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    ...
    Created by Nick Mohammed. With David Schwimmer, Nick Mohammed, Jane Stanness, Sylvestra Le Touzel. An NSA agent teams up with a computer analyst to form a new cyber crimes unit in the UK's Government Communications Headquarters.
    "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

    Comment


      ...
      "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

      Comment


        Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

        It would be pretty cool. Wonder though if there's too many people searching for value in that field.
        I'd definitely put art and wine ahead of books personally, although also have plenty of 1st edition French bande dessinées worth hundreds now (haven't valued them in a while but definitely worth a few grand). Which reminds me I probably need to check my vinyl collection which has been in storage in Paris since the 90s,as they seem to be making a comeback.

        Comment


          Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

          Maybe we have different life risk outlooks, but I'm not going to make pension decisions with an assumption that a state pension won't be paid or that universities won't exist!! There will be so much else gone wrong with the world if that ends up being the case.
          I think he is to referring to the fact that the pension system will not exist by the time we retire, interests rates are too low and our population is getting older and living longer.

          Comment


            ...
            "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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              Originally posted by Hectorjelly View Post

              I think he is to referring to the fact that the pension system will not exist by the time we retire, interests rates are too low and our population is getting older and living longer.
              i.e. there won't be a big enough population of workers to pay the pensions of the vast army of the retired, especially when you consider the Irish ones are paid out of current spending which is clearly massively unsustainable in the long run
              "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

              Comment


                Anyone watched Money Heist? Mrs has me watching it and on EP4 and losing interest

                Comment


                  @Hitch don't forget whiskey

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                    I haven't been posting much lately as IPB has fallen foul of the company blocker again. I'm considering getting an evening laptop to compensate.

                    We are in our fifth week in Tralee after having intended to come down for two weeks. I've now organised two of my friends to rent a room each in the house in Limerick which will cover the mortgage and the plan is to stay here till the end of January. Realistically we're here for good I'd say. It's wild how life comes at you.

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                      ...
                      "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                        ...
                        "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                          "They're paying our pensions", does sound better than "they tuk aur jobs"

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                            While I was bluffing quite a bit in earlier posts we are now miraculously quite close to pulling to this caper together. If anyone has yet to register an interest in backing the WSOP horsey. Please do so here. It will be a first come first served down through the list till it is full. Even if your not sure get your interest in the line. You won't be held to it.

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                              Just working remotely to all intents and purposes into the future? Would that not be grand until a baby appears and then cause two years of the most awful hassle? Sounds class though for now!
                              That's my plan. My belief is that I have enough career capital built up to be able to push it through and not have to work 1 or 2 days a week in the office. We're in a period of intense work at the moment and I've been doing very well so will have a strong hand to play when the time comes. I have a very good relationship with my manager and am close friends with the two most senior engineers for the last ten years so I think if it comes down to a take it or leave it situation they'd rather have me remotely rather than not at all. I think the boss is generally in favour of the wfh thing anyway.

                              Wrt kids we're probably in a better spot here with doting grandparents split across two households a mile and two miles away. Unless I'm missing the thrust of the question?

                              The better half is of a like mind to me that lifestyle is everything, so a medium term of casual-ish work sits reasonably well with her. She's worked all her career in travel so got the bullet due to covid but is probably in the right place if she wants to get back into that. Tralee IT - a mile and a half from where I'm sitting - having just become part of the new Munster Uni is a positive also if she wants to go back into science which is what her degree is in.

                              The big thing is being able to spend six months here to see how it all looks through the winter. At the moment despite working probably 70 hours a week the lifestyle is just unreal.

