Hi,

I haven't been active on this forum for a long time but since this is one the few international forums I'm a member of, I'll ask this here.

I'm going on a road trip with some friends to the Balkans, mainly Albania but also Croatia, Montenegro and maybe other countries. So if someone local has any tips on must-see-places, I'd appreciate it. We're mainly interested in cheapish () party-areas, beaches, cool towns and some (not too extreme) action stuff like rafting and hiking in the mountains. Pretty much anything cool to see on vacation.

Thanks!

Last edited by Kalev EST, Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:59.

Quote from Racer X NZ :

It's confirmed in other media and it's a leaked phone call between Estonia foreign minister Ermas Paet and Catherine Aston. I'll post the phone conversation when I'm on a PC.
The snipers that shot at the crowd were hired by the Maidan leaders. They were not Ukraine police.
It has also been confirmed by the Estonian Foreign Ministry.

It had been a rumour for a few days but hadn't been confirmed till now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgJ0oo3OA8

It has been confirmed by Estonian Foreign Ministry that the phone call is real, not the fact that snipers were hired by the Maidan leaders. If you actually listen the phone call then Urmas Paet is giving an overview of what he heard during his visit. So basically these are still rumours as there is no proof of anything.

Ukraine is pretty f**ked up right now. Economy is in the toilet. Massive corruption. None of the politicians have the people's trust, etc. BUT Russia has no right to move his troops into a sovereign country. Especially under false pretext. There was no threat to Russians in Crimea. Until now it had been the calmest part of the country and no-one would dare touch them anyway as there is a Russian navy base there. Some Ukrainian politicians might be corrupt but they're not complete lunatics. Putin just saw his opportunity to claim strategically important territory when Ukraine was in turmoil.

Quote from RussianLFSer :

All of you (Balts) know nothing about Russia except deceitful propaganda from your government who are puppets of the EU/USA. You've destroyed your economy. The bullying by Russia is your paranoia and source of income.

Our economy (although with its share of problems) is doing better than Russian economy so...

Russia Today is a russian propaganda site aimed to the west. You might as well be reading Onion News. I know this because their stories about the Baltics have been absolute tilted drivel.

Unfortunately, I think Crimea is lost. It's pretty much in russian hands and Ukraine doesn't have the military power to reclaim it. I'm 100% sure that no other country will take any military action and whatever economic or diplomatic sanctions are imposed by the west will not deter Putin. History has shown that these won't last anyway (remember 2008 Georgian conflict where the sanctions imposed were lifted in the next couple of years). The best case scenario is that it stops there and Russia doesn't move on to other parts of Eastern Ukraine.

This annexation of Crimea sets a potentially very dangerous precedent for all the other countries neighbouring Russia. If they get away with spitting on all the international treaties and occupying part of a sovereign state then what's stopping them from trying it elsewhere under the false pretext of defending their people. There are large numbers of ethnic russians all over the former soviet states brought in as workers and military personnel and their families (which by the way violates Geneva convention treaty - "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.").

As a fan, I don't care that he disobeyed team orders. I care that it wasn't a fair fight.

Two teammates both taking themselves and their cars to the max while racing each other is pure spectator gold. Overtaking a teammate who has gone to eco mode because he's been told the race is over is lame.

But I guess in the future when RB will have a 1-2, neither will take it easy regardless of what the team tells them so we might see some actual racing.

I don't like team orders and I'm all for racing against your teammates, especially this early in the season but both drivers should be aware that they're still racing each other. If Vettel had said to the team "f**k this, I'm going for it, tell Mark I'm going to race him" then fair play. I doubt the team would have liked it but the fans would have respected it. Right now Vettel blindsided Webber and came out looking like a spoilt prick.

I still lurk the forums. Haven't played in years and probably won't until some remotely significant update.

Quote from amp88 :

Another contender: A Serbian Film.

+1

I felt emotionally and physically ill after watching that and I don't tend to get emotional or sick about movies.

Terrible refereeing in the first half of the basketball final. No consistency what so ever. People want to see a basketball game, not a random free throw competition.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsp1jo_batpunch_people

"I asked Nicolas Batum why he hit Juan-Carlos Navarro in the groin. "I wanted to give him a good reason to flop," Batum said.

Told Batum some won't think groin shot is in Olympic spirit. Batum: "Do you think if you lost a game on purpose, that's the Olympic spirit?"

Batum said he believes that Spain tanked final preliminary game against Brazil to face France in quarterfinals."

Anyone else think that Spain looked suspiciously poor at the end of the game against Brazil?

(To those that don't follow basketball, basically both Spain and Brazil were definitely through the group stage but whoever lost this game would avoid USA in the semifinal.)

Quote from xaotik :

God Bless America

Came here to say that. Funny and depressing at the same time. A good dark comedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul4CZrnEFxU

Quote from Boris Lozac :

They weren't but cmon Silva with his 1meter 50 scores a header? They just have so much luck..

He was wide open in the box and Fabregas gave a perfect pass. Where's the luck? That Italian defense left him open? Yeah, really lucky...

Spain was great today, thoroughly deserved.

They might be boring at times but they are scary good. In most other teams Valdez, Llorente, Mata, etc would be stars of their team but in Spain they rarely, if ever, get a chance. Manchester United's goalie doesn't even make the cut.

How is this game still 0-0? So many chances and defensive blunders on both sides.

Semifinal between Germany and England would be fantastic. Especially if it went to penalties.

This is utter nonsense. If it would be real then everyone would notice it. It's just such a huge difference. If the axis was tilted 49.5 degrees then the Sun wouldn't set around here and I hate to break it to you but it still does.

Quote from BlueFlame :

You missed the bit where he handled the ball.

On that GIF? Get your eyes checked.

Anyway Germany-Greece. Greece with a defensive lineup and winning 1-0 with a goal at the end of a match, sounds familiar...

Last edited by Kalev EST, Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:56.

It's a rare case of two wrongs DO make a right.

Quote from Dmt :

Enjoying so much Irish games, referee did good job in playoffs, letting such team on euro. :P

Get over it already. Ireland was clearly better than us. They would have won regardless of a few questionable decisions.

Props to Irish fans. Thousands of people singing even when their team is getting hammered.

That's clearly a dark elf.