Original Post
[TDC] Toribash Debate Club
Toribash Debate Club
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Purpose
In a word, 'edification'. To promote a shared, deeper understanding of the world through discussions on current events, geopolitics and historical context.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
"How is this any different from discussion?"
In Discussion, anyone can post any topic and then everyone does their best to offer their personal opinion on the topic. Half the time, you have people ripping each other into shreds, and for the other half you have people talking about their personal circumstances and not advancing the discussion. [TDC] will do things differently. Topics are exclusive to current events and we'll be focusing on 'why' these events happened. "Why is the world today as it is/how the world works?" is the guiding question. Since everyone in this org is trusted to make decent posts and points, topics wouldn't be closed as prematurely as they might've been in Discussion. We're talking about current events, so we'll let the discussions about them run their natural lifetime.
tl;dr, [TDC] is more specific and less vicious.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Members
Ele (leader)
ynvaser (leader)
Protonitron (mod)
hawkesnightmare (mod)
d3noth
Galaxy
Ocean
Trick
FMA05
William
BuZe
Hattersin
FleshMon
Havu
AlphanowGD
Squigling
OmegaALT
WeooWeoo
kushman666
qukslice
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Applications
If you want to join then just tell us that you want to join and we’ll add you to the list. We’re operating on trust and good faith, so if you end up posting shit then we’ll just remove you from the list as fast as we added you to it.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Posting Rules
General forum rules apply. However, at the start of each post you make, you must reference the hashtag of one of topics being discussed. A list of topics is constantly updated in the section below.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Current Topics
Until we get our board, we've realised that this thread could get very messy (what with multiple discussions occurring simultaneously) without a bit a of structure to each post. So, #nameoftopic should be at the start of your posts. If you want to respond to multiple topics, include both hashtags and separate them with a comma. The following list of topics will be constantly updated to keep in accordance with the current world issues.
#Ukraine - This topic covers Western/US-Russia relations since the breakup of the union and incessant tensions over Ukraine. Subtopics could include NATOs expansions, Russia's xenophobia, red lines, the history of Ukraine etc.
#ISIL - This topic covers the impact and meaning of ISIL on the Middle East and rest of the world and why the region has been so fractured for so long. Subtopics could include US interventionism, the effects of the breakup of the Ottoman empire, 9/11 and the Afghanistant and Iraq War, caliphates etc.
#Yemen - Possible topics include the Iranian influence on events, the possibility and history of two independent Yemens, Al-Qaeda's impact on Yemen, why Yemen has been failing etc.
#France - We could discuss the impact of the shooting, the history of events, reactions to it (French, Islamic and worldwide), implications etc.
For now, that's it. If anyone wants to start a new topic, simply make a post with the new hashtag in the title and give us a springboard to start the discussion.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Purpose
In a word, 'edification'. To promote a shared, deeper understanding of the world through discussions on current events, geopolitics and historical context.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
"How is this any different from discussion?"
In Discussion, anyone can post any topic and then everyone does their best to offer their personal opinion on the topic. Half the time, you have people ripping each other into shreds, and for the other half you have people talking about their personal circumstances and not advancing the discussion. [TDC] will do things differently. Topics are exclusive to current events and we'll be focusing on 'why' these events happened. "Why is the world today as it is/how the world works?" is the guiding question. Since everyone in this org is trusted to make decent posts and points, topics wouldn't be closed as prematurely as they might've been in Discussion. We're talking about current events, so we'll let the discussions about them run their natural lifetime.
tl;dr, [TDC] is more specific and less vicious.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Members
Ele (leader)
ynvaser (leader)
Protonitron (mod)
hawkesnightmare (mod)
d3noth
Galaxy
Ocean
Trick
FMA05
William
BuZe
Hattersin
FleshMon
Havu
AlphanowGD
Squigling
OmegaALT
WeooWeoo
kushman666
qukslice
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Applications
If you want to join then just tell us that you want to join and we’ll add you to the list. We’re operating on trust and good faith, so if you end up posting shit then we’ll just remove you from the list as fast as we added you to it.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Posting Rules
General forum rules apply. However, at the start of each post you make, you must reference the hashtag of one of topics being discussed. A list of topics is constantly updated in the section below.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Current Topics
Until we get our board, we've realised that this thread could get very messy (what with multiple discussions occurring simultaneously) without a bit a of structure to each post. So, #nameoftopic should be at the start of your posts. If you want to respond to multiple topics, include both hashtags and separate them with a comma. The following list of topics will be constantly updated to keep in accordance with the current world issues.
#Ukraine - This topic covers Western/US-Russia relations since the breakup of the union and incessant tensions over Ukraine. Subtopics could include NATOs expansions, Russia's xenophobia, red lines, the history of Ukraine etc.
#ISIL - This topic covers the impact and meaning of ISIL on the Middle East and rest of the world and why the region has been so fractured for so long. Subtopics could include US interventionism, the effects of the breakup of the Ottoman empire, 9/11 and the Afghanistant and Iraq War, caliphates etc.
