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Like more than 5 million people who bought the game since it launched in February, Ive been playing the surprise hit game Valheim. Its potent mix of Breath of the Wild and Minecraft with a viking aesthetic is shockingly polished and doesn't feel like it's missing much despite still being in early access. But its a struggle to survive Odins trials alone and much more fun to play Valheim with friends. You can do this by simply joining a friend's session, but if you don't mind spending a monthly fee on top of Valheim's $20 price, the best way to enjoy Valheims multiplayer is to pay for a service to host a dedicated server for you.

That simple change opened up the game I wasnt expecting. By creating a home base for everyone of my friends playing Valheim, I started a commune where everyone works together for the good of the whole. On our little commune in the digital forest, communism is working beautifully.

This is what a typical day is like on our Valheim dedicated server.

I logged into Valheim on late Sunday morning. Fellow Motherboarders Jordan Pearson and Emanuel Maiberg had been hard at work. Emanuel had constructed most of a massive stone wall, complete with parapets, along the edge of our base. Jordan had been running into the fields and gathering the massive amounts of stone Emanuel needed for the project. I marveled at the wall then tended to our carrot and turnip garden, made some soups for everyone, and fed our pigs

Emanuel and Jordan logged off but my friend Jim logged on. He and I traveled to the swamps and spent a few hours pulling out a hoard of iron. We dropped off the iron scrap in boxes next to the smelters and logged off. I came back on later that evening and found that the iron had all been smelted, turned into bars, and stored in its proper place. Two other friends on the server were gathering supplies to explore the mountains. Theres talk on the server of finally finding and killing Bonemass, the games third boss, now that weve got the iron to make the equipment wed need to keep everyone alive.

Valheim is fun to play alone, but a dedicated server with a large group of people encourages this kind of asynchronous communal play, and shows Valheim at its best. When you play Valheim alone, you are rewarded with skills and equipment that make your character stronger, as you do in most video games. When you play on a dedicated server where friends are free to come and go, it is equally if not more rewarding to see what you can do for your virtual viking community.

Players could steal treasure from each other's chests or destroy what others have built, and it's fair to predict that kind of thing would happen in an online video game, but the exact opposite is true. People log in and the first thing they ask is "what do we need?" They help each other construct projects that will help the entire group. Rather than hoard treasure greedily, everyone pitches into the same pile all are free to take from as they need. Our Valheim server is a collectivist utopia.

If you want to play with others, theres a few options. Whenever youre playing, you can invite a friend into your game and play together. But when you log off, your friend cant access the world anymore. If you want an always-on, persistent world that people can jump in and out of at will, then a dedicated server is your only option. You can run one on your machine, but it can be finicky. Playing Valheim on the same machine youre running a server on can cause performance issues and if you need to reboot your machine, itll pull the server down. Thats not great if a friend happens to be logged on.

The easiest option for playing Valheim on a dedicated server is to rent a computer from a speciality service that hosts gaming servers. Theres a ton of these services out there running games like Ark, Conan Exiles, and Minecraft. I use one called g-portla and pay $14 a month to run the server. Its worth it. The only negative is that we have to input the IP address every time we want to play.

When I stood up the server, everyone I knew was playing Valheim but we were all playing solo games. Id jump between friends' servers and hang out for a bit, but eventually someone would need to log off and wed retreat to our own worlds. I bought the server and resolved to stop server hopping. This would be home, I told myself, Ill convince the others to come. I spent a solid weekend building a giant mead hall that would serve as a large base of operations for multiple people.

As I worked on the mead hall, friends would log in and look. Groups gathered to help me kill the first two bosses. Sometimes people would gather wood for me out of pity, but few put down roots. Then they started dying on their own servers, dying in ways that required hours to fix.

Valheim can be punishing. When you die, you lose some experience and everything you had on your corpse is dropped where you did. Getting that corpse can be a trial, especially if youd died near higher level enemies. As I worked the mead hall, my friends playing solo would die in some far flung region of the map. Jordan had to sail to a new continent just to take down an early boss, a trial which came with several forehead-slapping complications. These disasters pushed people to the dedicated server and the security of a group. Its much easier to make a corpse run when youve got a friend to help and the resources left over from a large group of players just sitting around the mead hall.

