Other News & General Chat

[Azeem]

6 minutes ago, Azeem said:

For the record no one here is ok with what happened and the murders. Like previously said we're discussing that Religiophobic element of secularism in France. 

I also seriously believe these Islamists are not able to function in society either on the other hand. 

[Rucksackfranzose]

24 minutes ago, Azeem said:

Is that 100% the case with Charlie Hebdo ? They made a cartoon about some rich Jewish guy in 2009 since he protested with economic/legal actions they fired the cartoonist for not apologising. 

Well, Charlie Hebdo is a private company so I'm not sure if and to which degree they share the anti-religious stance that the government and waste parts of the society hold.

Also Jews are a very tricky topic as their discrimination and marginalisation almost culminated in their extinction in a holocaust.

[Azeem]

The visuals coming out of Azerbaijan-Armenia of civilians getting targeted are serious, these meetings and ceasefire aren't chanting anything on the ground

[Dr. Gonzo]

How come the world never gave a fuck about the Armenian genocide compared to shit like the holocaust?

[Azeem]

Home Tutor abducts high school boy for marriage, arrests made

[nudge]

Terror attack in the inner city district of Vienna, carried out by multiple gunmen in 6 different locations, at least two dead and more critically injured. One assailant shot dead, one arrested, others on the run. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

Terror attack in the inner city district of Vienna, carried out by multiple gunmen in 6 different locations, at least two dead and more critically injured. One assailant shot dead, one arrested, others on the run. 

Sounds pretty fucked up, a lot like the coordinated attack in Paris tbh.

To continue the fucked up news around the world, Kabul University was stormed by gunmen, 19 dead and at least 22 wounded.

[Azeem]

Russian gunship helicopter shot down in Armenia by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan accepts it as a mistake and willing to pay reparations 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Looks like Armenia is surrendering Nagorno-Karabagh, a bit sad tbh.

There's now reports of gunfire in Yerevan... and an explosion in Baku. So looks like nationalists on both sides are disappointed by the terms of the Russian negotiated peace deal.

[nudge]

 

 

[Azeem]

4 hours ago, nudge said:

 

 

Lol to protect family's honour more like protecting family's wealth seeing a lot of their princesses of the royal family eloped with Egyptians guys 

[Azeem]

9 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Looks like Armenia is surrendering Nagorno-Karabagh, a bit sad tbh.

There's now reports of gunfire in Yerevan... and an explosion in Baku. So looks like nationalists on both sides are disappointed by the terms of the Russian negotiated peace deal.

The way Russia has stayed away from all this and no world power really payed any heed to this, Azerbaijan seems to have been lucky to cash on the game behind the scenes.

[nudge]

 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

9 hours ago, Azeem said:

The way Russia has stayed away from all this and no world power really payed any heed to this, Azerbaijan seems to have been lucky to cash on the game behind the scenes.

Armenia got pretty fucked by the world being distracted by a pandemic... and by concepts of realpolitik hitting them hard in the face (nobody wanting to send their troops to "help" a small landlocked nation with limited natural resources + the regional powers having a more vested interest in Azerbaijan's oil pipeline). Also the fact that Putin doesn't really like Pashinyan because he rooted out a lot of Putin allies from Armenia's government did not help them with getting Russia involved.

Russia sells weapons to both sides and while they did provide military support to Armenia... I think the only thing that stopped Azerbaijan from steamrolling Armenian/Artsakh forces (because the last few weeks of the war have been utterly brutal on the Armenian forces) was Azerbaijan shooting down a Russian military helicopter. I think otherwise, Azerbaijan probably could have overrun the contested territories and won the war outright. I think the only reason they're agreeing to Russian peacekeepers is because they've pissed Russia off.

A lot of people in Armenia are very pissed off at Pashinyan... but I really don't know if he had a choice other than throwing more men into the meatgrinder. But both sides were suffering casualties at around at 1:1 ratio... with Azerbaijan having much more men to throw into battle. The fortress city of Shushi/Shusha (I think it's funny the difference between the names of the city for Armenians/Azeris is just one letter) fell and was cut off from Armenian supply lines - so the troops there (where there was still fighting going on as of a few hours ago) would likely have all been lost.

