BruceVC

It doesn't matter, the Iranian hardliners will do the same thing they do in every protest where Iranian citizens want a better life and expect there government to respect human rights They shutdown the Internet so state atrocities are less visible, they will arrest thousands of people and execute many of them and they will kill dozens of people. The protests will be crushed as usual using maximum force Then after several weeks it will go back to the normal BRICS and Iranian state media propaganda " Iran is a country that respects human rights and believes in peace " The normal story sadly repeated every few years in the repressive reality of Iran under its current leadership

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/eu-and-mercosur-are-creating-one-of-the-worlds-largest-free-trade-areas/#:~:text=The agreement removes most Mercosur,percent) will also be removed. I see the Mercosur\EU trade deal has finally been implemented It has enormous trade potential for both the EU and the South American countries involved I understand the concerns about cheap goods but reduced tariffs can help both sides @Lexx @Elerond @majestic @Gorgon @Gorgon and other EU members Any opinion, do you support it?

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article314223925.html Here is a link around how the Cubans failed to protect Maduro and why they were involved @rjshae you will also find this interesting

Yes it was common knowledge and reported on that 32 Cubans were killed, it hasn't featured much in South Africa coverage but its out there My interest is more what it means and why Maduro was using them. It was generally believed that Maduro always had the support of his own security forces. So why would you have foreign fighters as personal bodyguards if you trust your own military? I can just imagine the understandable outrage if our government was using foreign soldiers from any African country because all the questions would be " why dont you trust our own security forces" I believe the US had help from within the Venezuelan security forces, thats why the extraction was so easy. At least from an information gathering perspective We wont know until much later the full details And the movie about this is going to be very entertaining

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-leaders-push-back-trump-openness-military-greenland-rcna252814 As expected Republican Leaders in both the House and Senate have rejected suggestions that the US will invade Greenland and take it by military force. The likely option is the US will make an offer to buy Greenland and that will be decided by the people in Greenland through a referendum " Top Republicans on Capitol Hill, including leaders of the House and the Senate, are pushing back against President Donald Trump on Greenland, saying it would be inappropriate for the United States to use military force to take over the Arctic island. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday night he did not think it would be “appropriate” for the U.S. to use military action to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory controlled by Denmark, a founding member of NATO. On Wednesday morning, Johnson told reporters he did not think “anybody’s seriously considering that." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also rejected the idea, telling reporters Tuesday he does not see “military action being an option" in Greenland. “That, to me, is that’s not something that anybody is contemplating seriously at this point,” he said."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mkwl2g499o Venezuela has started releasing political prisoners, this is positive outcome now that Maduro is gone "The Venezuelan government has begun releasing detainees considered political prisoners by human rights groups, in what officials described as a goodwill gesture. Spain's foreign ministry said five of its nationals, including one dual national, had been released. Among them is thought to be rights activist Rocío San Miguel. The move comes after the US seized Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro in a lightning raid on the capital, Caracas, on Saturday, to face drug trafficking charges in New York. The release of political prisoners in Venezuela has been a long-held US demand, especially during moments of heightened repression around elections or protests." Also something else that doesn't get much attention, 32 Cubans were killed protecting Maduro Why would any president need foreign fighters as bodyguards and how common is this? https://apnews.com/article/cubans-killed-venezuela-strike-us-oas-a8d8fcbe3e825979c5d3171f9b076a85

Yes, its a terrible outcome and people have every right to be angry and aggrieved We have spoken about this before, ICE is far to heavy handed and militant in there objective of deporting illegals Midterms will be the final judge on there behavior because its unlikely Trump will change course until then

Its not the scripting thats cringe, its the fact you claim to be so triggered on an Internet Forum like this that you feel the need to use one This forum has rules and no one really gets insulted on a personal level or is allowed to make really offensive comments If you cant handle someones opinion on this forum you should learn conflict resolution because you wont cope in RL

Its funny you mention that because I have just had a debate disputing that framing of SA on Codex But I dont get triggered by those types of mischaracterizations, Im not emotional about it The reality is I have no issue with someone calling SA a ****hole country if they clarify what is there definition of a ****hole country and the reason must be true. Because then its there opinion and it must be consistent for other countries. In this case they were saying that because of "white genocide " and there is no white genocide in SA I dont consider SA a ****hole country but we do have serious problems. I wouldnt live here if I thought that

Bartie is such a drama queen, I remember years ago he wrote a script so he " didnt have to read my posts " Can you imagine being so triggered by someones posts on a forum you actually spend time creating a script The obvious or typical solution is just dont read the persons posts or ignore them, problem solved

How you guys doing with the protests? I see its all about latest pressure on the economy?

