05-04-2023, 05:28 AM
MALENKOV APPROVAL RATING VERY HIGH; SALOMÄKI "NOT SURPRISED"
A latest poll suggests that Vlasi Malenkov has the same sky-high approval rating that Jarkko Salomäki did when he was in the President's office. Latest polling suggests that 97% of Uralicans think the Saransk product is doing a "good" or "great" job, with the remaining three percent voting "neutral." When asked for what his high points have been in his brief presidency, an overwhelming number of people answered with his quick response to last year's flooding in the Pechora Basin, budgeting for Uralica's UraloPulya high-speed train system's initial completion and further expansion, and shunting money to deal with agricultural losses due to extreme weather in 2022.
And his predecessor is hardly surprised.
"We're spoiled in Uralica," said current veep and former president Jarkko Salomäki. "The number of high-level leaders... legitimate leaders... that we have is mind-boggling. So I'm not surprised that Vlasi is so popular. He's got the 'take charge' kind of attitude necessary to run a country well. And I've been okay taking a bit of a backseat to him even though I'm technically still part of the executive. He has a certain tact that I admit I lack at times, too. But we both want what is best for Uralica, as do the other council members. And it comes out in the decisions he makes."
While it's obvious that the Pechora Basin flooding was his moment of truth, a lot of people comment on the high-speed rail and his ultimate plans for it. Uralica is a large country and getting around can be quite expensive; while not his brainchild, Malenkov was partially responsible for seeing it through to completion, and has regular discussions with Minister of Transport Ivan Vychegdin as to how to proceed. The lines were quite full on their first day. There are now a couple of proposed spur routes that have started construction, with the route from Petroskoi to Murmansk considered a high priority due to Murmansk being such an important port, and the spur from Kirov to Saransk being "essential" according to Malenkov.
Malenkov is in talks with several of Uralica's neighbours about linking its high-speed rail system to theirs. Russia is interested in a link to Moscow via Saransk and Ryazan', as part of a larger system that would loop back around to Uralica via St. Peterburg and Viipuri, which are already linked at Pulkovo Airport (and on the Uralica-bound routes would also include Tver and probably Velikiy Novgorod). If that works out, another branch could connect Russia via Ulator and Tolyatti, or via Saransk and Penza. This has become a topic of larger discussion at NCIS meetings, since Siberia already has high-speed rail (indeed they were the first NCIS member to implement it back in 2019!) and has talked to Uralica about connecting via a link along the course of the Ob River between Nizhnevartovsk and Tomsk, parallel to the highway that runs along the same route. It should come as no surprise that Bashkorto-Tatarstan wants in as many of its largest cities are very close to the Uralican border, and one ambitious proposal forwarded to the NCIS by their Minister of Transport has a link going through Bash-Tat, having started in Riga, Baltika and passing all the way through Russia, Novgorod, Uralica, their own country, and Ural-Altai, before linking up with existing rail in Novosibirsk, Siberia. This one will be difficult because it would take getting all six countries on the same page on the details. The stops would be Riga, Daugavpils, Velikiye Luki, Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan', Naberezhnye Chelny, Öfö, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Petropavl, Omsk, and finally Novosibirsk.
(Russia has taken some inspiration from this system on their own, and they have ambitions to cover most of the country by 2030, from St. Petersburg at the northern tip of Russia to Rostov-na-Donu and Astrakhan in the south and Orenburg in the east; there is some hesitancy about linking to Transcaucasia because of the presence of a few scattered bands of radical Muslim extremists (or as Jarkko usually calls them, takfiri-jihadis), but Transcaucasia is trying to work out those kinks with them.)
There are other smaller things that have been mentioned, such as certain trade deals to trade partners ranging from large (the African Union) to medium (general expansion of trade with Kyrgyzstan, an expansion of the "Meaty Treaty" from just Mongolia to include other livestock-dependent countries in the area including Tyva, Buryatia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, the rebar deal with Chile) to small (their all-around expansion of relations with their protectorate Suqutra, committing to the Maldives rebuild), and the quick ERHDC response to Balochistan ordered by the government.
MARINKOVIĆ DAZZLES, BURYATIA GETS IN TROUBLE, ČOBAN ALL BUT SHUTS OUT AZERBAIJAN, AND MORE IIHF STORIES
Day 2 from Wave 2 had more than its share of interesting stories!
