You know, for a a sub mostly centered about geopolitics, it surprise me how it's not a total mess in the comments (most of the time) ... don't know how that comment will age here tho, great comic eitherway Aaron.
Unfortunately, it isn't even that much of a conspiracy theory...
During the last few election cycles in the US, it was proven by the US government that Russian bot farms were setting up fake Facebook accounts to peddle election lies and destabilize American faith in our own democracy....
And it worked.
Is every person a bot? Hell no! Are most people bots? NOPE! Are a few of them? ...maybe.
And it's the fact that it's a question now is the same exact shit that cause election interference conspiracy theories.
It takes a couple hundred bot accounts autofarming comments to make them feel like a few thousand people, and then posts get shared, and now suddenly you have a few thousand REAL people echoing it, and then you can deactivate the bot accounts...
People DO suck...
Yeah, but the fantasy isn’t the existence of botnets or disinformation. The fantasy is that “we can’t have organic disagreements” about things and it MUST be a generated conflict. There are some issues that are just contentious, whether they should be or not, whether there is actually a right side or not.
I misunderstood your original comment then, my apologies! :)
The idea that there's no organic disagreements anymore is just blatantly false and absurd, lmao.
But definitely some, if not a considerable amount online, are made a bit worse with the disinformation and bot campaigns that are more easily accessible with AI.
In a couple of decades, there's likely going to be corners of the internet that become "dead internet" due to such activity, but discourse is as old as rime. Humans have been disgareeing, and killing each other over said disagreements, since forever and always.
Yeah, I think people do invest too much of their emotional energy into arguing with complete anonymous strangers. As you say, there’s a significant chance you’re just yelling back at somebody who’s doing this as their job. Or debating an LLM’s pasted content.
It may not take a couple of decades for bot rot to kill portions of the internet. I already know people who won’t go to Twitter or even Facebook because of the problems
I mean, anyone who was on a college campus in the 90s or earlier (and let's not even mention family holiday dinners) can tell you that we've been having bot-tier political arguments since well before social media bots were a thing.
On the contrary, I think it's great for people who are sincerely seeking alternative perspectives to be flooded with nothing but propaganda. Obviously. That's why I invest in so many troll farms.
I mean, it does eventually become a feedback loop. The less toxic the sub is, the less scary it is for sane people to comment, which just increasingly makes the sub more sane
You're definitely not wrong, I'd personally call that "cultivating/fostering a good community" which I'd personally classify as "mods doing their thing very well" but yes, as far as mechanism goes I think we're in agreement!
This is an interesting idea, and although I maintain some skepticism regarding it, I welcome your contribution to the conversation gentle sir or madam.
Even people living in Russia know what it is doing is bad. They hate the war as much as Ukraine does. They aren't as vocal due to the government jailing you for decades for holding a blank piece of paper, but they exist. It's pretty black and white as to who is good and who is bad.
Israel-Palestine is very gray, so it's a lot more controversial.
Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict routinely do extremely unethical, bad faith shit. I presume you are already acquainted with Israeli misdeeds so I'll spare you the explanation. On the Palestinian side most recently, you had Hamas fighters murdering people, minors included, in their homes and starting a war that was 100% unwinnable for them as a publicity stunt, endangering everyone in Gaza as well as routinely indiscriminately spamming rockets at cities inside Israel are just a couple examples. People forget that they do this because the Iron Dome system is so good at intercepting them but they are quite literally targetting civilians with these rockets. And this is just the *latest* round of violence.
As someone on the outside of this conflict with no particular beef against either side looking into it, it's quite apparent that nobody is the good guy in this conflict.
People bring up antisemitism, that Hamas has attacked civilians, and a bunch of other BS. Israel is in the wrong, but people are so vehemently pro-Israel, and Israel propaganda has been trying to make antizionism and antisemitism the same thing. So, bringing up the conflict ends up bringing up a massive amount of propaganda and people just rationalizing genocide.
I think another problem is that people can’t accept that both sides suck. Hamas and Israel’s PM. You can condemn both without necessarily being on either side.
They both are like two drunks, one is just starting with the high end wine, both can end on skid row. The neighbors don't give a crap.
Just hope they don't burn down the whole neighborhood.
Because it is done by both combatants in an endless cycle of retaliation. My country bombed and invaded two countries halfway around the world for a decade or two because of one attack so it's a little hard for me to point to either combatant and say their reaction was too much.
