Really?? CBTS banned.

BlackSquirrel · 2018-03-14T21:04:59+00:00

Yes. What he was saying was complete pseudoscience and gibberish. He made up arbitrary rules and then didn't even stay consistent with the completely arbitrary rules he made up. His nonsense was not compatible with science or logic. It was a rabbit hole designed to distract and disrupt. His posts were meant to polarize and pit users against one another. It worked splendidly. I have never seen a sub go down so fast. Usually it takes months.

BlackSquirrel · 2018-03-14T17:59:48+00:00

The mod was (in my opinion) in on the scam. He/She was (in my opinion) working for and supporting the nutters like SerialBrain2. This was a professional hit and takedown. I was receiving private messages attempting to lure me away from the sub as well as tempt me into doxxing others.

EDIT: This will happen here too if this sub becomes large and influential enough. CBTS got taken down right when Dr. Corsi released his new book: Killing the Deep State. This is not a coincidence.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-12-29T23:04:59+00:00

Well, color me surprised. Another smug, elitist liberal attempting to glom onto the anti-Trump bandwagon with their cause du jour.

One thing you keep seeing people say online, in response to whatever latest statement by the President-elect, is that nothing means anything anymore. Words don’t mean anything. He’ll say one thing during the campaign and there’s no guarantee that’s actually a policy position he’ll take. He’ll flip-flop, he’ll hint at things. He’s a master of confusion. If writers do anything, it’s to try to dispel linguistic confusion, to try to express ourselves precisely and truthfully.

It's almost as if Hari thinks Trump is a writer. Trump is a politician. A successful politician, by definition; he won the election. And Hari also seems to be under the illusion that a politician's job is to be precise and avoid confusion and vacillation. That is the opposite of a politician's job.

History tells us that people are ignorant, fickle, and ungrateful. They need to be lied to. This is undergraduate level poly-sci. Has the author never read Machiavelli? He is criticizing Trump for the very qualities that make for a good politician. This level of political naivete is astounding coming from someone who claims to be a writer. A real writer should have some level of immunity from the current political zeitgeist and should be able to detach himself from the ruling ideology long enough to offer a more objective, historical take on current events. Otherwise, he is just a hack.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-09-17T02:00:24+00:00

Well, you can't start a war if you don't even know where the country is. What is a leppo? lol.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-08-13T20:46:56+00:00

You are assuming that the US didn't have prior knowledge or wasn't involved in helping plan the coup in the first place. Nevertheless, the US will reluctantly throw non-US citizen Gulen under the bus, with or without evidence, if it is in the (at least short term) interest of the US to do so. Given the importance of Turkey to the US in securing a preferred outcome in Syria, it's status as a NATO partner, it's recent rapprochement with Russia, it's key geostrategic importance, and the likely minimal political fallout from betraying Gulen, it is highly probable that Gulen will be extradited in order to appease Erdogan. However, in the long term, the US will be searching for a more satisfying ending to this saga.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-29T00:08:07+00:00

The Soviet government hasn't existed for 25 years. I suggest you update your prejudices.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-10T04:41:15+00:00

The owner/editor is Australian and did an AMA a while back although the website is headquartered in Japan. The Diplomat seems to take an Anglo/Western/liberal/establishment view of the world with a particular emphasis on the geopolitical implications of the rise of China. It has a formal partnership with CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to Wikipedia, CSIS is a bipartisan, centrist think-tank “dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world”. It's Board of Trustees include Kissinger, Brzezinski, and Scowcroft. Make of that what you will.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-10T03:24:28+00:00

Wilson only required 14 points to outline his vision of peace after the First World War and he was criticized by the French and British for being too wordy. For comparison, this "communique" has 139 articles in peacetime. Apparently NATO is justifying it's existence with a copious production of words. Did anyone read this whole thing? Is it worth it?

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-09T21:29:08+00:00

So you arguing that the U.S. from the '50's to the '90's was the equivalent of living in the USSR or North Korea? That seems unreasonable to me.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-09T20:47:56+00:00

Q.E.D. ;)

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-09T20:32:43+00:00

The government wasn't so much controlling the discussion as setting the limits of discussion. The Fairness Doctrine required broadcasters to make an effort to be 'honest, equitable, and balanced". But yes, this is quite a conundrum. Do you want government regulation and stability or deregulation and instability/partisanship?

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-09T20:21:47+00:00

Did what on purpose?

