kanisatha

It would be prudent to be cautious about this, though, because as the story itself makes clear this resolution was not about the Ukraine war and was, rather about relations between the UN and Europe. I suspect that for countries like China, India, and Brazil, this was a quid pro quo of "we'll support a resolution promoting UN-Europe cooperation in return for similar UN resolutions on Asia/Latin America."

At the UNSC: https://www.voanews.com/a/accusations-divisions-overshadow-russian-led-security-council-meeting/7064265.html

So then, even when downplaying combat, would you guys say there's enough in the rest of the game to make it interesting and worth playing?

I recall a lot of discussion here from people playing Conan: Exiles. I am thinking about getting this game just for its exploration and base-building aspects. So, if I were to set the combat-related things to the easiest settings, how difficult is the combat? Will it still be frustratingly difficult for someone who doesn't do well with action games where you need to tee up combat sequences and maneuvers and such?

Huh. I'm pretty sure it's not there in my game. I'm going to check right now. Edit: Found it! I guess because I only checked those Ability menu items when he's in his normal form and not when shifted, I missed seeing it. Thanks!

The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland today in Foreign Affairs, and with which I completely agree: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/free-world-must-stay-course-ukraine

These are all things I've given a lot of thought to, and would have extensive things to say about them. But I won't, because I truly believe, sadly, that in today's America those things I'd have to say would get me targeted for persecution, including especially within my career. All I'll say is that I would come at this from an ideological direction opposite from you and others here.

Re. Ulbrig, once I turn him into his griffon form there seems to be no way to bring him out of it. Is this intended, or am I missing something? Help, please!

You mean the heinous stuff the Iranians have been doing in Yemen, and the coup in Ukraine that brought Zelenskyy's predecessor to power.

The whole 'alternative timelines/universes' B.S. is what made me walk away from Star Trek. Whenever a TV show (or movie) starts talking about alternative time in any form, it's a sure sign its writers don't have any creativity and have run out of ideas for their show.

Oh, okay. This I can get behind. What bothered me about what you said earlier was the "EVERYBODY else loses" part, because clearly the Ukrainians don't lose by fighting for their homes and lives. Also, I have a very strong libertarian streak myself, so I'm quite good with that. Totally agree with this too. I tend to word it as "The elites versus the rest of us," but it's the same point.

Sure. All those thousands of Ukrainians are dying just to help out our defense industries. They don't really care about someone invading and occupying their home, and are fighting the invaders only because we made them do it. If you're one of those leftists who hate our military and our defense industries, at least just come out and say so. I for one, as an American, am so very happy that we have such awesome companies as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman who are helping to keep me safe.

We've spent a lot of money supporting the Ukrainians, and that can be seen as a loss to us, as many Americans do. And furthermore, in a zero-sum way of looking at the conflict, it would be very damaging to long-term US and Western strategic interests if Russia is able to convince many others in the world that they "won" and the West "lost," as @xzar_montyhas pointed out.

Well, not quite. Yes there's a lot of pressure building up inside Washington right now to find a "diplomatic" end to the war. But high-level US officials, including Sullivan, have said the trick is to be able to ensure Russia is not able to "come back for more" later on after rebuilding their forces.

This has been and remains my prediction for how Russia "ends" the war: declare their objectives to be accomplished and unilaterally demand that Ukraine stop fighting Russia and accept the new status quo, and threatening nuclear escalation if Ukraine refuses to accept.

Because Macron gets to speak for all of Europe? "We Europeans" my ass. LOL

Here's another old-school cRPG with a release date for this year: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159090/Zoria_Age_of_Shattering/

That was supposedly the slogan written on the messhall wall of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment ("Blackhorse") standing watch at the Fulda Gap in West Germany during the Cold War: Average lifespan of a Blackhorse cavalryman in WWIII: 45 seconds

Indeed, because it is tax month here in America.

Well, lucky for us, April only has 30 days rather than 31.

I read several articles on Russia's brain-drain earlier in the war, but I don't see those stories anymore. But the emigration data do suggest the most well-educated young people are the ones who've fled the country. As for Russia's academic community, they did raise their voices against the war early on but then several of them were made examples of by Putin and that silenced them. Don't know about other Western countries, but academic/scientific cooperation between Russia and the US is practically zero right now. But this is mainly due to voluntary shunning of the Russian side by US academia which is overwhelmingly supportive of Ukraine. There is no organized attempt to shun Russians, and certainly the US govt has not enacted any such measures. Russian students in US universities were very commonplace when I was in engineering grad school, but they're not at all prevalent in arts/humanities/social sciences fields where I am now. So I can't tell if there's been a dropoff, though I would wager they don't get to come here now, at least through official channels.

First of all, I don't at all buy that Russia has that kind of tank production capacity, or production capacity for anything, especially now under sanctions. But even if it happens, so what? Very effective Western ATGMs are a small fraction of the cost of a modern tank.

I share Lexx's skepticism. Even if they pay it, they will probably get help from their supporters to do it such that none of this ultimately truly hurts them. Meanwhile, the damage to Avellone is very real and very permanent. So totally unjust and unfair.

The false accusers should be doing prison time for knowingly and intentionally causing such irrepairable harm to someone.

Yes, the specific crime he's being charged with matters very critically here, to note he's not being charged on the basis of the thousands of civilians tortured and killed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The ICC prosecutors clearly understand the legal distinction, even if others (some here in this forum, for example) don't understand this point.