It’s not the simple though... because the real-world result is mob rule by a Swiss HOA. There’s a reason we have things like Human Rights Charters, because realistically this system in Switzerland is reactionary, petty, and also exclusionary of minorities as the people “just don’t feel you fit in for some reason”…

In a Counter-Insurgency, “how you win” is the “win.” The SEALS alone weren’t responsible for it, I think it’s pretty clear that conventional strategy failed. After nearly 2 decades of high-tempo SF operations hunting militants and “taking the head off the snake is there is little to show it for it.…

To be fair, there is history of the SAS in Ireland that is sketchy, and though it was in the past, it isn’t as if it was a hundreds of years ago.

Drone usage is a problem because of the massive amounts of collateral damage that the programs caused, as a cheap “solution” in lieu of an actual counter-terrorism strategy involving regional development, commitment of troops, and work with regional partners. Was the drone program in part responsible for assassinating…

John McCain’s daughter... like the same John McCain that Trump made fun of because he got captured in Vietnam. Yup.

I think that happens quite alot... I seem to remember John Oliver or another talkshow playing clips of an ambassador to a Nordic country admitting he had never been there.

I dunno... career diplomats (even the ones who aren’t at the very top positions) do tend to have massive rolodexes of powerful people, and people as well who are in operational positions and not just top political positions.

Ultimately the job is quite complicated... it’s not that I doubt the management experience of…

Some of them... in theory important countries are supposed to go to professional diplomats who have long careers training for them for those roles.

Honestly no personal stake or particular interest in party, but it’s a professional interest... the policy posturing that countries take relative to their technical abilities is pretty fascinating, especially in the Asia Pacific region where NZ is located, and there are numerous contested sea borders.

While it’s…

But it literally doesn’t. Israel couldn’t project force all the way to New Zealand; Israel has no ability to project force because its navy is tiny and defensive, and its airforce would require bases to attack from (of which there are none regionally, except NZ-ally Australia). Even if they landed exclusively…

Yes, but the question is irrelevant, as it’s an insane to threaten violence on New Zealand, and also NZ is a tiny well-respected island nation in the Pacific with the closest “staging area” being it’s closest ally and buddy in a mutual defence treaty: Australia.

A combination of factors:

-colonial history, Algeria among them (and it wasn’t that long ago!)

I disliked Steven Harper but think alot of the hate of him was overblown... except his economic policy was objectively terrible. He doubled-down on a oil economy and took credit for Canada’s lucky survival through the recession (in part based on the harsh and internationally ridiculed Liberal banking rankings), and…

That’s a pretty weak excuse though... the reality is that Canada sets the number of refugees it takes, it sets it low, and it takes a fraction of Germany’s by proportion, or Sweden (smaller than Canada!). Canada’s strict point-based immigration has actually been held up as a model by the AfD (extreme right-wing) party…

Alt-Right conspiracy rhetoric is still a thing though: you have small-town candidates for AfD (the extreme right party) saying stuff like “the refugee crisis is a CIA plot to destroy Europe.” Neo-nazis know how to work within the system so their literal statement don’t cross the line legally.

The strength of Germany I…

Yes, but people do get around it by being careful.... there is still garbage press like “Bild” (very comparable to the “Sun” papers).

Breitbart is expanding into Europe apparently... you guys are exporting it to Germany now. :/

That was on the 78th anniversary of Kirstallnacht in Germany. Sad indeed.

The reality is that most people, past a certain temperature, just go from house to car to next indoor place. If it’s negative 25 Celcius... you probably aren’t really playing outside unless you’re rather hardcore.

The reality is that most people, past a certain temperature, just go from house to car to next indoor place. If it’s…

A Russian submarine was once spotted in the Canadian arctic, and they bombed it with Canadian flags. Just flew planes over it and dropped flags.