Hello. Could someone in Latvia update me about the proposed law banning the use of Russian at work? I´m from Estonia and the last info I could get was from late 2023 and that it passed the first reading in your parliament. Is it still in discussion? Was it a popular decision among the public?
Thank you in advance

a little about me if youre interested
• im 16 • my interests/hobbies are : manga, music, movies, combat sports, video games, exercise. • im russian and latvian ethnically living in ireland • im 6’3/189cm • im moving to australia soon • im willing to talk about anything with whoever would like to speak to me so just dm me or comment to lmk !!

There was a trial back in 1944 (yeah, during WWII) of congress members who supported the Nazis. It didn't go well. The similarities to the very current trials of Trump are eerie. There is an analysis of that process in a book titled, "Prequel" by Rachel Maddow.
That trial was about Nazism here in the US. Currently we face an onslaught of Russian influence, but the process is remarkably similar. All the political pressure weighs heavily on the American system of justice and frankly, there is little support for those brave individuals fighting for our freedom.

I wonder if part of it isn't alack of knowledge about the ukrainian army, too often people who use azov as a """proof"""" of ukrainian army being nazi ignore the other not nazi units. Another part of the problem I think is the idea that today azov is identical to 2014 azov when it's not and too often, people will have a bit of a double standard since they'll be way more vehement against ukrainian nazi while not saying as much against russian nazis or those in other countries army.

So this time last year (May ‘23) I went to see HR regarding a hiring committee I was a part of and the favoritism they showed a candidate. The Director of HR, granted she was the only HR employee at the time, is this beautiful African American woman with big, bright eyes and a gorgeous smile. We talked about my committee and then we just talked about life. She was going through hard times. We ended up becoming fast friends. I would go and check up on her.
Fast forward to August, I went to go see her again. Just dropped in as a quick hello and was reminded how beautiful she was. The next week I saw her. She stopped by where I was standing in line for food and touched my shoulder, finger to skin, and I literally felt a spark go through me. She just stopped to say hi. I think that was the moment I couldn’t stop thinking about her. From that moment forward I started to go to her office once a week. We had great conversation. I was learning more about her. We had astrology in common. We learned about each other’s families. We both were having problems as she was on the edge of divorce. My love life at the time was nonexistent with my wife and crumbling. However I started to enjoy her company way more than expected.
Because of our interest in astrology I knew her birthday was coming up in October. I decided to buy her a birthday card with a gift card for a restaurant. Before I got out of the car I said to myself ‘I think I’m in love with her’. That’s when I knew I was in trouble. I had began to write poems about her (which seem to be therapeutic) and having non stop thoughts of her. Mind you I’m still going to her office once a week. I gave her the card. We are still talking. She’s still going through shit with her husband. I’m talking about her to select coworkers. I offered to buy her lunch, another way to spend time with her. Well turns out she had a meeting with our CEO and we would have had less than 10 minutes. I was devastated. Like seriously heartbroken. Thus began my limerence. I still went to see her every chance I got. Probably too much. She never told me to not come and see her. In fact it became ‘You should come by more often’. I did.
A conference that both of us and several other employees attended happened in late November to December. We were very connected at the hip. She flashed me her room number without saying a word. I chose not to go. Literally the week before during Thanksgiving two things happened. 1) I ran into a psychic who gave me a reading and told me not to sleep with her. 2) My wife and I had a devastating argument about the state of our marriage. It had went to shit when we started therapy. Skipping the fact that I didn’t go up that night we had a great time together. We spent an incredible amount of time together. It was fun. I felt incredibly refreshed having spent time with her. The one downside to the entire trip was that she told me she was reconciling with her husband.
I asked her out twice for a meal in December. She never gave a direct no, but created excuses. January came and she got sick. I texted her a lot checking in on her. When she came back I asked her if I texted her too much. She said yes. I completely stopped. I think my poetry ramped up more because of that. She also reminded me she was trying to reconcile with her husband. In the same breath she asked me how I was doing as I was newly separated. It became emotional.
The next event per se happened in February. After Valentine’s Day I went to see her. I asked how things were going with her and her husband. She said they went well. I had started talking with people on dating apps. I mentioned this to her and she seemed a bit bothered. I was surprised. Somehow my wife came into conversation and I told her that I talk to her more than my wife. She blushed! Despite having good moments with her I was heartbroken that her and her husband were doing well.
I didn’t go see her for two weeks. There was a function midday. She waved at me and I was excited to see her. When I started to walk towards her she turned around and ignored me. This hurt me severely as I have trauma from people ignoring me. I stopped going to see her again. She texts me for my birthday, granted it was a week late, but I was excited. This was the first time we had a text conversation in over two months. She mentioned that she had to take medical leave. Needless to say I was devastated. I went to see her and she was very sad. She started telling me about her family life as a child, but we were interrupted.
While she was out, a coworker started a meal train account for her so she wouldn’t have to cook. There was an area where you could buy DoorDash gift cards. I bought $200 worth and also sent $300 in visa gift cards via a coworker who would see her.
When she comes back to work she tries to give one of the gift cards back. I told her I wouldn’t accept it back.
I’m very in love (or limerence/infatuated) with her. I’ve tried dating other people, but that doesn’t help as I end up talking about her when asked is there someone else.
I want to ask her what her thoughts are about me, but I’m horrified that she thinks I’m a creep.