Thank you for responding, this is the type of comment I am interested in My original question seems to have been misunderstood with people thinking Im trolling and I have to take some responsibility for that for not clarifying what I meant which I thought I did I used Maduro as an example because we discussing Venezuela but that doesn't mean if you say " Maduro isnt a legitimate leader " you now support how the US removed him around regime change These are 2 separate points. My question was about the broader reality of what defines legitimacy\Democracy and for me that requires a free and fair election in any country that calls itself a Democracy But a legitimate Democracy or leader can fail to deliver on policies and running the country properly but then you vote him out in the next election Thats how it should work in any real Democracy But I understand what you saying around "in the sense of being legal in the context of that nation's judicial system " so the word legitimacy becomes difficult to define So yes, its probably better to say " can you claim to be a Democracy "

Firstly I support Ramaphosa on several decisions and he is the legitimate leader of South Africa because we have free and fair elections I dont support parts of our foreign policy because its inconsistent and selective with what we say we stand for. But thats not the same thing as saying I dont support what the government and now the GNU believes in around all foreign policy decisions. So it depends on what part of foreign policy we talking about. Two things can be true at the same time and political support is not a binary reality. You can criticize and support the same politicians and parties for different reasons Ramaphosa has been very good around domestic policies, he is more or less consistent with what the Constitution says and he respects the judiciary. He is a Constitutionalist and thats important to me Overall I have a more positive view of him than a negative view , next time dont jump to conclusions. Ask me and I will respond And then you very confused about my opinion of Marikana and we have discussed this through the years. I have always had the same opinion, it was a terrible tragedy and Ramaphosa is not responsible because he didnt order the police to open fire. Thats a false narrative peddled by unions and the EFF to malign him. A series of factors contributed towards the massacre and all sides have to take responsibility for that mass shooting, you cant just blame the police

I have already explained why Im asking and why political legitimacy matters Its not about Maduro or the US Almost all the most stable and prosperous African countries have gone through free and fair elections and the leadership has legitimacy because of this. So it does matter And Egypt is not a country whose leadership I admire but it is economically stable but that is only part of what matters to me So if you can just answer the question without trying to overthink it that would be great But if you dont care thats also fine. I realize you live in a first world country where free and fair elections are a given but thats not the reality in many parts of Africa and the global south

Nothing to do with the US operation, Im asking outside of Canada do you believe legitimacy for a leader should only be determined by free and fair elections Some people dont care In Africa we have seen 7-8 free and fair elections recently with a peaceful transfer of power and it gets celebrated I support that because political legitimacy in any Democracy matters to me

My question is not about the removing of Maduro by the USA. Im interested if you consider free and fair elections as relevant for domestic legitimacy in any country outside the US? Venezuela claims to be a Democracy and have free and fair elections But Maduro stole the last 2 elections, it was so bad Brazil refused to allow Venezuela to join BRICS in 2024 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c624m4kgrg3o This is about your own opinion so it is relevant to the question

Do you consider Maduro a legitimate leader for Venezuela? And whats your definition of a legitimate leader in any country that calls itself a Democracy that has elections For me its very simple, you just have to win a free and fair election @rjshae and @Zoraptor Im also interested in what you think about this question and anyone else can respond

No, I wouldn't cheerlead any stable Democratically elected government being regime changed by the US You clearly haven't been reading any of my posts over the last 15 years

A civil war between who? The Maduro security forces who either weren't motivated to protect Maduro or sold him out? There is no way Delta Force would have been able to snatch Maduro so easily without serious domestic collusion Andi its also not hard to understand why Venezuelans would work with the US considering how Maduro has destroyed the country and its economy But normally regime change is not something that is as easy to do as what we witnessed over the last 12 hours. So I doubt we will suddenly see all these new examples of regime change just because Maduro was removed so quickly Dont be so doom and gloom, its hard to think of anyone doing a worse job than Maduro

I have been following the normal rhetoric and sensationalism from anti-American opinions They now saying Greenland and Canada is next, " nothing will now stop the US doing the same thing in those countries " Imagine suggesting that Trump is going to regime change Canada because its the " same" as Venezuela

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/venezuela-us-military-strikes-maduro-trump/ What an unexpected end to Maduros presidency The most mind blowing part is how Delta Force was able to infiltrate Caracas, kidnap him and get him on a plane to the US Where was his security forces, what a collapse of internal security But its an important first step, Maduro needed to go and this was relatively painless

Its an interesting one, there is a view that arts and sports should be apolitical but people tend to be inconsistent around this type of activism For example in South Africa there is a famous musician called Black Coffee who had a concert in Israel a few years ago and he was heavily criticized by the anti-Israeli groups But those same activists will be fine if he plays in an African country that is a failed stated or autocracy where citizens are repressed I think its up to the artist or sports person and there own moral decision because you cant really separate the optics of politics from the arts and sports and you will get criticised whatever decision you make

