I was nobody. Nothing.
Per CNN, we have a motherfucking Chinese spy balloon flying over US nuclear installations.
This MAY explain a UFO sighting I had a few nights ago, too, as I live fairly close to one of our most important installations.
I can't help but laugh, because this is just so batshit crazy.
Active Member
I'm more concerned about the new agreement our military just set up with the Philipines to increase our military presence there. This is after the one a few years ago with Australia. All this saber rattling from both us & China needs to stop, and we REALLY need to not actually enter into a conflict with them when they eventually retake Taiwan (I hope this doesn't happen, but It seems likely, no?).
I was nobody. Nothing.
So, I've been fairly quiet, here. But, uh...yeah. Now that the stories that I was having to dig for, months ago, have become mainstream news...some of them, anyway...I would hope that you guys understand why I'm saying what I'm about to say:
I would implore anyone who can, to get the pantry ready, at least.
120 cans of food that you LIKE, 50lb bag of rice, cheap bottled water, shit like that.
Beans, pasta, ramen.
It's kind of funny: you'll never see it on the news, but look around your state's website. They've BEEN telling you to be prepared for 2 weeks without shit, at LEAST.
We're shooting for more like 3 months.
We STILL don't have a little generator or cook top, but our food and water is getting there.
The world is a fucking powder keg. China is openly preparing for war.
Japan is now #3 in military spending.
Russia has pretty well entirely stopped talking about Ukraine as the enemy: now they're talking about NATO and the US.
We're shooting down Chinese aircraft, for fuck's sake, in US airspace.
If you've listened to Biden and Blinken speak, did you notice how much they use words like "sovereignty?'
Those terms aren't for us. They're for our "enemies," and the UN.
It's a warning.
Fed continues to raise interest rates, and that isn't expected to change for some YEARS.
I could go on and on with actual geopolitical news. But, yeah.
The bottom line is that there's a damn fine chance of impending austerity conditions on the horizon.
It's not right wing, or crazy, to be ready. You don't need a doomsday bunker, either.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-19-2023 at 06:58 PM.
Throbbing Member
That may be good advice, but, for those of us who live in small one-bedroom apartments, this really isn't an option. Ah well, I had a good run...Originally Posted by elevenism
I was nobody. Nothing.
I VEHEMENTLY disagree. VOCIFEROUSLY, even.
I've ALWAYS been preparedness minded.
Before I came up here, I lived in a one ROOM apartment, in Dallas: 396 square ft.
But we kept extra food and water.
This was in like, 2010.
Edit: furthermore, after THAT, my ex and I were living in someone's fucking GARAGE. Even then, we had food, water, emergency candles.
Think food and water, and warmth.
Don't be scared. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-20-2023 at 01:35 AM.
Throbbing Member
I disagree and that's ok. GL. IMO if things TRULY go south, this land will be glowing and no amount of food will save us. There will be no middle ground. These are nuclear powers getting involved.
Active Member
jesus christ you are all super fucking depressing man
Stubby Member
Blinken publicly stating that China is preparing to provide lethal arms to Russia is a bit concerning. That statement was a definite movement of a Pawn; China arming Russia is more like moving a Rook or a Knight across the geopolitical chess board.
I won't act like I can predict what we would do if China started providing Russia with arms. One thing I do know is, our military and government are currently simulating thousands of potential diplomatic and military outcomes if this were to occur, and will most likely choose a response that will attack the Chinese economy.
This is, and will be a very slow moving game, there is a threshold, and I find it interesting to think about the next piece that will be moved.
BADGERS
Not sure how much optimism and hope you were looking for in the Geopolitical thread of the Nine Inch Nails fan forum....
I was nobody. Nothing.
Wait, you ALL? Naw, man.
It doesn't depress or scare ME. It's just PHYSICAL REALITY.
Don't let it depress, or scare YOU.
What's depressing is to just say "oh, fuck, we're all gonna die in a nuclear conflict soon."
This is not the case, imho.
The REALITY is that, due to an accumulation of factors, global and domestic, it's a good time to have some extra food and water and such...something I've ALWAYS done.
I don't understand people who tell me.I'M scared, or that I'm some sort of 'fear monger' or whatever.
FEAR?!I'm not scared of SHIT. Rather, I'm PREPARED, to the best of my ability, for tough times, and always have been.
And if there was ever a time to follow suit, it's now.
Edit: @Wretchedest lolz (wrt above post). Yeah.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-21-2023 at 11:31 AM.
I was nobody. Nothing.
SO. Biden showed up in Ukraine and did a surprise speech.
