BruceVC

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

I just bought both DLC for PoE1 and then PoE 2 Great price on Steam with 75% off I am currently playing NWN2 and its expansions so I will play White March and PoE 2 after that

You joking right? The Red Sea is an important global freight transportation route and who are the Houthis to decide what ships can use it? And apparently they not attacking Russian or Chinese ships. Its long overdue what the US did and hopefully they continue to protect the Red Sea Much of the world doesn't care about conflicts in the ME so why should there economies be impacted by whats happening in Gaza? I didnt think I would find anyone who would defend the obvious criminality and opportunism of groups like the Houthis?

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-supreme-court-strikes-down-governments-controversial-legal-reform-4782728 The SC in Israel has striked down Netanyahu's attempt to ignore what SC says and make him and other politicians less accountable Good news for Israel's Democracy and bad new for Netanyahu and his right-wing coalitions attempts for legal overhaul

Hurlshot its fine to criticize BG3 but please dont be racist about it BG3 has feelings to and words have an impact, never forget how words have agency

Well thats a huge part of the problem in Africa with corruption and policy failure in several countries that include Zimbabwe. Populist rhetoric blaming things on Colonialism and not being an effective government but enriching yourself at the expense of the future of your citizens is real And Malema is not just an anti-white, ignorant, racist demagogue. Every single one of the EFF economic policies is about nebulous and extreme mass nationalization of banks, land, mines and even our Central Bank whose monetary policy is global and defined in the Constitution. So the "shareholders " are not normal shareholders, they dont define policy and they have no influence to appoint 8/15 members of the board which include the Central Bank governor and deputy governors. The EFF wants to "nationalize " our Central Bank but the policies are already controlled and managed by government appointees. So the EFF dont really peddle " lets blame Colonialism" as much as they have really bad economic policies they want to implement and they spend most of the time blaming the ANC for things but they dont provide any realistic alternative solutions, they all about grandstanding and populism. Its easy to do that when you are a opposition party, 11% of national vote, and don't control or manage anything politically or have to take responsibility for the policies you espouse But the point being I dont have framed pictures of Mugabe or Malema for these reasons

This is a good point, we all so opposed and outraged by Colonialism and Western Imperialism in Africa so we should accept and support all countries that dont want anything to do with Russia and Putins attempt to recreate the Russian empire and its borders. Who says sovereign countries must learn Russian or care about Russian history, it should be a choice that the elected governments make. Russia doesnt get to decide that for other countries Always say NO to Colonialism !!!!

Guys lets all vote for BG3 where its been nominated @melkathi Melkie dont get angry but I voted for Starfield for innovation because with mods I believe it can achieve great innovation, its about the potential for innovation

I did enjoy the game, its definitely worth playing. It scored a 70/100 on the " BruceVC game rating system " But I do remember the final battle being very frustrating, @Hawke64 may have a different opinion on that battle. I did some research afterwards and there certain abilities you can take that make it less exasperating

I checked now on Steam and I played Vampyr on the 1 October 2020 so I dont remember much of the game except for having to find people to feed on which was fun and then advancing certain skills over others is advantageous in combat I do remember the final boss fight which involved an incredibly painful and laborious strategy to win, I cant remember exactly what that was but you will find that out yourself

We did something different this year for Christmas lunch,we went to a really good restaurant called Simons at a Wine Estate called Groot Constantia, red wine was amazing. I had at least a whole bottle to myself https://simons.co.za/gallery/ It was an excellent Christmas buffet and one of my brothers has a daughter called Amelia who is 1 year old and she is as cute as a button with chubby cheeks But my sister bought me one of the funniest presents and completely appropriate ...a NK joke gift, she knows me well