Ukraine

[SydneyRover]

A refugee is a refugee is a refugee.

''“someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

we did sign a convention, right?

https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/what-is-a-refugee.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9Csomeone%20who%20is%20unable%20or,group%2C%20or%20political%20opinion.%E2%80%9D

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Shouldn't we vet each and every single one of them though?  Or do we just allow any old Russian spy/terrorist etc to claim they are a Ukrainian refugee?  If you don't check them you don't know.

[drfchound]

You can imagine the fuss if we got another Salisbury situation.

[SydneyRover]

We don't vet politicians that are up close and more than personal with russian criminals and cronies

[DonnyOsmond]

Axholme the Putin apologist has gone quiet recently.

I'd rather trust RT than the BBC.

[drfchound]

We don't vet politicians that are up close and more than personal with russian criminals and cronies

I don’t think that we in England do it particularly well either.

[BillyStubbsTears]

We don't vet politicians that are up close and more than personal with russian criminals and cronies

Well we DID vet Lebedev. Then Johnson told the security services to vet him differently.

[wilts rover]

Shouldn't we vet each and every single one of them though?  Or do we just allow any old Russian spy/terrorist etc to claim they are a Ukrainian refugee?  If you don't check them you don't know.

Yes I think it is absolutely disgraceful that Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, France, Germany and all the other countries currenly assiting these people are letting hundreds of thousands of potential Russian spies sleep on the floors of their train stations with no belongings - because thats what spies do.

When they could just as easily pop on Roman's yacht or plane, or pose as a diplomat in the Embassy, and arrive in the UK with no questions asked. Maybe they want to save money by walking here?

Pathetic. Nigel Farage - come on down...

[SydneyRover]

We don't vet politicians that are up close and more than personal with russian criminals and cronies

Well we DID vet Lebedev. Then Johnson told the security services to vet him differently.

There are too many apologists hanging around making excuses

[albie]

There is a further point on the refugee issue that people need to consider.

The UK (Patel) is still applying visa requirements, despite some not having documentation available, because they fled a war zone in an emergency.

Those people are in a difficult place. But if they do have relatives in the UK, then at least they have someone to help out, to argue their case.

The most vulnerable are those WITHOUT anyone in the UK to offer support.
Patel seems to be saying those in greatest need should be ignored by the UK.

Utterly shameful of her in my book, and also disgraceful from other parties to fail to point out this obvious fact.

[BobG]

50 visas issued. 50. And there's  over a million and a half refugees...

Great performance Patel. f**king great. Remind me, what are your antecedents?

Like that asshole Portillo who does the train journeys on tv. His parents fled Spain in the 1930s to avoid the Civil War. So their son, a major minister in 1980s Conservative governments led the 'no foreigners here' campaign for years.

BobG

[normal rules]

I’m beginning to see what could end up being a resolution to this.
Putin is failing big time in his military assault on the whole country. It’s fragmented. Plagued by lack of moral, and logistics. And loss of life.
Putin may see a way out of this though.
Looking at the graphics of areas taken by Russia to date, he has created a Russian corridor in the south linking the rebel held areas in the east to the strategically important ports in the south and Crimea itself.
A bit like the Dayton accord in Bosnia, there could be a divvying up of land here. Allow Putin his access to Crimea through a land corridor and leave the rest of Ukraine as is.
This could be a possible end game for him. Not ideal for Ukrainians of course.
We shall see.

[River Don]

Road sign in Odessa

Straight on: f**k off
Left: f**k off again
Right: f**k off back to Russia

[glosterred]

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

Over 50000.  To my point made before it's right to vet these people, security neccesitates it.  But 50 approved? That's pathetic.  Do it but do it quick.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

Over 50000.  To my point made before it's right to vet these people, security neccesitates it.  But 50 approved? That's pathetic.  Do it but do it quick.

Because we are special.

[glosterred]

Next question that I don't have an answer to. Where are we going to put them? The same hotels as the Afghan refuges that have been in there months now? Or do we build a refuge camp somewhere. Then that brings in the nimbies. So what do we do with this 50000?

[KeithMyath]

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

Over 50000.  To my point made before it's right to vet these people, security neccesitates it.  But 50 approved? That's pathetic.  Do it but do it quick.

