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posted by chromas on Monday September 24 2018, @01:44PM   Printer-friendly

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

Countries across the continent are experimenting with this 21st century technology as a way to leapfrog decades of neglect of 20th century infrastructure.

Over the last two years, San Francisco-based startup Zipline launched a national UAV delivery program in East Africa; South Africa passed commercial drone legislation to train and license pilots; and Malawi even opened a Drone Test Corridor to African and its global partners.

In Rwanda, the country's government became one of the first adopters of performance-based regulations for all drones earlier this year. The country's progressive UAV programs drew special attention from the White House and two U.S. Secretaries of Transportation.

[...] After several test rounds, Zipline went live with the program in October, becoming the world's first national drone delivery program at scale.

"We've since completed over 6000 deliveries and logged 500,000 flight kilometers," Zipline co-founder Keenan Wyrobek told TechCrunch. "We're planning to go live in Tanzania soon and talking to some other African countries."

[...] In a non-delivery commercial use case, South Africa's Rocketmine has built out a UAV survey business in 5 countries. The company looks to book $2 million in revenue in 2018 for its "aerial data solutions" services in mining, agriculture, forestry, and civil engineering.

[...] The continent's test programs — and Rwanda's performance-based drone regulations in particular — could advance beyond visual line of sight UAV technology at a quicker pace. This could set the stage for faster development of automated drone fleets for remote internet access, commercial and medical delivery, and even give Africa a lead in testing flying autonomous taxis.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/16/african-experiments-with-drone-technologies-could-leapfrog-decades-of-infrastructure-neglect/


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @04:43PM (27 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @04:43PM (#739248)

    Worse, is when the revolution is fomented from outside.

    Like for example from ... Russia?

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @04:48PM (26 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @04:48PM (#739253) Journal

    Actually, the USA. If you're looking at numbers alone, Russia and the US are competitive. But, the US seems to install harsher, more draconian dictators than Russia does. Compare the Shah of Iran with someone like Fidel Castro. The US loves to add insult to injury.

    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Monday September 24 2018, @06:15PM (25 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @06:15PM (#739301) Journal

      But, the US seems to install harsher, more draconian dictators than Russia does.

      You're not going to find a US equivalent to a Lenin or Mao. It's even more pronounced these days. For example, Russia supports Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, and a few dictators in the former Soviet republics. No comparable US support for dictators exists. The worst people can point to are things like support for democratically elected "neo-Nazis" in the Ukraine (which really is support for people that Russia doesn't like), some hanky-panky in Venezuela a few years back, and of course, the ever-green complaints about how US businesses are supposedly causing all sorts of problems (even when those problems would be worse in the absence of said businesses!).

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @06:37PM (20 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @06:37PM (#739325) Journal

        So, uhhhhhmmmmmm - Operation Ajax? WTF, man? Do you even understand what the US did to the poeple of Iran with that? Then, there are all of those banana republics. On a whim, an American corporation would overthrow one mean son of a bitch, and replace him with a even worse son of a bitch. When the corporation would holler, Uncle Sam came wading in, kicking ass, and taking no names at all, just so the corporation could install a slave master to suppress the people.

        Maybe we can play Jeopardy? "Who was Noriega?"

        https://theweek.com/articles/487538/5-dictators-still-supports [theweek.com]
        https://www.alternet.org/world/7-fascist-regimes-enthusiastically-supported-america [alternet.org]
        https://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-koppman/endless-us-support-for-di_b_6821136.html [huffingtonpost.com]

        Maybe you would prefer to do your own search. I used the terms "America support for dictators"

        I hate to cite leftist news sources, but they do present some facts that the right never wants to hear, let alone consider. The US has a history of seeing bad leaders replaced by subhuman animals, whose job it is to subjugate the poeple for the corporate profit.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 24 2018, @07:26PM (19 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @07:26PM (#739353) Journal

          So, uhhhhhmmmmmm - Operation Ajax? WTF, man?

