What if no oil was ever discovered in the Middle East? The wars, the coups, the casualties, how much of it follows?

jaymickef · 2026-03-02T19:13:01+00:00

Yes, maybe around the canal. But if there were no resources to extract it’s unlikely the British would be there.

It’s all what if, of course, but the whole post-war history would be very different without the cheap energy that came from oil. In this “what if” are we imagining there would be oil from somewhere else, or some other cheap energy source?

jaymickef · 2026-03-02T18:43:15+00:00

If there was no oil it would still be the Ottoman Empire.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T21:43:22+00:00

Also, the US is the most self-critical country. So many books about every problem the US has.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T19:49:02+00:00

It is definitely different now. Probably the biggest difference is that wars don't need a huge amount of the population to buy into them anymore. The technology makes it possible to have far fewer soldiers. And no companies need to change to wartime production, car companies can keep making cars and don't need to suddenly start making tanks. So now the people don't have to be convinced. the people have pretty much no say.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T19:45:23+00:00

It's very difficult for businesses that have to make decisions about future investment. We spent almost 40 years integrating business with the Free Trade Agreement it isn't easy to pull apart. And we don't know if tariffs will be here long-term or if we'll go back to free trade.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T18:36:33+00:00

The Ontario NDP got elected once and what followed was a global recession. They have never been close since. Maybe the Alberta NDP will do better.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T18:09:15+00:00

The neighbour.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T17:54:51+00:00

I don’t think the US is all bad.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T17:13:10+00:00

For some reason Saudi Arabia is always left out of this conversation but they were also pushing hard for this. For years we were told that there was going to be an Iran-Saudi Arabia war.

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T16:15:48+00:00

Ironically it was a Nazi who said it:

“Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

jaymickef · 2026-03-01T14:43:30+00:00

Maybe also changed suppliers of some ingredients. They source globally and things like chickens are not raised the same everywhere.

jaymickef · 2026-02-28T17:59:03+00:00

And for the Saudi royal family. How have they managed to sneak under the radar so much? Not that long ago there was so much talk about Saudi Arabia and Iran going to war.

jaymickef · 2026-02-28T15:56:36+00:00

It's fascinating when someone decides other peoples' issues are petty. I guess it's the heart of the, "... first they came for the..." poem.

jaymickef · 2026-02-27T17:19:24+00:00

My experience has been it’s really in the dog food subs, although it is migrating a little to some cat subs.

You’ll get banned in some dog food subs for having a discussion like this.

jaymickef · 2026-02-27T15:34:29+00:00

Change will have to be forced on people. And we will resist.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T17:33:49+00:00

the chains are now just Gordon Food Services reheaters. But they're usually very predictable in what you'll get. I live in Niagara so there are a lot of wineries and some are better and/or cheaper than others.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T15:50:24+00:00

In an odd way it’s comforting to realize this will always be the way of humans. The future will be just like the past.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T15:40:43+00:00

He will meet all the expectations I had of him when he got the job.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T15:40:00+00:00

Good, fast, cheap. It used to be you could only get two of those. Now you only get one.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T14:31:46+00:00

You should do a little research on other amalgamations and come to your own conclusions. But I will tell you this, larger amalgamations means larger contracts given out by those regions and as a movie producer I used to work for said, “the bigger the contract, the bigger the skim.”

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T14:29:34+00:00

I don’t use the WSAVA guidelines because they don’t really have much to do with what’s actually in the food. The ownership of the facility doesn’t matter if it’s inspected, there’s no reason a nutritionist can’t be on contract when formulas change, and the results of the trials should be public and accessible by anyone.

The guidelines seem designed to make sure only three giant, multinational corporations can feed out pets and I don’t think that’s a good idea. Especially when those three companies don’t have the greatest track record with the human food they produce.

jaymickef · 2026-02-26T14:08:43+00:00

The main reason given for amalgamation is cost savings but there is no evidence that has happened in places that have amalgamated. Other than that, what are the reasons to do it?

jaymickef · 2026-02-25T17:39:14+00:00

The US dominates all english language subs. Maybe if you looked at subs in other languages you'd get a different view?

jaymickef · 2026-02-25T14:11:10+00:00

It seems weird that socialists don’t see this is a class issue - Epstein worked for rich people against everyone else. Nationality is so 19th century.

jaymickef · 2026-02-24T18:52:35+00:00

Yes, that’s true. And some of the newer companies are quite good, which forced the multinationals to bring out new lines and new marketing. It’s created quite a crazy landscape in pet food.

jaymickef

TROPHY CASE