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Originally posted by St_Andrew he is ashamed of us

Yeah, it's like posting on TA is like having a bad habit you don't want anyone to find out about. Like doing drugs, or raping cattle..Or just doing drugs if you're from Sweden...

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^ lol, my mates take the piss out of me when they see me on here

Ah one exam tomorrow then freedom!!

Well, not exactly, I have 12,000 words to write over summer (but that can wait til August!)

Lucky shit...... 3 for me next week and a CW for friday. Then project.

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Originally posted by St_Andrew he is ashamed of us

Only you my kinky friend. Only you.

Nah, I'm not ashamed of anything that I do when I'm sober. The reasons why I'm hesitant to introduce any friends to TA, is as follows: First, I think that PDD and the local forums are the only interesting places on TA, and I don't have any close friends in any area where there is a local forum, so that leaves only the PDD.
So why don't I introduce people to PDD? Well, I'm unable to see any advantages in introducing them, but only a number of potential problems, where my opinions, my RL-friendship, and my allegiance to the etiquette of the PDD are at odds with each other. Hence, seen from a rational point of view I shouldn't introduce RL-friends here. (Note, however, that this does not mean that I wouldn't want any of the PFRs as RL-friends (which I would), since in such a situation these potential problems wouldn't manifest themselves, as the new RL-friend would be familiar with the forum, its etiquette, and specifically, how there's no such thing as backing down due to friendship here.)
Another reason might be related to the fact that in RL I'm pretty much a friendship octopus - I have gained friends in a number of fairly different contexts: Some friends I have because of love of edm, others because we have fun drinking our brains out, some because we can go and (try to) pick up girls together, some because we love to play MTG, and so forth. It's my experience that when I try to bring together friends from one group with those from another, things seldomly work out spectacularly well. I guess because these friends have nothing in common but their friendship with me. Over the years I have accepted this state of affairs, and my friends have accepted that I belong to several groups of friends, and that each group won't know much about the others. So with this experience I extrapolate that no successes would be resulting from introducing non-TA friends to TA.

Btw. Unless you're all willing to admit that you have no friends, I guess the rest of you must think a little bit like me, since I don't see you introducing your friends here either.

^^ Okay, makes sense, feels much better now, for a while there i thought you might be ashamed of an animal loving drunk swede with no humor!

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Originally posted by trancaholic Nah, I'm not ashamed of anything that I do when I'm sober.

just out of curiousity, are you ashamed of what you do when you are drunk? i can do really stupid things but im never really ashamed... except the very rare case but ppl usually have indulgence of all your crazy things you do when you are drunk, so the ashame factor really rises a lot...

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Btw. Unless you're all willing to admit that you have no friends, I guess the rest of you must think a little bit like me, since I don't see you introducing your friends here either.

I guess i have similar reasons as you, the main reason tho beeing that i dont really have any friends that are into politics that much, so they would not like to spend the amount of time/effort that PDD takes to enjoy. I have recomended several of my "political friends" this forum, but none of them really got into it (i guess my friends have lives? ).

Also i wouldnt invite just *anyone*, i mean if the person i invite is stupid, i would feel ashamed that i actually invited him/her, and everyone in here would know it and start to hate me and i would end up committing suecide due to all the bulling i would experience from the PDD

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Originally posted by George Smiley I'm not so sure...dont forget China's missiles can reach everywhere in the United States (and the US' missile defence doesn't work) There were dozens of events during the Cold War where America and Russia (or China) could have been sucked into conflict but MAD prevailed. Of course, the same works both ways as you point out, that China may be reluctant to enter a war that would potentially drag America in (and Japan has more chance of involving America than Taiwan does) On the same note, would China even want to risk a war with Japan? Japan is the second richest economy in the world - it is a war economy and would be quite the match for China (bar a nuclear deterant)

The fact that Chinese missiles are capable of reaching the US is irrelevant. The US has a mutual self defense treaty with Japan:

