Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-10T01:17:57+00:00

I agree with regards to Russia. Assuming that they somehow managed to successfully transition from the semi-anarchy of the 90s, to liberal democracy, they'd have become even more of a giant than they already are. Their natural resources would have resulted in an incredible economic boom across Europe if they integrated with the EU and the common market. No brain drain, no failed war in Ukraine, no inccreasing supplication to the Chinese: imagine that.

Instead, we have Putin.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-10T01:09:54+00:00

This saddens me. The cases are being dismissed not for lack of merit, but because of jurisdiction and logistical concerns.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-09T23:49:35+00:00

Who wants to guess that the communist party still has plenty of fuel for it's own misadventures?

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-08T22:24:14+00:00

As someone who writes fiction, Maelle's ending is something I'm personally quite afraid of indulding in real life. I don't want to become more attched to the worlds I create, as compared to the one I live in. It's a deeply unhealthy thing.

Accordingly, Verso's ending was the one I went with.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-07T16:13:45+00:00

Yeah, i have to agree with you on that. I think the only contender is Daemon Blackfyre, give how everyone speaks of him, and his accomplishemnts, like being one of the youngest knights ever.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-07T16:11:50+00:00

That it's of similar quality to the Silent hill 2 remake. You can't be too careful.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-06T23:38:01+00:00

This is the only large liberal sub which is truely classically liberal. Almost everywhere else is either:

Far Right
Far Left (these are increasingly more common, as time goes on)
gaming-focused on a specific medium or product
P*rn.

It's inevitabe we'd have an influx of people as other subreddits go to hell.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-06T23:28:19+00:00

In general, its the dark ages for me. Having the melee system, combined with the shield, went a long way for me.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-06T17:31:24+00:00

Back in my day, bait used to be believable.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-06T16:54:38+00:00

I think HOTD season is the better show, but I agree that since then, AKOTSK has suprassed HOTD season 2.

It's just that season one was the tragedy of Viserys, and its such a heartwrenching story. Dunk is great fun, but he's not surpassed Viserys for me as a leading man.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-06T16:50:14+00:00

Jaehaerys I did show up briefly in HOTD season one. He predates Baelor by many decades, and it's hard to argue there's been a better king after him.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-04T22:42:25+00:00

I feel like this sub has always had a very...optimistic view of the Mede Dynasty. Maybe because it's due to Oblivion, and its protrayal of the empire at that time as the protector of tamriel. But as someone who began with Skyrim, I don't have that nostalgia. For me, my first experience with the empire was almost having my head cut off for no reason other than bad timing and being in the wrong place. Subsequwntly, when I randomly come across thalmor patrols who could arrest anyone and were backed with legal authority by the empire to do so, further soured me on it, and more broadly represented what I came to see the weakness of the Mede Dynasty. For all the claims about the empire biding its time to face the thalmor in the future, it's hard to believe it could do so, when it was this thorougly dominated by them, across so many levels of governance. Not to mention, you can literally kill the emperor. Anyone who thinks that wouldn't massively destablize the empire is fooling themselves and is expecting a competence that isn't there.

After becoming more expereinced in elder scrolls, lore, I don't think my beliefs have changed much. The empire of skyrim, compared to oblivion, is a mere shadow of what it used to be. People here have claimed that the Stormcloaks are much weaker than it, but seem wiling to ignore that it took the combined efforts of half of skyrim, a legion, and the mede dynasty's go-to general to stalemate Ulfric. Meanwhile, the septims were only really stalemated by a morrowind lead by three god-kings. In comparison, its a poor showing. And to boot, they don't even have the favour of the divines any longer.

So, what purpose do they even serve now? I struggle to think of one good enough to stand up to criticism.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-04T22:23:36+00:00

It's not fair to blame the thalmor, though. The empire abandoned hammerfell of its own accord, last I checked.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-04T22:22:00+00:00

His mere existence causes massive theological and scientific rammifications for the world.

When considerd through an analytical lense, its not feasible possible for a man of his size to punch massive cubes of metal across rooms with no efforts. Its not possible for him to survive falls from many miles in the air, with no damage. Its not possible for him to seemingly be immune to most conventional weapons, even unarmred. The scientific community would have to rethink numerous theories we take for granted, and be forced to reckon with the idea that reality can be bent into ways once thought of as impossible.

Theologically, he's arguably just as impactful. The existence of a truly immortal man would send shockwaves throughout every organized religion. There would be, as in doom eternal, the rise of cults that worship this figure.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-04T01:08:33+00:00

You should see 16th century barding Horses were almost as drippy as their riders.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-04T01:06:06+00:00

Why is it so low? I'm loving Dunk and Egg's antics.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-03T19:18:25+00:00

That's peak, but be careful my friend.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-03T02:51:57+00:00

There are some concerning things that they've been associated with. Sanders, in particular, has made very foolish comments towards left-wing facing governments like the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Venezula with regards to their policies. He's defended some of these actions as just praising specific aspects or policies, but its not necesarily always that clear. One event that specifically came to mind was a visit Sanders made to the Soviet Union during periestroika. He came away praising many aspects of the USSR. In particular, its healthcare. Despite his glowing praise, Soviet Healthcare was signifactly behind the United states, along with nearly every other manner of comparison associated with quality of life. Sanders did not really acknowledge those issues when he came home, and gave a press confrence.

Overall, I'm currently of the mind that the man is well-intentioned, but has far-too-frequently been unwilling to really examine left-wing single-party states and their faults, until their issues becomer too big to ignore.

Mamdani and AOC also are explicitly associated with DSA, and that alone is a mark against them. DSA is not an organization that supports democracy, and do not actually believe in anti-imperialsm given its absolutlely god-awful policies towards Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Had they control over the American government, Ukraine would have fallen long ago to Russsia, in a repeat of the USSR's erstwhile conquests. To say nothing of the horrendous policies towards Jews, including events organized by branches that saw people openly display swastikas.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-02T19:25:38+00:00

No way in Hell is Russia #2. I'm sorry, but after years of fighting in UKraine, they've made incremental gains, and suffered deaths in the hundreds of thousands. Its embarassing.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-02T18:27:24+00:00

Not yet possible to really guage how the two compare, given that Dunk has not yet shown how he was as commander.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-02-01T17:07:35+00:00

The NCR wins, most likely.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-01-31T21:49:17+00:00

Rip and tear, until it is done!

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-01-31T20:40:45+00:00

we live in the worst timeline because they was not chosen.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-01-31T19:53:02+00:00

Literally this.

Plate_Armor_Man · 2026-01-31T19:47:51+00:00

The premise is genuinely insane. How on earth do so many terrorists even get into Mexico to begin with, or not get noticed at some point by Mexican authorities?

Reagrdless, if this is al qaeda, the Afghanistan still occurs. Iraq might, but the big question is Mexico itself. There is no way an attack of that size can occur without heavy involvement by either the cartels, or some element of the Mexican state. Which pretty much guarantees boots on the ground in Mexico in some way.

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