Are we near the brink of WWIII?

[Lazarus]

You are assuming they make it through training. There'd be more than a ninety percent failure rate.

Our current generation are the pissy bitches they are because they've never been challenged by anything more dire than where to get the best decaff soy latte with free fukking wi-fi and charge parking for their electric scooter.

National service would take the tofu out of their spines and replace it with some character and discipline.

[wanneroo]

Every 20-30 years in history there is some sort of generational shift and if you live long enough you will see several of these in your life. There will be turmoil for several years until returning to some sort of mean.

A lot of these shifts can be for the good or for the bad. The last shift in my opinion occurred from around 1987-1994 or so. The USSR experienced civilization collapse, communism rolled back throughout the world and we had a major technology shift with the rise of the internet.

Right now we have turmoil from the fall out from covid and the widespread nonsense that happened with that, we have rampant illegal immigration in western countries which amounts to an invasion, big debts, all the rainbow weirdness, etc. Lots of problems. There is also a massive shift coming with baby boomers losing their financial and political power over the next 10 years as they pass on.

[5-0]

There is also a massive shift coming with baby boomers losing their financial and political power over the next 10 years as they pass on.

Yeah, Gen X are coming into power, watchout.

[mickb]

A conventional war between major powers still has the same roadblocks it did in the latter 20th century being no one is game with the threat of nuclear response. I dont know how the media has suddenly convinced people otherwise because nothing has changed.

What we see is sabre rattling for news ratings and major countries flogging third world dumps for resources which is safer and lucrative.

I worked in several 3rd world countries including supporting military ops and being ex military and most of the wars were shams. Afghanistan dragging on for 20 years and giving it back to the bad guys was one. Russia bungling ukraine looks like another never ending nothing burger as well.

[gunderson]

gonna agree with you there mickb

[Lazarus]

A conventional war between major powers still has the same roadblocks it did in the latter 20th century being no one is game with the threat of nuclear response. I dont know how the media has suddenly convinced people otherwise because nothing has changed.

What we see is sabre rattling for news ratings and major countries flogging third world dumps for resources which is safer and lucrative.

I worked in several 3rd world countries including supporting military ops and being ex military and most of the wars were shams. Afghanistan dragging on for 20 years and giving it back to the bad guys was one. Russia bungling ukraine looks like another never ending nothing burger as well.

I know a few people who'd disagree with you.
At least one can't, what with being so dead and all.

[mickb]

Im not saying people arent being killed, they were in Afghanistan as well. Im just saying its not the pitched battle its made out to be.

Take a look. I get job alerts for ukraine every week, just for UN loggy and support roles. Here I will literally read the first job titles out of my email inbox

[141] UNFPA Ukraine Humanitarian Information Management Specialist
[179] UNHCR Ukraine Disability and Inclusion Specialist
[193] OCHA Ukraine Public Information Officer
[[216] WHO Ukraine Health Service and Health Workforce Specialist (Nexus)
[136] FHi360 Ukraine Protection Coordinator
[291/292] IOM Ukraine Project Officer (CCCM Roving)

There are about 100 others I cant be fkd posting. You dont have to take my word for it either, you can google UN jobs in that country.

These are the standard UN soft project and support roles by kids with arts and psychology degrees, not exactly merc positions.. Things need to be pretty stable for them to start setting up shop.

I mean seriously the UN is flying a ""UN Disability and Inclusion specialist "" aka a pro-gay LGBT social worker into Russian controlled territory to set up office in the middle of a full scale warzone. : with Putin denouncing gays and hostile to the UN in general?...cmon fellas

[mchughcb]

Tucker Carson interview unedited on X will be interesting

[Lazarus]

Im not saying people arent being killed, they were in Afghanistan as well. Im just saying its not the pitched battle its made out to be.

Take a look. I get job alerts for ukraine every week, just for UN loggy and support roles. Here I will literally read the first job titles out of my email inbox

[141] UNFPA Ukraine Humanitarian Information Management Specialist
[179] UNHCR Ukraine Disability and Inclusion Specialist
[193] OCHA Ukraine Public Information Officer
[[216] WHO Ukraine Health Service and Health Workforce Specialist (Nexus)
[136] FHi360 Ukraine Protection Coordinator
[291/292] IOM Ukraine Project Officer (CCCM Roving)

There are about 100 others I cant be fkd posting. You dont have to take my word for it either, you can google UN jobs in that country.

These are the standard UN soft project and support roles by kids with arts and psychology degrees, not exactly merc positions.. Things need to be pretty stable for them to start setting up shop.