Reports of Turkish forces being used in as "peacekeepers" has many Armenians particularly outraged. I've seen mixed sources on whether Turkish forces would be involved (the Turkish government isn't a signing party to the agreement, so there is that... but I do know Aliyev was making demands during initial negotiations for the peacekeepers to be Russian and Turkish).

I wonder what will happen with Shushi, which is the home of important cultural sites for Armenians - will they safely be allowed to return to the city if they lived there. Will ethnic Armenian tourists be allowed to visit those cultural sites?

I hope the peace holds beyond the 5 years of peacekeeping. This isn't a great situation for Armenia, but it's essentially the two countries agreeing to the terms of the conflict resolution the Minsk group negotiated... just with a heavy cost of human life. Hopefully all parties can be content with how things have panned out over time - Artsakh still exists (although a much smaller territory now) & Armenia retained all of its sovereign integrity. Azerbaijan has substantial land within it's internationally recognised borders restored. Turkey gets a land route uniting "all Turkic peoples" (plus their pipeline doesn't have to pass through Armenia now). Russia gets more influence than it's had in the Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union (plus the pipeline). 

[nudge]

13 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Reports of Turkish forces being used in as "peacekeepers" has many Armenians particularly outraged. I've seen mixed sources on whether Turkish forces would be involved (the Turkish government isn't a signing party to the agreement, so there is that... but I do know Aliyev was making demands during initial negotiations for the peacekeepers to be Russian and Turkish).

From what I've read, Turkey forces will be part of the peacekeeping center - in other words, a ceasefire monitoring base in Azerbaijan teritory (location not yet agreed upon), but not in Karabakh. 

I suspect that Russian forces will stay in the region indefinitely now. The peace agreement even contains a bullet point where it says that the duration of stay of the peacekeeping contingent will have automatic extension for the next 5-year period if none of the three Parties declares the intention to terminate the application of this provision at least 6 months in advance.

[Azeem]

This will increase Russian military interests in Caucuses

This will also be perceived as a victory for Pan Turks in the region by elements in Iran. 

[Azeem]

US embassy after posting against the current government. Russian's at it again 

[Azeem]

Popular Muslim prayer app linked with selling data to US military.

Tbh i live with the assumption/fact that all apps do this. Data is big money and these ' free ' apps make their money from selling or collecting your data

[nudge]

Wtf is this? I can almost hear the 2001 music playing in the background...

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

Wtf is this? I can almost hear the 2001 music playing in the background...

 

 

FFS, just waiting for the conspiracy theories or true or not true to happen about aliens putting it there as a beacon for whatever and whoever put it there pissing themselves laughing at the news. 

[CaaC (John)+]

3 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

Wtf is this? I can almost hear the 2001 music playing in the background...

 

The monolith evokes the one that appears in the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey."

Mysterious shiny monolith found in otherworldly Utah desert Deep in the Mars-like landscape of Utah’s red-rock desert lies a mystery.

[Mel81x+]

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/11/24/anchorage-funds-a-new-mental-health-first-responder-team/

Good use of the alcohol tax. 

[Stan]

I reckon that thing in Utah was put there by aliens as a beacon. It's the only explanation. 

[Azeem]

Things got escalated in Ethiopia

[CaaC (John)+]

On 25/11/2020 at 00:57, nudge said:

Wtf is this? I can almost hear the 2001 music playing in the background...

 

 

 

On 25/11/2020 at 03:42, CaaC (John) said:

 

The monolith evokes the one that appears in the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey."

Mysterious shiny monolith found in otherworldly Utah desert Deep in the Mars-like landscape of Utah’s red-rock desert lies a mystery.

It's gone!!!!  Beam me up, Scotty 

Quote

Utah monolith: Has the mysterious metal object disappeared?

A mysterious metal monolith discovered last week in the desert in the US state of Utah has disappeared, officials say.

Utah's Bureau of Land Management said it had seen credible reports the object had been removed "by an unknown party".

Social media images apparently from the site show a pile of rocks and a small piece of metal left behind.

The discovery of the 12ft (3.7m) high object sparked a national guessing game as to how it got there and saw dozens of people pay a visit in recent days.

The strange metal object was first spotted on 18 November by a helicopter crew counting bighorn sheep from the air, in a remote south-eastern area of Utah.

News of its discovery and speculation over its origins quickly went viral on social media, with many observers presuming it was an art installation left by a

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