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by DeadParrot View Post
                                Another day of what should be bombshell news in the UK today with the Russia Report.
                                https://news.sky.com/story/russia-re...s-isc-12033098

                                MI5/6 have to be instructed to take further action by foreign secretary. They were told not to. Have a look who was in that position at the time...
                                https://orbisbi.com/wp-content/uploa...quiry-2018.pdf

                                This is an interesting read.
                                Yer man from Pee tape fame was asked to testify to UK intelligence as part of Russia probe.
                                People say I should be more humble I hope they understand, they don't listen when you mumble
                                Get a shiny metal Revolut card! And a free tenner!
                                https://revolut.com/referral/jamesb8!G10D21

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                                  ...
                                  "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

                                  Comment


                                    Thought I was reading about Hitch here https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/n...ople-66w30ss6q

                                    A university lecturer who was sacked after saying that “the Jewish are the cleverest in the world” and “Germans are good engineers” has had his claim for unfair dismissal rejected.
                                    He also said: “I have a soft spot for young black males. I do think that they are underprivileged and many [are] without fathers et cetera [and] need all the help they can get.”
                                    SPOILER
                                    A university lecturer who was sacked after saying that “the Jewish are the cleverest in the world” and “Germans are good engineers” has had his claim for unfair dismissal rejected.

                                    Stephen Lamonby, 73, a part-time lecturer at Southampton Solent, said that he had a “soft spot” for young black men because many had absent fathers.

                                    An employment tribunal was told that he made the remarks to Janet Bonar, his course leader, in March last year. The two were talking in the canteen when Mr Lamonby, an engineer, told her that people from different countries had become good at certain things owing to “high exposure”.
                                    When Dr Bonar mentioned her degree in physics Mr Lamonby said that Jewish people had “a particular gift” for the subject

                                    He said that Germans were good at engineering because they are “exposed to a high level of industry from an early stage in their lives”. He also said: “I have a soft spot for young black males. I do think that they are underprivileged and many [are] without fathers et cetera [and] need all the help they can get.”

                                    When Dr Bonar, an engineering lecturer, mentioned her degree in physics Mr Lamonby said that Jewish people had “a particular gift” for the subject.

                                    He used Albert Einstein as an example and asked Dr Bonar if she was Jewish. She took offence and called Mr Lamonby a racist. He replied: “I believe that the Jewish are the cleverest people in the world. They are much maligned because of it. I asked if you were Jewish because of your ability with maths/physics et cetera. Which is a speciality of theirs.”

                                    A few hours later Dr Bonar emailed Mr Lamonby and said that in future it might be better if their conversations focused on their studies rather than their “widely different views on race and national characteristics”.

                                    He responded angrily, saying that he was “not used to being smacked down like a schoolboy” and called a racist.

                                    The university investigated. Mr Lamonby defended his comments and gave another example of “high exposure”: Inuits were good at fishing.

                                    “My comments were simply stating that, arising from my lifetime of experience, I have come to believe that certain nationalities have developed a higher level of skill in some areas,” he said. “This is directly related to the level of exposure to criteria such as industry and education. This is not radical thinking; it is simply a view that reflects environmental privilege in general terms.”

                                    During a final disciplinary hearing he admitted using “clumsy” language and “apologised profoundly”. He made more comments at the hearing, referring to ethnic groups as “they” and to Jews having “neurological differences”.

                                    He was fired for gross misconduct and alleged unfair dismissal. The tribunal in Bristol found that the university had a duty to protect its “multicultural, predominantly young student body” from potential racism and rejected his claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

                                    Judge CH O’Rourke said: “A Jew told they are good at physics — because they are a Jew — may well consider that as demeaning their personal intellectual ability/hard work.”

                                    After the ruling Mr Lamonby said free speech “is totally dead in universities” and that he would appeal. He said that “the judge was a woke judge”, adding: “You can’t make any comments [in universities] now because they are totally obsessed with racism.”
                                    Gone full 'Glinner' since June 2022.

