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1 hour ago, 4petesake said:

 

China is about to move in and fill the void.

 


Sorry, this link was not behind a paywall the first time I visited the site but seems to be now.

Here you go Pete 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9755531/China-prepares-Afghanistan-following-Americas-departure-Belt-Road-program.html 

 

First off I would love to know the interest rates and payment plan on the BRI.

Our state government felt comfortable enough to sign up,then the federal government stepped in and nixed the deal.

 

Some research states this plan is a debt trap for some nations,those nations traditionally having poor debt ratings and are high on international corruption indexes.

Then another study by the world bank stated it will increase the GDP of East Asian and developing Pacific developing countries by 2.6- 3.9 percent.

 

It is obviously a projection of "soft power" out of Beijing. 

 

Afghanistan is at the crossroad of civilisations,different empires have tried $$##"$#@ with them for thousands of years right up until our lifetimes with both the Russians and Americans and Australians, it is both of our countries longest running war, having their asses kicked.

 

As well as this Australians have much to be ashamed of in regards to this war 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-19/afghan-war-crimes-report-released-what-you-need-to-know/12899880

 

These are the victims we know of.

I am willing to bet there are more victims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Ilunga said:

 

I think it was right for the US to ask for the Europeans to pay more for their own defence.

However on the homefront what's more important, spending money looking after your citizens or feeding an already bloated military budget that guys like Cheney and Rummy were stealing trillions from.

 

Wow, trillions! Those $18000 hammers add up. Amazing whether GOP or DEMO they all use the American military for their own purposes. 

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21 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

Wow, trillions! Those $18000 hammers add up. Amazing whether GOP or DEMO they all use the American military for their own purposes. 

The American military establishment plays a shell game.  Present fairly trivial things for voters to pay attention to (by comparison) while they make billions upon billions.  

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10 hours ago, Boudrias said:

Wow, trillions! Those $18000 hammers add up. Amazing whether GOP or DEMO they all use the American military for their own purposes. 

 

 

 

https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/shadow-world-film-review-1201762486/

 

The whole Doco is revealing however what is pertinent to our conversation is when rummy is being grilled by a congressional committee.

When asked about 2.3 trillion that went missing he said something about computers messed up.

The representative's family received death threats and and he stated that's what happens when you play with the big boys.

 

 

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18 hours ago, Ilunga said:

 

 

 

https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/shadow-world-film-review-1201762486/

 

The whole Doco is revealing however what is pertinent to our conversation is when rummy is being grilled by a congressional committee.

When asked about 2.3 trillion that went missing he said something about computers messed up.

The representative's family received death threats and and he stated that's what happens when you play with the big boys.

 

 

The Biden ask for military budget 2022 was $715 billion. Suggesting Bush and Rumsfeld stole $2.3 trillion is over 3x the current budget. I grant that they had 8 years to steal this much but the scale you are suggesting is hard to accept. 

 

An interesting thought to pursue is how much money from other budgets actually get spent on military projects? Does the mini shuttle used by the USA Space Command get paid for by NASA? Is Space Command partially paid for by NASA? I notice that the Biden admin has not cancelled Space Command.  

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On 7/7/2021 at 4:49 AM, Boudrias said:

The Biden ask for military budget 2022 was $715 billion. Suggesting Bush and Rumsfeld stole $2.3 trillion is over 3x the current budget. I grant that they had 8 years to steal this much but the scale you are suggesting is hard to accept. 

 

An interesting thought to pursue is how much money from other budgets actually get spent on military projects? Does the mini shuttle used by the USA Space Command get paid for by NASA? Is Space Command partially paid for by NASA? I notice that the Biden admin has not cancelled Space Command.  

All I can state is watch Shadow wars.

It is a highly respected Doco made by respected journos and writers and make your own conclusions.

 

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/shadow-world/

 

Yep Space force is a reality 

Watch out Martians were coming for ya !

