BruceVC

http://www.10news.com/newsy/russia-blocks-the-un-from-investigating-syrian-chemical-attack http://globalnews.ca/news/3370667/russia-syria-chemical-attack-united-nations-investigation/ Again the hypocrisy of Russia is demonstrated, after Putin demanded an UN investigation into the Syrian chemical attacks Russia then vetoed the proposed investigation..... Yeah Putin we really believe Assad is innocent

I would be interested in what Gromnir thinks about this? I had to do some research on this to see why it was considered offensive to NA but Im sure there will be different opinions on this within the NA community

I am not laughing at the death of the Mexican I am just imagining some sort of " US Bizarro Plane company " where passengers do indeed get kicked off the plane in mid-flight but this would be considered a normal part of the legal seating process ....its funny if you have my sense of humor

Its interesting how depending on where we live different pizza ingredients are considered acceptable or not We have chatted about this before but for example in SA banana and pineapple are very common. I always have multiple ingredients on my PIzza, I dont support these " pizza traditionalists " who claim you cant use ingredient x or ingredient y Sure in Naples you find pizza places that basically only serve 2 ingredients and anything more is considered " pizza heresy " But since I dont live in Italy I make or order whatever Pizza I want

Bennie its very simple Can state violence against a) other states : Yes in times of war b) other states people : Yes in times of UNSC sanctioned military missions for example c) it's own people: Yes when a country faces insurrection or some internal group tries to overthrow a legitimate government illegally. For example some kind of Communist protest, you immediately arrest people and crush the uprising ruthlessly Can individual violence (outside of any form of self defence) against a) other individuals : Depends, you may discovery a family member has been the victim of abuse and cant control yourself b) the state : No unless its an illegal government b) the state of other people : No you as individual need to follow the law and not break the law of other countries, you have less rights or protection if you do this sometimes be justified, and if so when?

Wheres the cutoff for whining? Did you know that my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandpappy, Augustus Gvtedus XIVIIXIII! was fed to the lions in Rome for being a Christian? I tried to get reparations from the Italian government but they told me "così pisciare su un recinto elettrico". Nah, I'm just kidding. I suppose I feel that once the event is over and the threat is removed, people should stop acting persecuted. You would hate some of the discussion in SA then Due to Apartheid we have groups of white people who are wracked by guilt for numerous historical events and also have somehow accepted or now believe we as white South Africans are responsible for every historical genocide or abuse of indigenous people in the world For example the one day this young white girl phones in on one of the talk shows and tells the black talk show host " we as white people have no respect for cultures ", she then proceeded to give an example of young white people wearing Native American head gear at raves and how they get wasted and how it is "utterly disgusting the lack of cultural respect these white people have " Now in the USA I understand this can be offensive but the average white South African has never been to the USA and knows nothing about the history of Native Americans let alone that wearing headgear would be considered offensive So this young girl basically has read some website or been told " the only way you will be accepted in the new SA is to hate your race and phone in on talk shows to tell other white people how degenerate they are " Its actually one big guilt trip where we are suppose to accept responsibility for everything the white race has ever done globally and historically I reject those kind of unhelpful generalizations about any race

Okay but to be fair we should put this in perspective, it was more his normal habit of misspeaking and displaying different degrees of ignorance and lack of empathy He will be gone in 6 months, I guarantee it Because their is an accusation the Trump presidency is anti-Semitic but his son in law is Jared Kushner who is a close confidant of Trump and is Jewish. And his daughter converted when she married Kushner. So I find that hard to believe. Im sure there are other people within the presidency are anti-Semitic but not Trump How is it that it will take six months to remove this guy? How is it that we are okay with even the slightest chance of antisemites sitting in the White House staff? On the bright side, Trump might lead the whole system into collapse. We cant say he is anti-Semitic, he may just be very ignorant and thoughtless That's the point but either way he will be gone as he has made far too many controversial public comments when he tends to misspeak

