christo-f

I mean I like what he does but there just doesn't seem to be much variety. Rime, on the other hand is #1 these days. As far as I'm concerned he's setting the pace.

Is it just me or does Roids need to branch out and do something a little different once in a while?

I don't know, but he sure has his staircase security under control. Look at them railings!!!

Best Sen I've seen in a while. Dude doesn't take vacations.

I find it hard to see a list like that without having Tudor and Snooze on it. I Think Snooze was the most talented in Fab4 and Tudor was probably the best around for the 1980s. I'd also see Unique and Mr.E on there as well, but I'm Sydney biased. Probably my nostalgia showing through more than anything.

Fuck.

good lord.....

Posting this with the relevance of Hu Jintao's comments to prepare for war. Keep in mind that public statements, the one below by Flournoy as another good example are not to be taken at face value and need to be seen as part of the maneuvering process between the two states. I'm sure most people here realise this, just good to remind ourselves from time to time that for the best insight in to geopolitics one must view actions as opposed to words and constraints as opposed to intent. US official says military pacts not aimed at China APAP – 12 mins ago http://news.yahoo.com/us-official-says-military-pacts-not-aimed-china-023106097.html BEIJING (AP) — A top U.S. defense official says U.S. moves to strengthen its military alliances in Asia are not aimed at containing China. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy said Thursday that she communicated that message to her Chinese counterparts during annual defense talks the day before. She said her comments came in response to Chinese questions about a decision to base 2,500 Marines for training in Australia next year. Flournoy also said the sides would reschedule joint anti-piracy exercises and other exchanges postponed in September by China in anger over a massive U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and U.S. defense officials met in Beijing on Wednesday to talk about reducing the risk of confrontation after recent friction over arms sales to Taiwan and a stepped-up American military presence on China's edges. The 12th round of U.S.-China Defense Consultative Talks are a barometer of relations between China's 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army and a U.S. military that is repositioning itself in the Pacific following the winding down of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Chinese military has lashed out at the recent U.S. moves, Beijing's decision to proceed with the talks appears to show it is placing a new importance on regular talks between the sides, even as their rivalry sharpens. Lead Chinese delegate Gen. Ma Xiaotian said going ahead with the meeting shows both sides are committed to improving relations. "We attach great value to this platform to enhance communication, to expand common ground, to promote mutual understanding, to manage and control risks and to avoid miscalculation, this maintaining the stability of our military-to-military relationship," Ma, the People's Liberation Army's deputy chief of staff, said in opening remarks at the hulking Defense Ministry in downtown Beijing. Representing the U.S., Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy said next year would be a "very significant" year for relations and "it's very important to cooperate on a number of issues that impact both of our countries," apparently referring to a looming political leadership transition in China and the U.S. presidential election. Neither official referred to the Taiwan arms sale. Beijing says the self-ruled island is Chinese territory to be recovered by military force if necessary. China summoned the U.S. ambassador and warned of damage to relations following an announcement in September of a decision to offer Taiwan the $5.85 billion package to upgrade the island's F-16 fleet. In the weeks that followed, it postponed a visit by the U.S. Army Band and Adm. Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, along with joint anti-piracy exercises and a military medical exchange, scholars Bonnie Glaser and Brittany Billingsley said in an analysis for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China's decision to proceed with the talks, however, appears to show that Beijing has "accepted that suspending overall bilateral military ties does not serve U.S. and Chinese interests," Glaser and Billingsley said, warning also that it wasn't clear yet whether the Chinese side is willing to restore the full range of military-to-military contacts. Besides the U.S. military sales to Taiwan, China is also expected to complain about U.S. military surveillance missions within China's Exclusive Economic Zone. Ma is likely to raise U.S. plans announced in late November to rotate Marines to Australia for training with Australian forces from an Australian army base in Darwin, beginning in 2012, Chinese officers quoted in state media said. Up to 2,500 Marines, infantry units as well as aviation squadrons and combat logistic battalions, will go there from Okinawa or other Marine stations in Japan and elsewhere in the Pacific for a few months at a time. Chinese hard-liners have called the move, along with strengthened military ties with allies Japan and the Philippines as well as former enemy Vietnam, a new U.S. containment policy that must be resisted through more active diplomacy. "The U.S. has always asked China to be transparent about its strategy. It is the U.S. who should make its intentions clear," Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, of the PLA's Academy of Military Sciences, was quoted as saying in the China Daily newspaper. Flournoy is expected to raise U.S. concerns about territorial disputes in the South China Sea, North Korea, Iran, maritime security, cyber security, nuclear weapons policy, and outer space, Glaser and Billingsley said. She will also seek to reschedule postponed exchanges. China's recent start of sea trials on its first aircraft carrier have emphasized its growing capabilities, particularly in the naval field, raising concerns it apply those to make good on its claim to the South China Sea and its island groups. President Hu Jintao told navy officers Tuesday to extend the modernization of the force and "expand the deepening of preparations for military struggle." Results of Wednesday's discussions will provide an indication of the overall health of military-to-military ties, including whether or not they set an agenda for exchanges next year and how extensive the list is, Glaser and Billingsley said.

