Gorth

Well, that's part of the problem. Because the CCP doesn't consider its current territory "sufficient". They are currently not only trying to expropriate the entire sea down to Papua New Guinea, but are constructing military bases in the waters around Torrent Strait. Basically Autralias own "backyard". It would be the equivalent of the CCP setting up military bases on some of the smaller Caribbean Islands to support future territorial claims against The US and Mexico for example. Nobody believes that their "fishery endeavour" is anything but a pretense for constructing a naval base. Like the old Soviet aircraft carrier that was supposed to be a floating casino... right. They lie with a smile on their face. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-16/china-fishery-fears-for-torres-strait-islanders/12988998 Never mind that they are currently busy trespassing into Antarctica, setting up bases there (including in the internationally recognized as Australia's slice of Antarctica) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-30/china-in-antarctica-inspection-regime/10858486?nw=0 Edit: So no, The CCP is not a potential future threat, a few decades out in the horizon, but a very real and very immediate threat to Australia.

Beijing has decided that pretending is just too much work. If there was any doubt before that the two systems one country idea had failed, it's now official. Taiwan... you need more guns! (and Australia too probably) NPC vice-chairman Wang Chen: "risks in the system" needed to be removed to ensure "patriots" were in charge. Short version, the members of the National Peoples Congress will in the future be appointed, no longer elected. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56264117

@Zoraptorgrab the cat and run for the hills! https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/mar/05/new-zealand-tsunami-warning-earthquakes-evacuation-gisborne-live

This make more sense if you've been to London, but still, who knows.

The next great entrepreneur is the one who corners the market for house boats (and I just recently rewatched Waterworld)

Ahh, the good old Epic40K days (the first Games Workshop game I played like 30 years ago). Our resident Imperial Guard player had 3 squadrons of Baneblades, Shadowswords and other super heavies (we played large armies back then, sometimes fielding 20000 points a side in a battle). Still no match for my Ork army on a day where Gork and Mork favoured my dice rolls. On a bad day... I wiped my own army in my own first turn without the opponent ever firing a shot

@Zoraptor would it surprise you, if I told you it's easier for me to follow AJ English than AJ Arabic?

I completely fail to see a relation between your comment and the linked article Al Jazeera is, if not officially, at least in its execution, a-religious btw. Even if they cover in more detail parts of the world ignored by most western media (like Africa, South America, Middle East, South Asia, The Far East and Russia).

Both can go to hell? The common people and small newsoutlets lose either way.

This is actually a misleading title. Shame on you BBC. It's Facebook vs. Rupert Murdoch (and his pet prime minister). Australia was just the collateral damage Facebook v Australia: Who blinked first? The former boss of Facebook in Australia is pretty clear. "I'd say Facebook may have blinked a bit here," Stephen Scheeler told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I think there's no question that global backlash against this was pretty stern. "And I think Facebook probably observed that governments around the world were taking a harder line maybe than they had anticipated." https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56168843

Dang it, I keep catching myself going back to this picture and then sit with a stupid, full face grin for several minutes afterwards

Here, let me help you https://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

I can't help it, I'm an old Queen fan

Yeah, we even had the harmless marine stingers back in Denmark. Like wallowing around a bit in a patch of stinging nettles, but no lasting damage. That's similar to the bluebottles. But the marine stingers warning (especially in northern Queensland) includes Irukandji and Box Jellyfish which will happily kill you and have you as a seafood option

Entirely an opinion thing on my behalf, but I believe the mess in 2 of the 3 countries you mentioned was/is because the planning never included a replacement, only a removal. And then some naive finger crossing and hoping for the best. Well, in Syria it didn't quite work out because Putin had other ideas, probably for a number of his own reasons (flexing international muscles, exerting geopolitical influence, keeping the naval base in Syria, avoiding a resurgence of muslim terrorist in eh Caucasus, testing military operational abilities etc.). Edit: There seems to be a connection (not sure about cause and effect, could be the other way around) that countries led by "strongmen" and populists that keep beating the nationalist/religious drum end up either becoming weak or never grow strong internally so they can handle power vacuums. In short, populists and nationalists are the symptom of a weak or weakening society.

You just mentioned two countries where the world would be a lot better off if their governments were replaced wholesale.

Not funny per se, more in the "amusing" category. From a beach in northern Queensland (somewhat further north than where I live)

But that wouldn't be in the spirit of a free and unregulated market economy Edit: I know it doesn't apply to you Hurlshot, but there are (non US) people here on these forums who seems very keen on that kind of thing

I'm surprised he didn't pin it on whatshisname the Cleric he claims was behind the "military coup attempt" (and which resides in the US) he used as excuse to purge all opposition. Edit: It's still more creditable than the ghost of Chavez being behind it and financing it of course.

You'll love this... some Texan Republican from Raithe's post: Adding insult to injury, many residents also received historically high energy bills as a result of the extreme weather — which McCaul said federal funds will help reimburse customers for. Damn commie Texans.

At least they had. Not sure if it still applies at the time of writing though. @BruceVCNo single country has a monopoly on morons. You'll find plenty in Australia too... remember, you get the government you deserve? Says a lot about Australians

Bruce, not what I meant. I literally meant, the world would be in a situation like 2009 or worse now, *regardless* of covid, because no lessons had been learnt from the 2008-2009 crash. All the warning signs were there for those who are experts in those areas (I sure as heck had never heard about inverse yield curves until reading some articles by people who predicted 2009, and that was back in 2012). And the "problem" is, any lessons that could have been learnt from the GFC 2020 is swept under the carpet because of covid covering everything that is wrong in the financial world atm.

Without going into detail about the linked to stuff, I wonder how many people here realize how close the world was to a major financial crisis when when covid hit? It sort of obfuscated that the inverse yield curve had popped all the safety valves and was screaming 'red alert!' a year and a half ago, major financial crisis, probably hitting harder than the 2008-9 bubble crash, within the next year (that was in 2018). Sadly covid may now prevent people from dealing with the underlying structural issues in the economy, because covid will get all the blame for the current situation. Just saying, without covid, the situation would likely very much be the same as it is now. Just without face masks and social distancing. This happened in 2018... (the last time it happened was in 2007 and I think most people remember the years following the GFC) https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimcollins/2018/12/04/the-yield-curve-just-inverted-sort-of-and-that-is-a-sell-signal-for-stocks/?sh=111427a83eaa

One interesting twist to the whole thing is, the company that Facebook refuses to pay is Murdoch's Newscorp. The same people who runs Fox News. I couldn't care less about Facebook, they could crash and burn for all I care, no need for it. But I like Murdoch even less. I guess I understand how Americans felt when it was a choice between Clinton and Trump. In this case, the world would be better off without either

Fear not. No cost is too high for the Texas crusaders in their epic struggle against sustainable energy On a serious note, @Darkpriestgot it right a bit further above, the solution is to diversify and not put all your eggs in one basket. Avoiding single points of failure in your system is sort of a mantra today in the airline industry (except Boeing).