butterweedstrover

I'm not sure, well it depends on how far back you look. The mafia (Oligarchs) in charge of the Kremlin intermix national interest with their own housing property in Europe so there was a lot of paradoxical thinking. Putin wanted, for his minions, good relations with EU. But he also wanted Ukraine to stay out of their orbit. Hard to want one thing for your country and another for a different country. But in the end of the day, the trajectory that Ukraine went down for 8 years was unacceptable for Russia. Ukraine isn't Estonia or Finland, and yet despite the ties that bind (culturally) they couldn't even get the nationalists to reopen the dam to Crimea. So in that sense Russian soft power failed. It's too late to back at now, they have to see this to the end or lose everything.

I'm not going to waste my time arguing like this, I did it before and there is no point. We probably have very different gaps of knowledge and perspective as well as upbringings and as it happens you're not asking for a friend. But I do have a question. Much of the typical enemies your (our) governments point us towards, Iran, Cuba, etc. is led by an appreciation for said country's culture and people. The goal is regime change in those cases, not the destruction of their society. Russia isn't an ethnic state like Iran nor a colonial nation like Cuba, its a multi-ethnic empire held together by force and oppression. But that history has forged a specific culture within Russia, one of resilience, depression, and I think artistic flourishes. So while everyone is hating on Russia, is there anything about Russian culture you find beautiful? Swan Lake, The Ballet, Dostoyevsky, Russian nesting dolls perhaps? Is there anything about them that makes it worthy of preservation. I love Russia and don't want to see it destroyed. And politically I think it has its place in the world as a counterbalance to Western imperialism, they keep each other in check. Or is your aim the dissolution of Russia? Do you think that would make the world a better place. Better is subjective and I think our definition of better is different. If you think better means the end of struggling or conflict, then you might be right. The break up of Russia might turn its territory into a collection of small and passive liberal societies (minus Chechnya), who knows. So by your own standards that might, if everything goes right, be a noble cause. PS. Anyways dude, I'm tired and don't want to get into a big personal fight. If you can't avoid going there lets just not do this. In the end of the day nothing I nor you say will change the trajectory of this war so there is very little at stake here. I get if you don't want to be nice, but if so lets just not do this. It's Saturday btw. My girlfriend and I split up and I wasted a lot of money at this strip club yesterday so I guess I don't have the energy to argue at the moment. Also, if you live or are visiting NYC any time soon, the met Opera is having a ballet performance for Swan Lake, highly recommend. I mean their productions are going down in quality but they still have some good stuff, regardless of your appreciation of Russia or lack thereof. Actual their version is a bit more westernized anyways, but it was fun. Tickets can from 200 USD to about 800 USD but don't just jump for the Balcony because its the cheapest. These aren't the days of the Globe Theatre were the poor would be nearest the stage, nowadays it hard to hear let alone see much from up there. Or maybe my eyesight is getting worse. edit1: In retrospect, my implication in the last line of my previous post was unfair. I guess I was just a little startled by the phrasing of their desire for Russia to "just stop." It wasn't their intention but that has a lot deeper meaning even outside the context of this war said user probably wasn't aware of.

I hope Russia doesn’t give up fighting against western imperialism, because the second it does the concept of Russia as a state is over. The invasion happened after ever other avenue to keep Ukraine from falling under western influence failed. Neutrality was impossible to achieve, the Minsk agreement was considered illegitimate, and Ukrainian nationalists strengthened their hold over the population. Maybe in retrospect the war hurt Russian influence by strengthening western entanglement, but hindsight is 20/20 and I would have made the same mistake as Putin. The deal made initially for Russia to remove its troops in favor of certain guarantees (source: former Israeli prime minister) was scuttled by that same western intervention. Some liberals in Russia whom I am friends with tend to think the country should join the EU or even NATO, but that is impossible. The moment Russia becomes a territory of the ‘collective’ west is the moment its need for military or political strength fades and the country has nothing holding itself together. Russia is eastern Rome, and the second it can no longer fight or has no reason to fight, imperialism ends, and with imperialism so goes Russia. I love the country and hope western aims in this regard fail. The government in Moscow knows it’s fighting for its survival because the goals of the west (and you), the demilitarization of Russia, the prosecution of its political establishment, and the removal of its Black Sea fleet means its destruction. Most of the framing makes it seem like Russia can give up peacefully, but it can’t. Saying you don’t want to kill the Elephant, just remove its tusk is the same thing. If you remove the tusks, you assure the Elephant’s doom. National sovereignty has nothing to do with it, otherwise Kosovo and Taiwan wouldn’t be a political issue. Ukrainians are in the end of the day Russian people, not as in the political unit which is Russia but the people of Rus. Genetically they are all the same, and what is happening right now is brother killing brother. Vlad is too concerned by protecting his own mafia in the Kremlin and Zelensky has very little autonomy to end this war when Budanov and Western goons are pushing for the total destruction of Russia, but I don’t think Ukrainians want to be massacred in this offensive to help western imperialism. The people being dragged off the streets of Odessa aren’t fighting to protect their homes, no more as would they be if they were to march on Donetsk city or Sevastopol. But the killing is too profitable for people like you who want to see your political ideals realized by Ukrainian blood.

