"The 1980's are calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by Steal Your Face, Jan 8, 2022.

  1. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    Thread:

    • popcorn popcorn x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,266
    Ratings:
    +22,261
    • popcorn popcorn x 2
    • Happy Happy x 2
  3. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,266
    Ratings:
    +22,261
    Possibly, will have to wait and see. But it might just be this:

    • Agree Agree x 1
    • popcorn popcorn x 1
  4. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

    Joined:
    May 28, 2004
    Messages:
    37,745
    Location:
    Ireland
    Ratings:
    +32,243
    Turkey have really really won here, and the Kurds are sold out yet again.

    In exchange for the veto being dropped, Sweden/Finland will:
    • Lift their arms embargo
    • Support Turkey on the PKK
    • Stop support to the YPG
    • Amend their laws on terrorism
    • Share Intel with Turkey
    • Extradite terror suspects to Turkey
    • popcorn popcorn x 1
  5. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,266
    Ratings:
    +22,261
    Source?
  6. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 RadioNinja

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    13,269
    Location:
    Boise, Idaho
    Ratings:
    +23,106
    The Jews used to refer to themselves as "G-d's Favorites". I sense an undercurrent of bitterness in that. It seems to me that the Kurds may be able to make their own claim to that title.
    :cry:
  7. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    All the above still holds but some additional points I’ve learned since:

    1) While the fear of Huawei’s growing market share of telecommunications and network equipment is legit, it is still only the second largest provider in the world.

    First (Ericsson - Sweden) and third (Nokia -Finland) will soon be joining fourth (Thales - France) in NATO.

    2) Finland has the 2nd largest indirect munitions stockpile in Europe (behind Russia). This is increasingly important as NATO is burning through our stockpiles.

    3) Both nations have domestic munitions production (see 2).

    4) The Baltic Sea is now Lake NATO with the Danish Straits, Kattegat and Skagerrak now completely controlled by NATO nations (Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway).

    5) The Baltics can now breath a huge sigh of relief as they aren’t the only border states. The idea of a Russian blitzkreig that seizes the Baltics and then sues for negotiations is deader than the fourteeen Russian generals in Ukraine. NATO just got 800 new km of border.
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2022
    • Agree Agree x 2
  8. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

    Joined:
    May 28, 2004
    Messages:
    37,745
    Location:
    Ireland
    Ratings:
    +32,243
    • Thank You! Thank You! x 2
  9. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • popcorn popcorn x 2
  10. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
  11. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    Snake Island is orc free.



    Good news. Hopefully the blockade of Odessa will be lifted soon.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  12. shootER

    shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Messages:
    49,228
    Location:
    The Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue
    Ratings:
    +50,219
    • Funny Funny x 3
  13. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    Obviously it goes both ways but there is a lot of learning coming from the first conventional/‘major power’ war in 70 years.

    I give the democratic nations the edge on being able to analyze, learn from and implement these lessons.

    The CAESAR looks like an early winner. Parts commonality is a good thing.

    • popcorn popcorn x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  14. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
    • Sad Sad x 2
  15. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
  16. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174


    :rofl:
    • Happy Happy x 3
    • Funny Funny x 2
  17. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 RadioNinja

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    13,269
    Location:
    Boise, Idaho
    Ratings:
    +23,106
    Reminds me of this...
  18. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • popcorn popcorn x 2
  19. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    Side note, y’all remember my Army buddy that lived with me for a bit while getting a lay of the land before going to law school at UW?

    Same dude that was in the nightly protests with my brother during the BLM protests and then he and my brother borrowed my trailer and lived in the CHAZ/CHOP (anarchist jurisdiction according to Trump but amazingly kid friendly)…

    This dude (on my right, in tank top):

    69D9ED6A-1DD7-4E25-8807-A95BBC8E7D7E.jpeg

    Well he volunteered for the UKR Foreign Legion a while back and just got selected for their Spetsnaz (Special Forces). He has a three week front line ‘test’ and if he passes would become one of the first if not the first soldier to serve in the Special Operations (we were PSYOP together) of the US and an allied nation.

    I at times envy his singleness and ability to fight for freedom both home and abroad.
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Love Love x 2
    • Winner Winner x 1
  20. Bickendan

    Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

    Joined:
    May 7, 2010
    Messages:
    23,847
    Ratings:
    +28,277
    :salute:
    • Agree Agree x 2
  21. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 RadioNinja

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    13,269
    Location:
    Boise, Idaho
    Ratings:
    +23,106
    I would say "Tell him to be careful", but I guess it's too late for that. I sure hope he will be though. :salute:
    • Agree Agree x 1
  22. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
    When I was a kid in high school, I can remember a local newspaper columnist in Columbus, OH, talking about a friend of his who was a reporter and made the national news because he'd been killed covering some shitty fucking war in the Mid-East in the mid-80s. The columnist had known that reporter for decades before he was killed, and the thing that stuck with me was what the columnist said was the reporter's response about risking his life covering war stories, "Better to be killed doing that than getting killed by a milk truck while crossing the street." (I should note that home milk deliveries were still a thing when the reporter said that.) That has stuck with me ever since I read it.

    We're all gonna die at some point, but if you've got to die of something other than old age, fighting fascism is pretty much the best reason to do so.
    • Agree Agree x 3
  23. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 RadioNinja

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    13,269
    Location:
    Boise, Idaho
    Ratings:
    +23,106
    No argument there. I also knew a newspaper columnist who was killed playing cowboy investigating "Shining Path" drug smugglers. They assumed he was a CIA spy and killed him after torturing him for a while. I wasn't friends with the guy (radio and TV guys were lower forms of life to newspaper types) but having that happen to someone you know (and respect) stays with you...forever... :brood:
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2022
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Sad Sad x 1
  24. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
    Yeah. A buddy of mine was HIV+ and committed suicide right before AZT and the other antiviral drugs became widely available. I understand why he did what he did, but I also know that if he could have held out a little bit longer his life would have gotten a lot better.

    Dude was a fucking talented musician and really knew how to snap you into different ways of thinking. But after watching so many of his friends die from a disease the government didn't seem to care about, I can understand why he did what he did.
  25. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • popcorn popcorn x 3
  26. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • Agree Agree x 1
  27. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    76,623
    Location:
    Can't tell you, 'cause I'm undercover!
    Ratings:
    +154,174
    This seems like a really bad idea to me:


    If I’m released from a Russian prison to fight in Ukraine, then I’m going to quickly surrender to the Ukrainians, knowing that whatever they do to me won’t be nearly as bad as what I was having to deal with in Russia.
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • popcorn popcorn x 1
  28. matthunter

    matthunter Ice Bear

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2004
    Messages:
    26,880
    Location:
    Bottom of the bearstack, top of the world
    Ratings:
    +48,419
    The collars will prevent that sort of Heretic talk.

    https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Penal_Legion
  29. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • popcorn popcorn x 2
  30. Ancalagon

    Ancalagon Scalawag Administrator Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    51,346
    Location:
    Downtown
    Ratings:
    +57,469
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • popcorn popcorn x 1