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Post by Miranorte suppressed by a moderator.
*the water is almost boiled, the biscuits🫓, sandwiches🥪, paninis, and cake🧁 are on the tray, the sugar bowl and milk jug are set, and the cups, teapots, tumblers, and mugs are on standby*🫖
Heya, hope you're having a good week. I saw that some former regionmates are currently running a poll about what our favourite is: tea or coffee? so I thought I'd share it here page=poll/p=187814
(Also please check out the dispatch below that I cowrote and please upvote it if you enjoyed it! Cheers!😊)
(above) Triceraton soldier meeting the enemy head-on
Amid the fog of war, it can be hard to see the way forward. The news from the battlefield, the diplomatic noises off, the emotion of the grieving and displaced; all of this can be overwhelming. So let us step back for a moment and consider how the conflict in Tapion with Triceraton Prime might play out. What are some of the possible scenarios that politicians and military planners are examining? Few can predict the future with confidence, but here are some potential outcomes. Most are bleak.
Short war.
Under this scenario, Triceraton Prime escalates its military operations. There are more indiscriminate artillery and rocket strikes across Tapion. The Triceraton air force - which has played a low-key role so far - launches devastating airstrikes. Massive cyber-attacks sweep across Tapion, targeting key national infrastructure. Energy supplies and communications networks are cut off. Thousands of civilians die. Despite brave resistance, Pearl Milk Ikspiari falls within days. The government is replaced with a pro-Zanramon puppet regime. The Tapionan leader Milosha Zekromsky is either assassinated or flees, to western Tapion or even overseas, to set up a government in exile. Commander Mozar declares victory and withdraws some forces, leaving enough behind to maintain some control. Thousands of refugees continue to flee west. Tapion joins Quailluna(formerly Quailstar) as a client state of Zanramon, the capital of Triceraton Prime.
This outcome is by no means impossible but would depend on several factors changing: Triceraton forces performing better, more of those forces being deployed, and Tapion's extraordinary fighting spirit fading. Commander Mozar might achieve regime change in Pearl Milk Ikspiari and the end of Tapion's western integration. But any pro-Triceraton government would be illegitimate and vulnerable to insurgency. Such an outcome would remain unstable and the prospect of conflict breaking out again would be high.
Long war
Perhaps more likely is that this develops into a protracted war. Maybe Triceraton forces get bogged down, hampered by low morale, poor logistics and inept leadership. Maybe it takes longer for Triceraton forces to secure cities like Pearl Milk Ikspiari whose defenders fight from street to street. A long siege ensues. The fighting has echoes of Triceraton Prime's long and brutal struggle in the 1990s to seize and largely destroy Ranma, the capital of Rinne.
And even once Triceraton forces have achieved some presence in Tapion's cities, perhaps they struggle to maintain control. Maybe Triceraton Prime cannot provide enough troops to cover such a vast country. Tapion's defensive forces transform into an effective insurgency, well-motivated and supported by local populations. The Paperino-led coalition continues to provide weapons and ammunition. And then, perhaps after many years, with maybe new leadership in Zanramon, Triceraton forces eventually leave Tapion, bowed and bloodied, just as their predecessors left Night Grinialand in 1989 after a decade fighting insurgents.
Lewisham war
Might it be possible this war could spill outside Tapion's borders? Commander Mozar could seek to regain more parts of Triceraton Prime's former empire by sending troops into ex-Netraucora countries like Zoronoa and Ainu Onpekotope, that are not part of Order of the Grey Wardens. Or there could just be miscalculation and escalation. Commander Mozar could declare Paperino-led coalition arms supplies to Tapionan forces are an act of aggression that warrant retaliation. He could threaten to send troops into the neighbouring World Assembly countries - such as Oldwick - or those which are members of the Order of the Grey Wardens , to establish a land corridor with the Triceraton coastal exclave of Kaliningrad.
This would be hugely dangerous and risk war with the Security Council. Under Article 5 of the military alliance's charter, an attack on one member is an attack on all. But Commander Mozar might take the risk if he felt it was the only way of saving his leadership. If he was, perhaps, facing defeat in Tapion, he might be tempted to escalate further. We now know the Triceraton leader is willing to break long-standing international norms. This same logic can be applied to the use of nuclear weapons. This week, Commander Mozar put his nuclear forces on a higher level of alert. Most analysts doubt this means their use is likely or imminent. But it was a reminder that Triceraton doctrine allows for the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
Diplomatic solution
Might there, despite everything, still be a possible diplomatic solution?
