BruceVC

The Taliban controlled the country before 2001 and they were the main reason the country was unstable because they created the insurgency How would bringing back the ex king Zahir Shah helped placate or stop the Taliban in anyway? Would the Taliban allow him to govern the country peacefully?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c624m4kgrg3o An interesting, unexpected but appreciated BRICS development Brazil has basically vetoed Venezuela's attempts to join BRICS because of the rampant cheating and lack of credibility in the last election in Venezuela and Maduro is seriously butthurt " Venezuela has criticised Brazil's decision to veto its admission to the Brics group of emerging economies. Venezuela's foreign ministry described the move, which came at the group's summit in Russia attended by more than 20 heads of state, as an "immoral aggression" "The Brazilian foreign ministry has decided to maintain the veto that [former Brazilian president] Jair Bolsonaro has applied against Venezuela for years, reproducing the hatred, exclusion and intolerance promoted from the centres of power in the West," the Venezuelan foreign ministry said in a statement. "The Venezuelan people feel indignation and shame at this inexplicable and immoral aggression," it added. Venezuela had lobbied hard to join the Brics, with Maduro even making a surprise appearance at the summit in the city of Kazan and declaring that his country was "part of the Brics family". But whats also interesting is Putins comments about this " Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hosted the summit, said he agreed with Venezuela's position, but added that it would only be able to join the Brics if there was a consensus in favour among its members. We know Brazil's position. We don't agree, Venezuela is fighting for its survival," Putin said at a news conference on Thursday." And thats the perfect example of the Russian definition of how Putin sees the "new BRICS world order " He is basically saying free and fair and credible elections dont matter. As long as you stay in power thats all that matters The Venezuelan election was never about the survival of the country, it was simply about Maduro staying in power like all elections And its good to see BRICS members rejecting this type of sentiment from Russia

I always find this type of view to be the strangest criticism of US military campaigns and efforts over the last 20-30 years Its fair and legitimate to criticize the invasion of Iraq but the efforts to stabilize Afghanistan were real and substantial The US basically spent 20 years trying to stabilize Afghanistan, they spent something like $1 trillion dollars and for years Afghanistan had a legitimate and internationally recognized government They failed to end the Taliban insurgency for a variety of reasons and the country was never truly stable and then you had constant corruption and inefficiency within the new Afghan government But its hard to think of what more follow through the US could have done in Afghanistan short of making Afghanistan part of the US because end of the day only the Afghan government like all governments can truly stabilize the country And the worst reality is there were many people saying the US must leave Afghanistan and when the US did leave the new Afghan security forces collapsed and Taliban took control and the country is worse than ever with no economic or positive future for its citizens and particularly no future for Afghan women But the US had to leave at some stage. I support that and it couldnt indefinitely sustain Afghanistan Im really questioning what else the US could have done to support the new Afghan government after 2001 because hindsight is 20/20?

But most people arent really influenced by wars that they dont have lived experience around or direct experience South Africa was involved for decades in the border war and Namibia and I remember older people doing conscription, I lived through South Africa's wars during Apartheid the first 15 years of my life but it had no impact on me because I was too young or not involved I would argue many people forget very quickly or selectively dismiss why certain wars were necessary like the US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. You can find people in the US who claim that war was unjust and conflate it to Iraq 2003 But the invasion of Afghanistan was perfectly legitimate considering 9/11?

Thats interesting, as you might remember I played F:NV recently but it was a heavy modded game and there were definitely regions with enemies I couldnt defeat until higher level and that included Deathclaws

But the F:NV design of open world is what I prefer anyway You can go north and escape the Deathclaw in the beginning and get to NV but you will be very low level and wont survive most battles in the NV region Its a choice but its a bad choice to make and taking the longer route just makes sense

I have decided to buy Dark Messiah M&M and UnderRail I have only heard good things about both these games. I am going to play Dark Messiah first and then UnderRail UnderRail really seems to be what I enjoy around exploration and open world and I always appreciate post-apocalyptic settings like Fallout, METRO and STALKER

Geez Elerond, you sure know how to ruin someone's day ...what a depressing post

Gorthfuscious did you guys see that Trump worked in a McDonalds Trump is a man who identifies with the working class because he works in a menial job. The first billionaire who also works in a McDonalds Not a staged photo-op at all

https://apnews.com/article/moldova-elections-eu-referendum-russia-325cb2c13beb1d76565a6e2aadef971a It looks like Moldova is on track to join the EU despite Russian interference in the referendum " With 99.41% of votes counted in the EU referendum held Sunday, the “Yes” vote stood at 50.39% and the “No” vote at 49.61%, according to the Central Electoral Commission. " Very close result but definitely the best outcome for the future of the country

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-north-korea-deserters-meat-assault-1972200 NK soldiers in Kursk are already deserting and they not even in the Russian meatgrinder yet

Im not with you, why would NK soldiers being deployed to Ukraine be about the US response after the election irrespective of who wins ? If Harris wins US aid will continue in the same way, if Trump wins he will try to create a peace deal by offering a carrot or stick for both countries Im not getting how NK soldiers fit into this?

