BruceVC

What would you like to see done, then? You talk about apathy, but for me the matter is that I haven't seen anyone come forward with a good gameplan of what exactly needs to be done here. It's a very complex matter, and it needs a bit more thought than "Hey, let's just send in the marines." @jadedmeister So you have asked the most important question " what is the best solution to resolve this particular crisis" Before I give my views I need to give some context so I'm not misunderstood. Firstly I like Nigeria, various South African companies have made loads of money doing business there. I have been there several times for work. We always ask for 60-70% of the professional services (PS) fees upfront before we do projects in Nigeria , this is generally unheard of as normally most companies only the pay the PS after the project is done. Nigeria despite its social challengers, like corruption, is one of the rising stars in the area. They welcome investment and they treat you well when you go there. They are trying to do many things to uplift there country and make it the true economic powerhouse of Africa But this also is there biggest issue and the fact that Boko Haram has been able to act with such impunity for the last few years highlights this. The Nigerian focus has been on encouraging foreign investment and developing there oil refineries but at the expense of most other things. For example infrastructure in most parts of the country is lacking, anyone who has ever been to Lagos knows this ( over 20 million people live in Lagos making it the most populated city in Africa ). They do contribute troops and military resources to some AU missions but the reality is there troops aren't that well trained or disciplined. A major indictment with how most African countries deal with egregious social problems is basically to ignore them and hope they go away and that's what happened with Boko Haram So now what should Nigeria do as there reticence to properly deal with Boko Haram has actually emboldened this fundamentalist group. They need to publically acknowledge and accept they cannot deal with this crisis and ask for Western military assistance. They need to align themselves unconditionally with the West to deal with this group. No more of this ridiculous " African solutions for African problems " catch-phrase that we hear about that in reality translates to a lackluster response to most examples when it is used on the African continent The Americans have the capacity and resources to deal with Boko Haram but they need to be invited. Once analysis is done of where Boko Haram operates from then drones and special force soldiers along with the Nigerian army can be used to annihilate them. Boko Haram can't be reasoned with. They truly are an anachronistic and barbaric group. This type of strategy to deal with these types of groups does work, we saw this in Mali and Sierra Leone with how the French and British dealt with the various factions that were causing mayhem and spreading violence. The question may be " does the USA want to get involved?" I think they would due to public awareness and also the fact that Boko Haram is linked to Al-Qaeda so this could easily be justified as part of the USA military strategy against Islamic extremism Sadly I can't predict if this will save the girls that have been kidnapped but once Boko Haram is wiped out or at least there bases are destroyed this will at least impact there ability to perpetuate further campaigns of terror against Nigeria. So that's my solution, get the West actively involved on a military level "

Well said squeakmeister, well said I can completely empathize with the sentiment that we all had our own interpretation of what PoE would be. For example when they said BG2 I assumed deep and engaging Romance options. But it wasn't meant to be, of course committed and loyal promancers like you and me are disappointed but I still have complete confidence that Obsidian will deliver a very captivating and worthwhile RPG experience

I'm going to watch Zero Dark Thirty tonight and I'm really excited. I know there will be some artistic license used around how Bin Laden was really tracked down but I'm sure the movie will be very entertaining

Where in this thread do you see anyone saying that Boko Haram fanatics are "plucky revolutionaries"? I'm quite confused, I don't see anyone here cheering them on or even remotely defending them. I believe Walsie is predicting comments from some of our members who tend to dismiss anything the West does as having an ulterior motive and any example of an organization or country opposing the West as noble and righteous. But I don't think we will see this sentiment on this thread as its unequivocal who the " bad guys " are

Well no other blatant reason, you think the US/EU likes spending money and risking their people's lives for no return? Security reasons I'd guess for most of those - no need to have some failed state be the next training ground for terrorists to come bomb you in a couple of years. Heh, thinking of how Russia would have handled the whole 'Blackhawk Down' incident if it were their people. Actually the USSR basically pulled out of Afghanistan when the war turned for them the moment the Mujahideen learnt how to effectively use RPG that started bringing down there helicopters at an alarming rate. The Afghanistan war became too expensive for them from a military hardware perspective

