General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

Just watching an ITV report from Cuba.

 

Should the blockade of Cuba be considered an act of war? It's certainly hostile.

 

Just because you don't agree with a governmental system doesn't give you the right to do what the USA are doing.

[leicsmac]

12 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Just watching an ITV report from Cuba.

 

Should the blockade of Cuba be considered an act of war? It's certainly hostile.

 

Just because you don't agree with a governmental system doesn't give you the right to do what the USA are doing.

It probably is an act of war, but the problem is that they are powerful enough at the moment that they can seemingly get away with throwing their weight around as they like. 

 

Hopefully one day soon that will change. No nation state should have that kind of relative power. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

It probably is an act of war, but the problem is that they are powerful enough at the moment that they can seemingly get away with throwing their weight around as they like. 

 

Hopefully one day soon that will change. No nation state should have that kind of relative power. 

I'm just totally baffled how a massive country can feel threatened by an island smaller than most of its 50 states.

 

I just Googled it, and you could fit Cuba into the USA 89 times. I'm probably on some CIA watchlist now.

[leicsmac]

18 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I'm just totally baffled how a massive country can feel threatened by an island smaller than most of its 50 states.

 

I just Googled it, and you could fit Cuba into the USA 89 times. I'm probably on some CIA watchlist now.

It's not that they even consider them a threat - as you say, the very idea is factually absurd.

 

They're not addressing a threat, they are using the power they have to intimidate and daunt any places they think do not share their ideology, with the overall objective of control. They are applying Might Makes Right in the most obvious fashion, simply because they think that having power automatically gives one the right to abuse it. 

 

It's easy for a decent person like yourself to try to look for some logical or vaguely reasonable motive, because it's how decent and or logic driven people are themselves motivated. But these people aren't motivated by logic, or forethought, or even any kind of altruism when it comes to their country (as much as they would claim otherwise). 

 

Some men (and it is mostly men) are so twisted inside by power and for power, that power, and using it over other people simply because they have it, is all that motivates them. 

[Foxdiamond]

19 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It's not that they even consider them a threat - as you say, the very idea is factually absurd.

 

They're not addressing a threat, they are using the power they have to intimidate and daunt any places they think do not share their ideology, with the overall objective of control. They are applying Might Makes Right in the most obvious fashion, simply because they think that having power automatically gives one the right to abuse it. 

 

It's easy for a decent person like yourself to try to look for some logical or vaguely reasonable motive, because it's how decent and or logic driven people are themselves motivated. But these people aren't motivated by logic, or forethought, or even any kind of altruism when it comes to their country (as much as they would claim otherwise). 

 

Some men (and it is mostly men) are so twisted inside by power and for power, that power, and using it over other people simply because they have it, is all that motivates them. 

I suppose rightly or wrongly this has its roots in the 1962 Cuban Missles Crisis

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I suppose rightly or wrongly this has its roots in the 1962 Cuban Missles Crisis

No, it goes back to the Monroe Doctrine far before that. 

 

The US considers all nations in the Americas as theirs to treat or torment so long as they have the power to do both over them. 

[Jattdogg]

51 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I'm just totally baffled how a massive country can feel threatened by an island smaller than most of its 50 states.

 

I just Googled it, and you could fit Cuba into the USA 89 times. I'm probably on some CIA watchlist now.

As a Canadian, we go to Cuba by the masses and no chance am I on a watchlist. If I am, I dont care because I won't be going to the states while they are run by psychos. I don't give a shit if I ever go there again. 0 plans for it!

 

I don't agree with how the country is run but the people are so lovely. I think with the Castros basically gone and the current knob in place its only time before Cubans rise up especially with the US actions of starving the people.

[Foxdiamond]

6 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

No, it goes back to the Monroe Doctrine far before that. 

 

The US considers all nations in the Americas as theirs to treat or torment so long as they have the power to do both over them. 

