BruceVC

Im on episode 4 of Chernobyl, its brilliant Its sad, evocative and haunting .....hard to believe how many people had to die and how many lives were irrevocably altered because the USSR decided not to be honest initially about the disaster

Congrats 2133, nice one

True

QFT, that is what a RPG experience is about. Its fantasy and about creating a journey with people you think about....but I cant RP with something I cannot understand on certain levels, like Romance with a mindflayer

You make several good points and I agree with several But I just want to add something relevant to the whole perceived and real" Saudi Arabia is spreading and funding Islamic extremism ", you can make the argument that there are different types of Islamic extremism and not all of them we need to be concerned with to achieve my previous objectives of a stable ME What are the most destabilizing and militant groups are the likes of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, these are not supported by the Saudi government but rather funded by certain wealthy Saudis, and other people in the ME, who have there own ideological objectives outside the official Saudi government. Saudi Arabia has been a key partner to the USA and its allies in the war against Islamic extremism, yes they really started this alliance when they were targeted by extremism themselves but the outcome is still the same. They have played, and other countries like Jordan and UAE, an important role and assisted in fighting Islamic extremism

Okay but we focusing on the wrong developments over the last 20 years in the ME if you want to address or understand the geopolitical, historical and societal problems if you think " Americans illegally invaded Iran and Libya , they to blame for the chaos ", I will contend those events ostensibly contributed towards aspects of instability in the region but they not the fundamental reasons for the problems But before we can have this debate everyone needs to ask themselves a simple question " what do we expect from the ME " because then we can see a way forward to achieve and agree on common and sustainable objectives I have spent quite a lot of time travelling for business to the region and trying to understand the complicated political undercurrents that influence the region and I have changed my view several times on what is the best way forward. What I want to see is simply Effective ME governments that offer quality of life to there citizens, this in turn would make the region stable Oil production must continue and oil prices must be manageable and fair I am not asking for things I use to think would work like implementing Democracy or even expecting ME governments to necessarily believe in the correct " Western " way of belief in human rights So then we have to identify what are the core strategies we would implement to achieve these goals and that mean articulating the problems, in summary the main problems that have lead to instability in the ME are The historical Shia/Sunni conflict 9/11 which lead to the rise of ISIS which has been a major source of conflict and sectarian violence The Arab Spring You will notice none of these developments were caused by the invasions of Iraq or Libya, these interventions were symptoms and outcomes of some of the points above but not the actual reasons these events occurred. Finally if you disagree then can anyone give honest and proven justifications how for example " the Iraq invasion " contributed towards these events from a foundation perspective?

Im unsure from an aesthetics perspective if that will work for me ...can you imagine courting a mindflayer Part of the Romance arc is where you literally RP the dating experience like most other things in a RPG so the person has to have some level of physical connection Actually that would be an effective way for me to lose interest in Romance, you can only create Romance options around party members like mindflayers

I hope there are Romance options, there should be as it was part of BG2 and added immersive and realistic dialogue options and also lets you build more meaningful relationships with your party members...like the beautiful Viconia

Well Iraq use to have WMD and used them against both the Kurds and Iran in the past, also the worlds credible intelligence agencies said Sadam Hussein still had them ....Im sure you can appreciate how these things can be misunderstood Also we cant keep bringing up Iraq every time we want to dismiss other blatant breaches of law and order or attacks like this latest Iranian aggression. Elerond sometimes we just need to accept what we observe as true

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-06-13/us-says-iran-removed-unexploded-mine-from-oil-tanker Occam's razor, Iran is responsible because of the US sanctions having a hugely negative impact on there ability to sell oil so they want to interfere with the Saudis oil resources The link I posted is further evidence of Irans Revolutionary Guard being involved in the latest attacks, its irrefutable

Yes that makes sense......the Saudi's attacked themselves, glad you pointed that one out. I had completely missed that connection

I have always lived in the suburbs, in CPT I am living for the first time in the city. One of my customers is in the CBD and today I decided to walk to there offices. It was great and a very unusual experience not driving. I got to see early morning life and lots of people who were going about there business. The distance is about 1.5 miles one way so its additional exercise outside of gym and I will definitely do it again

