zkom
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Posts posted by zkom
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So the US and European collaborations with Roscosmos got cancelled and now they are coming up with new ideas lol
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2 hours ago, Satans Little Helper said:
Russian youtube vlogger on the situation in Russia (self-censorship etc).
In the past I have been following her vlog from time to time. It's mostly about living in Russia in the most eastern part. Near Vladivostok. Just out of curiosity. She had done a scholarship in the US and decided to vlog after her return. Here she's making some comments regarding the current situation in Russia wrt the events surrounding Ukraine. Seems pretty much the early stages of an oppressive state to me.
The youtube vlogger NFKRZ I linked sometime earlier already left Russia for Georgia.
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There's something going on in the Putin administration
Anatoly Chubais who was Putin's long time advisor has quit and fled the country https://news.yahoo.com/longtime-putin-advisor-reportedly-resigned-130847160.html
Also apparently Sergei Shoigu who is the minister of defense and a general of the army hasn't made a public appearance for 12 days. Pretty weird during a war. Link in Russian https://theins.ru/news/249548
Besides that Russian commanders keep getting killed in Ukraine https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-every-russian-commander-killed-fighting-ukraine-war-1691064
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1 hour ago, zazen said:
e.g Europe has been spending less on defence because it was leaning on the USA. Now it looks like Europe will start spending more on defense.
It's also a bit more complicated. The shit happened in the 90s. The safety assurances, like mutual military assistance in case of war, were weakened for multiple purposes. First of all the EU countries that were also NATO members didn't want to weaken NATO influence. But also multiple countries that were outside NATO like Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Austria were against compulsory military help and would have probably not signed any agreements that would have implemented them. In the end there were no compulsory military help to keep the unity of EU.
There's another interesting thing.. The NATO collective defense agreement or Article 5 only covers attacks against NATO members only in Europe and North America. So now some EU countries are interested in making the EU safety assurances to cover all EU territory, which expands outside Europe also. For example there are the Spanish exclaves in North Africa and the French overseas territories all over the globe.
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Today I heard Basshunter's Boten Anna after a long while. Jfc, remember when IRC was so popular that there was an eurodance song about a fucking IRC bot that went into top ten charts across Europe? Early 2000s, man.
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10 minutes ago, thefxbip said:
Read somewhere that it was speculated that Putin basically Ukraine to be under his power and use it as buffer state (like Belarus) to act as a shield against any invasion, or influence, so that Russia remains impossible to directly invade and conquer and it's so far the best explanation for his actions and his views of the world that i've came across.
This is basically why the country of Mongolia exists between China and Russia. Communist Mongolia was a Soviet puppet state working as a buffer zone between China and Soviet Union because despite both being communist countries they really didn't get along.
But I think in this case it's more complicated that that because Putin also wanted Kyiv to be one of the centers of the new Eurasian Union he was building out of the former soviet countries and "losing" Ukraine to the west was a big humiliation. Add to that the mythology of Kievan Rus' as the mythical origin of the Slavic/Russian peoples, the importance of the Black Sea in Russian military strategy, the shock that Russians felt from the 1991 Ukraine independence referendum, Stalin annexing the Crimea to Ukraine, Donbas situation already during the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc it's a big fucking mess. I don't think there's a single strategic reason.
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It's actually been a couple of years since I read this but it's now available also in English. Jessikka Aro's Putin's Trolls: On the Frontlines of Russia's Information War Against the World.
As the name says it's about Russian troll factories and disinformation campaigns especially in Finland and in the Baltics.
She's been targeted and harassed for years by far-right groups in Finland. There was also some kerfuffle when the US State Department International Women of Courage Award was rescinded apparently because she criticized Trump.
The book also mention's one former watmmer's sister, who you might remember from back when the Russian annexation of Crimea happened.
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17 hours ago, luke viia said:
You are correct. These manifestations have had unique edgy ideologies to match: Zeffolia was a men's rights activist and cryptocurrency evangelist; cyanobacteria switched gears and enjoyed being a feisty militant vegan, and ilqx has focused his sights almost entirely on promoting Marxism.
I'm a bit confused why people think he's just too young to understand things properly. He joined over 11 years ago. Was he 10 or 12 when he joined and then just went straight to deep end with MRA and cryptos?
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5 minutes ago, Satans Little Helper said:
Interesting video I'd like to drop. Full of nuance XD
Goes into the discussion about the extent "NATO expansionism" is cause of current events. He makes the interesting point that underneath the NATO issue, the "real" issue is the democratisation of Ukraine. He's also sharp on maintaining distinctions between causes and justifications.
