My point was that we'd solve these problems a lot faster if worked on getting along. But I realize that's just a pipe dream so this whole convo is kinda rooted in pointlessness. I wasn't really arguing about the specifics.

..the moment after joining Schengen. Damn.

Hopefully not another Hungary/Poland in the making

It's still Russian troops doing it so they will still attack anything belonging to Ukraine. It's not like the put out a Facebook ad for this.

They're trying to incentivize people to take out the new tanks because they're not sure how to deal with them effectively, so they want their troops to do whatever they can to take them out. If they get 12 reports of destroyed tanks and 9 of them were killed in the same, or similar, fashion then they will start telling all their troops to use that method to deal with them.

Not sure what treaty they're talking about. They threaten to nuke the world daily

Tell you what; we'll have Biden return that money when Afghanistan returns the TRILLIONS of dollars that have poured into their coffers over the last 20 years. Fuckwit.

Who gives a shit what Russia thinks anymore?

No, not really. It would only be hypocrisy if I opposed all wars, regardless of the causes, and, crucially, if I normally believed in boycotting people and companies for the actions of their government. Then it would be hypocrisy. The fallacy is you imposing a moral imperative on people.

But if we look at how people actually react to wars - America's wars or other recent wars - no, people generally didn't boycott American companies. So it's calling for total boycott of trade with Russia that's what's hypocritical. And it's driven largely by the US and allies in the first place, not "the world" in general.

Hypocrisy isn't even the worst aspect, I think. With Russia and China there's the added aspect of these countries being less democratic - yet the people being punished for the actions of the government. If you were a Russian who never voted for Putin, how would you feel if you suddenly were under more sanctions for being Russian than George W. Bush and Tony Blair for their role in the Iraq war?

Most of the actual manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is done in India not China. Depending on how you count, 50%+ of the capacity is in India.

Contractors would still be a huge no go.

Especially with the fuel guzzlers that are F-16s, you either need significant upgrades (ie the export F-16Vs with CFTs to operate for meaningful periods of time as CAP).

There is also the issue of mission roles.

The F-16 is a pretty decent multi role fighter, but is really still an interceptor at heart. One, these things aren’t going to be used in ground support if they do go because they only really excel at that role in absence of air defenses or air assets.

The one argument would be SEAD/DEAD, but we have already been able to upgrade the Ukrainian MIGs for use of the HARM, the F-16 offers little more in that spectrum. They also still lack the range needed to allow for safe operation in the current anti air regime that exists.

Basically, we would send them and they would stay on the ground, just like most everything else is right now.

Yeah fuck him.

Sure because we live in a black/white world without nuance.

It takes quite a while to get an assisted suicide.

I can't speak for this decriminalization measure, but typically they're aimed to provide more care for drug users, ensuring what they're doing is safe and clean, and that there are resources for those that have issues with drugs.

It's a lot easier to seek out help for an addiction if you know they won't imprison you for it.

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As an American I ask Australia for a right wing nutter exchange program, because yours will always vote Liberal and ours will never vote liberal.

They said this same thing about the Abrams. The US planned on training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 since July as it was included in the $880 million aid bill that passed. Ukraine is going to get F-16s and they may get them soon.

I guess the population density is also way bigger, although I don't know if that matters that much

Holy shit, last time I saw the death toll was 58.

Presidents that support autocratic dictators aren't necessarily autocratic themselves however, they are autocratic supporting assholes

Hence the protests. People are tired of the same conservatives running congress and perpetuating the eternal cycle of corruption, and want drastic change. Hell they're asking for a constituent assembly to rewrite their Constitution that's how desperate they've become. The current government has labeled the protesters terrorists, ensuring the police has carte blanche to open fire. This will only get worse before it gets better

Translated from press release:

“We must check if citizens have a western nazi ‘flying car’ by requesting they to drive out of this regulation ‘high window’.”

Iunno. Many more people are willing to smoke a joint than kill someone.

But the issue is more that our prisons are:

1. Allowed to be ran for profit and receive money for every prison incarcerated.

2. Are allowed to use the incarcerated as slave labor.

So the elite rig the system to incarcerate as many as possible so private, for profit prisons can print blood money.

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People really think DARPA is all about the money at is thrown at it, but they overlook how DARPA technology actually gets integrated into the civilian market. You've all heard, "technology X can do anything except leave the laboratory." But manufacturers can sell technology to the military at much higher prices then they can to civilians. So manufacturers work out the kinks in their processes while selling to the military then they have a product they can actually sell at a scale to make a profit. The UK's biotech industry works a lot of the same way, with the NHS being pipeline for cutting edge technology to be supplied to the masses.

I still feel like the answer here is "actually win the elections for congress".

This is coming from a person who lives in a country that does not even have a directly elected president, but: having a congress/parliament that is more powerful than a president is not particularly strange or rare. It just means presidential elections are less important than some people apparently believed.

They have apparently never heard the latter part of "sticks and stones shall break my bones..."

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