While We Wait: Writer's Block & Other Lame Excuses

[Symphony D.]

If the West allows criminals to run free, unlike Great China, is there really any difference between it and Somalia?

Well, Somalia is a libertarian paradise. Mises.org said so. So really, what's the problem?

 

[Shadowbound]

It's like trying to make sweeping comparisons between different countries and political systems and saying they're all the same is a terrible idea.

 

[Symphony D.]

Overgeneralizing is a garden variety bad idea. A terrible idea is being so concerned about the status of the world that you subscribe to libertarianism as a doomsday cult.

 

[Symphony D.]

Meanwhile, in Ukraine:

The Demon materialised outside the rooms holding the hostages and told us he was ready to talk, but as we turned to walk to his office, he became agitated over the question of why he keeps hostages. He looked at us with furious eyes.

“The only reason they are here is because they are Ukrainian army soldiers,” he said, gesturing at the rooms with the hostages in. “Those who are fighting with the Ukrainian army, we keep as prisoners. Those who are fighting with volunteer battalions, we question them and then shoot them on the spot. Why should we show any pity to them?”

His voice grew louder as he grew more angry. “You should see what they have done to my people. They chop off their heads and [sierra] in the helmets! They are fascists! So why should we stand on ceremony with them? Questioning, an execution, that’s it. I will hang those [foxtrots] from lampposts!”

By this point he was shouting at the top of his voice, and suddenly noticed that the Russian journalist I was with had her Dictaphone on, and that I was making notes in my notebook. He grabbed the Dictaphone from her hands and ordered one of the fighters to throw it at the wall. Pulling my notebook from my hands, he began to rip out the pages frantically.

Protesting only made things worse. He barked commands at his subordinates: “Burn their notebooks! Seize their electronics! Search everything for compromising material and then destroy it! If you find anything, execute them as spies!”

Working in eastern Ukraine has been difficult for all journalists and anger and threats are commonplace. This was the first time, however, that I felt a very real sense of danger. “Don’t think for one minute I will hesitate to have you shot,” he yelled at the pair of us.

 

[Shadowbound]

I want to say Götterdämmerung, but really, that's giving them too much dignity.

But the way journalists are treated in Russia vs how they are treated in the West is also, y'know, a Big Difference.

 

[Symphony D.]

ITAR-TASS itself reports that at today's unveiling of a Russian WWI memorial:

Russia, according to Putin, was on its way to victory, which was “stolen” by those who were sowing discord in their ambition to seize power.

Uh, Vladimir Vladimirovich, "those" were the communists. You know, the people you worked for when you were in the KGB.

 

[Crezth]

It's so wrong I'm literally screaming.

 

[Symphony D.]

Yeah, it's also 1:1 with pre-WWII German sentiments, which makes the fact the Russian-backed separatists earnestly believe that Kiev is run by fascists and that Putin himself was pushing that idea all the funnier more depressing.

 

[Shadowbound]

It's so ironic it's hipster.

 

[Symphony D.]

It can't be hipster, I haven't seen it in Lord of Elves' signature!

 

[Angst]

How well did the Germans fare against the Russians during WW1?

 

[Luckymoose]

How well did the Germans fare against the Russians during WW1?

How well do you fare against ants on concrete?

 

[Crezth]

How well did the Germans fare against the Russians during WW1?

A prelude

 

[North King]

The advantage wasn't THAT overwhelming in early in WW1.

 

[Luckymoose]

Germans did exceptionally well. It was the Austrians who flopped.

 

[Symphony D.]

Gameshow: Greener on the Other Side
Premise: Political parties from two different countries are swapped and tasked with solving issues in one another's nations
Pilot: REPUBLICANS must solve the ISRAELI crisis in Gaza; LIKUD must solve the AMERICAN border crisis

 

[Angst]

It's hard not to get a hard-on for Germans when you read up on WW1 and WW2.

 

[North King]

Germans did exceptionally well. It was the Austrians who flopped.

Right, but even the Germans just barely bailed Austria out. It wasn't a curbstomp until like, after Tannenburg. Which was still early, but whatever, man.

It's hard not to get a hard-on for Germans when you read up on WW1 and WW2.

Uh...

It's hard not to get a hard-on for Germans when you read up on

WW2.

Umm...

get a hard-on for Germans

WW2.

I... uh...

WW2.

 

[Symphony D.]

Look mate, you've seen Scandinavia and the World, and that woman Humon is Danish so really this should come as no surprise.

 

[Angst]

Ok I now realize that post was quite badly phrased. I was mostly about the German military. Not the politics. Sorry for implying things.