TankovayaDiviziya

@TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world

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TankovayaDiviziya,

I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I don’t think she’s that hot.

TankovayaDiviziya, (edited )

I remember someone asking what are good documentaries on evolution that doesn’t say “this is why religion is BS”. I cannot recall a time having watched a documentary on evolution that blatantly says that. Religion on the other hand…

Anyone with two thinking brain cells would already put two and two together and see the contradiction. When I first learned about evolution in school, I thought to myself that it contradicts what the Bible said, and my teacher and the book never even said anything explicitly. However, I somehow rationalised that god must have created beings first and evolution took course after. It is in my later formative years, through education and more reading, which made up my mind that religion overall is nonsense and the denial of reality.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Failed neoliberal policies and mismanagement (or lack thereof) of globalisation made people more inward-looking and nativist.

But as far as I can tell, Latin America is having a “pink wave”, which made the right stop on their tracks there.

TankovayaDiviziya,

It’s about relishing on power as much as it about money. .

TankovayaDiviziya,

I had a boss who got married when he was 40 as well. Same as others, I’m also unmarried and in early 30s, but I don’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses either. I still have many things to do before I feel the need to settle down. There are plenty of people who marry late and don’t regret it. It’s best to figure out first what you want before jumping the gun, simply for the sake of social conformance and then regret it. I’m sure we know of people regretting marrying early, or stick to an unhappy marriage out of insecurity or for whatever reason.

TankovayaDiviziya,

US military equipment were actually on standby in Poland for delivery, just before the anticipated final vote and approval in Congress. In spite of this, the real challenge is actually once delivered to their intended destination-- setting up and deploying the equipment to combat still takes time.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I’ve only met one or two communists who are genuinely decent and principled. The rest are nutters.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Trump is a far bigger Israel supporter, considering he ordered to move the American embassy to Jerusalem when he was president, which is a big no-no to any other US presidents before.

I agree on the second paragraph but that’s virtually every where on earth. People are sick of the lock downs, which is understandable as there are people having been furloughed and businesses losing money, and not to mention the effect on mental health. Even China, whose people are passive to authoritarian structure, had major protests condemning the zero-COVID policy; which by the way, experts also say does not work as much as the gradient restrictions does not.

TankovayaDiviziya,

this ignores the key issue that in Germany, there was already an extensive and perfectly functional nuclear industry.

Shhh… anti-nuclear don’t want to hear this. They’d rather project, even though people are talking about how stupid closing down the current nuclear infrastructure and not advocating to build new ones!

I don’t support building new nuclear power plants, but it’s ridiculous to close down already existing ones given the threat of climate change. NPP should act more like stop gap until renewable energy can take over more effectively.

TankovayaDiviziya, (edited )

The Israeli left had been weak since the Yom Kippur War.

Edit: damn autocorrect

TankovayaDiviziya,

Thank you.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I have a feeling the governor is projecting.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I was watching an analysis on the 2023 progress of the war. The author said that while he acknowledges that Russia seems to have the favour making the war a stalemate and took more strategic, albeit small, locations than Ukraine did; this leads to Catch-22 for Kremlin that the more Ukraine struggles, the more money Ukraine will receive which is not on Russia’s favour.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Not the same as travelling in the EU. None of those countries you mentioned are in the EU.

TankovayaDiviziya,

You’re getting downvoted, but a lot of people who only hear of the conflict from their own bubble and from what mainstream media reports do not realise that there are various factions within Palestine. So much so that there was a civil war between PLO and Hamas. PLO controls West Bank while Hamas controls Gaza from this resulting conflict.

In any case, Fatah and Hamas are untrustworthy, while the moderate PLO are neutered and often accused by ordinary Palestinians as puppet for Israel.

Palestine is not wholly represented by one government or faction. I’m afraid you’re right on this. I think the only way for there to be peace is for ordinary Israelies and Palestinians to mutually demand to their politicians to renounce violence and both accept the two-state solution.

Russia to Hire Contract Soldiers in Bid to Avoid Unpopular Draft (www.bloomberg.com)

Russia to Hire Contract Soldiers in Bid to Avoid Unpopular Draft. Russia is preparing to enlist more contract soldiers as it presses its invasion of Ukraine, aiming to avoid at least for now another mass call-up that could undermine popular support for the war

TankovayaDiviziya,

But both are still getting paid as private. So, mercenaries either way. And it isn’t like Russia hasn’t committed war crimes brazenly.

The older I get, the more I witness Kafkaesque.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Tell that to the citizens of Tambov and Kronstadt sailors in the 1920s.

Trumpism Is Emptying Churches: The former president’s embrace of White Christian militantism coincides with a precipitous decline in religious affiliation in the US (www.bloomberg.com)

Donald Trump, a 77-year-old Bible salesman from Palm Beach, Florida, has emerged as the nation’s most prominent Christian leader. Trump is running for president as a divinely chosen champion of White Christians, promising to sanctify their grievances, destroy their perceived enemies, bolster their social status, and grant them...