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                                      ...
                                      "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                        ...
                                        "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                          Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                          I read that yesterday and didn't think it was too bad. Just an old guy who said well-intentioned stuff without realising he was saying it in the wrong way. He's broadly right also. Countries that specialise in something tend to be better at it - so Germans are better engineers and Chinese are better manufacturers. But mainly we should take account of whether someone is saying something with the right intentions rather than the actual words used.
                                          It read a bit like Father Ted saying 'the Jews - a great bunch of lads' so somewhat maladroit but to get sacked for that? FFS.

                                          This is the kind of shit demagogues like Trump exploit.
                                          "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                            Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                            On that topic: Iranians are so fucking good at maths. I'd say an Iranian janitor could accidentally walk into a maths professor interview, flunk a question on 2+2=, and still be hired - such is the default assumption in academia that all Iranians are maths geniuses.
                                            The auld Persians - a great bunch of lads for the maths.

                                            You should be hung out to dry for your ethno-imperialism. I bet you're uni-sexual, you weirdo.

                                            "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                            Comment


                                              Hey, I only found out yesterday that 'negro' was a racial slur. I'm pleading ignorance, and adding the fact that I only realised that the name 'Tayto' came from 'potato' about 3 years ago in my defence.
                                              Gone full 'Glinner' since June 2022.

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                                                The Poetry of Donald Trump

                                                I never understood wind.
                                                You know, I know
                                                windmills very much.
                                                I have studied it
                                                better than anybody
                                                else. It’s very expensive.
                                                They are made in China
                                                and Germany mostly.
                                                —Very few made here, almost none,
                                                but they are manufactured, tremendous
                                                —if you are into this—
                                                tremendous fumes. Gases are
                                                spewing into the atmosphere. You know
                                                we have a world
                                                right?
                                                So the world
                                                is tiny
                                                compared to the universe.
                                                So tremendous, tremendous
                                                amount of fumes and everything.
                                                You talk about
                                                the carbon footprint
                                                — fumes are spewing into the air.
                                                Right? Spewing.
                                                Whether it’s in China,
                                                Germany, it’s going into the air.
                                                It’s our air
                                                their air
                                                everything — right?
                                                A windmill will kill many bald eagles.
                                                After a certain number
                                                they make you turn the windmill off.
                                                That is true.
                                                —By the way
                                                they make you turn it off.
                                                And yet, if you killed one
                                                they put you in jail.
                                                That is OK.
                                                You want to see a bird graveyard?
                                                You just go.
                                                Take a look.
                                                A bird graveyard.
                                                Go under a windmill someday,
                                                you’ll see
                                                more birds
                                                than you’ve ever seen
                                                in your life.
                                                ~ D. Trump
                                                12/21/2019

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                                                  Imagine this movie.
                                                  • Trump loses the election in November.
                                                  • Is eventually evicted from the WH.
                                                  • Putin says 'fuck it, how can we undermine American democracy even more than we have already? Let's release everything we have on this guy'.

                                                  There would not be enough popcorn in the world.
                                                  "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                    Mad that the Russians get all the focus when it's the Chinese gov that are the real global threat.

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                                                      Originally posted by Denny Crane View Post
                                                      Mad that the Russians get all the focus when it's the Chinese gov that are the real global threat.
                                                      one is critical to global economic order, the other is not - go figure
                                                      "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                        Originally posted by Hectorjelly View Post

                                                        I hope you don't work in IT - all you had to do was google Roger Stone.
                                                        Have you noticed that you've become utterly humourless in the last year or two?
                                                        "I can’t find anyone who agrees with what I write or think these days, so I guess I must be getting closer to the truth." - Hunter S. Thompson

                                                        Comment


                                                          Originally posted by AndyFatBastard View Post

                                                          Have you noticed that you've become utterly humourless in the last year or two?
                                                          How can one maintain humour when there is so much injustice in the world? You heartless wretch!

