BruceVC

What do you mean by " Russia didnt attack any countries or seize the assets " ....they invaded Ukraine and decided to unilaterally recreate the borders of a sovereign country Thats why their are Western sanctions against them, what do you mean by "unilatteral decision to ban trading"

Yes I agree, Putins War has demonstrated the Ruskies cant be trusted with legal documents or rather to honor them. The latest example of this is cutting energy to Poland and Bulgaria because of demands they must pay in Rubles but the agreed on, Russian signed legal document, says only $ and Euros are accepted currency The West should seize and auction all Russian Oligarch assets they can and give the money to Ukraine to assist and ameliorate the terrible suffering of the Ukrainian people

I have been following this on numerous international news channels, the killing of Ukrainian civilians and abuse of Ukrainian captured soldiers is much worse and widespread than I thought Some of the Russian military are acting in a more barbaric and inhumane way than I could have ever thought possible Their is definitely a case of War Crimes to be answered to on a myriad of different examples

Im not surprised the US economy contracted by 1.4%. The world has faced for 2 years unhelpful economic global lockdowns, global inflation from these lockdowns and then Putins War So yes I dont expect many countries GDP globally to grow in the next 2-3 quarters?

I was about to ask you what you mean but yes Im guilty of tautology, I should have said " Their have historically within the Russian Empire been some of the worst examples of pogroms against Jews seen anywhere in the world " Well spotted

Yes their was when the " evil, Western, Capitalist" countries were fighting the Nazi But if the Nazis had won WW2 their would only be the Third Reich and their ideology and no more " evil, Western, Capitalist " countries left because everyone would have acquiesced to their views And I dont consider the Nazi view of the world to be remotely similar to the current ideology of Western countries which are based on Constitutional Democracies Thats what I meant by no more " evil, Western, Capitalist " ideology

Absolutely agree, the contribution the likes of Robert Oppenheimer made towards ensuring the Allies victory is immeasurable because if the Nazi had developed Nukes first their appalling ideological views would be what we would all be living under No BLM and other social protests would be tolerated and their would be no " evil, Western, Capitalist " rhetoric because the views of minorities and SJ activists dont exist in the Nazi world view

Who do you typically vote for in Oz elections? I dont know much about the Oz political parties left or right leanings so if you can explain your reasons that would be great...just a summary, not too much detail

Russia has always had a love\hate relationship with Russian Jews and their important contribution towards the country Their have historically within the Russian Empire been some of the worst examples of pogroms against Russian Jews seen anywhere in the world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire And I read a fascinating book called "Stalin and the Scientists " which discusses the important scientific role Russian Jews made towards the technological advancements of the USSR but still they were treated really badly within the Soviet leadership structures, I recommend this book to understand this reality that existed within USSR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin_and_the_Scientists But nowadays Russia under Putin is rife with all forms of bigoty and its institutionalized in certain cases. And whats different about the bigotry you see in Russia compared to Western countries is their is no free media to hold people accountable or raise visibility and the Russian government doesn't care about it

Were you surprised by the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine? Im taking about the mass rape, bombing of civilian buildings and execution of hundreds\thousands of civilians with their hands tied behind their backs Or were you not surprised ?

He was executed by the new Iraqi government in 2006 and their was lots of fake news around this like he was found hiding in a hole in his underwear. But Im surprised anyone would feel aggrieved by how he was treated or arrested. Saddam Hussein was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis, Iranians and Kurds during his dictatorship. He used chemical weapons against the Kurds and Iranians. Our sympathy should be for his victims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Saddam_Hussein

Great answer Gorthfuscious , I was just checking because you not an Oz citizen yet and you dont want to be seen as opposed to the Oz political system. We can now tick that box on your application form.....you passed

@Gorth do you support the Oz system of mandatory voting?

GD thats a good point, what would you do then?

More Americans came out to vote in the 2020 election than any other as far as I remember....but at the least it was 60% or so of the total population Americans can vote by post and vote weeks in advance in many states under certain circumstances. Voting is not hard in the US despite what you may believe. It just requires some effort

Geez, no need to shout and get so mad at me I was just saying the Wests economy hasnt crashed and Russia is about to enter dark economic times in the next 2-3 quarters , dont blame me...blame Putins War

I absolutely support mandatory voting. In many Western countries you have this voting apathy and basically where people get a public holiday to vote but still refuse to vote But you will find these same people complaining about inequality. If you dont vote you shouldnt complain about the reality of the state of your country In SA we only have 55% of people who vote and 60% of young people simply dont bother to vote yet its often the young people who are most entitled and demand jobs and policy changes

Welcome back Dark " waves" Ive missed your comments . No need to worry, we still not seeing the collapse of the US economy and the EU By the way did you read this link, this is the coming reality for the Russian economy. This should concern you immensely https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-04-19/russias-central-bank-says-that-the-economy-will-plummet-in-the-second-trimester-and-putin-is-ignoring-the-warning.html

This is exactly what I would expect from the EU sanctions due to Putins War Its for security reasons I imagine, how do you know we can trust that Russian tree? Maybe it says " I am doing a tree training exercise " and suddenly ...BOOM !!! It invades the garden next door and then says its not a tree invasion but merely a " special root operation " Its best for everyone that all Russian trees are disqualified because we just cant trust them

Geez, Gorthfuscious....3 bathrooms? How many bedrooms, why dont you take some photos. I would like to see it, is it a house or apartment ?

