Wow great info, thanks so much for doing all that legwork! It makes sense that Putin would put less stock into the policy than did his predecessors, because while the leaked Soviet archives show the USSR was genuinely terrified of nuclear war and mostly built up in response to US expansion of nuclear programs, I feel like Putin sees it more as a tool for intimidation.

Russia also maintains a no first strike policy, unless that changed since I last got stuck in a rabbit hole about nuclear policy. The US is the only major country in the world to maintain a first strike policy with nuclear weapons that I know of.

That’s a Dreams game, and as much as I love dreams, it’s really more suited to experiences than it is full fledged games. It does look great though.

Fascism is capitalism in decay. Modern conservatism is still an offshoot of liberalism (as compared to old conservatives who were attempting to conserve monarchy). Liberalism is a capitalist ideology defined by promotion of individual rights, civil liberties, and most importantly free enterprise and markets. Fascism is capitalism in decay because those in power will use that power to maintain their rule, through whatever means necessary. For Trump, that was Jan 6th, which is a new low for US politics, but he’s not alone in manipulating the levers of power, and neither side seems keen on removing powers from themselves when they get in power.

Thanks, it was tough, but very worthwhile. Hope the best for you also!

Trump famously hated Netanyahu before 2020 also. He even said the quiet part out loud, that Netanyahu has no intention to resolve the situation whatsoever. He just also really loves Israel, so it’s kinda irrelevant.

I quit in September! Congrats! Quitting smoking was way harder than quitting drinking for me, and I was a daily drunk functional alcoholic for years.

Voluntary suffering in order to bring about future positive ends is essentially integral to having a good life. That’s like saying to someone who just started exercising and is complaining about being sore, “if you’re feeling worse, is it really for the best?” Yes. It definitively is.

There is a high from nicotine, it just goes away so quickly as you get addicted.

Actually they can’t, they have a legal obligation under the UN Convention on Genocide to take extra-territorial actions in order to stop or prevent genocide. They are acting within international law. The ships going to Israel despite the active genocide are violating international law and complicit in the genocide themselves.

You don’t have to try to eradicate an entire nation to commit genocide, either. There’s a convention on this thing, you know..