BruceVC

But the article says the Socialist party are the ruling party so I dont think they handed victory to anyone, this just affirmed their right to govern ?

You a student of history, why would you believe and think NATO borders nowadays have got anything to do with an invasion or attack on Russia when it didnt happen in the 50 years or so of the Cold War? Its a complete false narrative this argument that " poor mother Russia thinks that NATO will invade if its member countries are near our borders " This is primarily about economic and ideological concerns and not military concerns

Thats just part of the false narrative from Putin, he is asking for something that he knows the NATO members wont acquiesce to. This is brinkmanship from Putin and he is a master at it and Im glad you not falling for it Another ridiculous comment I heard today on CNN from this Russian apologist is that Russia has information that Ukraine is massing troops and plans to invade the Donbas region...so Russia will be " forced " to invade Ukraine to save those citizens who identify as Russian Its gaslighting 101

Yes many people have an issue with illegal immigrants who arrive in a country without papers , thats not racism and thats not going to go away But its basically over now anyway in the EU and their is no reason you cant go on holiday to the EU and have a great time. My family is planning trips to the UK from May or so

But you forgetting the important role the English tourists and holidaymakers contribute towards the economies of all the countries they visit....this was missed and noticed during the pandemic and lockdowns throughout the world when suddenly less UK tourism meant noticeably less GDP in many countries including SA . So we must never forget how much we love English tourists

Good points raised about the time of the year and weather and how it can influence the decision of what EU country to visit

It sounds like you guys had a great time, where is she from and where did you take her to in Oz and what did you generally do ?

France, its beautiful and is historical and has lots to see and the food is great If G likes UK history then London is a must with all the great historical sites But what does she enjoy or what is she interested in? Does she like good food, tours of medieval history and culture and or beautiful scenery for example ?

I know what your new job is, its " stand-up comedian " , I have always maintained you very funny so thanks for the early morning humor. Its appreciated Its not a very accurate point to suggest the autocratic Russian system of government is similar to any true Constitutional Democracy in the world....its not even remotely true. You generally dont find journalists getting killed and arrested , opposition party members being poisoned and independent media houses getting closed in the US ? " people in China have plenty of individual freedom "

No not really, these " alliances " between Russia and China only make a difference when it comes to the veto in the UNSC Its not like they have real ideological similarities except for their leadership denying their citizens different degrees of human rights and freedoms and they also both feel threatened and anxious by the concept of Democracy, accountability and the idea of citizens having choice

Im 30 hours into NWN EE and I am thoroughly enjoying it, the first time I played it was about 12 years ago so I have forgotten quite a lot of the narrative which makes it more exciting Im loving the AD&D\D&D ruleset and as usual the Forgotten Realms lore and setting. I can see the MP design but its easy to mitigate the annoyances like I am Wizard and I have 1 henchman, Tomi, a familiar and I summon monsters so I have " a party" with me all the time which helps with this type of MP game

Markets react to degrees of sentiment, this is well known. You shouldn't read too much into how markets initially respond to certain geopolitical situations because their is generally an " overreaction " which corrects itself Its not the same as long-term political policy success or failures. So we should separate this current Ukraine issue from criticism and issues around the Biden presidency

I really dont think the possible invasion of Ukraine is a distraction created by Putin and the response by the US and Biden is because of domestic problems within the US The US and the EU is more than capable of dealing with foreign and local problems concurrently

Wormie you need to ensure you include a score out of 100 so we understand if you would recommend it ? Any score >50 means you wouldn't recommend it ?

Okay I see what you mean, its unlikely Finland will join NATO

Elerond this is not a good time for fence sitting. Finland must join NATO, its in the best interest of Finland to be openly aligned with NATO. You need to convince people of the importance of this But if the majority of the Finnish parliament support joining NATO whats stopping Finland from joining, surly your elected parliament do decide these things and not the citizens?