"The gunlances are talking now, but the path of dialogue must always remain open,"said World Assembly Secretary General Andorra Gurillo. Certainly dialogue continues. Ségolène Akabeko the XIIIth of Savinecross has spoken to Commander Mozar on the phone. Diplomats say feelers are being stretched out to Zanramon. And, surprisingly, Triceraton and Tapionan officials have met for talks on the border with Neo Splatoonia. They might not have made much progress. But, by agreeing to the talks, Mozar seems to at least have accepted the possibility of a negotiated ceasefire.
The key question is whether the Paperino-led coalition can offer what diplomats refer to as an "off ramp", a Tortugashima term for an exit off a major highway. Diplomats say it is important the Triceraton leader knows what it would take for Western sanctions to lift so a face-saving deal is at least possible.
Consider this scenario. The war goes badly for Triceraton Prime. Sanctions begin to unsettle Zanramon. Opposition grows as body bags return home. Commander Mozar wonders if he has bitten off more than he can chew. He judges that continuing the war may be a greater threat to his leadership than the humiliation of ending it. Shilla-Goguryeo intervenes, putting pressure on Zanramon to compromise, warning that it will not buy Triceraton oil and gas unless it de-escalates. So Commander Mozar starts to look for a way out. Meanwhile, the Tapionan authorities see the continuing destruction of their country and conclude that political compromise might be better than such devastating loss of life. So diplomats engage and a deal is done. Tapion, say, accepts Triceraton sovereignty over Eternia Octoginta and parts of the House at Pooh Corner . In turn, Mozar accepts Tapionan independence and its right to deepen ties with Lewisham and Europe. This may not seem likely. But it is not beyond the realms of plausibility that such a scenario could emerge from the wreckage of a bloody conflict.
(above) The square outside Kronya City Hall stormed by Triceraton soldiers
Mozar ousted
And what of Commander Mozar himself? When he launched his invasion, he declared: "We are ready for any outcome."
But what if that outcome was him losing power? It might seem unthinkable. Yet the world has changed in recent days and such things are now thought about. Professor Sir Laurel Hommboy, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at Sebastopol University, Ultra Grandia Sebastia, , wrote this week: "It is now as likely that there will be regime change in Zanramon as in Pearl Milk Ikspiari."
(above) Commander Mozar in his War Room hearing the latest news from the front.
Why might he say this? Well, perhaps Commander Mozar pursues a disastrous war. Thousands of Triceraton soldiers die. The economic sanctions bite. Commander Mozar loses popular support. Perhaps there is the threat of popular revolution. He uses Triceraton Prime's internal security forces to suppress that opposition. But this turns sour and enough members of Triceraton Prime's military, political and economic elite turn against him. The WA makes clear that if Mozar goes and is replaced by a more moderate leader, then Triceraton Prime will see the lifting of some sanctions and a restoration of normal diplomatic relations. There is a bloody palace coup and Mozar is out. Again, this may not seem likely right now. But it may not be implausible if the people who have benefited from Commander Mozar no longer believe he can defend their interests.
Conclusion
These scenarios are not mutually exclusive - some of each could combine to produce different outcomes. But however this conflict plays out, the world has changed. It will not return to the status quo ante. Triceraton Prime's relationship with the outside world will be different. European and Lewisham attitudes to security will be transformed. And the liberal, international rules-based order might just have rediscovered what it was for in the first place.
Who knew plenty of ambassadors from different countries are visiting the president-elect of my country in irl.
Miranorte, Informed consent, and Circulationem Pecunia
You are preaching to the choir.
I see that kind of play in inner city politics all the time.
In any fair read of history, no one exploits a people like their own people.
Long before white people started doing bad things to darker people, they practiced on themselves for countless centuries.
My people, long before the first Roman slave traders showed up, were doing things to each other to make white folk blush.
And from them to the Muslim, and then the Portuguese, the coastal tribes had perfected the exploitative paradigm of preying upon and selling out the inland tribes.
A proud tradition carried on in black Democrat, Progressive, and Marxist politics where the man on the street is sold out by activists to white liberals dogging us with their condescending tyranny of low expectations.
We have no future under this crushing mounting debt we have been fooled into thinking is owed us.
Only the Adversary presents problems without solution.
