Aumanor posted:

I honestly wouldn't recommend drinking tap water in Warsaw, boiled or not, even if it does qualify as "potable".

awesome-express posted:

lol that's such bullshit. Tap water is drinkable in Lithuania (having been there multiple times).

Mightypeon posted:

Vietnam or Saudi Arabia have influence outside its borders (Ask Cambodia, Laos, or random Gulf states about it). Vietnam or Saudi Arabia are regional powers. Russia is a Great Power as is India, US is a superpower, China falls between great and superpower. The European big three fall somewhere between regional and Great Power. There are about 2 dozen countries which do have considerable influence outside of their borders, and only 2 of those, China and the USA, are more powerfull then Russia.

You are nearly getting it, the US tries to force a global rules change that mean that only they (or people who are in their sphere of influence) get influence outside their borders.
This simultaneously pisses off every regional power and upwards that isnt aligned with the USA (and even some that are aligned with the USA now like Turkey, Turkey is still kind of OK with US leadership, but will react hostile to any US assertion that Turkeys sphere of influence depends on submission to the USA).

How do you think this is going to play out longterm?

The_Franz posted:

And what's wrong with the water in Croatia? I've had it multiple times with no ill effects and official organizations that do testing say it's amongst the cleanest water in Europe.

Coloring the whole US as safe is hilarious as there are many, many places where you do not want to drink the tap water. Plenty of areas have water that's discolored and/or smells like sulfur. In a few more serious cases the tap water has so much nasty stuff in it that it has actually been linked to clusters of birth-defects.

kalstrams posted:

Maybe I pay little attention to my personal health, but I'd say that in Baltics tap water is drinkable - if only not too tasty if too warm. On my trips to Lithuania/Estonia I have drunk tap water in hotels without any consequence, in Latvia I did drink tap water for something like 21 year without any noted consequences either.

From discussions with my friends, tap water in Russia/Belarus/Ukraine is hit or miss and is highly dependant on where in the country you are.

While not really Eastern Europe, in Iceland, as far as I know, tap water tastes very funny to non locals.

Again, I haven't tried U.S. tap water, so maybe you have ambrosia there.

bignose posted:

How about tap water in Minsk? I am going there in about 8 days. Anybody knows about photographing there? I know I am not allowed to take photos of governmental or military buildings but are there other limitations?
Will Belarus.jpeg get my SD-Card erased?

Forgall posted:

Fojar38 posted:

What does that image say for those of us who can't read Cyrillic?

Fojar38 posted:

What does that image say for those of us who can't read Cyrillic?

Forgall posted:

What Russians are asking from Ded Moroz as new year present.
5.9% for sanctions to be lifted.
26.1% for the war in the Ukraine to cease.
7.6% for stable ruble.
60.5% for restoration of USSR.

Fojar38 posted:

Those are...really odd priorities.

Pimpmust posted:

That and the USSR being remembered for having its poo poo together way more than current Russia as far as social services, pensions and the like go.

bignose posted:

When I was living in Riga in 2007, the University of Latvia told all the International and Erasmus students to not drink the tap water at the dorms. (Reznas iela, Maskavas Forštate) Instead they suggested to use a filter or just heat up the water before drinking. Kalstrams, maybe you know something about that? Anyway, almost everyone drank from tap after seeing Latvians doing it and nobody got sick afaik. Never had problems in Estonia, Lithuania or Poland either, No food poisoning either.

bignose posted:

How about tap water in Minsk? I am going there in about 8 days. Anybody knows about photographing there? I know I am not allowed to take photos of governmental or military buildings but are there other limitations?
Will Belarus.jpeg get my SD-Card erased?

The_Franz posted:

And what's wrong with the water in Croatia? I've had it multiple times with no ill effects and official organizations that do testing say it's amongst the cleanest water in Europe.

Coloring the whole US as safe is hilarious as there are many, many places where you do not want to drink the tap water. Plenty of areas have water that's discolored and/or smells like sulfur. In a few more serious cases the tap water has so much nasty stuff in it that it has actually been linked to clusters of birth-defects.

Smerdyakov posted:

This is rock-solid. Are you available for other design work?

Radio Prune posted:

Also what's all this noise about Batman?

Warbadger posted:

He had a tragic, fatal incident involving a Toyota Prius and a whole lot of bullets.

fatherboxx posted:

Batman was a leader of Rusich, a squad of neonazi volunteers from Russia in Luhansk. They got too greedy and uncontrollable, so the leadership of LNR declared them criminals and got most of them executed via Russian Spetsnaz. Sadly, the more prominent ones that were talking a lot on social media about their successes in ear-collecting are alive.

sparatuvs posted:

This sounds like a great way to assure your self proclaimed state is ripped apart. Have a bunch of bandits running around whose leader you just offed.

quote:

KIEV, Ukraine — Ashen-faced after a sleepless night of marathon negotiations, Viktor F. Yanukovych hesitated, shaking his pen above the text placed before him in the chandeliered hall. Then, under the unsmiling gaze of European diplomats and his political enemies, the beleaguered Ukrainian president scrawled his signature, sealing a deal that he believed would keep him in power, at least for a few more months.

