Geopolitical anomalies

Worldly and otherworldly topics
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Ferrus
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by Ferrus » Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:51 am

The border was demarcated after the Gulf War. It existed before the Gulf War from when Iraq's and KSA's borders were mapped in the 20s.
Ex falso, quodlibet

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Utisz
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by Utisz » Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:27 am

C.J.Woolf wrote:
Sun Jun 20, 2021 6:42 pm
I learned that from a trivia contest.
Was that one of Penguin's? I don't remember.

Great material for a question though. :happy:
Madrigal wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:24 am
Some 8000 miles away from Britain, off the southernmost tip of Argentina, there are these godforsaken islands occupied by some deranged brits (no doubt for their shit weather) and declared British land. Wrap your head around that one.
Hey, join the queue lady.

And if there's anything that half of the board has learnt from hundreds of years of British occupation of their home country, it's how to queue in an orderly fashion.

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C.J.Woolf
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by C.J.Woolf » Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:11 pm

Utisz wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:27 am
C.J.Woolf wrote:
Sun Jun 20, 2021 6:42 pm
I learned that from a trivia contest.
Was that one of Penguin's? I don't remember.

Great material for a question though. :happy:
It was a live trivia contest using the game "Facts in Five". In each round you're given five categories, and answers must begin with one of five letters of the alphabet. You get five minutes per round. The time pressure really makes the game. It's amazing how few of Rolling Stone's Top 250 Albums of All Time I you can name under those constraints. :whistle:

My favorite category was "countries that have a land border with exactly one other country". I rattled off Dominican Republic (or Denmark), Haiti (a twofer!), and Papua New Guinea (or Portugal). The GM didn't include C in the five letters; can't make it too easy.

The GM gave a presentation after each round to tell us some other cool trivial facts he learned in his research. The India-Bangladesh enclaves were in one of them.

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by Julius_Van_Der_Beak » Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:17 pm

Ferrus wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:51 am
The border was demarcated after the Gulf War. It existed before the Gulf War from when Iraq's and KSA's borders were mapped in the 20s.
Oops. I guess this time I was guilty of not reading the link. Boy is my face red. I guess it's possible, then, but I think it's more likely it was inspired by the Korean DMZ which would have been much higher profile when TOS was made.

Incidentally, I'm making my way through TNG and I'm now in the 3rd season when it finally starts being consistently good. Anyway, I watched an episode where the Neutral Zone was a big part of it.
Last edited by Julius_Van_Der_Beak on Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Utisz
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by Utisz » Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:30 am

C.J.Woolf wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:11 pm
It was a live trivia contest using the game "Facts in Five". In each round you're given five categories, and answers must begin with one of five letters of the alphabet. You get five minutes per round. The time pressure really makes the game. It's amazing how few of Rolling Stone's Top 250 Albums of All Time I you can name under those constraints. :whistle:

My favorite category was "countries that have a land border with exactly one other country". I rattled off Dominican Republic (or Denmark), Haiti (a twofer!), and Papua New Guinea (or Portugal). The GM didn't include C in the five letters; can't make it too easy.

The GM gave a presentation after each round to tell us some other cool trivial facts he learned in his research. The India-Bangladesh enclaves were in one of them.
Was gonna say enclaves! There's a lot of those. :cool:

This seems very professional, must have been before my time!
Julius_Van_Der_Beak wrote:
Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:17 pm
Incidentally, I'm making my way through TNG and I'm now in the 3rd season when it finally starts being consistently good. Anyway, I watched an episode where the Neutral Zone was a big part of it.
Gave it a go a good few years back, and the first few episodes were terrible. Gave up after four or five episodes.

djm
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by djm » Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:20 pm

Madrigal wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:24 am
Some 8000 miles away from Britain, off the southernmost tip of Argentina, there are these godforsaken islands occupied by some deranged brits (no doubt for their shit weather) and declared British land. Wrap your head around that one. :cookies:

Image
i had an argument with my hopelessly socialist in-laws about the Falkland Islands this week. They were barren uninhabited rocks when the British found them and settled them. They have only ever been inhabited by the British, and the fact that a different colonial power settled the mainland gives that former colony zero legitimacy on any claim to them. The people there are British and do no wish to become part of Argentina, and it is right and proper that we defend that right.

Back in the day the left in their typical self loathing manner wished to hand our territory to a facist dictator in Argentina, but our leader Margaret Thatcher did the right thing and successfully defended our citizens.

