BruceVC

Welcome back, Im glad you okay. I was worried because you were quiet for so long

You make some good points here, its hard to believe anyone would believe the likes of the USSR provided a more free society than the West but some people did believe it But honestly I would encourage people to immigrate to Russia under Putin but only those living in a Western Democracy who think that they dont have freedom or their basic rights are being undermined by events like the Corona lockdowns perpetuated by the "deep state\globohomo" insidious control of governments Live a while in the ME or places like Russia and you will see the difference when real freedom is denied

I know this comes from Russian propagandists but I found the idea hilarious Americans unhappy with the current state of freedom in the US should immigrate to Russia because Russia represents " white, Christian values "

Please do, it may be the first time I think the girls are being ....naughty, of course we dont really mind if they naughty

https://news.yahoo.com/china-backs-un-resolution-mentioning-203500758.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall Interesting UN resolution the last few days with China voting to support the resolution despite it mentioning Russian aggression. China has always abstained from votes that mention Russian aggression. To quote " In particular, the document refers to the “unprecedented challenges” facing Europe after Russian aggression against Ukraine, and before that against Georgia, and calls for “compensation” of the damage sustained by the victims of Moscow’s aggression "

You make some good points, I agree with several of them For example you do have a reality with real transphobes\bigots supporting legislation and concerns with people who are more uninformed. There are people in the US who think the left\democrats are trying to force or encourage transitioning on normal kids who dont want to transition So fearmongering and misinformation is also shaping public opinion

You have made a long post to ask me a question, are you asking me if I would support Anita Bryants right to freedom of speech and homophobia in a modern world? If you are my response will be the same, I dont personally support anyone that peddles blatant bigotry. But I dont know exactly what she would say because I never heard of her until now. So under freedom of speech yes she a legal right to say it but she doesnt have a right to hate speech And these are different, it depends on the speech and what she says? And Im not talking about moral equivalence, Im talking about a world where people are going to have different views to you on many subjects and people must accept that other people have a right to hear what that person has to so say irrespective of what you personally feel about the likes of Charlie Kirk, he has a right to speak at the University . But if someone says "kill LGBT " there is no moral equivalence to that from the left as far as I know and we must condemn that and call it out

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...enary-force-boss-threatens-bakhmut-withdrawal This is probably been posted already but Prigozhin is threatening to withdrawal from Bakhmut because he is not getting the necessary aid from the Russian military Also mentions the high number of Russian casualties in the Russian meat-grinder known as the battle for Bakhmut

Im about 45 hours into Mafia 3 and Im having a great time, its basically a watered-down version of GTA. But to summarize the aspects I like about it The narrative is set in New Orleans but its called New Bordeaux. I have always wanted to go to New Orleans and Im enjoying the realistic representation of that city and in the game you visit places like the swamps and the French district. And the culture and restaurants are very similar to what you find in Louisiana in 1968 The protagonist is a Vietnam vet and he is also black. The game does an excellent job at capturing themes that existed in that era like racism in the South, Vietnam and other similar things I am really enjoying the 1960's music when you drive around, I know most of the songs because they timeless classics like " I see a red door " and Johnny Cash songs The upgrades to your car and weapons are worthwhile The consequence to death makes sense, if you die you lose 50% or so of your wealth you carry but you can bank your wealth. However on missions you cant bank your wealth so you end up not wanting to die because there is reasonable penalty Im enjoying the overall narrative and people who join you in your quest for vengeance. They all interesting and believable with good side stories

But Chair you can see how Gromnir has clarified how the Charlie Kirk incident is indeed an example of the radical left using violence to try to stop someone they ideologically and or politically dont agree with And yes freedom of speech means people should be able to participate at a seminar without being subjected to intimidation and violence All Im saying is let's be consistent with our outrage and call it out instead of trying to defend or handwave it?

