwise, everyone here starts whining the second the Taliban pulls some nonsense, but when the Saudis start hacking limbs off because of some bullshit, nobody says a word since they're buddies with the big "democratic" brother.
The USA = Hypocrites.

P.S. You’ve never actually set foot in Russia, so you don't have a clue what life is really like over there. You can take those little clichés of yours and go tell them to other people who actually don't know any better.☕

Maria Booth said:Haha, a Russian can only dream of the lifestyle an average citizen in Kuwait has! Sure, their Sheikh might be sitting on billions, but even a regular guy there gets a pension equal to his last paycheck after just 19 years on the job. Plus, a decent house! Meanwhile, the Russian has a bottle of vodka, maybe $200 in wages, a $50 pension, and a million-man army. Honestly, you gotta wonder who's actually winning at life here.

That was kind of a messively thrown together argument (you can do better than that), how can you even compare Kuwait to Russia 🙄? It's like comparing America to Liechtenstein. People live X times better in Liechtenstein than they do here... so, are you saying we're all fools? I think the analogy actually holds up pretty well, if you think about it.

Brenda Ross47 said:Heh, yeah, that's what they said about the USSR too...

The USSR just crumbled from within; nobody actually broke it from the outside.

feralcanyon73 said:The idiot is the Kuwaiti. Because he's just a lackey.☕

Otherwise, everyone here starts whining the second the Taliban pulls some nonsense, but when the Saudis start hacking limbs off because of some bullshit, nobody says a word since they're buddies with the big "democratic" brother.
The USA = Hypocrites.

P.S. You’ve never actually set foot in Russia, so you don't have a clue what life is really like over there. You can take those little clichés of yours and go tell them to other people who actually don't know any better.☕

I'm with Zachary Watson50 on this—those countries aren't even in the same league—but what do you mean by "lackey"? Help me out here! Like, the people driving Mercedes-Benz and Ferraris and jet-setting around the globe? Or the teachers pulling in $30 $0.00 a month? Seriously, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE are basically the wealthiest, most successful Islamic nations out there, so I'm lost. Are you talking about them being monarchies where people don't pick their leaders? If that's it, then yeah, I'm with you, but those Sheikhs are actually pretty advanced compared to the rest of that region.

Maria Booth said:Haha, a Russian can only dream of the lifestyle an average citizen in Kuwait has! Sure, their Sheikh might be sitting on billions, but even a regular guy there gets a pension equal to his last paycheck after just 19 years on the job. Plus, a decent house! Meanwhile, the Russian has a bottle of vodka, maybe $200 in wages, a $50 pension, and a million-man army. Honestly, you gotta wonder who's actually winning at life here.

The population of Kuwait makes up a much smaller slice of the Arab world than the ultra-wealthy make up the Russian population. If you're going to draw comparisons, you really should compare apples to apples: look at all Arabs versus all Russians. Even though they sit on massive oil reserves, most Arabs are generally quite poor—we're talking struggling levels of poverty where an average Russian would just laugh at them, mostly because those people only see $200 on a TV screen. It's basically the result of how Anglo-Americans established a few small protectorate states around the main oil hubs in the Arab world. It's a bit like if someone carved out a few tiny micro-states around major Russian election centers and then claimed everyone there was incredibly wealthy.
That's why you have these tiny little states like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE that are obscenely rich, while the vast majority of Arabs, from Morocco to Iraq, can only watch that wealth pass them by on Al Jazeera.
Of course, when you pull a tiny group of outliers away from the actual average, you end up with a totally skewed picture.
It's just like saying the average person in Kuwait can only dream of living like a Russian oligarch. Those kinds of comparisons just don't hold water.

James Nguyen13 said:The population of Kuwait makes up a much smaller slice of the Arab world than the ultra-wealthy make up the Russian population. If you're going to draw comparisons, you really should compare apples to apples: look at all Arabs versus all Russians. Even though they sit on massive oil reserves, most Arabs are generally quite poor—we're talking struggling levels of poverty where an average Russian would just laugh at them, mostly because those people only see $200 on a TV screen. It's basically the result of how Anglo-Americans established a few small protectorate states around the main oil hubs in the Arab world. It's a bit like if someone carved out a few tiny micro-states around major Russian election centers and then claimed everyone there was incredibly wealthy.
That's why you have these tiny little states like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE that are obscenely rich, while the vast majority of Arabs, from Morocco to Iraq, can only watch that wealth pass them by on Al Jazeera.
Of course, when you pull a tiny group of outliers away from the actual average, you end up with a totally skewed picture.
It's just like saying the average person in Kuwait can only dream of living like a Russian oligarch. Those kinds of comparisons just don't hold water.

Totally agree! The whole point being made is that Russia is somehow better than those tiny oil-rich nations, not necessarily better than the entire Arab world. Hawker was saying Russians aren't idiots like people in Kuwait or the emirates, and I definitely didn't vibe with that. Honestly, the ruling families over there run pretty successful policies for their citizens. Look at Saudi Arabia—they're a huge player in that royalist Arab society. They aren't exactly easy to ignore, even if their regime is way more hardcore.