Talk About Tennis 2.0

It is a somewhat flawed democracy, but still a democracy. Not sure what to compare with... Maybe some of the better places in South America? Argentina perhaps?

I was about to say no way Argentina, and then... yes, Argentina. Novax is Serbia's Maradona, and NOTHING, NOTHING Maradona ever did was remotely criticized. Not because of lack of freedom of the press or anything structural, but rather because the man was god down there. Years after his death, there is not a week on which there is not a TV special in Argie ESPN about "El Diego".
So tangentially correct.

I don't have a comparison but I don't think this is related to freedom of the media, more to culture. It's a very nationalistic country with very rich history and tradtions, but it's a small one that has lost a lot of power in the region, so they are standing by their man because they feel international attention he gets gets them global prestige.

As a democracy, it's a democracy, but with corruption. That typically means that corruption is accepted at all levels, so, let's say it's pretty obvious he faked the COVID test, I would expect a lot of Serbians to give that a pass because they've all done or seen things like that done. The media should still report it, but the locals may not find it inexcusable like many Australians might.

I know that we have been distracted by Novax' plight but... A little something is happening in Eastern Europe.
Will NATO really stand up to Putin this time? it seems like this talk of war is not idle; some harsher than usual words are being thrown around. I am reading on the issue and it does seem that both sides are not just bluffing.
I started a poll at first post of this topic (I can easily delete it later)

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:08 pm I know that we have been distracted by Novax' plight but... A little something is happening in Eastern Europe.
Will NATO really stand up to Putin this time? it seems like this talk of war is not idle; some harsher than usual words are being thrown around. I am reading on the issue and it does seem that both sides are not just bluffing.
I started a poll at first post of this topic (I can easily delete it later)

I've been watching this via Political, Diplomatic and World News Twitter. It's frightening.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:08 pm I know that we have been distracted by Novax' plight but... A little something is happening in Eastern Europe.
Will NATO really stand up to Putin this time? it seems like this talk of war is not idle; some harsher than usual words are being thrown around. I am reading on the issue and it does seem that both sides are not just bluffing.
I started a poll at first post of this topic (I can easily delete it later)

First reaction was that given Putin's involvement the "sense will prevail" option was deserving of a laughing face emoji next to it.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:46 pm ...

First reaction was that given Putin's involvement the "sense will prevail" option was deserving of a laughing face emoji next to it.

Agree. But sometimes I have to pretend that I do not have the cynical dialed to 11.
And this is one occasion in which I really have doubts and do not have a formed opinion. The way the USA is working nowadays means the GOP may not even back Biden on any form or military conflict. The UK is led by the buffoon, so that is a wildcard. Germany no longer has Merkel, who was the most knowledgeable western figure regarding Russia. France is a blank to me with Macron. And the countries that are directly affected are small and the EU may, as it has been done in the past, decide that life is good for them and stick their heads in the sand.

Well, what does "sense will prevail" mean?

My answer is that there will be a conflict, it'll involve Russia and Ukraine (and unofficial military aid to Ukraine).

I picked that sense will prevail. Why not?

So this happened last night for those of us not in this time zone.



You can see the shock wave(s).

Here is a different view

Water level view of eruption

Impressive.