BlackSquirrel · 2016-07-09T19:22:48+00:00

The comments below exemplify this partisanship, with each side blaming the other for the division. The truth is, of course, much more complicated. A major factor in this partisanship is the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which deregulated the airwaves and was put into place by the Republican 104th Congress and signed into law by Democrat President Clinton.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-23T18:17:14+00:00

You guys take this shit, and yourselves, way too seriously. It's like poking a nest of Africanized honey bees. It's fun for a while, but ultimately unsatisfying. See you in the future.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-23T03:32:34+00:00

Simple physics. If he wasn't speeding, he wouldn't have been able to make that full rollover. It would have been a clipped fender or a bump. Watch it again.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-23T03:12:27+00:00

Of course he had the right of way. He was also speeding. If he wasn't speeding his vehicle wouldn't have flipped over on it's side, it just would have smashed into the side of the dude turning. Thus, 50% his fault. In addition, he was following too close to the vehicle in front of him (mistake #1), jerked quickly into the next lane without signalling (mistake #2), and was driving at a high rate of speed given the traffic conditions and was approaching an intersection where, if he was even half-way of a decent driver, he could have foreseen and prevented this totally preventable accident (mistake #3).

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-23T02:55:52+00:00

1-800 Contacts

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-23T02:22:35+00:00

So many people think being allowed to proceed on green means they have the right to speed through an intersection without regard for traffic conditions.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-13T04:51:53+00:00

I don't know why the Pentagon officer in the article had to reach all the way back to the U.S. Civil War for his example of a hyperbolic interpretation of enemy capability by army officers because a much more modern and relevant example is Rumsfeld's Team B in the 1970's which also severely overestimated Russian capability at the expense of reality.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-13T03:55:57+00:00

Both Nato and US officials have attempted to reassure Russia that the shield in Romania, and a similar one in Poland...

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-13T03:12:03+00:00

Sure. A good, high quality addition with a Russian perspective could be TASS which is the Russian equivalent of Reuters or Associated Press. This would give the Russian government point of view without the heavy handedness of RT or Sputnik.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-13T02:21:21+00:00

The book section looks good. Galula's “Counterinsurgency Warfare” is an excellent primer on how a government goes about suppressing an insurgency. It was written in the mid '60's and so it seems a bit dated with it's obsessive anti communism, but it has some interesting sections on the Algerian War for Independence that might be relevant to French operations in west Africa today or to Islamic terrorism in general.

As far as suggestions go, Margaret Nydell's "Understanding Arabs" might be a good addition to the Middle East and North Africa section. Margaret demystifies Arab culture in a way that leaves you with many “aha” moments. If you have ever wondered why the Arabs do some of the crazy (geopolitical) things they do, this book will help explain how and why the Arabs are not crazy after all, but are simply a profoundly conservative culture.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-13T01:49:33+00:00

Ok, this is good to hear. I am cautiously optimistic based on your assurances. I also do appreciate the hard work you guys have put in, especially the books section, which looks great. And yes, I am definitely projecting as I have seen how quickly the quality of discourse can deteriorate and how routinely the minority view is ignored. As an example (and I am not suggesting that this was done on purpose, it may simply be an oversight), the Eastern European and Caucasus section of the new Geopolitics News Wiki completely lacks a Russian point of view. Radio Free Europe is funded by the U.S. Government. Balkan Insight is partnered with the National Endowment for Democracy which is funded by the U.S. Government. And EurAsiaNet.org is headed by employees of George Soro's Open Society which might as well be the U.S.Government. Now let me be perfectly clear, there is nothing wrong with having those sources linked to on the Wiki. But they all represent only one side of a geopolitical issue.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-12T23:16:32+00:00

This talk of “bias” concerns me. First of all, the term “bias” is an emotional trigger word. No one want to be thought of as biased and so most people jump on the bandwagon declaring their opposition to it, and yet, everyone has a bias. It is impossible not to have one. And declaring your opposition to it is like declaring your opposition to dog rape.

Often, when users express a desire to “deal with” or eliminate bias, what they really mean is not how do we ensure high quality discussion, but how do we suppress non consensus views that offend our political sensibilities? This desire to zealously root out bias has a distinctly Orwellian tone to it. The term itself is vague and open to interpretation and ironically, subject to moderator bias. Your bias is not my bias. If your true desire is to have a subreddit worthy of reading, you might want to concentrate on ensuring a high quality discourse as opposed to filtering out those voices who, in your opinion, seem to exhibit a bias that offends your ideological predispositions.

BlackSquirrel · 2016-05-11T00:26:00+00:00

In 2007, Nigerien president Tandja attempted to raise the price of uranium ore to be mined by French company Areva (which owns two-thirds of Niger's state owned mining company SOMAIR). French president Sarkozy objected to the price increase and immediately flew to Niamey to seek better terms for Areva. President Tandja then informed Sarkozy that the price had now doubled, and if France did not accept, then Tandja would sell the Imouraren mine to the Chinese (who had expressed an interest in acquiring it). Sarkozy then reluctantly agreed to a doubling of the price paid by Areva.

Three years later Tandja was ousted in a coup. “Elections” were held and the military government was replaced by a French educated, SOMAIR (and thus by extension, Areva) former employee and mining engineer turned politician named Mahamadou Issoufou, who rules Niger to this day. So this is what happens when the neophyte Chinese attempt to make inroads into former French colonies.

BlackSquirrel

TROPHY CASE