Outlaw<
Charlie is the "tipper". At least he gave that waiter a 1000 dollar tip in Philadelphia.
Is that what you were referring to?
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-rise-and-fall-of-modern-empires-2014-9.
tick tock...... forget about that daniel image/prophecy stuff.
the process is being accelerated by trying to sanction russia, as they draw closer to china and thereby build an alternative economic system( including a swift banking arrangement of their own).
Outlaw<
Charlie is the "tipper". At least he gave that waiter a 1000 dollar tip in Philadelphia.
Is that what you were referring to?
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-rise-and-fall-of-modern-empires-2014-9.
tick tock...... forget about that daniel image/prophecy stuff.
the process is being accelerated by trying to sanction russia, as they draw closer to china and thereby build an alternative economic system( including a swift banking arrangement of their own).
Metatron:
We don't agree on a lot but I think you have a good grasp of geopolitics.
The people who don't agree with your view are not capable of thinking out of the box.
They speak out of fear. They fear what the world would be like without the USA.
I am an extreme pessimist. Everyone is underestimating the seriousness of Putins goal.
Don't forget that Putin came to power by the FSB bombing their own people to justify beating up on the Chechens.
The bombing of the apartments in Moscow and other cities was blamed on the Chechens. It all worked. Yeltsin was granted imunity when Putin took over.
Everyone in Russia was focused on the Chechen war and forgot about the corruption of Yeltsin and his mobsters.
The criminals in Russia would love to see Putin go down and they WOULD kill him if they could do it without ending up with polonium in their tea.
The USA wants Putin out so they can play footsie with Medvedev. That's what the sanctions are really about.
I have to laugh when people in the west think that they are going to bring Putin down.
Mark my words. If they push Putin too hard a nuclear bomb is going to go off in NYC. It won't arrive on an ICBM. All he has to do is pass on small nuclear bomb off to a terrorist group. No return address.
A bomb in lower manhattan would drop the USA to it's financial knees. Europe will be shivering in their boots. Ukraine will capitualte when they see that the USA is preoccupied. Even Putin's oligarch enemies will be struck with terror because they will be next on his list. If the Muslim world gets too bold Putin will give a bomb to Iran to deliver to Mecca. The Shiites would love to chasten the Sunnis.
We live in a dangerous world. I would love to see a scenario where things proceed in a normal way. But it won't happen that way if you push the wrong people. Putin is the wrong person to push.
Met, as you see I forsee a messy meltdown of this unipolar world. Let's hope the resulting tribulation is cut short by the "mother ships" that have demonstrated the power to disable missiles. You know what I'm talking about.
Too bad Tom Clancy isn't around any more. He would probably have a thriller in print with the very intrigues I mention here.
Tom Clancy should have been working in the US state department.
i've been thinking about the fact that jws dont vote in elections.
the main reason for this, i guess is that they shall not be a part of this world and so on.
there was no election in the times of jesus, so yes i understand that it needs an intepretetion, but why is that intepreted that they shouldnt vote?
If JW's voted they would vote conservative candidates like all other fundamentalists. Capital punishment. Anti-Gay legislation. Anti-abortion. Banning the teaching of evolution anti-gambling etc.
These issues would eclipse any of the other issues like anti-war.
Once you open the door to voting you open the door to running for political office.
Politics would divide the congregation.
I don't vote because I am outnumbered. Exercise in futility.
wt publications http://www.a2z.org/wtarchive/archive.htm (old).
united nations http://www.randytv.com/secret/unitednations.htm.
newly baptized brothers (not sisters) because the wts needs men to reach out.
You came back with a good article to critique.
It is such a brazenly sexist article. The first paragraph was enough to make any modern woman throw it in the garbage.
The paragraph that got me was 18
"Sylvie, who has been serving
at Bethel in France for years, commented
that sisters can have a share in
commending brothers. She noted that
women may appreciate different details
or efforts that they observe. Thus their
“words of encouragement can complement
what experienced brothers say.”
The real truth is that brothers are really out to impress the sisters. Developing public speaking is rooted in the male drive to mate = just like learning to play the guitar and sing or roar about on a noisy Harley.
It's the male trying to seduce females. Brothers could care less about other brothers compliments. They will put the highest value on the attractive sister that compliments them.
