also on a tangent, someone was complaining about immigration the other day. spare a thought for Japan (this following extract was pulled from the BBC) :

Japan is home to the oldest population in the world, after tiny Monaco. It is recording fewer births than ever before. By 2050, it could lose a fifth of its current population. Yet its hostility to immigration has not wavered. Only about 3% of Japan's population is foreign-born, compared to 15% in the UK. In Europe and America, right-wing movements point to it as a shining example of racial purity and social harmony. But Japan is not as ethnically pure as those admirers might think. There are the Ainu of Hokkaido, Okinawans in the south, half a million ethnic Koreans, and close to a million Chinese.

Then there are Japanese children with one foreign parent, which include my own three. These bi-cultural kids are known as "hafu" or halves - a pejorative term that's normal here. They include celebrities and sports icons, such as tennis star Naomi Osaka. Popular culture idolises them as "more beautiful and talented". But it's one thing to be idolised and quite another to be accepted. If you want to see what happens to a country that rejects immigration as a solution to falling fertility, Japan is a good place to start.

Real wages haven't grown here in 30 years. Incomes in South Korea and Taiwan have caught up and even overtaken Japan. But change feels distant. In part it's because of a rigid hierarchy that determines who holds the levers of power.

In a nutshell

Zelensky = pro EU (puppet)

EU had payed Ukraine's gas bills to Gazprom / EU trade deal / future EU membership, NATO membership

All of Ukraine thought that's pretty good, better than what old Vlad has to offer so they took that sweet bait

Selensky's whole campaign was about reconcilation with Russian speaking Ukrainian population and averting a war with Russia. Neither Ukrainians nor Russian speaking Ukrainians wanted a war or division resulting in a civil war (they thought back then, civil war would have been the worst case scenario). As soon as he was elected, suppressing Russian speaking populance continued and was intensified by forbidding teaching or speaking Russian language in the east. At the same time, the government pushed for Nato by making joining the alliance a part of their constitution in 2019.

https://verfassungsblog.de/would-ukraine-breach-its-own-constitution-if-it-dropped-its-nato-bid/

This post was edited by babun1024 on Jan 23 2023 09:15am

Ukrainians show record level of NATO membership support – poll

86% of Ukrainians supporting NATO.

https://en.lb.ua/news/2023/01/23/18943_ukrainians_show_record_level_nato.html
https://ratinggroup.ua/en/research/ukraine/dvadcyate_zagalnonac_onalne_opituvannya_zovn_shnopol_tichn_nastro_naselennya_14-16_s_chnya_2023.html

What you think seriously? People can be stupid but not up to the point of wanting to be a citizen of Putin's Shitland.

This is a really odd conclusion for the author to draw, as South Korea is also one of the most ethnically homogenous places on earth. The author notes that one ethnically homogenous state has equaled or surpassed another ethnically homogenous state, and based on that concludes that heterogeneity is better for growth than homogeneity. That may or may not be true, but the author hasn't presented an argument. BBC must be going downhill if this is the sort of quality they're reduced to putting out.

Well the Western strategy worked, of course Ukraine took the bait and now Ukraine is at war with Russia (surprise surprise )

Is this a good or a bad thing? Looks like Ukraine made a terrible decision IMO, living quietly next to Russia would be preferable than getting wrecked by Russia.

Yes, I alluded to this before and therefore am quite satisfied that you expanded on this. This is factual, i trust no one disagrees. (this is a side bar, but it provides context). i.e. he was elected on a platform of reconciliation but unfortunately it did not pan out that way. partly due to events in eastern Ukraine and partly because he did not have enough control (or any control ) of certain "elements" in ukraine.

babun1024 has clinically highlighted the reason why Zelensky was elected. Now, I accept you may not be agreeable however I would urge you to try reason when debating here, noting reason is the safest course.

and the bit about the constitution also supports the notion that merkel WAS a good leader but that when Nato was not offered to Ukraine, they decided to take matters into their own hands and enshrine joining nato into their constitution, which to my mind was the ultimate move which led to this conflict. probably.



take what you want from any article, but i do agree with you: the argument for diversity = growth, was not well made.

while we can argue/discuss semantics/merits of the article, it is known that japan has a problem which it does not know how to resolve it.
... and on the other hand yes, the BBC also has a problem - it has been in decline for a decade now, for a variety of reasons, including having a government in england breathing down on it and looking for a reason to shut the bbc down (because the government is moronic).

i would gladly adopt the bbc, as would most countries (accepting a few changes ofc).

This post was edited by ferdia on Jan 23 2023 10:50am

Who would want to side with Putin's regime anyway... Seriously, who ?

Correct me if I got my timeline wrong but weren't they already besieging the ethnic Russian regions for 5 years before zelensky was elected? And Russias little green men were already in that war just as long. As far as I've seen, Zelensky is just a figurehead for a puppet regime, the CIA isnt even hiding it, look what theyre doing this week

Estonia donates all of its 155mm howitzers and other weapons to Ukraine .
Representing "only" 133 millions€ but still more than 1% of its GDP.