unicorn

As I'm sure you know (I assume you're not a complete idiot), it's for the very obvious strategic importance, since Petrograd's ports need to go through the Finnish Gulf, which lies between Finland and Estonia. Also, as you also know, the Baltic countries have cut off the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which now relies on precarious internally-generated energy, and sea ties with Petrograd. Only an utter imbecile would believe it's because of Estonia's agricultural riches. I can bank on the fact that you gave your preposterous response because you enjoy lying--not because you're insanely stupid.

While I don't generally make statements announcing my sexual orientation, there have been a few exceptions in my life: my parents and my siblings. Of course, I'm always with my husband, so it's similar to coming out more explicitly when I correct strangers: "That's not my son. That's my husband!" 😉. On the subject of fake heterosexuals (no one here), we spent the day at Disneyland and my husband noticed a man eyeballing him while the man was making out with his girlfriend! 😄

The Mickey T-shirt has a pocket. The other was not an exact duplicate of the rainbow shirt I wore. I agree with you--I never wear shirts without pockets. Not even tank tops!

Kaliningrad seems to be in a very precarious position of late:

Looks like Moldova may be the next country to join the EU. Despite Russian interference, the pro-EU party won over the pro-Russian party by about a 2:1 margin. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/world/europe/moldova-election-russia.html "...The likely victory for the pro-E.U. party of President Maia Sandu, the Party of Action and Solidarity, was a signal that domestic problems, including expensive gas and widespread poverty, have not derailed its ambitions. As of early Monday morning, 99 percent of the vote had been counted in Moldova, the government’s election tracker showed. About 50 percent of the vote had gone to the party of Ms. Sandu. That is a solid lead over the next highest party — the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc, which came in next with just 24 percent of the vote... Then, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drawing closer to Europe seemed to many Moldovans to be the best avenue for avoiding future domination by Moscow. The country applied to join the E.U., and last October, a referendum enshrined support for joining the bloc into the Moldovan Constitution...". Putin seems to be painting himself into a corner.

Relax, @PeterRS, I'm not shaking my finger at your choices. I cannot say what I would do if I lived in a hostile country. I suspect I'd try to leave. They've only been around some 20 years, but these days there are organizations such as the Rainbow Railroad which help members of the LGBTQ community relocate to friendly countries (most commonly Canada 🥶). https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/wp-content/cache/wp-rocket/rainbowrailroad.org/index-https.html If you go to parties and on vacations with friends and bring your boyfriend along, then you're out to your friends (assuming you don't make up fake stories about who he is). Do you literally believe that one needs to wear a banner on one's back to be out of the closet?? The only rainbow shirt I have was one I bought because a friend threw a party, and he requested everyone to wear their "gayest attire." Well, OK, I did once buy a T-shirt with a rainbow mickey motif at Disneyland. Being out of the closet simply means living your life without avoiding all conversations about one's personal life (or making up fake stories). It rarely involves proclamations. It's all about just being yourself.

Literally hundreds of friends and acquaintances at work and in my neighborhoods (where I previously lived in the SF Bay Area and where I live now in LA) have known that I'm gay, and I've never had to make a specific statement like "I just want you to know that I'm gay." Unless you're a recluse, it's something which comes up in everyday conversation and social settings--who you're seeing/dating, where you've been, and so on. It's also obvious by who your guests are at parties. I always invite all of my neighbors to the parties which I throw at my property (I cannot, of course, invite them to parties I let others throw at their expense on my property). Two men on different properties on our street are gay, the rest aren't, and we all know who is what without anyone having to make a specific announcement. You have chosen to shield your romantic life from your friends, and they have learned by this that you prefer not to discuss this topic (and probably made certain assumptions as to why not). It's your right not to bring any contemporaneous romantic interests to any party you attend, office event, or other social setting. However, doing so is a choice. I personally would find it emotionally taxing. My choice is to live my life openly with no excuses or hiding.

I don't know what Estonia's air force can do, but Poland has made it clear it will shoot down any jets which violate its airspace...

😄

I suspect most of your friends strongly suspect you're gay, but also suspect you're not comfortable discussing it, since you haven't brought it up, which is why they don't ask specifically. It's certainly easy to have a huge network of gay friends in places such as where I live, Los Angeles. I realize that it isn't as easy in small towns in the countryside.