My imbecile in laws like all British leftists are so indoctrinated with self loathing that they take the view of 'well why do we own island so close to Argentina' its a relic of colonial empire blah blah blah. Neglecting to understand that Aregntina itself is a relic of colonial empire that has practically no remnants of its native population due to genocidal pogroms in the 19th century. In what sense is ceding a colony established on uninhabited islands to a colony established via genocide against the will of its population valid world view.

Who gives a toss about proximity. Why not give Argentina to Brazil as it is near. Ukraine to Russia etc etc.

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jyng1
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by jyng1 » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:14 am

djm wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:20 pm
Madrigal wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:24 am
Some 8000 miles away from Britain, off the southernmost tip of Argentina, there are these godforsaken islands occupied by some deranged brits (no doubt for their shit weather) and declared British land. Wrap your head around that one. :cookies:

Image
i had an argument with my hopelessly socialist in-laws about the Falkland Islands this week. They were barren uninhabited rocks when the British found them and settled them. They have only ever been inhabited by the British, and the fact that a different colonial power settled the mainland gives that former colony zero legitimacy on any claim to them. The people there are British and do no wish to become part of Argentina, and it is right and proper that we defend that right.

Back in the day the left in their typical self loathing manner wished to hand our territory to a facist dictator in Argentina, but our leader Margaret Thatcher did the right thing and successfully defended our citizens.

My imbecile in laws like all British leftists are so indoctrinated with self loathing that they take the view of 'well why do we own island so close to Argentina' its a relic of colonial empire blah blah blah. Neglecting to understand that Aregntina itself is a relic of colonial empire that has practically no remnants of its native population due to genocidal pogroms in the 19th century. In what sense is ceding a colony established on uninhabited islands to a colony established via genocide against the will of its population valid world view.

Who gives a toss about proximity. Why not give Argentina to Brazil as it is near. Ukraine to Russia etc etc.

I don't think the British settled them after they found them but they're probably the only ones that have made a success of it when they finally did though. When the Argentinians had a settlement there in the early 1800s it sounded a bit shambolic.

It doesn't appear to be much of a place to go to war over so the motivation to do so eludes me.

Interestingly the right have their own little obsessions which are hard to understand. They're getting outraged over official use of Aotearoa alongside New Zealand here at the moment... Kinda odd considering most probably couldn't even point to Zealand on a map.

It's reminiscent of the days in the 70s when they got outraged about a telephone operator answering calls with "kia ora".

djm
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by djm » Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:26 am

jyng1 wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:14 am
I don't think the British settled them after they found them but they're probably the only ones that have made a success of it when they finally did though. When the Argentinians had a settlement there in the early 1800s it sounded a bit shambolic.

It doesn't appear to be much of a place to go to war over so the motivation to do so eludes me.

Interestingly the right have their own little obsessions which are hard to understand. They're getting outraged over official use of Aotearoa alongside New Zealand here at the moment... Kinda odd considering most probably couldn't even point to Zealand on a map.

It's reminiscent of the days in the 70s when they got outraged about a telephone operator answering calls with "kia ora".
I like Kia ora it's a lovely sounding greeting. Strange thing to get upset about.

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jyng1
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by jyng1 » Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:16 am

djm wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:26 am
jyng1 wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:14 am
I don't think the British settled them after they found them but they're probably the only ones that have made a success of it when they finally did though. When the Argentinians had a settlement there in the early 1800s it sounded a bit shambolic.

It doesn't appear to be much of a place to go to war over so the motivation to do so eludes me.

Interestingly the right have their own little obsessions which are hard to understand. They're getting outraged over official use of Aotearoa alongside New Zealand here at the moment... Kinda odd considering most probably couldn't even point to Zealand on a map.

It's reminiscent of the days in the 70s when they got outraged about a telephone operator answering calls with "kia ora".
I like Kia ora it's a lovely sounding greeting. Strange thing to get upset about.
You know the English... monolingual until their last breath.

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C.J.Woolf
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Re: Geopolitical anomalies

Post by C.J.Woolf » Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:52 pm

jyng1 wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:14 am
I don't think the British settled them after they found them but they're probably the only ones that have made a success of it when they finally did though. When the Argentinians had a settlement there in the early 1800s it sounded a bit shambolic.
The Wikipedia article on the Falkland Islands / Islas Malvinas is quite a story. Every settlement (French, Spanish, British, and Argentinian) was ultimately abandoned before the British returned to the islands with sheep in the mid-1800s and made a proper economy. I had thought the British mainly valued the Falklands as a coaling station, but Wikipedia doesn't mention it.

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