Interesting video, I like 20 minute videos that are succinct and explain the point they trying to make clearly I didnt know much of what he mentions, especially the interesting part around the history of why Germany keeps its gold in other countries but it makes historical sense juxtaposed to the fears of Soviet invasion I agree with several things he says and then I dont think his concerns will be realised Germany should be keeping its gold reserves in Germany, that makes sense. I doubt all the gold that Russia and China have been buying lately is not stored in there country I did some quick research and most of Germanys gold is now kept in Frankfurt. And the transfer from NY was completed in 2016 which was several years ahead of the original 2020 schedule https://www.bundesbank.de/en/tasks/topics/bundesbank-completes-transfer-of-gold-from-new-york-647150 " Last year, the Bundesbank transferred a total of over 216 tonnes of gold to Germany from storage locations abroad: 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris. This means that since 2013, the Bundesbank has successively relocated just short of 283 tonnes of gold from Paris and 300 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt am Main. As at 31 December 2016, 47.9 percent of Germany's gold holdings were in storage in Frankfurt, 36.6 percent in New York, 12.8 percent in London and the remaining 2.7 percent in Paris." So basically 37% of Germanys gold is still kept in the US as you can see from the table in the link But he raises worrying points around gold investment and paper contracts, allocated and unallocated investment in gold We dont really invest in gold, all our investments are properties, bonds and shares but it makes sense what he warns about. If a country wants to recall its gold and the holding country cant produce it that could crash the paper and unallocated value of that type of gold investment. Thats basically what he is talking about Moral of the story, ideally keep your gold at home as a foreign reserve if you a government and as a gold buyer make sure you buy allocated gold and avoid the paper contracts. Also we know most banks would battle to provide all the money if every single customer suddenly said " I want my investment withdrawn now " so trust is still important and so is an understanding of how banks work and what they can or cant do immediately around mass withdraws But good video, its definitely though provoking

Im about 210 hours into Skyrim\LoreRim and its time for another update Im on level 49 and Im very happy with how my level advancement is slowed down. As I mentioned in previous posts LoreRim is about exploration and completing quests because you get limited XP from combat so you have to explore which I love I have also started going back to try to complete hard enemies and I have been mostly successful but 1-2 enemies I still cant beat which is fine LoreRim strongly suggests you dont save and restore in combat and obviously no save-scumming. The main reason for this is because it can break save games because of all the scripts that run. You also not suppose to alt-tab for the same reason. Saying all that I have ignored this and I save and restore and alt-tab all the time and I havent had any serious problems. But what you suppose to do is use a campfire and when you die you always get resurrected in a temple or your last campfire So I always setup a camp before any difficult dungeon, if I die I just respawn outside the dungeon and then I re-strategize. Thats the suggested approach for hard enemies Anyway I decided to go back to defeat Movarth the master Vampire who had been terrorizing Morthal and transforming citizens into Vampire thralls It was the hardest battle I have ever had in any single character RPG but I succeeded after about 4 hours and I just succeeded, I did the following I had all my 4 companions with me for the battle who are Gore, Auri, Remiel and Katana. These are all included LoreRim mod companions with thousands of lines of dialogue and dozens of interesting and varied side quests I buffed up on potions, oils and used summons Movarth has about 12-15 Vampire thralls so I killed them in groups first but I was defeated but I respawned outside his cave. I did this twice to make the main battle easier Finally it was just him and one tough thrall and I used my dragon shouts and normal combat skills and I used a passage so he had to attack me from the front and blocking helped At the end all my companions were defeated, I had exhausted all my potions and I was on 10 health and low stamina but I was able to kill him. Katana has a shade which spawns when she is defeated and that helped me as well As I said, hardest battle I have ever had in these types of RPG And then I have defeated about 7 dragons which are always tough but I have an effective strategy, I see what breath they using and then I buff that defense and use the appropriate oil or spells opposite to that because typically thats means the dragon has a weakness. So a frost breathing dragon is more susceptible to fire attacks. It works more or less but these dragon fights always require thinking and using the right items LoreRim has dozens of unique and interesting features and improvements to make your game more interesting, for example each deity has different side quests and blessings and you need to work on these to advance favour but you can swop anytime to another deity at a shrine if you want. Im currently a follower of Hermaeus Mora and on certain enemies you find these Eldritch Pages that contain lost knowledge for about 8-9 different books and you need 8 pages to create an Eldritch Book and that grants you increased magic benefits. So I am working towards that but its random which pages you find and Im only on 5 pages for 2 of the Eldritch books and the rest are about 2-4 pages And then I just started the Dawnguard DLC, you can only start this DLC once you defeat Movarth because of how hard Vampires are. So I will participate in this DLC while Im busy with the main quest. I am leaving Dragonborn for later but I do go to Solstheim for other quests. I like the whole Morrowind interaction So far LoreRim is still the best sandbox and open-world RPG I have ever played and its highly recommended

Talking about AI and fake news, I thought Pokrovsk had fallen to Russia weeks ago? Didnt Putin himself claim this and a Russian flag was hosted The one thing I have learnt about this war is not to believe any of the " updates " from either side until its confirmed and thats weeks later But I am still surprised by the Pokrovsk false narrative because even several Western media houses were repeating this https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/12/19/moscows-narrative-wobbles-as-ukraine-takes-back-kupiansk