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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/18/21 in all areas

  1. Hi all, sorry for the lack of response. Unfortunately upgrades in software are necessary from time to time, in order to prevent against e.g. security vulnerabilities. Inevitably these come with some changes - some nice, some not so great. I've restored your rank under your username and the reputation count should now be found as it was before.
    2 points
  2. I think that is quite a naïve view. The Soviets tried mass killings in Afghanistan and you can see what happened. Also as far as I am aware of, there were no Afghani citizens involved, the Taliban provided sanctuary for a Saudi, and Saudi Arabia does not seem to be bombed to pieces, either. I am not sure that brutal suppression is what causes nations to stabilize, in fact I cannot think of an example where that alone has worked. And if you want to pull out post-war Japan or Germany as examples, both had strong central governments which were only partially dismantled and were rebuilt into strong economic entities. One of the issues seems to be that Afghanistan was seen as a military operation in the first place, and from what I have read from reports about 5% of the total spending was rebuilding the country whereas the rest went to military spending (including training and counternarcotics). Total expenditures in rebuilding programs and economy amounted to perhaps 50 bn total from what I gather. Japan and Germany received multiple of that amount for reconstruction. Afghanistan, already in a bad economic situation only benefitted partially and most rural centres did not benefit at all. In my mind, nation building only works if you can demonstrate that life is going to be better for a large swath of the population (inequality also fosters instability). It seems to be part of the issue. The government really had only power in some city centres and even then not a very firm grip. US air supremacy provided a kind of shield, but the real power was always decentralized and there was no real mechanism in place to pull it all together. Areas of Afghanistan are virtually isolated where officials barely show up and local elders hold power, the government does not really concern them in any tangible way. However, a local warlord with actual military presence (and who might be a relative) is a different matter.
    2 points
  3. What was that saying: 'Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence"
    1 point
  4. We understand you’re talking nonsense. Little more is needed than to explain why it’s patently absurd, being argued in bad faith, and move on.
    1 point
  5. Some Afghans were always going to welcome the Taliban back, because they saw them (in spite of the oppression) as inherently less corrupt than any civil government. Taliban is the Pashto word for "students, " and refers to them all being raised in the madrassa system and its very disciplined (ascetic, really, to a western eye) approach to life. For Pashtuns generally, who are about fifty percent of Afghans, Taliban rule means more Pashtun power. For many men, I suspect the conservative (Wahhabi) ideology is sold in terms of better job prospects emerging when all women are forced from their present jobs (as has already begun, per the NYT, in major cities) and vacancies need filling. Basically, most ordinary people there aren't concerned with big-picture stuff, like how great western secular government might maybe possibly someday be. Poor nations are full of poor people who have poor people priorities. And there may also be a bit of that Trumpian effect, where someone publicly deplores a regressive policy but has privately been thinking that way. Just as Trump openly promised to take us back to 1953, and expressed white nationalist sentiments that had secretly been held by many, so perhaps the Taliban also resonate with many Muslim citizens who have publicly professed moderate and progressive leanings without, erm, total sincerity. Some are genuinely concerned about women's rights, including I'd imagine most women, which may explain why the Taliban spokesmen are telling happy stories about the New Improved Softer emirate they're bringing. It'll be interesting to see if any of that is real -- one could hope that students fresh from the madrassa in the 90s are now older and wiser. Sending women home suggests maybe not all that wise. Maybe not chopping off your hands for swiping an orange is the best that can be expected. (I copy/pasted this from myself, but for some reason the text editor here insists on altering the font and making it look sort of like a quote. Not sure what that's about. )
    1 point
  6. We have experimental evidence that GR is correct and this is wrong. Why are you wasting time with a model that’s contradicted by experimental evidence? The Pound-Rebka experiment.
    1 point
  7. You link to and describe "Hole through the center of the Earth " The earth is not a black hole. You don't even mention a black hole until. the end of your post. Sorry, I was looking for a legitimate physics reason. Silly me. Is "balance" an accepted phenomenon? What is the actual mechanism for changing the particle into its antiparticle, using only a gravitational interaction? ZPE is the inertia of the mass? Sorry, that's gibberish. Maybe you should take physics 101 first. More gibberish. Need less handwave, more rigor.
    1 point
  8. Or that you need to stop blundering in everywhere you don't understand? Like, let other peoples make their own peaceful changes at their pace, in their own way? Hardly an apt comparison. Germany, in 1939, actually attacked other countries with the intent of conquest and occupation. Afghanistan has been invaded more than a dozen times - three times by Britain - and has never afaik invaded any other nation. Its one and unchangeable fault is its location at the crossroads of empires. Do you wonder it's given rise to a breed a fierce warriors?
    1 point
  9. Contrarywise the opposite is obvious to myownself. So I executed three half turns widdershins to compensate. Yourowngoodself introduced the law of the excluded middle not yourstruly. In direct and fullsomeness of answer to your supplication for an exemplification Here is a spel from the great book of the WikiMaester. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-valued_logic
    0 points
  10. The knees do not press, the mass does. The object presses normal but the body knows what it presses, if it his own knees it will press slightly so the human survives with such massive 40 kg. Think of a human jumps 5 years, walk 40 years, stand 30 years, run 20 years ..... How the alignment will help him to do all of this carrying a massive body of 40 kg for 70 years ? and think of the rock aligned perfectly as the body , the force on the knees still the weight of the rock which is massive for the knees to bear for hours
    -1 points
  11. All I am doing is attempting to grasp reality all you are doing is wasting my time.
    -1 points
  12. It sounds like you are speaking in circle jerk rather then enlightening me on what it is I have confused. I started the thread and in the title it says "could" and here you are pretending that I am saying this is how it is, I am putting my thoughts out there and if I am incorrect and you have nothing beneficial to add why even post? Could spooky action at a distance be how photons communicate with one another? I mean when we look out into the stars they sure appear to be far away rather then right in my face. So does that mean a photon wave memory follows you from that point in spacetime throughout all of spacetime so that when someone passes through spacetime at point A where you were in the past and see where you are at point B in the present. They can actually see where you are presently rather then see you at the time you passed through. So when we think we are looking out seeing the past we may truly be seeing the present reflected through a photon of the past.
    -1 points
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