          Have you even read what I wrote? The Communists did that even worse with the Bolshevik revolution, for example, which overthrew a democracy in Russia and created a 70 year hell.

          Then, there are all of those banana republics.

          So what? Not all of them together hold a candle to the Khmer Rouge, another Communist project. At some point, if you're going to think about this subject, you'll need to think about the other side and the threat it represented. The US didn't do this stuff in a vacuum. I think early on a lot of people looked at what happened in Russia and China, as well as the various other countries where Communism was being tried, and decided "We don't want to be like that, and we're willing to do a lot of nasty things to make sure we don't end up that way." And they did just that.

          Meanwhile you have numerous examples of the Communist playbook for taking over a democracy. Start with an election win and then grab all the power you can before the opposition figures out what you're doing. Operation Ajax aborted the Communist takeover of Iran. No similar "operation" prevented the Soviets from doing the same to Afghanistan. That took a very ugly war to remove the Soviets once the feeding tendrils were fully inserted.

          In 1980, Communism had a third of the world's population under its thumb and Russia was the primary instrument of that ideology. Today, it's more like half a percent. That sea change is in large part to countries like the US resisting that particular darkness and to Russia collapsing from within. I'll note that you, Runaway have frequently expressed concern about Islam. But we see here a far more dangerous ideology. After all, Islam has been around for over a thousand years and has long abandoned its expansionist roots. Communism went from nothing to a third of the world in about 60 years. Islam has done little over that same time frame.

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @07:38PM (17 children)

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @07:38PM (#739357) Journal

            *cough*

            The banana republics predate the USSR. Your rationalizations are a bit out of order. It would be just as easy to hold up our own worst excesses, to explain the Soviet reactions to them. And, uhhhhh - Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

            Sometimes, our government seems to find itself occupying a moral high ground. But, it never really seems to be by design. I think it catches our "leadership" by surprise, when it does happen.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 24 2018, @08:11PM (16 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @08:11PM (#739379) Journal

              The banana republics predate the USSR.

              In other words, we're speaking of stuff over a century out of date.

              • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Monday September 24 2018, @09:00PM (7 children)

                by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday September 24 2018, @09:00PM (#739401)

                In other words, we're speaking of stuff over a century out of date.

                Wow, nice goalpost shifting. You're free to argue about the Bolsheviks in 1917, but don't accept the mass murders the US perpetrated in Central America at around the same time?

                You're not arguing in good faith here.

                Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company and the United States government. In 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U.S.-backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship.

                The above quote is from the Wikipedia entry on Guatemala.

                it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company and the United States government.

                You're going to argue that enslaving a whole country to ensure one company's profits is not an awful thing?

                1954 is not a century ago by the way.

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:12AM (6 children)

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:12AM (#739495) Journal

                  You're free to argue about the Bolsheviks in 1917, but don't accept the mass murders the US perpetrated in Central America at around the same time?

                  It wasn't about the same time (read the quote I replied to) nor were those conflicts equivalent in scale. What's the body count of these mass murders?

                  You're not arguing in good faith here.

                  Then you don't get my complaints. I'm not playing this game where Communists can kill orders of magnitude more people and be considered equally heinous to the murders committed by US allies.

                  Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company and the United States government. In 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U.S.-backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship.

                  Again, what is the body count here?

                  You're going to argue that enslaving a whole country to ensure one company's profits is not an awful thing?

                  There are worse things to enslave a whole country to. Communism has proven to be one of those things.

                  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:52AM (5 children)

                    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:52AM (#739510)

                    There are worse things to enslave a whole country to. Communism has proven to be one of those things.

                    Look I get it. Communism is such a terrible thing, that as soon as anybody starts talking about it, we should start killing them.

