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Started by Beorning, September 21, 2014, 07:02:11 AM

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consortium11

Quote from: Zakharra on January 06, 2016, 11:28:43 AM
Best N. Korea negotiation tactic: 'we just detonated a hydrogen bomb, give us stuff or we will threaten nuclear war on South Korea, Japan, the United States and Britain, and Russia.'

Everyone else: 'North Korea, sit down, the adults are talking.'

N. Korea gores and sulks, throwing a minor tantrum occasionally.

That's not what's happened previously though; if you look at the penultimate round of Six Party talks (the fifth round) things were going absolutely nowhere (either in terms of North Korea disarming or it getting its assets unfrozen and more aid). Between the first and second round of talks it tested a nuke, was internationally condemned and then within six months in exchange for "freezing" it's nuclear weapons program it got a significant chunk of its assets unfrozen and a considerable amount of aid.

The message has already been sent that if North Korea violates nuclear non-proliferation rules and then subsequently agrees to stop we'll reward them. It can hardly be surprising that they'd try the same thing again.

Beorning

#2451
Something small that made it onto a news website I frequent:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hairdresser-slammed-for-facebook-rant-after-nye-meal-ruined--by-woman-having-a-heart-attack/news-story/f62ff4c13765de9fa8131c0ead809af4

Unfortunately, I can attest that people like that do exist. I mean, one guy I work with cheerfully announced to me recently that he thought that disabled and elderly people were disgusting and that they needed to be kept away from him. He also declared that mentally ill people were dangerous and ought to be all locked up...  ::) So, I can imagine a person callous enough to honestly believe that she is being "unconvenienced" when the restaurant staff attends to a sick person instead of them...

HannibalBarca

That response by the customer, Beorning, is something a psychopath would do.  A clear lack of empathy, even for a fellow human being in a life-or-death situation. Right near them.
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Beorning

Quote from: HannibalBarca on January 06, 2016, 04:42:17 PM
That response by the customer, Beorning, is something a psychopath would do.  A clear lack of empathy, even for a fellow human being in a life-or-death situation. Right near them.

Well, as I said... being around my coworkers makes me suspect that this kind of attitude is actually quite common. Seriously, the amount of ignorance, bigotry and racism quite a few of these people display...  :-(

TheGlyphstone

Sadly, I see anecdotes of similar natures on a semi-regular basis, since I frequently read websites like Retail Hell and NotAlwaysRight where retail/service employees anonymously share stories about the worst people they've had the misfortune to deal with.

Lustful Bride

#2455
Quote from: consortium11 on January 06, 2016, 11:58:24 AM
That's not what's happened previously though; if you look at the penultimate round of Six Party talks (the fifth round) things were going absolutely nowhere (either in terms of North Korea disarming or it getting its assets unfrozen and more aid). Between the first and second round of talks it tested a nuke, was internationally condemned and then within six months in exchange for "freezing" it's nuclear weapons program it got a significant chunk of its assets unfrozen and a considerable amount of aid.

The message has already been sent that if North Korea violates nuclear non-proliferation rules and then subsequently agrees to stop we'll reward them. It can hardly be surprising that they'd try the same thing again.



Funny but accurate. Though seriously they are a threat more to themselves and South Korea,...and maybe china too if they go truly insane,  but not a major world ending level thing.

TaintedAndDelish

I was thinking about this bit about NK, and wondered what might happen if a few special forces guys showed up and picked off Kimmie and most of his vertically challenged entourage in order to put an end to this problem. It sounds simple enough, but I sort of wonder if the rest of the North Koreans are (sadly) brainwashed, or if they would welcome a political change? I've seen documentaries that portrayed them as being awe stricken by their "dear leader", but I would expect that a significant portion of the population would see what a mess their country is and qruestion his awesomeness.

TheGlyphstone

Most likely it'd devolve into a small and nasty civil war amongst the remainder of his upper echelon, and the winner would take up the mantle exactly where KJU left off.

gaggedLouise

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on January 07, 2016, 09:35:31 PM
Most likely it'd devolve into a small and nasty civil war amongst the remainder of his upper echelon, and the winner would take up the mantle exactly where KJU left off.

Yeah, Kim Jong-un doesn't look like a winner in the long run. Young men without much real experience who rapidly kill off everyone and their brother in the older guard around them, and even within the leader's own wider family, aren't the kind of leaders who are set to last politically.


