All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Theleviathan]

Turkey is in NATO, and technically is an Ally. I agree, that is fact. Though, under any other Presidential Administration, there would be concern that they aren't acting like ones.

Yup, this. Turkey is most definitely an ally and so are the Kurds. Why we are allowing one to attack the other should be of much more concern and condemnation publicly by our President.

Allowing us to fly through their airspace for this mission does deserve thanks, but it's hard to swallow in the context of their actions against the Kurds.

[Celgress]

Yup, this. Turkey is most definitely an ally and so are the Kurds. Why we are allowing one to attack the other should be of much more concern and condemnation publicly by our President.

Allowing us to fly through their airspace for this mission does deserve thanks, but it's hard to swallow in the context of their actions against the Kurds.

Since at least 2015 Erdogan has used the (up to) 3.6 million Syrian refugees he is hosting to bully the EU (European Union). Any time they criticize him he threatens to "open the Gates of Hell". The EU leadership should have nipped this in the bud but they didn't instead they entered into a pact by which they paid Erdogan billions to keep the refugee flow "manageable". Now they are, frankly, his bitch.

[Celgress]

Sinaloa Cartel "defeats" (stalemates, IMO) Mexican Government troops -

[Gray Lensman]

The gulags were little known in the West until after the Second World War. During the War, many poptical figures preferred to downplay the extent of the Gulags so as to "maintain Allied unity". Many people in America even called Stalin "Uncle Joe" during this time.

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Joseph...lled-uncle-joe

https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/doc...5175828/inline

This is too good an opportunity to post this that I can't resist....

2fxzlg.jpg

Why yes, my behind is going straight to hell when my time is up.

[Celgress]

This is too good an opportunity to post this that I can't resist....

2fxzlg.jpg

Why yes, my behind is going straight to hell when my time is up.

LOL, maybe so but it is funny even though it features one of the biggest monsters of the 20th Century. A man who betrayed the utopian dreams of his people turning their lives into a worse living hell than they suffered under the aloff Czar and his corrupt sycophants.

[Tami]

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have called on Attorney General Barr to recuse himself from matters related to Ukraine because of concerns about his role in President Trump’s efforts to damage a political opponent and undermine the Russia investigation

Twitter Link with link to letter.

[Tami]

Rep. Katie Hill to resign amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with staffers

Freshman Rep. Katie Hill is resigning from Congress after facing allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships with staffers in her office and on her congressional campaign, according to two Democratic sources.

She’s set to resign by the end of the week.

Hill was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of an improper sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer, a claim she denied. Hill admitted to and apologized for an “inappropriate” relationship with a female campaign staffer earlier this week.

[PwrdOn]

LOL, maybe so but it is funny even though it features one of the biggest monsters of the 20th Century. A man who betrayed the utopian dreams of his people turning their lives into a worse living hell than they suffered under the aloff Czar and his corrupt sycophants.

I wouldn't go that far, Soviet policies may have been harsh and brutal but they did succeed in turning an impoverished backwater nation into an industrial and military powerhouse. The tsars were just as repressive, except that they never even tried to pretend like their policies were for the good of the people and were too caught up in frivolous aristocratic pursuits to bother doing anything to develop the country. And no matter how bad things may have been under communist rule, when the USSR collapsed things got much worse and Russia suffered through a decade of hardship that made the Great Depression look like picnic, only managing to recover somewhat when Putin came to power and rolled back most of Yeltsin's reforms and returned Russia to a more familiar authoritarian, if not really communist, mode of governance.

[Celgress]

I wouldn't go that far, Soviet policies may have been harsh and brutal but they did succeed in turning an impoverished backwater nation into an industrial and military powerhouse. The tsars were just as repressive, except that they never even tried to pretend like their policies were for the good of the people and were too caught up in frivolous aristocratic pursuits to bother doing anything to develop the country. And no matter how bad things may have been under communist rule, when the USSR collapsed things got much worse and Russia suffered through a decade of hardship that made the Great Depression look like picnic, only managing to recover somewhat when Putin came to power and rolled back most of Yeltsin's reforms and returned Russia to a more familiar authoritarian, if not really communist, mode of governance.

All true and yeah Yeltsin was a buffoon & a disgrace, however, Stalin's policies did, directly and indirectly, kill millions of people. I'll never be a fan of the ends justify the means argument. He is no hero or anything remotely close.

[PwrdOn]

All true and yeah Yeltsin was a buffoon & a disgrace, however, Stalin's policies did, directly and indirectly, kill millions of people. I'll never be a fan of the ends justify the means argument. He is no hero or anything close.

Sure, but I think that trying to count kills is sort of a sneaky right wing method of trying to equate Stalin with Hitler, which for all of his faults is pretty unfair. Like many leaders throughout history, Stalin killed people in order to gain and keep power, murder was a means to an end but not the goal. For Hitler, killing people absolutely was the end goal and the Nazis continued to expend precious resources keeping the concentration camps running even as they were needed for the faltering war effort. And like it or not, the Soviets needed a strong leader like Stalin to win the war, if the tsars had continued ruling they would have easily been steamrolled by the Nazis which would have led to hundreds of millions of deaths.

[Celgress]

Sure, but I think that trying to count kills is sort of a sneaky right wing method of trying to equate Stalin with Hitler, which for all of his faults is pretty unfair. Like many leaders throughout history, Stalin killed people in order to gain and keep power, murder was a means to an end but not the goal. For Hitler, killing people absolutely was the end goal and the Nazis continued to expend precious resources keeping the concentration camps running even as they were needed for the faltering war effort. And like it or not, the Soviets needed a strong leader like Stalin to win the war, if the tsars had continued ruling they would have easily been steamrolled by the Nazis which would have led to hundreds of millions of deaths.

I think Stalin was a ruthless psychopath who took advantage of a situation to gain ultimate power. Sure, Hitler might be higher in the hierarchy of evil (for various reasons) if you will but Stalin was still a monster. All the evidence points to Stalin being a brutal dictator who cared little about his people and craved power. Everyone the man knew ended up hating and fearing him.

[Gray Lensman]

All true and yeah Yeltsin was a buffoon & a disgrace, however, Stalin's policies did, directly and indirectly, kill millions of people. I'll never be a fan of the ends justify the means argument. He is no hero or anything remotely close.

If you handle black comedy about terrible times, I recommend the British film Death of Stalin, billed as "A Comedy of Terrors."

[Celgress]

If you handle black comedy about terrible times, I recommend the British film Death of Stalin, billed as "A Comedy of Terrors."

Thanks, I'll be sure to check it out, looks interesting.

[Celgress]

Lavrentiy Beria: Stalin’s Architect of Terror

Reminds me of Trump and Pence, if Trump had unrestricted power -



I promise my last non-current news post.

[Celgress]

delete this post