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Thread: News from around the world

  1. #16
    Hanovallah HANZO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dooch View Post
    As someone of Turkish ethnicity, what are you thoughts on Gen Z’s views?

    If you were living In Turkey would you align with them, Ergodan or maybe lie somewhere else?
    Gen Z has a point in Turkey. They have been choked by an incompetent & out of touch government. The education system alone is enough to oppose the government. Kids study more religion then they do maths and science. They removed the theory of evolution from the curriculum even though Turkey was one of the first countries to add it into the curriculum way back in the 20's. There's no hope for them. They won't get jobs unless they know some people in powerful places. There's gross injustice in Turkey. They are all aware of this to, Turks are highly active on social media and it's common to see people notice certain students for example getting the lowest scores in exams but somehow finding top jobs in universities or state companies because they are related to members of parliament. The AKP's youth wing for example, all the young kids there are millionaires. People see this gross injustice and it's caused them to absolutely detest Islamists in Turkey. In fact Deism is on the rise in Turkey, young people are saying 'if this is their religion, they can fuck off'.
    Even media wise. Over a month ago a popular comedian passed away. The youth didn't really know him much because he was popular in the 90's. He was infact a drag queen and had a show on prime time TV. Gen Z were shocked at the videos, there was a drag Queen on prime time Turkish TV telling incredibly lewd jokes. In one show the then President was their and the Drag Queen made a dick joke about him. Then ofcourse the Erdogan years came and that drag Queen was shadow banned from TV. They see the change now and understand just whats gone on.

    Erdogan has turned Turkey into a party state, his family and friends run the show. His buddies get the juiciest government contracts. His son appoints general managers in state run companies. His son-in law is the minister of finance and a billionaire thanks to Erdogan, he is also the 2nd most powerful guy in Turkey. His other son-in law an MIT grad is Turkey's number one military drone provider. Erdogan's school buddies now run Turkey's biggest companies. Erdogan put a wrestler, a guy with no high school diploma onto the board of a state bank. Guys with degrees in theology and islamic studies run Turkey's economy. Meritocracy long fucked off. Ofcourse this system of total control, sticking your own guys in positions of power well they learn't all that from good ol Fethullah Gulen the islamist cult leader in the US. Erdogan basically replaced Gulen as the leader of Turkey's main Islamist cult. Gulen helped him gain power, they worked together to destroy the common foe which was the secularists and military. Then they went at each other.

    Erdogan regularly defies the constitution to. The constitutional court rules in favour of the opposition but lower courts who must obey them by constitutional law, simply tell the top courts to fuck off. The main leader of the Kurdish party is in prison, the courts have said let this guy go. Turkey's most secular nationalistic institutions who don't even like the dude in prison have said 'this is wildly unjust let him go'. The smaller local judge says no. The smaller pro-government judge has more power than the supreme court. Just the other day Erdogan's interior minister threatened the head of the court. He was like 'mr judge how about you go around without police protection, lets see what happens'. Thing is in Turkey we know in the 90's and before if minister said this they would be forced to resign but times have changed.

    Like they turned Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. The way they presented it was as if they reconquered the city, yeah but who are you conquering it from? Ataturk turned it into a museum. This backfired on the government because people saw it as an attempt to override the decisions made by Ataturk. Still to this day Ataturk is Erdogan's number 1 political rival. The mans been dead for 80 years but in order to protect themselves from the Islamists in Turkey people are clinging onto him more than ever.

    So how comes with all this crap doesn't the opposition win? I mean elections are actually quite free there is no vote rigging. Up to the last elections all the candidates the opposition fielded where the same old dudes who nobody cared for. In the last local elections they finally picked new blood and it worked. The AKP lost all major cities bar one. They got hammered in Istanbul the gap was 800k votes which is huge. The economy and Syrians being the reason but people had enough. If either the Mayor of Istanbul or Mayor of Ankara goes up against Erdogan they will win. I'm in support of the Mayor of Ankara though, he has done brilliantly in trolling Erdogan's goons. When the media talks shit about him he quickly phones in and slams some documents in their faces and embarrasses them on live TV. When Covid kicked off he quickly organised a fundraiser and helped the poor. The government saw this and they banned the bank accounts used by the fundraiser. He didn't quit and found another way to feed the poor. He doesn't take the governments shit at all. He hired Turkish kids who graduated in Ivy league schools to help him out, he openly calls the educated ones back. He is also an old school nationalist who opposed the Gulenist cult from day one. So nobody can call him a terrorist. He also has excellent relations with Gen Z and is the most popular politicians among them. It's all about whether the leaders of the opposition are smart enough to show him as candidate & well they aren't that smart unfortunately.

