BruceVC

Hopefully the US border issue is agreed on because that $60 billion will also be appreciated

But SA doesnt think the ICC is a kangaroo court because they also want the ICC to charge Israel and your response to this doesnt make sense either, they not trying to shame the ICC to action. They believe the ICC must act, here is the official link from DIRCO https://dirco.gov.za/south-africa-along-with-like-minded-states-submits-joint-referral-of-the-situation-in-palestine-to-the-icc/ To quote " South Africa is further encouraging other States Parties to the Rome Statute to join the referral, or to submit separate referrals independently. South Africa remains committed to ending impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and it is hoped that the situation in Palestine will be prioritised by the ICC in order to deliver justice to the victims of these grave crimes " They even mention genocide and other countries joining them, thats not what a country would say if they didnt think the ICC mattered.These are public government statements So the inconsistency is obvious, the ICC matters when the ANC doesnt like a country but if its a "friend " then crimes like genocide dont matter and the ICC will be ignored or questioned like with Al-Bashir But its not about principle which is what our president said, it all about politics

Al-Bashir was ousted in 2019 and the current civil war started last year in 2023, so Sudan didnt collapse when he was removed. This civil war was years later But genocide can be both an ICJ or ICC charge, its not about if you like the ICJ, its about the principle and outrage about genocide as a crime. Thats what SA is now saying about the case against Israel, its about the principle of our belief in human rights as the foundation of foreign policy decisions But with AL-Bashir the principle vanished and suddenly it was about politics. And the ANC must just be honest about that, our foreign policy decisions are not guided by human rights. Its about who we friends with or who we like historically or who we dont like Its not about " we are opposed to genocide as a moral principle "

What about black people not caring about genocide of black people by brown people? In 2015 Al-Bashir from Sudan was allowed to leave SA without being arrested for an ICC warrant for .....genocide. The wars in south Sudan use to be an ethnic conflict, Arab Sudanese vs black Sundanese and the genocide in Darfur was committed against black Sundanese, 300k black Sudanese were killed And SA didnt arrest him and made excuses why they couldnt arrest him . If we had just known that 8 years later SA would be at the ICJ bringing a case of genocide around another country and now genocide really matters and we doing this because " we are guided by principles and our belief that human rights is a foundation of our foreign policy decisions " according to our president Its a pity we didnt practice that when it came to genocide in Darfur

Why whats wrong with Rwanda? Its one of Africa's most well run countries. Dont get influenced by racist or Afrophobic views about Rwanda. Rwanda is a much better place to live in than where many of these illegal immigrants come from. https://360mozambique.com/world/africa/13-stunning-facts-about-rwanda/#:~:text=Rwanda is known for its,for their hospitality and friendliness. https://www.butterfield.com/get-inspired/facts-about-rwanda

I do think he is a really bad leader for whats best for Israel, I dont believe he knew about the attacks because the surprise attack has inexorably undermined much of his right-wing rhetoric which is " I am best person to protect the Jewish homeland, stick with me " And his political career is over once this latest war is over. He has demonstrated he doesnt mind creating political or societal chaos in Israel if it suits his right-wing views, like when he wanted to make those changes around the courts authority and the powers of the Knesset But I dont believe he would willingly allow Jews to die if they knew Hamas was going to attack on the 7 October

https://www.primediaplus.com/sa-has-failed-to-prove-genocidal-intent-by-israel-in-gaza-says-international-law-expert/ Here is another interview with Professor Andre Thomashusen, an emeritus professor of comparative and international law at Unisa but this is his reflections after the ICJ evidence was presented and again he doesnt think SA made a very compelling case Its only 11 minutes and I encourage everyone to listen to it and particularly for those people who dont have a firm opinion on this issue and for those who are more pedantic about when something is genocide based on the legal definition and not the emotion or what we see through SM or the general media And again this is his opinion as someone qualified in the field of international law but the final ruling will come from the ICJ

Keyrock dont forget its also sexist to tell any liberated women what she can or cant wear Thats why I always support chainmail-bikini armor, its the right thing to do when it comes to gender equality

Its guaranteed Trump will be the GOP nomination, thats been known for months if you look at almost every poll

Thanks , I do find these types of specific stories about a country very interesting and informative It all helps to build an understanding of any country that you havent visited

