I wonder what Taleb considers Med. I know he doesn’t like being called an Arab, and also, that there were a lot of Greek and Phoenician colonists in North Africa, but still any Übermenschen concept that includes the Levant and Southern Europe seems hard enough to justify without including North Africa.

I’ve dropped this link before, but putting it here again since this is an open thread: http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/2012/07/wwii-myths-t-34-best-tank-of-war.html

The T-34 wasn’t nearly as good as people believe. It was probably inferior to the Sherman in fact.

Taleb incorporates North Africa into his definition. He wants them to stop identifying as “Arabs”.

I think that there are a lot of Christian Lebanese who identify more with Greece and Cyprus than with the middle east. Taleb certainly is one.

North Africa, save Egypt, was historically “med”, but that changed after the rise of Islam. Similarly, Turkey and Syria used to be med but since have joined the middle east after Islam.

Still haven’t flown on a 787. Going to India again in September and plan on getting there via 787.

The T-34 was like a lot of Russian military tech, superior in some ways but inferior in others.

The German anti tank guns couldn’t penetrate T-34 armor. That is huge. The sloping armor was a great innovation. It was also easy to manufacture and maintain.

But it was unreliable and lacked radios which had already become vital for armored warfare.

This same pattern continues today. Look at the SU-57: it is vastly kinetically superior to anything that Europe has and probably even has a kinetic edge over the F-22. But it has poor reliability (relative to western aircraft) and its avionics and weapons are at least a decade behind western ones. It’s “stealth” is a total joke.

good luck with that

The 3.7 cm Pak 36 couldn’t penetrate the T-34.

The 5 cm Pak 38 could, though only at short range.

In 1942 the 7.5 cm Pak 40 was introduced which could reliably penetrate the T-34 throughout the war. The same gun also equiped the PzKw IV (7.5 cm KwK 40) on the personal orders of the H-man.

Sloping armor wasn’t a new invention first applied to the T-34. The T-34 was simply the first tank with all-around sloped armor, which required some design tradeoffs (reduced interior space and bad ergonomics).

The Su-57 is quite new so its reliability isn’t something I’m prepared to judge. What’s wrong with its avionics or weapons? Unlike the F-22 it has IRST, cheek radars, and a tail radar. Carlo Kopp thought highly of it when it first appeared, unfortunately he stopped updating his magnificent website (http://ausairpower.net) more than four years ago.

The Russians clearly made a conscious design choice to focus on maximizing the Su-57’s flight envelope over maximizing stealth. Probably Russia’s technological lead in VHF radar informed their choice. America in a way made a similar choice with the F-22, which was selected for production over the YF-23 which had superior stealth.

He doesn’t want to identify with smelly barbarian desert nomads with their head chopping religion but rather with the lost civilization of antiquity. I can’t say I blame him.

Everything to the West of Ctesiphon used to be part of the Hellenistic/Roman Pagan and later Christian World. From Alexander to Heraclius, it was a 900 year run all told. All of it forever obliterated by Islam and it’s bloodthirsty semitic tribal brigands. Europe held the line at Austria and Spain and was even able to recover some lost territories for a time. They have however managed to bypass those national geographic barriers and now Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden are the beacheads of the latest rounds of Mohammedan pillage.

The Russians clearly made a conscious design choice to focus on maximizing the Su-57′s flight envelope over maximizing stealth.

That’s what they say but what is more likely is that Russian industry isn’t capable of the precision needed to manufacture low RCS aircraft. That IRST bulging out of the front is a terrible sign. It means that the aircraft’s RCS is so high that adding the IRST didn’t materially increase the RCS.

Look I like Russian aircraft. They show human ingenuity at it’s best but the limits of Russian industry are really starting to catch up with them.

You realize that your complaints about Superjet have nothing to do with the plane itself? The cabin is furnished according to the airline’s specifications, so this is who you should blame for the lack of monitors and USB sockets. Even the creaking is most likely caused by the cheap-ass interior plastic.

“The German anti tank guns couldn’t penetrate T-34 armor”

In ’41 the Germans used the 37mm pak, that was indeed useless against the T34, but the pak 75/40 L46 could take a T34 from at least 1 km. It was introduced at the beginning of ’42 and was still in use long after the war. The L48 version was also used on Pkw IV and other armored vehicles.

I’m honestly surprised to see Hui on that map in that location. I had no idea that they were so far into the heart of China. I guess maybe I shouldn’t be surprised because of Zheng He being an admiral, but, on another level, it seems so strange that Islam was able to make such inroads into China. I guess they were invited in – I am surprised.

Well, Iraqi Christians often don’t identify as Arabs, but as Chaldeans. They claim to be descendants of the original Babylonians who were conquered and swamped by the dirty Arabs coming from the south.

I am far from an expert on China, as can be revealed by my name, but I did find this talk quite illuminating some years ago when I first stumbled upon it. It kindled my interest in China and made me deepen it by reading. I still don’t understand much of China, which is why it is a fascinating place.

She has an interesting perspective. On the one hand she mocks the excessive obsession of ‘eurocentrism’ in many Western universities but at the same time, she criticises what she perceives as the stilted view of many Chinese historians who prefer a “continuous civilisation” narrative. She spends much of her talk vigorously questioning the latter Chinese narrative without trying to fall into a post-nationalist trap that about ‘imagined communities’ and similar tripe which is very much in fashion in Western humanities these days.

The video is long, but I think you’d find it illuminating. The maps help drive her point home, but you could also just download the video and convert it and listen to it on your commute. It’s a good primer, though obviously far from sufficient when it comes to China’s identity and history and outgrowth as a nation.

Ethnically they refer to themselves as Assyrians, same as their neighbors in northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. Chaldean is just a term for those whose churches are in communion with Rome after splitting from the Church of the East (the so-called Nestorian church) back in the 16th century. I think the only MENA Christians that call themselves Arabs these days are the Palestinians; traditionally the Orthodox in Lebanon and Syria were associated with pan-Arabism, but lately with stuff like Operation Antioch they’ve been focusing more on their Hellenic roots.

Hui doesn’t mean Chinese Muslim in this case. English use of pinyin doesn’t usually include tone markers. Hui in this case an abbreviation of Huizhou which was a historic prefecture. There are zero Muslims there. There used to be significant Chinese Muslim presence in Shaanxi, Yunnan, and Gansu but they were burned out and their numbers there are a fraction of what they were in the 19th century.

Sukhoi Superjet is comparable to Embraer not Airbus A320/Boeing 737 which are bigger planes and would be comparable to the upcoming MC 21.

The interiors are the choice of the airline so can’t blame Sukhoi for that.

The vibration/creaking noise well as a thumb rule the larger the plane the less likely it will be tossed around while in flight due to inertia So 747 will be more comfortable than 737 which will be better than an Embraer.I think it is as quiet as the Embraer E series jets which is in the same class size wise.

The one serious mistake Sukhoi made was going for French Engines SaM 146 instead of US/UK Ones.

Jet engines is one area of manufacturing where the Anglos reign supreme(GE,PW,RR).

Russia has not made the same mistake with the MC 21 whose international version will have Pratt and Whitney GTF engines.These is an indigenous engine option as well PD 14 but that will not be competitive internationally vis a vis fuel efficiency

Thats not Hui as in Hui Muslims, it’s Hui as in the Huizhou variant of Chinese.

The next Kholmogorov translation from Fluctuarius Argenteus is going to be this one: Николай II становится для нас анти-Сталиным (“Nicholas II is becoming an anti-Stalin for us”).

Idiot Kholmogorov engaged in the glorification of Stalin. There is no better way to glorify Stalin than to oppose him Nicholas II.

Probably Kholmogorov received a grant from the FSB to discredit the “Russian nationalism”. But why the fucking shame to re-translate into English – I do not understand

The Superjet 100 didn’t even have sockets to charge your cell phone or laptop with

As others have remarked, it’s the airlines’ choice. In my experience, short haul flights never have it.

Probably you also never flew small planes, which are usually quite noisy, unlike bigger planes like the 777 or A380. The 787 has a further edge in that department due to its super low drag coefficient. The choice of interior materials is also important.

So probably not that bad.

The one serious mistake Sukhoi made was going for French Engines SaM 146 instead of US/UK Ones.

It’s probably better to avoid Anglo cooperation, due to the risk of sanctions.

I think back then the reason was that there was already a history of cooperation with the French, and they were probably more willing to share the technology and license local production.

As densely packed as any Airbus, and way more vibrations and creaking sounds than the average flight

The interior depends on the airline, not the airliner frame.

The French are phenomenal about sharing tech. If you are looking to partner with a country on a large scale project, France should be your first choice.

The problem is that Uncle Sam can be very “persuasive” when he wants you to partner with American companies instead. So France ends up working with countries like Egypt, Russia, India and Brazil while being shut out of more lucrative contracts. Too bad.

How?

What have the French transferred technology wise to any other country that can be considered State of the Art?

India was sold obsolete Viking rocket engine tech by the French which are used in its PSLV space launch vehicles.

In state of the art stuff like Ardiden helicopter engine produced in India as the Shakti(For HAL LCH Attack helicopter) they let India do screw driver assembly and charge a heavy fee for that.All critical components are flown in from France.

Much the same for Scorpene class SSK submarine being built in India where the French are again dragging their feet vis a vis TOT though this time we are delaying TOT milestone linked payments so they should come around.

Also lacking economies of scale French tech is almost always more expensive and less advanced than their american equivalents.

In contrast Russia allows India to produce very competent Su 30 Mki aircraft more or less from raw materials and gave us blue prints and tech help to produce advanced cryogenic engines for our Space launch vehicles in the early 1990s.

