:kazuhira-miller: Boss, we’ve established our base of operations on the island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen. Its location in the Indian ocean is ideal, allowing us to support operations in both Afghanistan and Africa

Ah yes, “universal sockets”, the type of socket which can allegedly accept a number of different plug types. We have dismissed that claim

I recently watched Designated Survivor: 60 Days which I felt was decent on this topic. Spoilers for the first couple of episodes:

But this was 2019, during the Moon Jae-In presidency and the attempts at reconciliation then, so maybe this was just reflective of the political climate at the time.

far better military protection for the people of Canada

PROTECTION FROM WHO, DONALD

I love the random capitalization too, Lumber folks, we’re going to have so much Lumber , more Lumber than you’ve ever seen before

huh, apparently: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/DS-1_Orbital_Battle_Station#Imperial_construction

Star Wars lore really has everything covered, I guess… also what:

The project dragged out over nineteen years as labor union disputes along with the supply and design problems slowed the construction

uh… good on the Empire for still having unions, I guess (do not hand it to 'em for the slavery though)? I love how this project is simultaneously using both slaves and unionized workers

I think the meme was made mostly in response to the “the Rebels were actually evil for blowing it up because of all the innocent workers on board” takes, by the Battle of Yavin there probably weren’t any Wookiee slaves still hanging around

https://xcancel.com/BrianJBerletic/status/1862865293284192720

Regarding Syria:

1. Maintain perspective - as bad as the worst case scenario may seem, Syria had previously been almost entirely overrun before Russia’s intervention in 2015 including fighting in and around Damascus itself;

2. This is going to shape Russia’s calculus regarding Ukraine - clearly any deals made with Western proxies to freeze a conflict toward “peace” will only be used to prepare for more war;

3. Russia/Syria still maintain an advantage in military aviation, taking a heavy toll out on advancing US-backed terrorists - a factor that played heavily in their defeat leading up to the long-standing freeze in the first place;

4. Escalation in Syria is going to stretch Russia, Syria, and Iran, but also the US and its allies;

5. Only time will tell how this plays out, no one should assume one way or the other unless compelling evidence emerges - opensource information only gives part of the picture;

https://xcancel.com/BrianJBerletic/status/1863068727337710071

• be very careful with information coming out. US-backed terrorists use disinformation as a weapon. Believe nothing until it is confirmed;

• That doesn’t mean the situation is not dire, but wait for reliable information before drawing conclusions;

• AGAIN - be VERY careful with “opensource” photos/videos which do not provide a full picture of the situation;

• It is very easy to stage a scene and then post it making claims that do not reflect reality, if the Ukrainians do this, surely US-proxies elsewhere can;

• Do not panic. Much of the US’ success depends on psychologically overwhelming opponents. Panic aids terrorists and their US sponsors;

• Criticizing the Syrian military for withdrawing is easy to do from a comfortable desk chair. Unless you are on the front holding your part of the line, don’t complain about those who are not;

• There are many legitimate reasons why the Syrian army would withdraw from certain areas, just as the Russian army withdrew in 2022 from Kharkov and Kherson, it does not signify the end of the war;

https://xcancel.com/ArmchairW/status/1860538358205755641

Remember that Ukraine retains a vested interest in fomenting a wider war, no matter what decisions their sponsors may or may not have made in the matter. Every cope drone raid or jury-rigged Ukrainian ballistic is going to be claimed as Western missiles from now on.

As expected, the huge ATACMS raid from earlier turned into a bunch of cope drones and two unidentified but apparently not very threatening missiles once the smoke cleared. These rumors WILL keep circulating going forward, however.

https://xcancel.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1860510537303441418

@AntonLaGuardia: INDOPACOM commander, Adml Samuel Paparo, says he expects Russia will provide submarine technology to China that will help it to close the gap with the US. Also expects RU to provide missile and sub technology to North Korea. #HFX2024

Biden’s idea of a smart tradeoff: approving/assisting ATACMs missile strikes inside Russia, changing nothing in a lost war…vs pushing Russia to transfer submarine tech to China and N Korea giving them near peer submarine capabilities. He’s just that fucking good.

