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Things not going well in Venezuela
Russian foreign ministry reaction to the Venezuela operation: Really?? From The Atlantic:
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Are you being intentionally obtuse? More than one thing can be true at the same time: China doesn't invade Taiwan (yet) due to it's military's inability to actually do it, AND Because of the U.S. military backstop of Taiwan, AND China is still doing whatever the fuck they want in the SCS like militarizing islands, ramming Philippine boats, and illegally claiming huge swaths of territory for resource extraction in violation of UN charter and International laws - as well as many other areas that concern the U.S. like hacking our infrastructure, committing genocide, illegally claiming territory and more.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Not even in the slightest. Try: China and Russia are doing whatever they want to do, regardless of the U.S. adherence (or not) to any UN charter. The rules-based international order assumes good actors who are responsive to other nations opinions of them, which Russia and China are not. We may not like it, but we've been in a might-makes-right world for a long, long time, we just papered over it. U.S. military might is the only thing that keeps China out of Taiwan today and most of the reason Ukraine still stands as a nation.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
To answer your original question about what is the main factor in China's thinking they cannot conquer Taiwan by force tomorrow, the answer is obvious: it's the post-WWII liberal international rules-based order led by the moral authority of the United States. No country wants to be seen as a pariah on the world stage, can you imagine the embarrassment? Without those rules and moral authority, countries like Russia and China would do almost whatever they please, in defiance of international rules, laws, and norms. They might even invade another country, illegally annex land, or more, which would be horrible. Thank God the rules-based order and standing of the Western democracies and institutions like the UN have put a stop to all of that.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Flip it around. We know what is happening by de-legitimatizing their illegal actions, it's in our face right now. Russia illegally invades Ukraine without giving a fuck about international laws and norms, and China spends each day coming up with new ways to isolate and bully Taiwan on their way towards invasion. This is realpolitik. Sternly worded letters from the UN aren't cutting it, and sanctions are bypassed.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
While we're at it, I'd also like to return to the pre-NIL era, only this time without SEC schools paying players under the table. Players can then really play for the love of the game and their university.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Both of those things were true before this action in Venezuela. Russia and China don't need more "ammo," or justification for their war against Ukraine or actions against Taiwan. Russia has already been admonished by almost every country in the world outside their direct allies, and China regularly ignores the UN with their 9-dash line, militarization of the SCS islands, and more. They're not waiting on the U.S. to "normalize" action against another country, they're actively engaging in it now. The only thing stopping Russia is their own ineptness/arrogance and a surprisingly strong defense put up by Ukraine and western arms, and for China the only thing slowing them down is their own military readiness to actually successfully perform a cross-strait invasion, as well as the U.S. backstop of Taiwan. It's laughable to think that if China could conquer Taiwan by force tomorrow that they'd hold back and say "Yeah, but international law and norms say that this just isn't right. Let's not do that."
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Pluribus - Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn
Nothing, considering her chaperone already explained that hive members die all the time and it doesn’t create a chain reaction.
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Pluribus - Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn
For that matter why even wear clothes for most roles? The hive cares about modesty?
- Texas Roster 2026
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San Antonio Spurs 2025-26 - Release the Kraken
Spurs youth, athleticism, and length really bothers OKC. We can leave Wemby to anchor the middle or help side D and press out to the 3-pt line and more aggressively hedge switches than they're used to seeing. They have talent and will adjust, SGA did score but seemed weirdly passive sometimes. Next time we meet I'd expect them to more aggressively drive off the PNR and throw themselves into Wemby to get fouls. It was also delightful to see them brick 3 after 3 but if half of those fall at the normal rate it's a much tighter game. Agree we are a year ahead of schedule. I'm not a huge Fox fan but he was nails yesterday. Also props to everyone for cutting and making the pass. I think my favorite was Champanie making a cut for a dunk past SGA who got caught ball watching. Reminded me of the beautiful game a little bit.
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San Antonio Spurs 2025-26 - Release the Kraken
Just here to say Merry Christmas and that bitch Caruso going 1/11 on 3 pointers is the fucking cherry on top.
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Pluribus - Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn
A big 'ole "meh" to the season finale. Although I'm sure we'll have the Gilligan fans telling us how we just don't understand his genius and all will be reveled in time. This season we got some good stuff: An amazing high concept. The opener was strong. Great world-development, you can see the budget they put into this thing in locations, equipment, people An interesting main character And a shit-ton of not good stuff: Multiple hours devoted to character "development" where the characters don't actually develop and grow: Manu started as a hard ass and still is, Carol's development was she started out angry and lonely and then she got more angry and lonely, then took a hypocritical turn by turning a blind eye to the hive's nature and doing exactly what she bitches at Laxmi for doing with her kid. In the end she ends up exactly back where she left off in S01E02, wanting to save the world again. We basically looped around in the cul-de-sac of Carol's mind for a season, celebrate Vince's genius! Plurb1us is allergic to plot advancement. Once the hive took over, we got an entire season only to uncover a few rules of the world: they can't lie, they can't kill (except through starvation?), they can't convert without consent (until they do?), and the radio waves have something to do with something. And some WTF stuff: WTF is a nuke going to do? If I blow up a single fire ant pile in my yard there are a million more around the world still... The hive's logical inconsistencies: you can't pick an apple but you can let millions of individuals starve. You can't "keep" animals but you think that kid goat you freed is going to fare better in the wild? You can't lie but you can lie via omission (multiple instances of Zosia doing this), "we can't turn you without your consent and value you as an individual" vs. "we're going to spray chemtrails of our virus on everyone without their consent to join them" Also my prediction from pages back are holding up so far: Will I watch S2, hell yes, I'm a sicko. But S1 was kinda a letdown after the first few episodes, at least for me it felt like a slog waiting for a payoff that never arrived.
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BOOM MOTHER FUCKER - Will Muschamp's Triumphant Return
- San Antonio Spurs 2025-26 - Release the Kraken
Eh we went cold, it happens. Still ahead of schedule. Fox doesn’t fit. In Q4 he wants to be the man so bad and will absolutely not pass so he can take a shitty contested shot. Harper makes him redundant. Defensive will come with experience. Got caught ball watching several times and gave free cuts. The double Brunson plan was good but we conceded free 3’s and they hit it, pick the poison. Gave a billion offensive rebounds, some were bad bounces some were lack of size. Need one more big. - San Antonio Spurs 2025-26 - Release the Kraken
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