Brdavs

There is no easy answer to this one. The problems of the Balkans are way older than WWI (the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor and the Balkans should be reasonably far enough back in time). As for recent history (WWI&II), maybe somebody forgot to ask the people who lived there what they wanted, united or not? Austria. I believe that it is generally considered that the Balkans were but the Arsenal that blew up because of that spark and that the broader geo-political situation was on course for a conflict nomatter what (the tensions of colonial powers (GB, FRA) and colonial would-be powers that just got there a bit late (GER) heh)... the killing of the Archduke F.F. was used to spark a war as Austria made outrageus demands on Serbia including to allow Austrian law enforcment full jurisdiction to investigate (wich no selfrespecting sovereign country would ever do, despite what Bush would have you believe). The pan-Slavic tendencies however have (had) deep roots and are prolly slightly different for each induvidual nation... Speaking from the far West Balkans point of view it was a logical/natural response to fierce germanisation that took place in the lands thruought history. (Tis a grave historical injustice that the jews hog all the spotlight hehe...) The first concrete political suggestions came in the form of uniting all the Slavs living in Austria-Hungray into an equal political entity, switching from dualism to trialism of state... Sadly (?) that never materialised but the ideas remained. After the conclusion of WWI and subsequently WWII it was to an extent the "smartest" thing to do, to (re)create SHS/YUG, simply cos it was the only way not to get too far shafted by the powers as they drew the new European borders in the "who gets there first stays there/lets draw a line here" wacky race lol... By forming a pan-Slavic state after WWI the Slavs in the western part for the second time in history (since Sams state and Carantania) freed themselves from the germanic/italic dominance and curtular assimilation, thoe for a heavy heavy price... By upholding it after WWII they got to trade and arm for a leg in London. "Allies are good guys" my arse lol...

Dare I say part of the problem... Looking from the outside I think The3Lions have been doing well lately, especially under Sven... But the atmosphere the press and the fans generate for the national side is little short of toxic it would seem heh... Huge expectations before every tournament, going all the way stuff, and then, inevitably, a national disaster and crucifixion when the team goes out, nomatter at what stage. There is no middle ground, it`s favorites and the best of the best, then instantly switched to biggest c*nts on the planet when the tables turn... Ok, going out at THIS stage IS a disaster and current gaffer is a joke but that`s besides the point heh... No wonder you have managers refusing to manage England and players apparently having brakedowns on the pitch when it counts... England has is it it`s football boots, by God it has it, it however does not have it "under the hat" so to speak. And no academy system revamp will change that (ok maybe a new keeper programme lol).

Here`s an idea... DON`T MAKE IT A MMO

Actually everything that comes out clish

Well G.W. looked into Putins eyes and saw his yaddayaddayadda if you recall... and that brotherly rubbing of elbows ended great... "CFE" what lol? You have to learn not to get carried away by flashy and fancy PR tours, RL politics are a whole new ball game... Espacially when you get home to your voting base... Tony learned that the hard way and Gordy payed attention, it would seem... I guess Nicolas is banking on the fact he`ll outlast Bush and ppl will forget by the time next FRA ellections come around... Bit of a gambler that one hehe... http://www.xhtml.net/documents/breves/2007/bush-sarkozy.jpeg Need one comment more lol? Seriously, we must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to international relations succes/reconciliation/"reaching across the wall" when we`re popping bubbly cos of toned down "fierce hatred" between the yanks and frenchies... All other problems pale in the light of the fact french fries are no longer reffered to as freedom fries (for now) lol... It`s all like a bad bad comedy

It`s a silly notion of fans that dwell on these things way to much for it to be good for them... It`s quite easy really... did you go "ooooh that must be a "gray" paladin" at any point? I doubt it heh... You can play a paladin in an evil way but thats not playing like a paladin. That don`t hange if you slap "gray" infront of it to keep some magical connection or whatever... It`s what it is heh... Face it, George layed "jedi" out as goody tooshoes and thats what "jedi" are... It`s what SW is about for Christs sake, clear cut good vs. evil, clishee on top of a clishee, tributes to OT in every game... Hate it or love it it`s what it is heh... I`d venture to guess the rumoured long ObsidianE negotiations about K3 are cos they took K2 a bit away from a trademark SW game (like K1 was, in all its E0&1\2 glory )... I mean I think I read somewhere that C.A. stated Kriea was a character born out of his "hate of the clishee jedi/force" (something in those lines, cant be arsed to find quotes)... And we`re surprised LA seems to be stalling out negotiations heh? K2 turned out a fine RPG game... but it wasnt exactly trademark "sw game" lol, some actually preffered that (rpg hardcore base) and some preffered K1 (sw hardcore base)...

