Comments
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Ukraine CrisisUkraine's status as a country, independence, sovereignty, whatever was established in 1991, a couple of years after the Berlin Wall came down. Changes.
During Vladimir Putin's tenure (1999-), various positions have been filled by ex-KGB and such (almost resembling a slow coup).
In 2003, one of the richest Russian oligarchs, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, talked about widespread corruption in front of a dismayed Putin (in a public meeting), putting numbers on the money, and what happened? The same year he's tossed in prison where he'd be for a decade. Control. Signaling.
Starting around 2009, Barack Obama (and Hillary Clinton) tried to "reset" and improve US-Russia relations. Around 2011, Putin had troubles at home, there were protest against him in various cities across Russia, and what happened? Putin blamed Clinton.
Sometime, whenever, before 2009, the Kremlin circle (apparently uncompromisingly) decided that it would be unbearable to lose control over Crimea, and perhaps lose their empowering influence over Ukraine, something along those lines. Likely not an overnight thing; perhaps there'd been an "entitled", irredentist, "ownership", revanchist sentiment since the end of the Cold War in those circles. They'd need to secure a land bridge to whatever they hence might have to grab. A new or extended Kharkiv Pact wouldn't do, for example. Couldn't be left for an independent country to decide. Planning.
And so that decision marked the — henceforth seemingly inevitable — collision course of which we've seen the results. The Kremlin circle (whenever before 2009) against Ukraine (1991).
After all, we're talking about the largest country in the world, assertive, powerful, to be respected — and regressive. Well, meanwhile, despite resistance from early on and later invasion, Ukraine has been working towards implementing a modern, free, transparent democracy. -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion), you don't believe there have been and are such campaigns/projects/activities? :brow: Except for the reports thereof, a rather impressive multinational multicultural conspiracy? :chin:
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US Election 2024 (All general discussion), yep, fact. There have been, and are, such campaigns/projects/activities. (2022Jun10, 2024Mar13, 2024May22, 2024Jun14, 2024Aug13-)
(Some of the more heavy-duty ones aren't run against the US, though, but smaller, more "manageable", areas.)
You can also find some in Europe and Africa, and you can also find some run by US agents.
Odd that you first deny such activities only to turn around and instead call the reports of them such activities, first denying then claiming their existence. -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion), and yet there have been, and are, such campaigns — fact.
You may opine on what to do about them, but not their existence.
They've increased during the time of the present Kremlin, and, in addition to effects/efficiency, we might ask the same old question: To what end? -
Relativism vs. Objectivism: What is the Real Nature of Truth?Indexical utterings like "I'm the prime minister of Sweden" will typically be true for one person (or none) and false for others.
I suspect that's not quite what's meant here by "Relativism" though.
Doesn't "Objectivism" and "Real" go together here?
If there is a "Real Nature of Truth" would it not be objective?
Ignoring indexicals for a moment, it seems clear enough that there are independent truths.
Say, "The Sun burned less brightly 4 billion years ago" holds true (or false) regardless of whatever you or I may think ("brightly" can be translated to physics).
Doesn't seem particularly controversial. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, here's what I already wrote (I thought there'd been enough repetition):
Two important problems (out of more): injustice and threat. The Palestinians ought to see ongoing justice, the Jews ought to see ongoing existential safety, things enjoyed by many nations.
Blindness to just one of them isn't helping, is part of the problem, and seems to have hit you and @BitconnectCarlos alike.
Say, what do you have in mind for Israel then? International isolation? Recolonization? Tzeentch's scenario? Who cares? You might as well say so (if you have anything) for further discussion. @BitconnectCarlos apparently thinks in terms of erasing Hamas entirely, except others will emerge, plus there are other neighbors (mentioned by @Tzeentch). What about two states? -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion)In today’s vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Kremlin’s funding of Tennessee-based media company TENET Media. TENET Media is best-known for their promotion of Russian narratives and for strong support for...…
— Pekka Kallioniemi · Vatnik soup · Sep 5, 2024
Meet the right-wing Canadian influencers accused of collaborating with an alleged Russian propaganda scheme
— Jonathan Montpetit, Aloysius Wong · CBC · Sep 6-7, 2024
How much influence do such campaigns have anyway? -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West BankThere's only a struggle for independence made futile by the unconditional support of a coloniser by the West. — BenkeiI'm hardly dismissing it — Benkei
:brow:
Keep up, the context is the (history of the) Palestinians and Jews in the region, up to and including now. Since that's centuries-long and large (re-repeated in the thread), we might focus on the present situation, like, say, two states, the injustices against Palestinians, and the threat against Israel (also re-repeated in the thread).
