They are the locals. They are indigenous New Zealanders and they are doing something that is customary in their culture in the kind of situation they were in during that session.

The New Zealand lawmakers were trying to pass a bill that would have severely reduced the rights of the locals, and this reaction is part of how the local culture demands people to act.

"cz" marks the same sound as the English "ch". "j" marks the same as "y" in "yes". Otherwise you read it letter by letter, a bit as if it was Spanish.

So... Is Ch'yvinos'tavch legible enough? :) Although, the pronounciation of the j would be so weak that you could perhaps skip it. It does alter the sound a bit, but doesn't really sound as an independent sound in this word. So, also Ch'vinos'tavch could maybe be a valid transcription? And of course real Polish language does not have the combination czj anyway :)

And the Russia will remain gaining ground at the same steady speed of 0.7 percent per year. In just 7 years, by 2032, they will already have conquered another one twentieth of Ukraine! Ura!

If the Russia keeps its ground gaining steady and does not increase its speed tenfold, then that means the Russia is doing seriously badly. Losing 400 000 soldiers in a year (as dead and wounded, not only dead!) and not managing to unsteady that rate of advance means things are seriously going badly!

Paper ballots make cheating much more difficult than electronic ones do. I'm not sure why Trump demands paper ballots, but in my opinion they are the only sensible option.

Where I live, all elections are always strictly 100 % paper ballots, and it is isn't really a problem. Yeah, you need people to count them, but those people are reasonably easy to find. And the ballot counting scales easily from a few hundred votes to several hundred millions of votes.

I do see a lot of of US people saying stuff like "all politicians are always corrupt". That's the thought Putin has been trying to actively cultivate in Russians' minds, because when people don't trust politicians in general, they won't come to think that they could vote in someone who is much less corrupt than Putin.

When people lose their trust in national politics ability to act in the best interest of their nation, they will get proud of being apolitical. After all, for them it's come to mean "not taking part in a corruption scheme".

Also... My impression is that a growing amount of people in USA are NOT living more comfortable lives than rural Russians. Living in an RV and having to work two jobs isn't really very different life from living in a dilapidated and crooked wooden house that's letting the wind in from several places. I don't know how common that kind of living is in the States, but it seems to be an existant phenomenon. Those people do not live in a different comfort than people in the poorest regions of the Russia. Also, I've seen photos of large amounts of people living in kind of streetside villages consisting of camping tents. That is a kind of life that is less comfortable than anything I've seen during my travels in the Russia.

A much smaller share of US people live under such.circumstances than is the case in the Russia, but for those who do, I am absolutely able to fathom why any change is better for them than status quo! There's only one way to go from the rock bottom.

USA has also quite sternly asked Europe to not become a superpower. And this is something that was openly spoken aloud in 1980's and 1990's. Their offer has been "we'll handle this superpower stuff on your behalf, you guys keep to yourself." That has kept USA the clear leading superpower, which has been extremely useful for the American economy, and we have been able to concentrate on other stuff, which has been good for our economy.

It's been an agreement between USA and Europe that Europe will not start competing of power with USA. We have more population and a bigger economy than USA, so I'd guess that now that the agreement has ended, we'll have to become what we would already have been for decades if we hadn't been asked not to.

It's good to remember that a small subset of Ukrainian commanders do see soldiers as mere cannon fodder. Mere 11 years ago, the Ukrainian military was run almost precisely the same way as the Russian one. And many commanders are from before 2014. Many of them have converted to the new ways since 2014, but some haven't. That's a problem that severely hampers Ukraine's recruitment capacity. Still, Ukrainians are a nation that will flex when it needs to. If the Russia starts advancing faster than the 0.7 % of Ukraine's total area in year like they did in 2024, people get more afraid of what is going on and get motivated to join the armed forces.

It's so meek because of the political stance of "I am not political" that permeats the whole society.

Its main idea is that "I make actively sure to not see or hear what is happening around me, and in return I can live my life reasonably carefree." That's an unspoken contract between the junta leading the country and its populace. If one side breaks the contract, it's null and void.

The funny thing is, the people have not noticed that the contract has been broken, because they are actively avoiding noticing anything that has to do with society!

And the word "actively" is of great significance. Because it's not passivity, it's a stance held up actively by each individual. The situation of the Russia is all the time deeper and deeper "in your face", and eventually it'll be so deep that there's nothing the individual can do to avoid noticing it.

And then they become active in... Well, some other manner.

Yeah, they will continue conquering more and more territories, just like they did through 2024.

During 2024 they advanced faster than expected. And managed to conquer a whopping 0.7 % of Ukraine's total territory. Less than kne percent. Or even less, if you take into account what they lost in the Kursk province.

(Also, what is weird about a person having cancer and surviving?)

To be clear: The Russia's losses are increasing month after month, but their recruitment capacity is not. They are recruiting about 1000 soldiers every day, maybe a bit less. And the number seems to be going down, not growing. They are losing 1300 to 1800 each day now meaning a net loss of something like 400 to 900 soldiers per day!

They won't run out of population anytime soon, but they will run out of soldiers.

Well, he also went from lawyer to comedian. Kind of makes the jump seem much lower.

They are losing those, but they haven't lost them yet. It'll take at least a few years of actually living without them for the people to wake up and revolt. The end of serfdom took from 1860's or so until 1918.

It will take time but it will happen.