I thought going back just the 64 years was enough for living memory

[Brizzle Fox]

40 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

As a Canadian, we go to Cuba by the masses and no chance am I on a watchlist. If I am, I dont care because I won't be going to the states while they are run by psychos. I don't give a shit if I ever go there again. 0 plans for it!

 

I don't agree with how the country is run but the people are so lovely. I think with the Castros basically gone and the current knob in place its only time before Cubans rise up especially with the US actions of starving the people.

When I went Cuba 20 years or so ago i couldn't believe how many Canadians I met.

 

Felt like a genuine FU to the Yanks.

 

Although quite a lot of them seemed to be sex tourists so probably best not to dwell on that.

[Jattdogg]

35 minutes ago, Brizzle Fox said:

When I went Cuba 20 years or so ago i couldn't believe how many Canadians I met.

 

Felt like a genuine FU to the Yanks.

 

Although quite a lot of them seemed to be sex tourists so probably best not to dwell on that.

You will always get those creepy types but its so nice to go to the Caribbean and not have to deal with yanks. Don't get me wrong , brits can be just as annoying in their own right but its heaven not having the yanks around

 

Of course not all yanks are that bad, we know that!

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Jattdogg said:

As a Canadian, we go to Cuba by the masses and no chance am I on a watchlist. If I am, I dont care because I won't be going to the states while they are run by psychos. I don't give a shit if I ever go there again. 0 plans for it!

 

I don't agree with how the country is run but the people are so lovely. I think with the Castros basically gone and the current knob in place its only time before Cubans rise up especially with the US actions of starving the people.

The people are unlikely to rise up because America's blockade is indiscriminate and weakens them as much as their masters.

[Leicesterpool]

Fine now if you decide to fly an England flag on your house. Cant make this up now £2,500 if flag is certain length or basically someone reports if its "spoling neighbourhood" seems like gourvement are trying provoke a reaction everytime.

Edited 9 June by Leicesterpool

[Jon the Hat]

6 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Just watching an ITV report from Cuba.

 

Should the blockade of Cuba be considered an act of war? It's certainly hostile.

 

Just because you don't agree with a governmental system doesn't give you the right to do what the USA are doing.

Who cares?  The people of Cuba are in the shit, their leaders have no answers, and they have a very powerful lobby in the US asking them to help, up to an including Rubio.  Make sod all difference to us lets be honest, we have bigger things to worry about.

[Jon the Hat]

4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

It's not that they even consider them a threat - as you say, the very idea is factually absurd.

 

They're not addressing a threat, they are using the power they have to intimidate and daunt any places they think do not share their ideology, with the overall objective of control. They are applying Might Makes Right in the most obvious fashion, simply because they think that having power automatically gives one the right to abuse it. 

 

It's easy for a decent person like yourself to try to look for some logical or vaguely reasonable motive, because it's how decent and or logic driven people are themselves motivated. But these people aren't motivated by logic, or forethought, or even any kind of altruism when it comes to their country (as much as they would claim otherwise). 

 

Some men (and it is mostly men) are so twisted inside by power and for power, that power, and using it over other people simply because they have it, is all that motivates them. 

Trump is busy fighting the battles of his youth.  Cuba is a complete irrelevance to everyone who isn't Cuban.

[Jon the Hat]

53 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

Fine now if you decide to fly an England flag on your house. Cant make this up now £2,500 if flag is certain length or basically someone reports if its "spoling neighbourhood" seems like gourvement are trying provoke a reaction everytime.

So it is not fine to hang a flag on your house?  What if it is a Brazilian flag?

[LCFCJohn]

4 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Fine now if you decide to fly an England flag on your house. Cant make this up now £2,500 if flag is certain length or basically someone reports if its "spoling neighbourhood" seems like gourvement are trying provoke a reaction everytime.

I saw the same rage baiting headline but it appears you have fallen for it!

 

I read the article and it’s not about England flags and other flags. The regulations relate to all flags. 
 