There were Ukrainian Flags and US flags behind him, and emblazoned on the podium.
I also caught something else: the coalition of 40ish countries pledging aid to Ukraine is becoming known as...wait for it...
The Ramstein Group.
@d1stinct the China issue is definitely fascinating. As far as trade wars, though, I DO feel like China has the biggest card to play: they can say 'you guys like all that MEDICINE? Affordable PANTS? TV, cell phone, computers? We can sure shut that shit down.'
@Ruined , seriously... Don't think that way. Mutually assured destruction is still a Thing. Yes, Medvedev and them THREATEN nukes, but what they're DOING is digging fucking WW1 style trenches. They know damn well that they're ridiculously outgunned in that area.
Most military strategists are predicting a long, LONG grinding war between Russia and Ukraine/NATO, NOT "would you like to play Global Thermonuclear Warfare" next Thursday or whatever.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-21-2023 at 12:01 PM.
Throbbing Member
I was fine to agree to disagree, however, if you want to tag me I'll answer. Yeah, I stand by my belief not because I'm some doomsday nutter. I am older and lived throught he peak of the Cold War. Back then, yeah, your way of thinking made sense. However, with the proliferation of more extreme regimes and nuclear (also chemical) weaponry, I just see that if there is, indeed, a WW3, it's going to be a zero sum game. To think cooler heads will prevail is to ignore extreme sects that are out there and really would seek to destroy their enemies, even if it meant their end as well. Obviously, I'd be happy to be wrong, but, politics is actually my profession and (given my professional training/information provided) if there is an actual WW3 (as is the premise of this thread), it's not going to be limited to traditional warfare, it will be nuclear. Reminds me of that line from Crimson Tide, where Denzel noted the real enemy, in the nuclear age, is war itself.
tempus est umbra in mente
well, if we're talking about depressing, if global nuclear fallout doesn't take us out, we can count on climate change to finish the job
Active Member
Beyond the physical effects of such an event, would you really want to live knowing that human beings actually did that to themselves?
tempus est umbra in mente
My dislike for the majority of people would probably remain unchanged. I try not to be misanthropic, but when I see people like Ted Nugent bragging about carbon emissions, or listen to Donald Trump Jr talk about how we should ignore Ukraine full stop right now and focus instead (as if these were mutually exclusive things) on the train explosion... we can't talk to each other anymore. We're too pissed off. This country is on the verge of some kind of modern civil war, and it's going to suuuuuuuck, and as soon as the shit really hits the fan there, the rest of the world will flick the dominos, and over here in the US we'll be too busy ripping apart nazis and owning the libs to even see it coming.
Throbbing Member
This is sure to inspire some cool music, so, there's that...
I was nobody. Nothing.
@Ruined , I guess I feel lucky, for once, to currently be living in an INSANELY remote place, with a deep underground cold war era basement.
I still maintain, though, that it's a good idea to what we can, where we are, with what we have.
People survive all KINDS of shit.
And maybe, just maybe, there's a BIT of the old "mutually assured destruction" at play, here.
I honestly don't see some sort of rapid nuclear escalation. I think we're looking at a long, grinding war.
God forbid Russia gets a shot off, I'd imagine NATO/US will press the "erase Russia" button.
Consider The fact that we've pumped trillions and trillions of dollars into defense, over decades, and during that time period, that spending has generally outpaced the next 8 countries COMBINED.
I refuse to be afraid. Fuck that.
That being said, I 100% understand what you mean. Still, even a nuclear blast is survivable, if you're in the right place and follow the right protocol.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-24-2023 at 09:32 AM.
I was nobody. Nothing.
MEANWHILE, this shit is heating up.
Russia pulled out of the Russia/US New Start nuke treaty a few days ago.
China's foreign minister has proposed sending "lethal aid" to Russia.
And China is NOW talking about the WEST fucking up Russia's sovereignty by arming Ukraine.
Now. I originally thought this war would be Russia/China/(iran/nk) vs US/NATO/EU. A LOT of this had to do with how friendly Putin and Xi were at the Olympics.
Then, China DIDN'T really back Russia, and I came to the conclusion that China wanted the US to fight Russia, and become the #1 world power by default.
That could STILL be the plan: China puts a battery in Russia's back, and watches us fight it out, as bystanders.
On the OTHER hand...well...you know. Pieces are falling into place.
Active Member
Newsflash: China is already the number one power. Remember the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules. The corporations have sold us out to them for a pittance.
I was nobody. Nothing.