I am looking for someone who would be willing to speak with me regularly in Russian with voicecalls/messages over Whatsapp. I am B2 in Russian and I am hoping to achieve C1 within the next year, so it would be great if I could find someone or multiple people who I could speak with daily to improve my speaking even more. I am an American who lives in Riga, Latvia, so our time difference should be too terrible. In return, I can help you with your english, even if you are at a lower level, and I am a certified English teacher. I'm willing to talk about anything and everything, so let me know if you are interested! I prefer to speak with women, because I am one, but if I think that we could become friends, I'll give anyone a chance.

Developer and publisher Eridani Entertainment - in partnership with Lightspeed Studios and Billions Stud Entertainment Network - plans to release a "fun game" and a huge answer to Ubisoft's 2014 game "The Crew", after the live service game was almost erased from the face of The Earth, to be survived by its worse descendant, The Crew 2.
"Blue Marble" is an open world action adventure game set in a stable era sometime in the 2040s. Set on a condensed map of North America (southern Canada and the lower 48), it is a little bit more than The Crew; players can actually step out of their vehicle in third person and interact with their environment.
Blue Marble is basically a lifesim, but comes with a stunning cinematic campaign story.
Lead design director Jack Paris stated, "this is the entertainment industry and consumers want fun and entertainment and for those who are bored with postapocalyptic and medieval genres and don't like being treated as if they're in prison or a third-worlder from a wartorn $$$$hole - excuse my French - or like to feel as if they're playing something made by a British alphabet agency, then Blue Marble is the game for you. If you're sick of the medieval crap or games constantly set in a postapocalyptic America, then Blue Marble is definitely for you."
Players can create their own character or just play as the stock characters - 20something year old dude Thales or dudette Trissy - as they complete the main story campaign.
Thales or Trissy or your custom character has just relocated from a postapocalyptic Great Britain, which has been destroyed and occupied by Russian forces and prepares to start a new, fun and exciting life in North America.
But things don't go according to plan as the protagonist gets caught up with biker gangs, drifters, shady organizations, dangerous racing outfits and dirty cops. So, Blue Marble is certainly more than a racing game, but a sort of "one-stop shop".
Whilst there is no concrete plan for a PC release (which could be in ten years' time or not at all), the game will be released first on PS5 and Xbox and analysts anticipate a sale of more than 300,000 units on console (digital and physical) within the first three months.
CEO of Eridani Entertainment Brogan English added, "this huge game will be released on console first. After ten years, you may see a release on PC, but that's not a concrete plan."
Blue Marble will have both an offline and online mode, with servers of up to 40 players each.
"If you don't want to play something that seems like it was created by an alphabet agency or a group of British spies, then Blue Marble is for you and if you liked The Crew 2014, then you're gonna absolutely love this. If you don't want to be treated as if you're incarcerated or you're a member of a government or an elderly person, then this game is for you. And if you are an entertainment lover and not a Russian robot, then this is a game for you."
Brogan English also added that Blue Marble will show that an open world action adventure game can have a huge map which you can interact with and doesn't have to be small or just a racing game.
"This game will separate the big studios from the small ones and will show that you don't have to be in perennial development to relese something concrete and complete."
English also added that "the map will not be a boring big world and will not have a boring feel like Star Citizen. Blue Marble has a lively and authentic feel and NPCs are active and interactive. It's set in the 2040s and isn't postapocalyptic and devs have worked hard to create a fun and exciting open world, which is why it'll be released on console first because PC players have tended to conclude that games played on PC 'lack a fun and relaxed feel' and that the more intelligent people are perceived to be, the more boring their entertainment becomes. So," English says, "just because players are perceived to possess above-average intelligence doesn't mean their entertainment should become more boring than when they were on console. So Blue Marble is all about having fun, both inside and outside of your vehicles. The map size is roughly a similar size to The Crew 2014, but this is a pure coincidence and Blue Marble's condensed map of North America is more authentic, vibrant, realistic, lively and has more NPCs in it, so it is definitely not an amateur game or game for a smaller community. And don't worry, we steered clear of UE5 because UE5 is an anti-fun, anti-gaming and anti-entertainment engine."
Eridani Entertainment predicts a regular online player base of between 50,000 and 120,000 and a lifetime revenue of between US$170m and US$260m.

