BruceVC

PE? What exactly do you mean..surly not Project Eternity

It did ...you right, GG has been directly implicated in the creation of Apartheid

A good starting point would be to examine the "legality" of the nation state of Ukraine, the ways in which the borders between it and its neighbours were drawn etc. (hint: they were established as rather insignificant administrative lines, at a time when ethnicity was irrelevant and independent Soviet republics were unimaginable) If the lines had been drawn with the benefit of hindsight, a lot of bloodshed could probably have been avoided. As for annexing territories and spheres of influence, Israels (never recognised) annexation of the Golan heights, the rather unsubtle western interference in Libyia, the forced change (and following anarchy) of regime in Iraq, the meddling in Serbia, the meddling (in the end, without any results) in the affairs of Georgia and where the minorities there were never consulted about which country they suddenly wanted to belong to... it's a long list. Nobody is entitled to wear a halo in the world of "realpolitik" But there is no point really discussing the legality of Ukrainian borders because they exist and they are what they are, it reminds me of a perspective I often hear about why there is so much instability in Africa. People say things like " but the Colonialists created these false borders when they created various colonies and and forced tribes to live together...that's the reason Africa is such a violent continent...its the Colonialists fault " You will never recreate these borders and redefine what territory is part of country x or country y so why discuss something we can't change, also to blame this as a reason for violence is fallacious IMO as there are many countries that exist and thrive fine under there so called " Western -imposed " borders ? And this applies to Ukraine and Africa So in summary the UN and the international community enforces and understands exactly where the borders of almost all countries exist and this is irrefutable And then you mentioned some interesting examples as a comparison to how Russia has been involved in Ukraine. I don't think any of those are similar, for example Libya was a UNSC endorsed military mission and Serbia was a humanitarian mission to prevent the Serbs from continuing to perpetuate genocide But the main point being in all those examples is the West didn't literally annex parts of a foreign country ? This is not the first time Russia has done this..they did the same thing in Georgia

If you are going to use grandiloquent phrases such as "absolutely no legal precedent", at least get your facts straight. The US have been more or less openly doing precisely that within their self-proclaimed "sphere of influence" for more than a century. Notable examples include Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The last two involve land grabs, too. Russia didn't invent imperialism and neither did the US, for that matter. So yeah... it's not exactly about legality. It's about what imperialist powers can get away with, and what people come to accept as the new status quo as a result of being bombarded with propaganda for long enough. Sure, you right. The West has in the past been involved in similar activities. 60 years ago the USA did invade Cuba But I am more concerned with the last 20 years and how countries operate withing the boundaries of what the international community and the UN will accept. I'm not sure if you are saying because the USA did something in the past that justifies the illegal annexing of Crimea and the Russian support of the separatists which is the only reason that this conflict is still ongoing? Or are you are just disputing my usage of the words " absolutely no legal precedent " ? If that's case then you are right, I was wrong to suggest that .

Chill Malc, I was just teasing you....hence the

Well you know what they say " small things amuse small minds "

Oby where were you born? Was it Russia or Ukraine?

Yeah I was just joking But since I have joined this forum, 3 years ago, there has been ongoing debate about if " Oby is a real Russian ". Most people say he is a troll but I'm not convinced, he clearly can speak Russian but at times his posting style reveals an inconsistency between Russian and English. Its like he is trying to sound Russian by making intentional grammatical mistakes Anyway if you do have time I would like your opinion on what you think about how "real" Oby is. You would have to watch his posting style for a period of time and then comment

crypto-Ukrainian detected. Oby you have a problem, this may be a real Russian that is commenting ? Maybe you guys should ask each other some personal questions about Russia so we can determine who is legitimate?

South Africa is currently playing New Zealand in the semi-finals of the cricket world cup, rain has reduced our number of overs we can bat in but we will post a decent score, 280 runs or so Then NZ will bat but due to the rain they will have 43 overs , I know most of you guys don't watch cricket but it is very exciting I'm at one of my customers and they have prudently used all there IT monitoring screens to show the cricket

Yeah, it is a pity but I never had a warm and fuzzy feeling about this one so I'm not surprised

Thanks, I think I'll take a deep breath and try hard mode. The beginning of the game will be a bit tough most likely, but once you gathered your party and ventured forth into the world of Eora, you won't regret your choice for playing on Hard I also want to play on Hard but I have only ever played games on Normal ...so it will be an adjustment for me

I am more than happy to share my banking details with you and you can always do an international transfer directly into my account ?

Excellent question, " how would Obsidian increase revenue through sales " ? Obviously we can all agree on the benefits of PoE selling well, that's not even a talking point. So what we are really asking is getting people who aren't active on these forums and who didn't support the game through KS to now purchase PoE. There have been some good suggestions but we need to accept that if you can include Romance that will draw the Romance crowd who sometimes spend money on purchasing a game just because there is Romance. So my idea is to start looking seriously at Romance in PoE 2, that will increase revenue

Oh, I know. This is near the moment when a US journalist asks a US politician to explain what ISIS actually is, and to suggest the difference between them and the groupings in Iraq with unpronounceable names that fit under labels like: "they support us, probably", "they support us a bit", "they might support us if we pay them", "they don't like us, or foreigners in general, but say things we like to hear". And perhaps get a list of which of these groups that have at some point received funding and supplies via war-appropriations not specifically approved by Congress. You know, just for fun, to see how many groups are defined as both ISIS, terror-groups black-listed for trade, as well as "allies". ...anyway. Pretty sure "coalition" forces have been airdropping supplies to every possible kurdish faction for a few years now. Including the ones that support and take part in violent overthrows of any recognisable police-authority in Kurdistan. Not that it's not better than random drone-strikes on populated areas near the Iranian border. Mighty show of restraint to stop running those, really. Such incredible situational awareness the US State Department offered here.. Honestly, world war 3 won't be fought over oil or resources, or land or anything like that. WW3 will happen because of bone-headed, obnoxious stupidity, for no good reason at all. Sorry but all these prognostications of WW3 because of political instability in the Middle East I don't buy, it doesn't make sense Firstly in order for there to be a real "WW3" you would effectively need the worlds superpowers to go to war with each other. So China vs USA, or Russia vs USA. Now in the 50 years of the Cold War there was no WW3 only proxy wars and this wasn't because there weren't groups of people who didn't want to destroy Capitalism or Communism it was because of the threat of mutually assured destruction from nuclear weapons. This has not changed. So who would be involved in this WW3? What countries or blocks of countries ? Finally its highly unlikely that conflicts like the Ukraine or Syria are suddenly going to lead to the absence of conventional wisdom and the reality of mutually assured destruction of countries like Russia or the USA if they did go to war?

I know the original source of this article and what they're omitting from it is that Russian intelligence received information that Yanukovich was to be ambushed and killed. They knew where and how, which is why they decided to save him. I guess that part didn't look as good for the muppets in Kiev so it.. slipped.. from this article. So let me get your logic straight, lets say you are correct and Yanukovich was going to get killed ( which I dispute ) Russia then decided to illegally annex Crimea and support eastern Ukraine militarily to break away from Ukraine? Is Ukraine part of Russia, the last time I checked it was a sovereign country and there is absolutely no legal precedent that justifies how Russia and has been interfering in the government of Ukraine So I don't get your point about "Yanukovich about to killed " is relevant to the current crisis?

Yeah house work is not my strong point, I have a domestic worker who comes in once a week and cleans my house and does my washing and ironing Hiring a domestic worker ( we don't like to use the word maid ) is common in Africa and South Africa. Its relatively affordable and you help to give people employment

I like Steam but there forums are not the place to find objective opinions on a game that hasn't been released yet I use Steam forums to normally find out specific information about a game when I'm playing it. So I would ask for input around finding something or advice on beating a particular enemy, And the comments are generally useful and polite

Well I'm glad you recognize that Nonek because I have found you to be particularly biased on a number of issues, accepting of a problem is the first step to fixing it. So good luck on improving your posting etiquette

I mentioned that my best friend is immigrating to Australia so last night we went to one of Johannesburg's most exclusive restaurants called Five Hundred at a 5 star hotel and conference center called the Saxon, it was amazing. Check this place out http://www.saxon.co.za/#TheSaxonHotel We had a 6 course meal with wine pairing so we had a different bottle of wine with each course. We had lobster, skank ( a fish) , pork belly, veal, a cheese desert and the two deserts. Each meal was also a theme. So for example the skank fish was part of seaside recreation that included mussel custard and edible sea sand..as I said the food was incredible. The head chef is one of South Africa's most talented celebrity chefs and he didn't disappoint Halfway through the evening the wine sommelier came to our table and said if we could guess the country and year of production of the wine we would win a bottle of Champagne..this is obviously very hard considering what a global export wine is. Anyway one of my friends g-friends lived in Greece for 10 years and she said it tasted like a Spanish wine and it was probably a 2010. It was also her birthday that night so we went with her guess..and she was right She won a $500 bottle of Champagne. Only one other person in the 3 year history of that competition has got that one right

There is very little wrong with the notion of "freedom of speech " in the USA and IMO to suggest this is is really just " Obama-bashing " and a scurrilous accusation You have vociferous and influential newspapers and international news channels that are independent from government control and these provide just one medium where criticism and praise of the government can and most certainly does happen You have a degree of political partisan control on the stories and direction at some of these places but end of the day there is still absolute " freedom of speech " in the USA

You funny

Gee you must be the life of a party...when we ask for honesty about a game we don't expect it to be so brutal and unforgiving

Funny enough these massive advancements in technology aren't always relevant to the global community because of the gap in wealth and poverty levels In Bill Gates book " The Road Ahead " in the 1980's his goal in life was " a Windows PC in every house in the world " But then he traveled to Africa with his wife and that objective changed, he then started believing " how can we expect a PC in every house when some people don't even know where there next meal is coming from " So don't think you will necessarily be overwhelmed by technology or have to have be part of it on some levels

I like this post, I think its a good idea to do something for all the French speaking members on the forum