World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[Pulsar_t]

On a more serious note, this link has a bit more info on the historical conflict between the Finns and Russians that apparently dates back centuries.


http://www.geocurrents.info/population- ... ic-changes

[TSTR]

Why would you want to attack Sweden? Putin must really hate Ikea or something.

[Pulsar_t]

Why would you want to attack Sweden? Putin must really hate Ikea or something.

Anyone in his/her right mind would hate Ikea

More on this topic http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... nd-sweden/

These stories have obviously caught a lot of attention, and for good reason: A Russian military attack on Finland or Sweden would be extraordinary. Thankfully, few people seem to think that idea is credible. For example, Fiona Hill of the Brookings Institution told me that the stories seemed a bit "overblown," while Mark Galeotti of New York University said he found the idea of military incursions into Sweden and Finland "wholly implausible."

[ZeroAX]

Just the fact that it would be extremely unlikely doesn't mean we should let our guard down. And let's not forget our allies in the Baltic. Putin doesn't even have to invade he can just cause chaos/instability by using propaganda on the Russian populations there to stir trouble.

[RCBH928]

I respect Putin for not being a hypocrite . A lot of people call lying , diplomacy . Not true. He might want to attack me and kill me one day, but he is not lying about it. I hate politicians that would smile in your face and behind closed doors they are working on your demise .

This might not happen in the clear way of invading a country, but it works a lot by forcing "sanctions" and applying "pressure" to do as they want you to do. I guess we are living in the ear of the "non-violent" war. Same results of a war but no deaths or destructions .

[Pulsar_t]

We're not at the End of History™, any number of cascading events could lead to chaos on a scale that dwarfs the whole bloodshed of the first half of the 20th century combined. In fact I'd argue things could be more critical because the planet itself is struggling to cope with our patterns of consumption. The challenges awaiting mankind really make the regional troubles in eastern Europe to be child's play.

[MrPopo]

The Simpsons predicted this back in '98.

[ZeroAX]

I respect Putin for not being a hypocrite . A lot of people call lying , diplomacy . Not true. He might want to attack me and kill me one day, but he is not lying about it. I hate politicians that would smile in your face and behind closed doors they are working on your demise .

This might not happen in the clear way of invading a country, but it works a lot by forcing "sanctions" and applying "pressure" to do as they want you to do. I guess we are living in the ear of the "non-violent" war. Same results of a war but no deaths or destructions .

I completely disagree. While the USA has done many "evil things" in some of its interventions abroad (and much good too, when it went where it was asked to go), at least they had to disguise those evil things with lies and propaganda, because when the truth got out their populace got angry at their politicians/army/special agencies.

It is scary sometimes how differently things are presented to them (I remember during the Iraq war how much more press the civilian casualties got over here than in the states, and let's not even mention the NSA scandal).


BUT, at least there is some form of a last resort of control by the populace, which means they can't violate human rights all the time.

On the OTHER hand, the Russian populace is outright supporting Russian aggression, homophobia, invasion and occupation, and Putin's corrupt ways in general. If Putin goes too far, there are NO check and balances inside Russia to remove him from power, and replace him with someone else.

This isn't about democracy VS totalitarian either, because we know we can trust China not to escalate things too much, cause of its vested economic interests and the fact that inside their party there does exist a form of checks and balances.

Can we really trust Putin with nukes on the other hand?

[Ack]

I completely disagree. While the USA has done many "evil things" in some of its interventions abroad (and much good too, when it went where it was asked to go), at least they had to disguise those evil things with lies and propaganda, because when the truth got out their populace got angry at their politicians/army/special agencies.

Yeah, and depending on the country or group, we still get a lot of flak internally and externally for propping up quite a few dictators and less-than-wholesome regimes around the world as part of our attempt to contain Soviet-Chinese expansion. We do try to argue in favor of our actions, but in a world still reeling from the longterm effects of it all, we'll likely be dealing with the fallout for decades.

It is scary sometimes how differently things are presented to them (I remember during the Iraq war how much more press the civilian casualties got over here than in the states, and let's not even mention the NSA scandal).

I guess it should be noted that we were given daily updates on US casualty figures for most of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Depending on which channel you watched and when in relation to the length of the war, this was sometimes presented as "Look how few we have lost" to "Look how many Americans pointlessly lost their lives." This steady coverage pretty much ended once Obama took the presidency and has been used as supporting evidence of media bias within the United States.

[prfsnl_gmr]

It is scary sometimes how differently things are presented to them (I remember during the Iraq war how much more press the civilian casualties got over here than in the states, and let's not even mention the NSA scandal).

I guess it should be noted that we were given daily updates on US casualty figures for most of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Depending on which channel you watched and when in relation to the length of the war, this was sometimes presented as "Look how few we have lost" to "Look how many Americans pointlessly lost their lives." This steady coverage pretty much ended once Obama took the presidency and has been used as supporting evidence of media bias within the United States.

Also, those were our troops that died in the Iraq War, and it is understandable that the American people would be more interested in their well-being than the well-being of foreign civilians.