Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Pwnzerfaust]

So I'm confused, if there's Visa-free travel, can't they just merrily cross the border whilst showing their passport? I mean, I've never had to deal with passport control (I show my German passport when I enter the EU, and my American one when I enter the US, and I've never been anywhere but the EU or US), but my understanding is if a country has visa-free travel, they don't check anything about your income or whatever. Am I wrong?

[Sergarr]

So I'm confused, if there's Visa-free travel, can't they just merrily cross the border whilst showing their passport? I mean, I've never had to deal with passport control (I show my German passport when I enter the EU, and my American one when I enter the US, and I've never been anywhere but the EU or US), but my understanding is if a country has visa-free travel, they don't check anything about your income or whatever. Am I wrong?

Just because it has a name "visa-free travel", doesn't mean that there aren't any other conditions. Just like with Ukraine-EU free trade agreement, with the ridiculously small quotas that end up being used within the first few weeks of the year. Very "free trade", much EU protectionism.

[Pwnzerfaust]

How is it enforced, though? I'm not challenging you, by the way. Just not aware of how it works.

[Strongpoint]

So I'm confused, if there's Visa-free travel, can't they just merrily cross the border whilst showing their passport? I mean, I've never had to deal with passport control (I show my German passport when I enter the EU, and my American one when I enter the US, and I've never been anywhere but the EU or US), but my understanding is if a country has visa-free travel, they don't check anything about your income or whatever. Am I wrong?

You are wrong. There are rules for entering EU that include "assessment of sufficient means of subsistence" Google Schengen border code, article 5.

The only difference between Visa and Visa-free here that in the first case you must provide proofs when applying for Visa and in the second case you need to show that to border control if asked and usually they don't bother to check especially if it is not your first visit to EU.

[Sergarr]

How is it enforced, though? I'm not challenging you, by the way. Just not aware of how it works.

So I'm confused, if there's Visa-free travel, can't they just merrily cross the border whilst showing their passport? I mean, I've never had to deal with passport control (I show my German passport when I enter the EU, and my American one when I enter the US, and I've never been anywhere but the EU or US), but my understanding is if a country has visa-free travel, they don't check anything about your income or whatever. Am I wrong?

You are wrong. There are rules for entering EU that include "assessment of sufficient means of subsistence" Google Schengen border code, article 5.

The only difference between Visa and Visa-free here that in the first case you must provide proofs when applying for Visa and in the second case you need to show that to border control if asked and usually they don't bother to check especially if it is not your first visit to EU.

This. Border guards, under this "visa-free travel" agreement, have a lot of power to arbitrary deny entry to people.

[Strongpoint]

This. Border guards, under this "visa-free travel" agreement, have a lot of power to arbitrary deny entry to people.

And they use this power and demand bribes. Oh, wait, they are not Russian border guards. They usually don't arbitrary deny entry to people.

Ukrainians got a nice QoL improvement because there are huge difference between spending time and effort to get a visa and going to the border to show your passport and go through in a less than a minute. Millions of Ukrainians will directly benefit from this.

[Sheb]

How is it enforced, though? I'm not challenging you, by the way. Just not aware of how it works.

So I'm confused, if there's Visa-free travel, can't they just merrily cross the border whilst showing their passport? I mean, I've never had to deal with passport control (I show my German passport when I enter the EU, and my American one when I enter the US, and I've never been anywhere but the EU or US), but my understanding is if a country has visa-free travel, they don't check anything about your income or whatever. Am I wrong?

You are wrong. There are rules for entering EU that include "assessment of sufficient means of subsistence" Google Schengen border code, article 5.

The only difference between Visa and Visa-free here that in the first case you must provide proofs when applying for Visa and in the second case you need to show that to border control if asked and usually they don't bother to check especially if it is not your first visit to EU.

This. Border guards, under this "visa-free travel" agreement, have a lot of power to arbitrary deny entry to people.

Well, no. If anything they get power to arbitrarily let people in by not checking they fullfill the requirement.

[martinuzz]

The leader of the People's Republic Donetsk has put oil on the Ukraine fire by declaring that they want to proclaim a new state 'Malorussija'(= little Russia).
They claim the entire territory of the Ukraine as part of their new country.

[martinuzz]

Meanwhile in Turkey, Erdogan's government has presented a new curriculum for the Turkey's highschools.