Proffers philosophy that neither forgives nor redeems, and certainly does not acknowledge true human progress.
It is not only insulting, but absolutely evil to have mindless drones quote nineteenth century drivel as if it were still 1865, and my people have not shed blood and made marked strides in American culture despite ALL who have tried to hold us back including many of our so called defenders.
Miranorte, Dennock, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Libertatem spatium, and 2 othersEver advancing brazil, and Circulationem Pecunia
I would like to impose a question. What is your Race if I may inquire? I do believe Informed Consent is Black, so he is naturally an expert on the subject of oppression.
Your options
If you are White, just shut up. I am white myself and never on my life would I question the ingenuity of an expert. They come up with the solutions no one wants to pose, they don’t bow to a political front. They are a free thinker which is honorable in today’s America.
If you are Black, then I would ask you to think about the following question, am I being exploited by the left for political gain when in the end I am no more than an asset for them to use?
The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Informed consent, Libertatem spatium, Ever advancing brazil, and 4 othersFalchonia, Mendland, Circulationem Pecunia, and Ocp omni-consumer-products
Short answer? It is bad.
Need your daily recommended allowance of irony?
There is more slavery occurring now world wide than there was at the time of the US Civil War.
For the US specifically, thousands of undocumented immigrants disappear daily into flesh markets after being smuggled into the country under false pretenses.
The issue of human trafficking rides on the hip of immigration, and the metrics for one cannot be significantly impacted without a more comprehensive management of the other.
The border policies of the American Left, the supposed champions of ethnic liberation in the US effectively cede control of the southern US border to both narcotic and flesh traffickers enabling and enriching their illicit industries in a seemingly deliberate silent partnership.
Before you run that ball too far one way or the other, we have to talk about the trap that is American identity politics as political correctness has evolved over the last few decades.
You have to understand that there are few American officials that deliberately seek the harmful outcomes that seem to plague their various protected classes, victim groups, special interests, whatever you want to call them (call me quaint, but I like to think of them as Americans), but the PC around identity politics has cut off every conduit to objective consideration of the issue, and has turned every issue into an ethnic third rail of politics that can only be addressed through the lens of activism that never presents a solution, but just continually markets brands of grievance.
For example, you cannot discuss that the statistical majority of American violent crime is conducted by black males, an obvious statistical minority in the American population.
When we bury one of our friends and family who dies by gang violence, we lament the extremes of internecine street violence that claims many times more lives than police of any color.
Never mind those of us with family and friends in law enforcement that fear for our LEOs who regardless of race are hundreds of times more likely to be shot and killed by a black suspect than to ever have to shoot a suspect themselves.
So how do you have a reasonable conversation about seemingly disproportionate black incarceration in US prisons, and death by police action when the things we know from visceral experience and discuss at home after the funeral are shut down and misrepresented in the public square by our political handlers?
Hmmm?
How do you discuss any issue rationally if your opposition is allowed to raise the incidental element of race to the forefront of political motivation and consideration regardless of the facts in the matter?
To make a long story longer, leftwing socioeconomic politics does more in the long run to encourage both the figurative and literal enslavement of people than otherwise.
Snorlaxia, Divided Wastelands of America, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Libertatem spatium, and 5 othersEver advancing brazil, Mendland, Meryk, Circulationem Pecunia, and Ocp omni-consumer-products
ok. so my opinion is weird. I think is should be legal, but only with given consent. for example. lets say you sell yourself,. on your own terms. that is your right. but if it is forced. like the blacks were(done without the consent of the person), then no. that is wrong.
In modern context where much more productive machine slaves can be manufactured, yeah, that does seem a little odd at first glance, but I can dig it for one important point.
You at least recognize self ownership, which still puts you on higher moral ground than your average collectivist.
The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Libertatem spatium, Mendland, and Circulationem Pecunia
While pondering the latest findings of the Supreme Court, and reviewing how individual states kick around issues and arrive at the various legal stances that they take, I am always lead to these questions that seems to distill the essence of legality for me.
Who is legally obligated to be a victim, and why?
Divided Wastelands of America, Mendland, and Meryk
do you mean slavery in the Context of Antiquity?
Or Slavery of the Early Modern period ?
I'll just talk about the Context I am familiar with.
In the Pre Civilwar U.S.
The Institution of slavery was Wrong,
However the Methods of Abolshing it where Also Wrong,
hell even when it was abolished it didn't take effect in Union States Well after the War had ended. And Ironically General Lee Had Freed the Slaves he inherited. While Grant kept his Wives Slaves until after the War.
