this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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The Russian oligarchy, which is the current ruling class of Russia and descends from Soviet bureaucrats and mobsters, did stand to benefit greatly. Russia isn't a democracy, so it's only natural that the government doesn't care about the people.
The occupation of Afghanistan was incredibly popular among the American people when it began largely because Afghanistan was harboring people who, y'know, committed the biggest terror attack in history against the United States. It only became unpopular once it turned into a slog, and the reason we took so long to leave is because our withdrawal from Iraq went terribly and we didn't want a repeat. Nobody gained much from it.
Am I supposed to be defeated by this? Democracy works because of an agreement between the government and the people, wherein the government serves the interests of the people and is run by bureaucrats chosen by the people, and in exchange the people do not rebel against it and allow it to do government stuff. Of course democratic governments implement social programs out of fear of social instability, that's a feature, not a bug.
Shock therapy was invented by the former leader of the RSFSR after he overthrew Mikhail Gorbachev, in order to turn the centrally planned Soviet economy into a free market economy. In the process, it ended up creating the oligarchy, made up of former Soviet bureaucrats and organized criminals. Everyone in the Russian upper class today got there because they took advantage of the absolute garbage system used by the USSR.
Humans are wired to be tribalistic and to view land as their tribal property, and to get violent over resources during times of scarcity so that their tribe survives the winter. If you pay attention in history class, you'll see that humans have done this in some form from the stone age to the modern era. Nationalism is just human tribalism taken to the extreme, kinda like socialism is just envy taken to the extreme.
Cry about it, I guess.
I guess you can't tell the difference between a Russian capitalist and the average Russian citizen, huh?
Oh, are you talking about that guy that was found in Pakistan? That the guy you are talking about? Also... 9/11 wasn't a "terror" attack. If the US wants to play colonialist empire, it becomes a justifiable target. All of it.
Stop using terms you don't understand. You have never experienced democracy, and you know nothing about it.
No, Clyde... get this right - "shock therapy" was invented by the Chicago Boys in the 70s and 80s... Chilean "students" of magical capitalist grifters such as Milton Friedman. Your history is as garbage as your politics.
Then you should have no trouble providing proof of this "tribal" gene whose existence you are peddling, Clyde. I hope this won't take you long.
Having tears in one's eyes is still far better than having shoe polish on one's tongue - it doesn't matter if it's over-priced shoe polish.
I know you're a communist and therefore aren't able to understand things about the world, but you have to know that people can, y'know, move around, right?
By this logic, the USA should've committed genocide in Afghanistan like the Soviets did because if Afghanistan wants to play terrorist they become a justifiable target. But I'm sure you'll come up with pretzel logic to say that that's somehow not what you're saying.
The United States invented freedom, liberty, democracy, and McDonald's. I should know a thing or two about all of that.
Who cares, the only people who actually implemented it that anyone cares about are Boris Yeltsin and his colleagues in Eastern Europe.
Look, look, look, I know you're a communist, but you have to be able to understand that genetics are complicated, right? It's not possible for me to give you one or two genes that are responsible for human psychology, there's like thousands of them that all interact with eachother to make you act like you.
I guess this is what happens when you lack the ability to comprehend anything that isn't quantifiable. Thank you, materialism!
bourgeois shoe polish tastes better than Stasi shoe polish lmao
Did you figure that out before or after you endorsed the slaughter of tens of thousands of Afghans, bootlicker?
Does the thought of the US committing genocide get you all hot and bothered, fascism-boi?
More words you don't understand the meaning of.
Oh, is that your response when your alt-history gets debunked?
I'll take your word for it, fascist - the taste of shoe polish is your area of expertise. Not mine.
He was in Afghanistan when we invaded.
Not nearly as much as when the US invaded Afghanistan and only killed 46k civilians, far lower than when the Soviets killed a third of the entire country's population in their invasion. The moral superiority of the neoliberal bourgeois world order makes my dick hard.
ya, I guess communists don't taste very much of anything after the revolution, which is why they're all sickly and emaciated
And you failed to invade Pakistan when he was there, eh? That's pretty sloppy, fascist.
Yeah, I figured you're the kind that gets off on dead bodies.
Lick harder, bootlicker - Papa Trump can't see his own reflection in his shoes yet.
Well ya, that's because Pakistan was cooperative
If I liked dead bodies I'd become a communist, most of the untimely deaths of the 20th century happened in the communist world after all
I'm actually voting for Joe Biden
Riiiiiight... they just hid him from you for years for shits and giggles. Never mind the fact that all the funding and intelligence support for the 9/11 operation came from Saudi Arabia - yet another country you failed to invade.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Talking about evidence... will you be taking long providing some for those "tribalistic" genes you were bragging about a few replies ago?