I'd like to share a lengthy and self-indulgent note about my history with the Baha'i community and the impact it had on my family and me. It's worth noting that I'm sharing this using a throwaway Reddit account that I generally reserve for browsing porn. I find funny to imagine a Baha'i apologist reading this, becoming angry and judgmental, and then, investigating my profile and ending up jerking off. With that said, let's dive into my story.
I want to share my experience in case it resonates with someone else, a lot of the stories on this Reddit helped me, and perhaps my story will give some comfort to someone else. It has taken me a while to write this down, and I'm glad I finally got around to doing it.
My parents emigrated from their homeland for reasons of principle and value. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by Baha'is who met them. And so, lovebombed and lavished with love, praise, and celebration for moving countries due to values that they portrayed as being closely aligned with the Baha'i faith, my parents fell for this validation and worked very hard once they became Baha'is in the mid-1980s.
My dad got rid of all of his whiskies, and swiftly, my parents began hosting potlucks and fireside chats, diligently working to integrate into the Baha'i ecosystem. Back then, the atmosphere was fairly light-hearted, with devotional gatherings, prayers, and a somewhat 1960s-esque hippie vibe. There was live guitar music, and joss sticks.
However, I remember Baha'i classes having an interesting edge. We were taught that Buddhists were not following a religion but merely a way of life, and that Hindus had become pantheistic because they had lost the core of their faith and religion, which had become corrupted over time. Thanks to Google, I can discover that yes indeed, this is from Lights of Guidance.
There was a significant emphasis on the importance of gender equality and the oneness of humanity – because, hey, the eighties. I feel sad there isn't anything anymore about the Virtues project - even if the Virtues project was sort of framed like it was created by Bahais.
Even in the 1980s, there was an overwhelming atmosphere that the key to being a good Baha'i was how you presented yourself rather than your actual behaviour. I recall learning an apocryphal tale of a young Baha'i who, while fasting, participated in an aerobics class and nearly fainted (yeah, aerobics, this is a real 80s fable), but was told by another Baha'i to prioritize representing the faith well over completing the fast because *it looked bad*. From a very early age, I learned the importance of putting the right face forward.
My parents then took their relationship with the Baha'i faith to the next level and volunteered at the World Centre in Haifa. As a child, this was a pretty interesting experience. I was suddenly immersed in the Iranian, or rather, Persian community, with its strong culture of martyrdom. Even as a child, every event seemed to feature graphic videos depicting young kids being taken from their homes. It was quite frightening, and I remember being afraid.
I also recall a strong sense of hierarchy within the community. My family lived in a small apartment with a very old, busted-up car from the 1970s, while others resided in nice homes with pleasant views and drove nice cars. I attended a local Israeli school, which was a cultural experience in itself, while my peers my age went to the much fancier American school. It's important to note that, at this point, the conversation about the "great catastrophe" – two-thirds of the world's population dying, leading to a period of peace and the entry by troops – was a prevalent topic openly discussed at the World Centre.
We completed our stint there, even living through the Gulf War. Upon returning to my birth country, my parents chose to live in places with smaller Baha'i communities, as they wanted to support and help establish Local Spiritual Assemblies. Things had changed by this point, not only because I was a teenager but also because the community itself had transformed. There was a significant Iranian presence everywhere, and the focus had shifted heavily towards rules, especially those related to sex, drinking, and drug use. There was also a huge emphasis on financial contributions to the faith, and it was the first time I began to see a somewhat materialistic outlook within the community.
As a preteen and teenager, I engaged in activities like dropping off flyers in mailboxes and soliciting strangers to talk about this great new religion, all in the name of “teaching”. I joined the local choir and sang, inspired by a crush I had on a girl there. This was probably the golden time of the community, with the choir doing outreach and a balance between Western and Iranian believers.
However, things began to accelerate. The Ruhi Institute and teaching became significant focal points. I was encouraged to bring a good friend of mine to a Baha'i camp, and once there, I was pressured to ask him to convert. It was very uncomfortable.
This Reddit loves cringe stories, so here is a winner: I had a birthday party with my non-Baha'i friends, and two older Baha'i girls attended. One of the girls ended up stalking my friend, showing up at his workplace and calling him at home with sexually suggestive comments. The matter was escalated to the Local Spiritual Assembly, but instead of talking to me about it, they basically ended my friendship with this kid. To me, this somehow captures so much of what it was like to be a Baha'i child and how Baha'i adults treat children to this day.
When I turned 15, I signed up for Baha'i membership because it was the expected thing to do. However, by the time I was in my early 20s and studying at university, I had started to interact more with the local, real-world community. This might seem like a small thing, but it was actually quite significant. You see, my parents had always felt a little bit on the outside compared to the average person on the street around them. This sense of elitism was really exacerbated by being a Baha'i because Baha'is would walk around in a cloud of self-assurance, slapping each other on the back and saying , "We don't do drugs. We've got all the answers and solutions, not like you." That was pretty much the attitude. It felt very socio-economic, with a lot of judgment towards working-class people. When the Iranians arrived, the cultural judgments grew even stronger.
