Dancing with Fire's definitions
The Chechen mafia is one of the largest organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafia gangs, which originally consisted of criminals of Chechen ethnicity who later also tried to recruit former Russian special military forces, police and army officers. It has substantially decreased its presence in Moscow by 1994 after Slavic mafia groups united against their Chechen counterpart, with assistance from Russian police and the FSB (the former KGB). As it happened most of Chechen gang members returned to Chechnya and joined the rising Chechen separatist movement.
The Chechen mafia is often referenced to as the "Russian mafia" in Europe, because most people of Chechen ethnicity speak Russian and many immigrated from the Russian Federation during the wars.
by Dancing with Fire June 28, 2011
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Libertarian Misconceptions:
1) "All Libertarians are stoners." Just because we want to legalize something, that does not mean we condone that behavior. People should be free to put whatever they want into their own bodies without the government's say-so. I may not agree with certain behaviors, but that doesn't give me the right to dictate other peoples' actions.
2) "Libertarians are fine with poor people starving in the streets." Actually, we think that's terrible. Libertarians typically oppose government welfare because it relies on force. It is immoral to forcibly take money from an individual in order to give it to another person. That is theft. Libertarianism promotes voluntarism and private charities. It is compassionate when one chooses to donate money to the poor, however, when the government forces people to do this, the act no longer becomes sincere.
Libertarian Misconceptions:
1) "All Libertarians are stoners." Just because we want to legalize something, that does not mean we condone that behavior. People should be free to put whatever they want into their own bodies without the government's say-so. I may not agree with certain behaviors, but that doesn't give me the right to dictate other peoples' actions.
2) "Libertarians are fine with poor people starving in the streets." Actually, we think that's terrible. Libertarians typically oppose government welfare because it relies on force. It is immoral to forcibly take money from an individual in order to give it to another person. That is theft. Libertarianism promotes voluntarism and private charities. It is compassionate when one chooses to donate money to the poor, however, when the government forces people to do this, the act no longer becomes sincere.
Libertarian misconceptions (continued):
3) "Libertarians are isolationists." False. We're non-interventionists. We promote free trade and diplomacy with other nations. We do not support intervening in the internal conflicts of other nations. Doing so creates enemies and leads to potential blowback; which, in effect, does isolate us from the rest of the world.
4) "Libertarians hate old people." We don't hate old people. We just believe that social security is a bad deal for everybody. Todays retirees are getting less and less money than from what they were 'forced' to pay into the entilement program. If social security is such a great thing, why is it mandatory? We believe that people should be able to save for their own retirements however they see fit.
5) "Libertarians want a society where Wal-Mart controls everything." We're pro-free market. Not pro-corporation. Libertarians believe that corporations should be separated from the state. Therefore, there shouldn't be any special government hand-outs, protections, or priveledges. Monopolies very rarely occur in a pure free market. They almost always arise because the goverment grants special priveldges to a business. Contrary to popular belief, large corporations actually lobby the government for more regulations to hurt the competitors.
3) "Libertarians are isolationists." False. We're non-interventionists. We promote free trade and diplomacy with other nations. We do not support intervening in the internal conflicts of other nations. Doing so creates enemies and leads to potential blowback; which, in effect, does isolate us from the rest of the world.
4) "Libertarians hate old people." We don't hate old people. We just believe that social security is a bad deal for everybody. Todays retirees are getting less and less money than from what they were 'forced' to pay into the entilement program. If social security is such a great thing, why is it mandatory? We believe that people should be able to save for their own retirements however they see fit.
5) "Libertarians want a society where Wal-Mart controls everything." We're pro-free market. Not pro-corporation. Libertarians believe that corporations should be separated from the state. Therefore, there shouldn't be any special government hand-outs, protections, or priveledges. Monopolies very rarely occur in a pure free market. They almost always arise because the goverment grants special priveldges to a business. Contrary to popular belief, large corporations actually lobby the government for more regulations to hurt the competitors.
by Dancing with Fire June 12, 2013
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Due to infighting, arrests and deaths of some of its top members, the Tijuana Cartel is a shell of what it was in the 1990s and early 2000s when it was considered one of the most potent and violent criminal organizations in Mexico. After the arrest or assassination of its founding members, the Arellano Felix clan, the cartel is now headed by Fernando Sanchez Arellano, a nephew of the Arellano Felix brothers who once bloodied Mexico and southern California with their brutish and authoritarian style. With the powerful Sinaloa Cartel moving into Tijuana in force, Sanchez Arellano is struggling to keep a grip on this lucrative drug and human trafficking corridor.
by Dancing with Fire July 2, 2011
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by Dancing with Fire April 9, 2013
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By the beginning of the eighteenth century thousands of trekboers were living permanently on grazing farms in the interior, some of them temporarily migrating each winter to the coast, so that their cattle might enjoy its sweet grass, but generally moving farther into the plains when their land was exhausted or when their journeys of exploration had revealed more attractive grazing or water. These people rarely put up permanent dwelling places; their homes were the wagons parked by a water point on the `loan places' they had registered with the Company. Their farms usually approximated to the conveniently-managed size (for Africa) of 6,000 acres, and they generally marked out this area in a rough and ready manner by trotting a horse from the wagon along all four points of the compass for half an hour.
by Dancing with Fire June 24, 2011
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It has two main functions: 1) it is involved in building schools and hospitals in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and in helping the community in social and religious ways. 2) The military wing of Hamas - known as the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades - has carried out a series of bloody attacks against Israeli targets. In February and March 1996, Hamas carried out several bus bombings, killing nearly 60 Israelis. It was also blamed for attacks in 1997 in Jerusalem which killed 15 people, and brought the peace process grinding to a halt. Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA) - the government-in-waiting if a Palestinian state is established - views Hamas as a serious rival, yet the Palestinian leader has tried to co-opt the movement into mainstream politics. But his insistence that Hamas recognize the PA as the only national authority in the Palestinian territories and cease military operations against Israel has been resisted. Hamas argues that to accept the PA would be to recognize the Oslo accords - which Islamist groups saw as nothing more than a security deal between the PA, Israel and the US, with the ultimate aim of wiping them out. Despite a fierce offensive against the group in 1996, when the PA arrested some 1,000 Palestinians and took over mosques in Gaza, the PA has been careful not to drive Hamas underground.
by Dancing with Fire January 22, 2011
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