(Perhaps you'd like to see @Tzeentch's scenario become reality, by, say, isolating Israel internationally, and letting their righteous neighbors run them over (potentially involving nuclear weapons)...? That'd take a bit of sadism I suppose.)
Here in the real world, there's more than one important problem to be addressed / figured out, contrary to what you and @BitconnectCarlos keep telling everyone. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, I don't think it's reasonable to dismiss (pointing out) that there's more than one important problem, and that they're best addressed/resolved in the same round. Is that what you call both-sideism? We all know the history, humanitarianism (including homophobia), etc; besides, it's been re-re-iterated often enough here in the thread.
, I'm not really reaching you, am I? We're not just talking some random vigilantes supposedly outside the reach of Israeli justice.
Getting the conflict aspects (and opinions) out in the open is important enough, dismissing a significant important part thereof isn't good enough. None of the radicals are going to get exactly what they want. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
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Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel is already facing risks and has been for a long time. Ongoing injustices aren't a solution.
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Ukraine Crisis, things the Putinistas don't want to hear, don't want anyone to hear, let alone discuss.
Had Ivashov been younger, there's a fair chance he'd "fall off a balcony and die". -
Coronavirus
hah! That's still a thing in the UK? :)
My impression (which may be wrong) is that lots of things are covered well by taxes, like health, some education, public infra, the usual. Also (which may be wrong), my impression is that the UK has become more progressive since, at least in some ways. The Randians and evangelicals, for example, don't seem to have the same foothold as in the US. But I could have the wrong impression.
Then again, maybe Brexit was seeded by Thatcher (1988).
(Not sure what to make of all the public camera coverage.) -
Coronavirus, Spain, right? (Portugal?)
, aren't both the UK and Spain labeled "socialist democracies"?
Some funding came in via the EU.
Pfizer and BioNTech received a good lot from the US, the EU, Germany, Canada, ... (From memory, the Gates Foundation and others also tossed a fair bit in.)
In retrospect, the project was quite something. So was the noise, by the way. Yet, the cooperation/collaboration and (prior) mRNA/protein technology came together nicely.
A socialist world wouldn't try to weaponise viruses for profit — Benkei
Well, maybe not a socialist world, or better an ethical world. -
Coronavirus
History’s Seven Deadliest Plagues
— Maya Prabhu, Jessica Gergen · Nov 15, 2021
They should have used a color to indicate lethality (risk after infection), perhaps some indicator of how easily the malady spread. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West BankTwo states does not bring peace — BitconnectCarlos
Maybe not, at least not "just like that".
Yet, given the existing hostilities and hostile neighbors, how much difference would two states make?
Would it not be worthwhile, at least? A sign of good will, for that matter?
The perpetual hostilities aren't helping.
The Israeli existential threat/fear is understandable enough, and so is the injustice to Palestinians.
In case the new state ("Palestine") was to run amok, then the world would see; Israel can defend itself against a demarcated state. Israel could stand up as a bastion of humanitarian values, perhaps even attract/influence Palestinians on that account.
I don't know, but wouldn't dismiss two states with a handwave. -
Communism's Appeal, for what it's worth ...
Why Russian milbloggers and propagandists are freaking out about Telegram's CEO arrest (— Chris York · Kyiv Independent · Aug 31, 2024) -
Climate change denial, , human population has roughly been growing exponentially since the neolithic (as far as we can tell), but might peak in our time.
Transitions by hunting/gathering ... tool use/making ... farming helped increase growth when the population was much lower.
