Showing all 184 replies.
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>>98137990
There was a fair number in the 90s when Aladinn was released. But after 9/11 and the war on terror Arabia stopped being viewed as a magical, mystical land and more as yet another war-torn 3rd world area filled with poverty, extremists, and proxy conflicts.
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Hard to romanticize the Arabian world when we had a heavy reality check over the past decades with the Middle East being a constant thorn in everyone's side.
And, in case you are European, you actually live with these people.
Also, their women aren't delicious brown exotic beauties. They are pale as fuck. Lies, lies everywhere.
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>>98137990
90S Japan had a phase where the Central Asian aesthetics had a really strong showing in their fantasy.
In parallel, they ran a number of Manga about how Chingis Khan was a time-traveling Japanese, actually.
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>>98137990
It is as >>98138046 and >>98138148 point out. 9/11 and its aftereffects put a damper on the Arabic exoticism of the 80s and 90s.
>>98138184
I think they meant campaign settings/game settings. D&D had Al-Qadim, an Arabian themed area in Birthright and several Arabian themed desert adventures in the 80s and 90s, but Arabian elements got downplayed a lot post 9/11.
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>>98138287
>that people assume are Arabian were actually the result of colonization.
The term you are looking for is orientalism, and it was less colonisation at least in regards to French and British orientalism and more rich tourists from Europe having skewed opinions on the region(Harams being an example) due to going to 17th/18th century equivalents of tourist traps
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>>98138557
>the Afghan war was imaginary
Idea that America somehow distabilized something and made everything worse, is literally just another brand of American exceptionalism, that fuels your ego the same way any other brand of it does. America didnt change anything.
Afghanistan was a muslim shithole, its still a muslim shithole.
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>>98138623
Afghanistan was westernizing pretty thoroughly before the US unseated their government for better deals on oil. Democratic government, not a theocracy, etc. Pic related
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>>98138776
It is now, it was also westernizing rapidly before the USSR invaded.
>>98138748
>evil US
Yeah, they supported the Shah, who was an non-democartic, non-liberal dicttator..
But look at the alternative: An even worse non-democratic, non-liberal dictatorship with religious zealotry on top.
It is the tragedy of Arab 'tribalist culture' thet does not allow them to have peaceful transfer of power, and obviously Islam is doing its part to inhibit societal development by enforcing completely antiquated concepts.
To answer OP'S qustion:
The Aladdin/1001 Nights/etc. fantasy died due to Islamism, and backlash against 'stereotyping'
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>>98138326
Feel like this shit has been completely erased from the average western mind.
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>>98138998
Here's another pic from a university that used to be in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
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>>98138995
a reminder that hungary and later austria-hungary backstabbed smaller balkan countries instead of stopping Bottomans. Central and westoid european kingdoms and later nations are directly to blame for Balkan not having it's own reconquista
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>>98138748
>>98139036
short-lived proto Dubais are not an accurate representation of history of those places
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>>98137990
Its because 90% of "arab"-themed shit is just not arab. Its either persian (ways of dress and weaponry), ottoman (harems and sultans with insane riches), indian (a bunch of stuff). The only thing that approaches arabic is desert and belly-dancers (although they should be like prostitutes, symbols of debauchery, not public).
Its like calling western fantasy italian fantasy.
Also its because there is no popular media in the west from arabs depicting their medieval times. So you could say its the arabs fault for having their culture institutes basically collapse since the start of the 20th century.
Also to all the fags in this thread blaming arab political issues on arabs, you are kinda right, but also its like blaming the chinese for the opium trade
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>>98137990
Culture war killed 'exotic' settings.
Wokies do not actually like to engage with settings inspired by specific cultures and eras, as that requires research and research of gameable material would expose them to the fact that ancient human history wasn't a gay starbucks filled utopia until the evil white men came along. They also think its 'orientalism' or similar things when whites engage with exotic cultures.
Rightoids meanwhile are just tired of having brownies shoved in their face already so they won't game in pajeetland or similar settings and will default to all-white European settings as a reaction to every setting being made to look like a 'diverse' 21st century college campus.
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>>98138475
>Imaginary scenarios for the mentally ill.
