buctootim

33 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I don't know if you're more or less scared of stuff at that age. I'm in my thirties and sh*t my pants sat in front of a two person job interview panel.

Try singing to them next time. It might relax you   

Amazing nerves to perform in front of that many people at that age. 

6 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

A fifth general killed apparently. Is there a sticker album where you get to collect all 20?

At least one of them was blown up so it might have to be a jigsaw puzzle instead

Did everyone see these amazing pics from the Alps? Snowy mountain tops covered in Saharan sand 

5 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

At the moment they are fighting the Russians. That is the only measure that matters.

The Azov battalion used to be right wing nationalist self governed private army that a very militarily weak Ukrainian government had to lean on during the Russian invasion of 2014. Since then they have been transformed brought under the control of the Government, the nationalism diluted by many of the original members dying in Donbass and transferring in regular recruits. It has very little in common with the battalion of 2014

Im not really one for corporate name and shame campaigns. But these companies are hoovering up new business and profit from companies who have done the right thing and left the Russian market.

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

Good news at last for this poor woman and her family.

I never thought I would say this but well done Liz Truss. She has always appeared to be a bit dim and something of an intellectual lightweight pretending to be something she isn't.  The political equivalent of Weston Super Saint but she has come up with the goods this time.

Of course Truss's success as Foreign Secretary in this matter  contrasts somewhat with the performance of our buffoon of a PM when he was Foreign Secretary. He made things worse for Ratcliffe by his bumbling nonsense. I wonder if he is now looking fearfully over his shoulder at Truss 

Great news ofc, but as Plastic says, almost entirely due to releasing the £400m of Iranian the UK has been holding pretty much illegally for 30 odd years.  

13 hours ago, farawaysaint said:

Not to put to fine a point on it but Ukraine was corrupt. Corruption was rife!

Not an excuse to invade however as I would bet my life savings that Russia is even more corrupt.

This kind of argument to justify invading a sovereign nation is absolutely insane.

Ukraine does have a corruption problem, institutional since the Soviet days BUT its gradually reducing and nothing like the levels of corruption in Russia. In Russia its not even corruption as we'd understand it, it starts with outright theft of state assets at the very top and cascades down to things like paying to pass university courses. You want to be a surgeon, have no experience but have money? sure no problem. You want to be a surgeon after six years of medical school but can't afford to bribe the examiners? sorry no chance.             

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Bugger. That’s his summer holidays knackered. Where else might he go?

The Eastern Shore in Delaware in nice. 

8 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Can’t see super companies like Apple or Nike refusing to use Chinese sweatshops to build or make their latest products, profits speak louder than sanctions. That’s before we factor in the likelihood of whether the west will stop importing agricultural products, or steel as two examples.

We'd just put tariffs on, which would change the economics of importing Chinese goods.  

Just now, cloggy saint said:

That's about the equivalent of £8.50, I fully expected her to 'disappear'. Either way, she's an incredibly brave woman.

Thats the way they operate. Hit her with a modest slap on wrist to demonstrate what a free and liberal society Russia is then when the focus on her moves on accuse her of corruption or some other crime and bang her up for 10 years. 

2 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

The US threatening China with sanctions should they help Russia with military equipment…what exactly can they hit one of the largest economies in the world with that would make any kind of difference to them?

Buying less of their stuff. The EU and US account for two thirds of their exports 

Ukrainian farmer goes all in 

1 hour ago, whelk said:

And brain drain more so now than ever https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-motherland-faces-serious-brain-drain-as-liberal-russians-flee-putins-persecution-12565229

I imagine it's speeded up since the invasion f'sure but its been going on since basically Putin dropped his western democrat act in the late 90s. My friends son came to England six years ago and never went back, now works as an qualified engineer. His new wife who he met here is also Russian, a brilliant economist, did something very similar.     

54 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Putin is so obsessed with being seen as a global superpower that he can’t accept the world has changed. A declining, ageing population, a stagnant economy which is largely dependant on primary industries, increasingly isolated from the biggest trading partners and the only friend they’ve got is another self-serving dictatorship who’re going to buttf*ck them for whatever natural resources they need.

