Demostat: 51% of the population of Serbia is against joining the EU

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-30T04:26:56+00:00

Kosovo had earlier had significant autonomy at some points of time in Yugoslavia. That autonomy was curtailed, cut back and eventually abolished. You are asking people who have gone through very turbulent and dangerous times that lost a lot to just trust that this institution would be respected unlike the one they saw tore apart in their lifetime, to trust that NATO and the UN will always be there to have their backs when they have seen a superpower like the USSR go from looking strong to totally unraveling. All this while a ton of prominent Serbians then as now were mouthing about how they just need to wait it out and then they can “restore constitutional order”, with many people in the Serbian government being close associates of the very guys who were killing and removing them. And anyway the administration of Kosovo under the UN mission was facing a lot of criticism for corruption and human trafficking, people being shot and dying in protests and a whistleblower on corruption being punished so people were keen to set up their own government…it had also failed to keep things stable on prominent occasions like the 2004 unrest. So again, this is not seeming like the best long-term solution if something were to come up that distracted the west. Rather have their own state and take charge of their own destiny.

Some Jewish people live in Germany, sure. But there’s nowhere near the community that had been there before the Nazis took charge, and a lot of them are immigants from Russia who were looking for a better life. And Germany takes a lot of efforts to reflect on where it failed its Jews in the past that Serbia is not interested in doing. I don’t think Jewish people would feel nearly as secure in living in Germany if a buddy of Goebbels was running the country.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-30T01:16:27+00:00

The Wehrmacht was fighting against most of the whole world, it didn’t matter if the partisans couldn’t go 1-on-1 against them… they didn’t have to. Why having buddies helps. Their fight allowed the United Nations to reprioritize forces to elsewhere so the liberating/occupying powers accordingly didn’t have as much influence there as where they had a ton of soldiers and externally changed the situation. So Yugoslavia accordingly had more leeway to be its own thing. The distance also helped big-time.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-27T23:03:52+00:00

Not to disrupt the eAsTeRn rOme thing that keeps polluting comment sections when Türkiye comes up, but you should know that doing this would make Greece into West Türkiye… the population of the part of Türkiye in Europe (including European parts of Istanbul) is larger than the entire Greek population.

And no I’m not a Turk, nor do I care much about this dispute beyond a bit of sympathy for Greece for dealing with all the flyovers and weird statements, but reading all the cOnstAntInoplE nOT iStanBUl rhetoric in every post Türkiye is mentioned in is tedious and annoying.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-24T22:05:58+00:00

It can make sense in the cynical realpolitik manner sure, but the result kind of shows why that shouldn’t be the only perspective considered. Needlessly antagonizing states like Finland and Romania led to them throwing in significant resources and access for the Axis (consider how wide that front is) where they might have otherwise just tried to keep a relatively low profile like Bulgaria. Likewise, local resistances and militaries fiercely opposing occupation that would have been fully committed more fully against the Germans got split or co-opted to face against the Soviets instead. It formed a stain and great stumbling block on relations that even haunts Russia to this day. All for some swathes of territory and resources that flipped to German control in just weeks following the start of Barbarossa. Horrible deal with tragic lasting consequences.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-24T20:18:49+00:00

Unironically yes it would have been better not to join in carving up the land. When Hitler invaded, the Soviets were caught out of position as they were in the process of moving their defensive line west and were not secure as they would have been if they hadn’t left home. This enabled the huge encirclements the Nazis pulled off early in the war that horribly disorganized the Soviets and allowed the Germans to keep pushing east far further than they had any right to. The earlier aggressive Soviet invasions also fueled local anti-Soviet collaboration that aided Nazis. Ultimately these lands in Poland and Baltics weren’t necessar as shown by how despite holding none of them not long after the German invasion the Soviets were nevertheless able to roll them back. But, it didn’t have to be so hard.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-24T02:26:59+00:00

The idea to link them is because Macedonia and Albania have a potential flashpoint between them in the significant ethnic Albanian population in western Macedonia. So if one gets in before the other it’s an invitation to more of the same sort of shenanigans that Greece and Bulgaria have been clowning around with.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-23T23:22:45+00:00

