BruceVC

And their is also no typical socialist systems in those countries, they hybrids of socialism and Capitalism but they still Democracies which is what "normal " socialist\autocratic countries arent like Cuba, Russia, Syria, China and Venezuela So the take-away and success of the Nordic countries for me is not " socialism works " but rather " hybrids of socialism and Capitalism works " when you have a stable Democracy and a government that is effective Historically by design most socialist\Communist countries are not Constitutional Democracies which is why they inevitably fail

No those examples are not the same as Putins War and Im surprised we still honestly debating this Russia invaded a sovereign country, their are many examples where wars end where an invading army is defeated or stops its invasion. The obvious solution to this Ukrainian crisis is Putin ends the war and pulls all Russian forces back within the borders of Russia. Thats the first step to end this war, its not simplistic at all because this will end the carnage

These are good questions which is where I was going with Alan and I dont have all the answers but I can respond around research I have done. Also I keep making the same points around my ideological views, I believe exactly what I say. I dont have a hidden agenda and we all guilty of confirmation bias at times. Thats part of the human psyche, who doesnt like people agreeing with us? What I would appreciate if you could be clear about what you think my agenda\narrative is because I honestly dont know what people are talking about because I say exactly what I believe albeit with diplomacy so I dont offend people. And I cant respond if I dont know what you mean by "unknown narrative " or similar questions But going back to your broader point which is " what defines a legitimate labelling of any protest as criminal " So their are 4 main types of people who participate in BLM protests. They are well meaning ideologues who believe in racial justice, protest peacefully and are committed to the positive outcomes of BLM well meaning people who do believe in racial justice and will support most BLM protests and protest peacefully but they not deeply committed people who believe in racial justice and some of the BLM objectives but will damage property, burn cars and commit other acts of criminality people who say they believe in racial justice but use the protests to loot and commit acts of criminality in the same communities they claim to care about The first two groups are not guilty of any criminal behavior but the last two are. So you cant say " all BLM protests are about criminal behavior " because the majority of people dont commit crimes during protests. But you also cant say " their is no criminality during BLM protests " because their are clear cases of this from the last 2 groups And this applies to all other examples you mentioned that include politicians and groups like the Proud Boys, individual who commit crimes must be arrested but we shouldn't generalize and label a legitimate political party like the GOP as criminal just because some of their members have been linked to corruption or have broken the law Unless the group is a known criminal syndicate like Mexican cartels, The Cribs and the Bloods, Neo-Nazi groups or the Russian mob and these groups can be linked to RICO. Then you can generalize So in summary, their are acts of looting and criminality in some of the BLM protests. We shouldnt deny this but that doesnt mean BLM is criminal movement. I hope this makes sense?

Can I tell you what always surprises me. That you still read my posts, care about my grammar and you even comment sometimes to the point where you prepared to spend time finding old posts of mine..that effort is nice to see I dont really do that with your posts but like I said with Alan I always enjoy debates and you and I have had some interesting chats. So lets turn over a new leaf and lets start engaging constructively ...I will always try to respond if I can But the most important consideration if we are going to debate is we are not going to agree on everything. Its okay to disagree on things. Who wants on echo-chamber anyway Oh and something you and @Gorth should find interesting, a few people on Codex have also noticed my misusage of their\there and commented so you not alone and I always appreciate the constructive criticism and how some people respond to it is hilarious

No I was just asking if you think some of the BLM protestors are involved in criminality. I was going to add that many of the BLM protests are not about criminality but as usual in culture wars many people in the USA, and other countries, tend to generalize which shuts down debate in the US which is one of the reasons you have this political dichotomy and endless left vs right invective which is represented in both Congress and on the ground amongst many Americans Many people seem to have forgotten that a debate is about different opinions and its important that we dont forget that. For example if I think Johnson didnt lie we can have debate about it, no need to insult me and call me a racist or fascist or guess about my political motives. You can ask me any question and I will respond Lets try to be better than the politicians we say are useless. Lets keep the art of debate alive and healthy and lets accept that we can agree to disagree I enjoy your opinions even if I disagree with some of your views, thats why I asked you about BLM And I wasnt being defensive with @Gorth, we have many debates and somethings we agree on and somethings we dont. Thats just how I debate I hope this makes sense and we can continue to have constructive debates

Alan do you believe that their has been no violence and criminality during any BLM protests from some of the protestors? And I consider looting of shops and businesses as criminality

Okay I see your point but the main reason for the Ukrainians fighting back is that their country was invaded and they literally face an existential threat. They would be fighting back even without Western resources? I doubt they would stop fighting even if the West said " stop fighting" because the Russians are within their country and killing their citizens. So the concern that the Ukrainians are on a Western lifeline I dont think makes sense I think if Russia is able to defeat the Ukrainians in the east they will offer their definition of peace terms, the question is will the Ukrainians accept it

Yes I agree, their would be many variables and metrics that define corruption and create these scores But I dont think its racist, its looks more or less accurate

You have a very strange definition of an invasion and people defending their country from destruction The West is not forcing the Ukrainians to fight. The Ukrainians will be the ones to decide when it ends one way or another Not sure how you think this is about punishing Russia. A better question is " when will Putin end his invasion and return to meaningful negotiations " ?

