Humodour

Oh **** the AUD just fell like 10 US cents. Arrrg do I buy now or wait and see if it goes back up? IF it goes back up.

Wrath of Dagon, do you acknowledge that America is a secular country and that separation of church and state are of utmost importance to its freedom and good governance?

How is that in their best interest, and how would that give them leverage? We have to rely on them to restrain their mad dog. It wouldn't be very politic of China to threaten us with nuclear weapons, but NK can as a proxy. Enoch already explained why collapse of NK would cause problems for China, but more importantly they don't want the Koreas reunited under the South Korean system as that would be a challenge to Chinese hegemony in the region. China officially supports Korean unification, not least of all because China supports Chinese reunification and doesn't want to look hypocritical. They certainly aren't afraid of Korea challenging their hegemony (that role belongs to India), and indeed a unified Korea would actually be a net drag on South Korea economically (and no doubt politically) for a few decades.

Not sure what you guys are basing that on, China is still NK's patron and the only thing keeping them afloat. No way they could get away with all their crap if it wasn't for China. The ONLY thing China cares about is preventing economic and social unrest due to an influx of poor, brainwashed, malnourished North Koreans fleeing war. And indeed, this is probably also the main reason Russia and South Korea don't want a war. North Korea bears little ideological benefit to China - the rest of the world despises NK ideology and it's pretty divorced from even China's authoritarian ways. China acknowledges the cold war is over and that their long-term economic (and hence social and political) success lies with the West. You underestimate just how estranged China and NK are. Sure, China is NK's closest ally, but that doesn't say much. Their threats definitively are not empty. They have 5000 artillery pieces trained on Seoul, let alone their missiles, nukes and whatnot. They can effectively level Seoul any time they want and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop them. For all the lol North Korea haha rofl from the west to try and make people think it isn't a problem everyone in power knows that it is and that there is precisely nothing that can be done. I haven't read the report (I probably will if it is made publicly available) but I'm at the point where I wouldn't believe the western "intelligence" community if they said the sky was blue. If they do that they know it's game over - North Korea would be completely engulfed by the West shortly after.

True, but that alone does not legitimize a war against them. I disagree. I believe we have a moral obligation to act and remove a regime in instances where a people are brutally oppressed. North Korea is a complex case. It's not immediately evident how we could act while minimising loss of life, but action is certainly necessary. They're under Chinese protection, and even without that casualties would be staggering, especially on the North Korean side. NK knows war is out of the question, unless they launch a full scale assault on SK. China is fairly estranged from NK and would most likely not take sides in any conflict involving NK. Casualties on the NK might be reasonably low simply because of South Korea's more advanced firepower and respect for human rights. SK would be like a surgeon in any war between the two I imagine. But NK would have no qualms about bombing SK's civilian cities so...

Make him a martyr while the military complex of North Korea takes full control of the country? No thanks.

True, but that alone does not legitimize a war against them. I disagree. I believe we have a moral obligation to act and remove a regime in instances where a people are brutally oppressed. North Korea is a complex case. It's not immediately evident how we could act while minimising loss of life, but action is certainly necessary. How long? 50 years (check)? 100 years? Is what you said even guaranteed? So you're arguing the North Korean administration isn't evil? Have you read any of the accounts of what North Korean life is like? Don't trust the West? Ask the defectors and refugees! Independent? I see three commonwealth countries... Ha, let me laugh! And Sweden? Are they all part of the conspiracy too?

Apparently the order to torpedo this SK ship also came from Kim Jong Ill - he likes to kill a few dozen people during times of succession it seems.

America, Sweden, Britain, Australia ALL independently checked the evidence and came to the same conclusion: North Korea torpedoed the South Korean ship. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10130909.stm As for North Korea not being evil, read up a few posts where I linked to the article by that journalist North Korea kidnapped. They may not be the ultimate evil to the rest of the world (to us they're merely 'evil'), but they sure are to their own citizens.

You need a reality check, ramza.

Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop) took his stage surname as tribute to comedian Redd Foxx (born John Elroy Sanford) who in turn took his stage surname from Jimmie "The Beast" Foxx, Philidelphia Athletics/Red Sox 1st Baseman from 1936-1942 I knew this post was by you without actually checking who it was posted by.

I say we just liberate the people of NK now. What's the worst that could happen, NK launches a nuke and it prematurely detonates over Pyongyang, causing no loss of life because it never worked in the first place? Edit: on a serious note: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/19/ling.north.korea/

They really are some of the scum of the Earth: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/w...f-1225869187128

Suck it Ubisoft.

Uhg, why do I always end up spewing when I do shots. And they were delicious cherry-flavoured shots too. I came home and made some delicious drunk pasta and then ejected it all 30 minutes later.

With cavalry/tanks and roads it hardly matters where it's located.

That's pretty much what I did, Enoch. The problem is that by mid game I have control of so many cities it's hard to fully specialise them. So I might have 2 commerce-only cities, 1 or 2 production-only cities and the rest a mix. In my last game because I was Dutch and had the Colossus and dikes and lighthouses, the water tiles actually became the most used tiles meaning my main production only city inadvertently became my second largest commerce city whilst maintaining high production! That was a dream come true because it also meant I didn't need farms and could build workshops instead.

Here is an accurate run-down of the situation as well as background history: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2902350.htm

Thaksin (who the red shirts support) is a horrible corrupt brutal bastard. But Thaksin promised them things like universal healthcare, and other things to lift their standard of living. The problem is, the Thai elite (who back and compose the current government) aren't acting democratically here and military brutality is rising.

I just won a game. I noticed that 2 civs (one weak one strong) had Hinduism at the start so I jumped on that bandwagon. It was a good idea. Then I noticed they were wiping out Asoka so just as they were about to capture cities I beat them to it. Then I bribed them to declare war on eachother. Then about 5 enemy/ally cities flipped to me in the space of 5 turns (seriously). Then it was simply a matter of using my high research and production to build up lots of tanks and wait it out till I got a space victory. I was a little worried that the vassal state might get enough points to win a diplomatic victory, but he never did. I had an army ready to wipe him out, but didn't want to risk it since it'd trigger war with his master and then the other remaining civ would probably attack me opportunistically (which actually happened much later, just before I got the apollo programme, but by then I had Mechanised Infantry so I didn't care). 2 of my cities got legendary culture (90000 and 70000) while another was on 40000 by the end. I didn't expect that.

Playing a game right now and it's going pretty much as Kissamies describes.

****ing retards. I like how California has moved to block all Texas textbook changes to protect it's own curriculum. See that's the real problem here - it's not that Texas is ****ing with it's own children, it's that because Texas manufactures a lot of the textbooks used around the country, it's also ****ing with America's children as a whole.

Yet somehow you manage to do it. Repeatedly. Indeed.

Kind of like Ghandi took the bait?

My direct action is getting hiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.