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Ilunga said:

All I can state is watch Shadow wars.

It is a highly respected Doco made by respected journos and writers and make your own conclusions.

 

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/shadow-world/

 

Yep Space force is a reality 

Watch out Martians were coming for ya !

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too funny!  Ironically, any dominant empire that begins to lose its hold on being the most powerful military soon becomes not so dominant.  Are we living through the era of the collapse of the American empire?  “Escape From New York”, and “Robocop” were comedic in the satire of a proposed US future.  But they were prophetic too.  This film seems to follow in similar fashion.  The US is a mess with almost overt corruption.  

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1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Too funny!  Ironically, any dominant empire that begins to lose its hold on being the most powerful military soon becomes not so dominant.  Are we living through the era of the collapse of the American empire?  “Escape From New York”, and “Robocop” were comedic in the satire of a proposed US future.  But they were prophetic too.  This film seems to follow in similar fashion.  The US is a mess with almost overt corruption.  

Is the USA more corrupt than others? I think not Alf. When being a politician became a career option the slide started. The idea of giving back to your country by public service is at a low point. It goes beyond elected office at all levels. Service clubs are all struggling for membership. 
 

Who knows where we’re headed. The Americans I know are good people. 

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1 minute ago, Boudrias said:

Is the USA more corrupt than others? I think not Alf. When being a politician became a career option the slide started. The idea of giving back to your country by public service is at a low point. It goes beyond elected office at all levels. Service clubs are all struggling for membership. 
 

Who knows where we’re headed. The Americans I know are good people. 

All empires die from within.  

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1 minute ago, Alflives said:

All empires die from within.  

Yes, but what is empire these days? I am a big fan of geopolitical consequences. If America is floundering then who is rising?

Many will say China but there are huge challenges there. I still bet on the USA.

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7 hours ago, Boudrias said:

Is the USA more corrupt than others? I think not Alf. When being a politician became a career option the slide started. The idea of giving back to your country by public service is at a low point. It goes beyond elected office at all levels. Service clubs are all struggling for membership. 
 

Who knows where we’re headed. The Americans I know are good people. 

Good post.

 

However it is not so much who is more corrupt than who.

The idea of public service has virtually died at a political level.

Lobbyists/ corporation's,control politics in the states.

Over here in Aus politicians go through the party system to get preselected, many have never had "real" jobs.

There is branch stacking.

Volunteering has diminished a bit here in Aus however Covid has contributed to that.

 

What is a fact is the nation who has the largest economy ends up being the dominant nation on the planet.

China is on the path to becoming that nation.

 

 

 

Good people ?

 

Good people have stood by and watched crappy things happen. 

 

First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out 

Because I was not a socialist 

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out 

Because I was not a trade unionists 

Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Jew 

Then they came for me 

And there was no one left to speak out. 

 

Martin Niemoller 

 

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6 minutes ago, 4petesake said:


That is extremely surprising. One does not simply protest in Cuba.

 

 

 

thousands more are countering the protests. in reality, the protests wouldn't be necessary if the US hadn't blockaded them for 60 years

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13 minutes ago, thejazz97 said:

thousands more are countering the protests. in reality, the protests wouldn't be necessary if the US hadn't blockaded them for 60 years


The counter-protesters have been called to the streets by the government. It was fantastic to see restrictions being eased under Obama and equally disappointing to see them return under Trump. Sad to admit that I’m not up on what has or has not been done by Biden.

 

I spent a little bit of time in Cuba and average Cubans are wonderful people and very capitalistic.

 

 

D72A3F65-39E5-47B7-80CB-B03218985D83.jpeg

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14 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

Purely speculation, but could it be a covert op by people friendly to the Castro family?  To remind the new guy that it's not so easy to run a country authoritarian regime?


Either way the new guy is doing what one would expect and deflecting from everyday Cubans to blame the US. Which of course is not out of the realm of possibility.

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