I think you might be misunderstanding my point or Im misunderstanding your point There is common response throughout the world when institutions like the ICC or ICJ make rulings or issue warrants that people have opinions on those outcomes based on their own bias or ideological views. Its not based on if country x or person y is really guilty or not. And the main difference between the ICC and ICJ is the ICC prosecutes people and the ICJ prosecutes countries. Here is a link and summary of the difference https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2024/01/89269/what-international-court-justice-and-why-does-it-matter#:~:text=The simplest way to explain,crimes or crimes against humanity. " There is frequent confusion between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity. Also, whilst the ICJ is an organ of the United Nations, the ICC is legally independent of the UN, although it is endorsed by the General Assembly. While not all 193 UN Member States are parties to the ICC, it can launch investigations and open cases related to alleged crimes committed on the territory or by a national of a State party to the ICC or of a State that has accepted its jurisdiction. Cases have been heard and decisions rendered on a range of violations, from using rape as a weapon of war to conscripting children as combatants" So for example when Putin was issued with an ICC warrant this was immediately dismissed by Russian supporters, anti-West groups and Vatniks including many people within South Africa yet 9 months later many of those same people, specifically from South Africa, now believe the ICC is credible and we must support it against Israel because SA has also taken Israel to the ICC and not just the ICJ. This is just one example of selective and inconsistent outrage and how some people and countries flip-flop on support or belief when it comes to the ICC or the ICJ And this matters to what you originally said " as countries outside the west will completely lose all faith in the system, worse than the prospect of Sting ever losing his faith in you." This ruling is not going change what countries or people think about the system. Most people already dismiss or support these institutions based on what country is involved But it will always matter to the people who are victims or the targets of genocide, the likes of the ICC and ICJ will always matter to them because these are international institutions and victims have no other options It was Gambia that took Myanmar to the ICJ for the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims and this matters to the Rohingya even if others are cynical about the ICJ https://iimm.un.org/icj-the-gambia-v-myanmar/#:~:text=The Gambia brought the case,the Genocide Convention in 1956. End of the day these allegations of genocide is about the legal and technical definition of genocide and that will be decided by 17 judges. Im woefully unqualified to give an opinion on the hours of presented evidence by both sides...I also only watched about 1 hour of the total submissions. I generally find this types of legal cases boring and repetitive So I will the read the final opinions of the ICJ and comment further then. Because that will be summary of the evidence presented

But the ICJ has 9 judges out of 15 that arent from Western countries, the ruling will be based on the evidence. It wont be because of " evil, Western Capitalist countries control the ICJ " . And its a UN institution so its not like its going anywhere whatever the final ruling

I have finished NWN2 MoB and I have already summarized what I loved about this game so all that's outstanding is the anticipated and highly influential score on the " BruceVC game rating system "...it gets a sold 78/100 Now Im playing Storm of Zehir, I appreciate the new mechanics like the map and how that works and I know its going to be another rewarding Forgotten Realms D&D experience

I have had the TV on in the background and the SA ICJ lawyers have been on , some compelling comments around what I understand I am interested in what Israel says tomorrow

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/narvik-movie-true-story I watched this movie about Norway in WW2, its good

So Im not very knowledgeable on most of the wars over the last 100 years that Nordic countries have fought in but I do know a little I do think Finland had demonstrated it has the most effective military if you think of the Winter War and I do realize all the Nordic countries fought admirably against the Nazi, of course some Nords also aligned with the Nazi but most people didnt support them but they had to accept Nazi occupation which was normal for most of Europe But the main advantage that Finland has now is the additional security of NATO and thats why I want friendly Sweden to join. I doubt Russia would invade Sweden but Putin has demonstrated you cant take anything for granted NATO membership will give friendly Sweden peace of mind

I'm close to finishing NWN2 MoB, I'm at the part where I have met The Founder and now the full narrative is revealed and I have received the Silver Sword and Im heading for the Wall of the Faithless I mentioned this before but this game is an example of one of the best narratives I have ever experienced, its brilliant and I love how it ties into general Forgotten Realms lore on an epic level. You get to meet Myrkul Games like this remind me of how significant the narrative can be for the overall enjoyment of the game

None of us are qualified lawyers and none of us have much legal experience with how the ICJ defines genocide and thats what this case is about, the legal definition and classification of genocide Of course we all entitled to our own opinions but we not entitled to our own facts So Im going to wait for the ruling from the ICJ, they the experts and knowledgeable on these matters

I wish I could move on from the terrible historical injustice inflicted on my ancestors by the Nords\Vikings Keyrock do you know the Vikings enslaved, Colonized and terrorized the Saxons for hundreds of years? And one of the worst things about it is I never knew about this part of my ancestors history until about 7-8 years ago but once I found out about it the trauma has never gone away But @Gorth and I do talk and acknowledge the terrible injustice every couple of months and we close to agreeing to redress, I dont want Gorth and other Nordic members to be burdened by the overwhelming guilt and responsibility of what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago And I said a monthly transfer of about $500 into my personal account would be enough for me to absolve him of the terrible injustice inflicted on my ancestors, life should always be about compromise

Are you sure they cant teleport....how do we know that for sure? I dont need to tell you how deep the rabbit hole can go

I dont mean geographically small, I mean militarily small When was the last time Sweden was in a war? Imagine them against the brutality of Russia

And I really like Sweden, the thought of little , friendly Sweden having to fight a war upsets me

As many of us know on Thursday South Africa is taking a case of genocide to the ICJ and I just listened to an interview with a professor of international law called Andre Thomashausen who is based in SA. He is German and normally I disagree with his legal assessments but he makes sense in this case He says the case is meritless and he explains legally why, its only 16 minutes long and I encourage those interested in the allegation that Israel has committed genocide to listen to it. It could change your opinion on this allegation https://omny.fm/shows/powertalk-archive/a-101-on-the-international-court-of-justice-south

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/sweden-states-all-citizens-must-be-prepared-for-war/ar-AA1mDNPb @Azdeus and @Pidesco You guys are not part of NATO yet so are you guys prepared for war...we never know who Russia will invade next but it wont be a NATO member

We put coins in Christmas pudding, not gold but normal coins and they get boiled for ages Im not sure where we get the tradition from?