I mean seriously the UN is flying a ""UN Disability and Inclusion specialist "" aka a pro-gay LGBT social worker into Russian controlled territory to set up office in the middle of a full scale warzone. : with Putin denouncing gays and hostile to the UN in general?...cmon fellas

I know you're not, but to refer to a full scale war Europe as a "nothing burger", particularly one involving a Russian invasion backed by China, Iran and Nth Korea, just seems naive.

As to the second part of that paragraph, +22,000 civilians killed, 383,000 military casualties on the Ukrainian side, 500,000 on the Russian side and the world economy thrown into a spin, sounds pretty serious to me



https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tra ... ct-ukraine

[Shootermick]

conscription With today's youth you may as well sit at home and shoot yourself

should be ok they have heaps of experience with triggers

They won't be any nuclear bombs in Australia. The land is too valuable for food production for the winners

We have 4.1% arable, none of it in major population centres, nukes would solve China's food supply

4.1% arable, but 55% of the country is actually farm land. Doesn’t need to be arable to grow food.

[Lazarus]

4.1% arable, but 55% of the country is actually farm land. Doesn’t need to be arable to grow food.

That's true, the Israelis do pretty well at it when they're not too busy with their main occupation.

[gunderson]

We have 4.1% arable, none of it in major population centres, nukes would solve China's food supply

4.1% arable, but 55% of the country is actually farm land. Doesn’t need to be arable to grow food.

Our best food production land is buried under houses and industrial areas and ports for the countless nobodies that continue to irreparably damage the most fertile land we have. Australia is uniquely stupid in the placement of our cities and major population centers/regional centers. we have stomped all over our valleys and rivers, paved over the best most productive fruit and vegetable land, and what's worse is the endless sea of morons keep demanding we do it... all so they can have some view they don't look at 2 weeks after moving into their house or office.

[mickb]

I know you're not, but to refer to a full scale war Europe as a "nothing burger", particularly one involving a Russian invasion backed by China, Iran and Nth Korea, just seems naive.As to the second part of that paragraph, +22,000 civilians killed, 383,000 military casualties on the Ukrainian side, 500,000 on the Russian side and the world economy thrown into a spin, sounds pretty serious to me

If you can trust the figures mate. My experience is they can vary by a factor of 10 on either side. Look at the original Afghan/Russia conflict in the 80's, estimates vary by millions, at one point each side saying they almost obiliterated the others entire army.

My point above was if UN is setting up shop, and I mean running whole projects, something smells regarding that level of war occurring, especially mass recruiting for arts graduates. The timeline also doesnt work, a lot of these projects are post war rebuilds..

No doubt its a conflict, but way too much soap opera and figure fudging all over the place. If you find it exciting news though, more power to you.

As to hitting world economy that is the real worry mate. If a fight between two ex-soviet dumps, neither even a top 10 economy can double prices in the supermarket , while increasing the net worth of the worlds richest, the average man is screwed.

it means any time two countries go to war now, someone takes half our money...

[Lazarus]

I don't find it exciting mick, I find it tragic.

A good friend lost his entire family in Kharkiv, his wife lost all but one, that one had been forcibly deported to Russia and took months escaping via Finland, Lithuania and Poland.

He finally couldn't stand being so far away so he went back, and now he's in the ground too.

Nothing remotely exciting about that tale mate.

What's more tragic is the mean spirited Australian army and gummint.

https://asiapacificdefencereporter.com/ ... -failures/

[Oldbloke]

FMD. Does competency/sanity still exist within the parliament or ADF?

I'd have to say, over the last 35 years the ADF/Politicians have consistantly made very bad decisions regarding defence.

[on_one_wheel]

I listened to a interview with an army officer about those helicopters, he made it quite clear that they were a complete failure, very dangerous, extremely expensive to run and predictive maintenance data does not exist due the low build numbers and age which makes further failures totally unpredictable.

After listening I was left wondering why they weren't buried sooner.

[Lazarus]

NZ seems to have no issue with them, neither do;
Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Holland, Oman, Qatar, Spain, and Sweden

[alexjones]

You are assuming they make it through training. There'd be more than a ninety percent failure rate.

Our current generation are the pissy bitches they are because they've never been challenged by anything more dire than where to get the best decaff soy latte with free fukking wi-fi and charge parking for their electric scooter.

National service would take the tofu out of their spines and replace it with some character and discipline.

Why would anybody with any self respect want to serve a country whose governments collectively stole our guns in 1996 and in 2020 told us were non essential and arrested us if we left our houses? Stealing the guns was the start of turning the country into a bunch of limp wrists.

[alexjones]

As I am sure you ae all aware history is more than a footnote in time. As an example, people read a history book and think on September 1 1939 Germany just randomly decided to invade Poland and 2 days later Britain and France declared war which started the official onset of ww2. Although I like to think December 11 1941 was the true start date of ww2 as that was when Germany declared war on America. Uniting the European war and the Asian war into a truly global war.