And what you consistently dont seem to understand or accept is of course Russia benefits strategically and in the long term if sanctions or the public support for sanctions ends The main way for the sanctions to end would be if energy prices in the EU skyrocketed and ending Russian sanctions would stop this energy price crisis And Im surprised we even debating this because this was a clear and attempted Russian strategy and most of us on this thread use to read @Darkpriest posts about " tick-tock" and how the Western economies were going to collapse because of the impact primarily on energy security. And the Russian propaganda machinery peddled this hyperbole and fake news for about 3-6 months hoping that would be outcome and there literally dozens of articles about this and I know because many of them posted on Codex So no, Russian blowing up the pipe is not the same as them dosing themselves on fire because they have other energy revenue sources. Right now Russia is selling energy to numerous countries, albeit at reduced prices, and they do have a consistent revenue stream. Whoever blew up the pipe has not crippled the EU or Russia, its just had an impact

But I dont think Keyrock believes that about Russia. I think he believes that Russias global intentions and actions have been misrepresented and its mostly the West\US who are responsible for the invasion and Russia had no choice because they were defending themselves. I may be wrong but thats the impression Im getting I am not going to repeat to same point I have made twice but there is absolutely a valid Russian reason to blow up the pipe. And its got to do with the impact on energy prices to the EU and how that could have influenced Western sanctions. And this is not my opinion, anyone who has been following the war from the beginning will remember the anxiety and concerns with the initial energy prices the first 6 months and how there was a call to " end sanctions because Russia is an irreplaceable source of energy ". And its not a tinfoil theory when there is an obvious long term advantage to Russia. For me its not about framing anyone, it was a strategic decision to ensure sanctions end..it was a gamble that didnt pay off because primarily the EU has found other energy sources and markets outside of Russia But end of the day we wont know the truth until its revealed. So it could be the US, pro-Ukrainian groups, some EU militant groups or Russia. They all have valid reasons to do it

Yes, this is also true and it answers @Gfted1 question The Russians already did shutdown the pipe or reduce gas for " maintenance " reasons, here is one link about this https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-11/gas-pipeline-russia-shut-down-germany-maintenance-europe-concern/101226656 But everytime they did this there was a massive and understandable outcry from the EU and they were accused of using energy blackmail. And its important to remember that Russia continues to pretend it respects the international rules of law and order. If you listen to any Russian spokesman they never acknowledge they have done anything illegal and they even go as far as to say they respect UN and international law But if the pipe gets blown up and no one knows who did it then they dont have to worry about the legal and contractual obligations to the EU around committed energy supply

Yes there are several groups and people who could have been responsible and like I was saying earlier we tend to unintentionally forget the reality and instability of global energy the first 6 months. Remember oil price got to $124 Think about if you were a Russian strategist, you know that the Western sanctions are not going to end on their own. But if you destroy the Nord pipeline yes it does impact that energy source and revenue for Russia but you still have other energy revenue sources like oil sales But it directly impacts Germany and that leads to massive internal anger at the government and a call to "end sanctions " because understandably German citizens are suffering Here is an old link from that time period about how that dependency use to be tied to Russia, there was real and valid concerns https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/07/18/a-german-gas-crisis-will-cause-jitters-across-europe/#:~:text=Nord Stream 1 supplies 58% of Germany’s annual,24%2C to more than €170 per megawatt hour. And then it would take 6-8 months to end EU\German energy sanctions in one form or another because you cant expect any EU country to suffer because of sanctions And thats better for Russia in a long term perspective. Blow up the pipeline now but it leads to a lessening of EU sanctions and thats a reasonable objective and you can mitigate the temporary loss of revenue from this for that time period All Im saying is the point that says " it makes no sense that Russia would blow up the pipeline " is not accurate. There are strategic reasons for the Ruskies to do it

I am always fascinated by other languages and how they written but why is Danish such a complicated language? Why cant it be easy to understand like English, we all understand English ?