The right wing media have sensed an opportunity to stir up anger by posting it in a way that makes it sounds like it is about England flags. Who’d have thought they’d do that!

[leicsmac]

8 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

I thought going back just the 64 years was enough for living memory

Certainly so, but there is rather a lot of important historical context that goes back further on this one. 

 

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Trump is busy fighting the battles of his youth.  Cuba is a complete irrelevance to everyone who isn't Cuban.

But it is demonstrative of an attitude that, if left unchecked, will harm us all. In fact, it's already causing harm, given the ubiquity of social media and its effect on the democratic process. 

[Jon the Hat]

14 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Certainly so, but there is rather a lot of important historical context that goes back further on this one. 

 

But it is demonstrative of an attitude that, if left unchecked, will harm us all. In fact, it's already causing harm, given the ubiquity of social media and its effect on the democratic process. 

Iran are busy checking it don't worry.  He will be back to pissing around in his own back yard before we know it.

[leicsmac]

Just now, Jon the Hat said:

Iran are busy checking it don't worry.  He will be back to pissing around in his own back yard before we know it.

I'd rather he and his lackeys all over the world were not pissing around anywhere and were neutralised politically ASAP.  

 

That might take a little longer, though. Hopefully not too long.

[Lionator]

10 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I'm just totally baffled how a massive country can feel threatened by an island smaller than most of its 50 states.

 

I just Googled it, and you could fit Cuba into the USA 89 times. I'm probably on some CIA watchlist now.

Cuba was always a communist outpost I guess but also there were many of them dotted around.

 

Right now the issue is that Marco Rubio is Secretary of State and national security advisor, and his parents got kicked out of Cuba back in the day, so he’s using his opportunity as a final form of revenge. And ultimately nobody is going to defend Cuba. Russia can’t and isn’t even communist these days anyway and China just aren’t either. In 1962 the Soviet Union needed Cuba so they could stick nukes there to keep America in check. Ballistic submarines means they don’t need that now. So what you’re seeing with both Cuba and Venezuela is one man’s personal motivation to kick all ‘anti-American’ regimes out of the western hemisphere once and for all. 

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Cuba was always a communist outpost I guess but also there were many of them dotted around.

 

Right now the issue is that Marco Rubio is Secretary of State and national security advisor, and his parents got kicked out of Cuba back in the day, so he’s using his opportunity as a final form of revenge. And ultimately nobody is going to defend Cuba. Russia can’t and isn’t even communist these days anyway and China just aren’t either. In 1962 the Soviet Union needed Cuba so they could stick nukes there to keep America in check. Ballistic submarines means they don’t need that now. So what you’re seeing with both Cuba and Venezuela is one man’s personal motivation to kick all ‘anti-American’ regimes out of the western hemisphere once and for all. 

As an addendum to this, it's all also a way of holding onto or securing more power for he and his. 

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

As an addendum to this, it's all also a way of holding onto or securing more power for he and his. 

Yeah Rubio defo wants a run at 2028 (and probably stands a good chance). If he can say he was the guy that made the western hemisphere completely pro-USA, then that’s something no candidate has been able to say for 100 years at least, maybe ever. I mean Rubio is basically the functioning president at this point. 

[Lionator]

The Reform candidate in the Makerfield bi-election is sooo bad 

[RowlattsFox]

Just now, Lionator said:

The Reform candidate in the Makerfield bi-election is sooo bad 

Problem is a lot of the core reform voters don't care who the candidate is, and probably couldn't even tell you who it is. 

It might persuade a few on the fence not to bother though. 

 

 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Yeah Rubio defo wants a run at 2028 (and probably stands a good chance). If he can say he was the guy that made the western hemisphere completely pro-USA, then that’s something no candidate has been able to say for 100 years at least, maybe ever. I mean Rubio is basically the functioning president at this point. 

That sounds about right (though I'm not sure about the last sentence) but also I think it's not really much new under the sun. It's just an extension of Trump-style abuse of power for personal gain.