Gorth

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.

Hindu "nationalism" (it's not nationalism, but religious fanaticism) threatens not only their Muslim citizens, but Christians too. The number of murders, bombings, church burnings (with the villagers) of Christians is on the rise in both India (by Hindus) and Sri Lanka (by Buddhists) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/world/asia/india-christians-attacked.html (meh, paywall, just ignore unless you are a sub already) https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/india/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/under-caesars-sword/christian-responses-to-repression-in-india-and-sri-lanka/5A6C24D44EE79E1DAACFBBBD54F1FF42 https://ucs.nd.edu/report/responses-to-persecution-by-region/south-asia/india-and-sri-lanka/ Just the top of the iceberg... As for Russian girls singing... for some reason I remembered this video from a few years ago. However, my favorite Slavic performance was not singing, but something completely different from this extraordinary and very expressive Ukrainian woman:

Capture The Flag... the Japanese way 😁

Big League Polo...

An oddity from Finland... the Wife Carrying competition!

On an only tangential note, History Matters is an awesome channel and can be recommended to anyone who wonders about the lesser known stuff. He mainly focuses on the "weird" questions in world history, the things people rarely think about. Like why does Belgium exist? or why did Sweden side with North Vietnam? Most of the videos are about three and a half minute and a few "longer" ones close to ten minutes. The humor in his videos is usually top notch too 👍

Who said barter economy was dead? 🙄 The floods are finally receding in east Australia. Now starts the political **** fight over why the Federal Government refused to let the armed forces help in regions that vote for the opposition party... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-12/scott-morrison-flood-qld-emergency-call-adf-boosts-numbers/100905714 "We have the Fijians coming through, a US Navy ship (USS Frank Cable) is pulling up and 100 sailors from the US Navy will start working in Brisbane in the coming days," Major General David Thomae said. On Friday night, Mr Morrison visited the Governor-General to sign a national emergency declaration for flood-affected communities in New South Wales. A day earlier, he said he would make the declaration for parts of Queensland, even though Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was not needed anymore as the state had entered the recovery phase of the disaster. I.e. true to form, The Liberal Party (ALP) delivering too little and too late to make any (positive) difference for Australians. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-16/liberal-upper-house-mp-to-quit-over-flood-funding/100914460 A Liberal upper house MP is resigning and a Northern Rivers mayor has gone to the Governor-General over concerns about perceived favouritism in the allocation of federal flood assistance. Key points: Communities in the Labor-held seat of Richmond are yet to receive extra disaster relief from the Commonwealth Liberal upper house MP says she's quitting politics because of "unethical" funding Ballina Mayor complains to Governor-General about delays getting support for flood victims Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week announced extra financial support would be available immediately for people in Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley local government areas (LGAs), which all sit in the Nationals-held seat of Page. Being a Patron, I've seen the preview of the upcoming "Honest Government Ads" on the subject (of selective spending of federal tax funds to ALP seats). Will post it once the public version is available. Almost as bad as when Morrison appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars ear marked for supporting grass root sport for young Australians, to build facilities like fields and gyms in impoverished areas and spend it all on luxury indoor swimming pools and recreational facilities in some of the most affluent areas where his constituents live.

Nanowar of Steel being Nanowar of Steel... those wacky Italians 😁

For it is written… “He that is without sin among you, let him throw the first hand grenade” Meh, just kidding. Little comfort, but nobody lives forever. Fairly sure the people of Iran are ready to move on from the ayatollahs. Gradually as they keel over from age or abruptly as people are just fed up with unnecessary hardship