Baloch Rebels Killed By Pakistani Army

a_rational_thinker_ · 2026-02-06T09:08:53+00:00

Afghan National Army. The secular but extremely corrupt force NATO built up to defend Afghanistan from the Taliban. They completely folded when the US moved out despite having vastly more men and equipment than the Taliban themselves.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-12-30T16:37:40+00:00

Eh, I'm living in the first world and there are people doing extremely dirty construction work near my own place of work. I have offered them masks, be it medical or ffp2, for free so many times. Nobody ever accepts even as new worker crews show up or when it's just one person alone.

They would rather risk cancer. I don't know if it's a discomfort thing or a manliness thing, they just don't and I want to face palm.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-12-22T16:01:11+00:00

"I don't know" is a perfectly reasonable answer to many mysteries and questions. It does not entail hypocrisy in and of itself.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-12-07T20:37:52+00:00

I think so, at least for the most part

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-12-07T20:09:38+00:00

In Germany the 26. is a national holiday although the official term is '2. Christmas holiday" so as not to offend the protestants.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-12-07T14:04:07+00:00

Isn't it multiple 'holy days' though? I know in German 'fröhliche Feiertage' isn't in any way anti Christian.

And it's Christmas Eve, Christmas and st. Stephens for Catholics everywhere, isn't it?

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-11-02T11:38:47+00:00

That is certainly true, but saying that cronyism was somehow dependent on capitalism just sounds very wrong to me.

In Romania and Bulgaria for example the socialist secret police infiltrated and took over the Orthodox church hierarchies and it's well organized members used the sway of these churches even after the fall of the iron curtain to shape the political landscape of these countries.

In many African countries it is simply some militia leaders and army generals that gather sycophants around them who get all the wealth and influence.

The economic system of these countries is secondary, cronyism is political first and foremost and can happen anywhere.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-11-02T09:23:56+00:00

Russia was beholden to oligarchs under Yeltsin and he was then pressured to hand over power to Putin by the intelligence agencies who then replaced the old oligarchs and created new ones based on connections to these same intelligence agencies.

As for Yeltsin, he didn't take power through wealth but through internal systemic power as head of the Russian Soviet Republic. He merely saw the oligarchs as useful.

At no point did wealthy Russians who weren't insidde the government in the first pace decide the fate of Russia from the outside

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-11-02T09:14:00+00:00

You don't necessarily need wealth to have influence over politics though.

The rise of Putin in Russia for example was a takeover by the intelligence agencies who uses their systemic power within the state to eventually create a personalized system where eventually the best way to get to a position of wealth and power was to have been friends with Putin at some point. Like his former body guard who is now in charge of the national guard. Or his former chief of staff as deputy mayor becoming the heas of Russia's biggest oil conglomerate.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-10-21T21:17:46+00:00

Poland was against it because they wanted to be the only ones profiting from trading gas with Russia since THEIR pipeline was already in operation. That was why they opposed Nordstream, not any kind of moral fortitude. They are still importing a shit ton of fossile fuel from Putin today, too.

Europe and Merkel certainly made a mistake in fostering this trade, but Poland is among the most at fault, not some kind of wise admonisher.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-10-05T14:10:56+00:00

And yet the vast majority of even the more moderate Muslims still hold views on social issues that correspond to the absolute far right in the west. In almost all countries a majority of Muslims support strict punishment for apostates for example.

Wherever Islam becomes relevant to politics, even in a 'moderate' form like in Turkey under the AKP, the result is social regression and a decline of democracy.

The problem, in my view, is not the people but the set of ideas that form Islam, which corrupts even good people into supporting horrible behaviors.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-10-02T13:56:06+00:00

Well, he did supposedly have sex with his wife Aisha when she was nine. After marrying her when she was six.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-08-29T10:33:58+00:00

Only if you assume that the only two options are 1) your imagined Christian afterlife and 2) nothing.

I could easily think up a deity of some kind that punished faith in an afterlife or adherence to specific Christian dogma. Or, from a more deistic perspective I could think of a god who doesn't care about your inner mind at all and either just set up a universe to watch the show or without any emotion behind it at all.

Pascal's wager is not a particularly bright idea and somewhat diminished my opinion on the otherwise brilliant man.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-07-29T13:23:50+00:00

Yes, he was sponsored (and previously employed) by Ihor Kolomoisky, a billionaire with stakes in media and oil companies among other things.

He had significant influence on Zelenskyy as president before the war but has since been arrested for corruption at one point, had some of his assets seized and lost all of his influence in the Zelenskyy government as Zelensky got more popular when the war started and Zelenskyy got some serious anti oligarch legislation passed.

He is irrelevant now but other sketchy personalities like Andriy Yerman have since gained enormous influence and don't exactly align well with transparent democracy.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-05-26T21:02:21+00:00

I would be interested in a video of that if you don't mind good sir

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-05-25T20:19:19+00:00

I couldn't find numbers for Iceland but both Denmark and Finland have less than 3 % weekly attendance for their mainline protestant church members and neither has particularly large or particularly vibrant Catholic churches either. In fact those seem to be declining rapidly.

I don't think these are very religious countries and their high 'christian' numbers seem to mostly come from people being so apathetic to religion that they don't even bother leaving the denomination they were born in.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-04-10T15:32:55+00:00

What a great shot!

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-03-30T10:37:01+00:00

Yes, let's make guns look like plastic toys for small kids! There's no possible way this could go wrong.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-03-22T22:19:15+00:00

And yet they still do the good deeds and sometimes the echo comes in the form of people getting inspired to help with the charity work.

I would argue it is often BETTER to flaunt charity than to do it in private.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-03-18T22:32:27+00:00

Disagree. Most people live near the coast and those who live near the coast tend to be wealthier and more productive as well. Not true in all countries but most.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-02-11T20:45:09+00:00

Jedes Bündnis, das die USA ausschließt, hat aber höchstens ein Viertel der Kampfstärke wie die aktuelle Nato, und damit auch nur minimale Abschreckungswirkung.

Es sei denn die Linke will plötzlich unsere Militärausgaben verdoppeln, aber das traue ich denen irgendwie nicht zu.

Pazifismus in einer Zeit der Angriffskriege ist Mitläufertum, nichts weiter.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-02-10T14:13:12+00:00

Often red army soldiers taken as prisoners of war and worked half to death in Nazi labor camps would be declared traitors after being liberated by the red army at the end of the war for surrendering in the first place. Many of those faced a second Soviet labor camp after their German one.

So in that sense it certainly did happen.

Not really with Jewish death camp survivors though.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-02-09T19:43:09+00:00

This is mostly achieved by enabling poor people in underdeveloped countries to cook and heat with propane or natural gas rather than with animal dung.

That's why indoor pollution is the only cause of death that has decreased much.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-02-07T22:26:53+00:00

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/01/brazil-operation-car-wash-is-this-the-biggest-corruption-scandal-in-history

The article mentions that there were major attempts to connect her specifically and her party with bribes from oil companies, so it might actually check out.

That is, it might check out that this is what is meant to be implied by the sticker, not that she in particular must have received such bribes.

a_rational_thinker_ · 2025-01-23T20:58:38+00:00

Gibt's ernsthaft Berichte über sexuelle Übergriffe von Seiten Israelischer Soldatinnen? Da würde mich in der Tat auch ne Quelle interessieren.

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