OlympicsFan

I just wanted to point out that your comments are almost unreadable. You are allowed to use full stops. Maybe sober up, educate yourself and then try again.

What an absurd take. Hamas attacked israelis citizens (they weren't even brave enough to attack the military) and then tried to play the victim card when Israel retaliated. There would be no Hamas if Iran and Qatar wouldn't fund them to use them as a proxy to attack Israel (so that they don't have to sacrifice their own people). You clearly don't know anything if you think that Hamas or the powers behind them are interested in peace. Is the reason for Hezbollah attacking Israel also that Israel somehow suppresses people in Lebanon or Iran? Terrorists will always find a reason to start conflicts. Hamas would lose all its power if they would allow peace. Western countries have provided more than enough help to the Gaza strip, but many/most of it is used by Hamas and not to help the population. Hamas doesn't even deny that taking care of the population isn't a priority for them and obviously they are interested in keeping the population as poor and desperate as possible. Hamas never denied that their goal is to eradicate Israel, maybe people should just understand that people like them (or Putin) mean what they say. If you want peace you have to ask the palestinian population to help with the fight against Hamas and you also have to ask Qatar and Iran to defund Hamas.

This dance of death becomes a trend 
 
 

Israel is the like the boy who cried wolf. Provoking the Palestinians with their policies and then crying wolf when they are attacked. There would be no Hamas if Israel was remotely interested in peace and providing the Palestinian population with just the basics. They claim they do, but people see through the bs. I'm not condoning Hamas by any stretch here, just pointing out Israel is the root cause of the issues here. 
 
Why can't we all just live in peace? Seriously.

Normal thing in countries with PR. Biggest winner gets first chance.

He is a must-watch from day 1. Not sure when/if we ever saw a player like him. LeBron and Curry were/are somewhat similar. I think most people are more excited about watching him than about watching Giannis/Jokic/Doncic/Zion. There probably aren't (m)any athletes in other sports who are this exciting right now. It seems actually possible for him to become an all-star and maybe even DPOY this season already. I can't wait to see him against the american team in Paris next year.

Officially the US is for the two state solution.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/27/1208694837/two-state-solution-israeli-palestinian-conflict
 
I think Hamas is/should be against it. Palestinians used to be in favor for it, but now they seem to lean against it. The younger the palestinians get, the more they are against it, which might indicate that Hamas indoctrinated them to be against it.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/512828/palestinians-lack-faith-biden-two-state-solution.aspx
 
With Israelis it is pretty much the same, they used to be in favor of it, but not so much anymore. Arab Israelis are more in favor of it than jewish israelis.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-says-majority-of-israelis-support-two-state-solution-but-poll-finds-otherwise/
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-pm-lapid-backs-two-state-solution-with-palestinians-2022-09-22/
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/26/israelis-have-grown-more-skeptical-of-a-two-state-solution/
 
Iran doesn't want a two state solution, but apparently they used to not be against it.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/10/2/iran-rejects-two-state-solution-for-palestine
https://www.ft.com/content/3042d2cc-3c3e-11db-9c97-0000779e2340
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Palestine_relations
 
Qatar on the other hand seems to be in favor of it.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/2/two-state-solution-needed-for-palestine-qatar-emir-tells-kushner
 
Other arab countries also seem to be in favor of it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/arab-ministers-urge-israel-to-resume-talks-on-two-state-solution
 
China and Russia also seem to be in favor of a two-state solution.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-sends-envoy-middle-east-sign-ambition-play-104168797
 
Turkey also seems to be in favor of a two state solution. Turkey is in a very interesting situation, considering that they support a two-state solution for Cyprus but don't want the Kurds to have their own state.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-talks-with-hamas-hostages-nothing-concrete-now-state-media-2023-10-18/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-kurds-idUSKBN0P70QB20150627
 
So (at least) officially Iran (and therefore Hamas as well) seems to be the only player that is strongly against a two-state solution.
 
Here is how people in Europe and the US think about the current conflict:
https://yougov.co.uk/international/articles/45869-attitudes-israel-palestine-conflict-western-europe

Not very invested in this event, but i hope that New Zealand wins. South African rugby/sport in general seems to have a pretty bad doping problem.
 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-world-cup/2019/09/19/cj-stander-admits-steroids-probably-easy-find-growing-south/
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/50785122
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/04/world-rugby-sport-rugby-world-cup-drug-testing
https://www.reuters.com/sports/south-africa-flyhalf-jantjies-reveals-failed-drug-test-2023-08-26/

I don't think that Argentina could be at the same level as Canada or Australia, but Argentina definitely should have a much higher GDP per capita. Canada and Australia (in my opinion) have a better geographical position (proximity to the US/Asia) and also more natural resources + they have the huge advantage of being english speaking countries. Argentina developing closer ties with China/BRICS probably isn't in the best interest of the US/Europe, so Argentina should definitely try to "blackmail" the most out of the US/Europe. Culturally Argentina seems much closer the US/Europe. To me it is interesting that Argentina (apparently) doesn't "attract" a lot of refugees from Venezuela. Maybe it will change if the US (under Trump) becomes less welcoming. Milei will/would have a hard time to get anything done when the institutions are working against him. It takes time to "restructure" the institutions and Milei might not be given the time to do that. It would also be interesting to see what Milei would do about the Falkland Islands situtation.
 
