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Everything posted by BruceVC
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https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukrainian-forces-capture-russia-s-advanced-t-90m-tank-game-changer/ar-BB1n1XyR Its definitely not a game changer , I get annoyed by the sensationalized headlines from both sides, but its interesting and useful for Ukraine and the West for analysis?
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Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Yes and this is normal criticism of her stance and thats fine But Im not talking about that, Im talking about how she was criticized around " how can a black person not agree with opinion x" as if all black people must have views based on an assumption of identity politics being the reason any of us should have an opinion I utterly reject that, for example I dont have an opinion on things because other white people have that same opinion. Thats often true but that has nothing to do with why I have that view -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
My issue is more how she gets criticized, in South Africa the normal "anti-colonialism\anti-Capitalism " crowd were outraged because " she is black, HOW can a black person not agree with opinion X " So they assume all black people must have a certain opinion on specific political or geopolitical events. She is not allowed to have a different opinion because its assumed her race defines her judgements Its incredibly condescending and patronizing -
Nah, I dont believe anything Putin says or we hear what he apparently says I will believe it when I see Russia doing it Putin can go public anytime and say " we pausing the war to talk peace "
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What You've Done Today - We do not remember days, we remember moments
BruceVC replied to ShadySands's topic in Way Off-Topic
Do you consider yourself a chatty person in RL? Do you enjoy chatting to strangers in supermarket lines or striking up a conversation with someone on a plane Im generally very chatty. I talk all the time if people want to engage and most of the time they do but I can read signs if someone doesnt want to chat and thats fine, I find women are generally much friendlier with random conversation Its funny because on planes I have occasions where someone has said " sorry Im not being rude but I dont want to talk " and I say something like " no problem, I completely understand. I prefer people being honest and not feeling obliged to have a conversation on a flight " and they say " yes, I can tell you like to talk which is why Im telling you " And thats perfectly fine, especially on a plane. You have every right to not engage in random conversation if you dont want to -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Gorthfuscious dont read too much into this, this is the second time the US has done this with specific sanctions against ICC prosecutors and it didnt work last time Biden has to agree to it but its not going to change or influence the ICC decision to issue the warrants. The US doesn't fund the ICC and its not a member The main reality will continue, these 5 people cant travel to any country that is an ICC member. Does this matter? I think it does matter but its more symbolic but the ICC must continue to do the work it does and countries like the US should stay out of its prosecutorial decisions -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Absolutely, both sides are very butthurt about getting issued with expected ICC warrants Its not like anyone's going to get arrested because they will avoid going to ICC countries but its symbolic and none of the 5 people can travel to many countries that include the EU -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
https://www.anews.com.tr/middle-east/2024/05/21/hamas-calls-out-icc-for-equating-executioner-with-victim No its not about their losses, they outraged because the ICC issued them with warrants " Hamas has criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for "equating the executioner with the victim" after it sought arrest warrants for leaders of the Palestinian resistance group. In a statement on Telegram on Monday, Hamas requested the ICC to issue arrest warrants for all Israeli war criminals and cancel those against the Palestinian group " -
What are you Playing Now? - Right Now at the moment edition
BruceVC replied to melkathi's topic in Computer and Console
I completed EOB3 after about 30 hours I enjoyed it more than EOB2, the game started off terrible but it gets better as you progress. In the beginning you start off hacking trees in the forest and I thought " this is not fun" but once you get to the main dungeons it really improves. And there was a real problem with my sound on an early dungeon level. The background noise was this constant ringing but that seemed to go away once I left the level but it was so annoying I nearly stopped playing and disabling the sound ruins immersion But what I appreciated is there were tips to puzzles and you could basically find everything you needed on the same level, you just needed to explore which is fine. The combat felt unbalanced at times, most enemies you could defeat easily except for earth elementals and these iron scorpions called Scaladars. The game has some improved features that help in combat where you can configure your whole party to attack at once and if you using long weapons like a Pole Arm then you party in the second row can attack without missile weapons. And this makes a noticeable difference The game design did a job of providing you with several "healing oasis " if you dont have a healer and it also allowed some strategic NPC to join your party which made a difference to my overall combat effectiveness The final battle with the Dark God was incredibly easy, I defeated him the first time with no save scumming and I was expecting another EOB2 Dran battle but it wasnt like that. I just moved away from him when he cast spells and I killed him after about 4-5 rounds EOB3 gets a well deserved 62/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system" and its worth playing I have now played the whole EOB series and EOB1 was my preferred game because it captures the overall classic dungeon explorer experience in the best way I am going to have my normal genre break from these classic SSI games but the games I will play next from a Gold Box perspective is going to be Forgotten Realms Collection 2 which includes the Pools of Radiance and other similar games -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hamas-denounces-icc-prosecutor-accusing-equate-victim-executioner-110397990#:~:text=Interest Successfully Added-,Hamas denounces ICC prosecutor%2C accusing him of trying to 'equate,the victim with the executioner'&text=Catch up on the developing,the victim with the executioner.' Talking about US and Israeli outrage about the ICC warrants, Hamas is outraged because " Hamas denounces ICC prosecutor, accusing him of trying to 'equate the victim with the executioner." Can you imagine making a serious argument where a terrorist organisation goes on a mass killing spree and " they the victims " in respects to the ICC applying for a warrant Only in the modern world we live in which is ubiquitous with selective and inconsistent outrage -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hamas-denounces-icc-prosecutor-accusing-equate-victim-executioner-110397990#:~:text=Interest Successfully Added-,Hamas denounces ICC prosecutor%2C accusing him of trying to 'equate,the victim with the executioner'&text=Catch up on the developing,the victim with the executioner.' Talking about US and Israeli outrage about the ICC warrants, Hamas is outraged because " Hamas denounces ICC prosecutor, accusing him of trying to 'equate the victim with the executioner." Can you imagine making a serious argument where a terrorist organisation goes on a mass killing spree and " they the victims " in respects to the ICC applying for a warrant Only in the modern world we live in which is ubiquitous with selective and inconsistent outrage -
