Everything is heritable:
Politics/religion:
Moondust: In Search of the Men who Fell to Earth
Not a technical book about the Apollo program by any means. The author goes around finding and interviewing all the surviving moonwalkers as of the time he was writing it (9) about the effect the event had on their lives. Some report massive changes in perspective about the Earth. Some feel massively betrayed by NASA, having taken part in something they felt was the first step in a direction and which was then not followed up on (be the reasons for that good or bad). There's pretty much as many reactions as there are moonwalkers.
But then, most fascinating to me was the difference between living the history and watching the history. Armstrong and Aldrin on Apollo 11 didn't really appreciate how much importance was projected on their mission and how much mythologization of the event was going on back home, with half a billion people watching them live (and indeed it was the first huge live media event of this type). They were just doing their jobs - and then the president gets on the line with them on the surface of the moon and they scramble to not make asses of themselves talking extemporaneously while lugging around hundreds o...
Essentially that large-scale, complicated alliances can result in small scale wars unexpectedly spiraling out of control. In the case of WWI there were multiple small conflagrations in the Balkans before WWI but it then took just the right one to set it off. In a similar vein, one wouldn't be surprised if one the similar small conflagrations around Russia like are currently happening leads to a Russia v. NATO war with little warning. Similarly, one could expect a similar situation in the Pacific given the many border conflicts there.
And NATO pushing up to the borders of Russia isn't considered an aggressive move on the part of the USA, because ... ?
Because it wasn't NATO that "pushed up to the borders of Russia" it was the Eastern European countries that fled from Russia into NATO. Not a single NATO tank had to streamroll into those Eastern European countries for them to join . You'll note that none of those nations that joined NATO needed to be invaded and military occupied by NATO -- unlike what Russia is doing now, and unlike what Warsaw Pact did in the past.
Because if any of those countries ask to leave NATO, NATO will leave. However Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova are asking Russia to leave, and Russia isn't leaving.
Because the sovereign and independent Eastern European nations wanted to become part of NATO, and NATO tanks didn't need to force itself on a single nation, it was invited( a single country, nor change the borders, unlike Russia's military occupation of portions of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.
Because a NATO country like Poland isn't the one attempting to annex the western portions of Ukraine or Belarus or Russia.
Because when Greece has been recently openly allying itself with Russia, I...
I'm not sure your average Serb would agree .
I opposed NATO's action in Kosovo as an imperialist action in support of Albanian imperialism -- but this has nothing to do with NATO's expansion eastwards any more than its intervention against Afghanistan does. NATO's expansion eastwards was an action of the Eastern European countries fleeing westwards, being rightfully afraid of Russian imperialism.
Italy or Albania or Bulgaria attempting to break apart portions of Greece.
No, they just get the Troika to do it by proxy
Know what? I can't remain civil in this discussion, if you're comparing Greece being loaned money with extremely low interests as being the same thing as Ukraine being militarily conquered by Russia and many thousands of its people getting killed.
So I'm tapping out. Enjoy your "understanding" of the so called defensive attitude of Russia as one by one it conquers nations that never once threatened anyone. On my part I'll keep denouncing Russia neoHitleric imperialism, and its vile policies.
Virtual Reality, The Empathy Machine
Virtual reality represents a giant leap forward in mankind’s propensity for compassion. You don’t just walk in someone’s shoes, but see the world through their eyes. In essence, a virtual reality headset is an empathy machine.
You should note that while having more territory usually does help a country to be more powerful, it is not the only way to be a powerful country. While trying to conquer as much land as possible made sense when agriculture was the primary source of wealth, nowadays it is somewhat more complicated because industry and service sector of annexed territory are often destroyed by the war and has to be rebuilt so why not build in the territory you already own. That leaves natural resources such as oil and coal, but it is sometimes possible to profit from them even without having direct control over them, for example, by owning (directly or indirectly) companies that extract those resources from the ground and having enough influence over the government of that country to prevent them from meddling with those companies. Having higher population seems to be useful in some cases, but wars tend to create a lot refugees and creating an economic union that you dominate is perhaps a good enough substitute. Therefore, it sometimes might not make sense to try to conquer as much territory as possible, especially when that territory does not have a lot of natural resources. I don't think that NATO and EU are the only things that stop Russia from trying to conquer Baltic States or Finland, they also lack the necessity to do so. Because military force is not the only way to gain a lot of influence over the country's actions.
In my country (and I would guess in Finland as well), what many people fear is not Russian tanks, it is Russia gaining a lot of influence by making backroom deals, promoting and financially supporting certain political parties and individual politicians whose ideas are useful to them, buying up shares in energy companies, either directly or by proxy individuals (who do not have to be Russians themselves, there are a lot of people who got rich due to having the right connections and they often want to preserve those connections) and gaining cultural influence. Finlandization is often a good enough substitute for the actual conquest. I am not an expert in geopolitics or international relations, but it is my impression that while Crimea does have strategic importance to Russia due its warm deepwater ports, it is harder to make such case for Donbas/Donbass or South Ossetia (or Abkhazia, or Transistria). It is my impression that in these cases it is not necessarily just the territory itself that is important to Russia, but the fact that having disputed territories may make it significantly more difficult for those countries to join NATO and EU, and, that by waging these small scale wars Russia demonstrates ability and willingness to protect their interests, thus sending a signal to many people that Russia is a powerful country and therefore siding with their interests in a domestic politics of their respective countries and trying to establish connections with them is potentially useful. For example, by negotiating with each country individually, Russia is able to extract higher prices for its natural gas than they would be able if EU countries coordinated with each other and negotiated as one bloc. In addition to that, because of these large profit margins, Russia is able to selectively make discounts for some countries in exchange for various things that they want, for example, naval facilities. Thus it is in Russia's interest to try to weaken the EU, therefore they support various anti-EU parties, politicians (both right wing and (probably) left wing) and people who are influential in politics without themselves being politicians in various ways. However, I predict that it would be much more difficult to attract such allies if Russia would give in to Western demands and remove their troops from regions such as Donbas, because it would be interpreted as a sign of weakness, therefore Russia would not be thought of as worth siding with. Even though these anti-EU parties would probably still be anti-EU, they would no longer necessarily be against, e.g. sanctions against Russia. Perhaps even more importantly, there are a lot of influential people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who find it useful to join whichever side is more powerful and a sign of Russia's weakness would make the option of seeking closer relations with the West more attractive, thus reducing Russia's influence even further.
To sum up, in my layman's view, I do not think that Russia is hungry for more territory, but it is probably hungry for more power and influence over decision making in other countries (because it is a useful thing to have), which can be acquired by other means than conquest. I conjecture that the present situation in Donbas is probably not because Russia desires to annex the Donets Basin, but perhaps because giving in would send a signal that Russia is not strong enough and/or not willing to protect its own interests (let alone interests of their allies), therefore not worth siding with.
This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.
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