More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Torsten Riecke @torstenriecke Germany is a different country tonight. 🇩🇪 has learned more in 48 h than in last 33 yrs. Almost every pillar of German foreign policy has been shattered: Ostpolitik, Wandel durch Handel, restrict. arms export, softpower only, pacifism as ideology. What’s next? #StandWithUkraine
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
Torsten Riecke @torstenriecke Germany is a different country tonight. 🇩🇪 has learned more in 48 h than in last 33 yrs. Almost every pillar of German foreign policy has been shattered: Ostpolitik, Wandel durch Handel, restrict. arms export, softpower only, pacifism as ideology. What’s next? #StandWithUkraine
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Me? I'd be right by her side carrying the ammo for her to reload.
I think we have to get over this fear that Putin will use WMDs. What are we going to do, accept his domination because he might use WMD's? Fuck that. I'd rather die than be Putin's slave. The assertive thing to do would subtly mention that mutually assured destruction applies and carry on with the business of defending our allies. We should be fighting with the Ukrainians.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Not one bit but Putin is the evil one here and maybe condemning him is a better use of your posts
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
...and you want them to submit to that? You started in a strange place and managed to go downhill.
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Ваша грамматика нуждается в доработке, чтобы сойти за английский
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/26/putin-british-rich-mans-law-avoid-scrutiny-crippling-cost … Let one example stand for thousands. The Parisian intellectual Nicolas Tenzer tweeted that the French equivalents of George Galloway and Nigel Farage acted as the Kremlin’s “useful idiots” when they appeared on Putin’s propaganda channel RT. RT sued, claiming that not only had Tenzer libelled the station but that he was guilty of an “encroachment on the dignity” of its journalists – as if security guards did not strip its hacks of dignity every time they went to work. Naturally, the French courts found against RT. Astonishingly to anyone involved in the struggles for free speech in the UK, the cost of the case was just €10,000 (£8,400).
Compare that with the price of writing about the Putin regime in the UK. In January 2021, after Putin’s agents had poisoned him but before he was jailed, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny praised Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People. It is indeed the book of the moment, which shows how KGB men created the world’s most dangerous rogue state. Abramovich, three other Russian billionaires and Putin’s energy company Rosneft sued.
The case was trivial. Belton’s publishers HarperCollins settled it agreeing to make changes to the text most readers wouldn’t notice. Yet although it never went to a full hearing, the case, it was revealed to me, cost HarperCollins £1.5m – 178 times the price of the libel trial in France. In effect, HarperCollins was fined a small fortune for publishing an anti-Putin book by the English legal system...
In a disturbing number of cases, British justice simply isn’t.
I think we have to get over this fear that Putin will use WMDs. What are we going to do, accept his domination because he might use WMD's? Fuck that. I'd rather die than be Putin's slave. The assertive thing to do would subtly mention that mutually assured destruction applies and carry on with the business of defending our allies. We should be fighting with the Ukrainians.
Even if we play by his "rules" the lunatic's going to use them if he's going to use them.
@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.
Elon Musk @elonmusk Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
Bill Ackman @BillAckman I wouldn’t want to keep money in a bank that can’t access the SWIFT system. Once a bank can’t transfer or receive funds from other banks, its solvency can be at risk. If I were Russian, I would take my money out now. Bank runs could begin in Russia on Monday. #StandWithUkraine
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Me? I'd be right by her side carrying the ammo for her to reload.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
...and you want them to submit to that? You started in a strange place and managed to go downhill.
Resistance has a cost of course it does...how would you like your wife with her rifle out on the street terrified
I hope someone clever in NATO leadership is figuring out the various endgames. A damaged or humiliated Putin would be hugely dangerous.
Crimea and Donbass back to Ukraine, Kaliningrad back to Poland, Karelia back to Finland, maybe an independent North Caucasus state to cut them off from the Black Sea. They can keep St. Petersburg if they cooperate.
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
That sounds like a threat.
Its what happens in wars always has...maybe you should read some history
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
And Russia occupying them, Chechans 'pacifying' the Ukrainian population via rape, torture, and murder (as in the Donbas) while their democracy is dismantled, and living standards plummet is a better result?
OK well howxwould you like your wife with her rifle engaging in street to street combat realpolitik my friend
Me? I'd be right by her side carrying the ammo for her to reload.