We also produce state of the art Yakhont cruise missiles(as the Brahmos) and will soon produce hypersonic missiles as well Brahmos 2 etc.

They also helped us design sub components of our Delhi/Kolkata/Vishakapatnam class destroyers.

Oh and they lease us their state of the art Akula II Nuclear Attack Submarine so that we gain operational expertise and build up crews before our indigenous attack SSNs become operational early next decade.This is not the first time they have leased us nuclear subs(Nations are forbidden to sell N subs to each other so this long term leasing business was a work around)

Now that is what we call a partner.

US transferred Japan/France its nuclear reactor tech in the 1960s.

UK transferred ship building tech to S Korea etc.

what was their estimated iq.

lack of radio would still be the #1, #2, and #3 problem

Perhaps, but being highly uncomfortable and having the commander also be the gunner were also big disadvantages.

this would be reflective of experience of the plane as a whole

All small planes are like that, in my experience. I only like big and recently built planes like the 777, 787, and the A380.

And Romans and Medieval Britons believed they were descended from the Trojans

How?

They resurrected your Kaveri engine program. Russia didn’t even offer even after you put down billions to co develop the SU-57.

What have the French transferred technology wise to any other country that can be considered State of the Art?

They let you build the entire Rafale.

You’re all ignoring the Christie Suspension which allowed high overland travel speeds.

The Red Army exploited any holes in the German lines by pouring all their reserves into any penetration. “Reinforcing Success”

Yes the armor was great and they were easy to manufacture, but their overland travel speed combined with Soviet Doctrine is what won the war. It’s not having the best tank, it’s having the best combination of quality, quantity and doctrine. The Red Army clearly had that, in spite of Stalin’s best efforts …

Arguably Mr. Christie is most influential Mechanical Engineer of 20th Century …

Probably a lot higher than those of Arabs. There are many in Detroit. They live in wealthier areas, tend to work as professionals. They are rather materialistic, one of my friends dated one – 20-something professional in finance or something, but still living at home so she can afford a new higher-end Mercedes, only wore designer clothes (Armani store is full of them). But superstitious, afraid of the “evil eye.” Contemptuous of Arabs who live in poorer areas.

Chaldeans may be right, though. Their ancestors converted to Christianity under the Persians, not after the Arab invasion. Although it is likely that their Arab neighbors aren’t all invaders but locals whose ancestors converted to Islam over the years.

I flew to Moscow on Aeroflot in an Airbus and flew out in a Boeing. Difference is night and day. Airbus is cramped and terrible.

Screwdriver assembly with all critical components(Engine,Radar,Avionics,even sections of the aero structure) flown in from France is not the same thing as letting us build the whole aircraft almost from raw materials in the country like India builds the Su 30 Mki.

Russia is not continuing research in Kaveri class engines (Klimov RD 33 series is not being meaningfully upgraded and Klimov has been asked to focus on Helicopter engines now that it is part of UEC) they can only afford research in one class of fighter aircraft engines i.e. Type 30 for PAK FA .

We build Su 30 Mki engine from raw materials in India btw including the all important hot section(HP turbine and Compressor).

The ‘help’ on Kaveri is essentially an offer to license build M88 engine (Rafale) and rename it Kaveri 2 with all critical components flown in from France.Like the Ardiden helicopter engine we build as the Shakti. No thanks!

We will build a non after burning version of it and fly our AURA UCAV on it.That’s basically it for the Kaveri.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRDO_AURA

We build Su 30 Mki engine from raw materials in India btw including the all important hot section(HP turbine and Compressor).

I was not aware of that. Very impressive. Congratulations.

Not sure why it matters if the raw materials come from India, though.

Screwdriver assembly with all critical components(Engine,Radar,Avionics,even sections of the aero structure) flown in from France is not the same thing as letting us build the whole aircraft almost from raw materials in the country like India builds the Su 30 Mki.

Well then why did you buy it? Obviously your own government was happy with the level of tech transfer or they wouldn’t have signed the contract.

Thanks for that explanation.

One reason I was a bit confused is wikipedia mentions Zhongyuan as being one Hui area. It is certainly far enough East, though not coincident with the language map. The Zhongyuan page does not mention the Hui though.

What kind of Boeing and Airbus those were? What year they were produced?

Palestinian Christians probably call themselves Arabs out of a certain pragmatism, rather than a natural desire.

This is bullshit. Low RCS is simply a matter of applying Ufimtsev’s equations, which can be done with any modern personal computer. Then there’s the matter of materials, where the Russians in fact made progress. They (allegedly) developed a cheaper and better replacement for electromagnetic radiation absorbing ferritic paint, for instance.

Obviously they prioritized maneuvering and sensors over the lowest possible RCS.

Whether or not they made the correct choice we hopefully never find out.

I think it was A330 Airbus and Boeing 777.

Generally Aeroflot is very comfortable and spacious, for “cattle class” flights. I prefer Aeroflot to Lufthansa or Delta when flying to Moscow. The Airbus experience was shocking – my knees were jammed against the seat in front. Never happened on the old Soviet planes nor Boeing.

Here is an unusual and unsung hero: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/julius-erasmus.html

German WW2 veteran decided to personally provide a dignified burial for every soldier he could find, ultimately burying 1,569 soldiers.

As densely packed as any Airbus, and way more vibrations and creaking sounds than the average flight (though I suppose I can’t extrapolate too much from n=1 flights).

Maybe next time the Russian nationalist will have more luck and fly with a SSJ not named after a Soviet Bashkir poet.

It will happen on Boeings and the CRAIC CR929 when it appears.

Aircraft manufacturers are currently experimenting with staggered cabin layouts which will allow them to cram even more people in cattle class.

Solution: get some money and fly business class.

I’m willing to put up with a few hours of discomfort for the sake of $1500 roundtrip, the cost of an upgrade to business class. And then multiply it by three, the number of people travelling. That’s almost 2 weeks of personal income – not worth it.

But this Airbus was very annoying.

Refer to: “get some money” 🙂

I’m curious, how you and your family have integrated into the Ukrainian community in Michigan? Are the malankas still as popular as back in the day when they were packing them into the Cultural Center? How about during the warmer months, is the Dibrova Oselia still a popular destination? Plenty of churches to visit (and join!)? Lot’s of Ukies used to live in Warren, Fenton, Flint, Hamtraken,they’re probably even further north now…

Duterte plans hand out guns to trusted ‘community leaders’. This may or may not be a good idea but I really enjoy his style, truly /ourguy/.

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-philippines-aims-to-arm-community-leaders-to-help-fight-crime-drugs-2018-6

I didn’t grow up there, just spent some time while at the medical center for my internship/residency, so didn’t integrate other than going to church and having shashliks at Dibrova.

I left long ago, but Trump Jr. came to the Ukrainian cultural center in Warren and promised that his dad would be better for Ukraine than Obama was.

This earnest negress is convinced Trump will get a much larger share of the black vote in 2020: http://blackrepublican.blogspot.com/2018/06/yuge-5-reasons-trump-will-win-40-states.html

Scott Adams tweeted out this link.

I suspect she is correct and that Trump will get 15-20% of the black vote in 2020.

Not everyone can, or wants to, run a factory.

For some reason, I thought that you still lived in the area?…Do you think that Trump Jr. was correct in his assessment?

An entire Politico article of “powerful takes:”

https://www.politico.eu/blogs/the-linesman/2018/06/world-cup-2018-russia-politics-a-to-z/

P is for Putin, the presiding deity, malign and self-satisfied. He wanted the cup for Russia, and he made sure FIFA gave it to him. What better way to whitewash your reputation as an autocrat than by throwing your doors open to the world for a month of vodka and football. Russia, and Russians, will be on their best behavior. We have seen it reported that train and bus conductors in all the host cities are being taught how to smile.

Clearly, tv shows instructing his minions(all Russians, apparently) on how to appear civilized to the Western world are being broadcast right now.

President DAKKA DAKKA is my president.

I reeeeeeeaaaaallllly don’t think so. Blacks hate Trump far more than any other demo.

I think in 2020 Trump will get 63% of the white vote, 43% of the Latino vote, 36% of the Asian vote, 21% of the faggot vote and 11% of the black vote. Final margin: Trump 52, Kamala Harris 46.

Black women hate Trump. Black men don’t.

And something unexpected seems to be going on in the black community right now thanks to Kanye.

Trump could improve his numbers with black women by carrying on an affair with a negress. Stacy Dash would be an obvious choice if she’s not too old for his tastes (unlikely given that he screwed Kelly Anne Conway).

That’s optimistic considering Trump actually lost the popular vote by 2% to Clinton of all people, the platonic essence of the shrill hectoring school marm no on likes. It was only thanks to the weird electoral College situation that Trump became president. Unfortunately that same system is going to come back and bite the Republicans in the ass once the Democrats flip Texas via demographic change and then you are looking forward to eternal lefty rule of the US executive branch.

It calls itself Die Mannschaft (or “the Team”), with Turkish and African players alongside a solid Germanic core. Yet non-Germans remain unprepared to give them love.

How is such racism allowed to be published?

Provided the economy stays in good shape Trump will improve his results in 2020, as he has now been “normalized”.

We can stop the Democrats from getting a lock on the executive branch by increasing our share of the white vote and/or suppressing Democrat voting blocs.

Time is of course running out.

I think he was.

Democrats may run up the score in California thanks to the immigration policy, but that won’t matter. Gettting more of the black vote will strengthen Trump in the Rust Belt. If the Democrats run Biden they have a chance, but if they go Kamala they don’t.

I think the GOP may have exactly one more presidential election that is winnable. Beyond that… Though it is true they didn’t do a lot of good in general when they won. Maybe there is hope for the Democrats to fracture into more than one party, but I wouldn’t bet on it happening anytime soon.