  2. #17

  3. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by HANZO View Post
    Erdogan has turned Turkey into a party state, his family and friends run the show
    Quote Originally Posted by HANZO View Post
    they worked together to destroy the common foe which was the secularists and military
    Quote Originally Posted by HANZO View Post
    Erdogan regularly defies the constitution to

    I can’t wait for the day the military rise up a stage a coupe? They tried a couple of years ago but failed due to lack of support or coordination? Erdogan is going to fail eventually, because he is trying to change Turkey from it’s s original intended purpose. Ataturk founded Turkey as a secular state (IIRC) with the military as the protectors of that state/those freedoms. So eventually something will give because what he is doing is contrary to Turkish society and beliefs?

  4. #19

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    Some the 2016 coup was staged by Erdogan, some say it was a fumbled attempt by part of the military. As an outsider it's hard to say what happened. What I can say is that Erdogan used the failed coup attempt for the Cleansing of all Cleansing. You wouldn't even believe how many people were put in jail or lost their jobs. He came down hard on anybody who was considered critical of the regime, in several waves apart in time.
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  5. #20
    Hungry Hyena From Medina SL33's Avatar
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    Since Russians do not visit GenChat, I guess I have to speak on their behalf, being of Slavic origin.

    Putin is a shrewd politician and he basically outsmarted all his global peers. Yes, he has a serious propaganda (RT, Sputnik, trolls, etc) but that is something that all other leaders already have.

    People around him are more or less his university, even high school buddies from St. Peterburg, and they either control oil, gas and other natural resources, secret service/army or the IT which is rising over there.

    Putin manages 2 very different parties within Russia: conservative-panslavic and liberal, which is more or less somehow connected to the Western power circles, bankers etc.

    The thing with Russia is the prevalence of oil export in their economy, not only does it cause problems when prices are low - it makes their middle-class lazy when the prices are high (cause oil makes easy money), as it was when the US went after Saddam and Bin Laden. Only in the last decade, when those sanctions were imposed, did certain people within Russia realize that this country can basically monopolize world's wheat production, or that its AI products are up to par with global high-end.

    Secondly, Russia was an empire, just like the UK or Turkey, but tzarist empire never had a real parliament, even old slavic states had more democracy and organized voting prior to the rise of Kiev and Moscow. That means that an ordinary Russian out there does not care about 'democracy', he cares only for stability and that's it. Russia's death toll after WW2 was unbeleivable, so it is normal thing for a Russian to also hope for security through strong leadership and army. The 90's were terrible, as Yeltsin, not only being an alcoholic, was also a corrupt pawn. Younger generations have more or less similar standpoints as the ones living in Turkey, for example, but Russia has had constant pressure coming from the West for like 200 years, which makes their reality totally different.

    Putin is a realist, which is probably his greatest virtue - but he made mistakes:

    1. Ukraine: Even though 50% this country is Russian speaking, and total majority of its population being somehow connected to Russia, Putin failed to keep it within Russian orbit, and now there are nazi parties there, uncontrolled militias and the entire country became a failed state.

    2. Montenegro: Allthough totally irelevant by size, it was Russia's old ally in the Balkans until it became a member of NATO (without referendum, with even Trump opposing), meaning that Russia lost its only safe haven in the Adriatic sea.

    But of course, his propaganda stops ppl from seeing all the facts.




  6. #21

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    Very insightful, thank you.
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  7. #22
    Gehoxagogen ShaDynasty's Avatar
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    A friend of mine emigrated and offered me a job in Russia. It just sounds scary to me, the idea that people won't say anything bad about their government, either from propaganda or fear. That's something that westerners take for granted but I think it's really vital to feeling free and not oppressed in your life.

    That being said, I've seen a few riots on the news in the last year, so not everybody is into the propaganda.

  8. #23

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    Is it true that Russia’s economy is only the size of Texas? I think I heard that somewhere the other day?
    Last edited by zooruka; 10-02-2020 at 04:27 PM.

