BruceVC

And you honestly, and I mean really honestly, dont believe that deep down inside the Russians arent killing civilians ?

Yes, its well known that the general Russian military approach has no concern for civilian deaths and in fact targeting civilians is often part of their strategy like we saw in Grozny, Syria and other conflicts But its always unsettling and sad to witness it . I agree

https://www.gog.com/en/news/suspending_sales_in_russia_and_belarus?at_gd=3F95D19773427329A81C6EB5DC9A591A7B81F14A&utm_campaign=adtraction&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=adtraction This may be old news but I only read this today, GOG has banned sales in Russia and Belarus Well done GOG for making this difficult but correct decisions

That is stupid, not serving this type of French inspired dish because it sort of sounds like Putin But I guess its hard to quantify peoples anger with the outright hostility demonstrated from Putin ?

That is one of the worst things Putin could do, pay any country with the Ruble .....thats really cruel Malc, thats really uncalled for. What are countries supposed to do with that, why not pay them with the Zimbabwe $

" outright hostility towards Russia " Russia a such a peaceful country and they would never ever be hostile, good one Gorthfuscious. At least you still can find humor in this crisis, Im impressed

Of course the West responded to Russia annexing Crimea, where do you think most of the current Western sanctions against Russia come from? Im not sure what else you expect the West to do back then but it was heavily criticized

Yes I remember because we have discussed AHS in the past and you said you lost interest. I watched until season 6 and also lost interest. But this new season is interesting And I agree S1 was brilliant I have just rewatched the whole of True Detective and I loved them, S1 was the best for me but only because most of the " good guys " died in S2

@Gfted1 The latest season of AHS is out in SA and I have started watching it, 2 episodes in and so far so good. Its all about a drug that enhances creativity but means you become a Vampire like creature. Its much better than some of the last few seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Horror_Story:_Double_Feature

@Gorth When you mentioned Crimea was " never part of Ukraine " how do you explain what Elerond mentioned ?

Yes and this is one of the fundamental points that is conveniently ignored by Russian apologists. Most East European countries dont want to part of Putins " recreation of the Soviet empire " And the fact that this is their Democratic right doesnt seem to matter South Africa is part of BRICS, the Commonwealth, SADC and the AU and all these decisions to join these unions were made because we are a sovereign country and no one dictates to us who we can join and who we cannot join

I have one simple question to ask you Gorthfuscious Do you not believe a sovereign country has the right to join the EU or NATO if it wants? Or do you believe another country gets to decide? And if you believe Russia gets to decide would you support and justify a Russian invasion of lets says Finland if it joins NATO because then the West can also move Nukes close to Russia?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/united-nations-russia-ukraine-vote 141 countries out of 193 UN nations voted with the US and Ukraine in condemning this unprovoked invasion by Russia Only 5 countries voted against and those include the worst dictatorships in the world and I mean real dictatorships like NK, Belarus and Syria So I would say Russia needs to expand that list to include most of the world because condemning the Russian invasion should be considered an "unfriendly action "

You must be one of the few people in this world that honestly would suggest that life in the EU is not obviously better than life in Russia or life under Putin What next, is China a free society

When given a choice the majority of former Soviet states have joined the EU and many want to join NATO In fact is their any example of a former Soviet state that is a Democracy not wanting to join the EU? And countries like Belarus dont count because its an autocratic state

But Putin doesnt get to decide for the people of Eastern Europe, Ukraine had a Democratic election in 2019 and Zelensky won overwhelmingly and he ran on a pro-EU ticket. People like you seem to think the majority of peoples political wishes dont count and you just repeating the standard anti-Western and Russian apologist rhetoric

Another reason to be outraged towards Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, the list just keeps getting bigger Gorthfuscious

Yes extensively and the Russian army is still way below the US army around training and resources. And they use conscripts for example, never a great idea

I find these types of events and their outcome fascinating because you can recognize certain terrible events that were globally condemned but later on you can see how they benefitted the world and mankind in a very important way And nukes also helped prevent WW3 with mutually assured destruction as I have previously mentioned. So the actual invention of the nuclear bomb helped prevent WW3

Absolutely, I have always maintained it was the poor and or inconsistent response to Covid that was the greatest factor in Trumps defeat. It influenced the large percent of undecided voters who can really swing an election either way

The West didnt leave Ukraine out to dry? What are you talking about, the West is doing almost everything possible to support Ukraine but we not going to do anything that leads to war with Russia Sorry Sarex, Im sorry you disappointed that we dont want to risk nuclear holocaust. But the sanctions will work, they work more slowly but its not as quick as WW3

Malc now you can see why I use to say Trump said funny things at times, this is one of them ...at least he is not president anymore. But you must admit this is hilarious

I have always believed it came from Wuhan and animals, that is where most of the other viruses came from so why not this one ?

Kanie this invasion and what it means and how societies reflect on it is interesting to me and I wanted to get your opinion on something. And my post is just your personal opinion as an educator and is what I am saying something I should be concerned about especially when it comes to the reality of Communism and the USSR and how its portrayed in schools in the US but my post is about SA schools and may not be the same in US schools One of nieces who is 15 has decided she wants to take history in grade 10-12 and out of interest I asked my brother to send me what is the current SA curriculum history. I have often heard in the last 20 years how " our kids need to learn the history of events that is not just "Western " Also this is my only brother who is one of those white people who believes " white people must admit we all racist to defeat racism in our society " and also " Colonialism\Capitalism is the cause of inequality ", Im exaggerating to make the point but he kind of believes that in well meaning way So he sent the grade 10-12 curriculum to me on WhatsApp and all I can say is I wish he hadnt It seemed to be about 60-70 % all about topics like "imperialism and Capitalism in Africa " and " the USSR was a viable form of ideology to the evil West " and " what liberty really existed after the French Revolution " and they do have a section of the Cold War that seemed to cover "Vietnam and the role of China " so Im not sure how they frame the dark reality of the USSR and programs like Stalins insane Collectivization programs And what my concern is my niece learns a soft version of Communism and the USSR and then when the reality becomes real like this invasion of Ukraine and Putins attempt to " recreate the borders of the Soviet empire " she will be confused and think " but thats not so bad because its an alternative to the West which is equally as bad " or something similar So the point of this post in summary is does it matter if their is indeed a watering down of the Cold War and Communism that is taught at our SA schools or any school? I dont think it really matters because the reality of SA is we have no agency in the new Cold War and if students learn something inaccurate that will quickly end in RL But I am still worry about how history is framed in schools and does it make a difference ?

Are you guys doing a "discuss the event " with your students so they understand this invasion, I would love to hear what the kids think and it aligns to the Cold War with the reality of Russia and this Ukraine crisis? So the US involvement is history in the making. And when I say event I am not suggesting you should change the curriculum of the current history subjects, dont worry I am talking about that " discuss the event " you arranged where you discussed how the US had killed those Afghans in an accidental drone strike or something similar (I dont remember the exact details )