I guess he forgot that he had already been there!

Some of the other documentaries posted on the channel are great as well, I found the "Choosing to Die" especially poignant.

GNU Terry Pratchett.

Great dude.

Legend

You've proven my point.

Thank you.

agreed. it's just that often people confuse conspiracy with conspiracy theory and people are led to believe that all of the latter is some ridicilous tin foil lunacy when in fact conspiracies are very real.

>Comparing Russia to Hitler is kinda ridiculous. Russia has shown how dysfunctional their military is.

German military was very weak up until around 1941, they needed time to ramp up production. What they had in 1937-1940 was strategy and tactics that haven't been seen to date and caught attacked countries off-guard.

Had France and England actually respect the treaties they had with Poland, there would be no World War II.

Had Ukraine not receive help from its allies, it would be already done - they'd run out of ammunition, artillery shells, medical equipment, etc.

Don't let the fact that most of the war content posted on Reddit is "russians being dumb" fool you - if they were overall half as incompetent as these videos show, Zelensky would've received the victory parade of his army marching through the Red Square months ago.

>It's fantasy to think he's a threat to a nuclear armed Europe.

HE IS the "nuclear armed Europe" too, mate. At least on paper, russia still has the nuclear arsenal to rival that of the US, France and Britain combined.

We can ASSUME that it's no longer the case (judging by how badly maintained their regular military is), but can we bet the lives of half the planet on it? I don't think that's a bet any sane politician who knows anything about the history of dictators is willing to make.

>Hence why its no more important to most nations than countless other regional conflicts are.

Russia getting their grubby little idiot hands on Ukraine has extremely huge strategical and economical consequences.

Ukraine's fields produce food that can feed a fifth of the planet. Natural gas and oil reserves have been found that rival those of Russia. Then there's all the geopolitical stuff on top of that. I highly recommend watching THIS video. It's pretty long but will let you understand why NATO can't let russia have this - even if we ignore all the warcrimes stuff.

>Were just racist because we think of Europeans are facing strife its exceptional. (...) Change Ukraine to rojava and magically we don't care

That's actually true, but the reasons for NATO's help are entirely not humanitarian, but rather strategic. It's a military operation through and through, it's just that only Ukraine is doing the actual fighting.

>Were back to you saying things that presuppose things I don't say.

OK, in that case explain what did you mean by this sentence:

>there are emergencies in America that need funding

Because apparently I don't understand it, in the context of this discussion.

>That it was just as true 20 years ago and 40 years ago and 60 years ago when the modern political situation was less dire. America has always been this way and its consistent if uneven across multiple generations.

Exactly my point. Meaning - UA-aid existing or not doesn't change anything.

>It's dishonest to suggest its all free and never going to be replaced. The tanks aren't even the bulk of the support.

I never suggested either of these.

>Hence why the moral idea of helping Ukraine is superficial

Like I said, it's not a moral or humanitarian sentiment that's pushing NATO countries to help. It's 100% entirely strategic. What's going on right now is a "weird world war" where everyone's involved but only two countries are doing the fighting.

>That's an impressively short-sighted worldview. Also, we've already been there, done that. Read about a guy called Chamberlain and his stance towards Hitler.

Comparing Russia to Hitler is kinda ridiculous. Russia has shown how dysfunctional their military is. Compared to Hitler Putin has no flex at all except in a very limited region.

It's fantasy to think he's a threat to a nuclear armed Europe. Hence why its no more important to most nations than countless other regional conflicts are. Were just racist because we think of Europeans are facing strife its exceptional.

>Which emergency in the US is underfunded SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE of the UA-aid?

Were back to you saying things that presuppose things I don't say.

>And what exactly is the impact of the UA-aid on the fact that the Republican party reacts with a hissy fit every time anyone suggests anything REMOTELY pro-citizen in legislature?

That it was just as true 20 years ago and 40 years ago and 60 years ago when the modern political situation was less dire. America has always been this way and its consistent if uneven across multiple generations.

