I keep seeing horrible things happening in Central Asia and the Middle East. Scary thoughts come to my mind. E.g. Are we going to have a World War 3? Someone please reassure me...
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 04:26:04 PM
I keep seeing horrible things happening in Central Asia and the Middle East. Scary thoughts come to my mind. E.g. Are we going to have a World War 3? Someone please reassure me...
Nuclear weapons have made World War III extremely unlikely. The balance of terror has been working.
Doesn't mean we can't have some unpleasantness here and there.
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 04:26:04 PM
I keep seeing horrible things happening in Central Asia and the Middle East. Scary thoughts come to my mind. E.g. Are we going to have a World War 3? Someone please reassure me...
That's funny. I see horrible things happening here.
Quote from: mahagonny on May 12, 2021, 04:55:48 PM
That's funny. I see horrible things happening here.
I didn't realize we were also being bombed and hit by rockets right now.
If a Mideast flare up was going to cause World War III, we'd all be dead already.
Also, I don't think there is as clear alignment between sides in those skirmishes and the world powers as there once was.
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 12, 2021, 05:24:58 PM
Also, I don't think there is as clear alignment between sides in those skirmishes and the world powers as there once was.
What a pity! Never thought I'd miss the Cold War. :-)
Quote from: dismalist on May 12, 2021, 04:39:59 PM
Nuclear weapons have made World War III extremely unlikely. The balance of terror has been working.
Doesn't mean we can't have some unpleasantness here and there.
I thought nuclear weapons in the wrong hands precisely makes angry regimes/states more likely to do something dumb and scary, and cause a major nuclear chain reaction all over the world. Maybe I've seen too many apocalyptic /post-apocalyptic movies...
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 06:03:52 PM
Quote from: dismalist on May 12, 2021, 04:39:59 PM
Nuclear weapons have made World War III extremely unlikely. The balance of terror has been working.
Doesn't mean we can't have some unpleasantness here and there.
I thought nuclear weapons in the wrong hands precisely makes angry regimes/states more likely to do something dumb and scary, and cause a major nuclear chain reaction all over the world. Maybe I've seen too many apocalyptic /post-apocalyptic movies...
As long they're not
only in the wrong hands, deterrence goes through ... .
Well, it helps to live far from any target. As Bill Burr told his audience in Philadelphia " the terrorists will never attack your #$%@ city". There were a few moments when we almost went to war with the USSR over faulty warnings of incoming missiles.
This started off about a possible world war. There is reason to believe that is not in the cards.
As for terrorists, keep the police strong! :-)
Nothing happening in MENA atm has a world war feel to it. And while nuclear annihilation is inevitable, it probably won't happen any time soon.
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 05:16:51 PM
Quote from: mahagonny on May 12, 2021, 04:55:48 PM
That's funny. I see horrible things happening here.
I didn't realize we were also being bombed and hit by rockets right now.
I was thinking of the surge in violent crime and drug addiction. Yesterday I took a walk for 5.3 miles. I saw four discarded hypodermic needles. And not in what we would call bad parts of the city.
Quote from: mahagonny on May 12, 2021, 08:14:52 PM
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 05:16:51 PM
Quote from: mahagonny on May 12, 2021, 04:55:48 PM
That's funny. I see horrible things happening here.
I didn't realize we were also being bombed and hit by rockets right now.
I was thinking of the surge in violent crime and drug addiction. Yesterday I took a walk for 5.3 miles. I saw four discarded hypodermic needles. And not in what we would call bad parts of the city.
My man, you are echoing the fears that people have had for generations. We will survive.
And no matter what, things are better now than they were in the '30s, the '40s, and the '70s.
Relax.
Quote from: Anselm on May 12, 2021, 06:28:22 PM
Well, it helps to live far from any target. As Bill Burr told his audience in Philadelphia " the terrorists will never attack your #$%@ city". There were a few moments when we almost went to war with the USSR over faulty warnings of incoming missiles.
I'm not sure about the past but recently Russian military aircrafts have been harassing American fisherman off the coast of Alaska and warning that they will launch missiles targeting the fisherman. The oil pipeline hacking was also thought to originate from Russia. To me these seem like legitimate threats.
Quote from: Faith786 on May 12, 2021, 04:26:04 PM
I keep seeing horrible things happening in Central Asia and the Middle East. Scary thoughts come to my mind. E.g. Are we going to have a World War 3? Someone please reassure me...
Keep in mind that since Trump left office, viewership of all kinds of news has dropped precipitously. News organizatio$ need eyeball$, so they have to $earch for anything that can be $old as a potential cri$i$ to get viewer$.
As others have mentioned, there's sadly nothing particularly new about this; it just gets more attention to fill up the news cycle.
The ratings assessment is accurate (at least from what I have heard). However, I don't think the current Israeli-Palestinian flare up is exaggerated to create clicks or views on cable. Though obviously the origins of the conflict are truly ancient, this current mess is worse than the last time ( I think a few years ago, but its hard to keep track). In particular, Hamas has more rockets, is more willing to fire them, and the rockets probably have increased accuracy. There is also much more of a tie in to community relationships between Jews and Arabs "on the ground." I don't think it is a harbinger of doom outside of the region, and it will likely die down in a few days, but its pretty bad, i.e., newsworthy.
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 13, 2021, 06:16:06 AM
The ratings assessment is accurate (at least from what I have heard). However, I don't think the current Israeli-Palestinian flare up is exaggerated to create clicks or views on cable. Though obviously the origins of the conflict are truly ancient, this current mess is worse than the last time ( I think a few years ago, but its hard to keep track).
I think you're right, but unfortunately it has come to the place that the lives are only secondary to the ideological debate about whether to be pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. (i.e "Are you anti-Semitic or Islamophobic?")
Why does anyone have to be only "pro" one side? Even if that is so (which, of course, it is in many cases), I think a very large number on either side or no side would want this particular conflict to end as soon as possible, and think of better ways to prevent them in the future. This comes from years of "deferred maintenance" on the relationship.
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 13, 2021, 07:06:28 AM
Why does anyone have to be only "pro" one side? Even if that is so (which, of course, it is in many cases), I think a very large number on either side or no side would want this particular conflict to end as soon as possible, and think of better ways to prevent them in the future. This comes from years of "deferred maintenance" on the relationship.
I think you're right about
individuals; but journalists often have to pick a particular spin on the story to assuage to outrage mob on Twitter. To report without *nodding to a particular side would be too scary for many (most?)
*Even just by deciding
which carnage to cover, or
which people to interview.
Quote from: marshwiggle on May 13, 2021, 06:56:33 AM
I think you're right, but unfortunately it has come to the place that the lives are only secondary to the ideological debate about whether to be pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. (i.e "Are you anti-Semitic or Islamophobic?")
Oh, wow, interesting, I never thought of it that way.