Heres an interesting comparison and question , PoE vs Pathfinder universe? And if you prefer one over the other what would be the reason? I havent played either but I have PoE 1 and Pathfinder 1 (Kingmaker ) on Steam and I am leaning towards Pathfinder 1 as my first choice ( I feel a little guilty saying that on the Obsidian forum )

I think you are experiencing what many gamers who have been playing games for years can go through, its not unusual and there is some real observational data around this. I can guarantee you that several other members sometimes feel the same way in the sense " I find I lose interest in a game and dont have the desire to complete the game " ... @ShadySands havent you felt like this sometimes ? I haven't personally experienced what you talking about but I do things to ensure I dont start thinking like that but sometimes a person is fine feeling like you do which is how you feel as you mentioned ? But in closing I have a series of psychological exercises and things you can practice if you want to change your current mindset but the important question is " what exactly do you want to change "? For example do you want to improve your length of time you play and not get bored as quick as you do ?

I think Im not explaining this worrying development properly, I will try one more time. This is about a school that was closed for 9 months and the virtual learning wasnt working for many parents so these parents desperate that their kids were not denied another 9 months made the difficult decision to vote for Youngkin because he was committed to open school teaching My concern is not about the state flipping to red, Im sure it will flip back. My concern is about public sector schools in Virginia clearly failing to educate the kids properly according to all the parents? @Amentep I am trying to explain the issue to Hurlshot. Does it make sense to you?

Please at least read the articles before commenting, the virtual learning was a failure which is why Democrat parents voted for the GOP. Doesnt it seem strange that you suddenly have a historically Democratic state becoming red

I wish that was a solution, what occurred from that idea was problems with the teaching outcomes and the kids werent coping. So the virtual learning idea isnt effective https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-non-republican-suburban-moms-reveal-why-they-voted-for-youngkin-over-mcauliffe

GD I have some bad news for you but since you in a great relationship you dont need to be as concerned as the rest of us @Amentep @ShadySands@Gfted1@Hurlshot@rjshae I also would like to know what you guys think about this In Virginia the Republican candidate Youngkin won by 11 points for several reasons but the one being he promised to reopen the schools in Virginia which have been closed for 9 months !!! Did you ever imagine that public school in Virginia could be closed for so long and then this long delay leads to a Republican victory... https://www.aol.com/news/virginia-youngkin-school-closures-new-jersey-223021118.html https://news.yahoo.com/youngkin-signs-executive-orders-banning-011700205.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall @HurlshotI assume the public sector schools in California have been open, why do you think they cant do the same thing in Virginia The one good outcome from this, Youngkin is a reasonable, charismatic and convincing candidate. He is not a Trump sycophant and seems to reach out across the aisles and the more reasonable GOP candidates the better

Its funny you mentioned this joke because its well known that Germans\Austrians are not renowned for telling genuinely funny jokes but I do know 2-3 German jokes that are hilarious to non-Germans But not every EU country is renowned for telling jokes and thats not a big deal. Your snow slopes, blueberry milkshakes and great venison and pigeon for dinner In Seefeld we always stayed in the same hotel, Hotel Vergeiner https://www.hotelvergeiner.at/en

Yes, you right. Well done for that obvious historical reason... I must have met her in 1995 and of course she use to live in a Communist country so yes some uncertainty would have been expected. But do Danish people date girls from Bulgaria and Hungary or not really ?

But isnt it interesting how this Novak incident has worked in your favor? But nationalism can be a positive because to be honest I am always impressed when any country is prepared to take a stance on an issue that will impact their economy but the the issue is bigger than the revenue .....in SA we would never compromise on investment because we need the money. In the EU do people generally date across ethnic lines, for example would Danish people date girls from Hungary or Bulgaria? It was always a surprise to me in our early trips to Austria in Seefeld from 1991-1997 where I met several East European girls mostly from Hungary and Bulgaria. I had a huge crush on a beautiful Hungarian barlady who became a friend of mine and I use to see her when she wasnt working, she also seemed to like me and she told me that many EU countries, like Austria and Germany, look at down on her and she was treated like a second class citizen It was so strange to hear because she was really hot and friendly. I remember her having slightly dark skin with purple hair, her name was Helga ? I assume she was talking about how East European countries use to seen as places where citizens were less sophisticated by some EU countries and they were ones who did more the manual work like chambermaids and barmaids....I sure its all changed now ? But stereotypes can be funny in movies, do you know how many times I have watched EU or UK crime movies and the syndicates are always gangsters from Russia, Ukraine or Serbian ex-paramilitary but they hardcore and not to be messed with and we all know this is not the actual representation of these countries but these are real types of cartels