Yes, you have a point. But I think there are ways to remain a superpower while being responsible and diplomatic.
I’ll take a lower GDP in a society that is healthy. America is an increasingly poor nation anyway.
Can you carry a pistol in NY?
I imagine NY would be quite strict re conceal carry, licensing schemes etc.
Only if you own a business, if I recall correctly. I cannot legally get one.
The average New Yorker is practically defenseless.
At the moment, NYC coddles and excuses criminals. If someone has the nerve, he can go to Manhattan, walk into a convenience store such as Duane Reade in broad daylight with a duffle bag, steal as much stuff as he can cram into it in front of security guards, and suffer no consequences.
Besides, guns don’t protect aloof normies minding their business when they are randomly knocked unconscious or dead or pushed onto subway tracks or pummeled while commuting to school (as was the case of a student who was beaten up on a train), the sort of escalating violence in NYC in the past few years that has become so bad that I will not visit Manhattan or use Subways. Luckily I no longer live in Queens and live way out in Suffolk, LI.
I won’t go further. This thread is about Russia and Ukraine.
In Aud you cant even carry a tactical pen, a swiss army knife, pepper spray etc.
If caught… you WILL be going to court.
Only way to reasonably defend yourself in Aus is with your hands… and even then you need to apply “graded force” to the guy who is trying to deliver a king punch to you on the city streets…
A king punch is when a teenager/young adult decides to whack the back of your skull out of the blue for no reason.
Learning to fight probably doesn’t help all that much for the US as so many are armed
In Aus theres a decent chance your attacker will be armed with nothing, a leatherman (small blade) or a blunt object. Chances of being held at gunpoint are very low unless you associate with criminal syndicates
See my edit.
I’m sure there’s a thread suitable for this sort of conversation.
I’m still pondering how I might one day be living under Russian and/or Chinese hegemony and if that would be good or bad.
You asked earlier if Putin had ever cracked down on Eastern Orthodoxy.
The answer is… not as of yet. The majority of obstacles religious institutions face are mediated by corruption and beaurocratic schennanigans.
Various grounds of worship have been illigitimately foreclosed upon. Synogagues, churches, mosques etc
Minority branches of christianity have been cracked down upon (jehovas witness, evangelicals etc) and “door knocking”, immigrating as a missionary or otherwise attempting to convert people can land you in a whole world of trouble
As to China? Restrictions on religious activity are far more substantial. Government officials have gone as far as to prohibit citizens from attending religious institutions. Want to be a christian?
Want to raise your child as a chrisrian? Too bad… they cant be registered with a church unlwss they’re 18 years of age
That and churches have been subject to raids, illegitimate closures, crackdowns on people going too/from church.
Imagine potentially going to jail… for going to church…
Want a gun? In china… not a chance… in Russia, you could probably get one, but you’d have to jump through quite a few hoops (like Australia but perhaps not quite as difficult).
Actually… Thailand is probably the authoritarian society I’d prefer out of all feasible options. Thailand resembles an extremely corrupt monarchy, but for the most part the law will leave you alone provided you stay away from drugs (but TRT = otc).
Its a lawless country rifle with institutionalised corruption, but for the most part the majority stay in line as jail in Thailand is arguably the epitome of hell. If you want a gun, you can probably procure one legally over there with very little beaurocratic hassle involved.
I’m OK with all of this considering I’m not moving to or residing in any of those places.
Doesn’t living under russian/chinese hegenony entail living under their societal rule?
If so, i’m giving you variables to think about.
You’ve asked whether it’d be a good or bad thing to be enveloped within Chinese/Russian societal constructs. Or am I misinterpreting the statement?
Russia also has a VERY high divorce rate… unbelievably high… China at the moment has an issue with young people simply choosing to avoid having kids, likely stems from past government curbs on child rearing.
The pyramid of life (youth, adults, elderly) is now starting to look like an avocado wherein the majority are middle aged to elderly.