Jadedmeister Yes Somalia does have some oil reserves that are obviously not in production due to the violence that has been raging in the country the last 20 years. But you raise an interesting point. The initial background to Black Hawk Down was the humanitarian crisis, there is no doubt around that point. But lets say the Americans had stabilized the country and then the various energy corporations started investigating sources of potential oil. Lets say they did find oil and started building refineries. What is wrong with that? Someone has to make the huge capital investment to refine and produce oil and gas. Why cant it be Western countries, would you prefer Chinese companies that didn't contribute towards ensuring peace? These energy companies employ thousands of people and still pay tax to the home country but the reality is there will always be some large corporation behind the building of refineries. But for me the more important point is that Somalia would have had a working and growing economy as opposed the reality of the country now which is basically one of the worst failed states in the world where most of the people live in dire poverty.

Uh, I think that's pretty much every power. No Malc that's incorrect. There are numerous examples of direct intervention and military assistance by the West in Africa when there was no other reason to do it but humanitarian interest. Sierra Leone, Somalia, CAR, Mali are just some examples where the West has intervened and they didn't gain anything by it but to try to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe of some sort Was that when we were still fighting proxy wars against the spread of Communism? No, all those conflicts I mentioned are examples of Western intervention in Africa after 1990.

Uh, I think that's pretty much every power. No Malc that's incorrect. There are numerous examples of direct intervention and military assistance by the West in Africa when there was no other reason to do it but humanitarian interest. Sierra Leone, Somalia, CAR, Mali are just some examples where the West has intervened and they didn't gain anything by it but to try to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe of some sort

Funny I thought that Bethesda did release hotfixes and patches for all there games in an attempt to fix issues?

If you haven't heard about this story yet you will. CNN is now really starting to focus on it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/nigeria-boko-haram_n_5232957.html In summary Boko Haram is another Islamic fundamentalist group that operates out of north-eastern Nigeria and is linked to Al-Qaeda. For the last 4 years they been involved in numerous bombings and mass killings in the region in order to achieve some sort of Islamic conservative independent state from Nigeria. I have to say there tactics are particularly cruel and barbaric. Very similar to Al-Shabaab in Somalia Anyway over 2 weeks ago they marched into a remote town in the area and kidnapped over 200 school girls. They then fled into forests on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon. Some of the school girls escaped but the rest are still being held captive in an unknown area. Over 2 weeks later the Nigeria government has been utterly unable to get the girls back due to incompetence or lack of properly trained military resources. This raises many questions and concerns but 2 that come to mind for me are Can you imagine a situation in your country where it could be in any way possible that such a large group of children could be kidnapped and your government is unable to get the people back? This region of Nigeria is suppose to be under a state of emergency so it just highlights the lack of security and ineffectiveness of the Nigerian security forces Certain African and Nigerian commentators are asking " what is the world doing about it". And I have to ask why is this a problem that the West has to deal with? ( I say the West because when that question is asked people mean the West as Russia and China never intervene militarily unless it directly suits there national interest. They are happy to let Western countries commit resources and manpower to humanitarian conflicts) The rise of the power of Boko Haram should be a Nigerian and African Union problem. But this incident highlights again one of the main reason why the AU isn't achieving its full potential. The lack of political will and proper financial commitment to deal with serious internal problems in the continent . So when the West helps to remove a dictator like Gaddafi its considered "imperialism and neo-colonialism" but when it comes to military missions or funding then the West needs to get involved or its gets criticized. Nigeria has just surpassed South Africa as the country with the biggest GDP in the continent. But what's the point of having a growing GDP if you cannot even ensure the safety and security of your citizens when it comes to examples like this mass kidnapping I hope this school girls get reunited with there families but I'm not hopeful