So are you married or otherwise committed to someone else? What keeps you in the closet? Are you worried you might be fired, or lose out on a sizeable inheritance? Is it the mores of your particular country? Obviously, there's a huge difference between homophobic countries such as Uganda, Iran, or Russia, and most Western countries.

It was a major mistake to provoke NATO. Will Ukraine be getting tomahawk missiles?

As usual, you're shoveling the BS again. What he said is that this is a Russian proverb, not his belief. What he has voiced is the complete opposite of what you said: he rues the fall of the USSR. https://www.npr.org/2016/12/25/506898839/25-years-after-collapse-of-soviet-union-many-russians-remain-nostalgic "...Many people might recall that back in 2005, Vladimir Putin famously said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. In an interview with a German TV - a German journalist then asked him about that quote, and Putin said something very interesting. He said, we Russians say that if you don't regret the collapse, you don't have a heart. But if you do regret it, you don't have a brain. So he was really showing kind of the ambivalent feeling in the country. A poll conducted earlier this year by the Levada-Center - it's an independent polling agency - showed that 56 percent of Russians regret the collapse while 28 percent did not...". https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-rues-soviet-collapse-demise-historical-russia-2021-12-12/#:~:text="We turned into a completely,a setback for Russian power. "President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago as the demise of what he called "historical Russia" and said the economic crisis that followed was so bad he was forced to moonlight as a taxi driver. Putin's comments, released by state TV on Sunday, are likely to further fuel speculation about his foreign policy intentions among critics, who accuse him of planning to recreate the Soviet Union and of contemplating an attack on Ukraine, a notion the Kremlin has dismissed as fear-mongering...". Well, that "fear-mongering" turned out to be completely well-founded, as Putin was lying (again), as are you (again).

Have you considered telling him how his treatment of you made you feel, and asked if he's ready to ask for forgiveness? Forgiveness can be liberating.

Wait for #3:

This video posits a NATO/ANZUS fight against both Russia and China (video made 5 months ago, before the recent Russian provocations). They speculate that China would get involved by invading Taiwan in the context of a Russian attack on Poland and the Baltics, hoping the US and others would be too preoccupied with Putin. I doubt that would happen, though, and suspect China would wisely sit out any war between NATO and Putin. The wild card would be Kim, who's another nut-case.

That's an interesting perspective. Although I'm a baby boomer, I grew up in a liberal city, with an atheist family, so I certainly never felt pressure to start a family (Thank Vishnu 😉). As an extremely openly gay person/couple I would think that any friend would feel totally comfortable discussing his relationships with me/us. We do have one pair of friends who are in a very loose relationship. They are room-mates and frequently screw around with each other, but they bristle at even being called boyfriends. One of the two is the only person I consider a true friend who identifies as bisexual. That being said, the only two women I'm aware of that he's had sex with are trans women who haven't had bottom surgery. I suppose that puts him more on the gay side of the Kinsey scale, but he definitely considers himself bi. I also did mention several weeks ago the brother-in-law of a friend, whom we met at the friend's birthday party. I felt (quietly) alarmed when he introduced himself as the husband of my friend's sister. I told my husband on our way back home that I hoped our friend's sister knew her husband was gay. He then told me that our friend told him that the couple identify themselves as bi, and have sex outside the marriage (him with men, her with women). I strongly suspect that this is one of those "lavender marriages." Presumably, the friend and his sister grew up in the same household, with similar family pressures. It would be interesting to know the dynamics. I'm certainly grateful to have been brought up in an atheist, science-friendly family (both of my parents were researchers with doctoral degrees).

No, I'm not anti-Muslim. I've had Muslim friends, and respect their dietary restrictions, etc. As you know, homosexuality is not illegal in Jordan, Turkey, or Indonesia (except in Aceh Province, which I'd never visit). And, as you probably also know, Bali is mostly Hindu. I'm certainly all for polytheistic religions, which seem to make sense from a historical perspective. After several thousands of years of success, the Egyptian dynasties collapsed shortly after conversion from their polytheistic religion to Christianity, beaten by the then polytheistic Romans. The Roman Empire, in turn, collapsed shortly after it, too, adopted Christianity (beaten by Pagans). When tornadoes devastate the Bible belt, I tell my husband "There's Lord Shiva vacuuming the Bible belt."

Ryanair, yikes! I've heard rumors they may introduce standing up "seats"...

