Lacessit

You are joking, surely? Russia is now a pariah state. GDP is only supported by conversion from a consumer economy to a war economy. The ruble has collapsed in value, and is only supported by interest rates of 15%. The market for Russian gas in Europe is gone, never to return. It is forced to sell oil to India and China at discounted prices to finance its war effort. Russia has ceased publishing a lot of economic data, to hide how dire the real situation is. There is no foreign investment in Russia. The Western technicians who helped run the oil fields in inhospitable places such as Siberia and Sakhalin are gone, and the indigenous engineering/technical workforce are all in their 60's. Once an oil well freezes in the permafrost, it has to be drilled again. That's the reason Russia is cutting back on oil production. 1 Million Russians of military age left Russia to escape the draft, including the best and brightest. They aren't going back. Russia is stretched for labor in all industries. Russia has the tyrrany of distance to contend with. 70% of its domestic aircraft are Boeing and Airbus. The industry is being forced to cannibalize aircraft to keep going. If you feel lucky, I suggest a Russian domestic flight to test it. What can one say of an economy that mines refrigerators and washing machines for microchips to supply its defense industry? Or the same industry forced to buy ammunition from North Korea? In Ukraine, Russia has lost 4000 tanks, and about 300,000 soldiers. Every purchaser of Russian armaments now has buyers' remorse, after seeing how poorly they are performing in the field. IMO Russia will very probably become a vassal state of China over the next 10-20 years. It's been a kleptocracy since 1992, now it is paying the price in poorly equipped and trained troops. The Chinese probably can't believe their luck. Notice how the only support Xi is giving are words, nothing material? Putin is losing badly, and no amount of softball questions from a puppet journalist can hide the facts.

They did not teach you what analogies are in high school?

Please show me where I am not stating facts. Then show me where you are not stating opinions.

I have found it much less taxing to take the chainsaw to a shop where it can be sharpened with good equipment, by professionals. Rule # 1 - never let a chainsaw blade touch dirt. It's the quickest way to dull the teeth.

A drover's dog could have interviewed Putin, and rated its socks off. Because it's probably the only interview Putin will give, unless he wants a repeat with the soft d!ck Carlson is.

Of course they were rejected. Why would Putin want reporters lobbing hardball questions at him?

US society has obesity. Russia has alcoholism. Russian life expectancy is five years shorter than the US and EU. Russia has a population collapse in the twenties, America is growing. Do some research, it may stop you from posting daft opinions.

IMO you would enjoy John D MacDonald, one of the top American novelists. Authors such as Lee Child say the have drawn inspiration from him. I do find it incredible so many Americans don't know the name, it's like me not knowing who Banjo Paterson was. On topic, I spent a good part of last year in Australia. I was bored there, I am never bored here.

Both.

No doubt you would be puzzled by the actor Asia Kate Dillon, who refers to herself as having third person plural gender. As Jeff Daniels once said, I don't know what the <deleted> that means.

I think I am reasonably tolerant of all forms of sexual orientation. Don't bother me, I won't bother you. What I do find disturbing is the way noisy minorities can hijack an issue, then demand preferential treatment over a majority.

Not just embarrassing. Every country allied to the US would stop sharing intelligence with Trump in charge. He took in $8 million from foreign powers during his presidency. In a second term, he would probably sell national secrets to the highest bidder. He does have a lot of legal bills.

How embarrassing would it be if Trump loses? Kindly remember he confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi, and E Jean Carroll with his wife Marla.

"East of Eden", John Steinbeck "The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney" Henry Handel Richardson "A Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens "Wuthering Heights" Emily Bronte "The Sands of Windee" Arthur Upfield "Journey into Russia" Sir Laurens van der Post " Great Short Stories of The World" "Dune" Frank Herbert "Foundation" Isaac Asimov "The Canterbury Tales" Geoffrey Chaucer Bonus: "Dragonflight", Anne McCaffrey " The Thorn Birds" Colleen McCullough

Got it, thanks. That is what I call the "por lao" bird, which is Thai for " enough already " . It sounds like a bar girl who has had enough of an importuning customer.

Conservative tabloid, what would anyone expect? I would suggest having BOTH Biden and Trump have the same cognitive tests, and seeing who performs better. The test Trump took was something a six-year-old would ace, and there is no knowing whether he cheated as usual.

Having listened to the bird in the video kindly posted by KhunLa, I don't find it annoying at all. Annoying is when my neighbor in the village has his stereo at maximum, and is playing Thai songs which sound like cats being tortured.

Everybody's body chemistry is different with respect to its reaction to pharmaceuticals. For example, morphine does absolutely nothing for me. Cannabis just makes me feel woozy. OTOH, give me oral demerol, and you'd be picking me off the ceiling. Kratom has to be extracted from the leaves by macerating and boiling. You may not have got any effect, because the bottle of whisky failed to extract anything.

A few misconceptions in your post: As a speed reader, I don't need an hour to look for spelling mistakes. There are none, bravo. Unless I want to substitute commentators for commenters. I don't need to Google Latin terms, I was taught the language by an authority on the subject. I am saying Ukrainians are a different ethnicity to Russians, on the basis of their language, alphabet, and culture. The Russians in the Donbas are ethnic to Russia, not Ukraine. Switzerland has 4 different languages. It's no surprise Ukraine would be bilingual, given the proximity. The Ukrainians are no more Nazis than you or me. That is one of Putin's lies. History shows the Germans were greeted as liberators in WW II. Kiev surrendered without firing a shot. The Ukrainians soon learned the Nazis were no different to the Russians in terms of oppression. Who calls the Croatians Nazis nowadays? They welded themselves to the German side far more steadfastly. It makes sense for Ukrainians, who are fighting for national survival, to be tough on Russian quislings in the Donbas. Going from there to genocide is rank bullsh!t. Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

You expect them to be discussing the subject all the time, during their waking hours? There are people on this and other forums posting on Russia, Ukraine and Putin every minute. Check out YouTube, there are dozens of videos, and millions of viewers. You're coming the raw prawn.

How do you expect people to identify a bird if you don't post an audio recording of its call?

That is one serious piece of equipment. Thanks for the photo, I'll be able to identify you after your EV runs me down.

When you take statistically meaningful samples of a population, you really go the whole hog.

I made money for my employers. I did not cost them $760 million.

Yes I do. Ukrainians have a different language and alphabet to Russians, although they mostly speak Russian because it was made compulsory during the Soviet era. I suggest putting a "D" into your nom-de-plume, to better reflect your character. BTW, the spelling of the gladiator name you chose is incorrect. It is RETIARIUS.