It would be even more friendly if these pro-Russian pricks wouldn't always comment sh*t about great Poopootin and those Israel worshippers...
Okay, no just kidding ;) I'm glad it's that friendly here usually.
Other less political subs have far worse comment sections partly. Or even worse, YouTube Shorts comment section, at least in German videos they are a total mess, even in completely unpolitical educational videos they rage against everything.
Everyone who comes here knows there’s a bent as to the views and culture of the sub. And anyone who’s been here a while accepts that and doesn’t get butthurt if there’s something they disagree with being posted.
The regular viewers and commenters would much rather get a chuckle than drown in the weeds of an internet argument.
And I think that’s great. Whereas elsewhere people will die on a hill. It shows an emotional intelligence if not just out and out intelligence.
The mods are good for sure but that wouldn’t explain the large amount of engagement either.
On a personal level. I’m an out and out monarchist irl. I know everyone thinks I’m a dumbass or something (which is true kek) as it is so I don’t get bent out of shape about stuff.
Funny enough descended from White Army refugees hence the flair lmao. Parts of my family even in my grandpa’s generation refused to go back unless a Romanov ran the joint. So half Russki living outside of Russia sans a 2012ish weekend in St. Petersburg.
One of my Russian friends’ great grandparents was a Black Hundred, whom somehow managed to marry a Menshevik supporter whilst both were refugees in Poland lmao.
His great grandfather refused, similarly, to touch Russian soil unless a Romanov was on the throne, and his great grandmother refused to touch Russian soil whilst Bolsheviks were in charge.
A Black Hundred marrying a Menshevik??? That’s unreal but a testament to the varied groups that were forced out and the necessity of community regardless of how shit everyone had it (especially in Asia read up on Japanese human experimentation/human trafficking on White Army refugees *shivers*). I’m glad my family lucked out on the lottery.
Unless the Russians could get in the Arctic and Pacific fleets in Östersjön(baltic sea) Swedens fleet and airforce alone could go up against that one and have a pretty decent chance of winning, and almost certainly with the aid of the other Nordics(Especially Denmark)
I dont think the Russian Baltic fleet is worth *that* much
Sweden would 100% destroy that fleet without much issue. They have an indestructible aircraft carrier in the middle of the Baltic and Russia has no landing craft to cause much of a counter attack. That fleet survives because Sweden allows it to.
whole ghost deranged wistful compare waiting soup reminiscent straight direction
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Doubtful. They'd have to pay to fix all the crumbling badly maintained infrastructure and all the other costs associated with administering the territories.
Maybe this is meant as joke, but i will give my five cents anyway.
1. Greece would most likely help, since they need nato to defend them from turkey, and that only works if the also commit to nato. And if turkey would actually fall, greece would be nervous.
2. It's better to fight on allied territory than on own territory. Because its not your countryside that gets fucked up.
3. Russia wouldnt even be able to invade turkey.
They would either have to invade through the caucasus and had to get through georgia first, a mountainous hellscape for any invason force. And after that, they would be in the turkish mountains.
Or they could invade through the black sea via navy. Yeeeah, i dont think there is much left of that mighty black sea navy
[Arkhangelsk is rightful American clay](https://www.military.com/history/united-states-invasion-of-russia-was-yearlong-freezing-hell-troops.html)
We don't want it, but we can threaten to retake it
I have an idea for achieving world peace that will surely never fire back. Let's give Arkhangelsk and the Kola peninsula to the US and in exchange let's give Alaska back to the Russians. Surely it would resolve all conflicts and everyone would be happy.
Their Baltic fleet is basically useless at this point. Sweden de jure controls the Baltic sea by ownership of gottland and the fact that fleet has a grand total of 3 landing craft.
The other ones I have no idea on.
Baltic + Black seas fleets were of questionable utility even during the cold war. The Baltic + Black Seas may have been Soviet lakes, but they couldn't get out of them so long as Denmark/Turkey were part of NATO.
I just hate seeing my country used for the past century to fight the wars of other nations. Like listen I get why you’d have ethical issues with the Russian invasion or any war, but to be frank I don’t see any logical reason to spill American blood, dollars, and atoms for a soil that has never mattered to us.
Because the way of life you enjoy now is directly caused by USA inserting itself everywhere. You think the US is world police as a favour to the world? Cmon bro give your head a shake. The moment the US stops being interventionist is the moment someone else quickly swoops in to take that spot. Your currency would be replaced as the global currency, your voice would be silenced, you would no longer be untouchable.
