I hear the sound, of distant drums

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frank lee bent
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by frank lee bent »

i dont think anyone is worried about it.
the outcome is malthusian and inevitable.
if it makes you feel happy to ignore it, no one cares.
nothing can be done about it anyway.

it is simple animal population dynamics.
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Stinkman
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by Stinkman »

Food and water insecurity could easily bring about the next war.

One unexpectedly prolonged weather event on an unusually large scale (the type of which has happend with regularity on earth since its climate formation) that causes disruption of food exports promised to countries with powerful militaries but who can't now grow enough food to feed themsleves, and watch all hell break loose. Such countries would see no alternative but send in troops to forcibly secure food supplies from other countries who still have it.

China is hughly dependent on food, petroleum and other natural resource imports, which pretty much makes them Putin's bitch in times of conflict with the US. China had barely enough fertile land to begin with, and their urbanization policy has paved-over much of that, not to mention forcibly removing subsistance farmers from their land to build all their new cities and massive environmental degradation on top of that.

For all their considerable and impressive economic and military strength, China is still vulnerable.
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Stinkman
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by Stinkman »

frank lee bent wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:00 am But who will make our shoes and uniforms now?
We cant do it ourselves any more.
Venezuelans will be looking for work soon, after the current regime there finally collapses and capitalism returns to exploit the bejesus out of their misery.
:thumb:
Johnsell50
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by Johnsell50 »

Stinkman wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:21 am
frank lee bent wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:00 am But who will make our shoes and uniforms now?
We cant do it ourselves any more.
Venezuelans will be looking for work soon, after the current regime there finally collapses and capitalism returns to exploit the bejesus out of their misery.
:thumb:
A lot of the snowflake, wanna be socialists, could learn a lot about the system they claim to love by looking at all the places in the world socialism has failed. One of the sayings I really like goes something like this: " Socialism is a wonderful form of government until you run out of people to take money from"! I believe it could work if everyone in the country would agree to work to the best of their abilities. The problem is, that will never happen. You will always have too many willing to live of the efforts of anyone but themselves.
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Clutch Cargo
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by Clutch Cargo »

Stinkman wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:21 am
frank lee bent wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:00 am But who will make our shoes and uniforms now?
We cant do it ourselves any more.
Venezuelans will be looking for work soon, after the current regime there finally collapses and capitalism returns to exploit the bejesus out of their misery.
:thumb:
Interestingly, Venezuela has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia yet the country is a basket case..
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IraHayes
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by IraHayes »

Alliances between world powers are being cemented.

1. India has taken control of the strategic Chabahar port, on the coast of Iran near Pakistan.
2. Saudi Arabia is likely to sign memoranda of understanding for more than $10 billion Saudi investment in Pakistan this month. (This will be in addition to the $6 billion in aid already agreed)

The $16 billion in Saudi aid to Pakistan may have come with strings attached, namely that Pakistan will have to provide some sort of support, perhaps even troops, to the Saudi effort in Yemen. Given Imran Khan was a vocal opponent of sending Pakistani troops to join the war in Yemen on the side of Saudi Arabia before he became prime minister this is a huge shift of policy for him.

Iran and India have signed banking agreements that allow imports and exports, as well as other financial needs, can be handled despite the sanctions. Part of these agreements allow goods to be exchanged in a barter system. For example, India can provide steel rails and locomotive engines to Iran and Iran can provide urea to India.

USA, Europe, Russia, India and Iran versus China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (and the Sunni Islam countries)
RogueAnt
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by RogueAnt »

Johnsell50 wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:17 pm One of the sayings I really like goes something like this: " Socialism is a wonderful form of government until you run out of people to take money from"!
You may have that a bit wrong as Socialism is an economic theory not a system of government - based on a centrally planned economy, which is one of the main reasons that it wouldn't work. Can you imagine trying to plan, co-ordinate and distribute all the millions of products that we "need"?
I believe it could work if everyone in the country would agree to work to the best of their abilities.
That's eerily similar to to Marx - "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

The best thing I ever did was read Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. It's written in plain English and really helps when I try to have informed conversations/dialogue with people re economics. I cannot recommend it enough.
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phuketrichard
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by phuketrichard »

Stinkman wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:18 am Food and water insecurity could easily bring about the next war.

One unexpectedly prolonged weather event on an unusually large scale (the type of which has happend with regularity on earth since its climate formation) that causes disruption of food exports promised to countries with powerful militaries but who can't now grow enough food to feed themsleves, and watch all hell break loose. Such countries would see no alternative but send in troops to forcibly secure food supplies from other countries who still have it.

China is hughly dependent on food, petroleum and other natural resource imports, which pretty much makes them Putin's bitch in times of conflict with the US. China had barely enough fertile land to begin with, and their urbanization policy has paved-over much of that, not to mention forcibly removing subsistance farmers from their land to build all their new cities and massive environmental degradation on top of that.

For all their considerable and impressive economic and military strength, China is still vulnerable.
Or prehaps this could be the next war
Much more than just a part of your beach holiday, sand has become one of the most consumed natural resources on the planet.


Very very interesting watch
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Stinkman
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by Stinkman »

I'm sure there is no connection with the Huawei exec detained in Canada and this well-timed decision by the Chinese and surely has nothing to do with leverage in negotiations.

Foxnews.com wrote:Canadian sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling amid tensions between countrie

Canadian man originally given 15 years in prison for drug smuggling was sentenced to death in China on Monday after a one-day retrial, the surprising verdict coming amid growing tensions between Beijing and Ottawa after the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive last month.

Image

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was given the death penalty in Dalian Intermediate People’s Court in the northeast province of Liaoning after an appeals court last month agreed with prosecutors that Schellenberg's original punishment was too lenient.

The 36-year-old said he was a tourist in China when he was duped by a man he believed was a translator and got caught in the scheme to smuggle methamphetamines, the Globe and Mail reported.

“I am not a drug smuggler. I am not a drug user. I am a normal person,” he said in court Monday. “I am innocent.”
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IraHayes
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Re: I hear the sound, of distant drums

Post by IraHayes »

Members of the old CNRP have been directly threatened with violence by HE on Monday. When he said:

"If you (the EU) want the opposition dead, just cut it [the EBA]. If you want the opposition alive, don’t do it and come and hold talks together. People are prepared to flee, be prepared. I won’t forgive them."

And now we read that the EU (following pressure from Italy) is imposing an import duty, for 3 years, on rice from Cambodia and Myanmar.
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