On the dedicated server, everyone is working towards the same goal and everyone can do the thing they like in Valheim without feeling as if they need to worry about the busy work. Emanuel has been working the wall while the rest of us adventure. Jim doesnt like the home-body life so hes helping gather resources in dangerous lands. Two other friends are wearing cheap armor and charting the map, leaving a trail of bodies they may never recover.

Most of this is happening when Im not around. I dont have to be there to run the server or worry over it crashing on my desktop PC. Thats all handled for by a server farm. Its well worth the money and has made Valheim, an already great game, into a contender for game of the year.

Sunday evening, I showed a real life friend around the digital world Id help build in Valheim.

Whos in charge? He asked.

No one, I said.

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Communism Works Beautifully On Our Dedicated 'Valheim' Server - VICE

The problem with Luljeta Bozos recent comments is that its a sentiment shared casually by many.

The Socialist Party electoral candidate sparked outrage recently when during a TV interview, she appeared to praise elements of the communist regime. As a part of a discussion on the almost 50 years of communist rule, she was asked about Dictator Enver Hoxha and the impact he had on the country.

She responded that if you put them on a scale, for me he has more positives than negatives. Bozo added that Albania was a constitutional dictatorship, that it developed Albania, and increased its industrial production.

I have heard many say similar things. I have heard people say that everyone received an education, had access to healthcare, and no one was out of work. I have heard people say there were positives and negatives, good and bad.

And maybe for the privileged, there were positives. But can we really put these above murders and the mass and systematic violation of human rights?

During communism, the countrys entire economy was controlled by the state. All production, agriculture, and industry were nationalized and private enterprise was strictly forbidden. While this did lead to economic growth for some time, towards the end of the regime, the system began to collapse. There wasnt enough food and people were forced to queue for rations. After they cut off relations with the Chinese and Soviets, shortages of everything from machine parts to wheat and animal feed were exacerbated.

A network of sigurimi and their informants amounting to a large percentage of the population, reported back to the state on their family, friends, and neighbors. I remember a hairdresser telling me she discovered her husband had been spying on her and her clients for decades and she had no clue until communism fell.

People told tales on their circle, others fabricated stories to take the heat off them. The accused were shipped off to prisons, gulags, and forced labor camps.

A friend of mine, lets call him Endri, showed me a gunshot wound in his leg. He was shipped off to work in the mines at the age of 13 because a distant family member had committed a political crime. After seven years of labor, he was released and he and a friend tried to escape to Greece. Albanian guards shot his friend in the head from behind as he ran abreast with him, the second bullet passed straight through Endris leg.

Today, 30 years after the regime fell, there are still up to 6000 people who were executed or died in prison and are still missing. Their families do not know where their remains are and excavation orders for suspected mass grave sites have been pending with the Prosecutor for three years and counting.

There has been no apology, there is no national or regional memorial and no national day of remembrance. The Socialist Party who is currently in power has not condemned the crimes of their predecessors, and the process for compensating those who were persecuted or had family members murdered has stalled.

Albania has not dealt with its past- thats what makes comments like this, even if they contain truth, so controversial. The fact that there are thousands of people in this country, still suffering the consequences of that time, means that any claims of benefits of the regime are inappropriate. Perhaps once Albania has dealt with its collective trauma, when people have located the remains of their loved ones, and when the state has apologised for its crimes, then we can begin to dissect the positives and negatives of history.

While I dont doubt the benefits of education, employment, and healthcare, I prioritize the right to life.

Perhaps we could ask the families of those who lost loved ones, whether they would prefer an education or to be able to bury their remains with dignity? Or those that were tortured and suffer PTSD decades later if they would prefer a job or an end to their suffering? Maybe we could even give them the choice between losing their ancestral homes and livelihood or getting a free checkup at the hospital.

I am pretty sure which one they would choose.

My point is that while some may believe there were positives to communism until we have dealt with the legacy and scars of the negatives, it is an insult to discuss them.

