Majorian posted:

It's an interesting question, and I appreciate you posting the video - but remember, we're not talking about GBS or another other forum in this thread!

oscarthewilde posted:

reading the godawful QCS thread (rather, it started it out good, but then descended into the exact kind of moralistic slapfighting it was meant to address) I was suddenly reminded of Thucydides' Melian Dialogue. It looks to me that what I'd vaguely describe as the anti-Ukranians, of which this thread is a decent example, resembles the Athenian, 'realist' position that understands politics and warfare as fundamentally determined by raw, naked power, while the moralistic Melian position - preferring death in defeat over life in negotiated surrender - can be recognised in the more loud voices in the Western pro-Ukrainians (not to mention the Ukrainians themselves, once you've found yourselves in an existential life-or-death struggle you can hardly interpret the conflict in any other manner). Interesting to know what you all think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNzHOqjMHwY

Dixon Chisholm posted:

Anyone excited about the fact that world war 3 has started? Because it has.

Dixon Chisholm posted:

Anyone excited about the fact that world war 3 has started? Because it has.

oscarthewilde posted:

I could rephrase it as the anti- vs. pro-ukrainians if you'd prefer. I am interested in the more underlying, conceptual conflict between opposing ways of understanding both this conflict and the world in general. Specific subforums or threads might resemble certain positions more than others, they do little more than reproduce the underlying conceptual pre-assumptions.

Ardennes posted:

Either way, it is certainly going to have an effect, supply lines and energy prices really didn't need another shock coming in after COVID and the much of the West is in a rather intractiable economic mess. The UK is already saying the recession is going to be 2+ years in part because it is going to be very difficult to provide the type of stimulus measures available during COVID because of inflation.

So...I don't know if capitalism is going to go but I wouldn't say it is looking that healthy either.

quote:

Inflation remains at — or close to — its highest level in decades in many countries, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushing up energy and food prices, and squeezing households’ real incomes.

The latest figures for most of the world’s largest economies make for worrying reading, with price pressures surging to the highest level in many decades. In some countries, pressures have eased from their recent peaks. But, in many cases, this is only the result of government packages to shield consumers from soaring energy prices.



The energy crisis is particularly acute in Europe where the price paid for electricity by consumers, which is pegged to the cost of the most expensive feedstock, has increased sharply in line with soaring gas prices.





Central banks have reacted by raising interest rates, even though higher borrowing costs could exacerbate the squeeze on real incomes.

High inflation remains geographically broad-based. Consumer price growth has even started rising in Asia, a region that until recently had largely been an exception to the worldwide pattern.



This page provides a regularly updated visual narrative of consumer price inflation around the world. This includes economists’ expectations for the future, which show inflation projections being steadily revised up for 2023, according to leading forecasters polled by Consensus Economics.



Investors’ expectations of where inflation will be five years from now have been volatile in the past months reflecting central banks’ more aggressive tightening, which lowers medium-term inflation, coupled with higher and volatile gas prices that could push inflation up. In some countries, particularly in Europe, governments’ fiscal packages to offset the higher cost of energy are having an impact on inflation expectations.



Higher interest rates have also raised the chances of a recession in some countries, with economists fearing a return to the stagflation of the 1970s — a situation characterised by persistent price pressures and weak growth.





The rise in energy prices drove inflation up in many countries, even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Daily data show how the pressure has intensified on the back of a conflict that has left Europe fearing for its gas supply over the coming quarters.



Higher inflation is also spreading beyond energy to many other items, especially in countries where demand is strong enough for businesses to pass on higher costs.






Rising prices limit what households can spend on goods and services. For the less well-off, this could lead to people struggling to afford basics such as food and shelter.

Daily data on staple goods, such as the wholesale price of breakfast ingredients, provide an up-to-date indicator of the pressures faced by consumers. In developing countries, the wholesale cost of these ingredients has a larger impact on final food prices; food also accounts for a larger share of household spending.