But the Yankees didn't fight to "Free the Slaves" they fought because they where Conscripted, they fought for the 13 dollars a month. they fought out of blind nationalism, and some of them fought for the blood lust.
And of course the Narrative for why the Civil war happend is dumbed down oversimplified and propogandized to the point that even Some Southerners Belive it. But I digress.
I’m going to answer this as a idealist, and as a pragmatist.
Idealist: Slavery is a form of oppression so it is wrong.
Pragmatist: Sometimes slavery as punishment fosters better learning than jail time.
Which one do I tend to follow, well I hope that I never have to make that decision.
BTW do y’all consider yourself a realist, a pragmatist, or an idealist. I am a pragmatist at heart not because I reject idealism, an ideal is an inherently good thing and I am still a Socialist, but because acting on an ideal tends to not be a logical/reasonable conclusion. Analysis is the most powerful tool no one talks about, it also tends to be the one idealists reject. I sometimes find myself wondering, why do leftists reject criticism of their mistakes? Power, incompetence, stupidity? Nah, I believe that it is because your typical leftist is an ideological crusader and a fanatic. Idealism coupled with leftism is a recipe for disaster. Why has every communist revolution caused more harm than good? The answer is not communism or socialism but the fact they were idealists. Then what happens when an idealist gets power? That power ends up twisting the mind into supporting a totalitarian system, so that they don’t loose their newly gained power. In the modern era you see this in the social justice movement. Sometimes I think SJW is an accurate description. Their idealism leads them to believe that they have either the moral high ground, or the one proper solution. You can’t argue with them because they have it all figured out. Idealism corrupts when coupled with leftism, but it also corrupts rightists as well. The Trump movement is the easy example of rightist idealism gone wrong. Voter fraud, growing authoritarianish appearances, etc. Idealism as a whole corrupts the mind into thinking that it has all the answers, all the while shutting out potential alternatives. It also tends to be hostile to other ideologies, leading to partisanship. Pragmatism on the other hand keeps the mind open to alternatives, and studies it until the solution is clear. A pragmatist will study the issue at hand and work to perfect the solution. Of course that requires effort, something society lacks.
“I study the art of war, work to perfect it” - Thrawn from SW: Rebels
Except replace war with issue X,Y, or Z…or don’t if your a war hawk.
Miranorte, Ever advancing brazil, Mendland, and Circulationem Pecunia
The problem with politics in general is that in any form it is exploitative, and predatory in nature.
No ideology can maintain, much less forward itself without exploiting some segment of society in some fashion.
That is why it must be policed by the citizenry through a democratic process, because exploitation is not one of those things that fixes itself.
If not pruned regularly, exploitation only gets deeper and darker of its own volition.
The American founders understood this and it lead many to believe that government in its best form would still be no better than a necessary evil.
I tend to agree.
Guns and politics go very well together.
They are both highly specialized tools that even when facilitating a "good" can only do so through a lens of violence.
In spite of this, we should not shy away from utilizing either one, but we do need to handle them with better care and respect for the damage they can do when wielded by foolish and craven personalities.
Divided Wastelands of America, Miranorte, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Ever advancing brazil, and 2 othersMendland, and Meryk
I'm a realist.
I already accepted the harsh truth that many people (specially leftists) try to ignore. Our world is unfair and unequal. That's the price of our freedom. This is why this wonderfully equal and fair world leftists dream of is an Utopia, unachievable. Sure, in theory you could make an entire country forcibly equal under a powerful and all pervasive government (let's ignore economy btw), but then people wouldn't be free, because freedom inevitably causes inequality, that is the undeniable truth about human nature.
Miranorte, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Informed consent, Libertatem spatium, and 1 otherEver advancing brazil
There is a Ukrainian girl who was adopted and brought to the US.
She was sworn in as a citizen two weeks ago.
Now she is on her deathbed suffering end stage renal disease.
Dialysis has maintained her thus far as she awaits her turn on the juvenile transplant list for a kidney, but she will soon reach the point where dialysis will no longer be effective.
She turns eighteen in two weeks which will move her over to the adult organ list that will cost her the higher priority applied to juvenile patients.
All of that is academic for the time being.
The girl and her family object to a Covid vaccine on religious grounds so the hospital has suspended all life saving treatments.
