Selling relics. "Not a cult."
Hyperreality
joined 2 years ago
Thailand is super great for a holiday, if you're a relatively rich westerner, or if you don't know the language.
If you ask the locals, they're likely to give you a different opinion.
It's false. Not this time. We created it. It's totally made up. Pure Fiction.
The market for bombs used in assassinations is quite small.
Given the time of year, it seems more likely that he was making home made fireworks, which are obviously also explosives.
it’s already an impossibility for russia to wage war with the US or European NATO countries alone
Some (!!!) EU NATO members have underinvested in defence for decades and now severely depleted their stocks to help Ukraine.
If Russia wins in Ukraine and if Trump withdraws from NATO or implies he won't intervene in Europe again, then Russia is not unlikely to invade one of the Baltics. Putin's allies say as much on a regular basis. The Suwalki Gap is basically indefensible by NATO allies anyway.
Even if Putin doesn't actually invade, he'll do constant military provocations, troop buildups, military exercises near the border, just to fuck with Europe and the US. A constant stream of shit, basically. That increases the likelihood of mistakes, and without the US nuclear umbrella, and even without Russia deliberately invading a (former) NATO country, that actually increases the chance of an all out war in Europe. The reason to have a strong conventional military, is so that you're less likely to be existentially threatened and need to use unconventional(nuclear) weapons. The best case scenario is that Europe will be perpetually distracted. We'll have to triple or even quadruple defense spending.
Of course, as a European, I can confidently predict what will actually happen in that case: with Russian support right wing populists will gain even more ground. "Our people first! Why are we spending so much on defense?" The EU project will die, a divided Europe will end up kowtowing to Beijing (even more), the US will lose market share in one of the world's most important markets, and the likelihood of de-dollarisation will increase significantly. Beijing will also be far likelier to invade Taiwan. And no that wouldn't be a cakewalk for the US.
Obviously, this is just me regurgitating stuff, but I don't think anyone can argue that the stakes aren't infinitely higher than Afghanistan or Iraq. If the US was able to spend thousands of billions fighting and dying in those wars, it's a no brainer to spend tens of billions so that Ukrainians can have the 'privilege' of dying in a war against Russia and fighting to further European and US interests.
It's not just the moral thing to do. You don't need to care about war crimes. You don't need to care about democracy or whatever. It's in the west's interests.
Glucosamine, curcumin with pepper, heat, regular exercise, dietary changes to reduce inflammation, top up with ibuprofen or paracetamol but be careful about doing that too much or in too large quantities. Especially ibuprofen.
On a related note, one of osteoarthritis's most common comorbities is depression. That may be down to inflammation. That's why some people report that ibuprofen can reduce their symptoms, although you obviously shouldn't use ibuprofen regularly. If applicable, perhaps you've noticed you get particularly sad when your OA flares up, this is something to maybe talk about with your doctor.
Also notify your doctor if you're taking supplements. Some interact with medication and dosage is key.
It's a shame really. It is possible to make good biblically inspired SF.
Eg. CS Lewis's Space Trilogy. Milton's Paradise Lost is arguably proto-SF. Inspired Ursula K. Le Guin's Paradises Lost. More famously, Frankenstein also draws heavily on Paradise Lost. The whole religion thing in Frank Herbert's work is also really interesting. Whether it's Dune or The Jesus Incident.
Of course, IME religious fundamentalists are unlikely to be well read, even reading the bible seems like a struggle for them. So you get turds like this.
I did the sums, and the US would have been able to fund a large moonbase for the next century, mine asteroids AND seriously begin colonising Mars.
But instead of becoming an interplanetary power, the US chose to blow up brown farmers.
Bit of a tangent, but I find it insane that the US spent over 2000 billion to fight the war in Afghanistan, but congress is unwilling to authorise giving the Ukrainians 60 billion. A relatively small amount, that means Ukrainians can keep fighting Russia, decreasing the likelihood of American troops ever having to get involved in a war in Europe.
Yes, but in the real world there are a lot of confounding factors.
For example, I usually avoid criticising Israel, because I try to avoid the whole debate, because it has become so toxic. Criticising what's happening in Sudan, is 'safer'. Others spend more time criticisng Israel, because Israel is a bigger story in the news media, so they're simply responding to that.
Also, as you probably know, you'll often see people use 'whataboutism' to distract from criticism. It's a classic propaganda technique.
The government of country A does something bad. Rather than admit that, or discuss it properly, those defending the government of country A say "What about what Country B did! They're hypocrites!"
They know what country A is bad, so they try to distract from it, by making the discussion be about country B. "Israel's committing war crimes? What about Sudan? Why didn't you protest against what's happening in Sudan?"
But just because groups are committing war crimes in Sudan, doesn't mean that the Israeli government shouldn't be condemned for committing war crimes in Gaza.
Honestly, if someone mainly sticks to criticising the Israeli government, and the politicians who are actually running the country, rather than all Israelis or Jews worldwide, they're less likely to be anti-semites. But that's just my opinion.
It's more like if you think black people deserve longer jail sentences than white people, for committing the same crime.
In the case of the current situation in Israel, it's perfectly justifiable to criticise Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
But if you're far angrier about what's happening in Gaza, than you are about what's happening in Sudan (or other ongoing wars/war crimes), because you care more if Jews commit war crimes than if non-Jews commit war crimes, then that is suspect.
Similar crimes, but you're potentially treating the perpetrators differently, because of their race.
Obviously, there are other reasons to be angrier about the whole Gaza thing. A large part of why the world doesn't seem to care about Sudan, is because the victims are predominantly black. The Arab world? It's also politically inconvenient, because plenty of countries in the region have ties to those committing war crimes.
Of course, the far right in Israel like to paint any criticism of their government as anti-semitism. Even going so far as to call Jewish journalists writing in an Israeli paper, of anti-semitism.
But at the same time, genuine anti-semites, have been using this whole conflict as an excuse for their virulent racism for a long time. Painting a swastika on a synagogue is not 'just being critical of Israel'. Neither is going on about how the '''Zionists''' control the international media and are naturally cunning. The problem is that, contrary to popular opinion, racists aren't all idiots. Usually it's more subtle than that, so they have plausible deniability, and can gas light those who point out how questionable their statements are. Obviously, the Israeli far right crying wolf when it comes to anti-semitism, hasn't helped in that regard either.
I'm repeating what Thai people have told me.