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I just think that Israel is likes to assassinate people so they are willing to lie in order to get support for their action and that let US (Trump, Hegseth and co ) to have attitude that things will go like they went in Venezuela when they decided to participate. As even though they didn't actually change leadership Venezuela, still Venezuela didn't have willingness to fight, which probably led said people to underestimate how conflict with Iran will go. I think they now have realized that what their adviser has said maybe true, but there is little they can do than see conflict to its end

Yes, thats my point Israel knows that killing leaders of these groups wont change the ideological views of these groups Thats not why they do it So I doubt they would now think killing the Iranian leadership is going to suddenly change things in Iran like in Venezuela

Israel has long history of assassinating leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, even though it has not worked for them in past they still continue to do it. So their assessment isn't that good.

You could be right but it wouldn't be a very good assessment of Iran and Israel is typically aware of how these things unfold Irans anti-US sentiment is decades long, the hardliners have created an entire culture and ideology that is deeply influenced by resistance to " US imperialism", And they dislike Israel even more By killing the Iranian leadership it doesnt seem likely they would now end up like Venezuela by immediately starting to reverse Maduros failed policies The ME and its various fundamentalist and extremist groups don't generally operate or think like that. How many times has Israel killed Hamas or Hezbollah top leaders and they still have the same views? So if the US and Israel did believe that it doesn't support the reality and history

I don't think they were planning to do ground invasion, as they didn't move any ground troops on the area during the months they we moving forces there. They maybe forced to do ground invasion in order to keep strait of Hormuz open, but I think they really believed that if they kill the leadership Iran will just surrender same way as Venezuela did.

Indeed. It's not like this ever happened before.

Yes, some GOP politicians do think a ground invasion makes sense. But thats normal in the US, politicians have different opinions Thats not going to happen because that would mean the US becomes involved in a protracted war and Trump wants to avoid that, this latest military campaign is already deeply unpopular and he wants a "quick win " using airstrikes And I definitely dont believe the US would sink one of its own carriers to try to justify conventional war But if Iran does that it would be a different story

usa politician already support ground invasion of iran usa would sink their own ship if that is all it take to get population on board with the invasion too

Because if they sink a US Carrier then the US would be "justified " to unleash its full military might Imagine the headlines " thousands of US sailors killed ", even the Dems would back full military action\declaration of war after this and the Iranian hardliners want to survive Its safer for Iran to continue to target Israel and Gulf States that dont have proper defenses because the objective is you create enough chaos, interruption and global economic harm with the hope that this will put pressure on the US to end its military campaign Its a much better strategy than a conventional war with the USA

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-israel-us-strikes-2026/card/kuwaiti-fighter-jet-mistakenly-shot-down-american-f-15s-initial-reports-say-LNxcLizHKxbncWqJyqaU Kuwaiti pilot is almost an ace

I just wish we could make the old men in charge fight each other to the death

I would have been like: Not that I want to see anyone on either side getting gibbed, I just want to observe the hardware and technology in real world action.

It probably feels that way because news coverage is limited on the damage received from Iran. Also from what I read one of the carriers (USS Lincoln) moved back to the Indian ocean soon after Iran announced firing 4 ballistic missile towards it. So something must have happened.

Seems like USS Lincoln moved back to the Indian ocean. Either those missiles hit, or they were too close for comfort.

This happened after I missed a bombardier beetle and hit a feather, the splinter arrow strangely has a larger auto-pickup area as well

Feels like Iran is holding back. Why wouldnt they just let rip with several hundred missiles and drones towards those two flattops?

I wonder if Infantino will take back his "peace prize"? Heh, probably not, since DJT can disrupt the 2026 World Cup. What a cluster.

