South Africa's homicide rate per capita is currently the 10th highest in the world, nearly 5x higher than that of the United States. I grew up in Johannesburg from 1992-1999 - during this time, it was twice as bad as it is now.
As a child, I grew up constantly hearing of harrowing personal accounts from family friends who were carjacked and robbed at gun point. The government would run advertisements on television advising people to not stop for traffic lights at night unless absolutely necessary. The flats we lived in had 3 levels of security - a spiked metal fence for the complex, steel reinforced doors for the unit, and another layer of steel reinforced doors to go upstairs where the bedrooms were.
The straw that broke the camel's back was when one of our close family friends who was the founder of a Chinese-language newspaper was fatally shot in his own home during an intrusion.
My mother decided to take a leap of faith and bring me and my sister to the United States on an H-1B visa paying a meager wage. We were evicted from my aunt's house after 3 months, and another relative took us in until my mother could afford our own apartment.
9 years in the Marine Corps and an MBA later, I decided to tackle an issue that I am deeply passionate about and started a company that develops AI software to automatically identify gun threats. We are now raised over $1 million of venture funding and are working with schools in Chicago, New York, and Seattle.
Ask me anything!
Here is a recent article about us: https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethmacbride/2018/12/29/smart-security-cameras-aim-for-5-billion-threat-detection-market
Proof: https://imgur.com/QvpDHPL
I'm curious to know what is the extent of a potential break-away movement in this particular region. Do people living in Kalilingrad think sometimes that they would be better off? Do you think that this trend might begin/amplify/dissipate in the future? Do you think that in 10/20 years, with a stronger and more consolidated European Union (if that ends up being the case) will end up influencing this regions psyche to the point as to make it want independence so they can join the EU? How do you think it would affect Russia to see a non Russian independent country also speaking Russian, maybe kind of an existential threat because of the implications?
I just saw a Reddit post that forced me to ask this question.
The region is currently unstable and facing economic challenges not seen since the 1980s. The big countries [Mexico, Argentina and Brazil] have stagnant economies and huge problems right now.
Because of these problems, could separatist movements begin successful secession plans?
I am not saying it'll happen in every country but it wouldn't be crazy to think São Paulo might start this. My old clients from São Paulo constantly complained about having to support the rest of Brazil. Also, not forget about O sul é meu pais. People from Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul see themselves as different.
I only see it happening in Brazil because it's too big and has a huge population. I don't think it would be possible in Mexico because of cultural reasons. Unlikely in Colombia and Peru too. Argentina? I don't know. Maybe in Venezuela because of the current crisis.
Obviously our Glorious Leader Count Dooku always has the CIS's best interest in mind. But let's imagine he doesn't. On one chopped off hand he seemed to really care about the movement, but on the other chopped off hand he was being manipulated by Darth Sidious and knew that the CIS was just a way for Palpatine to gain power. What do you all think?