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                                                            ...
                                                            "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                              Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                              I don't get the mindset where you would look at the inevitable future superpower and think "I'm going to set myself against the opportunities here and eventually become one of the sad old gits who mumbles in pubs about how it was all better when the previous superpower used to tweet about passing dementia tests". Change is exciting.
                                                              where do I sign up to become one of these old gits? I could pass a dementia test, perhaps
                                                              "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                I don't get the mindset where you would look at the inevitable future superpower and think "I'm going to set myself against the opportunities here and eventually become one of the sad old gits who mumbles in pubs about how it was all better when the previous superpower used to tweet about passing dementia tests". Change is exciting.


                                                                Depends on what the change is!


                                                                Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                It's harmful for how we view the world and engage in useful conversations. It was the unchecked discourse on EU in Brit media over decades that definitely led to brexit. It was the unchecked discourse on Jews in German media that enabled the rise of the nazis and resulted in the holocaust. Think its really important we don't let these lazy ideas about entire groups of people to spread.
                                                                Originally posted by Denny Crane View Post

                                                                Kinda of ironic to finish on that point considering the Chinese leadership:

                                                                Has an authoritarian leader
                                                                Run massive camps for ethnic minorities
                                                                Are building up militarily
                                                                Have lasting antagonism towards neighbours due to a prior war
                                                                Are annexing neighbouring territory, and have designs on claiming more
                                                                Add in:

                                                                US seizes items thought to be made from hair of Muslims in Chinese labor camps
                                                                Border officials say shipment contained 13 tons of weaves and other hair products


                                                                The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide Is Happening in Xinjiang

                                                                And even an Anschluss for good measure!

                                                                Hong Kong police arrest pro-democracy politician set to run for legislature
                                                                https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKCN24I1KF


                                                                In the 1950s and 1960s, the general perception of Japanese exports was that they were cheap, low-quality copies. In the 1970s people started to get nervous, and in the 1980s people panicked. China is going through that now. 10-15 years ago most people in tech would have said that China was a good outsourcing centre but that its own products were mostly low-quality copies. No-one says that today: China combines efficient low cost manufacturing with ferocious iteration, innovation, duplication and creation of companies and products - and indifference to IP rights. It's moving up the value chain.

                                                                That doesn't mean this is going to carry on looking like Japan in the 80s and 90s, though.
                                                                • First, Japan has half the population of the USA, but China has four times the population of the USA, and on current forecasts will still be more than triple even in 2050. Japan's economic growth meant it joined the club, but if China's GDP per capita closes with the USA in the same way (today it's only 15% on some measures), then, deterministically, China might become a bigger economy than the USA, just as the USA became a much bigger economy than the UK or Germany in the late 19th century.
                                                                • Second, Japan was a pacifist country tucked under the US strategic wing, run (more or less) by liberal, democratic, constitutional politicians who did not want to become a Great Power (been there, done that), and China, obviously, is not.
                                                                • Third, Japanese companies bought movie studios and record labels, but no-one worried that let them influence elections.

                                                                In the last 5 years the crisis of the US political system has coincided with Chinese leadership that has moved the country firmly away from any path of convergence with 'western' models of behaviour (even if that was wishful thinking), and strategic... caution towards the Chinese state has gone from a fringe of hawks that was often dismissed as xenophobia to a mainstream government view around the world. I'm not a geopolitical analyst, and I don't know if we should be expecting the Chinese navy to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the North Atlantic or indeed the North Sea in 10 or 20 years, or if we should compare China not just with the Japan of the 1980s but with the Japan of the 1920s.
                                                                • But I'd suggest the real issue is China's newly demonstrated willingness to pick fights. Regardless of whether the equipment itself is secure, do you want a piece of critical national infrastructure to be dependent on the good will of the Chinese state for the next decade or two? The answer to that question today feels very different to what it would have been 5 years ago, and lots of other countries will look at the UK decision and feel the same.
                                                                1980s Japanese growth but with 1920s Japanese/1930s German leadership.