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/geopolitics-argentina-superpower-wasn-t
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/argentina-and-brics-port-storm-or-geopolitical-launching-pad
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120342/1/Gonz_lez_Levaggi_M_gica_Navigating_Argentina_s_BRICS_Entry.pdf
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/103960-019-A/mapping-the-world/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2022/06/01/fear-uncertainty-doubt-a-paradigm-shift-for-argentina-geopolitics-and-cryptocurrencies/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1391017/total-refugee-population-argentina/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/10/falklands-islanders-rights-respected-if-javier-milei-wins/

Some of those things sound stupid/unreasonable, but i don't really see any "conspiracies" (maybe except for denying man-made climate change). He sounds pretty pro-american. The US would probably be happy with him winning, not allowing China to gain more influence in their "backyard". Argentina should try to use this position to "milk" the US/China. For the sake of Argentina i just hope that he will try his best to develop renewable energies in Argentina (despite apparently denying man-made climate change).

I don't agree on this perspective. Argentina is in a pretty bad situation. If you want to have a higher standard of living, you have to take risks. Argentina is far away from pretty much every major market and of course that hurts them, but the same applies to Chile and they have a much higher GDP per capita. Argentina probably has a way too big population (The goal should be to reduce the population to 20 million people at most). I think Argentina has a lot of potential as an energy exporter (to Europe) (wind power -> hydrogen -> fertilizer etc., lithium). Maybe south american countries can form something like a "lithium OPEC". Maybe countries like Australia or Norway could be role models for Argentina. Argentina has roughly the same population size as Canada/Saudi Arabia, but not the abundance of natural resources of those countries. At the beginning of the 20th century Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world (8th most prosperous country in the world). The argentinian GDP per capita was way higher than the italian, japanese or brazilian GDP per capita. Nowadays agriculture isn't as important anymore, so clearly Argentina has to find a new business model. If you want to know what you have to do going forward, you first have to understand how you got where you are right now.
 
Some interesting quotes i found:
"Canada and Argentina were once equals, but bad decision by bad decision, Argentina declined."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canada-argentina-economic-output/
"Since 1950, Argentina has spent 33% of the time in recession, second in the world behind the Democratic Republic of Congo."
https://santandertrade.com/en/portal/analyse-markets/argentina/economic-political-outline
 
Some (potentially) insightful reads:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/argentina-is-dealing-with-100-per-cent-inflation-heres-how/102930048
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/argentinas-lithium-pipeline-promises-white-gold-boom-chile-tightens-control-2023-04-24/
https://time.com/6275197/south-america-lithium-opec/
https://www.cpreview.org/blog/2023/9/the-rise-of-a-lithium-opec-should-latin-america-follow-in-the-footsteps-of-the-gulf-states
https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/will-argentina-become-a-relevant-gas-exporter/
https://www.ft.com/content/a3982bb1-75cb-4988-8677-07499337fbda
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/argentinas-vaca-muerta-shale-boom-is-running-out-road-2022-12-27/
https://www.agora-strategy.com/post/the-geostrategic-importance-of-argentina-and-brazil-as-partners-for-europe-1
https://hir.harvard.edu/argentinas-economic-downfall-which-party-will-save-the-citizens/
https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2023/10/19/can-argentinas-next-president-fix-the-economy-dont-count-on-it
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/753938/EPRS_BRI(2023)753938_EN.pdf
https://www.ft.com/content/778193e4-44d8-11de-82d6-00144feabdc0
https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication Files/LAER Introduction to Argentine Exceptionalism_3c49e7ee-4f31-49a0-ba21-6e2b726cd7c5.pdf
https://archive.nytimes.com/economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/what-happened-to-argentina/
https://manifold.bfi.uchicago.edu/read/case-of-argentina/section/9905ef24-8c94-42ad-adf7-068efb4d9afb
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/03/pou.htm
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w19924/w19924.pdf
https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/argentina-dollar-love-affair-agonizes-over-divorcing-peso-2023-09-05/
 

As an outsider i hope that Milei will win.
1) I really want to see what happens when someone like him becomes the head of state. Will he be able to follow up on his promises?
2) Argentina seems to be in a situation where they don't have too much to lose. Electing the same politicians over and over again probably won't change anything for the better.

China sent 6 warships to Gaza 
Time to prepare my popcorn 
 

Very good point. It should be easier to compete in multiple events. It would decrease the number of athletes. Maybe they should go from heats straight to the final. No reason why one athlete should be able to win multiple medals in canoeing, swimming or biathlon, but not in rowing.