What is left? I don’t know. I guess there is always hope of a technological revolution for freedom. But technology is kind of a double edged sword.

Tesla Update

Polish Perspective is looking good now, as Tesla shares have climbed to $355. Not too far from its 52 week high of $389.

My thesis remains unchanged, and I am now short. I have not suffered a margin call yet.

Also credit due to Musk’s shill Ross Gerber, who agreed to appear on Quoth the Raven Research’s podcast.

Meanwhile Exxon Mobil refuses to come unglued from its stubborn 80ish position despite a good oil price and surging production (company is about to hit 4 million barrels per day–that’s double Norway’s output).

Many consumer staples are a great buy at the moment. Get long Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Hormel, Kimberly Clark, Clorox, and Unilever. Take a pass on Pepsi and Colgate Palmolive.

I am also coming to the point of view that traditional automakers may be systematically undervalued. The case for their low earnings multiples is that the auto business is cyclical. But I do not believe repeats of the last two recessions will occur. These were artifacts of deepening globalization and “neoliberalism”. The “system” is now complete and thus future recessions will be “normal”.

Bank stocks are definitely undervalued for the same reason. They’re all cheap other than Deutsche Bank which you couldn’t pay me to own. Deutsche Bank is an absolute disgrace.

Russian MOD claims the US and Syrian militants are preparing for a false flag gas attack provocation to prepare for further military strikes on Syria.

http://tass.com/defense/1009105

I only watched part of it, but much of it is nonsense. Keep in mind that the woman is a leftist quisling out to deconstruct Chinese historiography.

The reason why Chinese historians prefer a continuous civilization narrative is that all previous Chinese historians had hewed the same line. The orthodox cannon 24 histories covers 2000 years of imperial state building. China has perhaps too much history and it’s written legacy of statecraft is thick and overflowing with historical allusions to past dynastic rulers. Her argument that China was never unified using some retarded maximal Qing borders is akin to arguing the US didn’t exist as a unified polity prior to the mid 20th century because Hawaii and Alaska weren’t yet states.

Political interregnums where multiple competing states existed simultaneously has been the undesired exception since the Qin defeated all the other ducal heirs of Zhou. Chinese states do not recognize the political legitimacy of other Chinese states, period. Like in Highlander, in the end there can be only one. This is the reason why Taiwan must be crushed and brought to heel.

Why is it that only Anglos seem to be able to make good jet engines? I know there are other manufacturers based on joint ventures between Anglos and either France or (Japan and Germany).

Tell me more about Bank stocks and perhaps Financial Services ones too. I’ve been told this is a good place to invest right now, don’t know for how long?…

I wonder, although I don’t think that he was ‘Putin’s man’ by any means, he still seems to exhibit an inordinate love affair with Russia, and seems willing to overlook a lot. Whatever his true relations with Russia were, they haven’t seemed to help his cause to this point?…

Trump will definitely flip Minnesota, and probably take NH in 2000. Suspect more blacks won’t vote rather than actually voting for Trump.

Because Germany lost the war, and Russia suffered under communism. Operation Paperclip then conveniently relocated most of Germany’s jet engine engineers to the United States. Hans von Ohain went on to run the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

Safran makes reasonably competitive military jet engines.

German and French industry are also effectively integrated into the Anglo jet engine supply chains.
Rolls-Royce Deutschland, CFM International, and International Aero Engines.

Jet engine design and manufacturing industrial bases also exist in Sweden (Volvo Flygmotor, which planned a clean sheet design for the Gripen NG which was rejected for budgetary reasons) and Japan (Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries).

The Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol bomber has indigenously developed and produced high bypass turbofan engines. I would not be surprised if these were developed with an eye to cracking the civilian market in the future. Perhaps in the next decade we’ll see IHI engines on the Mitsubishi Regional Jet?

IHI is also developing a low-bypass afterburning turbofan for the Mitsubishi X-2 Shinden stealth fighter.

Japan’s industrial strategy has been to merge its aerospace industry with Boeing (787 is as much a Japanese aircraft as an American one) and United Technologies, but I suppose they’re hedging their bets.

It seems like Russia and China are in the process of merging their aerospace industries, which means they’ll no doubt develop competitive engines sooner or later.

Inteligence leading to engineering excellence. Watched a programme on Rolls Royce, impressive stuff, real value added manufacturing.

EM FX hammered as the USD surges, Russia unaffected, Russian equities still so cheap. When gold cracks 1400 we should see fireworks, I wonder what will drive it?

We’re late in the economic cycle right now, so the best sector is consumer staples as these are defensive stocks. People still need toilet paper and toothpaste during recessions.

Best bank bar none is JP Morgan Chase. I feel comfortable owning that as long as Jamie Dimon remains captain of that ship. As a Chase credit card customer I am impressed with their technology. So does Warren Buffet, who owns over 50 million shares in his personal account. Berkshire Hathaway also owns shares in Wells Fargo (good bet once the government stops fucking with them), US Bancorp, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and BNY Mellon.

Banks are attractive businesses for the simple reason that they receive money upfront and only have to pay out later. The time to stay out of banks is when they’re obviously lending money to extremely dubious enterprises as in the naughties.

As for financial services, I like AFLAC and Berkshire Hathaway itself (a conglomerate, but one of the world’s largest insurers). VISA and American Express are great companies, but their current stock prices are not attractive.

AFLAC has increased dividends every year in a row for 35 years. It’s also the only insurer that has a truly strong brand, thanks to their loveable duck. Interestingly AFLAC gets about three quarters of its business from Japan, and the AFLAC duck is a beloved mascot in Japan.

The Japanese AFLAC duck however has a very polite voice, sometimes wears a cape, and hangs out with a white cat. Gilbert Gottfriend was the original voice of the American AFLAC duck. He Tweeted out some tasteless tsunami jokes in 2011, and as a result was immediately fired by AFLAC.

Bank stocks aren’t something you should consider a permanent part of your portfolio owing to the habit banks have of blowing themselves up once a generation. AFLAC and Berkshire Hathaway are the sort of stocks you can sit on for fifty years.

Of course you don’t need to actively invest either. Most people should simply automatically fund a target date retirement fund (Vanguard) or a robo-advisor account (Charles Schwab, Wealthfront, or Betterment).

Russian equities are indeed dirt cheap, and the Rouble is also low. Double bargain.

Downside is the RTS is dominated by dubious Kremlin-controlled enterprises operated mainly for the benefit of the corrupt apparatchiks surrounding Vladimir Putin, and actual entrepreneurial companies run by professional managers themselves become targets for acquisitive Kremlin-controlled enterprises.

Great recent example being Magnit.

Portuguese equities are also cheap. But I don’t know anything about Portugal.

You should invest everything in Ukraine.

If the Rada ever repeals the idiotic law banning Ukrainians from selling land (seriously, this is the law in the Ukraine) then Ukrainian farmland would be a good investment if you can tolerate the geopolitical risk. No need to be a farmer either, just lease it out.

In fact I could see the Ukraine in general as having many investment opportunities simply owing to how underdeveloped the country is relative to its human capital.

Thanks for the update. You seem like a smart ‘money guy’, I bet that you work in the industry?…I’m a ‘marketing’ guy within the industry, doing a lot of paper pushing. I’m seriously considering sitting for the Series 65, though…

What more than my soul can I invest?? 🙂

How about you, any shares in Peking Duck (one of my favorites!)?

Congratulations on being rated a top IQ expert, AK!

You should do a few more posts on IQ.

Much of it is still stuck in crypto, to be honest, which I’ve been relatively fortunate for developing an early interest in. Still trying to make a call going forward, though.

I’m in manufacturing, but I’ve been very interested in finance for many years.

I do have a Series 65, which I did to comply with the (now repealed) Fiduciary Rule for 401(k) plans without paying for a completely unnecessary investment advisor (20 basis points).

It’s somewhat useful in that it allows me to dispense financial advice to my employees as a fringe benefit. Since they’re rural proles they are completely unable to get decent financial advice on their own, so this benefit helps retain talent. I was able to advise a girl on how to obtain a subsidized USDA Rural mortgage for instance so that she did not need to make a down payment.

I have a talent retention strategy for proles I call the Web of Benefits. It consists of offering so many different benefits that the employee begins to see it as impossible to separate himself from the company, because doing so would result in the loss of so many benefits as to be unthinkable. I devised this strategy after learning, to my surprise, that proles care more about health insurance than wages (beyond a certain level) and are unable to calculate the financial value of benefits.

Currently we offer silver health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, a 401(k) plan (4% match), and a 10% discount at a local sporting goods store.

I intend to add life insurance, accident insurance, cancer insurance, hospital insurance, critical illness insurance, short-term disability insurance, broadband internet, and Verizon cellular service.

Then if you quit, not only do you lose tons of insurance, but you also lose your internet and cellular service. No one will ever quit again. 🙂

No one will ever quit again.

St Peter don’t you call me I cause can’t go:
I owe my soul to the company store.

Sixteen Tons – Frankie Lane

This JRL promoted piece has the standard leftist BS about the Russian Revolution:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/06/richard-pipes-cold-war-russian-revolution

Unlike some other matters, Pipes’ isn’t wrong in noting that the image of a foreign intervention on the side of the Russian Civil War era Whites is bloated from reality. The author of the above piece hypes White atrocities with inaccurate generalizations, while suggestively downplaying Red violence.

Wow, with such generous benefits I’m sure that you’ll manage to keep them glued to their workstations with these ‘golden handcuffs’. Obviously, you have a very unique and talented bunch of workers that you want to keep around, otherwise how can your company afford to pay these exorbitant benefits?

