BruceVC

I am going to do some research and get to you on something to add to my point But Gorthfuscious I still dont think you are understanding my fundamental point, the Russian annexation is considered illegal by every international court. So this needs to be accepted because this is what matters for global recognition And you ask a good question around " do the people of Crimea get a choice " ....they do but not when its against the country that the region belongs to. So in other words the legal answer is " no, the local people dont get to decide on their own " . If you allowed citizens in specific regions of any countries to just decide they didnt like their main country and wanted to break away their would be absolute chaos. Which is why you have laws and detailed strategies how it can be done but its complex and requires compromise and many meetings ...but it cannot possibly be done the way Russia decided to do it

I did see this on Epic and it looked really good but I tend to be overly enthusiastic sometimes on how I automatically respond to game trailers and marketing so I dont always trust myself What is it like ?

You are so naughty....I know you joking right because obviously the Russian Referendum was utterly pointless and had no international legal standing? But on another note, I wanted to know about Austrian food on the food thread ...but lets chat later about that one

Gorthfuscious !!! I am too fond of you to insist on a proper spanking for this cheekiness But I am glad you asked what world I live in because now you allow me to explain to you that you are wrong about the ownership of the Crimea and this is an important point because its also the reason that you cannot have an opinion that " Russia has a legal right to the Crimea " We have had this debate before but I didn't realize you really do believe that you cant demand and expect Russia to give back Crimea. And I really respect your intelligence too much to just accept that you wont understand why Russia can and will give back Crimea. Yes you will have to change your well meaning and supportive of Russia's control of Crimea but I always welcome these types of changes personally because I do believe that I must have accurate views of events of history....so for me when I have learnt new things from you and your views on topics like the Chinese naval expansion I consider them both instructive and informative. I will keep it very simple, the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea has been declared illegal in international courts like the EU and courts that handle international issues like property rights. And its based on the international recognition that all countries have borders and these borders cannot just be redesigned by one party. So in other Russia has no legal right to decide it now owns Crimea without Ukraine agreeing Ukraine will not agree to this so Russia is illegally occupying Crimea, its as simple as that and the only reasonable way you could possibly change this fact is if you can provide the link that has the legal document that says " Russia legally owns Crimea " And this needs to be internationally recognized. And this is the only information that matters so even though we can go your through your other reasons like " Serbia being carved " none of them change the actual reality of who owns Crimea I hope I am not coming across as condescending because I am looking to your response, or other members response , to the Crimea issue

No Zora thats not true. You guys have a very strange view of what the West expects from a new Russian leadership...we all want the same thing. The West would respect a new leader but it must be done Democratically....and the new leader must respect the Democratic principles

Why do you assume the world outside of Putin would accept a Western puppet? We just want a Russian leader who accepts the Democratic process and things like human rights within Russia And of course it would be expected that Russia restores the sovereignty of Crimea to Ukraine

Interesting concern, I hear you but I cant think of anything more important than the ending of the pandemic. But I cant imagine it taking more than 2 years ? I dont think we should say that the real reason the Trump presidency failed to address the virus spread was Trumps failure at understanding the virus because he never mentioned or suggested he was a scientist.... I am surprised people took what he said about the virus as truthful or credible? The Republican governors from the various states I believe need to take the full responsibility for opening all their states to try to stimulate the US economy. I get this, everyone gets this and we want the US markets to come back online in a more meaningful way But how could all the Governors open all the prosperous southern states like Georgia, Florida, Texas , Alabama and New Mexico but not implement one best practice rule....not one. They also refused to enforce masks and said things like " we trust our citizens to do the right thing and be responsible " , I remember Ron DeSantis saying that. Anyway the point being the Governors are suppose to be the people who understand and care about the wellbeing of the state....so surly that must take responsibility for not enforcing the obvious virus prevention steps ?

I am reluctant to believe that the Biden presidency will be more worse than good....but the focus must be on the pandemic because I am unclear on the Democrat policies after that .... What would your concerns be for that type of outcome, I am happy with unlikely outcomes ? Comrade you not helping with the whole objective of " uniting the USA " . You have never liked Trump which is your prerogative but maybe try not to make assumptions about his supporters if you want to reach out to Trump supporters? Things will only get ugly if the Democrats decide to ignore the preferred way of bipartisan support for new policies and rules . Its good to now reach out to the normal GOP members and look for ways to work together ? Never forget Trump came to existence due to unhappiness many Americans felt with the reality of the USA and how core values and things that matter to culture seemed to be criticized. I wonder if anyone cares about this lesson? The last thing we want is you liberals to create another Trump monster

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/02/captain-sir-tom-moore-dies-at-100-after-testing-positive-for-covid Captain Tom....an amazing man, a great and patriotic career and a true friend to the UK NHS where at the age of 99 he was still raising money for them RIP Captain Tom

You see Gorthfuscious, this is what happens when you have a problem with your necessary additional security...but imagine what you would be going through without the important quarantine hotels...the virus would be spreading in a terrible way And the article says its the UK strain, no the SA this time. But concerns with the origin of strains will become inconsequential as time goes on because of the high number of homegrown and foreign strains we will see until the vaccines start working

Wait you right, I need to add a caveat. I love waking up to the sound of rain but not if I have to drive to work or a customer

Have you watched Ragnarok on Netflix, if so what did you think about it ?