…

Pro-Ukrainian propaganda is saying … the US is going to reverse engineer it from the scraps at Yuzhmash

???

yes, I’m sure the missiles that vaporized an entire factory complex totally left behind “scraps” what the fuck are these people even on about

(leaving a regular twitter link here since xcancel doesn’t seem to highlight the specific post in a thread properly)

https://xcancel.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1858019192370507904

Wow, looks like Xi was extremely straightforward during his meeting with Biden, probably the most he’s ever officially been in a meeting with a US president.

According to the Chinese readout (https://www.guancha.cn/internation/2024_11_17_755645.shtml) here’s what he told Biden were the 7 “lessons of the past 4 years that need to be remembered”:

1. "There must be correct strategic understanding. The ‘Thucydides Trap’ is not historical destiny, a ‘new Cold War’ cannot and should not be fought, containment of China is unwise, undesirable, and will not succeed."

2. "Words must be trustworthy and actions must be fruitful. A person cannot stand without credibility. China always follows through on its words, but if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another, it is very detrimental to America’s image and damages mutual trust."

3. "Treat each other as equals. In exchanges between two major countries like China and the United States, neither side can reshape the other according to their own wishes, nor can they suppress the other based on so-called ‘position of strength,’ let alone deprive the other of legitimate development rights to maintain their own leading position."

4. “Red lines and bottom lines cannot be challenged. As two major countries, China and the United States inevitably have some contradictions and differences, but they cannot harm each other’s core interests, let alone engage in conflict and confrontation. The One China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués are the political foundation of bilateral relations and must be strictly observed. Taiwan issue, democracy and human rights, development path, and development rights are China’s four red lines, which cannot be challenged. These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations.”

5. “There should be more dialogue and cooperation. Under current circumstances, the common interests between China and the United States have not decreased but increased. Whether in areas of economy and trade, agriculture, drug control, law enforcement, public health, or in facing global challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence, as well as international hotspot issues, China-US cooperation is needed. Both sides should extend the list of cooperation, make the cooperation cake bigger, and achieve win-win cooperation.”

6. “Respond to people’s expectations. The development of China-US relations should always focus on the wellbeing of both peoples and gather the strength of both peoples. Both sides should build bridges for personnel exchanges and cultural communication, and also remove interference and obstacles, not artificially create a ‘chilling effect.’”

7. “Demonstrate great power responsibility. China and the United States should always consider the future and destiny of humanity, take responsibility for world peace, provide public goods for the world, and play a positive role in world unity, including engaging in positive interaction, avoiding mutual consumption, and not coercing other countries to take sides.”

Funnily, all this is summarized in the official US readout (https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-meeting-with-president-xi-jinping-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-3/) with this short sentence: “The two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship over the past four years”. Talk about an understatement 😅. The language compared to the readout of the last Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco one year ago is noticeably more forthright, especially on the U.S.'s lack of trustworthiness (“if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another…”). Looks like he’s getting very frustrated with U.S. duplicity… The 4 red lines he enumerates are also new (not new individually as they’ve each been mentioned before, but packaging them together as “four red lines” and explicitly labeling them as such in a president-level diplomatic readout is new)

…

With the red lines on “Democracy and human rights” and “Development path/system”, it looks like China is effectively telling the U.S. it will not humor them anymore in discussions about its internal system and so-called “human rights”, and that it will consider any U.S. initiative aimed at interfering with China’s internal affairs or otherwise shape China as hostile actions on the same level as Taiwan. This is also clear with Xi telling Biden that “neither side can reshape the other according to their own wishes”.

On development rights Xi states that “the Chinese people’s right to development cannot be deprived or ignored” and criticizes how “while all countries have national security needs, the concept shouldn’t be overgeneralized or used as an excuse for malicious restrictions and suppression”. He also said that “great power competition should not be the theme of the era; unity and cooperation are needed to overcome difficulties together. 'Decoupling and breaking chains” is not the solution; mutually beneficial cooperation is the path to common development. ‘Small yards with high fences’ is not befitting of great powers."