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                                                                  ...
                                                                  "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                    Originally posted by Denny Crane View Post
                                                                    1980s Japanese growth but with 1920s Japanese/1930s German leadership.
                                                                    That's a really good, pithy summary. The first should not obscure the second.
                                                                    "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                                                    Comment


                                                                      Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                      Its not a system we would like. But it's the standard system across Asia. Where more countries have this system than have democracy. I feel therefore uncomfortable with criticising a 'Chinese' system given it is an entire continents system.
                                                                      Taking the ten largest countries in Aisa and applying the bullshit test:
                                                                      1. China: dictatorship. HH is correct
                                                                      2. India: democracy. HH is wrong
                                                                      3. Indonesia: democracy. HH is wrong
                                                                      4. Pakistan: : (fairly mad) democracy. HH is wrong
                                                                      5. Bangladesh: democracy. HH is wrong
                                                                      6. Russia: dictatorship. HH is correct
                                                                      7. Japan: democracy. HH is wrong
                                                                      8. Philippines: democracy (just about with that loon currently in power). HH is wrong
                                                                      9. Vietnam: dictatorship. HH is correct
                                                                      10. Iran: dictatorship. HH is correct
                                                                      HH score: 4/10



                                                                      It would actually get worse for HH the more countries you include so we will spare him that indignity
                                                                      "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                                                      Comment


                                                                        Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                        I thought you weren't a fan of claiming current politicians are like the nazis. You were quite strident about how inappropriate the analogy was back in your Trump days.
                                                                        I think you should keep it for those that orchestrate genocides, not for people who tweet stuff.

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                                                                          ...
                                                                          "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                            Basically, Asia goes like this (in order of worst\most autocratic regime down to Western-style democracy):

                                                                            North Korea
                                                                            (big gap)
                                                                            Iran
                                                                            China
                                                                            Russia + all the ugly post-USSR 'stans'
                                                                            (gap)
                                                                            Failed state Afghanistan
                                                                            (gap)
                                                                            Semi-benevolent one-party: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc
                                                                            Dodgy but democratic-ish: Philippines, Pakistan, Burma, Turkey
                                                                            (gap)
                                                                            All the standard messy democracies of the region like Thailand\India\Bangladesh\Indonesia\Malaysia etc
                                                                            (gap)
                                                                            South Korea
                                                                            Singapore (lots of Western characteristics but basically a one party state with it's own oddities)
                                                                            Japan, Australia, NZ
                                                                            "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                                                            Comment


                                                                              Is Hitch trying to make the point that brutally controlling a population is ok in Asia because a good few countries do it, to one extent or another?

                                                                              Comment


                                                                                Originally posted by 6starpool View Post
                                                                                Is Hitch trying to make the point that brutally controlling a population is ok in Asia because a good few countries do it, to one extent or another?
                                                                                basically

                                                                                although he also says:
                                                                                Russia isn't a dictatorship
                                                                                so who knows, maybe he is still hitting the morphine hard after his op.
                                                                                "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                  Actually, I should have just encapsulated my thoughts in a map really: this works

                                                                                  1175048301.gif
                                                                                  "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                                                                  Comment


                                                                                    Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                                    Its not a system we would like. But it's the standard system across Asia. Where more countries have this system than have democracy. I feel therefore uncomfortable with criticising a 'Chinese' system given it is an entire continents system.
                                                                                    This logic is so stupid I'm surprised anyone capable of expressing it is also capable of operating a computer. The value of the system is not determined by how many people use it. Nor is the value of an idea based on how many people hold it. There is, I think, ample evidence that dictatorships and autocracies are objectively awful and repressive systems of government. In their worst forms they can be fascistic death cults. As a system of government a dictatorship is objectively bad.

                                                                                    Your logic is something like: I don't want to criticise the bad idea China use because lots of their neighbours also have the same bad idea and it wouldn't be polite to criticise a bad idea if lots of people have it. That is staggeringly stupid.

