Official arriving/introduction, returning, leaving thread

[AVN]

Hadn't time to post for some weeks, now I am back (I guess)

Nice to see you here again

 

[SanPellegrino]

thx, any news here?

 

[AVN]

thx, any news here?

I don't want to spam this thread too much, therefore I have PM-ed you

 

[Grisu]

I'm gone for a while. Tomorrow I'm leaving for a 3.5 week vacation to the US See you in a while...

We'll start in Seattle from there we'll move east to the Yellowstone NP. then south till Las Vagas and west again to our final destination S.F. On our flight back we'll have a 3-day-stopover in NYC. Gosh I'm excited

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Yo yo yo, wassup,shout out ta all da peeps, freaks and geeks! Pothead be in da HOUSE!

Back in black. Cable finally got hooked up in the new apt, Im back online, and all is well in the land

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Give it up for pothead! Wassup, b*tch?

 

[nonconformist]

Yo yo yo, wassup,shout out ta all da peeps, freaks and geeks! Pothead be in da HOUSE!

Back in black. Cable finally got hooked up in the new apt, Im back online, and all is well in the land

Ah. You know, you spam so much, I hadn't even noticed. Welcome back.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Wassup Aphex! Much love mah biatch, much love! Y'all got mah back! PEACE!

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Ah. You know, you spam so much, I hadn't even noticed. Welcome back.

The background spam just crossed back over into the ultraviolet

 

[IglooDame]

Yo yo yo, wassup,shout out ta all da peeps, freaks and geeks! Pothead be in da HOUSE!

Back in black. Cable finally got hooked up in the new apt, Im back online, and all is well in the land

Oh, thank goodness!! OT was starting to tilt to the right while you were gone.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Igloo, I take my duties here very seriously. My role is to push the envelope so far out into left field, that the more rational lefties among us feel more comfortable airing their own wacked out opinions (a Dragnet nod)

 

[nonconformist]

Well, it seems DP has made up for his drop in PC while he was gone....

 

[IglooDame]

Igloo, I take my duties here very seriously. My role is to push the envelope so far out into left field, that the more rational lefties among us feel more comfortable airing their own wacked out opinions (a Dragnet nod)

*unobtrusively sets fire to DP's envelope*

 

[Bozo Erectus]

*unobtrusively sets fire to DP's envelope*

Nope, sorry, its straight from the Acme Warehouse and guaranteed to be 'flame' proof. It says so right here under the ANVIL DROPPING INSTRUCTIONS

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moderator Action: Stop spamming the Returning thread.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[dgfred]

Oh, thank goodness!! OT was starting to tilt to the right while you were gone.

That will NEVER be permitted to happen, it didn't even lean a little. ;

but welcome back anyway D P !!!

 

[SeleucusNicator]

I think its really cool that Elgalad has a link to his intro post in his sig, so people know who he is when they read his posts.

Since I am often *ahem* misunderstood around these parts, and since I never did formally introduce myself, I have written up a SeleucusNicator FAQ that I wish to post here and then link to in my siggy, much like Elgalad does now.

I presume this is ok with the moderators?

 

[Knight-Dragon]

I think its really cool that Elgalad has a link to his intro post in his sig, so people know who he is when they read his posts.

Since I am often *ahem* misunderstood around these parts, and since I never did formally introduce myself, I have written up a SeleucusNicator FAQ that I wish to post here and then link to in my siggy, much like Elgalad does now.

I presume this is ok with the moderators?

Go on ahead - this is the intro thread after all.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Go on ahead - this is the intro thread after all.

Ok. Here goes:

THE SN FAQ

SeleucusNicator, one of the more controversial OT posters, has been repeatedly misunderstood or even slandered. In an effort to answer basic questions about him, his views, and the such, he has compiled this FAQ, which hopefully will enlighten you as to who he is and what he stands for and will cause you to flame him slightly less, or at least understand where he is coming from.

Who is SN?
Taking his username after a Macedonian general and founder of the Seleucid Empire, SeleucusNicator is a college student from Chicago, a large city in the midwestern United States. He posts mostly at Off-Topic, occasionally dabbling in the World History forum.

What are SN's views on American foreign policy?
SeleucusNicator believes that the United States should work to increase its relative power in the world and maintain a unipolar international system with itself at the helm.

What does SN think of international institutions such as the UN?
SeleucusNicator believes that the UN can only serve to limit the power of the United States, and, therefore, is inherently anti-American. This is due to the fact that, in the United Nations, the United States has equal power with the UK, France, China, and Russia, when, in fact, it is far more powerful than each of these nations. Therefore, the US can exert more power outside of the UN than inside of it, and the more authority the UN has in a situation, the less power is available for American use in it. Hence, SN believes that the UN and other international organizations should be sidelined by the United States; the US should maintain membership in order to prevent anti-American or anti-Israeli resolutions from passing, but should otherwise marginalize this new League of Nations.