It was with the industrialization (starting, let's just say, around 1800) that anthropogenic effects went global. (and we started infecting the Moon and Mars as well :wink:)
I don't think any of these transitions are bad in and of themselves, it's more that people generally don't care about sustainability or responsibilities. -
Communism's AppealThat is why it is necessary for the ruling mafia to arrest and imprison people like Telegram's owner Pavel Durov. He may have successfully escaped Gleichschaltung by the Russian Federation in the past, but Durov is currently being "synchronized" by the French authorities instead. Elon Musk and his Twitter platform (nowadays called "X") will sooner or later also find themselves more thoroughly "synchronized". — Tarskian
Prophecy? Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Zhang Yiming, ... are still "at large" in the open.
The French judicial wanted Pavel Durov for ignoring authorities looking into some possible crimes on Telegram. Do you think those laws (are meant to) implement Gleichschaltung? -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West BankThat is cause for worry. — BitconnectCarlos
In this context, though predictable, it's (also) worrisome that Jews and Muslims have seen increased hostility in all kinds of places, more antisemitism and Islamophobia, following the conflict.
No longer about the regional threat to Israelis and injustice to Palestinians, and, as far as I can tell anyway, those are the main troubles to be figured out, preferably in the same round.
Is that what those ("elite") protesters want, though? -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion)the logical conclusion is that the democrats signaled their gangsters to stop protests and fireworks — Eros1982
I wouldn't say that's the logical conclusion. Riots do start and end, emerge and fade, for whatever reasons. For that matter, they need not have a (single) "puppet master". But maybe the rioters were predominantly Democrats, if that counts as "the democrats".
Democrats and Republicans have become very Machiavellian lately — Eros1982
Well, at least fringes of party members. Polarization has come with opportunism, noise, calculation, "mood swings", contrarianism, zeal, the usual. Game of Thrones and The Boys aren't to be emulated, and conspiracy theories should be taken with a grain of salt (make that two). :) Additionally, foreign interests are trying to nudge in whatever direction. -
Brainstorming scienceI don't think that the first law of thermodynamics is strictly falsifiable — Moliere
Right. Would the zero-energy universe violate conservation?
It's falsifiable, though, but maybe it won't ever be. In a way, the fluctuation theorem disproves strict entropy.1 - 1 = 0 ↑ \ we're here
Evidence as proof
I take proof to be deductive, as found in logic and mathematics. I'm seeing two cases where evidence is proof:
• a particular existential claim ("here's a stampeding elephant")
• a counter-example to a general/universal claim ("here's a black swan")
(also check here)
These correspond to proving a ∃x∈S φx proposition, and disproving a ∀x∈S φx proposition, respectively.
(∃) "there are extraterrestrial aliens", "the Vedic Shiva is real", ..., showing is proof
(∀) "photons don't decay", "all life is DNA based", ..., showing a counter-example is disproof
Outside of such proofs, scientific methodologies aren't proofs, but (more or less) means by which to develop general claims inferred from particular existential claims. Naturally, this characterization is a bit rigid, and, as usual, there are all kinds of details. -
Ukraine CrisisDebris analysis shows Russia using North Korean missiles in Ukraine, US military says
— Phil Stewart, Michelle Nichols, Josh Smith, Diane Craft · Reuters · May 30, 2024 — usnews·com
Kim Sent Russia Millions of Artillery Shells, South Korea Says
— Soo-Hyang Choi · Bloomberg · Jun 14, 2024 — time·com
Kim must hate Ukraine, waging such "a proxy war" against them. Actually, he probably doesn't care, except he's not fond of those that have sanctioned North Korea. Well, it's understandable when the Ukrainians take issue with Kim, everyone knowing the intent (cf reports above), North Korean crap raining down on Ukraine. The actions of the Kremlin amount to a partial reversal of Ukraine's independence (+ sovereignty + integrity), established in 1991 a couple of years after the Berlin Wall came down, or at least an attempt at such reversal. Consequently, that's what Kim is helping. Independence includes freedom to seek EU membership, wrestle free from the dominating north+eastern neighbor, implement political reforms and develop a democracy, assert integrity, whatever. -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion), let's set up a trolley problem involving sperm + egg cells (incidentally akin to what Nightingale and Stalin "began" as) over ↖ there, cherry-sized 2-months-old fetuses over ↑ there, and toddlers over ↗ there.
