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World events

Off Topic » World events (Posts 2461 to 2484 of 2484)

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    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2018
    Pretty weird how different countries' newsdesks prioritize news differently. Not even a small notice about the aforementioned earthquake anywhere.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2022
    Waking up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine today -- scary stuff! I doubt the sensationalist news about this being a full-scale European war, but I feel with the Ukrainian people today.
    I am extremely serious.
  3. Yes, it's worrying. It has always baffled me how, in the past, countries have slid into war. I mean that countries have come to conflict after weeks of people saying war is inevitable and being unable to avert it.

    And here we are with an object lesson on how it happens.

    Who knows how it will end.

    Life seems to be surreal (not really the word I am looking for but my vocabulary fails me) - a deadly pandemic sweeps the world, crippling rises in energy prices and a general massive increase in the cost of living, and now conflict in Europe!
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2022
    Indeed. Thankfully, Trump is now out of the equation; if not, I'd consider this the most crazy and dramatic period in the post-WW2 era.

    While it's easy to be solidaric towards the affected parties, one can't help but to also think more egotistically -- i.e. about possible consequences for one's own life in all of this. Covid restrictions in the last couple of years have provided plenty -- especially higher costs for groceries and electricity, for example (the social and travel restrictions, I can live perfectly well with). Since I don't have an income, this is the big hurdle. I wonder if this war between Russia and the Ukraine will also have such consequences even as far as Norway (which is, after all, a neighbouring country to Russia up north). I know that the stock exchange plummeted this morning, with rising costs for oil and gas. I don't have a car, but maybe it will materialize itself in other ways. I don't fear a Russian invasion of Norway or anything, but I do wonder about day-to-day consequences in relation to trade embargos and whatnot.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorFalkirkBairn
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2022 edited
    I think that it's only natural to consider how global events affect you (or me) as an individual.

    It's the cost of living that affects us on a daily basis the most, possibly. I know that our household electricity bills will be 30%* more expensive in April. Then there's increases in gas prices and foodstuffs.

    Both Anne and I now work from home (generally) so petrol costs won't be too bad day-to-day.

    *Edit: just had an email from our gas supplier saying they are increasing our bill by 40%.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  6. I'm glad Europe has finally woken up and are taking suitable actions towards Putin's Russia. Fingers crossed that Europe's weapon donations are getting there in time, and that the Ukrainians are able to do something with that 70 km long convoi towards Kyiv...
  7. Hey Jurassic Shark, I did get your message and mention, but can only like on JWfan now for 24 hours. I'm currently refusing to 'acknowledge' the warning as I'm sick of the hypocrisy surroudning this issue.
  8. Great to see you here!
    • CommentAuthorBilly
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2022 edited
    The situation is a lot more nuanced than the Western mainstream media would like people to believe. Things aren't always so black and white; the media and politicians are only pushing the simplistic "Russia bad, Ukraine good" narrative, without giving any real context. Russia has been saying for years that Ukraine joining NATO would be a red line in the sand for them that they would view as a national security threat; I am genuinely not sure why anyone is surprised that they would react this way...

    Look at the US for instance, a country which has invaded and funded/supported the invasions/regime changes of many countries across the world (and is responsible for millions of needless deaths). The point is, the US is a country that is more than willing to invade other countries. Well then, how do you think the US would react if Mexico wanted to join an explicitly anti-American bloc with other "enemy" nations? If you don't think the US would take whatever action they deemed necessary—especially if they had said for years that it was a line-in-the-sand issue for them—you're kidding yourself.

    Swap Russia and Ukraine out for the US and Mexico in a similar situation, and it easily starts to make sense why this is happening. Is Putin a good guy? No, of course not. Is Zelensky a good guy? No. But real life isn't always like Hollywood movies, with "good guys" and "bad guys." It seems to me that many people aren't really considering the situation beyond the superficial narrative they're getting fed from the media.

    Also, why are people in liberal democracies now openly praising and supporting actual Neo-Nazi groups like Ukraine's Azov Battalion? Look them up if you don't believe me; it's well-documented that Ukraine has a Neo-Nazi problem, and now all of a sudden I guess it's okay to support Nazis...? Huh?