Why is SN so anti-European?
SeleucusNicator believes that the European Union is currently the single most dangerous threat to American dominance, due to its population, its formidable economies, and cultural and political divergence between the US and Europe.

But aren't the US and Europe allies? What are these divergences SN speaks of?
SeleucusNicator believes that the forces keeping the US and Europe allied died with the Soviet Union, and that now, with post-9/11 US foreign policy as a catalyst, the world is beginning to realize that. The United States and European nations, most notably France, share a fundamental disagreement about the ideal future world; France et al., no longer having the ability to project power worldwide, are working, through attempts to strengthen international organizations and force multilateralism, to create a multipolar world in which they will have more relative power. The United States, on the other hand, seeks a unipolar world. These are irreconcilable goals -- there can be no cooperation.

SeleucusNicator also believes that the US and Europe are also diverging in culture. The social revolution of the 60's and 70's, which took firmer root in urban areas than in rural ones, is alive and well in highly urban Europe, while it is quickly waning in America, where rural areas are far larger and more influencial. This had led to Europe being a society willing to dump traditional ideas for newer ones, while the United States has become a tradition-based society, where older views and systems are still clung to. This has certainly contributed to distrust and differences in other realms.

So SN wants a war between the US and Europe?
No, not at all. War between two nuclear powers makes no sense. Rather, the conflict between the US and the EU will be a political and economic one -- similar to the Cold War. Both powers will attempt to shape the world to their preferable form by attempting to limit the influence of the other while expanding their own. Such a competition, assuming it would not be interrupted by a sudden mutual interest (such as the rise of China), would end with the collapse or marginalization of one side, much as the old Cold War did.

What does SN mean when he says the US should harm some countries?
SeleucusNicator believes that, to promote pro-American actions among foreign lands, the United States should reward nations that kowtow to the United States (with aid, military equipment, diplomatic cover, what not) and punish or hinder those that fail to do so or are outright hostile to the United States and its goals and interests, be it through economic sanctions, removal of foreign aid, military force, or by more straightforward and seemingly minor methods, such as the recent US-Japanese killing of the plan to build an experimental fusion reactor in France.

What does SN think of the War in Iraq?
SeleucusNicator believes the War in Iraq to be a foolish undertaking. He believes that such a war would only be justified if the United States could ensure that the government replacing Saddam Hussein would be less anti-American than its predecessor. Due to US DoD stupidity, Iraq has not been secured and, so far, it seems that one anti-American despot will be replaced with 500 anti-American assembly members.

SN sounds like he would love the Bush Defense Department. Why does he condemn it so much?
SeleucusNicator has two main issues with the Defense Department as it is run by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and associates. First, he condemns the "Cult of Democracy" that has infected the Neo-Conservative movement; that is, the belief that the United States should look to install democracy in the third world. SN believes this to be foolish, because when foreigners vote, they do not do so with the interests of the US in mind, and, therefore, anti-American leaders can be elected. See Allende, Chavez, etc. Rather, the US should seek to install regimes it can easily control, be they dictatorships or what not.

Second, SN has serious problems with "Rumsfeldization" of the military -- the shift of focus from brute force to special operations. While special forces can excell at many tasks that the US requires (assasinations, sabotoage, and the such). it has become painfully clear in Iraq that special forces cannot pacify a city -- the 21st century will still require brute force, and lots of it. Modern technology is a must, but it is not an excuse for using too few men in an invasion.

What about Israel?
SeleucusNicator believes that Israel is a unique asset to the United States. Surrounded by hostile nations. Israel is uniquely dependent on the United States for diplomatic cover and military aid, and is therefore more loyal than not. Israel can also serve as a proxy for the United States -- as it did in the 80's in the Iraqi nuclear reactor incident. While Israel is currently idle in this role due to US preference for direct intervention in the Middle East, it maintains the ability to play it in the future -- and this is something that cannot be said for any other power in the region. Therefore, SN believes that Israel should be protected at full cost, and that concessions to the Palestinians, which would weaken Israel, would be unwise. (They have also been proven ineffective in the 90's -- but that is a different matter)

So SN is some sort of right-wing Republican nutjob, right?
Wrong. SeleucusNicator is actually a registered Democrat, since he dislikes Republican social policies. He does not like being called conservative and will occasionally get offended if you do this.

 

[Moss]

Go on ahead - this is the intro thread after all.

Why'd you have to go do that? He's much better misunderstood than understood....