But I was working in restaurants and learning about booze from bartenders. I had gotten to know real people. I had lost my virginity, and all that Bahai jazz seemed so much less relevant. I hardly even noticed when the year 2000 arrived without the predicted apocalypse, entry by troops, or any of the other anticipated events. Life went on. I lived in another country and met a girl, and we lived together.
Here is cringe story #2: my girlfriend /fiancé and I hosted a Bahai couple from my hometown. Despite being in my late 20s and engaged, and even though I hosted this gentleman in my house and helped him with his preparations for his business and presentations in the country where I lived, he reported to the Local Spiritual Assembly that I was living with a woman and we weren't married. It was absolutely amazing. The level of judgment still grosses me out.
I started to reflect on what the religion had meant to me and saw how it had changed. The obsession with fundraising was becoming ever more strident and panicked. The gaps in the actual scriptural logic of the religion were becoming more exacerbated as real-world problems still ran rife, and real-time discussions on social media brought these issues to light. It took me a while to start really digging into it, and it was only much later, when I started therapy, that I realized I needed to formally resign from the religion.
Looking back, it's astonishing how this religion, which professes to have such blind equality between the genders, as if other religions have some kind of hardwired sexism, actually had hardwired sexism in how the Universal House of Justice operates. A religion that taught the oneness of humanity, as if all humanity is equal and other religions don't recruit from anyone they can find, places divisors. Although of course, Bahai’s can’t recruit from Israeli Jews, so much for oneness of humanity. But this religion has taught that all humanity is equal, unless, of course, you're gay. Then you can't get married, let alone have sex.
There are other principles I haven't touched on, such as non-involvement in politics, unless it involves things happening to Baha'is or politics in Iran. The principle of independent investigation of the truth doesn't seem to work if you might investigate something that's not in line with the Baha'i perspective. The idea of a universal language? I don't really see any evidence that they're even really thinking about that one. The unity between science and religion? A religion that only allows men to sit on its senior board of a global theocracy probably isn't going to jive with a contemporary scientific perspective…. I mean, apparently you don't need a penis to be a man anymore, right?
In between these moments are my colorful memories of random things, like endless discussions about the boundaries of physical intimacy, people getting married at the age of 16 because they had exemptions for being Persian, and meeting Ms. Khanoom in Israel, feeling some sadness that the lone woman who at least brought some feminine energy to the World Centre is now gone, replaced by 12 boring men.
I've had conversations with my wife where I tried to explain what Baha'is actually do. She just wonders why they aren't doing stuff like normal religions do, like reading to the elderly or supporting schools for the disabled. I explain that's not the target demographic. I remember a wealthy man brought to firesides who obviously nobody else wanted to listen to, but we all sat around and applauded him like he was a great ukulele player and a clever man. He pointed out a hilariously Iranian man who was an alternative healer, and they got into a debate about modern medicine. The wealthy man said, "Well, you should see my daughter and what she studied. She studies Law." And then quickly changed the subject when asked about her name since I studied at the same Law school. Here's this man who's self-aware enough to join the adoration of his crowd but doesn't want his daughter mixed up in it in any way. Absolutely hilarious. Make that cringe story #3.
This reflection was sort of sparked when my wife and I discovered that the writings attributed to Rumi, which Baha'is often quote, is the same guy who started the Whirling Dervishes. We read about Rumi and I realized just how different he is from Baha'u'llah. Rumi wrote poetry, but he didn't pretend to be a prophet of God. He was just offering a different dynamic for how to interpret spirituality. He didn't say he was part of some sort of cycle. There's something beautiful about that simplicity. And needless to say, Rumi lived long before the Baha'is ever started.
It makes me wonder, will anyone ever watch the equivalent of a whirling dervish dance for the Baha'is?
The obsession with appearances sounds like a joke, but it isn't. It wasn't for me. Some bad stuff happened to me on my trip to Israel. When we got there, my parents didn't understand why I was so upset about everything. It was a culture shock, attending a local school, not speaking Hebrew, being lumped together with Russian kids who also didn't speak Hebrew, and getting beaten up in the toilet. It wasn't a very good time for me.
So, I was sent to counsel with a local Israeli counselor. After several sessions, she instructed that I had to sit down with my parents and tell them what I needed to tell them, particularly about the shadow that had come over me since coming to Israel. My parents were enraged when I said, “I wish we never became Bahai”.
And so, we returned from the Holy Land and moved to a tiny community that was struggling to get members. To this day, my parents are still members. I've resigned so I'm never dubbed a "covenant breaker." I'm pretty sure my parents know that I resigned because they literally never raise the topic of the Baha'i faith with me. I wish the religion had some interesting cosmology, something mystical, some interesting new take on the universe, or provided my family with tools to handle being migrants or raising teenagers. At the very least, it could have given us a common language we could have used to bond together. It did none of that.
But to be fair, if it wasn't the Baha'is, some other rinky-dink cult would have love-bombed my parents back in the 1980s. Of course, it would have been so much more fun if it had featured more sex and drugs 😊