There is no such thing as ‘centrism’. Centrism is a malleable term used to focus political discussion around the status quo. In the Soviet Union free market reforms were considered radical while state run distribution was regarded as ‘centrists’. Being a Christian in Rome was radical before Constantine and centrist afterwards. Behavior, or political action, can only be judged based off of how it affects the current political system. Nuking Japan helped maintain western domination of the pacific over the Japanese. Sherman’s march help maintain northern industrial interests over the slave owning class. If you look at it globally, by 1864 industrialist had already won the global economy and 16th century slavery was already banned by the leading powers of the day. Western domination of the pacific has been consistent for centuries before WWII and continues till today, hence any action, no matter how extreme, used to uphold the status quo is centrist in nature. The only people who can move the center is the center itself, whenever deemed most fruitful. Like how countries destroyed their own aristocracy or forced peasants from the field, all in interests of preserving the state. If you’re wearing a T-shirt when it’s warm and then change into a sweater as the cold comes in, the center of your political gravity is moving, but your fundamental aim, to preserve the integrity of your body, remains the same. So really, any change in the status quo is illusory unless done so by someone or something who wishes to destroy, which I suppose is the only real change.

Be specific here, who or what exactly is this ‘Sauron’ everyone is fighting against. Because last I remember framing your political understanding under the one dimensional context of Tolkien, a man so afraid of change that he coward behind a fictive version of the past to tarnish everyone else as ‘evil’ does not bode well for a conversation ostensibly tackling nuance. Maybe not classifying your political enemies as pure evil will offer insight in how to debate internal divisions with your in group. Because as long as you see this mystical enemy as pure evil the only moral response is for their complete and immediate annihilation making any dissent within left wing groups a sin that delays that goal. It’s quite possible left-wing division is a good thing and shouldn’t be bridged at all.

It's not that amazing.

The bagel I had this morning gave me intense pleasure. That doesn’t give the store clerk a pass to be rude to a paying costumer and try to cheat them out of a purchase. Product does not equal Producer or vice versa This example you’ve got there has nothing to do with what I said. Showing sympathy for someone who is hurt is different from showing sympathy towards someone who is trying to hurt you. I’m sorry, but they don’t. In fact that they no less about him than they would a random stranger because there is misinformation playing on top of a lack of information. Thinking you know someone whom you’ve never met and about whom you have no insight beyond what they choose to publicly disclose is unhealthy and toxic. It builds a parasocial relationship off of a false premise. And, more importantly, he doesn’t even know you exist. This guy isn’t your friend and isn’t deserving of more sympathy than anyone else. It only gives you a facet of their psychology and often times a manufactured one. The best authors tend to write things without revealing their own personal influences but regardless these aspects of Rothfuss don’t give you the full picture. The only reason people know he is in a custody battle is because some internet sleuths were able to dig up a court order. There are a hundred things that could be about, any of which, if ever revealed, would easily destroy that image you have of him as a friendly nerd with sexual awkwardness. A healthier place than anger isn’t love. Love for an imaginary person who is intent on exploiting that perceived relationship is no healthier than hatred towards that same individual. There is a fine line between love and hate which we see many fans swing between. If you want to avoid circumstances in the future where people rage against Rothfuss online then allow them to grow emotionally distant from this person and not worry about his personal issues or dig into his background. That way next time he breaks another commitment less people will be around to care.