    It's as though the public is brainwashed by propaganda. And it absolutely is propaganda; numerous stories that have been pushed and shared in recent days about the war have now turned out to be totally false. And those photos of Zelensky supposedly on the front lines wearing body armor? They were taken last April when he visited the border for an inspection. Look it up for yourselves, and you'll see that I'm correct.

    Most of the people now changing their profile pics to the Ukrainian flag, have been utterly silent about other invasions, mass atrocities, and human rights violations in recent history, and most of them likely couldn't even pick out Ukraine on a map; it's largely virtue signaling. At the end of the day, it seems that whatever the media says, the people repeat. It's become a real problem.

    Here are some worthwhile links that give a more balanced, contextual view of what's going on:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OisJkpGYpAo

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkLaZgd_Ki0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news … dly-gamble

    https://niccolo.substack.com/p/fuck-it- … k-with?s=r

    https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/02/28 … ial-media/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSIAA-7TNSQ

    In that last video, see the "Ukraine National Guard" training civilians at 0:09, 0:32, 0:57? Note the arm patches; these are members of Azov Battalion, Neo-Nazis. Why is the Ukrainian government officially partnering with Neo-Nazis?

    https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/ … 3362684930

    https://www.publico.es/internacional/ba … ifica.html

    https://media.patriots.win/post/pRAexhguOQmF.jpeg

    https://media.patriots.win/post/jbD6aR2KAgfx.png

    https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/03/02 … batallion/

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/11 … n-ukraine/

    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ch … p-facebook

    I could go on and on; there's a lot out there. I've been researching this stuff in-depth for days, and my research has led me to totally different conclusions/discoveries than I expected. I'd urge others to similarly be open-minded and to do the same, rather than going the easy route of lapping up the widespread media narrative without even considering that maybe there's more to the story.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2022
    Oops. Per "Billy"'s post above -- appears we've been exposed to one of those Russian cyberhacks we've always heard about in recent years.

    Sad to see such a despicable deflection post here, but I can't tell if it's an actual new, film music-interested member writing, or a spam-like post.
    I am extremely serious.
  11. I see he registered in 2018 and THIS is his first post... so I guess Putin's cyber terrorists have foreseen that the big battle will take place on Maintitles.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2022 edited
    If so, that's weird. Then again, Russian propaganda hack bots could no doubt edit the registration date if they so wanted. Just sayin'.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022
    Wauw, this is really weird indeed! confused

    Not sure what to do with it. Since he registered so long ago. But yeah, when people start using "different view", "more nuanced", "investigation", "be open-minded", ... I find myself already ignoring what is being said. Everyone else seems ignorant, except their selves. As if all reporters, journalists, opinion makers, ... are wrong.
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022 edited
    Bregt wrote
    Wauw, this is really weird indeed! confused

    Not sure what to do with it. Since he registered so long ago. But yeah, when people start using "different view", "more nuanced", "investigation", "be open-minded", ... I find myself already ignoring what is being said. Everyone else seems ignorant, except their selves. As if all reporters, journalists, opinion makers, ... are wrong.


    Indeed. Those things are always a red flag. But hopefully, this Billy entity has said its piece now, and will segue back into the chasm from which it came.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022 edited
    I just noticed that Jay closed your JWFAN topic about the "politics ban" there, Jurassic Shark. Very disturbing. If one can't discuss politics or world events, at least it should be possible to discuss the pros and cons of the rule itself.

    Reading the news every day -- with updates from the war on black backgrounds on the news sites -- can be quite harrowing, but I'm hoping this will eventually end in some kind of internal implosion for the current Russian government, and that a more reasonable government will take hold. Might take a few years, but I'm hopeful.
    I am extremely serious.
  16. Well, isn't it part JWFan's new rules that they shouldn't be questioned, and that a mod's actions are final and shouldn't be questioned either?

    When they have to revert to false claims ("a vast majority of active members agreed with the current rules") in order to justify the rules, they don't have a good case. Although it's a privately owned message board, it doesn't look good.
  17. Regarding the Russian invasion, a Kremlin implosion would indeed be welcome. Either that or the Ukrainians taking out the Russian forces one by one.
  18. It would certainly be the best option for their to be change from within to resolve this.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  19. I don't think an intervention from the people of Russia is likely when the authorities control the information so well, but one has to wonder if other forces, such as the oligarchs, will take action.
    • CommentAuthorBilly
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022 edited
    Thor wrote
    Oops. Per "Billy"'s post above -- appears we've been exposed to one of those Russian cyberhacks we've always heard about in recent years.