Albania needs to implement a comprehensive program of truth, memory, and remembrance. All documents and archives containing data from that time need to be made public with no limitations. School books must include full information on what led to communism, how it impacted society, and what happened after it fell. There must be a national memorial in a prominent place, a day of remembrance, and an official apology and condemnation from both the government and the Socialist Party. Anyone who worked in politics, security, or the judiciary during the communist period must be removed from public office, the legal system, or any position of authority. Everyone who is entitled to compensation must receive it and the scope of the compensation program must be widened to include everyone with a claim. Investigations into crimes of communists must be started and completed in a swift and efficient manner. Relevant institutions must prioritize the search for missing persons, excavations, and the identification of victims. Bodies must be returned to families, and perpetrators must be identified and punished. I would go so far as to say that any praising of communism or Enver Hoxha, including events held to commemorate his death should be prohibited by law.

This is just the tip of the iceberg but they are some of the steps that should be taken to allow Albania to reconcile with its past and to move forward with dignity.

Whether her comments were taken out of context or not, for me, its morally and ethically wrong to put the word positive in a sentence discussing communism while so many are still suffering.

Fjal kye: Albania, communism, Edi Rama, luljeta bozo, Socialist Party, Tirana

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Comment: The Casual Sentiment that 'Communism Had Positives and Negatives' - Exit - Explain Albania

Albanian human rights organizations have condemned comments made by Socialist Party candidate Luljeta Bozo, who spoke in favour of communism and dictator Enver Hoxha.

In recent a television interview, Bozo was asked what she thought of the regime and dictator. She answered:

If you balance it out, for me there were more positives than negatives.

Her comments sparked outrage as she is running in the 25 April general elections in the Tirana district. So far, there has been no apology or condemnation of her comments from the PS. Following the fall of communism, the communists just changed the name of their party to the Socialist Party. Several key communist figures still hold positions of authority in Albania today.

The organizations including Historiaime, Aleanca LGBT, and ** invited the PS to distance themselves from the statement.

Defending the dictator and trying to see his activities and the anti-human system he represented, in a positive light is a missed opportunity to do justice to the thousands and thousands of lives destroyed under the regime, they wrote.

They added that Albania cannot move forward if it doesnt separate itself from the communist past while considering what happened as crimes against humanity.

The letter states that freedom of speech and expression is a key part of the democratic system, but in Germany for example, the promotion of Nazis is illegal.

The crimes of the communist system, inspired, conceived, and ordered by the dictator Enver Hoxha have caused wounds tht hurt our country even today, they wrote.

Albanias communist regime was one of the most brutal and repressive. During almost 50 years, there were 34,134 political prisoners, 984 prisoners who died in prison, 59,009 interned, 7022 killed in exile, 6023 killed during the regime, and 308 who suffered severe mental health problems in prison.

The bodies of the missing, some 6000 people, still have not been located or returned to families. Excavation orders for suspected mass grave sites have been stuck at the prosecution office for three years.

Bozo is an engineer. During the aftermath of the November 26 earthquake, she was present in the media and spoke about poor construction that led to the collapse of buildings. She was then announced as a candidate for the Socialist Party for the upcoming elections.

Fjal kye: Albania, communism, communist, luljeta bozo, Socialist Party, Tirana

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Socialist Party Asked to Distance Themselves from Candidate who Praised Communism - Exit - Explain Albania

Nigel Farage took to Twitter to lambast the European Union for "seizing" the means of production of the coronavirus vaccine. The former UKIP leader accompanied the tweet with a clip from 2013 where he labelled the trading bloc the "new communism" in European Parliament.

Mr Farage tweeted: "For years I said the European Union was the new communism...

"Now they have proved it by seizing the means of production."

In the 2013 clip, the former MEP said: "How ironic to see the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev compare your actions and say 'I can only compare it to some of the decisions taken by the Soviet authority.

"This European Union is the new communism.

READ MORE:EU embroiled in 'vicious cycle' of 'blaming' as vaccines in storage

"It is power without limits, it is creating a tide of human misery and the sooner it is swept away the better."

Earlier this year, the Reform UK leader predicted that the European Union will not exist in a decade as the trading bloc continues to economically squeeze nations in the south of the continent.