>Remind me again, how many poor people in the US are getting kidnapped, killed or their houses blown up daily?

Change Ukraine to rojava and magically we don't care. Maybe because it would piss off turkey and their value to nato supersedes our humanity. Ie. Hegemony.

>Nope. Most of that equipment was either already retired or scheduled to be retired. For instance, there's A LOT of Abrams tanks after the Marine Corps decided to completely change their strategy and removed armour.

It's dishonest to suggest its all free and never going to be replaced. The tanks aren't even the bulk of the support.

>Fair enough, although it certainly doesn't seem like it the last couple of years.

That's because you need to look beyond what the GOP does. It's lesser evil ism, not good VS evil.

>The US is a fundamentally broken democracy. No party ever has "full control" due to how much power lobbyists and the businesses behind them have gotten over the years.

Hence why the moral idea of helping Ukraine is superficial. It just so happens to appeal to it.

Thanks for posting, OP. Well done documentary. The images of people on the bridge and the guy screaming to it look at the River and get to higher ground are daunting. Reminds me of the people on the beach in Thailand as the water receded just prior.

>You're saying something that presupposes something I never said and you keep saying it so I keep ignoring it.

You're right, sorry, I confused you with the other guy because you sounded the same.

>Supporting Ukraine is in fact not the most important priority for any nation other than Ukraine and perhaps some of its vulnerable neighbours.

That's an impressively short-sighted worldview. Also, we've already been there, done that. Read about a guy called Chamberlain and his stance towards Hitler.

>there are emergencies in America that need funding

Which emergency in the US is underfunded SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE of the UA-aid?

>But they don't because hegemony has priority over feeding and housing and giving medical care to Americans who can't afford it.

And what exactly is the impact of the UA-aid on the fact that the Republican party reacts with a hissy fit every time anyone suggests anything REMOTELY pro-citizen in legislature?

>If poverty in America were treated like Ukraine is by media and politicians they'd unass all that money too.

Remind me again, how many poor people in the US are getting kidnapped, killed or their houses blown up daily?

Also, which US "help the poor" programme suffers lower finances due to the UA-aid?

>Equipment they'll pay to replace so it's still money to the arms manufacturers.

Nope. Most of that equipment was either already retired or scheduled to be retired. For instance, there's A LOT of Abrams tanks after the Marine Corps decided to completely change their strategy and removed armour.

>Naw, democrats are also guilty.

Fair enough, although it certainly doesn't seem like it the last couple of years.

>Even if they had the full control of legislation they'd never do a proper new deal.

The US is a fundamentally broken democracy. No party ever has "full control" due to how much power lobbyists and the businesses behind them have gotten over the years.

What you say is true. I’ve been through several hurricanes (I am, in NO way, equating the tsunami to a hurricane where you get several days notice to evacuate). I stopped talking about how destructive and life changing the aftermath is because people, even my own family (who live in another country), couldn’t understand anything beyond what they saw in the news.

The funny thing about the whole experience is that it shows how language breaks down.

Legit, there are no words to sufficiently describe the experience. And no amount of "I'm sorry"s does any good. That's not me trying to be mean, that's just a fact. Trust me, I've tried to make language about it work. Here. And here. And here, too. But neither of the languages I speak are sufficiently equipped to allow me or anyone else who was there to effectively paint that picture.

Now, I'm pretty vocal about it, and occasionally chime in (like now) on how isolating not the experience itself but the lack of sufficient linguistic tools to effectively communicate the experience to others that weren't there and thus find some sort of solace can be. That's why media on the event tends to be pretty aggravating - it doesn't recognize that it can't possibly understand, and makes implicit demands of those who were there to make futile efforts to explain.

But the vast majority of those who were there don't talk about it. Trauma does that generally, but then this is Japan which has a long history of self-effacement and minimal mental health resources. I guarantee you that this issue hasn't been addressed properly at all, and that there are thousands of people out there with lingering demons from the wave's aftermath.

