Accelerated

Its been a long while since Ive read about this stuff, but ill make a couple comments nevertheless.... I think its fair to say that had it not been for outside interference the Ottoman Empire would have been smashed by the Russians and their Balkan allies long before WW1. The British with their constant paranoia always got in the way of things - France alone could have done little to counter Russian designs for the Balkans and Austra was a waning power, while Prussia had not yet become a power though under Frederick she went a long way to adress that. I think in many ways 19th century Britain is like the US today - she had defeated her most bitter rival Napoleonic France (US defeated USSR) and pretty much secured ascendancy over the globe, but the rise of other powers who threatened her domination triggered paranoia and knee-jerk reactions - some justified perhaps - I am not the one to judge. The Crimean War was an amusing fiasco, rife with millitary incompetency on all sides. The vast majority of all casualties were suffered through desease, malnutrition and bad conditions, not combat. Unfortunatelly Russian commanders proved to be the more incompetent, hence the loss of Sebastopol and subsequent defeat. It was however a minor setback as a year later Russia defied the treaty (ordering her war fleet into the Black Sea) and no-one was willing to enforce it. I am fairly certain that it was Piedmont, not Sardinia - Sardinia may have been part of Piedmont, but the latter would have been more dominant. Gams, cheers for posting this topic - hopefully not the last of its kind

what about those small digital camcorders: do they take decent pics?

Will someone PLEASE think of the children!!! I havnt bothered listening to the MP3, but I had a feeling it wasnt going to be a track from the Ministry of Sound.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Pros: Breathtaking battle scenes with well animated mosters (trolls/mamoths). The ghost army attack! the elf guys single-handedly taking out a mamoth with its crew. Basically everything to do with the major battle Cons: too long, to the point of being exhausting.....almost 3 1/2 hours and nothing happening untill 90 mins into the movie. Cheesy ending. The fact that the guy playing Gandalf (the Grey wizard) is a homosexual whose boyfriend is a 22 year old playboy.....enough said. Verdict: would have scored higher if it was an hour shorter! 8/10

Sure have

Extra, I think its time for my injection

....erm.....erm.....Christmas decorations? ....they did find Santa though, he wasnt too happy as there was still a week to go to Christmas.....

hey Nvard, I think my avatar is cuter....what do you think?

Now, THIS is art.... http://goooze.nm.ru/temp/boom.jpg notice the anticipation on the peoples faces

I dont think I will fit in much bud, if there was any beatings taking place I am much more likelly to be the one doing the beating Disclaimer: I would never raise a hand at my wife, unless she deserves it!!! j/k

Sheesh! I hope I dont get beaten.... <_< *Pulls out a baseball bat from behind*

yeah, sounds good Anon (have to agree with THOTH on the length of your post....there was a fair bit of rambling) - but I got the underlying point. Just to add a little: I think introducing legislation singling out women or minority groups is discrimination in itself and in many cases is unhelpful. Example: Australian Aboriginies - they have special social security benefits and other priviledges.....has it helped? no.....they just spend the extra money on more grog sliding further into alcoholism etc.

I dont think this is the case. At its core politics is a primitive 'art' and international politics is just like a small town populated by 150+ people (countries). If one repeatedly abuses/betrays their neighbous and allies then they will only foster hatred and distrust. Case in point: US and Israel, what has America to gain from supporting Israel over the Arabs? So, what you doen here?

All the way to Anakara!? Wow! what? Your not Armenian?

may I ask where you got this statistic? PS. Im not saying that on the whole we have a too negative image in Russia. But Im sure you will agree to the fact that the Serbs are viewed as a much closer people (probably THE closest, after Ukraine and Belarus).

They dont need the 'right', when they have the power....and as the saying goes Might is Right Firstly, we dont 'solely depend on Russia' - I would be very worried if we were. Second, you dont have to look very far to see Russia 'betraying' her allies - Serbia for one, and their considered orthodox slav brothers and not 'blacks' like us. Im not saying Russia should have declared war on NATO over this, but she could have done more to save Milosevic going belly-up.

yeah, and I just realised....it gets worse, because the ROA budget would basically include ALL the expenditure of the entire government, while the Glendale City expenditures wouldnt include stuff like the millitary etc. - things that are provided for by the Federal and State govnts.

...I only like one of his (its) songs - Rock is Dead LOL, dont know about that, but I certainly would enjoy giving him a good thrashing for absolutelly no reason....

no, not technically but it creates growth by stimulating the economy - like a sort of foreign investment. You should watch less documentaries on the 'Evil (Red) Empire'....and trust me....you wouldnt want to die I'd say about the same if not more (is wasted now). At least back in those days people were accountable to the state. Now, if you got money you got nothing to worry about.....

I just read this article (from the news section) from ArmeniaNow: WHAT A PITIFUL SUM! This is an absolute disgrace and the only reason we have growth (thats if their not fudging the figures) is because of all the money being sent in from the Diaspora - for the relatives.... I just want to highlight this point. Last night we were dining in a medium sized Chinese Restaurant, one of the most popular in Sydney - prices are very reasonable though - got filled up for US$15 a head. This place opens lunchtime and closes at 4am everyday. We got there at 1am and had to wait 10 mins for a table - so its pretty busy but its not large in terms of seating etc. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, this restaurant makes US$15000 profit a DAY. We multiply 15000 by 365 = approx 5,500,000. With a stable clientel its reasonable to assume that the profit would represent 5% of the turnover. Hence total yearly income would amount to approx. 110,000,000 or 1/5 of the ENTIRE ROA BUDGET!!!!!!

Yeah, same here. Grew-up in Armenia till I was 11.5, then moved here and lived in a block of flats with a number of other migrant families from Eastern Europe and we still managed to have a good time runnin around the yards untill well into the evenings

Sorry, couldnt be bothered finding a more appropriate thread for this article, a little related nevertheless.... http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1071337139782_2003/12/19/home_parisbush.jpg