Maybe I'm responding more to what I read on the subreddit than here, but still... Rothfuss is an adult. Everyone has personal issues to deal with and frankly you nor I understand the extent of them. Maybe his custody battle is due to abusive behavior on his part, maybe his wife is to blame, maybe it's something else entirely. He might have depression, or anxiety, but he is hardly the first. A professional is expected to act professionally in the real world no matter the situation. If I'm going to shop at a Bodega and I go to purchase a ham sandwich but the owner rather than ringing me up tells me to fuck off and compares me to a child and takes my money but gives me a dollar bag of trail mix instead, I don't consider his personally issues a factor in my response. The owner of the Bodega could have just lost his entire family, struggle with intense depression, got car jacked on his way to work, been dumped into a pound of concrete, evicted from his home, turned on to the streets, tested positive for stage four cancer, AND watched his dog get run over by a truck and none of that would matter. If you show up to work, you have have a set of standards expected of you. If you can’t hold yourself together, than don't come in. For Rothfuss, his work is his persona as an author, as well as his charity work, and his relationship with his fans. Parasocial relations make us feel that Rothfuss is our friend, but he is not. He is a guy who wants your money and sure he benefits from framing his fandom as a big old family but that just allows him to avoid culpability. Here is what we know. He released an unfinished book (yes, this whole trilogy thing is a modern invention. If each book is part of the same story his work is unfinished) and promised more. He raises funds based on his reputation and continues to solicit money based on those promises relating to his series. And then rather than apologize in a blog post he compares his fandom to children and tells them to buy his new thing. Get over yourselves, the guy does not deserve sympathy unless you mean to extend that sympathy to ever random asshole on the street. If you want to set the standards for Rothfuss, a man none of you know or have any emotional attachment to (his public persona is fake), as being deserving of kindness and forgiveness without asking for it, then extend that to anyone in your life. A biker hits you in a pedestrian lane? Don't curse back, empathize with his situation and understand he might have mental health issues. Waitress pours hot coffee on you and refuses to apologize, don't complain, empathize with her, she is going through a huge break up. No? You’re not? Maybe because that idea is insane. Empathize with the people in your own life, take their problems into consideration. Don't put that effort into Rothfuss, he is not your problem and he is not your friend.

So I guess everyone just forgot about the missing chapter. Rothfuss can just hide away for a month without even an apology and then get right back to cashing checks. You people deserve him.

Or maybe it wasn't a mystery and you just thought it was to make the narrative fit the story you want told. It was never framed as a mystery, he comes back with ancient magic, knowledge, and skills to help conquer Westeros. Hence plot. The historical questions of "how, when, where," are meaningless as this isn't a historical investigation, its character building. Valyria exists to shape the characters, not vice versa. It can take whatever form the narrative needs it to take, it isn't an independent body separate to the story.

Why, I wonder, do you want this to be untrue so bad that you have gone to the extent of trying to twist his very simple words into a meaning that would against suggest Euron is a fraud when clearly, as stated in the clip, he is the real deal.

But, implicit with "changing his mind" is to say that there was and is deliberation in the story already published to the fact that Euron went to Valyria meaning the dialogue, encounters, and exposition within those published materials must be looked at under the lens of Euron being legit and Harlaw being the fool. No matter what Martin changes or doesn't change, that perception is ingrained into the books already written.

Dude, you know he wrote the book right? I get spending years of one's life critically analyzing a fictional world can lead to the perspective that it is a real and undefined space with true historical ambiguity but actually its a bunch of statements of fact that serve whatever narrative purpose the author wants. George wants Euron to have gone to Valyria so therefore he went. This isn't like a person claiming they've walked on Venus which is in of itself impossible to fully verify as people can always put evidence provided under suspicion. But in this case, the author is god and can make up whatever he wants, there are no rules but what he decides. George isn't speculating one whether or not it happened, Euron is fake and so is Valyria. He is saying, for the purpose of the character and their role in the story, they have been to Valyria. Don't try to confuse people with "George thinks..." George doesn't thinks, he chooses. And he chooses for Euron to have gone to Valyria.

cope

Yeah I agree, just saying how it comes off. Also, the second I clicked this site literally after waking up at 2:30 AM due to extreme insomnia which is very unusual to me (I went to bed at midnight) your reply immediately appeared meaning you posted your reply at the exact same time I pressed on this site at an hour I would elsewise never click it due to a sleeping issue I had never (before today) had. This is an extreme coincidence. Hoping your doing good (don't know what time it is in your neck of the woods but take care).