                                                                                    Let me demonstrate:

                                                                                    HH in 1750:

                                                                                    "Slavery is the standard system across most of the modern world. Where more countries have slaves or take part in the slave trade than not. I feel therefore uncomfortable with criticising an "American" system given it is an entire continent's system"
                                                                                    You are technically correct...the best kind of correct
                                                                                    World Record Holder for Long Distance Soul Reads: May 7th 2011

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                                                                                      ...
                                                                                      "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                        Can Hitch rise off the canvas after this succession of heavy blows? If anyone can come back from this pounding, it's him.

                                                                                        We await a triumphant Rocky-style comeback in the twelfth which ends with the entire crowd chanting pro-dictatorship slogans and Putin publicly executing journalists to roars of applause.
                                                                                        "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

                                                                                        Comment


                                                                                          ...
                                                                                          "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                            Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                            I don't know, my incredibly realistic and cynical father-in-law went out and voted on something recently in Russia. So the people on the ground, like him, don't seem to think it's a dictatorship. And he lives there.
                                                                                            People got to vote under Stalin too.

                                                                                            Russian 'democracy' is a not terribly well-disguised sham, a Potemkin village if you will.
                                                                                            How appropriate. My genius for apt analogies seems to be returning.

                                                                                            "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                              ...
                                                                                              "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                ...
                                                                                                "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                  Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                                                  I thought you weren't a fan of claiming current politicians are like the nazis. You were quite strident about how inappropriate the analogy was back in your Trump days.
                                                                                                  Going around calling it a hell hole and yet Chinese people can't wait to get back to live there and have very high levels of internationally determined life happiness.
                                                                                                  It's all about an aggressive bad international actor gaining more power and resources. China is becoming more and more of an international threat. Hence all my references to parallels to Germany. Superpowers who collect human hair from concentration camp inmates and who annex land from their neighbours, aren't likely to turn out to be positive to the rest of the world.
                                                                                                  Last edited by Denny Crane; 22-07-20, 12:25.

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                                                                                                    Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                                    You're arguing some sort of moot point anyway. All I said is that Russia isn't a dictatorship yet even though it is going there. We agree on the end point. While I was informing you of some actual conditions on the ground as people living there think, while you think something you read in a book about a hundred years ago is more apt. I'm quite happy with my approach even if it turns out to be wrong as the logical process is clearly superior.
                                                                                                    well, who cares what either of us think really. Let's check in with people who know what the conditions on the ground really are.