Why? Because all the "Great White Hope"-wannabes lining up in the GOP are so cartoonishly loopy that even Heinrich Himmler himself would be embarrassed to be in the same room as them?
Fuck... is there any part of your brain that isn't infected by right-wing brain-rot?
Our failure to wipe Saudi Arabia off the map when we had an excuse to do so is one that I regret every day, but the fact of the matter is that the Taliban were harboring Al-Qaeda and refusing to cooperate in our search for them while Pakistan wasn't. Also, America's actions in the Middle East make sense when you remember that the economy would collapse if they decided to stop selling us fossil fuels. Unfortunate and scummy, yes, but I'd avoid pissing off my fuel source as well.
Studies have found that heritability affects everything from extroversion/introversion, disgust response, how compassionate someone is, how likely someone is to experience certain types of mental illness, testosterone and estrogen levels, and even whether someone is likely to be politically leftist or politically right wing, and when we selectively breed animals, we can get animals with completely different temperaments, but the idea that natural selection might've caused humans to have an affinity for the tribes we've been living in for the past few million years? Complete blasphemy, right?
Actually, scratch that, just look at human behavior and how people living in the same country and in the same economic class will find reasons to dislike eachother even in countries where ethnic tension is suppressed. Serbs, Bosniaks, and Croats lived in the same regions, were all equally poor, speak the same language, are genetically almost exactly the same, and share the vast majority of their culture with eachother, and as soon as Tito died and stopped suppressing tensions between them, they started hating on eachother for basically no reason at all and then started a war over it. There are many such cases in history where people will hate eachother for almost no reason, especially during times of scarcity or hardship. As it turns out, most people will choose their tribe over their economic class when the going gets rough.
Also, genetics is complicated as hell and sometimes simple observation of behavior has to do. You don't expect the same burden of proof when you assume that humans are all altruistic, as well, since you treat that like an article of faith for a religion.
I have no idea what you're talking about nor do I give a shit, I like Joe Biden's policies better than the Republicans and think he's more likely to win than people who'd do better than him. Simple as.
Oh... you "regret" not murdering more brown people to satify your tiny little fascist hardon, eh? In Saudi Arabia? The Saudi Arabia that is the product of US foreign policy? The Saudi Arabia that only exists as a client state of the US? That Saudi Arabia?
Proof for these (alleged) "tribal" genes, fascism-boi - you do know what actual proof is, don't you?
Oh, of course you don't, of course you don't... you just get sexually aroused at the idea of committing genocide against brown people - it's not that you're a rabid white supremacist at all, eh?
Couldn't possibly be that, right?
Saudi Arabia exists because the British fucked over the Sharif of Mecca and he got conquered by the Wahhabis. The reason I want them wiped off the map is because of that aforementioned Wahhabism, and yes, being friends with them was a mistake on America's part, so what, every country does bad things
First of all, I don't think you know what fascism is, second of all, the science of genetics is not advanced enough for us to narrow down the thousands of genes that affect someone's personality. If you're not able to draw conclusions from observing human behavior, I don't know what to tell you.
Uh, nah, I think you're projecting since you watch too much porn. I said the moral superiority of the west makes my dick hard, not genocide. Also, genocide is only good by your logic, don't blame me.
Does this look like something that was built in Britain to you, Clyde?
So this (alleged) "tribal" gene of yours is just fascist fantasy? What a surprise.
Spoken like a true white supremacist - which means everything I said applies, fascism-boi.
I know the Sykes-Picot agreement and its consequences isn't covered in Capital, but come on, I know you know what I'm talking about. The USA was just allying with who was already there, the Saudis would be rich regardless because of their oil.
Well, nah, there is no tribalism gene, there's a bazillion of them that all interact with other genes and form the complicated being that is a human. Most of them are probably shared with our fellow apes, who act quite similar to how we did during the stone age.
Non-white westerners are morally superior to the Soviet Union and its successor states too.
Oh, the poor, poor US... what were those dastardly Saudi's thinking, forcing the innocent and righteous US to treat Saudi Arabia like a client state for it's neocolonialist agenda in the middle-east? They're almost as bad as those evil Vietnamese, who forced the US to innocently drop more ordnance on south-eastern Asia than it dropped during the entirety of WW2.
Poor and innocent US... oh won't somebody please think of the poor military-industrial complex billionaires and oil tycoons?!
So... it's just fascist fantasy and nothing else. Your "tribalism" only exists in your right-wing ideology-addled head and nowhere else.
Oh... so if non-white people act white enough you will temporarily view them as honorary "westerners" as long as they are useful as a propaganda prop for you?
Yeah, Clyde... that doesn't scream "rabid white supremacist" at all. Really.
Would you rather we invade Saudi Arabia and establish a client state directly, so that we can establish a country that doesn't commit rampant acts of evil against its own citizens? I can get behind that.
Well, ya, they hid inside a jungle where we couldn't see them.