Elerond this scoring seems racist, its putting lots of African and ME countries as the most corrupt...are you sure its not racist ?

Mamie are countries like Slovakia and Hungary consider more corrupt generally than other East European countries like Poland, Romania and Czech?

Interesting, what do you guys who live in the EU think? I dont think it should be rushed and my view is similar to the quote from your link below from Macron In recent weeks, some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have suggested that it would be more useful to grant Ukraine some sort of interim status that strengthens its relations with the EU. Macron has said that even if Ukraine is recognized as a candidate country, it would take more than a decade under existing accession procedures for Ukraine to join the bloc.

You right, I do believe that the US would be very unhappy with Mexico allowing Russian military bases within Mexico But just remind me where in Ukraine are the US military bases and when did the US say they were establishing military bases in Ukraine, I am not an expert in Ukraine so I probably missed that? But lets say for argument sake Russia did setup military bases in Mexico, I doubt the US would invade Mexico because the US would win that war at the expense of the collapse of Mexico and that would only exacerbate the immigration crisis to the US So the point is the US would not invade Mexico unless its security was directly threatened, meaning the US is attacked first like in 9/11 Putins War is not about NATO, Nukes or Neo-Nazi...those are the famous lies and exaggerations Its about recreating the borders of the failed USSR as much as possible and Putin believing he can decide what other countries can or cant do. He doesn't believe that countries like Ukraine's democratically government should decide the future of their country And we should all be opposed to this because we all believe in Democracy

You think BLM could be behind it, I suppose its possible but its unlikely because BLM doesnt have an official leadership structure or HQ so its highly unlikely

No you misunderstanding the context of my comment, we were not talking about 6 January insurrection We were talking about the assassination attempt of Kavanaugh These are 2 separate developments

I love your definition of Putins War Its the fault of the West because they pushed Ukraine to believe it was a sovereign country and that led to poor, innocent Russia invading Ukraine ....Russia is clearly the victim here Its a great story and makes perfect sense if we lived in a world where international borders dont matter and where citizens dont get to decide their own future through free and fair elections

Yes of course its the AU responsibility to address conflicts on the African continent and before the AU it was called the OAU and it had the same responsibility And their is a stated goal of the AU to " silence the guns " and that means all conflicts irrespective if they historical. But Im not blaming the AU for conflicts because they not responsible for causing the conflicts. Its individual countries and bad leadership responsible. Im blaming the AU for not doing anything meaningful about most of the current conflicts Here is a good read that summarizes this view, @Malcador You should find this interesting https://theconversation.com/why-the-african-union-has-failed-to-silence-the-guns-and-some-solutions-139567

The problem is from both left and right extremism. And yes this particular story is concerning and Im glad they were arrested before they commit acts of hate. But the US, like many countries, doesn't just have one main issue around extremism. As you know their are different degrees of violence and criminality depending on what group or ideological movement you track. So I dont think BLM is the "real " problem in the US, I dont think it is a problem at all. I think violent protests are an issue and how a precedent gets set when their is no accountability and the boundaries will get pushed and pushed People who broke the law on the 6 January must be prosecuted, Im not sure why you would think I am suggesting anything different?

I like how you framing your expectations for this game when you say " That is exactly the huge draw of this game for me. I *want* to play in a NASA "open star system" sandbox. I *want* that realism very much. I want that for every one planet I discover with vibrant life there are a hundred other planets that are empty and dead. And I absolutely do not want that ridiculous pulp sci-fi art style, and love how things look in this game " That does sound compelling and fun, dont get me wrong I love the whole ME and Star Wars design but I like the idea of exploring 10 or so planets and finding nothing and then planet 11 has something worthwhile

They failed to defeat the various militia groups because Bill Clinton didnt have appetite to keep US forces in Somalia after the whole " Black Hawk Down " incident If Trump or Bush was president I doubt the US would have left Somalia? What happened with Canada ?

Well its the responsibility of the AU to address long term problems in Africa The US only went to Somalia because of a humanitarian UN mission because militia groups were hijacking food and aid and basically weaponizing starvation Im not what you expect the West to do in places like Somalia when the AU doesnt even care ?

I wonder? Its unlikely considering the important relationship Mexico has with the US ....they wouldnt want to anger the US by doing something so foolish as allowing Ruskie military bases in Mexico

I dont those versions will by default but you should be able to run them in compatibility mode that emulates older Windows versions?

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/theres-no-way-all-1000-explorable-planets-in-starfield-are-actually-interesting/ Here is another link that criticizes the whole " 1000 explorable planets ". But I think those unhappy with this statement may be overlooking some things that could include like in ME you can explore planets for resources and or mining. They dont need to have any living creatures to be worthwhile having a 1000 planets and some of them being empty doesnt make them boring. Thats part of the fun of exploring, you not guaranteed to find activity in every planet which is what I would want And then the best reason for boring and empty planets is we will see some amazing mods that will populate those planets with cool things like hardcore alien Romance interactions and ancient ruins to explore and places like smugglers bases. Endless possibilities for modding So I hope these points change peoples minds because 1000 planets should be seen as a good thing even if they dont have cities and lots of activities 🥂

This is a good post Elerond and its based on facts and history around Afghanistan I hope everyone reads it