                    Here's a list of the countries the US has invaded:

                    Philippines (Reneges on promise of Philippine independence in exchange for Filipino support during the Spanish-American War)
                    Fiji (Expedition)
                    China (Second Opium War)
                    China (Looting China in response to the Boxer Rebellion as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance)
                    Taiwan (Expedition into Taiwan)
                    Korea (Korean Expedition in response to "insults")
                    Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, Dominica Republic, Honduras, Mexico (US shenanigans with their military)
                    Germany (World War 1)
                    Russia (Russian Civil War - Formation of Soviet Union)
                    Germany, Japan, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria (WW2)
                    Korea (Korean War)
                    Vietnam (Vietnam War)
                    Guatemala (CIA overthrows of their government and funds dictator's armies)
                    Iran (CIA overthrows elected Prime Minister)
                    Cuba (Bay of Pigs)
                    Brazil (CIA helps overthrow the government and funds opposition groups)
                    Chile (CIA funds opposition then overthrows the government)
                    Grenada (Overthrow their government)
                    Nicaragua (Helps install a military junta)
                    Libya
                    Panama (Attempt to capture Gen. Manuel Noriega)
                    Honduras (Helps install a military junta)
                    Colombia (Funds and trains death squads)
                    Iraq (Desert Storm)
                    Iraq (Retaliation for alleged assassination plot)
                    Somalia
                    Sudan, Afghanistan (Retaliation for terrorist attacks in embassies)
                    Afghanistan (Response to 9/11)
                    Iraq
                    Shortened to just the 20th century for your convenience.

                    Some of them can no doubt be justified ( Germany in the 1940's comes to mind) but that list leaves out the countries the CIA has destabilised and governments overthrown because of the US fear of Socialism.

                    When the Chileans voted for a Socialist government in 1970, it was better that the CIA overthrew them and murdered the president?

                    But no, let's just pretend Communism is worse shall we?

                    • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:51AM (4 children)

                      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:51AM (#739529) Journal

                      Here's a list of the countries the US has invaded:

                      And? I recall we were comparing two countries, not merely doing the two minute hate. Where's the list of countries Russia has invaded in the 20th century? It's going to be a long list too.

                      • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:06PM (3 children)

                        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:06PM (#739847)

                        You obviously don't like my comparison, and keep trying to shift the goalposts.

                        The only point you are getting across is that you have no understanding of 20th century history, and have absorbed the US anti-communist propaganda very well.

                        Congratulations.

                        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:28PM (2 children)

                          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:28PM (#739907) Journal

                          You obviously don't like my comparison, and keep trying to shift the goalposts.

                          No goalpost moving has occurred. I'm just pointing out that it's highly disingenuous to only speak of US misdeeds in a purported comparison with Russia. It's likely claiming someone is worse than Hitler because they murdered another person. Yes, they committed a serious evil, but one is completely ignoring a huge elephant in the tent.

                          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:44PM (1 child)

                            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:44PM (#739909)

                            The only point you are getting across is that you have no understanding of 20th century history, and have absorbed the US anti-communist propaganda very well.

                            Congratulations.

                            • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:18AM

                              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:18AM (#739950) Journal

                              The only point you are getting across is that you have no understanding of 20th century history

                              Disagreement != lack of understanding. If you had read the thread, you would have read about why I disagree in the first place.

              • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @10:08PM (7 children)

                by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 24 2018, @10:08PM (#739431) Journal

                To expand a little on the Parttimezombie's response - you're probably familiar with the "no man is an island" idea. The government we have today, is a direct derivative of governmental policies of days gone by. Ditto for Russia, and China as well. And, of course, that also applies to countries around the world, be they first world, second, or third world countries.

                When we look around us, and call some other country a "shithole", we are indicting ourselves for having helped to build the world into what it is. People not very different from the Shkrelli asshole made decisions a hundred years ago, and more, that shaped the world into what it is today. Lives are traded among the Powers That Be, and lives have a value assigned to them. There is truth in the claims that brown lives have lesser value than white lives, and black lives have less value than brown. Asians don't quite fit into the white to black scale. It's like they are a separate scale that only intersects the black to white scale in a couple of places.