I have a feeling the toddlers ↗ would make it every time, outside of rather special(ized) scenarios.
OK, what it there were, say, 10 times as many sperm + egg cells and fetuses as toddlers? 100? 10000 as many sperm + egg cells?
In terms of bio-facts, only the toddlers ↗ are conscious persons — children.
I suppose we could craft the details of a scenario (or more) and run a poll if you like. -
US Election 2024 (All general discussion):up:
should one want to kill her child — NOS4A2
Isn't this a wee bit hyperbolic? Whatever you want to call it, "one" = "her", "one" isn't someone/something else, yes? Are you thinking of a slippery slope? Either way, abortion ≠ killing a child here.
A couple of months in, a fetus is a lump of cells about the size of a cherry, something like that. Not a person. My neighbor's kid is. It's more like a cyst. No more a person or conscious than pre-conception sperm and egg cell. ← bio-facts
I'll readily admit to having an emotional attachment to life. It's not like abortion is a positive thing or to be encouraged (anti-natalists not invited at the moment :grin:), it's a rough enough decision. -
Ukraine Crisis, whether strategic or something else, I suppose anyone can speculate ...
▸ Aug 13, 2024, ▸ Aug 16, 2024 (← embedded links for context or whatever)
Some say Ukraine → NATO plans and that's that, some say ongoing provocations kept alive by a military-industrial complex and covert conspirators to which the Kremlin is simply responding, ... (← such like tend to render the invaders mechanistic / assign blame outside / run with whatever comes out of the Kremlin)
Some add cultural tendencies (including historical) on the invader's part, ...
Anyway, I can't answer on 's behalf. -
Ukraine CrisisHow to circumvent sanctions and do a bit of spying:
Marinchefen: Vi misstänker att ryska skuggflottan spionerar (en)
— SVT · Apr 22, 2024
Baiba Braže in Finland: Russia’s “shadow fleet” and other threats to the Baltic Sea states will be limited
— Ārlietu ministrija (Government of Latvia) · Jun 14, 2024
How to rein in Russia’s shadow fleet
— Elisabeth Braw · POLITICO · Aug 26, 2024
Nothing new I guess. Maybe oil market sensitivities/insecurities and international legalities can account for the lack of response, in part at least. Though, avoiding confrontation encourages offenders. -
Donald HoffmanI think that's an oxymoron, no? — bert1
Could be. The phenomena-noumena thing is the context or background presumption here, though.
Let me just add, I don't think becoming das-ding makes much sense here. Anything other than you is not you. And whatever other than you may not perceive at all, or at least not like you — which would be unwarranted anthropomorphization, incidentally perhaps converging on panpsychism/animism. In other words, becoming das-ding is a dead end; some other requirement will have to be employed (if any).
We may interact similarly with a Moon rock, whereas (what we identify as) hydrochloric acid interacts differently with the Moon rock. In principle, you could interact with something in whatever ways (typically by proxy), and we may find new ways of interacting with things, or discover interaction previously unknown to us. Do we have an alternative to interaction, by which to attain knowledge of something otherwise unknown (or scantily known)? I suppose the hyper-skeptical parsimonist might reduce everything to interaction. (← I have already ditched solipsism and the like here) -
Donald HoffmanMy final twist here is that, astronomy, geology, still do not tell us about noumena. — Manuel
I don't think this can be a deductive conclusion.
Running with the phenomena-noumena thing, you can know how something interacts with you at least, yes?
Say, you may interact with an apple-an-sich, which might at least tell you something about the apple, namely about your interaction therewith. Or, you may interact with a neighbor-an-sich, which might tell you something about the neighbor, namely how the neighbor interacts at least.
(As far as I can tell, the "might" part would have to be disproven for the quote to be deductive, but maybe I'm wrong; actually I might have misunderstood entirely. :smile:)
If we expect apple-omniscience/certainty, then we're over-demanding.
In terms of (phenomena-noumena) epistemics, what would be required (perhaps expected) to know a ding-an-sich (without interaction)? Becoming das-ding...? -
Donald HoffmanA question I have is, what is 'truth' as distinct from 'perceived reality'? — Wayfarer
I'm sort of thinking that regardless of what you perceive, you can't experience my self-awareness, for example.