Incidentally, while I was into extreme music long before 3/11, underground shows were an invaluable resource for me to cope with stuff and get back "into" social scenes. Thus the handle, TokyoMetal.

I’m so sorry you went through that.

>I feel like I'm constantly saying the same thing over and over again and you're just flat out ignoring it.

You're saying something that presupposes something I never said and you keep saying it so I keep ignoring it.

Supporting Ukraine is in fact not the most important priority for any nation other than Ukraine and perhaps some of its vulnerable neighbours.

>Every country has various "buckets" of budget. The US is not taking money away from infrastructure or firefighting to send it out to Ukraine, it's using the military budget or the emergency budget. Aid or not, you wouldn't see a difference.

This presupposes these are unchangeable things. But there are emergencies in America that need funding, there ways to rebudget. But they don't because hegemony has priority over feeding and housing and giving medical care to Americans who can't afford it.

If poverty in America were treated like Ukraine is by media and politicians they'd unass all that money too.

>You also wouldn't see a difference because MOST of the aid is in the form of equipment and not money.

Equipment they'll pay to replace so it's still money to the arms manufacturers.

>As for "why aid for your own people is not possible" - ask the Republicans who are consequently blocking all attempts at a more "for people" legislation.

Naw, democrats are also guilty. They're just less guilty. Biden stopped a rail strike that was partly about safety issues and here we see the consequences of that anti union probusiness attitude.

Democrats would be considered milquetoast at best on many other democracies if the republicans weren't around, but they're also in the wealthiest nation on earth with limited ambition or ideological inclination toward big broad stroke solutions. Even if they had the full control of legislation they'd never do a proper new deal.

>Why wouldn't you separate people like Usain Bolt or Al Pacino from the likes of Jeff Bezos, Saudi royal family or George Soros?

Because once you get into those echelons you're part of it. And less wealthy people often play a key role anyway. Much of the liberal intelligentsia functions to explain why it's right and good that we're under a bankers thumb.

There's no value in being too granular about wealth. Many people abuse workers while owning businesses worth a few mil.

Class war doesn't need to be this complicated.

And a lot of the political machine is made up of enthusiastic not very well off staffers and prospects for the higher echelons of political power. No need to point at only some of them. It's like how after the Ohio train crash people said don't just blame the ceo, learn the names of the shareholders and board members too.

So if I happen to get wealthy one way or another, I'll automatically become an adversary? Class war is just a way to turn the society against itself so the real elites can benefit. Divide and rule you know. Most rich people have nothing to do with media ownership, let alone of the huge internet platforms or biggest media outlets abroad that are the arbiter of what content other smaller media outlets propagate.

>Separating the rich from the bankers

Why wouldn't you separate people like Usain Bolt or Al Pacino from the likes of Jeff Bezos, Saudi royal family or George Soros?

>is like saying it's not the republicans or democrats, it's the politicians.

Because it is?

>Well yes. If everyone knows about your secret plans then they're not very secret anymore

source re: it stops being a conspiracy.

Don’t mind me just commenting so I can watch this after work

Anything unregulated will get out of control, it’s just the constant lazy argument of “capitalism bad” is so easy and and unproductive. You’re never going to stop people from exchanging goods and services for capital, so quit the non-starter argument. The fact you and I are arguing over this rather than doing something effective is proof that it is a very effective distraction.

They cover news on the left which is generally ignored by corporate and right wing media.

Definitely left leaning, in my view. But fair.

Thanks. Going to check it out when I get home. They're not biased towards the left right up or down? 😉 And they're not in anyone's pocket? Does anyone else agree with this suggestion?

Was there, on the Iwate coast, in Miyako. Can confirm none of these documentaries or articles or anything can do it justice, and furthermore will state that I've been tired of anyone but people with first hand experience talking about it (and they don't) for at least... 7 years?... because no one knows and no one listens.

That was wonderful, thank you