[EMP threat]

The idea that a EMP is something anyone would do is kind of ridiculous. If you EMP the US we'll have attribution and you'll be getting a present from the US Navy called Trident.

[The Controversy: Am I Winner12345?: The Truth]

NO I AM SPARTICUS!

[The Post Karma Lie of Multi-polarity]

Uh, not that accurate to be fair.

You conveniently forget about Q's supremacy clause, which kind of voids this argument entirely.

So the blocs you mention were nothing but tools to Q, actually.

Supremacy clauses are only relevant if all parties wish to follow through with them. You and I both know their functionality is only as important as the intention of the treaty partner. For example with regards to both MHAs permanent alliances with Gremlins and the NPO they did not follow through with them. Wording has very little relevancy compared to a relationship of reciprocity.

A couple of points.

1. How exactly? I don't believe any of NEWs allies were obliged to help them in their agressive war. So they sat it out, which is perfectly fine.

It would be fine, if one of new Heg's CBs against the NPO was that it wasn't following the treaty chain into the Polar conflict. Now if you actually believe that you guys weren't being outrageous aggressors in that conflict why in gods name would you begrudge the NPO for not entering.

2. I seem to recall that NEW told all of it's allies it wouldn't need assistence.

Not what was I've heard. What I have heard is that under duress only specific NEW allies were kept out of the fight.

3. What? Please expand on this argument.

If New Heg actually wanted an entertaining war or one which would have created multi polarity they would have allowed for the NEW fight to happen rather than this one. This one is very narrowly focused on warring the least connected parts of the cyber verse rather than a war between the New Heg Blocs.

4. I'm not sure where all of this nonsense comes from. It's a given that we will never on this world fight an 'even' war, and I don't think that's a bad thing either.

Azaghul a prominent leader in MK, just stated in his doctrine on war that one of the benefits of Karma was multi polarity, multi polar systems are systems in which there are more than two power polls which shift flexibly to check and counter check each other's power. In such a system producing curb stomps is far far more difficult than it is under the current system. The current system has functional results which are much closer to unipolarity.

As for the multipolarity argument, you can see SF alliances taking different positions in this war. How would you explain that? According to you, this isn't possible, because they are part of some unipolar system which would prevent it from happening.

Different positions within SF, but the overall trend in SF is to keep unipolarity, embarrassingly so in fact. Others in SF preempted ROKs declaration for Polar so that they would preserve the unipolar system.

I admit, this made me laugh, although I'm not sure if that was intentional.

So you think the current hegemony, if it exists in the way you described earlier, is of the same character as the NPO one. I'm not seeing why this would be the case. Your way isn't the only way.

And frankly, if we take your version of the NEW incident to be true, it is pretty much guaranteed that MHA, Fark, Duckroll won't be rolled.

It does not in the least guarantee that. It only guarantees it in the short term so as to keep there from being an actual tough fight on their hands. Polar had been part of MKs system of allies and was subsequently ostracized for speaking out against some of the rather outrageous practices which MK had under taken. They were then hit by PB. MHA by speaking out against unjustified wars is a very good candidate to get hit next.

[The Post Karma Lie of Multi-polarity]

No they aren't. They're proof that we have enough power that when someone blatantly spies on us, and our allies agree that it is worth going to war over, we can actually go to war. That is a far cry from being able to come for whoever we don't like (well actually we do like Fark and are neutral on MHA and Duckroll, but that's beside the point).

You have more of a point complaining about the attack on you, but the attack on Polar is a good old-fashioned war with a CB and with allied support because they agreed with it.

Its quite obvious you have sufficient power, when NPO who you decry as being hegemonic got rolled for the exact same offense when you are at best in a stalemate is proof you have sufficient power.

Also, your portrayal of the variant interests of Continuum and suggesting that there wasn't really that much of a hegemony then is stretching the truth. I was in Continuum government and I saw how some of the alliances used the weight of the entire hegemonic treaty web to attack alliances with little to no CB and protect themselves from the consequences. Yes, all the alliances may have had alternative blocs as well, but the weight of Continuum and secondarily those other blocs was what let Valhalla roll into BAPS, TPF roll into NoV and a whole stack of people roll into GPA.

I was in it as well, albiet after you, while when Polar was present there was more caution, post Polar when I was promoted from NPO equivalent from DmoFA to MoFA their was a greater degree multipolarity, it should be noted that at this time your alliance Gremlins chose to further move away from Q.

