On 10/26/2022 at 5:30 AM, Cult Icon said:

Xi is basically God-emperor now.

 

 

 

 

That's what systematically happen with far-left extremism. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Ceaușescu... Far-leftism is the best disguise for dictatorship.

 

There are too many communist apologists in social sciences and journalism, so people don't see that. The intellectual world hasn't found the antibodies against far-left extremism yet. After tens of millions of deaths... they still can't figure it out.

 

Anyway

I don't understand why people can proudly claim to be "far-left" after this kind of mass murder.

 

Quote

Genius activists glue themselves to Porsche museum floor, then complain they're hungry

Within just hours the protestors complained the glue hurt their hand, they were cold and hungry, needed the bathroom, and that the lights had been turned off

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/genius-activists-glue-themselves-to-porsche-museum-floor-then-complain-theyre-hungry

@Enrico_sw  

 

TBH China is a weird mix of communism, fascism, and hyper capitalism.

 

Russia is a weird mix of communism, fascism, democracy, and crony capitalism.

 

and US is now a weird mix of democracy, socialism, crony capitalism and regular capitalism.

On 10/28/2022 at 1:06 AM, Cult Icon said:

@Enrico_sw  

 

TBH China is a weird mix of communism, fascism, and hyper capitalism.

 

Russia is a weird mix of communism, fascism, democracy, and crony capitalism.

 

and US is now a weird mix of democracy, socialism, crony capitalism and regular capitalism.

 

Yep. I would call the US an inefficient democracy (the two party system is dangerous, it leads to extremism).

 

The European Union is an inefficient democracy as well. The European Commission is an unelected technocracy that is creating lots of discontent in the middle classes.

 

Switzerland and Norway are a good mix of democracy, capitalism and social balance.

 

France was at its peak in the 1920s and 30s.

 

1 hour ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

Yep. I would call the US an inefficient democracy (the two party system is dangerous, it leads to extremism).

 

The European Union is an inefficient democracy as well. The European Commission is an unelected technocracy that is creating lots of discontent in the middle classes.

 

Switzerland and Norway are a good mix of democracy, capitalism and social balance.

 

France was at its peak in the 1920s and 30s.

 

Why was France at its peak in the 20s/30s?

 

Overall it seems like the northern european countries are the lucky ones, with the best standard of living.

 

EU had a lot of problems during the great recession.  (2007 onward).  There are too many small countries in this Union with different agendas.

Elon Musk took over Twitter, fired lots of people lol.

 

I do agree with the fact that Twitter is ideologically corrupt.  It will be interesting to see if the quality of the platform improves.

On 10/29/2022 at 2:34 AM, Cult Icon said:

Why was France at its peak in the 20s/30s?

 

It was a free country, winner of WW1 (a war that we entirely fought and won), considered to be one of the best armies in the world. People had a common goal, they loved their country, science was prolific, the economic system was a good balance between a free market and adequate redistribution. And above all, the leaders were competent and cultivated.

 

All in all, people were optimistic. That's what I read in history books, but also in articles from the time. Nowadays, people are pessimistic (and I might be among them, even if I'm usually optimistic by nature) and most of us find our leaders to be useless

 

On 10/29/2022 at 2:34 AM, Cult Icon said:

Overall it seems like the northern european countries are the lucky ones, with the best standard of living.

 

Possibly, yes.

 

On 10/29/2022 at 2:34 AM, Cult Icon said:

EU had a lot of problems during the great recession.  (2007 onward).  There are too many small countries in this Union with different agendas.

 

EU is not a democracy, it's a chimera full of bureaucrats. It was build as a utopia and it might end like a dystopia (but that's what happens with most utopias anyway.....)

 

On 10/29/2022 at 2:44 AM, Cult Icon said:

Elon Musk took over Twitter, fired lots of people lol.

 

If he fires all the Stasi agents, then I'm 100% for it!

On 10/29/2022 at 2:49 AM, Cult Icon said:

 

I do agree with the fact that Twitter is ideologically corrupt.  It will be interesting to see if the quality of the platform improves.

 

I hope Twitter improves, but I fear that Elon has largely overpaid the blue bird... if I was his M&A advisor I would've told him this company isn't worth more than $35 billion (and that already includes a hefty goodwill IMHO). I can't see the growth drivers for this company.

 

But I dunno, I'm not the genius leader he is... maybe he has a plan (or he just made a huge gamble )

6 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

I hope Twitter improves, but I fear that Elon has largely overpaid the blue bird... if I was his M&A advisor I would've told him this company isn't worth more than $35 billion (and that already includes a hefty goodwill IMHO). I can't see the growth drivers for this company.