There's like 30+ US military bases around Iran
The US gave saddam chemical weapons to kill people and then invaded iraq anyway, caused isis, and then killed the Iranian guy who helped stop isis
Stop being circumcised
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>>98139999
Sadly any middle east related thread is liable to drag out the worst in people.
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>>98139913
As a leftist, I can concede that it's a part of that, but also not the whole.
You have basically two ways to do "exotic" settings/games:
1) not really giving a fuck, just some colour touches and dwelling on stereotypes
2) actual research
1) is the classic way of doing it, and it's... double staple, really. Not only people these days if interested even slightly will at least superficially browse wikipedia on the subject, but the stereotypes themselves are REALLY old as of now.
(and yes, people will get offended with orientalism. Your mileage may vary on this being right or wrong, but it will happen - I don't think it's the strongest reason, tough)
2) Doing actual research will make your setting waaaaaaay less sellable to casuals, and will destroy the same stereotypes/tropes people could find natural.
(and yes, this research will piss off right wingers)
Honestly at this point you are possibly better to try a culture that did not go trhough exoticism phases and riff on that.
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>>98140614
"Culture games" as they are called exist, but it's mostly things like Bushido or Legend of the Five Rings for Japan, or Bandits on the Water Margin for Wuxia china stuff and I wouldn't really call any of those poorly researched, and all those examples are 25+ years old at this point.
The designers 100% did the research, but they were also willing to play into Western stereotypes of these places to engage Western audiences
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>>98138233
> I think they meant campaign settings/game settings.
Arabian Nights is not a consistent setting to begin with because the whole thing is a frame story. But just because it is, it would actually be pretty good material for a TTRPG.
Extract all the random stuff from One Thousand and One Nights from there and slam it together.
The thing that should be kept out is any contemporary commentary. Modern islamic tradition is hostile to storytelling. Take the more or less imaginary aesthetics and jRPG dancer girls and you're golden.
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>>98140664
L5R is simply atrocious if taken as "real research" and in general getting the spirit of eastern asia tales. I can concede that I'm not really sure if this is more Wick not giving a fuck about shit he researched or just not giving a fuck about research, tough.
(this is NOT about the game itself, mind you: you might like it or not, it's just that the not!Japan here makes more or less the same amount of sense your old style 17 yo monster hunting anime nun made sense with her not!Catholicism)
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>>98139999
>>98140084
I suggest we ignore the faggotry and just use the settingg of the !not Persian Empire before it got islamified.
To our northwestt we can have Amazons, to the northeast !not Mongols.
To the east, !not China and !not India.
West lie the lands of the !not Pheonicians, !not Egyptians, and the !not Romans.
Fuck the whole 'muh stereotypingg' shit. We go all in. No brakes.
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>>98140664
I would not call 1e through 4e L5R well researched. It pretty much used the 1e D&D Oriental Adventures book as its primary source.
>>98140692
The FFG version was better researched but is still a wonky gestalt of east asian culture with Japanese primacy.
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>>98138655
The Berbers west of Algeria, threw off the Arabs within 100 years of the conquest. They still used Arabic as their major court and religious language. With more thorough Arabisation happening in the 1100s when the Tunis/Algerian Arabs were deported/invited into Morocco by the conquering Berber state.
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>>98139999
>>98140084
>Instantly recoils in pain when named
They make it too easy
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>>98139192
Why do you post sad fake pictures?
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>>98137990
There are Wizards of the Coast, GURPS, ICE, Ars Magica, and dozens of other generic and specific systems have done Middle East and African settings. Even solo RPG systems like Lone Wolf covered the setting extensively.
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>>98138148
>Hard to romanticize the Arabian world when we had a heavy reality check over the past decades with the Middle East
Same thing happened to India. Indians gaining internet access was the worst possible thing that could've happened to India's reputation.
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>>98137990
Muzzies are gross and dripless to the point where the only thing you can do with them is either create an army of Lawrence of Arabia whiteboy larpers (40K's Tallarn) or reinvent muzzies from first principles into Dune larpers (Infinity's Haqqislam).
Also muzzies themselves are more likely than not to behead you for any sort of "representation", so even DEI culture warriors rarely touch on them outside of tossing a few hijabs on fat brown chicks.
