Are you saying that Mariupol is governed by a dictator? Or that ONLY the pro-Kiev side has guns? I don't get it. If the pro-Kiev side is a minority, then how are they holding so much control over what you claim is a huge majority?



This is bad why? Weren't you claiming that those people were Russians and want to be a part of Russia? So, now thanks to the fighting in the region (fighting by BOTH, separatists and Kiev "junta") they are Russians in Russia. So, what's the problem?

I'm not twisting facts, I'm reporting on actual numbers. How would you "untwist" the facts that 70% of Russia's economy depends on exports, and that 40% of China's economy depends on exports to the west, and is supported by them owning US debt? Are you disputing the facts, or claiming that if those 70% and 40% of exports were cut, and China lost $1.28 trillion in assets, that their economy would boom?



How Norway has avoided the 'curse of oil'. Some key points:
"For while other countries have struck oil and then binged on the revenues, by contrast Norway is continuing to invest its oil and gas money in a giant sovereign wealth fund."
"There is a closely followed guideline that only 4% of the surplus from the fund is spent or invested in public projects."

So, this "resource-rich country" is not rich because of the oil. It sounds like, instead of using their oil profits to pay for social welfare programs the way Russia and many Middle Eastern countries are doing, they are putting that money aside, and are still focusing on developing their economy through other means. Once the oil runs out, they plan to use that fund to help continue to develop their economy and switch to other types of production, but are still worried that they may have trouble with jobs if too many people don't have any skills other than oil.

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, while the rest of the world disagrees with you.



The invasion was when a bunch of Russian troops in unmarked military uniforms invaded Crimea, took over the airport, and "kept the peace" BEFORE Crimea had the vote and the "majority" rebelled against the Kiev rule. Care to tell me who in Crimea invited those unmarked Russian troops who all wore balaclavas to keep from being identified?

They all have Russian names though... Let's see:

Mikhail Khodorkovsky - Born in Moscow, Russia, became deputy head of Komsomol (the Communist Youth League), used his connections within the communist structures to gain a foothold in the developing free market, and used the help of some powerful people to start his business activities under the cover of Komsomol. Sounds like an old Soviet Russian stealing your resources from within. Why would he be called a western puppet? "In February 2003, at a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Khodorkovsky argued with Putin about corruption. He implied that major government officials were accepting millions in bribes." Ah! There it is!

Platon Lebedev - Born in Moscow, Russia, is best known as a close associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Is he a "western puppet" for similar reasons? "He was subsequently charged with embezzlement and money laundering in 2009, and pled not guilty to the charges. There has been speculation that these charges were politically motivated.  Lebedev and Khodorkovsky were named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International" and says "he would fight for the freedom of people he considered political prisoners." So, all around great Russian while stealing the oil, but a western puppet bastard if he goes against the rest of the Russian oligarchs.

Mikhail Brudno - Too little info on this guy... My guess is also a Soviet oligarch that stole Russian resources from within government.

Vasily Shakhnovsky - Same as above, too little info, but also has ties to the Yukos debacle. Which, for the uninformed, "After Khodorkovsky (Owner of Yukos) became an advocate of democratization, international co-operation and Russian reform, in October 2003 Khodorkovsky was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in August 2006. Courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy Yukos and obtain its assets for the government, and act politically against Khodorkovsky." Or, you know, private party buys oil fields and creates a highly successful oil company, government that is still full of old Soviets and KGB decide they want in on that, trump up false charges, and steal that wealth by nationalizing the company, with new oligarchs simply getting jealous and stealing from the old oligarchs (btw, it's this what both George Orwell and Ayn Rand warned against, and what bitcoin as a political system is designed to fight?). Oh, and what do you know, "In 2014 the largest arbitration award in history, $50 billion (€37,2 billion), was won by Yukos' former owners against Russia."

Leonid Nevzlin - Born in Moscow, Russia, participated in the Russian presidential election of 1996 helping to reelect Boris Yeltsin, but is otherwise a plain business man and (OH NOES!) a jew who dared to suggest that jews should have freedoms in Russia. So, another Russian oligarch who came up through the ranks of Russian politics, but became a "western puppet" once the new oligarchs wanted to steal from the old oligarchs. Except he's extra "western" because he's a jew. Despite being born, raised, and taught in Russia, and working with the Russian government.  

In short, Russian oligarchs, all born and raised in Russia (Soviet Russia no less), many of whom were involved in government or rose up through its ranks, stole from their own people to build a highly successful private oil company, but once they started making real money, and worse, suggesting that Russians should have freedoms and good relations with the rest of the world, the old government oligarchs got jealous and took all their wealth by nationalizing their company, and, of course, calling them "western puppets," because, being born, raised, educated, and members of Soviet Russian government is what makes one a "western puppet."


Yeah, there's no "later sold them." They were nationalized by Russian government and are all now owned by Russian government owned companies like Gasprom.

P.S. Thank you for the list of names. Researching and reading about this part of Russia's more recent history has been highly enlightening.

This is not true. Many people in Kiev speak only Russian and do not understand Ukrainian very well. This is something maybe some person in Kiev said, who had no power to actually change anything at all, and that Russia spread big propaganda about to try to scare Eastern Ukraine. It would be silly for Kiev to ban all Russian language when so much of Kiev and Ukraine speaks it. Besides, it is not the language that Ukraine is worried about, it is Russia and Putin.



What? Its current form is similar to what Greeks experimented with thousands of years ago, and almost exactly what Romans had thousands of years ago (Senate, parliament, etc).