What part about 'its tied to GDP' you don't understand? My post was just to put things in perspective for people who are saying that Germany don't contribute in for Nato and general defense for Europe. Because speaking about GDP percentages has bad habit to hide which countries actually pay for things and who are mostly freeloaders. Well, if half of the companies employing people in Czech didn't payed their taxes in Germany maybe our GDP would be better Amount of Czech's monthly exports to Germany is about 108 billion CZK (~4 billion euros) and its monthly imports from Germany is about 67 billion CZK (~2.5 billion euros), so annual trade surplus with Germany for Czech is about 40 billion CZK (1.5 billion euros). So like Trump would say Czech is bad trade partner for Germany. would be, if those companies trading were not hold by german owners. For example Skoda Auto is part of VW concern and it make up almost 20% of our GDP Czech GDP is 189.982 billion dollars, Skoda Auto's revenue is 13.8 billion dollars (7.2% of Czech GDP), but it probably uses other services in Czech so much that it impact may rise close to that 20%. But Czech Auto's operative profit is 1.23 billion dollars before taxes. It also receives tax breaks and other comprehensive income so much that it total comprehensive income for the year is 1.4 billion dollars. It reports amount corporate taxes it pay to be 227 million dollars. For Trump part it does not matter if its is German companies doing all the trade, as we can see from his comments about Mexico. I don't understand why are you trying to pull in Trump, what I am telling you that VW concern pay its taxes from revenues in Germany (probably). Of course there are some taxes from income and from cars sold directly in Czech, but majority of revenue tax is paid in Germany. Whats so complex to grasp it? West Europe sees east as cheap labor. thats it How do you see yourselves? Thats what matters, you shouldnt worry about what people think about you who dont personally know you

Bwahahahaha.... But there were people who gasped....I heard them in the live coverage

Okay but to be fair we should put this in perspective, it was more his normal habit of misspeaking and displaying different degrees of ignorance and lack of empathy He will be gone in 6 months, I guarantee it Because their is an accusation the Trump presidency is anti-Semitic but his son in law is Jared Kushner who is a close confidant of Trump and is Jewish. And his daughter converted when she married Kushner. So I find that hard to believe. Im sure there are other people within the presidency are anti-Semitic but not Trump

Do you have the link for this? I only know about the latest Spicer comments, which he apologized for, and the fact no recognition was given to Holocaust victims from the White House during the Jewish holiday

Well I can guarantee you one thing, I definitely wouldn't spend one red cent on that franchise. And most of my friends would have the same stance. I refuse to knowingly support any business that is involved in that type of discrimination

Yes I am familiar with how the contribution works but my point is the same For example the impact if a street sweeper and a millionaire have to give 10 % of their monthly earning as an additional tax the long term impact will be much harder on the street sweeper as his pool of money is less so this will have a more direct impact on his standard of living So there should be more expectation on Germany paying its 2 %

How Germany is effing up Europe if they don't want spent their money to strengthen their own defense? I understand that Nato countries maybe angry if they think that Germany don't do as what has been agreed on, and they are free to kick Germany out if nothing else helps. What? There is so many reasons I can't force myself to point them all out. But at least the basics - If we have agreenment both sides should honour it. Its manners 101 Yes this is what all NATO members should do yet only 5 NATO members are paying what they should and contributing fairly, this includes the U.S., Greece, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Poland. So its not just Germany that needs to pay more http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/NATO-Member-Countries-Trump/2017/01/25/id/770363/ I know, thats why USA requested recently that all members should pay their agreed share, and as far as I know some states responded positively - even tho they stated taht it will take few years. Some may not do it, but at least they are not shouting it into media ffs Considering that Czech uses less of their GDP to military than Germany, I would say that you should complain to your own politician first how your country don't do what is agreed on. I am, but our government promised to raise our funding, besides we are behinde Germany by 0.1 percentage Also the Czech economy and GDP is much smaller than Germany's so I would expect Germany to contribute there share with much less objection

Not at all, by reducing their economic supply-line this may lead to NK realizing they cannot sustain there aggressive and jingoistic policies China is the only reason there economy isnt in complete collapse so this is a good punitive financial measure