How many terrorist cells were there in Ukraine before Russia invaded. How many news stories are you aware of that showed the dangers to Europe from Ukraine terrorists? Couple that with the fact that nearly 98% are women, children, elderly and disabled what vetting would you feel comfortable with? Most of the men that made it across the border did so to get there family to safety before going back to defend their country.

We have signed up with the Airbnb project to let Ukraine people use our holiday let and Annex, happy to do that for a year, apparently 18,000 households have signed up in various schemes in the UK as of last Friday, it wouldn't take a huge amount more to house 50,000.  However currently there is no way for them to stay in the UK even with this offer.

[glosterred]

Did you do that for the Afghans as well?

[River Don]

Next question that I don't have an answer to. Where are we going to put them? The same hotels as the Afghan refuges that have been in there months now? Or do we build a refuge camp somewhere. Then that brings in the nimbies. So what do we do with this 50000?

Well in Poland and Germany people are opening their houses and letting people stay in spare rooms.

There was a suggestion that there could be as many as 5 million refugees!  That's going to be a challenge for all of Europe.

TBH we are considering letting someone stay in our spare small bedroom.

[BobG]

I have several spare rooms to offer.

BobG

[Metalmicky]

We would also happily open up our spare room to refugees - if there were a way to do so. 

It's perhaps no surprise that now we are outside the EU circle, we are finding difficulty in accomplishing basic operational tasks and find ourselves outside looking in somewhat.  The fact that the public (and government) has committed much in financial assistance and aid may not be reflected well if we can't physically support the people fleeing by offering them safe shelter and refuge.  It's a logistical problem, but surely not an insurmountable issue.  Let's hope that PP and her people pull their fingers out quickly and get this moving with some urgency...     

[KeithMyath]

Did you do that for the Afghans as well?

Although I fully understand what you are trying to signal with your comment. Airbnb did not set up a system where we could, we did though for NHS staff during the pandemic and we also did as part of the Grenville tragedy, although neither was taken up as we are pretty remote in Cornwall.

It's extremely difficult to allow people to use our homes here in the UK. It's not the case in the EU and that is simply wrong.

[SydneyRover]

Dangerous and difficult times bring out the best in people

[BillyStubbsTears]

There are dozens of apartments in London, owned by Russian kleptocrats as investment properties and left empty.

Start by requisitioning them.

And for those who say "you can't", you CAN. You just need the will.

[SydneyRover]

''McDonald’s Corp and PepsiCo Inc are among companies continuing to operate in Russia, prompting New York state’s pension fund - a shareholder in the pair - to urge them to consider pausing their operations there''

Maybe there's are a couple of companies here to avoid until they get on the right side of history.

[Axholme Lion]

Axholme the Putin apologist has gone quiet recently.

I'd rather trust RT than the BBC.

You can still get RT on other platforms, so that's good news.
TBH i can't be bothered posting any more, it's a waste of breath and everyone's made their minds up in any case. VICTORY TO RUSSIA!

[glosterred]

AL you’ve posted some crap on this and other threads but your contribution to this thread has surpassed your previous crap, glad you cannot be bothered to post anymore. This forum and this thread will be better for it

[wilts rover]

Next question that I don't have an answer to. Where are we going to put them? The same hotels as the Afghan refuges that have been in there months now? Or do we build a refuge camp somewhere. Then that brings in the nimbies. So what do we do with this 50000?

In the country mansions of the 2000+ Russian nationals with connections to Putin in this country that we are not seizing. Or the several thousand London apartments they own but keep empty for investment reasons.

I wonder where the Poles/Romainians/Slovaks etc are going to 'put them'. With them not having the luxury of so many empty properties or being a G7 country with one of the richest economies in the world.

[wilts rover]

Genuine question as I don't know the answer. This country has so far issued 50 visas to those wanting to come to this country. Does anyone know the actual number that has applied? Is it just 50, is 100, is 1000, is it more?

Before people have a go at me does anyone actually know how many have applied. Yes we should take more I agree with that.

Over 50000.  To my point made before it's right to vet these people, security neccesitates it.  But 50 approved? That's pathetic.  Do it but do it quick.

Been on the radio this morning that there is 1 person processing applications in the British Embassy in Poland.

Also reported that other countries have people processing in the refugee processing centres that have been set up across Poland.

We have 1 person in the Embassy in Warsaw. The invasion began 11 days ago.

All this off the radio btw so cant link.