@Bartimaeus the Drakengard/Nier story spans over lots pc games, a mobile game, a stage play and a raid in ffiv (no kidding). You have to piece the order out on your own if wanting the whole story. Yoko Taro is a bit on the eccentric side when it comes to putting a story together 😀 Anyway, Fern and Stark is about to go on a date. Fern takes it very seriously... Stark is the exact opposite, not thinking at all about his appearance... A very long sequence of socially awkward teenagers raised by a legendary warrior and a legendary priest with little interaction with other people follows. So much cringe in the way they keep stumbling at every opportunity and turns the date into a disaster 💔 At least they have enough presence of mind to ask the obvious question, why didn't it work out when they both had looked forward to it? Which of course was rooted in the previous episode, where Stark had Frieren tell him about places Fern might like. After coming clean about why "it didn't feel like you" The mood lightens a bit and they realized they can actually talk about something other than places Frieren had pointed out, or worse the conversation constantly drifting towards Frierens antics. The keen observer might remember Stark seeing boobs in the cloud formations in an earlier episode He's slow, but he's learning. What is more romantic than pork buns??? 💓 Finallly both can laugh and just enjoy some quality time together, agreeing on life can be nice sometimes (skipping some Stark and Eisen backstory) In the evening, Frieren and Fern are soaking in the hot springs, and Frieren comments on Ferns good mood, asking if something special happens. Fern says nah, but her facial expression says otherwise Queue flashback to Frierens journey with Himmel and the story about the "Date". Turns out it wasn't far off the mark when Frieren called it a date. Frieren asks Himmel how he can be happy enjoying time with her despite not finding the cat they were searching for on behalf of the shop keeper. Frieren gets one of many life lessons from Himmel. Just as the cat is written off and they think Eisen and Heiter may beat them to finding it, a meow causes them to get up in arms and start a cat chase... To be continued

There's also footage of F-35s scoring their first air combat kills, against MiG-29s.

Iran War could reopen debate on Russian Natural Gas Norway says. EU ambassador not allowed to inspect damage to Druzhba oil pipeline – FT. Absolute lols. Countdown to NordStream repair being 'strategically essential' starts in... Really, whatever the platitudes most European leaders are spouting they must be absolutely livid behind the scenes. Norway- which has followed the US lead on pretty much everything including a lot of military adventurism and is Europe's largest gas producer- floating the idea of buying more Russian gas rather than less is a pretty clear indicator there's no willingness to reward the US for getting Qatari gas shut off with more gas contracts*. One thing you have to say about Trump, he has at least found a positive about that blancmange Keir Starmer: he most certainly isn't Winston Churchill. *for extra lols, the government here announced a plan to build a LNG terminal, last week. Sums up their competency perfectly. Funded, of course, by a levy since it makes zero financial sense and no private entity in its right mind would build it. Entirely done to pander to Trump; now looks even more stupid.

A sequel showing how 3.0+1.0 was actually the prequel to Berserk.

I'm reading/playing Umineko: When the Seagulls Cry, I'm about a chapter and a half through (out of 8). I made this stupid, awful meme after I finished chapter 1. It will make absolutely no sense to anyone here...I think, but here you go anyways. bad meme

Only KDP are pro Turkey. Or really, pro Barzani getting massive kickbacks from Erdogan's son in law for selling him oil at a discount (same son in law that was buying ISIS oil a decade ago; not just Trump who has a dodgy relation by marriage). That's 40ish% of 'the Kurds' in Iraq. PUK is about the same size, but- broadly- pro Iran. They were the ones who refused to fight the PMUs in 2017 after making an Iran brokered deal, leading to the KDP running away inside a day. Everything suggests even the KDP will not help, because they really don't want to end up fighting the pro Iranian PMUs. The other problem ought to be obvious to anyone with any ability to think empathetically. So it wouldn't be a surprise if Trump misses it. Soon as you start sending in ethnic militias from another country you're going to get capital letter National Resistance because it's trivial to frame that as the US trying to break up your country. Trump has already proven many of the accusations leveled at him by the Iranian government as true- Israel's poodle, negotiating in bad faith etc- and getting KDP or Azeris or Balochs or MEK to invade reinforces that. Indeed, it'd be more than enough evidence to suggest that the only thing Trump and Israel wants is to cause perpetual regional chaos.