Division XI
Jamaica 2 Inca Republic 0 - absolute defensive/goalie clinic of a game by Jamaica. Marcelo Yupanquí wasn't bad between the pipes for the Incans, but even his 34-save effort came up short of Malcolm Subban's NHL-calibre game as he stopped even the trickiest shots by Stanislao Valenzuela, who was visibly frustrated with his incapability to get even one by the Nashville Predators starter. Yes, the Incans even outshot Jamaica, 38-34, but a well-rested Subban stopped every last one, and a goal each for Chris Stewart and Wayne Brightley in the second period were enough to put Jamaica over. Jordan Subban, Maxwell Barrett, Orane Housley, Phillip Meekes, and Amaure Nicholson all looked stellar on the blueline, taking much of the pressure off the fourth pair to perform (not that they were bad, just unspectacular! )
Abkhazia 8 Nokhchynya 1 - "What the heck happened to Nokhchynya?" you may ask... well, things went south pretty quickly for the former Chechnya when defenceman Isma'il Abubakarov crashed into starting goalie Shamil Dzhokharov due to a miscommunication (the former being accidentally tripped by Nugzar Dyrmitba didn't help either) and both ending up injured, Dzhokharov quite severely as he was groaning in pain as he was stretchered off, having torn his right hamstring. Ouchies. Backup goalie Tamirlan Dzhamaludinov tried admirably to keep them from hemorrhaging goals after that, but the first line of Kvitsinia, Lakrba, and Bagrathba lit him up for five goals in the third period alone; Kvitsinia ended the game with a hatty and two assists while Bagrathba had the first game of more than two points of his international career with a goal and three assists, and Lakrba has two goals. Probably little consolation that Ramazanov scored.
Alania 7 Uzbekistan 2 - Poor Chaqaboy Islombekov. He got thrown to the wolves right off the bat and, after getting slaughtered by Jamaica to the tune of 14-1, the Uzbek goalie was a little better-protected by his defence tonight but not that much. The first forward line still had its way with him, with Alan Gazdiev recording a hat trick and an assist, Alimbeg Tmenov putting up a goal and four assists, and Irbeg Afakov having a two-goal two-assist game. He let a soft one in from second-pair blueliner Arslan Sauarmægov as well. There is one small bright spot for the Uzbeks though - left-winger Erkin Chavandozov, who scored both of Uzbekistan's goals.
Division X
Greece 6 Taiwan 2 - Taiwan has improved, but so has Greece. Tristan Vlahos and Sam Edwards have good chemistry on their front line, with the former setting up the latter for three in this one. Panayioti Efriamidis looked good as well with a goal and two assists; the other two goals came from second-line forward Angelos Tsalafos and first-line defender Drako Xenos, as Brody Hsiao is seemingly on a cold streak. He really didn't look that good - shots on goal were 26-25 for the Greeks, not particularly exciting, yet Hsiao was in for all six goals. He hadn't looked that good even in a winning cause against the Xhosas on opening day. Older brother Brandon looked better, having a goal and an assist (as did Weng To). Nikiforos Xanthopoulos looked quite menacing out there defensively.
Xhosa Republic 4 Malay Federation 2 - a good solid win for the Xhosas, showing surprising aplomb out there, especially Mike Sigcau and Khanyiso Ndungane. Sigcau really has quite the slapshot, clocking in over 100mph! The Malays are getting a late addition in the next game with the arrival of grindy winger Ted de Volder from Canada (Malay Federation citizenship through his Indonesian-born father) and they need him bad as the few hits in the game were all from the victors. Sigcau did good defensively in all but neutralizing the Füglister brothers and Reza.
Montenegro 3 Azerbaijan 1 - welcome to the Jovica Čoban show, ladies and gentlemen! Three goals from three different goalscorers for the Montenegrins (Jakšić, Aćimović, and third-liner Aleksandar Bobanović) as the Montenegrins were outshot 30-24, but only a single goal from Rəşid İsmaylov beat Čoban as he was an absolute beast between the pipes.
Division IX
KwaZulu 3 Chile 0 - Josiah Hintsa stood on his head in this one. 29 shots, 29 saves. Simple as. Stefan Lukhona Madlala (2G 1A) and Lucas Siyabonga Khumalo (1G 1A) made sure the puck found its way into the net for the Zulus. Even Gustavo Lorca found himself stymied by Hintsa, though.
