Recent comments in /f/worldnews

krismasstercant t1_jebhp7y wrote

Reply to comment by Lost_and_wandering_ in Kabul’s only library for women closes due to Taliban threats and harassment by SinbadMarinarul

>My dude. The United States’ CIA founded the Taliban as a means of counterbalancing USSR presence in the region.

Lol no they didn't, the Taliban didn't even form until AFTER the berlin wall fell, unless your talking about the Mujahedeen. And it wasn't the CIA that founded the Taliban, it was Pakistan's ISI that radicalized, funded, and armed Afghan refugee's and Pakistani citizens so that way when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in the 90's it would be more favorable for them.

8

krismasstercant t1_jebgyko wrote

Reply to comment by afraid_of_zombies in Kabul’s only library for women closes due to Taliban threats and harassment by SinbadMarinarul

What oil ? The amount of oil we import from Iraq had pretty much been the same before the war started. Why would we even need to go to war for oil when we're literally the largest producers of oil in the world. HOWEVER Haliburton did make a shit ton off of defense contracts through KBR in the Iraq war and Dick Cheney WAS still getting paid by Haliburton despite no longer being the CEO and was the Vice President of the US at the time. But that's not necessarily the reason why we went to war in the first place.

8

BigManScaramouche t1_jebgf5y wrote

Reply to comment by Hungry_Coyotes in Antarctic ocean currents heading for collapse by mvanigan

We hadn't had proper winter for few years, here in Central Europe.

Weather is getting crazy and unpredictable.

I know you might sit comfortable at your home and write shit like this, but do we really have to fry here till we die until people like you finally get it?

Or are you so self-centered that you just simply won't care till it's your turn?

11

Galkura t1_jebgcqc wrote

Reply to comment by Redqueenhypo in Russian secret service seizes Wall Street Journal journalist who wrote about Wagner Group by 9lobaldude

Since you mentioned a sign like that, I want to assume you live in an area with lots of grizzlies.

I know you can’t just go around killing them, nor would I ever condone it.

But what happens if you’re out hiking and a grizzly attacks you? Like, are you going to get fined out the ass or arrested if you blast a grizzly bear coming at you?

2

krismasstercant t1_jebfnyi wrote

Reply to comment by ChristOnFire13 in Kabul’s only library for women closes due to Taliban threats and harassment by SinbadMarinarul

>We go to war for profit.

Sure some people make money off of war but god damn dude we DUMPED BILLIONS into Afghanistan. It was because of us for those 20 god damn years Afghanistan saw the largest economic growth, women were able to go college and work, schools and hospitals were able to be built in remote villages for the first time, etc. It wasn't wasted, we actually made a generation of Afghans lives somewhat bearable.

14

tickleyourfanny t1_jebff2j wrote

Reply to Swiss Court Finds Gazprom Bankers Guilty in Putin Money Laundering Case by giuliomagnifico

>However, the court suspended the sentences for two years, meaning the bankers will not have to pay any fines unless they commit the same offense over that time period.

>>The accounts in the Swiss branch of Gazprombank were held by Sergei Roldugin, the artistic director of the St. Petersburg Music House, who is often dubbed “Putin's cellist.”

my big takeaway is that I really should have learned and musical instrument. Not seeing a downside. I am also starting to think this thing called 'Gazprom' is just a front for Putin to steal his countries resources, with his cronies( say wasn't a former German leader on it's board?)..Is it too late to learn the piccolo and get me a taste of that sweet musician perks?

9

[deleted] t1_jebfevw wrote

Reply to comment by 5dmt in Made-in-India iPhone shipments jump 162% by Sxzym

Plastic recycling in Hunan province. All the plastic recycling from the West used to get bought by China. What they were doing with it, was sending it to Hunan province, where small scale plastic recycling would basically spring up in people's kitchens. You can imagine a big pot of toxic chemicals and people throwing plastic in in some medieval act to get out fresh plastic. The tailings would be sent into nearby waterways like the rest of their water waste.

For years this went on and no one really knew about it. People started mysteriously dying, and then younger people started mysteriously dying the same way: people in their 70s, then people in their 60s, etc, down to the 30s and 40s. Eventually an investigating doctor figured out they were dying from strokes, due to exposure to these plasticizers that were getting into their water table. The government covered it up for a while.

This is an instance of some Chinese, in a system without institutional oversight or accountability, seeing a money-making opportunity, got themselves into trouble.

An iphone plant that needs a source of iron. A tire plant that needs industrial lubricants. There's a point in the distribution of the supply chain where work and products move from the international corporations to domestic suppliers. The oversight of those suppliers is often lacking - it's nonexistent, they buy off regulators, they forge certifications. Apple can't inspect every upstream supplier from pig to sausage, because material production touches too many aspects of their society.

But let's say Apple's really good and they check every box and verify every supplier. Apple's been in China a number of years...Xiaomi springs up to offer competitor phones. Xiaomi is a domestic producer. They need all the same chips, all the same boards, all the same screens. But maybe they don't go through the exhaustive verification process of their supply chain, and the cycle continues.

The Apple/Xiaomi example is fictitious, but it is just an example of how these things get out of hand. There are effort to introduce corporate accountability for this stuff, and it's getting better. But it's always going to be a problem.

Now, that's not to say we're faultless in all this. It's a profound issue. If you want an example that will keep you up at night, look up the open-air e-waste dumps in Ghana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr1zQrXM_7s

But there are intermediary points in development that are hard to get right, even with the best intentions, and in a society where corruption is the norm, and cultural understanding of environmental costs is low, there will always be ways it goes sideways.

1