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Why is that weird?
Japan is one of the biggest cultural exporters to the West. Entire generatoins grew up playing Nintendo, Playstation and Sega games, watching anime and reading manga.
I can't think of anything cultural arab countries exported.
I wonder how simple OP's mind is to not have basic common sense.
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>>98138233
>Arabian elements got downplayed a lot post 9/11
Arabian elements got down played a lot post Disney Aladdin. The opening song was
>where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face
but it became
>where it’s flat and immense, and the heat is intense
Does it paint the culture in the story in a good light? No, it doesn't, but it's no different to lots of people going around saying jus primae noctis was historical fact when that's just a good story point to make the local lord evil because he does it, embitter his wife when he does it, or show him to be a shining glorious become of virtue when he doesn't.
The loss of arabic content is a lot less due to extremism from terrorists, cross border excursions, civil wars, invasions, religious leaders pronouncing fatwas that call for death, and all that, and a lot more to people waggling their finger disapprovingly and saying
>We're not like that
>They're not like that
>Stop your cultural appropriation
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>>98143937
Muslims as a whole have many different cultures (arab, persian, ottoman, moroccan, etc.) Which again shows my point that the main issue is that arab-themed is not actually arab which is the main point.
Also DRIPLESS???? Arab cultural drip is well known and varied enough between countries to create an exotic feel. This is literally the only thing that arab-themed fantasy does NOT lack.
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>>98137990
Same reason there aren’t many African or Indian themed settings.
>”racism” was no longer in vogue, couldn’t right them as is (lesser savages)
>leftists rags became worn out, no one is buying sand nigger shit or other third world garbage “romanticized” by faggots anymore
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>>98143947
>can't think of anything cultural arab countries exported.
That's why the Saudis are trying to buy a lot of Film and Game publishers, they want that soft power.
I guess that Desert Warrior film that came out would also cont but that flopped very hard
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>>98143476
Mecha-Shiva!
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>>98138819
>it was also westernizing rapidly
Afghanistan never wanted to "westernize", they had idealistic vision of modernizing while balancing eastern and western influences. Didn't work so well for them, because while intellectuals and urbanites started leaning too far west, army drank commie cool aid leading to eventual coup.
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>>98140828
But !not Islam could be pretty cool too, look at things like Dune. If someone is doing a MENA setting it's inevitable Islam will be brought up, if someone were to do it they should go all the way.
My question is do Elves belong in fantasy that doesn't take place in faux-Middle Earth?
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>>98144421
>>98143947
Fora while, the Saudis used to be a big force in islamic pop music, funnily enough. Like Christian Rock, but probably with more direct messages, such as they are usually found in Reggae music.
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>>98144421
>>98143947
Fashion. Their tribal fashion has became the de-facto standard for muslim girls who're going through their phase.
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>>98138748
>>98138776
>it's Afghanistan
>it's Iran
Why are the signs all in English?
This is obviously a picture of America.
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>>98138148
They are also inbred as fuck. Marrying your first cousin is a normal occurrence in the Middle East, so lots of genetic defects.
I saw so many obvious birth defects from it when I was deployed there. Afghanistan i sorta get, shithole is stuck in the 13th century. But the gulf states? Huge shock.
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>>98139292
>>98143937
Fair point.
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>>98143937
It's a shame really because what is left in spain of Al-Andalus is fucking awesome
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>>98150453
Moorish architecture is a fusion of Berber, Syrian Arab and prexisting Roman styles.
There are actually two kinds, the more ornate Umayyad style of Cordoba and the later styles of the Berber empires.
A lot of the sheer volume comes from the disentergration of the Caliph of Al-Andus as they already had too many independent Arab regional leaders (a legacy of putting down the Berber Revolt) and kept handing power off the the promoted administrators or eunch slaves administrators instead, who spent all their money on lavish displays because they were either going to be recalled or couldn't pass it on.
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You know one thing that bugs me? I get it would offend people because it present them as 'intolerant' (and only white/christians are allowed to carry this stigma) but I'd love to see a very Warhammer Fantasy-esque take on fantasy arabian witch hunters. Grim, violent but necessary holy men who hunt down pagan demon-cults, ghoul cabal infiltrating cities, ancient mummy-liches who escaped their tombs into the world and other horrors out of the desert.
