War is coming

[MaxQue]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

[politicus]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

[© tweed]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

[MaxQue]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

But he is being less and less close since Ukraine invasion.

[ingemann]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

No I don't think that's possible, in fact I don't see how anyone could see that as possible.

[politicus]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Nah, the post-communist countries that have joined NATO are democracies by any reasonable standard. Albania is the most problematic of them, but even that has democratic institutions and far better human rights than Russia or Belarus (one of the least free countries in the world).

We are talking about:

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania.
   

[ingemann]

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Okay please enligthen us wise one with how the Baltic Countries, Poland and Romania are dictatorships.

[© tweed]

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Okay please enligthen us wise one with how the Baltic Countries, Poland and Romania are dictatorships.

I never asserted anything of the sort and I'm not fit for this sort of conversation anyway.  I was making a point about Western use of vocabulary... whether Poland's elections are "free and fair" according to Freedom House I could care less.

btw, I was impressed that one of those reports in grading the US did comment negatively on the rights of labor to organize, how de facto labor organization via the NLRA is all but impossible as to be considered a (minor) human rights violation.  made me gain an inch of respect for those reports.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Nah, the post-communist countries that have joined NATO are democracies by any reasonable standard. Albania is the most problematic of them, but even that has democratic institutions and far better human rights than Russia or Belarus (one of the least free countries in the world).

We are talking about:

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania.
   

You don't find Hungary as concerning as Albania?

[ag]

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Okay please enligthen us wise one with how the Baltic Countries, Poland and Romania are dictatorships.

I never asserted anything of the sort and I'm not fit for this sort of conversation anyway.  I was making a point about Western use of vocabulary... whether Poland's elections are "free and fair" according to Freedom House I could care less.

Well of course you do not care. You do not care whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship in general. Nor do you know the difference.

You would, though, if you had experience living in a dictatorship.

[Gustaf]

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Okay please enligthen us wise one with how the Baltic Countries, Poland and Romania are dictatorships.

I never asserted anything of the sort and I'm not fit for this sort of conversation anyway.  I was making a point about Western use of vocabulary... whether Poland's elections are "free and fair" according to Freedom House I could care less.

Well of course you do not care. You do not care whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship in general. Nor do you know the difference.

You would, though, if you had experience living in a dictatorship.

In breaking news, Communist living comfortably in Western democracy does not care for the plight oppressed masses in far-away dictatorships.

[© tweed]

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

Okay please enligthen us wise one with how the Baltic Countries, Poland and Romania are dictatorships.

I never asserted anything of the sort and I'm not fit for this sort of conversation anyway.  I was making a point about Western use of vocabulary... whether Poland's elections are "free and fair" according to Freedom House I could care less.

Well of course you do not care. You do not care whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship in general.

my point is, nor does US power.  so long as a) resources (incl. labor) can be extracted for profit, and b) you allow a few US military bases, degree of internal repression does not matter.  yet the language is co-opted to paint a different picture.  and that language and thought-world bleeds into supposedly neutral registers of World freedom.

In breaking news, Communist living comfortably in Western democracy does not care for the plight oppressed masses in far-away dictatorships.

I'm not in a position to do any advocacy for the "oppressed masses" in "faraway places". if I have the capacity to change how any power system works, it's in my own country (since it is ostensibly a democracy, perhaps I can have an impact). I'll criticize the power system that I can do something about.

if you think cheerleading for your power system is somehow a morally superior act, that's of course your prerogative.

[ag]

my point is, nor does US power. 

How would you know that, as you, obviously, cannot distinguish democracy from a fried egg, even if your life depended on it?

[BaconBacon96]

Putin's new alliance will consist not of NATO nations but of the following;

North Korea
Iran
Syria
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Sudan
Zimbabwe
Venezuela
Argentina
Bolivia
Ecuador
Nicaragua

See that Latin American power bloc emerging? Scary stuff!

[© tweed]

my point is, nor does US power.

How would you know that, as you, obviously, cannot distinguish democracy from a fried egg, even if your life depended on it?

certainly I can: only the egg can be eaten.

[ag]

my point is, nor does US power.

How would you know that, as you, obviously, cannot distinguish democracy from a fried egg, even if your life depended on it?

certainly I can: only the egg can be eaten.

Enjoy your evening meal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_%28food%29#mediaviewer/File:Inside_a_Balut_-_Embryo_and_Yolk.jpg

[Middle-aged Europe]

Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.

Care to expand on this? I am curious.

Russia has not been controlled or contained.

Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out.  proxy war is already happening.

No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.

you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?

You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.

No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.

yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations).  Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.

hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.

You seem to be under the false impression that 2015 Eastern Europe is virtually identical to 1985 Eastern Europe, with basically everything in those countries having stayed the same, except that they are members of NATO now with pro-American puppet dictatorships instead of pro-Russian puppet dictatorships in place.

Well, let's just say that you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about and leave it at that...