I feel you, but the Chinese economy isn't currently great. They DO, however, have a MASSIVE card to play in that SO much of what we buy, here, is cheap because it's made/assembled in China...often in horrible sweatshop conditions. This includes medicine, clothing, electronics...the whole fucking thing is an open secret we don't like to talk about, and a MASSIVE part of the reason "Buy American" just isn't possible.
But then, they kind of need us to buy the products, right?
We ARE seeing a shift, though, with oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia accepting the Yuan for the first time since the seventies, which may signal the end of the petrodollar.
Edit: @Jinsai , 100% agree with your post above. We're too busy with culture war bullshit to pay attention to actual looming physical and financial threats.
And this MAY be by design, and part of a long term plan, and here's what I mean by that:
Remember all that Russian social media shit some years back? It wasn't JUST to give trump a boost: it was to make us hate each other in GENERAL. Some of that stuff was LEFT wing. I'm not saying Russia created our current political climate, but they goddamn sure threw gas on the fire.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-25-2023 at 04:14 AM.
I was nobody. Nothing.
@Ruined ... Holy fuck...are...are you Q?
You say you have "information/training," to which i'm not privy, because you work in "politics?"
And you're 'older?" Older than...who?
All of us, here?
Unless your job told you the date of the End of Humanity or whatever, doing what you can with what you have IS the answer, PERIOD.
It always has been.
I've been preparedness minded since my Boy Scout days. THEN, it ramped up with the interwebz: global news became available to anyone who cared to look for it, along with survival techniques.
It isn't impossible to survive nuclear blasts: I've had the protocol printed out since about 96, along with a bunch of other shit. West Texas boy WILL survive.
No offense, man, but you DO sound pretty damned nihilistic.
At any rate, if you have knowledge that I don't, please lay it on me. Because, see, you aren't talking "agree to disagree." Rather, it sounds like you're saying you know something I don't.
Last edited by elevenism; 02-27-2023 at 04:26 PM.
Active Member
Impossible? No. Improbable? Most likely. You might survive the initial attack, if you're lucky enough to be at home with all your supplies when it happens and not close enough to a blast. (Odds are some of those nukes wouldn't actually hit their intended targets.) But eventually you'd run out of supplies, and once nuclear winter sets in, you would definitely be fucked. To me, slowly starving to death in an irradiated world isn't really living. Survival is only worth it if you have something to live for and to move towards. As much as post-apocalyptic films and TV shows might make it look cool, the reality of such a thing would be different. It would be unbearably ugly. I can't understand wanting to live through that, but that's just my point of view. I'd rather say "Sayonara, world!" and be done with it.
Throbbing Member
You are taking this a little personal. I noted, before, it's ok to disagree. Nonetheless, you apparently are not ok with it (which really is not my problem). To me hoarding canned goods, etc., to "survive" nuclear holocaust is akin to when they had us hiding under our desks in grade school in the event of a nuclear attack: It was a way to calm the masses with what we now know was a mere placebo because, really, a desk was saving us from a blast? (the paranoia was through the roof after a particular movie called "The Day After" which scarred those of us kids lucky enough to watch it in the 80s). Whatever helps you sleep at night is cool with me. As for being nihilistic? Nah, you missed the whole point of my post from a few days ago: War was the real enemy (hence the quote from Crimson Tide). See, I DO believe cooler heads will prevail, but, not in the misguided way you think (it really is misguided to think WW3 would be anything but nuclear). No, I still have faith that there will not be a WW3 because whether they admit it or not, those leaders (regardless of country) do not want full-on nuclear war and they know that is the only endgame of a legit WW3. So, there will be sabre rattling and a few skirmishes but nothing approaching WW3. Finally, if you think a couple of months of rations will save you, well, that is one short "war" you're imagining. But, again, whatever helps you sleep at night. I sleep fine, have faith in humanity's innate need to survive, etc. It's worked so far...res ipsa loquitur.
Last edited by Ruined; 02-27-2023 at 11:33 PM.
Throbbing Member
Anybody ever seen Threads? That movie is what it would really go down like. And yeah, fuck that.
I was nobody. Nothing.
Dude, sorry about the tone. I was feeling a bit feisty, if you will. And I hope I didn't rub you the wrong way.
And I CERTAINLY understood the quote, and, appreciate it.
Also, I sleep fine.
Let me lay this on you: in our preparedness, nuclear annihilation is the LAST thing on our minds.
If you read through this thread, you'll see that what I've been on about, especially for the past year, is preparation for the FINANCIAL implications of the skirmishes you envision.
That's not to say that we don't have a PLAN for nuclear assault.