  9. #24
    Hanovallah HANZO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zooruka View Post
    I can’t wait for the day the military rise up a stage a coupe? They tried a couple of years ago but failed due to lack of support or coordination? Erdogan is going to fail eventually, because he is trying to change Turkey from it’s s original intended purpose. Ataturk founded Turkey as a secular state (IIRC) with the military as the protectors of that state/those freedoms. So eventually something will give because what he is doing is contrary to Turkish society and beliefs?
    Nobody wants coups, all they do is take the country back 10 years. So popular support for coups are done. There's been a military coup in Turkey nearly every decade. The odd thing is a junta has never run Turkey, the army doesn't like the government they dispose of them and then call for an election. The military now is done though, no power at all. Those days are long gone. The people won't support it either.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hal Incandenza View Post
    Some the 2016 coup was staged by Erdogan, some say it was a fumbled attempt by part of the military. As an outsider it's hard to say what happened. What I can say is that Erdogan used the failed coup attempt for the Cleansing of all Cleansing. You wouldn't even believe how many people were put in jail or lost their jobs. He came down hard on anybody who was considered critical of the regime, in several waves apart in time.
    In my view no it wasn't a false flag. It was a legit attempt by an islamist cult within the military to first overthrow the military and then the government. It failed. My theory is though and it's been reported. The government knew about the plot and they didn't do anything. They just let it ride out in order to capitalise from it. They knew the military won't do anything because none of the chief Generals were involved, it was all the lower guys. The government knew them name by name because they were the ones who promoted them in the first place. The coup started and everyone knew something was off here. Turkey's had plenty coups before and not once has the military fired on the people. This one though gunships and F-16's fired on the people and they made an open attempt to kill Erdogan. Even though the gov knew what was going on I don't think they could predict how brazen the coup plotters could get. This shook Erdogan and made him paranoid. It's the main reason why he bought Russian anti-aircraft missiles. Turkey runs more F-16's than everyone else apart from the US. Erdogan bought a missile system to protect himself from his own military's jets. It's also why he grew to be more anti-American. They knew that the coup plotters got in contact with the American command at the US military base in Turkey. In contrast Putin called Erdogan during the coup and said he had Russian commandos nearby in Greece to help him if help was needed.

    In the aftermath Erdogan used this as a way to cleanup. Not every Gulenist was arrested, some had a choice to side with Erdogan. Those who did walked away free, others paid their way out. $1million got people free apparently. All the lower dudes were thrown in jail and lost their jobs, 300,000 were purged from government institutions. With all these people sacked from their jobs, Erdogan replaced them with those loyal to him. Other Islamist cults who are loyal to Erdogan now have their followers fill up crucial positions within the institutions.

    It's also politically made the government incredibly suspicious of the US and more pro-Russia. They had no issue losing out on F-35's, a jet which Turkey was going to build itself, the only country given that permission. 2 decades of planning, they even built an aircraft carrier for those jets, now they don't have them you have a useless aircraft carrier. $12billion investment in Turkish defence companies. The F-35's in Europe would be serviced in Turkey. It was a huge deal but they didn't care because the government doesn't trust the Americans anymore and well they paranoid. What if someone in the military has an itch. You can't hand this sort of equipment in the hands of secularist military academy graduates. Reason why they also shut down Turkey's military academies. Age old academies formed in the Ottoman era all gone. Now they buy shit from Russia.

  10. #25

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    a cease fire has been reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan
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  11. #26
    Hanovallah HANZO's Avatar
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    Daddy Putin told them not to fight & his puppets have to oblige.

    Azeri's are quite pissed as they were clearly winning. It's basically 20th century equipment vs 21st. Though both armies suck in terms of training and doctrine. Azeri's would have gotten back Karabagh but the status-quo suits Russia more. They let the Azeri's attack in order to punish Armenia and Pashinyan. Reason being as they see Pashinyan as to pro-American. He came to power after protests forced the pro-Moscow leader to resign. The ex presdient was imprisoned later on corruption charges. Thing is when Putin visited Armenia last he also visited the imprisoned President's wife. Which pretty much suggests the Moscow isn't happy their boy got ousted by Pashinyan. So this is basically 'the Americans and Europeans won't protect you, without me your fucked' message to Armenia. I think they got the message.

