BruceVC

But but ...what about the invasion of Ukraine and the killing and tortue of Ukrainians by Russia Damn I love this whataboutism, thanks to everyone who taught me it. Its such a good way to handwave these developments

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/south-africa-rand-dollar-arm-sales-russia-ukraine-sanctions-brics-2023-5 Another SA potential inconsistency around our foreign policy statements and actions. Last year December a Russian ship was seen docking at night and certain goods were seen being loaded into the ship SA civilians filmed this and at the time many questions were asked about what was the ship doing at night and what was being loaded on the ship The US made a convincing allegation yesterday that weapons were being loaded and SA is implicated in selling weapons to Russia Several points from my side but this event is very concerning government started an investigation apparently but that was 6 months ago, whats taking so long SA has claimed since the war started that SA is " neutral and non-aligned " and believes in peace. If this allegation is true then government has been lying to South Africans and we are definitely not neutral We dont know who from government was involved and who authorised it, it could just be a few people in our military institutions and not necessarily the president The president has authorised an independent inquiry with a retired judge so that should get to bottom of this ostensibly disgraceful behavior If it is true its a serious indictment on the Russian capacity around ammunitions and weapons if they need military aid from the likes of SA

Wormie we can fix that cringe Romance dialogue with some nice friendly Loverslab mods

Wooooormie stop unfairly criticizing Bethesda writing, you know Romance is optional. We shouldnt think that represents the overall quality of this anticipated game because that's what a lot of people are doing now. They saying things like " look at the pillow talk in Starfield...ha-ha. This game is going to be an epic failure, I told you "

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65550427 A really informative interview about the Ukrainian planned offensive from Zelensky

https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-closer-nato-ukraine-war-another-putin-own-goal-2023-5 Even Japan now wants to join NATO, another example of Putin's failure with the invasion to "prevent " NATO expansion

Geez thats a depressing thought for the people of Belarus

I only read this post now and its very informative Firstly Im glad the Iranian government arent trying to enforce the hijab wearing anymore. Thats a huge victory and it was what started the initial protests and it matters But what do you mean by " They still use nerve agents on our schools(women) to test it out for Russians. Can you believe this? 'Here is a school full of beautiful 16 year old Iranian school girls...let's use them as guinea pigs for our Russian overlords!!! " What is going on at the schools and what do you mean by "use them as guinea pigs " , is this for language or wearing the hijab?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/may/9/pentagon-ukraine-used-us-made-patriot-down-russian/ Further confirmation of the US Patriot system shooting down the Ruskie hypersonic missile

Its not an argument, its just whataboutism. You should know by now how this works

Big day for Putin today, 9 May and Victory Day. Here is a link summarizing the days theater and grandstanding https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/09/europe/russia-victory-day-parade-moscow-intl/index.html To quote my best parts " "A true war has been unleashed against our motherland,” Putin said on Tuesday, claiming falsely that the West had provoked the war in Ukraine. “We have repelled international terrorism and to fit we will defend the residents of Donbas and secure our own safety. Russia has no unfriendly nations in the West or in the East. “As the majority of people on this planet we want to see the future peaceful, free and stable. We believe any ideology of supremacy due to its nature is repulsive, criminal and deadly,” he added" I love the " we want to see the future peaceful, free and stable. We believe any ideology of supremacy due to its nature is repulsive, criminal and deadly " And here is a hilarious Putin Bingo meme, so true as usual

Yes the DLC do add some nice variety, I have completed some of them before I complete the main quest. I enjoyed the Southern general Satanist\witchcraft one And yes the truck missions are slow and annoying, I agree

Malc Im surprised and disappointed that you complaining about lack of fast travel It doesnt take longer than 4-7 minutes to drive between districts. Take this time to appreciate the city, crash into some cars or have some fun killing pedestrians ...its easy to avoid the cops in a relatively fast car? Dont end up being one of these lazy gamers who cant spend 5 minutes traveling to a region And there is mod for fast travel if you REALLY cant handle driving https://videogamemods.com/mafia/mods/mafia-3-teleport-between-districts/

https://eurasiantimes.com/india-russia-ties-nose-dive-after-suspending-s-400-shipments/?amp Trouble in paradise with the new BRICS led global economy, dedollarization at its finest

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-downed-hypersonic-russian-missile-with-us-air-defence-system-2023-05-06/ Updated link on this, the US Patriot system was only delivered last month I love the part " The Kinzhal, which means "dagger" in Russian, is one of six "next generation" weapons unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when the Russian leader boasted that it cannot be shot down by any of the world's air defence systems "

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65502234 Another exciting and important development in the history of the UK, today is the Coronation of King Charles I am going to watch highlights and several of my UK family are going to be watching live and they already on the streets. The British are the undisputed masters of pomp and pageantry so it should have some worthwhile moments for those that respect and enjoy these types of events

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65493008 Yes I noticed this story as well, with the overall failure of Russia to provide adequate military equipment I wonder if it is true?

