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as much as It sounds sad for you guys in the north I kinda hoped it would happen so people wake up in western europe

I kinda wish we were not in NATO so we can send our troops

I'll wait

I guess the snarky answer is that they didn't win against the goat herders anyway. But really, any small country is going to have issues with the military because they're really expensive, especially if they're western style. If you have issues with the Czech military having a point imagine what it's like for New Zealand. Our combat airforce consists of 60 year old Orions/ Hercules with some antiship missiles bolted on. In terms of fighters we've got half a dozen spitfires and mustangs plus about a dozen kittyhawks, and a few decommed jets in private hands. Our armed forces literally only exist to bring aid to Tonga when there's a volcanic eruption, monitor fishing and do regional peacekeeping. While it's 100% fake- and has also been labelled at very least as a Ukrainian Su27 shooting down a Russian Su25 as well in different sources- probably the most pertinent thing is that you can't actually tell who is who anyway. It could just have easily been a Russian jet shooting down a Ukrainian one as the reverse. Yeah. There's a massive disconnect between what social media 'says', and what social media 'shows'. If you go by what it says Ukraine is if not actually winning inflicting massive casualties, they're standing their ground and counterattacking, morale is high and thousands are spontaneously taking up arms. If you go by what it shows the picture is nowhere near as rosy. The amount of stuff that is posted because people want it to be true is ridiculous, and a lot of it comes from people who ought to know better (not singling out anyone here for that, it's mostly aimed at reporters and analysts posting every random claim as fact). A lot of people especially on twitter seem to think that posting complete rubbish is good for Ukrainian morale. It isn't, the average Ukrainian couldn't care less and certainly isn't glued to their phone waiting for the latest from [at]keyboardwarrior69420 before picking up their AK and leaping into the fight after seeing a dozen imaginary Russians gunned down in ARMA3. Most of it is a masturbatory or commercial search for more follows by saying what people want to hear, along with a solid dollop of deliberate misinformation. (if anyone wants the prime example look up Ghost of Kiev. Completely made up by someone wanting to sell merchandise, repeated as fact all over the place because people want a Ukrainian pilot to have shot down 6 Russian planes)

Canada strikes back - https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-liberals-ask-lcbo-to-ban-sale-of-russian-vodka-1.5795903

And this is how it looks when a small land in middle of the pacific ocean has bigger balls than the west...

Hadn't seen these posts earlier. Don't know how I missed this discussion. Russia's war in Ukraine falls squarely within my academic area of specialty. I've been giving news media interviews all morning, then talking with my students about it all afternoon. Will be discussing it on a panel of experts at my university next week. Everything that has happened has happened exactly as I've been predicting for a couple of months now. I even predicted the invasion would happen this very week, that it would be preceded by a Russian false-flag operation in the Donbas, and that the invasion would be full-on invasion and not some minor operation. I also predicted that the US response would be rather weak, and thus far have been proven right on that too. I fully expect the Ukrainians will put up a good fight and won't go down easily. Yes their navy and air force will get destroyed quickly, but on the ground they will fight for every inch of their country. Putin's goal is to completely take over the country, impose his puppet government in Kiev, and then have that government sign treaties giving Russia everything it wants. It won't work. The Russians are going to be bogged down in an insurgency everywhere within the country except the Donbas, and amazing right now are being supported by only a handful of other countries with the overwhelming majority being against them. The real question is exactly how far are Western countires willing to go to stand up to the madman in Moscow? Thus far only Boris Johnson has showed any real strength. Biden's feckless responses are especially puzzling as he has a long record of bombastic talk against Putin, about how he knows how to handle Putin and the like. And right now he has everyone in the political establishment, from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats, all on the same page of doing everything short of joining the war to cripple the Russian economy. So why isn't he pulling that trigger? Should be the easiest decision ever. But mark my words. Ukraine is merely a test-run for Russia, China, and other aggressors in the world to guage how far the West will go to try and stop them. If Putin gets away with his naked aggression in Ukraine, in the very near future we will see China invading Taiwan and Russia invading the Baltic states, and very likely simultaneously in coordination.

Well, we heard from my wife's cousin in Kiev. He's currently alive and well but got a gun and joined up with some militia or something.

I wish that would be an entertainment for me as well... I am having work colleagues in Ukraine and one of them in Kharkov... I feel like sitting on needles, every time new info gets here... And the closest attack was approx 180 kms away from our borders...