Armenia 12 Buryatia 0 - this one gut real ugly. Down 7-0 late in the second, a frustrated Tsyrengalsan Dashidorzhov boarded Artyom Manukyan (who scored five goals in this game) and was promptly accosted by a furious Sako Mikayelyan - the fight ended with the latter fracturing his middle finger and the former leaving the game bloodied and with 30 minutes in penalties to his name. He has a hearing tomorrow to determine the length of his suspension since it was a match penalty and he already got one game for it. Mercifully, Manukyan is fine, and even came back for the third period, where he scored his fourth on the power play for that penalty. They got goals from five other goalscorers, with Stas Petrosyan and second-liner Armen Spartakyan scoring two each and Minas Tenkerian, Artashes Arutunyan, and Markos Asaduryan scoring the other three. Goalie Petros Alakhverdyan only needed to make ten saves.
Portugal 6 Luxembourg 1 - Karl Heeb's goal aside, this was all Portugal, and Gage Gonçalves proved quickly that he is the best thing to happen to this Portuguese team since it was founded, with four assists in the winning cause.
Division VIII
Bosnia and Hercegovina 4 United Arab Emirates 3 (OT) Were it not for Akbar Haddad this could easily have been 4-0. He was in on every goal, with two goals and an assist. But nobody else had the hockey sense to put together any sort of offensive play that confounded Mensur Čorbadžić in goal, and the Bosnians, led by Fahrudin Begović's two-goal effort, were much more organized in attack. Obviously Haddad is the NHLer, but even he can't take a whole team on by himself!
Vojvodina 6 Maghreb Union 3 - The Maghrebis were humbled (not quite humiliated) at home thanks in large part to Radovan Marinković's general-like leadership. The Vojvodinian captain's influence went beyond his goal and three assists in the game! Top Bulldog indeed!
Thailand 5 Mongolia 2 - Thailand went easy on Mongolia. They could easily have managed seven or eight. But the two goals Mongolia did get were pretty legit, so props to Qasar Hattori. Dolbasan looked spaced out in goal. Maybe playing sick? Samenem with the hatty, and Eriksson likewise had three assists (and a goal).
A latest poll suggests that Vlasi Malenkov has the same sky-high approval rating that Jarkko Salomäki did when he was in the President's office. Latest polling suggests that 97% of Uralicans think the Saransk product is doing a "good" or "great" job, with the remaining three percent voting "neutral." When asked for what his high points have been in his brief presidency, an overwhelming number of people answered with his quick response to last year's flooding in the Pechora Basin, budgeting for Uralica's UraloPulya high-speed train system's initial completion and further expansion, and shunting money to deal with agricultural losses due to extreme weather in 2022.
And his predecessor is hardly surprised.
"We're spoiled in Uralica," said current veep and former president Jarkko Salomäki. "The number of high-level leaders... legitimate leaders... that we have is mind-boggling. So I'm not surprised that Vlasi is so popular. He's got the 'take charge' kind of attitude necessary to run a country well. And I've been okay taking a bit of a backseat to him even though I'm technically still part of the executive. He has a certain tact that I admit I lack at times, too. But we both want what is best for Uralica, as do the other council members. And it comes out in the decisions he makes."
While it's obvious that the Pechora Basin flooding was his moment of truth, a lot of people comment on the high-speed rail and his ultimate plans for it. Uralica is a large country and getting around can be quite expensive; while not his brainchild, Malenkov was partially responsible for seeing it through to completion, and has regular discussions with Minister of Transport Ivan Vychegdin as to how to proceed. The lines were quite full on their first day. There are now a couple of proposed spur routes that have started construction, with the route from Petroskoi to Murmansk considered a high priority due to Murmansk being such an important port, and the spur from Kirov to Saransk being "essential" according to Malenkov.