Note that that's different to the current situation, where Doomhouse are taking advantage of a temporary break in the Orders' treaty web (due to the Polar sphere being engaged), not using the weight of their own treaty web as a weapon. (Most of their own allies are also engaged and not able to do anything in the Pacific war one way or the other.) If we were really as hegemonic as you say, MK would have rolled NPO over nothing in peacetime. The fact that they had to wait until there was a war already going on shows that the 'hegemony' does not in fact control a reliable majority of power and therefore isn't in the same position as Continuum-One Vision at the moment.

This is strategic revisionisimas even with the very troubled past of NPO and NpO when NPO wrongly in my retrospective view (I was promoted and put in the know immediately after the end of OoO) ceased its alliance with NpO instead of ceasing it with Citadel) NpO unlike you would have come to the defense of Pacifica over such a blatant violation of any good practices. Typical to PB/DH Cowardice they sought divide and conquer.

Glad you recognise that the previous hegemony was into curbstomps . But this war is in fact relatively even. Yes, the PB-Doomhouse side is stronger and will win, but it is not a ridiculous ratio and we are not winning without pain.

I do recognize it, particularly the last curbstomp carried out by Q instigated by TOP and Gremlins

[iPad - What is it good for?]

So I am using an iPad right now and just got it for Christmas. in my opinion it is pretty useful to have lying next to you if you want to check something or keep your reading material on it. It also doubles as an mp 3 player. it's web browsing is better than the iPhone but it's harder to type than on a laptop. So at the end of the day it's really about if you have the extra cash and want a cool toy/ e reader.

[And They Think Tea Partiers Are Nuts]

LaRouchers are not part of the democratic party but in districts which republicans are almost certain to win, sometimes they sneak in past the primary. They are not a new thing in American politics, and are never supported by the Democratic leadership. In regards to Byrd, he repudiated the error of his ways in his youth. Contrast this with Sharon Angle who does obvious race baiting today.

[The Existential Threat, Part II]

Vladimir is a master at creating straw men to rail against, and I hear plenty of complaints coming from his general direction, but there is a notable absence of proposed solutions.

After years of living on the hills overlooking the sewage treatment plant, has one Pacifican finally noticed that it sucks to live downstream?

-Craig

You need to reread it if you do not see the solution.

[Beer Reviews, Psychology and Imperialism]

Its interesting you should bring up the ideals of Karma, Vlad because last time I checked the people in power now don't make any illusion that they ARE Karma. King Archon has repeatedly told you that C&G/SF (while they are the ones that are in control) are NOT karma. Karma is a dead coalition. We are the ones who rose to power as a result. Yes, we attempt to follow the tenants of what Karma stood for, but we have haven't failed Karma because we aren't them. We are an entirely different and new entity.

If Archon lead Karma, it is logical to assume that he being the leader of the CnG bloc, would follow the ideals of Karma, instead he did anything but starting with the terms which ended the Karma War.

[Beer Reviews, Psychology and Imperialism]

Attacking the messenger, rather than the message and claiming that one does not need to listen merely because you disagree with the actions of another in the past does not make the message any less valid. In fact this type of political discourse is amongst the most destructive and weakest there is.

One cannot deny that this game has had a serious drop in its membership, something which many alliances who were in opposition during Old Hegemony (although not alliances like ODN who clung to IRON until the very minute it was convenient to drop them for someone else) blamed squarely on NPO policy. Now we see policies which attempt to velvet glove what I would argue is on the norm a much more functionally oppressive structure, in that it uses reparations to achieve long term nation ratios in order to solidify its tech advantage through indentured servitude, and you aim to shoot the messenger.

Regardless of what one feels about the NPO or any other alliances past action, one must see that the actions of the current hegemony, the one which can actually change things is the following:

1) Establish indentured servitude to any alliance that may pose a challenge, an ensure this indentured servitude will build in a permanent structural advantage for new hegemony.

2) Purposefully elongate wars and aim to start wars over issues that in the past never would have been used to start such mass wars, especially without diplomacy: e.g. TPF War, NSO War, and the attempted start of a war with Red Safari. These are transparent attempts to get wars which serve only to demoralize powers which have already been defeated.

3) Deflect blame on policies which can be changed by talking up over year old policies which are no longer in effect and can never again be in effect in order to avoid responsibilities for one's own actions.

It is clear that New Hegemony's regime is operating as a sinister force by the own standards which it created at its outset and that these would be true regardless of what Old Hegemony did, and even if Old Hegemony is guilty of everything which New Hegemony claims it is, New Hegemony is the only one with the power at the moment to affect change on a large scale for the better and absolutely refuses to do so.