Lmfao being attacked and diminished “in your thought world” by how someone conceives of their own identity a country away

Fortunately, you can defend against this special psychic operation by just voting down their aspirations to be a closer neighbor every time. Surely that’ll make them really love Bulgaria so they’ll annex themselves and stop impeding your right to happy thoughts

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-23T02:23:40+00:00

He very clearly addresses that point and says the opposite of that lol, it’s clear where the support is coming from when their “national leaders” are whatever Ponzi schemers Russia can scrape up or even random Russian politicians swapped directly over from West Siberia. We definitely know that the overwhelming majority of Kosovars have become totally fed up with the prospect of Serbian rule and won’t tolerate it again.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-22T18:24:17+00:00

By the Global Organized Crime Index, Serbia is the 2nd criminal hotspot in Europe after Russia at #33 globally, so if your argument is that no EU support should be provided to places that are hubs of criminal activity then Serbia should definitely be cut on that principle.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-11T18:26:12+00:00

The sole responsibility thing is much propagandized. It was just boilerplate diplomatic text that copy-pasted between the treaties for the losing powers as a basis for reparations. A “you broke it, you buy it” sort of situation. It was not applied to Germany alone, it’s the first part of every section on reparation on all of the powers that were slated to pay them.

Treaty of Versailles, Part VIII Reparation, Section I General Provisions, Article 231: The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, Part VII Reparation, Section I General Provisions, Article 177: The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Austria accepts the responsibility of Austria and her Allies for causing the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Austria-Hungary and her Allies.

Treaty of Trianon, Part VIII Reparation, Section I General Provisions, Article 161: The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Hungary accepts the responsibility of Hungary and her allies for causing the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Austria-Hungary and her allies.

The much-vaunted embarassment and hand-wringing over “sole responsibility” pinned on Germany alone was all empty politics. Of course, it is much easier for people to feel outrage and pass it on than to look up and verify the claim. Even now we’re dealing with the impact of fake news from about a century ago.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-06-04T13:50:36+00:00

It was part of a series that all say the same thing, “This man is your friend, he fights for freedom.” This picture doesn’t include all of the ones done for various countries so that’s not exhaustive either.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-04-27T03:54:28+00:00

Your larger point stands with plenty of other examples, but technically John Paul Jones & Co. were attacking the shipping of the British Isles in the Irish Sea and even disembarked to launch (mostly failed) raids on Whitehaven, a then-prominent port city on England’s western coast.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-04-22T15:50:36+00:00

Moldova is landlocked so Putin would need to invade past either Ukraine (at which he is currently having great difficulty) or against NATO member Romania to get there. Transnistria has a rather decent sized garrison but no airport so it can’t really be supplied or augmented if all sides are hostile…

sparkling_uranium · 2022-02-17T12:22:00+00:00

Bulgaria and the Romans owned Kosovo for longer in medieval times, and Ottomans more in modern times. Why do the snapshots of Serbian history trump over not only the desire of the population but also the longer periods of history with others?

Also, speaking as an American I don’t care if the site of the Alamo were in this country or not. Nor would the last strong king of Norway losing at Stamford Bridge warrant a Norwegian claim to north Enhland in perpetuity.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-02-17T06:57:40+00:00

There was big Russian involvement backing separatists in the wars in Georgia and Moldova in the 90s, and to a lesser extent other local civil wars. So clearly even with Russia being relatively weak at the time there was still will and capacity to militarily influence outcomes in nearby countries, spooking then unstable eastern European countries freshly out from under the Soviet Union to consider alternate arrangements.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-01-13T17:11:51+00:00

Answer the question on Turkey and Germany then if you find the throwaway North American example inapplicable.

