BruceVC

Because of the imminent release of the new Styx game I decided to play Of Orcs and Men Its a simple game but fun. The combat mechanics grow on you, in the beginning I was like " WTF ....this is boring " But it really becomes entertaining, I did end up in most tough battles adopting an effective strategy where Arkail drew the aggro but he was defeated and then Styx run away and let the enemies chase him and then he resurrected Arkail and so the battle continued It looked silly but it worked, sometimes I had to resurrect Arkail 3-5 times

Iran is close to getting nukes And Israel and the US wont allow this. Its been explained many times and most people should be aware of this. A nuclear armed Iran would destabilize the entire ME But it wont be a WW3, that term keeps getting thrown around whenever there is regional war and it seems to be because of sensationalism, misinformation or fearmongering You can only have a WW if the worlds superpowers are fighting each other. A war between Russia and Ukraine or war between Iran and Israel\US is not a WW

Degrees of corruption occur in most countries and these ongoing Serbian protests are about the rampant corruption that Serbia is grappling with I wonder if there would be less corruption in Serbia if they were part of the EU?

@Sarex anything to say?

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/15/us-air-strikes-houthis-yemen The US has initiated a new bombing campaign on the Houthis Its long overdue considering the last 18 months of the Houthis terrorism around attacking ships in the Red Sea and International waters Hopefully the Houthis get the message

I have completed both DLC for W3 after 170 hours and that means sadly my journey into the Witcher world is close to ending, I have now replayed all 3 Witcher games over the last 2 months with mods and the overall experience exceeded my expectations Each game was excellent for different reasons but W3 is still my favourite As far as W3 DLC were concerned, Heart of Stone was fun. I enjoyed killing the Toad King and O'Dimm was one of best enemies I have ever met. I ended up saving Oligierd and beating O'Dimm in the test at the end and I received Iris which is an excellent blade But Blood and Wine was by far one of the best DLC I have ever played, the entire plot with Dettlaff was exciting and very thought provoking around narrative choices. I also like the whole feudal land of Toussaint, there were lots of new quests, monsters and activities I had an interesting set of final outcomes for this DLC which I was happy with considering the reality Dettlaff didnt end up killing Sylvia because of the ribbon Sylvia ended up reconciling with Anna, good fairy tale ending I ended up having to fight Dettlaff, I didnt want to but I had no choice. The hardest battle of any Wither game but Im glad Regis survived because he is one of Geralts real friends Ciri came to visit me and she is doing well as Witcher I highly recommend the entire Witcher series to anyone who likes a strong and enthralling narrative based RPG. The 3 games create this grand, connected story with lots of choices that influence the main narrative. The entire Witcher world with its lore is one of the best gaming franchises out there

Yes that would be part of the peace deal I imagine

Because Putin can claim a ceasefire is a " win " because Ukraine wont join NATO and Russia keeps the Donbas and Crimea Sanction relief will only come once the war is over but Russian will still gain the things I mentioned And Russia will also achieve its objective of extending its geographical border because the annexed parts of Ukraine are now Russian Its not the ideal outcome for Putin, he would prefer to occupy or defeat Ukraine completely and then he doesnt have to make any concessions because they the military winner But this outcome is better for Ukraine than Russia because at least the war ends and Ukraine will preserve 80% of its territory

But why would anyone actually believe that Western sanctions havent hurt the Russian economy? Thats just the expected Russian propaganda and of course the Ruskies would say that because its a part of the misinformation to Russian citizens There have been several Russian comments about the future and around ending Western\US sanctions or an expectation to end sanctions https://theconversation.com/russias-economy-is-stagnating-but-that-wont-force-it-to-end-the-war-251296 Current Russian inflation is on 9.9% and its repo rate is 21% ( Trump ran on " high" US inflation of 3.5 %) Western sanctions dont mean the Russian economy is going to collapse, South Africa during Apartheid had sanctions for decades and our economy never collapsed but it hurt the long-term growth and sustainability of our overall economy There are different types of sanctions but all sanctions take time before you see the impact The Russians definitely want sanction relief despite what some ideologues and propagandists may say

Yes Russia will gain through sanction relief and a new and " better " relationship with the US under Trump But end of the day Ukraine will gain much more from this because the war will end Ukraine will agree not to join NATO and they will accept they have lost Donbas and Crimea but they keep 80% of there country and retain there sovereignty going forward This US proposal is much better than the war continuing where Russia has the ongoing military advantage around attrition and resources

Its different now because its proposed under Trumps new plan for a ceasefire Putin will be under different pressure because according to Trump " he wants peace " I dont think Putin wants peace but Russia can also gain from it like US sanction relief so we may see agreement from the Ruskies

Basically the meeting was progressive and positive These types of meetings are best where Trump\Vance dont have to involved because then it becomes more about a photo-op and media attention The ball is now in Russia's court, I wonder how they will respond?