I want to go to university in Dubai from Russia for tourism. Firstly, I would like to know whether it is difficult for Russians to apply and whether it is even worth it? Or stay in Moscow and enroll here… In general, I want to know about your impressions of universities in Dubai

Disgust / / Take My Hand

Mombasa, The Union of African Socialist Republics 

vibe

"Upheaval of the world, French Guiana the last stand of the West?"

"The torturous end of the Russian hyper-state has sparked a crisis for an increasingly volatile world."

Bandung Daily Issued August 1st, 2072 - 12:00 Mombasa, The Union of African Socialist Republics
MOMBASA - It would seem that the fall of the Great Russian Goliath had been in the making the moment that Dederick Lohengrin's empire collapsed, yet unlike the Álfheimr Civil War - the collapse of Russian Hegemony would be as swift as the dissolution of its predecessor, the Soviet Union. There was no tears to weep, no alliance to mourn, the Eastern Union had long ceased to be anything less than an arms manufacturer for the Bandung Pact - growing increasingly obsolete in the face of an expanding Pact technology network.
How many times had the world called for Russian aid? As much as the Russian and Eastern Union governments had decried the lack of a Western response to the original Downfall of Europe, by the late forties, the Eastern Union so overwhelmed with corruption, had become the very thing that those early Eastern Union ambassadors had loathed - they had, in essence, become the very thing they found disgusting. Italy, fallen at the hands of the Alfr and the Eastern Union did nothing. The countless provocations of the Aesir and never an adequate response, a Japanese Empire chipping away at the very bones of Eastern Union hegemony and in the end, it was only the intervention of INC diplomacy (theorized) that prevented the consumption of anything more than Manchuria. Even as the very Russian nation-state collapsed inward, not even the Bandung Pact could do more than give a shake of their heads while scalping away much of the Russian technological base in a way not dissimilar to the early East African efforts to save the Israeli industry. And as the once Karakum Union once again declared nominal independence from the broader Russian entity, the beginning of the end for Eastern Europe was once again nigh.
Therefore, it was no surprise when the Garden of Eden spread its roots through the former Polish hyper-state, the tendrils of Iohannis grasping at every fallen fruit, each an offering to the Earth Mother (so it's called in Eastern Europe). It was no surprise when the Second Roman Republic, what was once Greece, and the machinations in Yugoslavia equally unified under an expanded Republic partially at the behest of a significant diaspora of Italian veterans of the Gothic Wars. It was no surprise, when in the face of the spreading vines of Kyiv, that the UNSC under all its providence as a GIGAS member - initiated the annexation of what was once Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It was no surprise, when the Bandung Pact did what it could to funnel Russian troops, assets, and civilians out of a collapsing hyper-state. It was no surprise, when the vulture of the Midnight Sun descended on Siberia, consuming Vladivostok and moving into Mongolia and across Lake Baikal.
It was however a surprise when radio messages of a free Europe, began quietly skimming across morning news in the Bandung Pact. It was a surprise when those same messages soon led to declaration of a new "Atlantic Russian Republic", when those radio waves turned into surviving Russian fleets massing in the last quietly surviving Russian territory that all but Russia had forgotten of. At one of the many mouths of the Amazon jungle, stood the Atlantic Russian Republic and the last bastion of Free Europe in the West. The fleets of the Polish-Russian hyperstate had under Bandung support, skulked quietly into the Atlantic Ocean under new flags, until eventually landing in French Guiana. Much like the French Remnant State which survived as the last offshoot until it was eventually subsumed by the Russian government, the Atlantic Russian Republic now stands as a mini Fortress-state, housing the vast Russian Navy and all its kinetic and rocketry might. Just as the French Free Navy slowly starved to death, so too, now does the Russian Navy in its hole across the Ocean. And with a resource crisis still ongoing even if neutered now by the rampant space mining operations of the hyper-powers, the Russian Navy in exile's position remains ever volatile.
November 20th, 2072
Tallinn, Estonia (UNSC Protectorate)
The wind and snow was heavy even for November, that was the thought going through the old dog's head as he watched his ward, the Princess Estelle addressing the rows of former Russian soldiers. And as she finished, the guns ringing out signaling the formalization of the groundwork laid so many years ago it was not hard for the General to maintain his stoic nature as the procession of soldiers filed out of the great hall that had been constructed in Tallinn. Like so many others, they had become nationless men, effectively dead and yet still very much alive and willing to fight.
"So this is what your deal bought you." the ex-Prime Minister, ex-President, Katz finally broke his silence as Princess Estelle made her way back under the cover of the gallery. "My Baltics, turned into the Fens."
There was a sadness to the eyes of the fair-haired Princess, one letting on only a fraction of the pain she had experienced over the past year. "My cousin...he told me this would be an early birthday present." She lowered her head out of respect to the Russian ex-minister. "Had I known...what all that would have entailed, I would have certainly declined."
Timo Kivinen, the General of so many things by now, knew there was bountiful more that the Princess would have wanted to share in that very moment. He had heard it, when they had first been informed of the operation. He had seen Estelle's outrage, as the good Prince George did his best to calm his dear wife. But now, in the aftermath of the Russian Collapse, Estelle had put on her brave face and in true STOICs fashion - mustered a smile and a bout of levity.
"I once asked my cousin to remember us as his family, I hadn't expected this is the path to be walked by our kin." Estelle cracked a wry smile, as she started walking towards the exit. "But there is more to come, isn't that right, General?"
"Yes." Timo nodded, as his thoughts turned to the fleets amassing in the Atlantic.
"What now?" Katz questioned, not expecting much of an answer.
"Promises to keep, we have promises to keep." Estelle's gaze turned towards the Sun and the thought of warm waters.