The author of the above piece hypes White atrocities with inaccurate generalizations

But the Whites were ‘vile anti-semites’!!!!!!!!

The deal is that other than major medical insurance the benefits are not that expensive. That said we have margins around 20%, and I think I can get us to 25%. Yearly top line growth is around 20%, something I’d like to accelerate.

Most workers, especially proles, irrationally overvalue their benefits.

Or you could consider it rational given the labor involved in providing such things for yourself, and the fact that most Americans prefer not to save much money owing to well-developed credit systems in America. So benefits provide a safety net and frees them to spend their money on things they prefer like housing, entertainment, cars, and so forth.

If we go with the rational thesis the Web of Benefits is a mutually beneficial arrangement in which their labor and loyalty are bartered for my brain and administrative talents.

Some employees I’m not too pleased with, but yes many are excellent. We have one girl in particular who testified against her own sister (to be clear her sister was in the wrong) in an administrative law hearing regarding unemployment insurance. Despite having a terminally ill toddler she still gives us 50-60 hours a week.

Beyond her ordinary wages and benefit I did her the favor of arranging a new, well-compensated job for her husband at a company my friend runs. I plan on developing her into an executive, which is kind of amusing to me since she’s both prole and female. But whatever. Talent is talent.

We have a strategy of offering the best blue collar wages and benefits in town so we have our pick of talent and little to no turnover.

Professional talent is difficult for us to recruit since we’re in the middle of nowhere, so I effectively have three or four jobs. Fortunately we did manage to recruit one of the best engineers in our field in the entire country, but he refuses to live here.

I’ve also found that for positions which don’t require creativity or strength that women are generally better employees since they love following orders and love drudgery, and they are much less likely to demand promotions or pay increases. Single moms are particularly good since they have no other options. That said one issue with female employees is they always need time off to deal with their families.

Bullshit. In exile, many of them (not all) had the opportunity to exhibit such – but didn’t.

Like there weren’t anti-Jews among the Reds, Poles and Ukrainian separatists of that time period.

Look at the bright side, Mickey, at least he didn’t take any pot shots at Skoropadsky! 🙂

Despite having a terminally ill toddler she still gives us 50-60 hours a week.

Why would a woman in her right mind do such a thing?

Also I seem to remember that you wrote once that single mothers were a threat to civilization and should not be subsidized in any way. Why do you even have some in your staff then? This is a honest-to-God kind of question, no stealth criticism of yours implied — just asking.

On a different note, I am wondering who AK is becoming so anti-anything-Russian, to the point of blaming Sukhoi for the absence of power outlets of which they are not responsible. It’s really strange.

Every time I like a post on Twitter or follow somebody new, my account gets locked with the message that I have triggered some algorithm violating Twitter rules. Anybody know what that is all about?

I can’t speak to her personal motivations. I assume she likes working for me. She does also work hard to save her poor daughter.

She is married and thus not a single mother, but in general I work within our system as it is and pursue my self interest. Isn’t the whole point of government to reign that in?

If she didn’t already have kids, small tits, and brown eyes I would ask her to marry me.

‘

‘Anything over a handful is a waste’

🙂

Taleb:

“We wuz fo’neeshunzzz…”

Peace.

While the strikes are certainly aggressive, it doesn’t seem like the previous ones have really affected the progress of the recapturing of land, so it appears to be more an expression of hostile intent.

Skoro has a good record on that score.

Is Euro media talking about these camps for beaner children that Trump is building? It’s huge news in America.

He’s Greek Orthodox, likely to a large portion descended from the original Greeks. (They didn’t convert many locals before the Islamic conquest, and it’s not quite likely that they converted many afterwards.)

But he says that Lebanese Arabs (especially the non-Muslims, and probably among Muslims the Shia) are mostly descendants of Phoenicians, i.e. they are Arabized Phoenicians. That’s quite a bit more plausible than the African Beethoven and similar stories. Actually, there are genetic studies which seem to confirm that.

There’s the news of the many Model 3 cancellations.

But as I wrote in the other thread, an acquaintance in NYC just got his Model 3 delivered to him, and he’s totally happy with it, posting it on FB (which he rarely does about anything else), etc.

highly unlikely.

Yeah, I’ve seen the genetic studies that show a demarcation between Muslims and non-Muslims of the area. Makes sense, since intermarriage is highly discouraged and only goes one way (Muslim men can marry their females – People of the Book – and not vice versa).

Melkites (a term that was used by some as a pejorative to connote “king’s men”) were seen as occupiers by many native non-Chalcedonian Christians. A fact that made the Muslim conquests that much easier…oh and (as Prof. Robert Hoyland points out) the fact that Muslims could offer them a reduction in taxes. Something quite easy to do if you are a semi-nomadic, spartan-like desert people establishing garrison cities instead of a bloated bureaucratic empire.

Peace.

I didn’t say Greeks conducted smart policies before the conquest, just that Taleb doesn’t say that he personally was descended from Phoenicians (he’s a proud descendant of the Greeks), and that his theories generally make more sense than the pyramids built by blacks or Beethoven being black.

Yeah, I respect a lot of what Taleb has to say; I’ve referenced him before.

I guess I misunderstood, I thought he was claiming Phoenician heritage.

Peace.

Impressively large segments of the European banking system are still a mess. Exposure to Argentina, Brazil, Turkey etc. is something to watch out for.

I thought he was claiming Phoenician heritage.

You made me a little doubt myself. I’ll read into his exact position when I’ll have time later. But I firmly believed that he was talking about other Lebanese, and that he thought that both Greeks and Phoenicians were part of the Levant.

Interestingly he’s quite opposed to the Saudi Arabian version of Islam, but has respect for certain forms of Islam, like Shia Islam. I can imagine he’d approve of your brand of Islam, too.

‘Skoros’ is the man and you’re the one to resurrect his star. The only problem is, is that his grandson is a major league svido and presents his grandfather’s ideas almost totally diametrically than what you do. He thinks that Ukraine should not be joined to the hip to Russia like Siamese twins, and other such blasphemies. He would be an ideal candidate to get things moving again, unless, of course you have similar ambitions? Perhaps its time that you get off the barstool and put away the suds and fly out to Canada and meet the guy? Don’t you think that somebody as important as you, Mickey, needs to make his mark in history beyond just being a negligible commenter to other people’s websites? People might get the wrong impression and think of your as some sort of a ‘hack‘ and not a real mover and shaker?

Mickey, wake up and do something with your life, before it’ too late!

https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/day-after-day/skoropadsky-successor-returns-ukraine

From what I’ve seen, many Arab Christians are fairly cool with traditional (and especially Sufi-oriented) Islam – obviously they prefer secularism above all options. I’ve referenced plenty of these guys before; Profs. Najib Saliba, George Saliba, not sure if I referenced Robert Haddad, etc.

But they generally hate the Salafi-Wahhabi with a passion – for very good reason – if I were them, I would too. There are exceptions; I’ve read Hamas is fairly good to local Christians.

Peace.

I’ve read Hamas is fairly good to local Christians.

There are Christians in Gaza?

Mickey – If you read the article that I cited, you’ll find several important and useful tidbits to help you in your quest to resurrect the Hetmanite movement in Ukraine (and throughout the world!):

We know that a hetman organization created by Pavlo Skoropadsky functioned in the Ukrainian Diaspora, whose membership was topped only by the Communist Party. Its strongest and most effective organizations operated in the US, Canada, Germany, and Great Britain, where many Ukrainians live. The US government even gave Ukrainian-American hetman- affiliated war pilots aircraft with names like Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv. The hetmanites had weapons, uniforms, and training camps. In time, however, the hetman movement began to decline, and fewer books were published about Skoropadsky whose name began to sink into oblivion.

Imagine, Mickey, you and Boris resurrecting such a movement and toppling the current band of Nazis and Banderites in Ukraine? You and Boris – what a team (kind of like you and Leos, in the past)!

not for long

Less and less…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/12/20/after-2000-years-christians-gaza-disappearing/77503936/

Peace.

You’re welcome.

— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) June 15, 2018

Follow-up to waaycist Einstein:

https://qz.com/1305236/chinese-internet-users-are-surprisingly-sympathetic-to-einsteins-racist-remarks/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/15/chinese-defend-einsteins-diaries-filthy-obtuse

Predictably, most of the angry people are merely squawking liberasts.

I like how they include the sentence ‘The theoretical physicist, who once said racism was “a disease of white people”’ without any kind of comment (Hello Fellow Hwhyte People!).

All hail the Ever-Spinning Basketball and His representative in America Saint Dennis of Trenton! All Hail!

I think back then pretty much everybody would have considered Jews white, so I don’t think Einstein really meant anything by it.

I’m not into outrage culture but what Einstein said about the Chinese was pretty bad. It was a long time ago and it was only his private thoughts but I don’t think that we are forbidden from criticizing outdated, racist speech. I’m sure that Einstein himself would be embarrassed by what he wrote if he were alive today.

Good on the Chinese though for understanding the context of Einstein’s words and not chimping out.

Kaiser Wilhelm II didn’t consider them white.

And I doubt he was alone.

It was a long time ago and it was only his private thoughts but I don’t think that we are forbidden from criticizing outdated, racist speech.

I wrote a long reply but I think my bloody Internet screwed it up and I don’t feel like rewriting it.

TL;DR Even if it is racist, it is not necessarily wrong (probably that sounds more offensive without context).

And by the standards of how we talk about other nationalities and even our own people on this board it sounds rather mild.

Don’t you think that somebody as important as you, Mickey, needs to make his mark in history beyond just being a negligible commenter to other people’s websites? People might get the wrong impression and think of your as some sort of a ‘hack‘ and not a real mover and shaker?

You’re incorrectly transferring your attributes to me.