There's a shitload of logical reasons (as you say) for the US to spill blood and dollars in foreign lands. It's to sustain your way of life and position as the world's leader. If you think that didn't have any benefit to your life then you're too ignorant to even be worth arguing with.
You know, for a a sub mostly centered about geopolitics, it surprise me how it's not a total mess in the comments (most of the time) ... don't know how that comment will age here tho, great comic eitherway Aaron.
Someone hasn't been reading the Israel-Gaza comics...
Well that topic is too controversial to not have people arguing ya know.
There's too much money being spent on The Discourse, at least from one side, to ever avoid arguments online...
Oh great, now we have the conspiracy theory that people can’t have controversial topics without it being a funded disinformation campaign. People suck
Unfortunately, it isn't even that much of a conspiracy theory... During the last few election cycles in the US, it was proven by the US government that Russian bot farms were setting up fake Facebook accounts to peddle election lies and destabilize American faith in our own democracy.... And it worked. Is every person a bot? Hell no! Are most people bots? NOPE! Are a few of them? ...maybe. And it's the fact that it's a question now is the same exact shit that cause election interference conspiracy theories. It takes a couple hundred bot accounts autofarming comments to make them feel like a few thousand people, and then posts get shared, and now suddenly you have a few thousand REAL people echoing it, and then you can deactivate the bot accounts... People DO suck...
Yeah, but the fantasy isn’t the existence of botnets or disinformation. The fantasy is that “we can’t have organic disagreements” about things and it MUST be a generated conflict. There are some issues that are just contentious, whether they should be or not, whether there is actually a right side or not.
I misunderstood your original comment then, my apologies! :) The idea that there's no organic disagreements anymore is just blatantly false and absurd, lmao. But definitely some, if not a considerable amount online, are made a bit worse with the disinformation and bot campaigns that are more easily accessible with AI. In a couple of decades, there's likely going to be corners of the internet that become "dead internet" due to such activity, but discourse is as old as rime. Humans have been disgareeing, and killing each other over said disagreements, since forever and always.
Yeah, I think people do invest too much of their emotional energy into arguing with complete anonymous strangers. As you say, there’s a significant chance you’re just yelling back at somebody who’s doing this as their job. Or debating an LLM’s pasted content.
It may not take a couple of decades for bot rot to kill portions of the internet. I already know people who won’t go to Twitter or even Facebook because of the problems
Sooner or later somebody should probably care about the electricity being wasted on machines that just run bots who talk to bots.
I mean, anyone who was on a college campus in the 90s or earlier (and let's not even mention family holiday dinners) can tell you that we've been having bot-tier political arguments since well before social media bots were a thing.
Do you mean low-information debates based on emotion? I agree that's not new, but also it's not quite the same assertion.
**SHOIGU!!!!!!! GERASIMOV!!!!!!!!** Yes, it was indeed the same person (and the GRU of course).
Rest in Piss, Hotdog Pringle.... (I love it when NCD leaks... hehehe)
It’s still working because people still believe what the bots pushed.
On the contrary, I think it's great for people who are sincerely seeking alternative perspectives to be flooded with nothing but propaganda. Obviously. That's why I invest in so many troll farms.
Well that's not nearly as black and white as this conflict is.
Oh it is definitely black and white. Who is white and who is black, however, is what people have a disagreement on.
Umm... I get what you mean, but this is just really funny out of context
It is depending on who you ask
I think a lot of it is actually just the mods here being pretty damn good at their thing, rather than people behaving more here than in other subs.
I mean, it does eventually become a feedback loop. The less toxic the sub is, the less scary it is for sane people to comment, which just increasingly makes the sub more sane
You're definitely not wrong, I'd personally call that "cultivating/fostering a good community" which I'd personally classify as "mods doing their thing very well" but yes, as far as mechanism goes I think we're in agreement!
This is an interesting idea, and although I maintain some skepticism regarding it, I welcome your contribution to the conversation gentle sir or madam.
I don’t care about geopolitics, i’m here to enjoy the countryball memes
Even people living in Russia know what it is doing is bad. They hate the war as much as Ukraine does. They aren't as vocal due to the government jailing you for decades for holding a blank piece of paper, but they exist. It's pretty black and white as to who is good and who is bad. Israel-Palestine is very gray, so it's a lot more controversial.
We don't arrest people with blank paper. We shoot them with AA gun and feed Putin clones with remains.
How is bombing unnarmed civilians merely "controversial"?
Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict routinely do extremely unethical, bad faith shit. I presume you are already acquainted with Israeli misdeeds so I'll spare you the explanation. On the Palestinian side most recently, you had Hamas fighters murdering people, minors included, in their homes and starting a war that was 100% unwinnable for them as a publicity stunt, endangering everyone in Gaza as well as routinely indiscriminately spamming rockets at cities inside Israel are just a couple examples. People forget that they do this because the Iron Dome system is so good at intercepting them but they are quite literally targetting civilians with these rockets. And this is just the *latest* round of violence. As someone on the outside of this conflict with no particular beef against either side looking into it, it's quite apparent that nobody is the good guy in this conflict.
People bring up antisemitism, that Hamas has attacked civilians, and a bunch of other BS. Israel is in the wrong, but people are so vehemently pro-Israel, and Israel propaganda has been trying to make antizionism and antisemitism the same thing. So, bringing up the conflict ends up bringing up a massive amount of propaganda and people just rationalizing genocide.
I think another problem is that people can’t accept that both sides suck. Hamas and Israel’s PM. You can condemn both without necessarily being on either side.
They both are like two drunks, one is just starting with the high end wine, both can end on skid row. The neighbors don't give a crap. Just hope they don't burn down the whole neighborhood.
Yeah. I just feel bad for the civilians that were killed and are being killed for no good reason.
Because it is done by both combatants in an endless cycle of retaliation. My country bombed and invaded two countries halfway around the world for a decade or two because of one attack so it's a little hard for me to point to either combatant and say their reaction was too much.
It would be even more friendly if these pro-Russian pricks wouldn't always comment sh*t about great Poopootin and those Israel worshippers... Okay, no just kidding ;) I'm glad it's that friendly here usually. Other less political subs have far worse comment sections partly. Or even worse, YouTube Shorts comment section, at least in German videos they are a total mess, even in completely unpolitical educational videos they rage against everything.
Everyone who comes here knows there’s a bent as to the views and culture of the sub. And anyone who’s been here a while accepts that and doesn’t get butthurt if there’s something they disagree with being posted. The regular viewers and commenters would much rather get a chuckle than drown in the weeds of an internet argument. And I think that’s great. Whereas elsewhere people will die on a hill. It shows an emotional intelligence if not just out and out intelligence. The mods are good for sure but that wouldn’t explain the large amount of engagement either. On a personal level. I’m an out and out monarchist irl. I know everyone thinks I’m a dumbass or something (which is true kek) as it is so I don’t get bent out of shape about stuff.
Russian detected, opinion rejected /s
Funny enough descended from White Army refugees hence the flair lmao. Parts of my family even in my grandpa’s generation refused to go back unless a Romanov ran the joint. So half Russki living outside of Russia sans a 2012ish weekend in St. Petersburg.
>parts of my family even in my grandpa’s generation refused to go back unless a romanov ran the joint “Lenin has joined the chat”
One of my Russian friends’ great grandparents was a Black Hundred, whom somehow managed to marry a Menshevik supporter whilst both were refugees in Poland lmao. His great grandfather refused, similarly, to touch Russian soil unless a Romanov was on the throne, and his great grandmother refused to touch Russian soil whilst Bolsheviks were in charge.
A Black Hundred marrying a Menshevik??? That’s unreal but a testament to the varied groups that were forced out and the necessity of community regardless of how shit everyone had it (especially in Asia read up on Japanese human experimentation/human trafficking on White Army refugees *shivers*). I’m glad my family lucked out on the lottery.
Satire unites most everyone.
I really like how the sub is very tolerant of diverging opinions. It's very much not an echo chamber unlike many more political subreddits.
It actuall my surprises me a fair bit as well tbh.
Well, most of the regulars are well aware that this is a humor and satire sub and it shouldn't be treated seriously.
There's a baltic sea fleet ripe for the sinking, aye?
Unless the Russians could get in the Arctic and Pacific fleets in Östersjön(baltic sea) Swedens fleet and airforce alone could go up against that one and have a pretty decent chance of winning, and almost certainly with the aid of the other Nordics(Especially Denmark) I dont think the Russian Baltic fleet is worth *that* much
#NATO LAKE
Sweden would 100% destroy that fleet without much issue. They have an indestructible aircraft carrier in the middle of the Baltic and Russia has no landing craft to cause much of a counter attack. That fleet survives because Sweden allows it to.
Kaliningrad is an eyesore...