CLAIM REVEAL: THE EASTERN UNION STATES (MAP)

The Atlantic Russian Republic

• DETAILS
• Head of State: Maxim Katz
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Those mentioned in bigrockswilderness Fleet Posts for Poland
• Population: 3,863,000 (including Naval and Marine personnel that evacuated Russia)
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Has the ability to access a secret campaign (ALL THROUGH PLAYER INITIATIVE) to reclaim the Western Russian Remnant state in Europe.
  • Has control of 80% of the Russian Navy in entirety
  • Must find remedies for resource drain of the Fleet, or face narrative repercussions.
  • Starts with SECRET information that could lead to the expansion of the claim, early on.
  • Handing over the fleets, or coming under another's thumb or like-scenarios will result in a Naval mutiny. IE. this is not a viable "easy" option to deal with your lack of resources. There will be warning events.
  • Is not immediately aligned with anyone.
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
The Atlantic Russian Republic (ARR) or better, the Russian Fleet in Exile is intended on being a claim that requires heavy amounts of player initiative through the early period of the season to survive. However, can blossom into a rewarding claim if played well.
This is a difficult claim in general, and you can expect to be under fire from many enemies as the Alfr remnant states (North America in particular) and the Bandung Pact both look to subsume or sink your fleets.

The Garden of Eden

• DETAILS
• Head of State: The Earth Mother - Klaus Iohannis
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Zalmoxis
  • Prophet Amir
  • Burebistan
  • Pleistoros
• Population: Not currently calculable
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Begins with 30% of the Russian Army - corrupted.
  • Receives [BATTLE] bonuses based on the level of "perversion" and its spread across not just the Garden, but of the world. This is internally tracked by the Mods.
  • Likewise, receives automatic NEGATIVE amplifiers to [DIPLOMACY] with NPCs. (You are really freaking out the Japanese and INC AlfRussian remnants.)
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
This is a fairly niche claim, having to wrestle with both the Alfr, INC, and Japan in the immediate vicinity - while attempting to repair (or destroy) relations with other surrounding neighbors as you look more inward.

The Second Roman Republic

• DETAILS
• Head of State: Gaius Appuleius Diocles
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Can be found here
  • And here for Italian related stuff
  • Niklas
• Population: 60,800,196
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Ceasar's Legions = meta control over approx 200,000 battle-hardened Italian veterans of the Gothic Wars.
  • These legions will specifically receive significant [BATTLE] bonuses when used against Alfr remnant states. However, they are a finite number, each casualty being irreplaceable.
  • Additionally - the Legions have an expressed goal = reclaiming Rome (Italy). If this is not met by the 2/3rd mark of the Campaign, there will be IG repercussions of significant magnitude.
  • Begins the Campaign with positive diplomatic relations with ALL NPCs including Japan, non-playable Bandung Pact members, and non-claimable Alfr remnants. The only exception is TURKEY.
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
The Second Roman Republic is a particularly interesting claim, due to its immediate diplomatic "neutrality through positive relations" and the fact that they have a legitimate claim to Italy if not Rome at large. However, they are also surrounded by power-hungry hyper-states that have increasingly small amounts of room to expand.
Questions please send on discord through private messages or comment on this post.

I saw some people on here recommending a Stephen King short story called "1408", calling it terrifying and claiming it kept people up at night.
I was in the mood for a scare and decided to read the thing before bed tonight and feel completely let down.
I mean, the writing was good, which is sort of a given for King, but there was really nothing particularly scary or even interesting about the story!
Unless I'm completely missing the point, it just feels like 30 pages of a guy being warned not to go into the scary hotel room because lots of people died there, and then 30 more pages of a bunch of vague hallucinations that feel like something out of scooby doo..
Like what's so scary about a door being crooked, but wait its not crooked, oh god now its crooked again. And the pictures are gross, but now they're grosser, and if you wait long enough they'll move woooOooOooh!
And then I guess he hallucinates a plum, but now the plum's a picture, and the room service menu.. it's in r.. r-r-r-russian! 😨
And now there's a voice on the phone... counting?
And then the guy sets himself on fire and finally something that might actually matter is happening, but that's immediately followed by him just leaving... but his voice was really loud, so I guess that's scary, and the guy that puts him out sells sewing machines.. just like the other guy!!! 🫣
Anyway thats it shows over exit on the right and make sure to grab a complimentary towel to clean up the piss that's definitely in your pants after that one.
I mean, is it really so bone chilling to have an experience that's more reminiscent of a gas leak than a haunting?
I think I probably wouldn't be so critical of the story if I could find a single person online who feels similarly, but all I can find about it is review after glowing review calling it a masterpiece and claiming it to be the scariest thing anyone's ever read and I just don't get it.
Again I'm completely open to the possibility that I'm just missing some key detail or something that makes it all click into place, but as it stands I just can't for a second understand why anyone would say this is something special, let alone worth reading.
Did anyone else read 1408 and think something similar? Or maybe if you read it and loved it could you explain what about it was so terrifying/interesting?

