BruceVC

I wish I could move on from the terrible historical injustice inflicted on my ancestors by the Nords\Vikings Keyrock do you know the Vikings enslaved, Colonized and terrorized the Saxons for hundreds of years? And one of the worst things about it is I never knew about this part of my ancestors history until about 7-8 years ago but once I found out about it the trauma has never gone away But @Gorth and I do talk and acknowledge the terrible injustice every couple of months and we close to agreeing to redress, I dont want Gorth and other Nordic members to be burdened by the overwhelming guilt and responsibility of what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago And I said a monthly transfer of about $500 into my personal account would be enough for me to absolve him of the terrible injustice inflicted on my ancestors, life should always be about compromise

Are you sure they cant teleport....how do we know that for sure? I dont need to tell you how deep the rabbit hole can go

I dont mean geographically small, I mean militarily small When was the last time Sweden was in a war? Imagine them against the brutality of Russia

And I really like Sweden, the thought of little , friendly Sweden having to fight a war upsets me

As many of us know on Thursday South Africa is taking a case of genocide to the ICJ and I just listened to an interview with a professor of international law called Andre Thomashausen who is based in SA. He is German and normally I disagree with his legal assessments but he makes sense in this case He says the case is meritless and he explains legally why, its only 16 minutes long and I encourage those interested in the allegation that Israel has committed genocide to listen to it. It could change your opinion on this allegation https://omny.fm/shows/powertalk-archive/a-101-on-the-international-court-of-justice-south

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/sweden-states-all-citizens-must-be-prepared-for-war/ar-AA1mDNPb @Azdeus and @Pidesco You guys are not part of NATO yet so are you guys prepared for war...we never know who Russia will invade next but it wont be a NATO member

We put coins in Christmas pudding, not gold but normal coins and they get boiled for ages Im not sure where we get the tradition from?

A WW1 RPG is being released soon, its called All Quiet in the Trenches and its looks like it has huge potential The only concern I have with it is you can only be a German soldier and Im not sure how I feel about playing an historical game and killing British or South African soldiers, it may sound like Im being captious but it still feels weird ..but it looks good anyway https://store.steampowered.com/app/863500/All_Quiet_in_the_Trenches/

I'm busy with NWN2 MoB and Im loving the narrative and the epic level gaming experience, Im about 20 hours in Obsidian really knows how to create captivating stories and as usual I appreciate the Forgotten Realms integration because its my favorite fantasy world with Elder Scrolls being my second I am getting a little annoyed with the mechanics of hunger and how you need to feed but thats because I misunderstood how it works and I let my energy drop to 10-15% so just to survive I am literally camping and feeding on animal spirits in the Ashenwood forest but once Im done with these quests I will feed properly on undead which will restore my energy to manageable levels I got so frustrated I was even considering loading a mod that lets you restore the energy immediately but I wont do that because that will destroy the immersion and point of being a spirit eater....so it would be a real "cheat " that undermines the point of the game. So I decided not to do that

Here is an interesting update about the military progress Israel has made and how the war will be changing, I cant provide links but it comes from an official X\Twitter Israeli source. Hopefully this signals the beginning of the end of the military invasion and we can look at the next phase which is rebuilding of Gaza and who manages Gaza The IDF announced this evening the disbandment of all 12 Hamas battalions in the northern Gaza Strip - half of Hamas' military strength in Gaza. And yet, the disbanding of the battalions does not mean that all the terrorists in the area have been eliminated or that all the underground tunnels in it have been destroyed. About 8,000 terrorists were eliminated in the area out of about 14,000. That is, most of the military force in the region >> 2/ There is still fighting in this area. But the IDF is switching to a different method of operation there. The forces no longer permanently hold the entire area, but have left most of the area, and are focusing on the area close to Israel. In the rest of the area - targeted raids are carried out on compounds, where more terrorists are eliminated, military personnel and intelligence are seized, and tunnels are destroyed. And it will take a long time >> 3/ And now the IDF is left with this task - the dismantling of 12 more Hamas battalions, in the center of the Gaza Strip (4), in Khan Yunis (4) and in Rafah (4). A picture of the situation regarding the central and southern battalions: 2 battalions - North Khan Yunis and East Khan Yunis (marked in white) - the IDF is close to disbanding them >> 4/ In 3 more battalions - West Khan Yunis, South Khan Yunis and Borij (marked in blue) - the fighting is still going on and there are many IDF forces fighting during these hours as well. In 2 battalions - Nusirat and Ma'azi (marked in green) - the IDF is on the outskirts of the area according to reports and is probably expected to operate there soon as well >> 5/ With the rest of the battalions, and especially the that are in Rafah - it does not seem that the IDF will soon operate in a broad ground manner, but the airstrikes there continue all the time and the method of operation is different.

Here is an interesting video from Bill Maher about the conflict, as usual with him I agree with some things he says and disagree with others But he makes some good points about the history of this conflict and other historical examples of land being taken and how this gets handled in the interests of peace. Its only 8 minutes and I think @Gorth @Gfted1 @Zoraptor@Malcador would appreciate it?

