Gorth

Sticky tape is your friend

Just a thought experiment on my part, but maybe the US, the UK, West Germany and other countries did their job a bit too well when supporting the Mujahedin financially, materially and politically in their fight against the Soviet Union. Lots of those old fighters (who later moved on to lead AQ and other groups) learnt that major, foreign powers can be defeated and driven off if you try hard enough, no matter how big they are. Not that the Soviet Union didn't screw up badly too, suddenly getting mixed up in an Afghan civil war between two factions.

Still better than being the poor sabre tooth squirrel

Several people (wrongly) assume that the vaccines are new. BioNTech had a decade of research already with the mRNA technology. The only thing "new" is they've repurposed it from it's intended cancer treatment to Covid treatment. We're talking about "adjustments", not innovation. Pfizer shareholders don't appear too unhappy by mass producing BioNTech's Covid vaccine instead of Viagra. Edit: The change of BioNTech's focus was probably helped a bit by some non-trivial monetary incentives from Mama Merkel. Unlike say HIV virus, Covid not only harms individuals, it hurts business. Most problems can be solved if you through enough resources at it. Humanity has so much potential locked behind a wall of stupidity.

I deleted a number of my first posts as GW started coming down hard on fan art and movies and videos getting removed from YouTube. Reposted a few from different sources

This is also the reason I prioritize the Chinese threat over anything posed by Russia these days. Russia's sphere of interest seems mostly internal and areas bordering Russia. China has much bigger ambitions outside what you would consider "core China" culturally and traditionally. I.e. militarily aggressive not just against immediate neighbours. Edit: Syria being admittedly a bit of an outlier, but I guess a nice little "contained" war is as good a place as any to test the quality of your gear, training, doctrines etc.

Things that are normally of little interest to western media... Siberia's wildfires out of control. It's a lot of fire.

Because I haven't posted some Rammstein in a while. Not surprised that an Australian mining corporation was involved in the disaster. They're **** when it comes to things like safety and environmental protection in Australia. Why would they behave differently when abroad (even if they don't own the government of Romania like they do the local government down here)?

Makes you wonder what's up with US intelligence services. At least superficially they seem to get rather important details very wrong quite a number of times the last couple of decades.

Maybe they were looking for brains in The Capitol

Putting it through google translate says pretty much the same as the thread title

Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. The Kurds are today one the largest "stateless nations" in the world numbering around 30 million people. Subjected to discrimination and persecution in the four nations states the Kurdish lands straddle. England and France either didn't know what they were doing or didn't care when they carved up the middle east after WWI.

I did ask our overlords once if we could have a dislike button here. Sadly not available in this forum software

Ask the Kurds in northern Syria for elaboration on the joke

They (China) did attempt to get a foothold in Australia previously with the B&R tool (as well as attempts at massive farmland and industry buyouts) Luckily they eventually got sent packing and with a “don’t slam the door on the way out”

So did I when I got run over by a car as a kid. Doesn’t mean I appreciate the lesson

Speaking of misinformation, Murdoch's misinformation campaign not only in the US but back in his home country of Australia has taken a shot and are now rethinking their strategy... presumably how they can repackage the misinformation. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58168048 Sky News Australia has removed dozens of videos from its websites, after YouTube suspended the channel for spreading Covid misinformation. The conservative TV network, owned by Rupert Murdoch, has been criticised for promoting conspiracies and questioning public health orders in its broadcasts. In recent days it has taken down about 30 videos without explanation or making corrections. Sky News Australia has declined to comment. While the videos are gone, they do leave behind an idea of their nature and what it says about Murdoch media, whether it be Sky News or Fox News.

True. You could argue, that nobody really had any business in Afghanistan after Bin Ladens death

You can no more defeat the Taliban militarily than you could the Viet Cong. You would think people had learned the lessons from the 60's and 70's but obviously not. You want to fight a movement that is rooted in a population, you need to either genocide them away (like the English did with the Boers) or win over the population by offering them a notably better life. Building the odd water purification system for a village or a school here or there is not going to cut it. You have to really show them better alternatives worth striving for. So far, it hasn't happened.

I eventually got around to watch Deadpool. I know, I bought the DVD quite a while ago, but with about a 100 still unwatched DVD movies in my cupboards, I was a bit proud of myself of actually sitting still and watch an entire movie from start to end. Doesn't happen often these days. I supposed that is also a reason I don't have Netflix. What's the point if I can't endure that much passive entertainment that is watching a single movie? The beauty of watching old movies I've seen before, I can fast forward and just watch the "good parts", skipping the parts that makes me feel impatient to get on with it. Dusted off two Peter Jackson classics, which I'm going to have a go at this weekend. "Bad Taste" and "Braindead". Both from a time when Peter Jackson still made good movies Edit: Oh yeah, Deadpool... it was fun. Silly at times. Too silly at times. Overall, fun though. Didn't regret watching it. I do like silly humour (I'm not a Monty Python fan for nothing)

Maybe it's a painful phase a country just has to go through? As much as I dislike the Taliban and their (lack of) human values, they do have one thing in common with Mussolini's Fascist party in the 1920's... they are effective at stomping out corruption and organized crime (The Fascist party made mortal enemies of the Italian mafia by regularly decorating streetlights with dangling Mafiosi and their henchmen, summarily executed). The conservative part of Afghanistan actually appreciate the stability and lack of corruption in the areas the Taliban control, hence why it's at this point in time at least, a steep, uphill battle winning the hearts and minds of the rural Afghan population. The cesspool that is the established politicians were never going to be able to hang on to power. The corruption and inefficiency is simply too rampant. Every man for himself and his wallet.

Animated movie taking place during the Unity Wars (as in long before even the Horus Heresy)

The US doesn't need to cut Turkey loose... they seem to have managed quite on their own to distance themselves and trying to play the middle between Russia and US (as far as I can see).

As for why China invaded Tibet in 1950... the main reason I can think of is, the two rivers (and their river valleys) @Gromnirrefers to both originates in Tibet and so makes it a strategically important area. Yes, sometimes water is more important than oil or rare earths or anything else you can dig up from the ground. Wars have been fought for less reasons than controlling rivers and water sources. On a related note, it's going to be interesting to watch how this dam blocking one of the sources of the Nile is going to pan out. Will Egypt go to war over it. On a related note to the related note, looks like the Tigrayan people have had some success in kicking the Ethiopian army's butt and the leaders of the federal government are now calling for civilians to volunteer to fight for them... well, good luck with that. If you don't have a real national identity, it's hard to use nationalism as a tool to get gullible people to fight your wars on your behalf to stay in power. Edit: Because I haven't posted much in the way of links in the last few posts https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58163641 Edit2: link for the above, alliances being formed and lines drawn in the sand? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/7/saudi-supporting-egypt-sudan-water-rights-amid-gerd-dispute

The Polish government apparently doesn't like media they can't control https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58180761 Poland's parliament has passed a new media bill that opponents say is an attempt to silence a TV channel critical of the government. The government says the law is needed to stop hostile foreign powers taking control of its broadcasters. The "hostile foreign power" may get upset though. But critics say it is an attempt to push US company Discovery to sell the country's biggest TV network, TVN. The law threatens to sour relations with the US, a key ally, and deepen EU concern over media freedom in Poland. Maybe somebody should show the Polish leadership a history book. The US has a proven track record of throwing allies to the wolves the moment the relationship isn't beneficial enough. I'm sure Putin would love a Poland all alone in the world.