Malenkov is in talks with several of Uralica's neighbours about linking its high-speed rail system to theirs. Russia is interested in a link to Moscow via Saransk and Ryazan', as part of a larger system that would loop back around to Uralica via St. Peterburg and Viipuri, which are already linked at Pulkovo Airport (and on the Uralica-bound routes would also include Tver and probably Velikiy Novgorod). If that works out, another branch could connect Russia via Ulator and Tolyatti, or via Saransk and Penza. This has become a topic of larger discussion at NCIS meetings, since Siberia already has high-speed rail (indeed they were the first NCIS member to implement it back in 2019!) and has talked to Uralica about connecting via a link along the course of the Ob River between Nizhnevartovsk and Tomsk, parallel to the highway that runs along the same route. It should come as no surprise that Bashkorto-Tatarstan wants in as many of its largest cities are very close to the Uralican border, and one ambitious proposal forwarded to the NCIS by their Minister of Transport has a link going through Bash-Tat, having started in Riga, Baltika and passing all the way through Russia, Novgorod, Uralica, their own country, and Ural-Altai, before linking up with existing rail in Novosibirsk, Siberia. This one will be difficult because it would take getting all six countries on the same page on the details. The stops would be Riga, Daugavpils, Velikiye Luki, Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan', Naberezhnye Chelny, Öfö, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Petropavl, Omsk, and finally Novosibirsk.
(Russia has taken some inspiration from this system on their own, and they have ambitions to cover most of the country by 2030, from St. Petersburg at the northern tip of Russia to Rostov-na-Donu and Astrakhan in the south and Orenburg in the east; there is some hesitancy about linking to Transcaucasia because of the presence of a few scattered bands of radical Muslim extremists (or as Jarkko usually calls them, takfiri-jihadis), but Transcaucasia is trying to work out those kinks with them.)
There are other smaller things that have been mentioned, such as certain trade deals to trade partners ranging from large (the African Union) to medium (general expansion of trade with Kyrgyzstan, an expansion of the "Meaty Treaty" from just Mongolia to include other livestock-dependent countries in the area including Tyva, Buryatia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, the rebar deal with Chile) to small (their all-around expansion of relations with their protectorate Suqutra, committing to the Maldives rebuild), and the quick ERHDC response to Balochistan ordered by the government.
MARINKOVIĆ DAZZLES, BURYATIA GETS IN TROUBLE, ČOBAN ALL BUT SHUTS OUT AZERBAIJAN, AND MORE IIHF STORIES
Day 2 from Wave 2 had more than its share of interesting stories!
Division XI
Jamaica 2 Inca Republic 0 - absolute defensive/goalie clinic of a game by Jamaica. Marcelo Yupanquí wasn't bad between the pipes for the Incans, but even his 34-save effort came up short of Malcolm Subban's NHL-calibre game as he stopped even the trickiest shots by Stanislao Valenzuela, who was visibly frustrated with his incapability to get even one by the Nashville Predators starter. Yes, the Incans even outshot Jamaica, 38-34, but a well-rested Subban stopped every last one, and a goal each for Chris Stewart and Wayne Brightley in the second period were enough to put Jamaica over. Jordan Subban, Maxwell Barrett, Orane Housley, Phillip Meekes, and Amaure Nicholson all looked stellar on the blueline, taking much of the pressure off the fourth pair to perform (not that they were bad, just unspectacular! )
Abkhazia 8 Nokhchynya 1 - "What the heck happened to Nokhchynya?" you may ask... well, things went south pretty quickly for the former Chechnya when defenceman Isma'il Abubakarov crashed into starting goalie Shamil Dzhokharov due to a miscommunication (the former being accidentally tripped by Nugzar Dyrmitba didn't help either) and both ending up injured, Dzhokharov quite severely as he was groaning in pain as he was stretchered off, having torn his right hamstring. Ouchies. Backup goalie Tamirlan Dzhamaludinov tried admirably to keep them from hemorrhaging goals after that, but the first line of Kvitsinia, Lakrba, and Bagrathba lit him up for five goals in the third period alone; Kvitsinia ended the game with a hatty and two assists while Bagrathba had the first game of more than two points of his international career with a goal and three assists, and Lakrba has two goals. Probably little consolation that Ramazanov scored.
Alania 7 Uzbekistan 2 - Poor Chaqaboy Islombekov. He got thrown to the wolves right off the bat and, after getting slaughtered by Jamaica to the tune of 14-1, the Uzbek goalie was a little better-protected by his defence tonight but not that much. The first forward line still had its way with him, with Alan Gazdiev recording a hat trick and an assist, Alimbeg Tmenov putting up a goal and four assists, and Irbeg Afakov having a two-goal two-assist game. He let a soft one in from second-pair blueliner Arslan Sauarmægov as well. There is one small bright spot for the Uzbeks though - left-winger Erkin Chavandozov, who scored both of Uzbekistan's goals.