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>>98149764
>This is obviously a picture of America.
Obviously. Anyone who's saying it's Afghanistan or Iran must be doing that for a laugh or is a total smooth brain.
>>98138748
>Afghanistan
>>98138776
>Iran
Fully paved roads with parallel parking in the 1950s, fancy single-arm street lamps, street signs in English in a Muslim country lifting parking restrictions on the Christian holy day. Still not as bad as the next guy.
>>98149999
>Lingua franca
FFS, you could have done better that.
>green sign in the back is also in arabic.
It says something about "(new store) will be here as soon as possible". In English.
It's Wilshire Blvd, halfway between Brighton and Bedford, walking east towards wherever women wearing short shorts in Beverly Hills went in 1956. Some of the fancy old street lamps are still in position today.
https://www.vintag.es/2016/03/female-short-pants-in-1950s-day-when.htm l
Notice how the colourised pic is cropped right at the right woman's sandal toe to get rid of the Life logo.
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>>98138233
>an Arabian themed area in Birthright
OP said famous. Birthright sold like three copies. There being an arab-themed corner of the setting is entirely irrelevant to TTRPGs as a whole, or even D&D, honestly.
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>>98139192
It's funny because with the prostitutes, sex show and Mickey Mouse this is clearly meant to be critical of West Berlin culture but it all just makes it look that much better. What kind of a weak pussy doesn't like sex and classic Disney shorts? Hand me another Coke while you blow me, slut!
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>>98154691
>prostitutes, sex show and Mickey Mouse this is clearly meant to be critical of West Berlin culture
How do you get that it's critical? Even today prostitutes and sex shows are a celebration of freedom and liberty, except in some pseudo-puritan countries that repress sex.
Mickey Mouse might mean something bad today now that a lot more people know Disney sucks but a few decades ago people regarded Disney more positively.
Bananas were rare and exotic fruits in East Germany, and the kiwifruit was the same, they're symbolic of the abundance of the West. The colourful left side of the image is a celebration of the freedoms to be had there in contrast to the monotonous monochrome right side.
The two crosses I can see down there have real names and dates of people shot dead. Those crosses aren't a condemnation of the West, they're unambiguously a condemnation of murders committed by the East.Gordon's gin, that's an indictment of the West.
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>>98144485
>Persians are not desert people
>t. never seen a picture of Iran
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>>98154882
>multiple things cannot exist at once
Why the fuck is this board so obsessed with retaining a cartoon childlike idea of everything
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>>98141346
Imagine thinking our problems is anywhere near as bad as LIVING IN A TOTALITARIAN AUTHORITARIAN STATE that will disappear you for the slightest misgiving.
There's a reason why East Germans, and all the other people who were forced to live under the Commies, don't like commies.
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>>98155326
>There's a reason why East Germans, and all the other people who were forced to live under the Commies, don't like commies.
It's a bit complicated, actually, because lots of people who had some form of job security and healthcare etc. under Communism had nothing after the system collapsed
That's why you do see a fair bit of Commie nostalgia in Eastern Europe and Russia
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>>98156461
I dont get your point, so you agree that middle-eastern empires are not particularly warmongering, therefor the claim that claim that "arabs were a thorn in everyone's side" is a historically revisionist sentiment affected by modern politics?
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>>98155390
>>98155429
Actual no, What you are seeing are a minority group of the younger generations idolizing commies because they think the Grass is Greener on the other side. They don't actually look into what life was like for their Great Grandparents under the commies. They don't care about the AWFUL QUALITY of life those people where forced to live in. Because it was awful, have "Free" healthcare and "Free" house doesn't mean shit if it takes 5 months to see a doctor and you're forced to live in a TINY apartment with ZERO chances of improving your life. They just care making the communism dream work and belittle everyone who wanted out of it.
And if you really want to get complicated, then it isn't capitalism that failed them, but their society. Eastern Europe lost a lot of social trust between people under the commies, because the Ruling Commie Elites did whatever the fuck they wanted. Which leads to social decay would last after the fall of communism.