I agree with basically everything you saying about the role women can play in any military In SA we have plenty of women in our army but I dont think many who are frontline infantry or who are in our parachute brigades And their is a huge genetic difference between testosterone levels and physical strength between men and women from birth. Thats why we dont have full contact sport between men vs women in events like rugby, boxing or football

Thats a good article. Their is no doubt that illegal and uncontrolled immigration has led to the increase of right-wing populism and increased votes for right-wing political parties But their are 2 important distinctions and realities here caused by illegal\uncontrolled immigration and your article summarizes this in stage 4. To quote The ‘activation’ of anti-immigration attitudes, combined with the widespread dissatisfaction with the immigration management was ultimately reflected in votes[2] for right-wing populist parties, which capitalized on immigration fears in parts of the population. In this sense, migration can be seen a prerequisite for the mobilization of right-wing populist support in the protest against the ‘ruling elite’. In most Democracies you have right-wing political leaning parties that normally are supported by your traditional bigots and people who are anti-immigration on any level Then you have people who believe that any immigration must be done legally with papers and it must be managed. But the failure of effective immigration policies in well meaning governments in mostly Western countries has created this strange reality where tens of thousands of people arrive illegally on your borders and if you object to it you are called "racist\Islamophobic\xenophobic " when in fact people from this group are not opposed to immigration at all, they want it to be managed So in the EU citizens in many countries end up aligning with traditional right-wing parties but its because these parties are anti-immigration or rather they dont support open borders and they recognize that all citizens have a right to say " we want control of who gets to immigrate and become an initial burden on the tax base " But this doesnt make them racist or right wing, at least not for the second group

Good reads but I think their is bias and some unfair criticism towards Germany and its response to Putins War I agree with some of it but I disagree with most it like the whole statement " Other than a dishonest agenda and blackmail, we struggle to find an explanation that would be consistent with his actions " .....no I can think of several other reasons to justify Germany not sending heavy weapons to Ukraine For example I cant see Russia ever becoming a " normal " member of the international community until Putin is gone but he will be gone one day. Then its important to have Western countries that are seen as more neutral toward Russia become part of the process to reintegrate Russia back into the global economy and be part of reducing the necessary Western sanctions once Putins War is over. Germany could be that country but Russian hubris will make it hard if a Western country has been unequivocally " anti-Russian " so by not supplying heavy weaponry it is more neutral ? I also expect every EU country to support Ukraine and condemn Putins War which Scholz has done from the beginning but every Democratically elected government in the worlds first responsibility is its own citizens and stability. Germany cannot just immediately cut energy imports from Russia because of the domestic impact. They have already abandoned Nord Stream 2 and that was a major investment for Germanys energy grid https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/the-nord-stream-2-pipeline-lies-abandoned-after-russia-invaded-ukraine.html And then the whole world didn't act meaningfully enough back in 2014 when Putin illegally and belligerently annexed Crimea and supported the eastern breakaway Ukrainian states. Its not just Germany who tried to avoid a confrontation with Russia But Putins War changed all that and now the West and NATO is more united than ever before, the West didnt start Putins War but we will finish it Finally Germany as a country and a people have done more to address its dark Nazi past than any other country I know when it comes to historical injustice and wars. They even publicly recognized the mass murder of Namibians in 1904-1908 ( I think this type of acknowledgement was well meaning but misplaced because of the unreasonable demands for redress this type of statement leads to but once again Germany felt this was the right thing to do which I respect ) So I find it ridiculous and scurrilous that anyone would suggest that overall Germany doesnt do the right thing in its public actions and statements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Island_concentration_camp

Generating additional tax revenue by buying their exports is a real, albeit small, way of supporting any country On Saturday I had a choice of what blue cheese to buy from the UK, Germany, Denmark and France. I chose France as part of the anticipated Macron victory....you can do the same?

I dont consider political correctness (PC)the same as "wokeness " or " SJWism" PC is normal and understandable. I am opposed to Wokeness and SJWism not because I want to discriminate against minorities but because its generally inconsistent, historically inaccurate, intolerant, condescending and most people who claim to be "woke " (not that many people say they woke) just want to hear one side of the narrative and arent interested in a debate.