Dr. Gonzo

There was the notification button on Discord that did the same thing and took you to wherever your notifications were on discord? I don't know why I'm using past tense by the way, it still does that.

@Cicero tagging you because you never made the switch over to Discord and people were asking where the fuck you were constantly.

Oh shit, I think I've used 3 rep points today. @Rab did I just break the law?

Yeah, I like Discord. I think it's a really interesting platform that has a lot of benefits, especially for a community like ours. It's been interesting getting to interact with people I've been talking to on here for years (some of you for such an incredibly long time too), but real time and imo in a more personal level because it's different chatting with someone than it is writing out a forum post to them. I also thought it was brilliant for mafia games. I think that last mafia game was the best we've had, and we've had some really enjoyable ones, and a big part of that was simply that one day with the chaotic ending where the vote went down to the wire. That was incredible.

Sadly I can't use the laugh reaction as I've used up my rep points for the day.

Yeah, I'd prefer a year if that's possible - thanks!

Can I pay for a year subscription all at once? I'll start subscribing once I've moved into the new house. Glad to be back on the forum, even though I did really like Discord - we're going to keep using both, right? I'll be on both.

At least they're not Netflix originals.

I'm just waiting for the first person to say: "no, I've never changed my mind about any football opinions."

Does it still work after @Happy Blue tried that & eating bats and spilling vials in the Wuhan institute of virology while on holiday in China & ultimately failed to stop us despite causing a global pandemic?

Yeah and what Pakistan's given is probably the equivalent of buying at a few hundred of houses in Australia. And they've sent missiles, not rockets. It's not insignificant aid. It's not like Pakistan's just sent over 5 quid and a couple of grenades. Honestly, the aid they've sent over despite the shit Pakistan has been dealing with in recent times (floods, border clashes, Balochi separatist terrorism, and a more belligerent Taliban, and serious financial trouble with the debts they have to China)... sort of makes some of Ukraine's EU allies look like stingy arseholes considering they're a lot more stable... and are directly relying on Ukraine winning this war. Looking at the trade between the countries, Ukraine and Pakistan actually have a long history of military supplies and equipment sold. And a long history of agricultural engineering products, as well as Ukraine's grain exports. Pakistan's got a long history of preferring to do business with Ukraine over Russia, which is probably a spillover from Russia and India having fairly close ties during the Cold War tbh. I don't think Russia's going to try to expand this into a larger war by dragging more countries in, because I think Russia's military has exposed itself as a load of shite that's only good at killing Wahabi dickheads the Saudis have funded, but haven't trained, in Syria. If they drag too many real countries into their stupid war, I assume they'll find themselves embarrassed.

Mexico's a fucking clown show right now, tbh. Mass protests against the current government, meanwhile AMLO is posting shit about finding mythical woodland elves in Mexico on instagram instead of worrying about their economy falling to pieces and cartels having free reign over everything in Mexico.

Pakistan's given millions in humanitarian aid and over 10,000 missiles to Ukraine...

I think if this expands to India & Russia v. Pakistan & the West, we'd probably have been passed the point of nukes being launched so at that point who's really arsed - most of us are probably dead. The whole thing would be a weird shitshow. India hates China and Pakistan and they like Russia. China likes Russia and hates India. Pakistan hates India, loves Turkey and the Saudis, has good (although sometimes its on-and-off) relations with the west (especially the US). They both like Iran, who hate the US and the west, and who like China and Russia. I think you're right it's not in the same stratosphere as Russia v. Ukraine, I think it's a lot more contentious and messy historically speaking and if it expands into an actual world war with these countries as participants... it'd be an absolute fucking mess. I think there's a lot that's less clear cut about how the fuck that would go compared to the EU, NATO and the US worried about authoritarian expansion into Europe, Europe's energy issues, and protecting US hegemony. Pakistan has a long history of weapons deals with the West & India's got a long history of weapons deals with Russia. India having better ties with Russia, and Pakistan having better ties with the US goes back directly to the cold war. Pakistan selling weapons to Ukraine sounds like something Pakistan's government was ordered to do by the US, and that they were keen to follow the order because it benefits them staying in the good graces of the US considering what happened to their last PM who did not have the best relationship with the US. Pakistan want to be like Turkey, a country that can straddle the line between western ally and working with western enemies - to best serve their own interests. Pakistan gets less leeway to act in it's own interests though because they're not members of NATO like Turkey is. Whereas Turkey's importance in terms of where it's located in the world and the NATO nuclear weapons it houses mean it's firmly a western ally... but they do get to fuck around and make deals with Russia that Pakistan can't get away with.

Isn't that the opposite of what the US Energy Dept (why were they investigating this though lol) is saying though? If it was from eating bats or pangolins, it wouldn't be a lab leak - if it's a lab leak it's from that Wuhan institute of virology or whatever it's called. If it is indeed man made, it makes China's lack of transparency in the early days of the pandemic make a lot more sense. It also is another sign that the close economic ties with China the west has need to be looked at and more western businesses probably should be incentivised to move from China, because if Russia has taught the west anything, it should be that economic dependence on an authoritarian and increasingly aggressive state is something that probably shouldn't be encouraged. And it's made all the more stark if you're talking about a country that manufactured a virus that basically fucked up the whole world for a couple of years. Also, if true, how embarrassing for China to have created this disease, being responsible for killing a shitload of people worldwide, and then having to see the western world manage to recover quicker and more meaningfully in terms of "going back to normal."