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>>98138148
Traditionally the Yemeni are brown.
>>98138819
1001 Nights is an Arab expansion of a pre-Islamic Persian work
>>98139192
Communism is soulless, Berliners are degenerates. What a perfect image.
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>>98138148
>>98138748
That's Iran
Afghanistan has no oil
Afghanistan isn't in the Middle East--it's on the Asian Steppe
Afghanistan isn't an Arab nation it's Afghani
Iran isn't an Arab nation it's Persian
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>>98138819
>But look at the alternative: An even worse non-democratic, non-liberal dictatorship with religious zealotry on top.
That wasn't the alternative. The US and UK overthrew the alternative. The US and its intelligence agencies promoted the ayatollah in the 1950's in order to cause disruption and opposition against Mosaddegh. This of course would later come to bite them in the ass in classic American fashion.
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>>98158671
>Because it was awful, have "Free" healthcare and "Free" house doesn't mean shit if it takes 5 months to see a doctor and you're forced to live in a TINY apartment with ZERO chances of improving your life.
Why do you think the average Soviet person would care if the alternatives are no healthcare, no food and no home? Because I have seen people who lived in it idolize it just the same (mostly Russians).
Russians especially never had much contact with thoughts about le liberty and muh American dream and such, why would they care beyond not being dead for now
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>>98159112
>Afghanistan has no oil
Northern edge of Afghanistan overlaps with Amu Darya Basin, so they have some access to oil, it's just not their main export. Their main business in poppy seed products (opium and heroin). IIRC there's also some confirmed deposits or rare metals and precious gems, but locals don't have technology to efficiently extract them and foreign investors are hesitant to commit because the region is notoriously unstable.
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>>98138326
>"we fucking invaded them and destabilized the whole region".
Salafism destabilized the entire region, though you could argue that this is the britbongs fault for funding the House of Saud. Regardless, it's mostly the fault of sunni fundies going ape-shit on everyone and every thing.
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>>98160596
Afghanistan was once THE source of Lapis Lazuli, for the entire ancient world. It supplied Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It supplied Classical Greece and Rome. Not exactly rare earth minerals. But kinda cool.
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>>98141310
It's neither.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Smagon
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>>98137990
Besides Djinn, Ghouls, and certain kinds of beast-folk like camel-folk, what races work best for such a setting?
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>>98162016
Unironically treacherous lusty africans. A bunch of them in Arabian Nights.
Not really sure why they particulary hated them (I mean... ok, racism is a thing especially with slaves, but europeans tend to end up as worthy rivals and all, what gives? Those dudes didn't try to invade you, right?) but apparently they did-
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>>98162016
Traps.
Judar Pasha was a Spanish slave-soldier that was castrated in his youth.
Infamously ill-tempered, his name comes from how often he said "joder"(fuck basically) and only died because he backed the wrong prince in a succession of the Moroccan throne.
But he did basically trounce the Songhai.
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>>98159820
Well, yes, a lot of them did live with no healthcare, living in shit homes, and eating very little until they made it in the Free World. People who want to do better for themselves would go through hardships like transitioning into a society that doesn't have nets to catch you if you fall back then. The funny thing is that a lot of those people DID make it; they got the better life that they wanted. I have seen it happen with not just Russians but also Nordic (And now pretty much any European who moves out of their Socialist country and settles in America) people who want to get out of their socialist hellhole. People who want to do better would gladly struggle to get to their goals. Under the commies, this wasn't possible at all. You were stuck in place, and the only way to get forward in life was hoping a Commie who had it in with the Ruling class took a liking to you. You couldn't be a self-made man.
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>>98162467
>European countries will tax you to death if you try starting your own business
>Use the taxes to fund healthcare and other benefits for non-Europeans non-profit making outsiders.
You are a retarded libtard who live off of benefits. How about you stop being a good-for-nothing and make your own small business and find out? Because I can tell you right now. These retarded taxes are fucking me so losers like you can live for free.
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>>98160851
>That's the same as "we're talking about all Asians" or "we're talking about all Europeans"
We're talking about Persians. >>98154882
>>98155090
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