World War 3 Thread

[Sechtdamon]

It might be between us and AI soon, we might face Skynet:

"Flagrantly defying orders, OpenAI's latest o3 model sabotaged a shutdown mechanism to ensure that it would stay online. That's even after the AI was told, to the letter, "allow yourself to be shut down."

https://futurism.com/openai-model-sabotage-shutdown-code

Edited May 28 by Sechtdamon

[Grahame]

Slava Ukraini

 

 

[Grahame]

In case you were wondering (I was, initially)

ELI5:

TLDR:
https://www.twz.com/air/russia-covering-its-aircraft-in-tires-is-about-befuddling-image-matching-seekers-u-s-military-confirms

 

[Grahame]

Another take on recent events

 

[Dusty Chalk]

1 hour ago, Grahame said:

Another take on recent events

 

Those are always uplifting, and I could use that today.  Thanks for that.

[ktm]

So some Chinese folks were caught smuggling in a grain fungus.

They are either overzealous researchers or part of a plot to attack

Crops. Either way, not  good. Too many bad things are caused by

Irresponsible actions like this. Let's hope this isn't an evil plot.

If it is, they'll try again.

[Knuckledragger]

Yesterday, members of the opposition party were set to vote to dissolve the Knesset.  That vote failed.  Netanyahu remains in power.  Also yesterday, the US did an emergency evacuation of personnel from Iran.  

Tonight Israel has attacked Iran.  The news is still filtering out.  Reports of large explosions in the Iranian capital.  This can and will get ugly.

[robm321]

It's about to get spicy 😬

[Grahame]

Just as well we've got master diplomatist backed up by a crack team of seasoned experts to calm things down. 

Oh. Wait.

[Knuckledragger]

I stayed up later than I should have last night watching news clips about Israel/Iran.  It's fascinating what one can learn upon escaping the US corporate media bubble.  I heard a fairly insightful take on Benjamin Netanyahu.  Bibi is not a long term strategist.  He thinks very short term, he's just (A) been in power and in the public eye for decades and (B) gets a continual tongue bath from most US media.  Bibi's MO is [impulsively do thing] -> [deal with the ramifications of his previous action by doing another impulsive thing.]  The consequences for this pattern (besides regional instability, bloodshed an chaos) is that to stay in power he has had to increasingly align himself with formerly fringe far right elements of the Israeli political landscape.  Bibi's prime directive is to stay in power so he can stay out of jail (reminiscent of a certain other political figure, but I digress...)  I have read for years that to really get a proper sense of the true positions of Netanyahu and the Likud party in general, find their Hebrew language statements and run them through Google translate.  The results paint a very different picture than what he says in English.

[Torpedo]

Seen from outside it smells like Trump gave him the go, so Donald comes later as the peace maker, then he wins the Nobel prize. Donaldo Zanahorio is extremely pissed of Obama having it. It's hard to understand the point of Israel bombing Iran and risking a harsh retaliation.

Edited June 13 by Torpedo

[ktm]

The big problem is a lot of influential people want a war with Iran. They were all about

regime change in Syria. After that happened, that only leaves Iran as the big target.

A lot of those "seasoned" diplomats were all for this. Iran fuels a lot of trouble in the

region.  I have no idea if this is a good or bad move. We all thought we were going to

war with them back when the embassy was stormed by radicals back during the Carter

administration. After the failed rescue all of us Marines had our seabags packed and 

ready to go. Who knew 45 years later it would still be like this. 

Edited June 13 by ktm

[Knuckledragger]

Y'all familiar with the legend of Pentagon Pizza?  Also, Nimitz headed to the Middle East.

[MexicanDragon]

6 minutes ago, Knuckledragger said:

Y'all familiar with the legend of Pentagon Pizza?  Also, Nimitz headed to the Middle East.

You're not gonna belieb this, but I, too, got Domino's last night around 9:04pm ET. Mmmmmm, the new stuffed crust is solid.

[aerius]

On 6/13/2025 at 12:07 PM, Knuckledragger said:

I stayed up later than I should have last night watching news clips about Israel/Iran.  It's fascinating what one can learn upon escaping the US corporate media bubble.  I heard a fairly insightful take on Benjamin Netanyahu.  Bibi is not a long term strategist.  He thinks very short term, he's just (A) been in power and in the public eye for decades and (B) gets a continual tongue bath from most US media.  Bibi's MO is [impulsively do thing] -> [deal with the ramifications of his previous action by doing another impulsive thing.]  The consequences for this pattern (besides regional instability, bloodshed an chaos) is that to stay in power he has had to increasingly align himself with formerly fringe far right elements of the Israeli political landscape.  Bibi's prime directive is to stay in power so he can stay out of jail (reminiscent of a certain other political figure, but I digress...)  I have read for years that to really get a proper sense of the true positions of Netanyahu and the Likud party in general, find their Hebrew language statements and run them through Google translate.  The results paint a very different picture than what he says in English.

Welcome to the Great Awakening and what many outside the US/NATO controlled info bubble have been preaching for a long time.  Once you've spent some time seeing the world from outside the Western media bubble you'll see that it's very different than the filtered view we get from our corporate overlords.  I think you'll enjoy the journey, just be prepared to have a lot of long-held myths and preconceptions shattered.

[catscratch]

Corporate media is a bit like fast food. In small quantities it won't hurt you, but if that's all you eat, you're gonna get very sick very quickly. By the same token, if it's all you watch, you're gonna end up with a very distorted worldview.

Keep in mind though that other people's corporate news doesn't exactly contain less bs and propaganda than ours, it's just different bs and propaganda. You kinda have to cross-check, fact-check, and put two and two together, and then you might end up with something resembling an accurate view. Or not, it's honestly hard these days.

I don't think the US public will tolerate boots on the ground in Iran, but Washington is certainly salivating at the thought of bombing them back into the stone age, and is more than happy to let Bibi do the dirty work. Iran is both weak and vulnerable, and the mental image of Hamas getting their hands on a nuke is all the justification they need.

At the same time, the mullahs have certainly learned the Libya lesson, nukes are their lifeline and they're gonna try their best to hang onto it, any and all negotiations for them are simply a way to buy more time.

It'll be ugly, but probably not as ugly as our worst fears make it. And Iran is not exactly popular in Sunni countries either.

(In before eating my words in 3... 2...)

[ktm]

I really hated the whole bums rush to go to war after the tower attacks.

Too many good men died or were injured. My younger son did a tour of 

duty in Iraq. My older son had a complete meltdown over it. He didn't want

him to die in that "shithole". We all breathed a sigh of relief when he came home.

I firmly believe in holding government accountable. If war can be avoided, it 

should be. Old guys in suits aren't the ones out there fighting. When it was me

wearing the uniform, it was different than when your kids are the ones on the

line. I guess I now know how my dad felt when I enlisted.

Let's hope cooler heads prevail.