Greetings Watchers! We've updated the Public Beta branch for the Pillars of Eternity Turn-based Mode! It is now live on all available platforms. Thank you for your continued support and feedback! Combat and Mechanics Initiative has been reworked so that the first turn initiative will now always correctly match the displayed initiative value on the character sheet. The new formula for Initiative is: Base RTwP Recovery * 2 + 1 All modifiers to initiative happen after the above calculation. First turn initiative values will now more closely resemble initiative values seen on subsequent turns. The minimum initiative a character may achieve can never be below 1. Initiative now displays positive and negative values of contributing modifiers in its tooltip. Adragan can no longer take multiple turns with 0 initiative between them. Patients in the Sanitarium should now correctly take actions in TBM combat. Changing active modal within a modal group should now update immediately in TBM instead of on the following turn. Second chance should now work correctly in TBM. Guardian Spirit ability on Ancestor Pendant now works correctly in TBM. Pŵgras now properly move into position when casting Autumn's Decay in TBM. Chanter's Chants now go on cooldown as a group when a chant is switched. Resolved an issue where drakes summoned by chanter invocations could sometimes freeze the client when the drake despawned. Summons created by a chanter will now properly despawn any prior summons in TBM. Fixed an issue where repeatedly re-summoning summons in TBM combat could cause them to become unable to move. Master's Call will now correctly break engagement in TBM. Visage of Concelhaut now works correctly in TBM. Cleansing Flame will now jump to a new target it its current target is killed in TBM. Many spells and abilities that deal unscaling damage indirectly (through status effects and other means) now properly receive increased lethality while in TBM. Fixed an issue with Kalakoth's Minor Blights incorrectly granting immediate subsequent turns after attacking in TBM. Fixed an issue that caused enemies with ranged weapons to sometimes become stuck when needing to move closer to their targets in TBM combat. Characters now properly consider their reach distance when moving into range in TBM. Fixed an issue where patrolling characters could sometimes become stuck instead of properly engaging in TBM combat. Using quick items or disarming traps while spiritshifted in TBM will no longer cause the turn to become stuck. Initiative is now accounted for on attacks made from outside of combat. Overlapping Unconscious and Prone effects no longer allow a character to move freely. The Firebrand spell is now a free action. Push/pull spells outside of TBM combats will no longer prevent characters from being responsive. Fixed a case where teleporting creatures could become invisible and untargetable in TBM. Cancelling a cast action and re-initiating it no longer calculates incorrect initiative values. Cast actions can no longer be cancelled outside of a character's turn. Being interrupted while pending a cast action will now properly remove the target icon from the world. Fixed a case where characters knocked out by DoT damage at the start of their turn could cause combat to be stuck waiting. Grimoire swap cooldowns are now respected in TBM. Fixed a case where ranged attacks in TBM would sometimes fail after execution. Many creatures that were not using spells and abilities in TBM should now make greater use of their arsenal. Potion of Major Recovery no longer adds duration to hostile effects instead of reducing it. Delaying a turn no longer triggers pulsing (and similar) effects when starting the delayed turn. Abilities that require a certain amount of time in combat before being available/unavailable now track TBM turns properly. Heart of Fury will now properly consume action points in TBM. Enemies that trigger second chance mechanics in TBM combat will now properly stand back up. Several ticking or bouncing effects no longer focus the camera when triggering. The Fighter's Charge ability now animates and repositions properly in TBM. Engagement now properly breaks when using the charge ability. Delayed Fireball now resolves properly if combat ends before it detonates. Ray spells should now behave more correctly in TBM. Visual and Audio Ground targeted pulsing FX will now display a persistent effect in-between active pulses in TBM combat. Cipher focus HUD FX are once again visible. User Interface and Interaction Added a keybinding and HUD button to toggle TBM freely while outside of combat. Spacebar is now the default key to end turn while in a TBM combat. Added keybindings for Delay turn, End turn, and the Combat Speed slider. Smart camera may now be optionally disabled. Accuracy tooltips can once again be viewed in the inventory screen. Instant speed spells and abilities now correctly display as Free Actions in TBM. Camera will now properly center on the start of a characters turn when pulsing effects are present on the character. Many remaining bugs where spells and abilities mention durations in seconds instead of rounds (in TBM) have been squashed. End turn and delay turn HUD buttons now have proper tooltips. Select All and Scouting UI buttons should no longer be partially unclickable. Burial Isle cutscenes no longer prevent future actions from being cancelled or other strange behaviors. Initiative value in character sheet will no longer overlap DR values in cases where many unique DR values exist. Several enchantment descriptions now display correctly in TBM. Fixed an issue where the combat log would display erratically on certain resolutions. Duration of summoned creatures is now displayed in rounds. Targeting indicators for bouncing spells should behave better in TBM. Added breakpoint markers to combat speed slider in TBM. Displayed endurance pips will now match across different UI. Localization Resolved translation errors with Wizard's Wall of Draining spell on Polish language.