40 virgins in afterlife

The right to anything implies the ability to defend it. Your right to property is enforced by the state, and if I were to try and take it forcibly from you, men with guns would come to take me away, and kill me if I resist.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine swear off NATO membership, and by extension broad alignment with the West. By definition, they're asserting control over matters of Ukrainian sovereignty.

NATO is dominated by the United States for obvious reasons. It's American military power that forms the backbone of NATO's strength. They're not one and the same, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to strictly separate them either.

I'm familiar with the notion of purging a population or ideology today in order for future populations to thrive, however I dont subscribe to it. I accept that living in the shadow of Russia does not provide for alot of sunlight. I just feel that America and Nato and the EU and Ukraine would have been much better off if they had taken things slower. I would rather relax my opponents and boil them slowly or make them (or their children)my friends, rather then get into a fight with them. /e on readback this reads poorly. say rather from a geo-political level where opponents have nuclear weapons its better not to do things hastily or step on my opponents red lines.



and my comment re: Russia is not expansionist ?

This post was edited by ferdia on Mar 24 2022 10:13am

the only friendly russian oligarchs will come out of a guillotine. if chinese/russian ideology win out future generations of humankind will be far worse off than if the westen ideology wins out. western ideology needs a lot of tweeks, china/russian ideology needs the be burned to it's roots.

which ideology? wait this is a loaded question. Let me rephrase - Say rather - I, like you, am from the west so of course the ideology of another culture looks alien, however I am not of the view that our way is the only way and that our way is the right way. that goes for other blocks ideology's as well. I would say that overall no one way is the right way just as other ways are not necessarily the wrong way, just, different. ultimately when guided by 1 man, the risk of power corrupting (and absolute power corrupting absolutely) will always exist, however that does not mean that another way of doing things is the wrong way.

This post was edited by ferdia on Mar 24 2022 10:20am

Herding muslims into indefinite death camps, state run economy, social credit scores, lack of elected officials and representation, killing dissident journalists and whistle blowers, organ farming poor people, etc.

these are the end result of dictatorship and a lack of democracy. democracy is FAR from perfect, but we don't treat people like animals with the regularity they do either. some cars can be fixed, some you just need to put in a crusher and melt it down into scrap.

I would say that checks and balance to prevent the oppression of the people is what certain countries are lacking (due to being dictatorships or rather no proper oversight and checks and balances). I use the word country rather than ideology noting there have been good dictators throughout history as well as bad democracies ( i accept that democracy is preferred from a logical standpoint, or say rather its my view).

This post was edited by ferdia on Mar 24 2022 10:46am

It's only because of notification



China is so bad their women don't want to make children despite Xi asking for it.

checks and balances are a function of democracy, in a dictatorship they're nothing but a suggestion to be ignored. when they're ignored by leaders in a democracy that's authoritarian and undemocratic. and then the leaders can be removed democratically. the issue with western countries is we're not democratic enough, or that democracy leads to gridlock. but i'll take a system that moves too slowly in the right direction over a system that moves too quickly in the wrong one.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/24/biden-says-us-would-respond-to-russia-if-putin-uses-chemical-or-biological-weapons.html
Biden says U.S. would 'respond' to Russia if Putin uses chemical or biological weapons
=> What if Putin wasn't so stupid and that involve others countries in the fight is a part of his plan ?