Aside from having a big pile of nukes (in who knows what condition) they aren’t a superpower by any real metric.

Absolutely, don't disagree with any of that.  

19 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Some people felt hopeless like that when we invaded Iraq! Instead, Blair got re-elected and eventually given a Knighthood. That does not excuse what Russia are doing, bit proves that attention spans are very short - amongst western communities at least.

A small lunatic fringe felt like that with Brexit FFS!

But generally, Russia will have changed forever (and not for the better) after this conflict/war/Invasion

 

I'm not sure that's true in Russia's case. In part the reason for the lack of substantial opposition in country is that people dont feel it is possible to overthrow this regime and are instead leaving. There has been a brain drain over the past 20 years - Russia's brightest and best young people are voting with their feet.

It really does feel like a country in terminal decline, exactly because its not possible to ditch the source of the problem.  

I just got this email from a long time friend, a medical doctor in Russia, who has always been upbeat and positive. Ukraine might be bombed but it seems it's Russia which is broken. 

"It’s difficult for me to say anything certain these days.  

At the start of this war, we collapsed as a nation.  There is no united Russian nation now and probably never will be.  The crack that went through Russian society during the annexation of Crimea has now turned into a rift, and this abyss can no longer be plugged.

There are two peoples inside my country.  One lives with the feeling that the end of the world has come and does not know how to deal with it, while the other one has ordinary life and worries only about prices.  This is not yet a civil war, but the thickness of the blank wall between these peoples can already be envied by Berlin.

The absence of a general popular reaction to the terrible evil that the Putin and government are doing means only one thing: the Russian nation has no backbone, and it cannot stand without support.  The only thing holding her back is the force of inertia.

What unites us all after the moral catastrophe that occurred?  What is now common between a resident of Krasnodar and a resident of Khabarovsk?  What will make them stand under a common flag?  What will keep all these people in a single eggshell when this power is inevitably overturned and when everyone who has eyes is horrified by what they are left with? It seems nothing.

The Ukrainian nation is now truly born under the bullets of Putin.  Ours is dying.  Putin confident that he is a collector of Russian lands, that he is able to take and shove back into the USSR those who escaped by force from there, and recreate this monstrous Frankenstein. In fact, over all the years of his reign, he has achieved only one thing - truly and finally  destroyed Russia.

It is not yet visible to the eye but it will certainly become"

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Anybody going to take in a refugee?

I might. I have a couple of friends who are deciding where to go - one is in Warsaw and one Berlin. Tbh Im advising them they'll be better off in a EU country rather than dealing with the hurdles and lack of support Britain is bound to make them face.  

Would be nice to think so 

7 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Russia making advances West, with Lviv their goal. Which would be a game changer if took/flattened. However, highly unlikely though. They continue to encircle other major cities. 

Russia's' "front" is absolutely enormous. Many commentators seriously questioning how it can be sustained. 

It odd. Almost as if someone is deliberately effing it up.  

18 minutes ago, aintforever said:

I think the difference is NATO is a defensive organisation so supplying ‘defensive’ weapons is OK, it might be semantics but it’s probably a line that is not worth crossing given what is at stake.

Wouldn't be surprised if some deal has been struck with China and that line was the price. 

Just when you thought the justifications couldn't get any more bizarre.   

6 minutes ago, farawaysaint said:

How are Luxembourg the wealthiest country in Europe net beneficiaries? 🤔

Lots of EU staff based there 

European institutions established in Luxembourg

Luxembourg is now home to a large number of European institutions, agencies and bodies, including, in particular:

• the  Secretariat General of the European Parliament;
• theEuropean Commission, with entities from many Directorates-General;
• thePublications Office of the European Union (PO);
• the  Court of Justice of the European Union
• the  European Court of Auditors;
• the  European Investment Bank (EIB) and the  European Investment Fund (EIF);
• the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF);
• the European Stability Mechanism (ESM);
• theTranslation Centre(CDT);
• the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA);
• the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA)
• the EuroHPC.

Figures are distorted by people like Apple and Google channelling EU profits through them, but still.  

Just now, whelk said:

Now EU grants have built everything 

You know they are wealthier than us right?