Hello again /Cooking! My name's James and I like getting microbes to cook for me. My book, Of Cabbages & Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food came out today last year (but is out in the USA today!).
OK, so this is my second rodeo, because I already did an AMA back then, but I REALLY loved all your brilliant questions about obscure ferments, burlesque operas and kahm yeast so I'm back and ready (edit: not actually ready but will be at 3pm GMT/10am EDT) to answer your questions.
So, since last year I have:

• Bound a copy of my book in kombucha (video + photo)
• Been nominated for 3 food book awards (Fortnum & Mason, André Simon, Guild of Food Writers)
• Published my first paper (mum look, I'm peer-reviewed!) for Oxford University Press (currently open-access) featuring KNT-triangles, the femininisation of yogurt, and loads of references
• Been generously invited to do a load of IRL talks and demos, including one where I made tepache in the middle of a field in Wiltshire.

A bit about the book:
I've written a book all about fermented foods, covering sauerkraut, hot sauce, kimchi, soy sauce, vinegar, kvass, kefir, kombucha, tepache and yogurt. It's full of stories about the surprising history and microbial wonder of fermentation, alongside over sixty recipes ranging from from sauerkraut pierogi to soy sauce caramel dark milk chocolate tart and fig & fennel seed kombucha to kefir panna cotta with orange blossom and thyme, and is packed with some truly beautiful gastro-surrealist illustrations from Marija Tiurina.
A bit about writing it:
I wrote the book partially through lockdown, which made visiting the library for research a little trickier. A lot of the best sources I found weren't in English (and occasionally weren't even in modern languages - shout out to Walther Ryff for the first reference to sauerkraut in Middle High German). I found fermentation absolutely everywhere once I started looking, from 8,000 year-old burial sites to the HMS Endeavour and International Space Station. I stumbled across Russian kvass adverts on Youtube featuring Gene Simmons and Michael Jackson impersonators, and discovered that those miniature Tabasco sauce bottles were originally created as an interval giveaway for an opera.
Some nice things people said about it:

"A fantastically thorough introductory guide to the wild wonderland of fermentation, with imagery that would make Lewis Carroll proud"

David Zilber, co-author of The Noma Guide to Fermentation

"One of the most user-friendly fermented food books out there"

Nigel Slater

"Lovely... delightful... enchanting"

Nigella Lawson
Very kind of them.
If you're interested, do please buy the book from one of my lovely US stockists:

• Omnivore Books
• Book Larder
• Now Serving LA
• Barnes & Noble
• Amazon

My instagram is @jamesreadwrites

When Russia carried out an unprovoked large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU and the US agreed to immediately froze Russian assets in banks on their territory. According to international experts, we are talking about 320-330 billion US dollars (in currency, shares, securities). However, as of today, Brussels and Washington have contradictions on the fate of these frozen assets of the Russian Federation. Thus, the US Congress has authorized the White House to confiscate the assets with the subsequent transfer to special funds for Ukraine, which continues to resist Russia’s aggression and will need even more funds to restore the destroyed and devastated state after the end of the war. At the same time, the US President has the right to agree on its transfer to Kyiv with the G7 leaders, the European Union, Australia and other strategic partners of the USA.
For their part, the EU institutions in Brussels are afraid of the direct confiscation of sovereign assets of the Russian Federation, as this violates guarantees of inviolability of private property, international law, and may cause the outflow of foreign capital from Europe and the destabilization of global financial markets. At the same time, a number of prominent European experts in law and international finance stated that the confiscation of assets from the aggressor state in favor of its victim could be legally justified, according to the existing legislation. However, now, most European leaders prefer not to risk, but to transfer to Ukraine and its Armed Forces the profits from the storage of Russian assets in European banks. For example, the Euroclear bank in Belgium, which holds the sovereign assets of the Russian Federation for a total amount of about 191 billion Euros, earned 4.4 billion Euros in 2023 (this is an income tax from Russian assets on deposits). Now, the European Union expresses its readiness to transfer these 4.4 billion Euros to Kyiv.
The situation with contradictions between Washington and Brussels on the frozen Russian assets is aggravated by Moscow’s actions before the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. The fact is that at the time, Russia actively withdrew its assets from the USA and, redirected it to financial institutions of the People's Republic of China and the EU. We can assume that the Russian political elite believed in the possibility to agree on everything with Beijing and Brussels quietly and behind the scenes, but not with the US!
Now the heads of the European institutions and the leaders of the EU countries have a good opportunity to demonstrate to the Russian dictatorship that it was wrong about the weakness and conformity of the European elites, counting on to split transatlantic unity and destroy the West’s consolidated support for Kyiv. If not only the profits from Russian assets, but also these assets themselves are directed to the purchase of weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, then the war in Eastern Europe will end much faster, and world democracy will gain a sure victory over totalitarianism.