TankovayaDiviziya,

Well yeah, the rise of the far-right (or alt-right however they want to call it) is a reaction to globalisation and (neo)liberal world order in the past 30 years. The religious right do not like this trend and felt they need to counter this.

TankovayaDiviziya, (edited )

I’m no longer religious, but I probably would not be the person I am were it not for Catholic teachings. It was probably in Catholic school which taught me that you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. This advice complements my maverick and individualistic personality but it isn’t to say that I haven’t had insecurities and not minded what others think. I was also taught to be compassionate and humble. However, the last two could only go so far as I learned growing up that it led me to being a figurative door mat for others.

Nevertheless, all of those doesn’t excuse the Catholic church’s corruption and sexual abuse scandals. The Catholic church also, up until recently, force left handed folks to be right handed. That is one of the weirdest superstitions and beliefs that the Catholic church has. Oh and the Catholic church is still impractically anti-divorce.

Gameplay mechanics were also a lot better with more replayability. (lemmy.world)

Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with...

TankovayaDiviziya,

I mean technical wise, games are better now and could easily be patched, but I think that’s why games had better gameplay in the past to make up for the lack of gamer accessibility to patching.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Expansion packs were more complete experience than DLCs sold piece by piece.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Well the taxpayer’s money goes towards funding Ukraine.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Give it twenty years and CDPR will also succumb. Ubisoft, EA and Activision were kings until they got greedy. All companies eventually enshittify because it is all about money at the end of the day in this capitalist culture we live in.

Please, for the love of God, VOTE! (pawb.social)

I don’t like Biden either, but anyone with half a brain knows there are two choices in the 2020 election. If we had a sane voting system, voting third party might be worth it, but as it stands, no one but you knows your favorite candidate exists and unless you want to become their campaign manager that will still be true in...

TankovayaDiviziya,

If I am an American voting in the election I wouldn’t have voted for either Hillary or Trump in 2016 but I will definitely vote for Biden then and now.

Hillary is full of baggage which is too many to ignore. Trump, in my view at the time, isn’t a fascist but a fascist-adjacent and I thought his presence sets a dangerous precedence. After the first four years, that proved correct. He became drunk with power and became a full blown fascist.

Biden definitely is a better choice in any elections against Trump. He has less baggage and still did surprisingly well that is favourable with the left.

TankovayaDiviziya,

And when you mention how other countries are doing better and USA should copy them (like having ranked choice voting to rid the two-party system), Americans will either pretend they didn’t hear that or will go “wE aRe tOo dIvErSE fOr tHaT sHeEiItT”. I was told by someone that Americans generally do not want adopt a system from outside unless they made it themselves. So I guess nationalism also plays a role, too.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Many people change their minds at the last minute before casting their ballots. Polling is science, but not quite so at the same time.

Democracies under threat around the globe (www.dw.com)

The hard facts are sobering: According to a new study, the quality of democracy has deteriorated over the past 20 years in 137 countries that are considered developing or emerging economies. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation’s “Transformation Index,” there are now 63 democracies compared to 74 autocracies. In other...

TankovayaDiviziya,

Some countries do not have a culture of democracy. It is partly because of legacy of colonialism destroying the social cohesion of many pre-colonial societies. Some former colonial countries that managed to become democratic and prosperous have strong cohesion from the grassroots. So they are able hold each other accountable. Meanwhile, countries that are less democratic have been more accustomed to top-down rule.

TankovayaDiviziya,

More dynamism, people could give better ideas and less corruption than in more authoritarian countries. In authoritarian countries, everyone is relying on one person. What if that person is incompetent or dies?

I just want to point out that imperialism is not exclusive to democracy. There are absolute monarchies and dictatorships that are imperialistic. Maybe your criticism of democracy as being imperialistic is more about capitalism and drive for exploitation and profit, not at democracy?

TankovayaDiviziya,

Well, if the communists have ever been democratic. The only communist group that is democratic is the Japanese Communist Party. They get respectable 1 million votes in parliamentary elections and denounce violenc and human rights violations of other communist groups.

TankovayaDiviziya,

If not a Russian agent, a fascism sympathizer.

Even when he is “pro-progressivism” it is usually in the form of a concern troll.

I have observed the same pattern with other users who are pro-Trump and pro-Russia. They would claim to profess an ideology and say they don’t support Russia and Trump, but then put their heads into the sand and pretend Trump and Russia did not do anything wrong.

TankovayaDiviziya,

It sounds a lot like the 80’s and 90’s brat pack movie!

TankovayaDiviziya,

I used to scoff at people being pessimistic that society is getting worse. But all the material security and safety is mitigated as climate change is getting worse and scientists are not optimistic about the prospects. And the phenomenon is inducing loss of biodiversity and food and migration which causes social tensions. I agree that the current society is much better off than the previous generations but I’m afraid we can’t say the same about the future ones.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Not in person, but I see on Facebook an old mate who seems to flirt with homophobia/transphobia.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I quite remember it, Macron and other French diplomats were humiliated by Putin and gang.

