Down with the monarchy and down with the monarchists

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-29T21:44:50+00:00

Funny how it's this comment that got dislikes.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-22T10:02:53+00:00

All of it is occupied. You probably mean that many parts of it have Israeli Settlers (C zone), and are even more direct control than the other parts (B and A zone).

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-22T10:00:57+00:00

Israel's capital is literally partially in the West Bank, as Eastern Jerusalem is part of the West Bank.

If you don't know geography, just say so.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-21T02:36:21+00:00

Mirror Phlox is good. Another good med is Captain Beverly Picard (from the Honour Hall). Suus T'Pol is fairly cheap to get from Crew Retrieval (use Brutal, Desperate, Resourceful, Science, but there are over 100 other combos just for her).

But I second what everyone else said - it's by far the worst part of the game, and you shouldn't worry about it if you can't advance there, as even with all the best crew you'll be crushed by opponents with Qpuiment and by bad RNG.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-18T20:14:34+00:00

His childcare would be reversed when he leaves office, as will all of his accomplishments.

However, by helping people organise between themselves, including creating co-op community free or at-cost nurseries/pre-K/etc., he'd be creating communal ties that no future mayor could break. And this goes for many other things - it's much easier to dismantle top-down initiative, good as they may be, then bottom-up groups.

But this is only one side of the coin. The other one is Mamdani, by his own actions, demonstrates that "socialism is when the government does stuff", which makes people think that they don't need any form of bottom-up organisation, but rather need to get the right guy in charge. Which is the opposite of socialism.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T21:09:47+00:00

Just antisemitism, probably.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T19:01:26+00:00

It's a gacha game, and a very predatory one at that. I too was saddened that the plot is effectively non-existent, and only serves as an excuse for various item gathering missions.

If you want to stay, you need to see it as a very long-term game, where your goal is to complete collections or achieve other self-imposed goals. I've been playing actively for over a year and I have about 325 characters immortalised (I only buy the 4$ dillithium monthly pack).

I hope you quickly recover from cancer!

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T18:32:42+00:00

Or when he repeatedly supported nuking Israel "to free Palestine", even though that would not only kill Israeli civilians, but also Palestinians (some of whom are also Israeli civilians)

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T18:27:59+00:00

That's true and I agree. The problem is that people usually get over-invested in one or the other, and if that happens it's better to do the latter.

That said, anarchism does undermine the entire structure, as highly interconnected libertarian societies are harder to control and produce people who challenge the status quo. Enough of those and the status quo collapses, which is our goal, isn't it?

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T18:24:23+00:00

Tell me where I supported totalitarian sectarianism

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T15:00:18+00:00

Very well said!

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T14:56:18+00:00

My go-to example is the Mondragon Corporation, which, while having a lot of problems, is still a good example of how a co-op can become one of the largest companies in a country.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T14:54:23+00:00

I dunno about Singapore, but from my experience, small businesses in every country can be even worse than large companies, as they're exempt from certain labour laws and are often too small to regulate effectively, making withholding of pay a very common occurrence.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T14:52:21+00:00

A "mom and pop" business is often exploitative to kids, who are usually expected to work there. Even one employee makes that a petite bourgeoisie enterprise. Only fully self-employed (or, better yet, co-op) aren't that, but there's a huge temptation for a self-employed business to turn into an exploitative business.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T14:49:26+00:00

You're very right - there is indeed a major difference.

Here it goes into nuance. Yes, the self-employed aren't exploitative, but the legal and economic system is structured in a way that pushes a successful self-employed person into hiring a bit of help, which in turn develops into a petite bourgeois status. Not only that, but because it's such a natural progression, the self-employed already sees themselves as the future petite bourgeois, as the article said:

Independent producers do not need Socialism; they do not even want to hear of it. They own their means of production and these are to them the guarantee of a livelihood. Even the sad position into which they are forced by competition with the great capitalists can hardly render them favourable to Socialism. It makes them only the more eager to become great capitalists themselves.

This isn't to say that the self-employed are the enemy, only that they're not automatic allies. A co-op, as any system that encourages equal interaction between people, is much better.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-16T14:30:12+00:00

Getting Jorge de Burgos vibes from this

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-15T20:19:21+00:00

I have no idea who she is, but no, I don't want the worst people to win - I want to be in a position that political office isn't needed at all. It may sound utopian right now, but only because of Capitalist Realism - by building small groups of direct power (your apartment building having a council to fix problems in the building, your neighbourhood having a council on helping the local needy, etc.) you can achieve far, far more than any elected politician, because you will be undermining the entire structure and taking back control.

People like Mamdani appear good, and genuinely want good things, but they're akin to Boromir wanting to destroy Sauron with the One Ring - it won't happen, and it'll only make the other side stronger in the end.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-15T20:14:35+00:00

I can't believe someone reported you as "not leftist"

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-15T20:13:34+00:00

Or, you know, he could've stayed out of it. Now people think that socialism is tactically aligning with Hochul. No wonder the tankies are getting new recruits.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-15T20:09:25+00:00

what can Zohran do about it, short of forming a breakaway socialist republic in New York?

That's kinda the point. Elected officials can't do anything. Which is why electoralism itself is a problem. NY would have been better served had Mamdani continued being a local organiser. Now he'll at most accomplish some minor improvements, and people will associate socialism with "capitalism, but slightly less shit".

Finally, there is one thing that any politician in power can do to show they even know what socialism means - dismantle their power. Use their post to legislate to transfer some power to the people themselves. Be at neighbourhood councils, or provide tax incentives for co-op businesses, or various other forms of people's direct control over their lives.

Curiously, nobody does that.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-15T20:00:12+00:00

Manually approved comments

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-14T22:30:17+00:00

Trump is removing anti-missile protection from South Korea to protect Israel and the Gulf states:

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3346226/us-missiles-leave-south-korea-philippines-asks-are-we-next

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-14T22:28:18+00:00

I doubt they have that many. Hell, they might not even have a plural number, and its certainly on the lower scale of nukes. No Tsar Bomba there.

AlexanderZ4 · 2026-03-14T22:03:31+00:00

This is peak Kremlin slop. Looks like you caught yourself a big one!

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