1 Samuel 18:7
6 It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. 7 The women sang as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands." 8 Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?"…
Brothers learn early in their teens that if they give good talks they will have a shot at getting a "hot" sister. And like David if you get too many sisters admiring you the elders will find a way to cut you down to size.
the biggest regret i have about association with jw's is that they used me to publish their lies.. yeah.
a publisher.
think about the responsibility of a "publisher".. a publisher takes pride in bringing "truth" to the public.
The biggest regret I have about association with JW's is that they used me to publish their lies.
Yeah. A publisher. Think about the responsibility of a "publisher".
A publisher takes pride in bringing "truth" to the public. No publisher wants to be a propagandist.
People leave good jobs working for publications that ask them to publish something that is wrong.
The Watchtower calls its lackeys "publishers". So they publicize falsehoods.
To this day I feel deeply ashamed of having been used to tell people that the New World would be in full swing in the 1970's.
I sacrificed a college education. A career of choice. A life rich with options. What a noble occupation.
"the new straits times article, titled "us analysts conclude mh17 downed by aircraft," lays out evidence that ukrainian fighter aircraft attacked the jetliner with first a missile, then with bursts of 30-millimeter machine gun fire from both sides of mh17.
the russian army has already presented detailed radar and satellite data showing a ukrainian sukhoi-25 fighter jet tailing mh17 shortly before the jetliner crashed.
the kiev regime denied that its fighters were airborne in the area, however.
Kaik,
I just noticed I missed your post.
The reason it might not have been shot down over western Ukraine is there are no separatists there to blame.
If this were a false flag it would have to happen in an area where the rebels were in the proximity.
I tend to believe that whoever shot it down - it was an accident and should be treated as a tragic accident and not as a justification to further your war aims.
Since the Rebels don't have planes and Ukraine has been attacking with aircraft it is more likely that the Rebels would accidentally shoot at any plane.
"the new straits times article, titled "us analysts conclude mh17 downed by aircraft," lays out evidence that ukrainian fighter aircraft attacked the jetliner with first a missile, then with bursts of 30-millimeter machine gun fire from both sides of mh17.
the russian army has already presented detailed radar and satellite data showing a ukrainian sukhoi-25 fighter jet tailing mh17 shortly before the jetliner crashed.
the kiev regime denied that its fighters were airborne in the area, however.
Unfortunately the country with the best evidence isn't willing to share it.
Access to crash area: If Ukraine would stop bombing the crash site area the investigators could complete the ground activity.
Why didn't Ukraine stop their assault until that area could be accessed? Don't forget that the rebel army is fighting for its life. The Ukrainian army is simply intrested in punishing.
Nevertheless, the USA, Europe, and Ukraine are exploiting what might be explained as an accident on the part of either side to justify their punishment of Russia.
The illogic is disturbing. It's like theists claiming that life is so complex that it can't be understood - THEREFORE we will proceed to believe in God as the explanation.
No one knows who shot it down, but Ukraine, USA, Europe proceed as if they do because it fits their plan. Americans are too stupid to even care. After all "Russia is the Bad guy when it comes to geopolitics".
As far as the so-called "intercepted phone conversation and facebook reports" even the United States isn't accepting that as proof anymore. That stuff is too easy to falsify and Ukraine has already been caught falsifying pictures in the war.
So if the United States isn't backing the possibly fake phone conversations why should anyone believe them. However, the very unsophisticated Ukranian Right Sector - Oligarch Prisident keeps using that info because his constituency wants to believe it.
The only reason the USA doesn't release the sattelite surveilance is because a case may be made for Ukranian forces shooting down the plane.
It also may be too ambiguous and leave room for Russian speculation. Why provide evidence when you already have gotten the world's opinion on your side.
I hate these kind of things that produce conspiracy theories. But this isn't 911. We all saw Jets fly into the WTC - end of that story. But in this case the US has billion dollar space cameras trained on the war zone. They probably know. They are also smart enough to know that if they doctored that evidence it would be found out by technicians in the USA that know what they're looking at. So they co-opted the anger of Europe to kick the Russian-Dog. Hey! You gotta vent somewhere - so use the ennnemi du jour.
My personal loyalty isn't to the US or Russia. I don't trust the kind of people that reach the highest ranks in any human organization.
"the new straits times article, titled "us analysts conclude mh17 downed by aircraft," lays out evidence that ukrainian fighter aircraft attacked the jetliner with first a missile, then with bursts of 30-millimeter machine gun fire from both sides of mh17.
the russian army has already presented detailed radar and satellite data showing a ukrainian sukhoi-25 fighter jet tailing mh17 shortly before the jetliner crashed.
the kiev regime denied that its fighters were airborne in the area, however.
