rabas

28 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

It is the entire world. Especially those under 45. Absolutely obsessed with social media, selfies and taking photos of their food, and other things that do not mean anything. The world has lost touch with reality. 

 

We are no longer advancing as a species. Smartphones have insured that. 

Worse, we are advancing at an astronomical rate in directions we can't even imagine. 

Moreover, the just bolted AI onto it all, with no idea what AI will do. 

2 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

 

So on what end of the political spectrum would you say Navalny tends to be, based on his numerous far right and xenophobic statements?

 

In videos from 2007, Navalny likened militants in Chechnya to cockroaches and espoused deporting migrants, saying, "We have the right to be Russian in Russia and we will defend that right."
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AP1BG/

Why don't you base it on his current activities and not some 20 year old episode?

Well near current, seeing Putin just killed him.

Just now, rattlesnake said:

 

Please explain why you believe Statista is not a reliable source.

Didn't say that. Statistica is asking for a membership before revealing the source. I thought you would know.

Why it matters.  Russian's have lived in fear of speaking their mind for a hundred years. It's worse under window man Putin. A random phone call from nowhere won't get an honest answer. You will only get the official state line. 

Russians I've known 20+ years will never talk about Putin politics over the phone if they are calling from inside Russia. You think they would answer a random unknown call and say "Yeah, love Navalny, great guy"? 

4 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

 

Statista is a German platform which has a solid reputation in terms of reliability.

Again. Do you know the source of the survey data that concluded no one liked Navalny?  Statistica is not showing a source. How was the survey performed?

1 hour ago, rattlesnake said:

 

White nationalist Navalny was jailed because he was a convicted crook.

 

A bit of context:

 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1201958/attitude-toward-activity-of-alexei-navalny-by-age-russia/

Most Russians in every age group did not approve of the political activity of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, as of February 2022.

A survey about something in Russia? Do you know the source?

2 hours ago, johng said:

It can become a prosperous economy using its commodities which are in demand worldwide.

IMHO  first world economies reliant on  fractional reserve banking, ponzi scheme stock markets and a vote that means virtually nothing as there is no difference between the candidates are no better than a kleptocracy anyway.

Why isn't it?  Because Putin...

Putin took a perfectly failed state, the USSR, and ruined it. They can't even win a war because of so much corruption. Putin's unstoppable missiles keep getting shot down, his impenetrable air defense systems keep getting penetrated. [watch Putin]. 

As for your Ponsi scheme sound byte, the US far exceeds Russia in oil production, now 13M to 9.5M bbl/day. Natural gas by even more. I already mentioned the golden economic goose, R&D, where no.1 US far exceeds Russia by a whopping 20 times. Why? Putin. He locks up scientists because he doesn't trust them.

Russia's hallowed space program? Far behind and falling. Why? You got it, Putin. Corruption. In 2023  Russia is now 5th worldwide in launched objects, 30 times behind the US. [ref] Your ponzi scheme US launched 81% of all the world's satellites. 

I too would love to see a strong, free Russia. Best thing for the world. Would you join me in calling for a Putin free Russia so that it can happen?  

2 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Production-based capitalism vs. speculation-based capitalism. The latter is at the heart of all the world's woes.

You missed the heart of capitalism, R&D, which leads to vast global production of useful products and services. The US spends nearly $700 billion on R&D each year, [ref] almost 20 times more than Putin's Russia. Per capita, Thailand outspends Russia on R&D by almost 20%.  R&D, my background, is a form of speculation.

Sorry to mention Russia, just trying to get back on topic.

37 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Somber truth: The invasion of Ukraine is pretty much the same as the illegal invasion of Iraq, a 'war of aggression'.

False and further off topic.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a true War of Conquest with the stated and now codified aim of territorial conquest and ownership. Such wars are rare since the World War 2 era. The Iraq war was not a war of territorial conquest. The only war of conquest involving Iraq may have been its invasion of Kuwait in an attempt to control and destabilize oil prices. 

Stop running guard for despot Putin. 

45 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/04/19/whats-perfectly-round-made-of-metal-and-keeping-russia-from-replacing-the-2000-tanks-its-lost-in-ukraine/?sh=6f63685f23f2

 

Good luck making ball bearings in Russia.

