Weston Super Saint

There may be a wider issue though as the Polish planes are currently in Poland, so how do you get them into Ukraine? Either a Polish fighter pilot flies them into a disputed warzone - which could very easily be spun by Russia to claim that a NATO country is carrying out an act of aggression against their invasion thus leading to an escalation that NATO don't want to enter into - or Ukrainian fighter pilots pick them up in Poland and fly them into Ukraine - with a similar result from Russia claiming they were 'launched' from a NATO country. I think the original suggestion was that the US would supply planes to Poland and it was up to them to get them to Ukraine. Poland then announced that they would give the Migs to the US and they could then get them to Ukraine - this is the suggestion that the US took umbrage with. Different with weapons moving across the border as presumably they would be in crates / packaging and therefore much harder to interpret as an act of aggression rather than a transaction between countries.

I probably quoted the wrong post. The point about NATO not doing more in this (and many, many other wars / conflicts) is still valid. As Badger / Lighthouse point out, the obvious issue is around the ability of the Ukrainian pilots to fly the planes. Pretty sure it was the topgear episode when they went from Crimea to Chernobyl where they found an enormous 'Mig' graveyard. Might be more useful to supply them with aircraft engineers and get those bad boys up and running again....

Not just their terms, anyone's terms, this is not exclusive to Russia and NATO has intervened against any other agressor. NATO is not the world's police force and is a defensive pact ONLY for its own members. If you ain't part of the club, you don't get protection, so if one of the bigger boys wants to nick your sweets, they can (unless you defend yourself).

Because if we did that and lost 2 of them 90% of our air force would be wiped out. (For Tamesaint's benefit [/sarcasm] )

Which is odd as a number of them have stated they will continue to pay wages for the staff (it's not their fault after all).

I guessed it worked for Blair, so the mad fucker might get away with! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60683248

And the Russian national debt gets downgraded almost on a daily basis. Pretty soon they will be defaulting on their debts and will be looking to sell their oil and gas to whoever will buy it for next to nothing.

If I was MLG I would point out that I posted a number of pages back that I didn't think the British Army (and its Generals) would simply turn tail and run away from a fight. Still, nice to know you're keeping up (For Tamesaint's benefit [/sarcasm])

True. Verifiable (from the BBC), interviews with the mothers of 'missing' soldiers backs it up as well.

This is an interesting read with numerous references to conscripts signing 3 year military contracts just days before being sent to 'guard' the Belarus - Ukraine border... It also makes reference to 11,000 dead Russians (at the end of the article). For those too thick to have noticed (Tamesaint gets a nod as always), the part of my previous post highligted above was sarcasm. I don't for one minute think our armed forces would be wiped out in a weekend because we lose a tank and a few squaddies. I am more than happy to acknowledge that our armed forces have been diminished (rightly so in times when they aren't needed), but we make up for numbers with technological gains. Let's also not forget that service men/women can be called back to active service if needed, so numbers really won't be an issue.

To be fair, you have to hand it to these Russians. Current claims from Ukraine are that around 11,000 Russian troops have been killed (about 10% of the invading force?) in just over a week. If that was us, the loss of a tank and a couple of squadies over a weekend would have caused the entire army to surrender and retreat with its tail between its legs, accepting the inevitable, but the Russians appear to be made of sterner stuff....

I'm not convinced UK Nationals would be seeking asylum from war in Ireland would they?

It involves crossroads (not the TV programme).

Yes

"I will not be touching 'that'" "No, I'm fucking not making the dinner" #thoughtprovoking

So they can live in Ireland for up to 3 years, or cross the water to England and end up living somewhere like Wolverhampton or Coventry. Not sure there's much of a dilemma there...

Some NATO countries want to have their cake, eat it and leave without paying for it?

To be fair, it just says 'arms crossed', so it could be...

Meh, they'll have the backing of the EU army.

Not sure you've truly grasped the very basics of mutually assured destruction.

I don't think Ukraine have nukes. Not sure your prophecy will come true...

There won't be any profits....

Because the UKR President isn't stupid and knows that if NATO instigates a no-fly-zone, they will instantly be drawn into the war. He desperately wants that as it will massively bolster his forces and direct Russian aggression in several directions. NATO on the otherhand doesn't want to go to war with Russia as it will inevitably end up with the big red buttons being pressed.

I suspect Gavin's announcement was just a little tester to see how people react to crazy news during the Ukrainian 'special operations'. I'm expecting the results of the 'party' investigations to be quietly announced later this week, sandwiched between pictures of babies with missing limbs and dying Grandmas after their accomodation blocks have been hit by missiles (although they need to hurry up as there won't be many of those left by Wednesday!). War has been pretty good for Boris, taking the attention away from his misdemeanours whilst giving him a platform for his best Winston impressions.