0 Members and 5 Guests are viewing this topic.
Quote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 10:31:37 pmQuote from: drfchound on March 17, 2022, 10:07:06 pmQuote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 09:25:59 pmnoone likes trolls but they still persistHelp me out Syd, who is this “noone” that you keep mentioning?Genuine question.Not sure why you'd need my help hound just look in the mirrorWeyhey, thanks for being so predictable.You have just won me a fiver.Seriously though, why do you write “noone”.
Quote from: drfchound on March 17, 2022, 10:07:06 pmQuote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 09:25:59 pmnoone likes trolls but they still persistHelp me out Syd, who is this “noone” that you keep mentioning?Genuine question.Not sure why you'd need my help hound just look in the mirror
Quote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 09:25:59 pmnoone likes trolls but they still persistHelp me out Syd, who is this “noone” that you keep mentioning?Genuine question.
noone likes trolls but they still persist
Quote from: drfchound on March 17, 2022, 10:36:06 pmQuote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 10:31:37 pmQuote from: drfchound on March 17, 2022, 10:07:06 pmQuote from: SydneyRover on March 17, 2022, 09:25:59 pmnoone likes trolls but they still persistHelp me out Syd, who is this “noone” that you keep mentioning?Genuine question.Not sure why you'd need my help hound just look in the mirrorWeyhey, thanks for being so predictable.You have just won me a fiver.Seriously though, why do you write “noone”.apologies hound, troll and pedant
Looks like China has decided to cut Putin adrift. Massive, massive news if this is a real policy decision.https://mobile.twitter.com/ThreshedThought/status/1504562237641482252
President Zelensky highly critical of Germany in speech to Reichstag: -"We told you Nord Stream was a weapon and a preparation for a great war. We heard in response it was a question of business.""When we asked for preventative sanctions......We saw delays. We felt resistance...you wanted to continue the economy.""Every year politicians repeat the words: never again. And now we see these words are worth nothing.""We are trying to defend our country without your support.""Why is a country that is across the ocean [the USA] helping us more now?""Chancellor Schulz give Germany the leadership that you deserve which will make future generations proud." i.e. implying the opposite has been the case previously.Take the time to listen to this speech. A great speech by a great man. And a damning indictment of the geopolitical priorities of the biggest economy in Europe.www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT-FdDgNaC4www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HuiKhRK3mU
This makes interesting readinghttps://twitter.com/investigate_eu/status/1504353552738758658
Branton.May I suggest you are rather missing the big picture here?Zelensky is acting a role.Ask yourself: what does Zelensky want more than anything? He wants the fighting to end and Russia to get out of Ukraine.There's only two ways that is going to happen. Either the fighting goes on for years until Russia's will is ground down. Or Putin is given something he can hold up as a victory, facilitating retreat.Zelensky would be insane to will the former. So he's implicitly offering Russia two things to speed the former.Ukraine will not join NATO.Ukraine will not join the EU. Or, more specifically, will not buddy up to Germany. But joining NATO and the EU have been popular in Ukraine for years. So he needs to take public opinion with him.He needs to tell Ukraine that NATO and Germany haven't been their friends.He's already done that effectively with NATO. He shouted from the rooftops that he needed a NATO no-fly zone, knowing damn well that NATO could not do that without starting WWIII. Now he can say to his people: see! NATO isn't our salvation. Berating Germany is the next step. Germany has just announced that it is doubling its defence budget. It has finally realised the military threat that Russia poses. If Zelensky cuddles up to Germany, that makes it impossible for Putin to withdraw. So Zelensky has to very publicly distance himself from Germany. He's doing it in a way that has to convince Putin he means it, and convince the Ukrainian people that Germany didn't help them.Finally, he's bigging up us because he needs to give a signal on where a post war Ukraine will be aligned. If he's not going to be able to get closer to the EU, he will want to have relations with the UK. Because that is less threatening to Putin. He is playing a very skilful game for the highest stakes. Please don't drag this down into a Brexit swamp.