So, DPRK (North Korea) is perfectly ok then?

Yeah, I kinda had to comment on this one too. Did you forget Crimea and Eastern Ukraine already?

Is that kinda like if you are a black person, living in a country that practices slavery, it's your fault for living there and you should keep quiet about it, and not the fault of the country practicing slavery? Or a more modern example, if you are an extremely poor person working in a sweatshop, in a country that is perfectly fine with exploiting people in sweatshops, it's your fault for being a poor sweatshop worker and living in that country, and not the fault of the country for accepting sweatshops, and you should just keep quiet about your being exploited, otherwise you'll bring harm on the rest of the sweatshop workers? Nice subjugation advice there.

I did say that Americans regret the Iraq thing, and majority really disapprove of their government for making such a mistake, didn't I? But tell me, how many countries in the world are begging for Russia to take them over? Ukraine? Georgia? Is Afghanistan grateful for USSR coming in and destroying their country, which before they came was about as civilized and peaceful as Paris? Maybe East Germany wants to go back to being Russian again?

You mean them mostly being of Mongolian descent or culture,  with the Golden Horde khanate taking them over shortly after Moscovie was established, and either directly ruling or having a strong influence on it for centuries, breeding a culture of ruthlessness and need for conquer and expansion, until they finally receded and the Moscovie monarchy, being embarrassed about their Mongolian origins, imported top historians from Europe to rewrite Moscovie's history to be as if it came out of Ukraine, instead of the Khans, renamed Moscovie to the same name as what Ukraine was called at the time (pronounced "Kievskaya Rosiya") and just calling themselves THE Rosiya, stole Ukraine's history - which had nothing to do with Moscovie other than fighting off their (Mongolian) invasions throughout the centuries, convinced everyone that Ukraine is just a part of them, and thus should be "taken back," and established its country based on lies?

Yes, their mentality of a ruthless need to conquer, not have empathy for those they are taking over, and tendency to lie and change history without really caring about what is true or not, IS perfectly rational based on their history. It doesn't excuse them or make them rational people though (at least not the ones in power, or those too apathetic to care what is being done by those who rule them).

How do you measure that? Since oil "accounts for more than 70% of total government revenue, more than 60% of gross domestic product, and roughly 85% of export earnings," they are basically completely dependent and subsidized by oil, and their economy can only decline as their oil runs out. Basically, they're as fucked as Saudi Arabia, long term.

Also, I thought Dubai was a semiautonomous city/province, like Shanghai or Hong Cong, with Dubai kicking ass economically despite only 2% of its GDP coming from oil.

Did 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan war contribute to the economic depression in 2001/2002?

They use BitPay, and thus BitPay's price. Last I heard, BitPay derives their prices from looking at a collection of bitcoin exchanges and seing what it would cost to sell that amount of bitcoin right now, based on actual available offers. So, if still true, BitPay is even more accurate than just an average of prices.

These people are Michael Perklin (Tigereye - https://www.linkedin.com/in/perklin), Vitalik Buterin, Anthony Di Iorio, and advisers like Peter Todd, Charles Hoskinson, and Piotr Piasecki, all of whom are very high level people in this space, whom I have met in person and would personally vouch for as highly respected and fairly trustworthy. Which makes me really wonder about this...

Yeah, confirmed it's the legit group, with people like Vitalik and Anthony Di Iorio helping run this thing. Honestly I'm surprised and perplexed that they would do this. Seems rather... I don't know... Opportunistic? Maybe even a bit pointless, especially at this stage?

And do they provide study materials, or do you basically have to be a genuine expert and know all this stuff to take the test? (I'm somewhat tempted to try, since I know all the topics listed, but want to know what I would get for my $75, since I don't actually need this to get a bitcoin job)

Does the certification fee provide you with study materials too? I could see that being worth the $50, considering the list of topics covered, but if all you get is an online quiz and a fancy piece of paper...

I have used mine at a number of conventions run by companies Point is, I get my credit from knowledge and reputation, not an online quiz that seems to WAY overcharge (I can't see how it could cost $25 to print and ship a certificate. Even a very fancy one).




Nope


Nope


Nope


Most definitely 

Why did you take this certificate quiz, pay so much for it, and post about it on the forum? Are you partnering with these guys to try to earn money on what looks like a ripoff at least, and an "online university/certification" scam at worst?

The bilderberg group is mostly just a place for business/politics nerds, who are too wealthy and famous to go out in public, to be able to freely hang out and relax among people with similar situations and interests. It's basically the equivalent of bitcoiners hanging out at afterparties and bars during bitcoin conventions, where they can network and discuss "you help me, I help you" business arrangements. Nothing all that sinister. And since Jeff Bezos is at the least a libertarian, I'm pretty sure he's quite in favor of bitcoin. Remember, these people are interested in business and free trade first and foremost, not government and controlling the world.

I think you got ripped off. I paid only about $30CAD to order a sign from VistaPrint that has a big bitcoin logo and "Bitcoin Expert" text on it. Saved $45, and looks much better at conventions.

Well, that's true. Majority of Americans are buying Toyotas, Hondas, and Chevy's.

Al Qaeda has dealt a MASSIVE blow to USA, not in the forms of jets hitting buildings, but in the form of a totally unnecessary and wasteful $3 trillion dollar war, which in part led to massive economic damage to US. I wonder if these guys are just trying to provoke anyone they can to try to screw countries like Al Qaeda did?