Thats really interesting, this is the type of scientific research that feeds the inane and selective conspiracy theories about " the US can control the weather " and if its not the US then its the deep state\Jews\CIA it just depends on a persons bias or the type of conspiracy theory And Im not joking about this, I have heard in South Africa that view and you would assume people would ask " why doesn't the US just use this machine to ensure it doesn't have extreme weather "
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Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Im also surprised they took so long to issue\apply for warrants for Hamas leadership, you would have assumed they would have applied for the warrants much quicker considering the immediate crimes that were committed on 7 October that are indisputable apart from the deliberate mass murder of Israeli citizens. The taking of hostages is a war crime so why the delay from the ICC? Anyway better late than never, I wonder if Hamas or the Palestinians are going to enforce the warrant on the 3 x Hamas leaders because Gaza falls under ICC jurisdiction? -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Malc you know what this means? Canada is a signatory to the Rome Statute which means if you see the 3 x Hamas leaders walking down a street then you can make a citizens arrest ...you would be famous The reality is these warrants will be the same as the Putin warrant, the 5 people will just avoid going to any country that is part of the ICC Its a significant ICC decision but I cant see anyone being arrested and ending up at The Hague -
Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
ICC is going to be applying for warrants for the top 3 Hamas leaders and Netanyahu and the Israeli defence minister Interesting developments -
What are you Playing Now? - Right Now at the moment edition
BruceVC replied to melkathi's topic in Computer and Console
I completed EOB2 after about 35 hours I didnt think it was as good as EOB1 for 2 main reasons and these are also my main criticisms First and main issue is you have an incredibly bad design where you cant complete the game if you dont find a specific item and you not able to go back to find the item because a particular door is closed. For example on Silver Tower level 3 you need to find the Crystal Hammer for access to the Azure Tower level but I didnt even know I had to find the Crystal Hammer and I got to the end of the Silver Tower, defeated the beholders and then got teleported back to Temple but I couldn't go back to Silver Tower L3 because the door on L2 is now closed. I then had to use ASE ( built-in automap) teleport function to get through the Crystal Door but the Steam version of ASE doesn't include ASE teleport so I had to download and configure the normal ASE But you shouldnt have to use a " cheat " just because you missed out on 1 item, any game should allow you to go back and find that item at the very least EOB1 wasnt like that, it allowed to you travel back and retrace your steps and I didnt have to " cheat" once to complete the game But I did enjoy EOB2, I liked several of the dungeon designs and puzzles like the Medusa Maze and the final battle with Dran was fun....I literally used save scumming and spent the entire battle moving from square to square to avoid his spells and then his dragon form fire breath. It was hard but he died at the end EOB2 gets a 58/100 on the globally followed " BruceVC game rate system " Its a fun game but very difficult and sometimes unfairly difficult. I cant imagine anyone completing this game without consulting game guides and getting tips but I suppose its possible I am now playing EOB3, I might as well complete the series. Its okay so far, nothing to write home about -
This is really what my point is, the US needs to continue to provide aid to Ukraine if its going to "out last " Russia The EU provides aid but its not enough. The US can afford the aid but thats not the issue, its the requirement that aid packages must be approved in both the House and Senate and thats where the potential problem comes with approval You can see from the last aid packages and how representatives from both parties voted The House : 311 votes to 112 for the aid (While all 210 Democrats voted in favour, more Republicans were against the legislation than in favour of it, 112 to 101) The Senate : The package, which passed on a 79-18 bipartisan vote (The funding passed with the support of 46 Democrats, 31 Republicans and 2 independents, following hours of speeches by senators. Two Democrats, 15 Republicans and one independent opposed it. Three GOP senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — didn’t vote) https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/23/politics/senate-vote-israel-ukraine-aid-dg/index.html#:~:text=The funding passed with the,Alabama — didn't vote. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68848277 So you right thats its a group of GOP members in the House that are basically opposed to Ukraine aid but its 55% of them and then the GOP in the Senate support aid so thats not an issue But going forward we dont know how this is going to change and we dont know what Trump is going to do if he wins the election. He has influence on the GOP and there votes could change based on what he tells them to do This is the greatest risk to Ukraine defending against the Russian invasion and " out lasting " Russia , its not that many people in Congress dont support Ukraine or that the US doesnt have the resources . They do but we dont know how future votes are going to go because it depends on the individual representatives in Congress and these votes get influenced by other things like the border crisis or aid to Israel
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I read that article and I found it interesting. The frustrating reality is we just know what really motivates Russia or Putin around these decisions. There is lots of informed and accurate guesses but nothing that is ever really confirmed But if this is true its about economic attrition around production and not a decisive Russian military victory. And its not a bad strategy and it means the West will have to continue to support Ukraine with aid which really matters and is not necessarily guaranteed if you think about the delayed US aid So the US would be critical in " out lasting " Russia in this proposed economic attrition
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Whats with all these recent arrests in Russia, I heard its something to do with corruption within the Russian arms industry and the state being overcharged and the economic impact on the fiscus? Shoigu's replacement is an economist?
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Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left
BruceVC replied to Zoraptor's topic in Way Off-Topic
Another hilarious Babylon Bee take -
I have never of him but I dont follow up of Putins inner circle or prominent Russian politicians I had heard of Shoigu but only when the war started