I cannot support this anymore than just saying ....QFT The Russian propaganda and spin doctoring become more and more incredulous as time goes on. Their current strategy doesnt even have a modicum of believability or real effort This is how Russia deals with accusations of war crimes or any accusation of bad behavior Russia was suppose to supervise and ensure that Assad destroyed all chemical weapons after the first " Obama red line " was crossed , the fact that he used them now highlights how they failed dismally in achieving this. What was the Russian response " the USA bombed Syria under false pretext " ....???? Okay that means anything But what really makes me laugh is how badly many people, including Putin, misread the Trump victory. All there interfering in the election and dissemination of fake news was to achieve a Trump victory because Russia wants sanctions dropped or reduced...and guess what ? Russia is in no better economic position than before, ostensibly you can argue the Trump presidency is more "anti-Russian " and has been equally if not more publically critical of Russia and its illegal antics like the annexing of Crimea Putin can reverse the sanctions and restore his country's economy if they simply become a more reasonable and positive contributor in the global arena, first step is they need to stop thinking they can carve up any country they want and recreate their own geographical borders which leads to understandable sanctions ...but hey thats just my opinion

Sorry WOD the world of global politics and national interests doesnt work like that especially when you consider the reality that the USA is aligned to an EU that is not eroded by the likes of Russia So its in the best interests of the USA that NATO is real and sustainable for a number of reasons The USA always will spend large amounts of money on its defense budget, to quote " The U.S. spends the most on defense of any NATO nation at $650 billion in 2016, more than double what the other 27 states spent ".....so consider the NATO payment just a part of your important contribution your taxes pays for to ensure your overall security as a US citizen and we also want a world where Western values and principles are admired and emulated globally This will lead to a more a prosperous and overall content world, remember Democracy works in most cases but it needs to be defended and supported

How Germany is effing up Europe if they don't want spent their money to strengthen their own defense? I understand that Nato countries maybe angry if they think that Germany don't do as what has been agreed on, and they are free to kick Germany out if nothing else helps. What? There is so many reasons I can't force myself to point them all out. But at least the basics - If we have agreenment both sides should honour it. Its manners 101 Yes this is what all NATO members should do yet only 5 NATO members are paying what they should and contributing fairly, this includes the U.S., Greece, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Poland. So its not just Germany that needs to pay more http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/NATO-Member-Countries-Trump/2017/01/25/id/770363/ I know, thats why USA requested recently that all members should pay their agreed share, and as far as I know some states responded positively - even tho they stated taht it will take few years. Some may not do it, but at least they are not shouting it into media ffs Yes this is also true, many NATO members have agreed to increase their contribution so its 2 % of GDP per country

How Germany is effing up Europe if they don't want spent their money to strengthen their own defense? I understand that Nato countries maybe angry if they think that Germany don't do as what has been agreed on, and they are free to kick Germany out if nothing else helps. What? There is so many reasons I can't force myself to point them all out. But at least the basics - If we have agreenment both sides should honour it. Its manners 101 Yes this is what all NATO members should do yet only 5 NATO members are paying what they should and contributing fairly, this includes the U.S., Greece, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Poland. So its not just Germany that needs to pay more http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/NATO-Member-Countries-Trump/2017/01/25/id/770363/

How Germany is effing up Europe if they don't want spent their money to strengthen their own defense? I understand that Nato countries maybe angry if they think that Germany don't do as what has been agreed on, and they are free to kick Germany out if nothing else helps. I agree, I think the decision by Germany is imprudent and lacks a degree of military foresight around the overall security of the EU but its not the end of the EU as the USA will continue to support NATO as its in the best global interests of the USA due to aggression by countries like Russia which ostensibly threaten the USA around Putins misplaced and unnecessary grand plan of creating a geographical barrier between the NATO aligned countries and Russia " Mother Russia will regain its place in the global arena by ......recreating the USSR " ?

He always has to undermine me

Guys check out the new IT trailer, it looks awesome !!!

GD do you believe Trump will "drain the swamp of Washington " ?

I wouldn't see it as the USA losing its mind, I would see the Trump election victory due to a number of factors that existed at the time. It was a perfect storm to be honest for the Trump faction and Trump ideology to win the election. But populism played a big part. I am still surprised by some of the rhetoric from both sides like Sanders claiming he would " break-up the banks " .....Im sorry but that's classic "anti-banking sentiment 101 " and could never be realistically implemented But GD his presidency hasnt been all bad, like certain foreign policy decisions, so far and that's reassuring at least

Nice, so you feel goooooooooooooood