Skoro’s edict for an All-Russian Federation including Russia and Ukraine is a matter of record:

https://www.eurasiareview.com/22052011-pavlo-skoropadsky-and-the-course-of-russian-ukrainian-relations-analysis/

Far superior to the dimwitted likes of yourself.

It most certainly is, Mickey, therefore don’t you think that it’s incumbent to get the message out, loud and clear, like you’ve been doing? I think that it’s time that you consider getting beyond the realm of the make believe world of Russian blogs, and become a viable historical force for change. Your talents are much too valuable to waste spending precious time commenting at blogs like this one, or even that lackluster ‘Eurasian’ rag, where you currently have your own blog. Skoro needs a new blast of fresh air to get his message heard, what better way than you and Boris uniting for the ‘New Hetmanate’?

For sure. You shouldn’t be wasting your time on the likes of me, Mickey, your destiny is many pay grades above mine. You need to set your sights on something much higher, to the likes of somebody like ‘Borys (Tukhai Bei) Skoropadsky! You two are destined to rewrite the history books! You two and Skoropadsky’s prophetic edict for an All-Russian Federation including Russia and Ukraine!

But I have, you lying twit. You haven’t done likewise.

BTW, the rag you seem to be referring to features a diverse range of views.

Of course you have, Mickey. You’re the greatest Russian blogger of all time, a regular ‘Independent Foreign Policy Analyst’ you are! And what I love the most about you, Mickey, is that all of your stuff is either factual or based on factual materials. Yep, no BS when it comes to Mike Averko!

https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2018/06/in-saudi-arabia-public-opinion-about-israel-is-shifting/

Muted complaints about the Gaza deaths. The Crown Prince recently said Palestinians should take the best deal they can get now or shut up. Trump’s son in law told them their cause is a declining stock. McMaster was sacked for opposing planning meetings with Israel over Iran because he said Israel would start a war against Iran and expect US to finish it. Israel will never attack Iran, it is going to have to be the US.

Israel was allowed by Russia to fly into Syrian airspace for bombing. It is all pointing to an attack on Iran by the US. And then

http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/08/27/transfer_is_not_a_dirty_word/page/full/

The Jews don’t realize that expelling a hostile population is a commonly used and generally effective way of preventing violent entanglements. There are no gas chambers here. It’s not genocide; it’s transfer. It’s not Hitler; it’s Churchill.

After World War II, Poland was recreated by the Allied Powers. In doing so, the Allies sliced off a chunk of Germany and extended Poland west to the Oder-Neisse line. Anywhere from 3.5 million to 9 million Germans were forcibly expelled from the new Polish territory and relocated in Germany.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was pleased with the result. In 1944, he had explained to the House of Commons that “expulsion is the method which, so far as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble … a clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by the prospect of the disentanglement of populations, nor even by these large transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions than they ever were before.” Churchill was right. The Germans accepted the new border, and decades of conflict between Poles and Germans ended.

Arab-Jewish conflict is exponentially more volatile than German-Polish conflict ever was. And the solution is far easier. If there was “room in Germany for the German populations of East Prussia and of the other territories,” as Churchill stated, there is certainly room in the spacious Muslim states of the Middle East for 5 million Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. If Germans, who had a centuries-old connection to the newly created Polish territory, could be expelled, then surely Palestinians, whose claim to Judea, Samaria and Gaza is dubious at best, can be expelled.

It’s time to stop being squeamish. Jews are not Nazis. Transfer is not genocide. And anything else isn’t a solution.

The problem is that the Palestinians aren’t Germans either.

The Germans had been vilified and dehumanized by propaganda to such an extent that after the war prominent Jews in government like Morgenthau could make proposals like his eponymous plan which would kill off about half of Germany’s population.

The Palestinians aren’t hated like the Germans were, and global opinion is on the side of the Palestinians. And at this point, no amount of propaganda will be able to change that. The Palestinian protests and confrontations with the IDF just make Israel look bad.

Furthermore, the American right wing is no longer unified in being reflexively pro Israel following the rise of the alt-right. Ben Shapiro is especially detested by the alt-right for his hypocrisy regarding Israel and nationalism.

Shapiro wrote that article in the wake of 9/11 and shortly after the start of the Iraq War. The sort of Final Solution you propose for the Palestinians may only be possible in the wake of another 9/11 type event. If your claim that Israel regards such a solution as an absolute necessity is true, then that suggests that there is a tremendous incentive for Israel to see another 9/11 type event, with all that entails, which would outweigh any risks for Israel in whatever it may or may not do in seeing such an event be carried out. That’s a very disquieting prospect.

The funny thing is, Bertrand Russell went to China about the same time and thought it was the most amazing country he’d been to. He had the exact opposite reaction – it made him hopeful for the fate of mankind, saying that if European civilization died there would be something quite as good to replace it.

Sixteen Tons – Frankie Lane

Eh?

“Sixteen Tons” is a song written by Merle Travis…A 1955 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford reached number one in the Billboard charts, while another version by Frankie Laine was released only in Western Europe, where it gave Ford’s version competition.

–Wiki

I doubt anyone in the U.S. ever heard (of) Frankie Laine’s version.

My carelessness, I am only familiar with the Tennessee Ernie Ford recording. When I looked it up I took Frankie Laine to be the song writer.

They didn’t convert many locals before the Islamic conquest, and it’s not quite likely that they converted many afterwards.

Really? It might be availability bias, but I thought the whole Mediterranean was thoroughly Christianized before the Islamic conquest. Julian tried to Make Paganism Great Again in the middle of the 4th century, but Justinian pretty much killed it in the middle of the 6th century, no?

One of my favorite songs incidentally. Thanks for bringing it up.

Though for aesthetic reasons I really must focus on 80s music.

There were religious divisions though (possibly related to ethno-linguistic ones), with all those Eastern churches of people who spoke Aramaic, Coptic etc. in conflict with the imperial (Melkite) church of Greek-speakers. I always forget the details since as a non-believer it baffles me people could get worked up over those obscure Christological issues.

They might look at us in the same way. In the past couple of weeks we’ve debated (among other things):

• The legitimacy and desirability of conquest
• Characteristics of Russian weapons
• Whether or not Ukrainians are a nation or a division of the Russian nation
• The Russians of Ancient Egypt

It’s ordinary to have debates within a particular group that shares common values and aims. And abstract intellectual topics like religion and ideology tend to attract nerds and autists who will belabor points in great detail.

We’re all “nationalists” for instance, but the only thing we probably universally agree on 100% is Remove Kebab.

And abstract intellectual topics like religion and ideology tend to attract nerds and autists who will belabor points in great detail.

Those great christological controversies in late antiquity seem to have been a big deal though for the masses as well, not just for a few unusual enthusiasts like the people on this blog.
I’ve always wondered how that worked, did the average man on the street in Antiochia or Alexandria, or somewhere in the countryside in Syria really think in detail about those different conceptions of Christ, with their minute differences (at least they seem like that to me), and their theological implications? Or was it merely a vehicle for tribalism based on issues of class or ethnicity to assert itself, as many moderns would suspect?
Regarding Remove Kebab: One doesn’t even have to be especially right-wing or nationalistic for that. In a few years it might be just common sense.

Sure, but the bottom line is that they were all Christians before the Muslim conquest.

I’ve always wondered how that worked, did the average man on the street in Antiochia or Alexandria, or somewhere in the countryside in Syria really think in detail about those different conceptions of Christ, with their minute differences (at least they seem like that to me), and their theological implications?

Well,, in America there are passionate Democrats and Republicans who argue and sometimes even fight. To someone completely alien to this culture such as an Amazonian tribesman or ancient Egyptian it would also seem bizarre to argue over such (relative to oneself) slight and obscure differences.

90% of people in Late Antiquity were likely illiterate, and in any case writing had to be manually copied in order to distribute it. On parchment. So it’s not very likely that ordinary people had views on the nature of the Trinity at all.

The “Christological” controversies of Late Antiquity had political consequences, which is why they were so serious. The Germanic barbarians overrunning the Western Roman Empire followed the Arian creed, while the Eastern Roman Empire was Nicene.

That said I don’t really know what the fuss was about, but that’s because our records from the time are poor. And actually a lot of primary sources from that time, surprisingly, have never been translated to English because Latin scholars only care about classical Latin and don’t bother with the language as it evolved.

I assume the Arian creed offered some sort of political advantage to Germanic barbarians that we don’t know about.

You can compare it to the Protestant Reformation, which is better documented and more recent. Obviously the typical peasant in early modern Germany couldn’t read and certainly couldn’t read the Gospel of Matthew in Latin.

Here the political consequences are easier to understand as the German princes seized upon Lutheranism as a convenient way to expropriate the Church and free themselves from Papal authority (to the point where Luther’s lord decided to engage in bigamy LOL).

As for Julian the Apostate, Christians were still a minority in the Empire during his reign. However they comprised majorities in a lot of important places like Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and so forth.

By the 7th century pretty much the entire former Roman Empire was fully Christian, though paganism persisted in parts of England…probably owing to being invaded by Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and vikings. There was apparently an upsurge in paganism during the disastrous reign of Aethelred the Unready as the endless disasters visited upon the English were seen as discrediting Christianity.

Traditionally societies have always had an official religion and a priesthood, so religion is very serious business. Today that function is fulfilled by the universities (which after all were originally founded by priests) and the press, and they seek to punish heretics with the same zeal the church did in the past.

Look at how whenever Ron Unz writes a “revisionist” essay, weird Jewish commenters appear to “warn” him about the “dark road” he’s going down.

90% of people in Late Antiquity were likely illiterate, and in any case writing had to be manually copied in order to distribute it. On parchment.

