PugJesus

That pants-shitting moron Trump, unfortunately, will do everything in his power to help Putin's genocide along.

Yeah, in a big way. The European colonists committing genocide on the Native Americans does not have to have the Native Americans as inhuman angels to be a massive atrocity and grievous wrong, and trying to take the position that the Native American societies were is nothing more than a xenophilic form of cultural conservatism and chauvinism.

Native American peoples were people, like any other, with human problems common to any society, unlike what this quote implies. They do not have a 'magic' history for outsiders to aspire to become 'as good as', they do not have the secrets to the elimination of the dastardly social ills of 'civilization'. They're people. They're people who deserved better than the atrocious treatment that they got, but the 'Noble Savage' stereotype is no more humanizing or acceptable than the 'Ecological Indian' stereotype.

"Ea-Nasir declines, citing concern for his reputation; quoted as saying 'I do not want to be associated with scum THAT low and despicable. May his gold be bought for the price of silver, may his silver be bought for the price of pyrite, and may his copper be bought for the price of lead!'"

His son would have received the Bat Signal to stop him

Honestly, 'radical socialist' should be further up and right. It's anyone who's not them.

I love contemporary pieces like this! A shame it crimps my neck to see all the details, lmao

Funny enough, one of Cato the Elder's opponents would end all of his speeches with "Carthage must be preserved" in response to Cato's "Carthage must be destroyed" spiels.

A quick check of wiki suggests that the Scheldt was taken, but at unnecessary cost, at least in part because Simonds thought a much smaller force than was needed was capable of taking the region. Allied brass quarreling over objectives seems to have been a contributing factor as well.

God, imagine the trouble we could've saved if battery technology was less primitive at the time.

tbf, the Japanese proficiency of English-speaking nations is probably lower.

I was referring to the Second World War …

Ah, goes to show I don't know my modern European battles very well. >.>

but the first world war was a weird bit of history, the more I read about it, the more confused I become as to why in the hell that conflict was even started. It reads more like a bar fight that went horribly out of control and lasted for four years and killed 20 million people for no apparent real reason … which then laid the foundation for another more horrible war after.

Yeah, more or less. Best summary would be:

Europe tries to make massive alliances for deterrence, under the understandable reasoning that no one wants to fight a stronger opponent than themselves

Alliances become so massive and entangled that one country (Austro-Hungary) deciding to start an armed conflict with a smaller country (Serbia), drags every other country into the conflict

Countries aren't always rational actors, and even when they are, placing bets on being able to force a fait accompli before consequences hit (a la Russia with Crimea in 2014) is always a risk.

You can also apportion some blame to Kaiser Wilhelm II for being such a dumbass as to give a metaphorical blank check to Austro-Hungary so he could sound big and strong in support of Germany's allies on the world stage. He had a lot of mommy and daddy issues. Thanks, monarchy.

It was said, early on, when the opening moves were being played and diplomatic avenues were still being tried, that in Austro-Hungary, the mood was that the war was inevitable but not serious, while in Germany, the mood was that the war was serious but not inevitable.

BTW … I love all the references to Black Adder (that is the show right?) and Rowan Atkinson and Stephen Fry … I really have to take time to watch that show

Oh, yes, the whole show is fantastic! Especially the last season.