China won't be doing any invasions, they'd look way too hypocritical since they were victims of Japan's invasion in WW2. And that will be the thing that brings America's military might to East Asia and China hasn't caught up to us just yet with their fake aircraft carrier and copied Russian jets. China could start to suffer if they can't manage their fake economic growth, which is built on bulldozing the old villages and building massive modern cities before the villagers can make the kind of money to live in those cities (they may have put a little too much faith into "build it and they will come"). There's also the rampant corruption in the communist party (although the new president's put a major focus on fixing this) and the fact that the pollution is so widespread and they're poisoning their own land at a drastic rate. As much as I'd like China to fail a bit.. you can't fault the Chinese people for the Chinese government's policies (especially when the government isn't democratically voted in like most Western countries). And China's probably got their tentacles in too many economies just like America did, so an economic depression would screw the world again like in 2008. So conflicted!!
Bam, moderate liberal that's what I always tell people I am lol I think at this stage any war against a major power would ruin China, while their economic power is great, the base of that power isn't. It is based on tragically cheap labor and if they push their workforce to much they will be looking at rebellion. The gap between the rich and the poor is too great as well. Also with their recent activity in Asia, most countries would turn against them I think. Both because of bad relations and to eliminate the competition. The US would provide arms, sit back and... :m105:
Council Manager form of government (Local Government) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqqmGgPSL9I[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbZlrXW2BJg[/youtube] I like this one. Its like a scaled down Parliamentary System concept. Anyone here living with this kind of system (yeah with exception of countries like Australia, Canada, UK, SG with a Parliamentary System)? Here in PH we are absolute Strong Mayor/Mayor Council Form. Yeah it skcu like our National Presidential Multiparty System w/o Electoral College System. :evil:
What does everyone think of the situation in Ukraine? I personally think Putin's gone off the deep end and for some reason his country is following him. There is a lot of name calling like Hillary Clinton describing Russian actions as resembling Pre war Germany then the same with a Japanese official towards China, however take a step back ad you realize that they are absolutely right The UN needs to abolish the Security Council (Which was the dumbest idea in the history of our world) and give the UN real power or we'll be looking at another League of Nations
Putin is testing the waters I reckon. Now that he knows that the E.U and US won't do much, he can probably start another Soviet Union - East Ukraine and then probably Georgia etc. Everyones just flexing their muscles but Putin is actually the one "walking the talk". The only reason his people is following him is because of their freedom of media. Propaganda is ripe in Russia, just look at RT and their huge bias. They label anyone who goes against the Kremlin as "facists" or "neo-nazi jews" (yes, "Nazi Jews"). It's pretty much like the US and Fox News but RT is controlled by the Russian State directly. Just go to any RT video and you're guaranteed to find words like "Jew", "NWO", "Obama" etc - it's a cesspool of conspiracy theory nonsense too.
i'm a crimean immigarant who lives in turkey so i think i have things to say about this. turkish people who lived in crimea are banished, because they helped nazis during world war 2. i'm an immigrant, because my grandfather's father joined nazis. russian government banished turkish poeple and sent russian settlers to crimea. that's why, technically, crimea was russian since end of world war 2. i also heard racism was rising in ukraine. there are few anti-semitic groups formed in ukraine. i really don't know if putin acts against racism or anti-semitic movements, but i think putin might have thought "i have to protect russian people" when he invade crimea.
oh its great to have your opinion since you're so close, that said there were plenty of options to "protect Russian people" he could have asked the UN to send on troops or figured out something else. Also it doesn't sound so great when you just list the events: Ukrainian protests get violent, Russia sends troops into Crimea, Crimean overwhelmingly vote to join Russia. Wont that look like a forced vote under occupation? And now I've heard that Russian troops are moving into the rest of Ukraine, that could be just propaganda by Ukraine and others, I'm sure there's plenty of that
some people say russia invaded crimea threaten europe union, some people say "putin wants to build russian empire". so it's hard to predict what russian politicians think.
Man, Europe has such a crazy history it's soo intriguing. It's interesting to get your perspective of someone living so close to the action. What's the news coverage like in Turkey? Is it biased?
turkey can't go against russia. because turkey buys gas from russia. there are serious problems in government of turkey in these days. i don't think poeple are interested in foreign policy.
From a Turk's point-of-view, what's actually happening in Turkey? Like what's causing all these protests?
it's all about "i'm better than all of you" leftists think they're best, rightists think they're best. so they always fight. for example there are dozens of communist parties in turkey and they all say "we're real communists, others are not"
One aspect of it is the current prime minister of Turkey has been using religion to get more support for his side. Turkey, when it modernised, became a secular country, so Islam wasn't as much of a force in everyday life as much of the Middle East and the more devoted Muslims probably were feeling under pressure, especially with Western culture making its way through the youth. The rise of Islamist political parties through the Arab Spring has given the religious population some energy and they probably feel they need to use it to change the country like in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria and others (although none of those countries don't seem to be doing much better, unfortunately).
I was just about to post too lol Quite a few things have happened: Thailand had a coup, Japan revised they're Constitution to allow armed support overseas, Iraq is going to hell again, standstill in Ukraine, Boko Haram kidnapped a bunch of girls in Nigeria, etc, etc. And as always no one is doing anything. This is the bystander effect applied to countries...
Iraq & Syria is a bloody mess with ISIS going on a rampage. This is the first time I support the U.S etc to go back in and wipe these guys off the face of the Earth - but then again the US will get blamed again if the countries fall apart again. It's a tough one