But even as Mr. Yanukovych sat down with his political foes at the presidential administration building on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 21, his last authority was fast draining away. In a flurry of frantic calls to opposition lawmakers, police and security commanders were making clear that they were more worried about their own safety than protecting Mr. Yanukovych and his government.

By that evening, he was gone, evacuated from the capital by helicopter, setting the stage for the most severe bout of East-West tensions since the Cold War.

Russia has attributed Mr. Yanukovych’s ouster to what it portrays as a violent, “neo-fascist” coup supported and even choreographed by the West and dressed up as a popular uprising. The Kremlin has cited this assertion, along with historical ties, as the main justification for its annexation of Crimea in March and its subsequent support for an armed revolt by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east.

Few outside the Russian propaganda bubble ever seriously entertained the Kremlin’s line. But almost a year after the fall of Mr. Yanukovych’s government, questions remain about how and why it collapsed so quickly and completely.

An investigation by The New York Times into the final hours of Mr. Yanukovych’s rule — based on interviews with prominent players, including former commanders of the Berkut riot police and other security units, telephone records and other documents — shows that the president was not so much overthrown as cast adrift by his own allies, and that Western officials were just as surprised by the meltdown as anyone else.

Fojar38 posted:

Those are...really odd priorities.

quote:

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry "Today" confirmed that in the German capital on January 5 will meet the head of the political departments of the Foreign Ministries of Ukraine, Germany, Russia and France

The heads of foreign ministries politdepartamentov "Norman Quartet" to prepare the site and negotiating agenda for a meeting of foreign ministers of the four countries in Berlin.

As is well known, information about the scheduled meeting tomorrow in Berlin, with links to sources appeared simultaneously in Russian and French media on January 3. A few hours earlier in an
interview with a German editions German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Shtaynamyer stated that "Norman four" working on the actual implementation of the peace protocol Minsk.

"On again for further action by all parties to the conflict are the Minsk agreement. Now we need further steps for their application - with an armistice, which actually hold, the demarcation line, diversion of heavy weapons and humanitarian access, "- said Shtaynamyer.

How did you learn the "Today", a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin in Normandy format could take place January 8-9. "Immediately after, or even during, and shall be held another round of talks in

Minsk (with the leaders of the so-called militants - Ed.)" - Told us to diplomatic sources.

By the way, the representative of the so-called "DNR" Denis Pushilin said he was ready for the next round of negotiations even during the holidays. But the exact date of the meeting the parties have not yet discussed.

Agency TASS referring to its sources reported that n redstavitel Russia will participate in the meeting in Berlin in the "Normandy" 5 of January. According to the publication, the Russian side at the meeting in Berlin will represent the Director of the Second Department of the CIS Foreign Minister Viktor Sorokin.

Regarde Aduck posted:

People always go on about how communism failed as an ideology. Well coincidentally Russia is also where capitalism failed.

Forgall posted:

I don't think that people who said they want USSR back even care about communism, what they actually want back is an Empire. And maybe opportunity to write a donos on neighbor you don't like.

Ardennes posted:

They clearly do care about many aspects of life under state socialism, especially the stable jobs, pensions and low prices.

The_Franz posted:

"I may have had to stand in line for 3 hours to buy stale bread and another 2 to buy scratchy toilet paper, but at least it was cheap!"

The_Franz posted:

"I may have had to stand in line for 3 hours to buy stale bread and another 2 to buy scratchy toilet paper, but at least it was cheap!"

Forgall posted:

I don't think that people who said they want USSR back even care about communism, what they actually want back is an Empire. And maybe opportunity to write a donos on neighbor you don't like.

HorseLord posted:

You're stupid as hell. "Empire" to the average joe doesn't mean poo poo. What does mean poo poo to people is the memory of a time when everyone had a well payed job, free healthcare, free childcare until your kid grows up, two years maternity, rent capped at a max of 5% of income, and an educational system that was not only completely free but would pay your cost of living.

Russians love capitalism so much that they continuously vote for people who oppose it, to the degree that yeltsin spent 1993 using tanks to remove the democracy he created in exchange for a system of government where parliament can't do anything but kiss his rear end all day. He spent the time running up to the election after making GBS threads himself in the face of tremendous opposition before launching a massive propaganda campaign and rigging the result. Literally the smartest thing he ever did was present himself as just barely winning his fake election, if he'd have gone with his inner circle's plan of refusing to hold one he'd probably have got shot.

quote:

Ukraine will receive from international partners all necessary military equipment. This was during a meeting with heads of security agencies said President Poroshenko.

The President stressed the need to review the functioning of Ukrainian companies-suppliers together with voluntary groups. According to Poroshenko, during his recent visit to the landfill Yavorivskyi he was impressed with the quality and value of domestic products.

Also guarantor noticed that all agreements with partners remain in power, so when the new fourth wave of mobilization - the military will have everything you need.

"What we promised our partners from Lithuania - for weapons - we've got it. Got the first batch of warm clothes, boots, accessories from Canada - and now wait another 2-planes were party-convoy from Poland, with our other partners ie all the agreements we reached last month - they all fit into a clear timetable software. To us soldier who mobilized, was able to be dressed, secured, have body armor and all that jazz, "- he said.