Why who do you think is behind it Zora, lets not equivocate ...lets speak plainly in the interest of robust debate

Its a good observation you raising, its so blatant why not try to be more covert ? The only point I can raise is the general pattern of most events in the ME. Countries and sectarian groups dont seem to either understand or care about negative attention or being able to deny there actions....like the killing of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudis and there pathetic initial attempts to deny it

Its perfectly coherent and part of there strategy to undermine and attack Saudi Arabia oil production

There is no question of " is Iran involved " obviously they involved. Its part of the broader, historical Shia/Sunni interminable conflict effectively represented by Saudi Arabia and Iran Iran is fighting several proxy wars in the ME like supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, keeping Assad in Syria and funding Hezbollah in Lebanon. They have been a very destabilizing influence in the region which is why Im aligned with the Gulf Arab states. Iran has made several indirect attacks on Saudi oil assets this year. Even though it may seem counterproductive because of there own production of oil due to US sanctions there own oil sales have been severely impacted so within Iran there exists an attitude from some " if we can't sell oil, no one else can as well " ....so they will go out there way to impact all Saudi oil sales within there own region but not through direct and obvious attacks. They will operate surreptitiously through there various proxies and special forces like the Revolutionary Guard https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-05/iran-guards-says-can-stop-hormuz-oil-exports-after-u-s-threat

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarah-sanders-raj-shah-planning-to-depart-the-white-house/ Sarah Sander is going to be leaving the Whitehouse, good. I never liked her. Maybe we will see less fabrications and absurd justifications for some of Trumps outlandish and controversial comments

Hi Mani Nice to hear from you again, what will you be doing at the college. You mentioned its full time work now ?

I can make a compelling argument that wine with food/cheese is a type of the structure of the overall meal. I have noticed what is unusual in CPT compared to JHB is that many restaurants offer set 2 and 3 course meals, you have some choices but not a full menu option, for a very reasonable price ..and wine is often included as the " wine pairing " option. So its mandatory ( of course you can chose not to take the wine pairing for an even cheaper price but we dont need to tell your friends that ) When you make the point position it as a " gastronomic and inclusive eating out evolution " ...Gorthfuscious, you know it makes sense

Dont worry, somethings stay the same. Not only have I not given up cheese but I have moved to Cape Town which means I get to eat more cheese AND drink/learn about complimentary food wines that are produced on the various Wines Farms

https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/hong-kong-protests-june-12-intl-hnk/index.html The protests in Hong Kong are getting increasingly more violent, I feel very sorry for the protesters because even though the draconian Chinese extradition bill signing has been delayed it will still be passed. Another example of China clamping down on human rights and people having a free and transparent trial if they get extradited

GD people should try to emulate my behavior, I dont judge anyone except for anti-Western sentiment anti free market\capitalism with no viable alternatives old school Communists religious extremism extreme left and right wing ideology unfair criticism of the banking sector Vegans ( one of my bothers is one and I do love him but they want to destroy the established gastronomic system ) people who dont believe in the rule of law and order people who immigrate to other countries but constantly complain and criticize that country people who support Russia but dont actually live there people who live in European countries and wont accept necessary austerity but rather blame Germany and France trade union movements that follow anachronistic and outdated ideologies unreasonable lack of patriotism people who wont discuss, realistic, inclusive meaningful and sustainable societal problems but play various "cards " like the race, white male privilege , colonialism and numerous other cards ...I find those debates myopic and counter productive I can think of a few more but my point should be clear. I dont really judge people....much

Mow the lawn/jury duty they both important, patriotic and mandatory duties required for stability of state and general peace at home with the wife and or partner Shady you dont want to be " one of those people " with an untidy lawn

Since I moved to Cape Town I have started getting into drinking red wine, Im a neophyte but Im learning a lot Its very social here particularly around lunches and outings to all the wine farms

I have been following this development and its very concerning, this extradition bill be passed despite protests in HK and activists will be sent to China for trial...so basically they wont have the protection and rights of a legitimate court system....very depressing for anyone in HK who is opposed to Chinese autocracy and believes in freedom of speech