I did, but ended up giving it away to a guy with a weird laugh and a girl who kept saying tuturu.

Elden isn't even a damn word.

Yes a few, in comparison with the vast majority who have consistently been wrong with everything they've ever said. And those few are exactly the ones who are now saying the West's weakness on display this week will surely result in catastrophic wars a few short years from now in the Baltics and in Taiwan, as I have gone on the record to say as well. The Baltic states being NATO members will not protect them. Putin is surely coming for them, and sooner than you may think.

I think this was his post from when she was on a short list -

It already started, first NATO member has accused NATO and EU of failure to act... Russia and China are probably celebrating...

For a semi-serious note...

Effing Germans blocked cutting Russia from SWIFT. Spineless hecks, first they ruin their independence by shutting down nuclear power plants and becoming dependent on gas from Russia and than they act like nothing is happening, Its Munich 2.0

well if our armies are only able to fight goat herders than whats the point of them?

All those countries have professional armies. If they didn't have problem fighting in Afghan they surely can go fight in Ukraine.

This War of Mine is on sale on GOG. All of the profits will be donated to Ukrainian Red Cross. So if you still do not have this game, you can help people in need with this purchase. https://www.gog.com/en/game/this_war_of_mine_complete_edition Edit: Sale is on Steam as well, AFAIK, GOG will be donating their store cut as well, Valve not. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/9717/This_War_of_Mine_Complete_Edition/

Looks like Ukraine never actually recaptured Hostomel airport. You can send troops, NATO membership doesn't completely override foreign policy- they just wouldn't be covered by NATO Article 5 (ie 'collective defence'). The Russians knew they could bomb Turkish soldiers in Syria without danger from NATO for the same reason; they were combatants outside Turkey in the interests of Turkey and not in the service of the UN or NATO.

Our western spcieties, especially generation of born afyer 1990 are too soft and to weak. They will post on social media how they suppprt this or that, but they will never compromise on their comfot to actually go and do something about it when the risks are real. It's easy to shout 'defund the police', 'toxic masculanity', etc. when there are no real threats, but this only make the societies weak, and determined societies like Russia and China will abuse that. I'm a bit older, I can live without a cell phone and internet, can grow some food and kill an animal, if needed. I'd probably have no issue with harming another human being and feel no remorse if the other human being would be threathening my family, but I have no condition to a prolonged fight, or I would now not be even able to check and use a gun properly. If someone would give me now an AK i would probably have hard time using it properly, or even reload it efficiently or unjam. Younger people, would die without a working mobile...

This is a meme, but it is not so funny for Ukrainian men, who are now being separated from evacuating families. Men during the times of conflict are force drafted and they have nothing to say. A few of my friends have to stay - great people, quants and engineers

Now imagine reading something like that in 1939... 🤮

The Ukrainians successfully counterattacked and destroyed a Soviet (that's what I'm calling them from now on to distinguish Putin and his backers from good Russians) air-mobile landing force at an air base near Kyiv. Way to go, Ukraine! Bleed the Soviets dry for every inch of Ukrainian territory and every Ukrainian life. 10,000 rifles handed out to civilians in Kyiv today. Beautiful! Saw actual footage of some Soviet T-90 tanks burning. Thank you Eastern European NATO countries that sent those Javelin ATGMs to Ukraine recently. 1,700 honorable and decent Russian anti-war protesters beaten up and arrested in Moscow.

To understand how low we have fallen as a country here in Greece. I was listening to a late night talk show where the host was both a long time veteran of tv and a government shill and there were 5 guests, 3 politicians from 3 different parties a reporter and a lawyer. One of the 3 politicians was a representative of the government and made a statement that got the host to say WTF out loud on live tv while the other 4 guests had a look like a million silent facepalms had hit them. The topic of the discussion was how the government has hired hundreds of redundant people in an agency, who will be payed 4 times higher than the average employee there and were asking the representative why in the middle of this latest economic crisis and with covid still being a problem, they decided to throw that much money away. His response was that thanks to them spending money they don't have to hire people they don't need in an agency they wish to do away with, they are making sure that they will create a stable healthcare system for the next 50 years... while having fired 1/3 of the doctors in public hospitals so far. But that's what we get for voting a Harvard political science graduate for PM... He brought all that is wrong with american politics with him and invited all the extreme right elements into his party to pad the vote numbers. And believe it or not, the funny thing here is that our far right has mostly the same positions as the American Democrats while the literal communist party says the things you typically hear from a Republican.