Before the Islamic conquests people could use papyrus as a writing material which presumably was cheaper and could be used in greater numbers than parchment. And illiterate people could have things read to them. So maybe the audience for those controversies was greater than one would imagine at first.

I assume the Arian creed offered some sort of political advantage to Germanic barbarians that we don’t know about.

It may have worked as a marker of identity, keeping them separate from the Roman population and thereby increasing their cohesion. But in the end I’m not sure how satisfactory such explanations are that claim it was really all about something different than the genuinely religious questions. It might just be projecting our own criteria back into a past which had fundamentally different values.

And actually a lot of primary sources from that time, surprisingly, have never been translated to English because Latin scholars only care about classical Latin and don’t bother with the language as it evolved.

I don’t think that’s quite correct like that, there’s a lot of literature about vulgar Latin, the shift to the Romance languages etc. What might be neglected, are sources in Near Eastern languages like Syriac (?) which only a few specialists know.

Yes, but it was originally about Taleb, who as a Greek Orthodox (if that’s what he is) would prsumably be descended from Greek-speaking city dwellers. I think that’s what reiner tor meant.

It was Christian, but not Orthodox. The question was whether the Greek Orthodox community Taleb descends from has anything to do with the Greeks of antiquity. What can be reasonably established at this point is that they are the continuation of the ethnically Greek Orthodox Christians of the late Roman Empire. They didn’t manage to convert non-Greeks to Orthodoxy then, and certainly not after the Islamic Conquest.

So it’s quite plausible that Taleb is indeed descended from the Greeks of antiquity.

Another point he makes is that the Lebanese are mostly descendants of the ancient Phoenicians. He also makes the point that the ancient Middle East was pretty similar to ancient Greece, genetically and to an extent culturally.

I think he somewhat exaggerates the cultural similarity, but the genetic similarity was likely there. Hence his point about both Melkites (Greek Orthodox) and other Lebanese being different from other Arabs and more similar to Greeks.

Why is everything east of Baghdad considered inferior when those areas are the only ones to not suck off abraham। ।

War was already lost when Germany lost all but 8 of its combat divisions during Barbarossa

are you ever going to explain to us what is with the “| |” that you put in all your posts?

Also, posting as Anon is really annoying. Pick a handle or get lost.

India has had one party christian backed democracy for most of its post ww2 history similar to Japan.

There’s a significant lobby for imported arms, which just changes the requirement for indigenous tech midway.

Drdos entire budget is a few billion usd across all programs subs, icbms, aircraft.

The mirage didn’t have working missiles for years while a nearly fully functional Tejas is rejected for reasons.

Same with Arjun tank

The Kaveri actually has close to 90kn thrust more than the m88 but the Tejas Mk2 naval needs more & refuses to fund further development.

The only tech Russia withholds is the engine core of the Sukhoi & the gun barrel/turret of the t90.

France is different since it rejoined Nato..

You could’ve just said it’s a woman, ignore video.

The Kaveri actually has close to 90kn thrust more than the m88

Because it’s a bigger engine. I think it’s thrust to weight ratio is a little worse. The m88 is also fully mature.

DRDO was saying that they need 2 billion USD minimum to develop the Kaveri; the Indian gov ended up giving them 600 million. Can’t develop engines without money.

Japanese business is trying to ruin Japan.

But businesses have long lobbied for looser rules, saying they struggle to find workers in a country where unemployment hovers around 2.5 percent and there are 159 job offers to every 100 job seekers.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, head of the influential Keidanren business lobby, told reporters earlier this week that the policy was about more than addressing labor shortages.

“Increasing diversity is inevitable for improving Japan’s industrial competitiveness and research and academic levels,” he said.

http://archive.is/mYwd3#selection-925.0-937.128

They have samurai swords. The business leaders have necks. The former should be applied to the latter.

Who made any claims to superiority / inferiority? I am merely pointing out that the the area was the border between the Greco-Roman and later Christians and Persian worlds. The geographic idea of what constitutes Western was much more expansive in antiquity than it is today. Rather than Western success, I see the West under assault having lost the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean coasts and despite a few centuries reprieve following the siege of Vienna again under threat by the Mohammedans.

My good Lord…why is this so satisfying to watch??!!
https://mobile.twitter.com/41Strange/status/995910309373071361

If she didn’t already have kids, small tits, and brown eyes I would ask her to marry me.

Obviously the husband is no problem . . .

* Ukraine comes dead last out of eight in Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2018 (an explanation from AP). Germany wins as usual.

I think this is a good example of how AP keep making excuses for the Ukraine, and is therefore full is shit.

Ukrainian officer, who participated in the competition was more honest:

Участник команды из 14-й волынской механизированной бригады ВСУ капитан Роман Багаев рассказал, почему украинские танкисты заняли последнее место в танковом соревновании Strong Europe Tank Challenge в Германии.

В беседе с изданием «Новинарня» военный раскритиковал техническое состояние новейшего украинского танка Т-84 «Оплот», который ВСУ получили вместо Т-64.

«А ничего не удалось сделать. Мы поехали на четырёх машинах. Во время «операции в наступлении» выстрелил только один танк. На остальных трёх снаряд или не до конца загрузился в пушку, либо не сработали датчики. Система показала, что танк не до конца зарядился, поэтому пушка с гидростопора не снялась, пришлось дозаряжать вручную», — сказал Багаев.

Среди других причин поражения он назвал незнание натовской специфики, языковые проблемы и отставание в тактике.

https://russian.rt.com/ussr/news/523662-ukraina-proval-tanki-germaniya

If you don’t understand Russian, basically he says that 3 out of 4 Oplot tanks malfunctioned and failed to fire. The Ukraine built a tank, which doesn’t work.

Arabs came from the South not the East.

Your comment implies the Persian world was any less to this Western world you speak so highly of,

Probably you have a pro christian agenda as this Western world of yours had Legions worshipping Great Mithras।।

West or East was not so different back then more so a gradual transition & it’s unfortunate that both Persian & Roman worship a kebab now।।

We will definitely have to fix this.

a good example of how AP keep making excuses for the Ukraine

AP probably expects Jesus to swoop down and heal the tanks.

David Bowie X

Eurythmics X

Blondie X

Fleetwood Mac X
,
Abba X

Huey Lewis & the News ?

Perhaps, I never gave them enough of a listen. I’m thinking that you were a fan of Hootie and the Blowfish too? But yeah, the 80’s was a banner time for pop music (I can’t stand most of the stuff coming out today, except for jazz and international).

Hey Anatoly, if you’re still out there, do you know anything of a great Russian ‘New Age’ group Vermicelli Orchetra? Nice stuff, if you can find it….

I went to an airshow in the Chippewa Valley today.

There was a newly restored B-29 available for inspection and interior tour. Remarkable how cramped the interior of the largest WW2 bomber was.

The Blue Angels performed the final show of the day and needless to say brought the house down. Of course they completed their finale to the Top Gun theme song. 🙂

I think this is a good example of how AP keep making excuses for the Ukraine

Already mentioned:

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-45/#comment-2370507

I posted that the tanks didn’t shoot in the first section:

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-45/#comment-2370547

Those two problems were worth about 150 lost points, which would place Ukraine where it was last year – about the same as Poland (a little worse this year, while it actually beat Poland last year). Ukraine would have been ahead of the UK and the US.

There’s a photo of results for the first 2 of 13 parts (the ones where Ukraine was affected by technical problems and too-deep dugout, respectively) here:

https://aw.my.com/en/forum/showthread.php?199458-Strong-Europe-Tank-Challenge-2018

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-45/#comment-2370831

“You are correct, it is indeed scandalous that the soldiers were given tanks that couldn’t shoot at at the beginning, costing a lot of points. The Ukrainian soldiers were really outraged by that. It doesn’t reflect badly on the troops, at least.

But the bottom line, if not for those two problems it looks like Ukrainians would have outperformed the Brits and the Americans, and come close to the Poles whom they beat last year when they didn’t have that problem.”

::::::::::::::

Explanations aren’t excuses.

And you, of course, simply lie about Ukraine.

Karlin’s post was linking to your original “explanation” of the Ukraine’s failure, and it was full of bullshit excuses.

I do not have time to keep up with your evolving excuses, and, since neither of us is an expert in tank warfare, technical details are not the point. What is instructive is your instinct to rush to the Ukraine’s defence, writing silly crap such as this:

Ukrainian tanks have lower height than Abrams, so in one important exercise (defense) they lost all points, because their tanks can’t be used as a height for observing surroundings

LOL

“Bullshit” is making stuff up that isn’t true.

Like when you claimed Kharkiv-based Azov were western Ukrainians. Or Ukrainians in diaspora have been “mediocre” in income (they have among the highest family incomes of white ethnic groups). These claims of yours were simply false.

As for:

“Ukrainian tanks have lower height than Abrams, so in one important exercise (defense) they lost all points, because their tanks can’t be used as a height for observing surroundings”

This wasn’t my claim originally. I posted to the original claim. And this “excuse” is corroborated elsewhere.

Another commenter, who is hardly pro-Ukrainian, provided:

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-45/#comment-2370507

http://www.tank-net.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43305&page=2#entry1372477

Poor performance of pro-Ukrainian team partly explained by T-84 fire control system failure during first day (“assault”). Defense day video – From about 2:00 tanker complain about dugouts too deep (as designed for Abrams) and T-84 was unable to see targets from it – so they were firing from open positions

::::::::::::

So take your problems up with them, you proven liar.

Says the guy who rejects empirically demonstrated facts (Christians basically ended global slavery) because they don’t conform to his irrational beliefs.

Fleetwood Mac and ABBA are good but are representative of the 70s.

