do you have any thoughts about simon kuper?
― The Fields of Karlhenry (nakhchivan), Friday, 12 June 2015 02:27 (eight years ago) link
long overdue thread obviously
― The Fields of Karlhenry (nakhchivan), Friday, 12 June 2015 02:28 (eight years ago) link
I went to school with a kid called Simon Kuper and for about three months thought that it was him writing the articles about football.
I've never been motivated to read any of his books but his journalism is fine.
― Petite Lamela (ShariVari), Friday, 12 June 2015 05:02 (eight years ago) link
nakh do these memes go here?
http://i.imgur.com/cymEnLu.jpg
― 龜, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 10:28 (eight years ago) link
Seems about right.
There is not a great deal that unites the whole of the former Eastern bloc, from western Poland to the furthest reaches of central and northern Asia, but squatting is definitely high on the list.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 10:49 (eight years ago) link
xp = rtc irl?
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 4 September 2015 23:31 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/UwbFE8l.jpg
― Sean Daesh (nakhchivan), Monday, 26 October 2015 20:03 (eight years ago) link
I should go back to Romania. I haven't been in about seven years and it's an interesting place.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 08:11 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/c2yBbzW.jpg
― Sean Daesh (nakhchivan), Friday, 30 October 2015 23:29 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RdIcQy2aps
― cez goombas (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 21:42 (eight years ago) link
Amazing.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 21:46 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPkEDRSYUpo
― Erediauwa (nakhchivan), Friday, 6 May 2016 16:48 (seven years ago) link
I can't quite bring myself to watch an hour long interview with Dugin when it is 20 degrees outside but he is one of the rare European public figures, along with Limonov arguably, who manages to combine being fairly interesting and certifiably insane. There has been some overlap with Russian policy, notably on Crimea and the pivot towards a Eurasian axis with Iran and Turkey (though the latter obvs hasn't ended well) but I gave always been sceptical about how much influence he has over Putin. It suits a lot of commentators to view him as the architect of a nefarious master plan rather than admit that Putin mostly muddles through on expediency and populism.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Friday, 6 May 2016 18:10 (seven years ago) link
Hi Shari Vari,
Why do you know so much about Russia and Eastern Europe? I've enjoyed following your other thread and was always curious about what your connection to that part of the world is.
― .robin., Friday, 6 May 2016 21:35 (seven years ago) link
It's a combination of things - I had always been interested in the Cold War growing up in the eighties, studied Russian briefly at school, developed a strong interest in Polish cinema in my teens and dated a Russian who was tangentially related to a lot of political people (enough to get inside gossip) for quite a while at university. After that, I spent most holidays in Ukraine, Russia and Poland, etc, and started travelling quite extensively in the region for work.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Friday, 6 May 2016 22:02 (seven years ago) link
Ah ok cool, always interested to see your updates on what's going on, nice one!
― .robin., Tuesday, 10 May 2016 22:59 (seven years ago) link
Agree, Sharivari is one of the good guys.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 May 2016 23:14 (seven years ago) link
Always a guarantee of quality when you click on a Sharivari answer and he seems like a very good person.
― calzino, Tuesday, 10 May 2016 23:37 (seven years ago) link
That's very kind of you to say!
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 07:47 (seven years ago) link
^ one of the people whose posts i actively look out for.
― Fizzles, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 08:16 (seven years ago) link
Meh
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 11:43 (seven years ago) link
Deems otm.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 11:50 (seven years ago) link
maybe the worst carbon footprint on ilx ;)
― And the cry rang out all o'er the town / Good Heavens! Tay is down (imago), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 11:55 (seven years ago) link
Firstly, sorry
We'll have ya.
Secondly, should i go to the north to buy a laptop today or might there be an advantage in waiting
Thx, sympathies again
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Friday, 24 June 2016 09:50 (seven years ago) link
I was looking in to this earlier. I'd have to live with ye for a year which, though attractive, isn't viable at the moment. We'll see how it goes though.
You might as well go now, i think. I don't know how quickly it's going to fall further. I'm not really an expert though.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Friday, 24 June 2016 09:53 (seven years ago) link
Youre the closest i have next to boards.ie but youre a good deal more palatable
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Friday, 24 June 2016 09:54 (seven years ago) link
do you know of anything worth reading about other prosperous eu countries with regions containing large inflows of migration from eastern europe, and how government spending/provision has been treated?
― nakhchivan, Friday, 24 June 2016 19:36 (seven years ago) link
Not really. Most of the pieces I have seen recently have been about refugees from the Balkans rather than Visegrad, Bulgarians and Romanians, etc. Would be interesting to see something comparing treatment of ex-Yugoslavs working in Germany in the late 90s with Poles and Czechs today if you do come across something though.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Friday, 24 June 2016 20:01 (seven years ago) link
hey so my daughter is thinking of university in some sort of diplomacy/international affairs connection, and the counsellor at school suggested she try learning either German, Russian, or Chinese to supplement her fluent English and French and partial Spanish (and ancient Greek but w/e). Chinese seems too difficult to learn in her spare off-time, German doesn't seem worth the effort, but I don't know about Russian. Looking forward, is knowledge of Russian worth it? I'm thinking of Russia's continued decline but also of central Asian states.
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 17 October 2016 09:51 (seven years ago) link
German is at a premium in business - if that's a direction she might want to go in later on.
Russian would be useful imo. It's not as powerful as it used to be but MGIMO pumps out a lot of future diplomats / leaders - not just in the direct sphere of influence but for places like Viet Nam. Russian language skills are still part of a lot of domestic diplomatic training programmes iirc.
Central Asia will be lively over the next twenty years whatever happens so either Russian or Turkish (which is pretty similar to about a dozen other regional languages) would be worth considering if that might be an area of particular interest.