    Sad to see such a despicable deflection post here, but I can't tell if it's an actual new, film music-interested member writing, or a spam-like post.


    Nah, I actually used to be extremely active here years ago (like thousands of posts) under a different account name, but decided to create an extra account back in 2018. And a Russian cyberhack post? Really? Lol which is more likely: that I'm some sort of "Russian bot" as people these days love to accuse others who share different opinions of being—or that I'm a JWFan lurker who saw Jurassic Shark over there and decided to follow his link over here? Come on, now. Accusing anyone who has a different opinion of being some sort of Russian cyber operation is insane and intellectually lazy.

    Thor wrote
    Indeed. Those things are always a red flag. But hopefully, this Billy entity has said its piece now, and will segue back into the chasm from which it came.


    I mean, I'm here because it appeared that Jurassic Shark wanted a discussion, and JWFan wasn't allowing him to have that. ...Or did he just want an echo chamber of people who feel the same way?

    It would be nice if somebody would actually care to either refute some of my claims (I'm open to being proven wrong, if I am!), or consider the idea that maybe (God forbid) you're... wrong? Right now it seems like people can't handle someone coming in with a different point of view, and like they can't even fathom that maybe there is more to the whole situation than "Russia good, Ukraine bad." No thoughts on the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis? No thoughts on the NATO stuff? No thoughts on all the times the US has invaded countries, and you didn't care? Just blind devotion to what you want to believe, because it's popular?

    I hope you realize that I literally felt the exact same way as you a week ago when this all started—I was 100% on Ukraine's side—and then I started doing more research, because things weren't adding up, and the general media narrative seemed overly simplistic. I'm more than willing to be swayed back to your viewpoint, but it's strange that none of you are even trying to refute the points I made... Which makes me wonder, is your view based on logic/history/research, or media narrative? For all this talk of propaganda, does it never occur to you that non-Russia countries use it as well? It's a dangerous thing, to willfully blind yourself to the possibility that you yourself may be a victim of propaganda.
  21. According to Ricard, founder of JWFan, "a mature attitude regarding politics" on the forum is to ban any talk of it. Go figure.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022 edited
    Oh no, Billy was a real person after all. Oh well. There's normal political discussion, and then there's talking to a wall of deflections and QAnon-like conspiracy theories. I know better, so I will choose not to engage with you.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022 edited
    Billy wrote
    Which makes me wonder, is your view based on logic/history/research, or media narrative?

    What is "the media narrative" for you? When is it not enough, or when can it not be trusted?

    When it does not fit with what you think?

    Professional journalists and reporters studied years and then got to work for papers like NYT, Guardian, WP, ... and media in my own country. I trust these journalists. When I read a local newspaper I'm sure not everything is as detailed as on specialized press like a Guardian deep dive for example, but that does not mean it cannot be trusted. And like everywhere, there'll be lazy journalists too. But the general message, I trust.
    Kazoo
  24. A few observations:

    - on messageboards, whenever essays appear as posts I tend to consider these posts either rants or ramblings (sorry Pawel wink )

    - rants or ramblings - when it comes to political matters - from those with an agenda (usually running to contrary to generally-accepted option) are keen to list multiple sources of 'evidence' whereas those who have considered their opinion based on reliable sources don't list multiple sources

    - those who hold minority opinions on things are NEVER swayed by any evidence provided by anyone and it's a waste of time listing that evidence (which has already been discounted by those requesting the evidence)

    - messageboards aren't places of democracy but are, hopefully, run on common sense
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  25. Yeah, it's that element of common sense that's been lacking over at JWFan lately.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2022
    Good observations, Alan.
    I am extremely serious.
  27. Guys, Billy here is the Russian JWFan member Tydirium. He's been trolling over there too.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 4th 2022
    Thanks for the information, Jurassic Shark. Makes sense.
    I am extremely serious.
  29. Billy wrote
    Russia has been saying for years that Ukraine joining NATO would be a red line in the sand for them that they would view as a national security threat; I am genuinely not sure why anyone is surprised that they would react this way...

    Russia does not get to dictate to another sovereign nation what alliances they may or may not join. Putin can take his red line and go choke on it.
  30. I was thinking about writing the same thing, but you wrote it better.

    beer

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