Gorth

Life as a passenger jet near "hot zones" has a history of tragedies... the Donbas seperatists were shocked (watch the youtube video with subtitle when the commanders inspect the wreckage) to discover the Malaysian Airlines jet were a civilian plane flying over them and not the usual Ukrainian transport plane they were routinely targeting, The US shot down an Iranian passenger jet when it made a bombing run on a frigate, whose captain got a medal for bravery under fire or some such, or the Soviets shooting down a South Korean passenger jet because it strayed a few miles off course close to military installations in the far east of the Soviet Union. Edit: Forgot the Iranian shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet just a couple of years ago. I would say, plan your trip carefully and avoid the worlds hot spots where possible

Argh... looks like Ergo Proxy is only available on NetFlix... and not the Australian Netflix (which means subscribing for a month to NetFlix and using my vpn to pretend I'm Canadian or American or some such) Not going to pay a fortune for Amazon Blu-Rays (edit: which will be the wrong region anyway) Edit: It was on Crunchyroll until 2017 when it got removed, but comments suggests it may now be on Funimations Youtube channel. I'll check it out there Edit2: Looks like Funimation has folded and Crunchyroll is the only one left. I'm screwed Edit3: Looks like most, if not all of the episodes are on Youtube, just not through official channels

I don't live in Sweden or Finland, but being an old ex-pat Dane, I can tell you the 6 months of darkness in the winter half gets to you (even if the 200 annual days of rain doesn't)... Edit: as @xzar_monty pointed out, the summer half has daylight until very late, even as far south as Denmark. As kids we used to laugh at tourists not being able to sleep at night (because the sun is still shining at 10 in the evening)

What I was thinking of was German words having three genders, determining whether to use der, die or das (I was reminded of it when changing the title of the Ukraine thread)

I think the English language is also limited to two genders?

The Chernobyl disaster happened in 1986. Probably before most of the Russian conscripts were born. If not briefed by command to keep their shovels away, they may not have been any the wiser. We're talking about an army where the common soldier doesn't seem to be encouraged to show initiative or heaven forbid, critical thinking. (and it may not have featured regularly on RT either)

One of the paradoxes of WWII, Germany was the only country willing to help Finland defend itself against the USSR... the West was perfectly willing to sacrifice it Sudetenland style to make the Soviets happy and keep them in the war against Germany.

They do, but very rarely. It is an "OZ centric" group. Doesn't mean they wont cover the war in Ukraine some day, but I wouldn't hold my breath. E.g. they didn't cover things like Afghanistan etc.

They are preparing to invade Sweden and liberate Scania, Halland and Blekinge in a special military operation...

It's this horrible translated from Danish to English stuff (not machine translated, but it sounds "stilted"), but just a list of current and recent engagements. Includes peace keeping missions in various parts of Africa and the training of Ukrainian troops since 2016... https://www.forsvaret.dk/en/roles-and-responsibilities/International-operations/ As said, the numbers wont overwhelm anyone, but the experience gathered can be shared. Edit: Missing from the list is the Airforce being part of enforcing of the no fly zone over Libya... that one was always a bit weird, because it was never announced nor referenced afterwards. The public only knows because some journalists wondered where all those F-16's suddenly went and they were later spotted on Italian airbases flying sorties to the south...

Even a tiny country like Denmark has an experienced group of officers as the country has been constantly at war effectively since Yugoslavia fell apart (early 90's), fighting in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan (2014). Getting scores of body bags with young Danes sent home didn't really rattle the popular opinion either (since the casualties happened to professional soldiers, not enlisted men). I think these days they are mostly active with peace keeping in Kosovo and The Middle East as well as fighting pirates along various East African coasts (which would be navy units). Small, but with 30+ years of active combat experience in "real" war situations.

I watched the Ergo Proxy trailer on youtube and read a few lines about it. Sounds interesting enough for me to make it my next viewing project

Why the English language and spelling is such a bastard...

Agreed. It really depends on context and motivation. If Russia had attacked Ukrainian forces in say Syria (yes, completely hypothetical situation), the outcome may have been different. Possibly. Never underestimate a combatant fighting tooth and claw on their home turf to defend it.

An interesting version of an 80's hit. Only the vocal tracks from the recording (to really appreciate her voice)...

