4 ms·

All recent wars are about energy (oil, gas, etc.) This is all very ridiculous as we're living in an endless ocean of energy. Not to mention the toll on our envi

by kolev 12y ago

All recent wars are about energy (oil, gas, etc.) This is all very ridiculous as we're living in an endless ocean of energy. Not to mention the toll on our environment that those primitive energy sources cause. Instead of putting efforts into super volcano event prediction, meteor shields, and other things that can help us prevent the plethora of possibilities for an extinction event, little people with shortsighted and pathologically egoistic vision are controlling this planet. We need people like Elon Musk in charge - people who want to take our civilization to the next level, not because of some personal agenda, but because this is how they find happiness, and not let us rot in wars, diseases, and poverty, which hasn't improved much in the last century. A new order is needed, the so-called "democracy" is defunct and it only promotes populist politicians that promise to the dumber majority things just to get elected and shortly after election they forget their promises. Look at Obama - he promised GMO labeling and other things, which completely forgot about. I think all politicians should face criminal charges if they don't follow their pre-election promises. This way, they will be very careful to promise things they truly believe in and that can really happen. I really like Jacque Fresco's vision about the next level of society that has scientific advancement as the leading goal. Conveniently, the America's leading goal for the past decade has been "War on Terror", which is a convenient vicious circle as with all wars for oil and enforcing petrodollar hegemony, all America does is fuel terrorism! It's like being a firefighter and an arsonist at the same time - you'll never be out of a job. I think some people in Washington got too afraid that Russia was becoming a good guy, and gaining momentum, and spurred the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine to keep the convenient Cold War going on.

happyscrappy 12y ago
>afraid that Russia was becoming a good guy There is no chance of that until some Russians who want their country to join the civilized world put a bullet in Putin's head.
- tete 12y ago
  "want their country to join the civilized world" ⊥ "put a bullet in ∀ head"
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    Frankly it is Russia's only hope. More likely he will live out his life in luxury while his citizens suffer and Europe grovels for his oil.
    - tete 12y ago
      Suffer? Do you know any Russians? Have you ever been there? They don't seem to suffer more than US people or Europeans to me. Well they have a ton of stupid laws, lead wars, etc., but again that's also true for the US and many other countries. Like in most countries (again, including the US) it depends a lot on your political views, gender, exact position (Texas vs north), etc. Of course it's not Scandinavia, but I feel like which politician you consider evil tends to mostly depends on whose propaganda you get. I get that certain things are worse and that Russia is poorer and stuff, so that sucks and that they don't care for a lot of rights, but then you look at Afghan and Iraq war, look at Guantanamo, random police violence or the state of lethal punishments and things are put into perspective, seeing that they just have different problems, but not really more. Also historically Eastern countries tend have been worse at hiding relations between private and political interests, how media is manipulated or how it's always the same kind of politics, regardless of votes. That's true. In Russia censorship is direct, while in the US you have DMCA take downs, national security letters, secret law interpretations, etc. About democracy/parties: All bigger countries (China, Russia, US, ...) appear to have basically one major party with the same opinion and different branches of opinions in this party. Since they are actually mentioned in media, while opposition is not there is no serious chance for any opposition. This leads political stagnation in all of them. The US has two branches, not agreeing on exact spendings, but both pro-war, pro-capital-punishment, pro-capitalism, pro-neo-liberalism, privatized prisons and against human rights in the sense of international courts, welfare system (basic infrastructure, free/cheap water/education) ... They are very nationalist. Something also unique to super powers. That may sound like something bad, but it seems to be a necessity to keep big societies at least somewhat stable. History has shown that. I might be missing something though, so please tell me how Russians suffer more than people in another (non-scandinavian) country. I agree on the oil part. Gas too. But again compare that with other countries, the US goes on war for oil and gas, pressuring Europe via imports. I agree, Europe being more independent from such things would be a good thing. It seems that a lot of the bad stuff in countries depends a lot on their age and actual size. China is the oldest and population wise biggest country, requiring the most control for stability, having the most troubles, followed by India with slightly less population, but big age, less control, but therefor way bigger problems, followed by Russia and the US, where the US has a bigger population, but is also way younger than Russia. Russia is a lot like the US with a big tea party. I guess that's their main problem, but then even with Putin it was just as much of an up and down as with Bush and Obama. I just really don't think that things will change so quickly, neither in the US, nor in Russia. However, I think they are doing an equally good/bad job in regard to their current circumstances, making the US a better place to live, but maybe not too much. A liberal movement in Russia, pushing Putin into one direction and a stronger tea party with a republican president in the US could change that. Even though both countries are rivals they don't seem to be that dissimilar, just US having a couple of benefits (world language, winning various wars in the past century, ...). China could take that lead in the next decades, especially when Russia and the US keep fighting like that.