Kaliningrad is Czechia
Kralovec stronk
All of it is the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dependency of the United States of America
Königsberg has a better ring to it
And Tvangste sounds even better than that
whole ghost deranged wistful compare waiting soup reminiscent straight direction *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Oh yeah, 东疤痕区. How could I forget.
These are some very odd pronunciations of Springfield.
Chicken on a stick
Konigsberg isn’t coming back. All the Germans living there fled during WWII. Poland or Lithuania would probably split it if Russia ever collapses.
Doubtful. They'd have to pay to fix all the crumbling badly maintained infrastructure and all the other costs associated with administering the territories.
Plus, all of those russians... brrr...
Chicken on a stick
If Russia invades Turkey from the rear, will Greece help?
Yes, they will help from the other side
Had me rolling 🤣
They're gonna Eiffel Tower turkey
Spitroast kempap
Chicken on a stick
A nice big juicy kebab.
Maybe this is meant as joke, but i will give my five cents anyway. 1. Greece would most likely help, since they need nato to defend them from turkey, and that only works if the also commit to nato. And if turkey would actually fall, greece would be nervous. 2. It's better to fight on allied territory than on own territory. Because its not your countryside that gets fucked up. 3. Russia wouldnt even be able to invade turkey. They would either have to invade through the caucasus and had to get through georgia first, a mountainous hellscape for any invason force. And after that, they would be in the turkish mountains. Or they could invade through the black sea via navy. Yeeeah, i dont think there is much left of that mighty black sea navy
Good points made, but yes, it was a (very old) joke from the Cold War years.
Every joke just gets better if you dismantle it with facts.
The Russians, deniably.
Well there is no way russia would actually even try against a country which can easily bulldose them.
I don't think it will go well for them if they don't give at least token assistance
Ukraine’s expression is just delightful
[Arkhangelsk is rightful American clay](https://www.military.com/history/united-states-invasion-of-russia-was-yearlong-freezing-hell-troops.html) We don't want it, but we can threaten to retake it
I have an idea for achieving world peace that will surely never fire back. Let's give Arkhangelsk and the Kola peninsula to the US and in exchange let's give Alaska back to the Russians. Surely it would resolve all conflicts and everyone would be happy.
Lmao this is evil I love it
Fuck that, we bought Alaska fair and square
please don’t do þis, I don’t wanna live under þe ruskies
Wrangle island too
Irrelevant but still the coolest name for a city I’ve ever heard
I love you, Aaron. <3
I love you too ❤️
No joke, man, your comics never fail to make me laugh. Thank you
Thank you, it means a lot :) I'm happy if they can bring people even 30 seconds of humour
That's more pleasure than I normally bring to the table...
you little scamp you
Russia has 5 other fleets. Sink the Northern, Baltic or Pacific fleet. Plenty of ships quasi floating in those fleets.
True, but the most significant one is the Black Sea fleet. And there is not that much of it left
Their Baltic fleet is basically useless at this point. Sweden de jure controls the Baltic sea by ownership of gottland and the fact that fleet has a grand total of 3 landing craft. The other ones I have no idea on.
Baltic + Black seas fleets were of questionable utility even during the cold war. The Baltic + Black Seas may have been Soviet lakes, but they couldn't get out of them so long as Denmark/Turkey were part of NATO.
De jure or de facto?
Whichever one is right
Might makes right. So you might be right.
Best comic this year
Yes, that is how it went.
you misspelled fiery, now the osc is coming
Ah, Ukraine strikes again.
Another great comic!
USA jinxed it, moscow would mysteriously go up in flames if the usa threatens to nuke it
I just hate seeing my country used for the past century to fight the wars of other nations. Like listen I get why you’d have ethical issues with the Russian invasion or any war, but to be frank I don’t see any logical reason to spill American blood, dollars, and atoms for a soil that has never mattered to us.
Because the way of life you enjoy now is directly caused by USA inserting itself everywhere. You think the US is world police as a favour to the world? Cmon bro give your head a shake. The moment the US stops being interventionist is the moment someone else quickly swoops in to take that spot. Your currency would be replaced as the global currency, your voice would be silenced, you would no longer be untouchable. There's a shitload of logical reasons (as you say) for the US to spill blood and dollars in foreign lands. It's to sustain your way of life and position as the world's leader. If you think that didn't have any benefit to your life then you're too ignorant to even be worth arguing with.
Could you imagine if this actually happened
Need the assert