Ukraine

[River Don]

Apparently the Prosecutor general of Ukraine is saying the situation in the town of Borodyanka is significantly worse than Bucha or the other satellite towns of Kiev. It makes me wonder how it could possibly be worse. Just a lot more of the same I think.

And then there will be Mariupol. Which might possibly never be revealed to us.

It makes me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Me too RD.

I'm on holiday tonight. Reading about this bestiality. And wondering if humanity deserves a future.

[BobG]

Trouble is BST, the Yanks are full of this shite too. They have a helluva lot of folk who deny objective truth all day, every day. And they export it....

BobG

[SydneyRover]

Unfortunately the rouble recovered somewhat, hopefully this will put a dent in it .....

''Russia’s sovereign bond coupon payments stopped: US Treasury source
Russia’s latest sovereign bond coupon payments have been stopped, a source familiar with the matter and a spokeswoman for the US Treasury told Reuters, putting it closer to a historic default.

The latest sovereign bond coupon payments have not received authorisation by the US Treasury to be processed by correspondent bank JPMorgan, the source said.

The payments were due on bonds due in 2022 and 2042.

The correspondent bank processes the coupon payments from Russia, sending them to the payment agent to distribute to overseas bondholders.

Previously, coupon payments on sovereign bonds had been processed, sources told Reuters.

A US Treasury spokeswoman also confirmed that certain payments were no longer being allowed.

“Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment,” the spokeswoman said. “Beginning today, the US Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions. Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default.”

''The country has a 30-day grace period to make the payment, the source said.

Russia, which has a total of 15 international bonds outstanding with a face value of around $40bn, has managed to avoid defaulting on its international debt so far despite unprecedented western sanctions.

If Russia fails to make any of its upcoming bond payments within their pre-defined timeframes, or pays in roubles where dollars, euros or another currency is specified, it will constitute a default''

the Guardian

[Filo]

Is anyone  not surprised by this? The Red Army in WW2 committed atrocities  on their march to Berlin, so much so that German troops were fleeing to surrender to the Western allies rather than being captured by the Red Army, a blind eye was turned because they were on our side

[SydneyRover]

The bbc interviewed a woman that had to bury her own murdered son, she picked him up off the road, took his body home in a wheelbarrow and dug the grave herself. They occupied her house and the debris shows they spent most of the time drinking various and plentiful bottles of spirits . They are beyond description.

[River Don]

Is anyone  not surprised by this? The Red Army in WW2 committed atrocities  on their march to Berlin, so much so that German troops were fleeing to surrender to the Western allies rather than being captured by the Red Army, a blind eye was turned because they were on our side

It's not exactly that a blind eye was turned, Churchill understood the threat from Russia but there wasn't the stomach for more war.

I think what we're witnessing now is worse than the atrocities of WWII. That came after a bitter conflict, hate and revenge was in the air. This is against a peaceful nation. What's more Russia's sister nation. Many of those Russian troops will have Ukrainian family. There will be Ukranians in that Russian army.

It's like a civil war but then I suppose civil wars are bitter.

[drfchound]

Me too RD.

I'm on holiday tonight. Reading about this bestiality. And wondering if humanity deserves a future.

Of course humanity deserves a future.
Fortunately depraved people are in the minority.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Trouble is BST, the Yanks are full of this shite too. They have a helluva lot of folk who deny objective truth all day, every day. And they export it....

BobG

Not all of them Bob. It sounds biassed to say this but it really, truly is not. This denial of Objective Truth is a feature predominantly of the Right in modern politics. It just does not happen to any great extent on the centre and most of the Left (until you get to the very extreme).

We have to address this is a sensible way, rather than go tribal and refuse to accept criticism of the side they support. Politicians HAVE to be held to account for deniable of Objective Truth. Because you see where it leads if we don't do that. 

[SydneyRover]

Continuing on from my comment above, I'm hopeful this may force putin into real negotiations.

this is a better bit

''US stops Russian dollar bond payments in bid to raise pressure on Moscow
The US government has ratcheted up the financial pressure on Russia, by halting its ability to make debt payments in dollars through US banks.

The move could bring Moscow a step closer to potentially defaulting on its obligations to international investors.

The US Treasury prevented Russia from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600m from reserves held at American banks yesterday, Reuters reports.

It would force Russia to choose between using dollar reserves held in its own country to service its debts, or spend new revenue, or miss bond payments and go into default.

This puts more pressure on Moscow, at a time when its economy is already weakening (today’s PMI report showed company growth contracting).

A US Treasury spokesperson said late on Monday that:

Beginning today, the US Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at US financial institutions.

Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default.”

The move came just as Russia was due to make a $552.4m payment on a maturing bond yesterday, and after the discovery of mass graves and bodies of bound civilians shot at close range in the town of Bucha, prompting calls for more sanctions.