I did consider taking International Relations at degree level and, had i gone down that path, would have been interested in doing my undergraduate study at the LSE and post-grad international relations and Russian at MGIMO.
I'm pretty sure another Ilxor works for the UN and would be better placed to advise though!
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 17 October 2016 11:09 (seven years ago) link
I appreciate it looks like i'm trying to recruit your daughter to Russian intelligence but SciencesPo does a joint MA with MGIMO fwiw:
http://www.sciencespo.fr/psia/content/dual-degree-mgimo-moscow
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 17 October 2016 11:27 (seven years ago) link
ok thanks!
to reach this other ILXor where would I post?
Turkish is a great idea, I hadn't considered that.
I'm looking to soak up as much advice as I can get. we're in Paris, not London, so the options are different (think SciencesPo rather than the LSE) but not dissimilar.
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 17 October 2016 11:29 (seven years ago) link
oh & xp nice!
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 17 October 2016 11:30 (seven years ago) link
I may have either misremembered or misinterpreted but i think if you posted something asking for advice on how useful Russian / Turkish are for people who want a career in the diplomatic service on this thread, you might be in luck:
Kyrgyzstan, anyone?
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 17 October 2016 11:36 (seven years ago) link
ok today one of my idle 'what if...' ilx thoughts has leapt to 'confirmed', took me long enough to work it out lol
― imago, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:02 (five years ago) link
It took you that long to work out he was a Russian plant?
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:05 (five years ago) link
:D exackly
― imago, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:06 (five years ago) link
What was your theory though
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:07 (five years ago) link
obviously i am a big proponent of ilx couplehood
ur own admission of living somewhere just outside london + sv's mention of irish s.o. rung faint alarm bells a few months ago. not ashamed to say that subsequent namesearch corroboration via the perfume thread and stout defence from a particularly ugly slur by twu have pushed this one into 'gotcha' territory. u had a good run tho. move over jaymc there's a new sherlock in town etc. obviously everyone else had worked this one out already
― imago, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:11 (five years ago) link
Idk that anyone knew or cared! It’s a good guess though but the truth is that I’m his much less polite sock he uses for his dodgy political opinions.
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:15 (five years ago) link
right ok we'll go with that no further qns
― imago, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:16 (five years ago) link
ffs dmac out
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Monday, 14 January 2019 12:49 (five years ago) link
this is true, you had alluded to this in your trademark obtuse way some time ago
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 12:59 (five years ago) link
srsly idnr twigging this so ive either forgotten or simple gibberish is being misattributed as obtuseness (latter is v common tbf)
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Monday, 14 January 2019 13:49 (five years ago) link
lol I knew I didn’t imagine thisIrish politics discussion thread
But when I was searching for this I found posts of mine far more recent I didn’t even recall making, so.
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 14:13 (five years ago) link
ha
listen
idnr the post but its entirely likely the opportunity to have a dig at peter crouch eclipsed any other info processing at the time
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Monday, 14 January 2019 14:14 (five years ago) link
lol for all my sleuthing he straight up said it
― imago, Monday, 14 January 2019 14:17 (five years ago) link
I don’t recall writing that either, tbh, and I’m not sure what made me presume I had won over her mammy - which is a 20-30 year project with no real guarantee of success at the end of it.
― ShariVari, Monday, 14 January 2019 15:56 (five years ago) link
well i wasn't going to say but
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Monday, 14 January 2019 16:54 (five years ago) link
Well this is a nice to-do.
― Never Turn Your Back On Virginia Woolf (Tom D.), Monday, 14 January 2019 16:57 (five years ago) link
Remember, even if it seems you've been a creeper for no reason, creeping is its own reason.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 14 January 2019 18:12 (five years ago) link
lol I have to say I was impressed by the perfume thread bit, I wouldn’t have remembered whatever tipped off imago there.
― gyac, Monday, 14 January 2019 18:37 (five years ago) link
What’s the worst mixed metaphor you’ve ever used?
― caută tu singur (gyac), Friday, 14 August 2020 15:11 (three years ago) link
happy birthday for yesterday!
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:01 (three years ago) link
you have left the cohort and graduated to better things. hope you had a blast
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:02 (three years ago) link
Thank you. Feels good to be in the Pravin Tambe age bracket at last.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:11 (three years ago) link
our idol and beacon
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:12 (three years ago) link
A mutual acquaintance of ours has likely passed it on by now, but an encore can't hurt:
Happy (belated) birthday!
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
Mulţumesc!
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:36 (three years ago) link
happy birthday sv!
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 17:31 (three years ago) link
a belated hb to you sv!
― calzino, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link
Thank you!
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link
hbsv.
― Fizzles, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:53 (three years ago) link
🎂🎉🎂
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
La mulți ani!
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:55 (three years ago) link
ty, ty
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 19:43 (three years ago) link
Back to the original point of the thread? Who is your favorite soprano these days? Favorite tenor? What are your favorite languages?
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 21:39 (three years ago) link
(Please ignore extra '?)
Thinking just about the ones I’ve seen live in the last few years, Yoncheva stands out as a genuinely exceptional talent. I’ve been impressed by Lisette Oropesa every time I’ve seen her as well. It was unfortunate Grigolo turned out to be such a menace as I’d always thought he was very good. Calleja, probably, of those currently employable by the Royal Opera House.
Otherwise, predictably, Netrebko and Kaufmann.
Russian and French are probably my favourite languages, despite being poor at both.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 22:14 (three years ago) link
Cool. No love for Piotr B?
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 22:21 (three years ago) link
I’m racking my brain trying to remember whether I’ve seen him perform but I suspect not. He’s always good value on screen, though.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 22:28 (three years ago) link