Quote from: glosterred on March 17, 2022, 03:03:56 pmThis makes interesting readinghttps://twitter.com/investigate_eu/status/1504353552738758658Yes, why have it left the UK out? We have exported £56 million worth of arms (£1.5 billion, 'military capable' goods) to Russia since 2010.https://bylinetimes.com/2022/02/15/uk-approved-military-exports-to-russia-exceed-ukraine-by-18-million-since-2010/https://aoav.org.uk/2018/uk-arms-exports-to-russia/https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/british-arms-firms-given-licences-23336113
I reserve the right to criticise who I like BR, and I'm happy to criticise the lying cnut we have for a pm whom blamed the EU for Russia invading the Crimea ffs, and he lied again and again about the UK leading the charge to sanction the oligarchs. I think Zelensky is getting stuck into Germany rightfully for becoming dependent on russian gas. Are you concerned at all about johnson going begging to the saudi's for oil?
Quote from: wilts rover on March 18, 2022, 01:03:15 pmQuote from: glosterred on March 17, 2022, 03:03:56 pmThis makes interesting readinghttps://twitter.com/investigate_eu/status/1504353552738758658Yes, why have it left the UK out? We have exported £56 million worth of arms (£1.5 billion, 'military capable' goods) to Russia since 2010.https://bylinetimes.com/2022/02/15/uk-approved-military-exports-to-russia-exceed-ukraine-by-18-million-since-2010/https://aoav.org.uk/2018/uk-arms-exports-to-russia/https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/british-arms-firms-given-licences-23336113Maybe simply that the UK isn’t in the EU any more.
Quote from: glosterred on March 18, 2022, 02:57:42 pmQuote from: wilts rover on March 18, 2022, 01:03:15 pmQuote from: glosterred on March 17, 2022, 03:03:56 pmThis makes interesting readinghttps://twitter.com/investigate_eu/status/1504353552738758658Yes, why have it left the UK out? We have exported £56 million worth of arms (£1.5 billion, 'military capable' goods) to Russia since 2010.https://bylinetimes.com/2022/02/15/uk-approved-military-exports-to-russia-exceed-ukraine-by-18-million-since-2010/https://aoav.org.uk/2018/uk-arms-exports-to-russia/https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/british-arms-firms-given-licences-23336113Maybe simply that the UK isn’t in the EU any more. Is that why you found it interesting? Because it criticises the EU for what the UK is doing more of - but ignores it?UK firms were exhibiting their products to Russian arms dealers LAST WEEK:https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/exclusive-uk-firms-bankroll-arms-fair-where-russia-shows-off-weapons/
Branton,It's easy to understand the initial German reluctance to commit against Russia. The country is far more dependant on Russian hydrocarbons. Understandably Germany has, since the last war been reluctant to involve itself in military conflict too.The UK and US has been alerting Germany to the dependence they have on Russia for years. BUT Germany has an energy problem. Geography and economics have made Russian gas irresistibly attractive.Things have rapidly escalated. The rules have changed. Make no mistake, Germany is now responding fully to the Ukrainian effort and I think given this recent change Zelensky was a bit harsh in his criticism. It should not be forgotten, the cost of all this is likely to be higher, perhaps much higher for Germany than for us in the UK.
Should have added. There is no way ever that Ukraine is joining NATO. Not a chance in a million. And Zelensky knows that. The EU situation is more nuanced. Ukraine will not be joining the EU, but will be much closer to it after the War. It's just that Zelensky needs to plausibly be able to pose right now in a way that suggests that won't happen. So Putin had his escape route. After the War is a different matter.
i have just been checking what Russian Art is coming up at the major auction houses (it's hot at the moment - "what isn't faked" ) https://www.sothebys.com/en/departments/russian-artthe above currentlythinks it's having an on line auction next monthType: auctionEaster Feast4–14 APRIL 2022 | 2:00 PM BST | LONDONJust like "ivory" is no go we need to make anything and everything with Russian Provenance "no go" at these auction housesMajor Auction Houses accept bitcoin etc in payment so at present they can circumnavigate the present rules