Hootie and the Blowfish is something I don’t mind hearing on the radio but would never choose to play. Formed in ’86, but I tie them to the ’90s and ’00s. I also consider them to be proletarian. Someone who thought the Chrysler PT Cruiser was a cool car and wears NFL jerseys on Sundays would no doubt love Hootie and the Blowfish.

Blondie bridges the gap between the ’70s and ’80s. The long form song Call Me used as a soundtrack in the fascinating 1980 film Call Me gets very close to kicking of the 80s, but the color palette of the film isn’t ’80s. Richard Gere’s wardrobe is all grays and earth tones. Additionally Miami is always a better ’80s setting than Los Angeles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4DI71X6PeM

The most ’80s song ever recorded is the long-form 12″ extended play track Blue Monday by New Order. #2 would have to be Don’t You Want Me by The Human League.

The Eurythmics is extremely ’80s.

Bowie is both ’70s and ’80s, but really the man was such a force of nature that he was just Bowie.

“Voices Carry” by Til’ Tuesday
“Something There to Remind Me” by whoever did that song
“Take on Me” by Ah-ha
“Something” About You by Level 42
“Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins
“Poetry in Motion” (She Blinded Me with Science) by whoever
“I Ran So Far Away” by whatstherename
“Red Skies” by The Fixx
“Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora
“Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge
“Don’t You” by Simple Minds
“Just What I Need” by The Cars

you get the idea.

I would say that “Like Lovers Do” by the aforementioned Eurythmics is the most 80’s song ever followed by “Blue Monday”.

“These Dreams” by Heart and “Summertime” by The Sundays are the most early 90’s songs ever. “Come Undone” by Duran Duran is up there.

…

What makes the 80s sound is a very specific type of melancholy sound. This melancholy will manifest itself in songs that aren’t meant to be sad and even in songs that are outright upbeat like “Take on Me”. “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns and Roses was released in 1988 but is not “80s music” because it doesn’t have the depressed 80s sound.

…

When I hear 80s music and watch 80s teen movies like The Breakfast Club and Weird Science I can’t help but believe that the 80s in America must have been the best time and place to come of age.

There’s a separate ’80s music in the form of power rock, glam metal, hair metal, etc. This was a straight forward lineal evolution of music from the ’70s, rather than a radically new genre like New Wave.

This music isn’t ’80s (despite chronologically being in the ’80s), but it is also its own cultural episode. The rock musical Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise as the fictional rock star “Stacy Jaxx” is a great depiction of this.

Who knew in 1987 when Welcome to the Jungle was released that in only a few years the stadium-filling rock stars who had bestrode the world like gods since Elvis first appeared that rock music would end only a few years later with the suicide of Kurt Cobain?

I don’t know that the ’80s were a better time to come of age than the postwar era as lots of rot had already set in. But it provides a suitable white aesthetic which is recognizably modern and technological while still inducing nostalgia (including those of us like me who were born too late for it).

A lot of this also comes through in the industrial design of the period.

Hence why there are lots of alt-right Millennial and Generation Zyklon artists producing brand new synthwave music today.

There’s a separate ’80s music in the form of power rock, glam metal, hair metal, etc. This was a straight forward lineal evolution of music from the ’70s, rather than a radically new genre like New Wave.

This music isn’t ’80s (despite chronologically being in the ’80s), but it is also its own cultural episode. The rock musical Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise as the fictional rock star “Stacy Jaxx” is a great depiction of this.

Who knew in 1987 when Welcome to the Jungle was released that in only a few years the stadium-filling rock stars who had bestrode the world like gods since Elvis first appeared that rock music would end only a few years later with the suicide of Kurt Cobain?

I don’t know that the ’80s were a better time to come of age than the postwar era as lots of rot had already set in. But it provides a suitable white aesthetic which is recognizably modern and technological while still inducing nostalgia (including those of us like me who were born too late for it).

A lot of this also comes through in the industrial design of the period.

Hence why there are lots of alt-right Millennial and Generation Zyklon artists producing brand new synthwave music today.

Middle of nowhere upper midwest really doesn’t sound like a fun place to live. Why not move operations to the south? How many employees do you have?

18.

I’ll be able to relocate somewhere civilized within a few years (while keeping operations here).

I don’t think so. If I read iffen correctly, he stated that Christians get lion’s share credit for ending slavery, but not Christianity itself.

Iffen can correct me if I’m wrong.

Peace.

These are the headlines I’ve been seeing in Western media lately:

Russia propose raising retirement age above life expectancy
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44495136

The very definition of fake news. Coming from a state-owned media outlet no less.

Says the guy who rejects empirically demonstrated facts (Christians basically ended global slavery) because they don’t conform to his irrational beliefs.

You don’t know what empirical means, you apparently don’t know what fact means and you certainly don’t know what irrational means.

he stated that Christians get lion’s share credit

No, I did not.

People who were Christians (abolitionists) agitated for ending slavery. Establishment Christianity, not.

Excellent distinction – I agree, but with the below caveat…

Though establishment Christianity did end slavery among Christians on the Old Continent – there is little doubt of this. It was always heathens and Muslims (redundant ?) on the periphery that were fair game. In fact establishment Christianity often tried to stop Christians from selling heathens to Muslims; one major concern was that these same people were often found as slave soldiers in battle against Christian armies. So in this sense Christianity should be credited with ending most slavery in Europe itself.

Islam did the same thing between Muslim peoples, but raiding non-Muslim territories (that did not have treaties in place) on the borders was considered OK.

Peace.

You don’t know what empirical means, you apparently don’t know what fact means and you certainly don’t know what irrational means.

Beware of drunken fights, they don’t end well for anybody.

An interesting chart I found, showing government spending in Russia on various items as a share of GDP

One can see how spending on pensions has steadily risen since 2011, necessitating a reform. At almost 9% of GDP, share of pensions is greater than OECD average.

You can’t observe objectively, you deny or at best are ignorant of facts, and you are irrational.

Better?

Simply Red?

The very people making fun of this would be praising it as some bold reform if someone like Yeltsin was implementing it.

They also don’t mention that these reforms take a decade to implement due to grandfathering of those already retired or just about to retire. You cannot just tell a 59-year-old that he won’t be retiring next year, only in 2024, so a five year increase takes at least ten years. In ten years the life expectancy could increase.

In Hungary male life expectancy was 69 years (and roughly unchanged since 1960!) when a similar increase of 60 to 65 was announced around 1960, and people were criticizing that there will be only a few years left to enjoy. But it’s a fallacy, because most who don’t survive to 65 die before 60 either, while those who reach 65 have a longer remaining life expectancy.

Anyway, it’s interesting that the Hungarian reform was praised by the same people who are now condemning the Russian one. Similarly, I bet you these very same people would love to cut social security spending in the US or raising the retirement age in any western country. Like they were praising Macron.

The 1980s saw the development of extreme metal, which was quite different from earlier forms of heavy metal. Thrash metal broke into the mainstream with Metallica, which to this day is probably the biggest remaining rock band.

Hip hop music was basically also a 1980s development, though it had its roots earlier. It had its roots in reggae. (In pop music, nothing is completely new.) Gangsta hip hop originated in the 1980s, though its popularity wasn’t recognized until the 1990s. With the SoundScan era after 1991 it turned out that the biggest gangsta hip hop performers (as well as Metallica) were already in superstar status. But regular hip hop was already fully mainstream in the 1980s.

It’s not very important. I think other than supporting the availability and composition of classical music (the latter is tricky because a lot of the new compositions are useless, and they all have to compete against the very greatest of the last several centuries), music should be left to the proles to choose. Nazi Germany even promoted some very American sounding music which they usually denounced as degenerate, because that was popular. Hitler wanted to force the proles to listen to classical music, but that’s impossible due to IQ issues. IQ aside, for example during workouts some form of pop music (in the broadest possible meaning, including everything, like hip hop and metal) is better than classical.

People are passionate about their favorite music (even if it’s shitty and ephemeral by any objective standard), so the government telling people what to listen to will only result in the government losing popularity. It can probably be influenced to an extent, but stupid trends from abroad will always exist and it’s futile to resist them.

I just read that Zimbardo’s famous Stanford prison experiment was fake. That’s interesting.

So I just noticed the American concentration camps for children in the Hungarian news.

Also apparently Melania just missed a great opportunity to keep her mouth shut.

Their hypocrisy is not the worst part for me here. The worst part is that they deliberately lie to make the reform appear more drastic, than it actually is. The current life expectancy in Russia is 73 years. It’s lower for men, but even so as of today 57% of men in Russia are expected to live past the age of 65. It’s simply not true to say that Russians will not be living to retirement, and yet this is what many Western headlines say.

http://www.newsweek.com/russia-proposes-raising-retirement-age-above-life-expectancy-980448
Newsweek is a neocon publication, that’s big on warning US public about the dangers of Russian “fake news”. So, naturally, they are doing the very thing that they accuse Russians of doing.

To be fair, the life expectancy of Russian men does seem to be below 65, I’ve seen 63 and 64 (close to 65) mentioned, and they do write that two fifth of men may not live to see it. These are factually correct claims.

You may have seen various numbers, but if you are writing an article on the subject, it shouldn’t hard to find the latest official number – it’s 67,5 years for men in 2017
http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/demo26.xlsx

Besides, most people won’t even read past the headline, and the headlines look like this:

“Retire Never? Russia Sets Age of Retirement After Death”
“Russia propose raising retirement age above life expectancy”

Those are intentionally misleading and factually wrong.

