High resolution version

I think it's time the world stepped in and liberated North Mexico

Indeed!

Civil war in Greece to suppress communists, followed by semi-dictatorships and full dictatorships for the next 30 years. Communists sent to Aegean gulags.

Terrorist action in Italy to suppress communists. Political assassinations and imprisonments for a decade.

Mass police beatings of demonstrations and political prisoners sent to Carribean gulags in France

Meanwhile Spain and Portugal ruled by fascist juntas for decades.

Yeah, there was so much liberation and self-determination in Western Europe!

Russia hosts the most Ukrainian refugees out of any other country. If Ukrainians wholly viewed Russia as the problem would they really move into Russia? The reality is that there's 2 types of Ukrainians: those who see Ukraine as a continuation of the Ukrainian SSR, and a brotherly people to the Russians, and those who see Ukraine as a new nation that has been liberated from the clutches of the evil Russians, and can now forge ahead, pure and independent, as Bandera envisioned. Your friend's Ukrainian friends are likely of the second type.

The problem with your friend, like many other people, doesn't really understand the complexity of the issues and doesn't know much about what's going on, besides what they are being told by mainstream media. And it's very likely they instictively trust mainstream media. By nature, humans are open to adapting the first opinion they hear about something, and then they become really defensive when other contradictory opinions come in.

Trying to convince people of something is a very slow process, and it doesn't happen while you are around. All you can do is present them with the evidence, give them an easy-to-follow rundown of the nuances, and explain why their opinion is uninformed. Patience and calm is actually more helpful in getting them to open up and listen to you. If you get angry, they get angry, and nobody can be convinced of anything while angry. During your discussion, they are still very unlikely they'll actually turn around their opinion. If you did a good job presenting your view, then there's a chance they'll keep thinking about it. Eventually, they might do their own research. And then they might decide they agree with you, or not.

A nice way to induce this self-assessment of opinions held, is to ask questions. When they tell you something that's blatantly false, ask them questions about it. This helps to lower their defensiveness, and helps them realize they probably shouldn't be so certain about what they heard.

That's the only advice I can give. Don't start these discussions expecting to convince anybody else. Start them because you want to discuss what's going on. Don't hang up on things you disagree. Just use it as a jumping point to discuss the situation further. If you are lucky, then maybe you'll turn them around. But that's not something you should worry about while holding the discussion. It just makes things frustrating.

This person got the wrong lesson from video games. The optimal strategy is usually the exact opposite of what they are suggesting. Take out the small guys only if they are getting in the way. Your priority should always be to focus on the boss, because when the boss dies, the small guys go away. Otherwise it's a waste of time and resources. Actually an apt description of what should be done. Well, what do you know? Lenin taught me how to play video games :D

The comments in that video are also joining in the insanity. They are all variations of "My parents spanked me when I was a child. I love this cop"

Short answer: Yes

Obama's and Biden's sanctions, along with Trump's tariffs, have split the world into economic camps with opposing interests. This is a prelude to a world war, whether it is hot or cold.

American policy has always been to smash anyone who can potentially grow to threaten their hegemony. After the fall of the USSR, their aim remained to keep dismantling Russia. Furthermore, they used the export of capital to China as a way to keep China away from the USSR. With the fall of the USSR, this was no longer necessary, and plans started being drawn about eliminating Chinese communism.

However, after 2001, the US got distracted by their wars in the Middle and Near East, which lasted a lot longer than expected, and exhausted their military industrial capacity more than it should.

Their arrogance had them think that they could force Russia to suffer a similar exhaustion by provoking a war in Ukraine. They found out that they miscalculated, as Russia fought the war in a way that Americans would never think of. No mass indiscriminate bombing of cities and civilian infrastructure, slow positional warfare instead of aggresive large maneuvers, retreat away from potential defeat to preserve lives, etc. Meanwhile Russia's centralized military economy has shown to be a lot more efficient, a lot more productive and a lot more cheaper, than the American model.