Please Santa, let this fool be real.

I was just running through in my mind how one would go about inside out painting, I'd definitely fuck it up.

I vote for KBEN's S.

Nothing spectacular, a bit of Canberra kit. IMG_7679 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7678 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7677 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7676 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7675 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7674 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7673 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7672 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7717 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7709 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7466 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr IMG_7465 by jiangtaixi, on Flickr

Ah Channel Zero. The names may change but the bullshit remains the same....

Suede Blue Suede shoes were a rock & roll item from the 1950s, nothing to do with Disco. Gotta know what you're talking about before you can talk shit.

Listening to the old Run DMC track, you talk too much. Funny that.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying but the banks are directly tied to their governments and the governments are tied to the EU. So the banks have been thrown a printing press right now but that isn't an open ended deal. The EU won't work and will have to change drastically or die. The meeting on the 9th is supposedly going to be moving towards something like this. I don't think that anyone is working with the understanding that the swap deal has fixed anything, it's just bought time for the banks to keep going until a solution for the larger, systemic problem is found. The EU as an economic union simply cannot work. you have a merrcantilist, family based (meaning 'black') economy such as Greece using the same currency as one of the world's largest industrialised economies, the second largest exporter in the world with stringent tax regime. Greece can't service their debt without the EU, they won't be able to get their people to accept the Austerity, they don't have the Soviet threat so the US won't be throwing modern weaponry at them but the Turks haven't gone away. So the structural problems of the EU remain and the US swap deal isn't infinite, the problems and imbalances have to be dealt with and Germany has to bail other EU countries out or face massive defaults and a break up of the EU. Where this comes back on topic is NATO, it's almost dead already and if the EU goes belly up you're going to have Germany looking more towards Russia than ever whilst the Baltic states, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden and the UK shitting themselves and looking directly at the US for support. This at a time when they US is adjusting its posture to the Pacific. Should be interesting.

Disagree. short term solution for Europe, confidence will not be high for the future as the problems that led to the Euro-crisis have not been fixed. This gave Europe a couple of months, 6 at the most.

This is fucking brilliant. It has apparently already been pulled off air in South Africa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqvdRP0L65w&feature=related

I get paid in USD, I'm not particularly fucking thrilled with it. The devaluation of the USD won't really do anything for outsourcing (which is really overseas manufacturing based on labor cost and preferable tax rates, etc.) as other countries will either adjust their currencies accordingly (China sets the daily central parity rate for the RMB and only lets it trade with in a band of 0.5% each day, Japan will conduct more market interventions to lower the Yen, etc. etc.). This is somewhat similar to QE1-2, so look to how other states reacted to that and you've got a benchmark in what to expect with this. It hasn't solved the Euro-crisis though, that can just got kicked down the road a little further.

There's a whole Jurne thread up in here and no one told me about it?! Fuck you guys!

I was a child porn star. It made me what I am today. A rap letter artist.

I want a job where I get to doodle all day....., or play with my doodle, either way.

My girl once dropped our car in to service, she gets a call an hour later saying that we needed new break pads. She calls me because I'd just changed them myself a few months earlier. So I go in unannounced to see WTF these clowns were on about. When I got to the desk (it was a Ford dealership) and got the shop manager I told him it was my car, showed him the key and asked to see the break pads. He became visibly nervous. Of course when we checked the pads they were just fine, so I looked at him and asked him why the hell they would change those pads. His response, "Yeah, we saw that they were almost halfway worn, so we thought it would be best to replace them now to save you from having to do it later". The thing that gets me is that if I cracked him one in the mouth for his troubles it's me that would land in the shit. Another doozy is from China. I ordered a sizzling plate piled with mushrooms from a picture in the menu. I was delivered a plate of sizzling onion with a sprinkling of mushrooms on top. I suggested they'd bought me the wrong dish and showed them the picture in the menu and they said that it was right. I pointed out that the dish was totally different (and obviously a cheaper, shittier reality than the menu picture). The response was that the picture in the menu was just a guide. So I said that they could take it back as I was not interested in a plate of onion. They said that it was too late as they'd already served it so therefore I had to pay for it. Best part was that they were acting as if I was being unreasonable and overly critical. Shit, I could go on for days about customer service in China..., give yourself cancer thinking about that shit.