Highlights:
- Evolution theory is removed from the curriculum. Students will not be taught about it until university. The government's reason given is that evolution theory is 'too difficult and complex' for kids at highschool age.
- schools need to teach children that 'jihad' isn't bad, instead it's an act of love for one's homeland.

[ChairmanPoo]

I know quite a few people from Ukraine who will benefit from this

[Loud Whispers]

Meanwhile in Turkey, Erdogan's government has presented a new curriculum for the Turkey's highschools.

Highlights:
- Evolution theory is removed from the curriculum. Students will not be taught about it until university. The government's reason given is that evolution theory is 'too difficult and complex' for kids at highschool age.
- schools need to teach children that 'jihad' isn't bad, instead it's an act of love for one's homeland.

Lmao we're fucked

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Someone leaked US troop counts and bases in northern Syria. It's either from Erdogan or from reporters working with Kurds, which means one way or another an American ally just snaked them

[Antioch]

Erdogan is very good with newspeak. Notice how PYD is never mentioned in Turkey without mentioning PKK and how one of the largest opposition parties has been named into FETO, the Fethullah Gullen terror organisation.

[martinuzz]

Germany has decided to no longer put up with Turkey. It gives a negative travel advise, and actively discourages German companies from investing in Turkey.
German minister of Foreign Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel, has also said that he will investigate if it is possible to freeze 4.4 billion EU subsidies to Turkey, and cancel the 'Hermes-guarantuee' that the German government offers as a safety net for German companies in Turkey.

With this, he is on the same page with Merkel, who calls the measures 'unavoidable and nescessary'.
Direct cause for this course of action is the imprisonment, and consequent charge against members of Amnesty International, including their Turkish director, and a German citizen who was visiting an Amnesty seminar.
It was made public one or two days ago that they will face terrorism charges.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Nah, Erdogan's an Islamist but not a Wahhabi. Just the opposite, he seems to be all about grand mosques and the like, which are the kind of thing ISIS have been going around blowing up for the past few years. ISIS are iconoclasts.

He might well try to direct ISIS towards Rojava, but I have a hard time believing they'd cooperate. Regardless, ISIS has been taking losses for some time now.

Now, him endorsing Turkish state terror, that's another matter.

[Loud Whispers]

Nah, Erdogan's an Islamist but not a Wahhabi. Just the opposite, he seems to be all about grand mosques and the like, which are the kind of thing ISIS have been going around blowing up for the past few years. ISIS are iconoclasts.
He might well try to direct ISIS towards Rojava, but I have a hard time believing they'd cooperate. Regardless, ISIS has been taking losses for some time now.
Now, him endorsing Turkish state terror, that's another matter.

The first worry that arises from this is that your comforting clarification is not... Entirely accurate. They are iconoclasts in so far as they're willing to level churches, graveyards, museums and town ruins, but when it comes to great mosques under their control they are unconcerned - they declared their claim to Caliphate within a great mosque, destroying it only when Iraqi security forces overpowered them. Elsewhere, the mosques they targeted were under the control of government forces. Worse still, it is of greater threat that Turkey is becoming increasingly Islamist and the fact that Turkey remains neutral to ISIS is of no consolation when ISIS is a dying organization, the future of their successors however retains an even worse possibility of second global jihad. All those former ISIS fighters aren't just going to disband their cells and units, they're just going to reorganize under new black flags.

The IS website in question is called Darul Hilafe, which means "Land of the Caliphate." It was hosted on the domain DarulHilafe.com but was blocked by Turkish authorities in July, along with a few other jihadist websites. The site was reopened quickly on the domain DarulHilafe.net, which was still up when this article was written. It is, of course, worth asking why the Turkish system, which can be very quick to block websites when the highest authorities are personally disturbed, is sluggish when it comes to other matters.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/08/turkey-isis-ignores-countrys-islamism.html#ixzz4nPgLzDM9

Wahhabism is a Najd movement under the Saudis, it will be rather meaningless for Turkey's neighbours if all Turkey does is remove the Arab elements of Islamism and retain all the bits about seeing infidels and apostates, making all who believe in other faiths or freedoms (or indeed, those who leave Islam) as infidels and apostates, as enemies to be removed. Erdogan's going to create generations of uneducated fundamentalists on Europe's doorstep, which will remain a long term cause of bloodshed long after ISIS breathes its last

F