As an aside after referencing the multiple frozen projects he can no longer juggle, I don't see how its reassuring to know the priority status has NOT changed. What we want is for him to come out and say that Winds will now take front and center. But by implying it was number before it seems to tell us that this writer's strike won't change anything and his 23 years of stagnation will continue unabated. People don't want reassurances that everything is the same because his personal definition of "number one priority" is the same as it was since 2014, which is to say inadequate. It doesn't sound reassuring, it sounds passive aggressive.

Not a narrative purpose with any particular distinction or priority.

He has no alternative Doesn’t sound that different from ruling Winterfell. Either could work but the books have alluded to Winterfell.

It’s from Dune, it will happen.

Fundamentally things can’t change even if he wanted them to. Dany has to invade Westeros or else her plot will serve no purpose. Arya has to return and take revenge or else her training arc would be pointless. Bran has to become king or else the magical powers will become irrelevant. And Sansa has to rule Winterfell or else her political accumulation would be a dead end. Im using synonyms but as much as Martin might hate where things are going he has spent (wasted IMO) too much page count for it to turn up as nothing. I know wert mentioned his gardening style, but the gardening doesn’t seem able to alter the roots laid in the ground. He can make the pathway more long winded, add more ornamentations, but no amount of watering will change what he’s stuck with. Of these major plot points only Arya’s sounds boring, and maybe Jon. He should just have fun with the rest and give up on making this some untouchable masterpiece. The show spoiled the idea but making Sansa into a political genius, Bran into a god king, and Dany into an evil lunatic could be fun. He just has to make it fun by stop pretending as if there is some overall meaning behind a cripple becoming a mind worm or a liberator becoming a psychopath or a victim of sexual abuse becoming a cold political slayer. I mean it’s all happens in real life so don’t dwell on it too much, just give us the shlock.

ASOS, AFFC, and ADWD don't really do anything to build up to either of those plot points (foreshadowing doesn't count). They're by and large interested in lifestyle and political management. Also, is it just me or is your name getting longer?

You know, I have to say I disagree with this.

Dude, are you serious? The reason we're not getting the book is because Martin has no clear direction for his story that is satisfying or original. You're right the problem wasn't the five year skip, the problem started long before then. ASOS was a fun book to read but it derailed the story by making the narrative spread out from the confines of the war for the throne. It wasn't about a battle for succession anymore, it was about random characters and their livelihoods touching on historical, religious, and magical origins. In structure it became more akin to War & Peace but unlike War & Peace it didn't have a clear idea of what it wanted to say. Where do you go after ASOS? There is nowhere to go, Arya becoming an assassin, Bran a magician, Sansa a politican, Jon a leader, etc. aren't plot devices meant to execute a specific narrative purpose, but meanderings about a lifestyle and moral beliefs. If people here keep thinking that Martin is 500 pages away from concluding a book that is structurally sound and well composed then you have to ignore the fact that for 23 years he has been unable to formulate a way forward beyond ASOS. If he were wise he'd have made ASOS the ultimate ending, not another beginning. There is no where to go from here. There is no book.

good story but Bran will become king and Martin called the ending bittersweet so...

The characters that suffered the worst due to dropping the time skip were the POVs best positioned to gain from it. Sansa, Arya, and Bran were all set to be trained by their respective masters. Jon and Dany were set for a period of bureaucratic leadership. These five suffered the most because now the training/governing sequence had to be filled with mind-numbing detail. On the training side it felt like a bunch of side quests disguised as an overarching narrative. For Dany and Jon it felt like a bunch of pseudo-philosophical musings about proper leadership and compromise. None of which was interesting to read. I know he’d never do it, but I’d much prefer for the POV count to shrink between ASOS and AFFC/ADWD. Whittle down the list to just the Starks and Targaryens. The rest had their time in the sun and now can return to a shroud of mystery. Tyrion’s dark side would be more effective if we lost track of his thoughts making his turn feel more distant and unrelatable. Jaime’s turn to the light side could also benefit from the same technique. Drop them, do the time skip, and focus on these five. Give Bran some more chapters and avoid long meanderings about policy and training.