Old but not out... (oldies but goodies!). A surprising number of WWII weapons being used on both sides in the Ukrainian war

I know it was a jest question, but a little known fact (outside the Nordic countries) is, the viking women were both powerful and influential before the Christianity imposed patriarchal system... https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/vikings-women-home-matriarchs-traders-artisans/ – the Old Norse word víkingar referred solely to men. For this point in history, however, Viking women enjoyed a high degree of social freedom. They could own property, ask for a divorce if not treated properly, and they shared responsibility for running farms and homesteads with their menfolk. They were also protected by law from a range of unwanted male attention. ... A married couple of húsbóndi (an Old Norse word which gives us English 'husband') and hýfreyja (wife) presided over the home as partners. The status accorded to the role of wife is clear from an inscription on the Hassmyra rune stone (Sweden), in which a bereaved húsbóndi claims that "no better hýfreyja will come to Hassmyra to run the estate" than his late wife, Odindisa. Common signs of wives' social status are the pairs of ornamental oval brooches, used as dress fasteners, found in large numbers of Viking-era female graves. ... War in the Viking age was fought at close quarters with swords, spears and axes. Women could not escape such violence, especially if they were part of a group or community under attack, or travelling with a group of merchants who had to defend their wares. However, conclusive evidence for female participation in war as trained and regular warriors is currently slight, despite the recent interpretation of a 10th-century ‘warrior’ burial at Birka in Sweden as being that of a woman. The significance of this burial is still under debate, while in other instances women found buried with ‘weapons’ had actually been laid to rest with everyday tools, such as axes for chopping firewood. It also includes a few bits about viking women as explorers and religious leaders...

You could also argue it's good he didn't leave the decision making to the army, otherwise Russia might have ended up winning. As in winning fast, efficient and brutally before the sanctions even took hold the way they have now. Edit: And with a lot more headaches for the west than they have now, where it looks like Russia may gain something, but at a cost that far exceeds the gains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Spanish_coup_d'état_attempt Tl;dr; (@213374Ucorrect me if I'm wrong) It was a number of military rebellions around Spain, the most famous of which was Guardia Civil officers storming and seizing the Spanish parliament. Fed up with the chaos (economic and otherwise) that had resulted from the transition from Fascist rule to democracy, they missed to "good old days" where things were working, trains ran on time, the country wasn't being torn apart by social unrest etc.

That reminds me of one of those articles (or was it a youtube video?) linked to in the past, that mentioned Putins decisions were those of a KGB officer, not an army general. I.e. thinking about politics, leverage and symbolism rather the realities of warfare. Maybe he's still loyal to the oath he swore once... fighting tooth and nail for the USSR. Even if it hasn't existed for a long time now. Edit: Speaking of die hard leftovers of previous regimes, anyone else remember some interesting times when Franco supporters stormed the Spanish parliament in 1981?

Why do you think I live in Queensland? Who cares about sharks, blue-ringed octopus, box jelly fish, stonefish, lion fish etc... at least the water is warm I'm sure I can rebook my place in Valhalla and get a seat at the Mauritius equivalent

Welcome back to my childhood The North Sea is rarely above 17-18 degrees Celsius

Finished season 1 of Gleipnir. I guess it was something just up my alley, I really enjoyed it. No accounting for taste of course, I might be the only liking it The relatively peaceful collector group runs into a gang of no nonsense violent people, who will kill them for reasons of their own... sort of like because they can (they are the downtrodden of society suddenly tasting brotherhood and power). Things ends violently with mass poisoning and forest fires.... but voyeur guy tries to rat them out triggers a fail safe which pops off his head. The leader of the group decides to hand over Claire and Shuichi to Elena (Claire's sister) and her people. More backstory and introduction of characters that existed before the "current time", explaining some hows and whys and who know who in what way. Turns out there is a main antagonist (Kaito) too, even if introduced very late in the anime. All of the protagonists (Claire and Shuichi) as well as Claire's sister Elena and Kaito knew each other when younger. A bit of a plot point is a missing girl, Honoka... turns out she found one of the coins and her wish was to be someone else. A friend of the group, Aiko seemed to have everything, but committed suicide (not properly explained why in the anime imho) and Honoka wished to be her. Everyone seems to suspect something is odd with the new Aiko, but the guys agree to just pretend everything is normal... except for Kaito that is. He confronts "Aiko" at what he suspects is the grave of the real Aiko and strangles the Honoka/"Aiko", just to find out afterwards Honoka was innocent, only thing she did was assuming her identity. Elena not only murdered hers and Claire's parents, but it seems she also murdered Shuichi (the protagonist whose name I couldn't remember in previous posts) parents and tampered with his memory. Kaito apparently managed to collect 100 coins and is now almost omnipotent and Elena seems to be working for him. He also has a guardian angel, which eviscerates people and then there was the wayward ghost that shreds people who don't know her real name (looking like Honoka/Aiko). Sort of ends in a cliffhanger with Shuichi and Claire declaring themselves as one in more ways than one I guess (no, not sex, but more than just her climbing inside him through his zipper) and intend to put up a fight to end this deadly game...

A good read. A bit long, but very detailed and very interesting

Just some interesting comparisons and world maps... numbers are from late last year though, but still indicative of the world situation i think...