If you don't know, Mearsheimer has been arguing for many years - since the last crisis in 2014 basically - that NATO-expansionism is very much the cause of all this mess.
If Russia wanted to stop NATO expansion it's not going very well. For the first time in history the majority of Finns support joining NATO and it's already up to 62% in the latest poll https://yle.fi/news/3-12357832
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Fun fact: There was supposed to be a Simpsons movie already in the 90s and it was supposed to have a duet between Bart and Mike Love from the Beach Boys. But the movie got cancelled and the Beach Boys went to perform the song on Baywatch.
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Tens of millions of people are under lockdown across China, as surging COVID-19 cases prompted the return of mass tests and hazmat-suited health officials to streets on a scale not seen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
China reported 5,280 new cases on Tuesday, more than double the previous day's tally, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spread across a country that has stuck tightly to a zero-COVID strategy.
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Not too keen about a seated concert hall gig but I guess I'll get a ticket. No idea if I'll be in Helsinki in September though.
For anyone who can't come I guess it's notwotwo.
I'll get me coat
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The video has English subtitles available
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8 hours ago, Milwaukeeeee said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Youth_Union
Dugin maybe the satanist behind this Putin war nonsense, the guy studied tantric magicians like Julies Évola and stuff. Pure nazi esotericism magicks ideals. The Z and V Symbols are some clearly hermetic V for Vendetta Aleister Crowley shit
I don't really know how much Dugin is behind Russia's foreign policy in reality but he has some interesting ideas about Russia's old pal China for sure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
Quote- China, which represents a danger to Russia, "must, to the maximum degree possible, be dismantled". Dugin suggests that Russia start by taking Tibet–Xinjiang–Inner Mongolia–Manchuria as a security belt.[1] Russia should offer China help "in a southern direction – Indochina (except Vietnam), the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia" as geopolitical compensation.[8]
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8 hours ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:
the text description of the video provides no sources, the video itself is just a bunch of innocuous videos of construction workers with the narrator making all of the claims, then there's some random person wearing a hoody supposedly saying what is being translated. you'll have to forgive me for not trusting bbc's sparkling record on human rights
Oh looool, it's not like this is a fucking secret. Come on..
Here's the fucking Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Koreans_in_Russia
CNN piece https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/15/europe/russia-north-korea-labor-intl/index.html
Le Monde Diplomatique piece https://mondediplo.com/2006/04/08koreanworkers
The Guardian piece https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/04/like-prisoners-of-war-north-korean-labour-russia-world-cup-st-petersburg-stadium-zenit-arena
The Moscow Times piece https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/03/31/north-korean-slaves-building-key-russian-world-cup-stadium-a57602
The Independent piece https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/north-koreans-in-russia-work-basically-in-the-situation-of-slaves-a7841831.html
South China Morning Post piece https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3042820/un-deadline-looms-north-koreas-overseas-workers-return-home
I could go on and on but it doesn't just hinge on one BBC video
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29 minutes ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:
seems fake, dprk formerly came out strongly in support of russia
id like to see official chinese and dprk sources not some weird twitter posts and french websites
seems fabricated to play into the western slander of dprk as "crazy" with dprk saying "putin you are even crazier than us". so in other words utterly fabricated western propaganda
Yes, as I said it's unverified but funny. I don't think it's true.
Russia and DRPK are bff because Kim sends his citizens to work as slaves in Russia for peanuts https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-33614982
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Not verified but funny: ‘Too insane for us’ Kim humiliates Putin after Russia begs North Korea for help https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1580806/russia-news-kim-jong-un-vladimir-putin-begs-help-north-korea-ukraine
Also China's "friendship" with Russia is not that strong maybe?
This can't be good for the Russia's partnerships: Russia to suspend grain exports to Eurasian Economic Union until Aug 31 https://www.reuters.com/business/russia-suspend-grain-exports-eurasian-economic-union-until-aug-31-2022-03-10/
And..
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Foxconn shutting down factories that produce for example iPhones in Shenzhen due to a covid lockdown https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/13/22976414/foxconn-production-shenzhen-lockdown-apple-china-covid
Anyone wanted some more supply chain problems?
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China has managed pretty well with the zero-covid policy so far but is the omicron variant finally going to break it? Hong Kong was also doing well until they got the shit kicked out of them by omicron.