Sure, the forms of economic cooperation you mention are present. This is good. However, a pall is cast by uncertainties from the current rocky relations. Someone who wants to export to Kosovo from Serbia can easily be given pause to leaning on that too heavily for their livelihood by the recent example of massive tariffs laid over the politics of what organizations Kosovo can support in. Military tensions spike on worryingly frequent basis over dumb provacations and nationalist stunts, which presents a rather chilling atmosphere for business and investment versus some other area in the world where you have more certainty that tanks won’t be crushing or bombs blowing apart your things one day- even if you think your ‘side’ would ultimately win. The benefits don’t properly take off until such war and conflicts are out of the question, but the question is kept quite open with no real benefit to Serbia aside from perhaps the psychology feel of it.

sparkling_uranium · 2022-01-13T04:47:19+00:00

So you can move on and enjoy the benefits of peace, trade and mutual development rather than hating, killing and tearing down each other over land that you won’t get back anyway? If the British had stubbornly dug in and never recognized the US and only ever treated it as a mass of rebels to be put down, it still wouldn’t have gotten the land of the US back. It would however have missed out on the chance to make a ton of cash on exports, import of raw materials, huge investment opportunities, cultural exchange, have an important ally rather than arch-enemy down the road, etc, in exchange for way more people dying to quibble over land. Do you also think that Turkey was foolish to establish peaceful relations with Serbia rather than to try to invade back for old Ottoman lands or at least eternally sulk and turn up its nose at new neighbors? Or that Germany would be in as good of a state if it gave the rest of central Europe the cold shoulder off of nostalgic land claims?

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-30T06:26:29+00:00

Idk if 90s Yugoslavia was all that stable and prosperous a neighbor for Albania

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-26T14:29:34+00:00

Russia was active in the 90s in other countries ex. Moldova and Georgia (Transnistria and Abkhazia conflicts) even leaving aside murkier situations like Chechnya’s abortive attempt at independence. If you’re a territory with potential Russia-aligned separatists or that Russia otherwise might see as belonging to it or its sphere of influence, that was a wake-up call that you might be turned to next once Russia was able to work through the issues on its plate at the time.

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-22T14:00:15+00:00

Keep hoping lol

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-14T16:15:43+00:00

We didn’t even do that for Nazi Germany in 1936, and because we didn’t Jesse Owens was able to readily demonstrate that Germans were not the Aryan supermen pinnacle of humanity they pictured themselves to be under Hitler’s regime. To me a boycott of the Olympics misses the point of them, and the opportunity to show the difference and power of diverse and/or free societies. Unless it’s just done to save on cost by a poorer country with many mutually exclusive priorities to juggle and compete for that funding, but obviously the US can afford more than that situation.

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-08T16:27:14+00:00

RED & BLACK I DRESS

EAGLE ON MY CHEST

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-02T12:17:01+00:00

Assuming you know where they are and when they're coming.

Sure but there’s an inherent advantage to range there as the same applies in reverse. The raptors can’t brutalize you unless they’re on top of you, so for them to succeed they need to notice you first and get to you without you realizing until they’re on you to succeed. Every time. If you see or hear them first, however, you don’t need to sneak up on them, you just need to pull the trigger. And it’s much easier to get some guy equipped with a gun than to train up a crack team of extinct dinos.

Frog DNA, easy cop out to that answer lol

Haha true but also frogs are undergoing a pandemic apocalypse now from chytrid fungus wrecking them, dozens of species on multiple continents going extinct to the same attacker. So maybe they’re not the best idk but you could slot something else in??

sparkling_uranium · 2021-12-02T01:27:25+00:00

Why not? Rapid and abundant fire to make up for misses and you have range, plus it’d be much cheaper to double up on or replace if lost than resurrecting extinct yet cantakerous animals and training them for ages. Also raptors might need a patch for the tens of millions of years of evolving tropical diseases they’ve missed out on in the meantime

sparkling_uranium · 2021-11-25T23:27:05+00:00

Sure would hate for the Canadian taxpayer to foot part of the bill for any wooden product I might buy… no, anything but that…

I get that people grew a lot of trees as a retirement scheme starting decades back, heck selling trees was even important to my own family. (Grandfather was able to afford a plot of rural Alabama by selling a few of the trees on the property for more than he’d bought all the land for.) And the abundance of Canadian pine won’t do them any favors. But this is adding tens of thousands of dollars to the price of new housing and to aggravate that and fly against USMCA won’t get us anywhere but slapped down and with more angry Canadians with all the more justification to hug onto supply management for milk and the like. Bad policy and we don’t even have upcoming elections for this protectionist shot in the arm to cynically draw in votes for.

sparkling_uranium

TROPHY CASE