Earlier tonight, my husband and I attended a Survivor Premier watch party hosted by handsome multiple-time Survivor contestant Oscar "Ozzie" Lusth, who's bisexual. It was a bit of a fantasy of mine to finally meet and have my picture taken with him. He's gorgeous and had both men and women swooning over him at the event. Yet he has no ring on his finger and, as far as the internet can determine, no serious relationship. I asked my husband why someone, who could apparently have his pick with anyone of either gender, wouldn't have found someone by the ripe age of 44. He said that bisexuals have trouble with commitment. When we got home, I went online to see if there were studies to back that up, and I couldn't find one either way. The only other reasons I could come up with would be either that he has a difficult personality, or that he wants to come off as available to fans of both genders. I must confess that I surprisingly don't have a lot of bisexual friends. So what's your experience when it comes to bisexuals you know? Do they have challenges when it comes to commitment?

With the Maldives being so expensive, I don't see the attraction of going to a relatively gay-hostile country. Their main draw is their very pricey overwater bungalow resorts. Here are some other countries which fit the bill: https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-overwater-bungalows-around-the-world

The EU and China will probably always have strong trade. In addition to raw materials, the Chinese (unlike the Russians) actually manufacture goods people want to buy. So much seems to be "Made in China" these days. I can't remember every seeing anything anyone wanted to buy which was made in Russia--other than matryoshka dolls. Other than that, Russians just seem to be proficient at digging up stuff and shoveling BS (fertilizer production). I'm sure Xi shares Putin's concerns regarding how crazy Trump is. However, Xi is not, and never will be, some Lukashenko that will be in Putin's pocket. Xi is many times more powerful--and smarter--than Putin is. While he does share much of Putin's concerns, he's not going to be there for Putin when Putin does stupid things. I doubt that even so-called CSTO allies (other than Belarus) will help Putin if he picks a fight with the EU and/or NATO. It's true that the world economy relies on China, and that the economy would suffer tremendously if trade with China were compromised. The same is not true of Russia. Prices of raw materials (crude oil, natural gas, minerals) would rise, but the damage would not be as catastrophic as a loss of Chinese trade. Putin's only "ace in the hole" is his nuclear weapons. And, I can assure you, Xi would get extremely pissed off if Putin starts using those. Putin loves to use the nuclear threat, but he would probably get almost the entire planet (except maybe Belarus and North Korea) against him if he were to try to use those.

It's not my experience, having taken quite a few cruises, that most people stay on board during port days, so I asked google, and the number was much higher than I expected: Maybe my experience is different because I tend to cruise with more upscale cruise lines (Celebrity, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea), in which people aren't saving their pennies, and just want to be pampered. I'd guess that staying on board in port would be more common in the lower-end lines such as Carnival and MSC. For me, the nicest aspect of cruising is seeing a bunch of places without having to keep packing and unpacking, carrying one's luggage, checking in and checking out of hotels, etc. Of course, the pampering and good food without having to pay $$$$ at expensive restaurants is nice, too. At the highest-end lines (RSS, Silversea), the excursions are included, so it'd be silly to stay onboard. In February, we're taking an Atlantis (gay) cruise to the Caribbean, in which the experience is definitely intended to be the cruise itself (along with the fellow passengers), rather than the ports, but that's unique. It's on a Royal Caribbean ship, and the ship has tons of things to do on board, such as water slides, etc. Our ship will make port in the highly-protected enclave of Labadee in Haiti, so this will allow me to set foot on one of the few countries in the Western Hemisphere which I haven't yet visited. On cruises which cater to 50+ adults, such as Celebrity, I think more passengers are interested in actually seeing places than on partying on board.

That's so true. Worse, yet, is that when you surround yourself with crazy dingbats whose only quality you look for is loyalty, you get crazy advice. Most often, when Trump makes a crazy decision or statement, one can understand the motive: political gain, financial gain, or both (especially any which involve his staying out of prison). I don't quite understand what he has to gain in instilling fear of immunizations or, especially, acetaminophen. (In the case of immunizations, at least he gains political support from ignorant people who "don't like shots," but I don't see how he gains from instilling fear of acetaminophen). One can easily see the source if this stupid statement, however: HHS Secretary Kennedy, who's clearly severely mentally disturbed. At least with Trump, one can hope he'll be gone in 3.5 years, but Putin is "only" 73, and could be around for quite some time unless someone offs him, or he gets arrested by the international community. Even in Trump's case, he's stated publicly that he wants to do away with free elections, so who knows? Both very dangerous criminals.