Mr Farage told LBC Britain has set the standard by reclaiming independence from the trading bloc and said countries such as Italy will have to leave the Eurozone in the future.

He added Brexit will not be reversed and the younger generation will begin to see the democratic benefits of independence from the EU.

"I dont think there will be a European Union in 10 years' time.

"We have set the standard and I think in a year or two time, you will see in a lot more mainstream opinion across European politics."

He added: "What people will come to understand including the younger generation is that the point about being independent is that democracy is vibrant and becomes real.

"We will really be in charge when we vote in general elections of laws that directly affect us, I really do not see that being reversed, at least I hope not."

Link:
'It's the new communism!' Nigel Farage renews EU warning with brutal slap down - VIDEO - Daily Express

New Delhi:Uighurs are treated as second class citizens by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), like the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and suffer from Israeli occupation and apartheid, says Olsi Jazexhi, a Canadian/Albanian historian and journalist specialised in the history of Islam, nationalism and modernity.

In an interview with IANS, Olsi said China has build massive detention centres, which it calls Vocational Training Centres, where Uighur Muslims are detained and forced to renounce their Turkic and Islamic identity.

They are prohibited from praying, living as Muslims, speaking Turkic and forced to Sinicize themselves.

The reason that we hear little about the Uighurs in the mainstream media is that China is very good on concealing what it does in Xinjiang, the neighbours of China and the Muslim world does not want to upset the Chinese superpower, Olsi added.

Olsi said the Chinese leadership is not used to an open society, democracy, human rights and multicultural values.

It is very stubborn and does not accept multi-culturalism and diversity and for them the Uighur identity is not acceptable, he added.

They see Islam, Turkic identity and Muslims as a threat to the Republic. China has officially declared war in its government papers on three evils in Xinjiang.

The historian said China does not respect and consider the Uighurs as citizens with human rights and wants to finish the Uighur issue once and for all.

That is why they are mass colonising Xinjiang, mass de-Islamising and de-Turkifying the Uighurs and forcefully turning them into Chinese. While the British invaded and Anglified India for 400 years, China is trying to do the same with the Uighurs but in a much faster and more brutal way, Olsi added.

Q: Why is the world not helping the Uighurs in China? Please tell our readers about yourself and your work on Uighur people.

A: I am a Canadian/Albanian historian and journalist specialised in the history of Islam, nationalism and modernity.

I got involved in the Uighur issue in summer 2019. I wanted to investigate the Uighur issue myself since I do not trust what I read in Western media. Very often the information that we get in the West is fake and distorted. In 20122013, many Syrian based terrorists were portrayed in the West as freedom fighters. We had many Muslims from Europe who were radicalised and joined the jihad in Syria and ended up committing a terrorist war against a foreign country. In Albania, we have a former terrorist organization, the Mojaheden el-Halk which runs a paramilitary camp. However some media in the West like to call them Iranian opposition and not what they are: a former terrorist paramilitary cult of mujahiddeens who commit acts of war against foreign countries.

My initial suspicion was that what we read about the Uighurs in the West was fake and China was being target unfairly. For these reasons I approached the Chinese embassy in Tirana and asked to join any journalist delegation and see with my own eyes the reality in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China.

Q: Why is there very little information about the Uighurs in mainstream media? What is the status of social, political and economic rights of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province?

A: During my visit to Xinjiang I found that Uighurs are treated as second class citizens by the ruling Communist Party of China. They are like Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and suffer from Israeli occupation and apartheid. The autonomous region of Xinjiang has been stripped of its autonomy and the Uighur religion, culture and population is under constant attack from Chinese invaders. China has build massive detention centers: which it calls Vocational Training Centers, where Uighur Muslims are detained and forced to renounce their Turkic and Islamic identity. They are prohibited from praying, living as Muslims, speaking Turkic and forced to Sinicize themselves.

The reason that we hear little about the Uighurs in the mainstream media is that firstly, China is very good on concealing what it does in Xinjiang; second, the neighbours of China and the Muslims world does not want to upset the Chinese superpower; third, China is very aggressive on countering any story that reveals what is does in Xinjiang. China keeps Xinjiang in total lockdown and isolation at the same way as Israel keeps West Bank and Gaza Strip or how the Iranian Mojaheden keep in isolation their soldiers in Albania.

