Meredith Poor + 897 MP March 16, 2019 Keyword search 'Lebensraum' on Oilprice.com. Russia is on a disinformation campaign for a number of reasons, some of which date back to the 1880's. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
specinho + 470 March 16, 2019 On 3/10/2019 at 4:32 PM, Dan Warnick said: Back to Venezuela. Is everyone watching what's happening down there the last 2-3 days? Power outages that are further crippling the country, allowing for what fresh food there is to rot in the refrigerators. And, no, this is not because a mere sabotage, it is because of a government that did not manage the power generation systems. And this a great article, published on February 19 (so not so "right now" but it is pretty close).: This Is What's Happening in Venezuela Right Now By Matt Essert | Feb. 19, 2014 (Excerpt) There is a crisis in Venezuela. ............................ Since taking over for the deceased Hugo Chávez in April 2013, Maduro has led Venezuela to 56% inflation rate and a 50% increase in the budget deficit............... the once-strong dollar has dropped from an 8 to 1 exchange rate relative to the U.S. dollar at Chávez's death, to a disastrous 87 to 1. On 3/11/2019 at 11:10 AM, Illurion said: EXACTLY....... MY LONG YEARS OF LIFE HAVE SHOWN ME THAT MOST "CHANGE" IS BAD........... In Venezuela,  the "change" there is actually "NOT A CHANGE", but, rather,  "A RETURN TO THE DEMOCRACY THAT EXISTED BEFORE CHAVEZ AND MADURO "CHANGED" THINGS FOR THE WORSE."............ Sometimes......... things happen in a cycle.......... a cycle of dynamic static............... e.g.  1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Illurion + 894 IG March 16, 2019 6 hours ago, specinho said: Sometimes......... things happen in a cycle.......... a cycle of dynamic static............... e.g.  ? I am not sure what you are trying to say. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Douglas Buckland + 6,308 March 16, 2019 This debate seems to have degenerated into a 'pissing contest'. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169 RJ March 17, 2019 On 2/21/2019 at 6:19 PM, Observatus Geopoliticus said: The problem with Venezuela is that the population is deeply divided. It's not the Western fairy tale : a nice and photogenic Guaido supported by the population while Maduro is a brutal dictator despised by everybody. Each side have millions of supporters and all that can end with a years-long civil war. I am Danish. My wife is Cuban. We have friends from Venezuela. Our friends have family in Venezuela. What is background do you have for your above claim? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
specinho + 470 March 18, 2019 On 3/17/2019 at 6:48 AM, Illurion said: ? I am not sure what you are trying to say. On 3/11/2019 at 11:10 AM, Illurion said: EXACTLY....... MY LONG YEARS OF LIFE HAVE SHOWN ME THAT MOST "CHANGE" IS BAD........... In Venezuela,  the "change" there is actually "NOT A CHANGE", but, rather,  "A RETURN TO THE DEMOCRACY THAT EXISTED BEFORE CHAVEZ AND MADURO "CHANGED" THINGS FOR THE WORSE."............ Sometimes......... things happen in a cycle.......... a cycle of dynamic static............... e.g.  You mentioned "most change is bad" and In Venezuela,  the "change" there is actually "NOT A CHANGE", but, rather,  "A RETURN TO THE DEMOCRACY THAT EXISTED BEFORE CHAVEZ AND MADURO "CHANGED" THINGS FOR THE WORSE."........................ hence my reply to you was................ (as shown above)................. To explain what it means we need to take a look at this graph: (From the graph..... when the population of prey (blue line rabbits) increases it will be followed by the increment of predators (red line wolves). Then the number of preys declined followed by the number of predators and the cycle repeated i.e increase pop of preys - increase pop of predators then decrease pop of preys - decrease pop of predators...........) Dynamic static is a condition happens in biology "predator-prey" relationship - it basically means changes are happening but on overall scale things remained unchanged........... dynamic = changes; static = unchanged........... But for our story..... we started off with a lot of trees around our houses. Then the trees were chopped off for paper making and for development. Soon we lamented we had no tree any more. Consequently..... we encourage tree planting to have what we had before................ and we write "save the tree" on the paper we produced from trees we chopped down............. Venezuela was a colony of Spain under monarch system. Venezuela gained independence and administrated under dictatorship??...... Then there was democracy............... enforced especially during the 70s. Then there is military dictatorship........... then the latest is self professed democratic candidate or so called............. The interchanging scenarion between dictatorship and democracy is in a constant cycle.......... or no? Wondering if they still have "the last emperor" to be reinstated................ 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG March 18, 2019 On 3/16/2019 at 7:06 PM, Douglas Buckland said: This debate seems to have degenerated into a 'pissing contest'. You have to wonder: with the way this mess has evolved, is Venezuela now so far in the soup that it would be better off as a colony, administered by an imperial power? 1 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dan Warnick + 6,100 March 18, 2019 13 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said: You have to wonder: with the way this mess has evolved, is Venezuela now so far in the soup that it would be better off as a colony, administered by an imperial power? Bernie wants to be president real bad......... If anyone can resurrect the everything for free model, he can do it. AOC could go help him out and try out some of her models on a smaller scale and then come back to us when she has some real data! This is exciting! But back up in the Northern 50 we need @Rodent Rodent 2020! 