if those are our only two choices then we are indeed screwed.

interesting approach. How?

Our igloos melt every spring for some reason. Natural disaster every year. Stay away.

For specialized products that require some expertise to be appreciated that could be true (ex high end cameras, guns etc), but for most everyday objects (books, music) anyone can have a valid and often very insightful opinion. Personally for exotic stuff I look up reviews on specialized forums (ex for PC stuff I go to newegg reviews rather then Amazon). Aggregate reviews on those "professional" forums will be an excellent barometer. On a side note regular people often notice small sometimes obvious things that "professionals" overlook and comment on them.

well now US can stick it to you without agreeing with anyone. At least with China in the picture you have a 50% chance of not getting screwed.

now they release it??

or half have above average productivity

Not true. For example Germans built loads of bridges in Afghanistan before war world 2 and considering that Europe had way bigger problems 20th century (two world wars, cold war etc), it's unfair to blame Europe for Afghanistan's woes.
People of Afghanistan never wanted western help and resisted any contact with western cultures.
Afghanistan is just a collection of warring tribes with different goals and no national identity. The state is doomed to failure.
Those who want help, need to help themselves first.

Admittedly I have no experience with city contracts and living in a different country I don't know much about american government's procurement process but it seems to me that all their deals will be put under a microscope from now on. I wouldn't be surprised if they lost their government contracts anyway, regardless of the fine. Fact that an actual huge multinational corporation has actually been found guilty is what gives me hope.

and just like that my faith in humanity has been restored.

Although Waffen SS did include camp guards and such it also had elite panzer & infantry divisions.. we're taking about over 900 000 soldiers that fought in all major battles of war world 2.Waffen SS divisions were some of the best trained military units in the conflict.

oh he's pretty "polarized" by now

playing devil's advocate here , but who's to say what is true and what isn't. Saying faith is pointless is a bit arrogant. Who are we to make a judgement on other people's beliefs.

Believe it or not some people are not afraid of death (not me per say being an atheist), but I've met old people while working in an retirement home that simply died happy with a smile on their faces. Being unafraid of death does not mean someone is looking for it. A truly religious person ( ex my brother) believes that we were given a gift of life for a reason and we should not waste it. It really is hard to fully understand that sort of argument, but I admit I kind of respect it and maybe even envy it a little. I've noticed that that kind of faith gives a tremendous amount of internal strength.