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Everything posted by SpankyMcFarland
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So you’re suddenly outraged by coal plants when other people are building them. This forum is beyond hope.
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This is the only place we know of where our species can survive and we humans, among whom I take the liberty to include Canadians, are dramatically altering its atmosphere.
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The US and Canada are far more advanced and wealthy per capita than China. When our emissions are lower per capita then we can lecture the Chinese.
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More global warming, of course, but you would have to possess a neck as tough as a jockey’s scrotum to pretend outrage at that after what we have done to the planet. At least they are charting a new course for the world in that regard.
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The Chinese political system is ghastly but they do think long-term and have been setting the stage for what is happening now with battery technology for decades. They can see the world is heading for a renewable energy future. If we deny that reality in North America and take the easy route with fossil fuels we will be left behind. On this occasion Mr. Musk is correct.
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China is a rapidly industrializing country with a lot of people. I presume you are taking all that into account? By the tenor of this debate, I presume I am talking to mainly older people here who won’t have to face the consequences of these decisions by the US.
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There is no longer any question which country is leading in the export of lithium-ion batteries, solar panels and electric vehicles:
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The churches of Italy remain the gold standard where beauty is concerned. The Anglican ones aren’t bad but my goodness things go down from there. Any fair description of Luther has to mention his peculiar obsession with the Jewish people. In that respect he certainly didn’t do the causes of progress, tolerance and secularism any favours.
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Canada rescinding Digitals Services act
SpankyMcFarland replied to Barquentine's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
We’re in unprecedented times. Our leaders are facing an almost impossible task dealing with a neighbour that used to be a close friend. I would support anybody representing us against someone who wishes us as ill as Trump does. -
Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
You think this guy was from North Vietnam? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thích_Quảng_Đức Or all these guys? https://www.thoughtco.com/the-viet-cong-the-vietnam-war-195432#:~:text=The Viet Cong were South Vietnamese supporters of the communist,unified%2C communist state of Vietnam. -
Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
In history, foreigners are rarely seen as liberators because they very rarely are. In Vietnam the Americans naively thought they would be seen that way, failing to understand how despised, sectarian and corrupt the South Vietnamese regime actually was. And as to my random thought…which I would regard as obvious, do you really believe countries that combine the roles of head of state and government are in general more free than those that do not? -
Poilievre? Look at Mamdani
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Mamdani is a brilliant communicator. Making pitch perfect political videos on a daily basis isn’t as easy as it looks. There’s no doubt PP needs rebranding, though. More footage of him actively listening to the public and party members would do no harm at all. -
When a relative unknown with no money thrashes a big beast like this it is well worth asking how it was done. Something dramatic happened here. Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein have quite a few thoughts on the matter: Hayes has just written a book on attention. He thinks the outcome is significant far beyond New York. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/opinion/ezra-klein-show-chris-hayes.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Mamdani’s skill at making videos is hardly surprising given that his mother is a brilliant film-maker.
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Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
How much support the mullahs still have is completely open to debate but it’s probably significant among blue collar, traditional Iranians with limited education. I’d be surprised if it’s less than 20%. Maybe 30% are willing to actively and openly campaign against the regime. That leaves 50% who might like to see change but are more focused on getting by. -
Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
Who is denying that? I took examples where many people clearly didn’t love their leaders and still fought for their country, eg Iran itself in 1980 when the ‘Shah’s pilots’ helped halt Saddam’s invasion. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/how-the-iranian-air-force-turned-the-tide-of-the-iran-iraq-war-in-1980/ Or 1941 when the Soviet Army, still reeling from Stalin’s murderous purges, stopped the mighty Wehrmacht in front of Moscow. I’m sure many Vietnamese weren’t too keen on communism either but people will naturally unite to fight foreigners who attack their country whatever the state of internal politics. One of many mistakes America made in its constitutional order was to combine the roles of head of state with head of government. The executive du jour and the nation should always be clearly distinguished. -
What will we get for being right about this? Not much. You think I want the CCP to win? This is one of the central delusions of the fossil fuel crowd.
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America under Trump seems to be offering a retrofuturist fossil fuel alternative to China’s renewable tsunami. It’s a form of denial as pathetic as it is worrying.
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I know they lead the way in those technologies and I suspect you do too. Of course they still use a lot of coal because China is still a rapidly developing country with 1.4 billion people. You have to look at the direction they are taking to assess where they will soon be.
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Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
Trump’s own campaigns for the presidency criticized the forever wars in the Middle East that his country embroiled itself in which is why some of his supporters were disappointed by this new development. -
Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
We are getting a little off track here. Unfortunately, English speakers have generally received a lopsided education in Napoloeon through a British lens of yesteryear that equated him crudely with the likes of Hitler and ignored the way in which he transformed France, and European law. One example would be the emancipation of Jews in his empire and what happened to many of them after he fell from power, eg in the original ghetto of Venice. Needless to say, there were wars in Europe involving the great empires before and after Napoleon. That’s another day’s work. My initial point was that a young French corporal was given an opportunity to seize power in France because of a foreign invasion of the country. To reiterate: foreign ‘liberations’ rarely work because they are usually not aligned with the interests of the invaded nation. -
Iran: Regime Change? Possible?
SpankyMcFarland replied to August1991's topic in The Rest of the World
He was defeated eventually because he became a despot himself and also because the emperors of Europe hated the dangerously meritocratic example he offered their oppressed subjects, especially their ethnic and religious minorities, thus conspiring against him for years with the British who didn’t care one whit about absolutism on the European mainland. The ideas of the French Revolution lived on. The point I’m making is we are all tribal creatures first. France was divided by the Revolution but rallied around the flag once foreigners invaded the country. The same thing happened in both Iran after Saddam’s invasion and the USSR during Barbarossa. Uncle Joe may have been a tyrant but he was their tyrant.