Gorth

Good thing the world still have great humanitarians, like Belarus' Lukashenko (sp?), offering political asylum to persecuted Americans from the fascist dictatorship that is the US... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60843262 A California man suspected of taking part in the US Capitol riots last year has been granted asylum in Belarus. Evan Neumann fled the US after being charged in connection with the riots. The 48-year-old first settled in Ukraine, before reaching Belarus where he asked for asylum - claiming he faced "political persecution" in the US. 😂😂😂

No, Ukraine is not difficult to traverse. Quite the opposite. It's big, flat, open land. Only obstacles are rivers and cities (and the weather, although the roads don't turn into mud like in WWII). There was a reason the Germans advanced so fast until the rain set in. Cities can be ignored if you have them surrounded and occupy the area around them. Deny them supplies and access to the air and they are just as much prisons as strongholds. Even medieval generals sometimes just put up enough siege to contain the defenders while ravaging the country side. No offense to the Iraqi's but the army was very much sub par quality (even the much reported on guard was little better than most western countries draftee's when it comes to training and equipment). Two main differences. Ukraine uses a lot of western technology. They have the local population on their side (well, western Ukraine anyway). Saddam Hussein inspired fear in his subjects, not loyalty. Ukrainians will actually grab guns and Molotov c0cktails and put up a fight. Iraqi's lined up in nice, orderly queues to surrender as fast as possible. Anything, for most of them, was better than Saddam. The US got it's strategic (military, not civilian... definitely not civilian) priorities right and focused on first knocking out anything that could pose a threat. Radar, SAM, Airports, supply lines (anyone remember those pictures of endless columns of burned out vehicles on the road?), meaning they could move unopposed in the air and use air power as interdiction and disruption rather than just very expensive long range cannons. It really looks like Putin thinks like a KGB agent, not an army general. Except, his assumptions are so wrong, he would make a very poor KGB agent.

I tried starting the game up over the weekend. Just sat there staring at one of my characters on the screen for a while. Just couldn’t get into it at all again 😳 I think the whole knights of the eternal grind thing just left me in some kind of gamers ptsd 😞 Or maybe other mmos spoiled me

Umm... "! his video is private". Who was it? 🤔

So much potential in "Shady"... Shady Cars, Shady Accounting, Shady Tech Support, Shady Consulting, Shady Business Advisory Services, Shady Repair Works... Ok, it may not really sell long term 😁

As someone who loved Borderlands 2 and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragons Keep in particular, this one piqued my interest. Cautiously anticipating it after the disappointment that was Borderlands 3 https://playwonderlands.2k.com/

Yeah, there are 10 types of people in this world… those who understand binary and those who don’t

Some people react badly to vaccines (the various components in the vaccine, it's not just a saline solution) and the vaccine could kill them outright without waiting for covid to catch them Edit: That was just one example. I'm sure I remember something about cancer patients (on chemo therapy) being vulnerable to covid because the treatment and vaccines don't go well together. I.e. it would be a death sentence for such patients if the Omicron variant were to run rampant on a hospital ward. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm

I'm general in favour of letting people "have it" with all the possible consequences if they refuse vaccines because they believe in conspiracy theories. They also imho gets lowest priority if vital healthcare resources are contested. Not every country is at the stage where vaccination rates are like 90%+ and I know both in Australia in Denmark, there are restrictions in place in healthcare and aged care facilities. Not everybody *can* get vaccinated, due to no fault of their own. Down here there are also still mask requirements on public transports (because it's impossible to voluntarily distance yourself from other people) and international airports (which I think have opened without many people noticing it). Edit: But it's a far cry from border closures and ban on public establishments etc.

There is. Or rather, there can be. Lockdowns are no longer a measure to stop covid (here in Australia), but to slow it down, so the healthcare system can keep up and keep casualty rates low as a result. Also, preventing people dying from other causes because the previous strain on the hospitals is lower. It doesn't "stop" covid, but adapting the degree of lockdowns to your countrys healthcare system still makes sense. Unless it's completely dysfunctional anyway, in which case, yeah, there might just be collateral monetary damage without any QoL improvement for the vulnerable part of the population. Eugenics fans may be all in favour of getting rid of lockdowns regardless of everything else.

Finished Gleipnir Episode 5... pleasantly surprised so far. By now, we have gotten a bit of background, the why's and how's and some actual objectives for the two protagonists (in the beginning it was "just" about basic survival and unknown circumstances).

I'm not sure Eastern Europe is considered "Western" in this context. I.e. you just confirmed that Western leaders are not held accountable for war crimes by the ICC As for Kangaroo courts, it took the opposition party and a struggling free press down here (despite the Morrison government trying to silence it through heavy handed use of federal police in an attempt to silence the press) to raise the finger and point out Australian War Crimes for domestic prosecution at least.

What makes you think it wouldn't have been perceived as a declaration of war (and a Casus Belli to invade them)? Wanna bet it still gives Putin nightmares that they joined NATO and he couldn't do anything to prevent it? What I'm trying to understand is the mindset and the paranoia. Every major invasion came through the Ukrainian plains. From the Polish invasion and sacking of Moscow to the Nazi German invasion and almost sacking of Moscow (and every invasion in between). No serious threat came from the south or the east after the collapse of the various Mongolian empires and successor realms (yeah, the Czars completely bungled the various wars in the far east, but weren't existential threats). It was the same reason the Warsaw Pact was created (and a number of countries turned into de facto puppet regime states) a few years after NATO, to give a buffer and an early warning when western powers again decided to invade Russia.

Im Westen Nichts Neues was a good read. War is not a recommended solution to any problem.

Jawohl!... /smart salute 😂

One of the previous videos I posted, gave a sort of answer to that. The Baltic countries does not provide good staging grounds for a massive invasion of Russia. Ukraine (and Belarus) does. With the loss of Poland, DDR, Czechoslovakia etc. as buffer territory, Ukraine became the "new" buffer to protect against invasions from the west.

I honestly found it a bit "toothless" and tame compared to some of their usual offerings, but hey, it's free. I know I'm a patreon, but that is by choice, not by necessity. I do find they ruffle some feathers that needs ruffling.

More war this way...

This thread moves fast than the front line at the moment... annexed a few posts to start a new thread with Old thread

Our boss had been indisposed for more than a week now and did have to visit the hospital. A bad case of covid. He was fortunately vaccinated or we would be hiring now. He has underlying health conditions hence why it hit somewhat hard

That would be a Danish river in a Danish jungle 🤔

Rather than keep editing my my post to add links, just another link to a previous discussion about things that may be too complex for humans

I guess this had to happen... 🙄 Reminds me of a recent post of mind claiming there is no true randomness, just systems there are too complex for us to properly understand. Edit: Ok, the word I used then was predict, not understand.

Ethics aside and just looking at the technical side of things, Russia made two significant military blunders. Not having twenty first century communication technology and a complete lack of modern air warfare doctrine. Ironical that Ukraine is calling for the US to start fighting Russian planes when they are hardly there to begin with. Russia has no air superiority whatsoever. Much of the rest of that military disaster that is the ground campaign follows from those two issues. An enemy that knows your every move and lack of timely intel/reconnaissance Two lessons they need to learn… some day.