                                                                                                    Human Rights Watch
                                                                                                    The human rights situation in Russia continued to deteriorate in 2019. With few exceptions, authorities responded to rising civic activism with bans, repressive laws, and showcase prosecutions. Record numbers of people protested the groundless exclusion of opposition candidates from a local election in Moscow, and authorities responded with an overwhelming show of force, detentions, and rushed criminal prosecutions.
                                                                                                    Torture and other ill-treatment remained widespread; especially in pretrial detention and prisons.
                                                                                                    In mid-July, disqualification of viable opposition candidates—many of them allies of opposition politician Alexei Navalny—from the September Moscow City Council elections sparked sustained, unauthorized, but peaceful protests. Police used excessive force against peaceful protesters, dozens of whom sustained injuries, and arrested record numbers of demonstrators and random bystanders.
                                                                                                    One activist, Konstantin Kotov, received a four-year prison sentence merely for repeated participation in unsanctioned demonstrations. Courts issued warnings to two couples who brought their children to the protests, after the prosecutor’s office sought to have them stripped of their parental rights. One man received five years’ imprisonment for a tweet that was interpreted as threatening law enforcement officers’ children.
                                                                                                    Authorities opened a criminal investigation into election interference targeting opposition figures excluded from the ballot, and unregistered independent candidates served consecutive temporary arrest sentences. Civil lawsuits seek to hold protest leaders responsible for alleged damages, for millions of rubles, related to unsanctioned protests. A money-laundering investigation opened in August targeted the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK)—an organization led by Navalny. Nationwide raids of the organization’s premises and freezing of its activists’ bank accounts followed the September vote.
                                                                                                    In December 2018, President Vladimir Putin signed into law amendments decriminalizing first-time incitement to hatred offenses. Russian authorities often misuse incitement to hatred offences to stifle legitimate protected speech.
                                                                                                    Courts issued crippling fines to NGOs and independent media
                                                                                                    In February, authorities opened a criminal terrorism propaganda investigation against a journalist, Svetlana Prokopyeva, for remarking in a broadcast about a suicide bombing that some government policies might be radicalizing youth.
                                                                                                    Russian authorities continued to persecute minority religious groups groundlessly designated as “extremist” under Russia’s overly broad counter-extremism law despite no evidence that they espoused or committed violence.
                                                                                                    In December 2018 and January 2019, police in Chechnya carried out a new round of unlawful detentions, beatings, and humiliation of men they presumed to be gay or bisexual. No one was held accountable for this or for Chechnya’s 2017 anti-gay purge.
                                                                                                    The Russian government continued to provide political and material support to armed groups in eastern Ukraine but took no measures to rein in their abuses, including arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of detainees. De facto authorities in Crimea continued to harass Crimean Tatars. Since 2015, Russian authorities have prosecuted at least 63 Crimean Tatars on trumped-up terrorism charges and handed down up to 17- year sentences.
                                                                                                    Russia continued to play a key military role alongside the Syrian government in offensives on anti-government-held areas, participating in indiscriminate attacks hitting schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure.
                                                                                                    I am reminded of:


                                                                                                    "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                                      Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                                      Wow you've really grown into bad analogies as you've aged. It's impressive seriously.

                                                                                                      The correct analogy would be to ask the 'slaves' what they think and proceed with that information rather than assume anything from afar. Are people e.g. happier with their political outcomes in China or in India? In dictatorial Singapore or in freely voting Nepal?
                                                                                                      Ask the people living in a dictatorship/autocracy whether they like living in a dictatorship/autocracy? How would you do that? Ask all of the adults to write down their preference and then count them? I'm sure there's a name for that...

                                                                                                      Also your "happiness" test is incredibly poor. Generally people living in autocratic regimes have very high satisfaction ratings with their governments. North Koreans absolutely love their government... Again, the number of people who subscribe to an idea or a form of government is not indicative of its value.

                                                                                                      You are technically correct...the best kind of correct
                                                                                                      World Record Holder for Long Distance Soul Reads: May 7th 2011

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                                                                                                        Originally posted by Keane View Post
                                                                                                        The big thing is being able to spend six months here to see how it all looks through the winter. At the moment despite working probably 70 hours a week the lifestyle is just unreal.
                                                                                                        How does this bit play out currently?

                                                                                                        I've been that soldier doing the 70+ hours per week before and I could never in a million years describe it as an unreal lifestyle regardless of where I was based. No matter which way you split it up (7x10 hours days or 5x14 hour days), it was always hellish and at the end of work each day, I'd have zero energy for anything other than sleep.

                                                                                                        If doing 5 x 14 hour days, you're starting work at 8am and finishing at 10pm? which gives you 4 hours to have dinner, try unwind before getting 6 hours sleep before you go again.

                                                                                                        If doing the 7 x 10 hour days, that's no day off at all and has to wear you down at some point, even if you love what you do.

                                                                                                        It's great if it works for you and hopefully, it is only short term but am curious to how the lifestyle is working so well with those kind of hours?

