Recent posts

#11

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Solmyr - Today at 03:58:15 AM

The guy who wants arrest warrants for Netanyahu also wants them for Hamas leaders, but this is of course conveniently overlooked by fascists.

#12

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:56:36 AM

Kosovo?

Slovakia?

Romania grabbing Transylvania?

#13

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:54:14 AM

EU4 has the province autonomy system, jacking that up way high feels a much better solution to Wales than having it as a vassal.

#14

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by Solmyr - Today at 03:53:20 AM

Looking at the map I'm most curious on what the deal is in Scotland.

Maybe the struggle between Bruce and Balliol?

#15

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:55:25 AM

Wales and its situation does stand out as another area where paradox games tend to fail to properly handle small areas.
Maybe not being able to deal with mountains is part of the problem? Or making rebellious areas fun?

Looking at the map I'm most curious on what the deal is in Scotland.

#16

Off the Record / Re: Reported Coup Attempt in D...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:48:47 AM

I'm honestly not too surprised some sort of westerner would be involved. It seems pretty typical these days for elites and connected folk of African states to have some western passport.

By all means if you know different, that these were old school white guy mercs, then that's fine. But my guess would be these are Congoese-Americans.

Rather than the CIA or Mossad, Rwanda would be a more likely place to point a finger of blame if there is any foreign involvement.

#17

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:45:25 AM

I guess if we say Israel isn't a "proper" country and thus open to debate whether it should exist at all, then the same is true for places like Kosovo, or Slovakia.

I bristle because of course that's the exact argument Putin uses about Ukraine - that it's not a proper or real country...

The analogy is far stronger here for Palestine. You hear people pushing this all the time about Palestine- many times in this thread.

The basis of the Jewish population was regular immigration, the foundation of the State is not dissimilar from how many States have been founded--by its leaders proclaiming it as such. I happen to live in such a state, I assure you it is a valid form of establishing one.

It clearly wasn't.

Again--they would have had to go home to places that did not want them.

Yes. Exactly as  I said, it'd be wrong to say it'd be a completely clean operation where the Jews could neatly move back to normal lives in the countries they came from.
But compared to "Go back to a country you've never even visited", "Go back to the country where you lived for the first 40 years of your life and where you're still legally meant to be a full citizen with all your rights (just forget about the very dark memories)" is quite a different level.

The Jews were a well established minority under the Ottoman Empire, they largely purchased land in Ottoman Palestine entirely legally. Their claim to want a state carved out of Ottoman lands--when a half dozen Arab states were in the process of being carved out is intrinsically legitimate. Yes, they were spread out, and got concentrated into a single area--that does not in any way "invalidate them", or legitimize the "go home" idea. Where the fuck were the ones fleeing pogroms supposed to go home to?


Also, it should be noted, in the first half of the 20th century several European empires fell apart to varying degrees, the community of nations oversaw a number of population transfers where diffused minorities would be moved about to create successor states which would be less prone to endless nationalist conflict. Whilst there was great tragedy in some of that, in many cases it can only rationally be seen as having served as an important foundation for later and longer lasting peace.

Interesting, I've never heard this Wilsonian self-determination argument from the modern day looking back.
It might have made sense in theory at the time, but history has shown us ethnic cleansing is never good and all it did in Europe was, in addition to creating lots of glorious human suffering in its own right, perfectly setup the conditions for WW2.

Additionally in the nations carved out at this time it was generally those branded as 'aggressors' who lost out, not their subject peoples.
The Arab states were being carved out of Arab lands for Arabs.

For some reason we are to believe only in the question of Jews in the first half of the 20th century is such a thing "beyond the pale", only in the case of Jews are we supposed to believe some of the other groups that were "shuffled elsewhere" should get to have UN backed permanent refugee status and international funds to educate those refugees in generational antisemitism.

I struggle to think of a remotely comparable situation to Israel.
It is 'only the Jews' because the zionists happen to be the only ones to have done this successfully.
The next nearest comparisons are Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa, which in their time received treatment way worse than anything that has ever been thrown Israel's way.

#18

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:34:56 AM

That certainly needs to change.
It makes it too like a kid's game, giving the Russians a safe zone from which they can mass their troops or blast Ukraine.
Hopefully they can find a reasonable compromise to shift the bar a little bit- anything within artillery range of Ukraine is fair game for instance.

#19

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 02:33:35 AM

The Act of Union between England and Wales was passed in 1536 https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/periods/tudors_04.shtml

Which, in paradox terms, makes it a vassal of England in the 14th century.

England was a highly centralised state by 14th century standards. It had one system of weights and measures for the whole country, law was enforced and courts held by the justices of the peace and was the King's law, when parliament imposed taxes they were for the entire country. This is an important reason why the 4m English of the time were able to war succesfully with the 20m French.

Was there a separate system of law and a parliament for Wales prior to that point?

Not only prior to

#20

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by Syt - Today at 01:25:19 AM

Was there a separate system of law and a parliament for Wales prior to that point?

Welsh language being what it is I assume nobody knows.