    Problem now is the Azeri's are pissed. There's huge pressure on Aliyev to take back Karabagh so I don't think the ceasefire will hold. How much influence does Moscow hold in Baku is questionable when it's not only Turkey but Israel to now actively in full support of Azerbaijan.

  12. #27

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    Yes, I can see the region remaining unstable as nothing has really been resolved. Thanks for expanding on what happened to the previous Armenian leader. I did not know about him.


    The newspapers were reporting on the unrest in Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia) here this week.






    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc...-asia-54432037

    There seems to be a power vacuum now after the (partly?) rigged election went awry. Certainly an explosive situation. Putin will want another ally in charge but just how pro Russia is the (divided) opposition? I can't tell. It looks like Russia still has more pull in Kyrgyzstan than China, but I could be wrong.
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  13. #28
    Hanovallah HANZO's Avatar
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    The Kyrgyz tried their hand at democracy. They had as legit elections as they could a few years back. Once the new government came into power it hunted down opponents of the old government and charged them with corruption. This ofcourse alienated the opponents supporters so you have this merry go round of political elite chasing each other & pointing the finger. It is Beijing vs Moscow here. The two deal with puppet states differently, China couldn't care about political affiliation as long as on the world stage you support their cause. So they pour money into the country. Moscow on the other hand wants to have as much political clout as possible. The are the most corrupt places on earth to, the corruption is mind boggling. The Kyrgyz sadly don't enjoy the wealth of having Gas and oil like the other Stans do so they are the poorest and at the helm of the two super powers on their doorstep.

    The Stans are proper old school Soviet though. The President of Kazakstan resigned but he still controls the country so much so they changed the capitals name from Astana to Nur-Sultan, naming it after the ex-President NurSultan Nazarbayev.

    Then there is Turkmenistan, an absolute batshit crazy dictatorship. I worked in energy, we know just how rich Turkmenistan is with it's gas, how easy it is to extract etc. Turkmenistan could be Switzerland, Norway level rich. Yet they before they had TurkmenBashi as a dictator. He changed the name of the months to his parents name. Turkmenbashi is also a title he gave himself which means 'head of the Turkmen'. He at first wanted to call himself Ataturk but yeah that wouldn't have gone down well. He died and was replaced by his dentist Gurbangulu. He banned women from changing their hair colour. People can only drive white cars. Their are no hospitals outside of the capital. There is a 11pm curfew on foreigners all the time. Smoking is banned I think or was once banned. Just plenty of wacky shit. The capital is full of golden statues. The President is also a DJ.

  14. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by HANZO View Post
    Then there is Turkmenistan, an absolute batshit crazy dictatorship. I worked in energy, we know just how rich Turkmenistan is with it's gas, how easy it is to extract etc. Turkmenistan could be Switzerland, Norway level rich. Yet they before they had TurkmenBashi as a dictator. He changed the name of the months to his parents name. Turkmenbashi is also a title he gave himself which means 'head of the Turkmen'. He at first wanted to call himself Ataturk but yeah that wouldn't have gone down well. He died and was replaced by his dentist Gurbangulu. He banned women from changing their hair colour. People can only drive white cars. Their are no hospitals outside of the capital. There is a 11pm curfew on foreigners all the time. Smoking is banned I think or was once banned. Just plenty of wacky shit. The capital is full of golden statues. The President is also a DJ.
    So sad it's funny and so funny it's sad. I feel bad for the people living there. The dentist takeover really weirds me out. It seems so random and therefore threatening. I need and I will investigate this country some more. Thank you for sharing the info. Interesting background info on Kyrgyzstan too. Thanks!


    some pics for the readers of this thread, based on your info




    ^^the former president and the golden statue cult


    ^^the dentist president


    Turkmenistan and gas (2019 article) : https://www.petroleum-economist.com/...-gas-expansion
    Last edited by Rev Jones; 10-11-2020 at 11:39 AM.
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  15. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hal Incandenza View Post
    a cease fire has been reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan
    As predicted by HANZO the ceasefire didn't last. Stepanakert, capital of Karabakh, and Gandja (second largest city of Azerbaijan) were bombarded last night


    Meanwhile in Belarus president Lukachenko has visited 11 prominent members of the opposition in a KGB prison for a four hour talk 'to listen to their opinion'.

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