I agree, the cost is going to be huge. That is a contentious reality but someone has to help with the reconstruction costs of Gaza. I imagine it will the US, Israel, several Western countries and some of the ME countries but Gaza has be rebuilt for the Palestinians to live there again

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67888794 Here is a very informative link about Israel's future plans for Gaza once Hamas is gone. It dismisses some of the Israeli right wing extremist views where the Palestinians will have to leave Gaza which was always an egregious idea and not realistic. The future of Gaza is a "four corner " plan To quote "Under Mr Gallant's now "four corner" plan, Israel would retain overall security control of Gaza. A multi-national force would take charge of rebuilding the territory after the widespread destruction caused by Israeli bombing. Neighbouring Egypt would also have an unspecified role to play under the plan. But the document adds that Palestinians would be responsible for running the territory " "Talk of the "day after" in Gaza has led to deep disagreement in Israel. Some far right-wing members of Mr Netanyahu's government have said that Palestinian citizens should be encouraged to leave Gaza for exile, with the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in the territory - controversial proposals that have been rejected as "extremist" and "unworkable" by other countries in the region and by some of Israel's allies. "

But you not a liberal so its okay, I was just teasing you

The ICJ will decide if its genocide based on the actual evidence presented. I am not convinced and I have never heard of cases of genocide where people are told to leave an area before being attacked or aid is provided? But I do agree Israel can be charged with War Crimes, article 8 at the ICC, but so can Hamas. Do you know taking of hostages is a war crime? Here is list of what constitutes war crimes and both Israel and Hamas are guilty of certain things. But genocide is part of article 6 and the charge Israel is facing is genocide War crimes Article 8 defines war crimes depending on whether an armed conflict is either international (which generally means it is fought between states) or non-international (which generally means that it is fought between non-state actors, such as rebel groups, or between a state and such non-state actors). In total there are 74 war crimes listed in article 8.[101] The most serious crimes constitute either grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which only apply to international conflicts,[101] and serious violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which apply to non-international conflicts.[65]: article 8(2)(c)  Eleven crimes constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and apply only to international armed conflicts:[101] Willful killing Torture Inhumane treatment Biological experiments Willfully causing great suffering Destruction and appropriation of property Compelling service in hostile forces Denying a fair trial Unlawful deportation and transfer Unlawful confinement Taking hostages

Wormie you cant be serious, you joking right? What about the bear sex scene, that was unique and interesting?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/3/can-south-africas-icj-case-against-israel-stop-war-in-gaza Im not sure if everyone is aware that SA is accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and the case is being heard next week at the ICJ What does everyone think the outcome will be? I doubt the ICJ will find Israel guilty of genocide because genocide has a specific definition But lets see how things unfold

Kanie thats a terrible thing to suggest, you cant say the masses are know nothing asses ...thats a betrayal of the liberal code. You a very bad liberal

Maybe you guys are unhappy with the Steam results because its games that millions of gamers enjoy and you dont? And its never nice to be in the minority of this type of gaming sentiment Take BG3, it understandably won its nomination but maybe you angry about that because you dont think it should have? You never know

Whats your definition of a Democracy, whats an example of another country that is a Democracy and how is that Democracy different to the US? You dont have to to into details, just high level?

A vote for Trump or Biden is a vote in a Democratic system Unless one of them decides to change what Democracy means, so I guess the question is " do you not consider the US to be a Democracy and what does Democracy mean to you " You can criticize any Democracy for several reasons but that doesnt mean its not a Democracy. But yes I do consider the US to be a "Democracy " And one of the main reasons for that is political leadership change is determined by how people vote and we see change all the time in the US in the midterm and national elections Its not like Russia, China or Belarus where you wont see any political change and you find the same leaders for decades

Well lets hope you wrong about young people and the US Muslim population deciding not to vote for Biden, the whole " genocide Joe " is a ridiculous framing of Bidens\US response to Israel and the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Its not genocide what is happening in Gaza but whatever you want to call it Biden is not responsible for the actions of Israel or Hamas So if any Americans decide to vote based on the decades long Israeli vs Palestinian conflict as more important than domestic issues thats their choice but it will be sad especially if Trump wins because he is much more " Islamophobic " , remember the Muslim flight ban from certain countries and Trump will do even less to criticize Israel or care what happens to the Palestinians So what I hope is we dont have to see months of outrage protests if Trump wins and people saying " Democracy is dead in the US " because those same people decided not to vote for Biden because of a conflict outside of the US

I agree , neither are great choices and many Americans share your view

BG3 got 40 million votes, a well deserved accolade for Larian and all their hard work paid off Yes I spent 1700 hours playing RDR2 and 90 % of that time was Online and after the main story was finished with mods I loved the game but the developers didnt seem to add much worthwhile content especially for the SP game I voted for it in this category but only because I didnt play the other games

I can believe this. Biden is polling very low on most polls and Trump is ahead of him on several metrics But these polls never include the undecided voters and they literally decide 1-3 weeks before any US election and since both candidates, Trump and Biden, are so disliked at the moment by this group its almost impossible to using polling data now to understand next years election I realize approval rating is different to " who will you vote for " but the point about undecided voters is the same. And apparently 25% of eligible voters in the US are undecided\persuadable ...its not normally this high and sits on 10-15% https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/election-2024-poll-voters-trump-biden-5f5dfc93