This post is about general tendencies of regional player bases.
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The value is not in that these statements will hold true and you will start to perma win.
The value of these statements is in if you take random assortment of players from a particular region then you have a 90% probability that within the first game you will play against them they will resort to interactions and strategies derived from following statements.
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese spend lots of time forming and repeating ... recursive activity ... to generate certainty. Then in short time attempt to overpower by numbers.
Chinese do not care if they don't have the best assets or best strategy. They care that they have large enough number of players who are the best at a strategy.
Japanese spend lots of time performing known recursive activity, so as to maintain stability. This allows to spend exceeding amounts of resources for search of opportunities. Upon finding Exceedingly Large Opportunity, overpower by all in attack.
Russians spend lots of time at abdomen, making sure that no risk is taken. Upon noticing an opportunity where reward exceeds risk, the risk is taken on.
During attack, they spend excessive amounts of time playing with eachother for who will be the one to make the final step and initiate.
Spanish obsessively wait to initiate a counter. In their language they don't have widely used form for "A vs B." They use "A contra B" which literally translates to "A counters B."
French have tendency to use probability for searching where to preemptively counter. Once they form a strong conviction, they will literally "Blindly Move A to location of B" In an attempt to get ahead in tempo.
Germans maintain position by establishing a bind, and use created uncertainty to attack. Then use gained assets to maintain a more expensive bind.
Americans have tendency to search for a completely new kind of opportunity, and attack so being first.
Koreans highlight the best player that they have, everyone else directly copies without any kind of evaluation of taken structure, or weather or not it even applies.
Israelis have tendency to use probability, so as to approximate where to gather information. They then use extensive information gathering to form strong conviction. The conviction is about certainty of success ... of ... a critical strike that completely overpowers and fully destroys enemy.
Finns maintain a temporary bind over territory they occupy, so as to preserve an ambiguity. Upon attack onto the territory, they use the ambiguity to form 2v1 counters in an attempt to preserve the bind.
Note that due to this structure, it is not important if Finns don't employ the best assets. By same logic it is also not critical if part of the bind eventually is destroyed ... due to it's cost.
It is true however, that if Finns run out of territory, then they run out of territory ... meaning there is no space for bind and ambiguity remaining.
Vietnamese preserve ambiguity, so as to launch attacks that move enemy in multiple directions away from their concentration contained within the ambiguity.
Concentration performs a substantive attack.
Counter incoming for retake Make Concentration disperse And be simultaneously reformed elsewhere Within the ambiguity, by other units.
Reforming process Allows to create transform meaning Of current miss-directing attacks So making existing disposition of enemy Become inappropriate.

Hi Destiny and fans,
I want to make a post regarding one of the last debates Destiny had with Sebastian Gorka and Konstantin Kisin.
Konstantin Kisin is a russian born russian in moscow, moved at the age of 11 to the UK (claiming to be Ukranian?), and Sebastian Gorka was born in the UK, claiming to Hungarian. Both of these people grew up in a country without politically knowing whats going on in their own country of origin. For the record, when it comes to european identities, you can be way rougher, because critizing people on their nationality or testing them on being ''x'' nationality is pretty normal for europeans. Sometimes this is taken by americans, as rascism, but the utility is that we all have our own distinct culture, which we are proud off and we banter about it.
As a dutch person in the Netherlands, both of those guys sounded english as fuck, looked like it, and where claiming heritage because their parents where born there.
Futhermore I want to give you advice on when people used to live in a european country. If they have lived 15 years ago in that country and/or aren't fluent in the language, and they claim they know the country on a political lvl because they lived there, they are probly full of shit.
Thats all, hope its good feedback.

In case anyone else with an upper beginner to intermediate reading level is struggling to find good Russian books they can actually read, I just wanted to give my recommendation for this one. It's by Ilf & Petrov, who are probably most famous for Двенадцать Стульев, but it's non-fiction so much easier for a learner - it's basically a travelogue, describing their journey across 1930s America.
If you're more towards the beginner level, like me, you'll probably have to look up a lot of words, but not so many that it stops being enjoyable. The sentence structure is mostly not too complex (if you understand all the words you'll almost always understand the sentence, which has not been the case for some of the novels I've tried so far!) And the authors are describing their daily life in America so you'll learn loads of useful vocabulary for things like furniture, food, buildings etc. There's also an English translation called Little Golden America if you want to read them side by side, although as I haven't read it I don't know whether the translation is good or not.
It's very funny in parts, and the humour comes across even if you can't understand the language perfectly. It's also just quite charming to listen to people from the 1930s marvelling at exotic things like cafeterias with tomato juice :) I'm only about 50 pages in but I'm really enjoying it so far.
If anyone has any other recommendations for books at a similar reading level I'd love to hear them!

As I was planning my journey through Leningrad oblast, I was shocked to find that all Finnish border crossings bordering Russia are closed. If I understand correctly, It is no longer possible to directly enter Finland from Russia or even leave Finland for Russia.
This is a serious setback for my planned cycling trip along the Baltic Sea. I really want to visit St. Petersburg very much, and ideally also other localities and the nature in Leningrad oblast.
I intended to enter Leningrad oblast from Estonia and leave it again for Finland. If traveling the other way around would be possible, I could try to reschedule my flights, but even leaving Finland for Russia in a direct way is not possible.
Thus I kindly wanted to ask if there is a possibility to enter Finland from Leningrad oblast that I don't know about? Or alternatively, if there's a way to enter Leningrad oblast from Finland? It is important to note that I am required to enter and leave Russia via a checkpoint as a requirement of the evisa*.
If there are no possible ways, there would be the possibility to both enter and leave Leningrad oblast via Estonia, and then take the ferry in Tallinn for Helsinki, but this would result in a much less enjoyable trip.
* Reddit apparently deletes posts that contain a link to a Russian domain.