One of many Russian failures. Western technology is supported by a vast underlying industrial pyramid that Russia lacks because Putin's economy supports oligarchs and weapons over people.

The old USSR also lacked high precision ball bearings, which were key to Western superior ballistic missile accuracy. 

And the beat goes on.  As Putin threatens to nuke western satellites, Western technology advances to circumvent GPS by putting large atomic-beam clocks in a one inch cube ideal for even the smallest missiles and drones. [reference] 

A successful Russian future requires ousting Putin and handing power to the good Russian people, what Navalny was fighting for in his own way.

49 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

What Sanger says is that Wikipedia is not an objective outlet and overwhelmingly leans towards the political views of those who run it. Based on this premise, it is not a valid source to be quoted as fact.

I am sorry for Navalny, his wife and children. But as always, I am wary of simplistic dichotomies and am aware of the nuances and gray areas of someone who is clearly a very dubious character.

And I can only laugh cynically at the hypocrisy of those who hail him as a hero because the media says that is how it is, but will readily turn a blind eye to Julian Assange who is facing the same fate in the UK and USA, which are of course incredibly democratic countries without a drop of blood on their hands.

It's Russians claiming Navalny is a hero. Did you see the mass rally in Georgia? Mostly Russians.

The only link between Navalny and Assange is that Assange was functionally a Putin stooge. Had Assange released information only related to wrongdoing, not mass information damaging legitimate US interests, I might consider him a hero too. 

I doubt Navalny and Assange would like each other. OTH, Navalny was friends with Garry Kasparov, a truly brilliant Russian who also works tirelessly to expose Putin and save his country. Kasparov is in exile in part because he too tried to run for office. Putin would probably kill him if he could. 

Here is Kasperov on why Putin killed Navalny. If you really want to understand Russia, Putin, and the threat to the West, start here. If you don't trust media, you need to listen to folks like Kasperov. 

7 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

You can't expect to know the truth if you read sources such as Wikipedia. Here is what its co-founder Larry Sanger says about it:
 

Nobody should trust Wikipedia, says man who invented Wikipedia

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/wikipedia-founder-larry-sanger-democrats-b1885138.html

I agree we live in a world of hard found truth. My understanding about Russia comes from Russia, Russian friends, Russian experts. more Russians, and the USSR where I traveled in my youth. 

What WIKI"s founder really said was "he cautioned that the website can’t always be trusted to give people the truth”  He's mostly refers to US politics. Never trusting anything from WIKI is like never trusting Rattlesnake because he echos Covid misinformation.  

About Navalny. Even if his highly suspicious convictions were real, which I doubt, it has no bearing on his numerous hero activities like exposing Putin's deep secrets, for which he eventually gave his life. 

49 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Fun fact: Gaddafi's death came after he declared that he was no longer trying to acquire nuclear weapons.

Somber truth:  Completely unrelated to the fact that Putin is terrified of going out like Gaddafi at the hands of his own people.

Dmitry Markov, a famous Russian photographer notably arrested at Navalny's 2021 protest, has reportedly died.  More Putin fear?

A famous photograph of his that captures modern Putin Russia: 

It may indicate Putin is getting more worried about something. Hope so. 

Extreme propaganda, absurd lying, assassinating most anyone, and doomsday weapons can only get you so far. Soon all the damage being done to Russian ships, factories, refineries, military stocks, the economy (what economy?), not to mention nearly half a million dead Russians, many who have families, may catch up to him.  

Julia Ioffe, the Russian expert, explains that Putin's worst nightmare is going out like Muammar Gaddafi, hunted down by his own people, in a drain pipe, pulled out and beaten to death. Putin apparently watched the video of Gaddafi's death obsessively for days. Fun fact. It was the 2011 NATO led intervention in Libya that lead to Gaddafi's death.

Here The Atlantic discuses possible parallels with Ukraine. Like I said, hope so.

On 2/11/2024 at 9:59 PM, JoseThailand said:

When I hear the word "covid" I wanna puke. Enough is enough!

... Similarly, those who had had COVID-19 were 54% more likely to experience digestive symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, bloating, vomiting ... COVID-19 infections raise risk of long-term gastrointestinal

If your symptoms are from COVID, a simple vaccination may have prevented them. 

Stop spreading fear of vaccinations and masks....