                Always, though, profit is more important to any American, and to most all western, governments, than lives are. The value of your life seems to be an indication of how much profit the corporates think they can make from you. No profit, little or no value. High profitability, high value.

                Communist governments have a similar scale, but they aren't measuring profitability. Instead, they are measuring how well you contribute to the political cause. A life that contributes nothing to the agenda has zero value. An obedient drone has some value, while the fanatical activist has a greater value. And, of course, the party leadership has the highest value, just like a corporation.

                • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:32AM (6 children)

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:32AM (#739519) Journal

                  To expand a little on the Parttimezombie's response - you're probably familiar with the "no man is an island" idea. The government we have today, is a direct derivative of governmental policies of days gone by. Ditto for Russia, and China as well. And, of course, that also applies to countries around the world, be they first world, second, or third world countries.

                  When we look around us, and call some other country a "shithole", we are indicting ourselves for having helped to build the world into what it is.

                  There are two non sequiturs in here. Your observation about government evolution doesn't follow from "no man is an island" nor does some country being a "shithole" either mean that we are doing any indicting or that we should. After all, there's considerable evidence that the foreign policy foibles of the US since the Second World War successfully contained Communism.

                  And PTZ does a considerable amount of whataboutism (a Soviet specialty). Are we to ignore the greater crimes of the USSR because of mass murders in Central America? What exactly is the point of such scolding as he gives?

                  Always, though, profit is more important to any American, and to most all western, governments, than lives are. The value of your life seems to be an indication of how much profit the corporates think they can make from you. No profit, little or no value. High profitability, high value.

                  I've met plenty of Americans for which that isn't true. And even if it were true, so what? There are worse things to pursue than activities that yield a net benefit. The urge for profit can be steered via regulation and has been successfully steered for some number of decades in the West.

                  Communist governments have a similar scale, but they aren't measuring profitability. Instead, they are measuring how well you contribute to the political cause. A life that contributes nothing to the agenda has zero value. An obedient drone has some value, while the fanatical activist has a greater value. And, of course, the party leadership has the highest value, just like a corporation.

                  For whatever reasons, those priorities ended up being a higher body count contrary to your original assertion. They also end up with some remarkable failings that have no comparison in the US, such as remarkably large scale environmental messes (for example, Chernobyl and the drying up of the Aral Sea).

                  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:13PM (5 children)

                    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:13PM (#739675) Journal

                    The "flavor" of your post seems like you have to convince me that communism is worse than capitalism. If that be the case, you're wasting your time. I'm not holding the Soviet, or Red China up as an example we should follow, after all. Both countries had casualties in the tens of millions, while the commies were doing their thing in the capitals.

                    Instead, I'm pointing out that we don't attain the moral high ground by default. We're screwed up enough, all on our own, that moral people can, and do, mock us for trying to pretend that we are "good", or "righteous", or whatever it is.

                    Kinda like the petty criminal doing his first year in prison, comparing himself to the bad boys who will probably never see the light of day, except through bars. "Well, at least I'm better than THAT GUY!! I've never done ________________." Yes, that's us, the US. "We aren't as bad as the Soviet! We don't bury tens of millions in mass graves!"

                    • (Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:12PM (1 child)

                      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:12PM (#739849)

                      Geez Runaway. I have been trying to make this point in several posts, but haven't been able to get my point across half as well as this post.

                      Well done.

                      I wouldn't like for you to think I have any beef with the US people at all.

                      My home town hosted ~ 500,000 US Marines during the 1940's and I will forever be grateful to them for the awful job they took on in the Pacific War. My Grandmother told me many stories about what lovely young men they were, and how the town grieved when units came back from the fighting with half their boys missing. That was a just war if ever there was one.

                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:07AM

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:07AM (#739947) Journal

                        I wouldn't like for you to think I have any beef with the US people at all.