Well this is just me going through the denial phases... but since Bioware went on and on about not touching another IP for a while I reckon it`s more plausible they`ll get cought with their hand in the cookie jar just one time with a K3 sp game as opposed to commiting to a LA IP SW MMO game for years on end... Weak, I know, but leave me my dreams and KIII lifeline...

whoopsie, double post... :blush10:

You`d really like to see Iranians revolting themselves? And lets say if they don`t... you`d support another western, or better yet Israeli, intervention in the name of high ideals heh? Excellent. Only problem is one cannot force "enlightenment" to another, I would have thought Iraq made that obvious heh... Tell me, GreasyDogMeat, what is the difference between Ahmadinejad of Iran and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan that Iran is in such desperate need of our bombs and democracy on the tip of our missles (democracy that btw means squat listening to sen. Clinton&co that get to call for te removal of a "democratic" government on the bassis it does not meet the standard set to it by the congress - big lol at that, we`ll drive in with tanks for the sake of democracy and when it no longer suits us we`ll bring it down.. why am I surprised, it`s been done many times before, the supported bacame enemies and vice versa heh)? NONE whatsoever, except that Pervez serves the interest of the US and keeps his mouth shut not to get ousted by them lol... Radicalisation of Pakistan society? Check. Extreme elements? Check. Religious Sheriat law stonage of homosexuals? Check. Autoritarism of Perezes regieme? Check and double check. Nuclear weapons? Check. Danger of it falling to radical elements as Pervezess position grows ever more incertain? Check. This overhyped Iran starting world war/genocide fear fixation is getting silly lol... They`ll do some crazy stuff, like the devil/maniac Kim Il-sung did, right? Newsflash, it`s as Gorgon said. It`s the ultimate bargain chip. NK got food and security assurances and Iran will try to trade it for not being pushed around by Israel/west anymore... The fear is Israel may loose its monopoly in that aspect (superiority they def. keep heh) and may one day actually have to relinquish some of its occupied teritories through more even negotiations as it won`t be able to rely on the fact they can blow all their neighbours up without a scratch... not that Iran will go on a holly war against the west lol... Keep it real ppl There are plenty plenty issues to sove on their own well be4 Iran succeds, and once they are solved a large part of the problems plaguing middle east and todays world will go away.. including the uberfobia of nuclear Iran...

Ask yourself why all we`ve been hearing is about the remark homosexuals now turned into genocide of homosexuals with everything else on the table. What did he say about US military involment in Iraq and the region? About the civil war in Iraq? About his nuclear desires? About the threats with war to his state? Lol none of that matters much right, its the ommosexuals remark that gets the CNN headlines lol! If you lot would be any more "openminded" you could shut off your brain and just relly on your cerebellum to get you through life... missdirection at its finest heh... what, we`re gonna bomb Vatican city next if this is what *really* matters? @Whoever had the bright idea of barring him from the UN: The country that flipped its middle finger the most at the UN and internationall law/community (time and time and time again) is none other than the land of the free lol... Just to make that clear, if we`re looking at who morally "deserves" to be there heh... We're hearing it because its the most out there in your face view into his countries bigotry, genocide and danger to the rest of the world. What the hell does the Vatican have to do with this?? Oh, because they condemn homosexuality? There is a huge freaking difference between disagreeing with a 'life-style' and murdering them for it. Do you honestly believe the man? There are no homosexuals in Iran? Why do you think that is huh? Either he is ignorant of his own countries populace, or, gasp, his country kills them and homosexuals must either flee the country (which I've seen interviews of) or they are hanged. It amazes me the vileness coming straight from the horses mouth, and people are ignoring it. Or they are quiet about it like some catholic priests when pope starts going on about it lol... The point is it imvho thakes a wee bit more to go blow things/people up than different views... It amazes me that after the Iraq episode the same turn of events seems to be unfolding with Iran and people ignore it, heck, they cry out for blood. Except for arguably even more BS reasons, like questioning homosexuality and scope of nazi genocide... you gotta be kidding me? You`d actually support war for that? For 1 mans radical statements and views? Christ, the funny thing is I`ve heard worse **** on republican conventions Isn`t one bloodbath we can`t see ourself out of enough for you lol??? Ah but then there is oil and regional stability of puppet regiemes...