Really interesting split in endurance sports. GB and the Netherlands super strong while New Zealand and Germany fell off. Germany should up their doping program or cut their funding for endurance sports and focus on more technical sports. Trying to compete in endurance sports without doping is like going to a war with nothing but slingshots.

They can't take part and they won't take part. It's not like this system is in place for the first time. 
 
Women's system is different, of course. 

1) 50 % of the top 8 are small eastern european nations (Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Serbia)
2) Spain, France and Australia all missed the elimination games
3) Interesting that Latvia and Lithuania are so good in basketball, but Estonia is completely irrelevant

Lithuania

Should get the European quotas here

Amazing (comeback) win for Italy once again! Don't see them winning a medal, but with Banchero it might have been possible. I think Italy might have some down years in the near future, but in the long run they should be very good again (given their results at junior level).

Most impressive nations for me:
: They would have won 7 medals without the "fails" of Bol and Hassan. Next year i could see them winning 10 medals.
: Very impressive of them to win 6 medals, 4 of them in high jump/pole vault. Not sure how many other nations won more medals in athletics + swimming (the two core olympic sports).
: Insane 10 medals. Not sure if they will be able to repeat this next year. I would be rather surprised if Pattison or the men's 4 x 400 m relay again win a medal next year, but on the other hand Asher-Smith (100/200 m), Muir (1500 m), Lake (high jump), Caudery (pole vault), Hughes (200 m) or the men's 4 x 100 m relay could win a medal.
: 4 medals is a great result given their population size and they have the potential for even more (Skottheim/Rooth/Ingvaldsen).
: 4 gold medals for them is absolutely absurd, even 6 medals seems like an overperformance. Did any of the canadian medal contenders not win a medal? I didn't consider Ahmed, De Grasse, the men's 4 x 100 m relay or the women's 4 x 400 m relay medal contenders, but Dunfee in men's 20 km race walking might have been considered a medal contender. I think they will win 4-6 medals next year.

The only indian athlete that won a medal (Chopra) has a german coach (Klaus Bartonietz).

Not sure what the point of this comparison is? Pakistan has a much bigger population.
Medals at the athletics world championships:
India (1.5 billion people): 1
Norway (5.4 million people): 4
 
Norway has roughly 0.3 % of the indian population, but 4 times as many medals.

Provisional Standing after Day 8
 
Rank User Nation Total 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 #PP #4 #3 #2 1 Topicmaster1010 169 16 18 19 17 20 19 25 35   1 21 7 9 2 Henry_Leon 167 19 15 15 19 18 24 19 38     21 7 10 3 valtellina 165 18 15 17 15 14 23 26 37   1 24 7 4 4 CiroMennella99 162 13 18 18 21 21 15 23 33   1 22 3 10 5 OlympicsFan 158 12 13 18 19 15 13 32 36   2 19 7 8 6 Ogreman 158 14 17 17 11 12 25 26 36   1 20 7 7 7 africaboy 156 16 15 21 13 19 21 24 27   1 20 5 10 8 Josh 155 11 10 24 14 18 18 25 35   2 18 7 9 9 SteveParker 154 16 18 16 19 13 12 26 34   1 20 6 9 10 Surreal 154 14 15 10 13 19 23 29 31   1 18 7 7 11 maestro 153 9 15 21 13 16 21 27 31   3 18 5 7 12 dinamopinz 153 17 13 13 19 17 15 23 36   2 18 8 8 13 rafQ 153 13 16 15 17 16 17 24 35   1 17 8 8 14 Pablita 149 16 12 14 17 16 15 29 30   1 18 7 6 15 ady48 147 13 17 19 14 15 15 27 27   1 19 3 5 16 toulousain 145 11 14 20 12 16 20 25 27   1 17 4 7 17 Speedy 140 11 7 14 16 16 20 21 35   2 17 5 7 18 Monzanator 140 17 11 14 13 14 22 22 27     17 6 4 19 rybak 137 13 21 16 12 13 18 15 29     19 7 3 20 Wanderer 129 14 9 11 13 12 22 17 31   1 16 5 6 21 vlad 120 11 15 9 13 18 16 17 21   1 15 4 6 22 Hipooo 118 18 8 13 10 9 18 17 25     16 2 6 23 mpjmcevoy 117 14 11 13 14 9 13 19 24     16 5 5 24 Siddhartha Talukdar 116 11 11 11 12 16 16 15 24     11 5 4 25 Cinnamon Bun 115 11 14 14 13 14 22 15 18     13 8 4 26 pedja789 112 14 8 10 10 10 15 20 25     13 5 3 27 Adriano 103 9 15 22 3 10 11 15 18     13 6 1 28 Ufilov 91 13 7 11 8 7 13 10 22     12 3 1  
01: August 19th - Day 1
02: August 20th - Day 2
03: August 21st - Day 3
04: August 22nd  - Day 4
05: August 23rd  - Day 5
06: August 24th - Day 6
07: August 25th - Day 7
08: August 26th- Day 8
09: August 27th- Day 9