BruceVC

GD I know you are well versed at the " Summon Gromnir " spell but before you invoke this incantation are you ready for the outcome? Gromnir will appear in the smoke...and he wont be happy

Thats seriously terrible.....whats wrong with you, especially when its true

The utter collapse of the official Afghan government failing to make any stand to the Taliban should be remembered as one of the greatest failures of any governments security forces to do their job...its egregious and an unequivocal failure of how any government should function This should reflect negatively on how Biden handled the understandable withdrawal of US forces....especially how Biden handled the withdrawal after he said "Afghanistan will be fine after the US pulls out " But one thing in credit to his decisions is when he said " I dont want Afghanistan to become the problem of yet another US president " ....sure he delivered on that outcome but its the way he addresed it that historians will remember....

https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-president-ghani-flees-country-145644024.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall I am stupefied that the official Afghan army of 350k trained people could acquiesce to the Taliban so easily....Kabul has fallen with NO resistance No this is not the consequence of the USA " betraying " their partners. At the very least Ghani could have presented military resistance in some way ....he had an army and airforce FFS !!! If after 20 years of support from a foreign country you cannot even make some stand in the interest of your own country them you need to accept the consequences of this cowardice and lack of action Yes its a pity so many lives were lost in the last 20 years but at least AQ was defeated in Afghanistan and Bin Laden was killed ....so the invasion and the 20 years of US involvement wasnt a complete waste

https://www.cfr.org/timeline/kurds-quest-independence Its more complicated than the Kurds just wanting an autonomous zone in Syria, they wanted an independent state in Iraq and Turkey as well But the point being the US doesn't control the borders of any country outside its own territory so an unrealistic expectation was set . The US cant grant any group independence unilaterally so you need to raise this with the governments of Iraq, Syria and Turkey

Okay I get it now, its not really a joke because the Kurds were expecting something that the US cannot grant or give them The Kurds want part of Turkey as their own independent state, Turkey will never agree to that so I am not sure why an unrealistic expectation was set and how anyone thinks the US can assist ?

I dont get it, I assume its a joke but I dont get it ?

I am huge fan of Central American food and especially their love and appreciation of pork, my favorite meat overall I have watched numerous Bizarre Foods and Delicious Destinations tv shows with Andrew Zimmerman where he visits central America numerous times. The food stalls and food markets look amazing https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/nicaragua

" Dr Manhattan " .... The thought of that really made me laugh, I am just thinking of that scene in the movie where he defeats the Viet Kong, for the USA, and they all start praying to him

Italy is an amazing country with each province having its own distinct history, culture and most important unique food culture. My sister worked at an Italian restaurant in southern Italy that did training in food specific to the region and she was telling me how different food can be in parts of Italy If you want to watch a brilliant TV series that illustrates this try to watch this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Tucci:_Searching_for_Italy

Yes but the original military objective was the destruction of AQ in Afghanistan and Bin Laden seeing justice for 9/11 I dont mean to repeat myself but what I am saying is the defeat of the Taliban was not part of the initial objective. Yes it became part of trying to enable Afghanistan to become a modern and functioning country which the US and its allies tried to achieve but failed for several reasons So if Kabul falls to the Taliban the reasons for this failure shouldn't been seen as primarily because " the US failed to defeat the Taliban militarily due to a bad strategy " .....their was no effective strategy to defeat the Taliban for numerous reasons and most of them are not about the US. Like the corruption that Elerond mentioned and the Pakistan border

The thing is we mustnt forget the salient and most important reason the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the barbaric and anachronistic Taliban. It was only because of 9/11 and the Taliban were giving refuge to AQ and specifically Bin Laden The Taliban were given the option before the invasion to hand him over and they refused. So the invasions primary objective was the destruction of AQ in Afghanistan which the US more or less achieved They also became deeply involved in attempts to rebuild Afghanistan since 2001 and lots of effort was put into that like spending over $1 Trillion in aid and training the Afghan army and police several times. But it was never about sustaining the new Afghan government permanently either financially or militarily And since the Taliban cannot be " defeated " militarily for several reasons that arent the US fault ,like the reality of the porous Pakistan border where the Taliban cross when they want and find succour and shelter in tribal controlled regions of Pakistan, their is no real military objective So the pullout is understandable, I just dont think its been done in the right way considering the real imminent collapse of the country. Biden should have done the withdrawal in a staged and phased approach and just assess each phase before moving on to the next one As I mentioned previously this will reflect on Bidens legacy especially if Kabul falls....then we will all witness terrible human rights abuses

Im still busy with Kingdoms of Amalur, its still fun so I havent stopped it yet. I have just killed the Balor which was another incredibly easy final battle....same as all the battles but that is part of the enjoyment. Its more like an interactive RPG narrative because the battles and quests are so easy And its enjoyable but no challenge in combat skill and strategy And also I have never played an RPG with so many side quests...I have stopped doing any of them and I am now focusing on the main quests only so I can finish this game

