What's on your mind today?

[Tank]

I think he's a dead man walking now. Unless he was Putin's gay lover and has the pictures to prove it.

I wonder if you may be overestimating the reach and competency of ye-Soviet-hit-squads.

Yes, they may be effective, but given a sufficiently paranoid and sufficiently powerful target, who will not take that meeting or shakke that hand or trust that cup of tea...

Prigozhin is not some journalist, lonesome dissident or lonesome dissident journalist. He's likely to show up to any meeting within the boundaries he controls and with enough safeguards (firepower being just one such) to if not guarantee his safety, then at least assure that his chances are overall favourable.

That said, I also don't think pictures of Putin in gay sex positions would help him at all. Putin has an entire ministry of propaganda to discredit any such blackmail and its effects would likely be far less than those he already has to deal with as the result of that whole non-coup coup.

They have killed at least two people in the UK that we know of. Russia borders Belarus.

[billy rubin]

On 30 June 2018, a similar poisoning of two British nationals in Amesbury, seven miles (11 km) north of Salisbury, involved the same nerve agent.[14][15] Charlie Rowley found a perfume bottle, later discovered to contain the agent, in a litter bin somewhere in Salisbury and gave it to Dawn Sturgess who sprayed it on her wrist.[16][17] Sturgess fell ill within 15 minutes and died on 8 July, but Rowley, who also came into contact with the poison, survived.[18] British police believe this incident was not a targeted attack, but a result of the way the nerve agent was disposed of after the poisoning in Salisbury.[19] A public inquiry was launched into

navalny was poison by putting on his underwear.

Georgi Ivanov Markov, aged 49, died yesterday in a London hospital of septicaemia, a form of blood poisoning. Before he died he claimed that he had been stabbed with an umbrella by a stranger who bumped into him last Thursday evening in the Strand.



theres no way to protect yourself.

[Asmodean]

They have killed at least two people in the UK that we know of. Russia borders Belarus.

Yeah, the abovementioned journos and lonesome dissidents. You have to get near a person somehow, be it a wet team or a poisoned letter. Prigozhin is more like a cartel boss than some random refugee in that regard.

theres no way to protect yourself.

Of course there is! Have a private army. You don't have to open that letter. You don't have to shake that hand. You don't have to be the closest person to a stranger in a crowd - or even be in a crowd to begin with. It's a matter of resources. Is Priogozhing living dangerously? Sure, but then he has friends, resources and a mercenary empire over half of Africa. He may just die of old age.

[Tank]

They have killed at least two people in the UK that we know of. Russia borders Belarus.

Yeah, the abovementioned journos and lonesome dissidents. You have to get near a person somehow, be it a wet team or a poisoned letter. Prigozhin is more like a cartel boss than some random refugee in that regard.

theres no way to protect yourself.

Of course there is! Have a private army. You don't have to open that letter. You don't have to shake that hand. You don't have to be the closest person to a stranger in a crowd - or even be in a crowd to begin with. It's a matter of resources. Is Priogozhing living dangerously? Sure, but then he has friends, resources and a mercenary empire over half of Africa. He may just die of old age.

If Putin wants him dead he's dead.

[Asmodean]

Only if Putin has the means, which is doubtful at best.

In conflicts of presidents versus cartel lords, state victory is far from guaranteed - especially given an incompetent (albeit murderous, I'll give you that) state like Putin's Russia.

[billy rubin]

who is going to be testing prigozhins underwear before he puts them on?

i believe the UK police found nerve agent residue on a doorknob. who will open his doors for him? or hold his fountain pen? a state has lots of resources.

putin is no strategist, but he is a successful murderer.

[Asmodean]

who is going to be testing prigozhins underwear before he puts them on?

i believe the UK police found nerve agent residue on a doorknob. who will open his doors for him? or hold his fountain pen? a state has lots of resources.

putin is no strategist, but he is a successful murderer.

It's about controlling the environments and the supply chains. When Prigozhin is somewhere outside his compound, I suspect someone will indeed be opening the doors for him. If he expects a skin contact poison attack, he may also take to wearing gloves. When he's inside, it becomes more a matter of having circles of trust, where only the closest one has direct access to him.

In order to spike his undies, you need to get to them first, no..?

[The Magic Pudding.]

JK Rowling seems to be a super villain these days.
What are the principles at play, is dehumanising still a bad thing?

I'd like to see billionaires in general pay more tax.
Some would on balance contribute to society.
It's OK though to take glee at the death of few.

[Tom62]

Rowling points out biological facts and doesn't buy into the dubious gender ideology. If that hurts some morons feelings than that is their problem.

Most countries already have a progressive tax system, so that the rich people pay more taxes. If you make the system even more biased against the rich, they'll do everything to avoid it, including leaving the country. I think that people on the left believe in the misconception that the richness of one person causes the poverty of others.

[Asmodean]

In principle, I'm only fine with some people paying a larger percentage of their wealth or income in taxes than others if they get proportionally more back from the society.

In general though, the wealthy have to rely on the same military for defence, the same roads for transport, in some places even the same hospitals for their c00f treatments, so forth. If they want more and better, they have to buy it on top of what they already pay.

You can also look at it from the other side; why should I get a ninety percent discount on my public infrastructure vs. someone far richer, regardless of how much either of us actually uses it, and given that our relative spending gives us exactly the same rights to the same infrastructure as someone who has made no contribution to the society at all??

In practice, I see some validity to a necessary evil argument. The wealthy do keep the broke-ass state from being even more broke... And/or ass. In my country, a person with a million NOK yearly salary paves as much road, buys as many fighter jets and pays for as many welfare clients as at least 4-5 people making 350K. Without that person, those 4-5 would have to pay more to maintain the current level of cash flow.

I think the powers that be may start to develop a certain awareness of that fact, what with many of the wealthiest people around packing their private jets and heading for the alps (to live) in recent months.

[The Magic Pudding.]

I thought this was good for a bit of context.
The views of extremists are loud but they are a small minority, not worth being bothered about.

There's some crap to be skipped at the start.

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling" with Megan Phelps-Roper Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

[MarcusA]

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

[The Magic Pudding.]

[Dark Lightning]

I thought this was good for a bit of context.
The views of extremists are loud but they are a small minority, not worth being bothered about.

There's some crap to be skipped at the start.

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling" with Megan Phelps-Roper Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Most people shrink back from bullying or otherwise threatening behavior. The video didn't load for me, BTW.

[The Magic Pudding.]

I thought this was good for a bit of context.
The views of extremists are loud but they are a small minority, not worth being bothered about.

There's some crap to be skipped at the start.

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling" with Megan Phelps-Roper Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Most people shrink back from bullying or otherwise threatening behavior. The video didn't load for me, BTW.

It's just audio, if it isn't a geo block the link is here https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/uncomfortable-conversations-with-josh-szeps/id1002920114