You'll find it a wee bit easier to perceive the ground you walk on (I assume).
Nonetheless, I hope you think I'm just another self/aware homo sapiens and forum denizen, though. :)
The statement "jorndoe is self/aware" is true, so truth and perceived reality aren't the same at least.
Epistemic endeavors have truth in mind, if you will, whatever it all may be. -
Ukraine CrisisAs long as we have men like you, we are absolutely, absolutely invincible. It is one thing to shoot at a shooting range here, and another thing to put your life and health at risk. But you have an inner need to defend the Fatherland and the courage to make such a decision. — Putin · Al Jazeera · Aug 21, 2024
Well, they're still warring (with help from North Korea, China, Iran), 2½ years after the invasion, 10 years after grabbing Crimea. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, yeah, with two world wars just a good couple of decades apart, resulting in, say, 100 million fatalities + impressive destruction, it's no wonder that things had to change. Emperors, dictators and the like were central figures, North America wasn't happy, ...
(Imperial Japan started its own campaign shortly before the 2nd world war as far as most historians are concerned, don't know if anyone uses that as a marker for the start of the war instead.) -
Ukraine Crisis:up: Being written in Russian, maybe the article was targeted for Russians. Looked around, but couldn't find the original article, do you have a link handy?
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Ukraine CrisisNot all that surprising I suppose, however concerning it may seem:
NATO’s military presence in the east of the Alliance
— NATO · Jul 8, 2024
Czołgi i wozy bojowe na drogach w Wielkopolsce. Ważny komunikat armii (Polish)
Tanks and combat vehicles on the roads in Wielkopolska. Important message from the army
— Krzysztof Grządzielski, Milosz Balcerzak · Radio ZET · Jul 29, 2024
US Tanks, Combat Vehicles Spotted Heading for NATO's Eastern Flank: Report
— Brendan Cole · Newsweek · Jul 30, 2024
Финляндия разместит до 5000 военных НАТО у границы с Россией (Russian)
Finland to deploy up to 5,000 NATO troops near Russian border
— Lisa Lambrecht · Deutsche Welle · Aug 22, 2024
Earlier, Medvedev went on another tirade, making other Kremlinians seem dull:
Medvedev urges to turn life in West into 'permanent nightmare' in response to sanctions
— TASS · Jun 13, 2024 -
A quote from Tarskian(I'm using "they" to give out less personal information)
He was most likely complaining about "persecution" by his own family who do not accept his sexual orientation. — Tarskian
Well, no, that's exactly not the case here.
Missing family + friends isn't a perk.
Much like neighboring Brunei, and Saudi Arabia by the way, Malaysia is officially Sunnist.
And so Malaysia lost another smart, kind person for (religion-bound state-sanctioned) humanitarian reasons.
Such is the reality on the ground. — above -
A quote from Tarskian, I happen to know a Malay homosexual who more or less fled Malaysia.
You wouldn't know they're homosexual without knowing them personally.
(Not that it matters, but I'm heterosexual and married.)
Good thing they're quite intelligent and rational, and managed to make a living in a safer country.
Neighboring Brunei isn't exactly better.
Such is the reality on the ground. -
Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West BankAs it stands, the Jewish versus Muslim thing is part of the problem, in particular when both go craz...radical.
Jews continue to be (existentially) threatened, Muslims continue to be treated radically unjustly.
Jews aren't going to eradicate opposing radicals, Muslims aren't going to turn the region into an Islamic theocracy or whatever (and, outside of self-fulfilling prophecy, Christians won't have their second coming).
Both lay religio-historical claims, not really something where you'd expect much compromise.
Supposing that Israel has nuclear weapons, I wouldn't want to be in the region if Israel stands to be run over.
This part of the problem isn't that different from a (deadlocked) religious war, and fictional characters like Yahweh and Allah aren't going to settle anything, though one might wish that both parties would believe so (and leave it at that), or, better yet, ditch their (fundamentalist) superstitions.
Isn't simply telling one group to "Fuck off (and die)" more radicalism?
Anyway, I'm guessing that a solution would require both plausible security guarantees and ongoing justice. -
Ukraine Crisis
jorndoe
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