Yes that part I understood but this debate was about NK soldiers being deployed to the current arena in Ukraine and why would Russia need NK soldiers if they had no manpower shortages? We will never know the truth because we will never get confirmation about real Russian losses and its impact on the battlefield

I completed TW2 after about 50 hours As I mentioned previously its a fun RPG and it has some worthwhile mechanics like crafting, skills advancement and a myriad of quests and an open-world to explore with no level scaling . Im not going to mention what I didnt like about it I enjoyed and was surprised how the narrative ended ...I was hoping to Romance the prophetess I spent about 2-3 hours on the final battle, I dont like those kind of end boss battles where you have to adopt a different strategy to normal combat But its a good Eurojank RPG and definitely worth playing It gets a well deserved 65\100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system " I then played another Fighting Fantasy PC game, The Citadel of Chaos and it was another fantastic nostalgic sojourn back into the world of " choose your own adventure ". It was just quick, I finished it in 4 hours I decided to play a DLC for TW2,Call of the Tenebrae. It has similar mechanics to the OC but it improves on some things and is higher level

Im not sure what your point is? Are you saying that Russia doesnt have military resource and manpower shortages and they not getting these resources from the likes of Iran and NK? Or are you saying they are accepting NK boots on the ground but its not because of manpower shortages? Or are you saying something else ?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/early-vote Some early voting in around mail-in and early voting Dems are ahead overall but the swing states that matter are mixed with GOP ahead in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada and the Dems ahead in Wisconsin , North Carolina (barely )Michigan and Pennsylvania And this will change but its an interesting first glance

Its not really a surprise, with the massive amount of troops and resources that Russia has lost in Ukraine it was almost inevitable We already know about the military aid countries like Iran and NK are providing Russia for the same reason but Russia has a serious manpower issue. The Russian casualties are clearly much higher than we have been told and Russian\Vatnik propaganda reports on Surly Western\NATO can send troops for the same reasons but I doubt they will because troops on the ground are different to military advisors and you wont find NATO consensus for that?

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-says-leader-yahya-sinwar-killed-2024-10-18/ Hamas has admitted he is dead and was killed in combat No need for the jokes around " him being killed ages ago and kept frozen" This is a depressing thread and the injection of humour is appreciated but lets focus on the reality of the war

You think he was killed ages ago and he has been kept in a freezer so the Israelis at some stage could declare him killed and that would somehow make any difference to global sentiment about this war I assume you joking , good one. You made me laugh

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-824901 @Gfted1 Here are some details around how Mossad was able to implement the pager attack on Hezbollah Very interesting

Your cat sounds cute, can you post some photos? I love cats with real personalities

Sure but I was pointing out the obvious failures of the UN resolution that both UNIFIL and the Lebanese military failed spectacularly to do over the last 18 years If the UN resolution had been implemented Hezbollah would just be a political party and they wouldnt be able to fire rockets into Israel And Israel wouldnt have launched another military campaign into Lebanon. A UN agreement was reached in 2006 to end that war and that agreement should have been acted on to avoid future wars There is no point having UN resolutions like this if you ignore something as fundamental as " that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State "

Im not sure why the UN hasnt withdrawn this military mission from Lebanon, the UN has examples of failed military missions but 1701 must be there greatest failure One of the agreed on mandates was disarming Hezbollah but I dont think they have ever made any attempt to enforce this? http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/1701 "Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a longterm solution based on the following principles and elements: – full respect for the Blue Line by both parties; - security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11, deployed in this area; – full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State " Not only was this never done by UNIFIL but Hezbollah was allowed to restock and build up its military resources

I played two PC Fighting Fantasy books, House of Hell and Forest of Doom Very nostalgic and worthwhile experience and reminded me of the incredible time when I was kid and we didnt have a PC so books and Tabletop games was how we played fantasy games I bought 3 more to play later I decided to play Two Worlds 2, its fun. It has some unusual designs and mechanics but its a cheesy and entertaining RPG, its not complex but its fun

Its an usual mechanic that true, Im not sure how practical it is I like the concept of a UI so you can see stats and information easily