Voting solves nothing. If the Republicans are pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse and the Democrats are also pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse, voting is not the solution to our problem. You might as well criticize me for which type of shoes I wear, it has the same influence on Politics, which is zero.

If you want to learn about Stalin, I would start by reading Stephen Kotkin’s two books which cover his life up to WWII in detail. Kotkin is a liberal, so he is no fan of Stalin, but he does very thorough research.

Stalin: Passage to Revolution by Ronald Grigor Suny gives a more sympathetic account of Stalin’s early life, his extreme suffering caused by the Czarist regime, and his dedication to making the world a better place. This book goes in depth into the Menshevik-Bolshevik split, and why Stalin chose to side with Lenin and internationalist socialism instead of the more nationalist Georgian Mensheviks.

Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend does not go in-depth in biographical details, but it is definitely the best “defense” of Stalin’s various actions. The main rhetorical technique is comparing Stalin to other leaders at the time - Hitler, FDR, Churchill, etc… To the point: Stalin never attacked a city with a nuclear bomb (like the USA), Stalin never caused famine and starvation for profit (like Britain), and Stalin never tried to exterminate an entire ethno-religious group (like Hitler). Nobody is saying Stalin was perfect, but compared to other world leaders he was a much more moral leader than them, and ultimately did much more good for the world overall, such as almost single-handedly defeating Nazi Germany.

Yes, the real smart people know that Stalin was evil like Darth Vader right?

Please read a book before you post. No investigation, no right to speak.

People are comparing what’s happening in Gaza to the Holocaust, which is a fair comparison, but I feel like a more accurate comparison would be the Herero and Nama genocide from 1904-1908. This was a genocide perpetrated by the “civilized” against the “savages” which ended up killing around 100,000 people in modern-day Namibia. Even though a large percentage of the German Empire’s population was actually against the genocide and a lot of liberal intellectuals felt sympathy for the indigenous peoples, the military-industrial complex of the empire and the unstoppable prerogative of the Kaiser made sure that the ethnic cleansing and mass murder was carried out to its conclusion, with nobody stepping in to stop it.

Look at the material conditions. Humanity produces more food than it needs. Because of technological process and efficiency, we have enough food to feed every hungry person, the only problems are transportation and access (aka capitalism and imperialism). It is literally more difficult for us to NOT give food to the hungry people who need it than it is to just let them have it. The leftovers restaurants/stores throw away could feed all the needy.

As for housing, we have the space, technology, and materials to build safe and comfortable housing for everyone on earth. But instead, cities are seeing a boom in “luxury housing” and simultaneously in slums where the poor and working class are forced to live with roommates or their families. This is an economic problem, and ARTIFICIAL shortage of housing, not an actual shortage of material needs. To go to the most extreme case, why can’t the government just build a bunch of new apartments all over, give control over them to social services, and comfortably house all the homeless? Or even run them with the assistance of charity groups or even religious charity groups in certain countries/regions where that’s the norm? Capitalism and imperialism are the only thing getting in the way of that. Ideology is the obstacle, not material reality.

I’m sure if every person had the financial means to support their “lazy” or even physically disabled family members, they would. They would build ramps/elevators in their houses, get them physical therapy, and counseling for their mental health needs. But in America everyone is forced to work, and housing, food, and healthcare are only given to those who sacrifice their lives to work, or who collaborate in the power structure that helps the working class control the workers. When Elon Musk plays video games, he is demonstrating his genius. When the peasants play video games, they are lazy. When Donald Trump golfs, he’s closing high-level business deals. When the peasants kick a soccer ball around, they are wasting time. When George W. Bush paints, he is bravely facing his trauma. When the peasants paint, they are choosing a useless career path.

Laziness is not a real thing in America, it is simply a word used to blame the working class for their own economic situation. “Grind more. Get another job. Invest. Get up early. Stay late. Be your own boss.” It’s the same mentality that leads to laws preventing people from buying chips or cookies with food stamps - the poor do not deserve to be happy, and in fact they deserve to be miserable, in order to incentivize them to stop being poor.

Which one? Are you talking about the guy who said he would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, or the guy who is on Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal team to defend him from the charges of committing war crimes?

How dare you question the bravery of Israel’s leader. According to trusted media sources, the iron-willed Netanuahu is currently still on Israeli soil. /s

(The Israeli embassy in Greece technically counts as Israeli soil.)

The Business Plot, except this time the CEOs are even worse at business and plots. Probably planned his psy-op with Chat-GPT.

Praetorian Guard Security Services

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as whatever the fuck this is.

The entire earth’s waters are under the USA’s jurisdiction, didn’t you know? Maybe you should read some more CNN news stories about China’s evil navy trying to take over the South China Sea from the USA, who obviously should have more control over the South China Sea than China does. And the Israeli Navy is just another branch of the American Navy, which has the second largest air force in the world (after the American Air Force).

All this AI will be lost… Like code… In the cloud…

On a similar subject, here’s a great documentary on Ibrahim Traore, still a bit lib coded but with decent politics and good context in regards to colonialism and imperialism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzA4921NKwU

This is a potential “Suez Crisis” moment for the USA. Can the USA call its two proxy powers to heel? Or has its lost its soft power grip, forcing other nations like Iran and China to step in to mediate?

India asked Iran to forward a warning to Pakistan along with requests not to retaliate, to which Iran instead refused

I love when countries treat nuclear weapons like kids treat their toys. “Tell Jimmy I hate him because he broke my Barbie doll.” “No, go tell him yourself.” Modi truly bringing together the worst aspects of American and Israeli leadership - incompetence and ethno-nationalist violence.

Ice is literally our gestapo, no hyperbole

ICE was created in 2003, by Bush Jr., amid the “War on Terror.” The empire’s ire was turned towards Muslims at that time. Now that it has turned towards oppressing immigrants, and those who look and sounds like immigrants, ICE can finally unleash its fascist potential on this much larger population.

Saw some posts in the News mega-thread about hyper-patriotic politicians in India spreading conspiracy theories that China was going to invade the “Seven Sisters,” possibly with the aid of Bangladesh. I would not be surprised if USA intelligence agencies would try to take advantage of the environmental catastrophe to start a proxy war against China on border territories. Hopefully they are too incompetent to pull it off.

“I have depicted my snarky comment as the Chad wojak, and your snarky comment as the Soy wojak. I am victorious.”

Real question: would you rather live in:

1. a country with billionaires and a strong welfare state helping its citizens

2. a country with billionaires and NO welfare state that lets its citizens suffer and die?

In this example, 1) is China, 2) is the USA. There is no third option, not at this point in human history. So tell me, which is better? 1 or 2?

“The most successful socialist nation in history isn’t doing things exactly the way I, an ignorant western leftist, think are morally pure. Therefore they are evil!”

Brilliant take, sir.

“Checks and balances,” yeah the checks from the oligarchs really help balance the politicians’ checkbooks.