An earlier debt payment had been allowed last month, despite the freeze on Russia’s foreign exchange reserves. But the US Treasury now seems to have changed its position, blocking Moscow from tapping its dollars held in US banks to service its debts''

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The bbc interviewed a woman that had to bury her own murdered son, she picked him up off the road, took his body home in a wheelbarrow and dug the grave herself. They occupied her house and the debris shows they spent most of the time drinking various and plentiful bottles of spirits . They are beyond description.

It just beggars belief the Russian UN rep can sit there and say those bodies in the street are faked and were put there after the Russians withdrew, when there's clear evidence from aerial photography from a date during the Russian occupation the bodies were already there!

I think we all hope the coming attack on the Donbass region is met with the Uktainians ability to pick off their armour and missiles with continued success and push the Russians back from whence they came.

[BillyStubbsTears]

DBR.

If your entire political system is based on simply denying the existence of any awkward truths, you absolutely can sit in front of the UN and deny reality.

This is what I've been saying for years. The assault on Objective Truth, the normalisation of out and out lying, is the single biggest threat to humanity. Far bigger than climate change.

[BobG]

Trouble is BST, the Yanks are full of this shite too. They have a helluva lot of folk who deny objective truth all day, every day. And they export it....

BobG

Not all of them Bob. It sounds biassed to say this but it really, truly is not. This denial of Objective Truth is a feature predominantly of the Right in modern politics. It just does not happen to any great extent on the centre and most of the Left (until you get to the very extreme).

We have to address this is a sensible way, rather than go tribal and refuse to accept criticism of the side they support. Politicians HAVE to be held to account for deniable of Objective Truth. Because you see where it leads if we don't do that. 

Yes. Yes. Yes!

BobG

[turnbull for england]

Trouble is BST, the Yanks are full of this shite too. They have a helluva lot of folk who deny objective truth all day, every day. And they export it....

BobG

Not all of them Bob. It sounds biassed to say this but it really, truly is not. This denial of Objective Truth is a feature predominantly of the Right in modern politics. It just does not happen to any great extent on the centre and most of the Left (until you get to the very extreme).

We have to address this is a sensible way, rather than go tribal and refuse to accept criticism of the side they support. Politicians HAVE to be held to account for deniable of Objective Truth. Because yo



u see where it leads if we don't do that. 

Yes. Yes. Yes!



BobG

"I'll have what he's having"



NB sorry I know this thread isn't the place

[Bentley Bullet]

When Billy met Bobby.

[BobG]

Brilliant Turnbull. Puerile Bentley.

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

Brilliant Turnbull. Puerile Bentley.

BobG

Seems to have pure riled you, Bobby.

[River Don]

Brilliant Turnbull. Puerile Bentley.

BobG

Seems to have pure riled you, Bobby.

It's not a game.

Murder, rape, mutilation, torture. On an industrial scale.

Let's not go down the usual purile rabbit hole.

[Bentley Bullet]

Who said it was a game?

[River Don]

Who said it was a game?

No one but we know how this usually starts. And I know you are itching to come back.

[Bentley Bullet]

I've never been away. Who's WE, by the way, the handful of Billy's yes yes yes men?

[River Don]

Off we go.

f**k sake.

[Bentley Bullet]

Sorry to disappoint you, but I've no intention of conversing with the self-righteous brothers on this subject.

[River Don]

Thank f**k for that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Absolutely no topic that he won't drag into this narcicssistic gutter.

Have some f**king self respect BB.

[River Don]

These bas**rds will take a knife and cut your tongue out if you say the wrong thing.

And yet one of the most upsetting stories I've read is of a dog shelter, where 300 animals have been allowed to starve to death in their cages.

So many stories of absolute hell. War is just the release of all notions of decency and the abandonment of the rule of law. It's difficult to pinpoint war crimes because it's all a crime.

[Bentley Bullet]

Absolutely no topic that he won't drag into this narcicssistic gutter.

Have some f**king self respect BB.

You know the really sad thing about when you make a post like the one above is not so much your obsession with portraying yourself as the doyen of sanctimony, it is the handful of disciples who actually believe you.

[SydneyRover]

I hate it when the off season starts early

[SydneyRover]

''Ukraine war: Clacton ambulance aid convoy 'changes lives' of volunteers''

Amongst the horror, this is a great story ....

''Volunteers who fundraised to buy three ambulances and pack them with medical supplies for Ukraine said the trip from the UK "changed us all"''

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-60984418

[Bristol Red Rover]

War is shite and dehumanising, attrocities have always happened and always will. As for Russian WW2 attrocities, you have to put them alongside the attrocities committed by the Germans as they moved east. In the Ukraine, any attrocities by Russians also have to be put alongside those committed by the Ukrainians eg Odessa, Donbass. Western media bias - of course.

This is a war between the US and Russia, Ukraine is a pawn. You can judge who is responsible for what only if you are looking at the big picture. Nationalism of all kind is evil.