Ask yourself why all we`ve been hearing is about the remark homosexuals now turned into genocide of homosexuals with everything else on the table. What did he say about US military involment in Iraq and the region? About the civil war in Iraq? About his nuclear desires? About the threats with war to his state? Lol none of that matters much right, its the ommosexuals remark that gets the CNN headlines lol! If you lot would be any more "openminded" you could shut off your brain and just relly on your cerebellum to get you through life... missdirection at its finest heh... what, we`re gonna bomb Vatican city next if this is what *really* matters? @Whoever had the bright idea of barring him from the UN: The country that flipped its middle finger the most at the UN and internationall law/community (time and time and time again) is none other than the land of the free lol... Just to make that clear, if we`re looking at who morally "deserves" to be there heh...

I agree with much you've said, but have to intervene here: Hitler did not really cloak his motives. According to newspapers from the 1920ies I read a few days ago, people at that time were very nationalistic and antisemitic indeed, so they were ready, no, eager, to fight all those "lesser beings" in other countries and jews in their own country long before Hitler rose to power. He just made the majorities wishes come true, as was the case with the first world war. And reading through todays newspaper you can find "patriotism" (nationalism) with fobias and anti islamic (jewish) sentiment, ever more restrictive legislation and people are all to eager to "fight for security of domestic soil on foreign grownd, kill the terrorists" (fight the jews and the enemies) etc etc... Hitler talked about lebensraum the security/unity of German nation and they followed, what he kept secrat was his final solution. Today they talk of spreading "freedom and democracy and security" and hold back on the fat deals and interests that drive it all... It`s not quite the same yet in my eyes the modus operandi is virtually the same. Fly high the stars and stripes, "they`re a threath to your children"! It `s scarry lol... Indesputable fact of life is that the unsolved Palestinian question is THE main root of islamic extremism. Period. And it will remain so as long as Palestinians do not get a sovern state. Irans as factor of fueling such extremism is way down on the list, well behind the top 2 (palestinian "occupation" and western presence/interferance to usher in cooporative regiemes). The sooner certain ppl realise that the better. Thoe my bet is they do realise it but don`t give a toss as the current atmosphere of fear induced by it is probbably every executive branches wet dream come true lol... In comes the restrictive legislation, if you`re agains you`re against security, against your childrens safety! hehe... 3. Invoking religion as the main bassis for who should and should not be privy to nuclear weapons is a wee bit silly considering US seem to invoke God in every other paragraph and G.W. kicked off the (hugelly sucessfull) "war on terror" by saying "We will conduct a crusade" The biggest nuclear threat atm is the ballistic shield that just "happens" to cover Russia hehe... In the day and age when west is starting to seriously rock the boat of strategic ballance the main focuss of PR seems to be on Iran and his program that could provide results in 10 odd years and for wich they dont have a partuculary effective means of delivery... And in the meantime the Russians are being "forced" to retarget Europe with 100s of warheads and restart bomber patrols... If our grand grand grand grand children get to read about this in their history books they`ll be laughing their arses of heh... Now however, it`s still tragicomical.

In all honesty the future generations will most likely look back at this time period as one of ruthless and shameless (mainly western) interventionism to secure partial strategic interests aka soon to start dwindeling natural resources... And since Hitler is so polular in rethorics lately (lol) they`ll probably note (and laugh/be desmayed) that the gullable populus for the most part, much like in the 1920-30s, believed the cheap rethorics and resonings cloaking the motives in the "background"... May I direct the attention of the neocrusaders of peace, prosperity, justice, democracy and peacefull co-existance towards places like Niger, Ethiopia, Darfur and most recently Myanmar... (nvm the root of 75% of the problems; the proverbial P/I question heh) Oh ****, thats right... they`re out of sight/out of mind and above all else have no oil and such... atleast not any not yet "claimed" by one of the "powers" hehe... So we can spare but "our concerns for the wellbeing" lol... This will without a doubt go down in history as one of the most BS eras in history. I don`t really mind the powerstruggle for resources heh... I like my gas cheap as much as the next guy... But I`m not a hypocrt about it and I find the PR spins of it being all for "promotion of freedom and democracy" fecking offensive to my intelect. And I fear the fact there are apparently huge masess of ppl out there dumb/indifferent enough for it to actually fly more than I do any Ahmadinejad lol... With the stuff ppl are eating up and screaming for more these days, seeminly without using their brains, I fear history is far more likely to note the next Adolf originating from the USA hehe... The sad thing for me is that the EU, that had the tendency of keeping a somewhat clear head when it came to this, is now seemingly falling into the trend of triggerhappines... With suprisinlgy the frogs now lining up to overtake the lobsters when it comes to being USs third wheel to give an impression of "internationallity" heh.. Thank God Germany still has post WWII traumas and thus one EU foundation stone is still somewhat reserved when it comes to blowing other countries up eh lol?