Did you boys survive this calamitous event....please let me know you are okay

Nice recipe idea, thanks

Well I just got back from that wedding in the mountains and we had a really good time. Apart from the picturesque views and general relaxation the wedding itself was very sincere and meaningful to all the friends of the groom and bride It was a Polish\South Africa theme because the bride is Polish so it was cool to see some of the Polish wedding traditions incorporated into the typical South African wedding structure. For example a Polish tradition during the dinner service is for the wedding couple to eat bread and drink a tot of Vodka, you then break the tot glasses. Also during the grooms speech he did 3 different speeches. One in Polish ( well he attempted to speak Polish ), one in English and one in Afrikaans. But I really admired the fact he tried really hard to get the Polish speech part right out of respect for his wife's family Then the food was excellent and the guests generally very fun and easy to get along with, we drank loads of Tequila. I also met this really attractive and interesting girl who I'll be taking out for dinner. So I can honestly say " what an awesome weekend "

Done, that's a good price and I couldn't say no

I had a good May Day holiday yesterday, nothing hectic. Just chilled and did some gaming. I'm leaving for a wedding in the mountains in about 2 hours. Its about 4 hours drive from where I live and I love the drive. I get to travel through 3 different provinces and all have got there distinctive characteristics. So it will be very scenic

Can you explain what you mean by "neoliberal economic dogma" I hope its not another " Capitalism is bad, look at the 2008 financial crisis" nonsense. I hear this in South Africa from certain circles

You can join a five guilds, so I'll see if I can get you an invite to mine. Otherwise we can make a small one for the few of us Obsidianites playing, just to help us track each other down. My name is @hurlshot I'm very close to purchasing this game, I am at the end of my normal MMO evaluation period and so far the game is looking good and successfully passed most of my criteria points for MMO investment

Funniest post of the week, Monte welcome to the army of the promancers. Monte you have loads of work to do to redeem yourself but I am confident we can find a place for you

I like the way you cook because its generally simple but sounds delicious, and I normally have most of the ingredients you mention

What he used to have were some chemical weapons that were given to him or that he bought from the US and used during the war with Iran. Apart from the obvious hypocrisy of accusing him of having something they sold him in the first place, the fact that he had them at some point doesn't lead to conclusion that he would actually use them against the US. By the time the US attacked Iraq he had nothing. The lie was twofold: 1) He had and was producing WMD's in significant quantities 2) Those WMD's are a threat to the US and the "free world". Volo makes some relevant points The whole justification that Western media lies because of the Iraq invasion just gets tiresome and definitely doesn't represent the reality of the state of the veracity of most events the Western media raises Saddam used chemical weapons against the Kurds and the Iranians. There is NO doubt he had them in the past and was prepared to use them in past conflicts. The misinformation that most Western countries intelligence services had were the fact that he still had them. Yes the wrong information was given to various governments and this was used as part of the justification for the second invasion of Iraq But this doesn't negate all the subsequent stories around global events that the Western media brings to our attention Zora, Drowsy, Vals and Sarex you guys really need to stop using the Iraq invasion as a valid reason for why we cannot trust anything the West says. Personally I check multiple sources when it comes to global events and I can corroborate what I say and believe. But I admit I don't use RT as a source of information as I don't trust it in any regards.

I know that's sounds absurd but its partly true

Oh Russian media is not more trustworthy, it's pretty much equally trustworthy as the western media. That you think that western media reports the truth is oh so funny. I love the irony behind one of the great premises of what you conspiracy theorists believe, no Western international news channels can be trusted. " And we know this because we read this on Farmer Johns Alabama Chicken Liver Factory and Unveiling the Truth behind Conspiracy Theories " website ( he sells chicken liver when he is not exposing all these great lies) And yet you claim to know more about the world than some of us as you see what's really going on

What surprises me is that you are surprised he believes that?

Okay I'm even more impressed with your eating choices, well done on the tripe. I enjoy it but that is something loads of people don't eat

And in typical Val's style he blames anything and anyone but himself for misinformation. Well at least you didn't say it was a conspiracy theory...so that's progress in my books When have I posted misinformation? When I have said something was a 'conspiracy theory'? And scroll up Brucie. I was indeed quoting you on the 'NKKK', and I did blame myself. You even quoted it. I guess this is another stellar example of your failure at reading comprehension? A conspiracy theory is misinformation, well almost all of them are. And you operate in a world of conspiracy theories. Sorry that my post may sound nasty but I'm just being honest And once again you are not accepting reality, part of your justification for not getting NKKKK name right is that I also got it wrong. The fact that I didn't use his name correctly shouldn't be any part of your reason