Some people just have a talent....

"Death is nature's way of saying, 'your table is ready.'" --Robin WIlliams

I'm not sauing I'd be hunting, but would not have issue with killing a more domesticated animal like a chicken or a rabbit.

You sir, are an insult to the art of trolling. Back on topic - Ukrainian side is growing more and more desperate. Handing out assault rifles, stopping men up to 65 from leaving the country, calling for Molotov ****tail defense of cities. And with combat reported in Kiev finally this:

How the **** did you come to the conclusion that I support that piece of ****... ???

That would mean the least amount of victims and damage. He doesn't need anyone else to recognize the agreement, he just needs Ukrainian's to follow it. They can do what the US did, plop a Bond Steel in east Ukraine and have a military presence there.

All the best for your family Shady 🍀 Our own Ukrainian office has ceased operation and staff is being evacuated to Poland.

Yes they are NATO members, which is why the test-run is using Ukraine. It's always the temptation to believe that if you can go so far and get away with it, then maybe you can go a little further. It doesn't really matter that Article 5 guarantees extend to those states. What matters is whether Putin is convinced the other NATO members will suffer sacrifices to ensure those guarantees for three tiny states with limited strategic value on the fringe of NATO territory, and also whether other NATO countries will truly go beyond lip-service vis-a-vis those guarantees. It is always about perceptions. And I can see Putin coming away with the perception that given how timid the West has been thus far, their claims of NATO solidarity and Article 5 are all bark and no bite.

One problem with this last bit... those are NATO members. Nothing short of military engagement from NATO's side will save NATO as an organisation, if it comes to that. Edit: If NATO doesn't respond with full military confrontation to an invasion of the Baltic countries, Putin will have dismantled NATO even faster than Napoleon did the Holy Roman Empire.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-02-24-fallout-new-vegas-2-reportedly-in-very-early-discussions-at-microsoft-and-obsidian Well, this would be good news if it were to be true, though I'd hope it not be a direct sequel and just Obsidian doing another Fallout game, that franchise needs an injection of quality. If Obs were to do a direct sequel, it'd be a huge nightmare to try and tie up the endings in the new game, and if they were to only pick one ending as the right one noone will be happy either.

And it's not gonna' happen that easily. Even if somehow Putin gets those "surrender" documents, nobody in the world will see them as legitimate and so they won't carry any weight in international law. So the physical implementation of any such agreements will still have to rely on the presence of significant Russian occupation forces long-term.

If you are going to fully melee your party, then a Trickster can be very useful : as SC or MC, he can reduce (quasi) passively by 20 the deflection of ennemies with Repulsive Visage and Persistent Distraction, and as melee party, it is the defense you will target the more often. With some weapons or Confunding Blow on top, it is even more.

just explicitly calling it out (don't know where OP's level of familiarity with the game is) that having staffs and pikes can help with crowding due to their inherent reach (one of the several advantages of aforementioned Citzal Spirit Lance), and still give you the gameplay satisfaction of staying in melee. It might help one or so extra characters operate in chokepoint/crowded situations. aforementioned instruments of pain is a similarly very helpful effect with much larger reach, but comes late compared to just picking up a staff or pike (but can work with any melee weapon). if you don't want to MC or SC one of these classes in particular, Bounding Boots are a really handy and underrated item. Two free uses of Leap per rest. Sometimes that's all you really need.

Caught a porch thief today, small victory was the guy tripping as he fled - a sore ankle is a good punishment for it. Getting tired of the trash in my area.

Ironically, Kiev was the Russian capital from 996 to 1108. Moscow didn't exist before 11147

Still trying to keep some creative edges going. As I mentioned the other week, I finished off sewing my Mando Flightsuit, I thought it might entertain you now I have pictures of it fitting: Now I'm plotting out my flak-vest to do, and I have a pile of materials ready to go... Just have to finalise making some patterns and the style of said flak-vest...

I might be adopting a cat. Vet friend had a 12 year old cat with diabetes brought in. The lady wants to have him euthanized. So the vet is looking into rescuing the cat.