The MIC deserves more credit for the jobs they create and the technological innovations they pass onto the private sector, not to mention how powerful they make America.
Nowhere else except every civilization and time period across human and pre-human history
So, you believe being moral to be an exclusively white trait? Because that sounds like what you're saying.
Why? Is the current levels of rape, torture and murder in Saudi Arabia not enough for you, fascism-boi?
Can't let a jungle get in the way of white supremacist murder-sprees, can we?
More boots for you to lick, I guess.
So, again… it’s just fascist fantasy and nothing else. Your “tribalism” only exists in your right-wing ideology-addled head and nowhere else.
Come now... tell us why you believe the KKK is merely "misunderstood." We know you want to.
Nah, such a beautiful country simply deserves better than the House of Saud.
Actually, the murder-spree was anti-communist, significant difference
Get back to me when you've studied a little bit of psychology
Oh hell nah, I want you explain why the fuck you think being moral means someone is acting white. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Sooo... the current levels of rape, torture and murder in Saudi Arabia not enough for you.
Sooo... the jungle got in the way of a white supremacist murder-spree.
Sooo... your fascist ideas on "tribalism" is as fascist as they were ten minutes ago.
Aaaaaaaaand - you're a rabid white supremacist, Clyde... or would you prefer me to use the term "western chauvinist"?
Explain what the fuck you meant or I'll assume all this white supremacist talk is just your fucking projection. You implying that non-whites are either immoral or "acting white" is an unforgivable insult to my non-white friends and family, and all upstanding people everywhere.
Considering the white supremacist brain-rot you are suffering from, I'll be happy to jog your (failing) memory for you.
I appreciate the honesty. You are clearly either a troll or a red fascist. I sincerely hope that you go outside and speak to some non-white people so that your opinions on them can be proven wrong through experience. I sincerely hope that, one way or another, you stop spouting this garbage about morality being a characteristic of the white man. Preferably by becoming an adult. Throughout history there have been many cases of non-whites being more upstanding than their white peers, and some of the most upstanding people I have met and come to look up to are non-white. Every race and ethnic group has people who behave immorally, but the vast majority of them are just as upstanding as you and I. Simply speak to them and you shall understand this.
Oh, look... a white supremacist is snorting copium because he outed himself.
Can't hide those white robes of yours forever, Clyde.
Sir, you literally said that non-whites being moral people means that they are acting white. I gave you several chances to explain yourself, but you doubled down. The only white supremacist in this comment section is you.
Also who the fuck is Clyde?
No, Clyde... you're the one ascribing morality to whiteness... oops, sorry, I meant to say "westerners". That's you, remember?
That's why it's so easy to tell that you are a... wait for it... drumroll... a WHITE SUPREMACIST. And a pretty rabid one at that, too.
Of course, your gleeful endorsement of white supremacism-fueled, colonialist mass-murder in the 3rd world was a pretty dead give-away, too.
You outed yourself as a white supremacist, Clyde. Don't be angry at me.
It is an easily discernable fact that western nations who value inclusion, democracy, economic freedom, property rights, and tolerance are more moral than countries like Russia, who value none of those things. This is also visible when America wages war. America makes painstaking efforts to avoid civilian casualties even when enemy action makes it exceedingly difficult to do so, especially in modern times, and that's why only 46k civilians died in Afghanistan. America's war was also justified because we were attacked first, but you seem to think Al-Qaeda's attack on a civilian target was justified because of the acts of America's government, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what other atrocities you believe are justified by your own logic.
Meanwhile, Russia is systematically raping Ukraine and Russia's predecessor, the Soviet Union, killed or exiled a third of Afghanistan's population. Numerous genocides and ethnic cleansings were also committed in service of the Russian ethnic group by the USSR, and another one is ramping up in Ukraine as we speak.
Note that Russia is also white, meaning that there is no racial dimension to this. You brought whiteness into this, and you have exposed what you really think about non-whites when you stated that being moral is a trait of the white man. Your obsession with me being a fascist or a white supremacist is merely projection meant to obscure your own beliefs.
Show some fucking backbone, won't you?
You're a proven white supremacist - at least have the spine to own up to your sick beliefs.
At least then you can have that one little microscopic smidgen of my respect - it's the only kind you will ever get from me.
You're literally a communist, you don't get to speak to anyone else about respect or having a backbone. Your specialty, as shown in this comment section, is twisting others' words and running from your prior statements. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's two hours until midnight and you've proven yourself not worth speaking to. I like to stay off social media on Sundays. If you are ready to engage in good faith discussion and apologize for your statements about non-whites come Monday, then we can continue this conversation then. Goodnight, and I hope you can become an adult someday.
Can't even manage that, can you, white supremacist?
It's no wonder you need to fantasize about being a "master race" - in real life you are the most pathetic creatures around.