[Beer Reviews, Psychology and Imperialism]

Well if you are going to bring up Karma, I should then add that the Continuum has perpetrated far worse crimes then demanding a beer review after its curbstomps. It seems like your the pot calling the kettle black. Also to my original point, I didn't say I supported this conflict. However, in this post Vlad said that the conflict is black and white, where one person (NSO) is good and the other (RoK) is bad. The choice I referred to was him calling the NSO defenseless and alone, were them being alone was as choice made by the government of NSO. This conflict is many shades of grey, and saying otherwise is foolish.

EDIT: Typo

You're ignoring my post here and substituting its actual context for what you wish it says, which is sad but expected. The fact is, is that war is politics continued by other means. Karma's stated political goals was to bring an end to hegemonism, harsh terms, all the things people judged wrong with the Continuum. By this measure, through Karma's own actions in my opinion the objectives of the Karma side of the war must be judged a failure, even when its certainly true that the Pacifican side of the war suffered military defeat. Instead, parts of Karma presided over a new rep power structure which is used to perpetuate cycles of massive reparation indentured servitude as the norm for the losing side of the war, and even when its objectives are fully completed such as with the NSO, it insists on a minimum standard of humiliation and subservience. Lets not forget their huge enthusiasm in launching unprovoked assaults on small red nations who have absolutely no affiliation with the New Pacific Order, in order to harm the NPO. It is not hard to see what the Karma coalition has allowed itself to become. Citing previous power in the past as justification for the present is foolish, petty, and purposefully narrow minded.

Maybe people will stop bringing up the massive hypocrisy inherent in these kinds of posts when the NPO's been out of power as long as they've been in power. That seems like a fair amount of time for the NPO to show their prison conversion is sincere.

NPO has been out of power since April 2009, its now the final days of August 2010. NPO had power from April 2007 at the end of GW III to April 2009. Two years. Karma has been the dominant power grouping for over half of the existence of NPOs hegemony. They've had their time to change the discourse, actions, etc of the Cyberverse. Their reparations based indentured servitude has served to solidify a major technological advantage for themselves, they protect their own spheres while they target others for complete extinction even of non-affiliates, the list goes on. The time has long since passed when the NPO can be complained of as the boogieman waiting behind the corner, and Karma is new. Karma is not new, Karma is the establishment power, and it is responsible for the world which it creates. As the establishment power, it is vulnerable to critique by any player of the game just as NPO was when it was the establishment power. Nor can a member of NPOs points be invalidated solely because of their alliance affiliation but should be confronted on their merits. Of course this is something which Karma utterly objects to.

[Beer Reviews, Psychology and Imperialism]

Two things. First, Virginia you said yourself that writing this review was going to be enjoyable. Frankly, I would rather be forced to write a beer review then pay money or tech reps.

Second, this wouldn't BE a curbstomp if NSO called in allies, so saying that the NSO was helpless to defend itself is bull. They chose to keep their allies from intervening. That is a point that critics of this war keep "conveniently forgetting".

If by chose, you mean did not fall for your poorly veiled trap, I see your point. The beer review is an act of humiliation that serves absolutely no purpose in the game other than to assert dominance. Is reviewing beer fun in and of itself? Yes. However, one should not mistake the end activity for the act, which at its core is coercion. The narrative which SG seems eager to perpetuate is an either or one. In fact, a simple solution would have been to declare the damage done to NSO to be much greater than the 6 million which caused the original offense and end combat operations. Rather this war was quite plainly used to perpetuate and reinforce the unequal power relationships by New Hegemony, and continue its now familiar pattern of perpetuating the omni-destructive cycle of increased bitterness at the end of wars which its supposed victory in the Karma War was to end.

[Anti-Pacificanism: Opiate of the Masses]

Comrade Vladimir is a beacon of hope for the revolutionary masses.

[A Beer Review - For When I Surrender to Fark]

As a rule if a beer says that its "premium" it is most definitely not.

[Beer Reviews? YOU MONSTER!]

I review beer in my spare time. However, I do think its morally repugnant to include it as part of terms.

[A Case Study in War]

In an era where arm chair pundits and theorists are a dime a dozen, it warms my heart to see a true scholar to say such things.

[A Case Study in War]

Comrade Vladimir is one of the most gifted and insightful political commentators of our time. He has built structuralist models which time and time again prove to be accurate methods for explaining the world we live in.