Recent posts

#31

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 01:04:07 PM

But again, there's a difference between "lauding as heroes" and saying that joining the group is "morally defensible".

Yes - but the reason we're talking about this is because he was invited to the Commons for applause and invited to a private reception with the PM and Zelenskiy (which is why I'm really not sure we can just say it was the Speaker). He was lauded as a hero in continuity with Ukraine's current fight - and that may be a view of some Ukrainians, which I can understand, but we shouldn't endorse it.

Fundamentally unless someone's Finnish, if we read "fought against the Soviet Union in WW2" we should probably have some follow up questions before they're invited to parliament or to meet foreign heads of state.

#32

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Grey Fox - Today at 12:55:29 PM

In any event, I can't believe people are actually defending someone who fought in a Waffen SS unit. I get babies tribalism and his strong feelings for Ukraine presently. But for fucks sake's folks, you're defending and justifying people who fought in an SS unit.

It's an interesting ethical dilemma that we usually don't find ourselves confronted by in here, the western border of the Western World. How do we deal with those that fought with our enemy of yesterday against our enemy of today when the roles were reversed?

#33

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 12:53:26 PM

But also off Wiki (and what I've read people saying) they destroyed Polish villages, were also deployed to Yugoslavia where they were fighting Yugoslav partisans and helped putdown the Slovak rising, not just the USSR.

I fully accept that for Ukraine and the Baltics especially there were no good choices. But think we should probably still have a bit of a firewall around people in the Waffen SS.

OK, so the Polish villages were destroyed by police regiments that while notionally under the Galicia Division, were being commanded by German police.  Wiki also cites historian Timothy Snyder suggesting that many of those incidents were conducted by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the military wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, who were NOT under German control.  (incidentally, Snyder has an excellent podcast on Ukrainian history which if you have any interest in the topic at all you should go listen to).

Actions in Yugoslavia and Slovakia were not against the western allies, so still in accordance with the original parameters of the group.

But again, there's a difference between "lauding as heroes" and saying that joining the group is "morally defensible".

#34

Gaming HQ / Re: The Miscellaneous PC & vid...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 12:41:16 PM

It'd be interesting to see what it looks like - obviously there's some game franchises still very much in their original area. But then there's so many that are in a form like point and click adventures that I don't think's particularly popular anymore. Interesting to see what gets done with them

Having said that it feels a little like BG3 is a bit of a breakthrough hit from people who normally like that type of game, perhaps by leaning into its game-ish features (dice!). Maybe something similar?

#35

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 12:38:13 PM

But also off Wiki (and what I've read people saying) they destroyed Polish villages, were also deployed to Yugoslavia where they were fighting Yugoslav partisans and helped putdown the Slovak rising, not just the USSR.

I fully accept that for Ukraine and the Baltics especially there were no good choices. But think we should probably still have a bit of a firewall around people in the Waffen SS.

#36

Gaming HQ / Re: Millennia - 4X Civ Like pu...

Last post by DGuller - Today at 12:19:18 PM

People with acquired tastes tend to heavily evangelize their acquired taste.  From what I gather, if Humankind were any more of an acquired taste, no one would've acquired it.

#37

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 12:11:59 PM

20?  I managed it on five a day, but mind you I did not spend much time in northern Europe back in the day Portugal was incredibly inexpensive.

I got out of London as fast as I could, when I realized I was spending as much at a hostel for one night as I could live like a king in Portugal

Yeah, it was a hitchhiker quote. My budget back then was £5 a day and I made £40 to £60 per week in the jobs I did at that time. I think Portugal was the cheapest, at least in Europe, Morocco was incredibly cheap.

#38

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 12:08:33 PM

In any event, I can't believe people are actually defending someone who fought in a Waffen SS unit. I get babies tribalism and his strong feelings for Ukraine presently. But for fucks sake's folks, you're defending and justifying people who fought in an SS unit.

OK, so for starters I am not defending having Parliament give the guy a standing ovation.  Politically that was just dumb.

But yes I will defend Yaroslav Hunka.  It's not as if he had the option of joining the western allies.  The only ones coming along offering to hand Ukrainians a gun and a chance to fight the Communists was the SS.  The Soviet Union had just murdered millions of Ukrainians in the last 20 years.

Reportedly (and I'm not an expert, I'm going off of Wikipedia to be clear) the Galicia Division when formed had a couple of stipulations: that it would only be used to fight the Soviets (not the Western Allies), and that its units would be allowed to have Greek Catholic or Orthodox Chaplains (highly unusual within the SS to have chaplains at all).

Look, being a Ukrainian in WWII was like living through the trolley problem, or the Kobayashi Maru test - there are no good answers here.  Not all Ukrainian nationalist groups supported the Galicia Division, although many did.  But absolutely joining that unit to fight the Russians and maybe help set up an independent Ukraine was morally defensible decision.

#39

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by HVC - Today at 12:00:45 PM

When you're stuck between a rock and a hard place sometimes you pick the rock. Not laudable, but can somewhat be understandable.

#40

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by HVC - Today at 11:59:20 AM

Apparently Portugals larger towns and cities have gotten much more expensive. Still cheap by foreign standards but when min wage in 10k euros a year people are starting to grumble. Probably just "normal" inflation, but a lot of people are blaming in the influx of expats on golden visas and digital nomads.