BruceVC

The war could end relatively quickly because it was caused by the nationalist views and influence of one man, Putin. If Putin dies tomorrow and you see new leadership they could literally end the direction that Russia is going in Ukraine and at least immediately withdraw the Russian army back to Russia borders There are lots of examples in history about wars ending when you see leadership change like the end of the USSR under Gorbachev or the end of the Vietnam war Im not convinced at all that this is a " forever " war because historical and current precedent around wars doesnt support that. You can often see change in countries ideological stance based on new leadership Another relevant example, 45 years of Apartheid ended in SA under the direction of a single man and his views. FW De Klerk took over from the previous PM and the ideological direction of SA changed

I have been gaming for 20 years and historically we dont have the fast internet access you guys have and I also can only recall 3-4 times where " always on " has negatively impacted my gaming experience?

Like everyone he has accurate insights on certain topics and particularly Ukraine. Here is one of his posts from Codex about the invasion. You just have to excuse the normal typos but its true and funny ( he was responding to some post about a politician saying the invasion was Ukraine fault ) "Lol Ukraine us at fault because it didn't just bend over and let nazi Russia genocide them and steal their country. How about nazi Russia. This is a war if choice fie them. Ukraine was no threat ro nazi russia. That politician is bull**** attacking Ukraine whose fighting fir uts country. Probably a putrid bootlicker "

Yes Volo is on Codex, he makes posts fairly regularly and he is as hilarious as ever with his accurate insights and typos He is on the side of Ukraine and often refers to Russia and Putin as Nazi

Iranian foreign minister criticizing France for being " intolerant to protestors" Can you get anymore cringe

Yes I saw this on CNN, one of criticisms is San Francisco wasn't part of slavery so why should they be paying reparations?

Bill Maher at his finest this time around Rupert Murdochs latest marriage @Gorth I imagine you taking a days leave to be part of the event?

Here is really interesting view about why the British shouldnt pay reparations for Colonialism and slavery, I have raised some of these points before that include the reality of slavery and how basically every empire of man practiced slavery yet there is no focus on those reparations like the Ottomans I disagree with some of things Rafe mentions but I agree with much of it

Some spirited words in support of Ukraine from Georgia Meloni the Italian PM I remember when she was elected and how Vatniks thought this will lead to less support for Ukraine from the EU

Its a historical reality and problem in France how people protest and how most of these protests turn violent. But over the last 20 years anarchists, anti-establishment groups and radical left ideologues infiltrate these protests and cause much more mayhem in the interest of destabilizing the state. Similar to the Yellow Vest protests in France Like violence you see in BLM protests they dont represent the majority of people protesting but they are a constant reason for violence And they dont care about the damage they cause to the country or the future of France. Its all about " lets destroy what exists and somehow we can rebuild something better " or similar rhetoric and grandstanding And yet some people still deny the radical left exists or they " not really violent "

Sarex I know, Im also outraged and have you seen the criminality and looting? Lots of violence from the normal French anarchists and radical left that pretend to be part of the protestors. They jump at any opportunity for violence and anti-social behavior. Dozens of police have been injured And all because of necessary pension reforms, this type of violence is just shameful

A very informative read about life as a Ukrainian soldier. Sad that one of the guys, Vitalii, was killed So Pravda has access to the frontline conflict or do they have access to areas that are not active?

Okay but thats the same example as saying " people aren't considered people due to unjust laws " @Gorth examples are valid, for example in Apartheid SA non-white people were denied basic rights that are mandatory when we define what a citizen is So if your point is "Laws and rules that protects people only protects those you consider people" I would disagree that exists in any country where any of us live because being a citizen grants you certain inalienable rights Arent you talking about economic inequality, thats not the same thing as not being seen as a person like in Burma or the US or SA historically?

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/23/europe/bakhmut-ukraine-counter-offensive-intl Possible Ukrainian counter-offensive in Bakhmut, imagine if that happens. Its going to cause huge anxiety amongst Vatniks especially considering " Bakhmut has fallen for over 70 days now "

Lexx I thought of a legal German conundrum, what happens if a child has been called Hitler and the first day of school that child goes to school and tells the teacher " my name is Hitler " would he be arrested? You might think Im joking but there are people in SA who identify themselves as Hitler and its a black person. There is a fairly regular caller on one of the talk shows who says his name is Hitler

I installed a mod for that, there is an official IWD2 banter pack https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/npcs/iwd2npc/

Yes I agree, for any government to be bound by its Constitution it requires judicial independence And that doesnt exist in Russia under Putin and even when he is gone its difficult to imagine how this will change. It can of course but Judicial independence takes time to be restored

" against the Russian Constitution " Good one Zora, it almost makes you think that Putin is bound by it and believes in the rule of law and order. I dont give your sense of humor enough credit

Im only 4 hours into IWD2 and still killing goblins but I can feel its going to be another excellent IE D&D game experience My party is made up of the following, I loved the customizations and choices in the party creation " ME" which is a human male wizard ( but anyone can be leader ) Half-orc male barbarian Half-elf male ranger Drow female cleric ( I had to include a Viconia lookalike ) Halfling female thief Human male Druid

There is more of chance of me going on a hot date with Meghan Thee Stallion than Putin ending up in the ICC...especially while he is president But its the principle of the warrant that matters to me. Thats what is important. But this warrant puts SA in a terrible position for August. I hope they move the BRICS meeting to India or China

People on Codex claim its absolutely true but its Codex so thats no guarantee its true I will make some inquiries about links and what is out there

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5887911?from=glavnoe_1 There is a Russian Codex member who provides these links, he is not a Putin fan or supports the invasion but basically its the financial results of all large listed private sector Russian companies. He has posted about 4-5 and they reveal the same dire results for these companies due to Western sanctions and the reality of the Russian economy The Ruskies are now classifying economic data about the country but private sector listed companies have to post there results by law. Companies can obviously lie about end of year results but its highly unethical and illegal Anyway these are the results from Rosbank and shows a 75% decrease is profit from 2021 but they only went under US and EU sanctions in December 2022 so I hate to think what 2023 results could be but they are trying to diversify from Western markets and sanctions

https://www.ex2.com.au/news/avalon-2023-sypaq-to-supply-corvo-drones-to-ukraine/ @Gorth Nice to see Oz companies playing there part, and making money, assisting the Ukrainian war effort

Okay so we talking about historical realities and autocratic states like Burma, it definitely wasn't clear because I was confused because I assumed it was about countries where we live Thanks for clarifying