Status Quo - In The Army Now? heh, stay safe...

Not everyone believes that "Knights of the Old Republic II" was anything near as good as "Knights of the Old Republic I". My skeptic side sees something very different. The majority of the people who I know offline hated "Knights of the Old Republic II", and about half the people I know online hated "Knights of the Old Republic II". I like the game myself, but I don't think its fantastic. When you are dealing with Obsidian forum visitors, the vast majority of them like "Knights of the Old Republic II". After holding a forum about "Kngiths of the Old Republic" the series at school, you would be surprised about how many people believe that "Knights of the Old Republic II" had destroyed their interest in the series. Just because the majority in the Obsidian forum like the sequal, that does not mean that the majority of gammers like the sequal. "Knights of the Old Republic II" did great in sales due to the success of "Knights of the Old Republic I". Until someone does a real consensus about the second game, no-one can really say that "Knights of the Old Republic II" was the best in the series. If you are talking about your own personal experience, you have all rights to your opinion and I respect that. Truthfully, I personally don't want to see a third act for at least another four years. I hope they keep us waiting for a while. Once the mixed emotions about how people feel about "Knights of the Old Republic II" subsides, I think people would be open-minded in buying a third act to the series. Until that occurs, I think they will hit a brick wall. I`d have to disagree... If that were true you could have argued that about the movies and E3 needing a 6 year gap for it to be well recieved by the public after E1&2 fell a bit short of expectations and had a chance to be "forgotten"... Yet it still did quite well... Bottom line: KOTOR is about the story (as much as the prequell trilogy was)... Even if it to a certain "reader" a induvidual chapter seems below par we are all anxcious to read it to the end (espacially when the first 2 parts are real cliffhangers and screaming for closure). You can be sure 90% percet of people that picked up KOTOR I and fell in love with it subsequently picking up KOTOR II will be picking up KOTOR III, even if II left them down a bit. KOTOR has grown into a franchise inside a franchise by now and dare I say KII could have been a lot lot worse and KIII would still do well. Personally I believe k2 went into the wrong direction killing off all jedi and providing a "special one" (shame applying "OT style" to KOTOR era filled with other opportunities) but I`m still eagerly awaiting the conclusion and if nothing else very very much looking forward to another SW themed RPG. Slap it on the nextgen egine (mass efect engine or even NWN2 one), market the franchise and its money in the kitty for sure. SW allways sold great even if it was crap; and KOTOR series is far far FAR from that.

Oh noes, say it ain`t so... You`re thelling me the Oscars are also political?! ZOMG! Seriously, this debate is about 5odd years old... The fact that the invasion was/is about the strategical influence and so called "stability" aka introduction of *friendly* regime's and the destabilisation of *unfriendly* regime's in the oil rich region has been painfully obvious to anyone with a decent knowledge and uderstanding of the past/present internationall affairs since day one. The fact that Alan`s remark raised some eyebrows is quite frankly sad cos it`s the indicator that those ppl now awed by his book actually bought the spins fed to them... Frankly if I was an average american watching CNN I`d find 90% of the stuff insulting to my intelect I would... As it stands I`d almost find it funny if it were not for the disturbing trend of disregarding fundamental international law, basic human rights and (as I know an average american joe couln`t frankly give a toss about these two heh) civil liberties... There was a topic about UK Basra pullout and the author wrote "those who would trade freedom for tea deserve neither" wich is a vulgar violation of the saying best applied here, but I bit my toung... Personally I`m more terrified of the elements of police/terror state being introduced across the western world (particulary US), all in the name of security and fear, than islamic terrorism... (BL must be laughing his arse off in some cave watching what we`re doing to ourselves heh...) Terrorism that will only be "defeated" once the palestinians get their state and the world powers stop with their/our interventionst pollicies in the region... But that would mean relinquishing the control of oil lol... and the politicians for the past decades have been banking on the fact that we the poppolus, for the most part, prefer our big SUVs as opposed to pesky things like privacy, rule of law etc. etc. wich became expandable commodities in the "war on terror"... Sadly they don`t seem to be wrong heh. He who gives into fear and trades his liberties for what ultimatly boils down to cheap/stable/controled oil prices deserves a home mede bomb under his ass...

