Yeah, fair enough. I should've made a weaker claim.

The final agreement (as leaked by various negotiators) was that Crimea would remain Russian while Russia would withdraw to their pre-02/24 lines.

Supposedly there was talk that Donetsk and Luhansk would function as autonomous administration regions within Ukraine (I guess, a bit like Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia are in China?), but I can't find a source for that.

The claim that the only option for peace in the Taiwan conflict is if China gives up is, frankly, untrue. Under the KMT government (2008-2016), China had basically accepted the status quo (Taiwan with de facto independence). This is why cross-strait dialogue was so positive in the 2008-2016 period.

In 2008, the KMT said that "it is the "common aspiration" of the people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to build a peaceful and win-win future" and the CPC confirmed this, saying "The two parties said they wished to enhance exchanges and dialogue, reach common ground on issues, increase mutual trust and promote cooperation, and take more responsibility for peace and development across the Strait." In confirmation of the 1992 Consensus, both parties agreed in 2009 to "avoid internal struggle in foreign affairs." In 2013, both parties agree to work towards " rejuvenating the Chinese nation." In 2015, the CPC called on people to remember the shared bond between CPC-KMT in the fight against the Japanese imperialists. Then, of course, there was the landmark meeting between the CPC leader Xi Jinping and the KMT leader Ma Ying-Jeou in 2015.

Since then, relations have deteriorated rapidly under the DPP. Dialogue from Taiwan has shifted from one of maintaining the status quo to one seeking explicit independence (DPP policy, which contradicts KMT policy). Dialogue from China has shifted from one of building relations to one of "avoiding conflict."

Anyone seriously contemplating whether China would invade Taiwan needs to look at a map of Taiwan. There is no feasible invasion of Taiwan without millions of casualties: it would be a fight infinitely worse than Vietnam. Taiwan is the perfect fortress, with urban combat surrounded by densely-forested mountains and decades of buildup explicitly designed by the KMT to block a Chinese invasion. It's also an island separated by more than a hundred kilometers of open ocean. The KMT understands this, as does the CPC.

The only practical military option available to the CPC is a naval blockade like the US did to Cuba, but the KMT was actively trying to stimulate trade with China in the 2008-2016 period to make a blockade economically infeasible. Today, China imports more goods from Taiwan than from any other country in the world.

All this talk of war is fearmongering and posturing to justify increased defense spending at the cost of a lasting and sustainable peace.

User with "get fucked" on their profile, truly the paragon of positive and complimentary comments.

EEZ does not restrict the operations of other boats, as has been repeatedly established by the US in the Taiwan Strait, the Paracel Islands, the Spratly Islands, and elsewhere in the South China Sea.

Indiscriminate bombing leads to dead hostages. The Hannibal Directive at work.

Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath al-Shifa hospital – which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2.

As reported on by the pro-Israel publication The Tablet.

We know that there were tunnels and bunkers under al-Shifa. After all, the IDF built them. Whether they're still in use today is very questionable: if you were Hamas, would you center your operation around something that your enemy knows every detail of?

Now I understand why BRICS was happy to invite Argentina to the table despite the looming election. Milei doesn't stand a chance.

Revolution