Another point of concern is asset prices, especially for houses.

These soared in many countries during the pandemic, boosted by ultra loose monetary policy, homeworkers’ desire for more space and government income-support schemes. However, higher mortgage rates are already leading to a significant slowdown in house price growth in many countries.

Dixon Chisholm posted:

Anyone excited about the fact that world war 3 has started? Because it has.

Cao Ni Ma posted:

I am exited to see the new and innovative ways Britain will destroy itself

Ytlaya posted:

I think people need to define what they mean by "imperialist" (or come up with another term). In this content, the term is almost always used to attempt to draw some sort of parallel with the US.

Good Soldier Svejk posted:

What can bombs do that policies aren't going to do far more effectively

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/korry1389/status/1576124102758178816

Lostconfused posted:

Everyone will be extremely shocked if USA manages to find the real red line.

Frosted Flake posted:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7tHRm8GS8R0

Killin_Like_Bronson posted:

If Minsk 2 had been upheld thousands of Ukrainians wouldn't be dead, thousands of Russians wouldn't be dead and Europe wouldn't be in danger of freezing while going broke. The war is going to end with a pen and paper eventually but the money had to get its' way. loving poo poo sucks. Our leaders are monsters.

mlmp08 posted:

Cold take: it’s gonna get cold and slow and then the narrative will be truly unbearable leading up to the spring offensives.

Pretzel Rod Stewart posted:

5e sucks btw. AD&D 2e is GOATe

Killin_Like_Bronson posted:

If Minsk 2 had been upheld thousands of Ukrainians wouldn't be dead, thousands of Russians wouldn't be dead and Europe wouldn't be in danger of freezing while going broke. The war is going to end with a pen and paper eventually but the money had to get its' way. loving poo poo sucks. Our leaders are monsters.

Janitor Ludwich IV posted:

my main aim when running D&D is getting drunk and protecting my npcs from the neverending advances of horny

speng31b posted:

what kind of dnd games are you running?

Frosted Flake posted:

The GURPS historical books are annoyingly well researched and written for a game not intended for anyone to play.

Pretzel Rod Stewart posted:

5e sucks btw. AD&D 2e is GOATed

Jose Mengelez posted:

i can't imagine why wealthy american financiers would want to keep this war chugging along, maybe the epstein thread can cast some light on this mystery within an enigma?

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/korry1389/status/1576124102758178816

speng31b posted:

what kind of dnd games are you running?

Nix Panicus posted:

I tried GURPS once as a young lad and hated it for being unwieldy and not particularly fun. While I was dating my future wife she gushed about a GURPS game she was in and eventually she got me to join a different GURPS group with her. It quickly became very apparent that the 'GURPS' group she liked so much was only using the books for flavor text and the occasional 3d6 roll and had homebrewed replacements for basically every other GURPS mechanic. That group dissolved the session after we had our first 'combat' encounter because nobody wanted to navigate the combat rules again.

Azathoth posted:

Janitor Ludwich IV posted:

The last horny session was a wild party at a mansion and one of my players was sexually harrassing one of the live performers, they were very interested in her feet and other body parts also, but mainly the feet. I've also had other players have sexual advances laid upon them while taking a piss or ripping a bong or whatever players do when I'm talking too much

Frosted Flake posted:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PHew1ozkM1w

redneck nazgul posted:

stop DMing for bust rodd

Hadlock posted:

Agree, if Ukraine doesn't get a toehold on Kherson before first snows this fall, it's going to be much harder to take the city after the Russians have had six months of winter to dig in

I don't know how cold it gets there, but I'd imagine it's pretty miserable come January

March of next year will be brutal

speng31b posted:

you're running d&d seshs at wild mansion parties with horny creeps? this entire scenario isnt making sense in my head

Raskolnikov38 posted:

i do think the vitriol of the pro-ukrainian side is largely confined to social media.

CODChimera posted:

how have we already strayed off topic?!