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                                                                                                          Originally posted by Denny Crane View Post

                                                                                                          It's all about an aggressive bad international actor gaining more power and resources. China is becoming more and more of an international threat. Hence all my references to parallels to Germany. Superpowers who collect human hair from concentration camp inmates and who annex land from their neighbours, aren't likely to turn out to be positive to the rest of the world.
                                                                                                          It's interesting the parallels between Russia and China:

                                                                                                          Actively annexing territory - check
                                                                                                          Massive military buildup - check
                                                                                                          Censorship - check
                                                                                                          Press freedom denied - check
                                                                                                          Internet controls - check
                                                                                                          Violence against minorities\ethnic groups - check
                                                                                                          Violence against peaceful protestors - check
                                                                                                          Widespread state-sponsored cheating at sport for propagandistic\nationalist purposes - check
                                                                                                          Horrendous environmental record - check

                                                                                                          You can't really say they're the same when it comes to opposition suppression as China doesn't even allow the existence of an opposition. Whereas Russia has both a tame, Putin-controlled fake 'opposition' and a small, almost suicidally brave real one. Anyone stupid enough to actively oppose the Russian government soon learns the realities of life
                                                                                                          "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                                            "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                              "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                                Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                                                I don't know if you just can't handle the sun or its deliberate attempt to mimic the thinking style of an amoeba. We agree on the broad end point that it is becoming a dictatorship. I merely said its on that journey. While you think it's already there. It's not already there and that is generally accepted. For example from the Pew Foundation - it's a hybrid of democracy and autoritarianism. I don't think anyone independent, including your report, has labelled them a dictatorship. You seem to think they have but can't find any source for it. Being on a journey to somewhere, vs being already there, is important. A journey can be stopped or changed, while already being somewhere is a lot harder to reverse.
                                                                                                                Russia is a country where, rather than engage in full-on autocracy, they engage in a sham pretence at democracy.

                                                                                                                It's not 'a hybrid of democracy and authoritarianism'.
                                                                                                                It's a truly authoritarian state (Putin just effectively declared himself ruler for life) that has some superficially democratic trappings ('hey look guys, we have a parliament! We have elections!") that are, upon inspection, utterly meaningless. The levers of control are 100% in the hands of Putin and the murderous, kleptomaniac siloviki thugs. And they will stop at nothing to hold onto those levers.
                                                                                                                "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                                                  ...
                                                                                                                  "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                                    ...
                                                                                                                    "We're not f*cking Burundi" - Big Phil

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                                                                                                                      Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                                                      I respect your confident ability to talk about happiness surveys you know nothing about. There are global life satisfaction surveys carried out regularly around the world independent of countries that are generally accepted to be decent summaries of actual happiness in a country. (I've published a few decent research studies using the data and underlying research concepts). They've nothing to do with happiness with a government, but rather with how happy someone is with their life. A far superior measure of happiness we'd hopefully agree. Through a strange quirke of research history they are largely run out of Israel (e.g. the World Values Survey) across about a 100 different countries and not through direct measurement by countries themselves. China is always decently happy in the surveys. Not hilariously happy, just a bit above normal happy given their economic conditions. Economic conditions by the way, not political conditions, are the main determinant of life satisfaction. Well along with personal health.

                                                                                                                      Not addressing my initial point?

                                                                                                                      Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post
                                                                                                                      Hmm. Whenever someone doesn't give a full response to a point, it's nearly always because the rest of the response is inconvenient. ​​​
                                                                                                                      You are technically correct...the best kind of correct
                                                                                                                      World Record Holder for Long Distance Soul Reads: May 7th 2011

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                                                                                                                        Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Post

                                                                                                                        There's just so much tabloid fantasy here I'm not even going to bother.

                                                                                                                        I was saying your specific repeated point that it was wrong to apply the Nazi analogy at all. Remember back when you were hero-worshipping the stormtrooper-sending racial purist president?
                                                                                                                        I think it's entirely possible to be wrong about one thing (Denny is so clearly wrong about Trump that one is never sure if he is engaging in a world record attempt for trolling) but to be right on another....

                                                                                                                        "We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."

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                                                                                                                          China's surveillance state trumps everything. Alright, other countries are at it just more covertly but the reach and lengths to which it is being used in China is not a road that ends well for anyone.

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