                        And yet, what was the point of this exercise? A litany of the evils of the US in a supposed comparison with Russia which neglects to mention what Russia has done and currently does. I don't mind acknowledging the evils of the US. But when it's done as if the US is the only evil out there, I have to wonder what is up?

                    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:03AM (2 children)

                      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:03AM (#739946) Journal
                      And yet you wrote:

                      Actually, the USA. If you're looking at numbers alone, Russia and the US are competitive. But, the US seems to install harsher, more draconian dictators than Russia does. Compare the Shah of Iran with someone like Fidel Castro. The US loves to add insult to injury.

                      That struck me as indicating that you didn't understand how bad Communism was. Fidel and the Shah were far from the worst either had to offer and I was able to bring more worthy contenders to the table. Moving on:

                      Instead, I'm pointing out that we don't attain the moral high ground by default. We're screwed up enough, all on our own, that moral people can, and do, mock us for trying to pretend that we are "good", or "righteous", or whatever it is.

                      That's fine as far as it goes. But it's a double standard to pay attention to the moral flaws of the US and not other countries with similar capabilities (EU, Russia, and China at present), particularly while using the pretense of a comparison which is not a comparison. And as I noted, while the US frequently and routinely acted evil, it wasn't in the same class as its foes.

                      We still have similar dilemmas today such as what to do about radical Islam. I don't buy, for example, that Russia's choice of supporting Assad over ISIS was a good idea, particularly since Assad's incompetence and the subsequent civil war was instrumental to the formation of ISIS in the first place. That strikes me as just another Operation Ajax moment (or rather the continuation of a previous Ajax moment by the Soviets). But then I don't buy that Islamic cooties are as dangerous as claimed. Communism had proven it was a danger by oppressing a third of humanity starting from little (as well as a remarkable history of dishonesty and violence unmatched in the corporate world). OTOH, Islam has been kicking around for almost 1400 years and hasn't really changed or grown much in recent centuries. My view is that the Moslem world is just a couple of centuries behind in social progress. Not great, but not an insolvable problem either.

                      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:40AM (1 child)

                        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 26 2018, @12:40AM (#739961) Journal

                        Double standard? No, not at all. Let's say you're a cop. No matter how dirty the suspects you arrest, then testify against, you are still responsible for your own actions, morals, and ethics. You might be a clean cop, never taking any bribe money, always honest, just as clean as clean can be. Or, you might be a dirty cop, justifying lying in court with getting a really bad guy off the street. Or, you might accept bribes, drugs, women, wine, and song, to look the other way. But, no matter how dirty you might be, you can't justify it with the trash that flows through your jail.

                        I expect cops to be clean.

                        And, I expect my country to do what is morally and ethically right.

                        Unfortunately, neither the cops nor my country always measure up to my expectations.

                        And, no, you can't justify any of it. The best you can offer is "might makes right". Yeah, we've got the guns to enforce our will, but that only makes us dirty. Please don't dirty us any further with a bunch of hypocritical justifications, based on whataboutisms.

                        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 26 2018, @04:23AM

                          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 26 2018, @04:23AM (#740029) Journal

                          But, no matter how dirty you might be, you can't justify it with the trash that flows through your jail.

                          Ultimately, either something is done about that trash or they become the new police with a different take on what they can justify. A world where the good guys are required to commit suicide for the sake of ethics is not a viable one.

                          And, no, you can't justify any of it. The best you can offer is "might makes right".

                          That's where we're heading with this argument. If your "police", crooked or not, isn't willing to do the job of defending the weak, it's might makes right.

                          As to what I can justify, you're looking at two basic choices with something like Communism (and any similar domination ideology like some flavors of Islam), submission or fighting back. The US choose to fight back. That we're still alive (large scale nuclear war being one of many possible bad outcomes) and mostly free (1984 being another) means they did a lot of things right.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @10:39PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @10:39PM (#739439)

            Have you even read what I wrote?

