BruceVC

Well two things can be true at the same time and this would apply to Russia and what people think about there military effectiveness but also the military threat they represent And we can use Ukraine as an example to demonstrate that, Russia didnt defeat Ukraine in 2 months and we all seen the numerous failures with there military strategies and how ineffectively they do certain things. But they have successfully destroyed cities, killed thousands of Ukrainians and continue to use missiles to attack infrastructure and spread terror And no country would want to face this, so you live in fear of a Russian attack but that doesnt mean you think there military is the problem. Its the overall strategy they will use to achieve victory. And also a small country like Estonia would not be able to create the same resistance like Ukraine so it differs from country to country So you can definitely criticize aspects of the Russian military but thats not the same thing as saying most East European countries dont have a legitimate fear of Russian invasion

No he wont, this incursion will have real consequence for his continued leadership and its a serious indictment on his right-wing coalition which always claims they the best choice to protect Israel And this attack got them completely by surprise, the intelligence gathering has seriously failed them and there will be people held accountable for this failure But to make things even worse they have taken dozens of Israelis hostage which means Israeli soldiers have to use ground troops in most places of urban warfare because they wont risk killing the hostages. And that includes the captured settlements and parts of Gaze depending on where they think the hostages have been taken Obviously the Israelis will utterly defeat Hamas but it will take 5-7 days in my opinion and the Israelis will continue to suffer causalities which they never like to do

Thanks for responding but just to continue my understanding of your views So you do believe that the invasion was necessary because the security of Russia was threatened because of NATO and how Ukraine wanted to join NATO. But where do you get your information from that NATO wanted to attack Russia? Its fundamental to your view because if NATO did want to attack Russia then I would agree with you. The Cold War ended over 30 years ago and I have never heard of a single statement from NATO where it wants to attack Russia? If you dont mind finding that link where NATO states that it wants to or intends to do that it would be very helpful And why this is very relevant is what difference would it make to the security of Russia if Ukraine joins NATO but NATO had no intention of ever attacking Russia? But of course if NATO has said it wants to attack Russia then it matters what countries join NATO

I appreciate your feedback even if we disagree on certain topics because the definition of a debate is where you have different opinions on topics, it would be boring and pointless if we had the same opinion So I want to ask you few questions about your understanding of the invasion. I am not clear on a few things from this post Lets start with this, do you personally believe the invasion by Russia was justified and if so why? Is it because what you mentioned around " Suffice to say that Russia considers NATO in Ukraine an existential threat" Or is that really not your point and you dont believe the invasion was justified or legitimate but the reality is the cost to Ukraine is too high to continue fighting if you think just of things like the attrition rate that Russia can ostensibly afford And its important question because some people and Vatniks argue that the invasion was necessary to ensure the security of Russia. So my question is do you think the invasion was necessary and why and if so how was the security of Russia threatened by Ukraine in your opinion?

https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/al-aqsa-storm-militants-infiltrate-israel-after-gaza-rockets-10-07-intl-hnk/index.html Massive Hamas incursion into Israel. It really undermines the perceived security of Israel but this type of endless violence is expected considering the lack of real interest and intransigence from leadership on both sides to compromise or find a meaningful peaceful solution

Except the most common and real issue with illegal and undocumented immigration is not that they are criminals. And this is the same in any country that faces an immigration crisis. The majority of immigrants are not criminals Its the resource drain in the country or state to absorb them. And thats never going to change or go away if you cant control or manage your borders

Why what is a lie, is it the real resource pressure on states like NY due to influx of immigrants exaggerated? Not according to the major of NY https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/nyregion/adams-migrants-destroy-nyc.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12597193/Its-NOT-sustainable-Eric-Adams-tells-migrants-Mexico-NYC-capacity-receiving-120-000-year-latest-bid-stem-flow-putting-citys-resources-pressure.html Its also not a right-wing talking point that every state and country has limited resources and cant just absorb people endlessly. Its a reality

Well its demonstrably clear that border management has been a real failure under Biden with illegal immigration increasing. But there has been no effective solution under either party so everyone needs to take blame But what I do find interesting is now that undocumented immigrants are being bussed to Democrat controlled states like NY this crisis has become more real for liberals and the left. Now people are experiencing what border states like Texas and Arizona have been dealing with for years and they understand what a resource and social problem it is

If Serbia was invaded by Croatia or Kosovo would you just surrender or would you fight back in your own way? There is valid and legitimate reason for people to fight and die for freedom and the Ukrainians are no different to anyone else who has fought in wars where countries are invaded

But that doesnt really make sense if thats what he meant. Remember people kept saying " when is the counter-offensive going to start " because the Russian offensive was reversed and they had retreated to eastern parts of the country And obviously one way to end the war is to drive the Russians back or end there appetite to stay in the country. So the Ukrainian offensive had to occur at some point. So again I dont understand why anyone would consider the losses pointless when they are an expected part of any war and the strategy that was necessary Unless you can think of another way to end the Russian invasion?

I realize English is not your first language and things get lost in translation. But explain to me how defending your country and dying in that defense is pointless? Do you believe defending a country against a Russian invasion is pointless or do you support defending your country against some invasions and not others ? So for example when Poland fought against the Nazi invasion in WW2 and lost was that pointless and Poland should have surrendered?