#Yemen - Possible topics include the Iranian influence on events, the possibility and history of two independent Yemens, Al-Qaeda's impact on Yemen, why Yemen has been failing etc.
#France - We could discuss the impact of the shooting, the history of events, reactions to it (French, Islamic and worldwide), implications etc.
For now, that's it. If anyone wants to start a new topic, simply make a post with the new hashtag in the title and give us a springboard to start the discussion.
Last edited by TDCadmin; May 4, 2015 at 07:11 PM.
Not if we've got anything to say about it. This isn't meant to be about attacking one another. It's about trying to explain how things ended up the way they are. If there's a disagreement on a topic, then as decent human beings, you'll reach an understanding without being nasty to another. Nastiness = you getting kicked out.
Last edited by Ele; Jan 22, 2015 at 02:12 PM.
#Ukraine
If you want to understand this conflict then one of the things you have to understand is how Russia views the West. Ever since the Russian Civil War (1917-21), they have been deeply suspicious of West. And rightly so. The West supported the 'Whites' (the communists were called the 'Reds') and essentially tried to strangle the Soviet Union in its infancy. Obviously, the West didn't make the best first impression.
Slap on another 20 or so years and the Russians felt they won WWII on the Eastern Front by themselves (fun fact: more people died on the Eastern Front than in the entirety of WW1), with little support from their supposed allies. Shortly thereafter, Churchill declared the iron curtain of communism would descend across Europe, and with that we were plunged into the Cold War.
I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone about the hostilities that occured during the Cold War. Suffice to say, by the time the Cold War had ended and the Soviet Union dissolved, the Russians were extremely wary of West. We made a deal with them. We said we wouldn't extend the borders of NATO (the coalition of Western countries thats purpose was for collective security between countries against Russia (and the Warsaw Pact), if they agreed to the unification of Germany.
So, what did NATO do? Expanded eastwards of course! Breaking the deal, they quickly incorporated the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania etc. into NATOs zone of operations. Betraying the trust of an already suspicious and distrustful Russia. Because of this, Western-Russian relations have been in the shitter ever since.
Now imagine the current situation, but pretend that the roles were reversed. Your little brother Mexico holds a democratic election and they determine their new leader. All of a sudden, the new leader is overthrown, and a new leader sympathetic to your historical enemy takes charge. You later find out that the historic enemy actually had a hand in coup, helping it along. What do you think Americans would do? Do you think they would stand something like this for even a second?
That's the precarious situation we find ourselves in with Russia. To make matters worse, we've set up a whole bunch of red lines and tripwire forces that'll instanly put us into a war with Russia if they're crossed. We keep poking and prodding the Russians, all to ignorant of how very badly things will end up if the Russians respond accordingly. We're walking a very dangerous tightrope, and the potential for complete disaster is so much higher than any other situation we're in right now, ISIL included.
If you want to understand this conflict then one of the things you have to understand is how Russia views the West. Ever since the Russian Civil War (1917-21), they have been deeply suspicious of West. And rightly so. The West supported the 'Whites' (the communists were called the 'Reds') and essentially tried to strangle the Soviet Union in its infancy. Obviously, the West didn't make the best first impression.
Slap on another 20 or so years and the Russians felt they won WWII on the Eastern Front by themselves (fun fact: more people died on the Eastern Front than in the entirety of WW1), with little support from their supposed allies. Shortly thereafter, Churchill declared the iron curtain of communism would descend across Europe, and with that we were plunged into the Cold War.
I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone about the hostilities that occured during the Cold War. Suffice to say, by the time the Cold War had ended and the Soviet Union dissolved, the Russians were extremely wary of West. We made a deal with them. We said we wouldn't extend the borders of NATO (the coalition of Western countries thats purpose was for collective security between countries against Russia (and the Warsaw Pact), if they agreed to the unification of Germany.
So, what did NATO do? Expanded eastwards of course! Breaking the deal, they quickly incorporated the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania etc. into NATOs zone of operations. Betraying the trust of an already suspicious and distrustful Russia. Because of this, Western-Russian relations have been in the shitter ever since.
Now imagine the current situation, but pretend that the roles were reversed. Your little brother Mexico holds a democratic election and they determine their new leader. All of a sudden, the new leader is overthrown, and a new leader sympathetic to your historical enemy takes charge. You later find out that the historic enemy actually had a hand in coup, helping it along. What do you think Americans would do? Do you think they would stand something like this for even a second?
That's the precarious situation we find ourselves in with Russia. To make matters worse, we've set up a whole bunch of red lines and tripwire forces that'll instanly put us into a war with Russia if they're crossed. We keep poking and prodding the Russians, all to ignorant of how very badly things will end up if the Russians respond accordingly. We're walking a very dangerous tightrope, and the potential for complete disaster is so much higher than any other situation we're in right now, ISIL included.
Last edited by Ele; Jan 22, 2015 at 02:54 PM.