            Um, no? Was there some expectation that we should? I thought it was just more khallow.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by shortscreen on Monday September 24 2018, @09:56PM (3 children)

        by shortscreen (2252) on Monday September 24 2018, @09:56PM (#739423) Journal

        Lenin and Mao installed themselves. I'm not sure who you're trying to blame for that. Russia supports Assad vs. Al Qaeda. You favor Al Qaeda?

        Kim says he is willing to negotiate. But that's not good enough for some. His country may be a shithole but you can blame US-led sanctions and military threats for that. The US "opposes" NK, tries to sabotage it, and wants to keep the area as a playground for the military. Is there some kind of alternative that they support? Do they think NK is going to surrender en masse and become a US colony?

        The US backed people that Russia doesn't like in Ukraine with or without elections (remember "Yats is the guy") that was the whole point. Aside from Gulf state monarchs the US is running short on friendly dictators, so they have to fund and arm opposition groups, or create them. Even if they are Al Qaeda. That is how the US handles people it doesn't like. Throw on some sanctions too. Then the next move is to start bombing (but only when Russia isn't looking)

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:48AM (2 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @03:48AM (#739527) Journal

          Lenin and Mao installed themselves. I'm not sure who you're trying to blame for that.

          Mao had Soviet support and Lenin was Russian. Read the post otherwise.

          Russia supports Assad vs. Al Qaeda. You favor Al Qaeda?

          I favor neither. Assad created the mess in the first place. Al Qaeda is not an improvement.

          Kim says he is willing to negotiate.

          And that is as positive a statement as we'll ever get about the man.

          His country may be a shithole but you can blame US-led sanctions and military threats for that. The US "opposes" NK, tries to sabotage it, and wants to keep the area as a playground for the military. Is there some kind of alternative that they support? Do they think NK is going to surrender en masse and become a US colony?

          You can blame Moon Nazis too because they're withholding precious Moon cheese from the starving North Koreans. There's not much point to fantasy-based blame. There are many countries in the world. Only North Korea has these peculiar issues. Maybe we ought to look for rational reasons for why the country is a shithole rather than automatically assume the US is somehow to blame.

          The US backed people that Russia doesn't like in Ukraine with or without elections (remember "Yats is the guy") that was the whole point.

          So what? Is the US supposed to subordinate its interests to those of Russia?

          Aside from Gulf state monarchs the US is running short on friendly dictators

          You're apparently the first person to complain about that state of affairs. The US fortunately isn't running short on friendly democracies.

          so they have to fund and arm opposition groups, or create them. Even if they are Al Qaeda. That is how the US handles people it doesn't like.

          I think I've made it clear by now that I believe the USSR deserved all the shit it caught over the decades (mostly created by itself). Creating Al Qaeda is a pretty minor price for tossing the USSR on the garbage pile of history.

          • (Score: 2) by shortscreen on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:08AM (1 child)

            by shortscreen (2252) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:08AM (#739591) Journal

            If the US acts like it's more important than everybody else and not accountable for anything, then it shouldn't expect to be taken seriously when it sheds crocodile tears over what other governments are doing. It's as simple as that.

            Creating Al Qaeda is a pretty minor price for tossing the USSR on the garbage pile of history.

            We may agree to disagree.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 25 2018, @01:13PM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 25 2018, @01:13PM (#739656) Journal

              If the US acts like it's more important than everybody else and not accountable for anything,

              "If."

              then it shouldn't expect to be taken seriously when it sheds crocodile tears over what other governments are doing. It's as simple as that.

              Except of course, when getting along with some of the hypocrites of the world means you can save thousands or millions of lives, right?

              Creating Al Qaeda is a pretty minor price for tossing the USSR on the garbage pile of history.

              We may agree to disagree.

              What's true of a country can be true of an individual. Why should I take you seriously?