They forget ww2 stemmed from ww1(among other things), which ww1 stemmed from even before that. History is a living breathing entity that in the current time is not so clear cut.

I think we are in the 1936 / 1938 period.. We know a big war is coming as the world is in turmoil and countries are starting to gear up but it is not quite at the starting point yet.

However who the hell even knows. Maybe the history books will say the day Russia invaded Ukraine was the start of ww3. Nobody said in September of 1939 oh Germany just invaded Poland we are in ww2 now. History has just interpreted it that way.

[mchughcb]

The main thing is that Paul Papalia has made the world safe according to him.

[Lazarus]

Why would anybody with any self respect want to serve a country whose governments collectively stole our guns in 1996 and in 2020 told us were non essential and arrested us if we left our houses? Stealing the guns was the start of turning the country into a bunch of limp wrists.

Probably because not everyone sees everything from such a narrow viewpoint.

Do you consider yourself a "limp wrist" because the gun laws changed alexjones?
I don't.

Do you feel a bit light in the loafers because the gummint, on advice from the medical community, took covid more seriously than you?
Of course not.

I've had covid, it's a bitch.
Just imagine the pissing and moaning from the public if the gummint did nothing and many more died.

The new generations are cream puff milquetoasts, because we older generations "spared the rod"

They are the result of years of, "every child wins a prize", "smacking your child is abuse" and many other stupid ideas.

[Lazarus]

As I am sure you ae all aware history is more than a footnote in time. As an example, people read a history book and think on September 1 1939 Germany just randomly decided to invade Poland and 2 days later Britain and France declared war which started the official onset of ww2. Although I like to think December 11 1941 was the true start date of ww2 as that was when Germany declared war on America. Uniting the European war and the Asian war into a truly global war.

They forget ww2 stemmed from ww1(among other things), which ww1 stemmed from even before that. History is a living breathing entity that in the current time is not so clear cut.

I think we are in the 1936 / 1938 period.. We know a big war is coming as the world is in turmoil and countries are starting to gear up but it is not quite at the starting point yet.

However who the hell even knows. Maybe the history books will say the day Russia invaded Ukraine was the start of ww3. Nobody said in September of 1939 oh Germany just invaded Poland we are in ww2 now. History has just interpreted it that way.

Totally agree
I've been saying for ages, world wars 1 and 2 weren't world wars until they were.
We have been in one since April 2014, and it's going to get catastrophically bad and there's not a single thing we can do.
'Mericans look to be on track to return Anus Tangerinus, he's already made his support for Putin plain, he's already said he'll abandon Ukraine.
Once Ukraine falls, NATO, without the US, will have no choice but to engage Russia, and it's "On The Beach" time.

[Larry]

Im not sure what or who is more stupid the Anus Tangerinus or the American people. His latest remarks about countries not paying enough for his protection are just ludicrous even more crazy is the American people that believe him and think that America is being short changed and they would be better off if the countries paid more.
They dont get that the money he is talking about is actual spending on defense by those countries the only ones making any money are the arms manufactures.

read comments on Utube shorts or Tik Tok and it is just crazy what folks are thinking and saying.

One thing is that Aus I dont think will ever be invaded at least not in the first place. Any country to do so would meet condemnation and retaliation from all over the world. You dont pick on the cute little kid.

[Oldbloke]

Im not sure what or who is more stupid the Anus Tangerinus or the American people. His latest remarks about countries not paying enough for his protection are just ludicrous even more crazy is the American people that believe him and think that America is being short changed and they would be better off if the countries paid more.
They dont get that the money he is talking about is actual spending on defense by those countries the only ones making any money are the arms manufactures.

read comments on Utube shorts or Tik Tok and it is just crazy what folks are thinking and saying.

One thing is that Aus I dont think will ever be invaded at least not in the first place. Any country to do so would meet condemnation and retaliation from all over the world. You dont pick on the cute little kid.

Japs thought it was a good idea in 1942.

[Larry]

It didnt work out well for them. I sort of mean as a first strike or the start of a war. Once a war is fully raging then all bets are off and Aus is open season. But a first strike invasion would be very bold of anyone.

[Lazarus]

Im not sure what or who is more stupid the Anus Tangerinus or the American people. His latest remarks about countries not paying enough for his protection are just ludicrous even more crazy is the American people that believe him and think that America is being short changed and they would be better off if the countries paid more.
They dont get that the money he is talking about is actual spending on defense by those countries the only ones making any money are the arms manufactures.

read comments on Utube shorts or Tik Tok and it is just crazy what folks are thinking and saying.