I think it's because Stratfor has always pushed the line of continuing US primacy based on its massive depth in both the economy and military capability and capacity (and copped a bit of shit for it too). This is them pointing out that what the Fed did is evidence of that continued strength and depth. It also effectively devalues the USD by around 3% and that is good for US exports and bad for Chinese forex fortunes. Whilst this isn't exactly the US-Aust. shared facilities agreement it's part of the bigger picture of the US exercising its vast power over the rest of the world. And incidentally, whilst this move was in the US interest it is also in the interest of Europe, China, Japan, Russia, India, Australia, Angola, Venezuela, KSA, Indonesia, etc. etc.

Given that the US econ and US global primacy figures in to this discussion so deeply I figured this would fit here. I got it from the Stratfor website: Fed Action in Europe Underscores Dollar Primacy http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary/20111130-fed-action-europe-underscores-dollar-primacy December 1, 2011 | 0156 GMT PRINTPRINT Text Resize: 0 0ShareThisNew The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday adjusted its “dollar liquidity swap arrangements” with Europe’s central banks, as well as with Japan and Canada. This means that for now, European banks will not require a massive bailout that Europe is ill-equipped to provide. It also demonstrates the true nature of the U.S.-dominated global financial order. “Even though the Fed is merely providing liquidity as opposed to long-term structural support, its action will do much to abate Europe’s crisis.” The Fed’s action effectively gives these central banks access to a massive pool of new U.S. dollars that they can borrow at low costs. Central banks will then provide funding to their banking sectors. The loans must be repaid to the Fed within three months and are structured so that the risks are borne by the foreign central banks, not the Fed. Similar arrangements have been used since the days following the 9/11 attacks and were deployed in the early stages of the U.S. subprime crisis, but Wednesday’s deal offers the best terms yet to borrowers. And loans like this are regularly refinanced as they expire. The move generates relief amid rapid deterioration in the European financial markets as banks’ holdings of distressed sovereign bonds decline in value. European banks cannot withstand serious declines in the value of their assets compounded by unwieldy amounts of leverage — borrowing money to purchase these bonds and other assets. In some cases even two-percent fluctuations in asset values could lead these banks into bankruptcy. In this environment, banks stop lending to each other, fearful that the borrower will go bankrupt and therefore be unable to pay back the loans. Europe’s intertwined banking and sovereign debt crises create a complex and unwieldy situation. The banks need governments to service what are basically unserviceable debt burdens or the banks will become insolvent. Governments, meanwhile, need banks to refinance their countries’ growing debts or they will default. And on top of this sits a relatively constrained European Central Bank (ECB) that does not have the wide latitude for action its counterparts in other economies have. There is a strong argument to be made that limitations on the ECB will ease as the crisis continues — they already have to a significant degree — but the stress in Europe’s banking sector has reached a critical stage. The proposed solutions are, for the most part, not clearly conceived — and all are improbable as long-term fixes. Sovereign wealth funds based in nations whose per capita incomes are a fifth of Europe’s balked at providing funds. Investors who had already shunned European bond markets despite full sovereign guarantees could not be lured back with complex schemes involving only partial guarantees. The overall sense of futility has been growing. Even though the Fed is merely providing liquidity, as opposed to long-term structural support, its action will do much to abate Europe’s crisis. Nominally designed to support markets with short-term dollar loans, the funds provided by the currency swaps will find their way through numerous channels into the broader European financial markets. Thus, in addition to helping banks, the funds could relieve pressure on Europe’s sovereign debt markets. For example, banks can purchase government bonds — even those, such as Greek bonds, that are very poorly rated — and use them as collateral to secure this unlimited funding. But even though the risk of a fundamental breakup in the banking sector or currency union will abate somewhat, none of the underlying problems that have created the crisis will have been solved. In fact it is STRATFOR’s standing forecast that nothing will solve the underlying problems that have created Europe’s crisis. The European Union is an inherently desynchronized entity, and packing disparate economies like Germany and Greece into a free trade zone, let alone a currency union, is naturally problematic. Peripheral European countries cannot forever absorb unchecked German exports with no recourse to the traditional methods they have used to protect themselves— such as trade barriers, controls on capital flows and independent monetary policies. Still, forceful backing from the United States is a significant geopolitical event in that it reinforces the established global financial and monetary order. The United States provided this type of liquidity to Europe in the past, in order to counter the effects of the U.S. subprime crisis. Now, as countries watch Europe’s crisis grow to threaten the eurozone’s very existence, the United States is ultimately the only economy large enough and with enough political credibility to prop up the global system. This was a given for most of the postwar era, but was seemingly forgotten over the past decade as proponents of the euro touted the currency as a counterbalance to the dollar. But the facade of the euro’s stability has begun eroding, and dollar primacy has begun reasserting itself.