Nice, is this the invite to the party? What time, what must we bring ....I assume you supplying the alcohol

Its fairly common this incredibly inaccurate framing of the war but repeated more as a form of Russian propaganda and or Vatnik cope Can you imagine any war where a country is invaded and when people fight back its considered " a play for sympathy " Tell the Mujahedeen that during the Soviet invasion or Serbia when they fought against the Austrian Hungarians in WW1. In fact have you ever heard of any war where people defend there sovereign territory as "people looking for sympathy " Only in the world of Internet fake news and misinformation

Yes, I dont purposely follow the events and realities of countries like Haiti because its outside my sphere of interest. I can research the history of Haiti and understand its problems but I have limited time and how I want to spend that time, for me African problems are much more relevant than issues from the Caribbean I posted this link just because its interesting how Kenya is getting involved and they will be in charge of the military mission with the primary goal being the ending of the control of the gangs in Haiti. So to keep it simple, we dont need to know the history of Haiti because this will be primarily about a war with the gangs And hopefully they achieve results but its not about them somehow creating an effective government which is the main reason the gangs are able to flourish. But the gangs still need to be dealt with before you can have a government that can be functional

Yes but where would the millions of people go who live on these types of islands? The solution is to fix there domestic problems and ensure the country is stable but the most important thing is they need effective governments to do this and that is what is lacking

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/3/why-kenya-volunteered-to-lead-un-mission-to-haiti The UN is funding a Kenya led military force to Haiti, its well meaning but I not sure how much success they will have considering the history of UN missions in Haiti. There are also so many unresolved and ongoing conflicts in Africa but Haiti is desperate for military assistance so lets see what happens

I have some very exciting news, I have decided to play Dying Light 2 as my next game. Im sticking to my rule of not playing the same genre twice in a row and I decided that I need some good, mindless Zombie apocalypse killing fun

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arrest-tupac-shakur-murder-case-follows-decades-conspiracies-rcna118130 Its a few days old but finally the killer of Tupac Shakur has been arrested, 27 years after his killing and loads of conspiracy theories. The wheels of justice turn slowly but they turn.

Dont worry about why I ask questions, if you start engaging in good faith I will respond to this type of post. But I need to see effort on your side

Good question, it would have been BG2:ToB and I think it scored 84/100 on the globally followed " BruceVC game rating system". Remember the system is based on science and algorithms and has been refined through the years but we still make functional improvements where necessary

Whats happened in Norway, is the Swedish gang violence spilling over? Can you go into detail about whats happening

I completed FO2 after about 65 hours, It was a fantastic game and I did prefer it to FO1 but they both excellent CPRG will all the mechanics that we love from that era of gaming Its also not really a fair comparison because FO1 is the original, iconic game and the developers couldnt predict it would be a success so FO2 has the benefit of expanding on established themes and lore which I appreciated like the Enclave, Hubologists and the NCR. But the highlights for me around FO2 were similar to FO1 and they include real character customization and this allows you to truly solve quests in different ways so you feel your characters build matters open world and real sandbox and lots of quests and ways to influence your own journey and reasons to explore the world map unique towns and factions, I loved the lore around New Reno and Vault City a varied choice of weapons and an economy that means you need to find and sell resources like weapons. Ammunition being my biggest constant drain on my finances. I like this type of in game economy because you dont take money for granted I had one major point of frustration and that was initially travelling on the world map and having to encounter endless random encounters as enemies but once I started increasing my outdoor skill that was vastly reduced and the world map became fun i have decided Im going to play FO3 again and continue my Wasteland adventures but not right now And finally I give F02 a 78/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system " Its highly recommended for anyone who wants a fun and worthwhile CRPG experience

Yes to the army being deployed or yes to no changes to the current immigration policies? And what do you think should be done around the waves of gang violence which is caused by immigrants? Or is that irrelevant to you

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-opposition-party-calls-military-tackle-deadly-gang-war-2023-09-28/ Sweden is deploying the army to deal with the rampant gang violence within the country, this is an outcome of the well meaning but flawed Swedish immigration policies @Azdeus and @Pidesco Whats your view on this, do you still support the liberal immigration policies that Sweden has adopted the last 10 years or so. And what do you think should be done if you dont support the army being deployed?

I do remember her, she created videos like the new McDonalds franchises in Russia and she went to that Russian mall. Thanks for sharing and if you come across videos like this please tag me because I appreciate it and I was wondering what happened to her. Im glad she is alright and living in Georgia I watched the whole video and I enjoyed it. I mentioned this to @xzar_monty but this type of citizen journalism I think provides more insight and reality into life on the ground in certain countries than what massive international media houses can often capture. She is similar to Daniil Orain And she is obviously young but very well meaning and believes in what she says. A couple of takeaways for me a general interesting video of Montenegro and the nuances in the Slavic language and how these countries are different to Russia, like what times shops close its so nice to see people who are not influenced by US culture wars garbage and have real principles that matter to her like the lack of media freedom in Russia and what that means. She uses words like " safe space " which in most Western countries is a meme and cringe but in her case it matters because she knows what real denial of freedom is. So " safe space " is something significant, its not some Canadian or US university attention seeking exercise I loved how a free media matters to her and other journalists, mostly from Russia, she interviewed. Most of us take for granted a free media and we tend just to criticize the media for being biased but there are many people who absolutely consider the role of journalists to be critical to a healthy society and she is one of them. I also like how she mentioned feminism And then I laughed how cute she is where she said " look at this nice graffiti " ( I detest street art that defaces any historical building or landmark like a bridge ) ' But great video and Im glad she is still alive and following her principles