Theres a saying “the grass always looks greener on the other side”. All countries have their problems. Comparatively speaking, being in America you’re in one of the better places one could be at the moment… that paints a very sad picture of the world in it’s current state…
Comparatively coming from Aus it appears the saying was correct though… the grass IS greener on the other side…
Derp.
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Right. Sorry about the abrupt and perhaps mindless response before.
I’m not “someone who watches Fox News”, which is synonymous with “Trump supporter” (which I’m not) and Republican (which I’m not) and “conservative” (which I’m not in the modern sense), but from time to time I tune into Tucker who often makes sense to me.
Here he shares sentiments I had before viewing this.
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Map of gas transmission system through Ukraine.
Control of this gives Putin the stranglehold ability to say “Tap out or I tap you out.”.
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Is it true that we gave Ukraine assurances of protection when they gave up their nukes? If so, I think we are obligated to help them. I’m not sure to what degree, though.
You think lowering GDP with a rising population will improve our society? When has a nation suffered economic depression/collapse and been better off socially?
I didn’t say lower it intentionally or mention collapse. I said I’d accept it if other other aspects were in order. You can have an orderly society without being the most prosperous.
I don’t think GDP is a good measure of the average person’s well-being, nor do I look at freedom and “rights” the way many others do.
I understand further talk about these would require another thread and I’d likely be the odd man out.
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I believe that deal was proctored by Russia. Ukraine was to give Russia their nukes in return for respecting their sovereignty(spelling?) as a nation… Which was effectively nullified by the Russian annexation of Crimea (a previous Ukrainian province). So Ukraine gave up their weapons for “safety” and got bent over the table for it.
Don’t forget that Russia is funding a 3rd party militant group which is responsible for at least 40,000 Ukrainian deaths (similar to Iran and Hamas in Israel, death count notwithstanding).
It begs the question, why has the biden admin managed to ruin everything in a year in the name of equity, while lowering GDP and standard of living? If you isolate the marker, you can almost make the case that the GDP is up, but that ignores the printing of trillions of dollars and it’s resultant inflation. Adjusted, it’s down.
You know what keeps Russia at bay? US energy independence and a low stable petro dollar as a result.
The most important thing to remember, is that Russia is a distraction from all the failure here at home. Blah, blah, blah, russia. Russia is who they are and have been for the last 20 years. The 2 times Russia felt emboldened were under obama when they took Crimea and now. Gee, I wonder if there may be some connection we can draw?
The almost funny part, is with all the threats and tough talk, Russia has moved into Ukraine and the US did nothing.
“Stop, or I shall say, “stop” again!”
Oh sanctions? Yeah, that’s going to help. It’s not like Russia doesn’t have a very willing and able partner to their east with manufacturing and infinite money that is more than willing to help them. It’s not like China doesn’t have the cash and credit to turn our lights out. It’s not like China couldn’t manage to displace the US dollar as the worlds currency. And if that does happen, our economy goes into free fall. And what’s it all for? So you don’t notice how bad things are right here at home. Ukraine’s borders are sacred, ours? Not so much.
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None of which go to the US. Isn’t it funny how all the sudden fossil fuel is the most important thing in the world? Where are all the wind mills and solar plants? Europe should be totally “green” by now. What’s that? They need energy? Where is the brave new world they have been talking about, where fossil fuel is a relic of the past?
I like how Kamala volunteered us to suffer and pay more for energy because of this righteous cause in her oh so eloquent “Look guys” speech. BTW, Isn’t that sexist, misogynistic, and patriarchic?
It’s possible to have 2 bad guys here and I think that’s exactly what we got.
We have a weakling president a moron VP and desire to distract the nation with drums of war to save face. IMO, this is all about polling numbers, which historically jump during war time. But this enemy isn’t a bunch of goat herders with AK’s. This one has planes, missiles, and nukes. This regional dispute can grow very quickly out of control and likely it will.
The opposite tact of turning it off on the western and southern borders would shut it off to the end users, perhaps ‘encouraging’ assistance from Central Europe. This will certainly invite full scale invasion however.
This admin has the foreign policy tact of a 5th grader… No offense to fifth graders.