TankovayaDiviziya,

You got downvoted but you’re not wrong. NATO is getting good PR at the moment because of Ukraine, but the invasion of Iraq and Libya are examples of how god-awful NATO is. Iraq was invaded out of trumped up accusations but the real reason is gaining access to Iraqi oil. I remember it was France and UK who were antsy to invade Libya while US refused initially but eventually caved in. Look at the long term implications of such invasions. ISIS sprung up, and Libya is in a civil war causing thousands of refugees which Europe absorbed.

NATO is getting good image at the moment because of recency bias

TankovayaDiviziya,

Did Iraq and Libya invade any democracies or NATO? Plenty of coping and short term memories in this thread. Or it could be something else?

TankovayaDiviziya,

You did.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Good thing the west would never invade anything if they don’t have a defensive pact. Ow wait!

TankovayaDiviziya,

I’m from a developing country and while I agree that leaders of former colonies tend blame their former colonial masters to distract the public from internal corruption, the case of Haiti is unique and the unquestionably exploited. Long after independence, they have been subjected to economic imperialism both by France and US.

The New York Times wrote a report detailing the history of Haiti being forced to pay by France at gunpoint after independence, as “reparations” for damaging French properties, i.e. slaves being freed. France then increased the amount and few decades later, the responsibility of creditor has been passed on to American banks, in which the debt doubled-- or double indemnity.

Haiti became independent in 1804 but the debt only became fully repaid in 1930s. Over 130 years after Haitian independence. Imagine that, 130 years being in debt! It is almost as good as being a slave but in a different name. They became free from physical servitude but became slaves by finance.

Haiti’s debt burden made them desperate from invading Dominican Republic in early years to totally exhausting their natural resources to service the debt. You could see the massive deforestation in Haiti compared to neighbouring DR as a result.

If you’re still not convinced at US and French direct influence on Haiti’s downfall of its well-being, it is too much of a coincidence that the democratically elected former Haitian president, Jean Paul Aristide, was supported militarily by France and US to return to power. But when Aristide asked France and US to return the $22 billion worth of assets to Haiti due to double of indemnity, paramilitary groups stormed the presidential palace and Aristide was forced to go on exile to Africa. And France and US never returned their support to him.

If you’re still not convinced, look at neighbouring Dominican Republican as comparison. It shares the same island as Haiti; were both former colonies; both underwent dictatorships; and both got invaded by US, and yet the DR is projected to become a developed country by 2030. It is unquestionable that Haiti was intentionally screwed and the world isn’t paying enough attention to it.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Coming from a conservative religious country myself, I’m guessing sexual repression and misogyny comes into play but there must be more to this. There are just as culturally repressive countries but you hear fewer cases of this violent and rampant level rape on tourists and locals unlike in India.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I don’t know about you, but when I hear “oligarchs”, I always get a nebulous image of faceless, rich and powerful crowd who are into sex cults like Eyes Wide Shut. I kid about the last bit but I am serious about the other descriptors

I think the reason we don’t immediately think of oligarch when we see Zuckerberg, Gates or Musk is because we see them on individual basis. Whereas “oligarch” usually refers to a faceless collective of politically influential, rich folks.

TankovayaDiviziya,

FO3 has better world design but story-wise I prefer NV.

TankovayaDiviziya,

I get the impression though that being interminably online isn’t as taboo as it once had been. In my home country, not many children play in the streets anymore. It is a taboo actually if you are not signed up to the latest social media platform.

After boots on the ground comment, French PM doubles down: 'Putins troops are already in our country', pointing at Le Pen (www.lemonde.fr)

By raising for the first time the idea of sending troops to Ukraine, the French leader “has taken a further step toward belligerence,” blasted his rival Marine Le Pen, of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party. She accused him of “posing an existential risk to 70 million French people, and more particularly to our...

TankovayaDiviziya,

Macron is a neoliberal after all. He has no substantive and popular policies to fully temper populism other than “I’m not Le Pen”. Le Pen is inching closer and closer to becoming president with every election if Macron keeps coddling with the establishment. She got more votes in 2022 than in 2017 and democratic loving people should not become complacent of Le Pen not winning the presidential elections and calling it the final victory. She is biding her time and this is what happened in Netherlands with Geert Wilders’ party having won most seats despite losing in 2017.

TankovayaDiviziya,

Hmm… I see where you’re coming from. But it is reductionist to say Bismarck’s idea of creating a complex web of alliances to prevent another war ironically led to the two world wars. Remember that this complex system of alliance is meant to deter one empire declaring war to another. It was 19th century’s deterrence model as is nuclear deterrence in 20th century to today. These two deterrence models are meant to… well… deter. Many systems designed are meant to work-- until it doesn’t. The British intelligence at the time (incorrectly) predicted that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand would not lead to a major war.

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