In other words, he’s telling Biden that he believes the U.S. is attempting to curtail China’s development in the guise of national security, but that this is “an excuse for malicious restrictions and suppression” and a red line as China has a fundamental right to develop as any other country. This is all, of course, also signaling to the upcoming Trump administration. The fact these are “red lines” means they’re non-negotiable regardless of who leads the US: he’s telling Trump too that attempts to “reshape” China or restrict its development will be viewed as hostile actions. And the emphasis on US “saying one thing and doing another” also puts the future administration on notice that China will judge the US by its actions rather than its diplomatic statements.

Conclusion: by framing these positions as “lessons learned” from the past four years, Xi is effectively closing the book on one approach to US-China relations - which he’s obviously very critical about - and very clearly signaling to Trump a change is badly needed, particularly around the “4 red lines” and matching words with actions. The language is very confident, telling the U.S. they need to “treat each other as equals” and that they have no “position of strength” anymore. The US readout on this, as usual for the Biden administration, is very illustrative of exactly what Xi is complaining about: a complete disregard for China’s stance on these issues and a refusal to engage with them, or even mention them at all. Not sure that “America first” Trump and the team of China hawks he put together will be much better…

Also, do the Ukrainians even have any ATACMS left at this point?

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukrainian-army-used-nearly-all-atacms-missiles-1726014379.html

An anonymous US official told CNN that the US has supplied Ukraine with several hundred ATACMS missile systems and that Ukraine has used most of them. The official noted that the US has a limited stockpile of missile systems that can be provided to Ukraine without compromising its military readiness.

I wasn’t able to find another source in a cursory search, but have they even been doing any ATACMS strikes lately?

And even if they had the missiles, how many vehicles do they actually have left that could launch them, and what’s the chance of those vehicles getting close to the frontline (where they would need to be in order to actually meaningfully strike into Russian territory, the “long-range” here is very relative, these aren’t ICBMs) without getting taken out by the Russians (a whole bunch of artillery systems were lost in the Kursk offensive precisely because they had to be moved closer to the front in order to perform their strikes)

This whole thing seems symbolic, just the US going “feel free to use these weapons you don’t even have jack ”

yeah, Dresden goes to the CPC and Munich and its environs (most of Southern Bavaria, really) goes to the KMT, for… some reason

honestly, he should have gone full hog and given them neighboring regions so the resumed Chinese Civil War can be fought on German territory

HoI4 peace conference ass map

I like that there’s both a Chinese Nationalist and Chinese Communist zone, truly

accidentally subscribing to Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the heart

The heart was regarded in Ancient Egypt as the organic motor of the body and also the seat of intelligence, an important religious and spiritual symbol. It was considered as one of the eight parts of human body. Counter to other organs it had to be kept carefully intact in the mummy to ensure its eternal life. In Ancient Egypt, the concept of heart included three constituents: heart-haty, heart-ib, and the spiritual seat of intelligence, emotion and memory.

(why yes, I did watch a ton of the Tutenstein cartoon as a kid, how could you tell? )

I feel like unfortunately a lot of no-fappers are coming at this from a “I need to stop jacking off so I can get laid” angle, so it still comes back to sex, they love talking about how it made them more confident when talking to women.

It would certainly be nice if there were communities that actually did this though. We unironically need to have secular monastic orders, say what you will about organized religion as an institution but monks and nuns were a great idea.

they actually already came up with one, “are you still… master of your domain”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUtJBqgwNgo

deleted by creator

where does “funny fake quote” go if not in /c/memes?

It’s not long enough to be a /c/copypasta, it’s not /c/fakenews, it’s not either of the tanks, I guess it could go in /c/chapotraphouse?

extremely overpriced mid

well, it’s an accurate reflection of American manufacturing