The Americans realized that Russia's existing industries and focus on raw material extraction allows them to punch well above their weight. At the same time, Americans (and Europeans) are finding out that stock trading and bank services may have produced a lot of wealth for them, but they are absolutely useless in producing tanks, rockets and jets, or even in protecting their population from disastrous economic blockades.

So yes, Trump's (urgent) aim is to rebuild industry in the US, so the US is able to rebuild its military, so the US can threaten Russia and China to bow down and stop challenging US hegemony, which is most likely going to lead to WW3.

Even if Trump fails, we might see a WW3. This is precisely why BRICS are letting the Americans down slowly and softly. Avoiding sudden moves can prevent the US from reacting militarily.

The protagonist stands with her back to us, on a vantage point looking at the sunrise with tears.

Her state-appointed fascist husband walks next to her.

"I know now what we did was bad. You remind me of that. Will you forgive me?"

She gives him her hand and smiles wiping away the tears from her eyes.

They kiss.

The End

The difference between Trump and China, is that China was preparing for this trade war for the last 5 years, and even more so when they understood early in the elections that Trump was going to win. China got its economy ready for sanctions and tarriffs, became less reliant on imports from the West and forged strong economic ties with Asian, Latin American and African countries. Trump has just gotten into office, and without bracing first, he just started smashing things. Guess who's coming out on top in this.

Edit: by comparison Europe just assumed Trump would lose, and then assumed Trump would not impose tarriffs on them, despite clearly speaking about it for years. So here they are, having cut off their major energy supplier and then (literally) burning the bridge with Russia. Having imposed tarriffs on Chinese goods at the behest of the US, and still completely unprepared for the effects of Trump's tarriffs. Yet, all they seem to care about is how to keep Ukraine's funeral pyres burning.

I think it's edgy in your mind only. Stop worrying what others will think about it. For you, it's important to honor your dad. If anybody wants to judge you over that, fuck them. Find a way to display it that is both convenient and aesthetically pleasing for you, and you feel it's a good tribute to your father.

Some ideas:

• Mount it on a wall and place a picture of your dad around it
• Place it on a stand, on a desk, if you have the space for it. Can also place a picture of your dad next to it.
• Place it over your door.
• Hang or place it on a mantle
• Use it as a centerpiece for a display with other personal items of your dad

NordVPN used to have a few years ago when I used it. Not sure now how sanctions affected its server list now.

And why is China looking angry? The US basically just pushed the entirety of Asia towards BRICS and stronger economic relations with China.

You misunderstood. It's a science, sure. But psychology studies things that are not at all easily quantifiable, and as such, studies in psychology should be taken with a grain of salt, unless one is willing to thoroughly examine the methods and data before reading the conclusions.

And just to be clear, since you seem to be getting downvoted, I don't think you should be getting downvoted.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to psychology studies. Not to harp on the "psychology isn't science" shtick, but the fact is, it is extremely difficult to run studies on these kinds of things. Usually it boils down to mass questionaires that usually disregard other factors. Psychology studies are the epitome of "correlation does not mean causation", and one should be very mindful of that before drawing conclusions.

There's probably destructive psychological effects associated with repeated casual sex, but is it the act itself causing it or other underlying factors?

Why won't you let us genocide in peace?

I hope so, but in my part of the EU, it seems the libs are just terrified of Trump.

A couple far right reactionary youtubers started propagating this myth about China controlling Hollywood, and now it's absolute gospel.

I looked for it to read it. They also cite "cyberattacks", "war", "Russia" and "Trump" as other reasons. So yeah, basically this is a "hide under the desk to protect yourself from the nukes" thing.

The European Commission has issued a warning (that barely anybody has publicized) that it'd be best if people kept a 72-hour necessities kit at home, stocked with food, medicine, toiletries and emergency equipment, "in case" of a new economic crisis.