Higher than Ukraines, for the first time. When you consider the regions of extreme cold, short days, ethnic issues………that is incredible, and shows the depravity of the scumbag Ukrainian state

The US seems to be complaining that it’s losing the ability to replace its ammunition stockpile. I think it’s probably a bit of an exaggeration.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/05/22/the-us-is-running-out-of-bombs-and-it-may-soon-struggle-to-make-more/

Israel is criminalizing the filming of its soldiers if the resulting video shows them in a bad light.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-expected-to-back-bill-criminalizing-filming-soldiers/

I usually assume that any bad news about Russia is just bullshit. It’s a much safer bet than the opposite.

It’s estimated that this raising of the retirement age will increase Russian GDP growth by 0.3-0.5% per year over the next 15 years.

In the US, the chimpout over the border continues and is actually intensifying.

It is difficult to tell if the Dems are being forced into it by their increasingly unhinged base or whether they really do think this is good politics for them.

Right now there is no end in sight. Trump is not going to halt this policy and the Dems aren’t going to stop chimping out. If this lasts until the midterms, great.

Higher than Ukraines, for the first time.

With or without Donbas?

You are once again gloating at the expense of the more pro-Russian people within Ukraine.

Moreover, what is the source? This one states 72.11 (increase .21%) for Ukraine in 2017 and 71.2 (increase .19%) for Russia:

https://knoema.com/atlas/Ukraine/topics/Demographics/Age/Life-expectancy-at-birth

https://knoema.com/atlas/Russian-Federation/topics/Demographics/Population-forecast/Life-expectancy

According to WHO in 2017 Ukraine’s life expectancy in 2017 was 71.3 and Russia’s was 70.5:

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/russia-life-expectancy

When you consider the regions of extreme cold, short days,

Another stupid argument. Iceland and Sweden are in the top 10 in world’s highest life expectancy. Canada is #12.

ethnic issues

Another dumb argument from you. Caucasians live a lot longer than Russians. Ingushetia has the highest life expectancy within Russia , 81.6 in 2016. Tatars also live longer than Slavs. Good job undermining yourself.

Media created and orchestrated spectacles like this are bad optics and upset the mushy middle.

Ordinary Americans who are arrested are separated from their children every day, but illegals are special. 🙂

Music is of lower importance than immigration, but not irrelevant. We’re fighting for truth and beauty.

I agree that directly controlling music Soviet-style is a bad idea, but one can subtly guide what people listen to simply by setting one’s thumb on the scales.

Children are sent to concentration camps against their will and away from their families five days a week for forty weeks a year. If they resist they’re drugged or even imprisoned.

Trump has tweeted about the situation in Germany:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1008696508697513985

I have mixed feelings about this, I don’t like foreign governments commenting on German internal affairs, and it’s probably counter-productive. Still, on some level it makes me like Trump somewhat again.
The things going on in Germany the past few days are just unbelievable. Seehofer (an untrustworthy cuck imo) wants to scale back Merkel’s open borders policy somewhat. It’s mostly cosmetic stuff, like rejecting “refugees” at the borders who have already applied for asylum in other EU countries, or rejecting people who have already been deported from Germany and are trying to come back again (yes, this isn’t possible right now!). But even that’s too much for Merkel. She’s appeared with some leftie journalist Ferda Ataman (what kind of kebab name is that? Iranian?) at some summit about “integration”…Ataman is involved with numerous migrant lobbies, Annetta Kahane’s “antiracism” foundation and has just recently called Seehofer more or less a Nazi. I guess that should be read as meaning that Merkel has openly adopted a completely far left programme and doesn’t even hide her intention to destroy Germany anymore.
If the CSU leaves the coalition, the Greens have already offered to replace them.
I will never understand how an irresponsible political-medial caste can intentionally destroy a country that worked reasonably well like that. If there ever is serious civil strife in Germany (and I hope it will come to that eventually), they should have to pay for what they’ve done.

Media created and orchestrated spectacles like this are bad optics and upset the mushy middle.

Is it really? I checked some of the sob stories that the liberal American media are running and if I didn’t already have a strong ideological opposition to mass migration and negative real life experience with subaltern proles I think I would be quite convinced by their propaganda.

Ordinary Americans who are arrested are separated from their children every day, but illegals are special.

But how many Americans who read this will receive or think about the context?

As far as the media is concerned the migrants haven’t committed any crimes and this is simply more of Trump’s senseless cruelty, and given how people have been exposed for years to comments about Trump’s vulgar and cruel nature by the media what is to say it won’t fall on fertile ground?

It is very interesting. Even if it is just cosmetic at this point it may break the spell and the taboo. And yes, ‘they should have to pay for what they’ve done.’

Clearly there are glimmers of hope. So far small things but in this insane reality they are huge: Italy refusing to take the ship and Austria liquidating some mosques and government in Germany may fall apart because of it.

Clearly there are glimmers of hope

Not in Germany. The establishment seems absolutely set on its course, they’re fanatics who really want permanent mass immigration from Africa and the Islamic world. There is no other interpretation, it’s intentional, and unfortunately far too many Germans are unable to overcome their brainwashing and react accordingly.
I don’t trust Seehofer and the CSU either, imo they just want to preserve their Bavarian fief and its patronage network. Their actions are probably mostly for show because of the state elections in fall, and it might even be possible that the current conflict has secretly been coordinated with Merkel, with the intention of presenting the CSU as an alternative for disaffected conservatives and marginalizing the “fascist” AfD.
Admittedly, the developments in Italy are encouraging, I hope Salvini will remain firm.

The US government has been meddling in the internal affairs of European countries since at least the late 1930s, so this is nothing new. Trump is at least being open about it and doing it for the actual benefit of Germans for once.

I generally tend to agree we shouldn’t openly meddle in other countries’ affairs, but Trump threw out the rulebook a long time ago and gets results that no one else does.

This could be to our benefit in the ongoing USA-EU trade negotiations as well.

Lastly, this Tweet isn’t necessarily about foreign policy. Pointing out the disastrous consequences in Germany helps highlight our own ongoing problem with illegal immigration and “refugees”.

Gotta start somewhere.

Seehofer has been attacking immigration since long before 2015 which is an encouraging sign.

It’s also encouraging that he is a family man and an adulterer who embraces R-selection.

That said if Seehofer were serious about it he would’ve broken the alliance with the CDU in 2015. Though I suppose perhaps his game all along was to bring down and replace Merkel via internal party mechanics.

Il Capitano has balls and won’t back down.

But how many Americans who read this will receive or think about the context?

Based on the reactions of most Americans when I attack the school system, not many. Americans have Stockholm Syndrome.

It will be a very gradual raising of retirement age, so the effect will be minimal at first, but will grow more pronounced over time.

Upper graph shows the number of pensioners. Lower graph is the impact on economic growth in percentage of GDP.

Dude, I know statistics (or integrity) is not your strong suit, but you read this blog. Why don’t you use accurate data?

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/russian-demographics-in-2018/

Your desire to make excuses for the Ukraine is overwhelming.

It seems as though they dumped half of their ammunition stockpile on the city of Raqqa last year. US might need to change its approach to warfare in the future.

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/yweknx/the-us-destroyed-raqqa-to-defeat-isis-locals-dont-know-if-theyll-ever-rebuild-it

Dude, I know statistics (or integrity) is not your strong suit

Says the proven liar. Integrity?

Here is your integrity:

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/military-spending-in-2017/?highlight=azov#comment-2316166

“Ukrainian Neo-Nazi paramilitaries such as the so-called Donbass and Azov “batallions” are indeed Ukrainian, but they are not native to Donbass. They originate from Western parts of the Ukraine. You know, the same way Panzer Army Afrika was not actually African. lol”

Reality:

The Azov Battalion has its roots in a group of Ultras of FC Metalist Kharkiv named “Sect 82″ (1982 is the year of the founding of the group).[18] “Sect 82″ was (at least until September 2013) allied with FC Spartak Moscow Ultras.[18] Late February 2014, during the 2014 Ukrainian crisis when a separatist movement was active in Kharkiv, “Sect 82″ occupied the Kharkiv Oblast regional administration building in Kharkiv and served as a local “self-defense”-force.[18] Soon, on the basis of “Sect 82″ there was formed a volunteer militia called “Eastern Corps”

So much for your integrity.

As for statistics, you were claiming Ukrainians were mediocre in income in the USA, remember? When in fact they are of higher income than most white ethnic groups.

So much for your grasp of statistics.

I am always happy to rub your nose in your own b.s. Felix.

Why don’t you use accurate data?

I posted data from two sources, including the World Health Organization, that provided figures for both Ukraine and Russia. Both sources indicated Russia’s life expectancy was lower than Ukraine’s.

Karlin’s link only provides a number for Russia.

Moreover, Caucasians live longer than Slavs, and Finnic and Tatar peoples live longer than Russians. Russia is only about 80% Slavic. Even if Russia’s life expectancy has crept above Ukraine’s it’s not because its Russians are living longer but because it has a lot of long-lived Dagestanis, Ingush, Chechens, Armenians, Tatars, etc.

Another dumb argument from you. Caucasians live a lot longer than Russians. Ingushetia has the highest life expectancy within Russia , 81.6 in 2016. Tatars also live longer than Slavs.

Good counter to Paul Goble’s ongoing BS, suggesting that the Russians suppress non-Russians, when the later are increasing in population, in addition to the above quoted.

Wonder how the American Indians are doing as a comparison?

Then again, you’ve posted your share of BS.

Your tendency to deflect and obfuscate is annoying. We were talking about demographics, how the fuck do you pivot from this to Azov batallion? How does this make sense to you? lol

The fact is the Ukraine slipped below Russia in average life expectancy. It happened in 2015 and since then Russia built a small gap. This is what Ukrainian statistics service says:
http://ukrstat.gov.ua/operativ/operativ2007/ds/nas_rik/nas_e/nas_rik_e.html

The figures you see on various English-language websites contain outdtated data from almost a decade ago.