3 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodent + 1,424 March 19, 2019 5 hours ago, Dan Warnick said: Bernie wants to be president real bad......... If anyone can resurrect the everything for free model, he can do it. AOC could go help him out and try out some of her models on a smaller scale and then come back to us when she has some real data! This is exciting! But back up in the Northern 50 we need @Rodent Rodent 2020! The difference with Bernie is that he actually presents well personally. AOC, on the other hand ... well... not so much.  That's the trouble/benefit of likable people. They can be wrong, right, or anywhere in between, and they can still sell themselves. R2020 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodent + 1,424 March 19, 2019 6 hours ago, Jan van Eck said: You have to wonder: with the way this mess has evolved, is Venezuela now so far in the soup that it would be better off as a colony, administered by an imperial power? Definitely they are in the soup deep. I'm not sure that the people know how to get themselves out of this mess. What the ethical answer to that is, I dont know.  People are dying. No one can dispute that. The Venezuelan voting public didn't vote for THAT. Guaido didn't create that. U.S. didn't create that. FAIL. 1 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MUI + 92 KK March 19, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Rodent said: Definitely they are in the soup deep. I'm not sure that the people know how to get themselves out of this mess. What the ethical answer to that is, I dont know.  People are dying. No one can dispute that. The Venezuelan voting public didn't vote for THAT. Guaido didn't create that. U.S. didn't create that. FAIL. Venezuela is in horribly bad shape and there is definitely no easy way out. Their situation is a result of bad decisions coming home to roost. They elected Hugo Chavez Chavez took away their guns so the people could not contest his power with bullets Chavez set himself up as the head of a socialist government Maduro succeeded Chavez The Venezuelan people never rose up to stop any of this from happening and are well on their way to having lost everything. Everything! And this is the country that has the largest oil reserves in the world. Socialism sounds so great to the uneducated masses until they find themselves citizens of a now bankrupt country that cannot even feed the citizenry much less keep the lights on. Socialism is like a virus. It relies on ignorance in order to spread. Education is the vaccination for this vile disease. I feel great empathy for the Venezuelan people but I don't have an answer for their immediate situation. They are going to have to take back control of their country and start over from scratch.  R2020  Edited March 19, 2019 by MUI 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG March 19, 2019 On 2/25/2019 at 1:44 PM, Enthalpic said: Acceptance is the first step towards recovery. Just getting back to this old post by Enthalpic. It got hit with two red-arrow downvotes (including by Rodi, who is an American living in central Michigan). OK, so look, folks, that was not a "serious" response! Enthalpic is Canadian, I recall from Alberta, and that quip he made is classic Canadian wry humor. He was having a little fun with me. The wry fun part just got lost in the international translation. Actually, I had a good chuckle when I read it, by Canadian standards that was hysterically funny. You do have to have lived in Canada for a while to appreciate the subtle nuances of Canadian humor. Funny one! Still laughing!  Thanks for the chuckle, Enthalpic! You still saw ice blocks out of the lake in the winter, Eh? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG March 19, 2019 16 hours ago, Rodent said: Definitely they are in the soup deep. I'm not sure that the people know how to get themselves out of this mess. What the ethical answer to that is, I dont know.  People are dying. No one can dispute that. The Venezuelan voting public didn't vote for THAT. Guaido didn't create that. U.S. didn't create that. FAIL. Let's remember that both the USA and Canada and the Latin American countries are historically Christian, and adopt a Christian ethos. Is it appropriate for the neighbors of Venezuela to sit back and let the Venezuelan people suffer and die? Is it appropriate for the neighbors to shrug their shoulders and turn away from the pain, the hunger, and the death - while Maduro and his crony thugs loot and steal and have their motorcycle hit-men thugs murder opponents with impunity, in the streets? Or do the neighbors step up to the plate and say - "Enough! Maduro and his cronies have got to go!"  Look into your hearts and you know the answer. Stepping in to remove the criminals and bring Venezuela back from disaster is not ideological, nor is it punitive, nor is it "an invasion," it is simply the right thing to do. Time for the decent to take over. If you had the family living next door beating each other up and the father raping the daughter, would you call the police, would you call Social Services and report it? Or do you draw the curtains shut and look away? Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide. In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side. Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside.      Old American Hymnal. 1 1 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 March 19, 2019 On 2/25/2019 at 6:13 PM, Jouhou said: I directed that at other americans, I understand that other nationalities don't share our views. I was pointing out we are more alike than different in how receptive of other cultures and governments we are, we just use different words to characterize them. Also, what country are you from anyways? You used a weird word earlier that when I Google searched turned up mostly Indian sites. Also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge Imperialism implies holding on to an empire. We have held very little land except for that taken from the American Indians.  