Especially when they can't offer the world around them anything of value more than "we won't start a war if you're nice to us, feed us with rice and pay our bills".  ::)

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TheGlyphstone

Assuming they rule PiS are the proto-fascists they appear to be, does the European Commission have any actual teeth as far as sanctions go? The article mentions stripping Poland of some of its EU voting rights, but is this something the Commission can do by itself, or can it only 'recommend' sanctions be applied by some other body within the EU?

Beorning

I admit I don't know that much of the exact mechanism myself... I think that all of the EU states have to agree to these sanctions?

If that's the way it works, Poland should be pretty safe. I suspect that Orban-led Hungary (which is currently exactly the kind of state PiS seems interested in creating) won't agree to such sanctions.

BTW. A telling anecdote: a few days ago, Orban visited Poland. Aaaand... guess with whom he did meet? Not with President Duda, not with PM Szydło... but with Jarosław Kaczyński, the PiS chairman. I guess it shows who really is in charge of the country these days and who is a puppet...

Lustful Bride

10 US sailors released from Iran after their boats were captured when they 'Allegedly' entered Iranian waters.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-navy-sailors-held-by-iran-are-released-with-their-boats/ar-CCrLTX?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

At least this ended without incident but I don't buy 100% That the sailors all of a sudden just felt like they should enter Iran's territory just for kicks.

TheGlyphstone

The news report I saw on TV said it was a mechanical failure on the boat that caused them to drift, while going from one US gulf base to another (don't remember which two). Maybe, maybe not, but it's a hell of a lot more plausible than them just 'entering Iranian waters for kicks', like you said.

Oniya

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on January 13, 2016, 01:01:46 PM
The news report I saw on TV said it was a mechanical failure on the boat that caused them to drift, while going from one US gulf base to another (don't remember which two). Maybe, maybe not, but it's a hell of a lot more plausible than them just 'entering Iranian waters for kicks', like you said.

*nods*  It's not like there's a line of lighted buoys designating the edge of international water.
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Lustful Bride

Now the footage of the sailors being arrested is all over Iranian state news along with one of the sailors apologizing, though it seems to be taken out of context to make it look better for the regime.

Geeze Iran, don't break your arm jerking yourself off.

TheGlyphstone

You'd think they would want to avoid looking problematic or threatening to the US right now, even if doing so would be helpful internally. A clear foreign threat, visible to the common voter, is an advantage to whoever the Republican candidate ends up being, and a Republican in the White House (regardless of who) would be less favorable to Iran than a Democrat (ditto, though I suspect they'd want Bernie over the more hawkish Hillary).


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Oniya

I'm particularly amused by the one addressed to 'Y'All Qaeda'. 
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And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
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I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
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Cassandra LeMay

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on January 13, 2016, 12:00:16 PM
Assuming they rule PiS are the proto-fascists they appear to be, does the European Commission have any actual teeth as far as sanctions go? The article mentions stripping Poland of some of its EU voting rights, but is this something the Commission can do by itself, or can it only 'recommend' sanctions be applied by some other body within the EU?
As far as I understand it, the problematic provision is para 2 of Article 7, which requires a unanimous decision by the Commission (excluding the member state in question; unannimity has to be of the votes cast, i.e. abstentations don't prevent it). Actual sanction will require a "qualified majority" of the Commission, qualified majority in this case being defined as at least 72% of votes, as long as those votes represent at least 65% of the total population of all states participating in the vote. (The relevant provisions, aside from Art. 7 are Art. 238(3)b and Art. 354 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)

Just don't ask me about any specific details, please. Just did a little research because I found the question interesting.
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Beorning

Quote from: Cassandra LeMay on January 14, 2016, 02:24:48 AM
As far as I understand it, the problematic provision is para 2 of Article 7, which requires a unanimous decision by the Commission (excluding the member state in question; unannimity has to be of the votes cast, i.e. abstentations don't prevent it). Actual sanction will require a "qualified majority" of the Commission, qualified majority in this case being defined as at least 72% of votes, as long as those votes represent at least 65% of the total population of all states participating in the vote. (The relevant provisions, aside from Art. 7 are Art. 238(3)b and Art. 354 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)

Just don't ask me about any specific details, please. Just did a little research because I found the question interesting.

Interesting...

On a related note, a debate about Poland is going to be held in the European Parliament - next week, I think?

Meanwhile, the goverment claims that the foreign critics of the changes in Poland are acting on the behalf of "foreign interest groups" that are worried about things like the coming bank tax etc. Meaning, it's not about about democratic standards at all.

At the same time, government-friendly media are likening the EU's criticism of the PiS government to the actions of Hitler and Katherine the Great...  ::)