Yes but I have acknowledged that there would be examples of this type of ethnic payback But the article mentioned is about the future of Syria and its about unity of ethnic groups like the Kurds who were always opposed to Assad, I would assume you want Syria to be united and have a future? This is a positive step but it doesnt ignore the numerous other problems Syria faces "Syria’s Kurds will gain their “constitutional rights” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades under Assad. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement."

They do mention the civilians being killed " The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 1,130 people were killed in the clashes, including 830 civilians. The Associated Press could not independently verify these numbers. "

https://apnews.com/article/syria-hts-clashes-alawites-sunnis-lattakia-assad-b92c8532c40a3c7105ba32307ffaef48 It looks like Kurds can get on with the "head choppers " and they integrating into the new Syrian army

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9dp5rr2x9o Tomorrow is a big day for a possible end to the Ukraine conflict The US and Ukraine will be meeting in Saudi Arabia and this will be a significant meeting on the way forward " Soon after the White House row, Zelensky expressed regret about the incident and tried to repair relations with the US - the country's biggest military supplier. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, later said that Trump had received a letter from Zelensky that included an "apology" and "sense of gratitude Witkoff said that in Saudi Arabia the US team wanted to discuss a "framework" for peace to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war. A major minerals deal - derailed because of the row - is also reported to be back on the agenda in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has offered to grant the US access to its rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for US security guarantees. "

Last of Us Season 2, it looks excellent. 13 April

This ethnic payback was inevitable considering the thousands of Syrians killed by Assad Its not an expected response when you see the type of carnage that Assad inflicted on Syria People dont forget, look at Rwanda now. The Tutsi will never forget what happened in 1994 and still make regional military decisions based on it

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-is-considering-putting-banking-sanctions-tariffs-russia-2025-03-07/ Trumps considering increased sanctions on Russia because of Russia's continued belligerence and ostensible intransigence around supporting a meaningful peace deal " Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely 'pounding' Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large-scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Trump said. "To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!"

Completed the main Witcher 3 narrative after about 110 hours and as I have mentioned in previous posts the entire Witcher series is one of my favourite RPG of all time W3 gets a solid 90/100 on the global respected " BruceVC game rating system" I am now busy with the DLC As far as the final endings were concerned I had some interesting outcomes and these were all because of the narrative choices I made and a few I made in error now that I know the outcomes Ciri survived and became a Witcher like Geralt, interestingly this aligns to the W4 narrative where she is a Witcher. But I also supported Ciri like the snowball fights and helping her bury her male friend in Skellige and we destroyed Avallac's lab. I was very happy with this outcome and Ciri surviving Radovid ended up defeating Nilfgaard and winning the war, I wasnt happy with this outcome because of his witch hunts and persecutions of Sorceresses. So I should have assassinated him with Dijkstra but I made a wrong choice in the Phillipa quest Emperor of Nilfgaard was eventually assassinated, I was fine with that because I found him to be insufferably arrogant I ended up not being with Triss or Yen and that was my mistake for saying I loved both of them, oh well. I know for next time and remember " hell hath no fury like a women scorned "

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y071kxwn8o @Elerond this US supreme court ruling should make you happy Nothing is guaranteed for Trump at the SC level even with a Conservative majority of judges " The US Supreme Court has rejected a request by the Trump administration to withhold nearly $2bn (£1.6bn) in payments to foreign aid organisations for work they have already performed for the government. On Wednesday, the top court upheld a lower court ruling ordering the administration to release the funds to contractors and grant recipients of the US Agency for International Development and the State Department. "

I cant see town hall meetings being abandoned, they are as American and traditional as apple pie GOP will just have learn to deal with the type of anger some of Trumps policies are creating

https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/05/arab-leaders-endorse-egypts-53bn-plan-to-rebuild-gaza-countering-trumps-proposal The Arab League has finally agreed on something, they are supporting Egypt's $53 billion plan to rebuild Gaza and ensure the Palestinians can remain Hamas will not be allowed to govern this new region so the US should accept it and then Israel has rejected it but that might change Its early days but at least we have a realistic idea created by Arab states outside of Trumps " Gaza Riviera "

When it comes to Trumps presidency the most significant voice is always what Trump thinks and says I have realized it doesnt matter what his cabinet says on most issues because Trump can change his mind literally the next day and then that becomes the official view or policy But that doesnt apply to Trumps views on things like the Gaza Riviera suggestion which was him just throwing a silly idea out So you just need to learn to separate things that Trump can realistically implement and things what he is not serious about

There seems to be a European concern or sentiment that Germany must be limited in how much money it can spend on its military but Germany is also the strongest economy in the EU If Europeans are serious about the EU having its own effective military that is not dependant on the US then Germany mustnt be restrained Its not like we going to see WW1&2 again where Germany is the enemy, the EU is what matters now around its sustainability and its influence and Germany is a committed member of the EU @Lexx what do you think? https://ip-quarterly.com/en/why-germany-can-and-should-increase-defense-spending