The real salary is the bribes we made along the way

Probably a combination of expected emigration (due to the country’s destruction) and the death of many young people (which decreases birth rate and causes even more economic destruction).

I have a 90-year old neighbour from Estonia who immigrated here, after he retired. The way he describes it, the youth in the Baltics in the late 70s and throughout the 80s were for some reason attracted a lot to Western culture (films, rock music, jeans, etc). Because many of those things were inaccessible or banned, they started feeling resentment towards the state. Now those people grew up and are running the countries.

Not exactly what you asked for but here’s a very good summary on how democracy in the GDR worked. It was modeled after the Soviet system.

The country’s energy-intensive businesses have suffered from the lingering impact of the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Yeah, ofcourse, nothing else sparked an energy crisis. Russia put sanctions on itself and then blew up its own gas pipeline.

And even after all that, the things that probably caused the government to collapse was Volkswagen announcing the closure of factories in Germany, the Trump re-election and the impending tarrifs that he will impose, and Intel’s decision not to open a chip factory in Germany. It’s always about the interests of the elites and capital.

The only way Germany has to get out of this free-fall is to elect or appoint someone willing to end the wars and re-establish relations with Russia and its cheap energy exports. Considering German politics, this is very unlikely to happen from within the government parties. And the only ones willing to do this are the fascist AfD, and Sahra Wagenknecht (who is increasingly patsoc). I think the German people are going to realize this, and considering their leanings unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly clear that an AfD victory in Parliament and for the Chancellorship is looming on the horizon. That is unless Die Linke manages to pull its head out of its ass for once (even if they do, they’ll likely end up being just another SPD), or by some miracle, the communists manage a come-back.

When the Reddit exodus occured, .world was set up to accept new users immediately, and skip the queue for approval on other instances. As a result all the toxic idiots nobody else wanted congregated there.

Important context that is missing from the article: The Maccabi fans were causing havoc in the city since the morning before the match was held. They were going around shouting anti-Palestine chants, climbing buildings to take down Palestinian flags from windows, burned down at least one Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi driver in his taxi with metal chains, and broke store and apartment windows. There’s also numerous reports that they’ve been attacking people in the street who had attempted to stop their vandalism.

Source: https://english.almayadeen.net/news/sports/israeli-fans-vandalize-amsterdam--tear-down-palestinian-flag

In traditional Israeli fashion, these goons are now trying to present themselves as the victims, after pissing off an entire city with their provocations and barbaric behavior.

Chang is Chinese-American (has a Chinese parent I think), so the author is saying Chang is selling off his people?

Of course, Jesus was an excellent capitalist. If he had 2 shirts, he sold one. One time at a wedding he took advantage of the huge demand for alcohol and sold watered-down wine for 10 times its price. It was a miracle! He made a killing providing quality healthcare at a premium price to the blind who needed eye correction surgery. He always preached about saving money and selling for a profit. And my favourite is when he visited the temple and congratulated all the merchants for their incredible business acumen.

There were also reports that during covid, Boeing charged the Pentagon 600 000 to produce 15 trash cans. That’s 40 000 dollars per trash can. Previously, the same trash cans cost the Pentagon 300 dollars per item.

Oh, you are right, I read that wrong. Apparently it started out at 100 000 rubles, and doubles every week. So yeah, we are getting there.

It might get there eventually. The fine increases by 100 000 rubles every day that Google keeps Russian media blocked. So in about 40-50 universe lifetimes, if Google doesn’t reverse its decision, the fine will be approaching a googol dollars. Depending on inflation :P

The reason I liked Andor was that it portrays the revolutionaries (Luthen, his assistant, and later Andor himself) as understanding that they need to do the “bad stuff” to achieve results. They are not burdened by idealistic notions of a utopian and pure fight of good vs evil. There’s a scene where Luthen monologues that he sacrificed his soul to the cause. That he is trying to bring about a sunrise he will never be able to enjoy.

Liberal media usually use the arc of the gruff vengeful revolutionary softening towards the end, as they are faced with fateful choices, and not having the courage to go through with it. Andor reverses this arc and I think it’s better for it.

If you like sci-fi read Red Rising.

Yes, communist movements in Europe and the US are getting suppressed. The violent phase occured 60-70 years ago. Now whatever is left is getting infiltrated and chopped up immediately through psyops. They are allowed to operate “unmolested” because they’ve been suppressed to hell and are now just husks used to sheepdog and manipulate people.

Take a look at Greece. KKE is vehemently anti-government but nobody cares to listen to it or takes it seriously, because there’s constant infighting for nonsensical reasons. That’s the controlled parts of the leadership constantly creating issues to prevent unified action. Any efforts by other communist movements are quickly destroyed by planting provocateurs in their marches and actions. Any spontaneous protest is immediately and violently suppressed by police forces. Similar things are happening in France, Spain and Germany.

Don’t get me started on the state of communist movements in the US and the UK.

I’d suggest you take a look at the history of communism in all these places and understand that what is happening to all the former Soviet countries now, has already happened after 1945 all over the West.

This is just Western exceptionalism talking.

I said I’m not going to pretend Western communist movements are perfect. But you are quick to blame the strawman Western communist for imperialism. That’s nothing more than sectarianism.

Yeah, Western communists ought to take up arms. But what arms? We are talking about extremely diminished movements in a fairly demotivated population, fighting against tanks, jets and drones. In countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, the communists tried to fight in the last century and failed. They are still carrying the stigma to this day. And yeah, a bunch of movements are bought for or otherwise institutionalized. How is that the fault of an everyday communist?

Lastly, you blame Western communists of decrying “all Ukrainians” as Nazis. Yet, you do the same exact thing by lumping all Western communists in the same basket.

And when the country is finally beaten into submission all you armchair communists will start spewing “all Georgians are Nazis” within a week

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that all is well with communists in the imperial core, but what are they expected to do? If Georgian communists, and Ukrainian communists got beaten down, imagine the situation for communists in Europe, or even worse, the US.

Thanks, I’ll give it a try

You’d want a record to exist either way, in case he reappears to you or any other woman.

I’d report the incident to the police. I don’t mean to scare you, but it honestly sounds like they had more in mind than just verbal harassment. Also, I’d advise you to avoid repeating the walk (at least the same time) at night.

I hope you can feel better soon, and this is the last time you have to deal with this kind of incident.