Speaking of relationships... I won`t say I was dissapointed with the kotor series... but I do think there was a missed opporutinty to explore the trademark relationship of SW: the deep master master-padawan relationship... (you got old obi1-luke, yoda-luke + then qui gon-obi, obi-anakin...) And the way KII turned out it doesnt look very likely it`ll happen heh... shame imo, big shame... So my hope for K3 is that it is set a cople of decades after k2, if not more... you start of as a ordinary padawan with your master (the new "old" jedi order heh) and spend a good portion of the game as such, cought up in some events setting you on the path to discover the fates of the old k1&2 protagonists... this master teaches, guides you and potentionally becomes a good friend etc. etc. A real deep charather iteraction... At some point of the game (half maybe) you get knighted (and/or your master gets killed - could be massive since you can get attached to him... picture a obi1-quigon "noooo" moment lol) at wich point you get to take on a padawan of your own, passing what your master had tought you of the force to the new generation... Or atleast something in those lines... (latter part my be ommited due to time constraints... thoe it`d be nice to have access to a young impressional mind eh all you darksiders out there? ) But I`m not holding my breath... Most likely it`ll be another 1 "special" man/woman show... *sigh*

JA has a sweet sweet mod called Movie Battles 2... sabering system there puts vanilla hack and slash to shame... Bit hard to master but once you get a grip on blocks parrys and such its AWSOME! I`d recomend it just for that mod hehe...

1 question... is this restored content "gender neutral"? And if not, in roughly what percentage will it "favour" a certain gender?

New WIP ppl!

I don`t know much about it as I avoid most of the EU like the devil avoids the cross but Leia Solo gets my vote. Why? Cos it`s inhuman for one person to be awsome at everything. She`s the hottest of the OT, apparently the best shot, and to round it up she conducts the best rescue... From backseat flying I can safely judge she`d fly the friggin MF better than Han. Speaking of Han... she got him to fight so her motivationall skills blow Obi1s out of the water. Not to mention that her "mom and pop" and "my planet just got blown up" issues make Vader like a drama queen. The only two options I see remaining are that she`s a mediocre jedi at best OR that Chewies muff is thicker than hers is.... But seeing as the movies were filmed in 1970s I think I`ll go with the safe option of mediocre jedi...

They better hurry heh... Ppl won`t be gamers forever... well, the normal ones won`t... good thing I`m not normal

Hk was hillarious.... Oh and the ending was a joke. Some may say "that`s not funny" but nvm them, it`s just that it˙s an acquired taste

Yea you find him... you have to go to the czerca rep. on tatooine and ask about him (with mission in your party) to start/advance his quest.

Perhaps you should say the same thing about all killers. Like the guys who condemn other people to death, for example. Indeed. It`s not about your subjective feelins. It`s about a systemic solution that indorces the taking of a life, wich is supposed to be the fundamental value of our modern society. We`re better than that so to speak lol... So, the US considers freedom to be a fundamental value of its society. Does that mean we shouldn't take freedom away from offenders? The US actually considers freedom more important that death. There is a universal "ladder" of values and "legal goods", you know. And life is above personal freedom on that ladder, no question about it. If it werent you`d execute on sight with no incarseration, detention etc. whatsoever. US may be special but you`re not that special lol. It`s now just a question weahter or not that final step of the ladder is off limits not only for an induvidual citizen but for the whole state aparatus aswell. I say it should be. There is no universal "ladder." Just because we value freedom over life doesn't mean we're going to go around killing everyone who commits an offense over incarceration. But, it does mean that if we find it reasonable to remove freedom, it is reasonable to remove life. Two of the major concepts behind our revolutionary war were liberty and representation which lead to them as founding principles of the country. Two specific things we take away from felons. Like it or not the ladder exist. Despite all the fancy rhetorics dissed out about freedom. Btw I would imagine that that liberty was liberty of opression and oversees government, not the personall freedom as it is concieved in the penal codes. I`m reasonably cofident that like in euorope you do not have the "right" to blow the brains out of a guy cos he impaired your personall freedom by locking you in a room, wich would imply a sort of equality of legal notion of life and freedom. That alone is case in point. Thoe I can`t be 100% sure but that`s how it works here. You can defend your legal goods but not at any price. If you "overdo" (that is defend your tier 2 right by violating a tier 1 right you yourself commited a type of crime.)