**** 2018 WORLD CUP THREAD ***

Scorpion_runner wrote:

theJeff wrote:

Again, meh. Obviously you are right in cases; the Miracle on Ice and the Soviet/US basketball ridiculousness come to mind...

But that is for the teams INVOLVED. I am not buying into the idea that we should be rooting for or against Russia due to current allegations surrounding Trump. That is just silly to me.

I did not think about US politics the entire game (although I did briefly consider the cold war relationship btwn USSR and Yugoslavia, neither of which exist anymore, lol), and I am pretty sure that doesn’t affect my ability to teach.

No one roots for Russia. It's quite that simple. Regan's number 1 mission was to eradicate the Soviet Union, and he did that, but we are still opposites when it comes to government, way of life, and our views on nuclear weapons.

Also, Russia is a nation that runs doping programs to enhance the performances of its athletes, and they hacked American networks and systems, as well as propagate inaccurate information about certain american political figures to influence government elections

They are and will always be the enemy in my book. Unless a total conversion to democracy takes places, similar to Germany, and we become solid allies because of it, there should be no rooting for the Red Army

Probably, the only people who were rooting for Russia were Ethiopians.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

theJeff wrote:

Again, meh. Obviously you are right in cases; the Miracle on Ice and the Soviet/US basketball ridiculousness come to mind...

But that is for the teams INVOLVED. I am not buying into the idea that we should be rooting for or against Russia due to current allegations surrounding Trump. That is just silly to me.

I did not think about US politics the entire game (although I did briefly consider the cold war relationship btwn USSR and Yugoslavia, neither of which exist anymore, lol), and I am pretty sure that doesn’t affect my ability to teach.

No one roots for Russia. It's quite that simple. Regan's number 1 mission was to eradicate the Soviet Union, and he did that, but we are still opposites when it comes to government, way of life, and our views on nuclear weapons.

Also, Russia is a nation that runs doping programs to enhance the performances of its athletes, and they hacked American networks and systems, as well as propagate inaccurate information about certain american political figures to influence government elections

They are and will always be the enemy in my book. Unless a total conversion to democracy takes places, similar to Germany, and we become solid allies because of it, there should be no rooting for the Red Army

Probably, the only people who were rooting for Russia were Ethiopians.

El Keniano wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Good lord. Here is an interview with Lukaku stating that he speaks a Swahili variant of Congolese... AN INTERVIEW.

"English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and a Swahili variant of Congolese are all spoken with fluency by the 19-year-old. He also understands German too, just for good measure."

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-feature-chris-lepkowski-191038

Swahili, in its purest, standardised form, is officially recognised as a national language in Tanzania and Kenya (alongside English) where it is, more or less, spoken by the entire populations of those two countries. It is also vastly spoken and understood to, varying degrees, through large swathes of Eastern and Central Africa (manifesting in several variants and dialects much like you have standard German, Bavarian German and Swiss German all being the same language). So in addition to Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili is also spoken in parts of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia, the Comoros Islands, Mozambique and, relevant to this discussion, Eastern Congo where Romelu Lukaku has his roots.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a huge country formerly colonised by Belgium where French is the only official language. Hundreds of tribal languages are spoken, but two African languages are lingua franca used by people from different tribes to communicate and trade with each other. In the west of the country where the capital Kinshasa is, they use Lingala. In the mineral rich east around cities like Lubumbashi and Goma, they use Swahili (a Congolese variant that sounds crude, unrefined and rural to Tanzanians and Kenyans educated in the standard form of Swahili). There, you have it.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

No one roots for Russia. It's quite that simple. Regan's number 1 mission was to eradicate the Soviet Union, and he did that, but we are still opposites when it comes to government, way of life, and our views on nuclear weapons.

Delusional, probably boomer, American. Nearly the entire world hates America.

The US view on nuclear weapons was to try to monopolize them. The US is the only nation that ever used them, and its excuse for doing so on a civilian rather than military target is pathetically imperialist.

The US recently accused Russia, with no evidence, of manufacturing a nerve agent that every major industrial country can produce. Other nations have destroyed their chemical stockpiles at American insistence, while America's sits intact.

If you don't want to see your country crushed under the pending vengeance from the east - and you know it is unstoppable at this point - you should recuse yourself from having or expressing opinions. Your attitude is an embarrassment and a menace to your fellow citizens.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

No one roots for Russia. It's quite that simple. Regan's number 1 mission was to eradicate the Soviet Union, and he did that, but we are still opposites when it comes to government, way of life, and our views on nuclear weapons.

Delusional, probably boomer, American. Nearly the entire world hates America.

The US view on nuclear weapons was to try to monopolize them. The US is the only nation that ever used them, and its excuse for doing so on a civilian rather than military target is pathetically imperialist.

The US recently accused Russia, with no evidence, of manufacturing a nerve agent that every major industrial country can produce. Other nations have destroyed their chemical stockpiles at American insistence, while America's sits intact.

If you don't want to see your country crushed under the pending vengeance from the east - and you know it is unstoppable at this point - you should recuse yourself from having or expressing opinions. Your attitude is an embarrassment and a menace to your fellow citizens.

El Keniano wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

Swahili, in its purest, standardised form, is officially recognised as a national language in Tanzania and Kenya (alongside English) where it is, more or less, spoken by the entire populations of those two countries. It is also vastly spoken and understood to, varying degrees, through large swathes of Eastern and Central Africa (manifesting in several variants and dialects much like you have standard German, Bavarian German and Swiss German all being the same language). So in addition to Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili is also spoken in parts of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia, the Comoros Islands, Mozambique and, relevant to this discussion, Eastern Congo where Romelu Lukaku has his roots.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a huge country formerly colonised by Belgium where French is the only official language. Hundreds of tribal languages are spoken, but two African languages are lingua franca used by people from different tribes to communicate and trade with each other. In the west of the country where the capital Kinshasa is, they use Lingala. In the mineral rich east around cities like Lubumbashi and Goma, they use Swahili (a Congolese variant that sounds crude, unrefined and rural to Tanzanians and Kenyans educated in the standard form of Swahili). There, you have it.

Scorpion Runner. Forgot to add that I think you meant 'Congolese variant of Swahili'. There's no such thing as a Congolese language.