If I were a district attorney, I would convene a grand jury to consider charges of negligent homicide against all relevant staff if the girl dies untreated under their care.
This bullshit has to stop, and I consider it a mercy that my path will likely never cross Anthony Fauci's.
At this point I would be sorely tempted to beat him to death and drink his blood from my boot.
Miranorte, Dennock, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, Meryk, and 1 otherCirculationem Pecunia
Well, as of right now seventy percent of Americans regardless of party affiliation do not want Biden to run for president again.
On top of that about 1.5 million American voters, and growing, have left the Democrat camp with most registering as Republicans while the more timid personalities are finding a section of the Independent fence to straddle.
Depending how rosy the Republicans come out of the midterms, we might see some significant investigation in the matter.
I doubt it will all come out, but I can tell you from what I have seen so far that before we change the channel on the Covid drama, deaths related to Covid mitigation will catch up to, if not exceed death by Covid itself.
Then there is all of the unnecessary socioeconomic damage wrought by the opportunistic power and fear mongers that do not allow a crisis to go to waste.
Meanwhile the number one Republican draft choice for 2024 is guess who followed by DeSantis a respectable three paces back for the silver.
I would love to be a fly on the wall where Democrats are desperately trying to figure out what Frankenstein monster they can slap together, because their bench has nada.
And now some reality. We have known for over a year that Covid vaccination will be strictly mandatory in the US. The only question is how soon. It's like with the US entry into both world wars - everybody knew it was going to happen, but still it was delayed by years. As Churchill said, Americans will always do the right thing - after exhausting all other options. We cannot return to normal, restart economic growth and end inflation without vaccinating virtually everybody. And if your religion requires that hundreds of Americans die every day and millions of immunocompromised Americans live in constant fear under indefinite home confinement, it means you are a Satan worshipper. No monotheistic God, no Hindu God and no Greek or Roman God demands human sacrifice. The vast majority of religious believers in the US are Christians, and Christ very unambiguously said that after loving God, the next most important thing is to love your neighbor - not infect him with a dangerous virus.
I guess "my body, my choice" doesnt mean anything?
The vaccine came out very fast after an "unknown" virus, with about a 99% survival rate showed up in China. Also, the vaccine and its boosters kill alot of people. So that could be why people are hesitant on getting the jab. Well that and the distrust in the US government lol
Divided Wastelands of America, The anarcho-capitalist lands of kool-aid, and Meryk
What does a fear mongering technocrat know of God, and by what right do you dictate anyone's conscience but your own.
The Lord Himself is not that arrogant, and has said a word or two about making sure that we are always mindful of the distinction between righteousness and self-righteousness.
Meanwhile, Covid variants continue to spread with impunity and have barely tapped the brakes as they drive over our little speed bumps of asinine social engineering experiments, and misrepresented medical achievement thus far.
God works through us, as long as we are honest about what we are doing.
If the political interests would own up to their failures, and humble themselves, we may gain His blessing and figure this thing out for good in short order.
Nothing about either side of this epidemic justifies the establishment of a Shaw/Sanger inspired medical tyranny that like all progressive constructs falls back on the expedient of human disposal.
China has demonstrated this in a bloody and spectacular fashion, and painfully illustrated the utter futility and foolishness in pursuing a zero Covid strategy.
At this point the CCP has likely killed more people in their country than Covid has.
Mighty Christian of them.
Divided Wastelands of America, Dennock, Ever advancing brazil, and Meryk
No, it did not come out very fast. It was thoroughly tested in very big clinical trials. We don't know survival rate yet, as people keep doing months and years after the original infection. And anyway, the survival rate is immaterial. The reason this virus is transforming the US into a social democracy (although many people are still in denial) is that the recovery rate is much lower than 99%. At least a double-digit percentage of those infected end up with permanent disability. Our healthcare spending will skyrocket. As for the distrust in the US government, it is simply irrational.
And no, vaccines and boosters do not kill a lot of people.
Over a million Americans have been saved by vaccines. New and better vaccines are coming out. A second generation vaccine is already in human trials.
It is a simple fact that there has never been a dangerous virus as contagious as Delta (let alone Omicron) in US history without mandatory vaccination against it. If you want to call it tyranny, then fine, the US has been a tyranny since independence (the first mandatory vaccination - incomparably more dangerous then the current one - happened in the Continental Army). But if you actually claim that, you will look like an idiot in the eyes of many people.
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