Hyperreality

They're replenishing troops:

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-army-expansion-a2bf0b035aabab20c8b120a1c86c9e38

And their arms and defense industry is ramping up heavily:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-ramps-up-output-some-military-hardware-by-more-than-tenfold-state-company-2023-09-19/

They've lost a lot of troops. Putin doesn't care, he can always send more of his countrymen to their deaths.

They've lost a lot of equipment. Putin doesn't care, the Soviet Union spent far far more than Russia as a proportion of GDP and maintained that spending for decades.

They are not to be underestimated, especially if Trump wins and further undermines NATO.

Transformative. Used one of the bigger collections. I think StoryWealth.

It's not Enderal obviously, and it's far from perfect, but it reminded me a bit of New Vegas where you opened a manhole cover, and found the Thorn hidden away.

Obviously she's right wing, but I'm not American. The main thing for me are her stances on NATO, Ukraine, China and Russia.

She seems like an obviously better choice than Trump. She's not almost dead, she's a woman, I don't see how she wouldn't be able to beat Biden in a landslide.

She's quite obviously the better choice for the republicans, so I assume they'll pick Trump instead.

Hopefully Trump will become incapacitated, die, or not be able to run. That way Haley and the republican establishment can pretend not to be relieved and can blame it all on the democrats. Trump voters can vote for her as a protest, and the rest of the world will be able to let out a sigh of relief.

It pays well.

I assume you haven't played modded FO4 recently, but I genuinely recommend revisiting it. Modded FO4 has come leaps and bounds.

The Rest is History

The whole commercial market has been inflated for decades. Not just offices but shops too. Companies who refuse to lower rents, because it would lower the value of their property, despite it being empty for months or even years.

It'll be interesting to see if it finally crashes.

I do hope they don't simply deregulate and turn these properties into overpriced housing. They're often unsuitable for that purpose.

1. Netenyahu is Ashkenazi. Ignoring the fact that Ashkenazi Jews invariably and historically weren't seen as white, they're a minority in Israel and have been for a while now.

2. Most Israelis have middle-eastern or north african ancestry. Wikipedia:

Mizrahi Jews ... alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews ... are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained in the Land of Israel and those who existed in diaspora throughout and around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from biblical times into the modern era. ... As of 2005, 61% of Israeli Jews were of full or partial Mizrahi/Sephardi ancestry

1. There's plenty of evidence to suggest Jews and Palestinians are genetically closely related. Pubmed:

... a study comparing 20 microsatellite markers in Israeli Jewish, Palestinian, and Druze populations demonstrated the proximity of these two non-Jewish populations to Ashkenazi and Iraqi Jews

1. Back when Israel was founded, a majority of Israelis were Ashkenazi. That hasn't been true for a long time. Many (if not most) modern day Israelis look very similar to modern day Palestinians. It's one of the reasons the Israeli security services traditionally found it easy to infiltrate Palestinian organisations:

“In the Zionist movement in those years — we’re talking about pre-1948 — almost everyone is European or Eastern European. Nine out of every 10 Jews were of European descent." ... "The people who set up the Arab Section ... understand that ethnic impersonation is impossible. ... But the Jews in Palestine offered this incredible opportunity. Jews had people who could pass for anything you want: Polish, German, Arab" ... “We still come to Israel with these very European stories to understand its formation, ... but they don’t explain Israel in 2019. You won’t get very far with these old stories because half of Jews come from the Islamic world.”

That kind of nonsense is to be expected from the far right. But TBF you'll also sometimes see people on the left describe Israel as a white colonial state and Israelis as white, especially now during the whole Gaza thing, despite a clear majority of Israelis having (relatively recent) middle-eastern roots. Eg. Ben-Gvir, the controversial Israeli Minister of National Security and far right nationalist, has Iraqi and Kurdish ancestry.

I wonder if and when they'll get nukes. They're more than capable of making them, they've been buying missiles and planes that can deliver them, and there's been discussions about if for a while now.

More specifically:

Albert Einstein, in a letter to The New York Times in 1948, compared Irgun and its successor Herut party to "Nazi and Fascist parties" ... The Irgun was a political predecessor to Israel's right-wing Herut (or "Freedom") party, which led to today's Likud party.

For those who don't know, that's Netenyahu's party. He's the current PM of Israel (for now).

America doesn't hate dynasties. Sometimes I think America is more obsessed with the British royal family than the English.

Just look at how many Americans obsess over the Kardashians. Just look at who America elects. The Kennedys, the Bushes, the Clintons, etc. If Michelle Obama ran for president, I strongly suspect she'd win.

Look at how America treats the 'first lady' like she's a defacto queen. It's genuinely weird. Why should someone unelected have power, have an entire office or represent the president at events, just because they're married to the president?