"The New Straits Times article, titled "US analysts conclude MH17 downed by aircraft," lays out evidence that Ukrainian fighter aircraft attacked the jetliner with first a missile, then with bursts of 30-millimeter machine gun fire from both sides of MH17. The Russian army has already presented detailed radar and satellite data showing a Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 fighter jet tailing MH17 shortly before the jetliner crashed. The Kiev regime denied that its fighters were airborne in the area, however."
"The New Straits Times article began, "Intelligence analysts in the United States have already concluded that Malaysia flight MH17 was shot down by an air-to-air missile, and that the Ukrainian government had had something to do with it. This corroborates an emerging theory postulated by local investigators that the Boeing 777-200 was crippled by an air-to-air missile and finished off with cannon fire from a jet that had been shadowing it as it plummeted to earth."
Full article at link.
Mikado,
First of all the Russians were dealing with a legitimately elected president.
The Russians clearly don't want to annex Ukraine with all of its problems.
Putin wants to build a trading group-eurasian union just like the European Union. Ukraine is one of their organic/natural trading partners.
BushI promised to not move Nato into any of the countries in the former Warsaw pact.
That promise was broken by Clinton and BushII
Russia offered a great deal - 15 billion dollars to their government welfare fund. Plus cheap cheap fuel. If rejected Russia would no longer buy Ukranian exports.
Europe hard balled Ukraine by a final offer of 1 Billion dollars to offset some tariff problems.
Clearly Ukraine would have been better off taking the Russian offer
If I had my choice I would rather live in the European Union than a Eurasian Union - mainly because I am more liberal minded. Russia is too much like American conservatives.
Western Ukraine has a strong Nazi past (Right Sector) and they hate Russians.
Ukraine realistically has had a lot of long standing border issues.
The United States spent a lot of money encouraging the rebellion in Kiev. The State department was deep into the regime change project there.
When Easter Ukraine saw that the coup detat government was going to ban the Russian language in all of Ukraine they took that as a firm signal that trouble was ahead of them.
When people in Eastern Ukraine voted to form their own governement that is when the divorce should have been hammered out at the bargaining table. Why was it OK for the Czechs and Slovaks to seperate.
Instead the new Ukraine president pushed for a military settlement.
Russia is helping the ethnic Russians. What's wrong with that?
Putin will not lose in Ukraine.
When the separatists surrender then the real fate of Ukraine will be determined.
Europe will have to help pay for the Urban destruction in the East. Ukraine will have to pay the market price for fuel so they won't even have money to buy European goods.
Ukraine will become the property of investors from the west. Ukrainians will become the new and convenient cheap labor market.
It is such a shame that ordinary citizens have to have their lives blown up by the Ukranian army.
If the USA told Poroshenko to cease their attack immediately he would. If they are lucky they will be able to dump eastern ukraine and let the russians repair the damage. Game over.
The Russians don't have to worry about Nato expanding to Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia. They all have disputes witht their neighbors that are too risky for Nato.
Mikado,
Although Ukraine jumped in on those messages and even John Kerry took those social network and tapped phones as verified intelligence most news organizations realized that they were not verifiable and wouldn't be accepted as evidence.
Most of the accounts now use words such as alleged instead of confirmed. Fog of War.
The point remains that these events are accidental and shouldn't be used as a way of defining and punishing enemies.
The USA never apologized for the Iranian airline that they accidentally shot down July 1988. 290 men women and children were killed.
The USA and Europe punish Russia for the accidental deaths in the midst of a war zone but ignore the reckless bombardment of civilians in heavily populated areas of East Ukraine resulting in close to 900 deaths so far.
Obama sends the USA airforce to rescue innocents in Iraq while he turns his head when his Ukranian buddies have surrounded cities with populations in hundreds of thousands depriving them of food, water, and electricity to even run their hospitals.
Then the head of NATO warns that if Russia tries to end the fighting by force it will be considered an invasion.
At this point the people in East Ukraine will never trust or forgive the Ukranian army for destroying their homes, schools , clinics etc. Especially when Ukraine is so broke it will be a long time before it has any money to rebuild that area.
Why doesn't the US call off the Ukrainian goons and move the whole thing to the bargaining table where it will no doubt end up.
Obama is just trying to act as tough as John McCain in the face of midterm elections.