by kolev 12y ago

happyscrappy 12y ago

>afraid that Russia was becoming a good guy There is no chance of that until some Russians who want their country to join the civilized world put a bullet in Putin's head.

tete 12y ago
"want their country to join the civilized world" ⊥ "put a bullet in ∀ head"
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  Frankly it is Russia's only hope. More likely he will live out his life in luxury while his citizens suffer and Europe grovels for his oil.
  - tete 12y ago
    Suffer? Do you know any Russians? Have you ever been there? They don't seem to suffer more than US people or Europeans to me. Well they have a ton of stupid laws, lead wars, etc., but again that's also true for the US and many other countries. Like in most countries (again, including the US) it depends a lot on your political views, gender, exact position (Texas vs north), etc. Of course it's not Scandinavia, but I feel like which politician you consider evil tends to mostly depends on whose propaganda you get. I get that certain things are worse and that Russia is poorer and stuff, so that sucks and that they don't care for a lot of rights, but then you look at Afghan and Iraq war, look at Guantanamo, random police violence or the state of lethal punishments and things are put into perspective, seeing that they just have different problems, but not really more. Also historically Eastern countries tend have been worse at hiding relations between private and political interests, how media is manipulated or how it's always the same kind of politics, regardless of votes. That's true. In Russia censorship is direct, while in the US you have DMCA take downs, national security letters, secret law interpretations, etc. About democracy/parties: All bigger countries (China, Russia, US, ...) appear to have basically one major party with the same opinion and different branches of opinions in this party. Since they are actually mentioned in media, while opposition is not there is no serious chance for any opposition. This leads political stagnation in all of them. The US has two branches, not agreeing on exact spendings, but both pro-war, pro-capital-punishment, pro-capitalism, pro-neo-liberalism, privatized prisons and against human rights in the sense of international courts, welfare system (basic infrastructure, free/cheap water/education) ... They are very nationalist. Something also unique to super powers. That may sound like something bad, but it seems to be a necessity to keep big societies at least somewhat stable. History has shown that. I might be missing something though, so please tell me how Russians suffer more than people in another (non-scandinavian) country. I agree on the oil part. Gas too. But again compare that with other countries, the US goes on war for oil and gas, pressuring Europe via imports. I agree, Europe being more independent from such things would be a good thing. It seems that a lot of the bad stuff in countries depends a lot on their age and actual size. China is the oldest and population wise biggest country, requiring the most control for stability, having the most troubles, followed by India with slightly less population, but big age, less control, but therefor way bigger problems, followed by Russia and the US, where the US has a bigger population, but is also way younger than Russia. Russia is a lot like the US with a big tea party. I guess that's their main problem, but then even with Putin it was just as much of an up and down as with Bush and Obama. I just really don't think that things will change so quickly, neither in the US, nor in Russia. However, I think they are doing an equally good/bad job in regard to their current circumstances, making the US a better place to live, but maybe not too much. A liberal movement in Russia, pushing Putin into one direction and a stronger tea party with a republican president in the US could change that. Even though both countries are rivals they don't seem to be that dissimilar, just US having a couple of benefits (world language, winning various wars in the past century, ...). China could take that lead in the next decades, especially when Russia and the US keep fighting like that.