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Iranian Players Blocked From World of Warcraft Due To Trade Sanctions
cold fjord writes "Is this the end of the world . . . of Warcraft? Maybe for Iranian gamers who are undergoing a forced morale check due to tightening sanctions cutting access to their game of choice. From the article: 'Iranian players of "World of Warcraft" ... have found themselves frozen out by Blizzard Activision Inc., the American company behind the game. Iranian role playing enthusiasts have spent much of the past week peppering Blizzard's message board with complaints about how they weren't able to log on to the service — only to be told recently that U.S. law was to blame. "United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran," the company said in an email sent to players last week...'"
Thanks to the sanctions, they can't get refunds either.
Faster than barney frank at a male strip club.....................
Who you shillin' for???
In the US you are required to carry ID if you go out in public. And they will detain you until it is verified. And really, try traveling near the border without going a checkpoint. And yes, they do check people who are leaving the country now. The visa isn't required yet, but make sure your parking tickets are paid. Don't be a goof.
I suspect yours was a drive by post... let's see how that pans out.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I think this will actually break the back of the islamist militants.
If the guys who spend all day playing WoW actually go outside and live life, they might lose their virginity. And then there won't be enough virgins to supply the suicide bombers with their 72.
We had been lied to just as much as the Soviets. The Russian space program is filled with firsts that American students never learned about (we only got the NASA stuff and a brief mention of Sputnik).
What kind of bullshit school did you GO to? I went to school in the US during the cold war, and they went over Yuri Gagarin, and while they glossed over most of the Soviet space program, they glossed over most of the American program too. Unless you think the real chain of events in the US program was Alan Shepard, then Apollo 1, then Apollo 11...
You DAMN SURE DO need papers to travel in the U.S. (try getting pull over by a cop sometime and tell him you have no identification, driver's license, proof of insurance, and registration and just see what happens, or try coming here sometime to see if the cops accept "We don't need no papers, this is America!" in lieu of your passport/green card/visa).
More bad education. You understand the difference between "travel" and "driving", yes? You can do one without the other. Try biking across the country, or backpacking, or hitchhiking, take a bus or train... nope. The only option is to drive yourself...
FALSE EQUIVALENCY, HO!
Iran is committed to the extinction of the Jews. This is a publicly stated policy and one they have enshrined in their laws, along with a lot of other Middle East nations. Do not decide to put on a Star of David and visit Iran even as a joke. They will treat you just like the TSA does with people that joke about bombs.
People with a lot more knowledge than you or I have concluded it makes no sense for Iran to pursue nuclear generation of electricity and even less sense for them to build their own nuclear fuel cycle for doing so. I suppose it might make sense if they "know" their trade with the rest of the world is going to be cut off and their oil supplies burned. Interesting thought, huh?
Alternatively, they are clearly enriching uranium way past the power generating reactor level. They say it is for "research reactors" and "medical purposes". Interesting in that I believe most of the medical purpose radioactive materials are made in reactors in the US that are fueled by pretty much the same sort of low-enrichment uranium that is in power generation reactors. Today it is pretty clear that if you want anything over 3% enrichment there are few non-weapon uses. When you push that up to 90% there is only one possible use. Iran has the capability of the 98% or so that is needed for weapons.
Iran does appear to some uninformed people to be seriously short of delivery vehicles. These people have been playing superpower games too long and "know" the only possible way to deliver a nuclear warhead is with a missle or a bomber. They utterly neglect to think that all first-generation nuclear weapons were extremely heavy (over 10,000lbs) and many second-generation weapons were similarly weighty. Since all of the important targets for Iran are along a seacoast a cargo ship would seem to be a simple and obvious delivery vehicle and they have plenty of them already.