There is a reason, the initial Vatnik propaganda for at least the first 6 months of the war was full of " Western sanctions are going to lead to the collapse of Western economies and people in Europe are going to freeze and starve to death because Russia energy sources cant be replaced" and similar rhetoric. Even on this forum members like @Darkpriest spent about 3 months posting ZeroHedge Russian funded links about the " inevitable " collapse of the EU\US economy due to high energy prices amongst other things And the EU did go through a time of rebalancing and recalibrating its economies for the first 6 months of the war but that was mostly due to the imprudent Corona lockdowns and their impact on global supply chains and this is mostly resolved compared to the first 6 months of problems So going back to the pipeline and Russia being responsible, Russia did it because they believed it would put massive additional energy pressure on the likes of Germany which in turn would put massive internal pressure on the German government to end the Western sanctions So Russia could have done it and the US could have also done it to make the EU less dependant on Russia energy and or other pro-Ukrainian groups could have done it for the same reason

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/reframing-us-policy-debate-‘long-war’-ukraine Good read on REFRAMING THE US POLICY DEBATE ON A ‘LONG WAR’ IN UKRAINE @kanisatha You should appreciate this

https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/winde-says-putin-will-be-arrested-if-he-visits-western-cape/ The head of the political party the DA has said they will arrest Putin if he arrives in the Western Cape Good to see some political parties in SA understand there ICC responsibilities

Yes but there are dozens of debates on Codex and I have never agreed in any debate where people want to exterminate minorities. People on Codex know my views on those topics

I dont use SM for any political or ideological debates for the reasons you mentioned So I have question and maybe Im missing something, what platforms or aspects of SM do you come across this type of bigotry? Why not just ignore those discussions or places

You make some good points but you wouldn't really compromise with people who think the earth is flat because its been scientifically proven its not flat and if someone refuses to accept proven science what more can you say? I know people who have similar views so you either dont debate those issues with them or you just agree to disagree. But you move on to topics you have in common Its like that family member who you know has some different view to you, he is still your family member and you love him so you avoid pointless arguments And then when it comes to politics and those types of views, you must vote for political parties who share most of yours. But you dont need to convince someone else they wrong about many political issues because its unlikely you are going to change there mind. And thats fine, I respect we all have different political views But the definition of opposition in politics is going to mean people have different views. You can still be friends with them you just disagree on certain topics?

Gorthfuscious do you mind if I use this joke\statement on other forums? I have to ask you because its your words and I really like it to make certain points? I wont mention its your words, I just want to plagiarize it

But why would you engage or interact with people who want to exterminate minorities? Does that happen a lot in Germany, I dont know anyone in RL who wants to exterminate minorities so I cant offer advice And if you talking about the US who are you talking about specifically? Because culture wars hyperbole creates that view but I dont know any prominent politician in the US who says they want to kill people so an example would be useful?

Thats not my issue with how some lefties and liberals absolutely are part of the same problem that they accuse the right of doing. For example this selective banning of freedom of speech at universities when people on the right have something to say. Gromnir raised an example of this a while ago, Charlie Kirk was going to speak at UC Davis and radical left protestors tried to stop him with violence and damaging the university https://www.thefire.org/news/charlie-kirk-event-uc-davis-prompts-violent-protest Now its a liberal university but thats not how freedom of speech works, if a women who was pro-choice was going to speak at a Conservative Texas university and pro-life protestors tried to stop her we would all be outraged We need more consistency when it comes to what we believe as freedoms and how we respond to infringements on them

Good, I really didnt think you did tell people you woke. In fact do you know anyone in RL who ever calls themselves woke, have you ever met anyone who does? The words been hijacked and abused by some on the right and left but particularly on the Internet and in US political grandstanding and culture wars like when DeSantis says he is fighting "wokeness " or what Majorie Taylor Green says But it initially had a well meaning definition but thats gone now because it means different things now to different people and when words no longer have an agreed on definition they become meaningless or get thrown around on a whim I use it on Codex but thats because it has a specific meaning to make a certain point but thats only on Codex and in certain debates. And Im sure my definition is not the same as others on Codex