Pidesco its important we dont become selective of historical injustice and things like genocide. All European countries and most civilisations did it. Are the English worse than the Ottomans and what about the terrible carnage that the Vikings inflicted on my ancestors the Saxons? The Vikings were responsible for the most unspeakable deeds that included slavery, colonialism, rape, mass murder and killing of Christian monks and priests Its not something we like to talk about and I understand that but we must always be honest when we look through lens of historical injustice. @Gorth and I have spoken about what his ancestors did to my ancestors but I am sure it upsets him so I dont like to always bring it up and we havent agreed on redress but I think we close to it?

Is this a movie about the actual history of Egypt or is it a fantasy movie? If its a historical movie I am not sure what race the gods of Egypt were but you could be right and this could be a good reason for outrage?

I was a little unhappy by Braveheart, they always portray the English as the worst types of people in that era like in Rob Roy

Yes I would agree its more about cultural appropriation which is why that lawyer suing said its " trying to create an Afrocentric view " and ignoring the Egyptian identity

No its not for everyone and its not for Egyptians who are offended because they dont believe it represents Egyptian history . People dont object to things just because of culture wars, sometimes there is real outrage because things are ostensibly historically inaccurate

Okay it seems like you misunderstanding something about race and the issue In Africa the word black refers specifically to Bantu tribes and other similar tribes. Arabs are not black and Khoisan are not black, they have their own culture, history and ethnicity Mixed race is not seen by most as black and then you get a specific race in SA called Colored people who are there own race and descendants of white people and the SAN So when we talk about black in the Netflix issues we are talking about Cleopatra's race. She wasnt black, she was mixed race or Caucasian. And this is not about the US definition An example of a famous black historical figure is Steve Biko who is considered the father of Black Consciousness. No one refers to him as mixed race or Colored, he is black

True but we know she wasnt black which is what the main criticism is about If the actress was played by an Arab\Egyptian then I doubt you would have the same outcry?

I wanted to create a dedicated thread to this topic because its not a political or culture wars debate. There are several global examples of this and I want to get people's views, this is not about fantasy or superhero movies. This is about documentaries about history. It got me thinking with the Netflix Cleopatra outcry but it applies to all historical documentaries But I will use the Cleopatra documentary as an example and provide context for those not familiar with this current furore The latest Netflix documentary has Cleopatra as a black women and the reasonable criticism is she was not black. Here is a good link that attempts to explain her race, https://www.knowledgesnacks.com/articles/cleopatras-ethnicity/ To quote from the link " So only 25% of Cleopatra’s racial makeup is certain: through her grandfather, Cleopatra was 25% European and Middle Eastern. The other 75% is inconclusive. It could have been European, Middle Eastern, North African, sub-Saharan African, or a mix of any of those. To simplify: Cleopatra could have been 100% Caucasian, or she could have been mixed (Caucasian+sub-Saharan African) " So there is no real debate that Cleopatra was black which makes the Netflix documentary inaccurate. Also Netflix is getting sued from groups in Egypt who are also outraged. There view to quote is " "The complaint submitted against the streaming platform alleged that "most of what Netflix platform displays contradicts Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones.", Greek city times reported. The case said that the documentary promotes Afrocentrism that is widely spread on social media, which have slogans and writings aimed at distorting and obliterating the Egyptian identity" https://www.africanews.com/2023/04/20/egyptian-lawyer-sues-netflix-for-depicting-cleopatra-as-black-woman/#:~:text=An Egyptian lawyer has taken legal action against,the trailer for the upcoming movie%2C "Queen Cleopatra." So thats why the outrage is more than just US culture wars theater and hyperbole But whats you view on the correct race being portrayed in historical movies? I think the correct race should be used if you want to create an accurate historical account and avoid the type of criticism the Cleopatra movie has created