One thing is that Aus I dont think will ever be invaded at least not in the first place. Any country to do so would meet condemnation and retaliation from all over the world. You dont pick on the cute little kid.

It's hard to comprehend a former US president and presidential candidate, actually declaring that he will not only abandon his treaty responsibilities, but actually invite a fascist dictator to invade a European ally if they don't obey him, it's beyond belief that he has so many supporters who see that as sensible rather than treasonous.

Yanks being dotty over Tangerinus is hard enough to get one's head around, but what I find totally incomprehensible is the Australians who will fight you to the death over an elitist billionaire 1%er, on the other side of the planet, that they can't vote for

I had one person tell me they liked him because he put the 25% tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium and "saved American jobs by making China pay"
When I pointed out that China didn't pay the tariff, US businesses have to pay it, and pass that cost on to the people who buy their product, they refused to accept how tariffs work.
Small businesses whose business models were only able to operate because the Chinese products were cheaper, were forced to close and put many hundreds out of work. They accused me of spreading "fake news" and will no longer talk to me.

Another thing Tangerinus is guilty of is supercharging the trend of people declaring that anything they don't like or agree with is fake.
Coming from a creature who told 30,579 public lies in his 4 years in office, that's pretty rich.
Tangerinus is the very embodiment of the political truism, that if a politician's lips are moving they're lying.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... our-years/

[Lazarus]

You're right about invasion Larry, no profit in it.
We're too far and too geographically spread out.

But they could simply choke us to death by closing the trade routes on which we rely, having exported almost our entire manufacturing capabilities.

[moopere]

Why would anybody with any self respect want to serve a country whose governments collectively stole our guns in 1996 and in 2020 told us were non essential and arrested us if we left our houses? Stealing the guns was the start of turning the country into a bunch of limp wrists.

* nod *

[moopere]

Do you consider yourself a "limp wrist" because the gun laws changed alexjones?
I don't.

Mmm. I think things are not this straightforward.

Is my wrist stronger now, or more full of resolve given that the population has been disarmed in this way? Can't honestly say yes to that. At best you might argue we're as resolute as before '96, but honestly, I'm old enough to see that this angle doesn't appear be true.

So, as a country, not as an individual, are we more 'limp wristed'? Yeah, seems likely on balance, given face value observation.

Do you feel a bit light in the loafers because the gummint, on advice from the medical community, took covid more seriously than you?
Of course not.

Oh, absolutely yes. Bureaucracy always has an opinion. Before the authoritarian stuff fired up in a huge way there was at least as much medical opinion from experienced long standing practitioners that varied from what became 'the narrative'.

Lets not try to gaslight what actually occurred here in Australia. There was an authoritarian power move made by the powerful over those who are powerless - and most of the people succumbed, despite a very large proportion of those poor sods preferring to not have been forced in this way.

Why was it not enough for the government to do the right thing and, acting on their own best advice (from the medical bureaucracy sure), make whatever medical interventions available that they deemed a reasonable alternative and then let the chips fall where they may? Why was it _so_ important to them that everyone succumbed to their power play?

I resisted this emphatically. If I'd died as a result, well, thats on me, just as those who legitimately and without coercion took the medical route ... if they die as a result ... its on them.

Medicine aside, whats with the lockdowns? Honestly, we can look back now, with plenty of worldwide evidence from countries/provinces that did and did not lockdown and see that it was all for nothing. Government couldn't have known what we know now, but why enforce _their_ will on honest Australians in this way? Too scared to leave the house? Don't leave. Willing to bear the risk .. ok then, go about your life as normal ... take responsibility for your own actions in either event.

So, the argument being - would people willingly fight for a dictating authoritarian state? I can't see why they would.

Goodness me, depending on who it is exactly that arrives and knocks on our door, its even possible they could be viewed as liberators

I've had covid, it's a bitch.

Yep, its a bitch. Had it as well. In my case it was the same size nasty bitch I have had in previous years, with proper full on flu (note: not a heavy cold, actual flu). Nasty. 6-8 weeks for me to fully recover.

Just imagine the pissing and moaning from the public if the gummint did nothing and many more died.

And it could have happened. Right. Noone knew for sure. As it turned out, more people died as a result of the various interventions than probably would have if we'd just let people decide for themselves ... and yep, people are moaning about that - and legitimately so. Because when you intervene and dictate then the results of that are on _you_

The new generations are cream puff milquetoasts, because we older generations "spared the rod"

They are the result of years of, "every child wins a prize", "smacking your child is abuse" and many other stupid ideas.

Yep, can't argue that.

[Larry]

Laz I totally agree the stupidity of people and the lack of understanding on how things like tariffs and trade agreements work, really it is hard to comprehend.