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II. Actions in Response to an Armed Attack Against Japan 1. When an armed attack against Japan is imminent; Japan and the United States will conduct closer liaison and will take necessary measures respectively and, as deemed necessary due to changes in the situation, will make necessary preparations in order to ensure coordinated joint action, including the establishment of a coordination center between the JSDF and U.S. Forces. The JSDF and U.S. Forces will establish in advance a common standard as regards preparations which will be respectively conducted by the two forces so that the two nations may select coordinated common readiness stages, and ensure that effective preparations for operations can be cooperatively undertaken by the JSDF and U.S. Forces respectively. This common standard will indicate readiness stages from an increase of unit-alert posture to a maximization of combat-readiness posture concerning intelligence activities, unit readiness, movements, logistics, and other matters relating to defense preparations. The JSDF and U.S. Forces will respectively conduct defense preparations considered necessary according to the readiness stage selected by mutual agreement between the two governments. 2. When an armed attack against Japan takes place: (1) In principle, Japan by itself will repel limited, small-scale aggression. When it is difficult to repel aggression alone due to the scale, type and other factors of aggression, Japan will repel it with the cooperation of the United States. (2) When the JSDF and U.S. Forces jointly conduct operations for the defense of Japan, they will strive to achieve close mutual coordination to employ the defense capacity of each force in a timely and effective manner. (i) Concept of Operations: The JSDF will primarily conduct defensive operations in Japanese territory and its surrounding waters and airspace. U.S. Forces will support JSDF operations. U.S. Forces will also conduct operations to supplement functional areas which exceed the capacity of the JSDF. The JSDF and U.S. Forces will jointly conduct ground, maritime and air operations as follows: (a) Ground Operations: The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and U.S. Ground Forces will jointly conduct ground operations for the defense of Japan. The GSDF will conduct checking, holding and repelling operations. U.S. Ground Forces will deploy as necessary and jointly conduct operations with the GSDF, mainly those for repelling enemy forces. (b) Maritime Operations: The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) and U.S. Navy will jointly conduct maritime operations for the defense of surrounding waters and the protection of sea lines of communication. The MSDF will primarily conduct operations for the protection of major ports and straits In Japan; and anti-submarine operations, operations for the protection of ships and other operations in the surrounding waters. U.S. Naval Forces will support MSDF operations and conduct operations, including those which may involve the use of task forces providing additional mobility and strike power, with the objective of repelling enemy forces. (c) Air Operations: The Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) and U.S. Air Force will Jointly conduct air operations for the defense of Japan. The ASDF will conduct air-defense, anti-airborne and anti-amphibious invasion, close air support, air reconnaissance, airlift operations, etc. U.S. Air Force will support ASDF operations and conduct operations, including those which may involve the use of air units providing additional strike power, with the objective of repelling enemy forces. (d) When carrying out ground, maritime, and air operations, the JSDF and U.S. Forces will provide necessary support for each other's forces in various activities related to operations, such as intelligence, logistics, etc. http://www.fas.org/news/japan/sisin1e.htm

Therefore, there is no "potential" of a war with the US in the event of a Chinese attack on Japan. It is assuredly a definite as a treaty obligation.

But yea, as you say, it would be pointless for China to destabilize the region so much by attacking such a vital economic powerhouse in the region. As a matter of fact, the global economy is so interlinked, I would go so far to say that it will never be in anybody's interests to cause damage to any of the major players. European markets profit on good US economic news, US markets trade well on positive chinese economic news, and the circle goes around.

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Originally posted by trancaholic Nah, I'm not ashamed of anything that I do when I'm sober.

You post here ... sober???

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Btw. Unless you're all willing to admit that you have no friends, I guess the rest of you must think a little bit like me, since I don't see you introducing your friends here either.

One of my good friends was kind of into trance and he started posting on TA for a month or two. It was weird. None of my friends are political in the sense that I am, so I use these forums as a means to satisfy my argumentative needs. Since none of my RL friends have such desires to talk shop I guess I'm a slightly different person online than off. Normally I keep my online life seperate from RL, but I wouldn't mind meeting polit TAs and a few COR folk cuz you all are decidedly non-toolish .

Plus I need to broaden my horizons. I mean, as it is, I don't know any Swedes in RL who are into animal sex ...

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"Warning! Science Contained Within!" sticker is removed from science textbooks in bumfuck Georgia. Now everyone look at MisterOpus drunk off his rocker ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7963494

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Originally posted by trancaholic some because we love to play MTG

Hehe, MTG was great, but I haven't played it in a while now...

Anyway, yeah, most of my friends either aren't interested in trance or aren't interested in politics, and I don't think any are interested in both. But I agree it would be cool to meat some people here in real life. Even if they do have that little cattle thing going on.

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I have three referrals, but only one posts on a semi-regular basis (only in the aussie section). I've tried to get another one of my friends to post in the PDD but he made one or two posts then got bored. Not sure who the third is to be honest?

As for meeting people in real life from here, I think it'd be interesting. I've met most of the Melbourne TAs and they're rarely what you imagine them to be. I don't mean that in a good or bad way, it's just that you kinda get a mental image of what people must be like based on what they post and it's rarely accurate. I don't think personalities carry over very well into the cyber-world, tbh.

Still if you're ever in Melbourne, let me know. We can go out, talk politics for about 15 minutes, then you can watch me drink myself into a quivering mess before passing out in a gutter somewhere. Isn't that, afterall, the very essense of all good political discussion?

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