Malazan Empire: Mentalist - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Messi is fine. The rest of the team has issues with rough play/histrionics. There was some ref deference to the team (and Messi, specifically), but nothing egregious, imho. And Argentina DID pull off some insane comebacks with last-ditch pressure, so they deserve credit for that. Really wish I saw the Cabo Verde game, but I had my own game during that.


Scaloni correctly saw they were out-classed by Spain and tried to shut the game down and take the gamble on PKs (historically, UEFA teams are pretty bad at those).

Spain is just on another level, though.

I am very happy that Torres was the one who got the goal. The dude's been coming off the bench every game, putting himself in good spots and receiving passes, and missed something like 30 shots throughout the tournament. But unlike Olise, he didn't give up, and eventually, he hammered one home when it counted the most. Much better story than the much-touted "Yamal taking over from Messi", since Yamal didn't have a particularly great tournament, all-in-all.

Argentina will need to re-invent itself without Messi, so it'll be interesting to see if they can keep themselves relevant in the upcoming competitions.

Ah well, bring on the Euro qualifiers & Nations League, so that I can get frustrated with Ukraine all over again.

Werthead, on 19 July 2026 - 09:35 PM, said:

I would be stunned if Ze re-instated Fedorov as MoD.

Ukrainian political tradition is to take a low-level functionary job that's tangentially related to Defense, and then transfer ALL the powers and responsibilities of the MoD to it, but only while Fedorov occupies it.


He was also speaking to various troop type commanders today, apparently looking for a potential Syrsky replacement. Which could be quite interesting.

Garak, on 15 July 2026 - 11:27 PM, said:

Zelensky has a bad habit of removing anyone who starts becoming excessively popular/trusted by the public.

More refinery hits- Saratov and Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan.

SBU has been hitting pumping stations- one in Tatarstan, as well as the main gas compressor pumps for the "Blue Stream" pipe towards Turkiye.

It seems we've hit critical mass, since the orcs are banning diesel exports.

Ukrainian Air Force reports downing a Su-35. Z-heads are whining that this is the first plane that was taken down by a wing of F-16s. We could be seeing the start of the process to deny them the airspace to lob glide bombs- which could be a game-changer for the frontlines.

Apparently, in Ankara trump greenlit UA to obtain license to produce Patriot missiles domestically. HUGE, if not just an improv remark.

Werthead, on 01 July 2026 - 09:56 PM, said:

they sell oil to India at a discount, and then buy back the fuel refined from it with a markup.

brilliant! oh, wait.....