China battles worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/china-battles-worst-covid-outbreak-for-two-years-as-cases-double-in-24-hours
China locks down city of 9 million amid new spike in cases https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-china-changchun-fbe63032924a44e4f7874d0bf0a2988f
Covid News: China Dismisses 2 Mayors and Shanghai Closes Schools as Case Numbers Rise https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/11/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine
If the omicron gets out of control in a country of 1.4 billion people with a bit questionably vaccine efficacy and coverage then oo boy..
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24 minutes ago, Satans Little Helper said:
Thanks. Good read.
Something that is not being mentioned, but has me puzzled is the Russian reliance on boots on the ground. I would have expected Russia to attack Ukraine with drones in this day and age.
Instead, we're seeing a classic boots on the ground warfare with the logistical nightmare that comes along with it. And worse - from the Russian perspective - if the West supports Ukraine with drones, the Russians have become sitting ducks. And the only thing the West needs to do, is put some Ukraine flags on them et voila. I might be completely off the mark, but this makes the Russian even more naive and misguided than they already looked, imo. We have been living in the age of drones for a while now. But somehow they missed the memo?
Well, just my guesses:
1) You can't really do an occupation with just air strikes and drones, you need military on the ground to take over the cities
2) Drones cost a lot of money, conscripts and contract soldiers are cheap
3) Russia thought that there's not going to be a much of resistance, just show up with superior firepower and people will surrender
Even if Russia takes over Kyiv and installs a puppet government it takes a shit ton of troops to keep the occupation going. The historical data says you need 5-50 troops per 1,000 inhabitants. Ukraine has a population of 44 million. That would mean a Russian occupation would need somewhere between 220k to 2.2 million troops to keep the occupation going. Russian military has 1M active personnel and 2M reserves. This would seriously deplete the Russian military.
The cost of occupation AND the economic sanctions combined, that's going to be something.
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25 minutes ago, trying to be less rude said:
i think the idea is regime change. take out the zelensky government and install a franchisee. but yes, it looks like putin and his military miscalculated the extent to which the ukrainians would fight. there was a dynamic whereby, because of the difference in numbers, there was a logistical calculation that more resistance would just mean more casualties on the ukranian side. so the russian hope was that there would not be much resistance because they wouldn't want to increase the casualties. but ukranians fucking hate putin. and they are not fucking russia, and don't want to be.
so now the russian military is on plan b (at least). think syria. putin bombed in syria, with his own military. they carpet bombed civilian areas in aleppo. the reviled assad, who gased his own people, still holds this power by force. like kim jong un etc. that's now the plan. it may mean russia turns ukraine to rubble, if it's allowed to pass.
but yeah it's a bad plan. this whole thing was always a bad idea. i think putin is desperate.
The (unverified?) intelligence is that Putin has put a bunch of FSB chiefs into house arrests and sacked generals for this complete failure of an operation which would suggest that there was no plan B that could be implemented at this point.
Also this is destroying the Russian economy completely. Even if the sanctions are lifted who is ever going to invest in Russia after they threatened to nationalize foreign assets? The brain drain has escalated to completely new levels. All the trains from St. Petersburg to Helsinki are filled with Russians with visas or double citizenships escaping the country. And who the fuck knows how long it will be until they can open the Moscow stock exchange again and when that happens people start panic selling their stocks in Russian companies to get at least some money back.
This is a major fuck up on the part of Putin and his gang.
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On 2/6/2022 at 12:21 AM, ascdi said:
Great idea for a thread! Here are some random thoughts (just my opinion)
1. don’t sample artists in your same genre (agreed)
2. don’t sample things that are already sampled
3. don’t sample lossy sources
4. don’t sample SEX SOUNDS. Way worse than blade runner samples, y’all. SO MANY electronic tracks ruined by sexy lady sounds. Ugh
5. don’t sample rappers rapping more than a few words
6. don’t sample other people’s versions of breaks
7. don’t sample other people’s 303 linez
8. DO sample the 808 state loon sound
9. DO sample the hoover bass sound
10. DON’T sample reggae (hot take here)
11. DON’T sample the door opening sound from Doom (distracting, makes me think I am playing Doom)
12. DON’T sample Autechre or Boards of Canada. Just don’t do it
13. DON’T put an annoying sample in your tracks just so people know it’s you (looking at you Terror Danjah)
14. DON’T sample video games (looking at you Burial)
EDIT: oh yeah 15. DON’T SAMPLE VINYL CRACKLE. WE GET IT
I feel like Luke Vibert probably broke all these rules maybe excepting 12
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Russia is now bombing Ukraine
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