Well, Cubans still live in pretty close proximity to squalor. They can't even afford to maintain their own buildings, don't have a functional transportation system, and people live on what, $20 a month? The one saving grace is out there health care system is decent. And by that, I mean much more equitable than in the United States.

State capitalism with an authoritarian regime, if you will.

Russia and China were never Marxist.

And anyone who dares criticize them or any actual communist is a fascist, of course!

I don't think Zelensky was too keen on capitulating to Vladimir Putin's demands to destroy his country, after sending in GRU hit squads to kill him and his family multiple times at the outset of the war.

Goes back all the way to 882 AD, founding of Kyivan Rus'. Also CIA backed.

So basically this is going to cause a world War of social media echo chambers

That has nothing to do with being a state, it's about south American former colonies gaining recognition from European powers.

"They agreed among themselves to criteria that made it easier for other dependent states with limited sovereignty to gain international recognition. "

It's still a nation-state. It's fully independent and autonomous from China in every sense of the meaning.

Whether other countries recognize your seat at the UN is functionally irrelevant.

From 2023

"However, in a more stripped-down poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF, 台灣民意基金會) with only three choices and no nuanced timeline questions, 50% chose independence, 11.8% unification and 25.7% maintain the status quo."

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4782886

The guys who run 4chan are going to be facing life in jail.

Thank you, I just signed this petition. Luckily my lawmaker is already against these bills.

ISW is owned by Kimberly Kagan, not Vicky Nuland. It's in your link. They do appear to be in laws however.

"He then pursued a career in comedy and created the production company Kvartal 95, which produced films, cartoons, and TV shows including the TV series Servant of the People, in which Zelenskyy played a fictional Ukrainian president. The series aired from 2015 to 2019 and was immensely popular."

So this guy started his own media company and then was the star actor in Ukraines most popular TV show ever made. Which is how he gained the popularity to win the election.

"Servant of the People" is on Netflix, FFS. As well as licensed to around 30 different companies. Zelensky created the show. That's probably where he made his money.

You're just full of shit.

What does that even mean?

Are you so incapable of having an online discussion and are worried you might not "win," so you have to invite all of your "online friends" to gang up on a thread to discredit an idea.

This just shows your logic skills are weak. Maybe you should look in a mirror and reflect on your motivations and how you engage with your fellow humans.

I'm just getting the feeling that you are "dunking" (whatever the heck that means) in bad faith.

Non-nuclear air raids in Japan killed as many as 900,000. 1.3 million wounded and 8.5 million homeless.

The war was absolutely horrific but focusing on two an ball nuclear bombs in a condo lift that killed what, 53 million people is in my opinion myopic.

That's the equivalent population of the entirety of South Korea wiped out.

That may be your belief, but that doesn't make you RIGHT.

JFC. You are smugly self righteous.

I myself have spent considerable time researching WW2 history, have visited the Hiroshima traveling exhibit, and have listened to survivors interviews.

Yes, the bombings were horrific. Yet I still think they lead to less loss off life than a dual amphibious assault on the 4 Japanese mainlands by Russia and the United States.

Japan had a long history of militancy and they were a fascist state. They murdered millions of people and invaded what, 7 countries? They were attempting to occupy and colonize all of East Asia. Australia was on the list. War crimes and crimes against humanity were rampant. Nanking. Unit 703. Bataan Death March. List goes on. Their government did not value life.

--

Following the first nuclear bombing, the military leadership also attempted a coup by attempted kidnapping of the emperor. A good chunk of their leadership was betting on the US running out of steam and giving up. Japanese are super fanatical which is something I don't think westerners understand.

"The Kyūjō incident (宮城事件, Kyūjō Jiken) was an attempted military coup d'état in the Empire of Japan at the end of the Second World War. It happened on the night of 14–15 August 1945, just before the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allies. The coup was attempted by the Staff Office of the Ministry of War of Japan and many from the Imperial Guard to stop the move to surrender."

"They attempted to place Emperor Hirohito under house arrest, using the 2nd Brigade Imperial Guard Infantry. They failed to persuade the Eastern District Army and the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army to move forward with the action. Due to their failure to convince the remaining army to oust the Imperial House of Japan, they performed ritual suicide."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABj%C5%8D_incident

This was after TWO nuclear bombings. You think these guys would give up without a fight?

How many times have you been to Japan?

Christ, I watched so much marble racing during the pandemic when there were no sports on! Good stuff.

Yeah but this guy was a media entertainer for what like 20 years? Of course he's going to have some money.

Sure, because that's the definition of whataboutism. Posting a comment as a non sequitur that is unrelated to the topic at hand fits that very definition.

As far as the pistol, the user provided no source or information to back up his claim that the Beretta is so well known by the average Iraqi, and that Americans use them infamously to illegally execute people to the point that it has become a feared symbol in itself. While that may or may not have happened, there's no way to know because the user did not provide any information.

My response was to point out that the Ba'athist party of Saddam Hussein in Iraq manufactured an identical copy of the Beretta pistol. Since the Ba'athist party of Saddam Hussein was in fact fascist, it would logically follow that, being that the Ba'thists have murdered more people in Iraq than anyone else including isis, Iran, or the United States, that there may be a possibility that this Beretta clone Tariq pistol being wielded by the Ba'athists (not the Americans) are more likely what is indeed feared by the average Iraqi (Occam's razor).

However, since we have no proof that any of this ever happened we are left to conclude that this is just a lot of hot air and bullshit.