This is nuts

[Derived Absurdity]

So, I don't know if anyone here is interested in what's been going on in Ukraine recently, but part of the story is that the United States helped engineer a coup about a year ago to overthrow its democratically elected leader, and ever since (and probably long before) it's been openly coordinating with, advocating for, and providing financial and material support for certain fascist and far-right elements integrated there, elements which are currently carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against Russians still loyal to Yanukovych. This is presumably so the Obama administration can use the land on which they live to place nuclear missiles right next door to Russia as part of a long-term plan to control and subdue it.

So far, pretty standard. What I think is fairly shocking, though, is that one of the far-right battalions is the Azov Battalion, an explicitly and openly Nazi-friendly group which does such things as call for a white crusade against Jews, express admiration for Hitler, and sport Nazi insignias on their uniforms and flags. And the United States has apparently announced it's going to send troops later this month to train them.

http://www.alternet.org/world/hitlers-b ... onal-guard

And, as the article said, the training will begin on April 20.

America is going to start training groups which they know include high-ranking neo-Nazis, and they've purposely chosen to start on April 20.

This is completely fucked. So not only has a European government (sponsored and backed by the United States) dispatched Nazi battalions to attack a European population - which has not happened since World War II - and not only is the United States government now openly training forces which include these battalions, they're choosing to start on a day which I can only assume was chosen for the purpose of conscious trolling.

Nothing else could really signal the "I don't give a fuck" attitude quite like this. They know perfectly well what they're doing; there's simply no chance at all that they don't. And they're essentially broadcasting it, that they know what they're doing, and that they don't think there's any chance at all that they're going to be stopped.

I wouldn't be able to make this up if I tried.

[Dr_Liszt]

Same ol' same ol'.

Then the terrorists will rebel and they will attack their reporters and newspapers and be all like "awwwww but my values!! my western values!!!! why does the world hate me soooooo?!?!?!?!?!"

[Cassius Clay]

This is almost on par with free mason secret sex orgies, holly wood mind-controlled sex slaves, the illuminati, reptilians, and shit.

And insane conspiracy fantasies like those make it less likely for people to believe realistic but highly absurd shit like this.

[vnufeld]

I think I'm going to refrain from commenting.

[Derived Absurdity]

And yet, you just did. Maybe you should try harder next time.

[Derived Absurdity]

This is almost on par with free mason secret sex orgies, holly wood mind-controlled sex slaves, the illuminati, reptilians, and shit.

And insane conspiracy fantasies like those make it less likely for people to believe realistic but highly absurd shit like this.

Maybe. But the biggest reason is that the media isn't talking about it. To most people, if the media talks about it, it's real, and if it doesn't, it's not. The media is like our country's nervous system. It determines our reality for us. If it ignores something, it's not important.

Another reason is a bizarre psychological need for so many people to trust in our leaders. It's like people are incapable of accepting the fact that our leaders are simply bad people. So any evidence is simply brushed aside.

[Dr_Liszt]

I don't think leaders are bad people per se. It's the system, in the end, the president or king just becomes a symbol to the system and the power they have is limited compared to the network around them. Usually the real power is held by congress and stuff.

[Derived Absurdity]

Well, it's usually trivializing to individualize systemic problems, but yeah... I have no problem at all with saying that they're basically bad people. Even if Obama doesn't have much practical power, he still willingly enmeshed himself in the network - knowing full well what it was - and never backed out. It's difficult to tease out just how much of his actions are due to himself and how much are due to the invisible people pulling his strings, but he does share some personal responsibility for all the horrifying shit that's been carried out by his administration. He's not just a symbol, he does have some influence.

But it's not just him. Anyone who has risen to any position of power in government has some skeletons that would prevent them from ever seeing heaven, if it existed. No one with any conscience will be able to make it very far up the greasy pole. I think that's a basic truism in government today.

[Dr_Liszt]

Yeah they basically have the worst job in the universe. I'd rather clean shit bathrooms for a living than being any of NATO's head of state.

But this basically reminds me of Nicholas II, he was responsible for millions of deaths and practically a shit leader all around. So when he was in house arrest, the soldiers that despised him and kept him captive started to get a liking to him and his family, because he was no longer the evil representation of what is wrong with the world because they started too see him as also a family man, just like them. So I try to remember that when I call Obama the spawn of Satan, or when I called Hollande and Merkel the real terrorists of the world, or when I called vladimir Putin Tywin Lannister, or when I compare Netanyahu to Roose Bolton.... you get the idea.

[CashRules]

Vladimir Putin wouldn't make a good wart on Tywin Lannister's ass. Putin's a fucking joke. At least Lannister is a well written character, Putin is a bad caricature of some fictional character.