I agree about the soothing sound of rain, I cant comment on snowfalls of course but rain ....ah yes, I know rain As I mentioned earlier I can think of nothing better than waking up to the sound of persistent rain , not necessarily hard rain

I also enjoyed Black Sails, I didnt love it but I enjoyed it Do you know it was filmed in South Africa and in Cape Town specifically. It had some beautiful scenery and I didnt know this until I moved to Cpt https://americanprofile.com/articles/where-did-the-black-sails-series-film/

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/02/mcconnell-slams-marjorie-taylor-greens-loony-lies-and-conspiracy-theories-as-a-cancer-and-she-shoots-back/ McConnell again is doing the right thing and calling out the fake news and offensive comments from Majorie Green This is exactly the type of action I expect from the GOP and look forward to its, hopefully, new identity free from Trumpism and the last 4 years of " alternative facts " Well done McConnell

The difference between the US election and the Russian election is the actual political environment and were candidates allowed to campaign without being intimidated or arrested . In Russia this is demonstrably not the case Yes of course in the USA, like all Democracies, their is influence from lobby groups and Super PAC but you dont get arrested and journalists dont get killed by the US government because they support opposition parties The original point of this debate was when Comrade suggested the majority of Russians support Putin, I pointed out that you cannot say this when their was massive voting intimidation and their is a reality in Russia where the political landscape is not free or fair You have decided to create your own definition of what constitutes " free and fair " and how that will impact the overall transparency of the electoral process Sorry but you dont get to do that outside of echo chambers like forum debates and your own circles that believe the Russian elections represent the will of the people ...how can they when not all the people get to vote or campaign in the same way ?

I thought we were discussing the principle and importance of a free and fair election? The US election was free and fair and the candidate that won did so because of the number of votes they received. Candidates and opposition politician also had the ability to campaign in the US without being arrested or poisoned I could have gone with many other examples of Democratic elections but why not use the US as just one example of how you can implement transparent political change without trying to control the outcome and or narrative like we see in Russia

Yeah Vietnam, that was also the time where we saw the genesis of the Hippie movement and extreme far left liberal ideas that threaten to destroy our happy and prosperous ways of life Hurlshot we must always be on watch for well meaning but harmful socialist policies ....never forget the lessons from the Cold War

GD you still need to discover the events that lead to the greatest injustice the world has ever seen since the Dark Ages We need to know who decided to blame " white, male privlidege " for all the woes of the world and the perceived general benightedness of our societies That is the real question !!!

You make some good points and I dont dispute Putin has his supporters but do his supporters have the mandate to allow Putin to legitimately govern Russia as in the " will of the people " like we see in most Democracies? The Russian elections under Putin have almost never been free and fair, to quote from your interesting link After intense efforts to promote turnout, citizens voted in significant numbers, yet restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, as well as on candidate registration, have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition. While candidates could generally campaign freely, the extensive and uncritical coverage of the incumbent as president in most media resulted in an uneven playing field That is not free and fair by any reasonable definition. If Putin really had the greatest support base than he would have no issue with a normal election and the best candidate would win. Like we witnessed in the USA, Trump and Biden put everything into the election and their supporters turned out in unprecedented numbers ...but Trump lost the popular vote and the electoral collogues Apart from Trumps appalling and petulant failure to accept the results that is how you win an election..free and fair and the people decide You dont see that in the reality of the Russian election environment because you not providing the same resources to opposition parties , like equal TV coverage, so the entire legitimacy of Putin elections should be questioned

So you admitting you have been very naughty ?

Mmmm....that is an interesting and nuanced argument But in all Democracies the currently elected party is the legitimate government and also both politically and internationally represents the country globally in most things, like representation at the UN So globally and legally its the same thing, the government represents the country ?

I see The Medium did get good reviews but I am not a huge fan of investing in games that are interactive stories so I will give this one a skip. Thanks for the opinion because your post made me do some research , I might have bought this game without knowing what it is and ended up wasting money like I did on that one Bloodlines interactive story

You seem to believe that any country in the world doesnt have a right to demand and have confidential and secretive information about their own security institutions ? The USA is not asking for anything that any other country in the world would expect so it has nothing to do with " have all the information " ....this is about its own security and information

Its well known Snowden betrayed the USA and went public with news of PRISM when their were other legal avenues he could have followed . We dont know if he technically " sold " this information to China and Russia but he still broke his NSA contract and told the world something that was a US state secret Its not slander if its true, Snowden betrayed his country. No reason to question the facts