Im watching several entertaining shows like Chicago PD, Med and Fire. The new Law & Order Organised Crime and a few others like Helstrom I am also watching again the entire True Blood series, one of the greatest shows of all time in the fantasy and supernatural genre

Kanie how did ancient man play RPG....no one thinks to ask this question

Sure, its not a surprising development that African or ME countries have a Toyota, or similar manufacturer, dealer selling vehicles. This is normal in most countries But this has nothing to do with fueling war or somehow holding the likes of Toyota responsible for how ISIS gets their vehicles

Thanks Elerond, what a good link I am so glad you recognised what Hoonding was talking about because he normally posts cryptic or confusing comments that some people assume is just trolling but its normally linked to a real event or some historical truth. But of course he often then creates his own " truth " about these events which sometimes is some really hilarious example of race baiting or blaming Colonialism\Whiteness ...but he is funny

I think you and I may be on the same page if I understand your point but I am not sure exactly what you mean by " Toyota blitzkrieg " I assume this is about solutions to destroying the Taliban ?

I am seriously considering creating a separate thread where I am looking for feedback and personal stories from all members about what advice they can give others about the best way to get an effective ( and this is a real topic because one of the current global challengers is the fact that some degrees dont help you get a job that creates a sustainable revenue stream) university degree and how to able to fund it and not be left with crushing debt. Because as I mentioned I am well aware how not having pay for degree is a huge relief So in your example would you have been able to go to University without that initial athletic scholarship ? And then obviously you worked hard at school and you were academic and did well enough to qualify for a legal degree but how much did that allow you to study law .....or did you initially study something else? So what I mean is did the athletic scholarship automatically grant you access to study law without the initial school requirement or did you still have to achieve certain final grade 12 marks before you could quality for an athletic bursary ?

I also find myself watching these shows at times .....they do fascinate me and they always present such credible evidence but then I wonder if you do your own research is it true and what do other people think about the reason for certain ancient examples ? And I have done that on several occasions where I feel compelled to pause the show and do about 30 minutes Internet research to assess of veracity of what they talking about it. And I always find other credible theories generally which is normal....yet it kind of ruins the experience of the show so I normally stop doing it in the future But sometimes the examples of alien intervention has to be confirmed because of the significance of the suggestion, for example the idea that the pyramids were " definitely " built by aliens because it was impossible for man at the time to have created structures with such precision using the resources at the time This has been proven to be absolutely false, Egyptologists have confirmed many times that the ancient Egyptians understood how to transfer blocks of stone and did understand the architecture that created the Pyramids so their is no mystery to " how the pyramids were created " Anyway no need to research these shows because it just destroys the fun side of what they saying

Gromnir did you get a bursary for University or did you pay for it yourself ? Also when you worked at school what did you use the money for. I always think of this reality and how young people do sometimes have to get part time jobs in school and I thinks it both unfair yet I understand the necessity University debt I know is a bugbear and my degree was paid for by family as was all my siblings and we were fortunate , I always admire and respect how many students have to pay for their own debt yet I know it can be a burden once you qualified. But I still stand by the view that it can be done with a structured payment program but it would be nice if student debt could be written off once 50 % is paid in all countries ? I am just trying to find a way that anyone who has to pay for their degree and once they qualified is given some relief and allowed to be debt free of the original loan

Gorthfuscious why you making assumptions? Skarpen may be Uighur, he could a refugee ? @Skarpen Are you a Uighur? Its okay if you are ....we all respect all opinions and feedback

The entire potential collapse of Afghanistan really means some civil war until the legitimate government is bankrupt. I imagine this nightmare scenario where you have only Kabul and the local region in the hands of the government and rest of the country under the loose control of the Taliban. But it will be some stalemate as the government still have an air force and other military hardware I know I said that the US leaving was understandable but Biden cant just watch the country fail. It would reflect very baldy on his legacy .....especially when you consider the argument that Democrats stand for human rights, refugee rights, BLM and other rights. The reality of the killing of educated Afghan women and the bombings of the schools created for women wont be a nice situation to be responsible for if you Biden if Kabul falls So I would consider a deployment of US troops but then again " when will it end " once that happens So its a terrible situation and I dont have a solution

But come on lets be honest, you dont mind one party states and no Democratic institutions like freedom of speech You openly support China and thats fine, its your choice and your opinion and its good to be honest. But now we cant be worried about the collapse of the USA due to chaos and fascism because its got a long to go before its anything like China.....when it gets to that level we must all get worried

I must say you have an interesting gaming strategy but its works for you and I find its easy to sometimes take a 24 hour break from a game and then I come back but I generally always finish the game. Also I tend to RP most games which means I immersive myself in the game. And I use to be a DM for about 12 years in the AD&D Forgotten Realms and I was very fortunate because I realized I have this huge imagination and I use to be able create games for the party without needing much maps, detailed events and just the main monsters written down. But for everything else I did from my memory and imagination. Which means when I play PC games and I RP I can really have fun and get into the narrative .....so I prefer keeping to one main game at a time