1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Foote + 1,135 JF March 19, 2019 15 minutes ago, ronwagn said: Imperialism implies holding on to an empire. We have held very little land except for that taken from the American Indians.  I agree, but Mexico and Spain probably don't. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 March 19, 2019 On 3/8/2019 at 4:44 PM, Tomasz said: Hello I am from Poland. I can assure you that we had on polish sites a lot of ukrainian trolls. Their most common argument is that people who remember Wolyn Massacre  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia  and warn about ukrainian extreme nationalism are russian paid trolls. We called them Mykola on polish sites because its most common  ukrainian name. 5 years ago I was in small minority that called Maidan armed coup d etat and warned about ukrainian extreme nationalism that led to Odessa massacre and civil war with russian intervention. There was a widespread support for Maidan because Poles are rabid antirussian so polish society supported even Shamil Basayev and his chechen supporters. Not anymore because in fact there was only a change of oligarchs staying in power- Donbas oligarchs were replaced by western-orientated oligarchs from Dnipropetrovsk. And if you dont agree with me I really suggest to spend quite a lot of time on this twitter account = its best source of information about growing ukrainian extreme nationalism updated a couple of times per day because this men finds such a lot of signs of this and you will finally get informed whats going on in your country https://twitter.com/edolinsky its Mr Eduard Dolinski  Ukrainian Jewish Committee Director very respected man surely not russian troll https://www.facebook.com/eduard.dolinsky his facebook account Im sorry but I still remember about 100 people killed in Odessa on 2 May 2014 that started Donbas uprising. And unfortunately it reminds me more than 100.000 Poles Russian Czechs or Jews killed by Ukrainians in the same manner 70 years earlier. You can compare it only with Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire. Russian population in Donbas was lucky to avoid it and anyone should be suprised that when they watched how about 100 people of russian descent were burned alive in Odessa that was a turning point. So please if I can met a lot of ukrainian paid trolls every day in polish net claiming that Wolyn Massacre never happened or that it was NKVD special operation or we should forget about it because Russia is our common enemy and help them do their traditional ethic cleansing in Donbas dont accuse anyone of being paid troll because its pathetic and its your main argument in all three of your posts.  Very sad that these people died in WW2 related atrocities but America has long forgiven nations who were our enemies back then. Now Germans, Japanese, Italians etc. are our friends. I think that these old grudges need to be forgotten and new friendships made and solidified ASAP. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 March 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, John Foote said: I agree, but Mexico and Spain probably don't. Spain first took the land from Indians of many types. Mexicans inherited it from the Spanish. In actuality, the indigenous people lost it all to peoples with superior technology. To the North, the French eventually sold land in the Louisiana purchase and the Americans kicked out Britain south of Canada. (I wish Quebec would convert to English though!) I am glad that there are many Indian "reservations" in the United States and Canada. I am part Apache. They fought Spanish, Mexicans, and Americanos. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 March 19, 2019 On 3/18/2019 at 12:32 PM, Jan van Eck said: You have to wonder: with the way this mess has evolved, is Venezuela now so far in the soup that it would be better off as a colony, administered by an imperial power? Yes, like we did in Japan. That worked out well for the Japanese. Of course, the globalists would hate it. Regionalism bad, globalism good!? Monroe Doctrine bad!? Chaos good!? 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
specinho + 470 March 20, 2019 (edited) On 3/19/2019 at 3:32 AM, Jan van Eck said: You have to wonder: with the way this mess has evolved, is Venezuela now so far in the soup that it would be better off as a colony, administered by an imperial power? Yeah. It could be. At least there is an overwriting system to govern the chaos.......... But it might depend also on the shape of the administrator from the imperial power mentioned......... 1. too fat - largely complacent and not bothering much; 2. too thin - not able to withstand a blow of wind commonly found nowadays (due to climate change) when he is outside with his people (hence... theory deducted that he would mostly stay within the castle to avoid foreseeable mishap. No king living outside of the community or reality touch could be a good king); 3. moderate shape - uuhh........ subjected to gene composure............ and upbringing values............ Good genes nowadays might not mean just born rich and inherited the wealth any more. A general lineage theory deduces that the third generation of this kind would largely be imbeciles............. or sometimes the inferiority could be triggered earlier with bad genes......... In addition........ a distance that far between Venezuela and Spain could easily be described as "an emergency urge to poo but found the loo is 10km away"............ much thing can't be solved....   Edited March 20, 2019 by specinho Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Foote + 1,135 JF March 22, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 6:44 PM, ronwagn said: (I wish Quebec would convert to English though!)Â You get better odds with Middle East peace. As a child lived in Chicuitmie. Speaking english was justification for someone to curse you. Once they figured out I wasn't English or Canadian, it was fine and the abuse stopped. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites