BruceVC

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/11/boris-nemtsov-murder-suspect-zaur-dadayev-claims-police-forced-confession So I see now the Chechen suspects is now saying he was forced to make the initial confession This is no surprise, who will the Kremlin now blame for the murder....especially since Putin vowed to find the killers Can you imagine this ever happening in a Western country? A prominent opposing politician is assassinated and the state decides to frame someone for the murder, the level of political corroboration this would require from many people is staggering But I suppose if you don't have free press its much easier to do, Russia is fortunate they control the media

Well he is instrumental to the reason there is a conflict in Ukraine and his visibility in the global political arena is relevant and should be concerning if he isn't around

Guess it's appropriate that on St Paddy's day we get mention of mythical creatures that guard pots of gold. Funny enough I have had no issues with Steam support, I have only had to use them twice Once I bought a game, Mafia 2, and when I tried to load it Steam said the activation key was " already in use " I contacted Steam support and they asked me to scan my original slip from the company I bought the game from and then email them this scanned slip as proof that I had indeed purchased the game This was slightly inconvenient but once I did this they gave me a new activation key

Wow, so you don't know any gay people or many Russians....you haven't traveled far down the path of multiculturalism have you GD ? Meeting Russians or gay people has nothing to do with multiculturalism, General. You sure? I'll only believe you if you are absolutely certain

Wow, so you don't know any gay people or many Russians....you haven't traveled far down the path of multiculturalism have you GD ?

The "Slavic" beauty is in reality all due to Finno-Ugric/Baltic intermingling. Doesn't bother me in the slightest, they are still hot

because in our culture people must hide own emotions, be a soulless masks. Wowwwww....that sounds great, please can I immigrate to Russia...plzzzz

Depends on the country, in my opinion those societies who pay for a working health care system should have a little say in that matter, our health care system is overburdened with taking care of people with self-inflicted ailments. A delicate matter, but something has to change. I used to think that way, but then I found out that the say in the matter governments have isn't exercised rationally or consistently. For instance, studies show that if you lift hard, odds (82% !) are that you'll injure yourself, the most likely injuries occurring in the back or shoulders, which may require expensive surgery and/or rehab to fix. Then you have low back pain which is, according to the WHO, the leading cause of work absence; the direct and indirect costs of LBP are measured in hundreds of billions in the US alone. We know that an adequate fitness level, proper weight and good posture often help with that... but governments don't do jack about it because LBP isn't a blip on people's radars. And let's not even touch sugary drinks, candy bars etc. You get the picture. Imagine if the EC tomorrow decided to draft a law to ban sitting for more than 30 minutes straight at work, establish fines for obese people, and declared powerlifting and strongman illegal across the EU. Lol much? But it gets better. It turns out that keeping people in jail is expensive as hell (to the tune of €1,950/mo and inmate in my country), while at the same time, we know that prohibition doesn't really end consumption... it simply makes it part of the untaxable submerged economy which is the lifeblood of unofficial crime syndicates. The sensible and morally legitimate way to go about it is the same as with alcohol and tobacco: tax the hell out of them on account of the burden they are to public healthcare, regulate their distribution, and do away with the social stigma so the causes and effects of abuse can be discussed and treated in a mature way. OT: and now I'm off to increase my likelihood of suffering a shoulder or back injury That's a very convincing post, nice one

One week, two weeks ....not much of a difference The main point being the launch of PoE is imminent

That is true for all drugs, they all have beneficial effects, which is usually reason why people use them first place. Even always dissed alcohol and tobacco have beneficial effects. It is quite vague thing that causes drug to become illegal, but more often than not it has lot to do how easy and cheap making that drug is. Which is reason why it think that all drugs should be legal and go through similar oversight as legal drugs. As it would ensure quality of those drugs, make them taxable (which would give money to take care of those who suffer their not so beneficial effects), make controlling them cheaper and easier, and it would lessen power of criminal organizations that finance their operation by selling drugs. But there is always more passion than though when it comes to conversations about drugs. Correct, the real solution to the war of drugs is to legalize everything. As you mentioned you can then control and tax the quality and have proper healthcare to help addicts You would effectively almost completely destroy the power of the various drug cartels. Portugal has adopted a very liberal drug policy and they have had better results than other countries that criminalize drugs ( this link is a little old but still relevant ) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/26/portugals-drug-policy-pays-eyes-lessons/

A bit of subjective praise there wouldn't you say Nonek...I guess you were also the best DM you had ever seen

What !!! That's heresy...sacrilegious ...I'm surprised you don't get banned from the forums for such statements

That's what I was thinking, you could freeze what is left over for later We often have braai's\barbeque in South Africa and there is always meat left over which you inherit if the event is at your house. I have eaten leftover braai meat 3 days after cooking it and it was fine. But I won't go longer than that which I probably could but I choose not to

He is probably wrong to blame "Scandinavians", but what you say is true. IIRC Sweden provided something like 60% of ANCs entire income during the 80s, and an even larger percentage of Mugabe's ZANU before independence, and smaller amounts also to SWAPO in Namibia, all during the Social Democratic periods of power. At that time Sweden had an incredibly aggressive and interventionist foreign policy. Providing some context to this, southern Africa was the most common destination for Swedish missionaries during the mid-20th century, and the Swedish church is, and was, very tightly tied to the Social Democratic party. Missionaries would then come home and tell of experiences of racism and inequality. This really shaped Swedish views of the world, and there was a high degree of awareness especially about conditions in southern African colonies. However, there was also support for lots of other liberation movements such as PLO and POLISARIO. These policies can be tied in part personally to Olof Palme (sadly assassinated), who certainly left a very interesting legacy, foreign-policy wise. He consistently denounced and actively worked against imperialism, both Soviet imperialism in Eastern Europe and Western imperialism in Africa. However, he also had no qualms about friendship with very authoritarian leftist regimes as long as they were independent (i.e., not direct puppets of SU). Palme's worldview was shared in part by the Swedish FN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld (sadly assassinated), who in spite of being staunchly conservative in domestic politics thought that self-rule always trumps the interests of the superpowers. The aggressive financial support was ended with the right-wing government of the early nineties. With the return of the Social Democrats to power, much of the rhetoric remained though. The most outspoken politician was Anna Lindh, sadly assassinated before she could assume leadership of the Social Democratic party. And now after another period of right-wing government, we have another outspoken female foreign minister (Margot Wallström) who seems hell-bent to shake things up. Sweden has already been the first Western EU country to recognize Palestine. Following this, Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Stockholm only to be given lengthy lectures about feminism, and being pressured to make commitments about the role of women in government and civic society . Afterwards, Wallström was invited as an honorary guest to the Arab League's next meeting, and was set to hold a speech about feminism and human rights. This was predictably shot down by Saudi Arabia, after which Sweden immediately cancelled military exports to Saudi Arabia on human rights grounds, providing a model for other countries to do so as well. Current Swedish foreign politics suddenly got their popcornworthiness turned up to 11. So it might not be THAT crazy that Netanyahu accuses Sweden of meddling. History supports it, hell, Swedes like Count Folke Bernadotte (sadly assassinated) did that even before the foundation of the state of Israel. This has been a very enlightening post, nice one Its been like a quick but detailed history lesson that you can reference at your own time with the links, you don't overdo the actual content That's why I reject this notion from some that on forums like this "you can't learn anything new as everyone just wants to tell you what you should be thinking " This informative post is a good example of why that isn't so

Sounds good and tasty, how long does a brisket last you once its cooked ?

Seeing as I use pseudonyms on every account, I fail to see how I'd experience any IRL blowback. Booze is one thing. But if you're going to do stuff like that might as well drop out of college. Why put knowledge in your brain when you're just going to burn it out anyway. Just my $.02 Actually LSD is relatively safe and non-addictive as drugs go. Less damaging than alcohol, at any rate. Besides it's spring break and my GPA is damn good. No you will be fine, its good to do these things sometimes. Consider it a form experiencing life through a different lens Also LSD is not addictive at all, well at least not physically. I suppose its possible to become mentally addictive but I doubt any sane person would want to experience the world all the time on a trip? Coincidentally there have been several legal tests in the UK of the effects of LSD and its benefits to neuroscience http://cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk/gairrhydd/news/controversial-lsd-experiment-faces-acid-funding-test/ So the point around LSD being all bad for you is very subjective

No I would definitely say that characterization is largely accurate

Yeah the misplaced and thoughtless trip to the USA was just him embellishing his own support and dismissing the possible fallout. He could lose his PM role and be replaced by a center left party Also of course he is wrong to blame the Scandinavians but you guys do have a reputation for interfering in other countries affairs. During the time of Apartheid I remember it was the Scandinavian countries that were one of the first to fund and recognize the ANC. Many white South Africans disliked your endeavors as arrogance and interference But of course they had to say that, your countries were doing the right thing and some people needed to find anyway to undermine your strategy

This is a very insightful post, well done Zora Apart from the fact that there aren't accurate records or any books written, as far as I know, on the subject " German view of Nazism post WW2" it should seem preposterous to suggest that the majority of German people would still see Nazism as something relevant or helpful. They just wanted to rebuild there country free from the shadow of it So maybe they made a few possibly drastic decisions, like banning the Swastika, but who are we really to judge considering there mindset and what they had just been through?

Well, I can confirm Valsuelm statement to be true. But I need to congratulate you and encourage you to make career in politics. Dismissing your opponents argument based on your own ignorance is the most ballsy move I ever seen in a discussion. Well I am active in several radio talk shows and the topics are generally about politics Just to be clear do you know what we are debating Sharp_one ? I am saying at the end of WW2 the majority of the German people were happy to put Nazism in the past, they saw it as negative thing and not something they wanted to repeat, hence the banning of the Swastika Vals is saying the Germans only renounced Nazism because the Allies told them to

The Germans generally were thinking no such thing. The Allied powers pretty much forced all of this at gun point, with the US and UK holding the most guns. The Germans had little voice in the matter. Banning a symbol, banning discussion of certain topics, etc is downright evil. One should question why this was done. It wasn't done for the superficial reasons you're thinking Bruce. In very short, it was done to make sure the narrative given by the Allied powers was accepted and not questioned. The phrase, 'the winners write the history books' is possibly never more aptly used than when WW2 is concerned. Sorry I don't believe that, I'm sure the majority of Germans realized by then that Nazism was a failed ideology and were glad it was over. So they weren't forced by the Allies to criminalize symbols like the Swastika, they wanted to do this as they wanted to start focusing on the future and didn't want certain reminders How about you actually go and read some history books. This isn't a matter of believing or not believing, this isn't a question of spirituality or faith, it's a matter or what happened or didn't. A great deal of this particular subject is written in numerous books, transcripts, interviews, etc. I realize your world view might be shaken, hence you ignore so much of what is in this world, past and present. Better to hold on to your mythology, than to objectively delve into the archives of what's what, or think past a superficial level. You suffer confirmation bias on a level I've rarely encountered in this world. So much so that even I have wondered if you're nothing more than a troll as others here have asserted. Objectivity is seemingly anathema to you in regards to so much you ever discuss. The truth is, that in post WW2 Germany you would be hard pressed to find a group of random Germans where the majority of them thought that Nazism was their #1 problem rather than the folks who were occupying their nation, bombed and killed ~8-10% of the population, and had started a war with them. This simple fact really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with even the tiniest understanding of human nature, or even contentious. It makes oodles and oodles of sense if one thinks about it. But even today, a very large number of Germans (in particular those middle aged or older who either lived through it or got stories first hand from their parents as to what happened), would not agree with the idea that Nazis were their main problem. And even of those who thought Nazis were a problem, most people aren't stupid enough to think that banning a symbol or discussion of certain topics is the way to solve that problem or anything at all to do with any kind of freedom. As for Nazism being a failed ideology. Well... there's a lot to that ideology, as there is to nearly any political movement's ideology, and quite a lot of it is alive and well in the modern western world. Heck, almost all of it, both the good and bad parts. But I'd wager quite a lot that if you had a gun to your head you couldn't even say what much of that political ideology even entails, hence you thinking it's failed. Nevermind the fact that it didn't fail any more than the political ideology of any nation that's ever lost a war. War ended Nazism, the compete defeat of Germany by the Allied powers ended Nazism because those powers wanted it dead. Nazism didn't fail on it's own. In fact, prior to that war, it was doing amazingly well by most standards. You have a way of making your posts interesting, I generally always read them to the end But I can't agree or disagree with what you are saying because I don't know enough about the topic. WW2 have never been my strong point ( and I'll be honest I don't feel like researching it today ) so its probably best to wait for others who are versed in WW2 history to comment before we can confirm your posts accuracy There are a few major topics out there that one needs to bother to learn about in depth if one is to understand the hows, whats, and whys of this world we live in. World War 1, World War 2, what lead up to both, and what immediately followed both are among those topics. You would do well to spend a good deal of time learning about all of these topics at some point, rather than rely on what anyone, myself included, in this forum says. There is absolutely no way any person with a good amount of knowledge of these subjects could impart all of the pertinent knowledge to you in this forum. There is also very little way for you to know who knows what they are talking (both on and off this forum) about on any given subject without doing some research on your own. Oh don't worry WW1 is one of my strong points

The Germans generally were thinking no such thing. The Allied powers pretty much forced all of this at gun point, with the US and UK holding the most guns. The Germans had little voice in the matter. Banning a symbol, banning discussion of certain topics, etc is downright evil. One should question why this was done. It wasn't done for the superficial reasons you're thinking Bruce. In very short, it was done to make sure the narrative given by the Allied powers was accepted and not questioned. The phrase, 'the winners write the history books' is possibly never more aptly used than when WW2 is concerned. Sorry I don't believe that, I'm sure the majority of Germans realized by then that Nazism was a failed ideology and were glad it was over. So they weren't forced by the Allies to criminalize symbols like the Swastika, they wanted to do this as they wanted to start focusing on the future and didn't want certain reminders How about you actually go and read some history books. This isn't a matter of believing or not believing, this isn't a question of spirituality or faith, it's a matter or what happened or didn't. A great deal of this particular subject is written in numerous books, transcripts, interviews, etc. I realize your world view might be shaken, hence you ignore so much of what is in this world, past and present. Better to hold on to your mythology, than to objectively delve into the archives of what's what, or think past a superficial level. You suffer confirmation bias on a level I've rarely encountered in this world. So much so that even I have wondered if you're nothing more than a troll as others here have asserted. Objectivity is seemingly anathema to you in regards to so much you ever discuss. The truth is, that in post WW2 Germany you would be hard pressed to find a group of random Germans where the majority of them thought that Nazism was their #1 problem rather than the folks who were occupying their nation, bombed and killed ~8-10% of the population, and had started a war with them. This simple fact really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with even the tiniest understanding of human nature, or even contentious. It makes oodles and oodles of sense if one thinks about it. But even today, a very large number of Germans (in particular those middle aged or older who either lived through it or got stories first hand from their parents as to what happened), would not agree with the idea that Nazis were their main problem. And even of those who thought Nazis were a problem, most people aren't stupid enough to think that banning a symbol or discussion of certain topics is the way to solve that problem or anything at all to do with any kind of freedom. As for Nazism being a failed ideology. Well... there's a lot to that ideology, as there is to nearly any political movement's ideology, and quite a lot of it is alive and well in the modern western world. Heck, almost all of it, both the good and bad parts. But I'd wager quite a lot that if you had a gun to your head you couldn't even say what much of that political ideology even entails, hence you thinking it's failed. Nevermind the fact that it didn't fail any more than the political ideology of any nation that's ever lost a war. War ended Nazism, the compete defeat of Germany by the Allied powers ended Nazism because those powers wanted it dead. Nazism didn't fail on it's own. In fact, prior to that war, it was doing amazingly well by most standards. You have a way of making your posts interesting, I generally always read them to the end But I can't agree or disagree with what you are saying because I don't know enough about the topic. WW2 have never been my strong point ( and I'll be honest I don't feel like researching it today ) so its probably best to wait for others who are versed in WW2 history to comment before we can confirm your posts accuracy

@ Zora and Gromnir I doubt anyone on this forum is actually following this discussion ?

The Germans generally were thinking no such thing. The Allied powers pretty much forced all of this at gun point, with the US and UK holding the most guns. The Germans had little voice in the matter. Banning a symbol, banning discussion of certain topics, etc is downright evil. One should question why this was done. It wasn't done for the superficial reasons you're thinking Bruce. In very short, it was done to make sure the narrative given by the Allied powers was accepted and not questioned. The phrase, 'the winners write the history books' is possibly never more aptly used than when WW2 is concerned. Sorry I don't believe that, I'm sure the majority of Germans realized by then that Nazism was a failed ideology and were glad it was over. So they weren't forced by the Allies to criminalize symbols like the Swastika, they wanted to do this as they wanted to start focusing on the future and didn't want certain reminders

We have a large,thriving, happy and relevant German community in South Africa...I love the German Beerfests