But we're far more concerned with having certain things on hand if, for instance, the supply chain COMPLETELY breaks. This isn't a new thing for us, either. Keep in mind that I live in the LITERAL heart of the dust bowl, and the front pin of tornado alley.
All this shit we do is useful IN GENERAL.
It's not by accident that the gvmts, both federal and state, in the US, tell us to be prepared to survive without electricity/access to food and water for at least two weeks.
They don't BROADCAST it, but trust me...it's on your state website, if you live in the us.
You say you're not a doomsday nutter. I'm not a doomsday PREP nutter. I've just...yeah, I spent a lot of time underground in the Texas Panhandle, avoiding devastating storms. And I was 21 on 9/11, which showed me that we COULD be touched.
Since then, I've always tried to think in terms of preparedness.
Does an underground shelter, a few guns, and 3 mos of food and water guarantee survival of ANYTHING?
Of course not.
But, in my mind, it's a nice cushion.
Babies and octogenarians survive all KINDS of shit, without trying...don't get me wrong.
But for me and my family, we feel that it's irresponsible to NOT have SOME degree of preparedness.
My grandfather died before I was born. He was a multimillionaire, who spent time in Cuba, and he built the underground shelter in this house for a reason.
As far as WW3, I honestly believe that future textbooks will say that it started in 2022. But I'M of the mind that, if a non NATO country takes a nuclear shot, we'll be looking at Year Zero post-Iran type shit within the hour. You say you have knowledge from working in politics, with a Q level clearance...that's what you said, right ? (sorryI can't help it).
Myself, I've multiple career US military friends. One is retiring after his final 6 month deployment.
And these people, being my friends, let certain things slip: basically, our military capabilities are unimaginable- think of 2052 tech, and you'll be in the ballpark of what we have going on, now.
Sorry if I seemed rude, and I hope you can dig that I was SOMEWHAT joking (asking if you were Q, for instance). OH. FUCK ME Are you Michael Flynn?!
I'd love to continue this discussion. PM me, if the spirit moves you.
Active Member
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is a great book on what the after would potentially look like. It's from the 50s so, you know, there's something to be said for the way the author writes some things but I read it only a handful of years ago and it pretty much holds up.
“Alas, Babylon.” Those fateful words heralded the end. When the unthinkable nightmare of nuclear holocaust ravaged the United States, it was instant death for tens of millions of people; for survivors, it was a nightmare of hunger, sickness, and brutality. Overnight, a thousand years of civilization were stripped away.
But for one small Florida town, miraculously spared against all the odds, the struggle was only just beginning, as the isolated survivors—men and women of all ages and races—found the courage to come together and confront the harrowing darkness.
I was nobody. Nothing.
So, liek...
China surrounded Taiwan on day 1 of their military exercise. Day 2, yesterday, they simulated striking Taiwan.
Funny how this isn't on the US news, but it's all over Australian news, for instance.
US is expediting arms shipments to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, France seems to be on the fence.
Active Member
Yeah that's France, we're as bad as Britain on that regard, procrastinating while trying to figure out who's the best option, or intervening suddenly where we don't belong.
Never quite as smart and efficient as we think we are.
I was nobody. Nothing.
At least you don't have to answer for the US, "sticking our collective dick in everything in the world with little to no plan, disregarding the consequences and casualties, and praying to American Jesus that it all benefits us, somehow."
AMERICAN Jesus, for the record, wears Nikes, eats at McDonald's, and only drinks Coca Cola.
Last edited by elevenism; 04-10-2023 at 04:00 PM.
I was nobody. Nothing.
@Khrz , jokes aside, I don't know how long this will take, but this is going to be an "east vs west" thing, imho.
And I would assume that, in a military situation, France will stand with US, Canada, Germany, Finland, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Philippines, Italy, Poland, UK, etc.
Saudi Arabia is SERIOUSLY turning her back on us, now, though, and is having talks with Iran.
India and Turkey are wild cards, NATO or not.
And then, the brics countries are looking to fuvk off the petrodollar, (brasil, russia, india, china, south Africa), and, again...apparently, SA and OPEC are down for it.
The "new world order" is in motion, except, not like the ministry song.
It's more of a Sino-Russian alliance, along with POSSIBLY India, and, definitely, North Korea, Iran, and OPEC...
Except, speaking of OPEC, there's the part wherein Iraq and Kuwait recently did joint military drills with the USA.
Idk, I can barely keep up.
Edit: Oh, and, btw: I finally realized WHY Taiwan is such a big thing, aside from the semiconductors: I/2 of the WORLD'S goods passes through the Taiwan Strait.
And by East vs West, naturally, i mean ideology: not location.
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