 

But I dunno, I'm not the genius leader he is... maybe he has a plan (or he just made a huge gamble )

 

He probably has a plan for Twitter but it's also a personal thing for him.

 

The main issue I have with twitter is how it and reddit, and other forms of social media helped kill off forums in the internet.

 

I still think that forums are by far the best discussion method- for real discussion and sharing.  Discussions on twitter are poor quality.

 

I also do not like how twitter promotes propaganda and groupthink.  It is a toxic communication method.  This is heavily used in war and politics. 

 

 

15 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

I hope Twitter improves, but I fear that Elon has largely overpaid the blue bird... if I was his M&A advisor I would've told him this company isn't worth more than $35 billion (and that already includes a hefty goodwill IMHO). I can't see the growth drivers for this company.

 

But I dunno, I'm not the genius leader he is... maybe he has a plan (or he just made a huge gamble )

 

The eternal problem is how to properly monetize it. Subscriber base is a possibility but the reason why Jack never tried this is because he (I think rightly) feared this might drive away a lot of users. Like how many casual users will be willing to pay for Twitter? A tiny minority at best.

7 minutes ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

 

The eternal problem is how to properly monetize it. Subscriber base is a possibility but the reason why Jack never tried this is because he (I think rightly) feared this might drive away a lot of users. Like how many casual users will be willing to pay for Twitter? A tiny minority at best.

 

True and that's the main problem of many internet services. Nobody is willing to pay, so you have to rely on advertisers (who themselves can be driven easily by anti-democratic forces - Woke capitalism being one of these forces).

I would love to see twitter changed into something more like forums (with real discussion and complete thoughts, rather than a venue for buzzwords) but that is a pipe dream.

It is likely that Russia has already have well over half a million men that could see service in Ukraine in 2023. Well over 440,000 reservists/volunteers with up to 290,000 recently trained conscripts if the ban on releasing conscripts is lifted like it was in Chechen wars and in Afganistan.

 

In 2021 the Russians created the BAR Special Combat Reserve, creating a new force of 38,000 active reservists.  Elements have already been used in the Ukraine.

 

Partial mobilization order of 300,000 already done, with average age of the reservists being 35.  After mobilization they are ordered for two months of training.  A further 83,000 volunteers collected since the beginning of the SMO.

 

They have two recent conscript classes (2021-2022) with 160,000-142,000 men and 2022-2023 with 130,000 men.  The latest conscript classes' earliest deployable date is March/April 2023.  Both conscript classes are not serving in Ukraine but this can change, as they are the largest crop of recently trained men.

 

Chechnya raised 20,000 men for combat.  Russian PMCs are growing and are composed of many motorized rifle regiments, they are even recruiting from Russian prisons.  Occupied Ukraine is being conscripted to reinforce the now sizable separatist army, besides collecting volunteers.

 

Besides this there is covert mobilization that is not being reported with Russian news speculating that much more than 300,000 reservists were mobilized.

 

Some 88,000 reservists have already been sent to Ukraine, with half being allocated to units.  The Ukrainian strategic offensive has been bogged down for almost 1 month now, with daily attacks that typically fail.

 

This war is looking like it's going to escalate into a gigantic bloodbath, on both sides as the Russian people expect their side to go on the strategic offensive again.

18 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

It was a free country, winner of WW1 (a war that we entirely fought and won), considered to be one of the best armies in the world. People had a common goal, they loved their country, science was prolific, the economic system was a good balance between a free market and adequate redistribution. And above all, the leaders were competent and cultivated.

 

All in all, people were optimistic. That's what I read in history books, but also in articles from the time. Nowadays, people are pessimistic (and I might be among them, even if I'm usually optimistic by nature) and most of us find our leaders to be useless

 

 

Honestly it seems like European countries would have to invade 3rd world nations for cheap resources again and build colonies...

 

Same thing with the British Empire after it disintegrated after WW1 and finally after WW2.  

4 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

I would love to see twitter changed into something more like forums (with real discussion and complete thoughts, rather than a venue for buzzwords) but that is a pipe dream.

 

I agree. It' hard to have subtlety with 280 characters.

 

I guess we could say that twitter killed nuance and subtlety. It reminds me of this song, somehow

(BTW, this song's better than the original)

 

The years 2020 and 2021 hit civil discourse very hard.