World Politics

Political discussion here. Any reasonable opinion is welcome, but due to the sensitive nature of the topic area, please be nice and respectful to others. No flaming or trolling, please. And please keep political commentary out of the other board areas and confine it to this area. Thanks!
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Mori Chu
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Re: World Politics

Post by Mori Chu »

Nodack wrote:
Sat Feb 19, 2022 5:37 pm
You see the pictures of old ladies training to defend their country and I just think, this isn’t going to end well for them.
(img)http://ww.lotr.net/images/helms-deep.jpg(/img)

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Taiwan warns Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone
Taiwan defense ministry says 9 Chinese military aircraft have entered its air defence identification zone.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-02-24/
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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They enter their zone pretty much every day for the past couple of years don’t they? It’s called intimidation.

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Did Iran fire 12 missiles at the US base in Iraq or was it the US Consulate in Iraq, or did I just imagine it? I haven't seen any news about it here, but maybe I missed it?
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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I saw that. We left Iraq and now they are shooting at US bases in Iraq? Doesn’t compute.

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Indy
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Re: World Politics

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Nodack wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:26 pm
I saw that. We left Iraq and now they are shooting at US bases in Iraq? Doesn’t compute.
probably a biolab they are trying to take down.

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Nodack wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:26 pm
I saw that. We left Iraq and now they are shooting at US bases in Iraq? Doesn’t compute.
Yeah, I thought we left Iraq too. I was wonder, did we keep bases there or is it the consulate? It wasn't clear which it was.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Indy wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:27 pm
Nodack wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:26 pm
I saw that. We left Iraq and now they are shooting at US bases in Iraq? Doesn’t compute.
probably a biolab they are trying to take down.
:snarky snark:
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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I wonder how Putler is doing today.


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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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Oil drops again, now more than 27% below recent high
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/oil-dro ... -high.html

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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Germany will buy US-made F-35 fighter jets as it ramps up military spending after Russia's Ukraine invasion
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/europe/g ... index.html

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Indy
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Re: World Politics

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Nodack wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 2:21 pm
Oil drops again, now more than 27% below recent high
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/oil-dro ... -high.html
But the gasoline companies will continue to gouge consumers.

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Indy wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 2:57 pm
Nodack wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 2:21 pm
Oil drops again, now more than 27% below recent high
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/oil-dro ... -high.html
But the gasoline companies will continue to gouge consumers.
Gas prices usually lag when the price of oil drops, because...of course you get as much profit as possible first. It never seems to work the other way. Oil prices go up, and immediately gas prices follow.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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I’ve always wondered about that. We are talking crude oil aren’t we? You can’t use that for anything till it get’s refined into all the different products. There will obviously be a lag between selling the crude and it becoming gasoline at you local gas station. I would imagine that has something to do with the lag in the price at the pump reflecting the price of oil.

Then again I’m sure they are all greedy bastards who are going to milk the prices as long as possible.

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In2ition
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Re: World Politics

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Anyone concerned that Saudi Arabia looks like they are going to dump the dollar and instead trade oil with the Chinese Yuan as the world's reserve currency? Where is 3rdside? He may have some insight into how this could play out, for good or bad.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner. China is Russia’s ally. The lines are being drawn.

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Indy
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Re: World Politics

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And the Saudi's have all of the US made weapons, right?

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Mori Chu
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Re: World Politics

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France has its presidential election today. I am rooting for incumbent Macron to win and not his challenger, the conservative La Pen. La Pen seems to me to be a radical stooge who loves Putin and Trump.


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Mori Chu
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Re: World Politics

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Macron wins. Phew.


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Nodack
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Re: World Politics

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Fossil Fuels Received $5.9 Trillion In Subsidies in 2020, Report Finds
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/fossil-fue ... port-finds
Coal, oil, and natural gas received $5.9 trillion in subsidies in 2020 — or roughly $11 million every minute — according to a new analysis from the International Monetary Fund.

Explicit subsidies accounted for only 8 percent of the total. The remaining 92 percent were implicit subsidies, which took the form of tax breaks or, to a much larger degree, health and environmental damages that were not priced into the cost of fossil fuels, according to the analysis.

“Underpricing leads to overconsumption of fossil fuels, which accelerates global warming and exacerbates domestic environmental problems including losses to human life from local air pollution and excessive and road congestion and accidents,” authors wrote. “This has long been recognized, but globally countries are still a long way from getting energy prices right.”

The report found that 47 percent of natural gas and 99 percent of coal is priced at less than half its true cost, and that just five countries — China, the United States, Russia, India, and Japan — account for two-thirds of subsidies globally. All five countries belong to the G20, which in 2009 agreed to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies “over the medium term.”


The absurd truth about fossil fuel subsidies
https://generation180.org/the-absurd-tr ... subsidies/
U.S. taxpayers spend tens of billions of dollars a year subsidizing new fossil fuel exploration, production, and consumption, which directly affects how much oil, natural gas, and coal gets produced—and how much clean energy doesn’t.

First, let’s consider just the direct subsidies for fossil fuel production—money that flows directly from the government to fossil fuel companies to support activities like exploration, extraction, and development. A conservative estimate from Oil Change International puts the U.S. total at around $20.5 billion annually, including $14.7 billion in federal subsidies and $5.8 billion in state-level incentives. A whopping 80 percent of this goes to oil and gas (with the rest supporting coal), and most of the subsidies are in the form of tax deductions and exemptions and other “obscure tax loopholes and accounting tricks” that result in massive avoided costs for fossil fuel producers.

By comparison, direct U.S. subsidies to renewables are much smaller, and renewable energy developers aren’t even able to access many of the same breaks that fossil fuel industries do. Moreover, most of the tax breaks that renewables get—like the investment and production tax credits for wind and solar—are only temporary (so far), with expiration dates looming. Looking at the permanent tax expenditures alone, these favor the fossil fuel industry over the renewable energy sector 7 to 1, with permanent tax spending for renewables totaling only around $1.1 billion in 2016.

But this is only a small part of the picture. On top of the direct production subsidies, fossil fuels are bolstered by massive additional supports, including an estimated $14.5 billion in subsidies on the consumption side (payments that help consumers with things like paying for home heating oil), and by around $2.1 billion a year in subsidies paid for overseas fossil fuel projects.

Overshadowing all of these are the indirect or “implicit” subsidies for fossil fuels, which range from the infrastructure spending to maintain the sprawling (and aging) fossil-based energy system, to the diverse impacts that burning fossil fuels has on our health and climate. The International Monetary Fund estimated that the costs to the U.S. government from climate change, local air pollution impacts, and infrastructure damage not captured by energy taxes totaled $686 billion in 2015.

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