Q: The CPC regime justifies its actions against Uighur Muslims by claiming that they are Islamist radicals and have been indulging in Islamist terrorism. What would you say to that?

A: The situation of Muslims and Islam nowadays is similar to the situation of communism in the era of Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot when Marx wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party. From China to the United States different regimes and governments use Islam and Muslims as scapegoat for their internal and domestic problems.

China has copied the US and Indias war on terrorism ideology and is using it to destroy its Uighur and other Turkic Muslim population which live in Xinjiang. While it is true that some Uighurs became radicalised in 2010s and joined extremist groups in Syria and some have even committed terrorist acts within China, this does not justify Chinas suppression with an iron fist of the Uyghur and Turkic peoples rights, culture and religion.

Terrorism is being used by China as a scapegoat in order to justify its repressive policies against its Muslim population.

Q: Is there a possibility of resolution to the conflict between Uighur dissidents and the CPC regime? If yes, what are its conditions?

A: Yes. China can resolve its Uighur issue very easily if it wants to. When I was in Xinjiang I told our Chinese friends to stop their crazy policies against the Uighurs since they will further radicalise them. I advised them to close the concentration camps, to allow Uighurs to practice their religion, to open mosques, madrasas and schools in their native language and instead of turning them into enemies China should make them partners in the development of the country.

However, the Chinese leadership is not used to an open society, democracy, human rights and multicultural values. It is very stubborn and does not accept multi-culturalism and diversity and for them the Uighur identity is not acceptable. They see Islam, Turkic identity and Muslims as a threat to the Republic. China has officially declared war in its government papers on three evils in Xinjiang:

1. Terrorism, which means Uighur Muslims who fight with Chinese forces.

2. Separatism, which means peaceful Muslims who want to become independent from China like Mahatma Gandhi did in India.and

3. Religious extremism, which means any Uighur Muslim who practices his religion and believes in Allah and not the Communist Party of China.

China considers all these three groups as enemies which must be destroyed. Mahatma Gandhi like Dalai Lama would have been considered terrorists and killed in China or be sent to concentration camps to be de-radicalised.

China does not respect and consider the Uighurs as citizens with human rights. It wants to finish the Uighur issue once and for all. That is why they are mass colonising Xinjiang, mass de-islamizing and de-Turkifying the Uighurs and forcefully turning them into Chinese. While the British invaded and Anglified India for 400 years, China is trying to do the same with the Uighurs but in a much faster and more brutal way.

Q: Why have the super powers of the world remained so apathetic towards the persecution of Uighur people in Xinjiang?

A: The US, the UK, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Turkey and their allies are not apathetic towards the Uighur persecution. They have condemned the persecution of the Uighurs but obviously they cannot force China to stop what it is doing like they cannot do to much about Hong Kong or Tibet. China is an economic and nuclear super power. It has the power it needs to do whatever it wants with the Uighurs and get away with murder.

Russia on the other hand does not talk about the Uighur issue since, even though they know very well the situation. They need China as an ally to face off Western imperialism.

If I would quote the ancient Greek historian Thucydides about what China is doing today with the Uighurs I would say:

The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must.

Q: How can the world hold the CPC regime accountable for its oppression of Uighur people?

A: The world can hold the CPC regime accountable in three ways:

1. Through the international law. But China has veto power in the United Nations Security Council.

2. Through the Right to Protect doctrine of Western imperialism. Which means through the threat of a military intervention or arming of Uighurs to defend themselves, which is impossible since the West will not fight for Muslims like it does for Israel.

3. Through a worldwide moral and social mobilization, which is also impossible since China is an economic superpower and many countries of the world are not willing to put China under embargo for its treatment of Muslims.

In few words we came to the conclusion of Thucydides. China will continue its oppression of the Uighurs since it is strong and can do what it can. The weak Uighurs will suffer what they must.

Only Allah who can twist the history of mankind as He wants, can change the desperate situation of the Turkic Muslims of China.

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Uighurs treated as 2nd class citizens by Communist Party of China - The Siasat Daily