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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2004 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 12, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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A recent patch for the video game Victoria 3 has added a mechanic for the creation of "power blocs" by countries that have achieved the rank of "major power". A power bloc can be focused on trade (customs union and open borders), hegemony (the British Empire), ideology (Austria's Metternich System), military (mutual defense), or religion.

In real life, we all know about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. But did you know that there are many other international organizations of similar nature?

Et cetera.

There's also the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation., recently joined by Belarus. In what was meant to be a nod at NATO designs on Belarus, Chinese sent a couple of transport planes of soldiers to Belarus for a joint anti-terrorism exercise.. .

With One Belt One Road maybe China could supply an army in Europe via Russia. The world is getting smaller.

Trans-siberian railways has been in place for a 100 years. Russians could supply their far-eastern Manchuria offensive pretty handily.

Now there's even an additional track laid through Kazakhstan to Yekaterinburg, and trans-siberian railways has a parallel railway to it going a bit more north to it too..

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