Division X
Greece 6 Taiwan 2 - Taiwan has improved, but so has Greece. Tristan Vlahos and Sam Edwards have good chemistry on their front line, with the former setting up the latter for three in this one. Panayioti Efriamidis looked good as well with a goal and two assists; the other two goals came from second-line forward Angelos Tsalafos and first-line defender Drako Xenos, as Brody Hsiao is seemingly on a cold streak. He really didn't look that good - shots on goal were 26-25 for the Greeks, not particularly exciting, yet Hsiao was in for all six goals. He hadn't looked that good even in a winning cause against the Xhosas on opening day. Older brother Brandon looked better, having a goal and an assist (as did Weng To). Nikiforos Xanthopoulos looked quite menacing out there defensively.
Xhosa Republic 4 Malay Federation 2 - a good solid win for the Xhosas, showing surprising aplomb out there, especially Mike Sigcau and Khanyiso Ndungane. Sigcau really has quite the slapshot, clocking in over 100mph! The Malays are getting a late addition in the next game with the arrival of grindy winger Ted de Volder from Canada (Malay Federation citizenship through his Indonesian-born father) and they need him bad as the few hits in the game were all from the victors. Sigcau did good defensively in all but neutralizing the Füglister brothers and Reza.
Montenegro 3 Azerbaijan 1 - welcome to the Jovica Čoban show, ladies and gentlemen! Three goals from three different goalscorers for the Montenegrins (Jakšić, Aćimović, and third-liner Aleksandar Bobanović) as the Montenegrins were outshot 30-24, but only a single goal from Rəşid İsmaylov beat Čoban as he was an absolute beast between the pipes.
Division IX
KwaZulu 3 Chile 0 - Josiah Hintsa stood on his head in this one. 29 shots, 29 saves. Simple as. Stefan Lukhona Madlala (2G 1A) and Lucas Siyabonga Khumalo (1G 1A) made sure the puck found its way into the net for the Zulus. Even Gustavo Lorca found himself stymied by Hintsa, though.
Armenia 12 Buryatia 0 - this one gut real ugly. Down 7-0 late in the second, a frustrated Tsyrengalsan Dashidorzhov boarded Artyom Manukyan (who scored five goals in this game) and was promptly accosted by a furious Sako Mikayelyan - the fight ended with the latter fracturing his middle finger and the former leaving the game bloodied and with 30 minutes in penalties to his name. He has a hearing tomorrow to determine the length of his suspension since it was a match penalty and he already got one game for it. Mercifully, Manukyan is fine, and even came back for the third period, where he scored his fourth on the power play for that penalty. They got goals from five other goalscorers, with Stas Petrosyan and second-liner Armen Spartakyan scoring two each and Minas Tenkerian, Artashes Arutunyan, and Markos Asaduryan scoring the other three. Goalie Petros Alakhverdyan only needed to make ten saves.
Portugal 6 Luxembourg 1 - Karl Heeb's goal aside, this was all Portugal, and Gage Gonçalves proved quickly that he is the best thing to happen to this Portuguese team since it was founded, with four assists in the winning cause.
Division VIII
Bosnia and Hercegovina 4 United Arab Emirates 3 (OT) Were it not for Akbar Haddad this could easily have been 4-0. He was in on every goal, with two goals and an assist. But nobody else had the hockey sense to put together any sort of offensive play that confounded Mensur Čorbadžić in goal, and the Bosnians, led by Fahrudin Begović's two-goal effort, were much more organized in attack. Obviously Haddad is the NHLer, but even he can't take a whole team on by himself!
Vojvodina 6 Maghreb Union 3 - The Maghrebis were humbled (not quite humiliated) at home thanks in large part to Radovan Marinković's general-like leadership. The Vojvodinian captain's influence went beyond his goal and three assists in the game! Top Bulldog indeed!
Thailand 5 Mongolia 2 - Thailand went easy on Mongolia. They could easily have managed seven or eight. But the two goals Mongolia did get were pretty legit, so props to Qasar Hattori. Dolbasan looked spaced out in goal. Maybe playing sick? Samenem with the hatty, and Eriksson likewise had three assists (and a goal).
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
Spammers EXTERMINATED: 120
(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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