Won’t speak for you, but if Russian soldiers came after my wife in a bad mood, I wouldn’t fancy their chances rifle or no rifle. This is their country, and they will fight for it.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/26/putin-british-rich-mans-law-avoid-scrutiny-crippling-cost … Let one example stand for thousands. The Parisian intellectual Nicolas Tenzer tweeted that the French equivalents of George Galloway and Nigel Farage acted as the Kremlin’s “useful idiots” when they appeared on Putin’s propaganda channel RT. RT sued, claiming that not only had Tenzer libelled the station but that he was guilty of an “encroachment on the dignity” of its journalists – as if security guards did not strip its hacks of dignity every time they went to work. Naturally, the French courts found against RT. Astonishingly to anyone involved in the struggles for free speech in the UK, the cost of the case was just €10,000 (£8,400).
Compare that with the price of writing about the Putin regime in the UK. In January 2021, after Putin’s agents had poisoned him but before he was jailed, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny praised Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People. It is indeed the book of the moment, which shows how KGB men created the world’s most dangerous rogue state. Abramovich, three other Russian billionaires and Putin’s energy company Rosneft sued.
The case was trivial. Belton’s publishers HarperCollins settled it agreeing to make changes to the text most readers wouldn’t notice. Yet although it never went to a full hearing, the case, it was revealed to me, cost HarperCollins £1.5m – 178 times the price of the libel trial in France. In effect, HarperCollins was fined a small fortune for publishing an anti-Putin book by the English legal system...
In a disturbing number of cases, British justice simply isn’t.
Our libel laws are a disgrace. Cadwallr is wrong about almost everything but she should have every right to free speech.
I hope someone clever in NATO leadership is figuring out the various endgames. A damaged or humiliated Putin would be hugely dangerous.
Crimea and Donbass back to Ukraine, Kaliningrad back to Poland, Karelia back to Finland, maybe an independent North Caucasus state to cut them off from the Black Sea. They can keep St. Petersburg if they cooperate.
The first part hard to argue with, the rest a bit like Versailles.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
That sounds like a threat.
Its what happens in wars always has...maybe you should read some history
I have and I can tell that you're scared of Ukraine beating Putin.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
The plane is flying to Poland not Ukraine
Well I assume the supplies it is carrying are still going to Ukraine based on the tweet.
So Putin's warning to NATO to stay out still applies, the Russians could bomb truck convoys of supplies entering Ukraine as much as shoot down planes carrying them
He doesn’t control the borders yet. That’s rather the point….
He will soon control most of Ukraine airspace and has warned NATO to stay out. Any NATO nation continuing to get involved in the Ukraine, still a non NATO nation, is therefore also taking a risk
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
HYUFD has made a very sensible point.
Do you really think Putin isn't quite possibly past caring about who or what he shoots down?
If Tom Tugendhadt were PM he wouldn't be doing a campaign photoshoot tonight!
It would be if it was flying to Kyiv but it is not crossing into Ukraine airspace
That's not the point. Why is Johnson publicising what we are doing? It has no function for demonstrating the UK's support for Zelensky. With an eye on GE2024 the photoshoot is to demonstrate Johnson is Churchillian. Get rid of this dangerous idiot. Tory MPs please, before he does something for a photo opportunity that we all regret.
I think we have to get over this fear that Putin will use WMDs. What are we going to do, accept his domination because he might use WMD's? Fuck that. I'd rather die than be Putin's slave. The assertive thing to do would subtly mention that mutually assured destruction applies and carry on with the business of defending our allies. We should be fighting with the Ukrainians.
There's no suggestion Putin and Russia are going to directly invade or attack the armed forces or territory of any NATO country. As someone who lives in London, my life expectancy in a nuclear war can be measured in minutes - I'll draw little comfort in that period of absolute terror knowing I won't be "Putin's slave".
Nuclear conflict means millions of deaths and the degradation of human civilisation - and you worry about being someone's slave. In any case, Putin can barely run a bath let alone conquer Europe.
We need to confine the conflict to Ukraine and work tirelessly for a negotiated ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces. Let's be resolute in support of Ukraine and generous in response to the looming humanitarian crisis.
As a wise man once said, jaw-jaw is always better than war-war.
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
Probably not. So the best thing from here is for Russia to surrender.
Which obviously won't happen...let's get real the Ukrainians with their valiant resistance are about to pay a huge price...many men killed wives and daughters likely raped....
That sounds like a threat.
Its what happens in wars always has...maybe you should read some history
No condemnation from you for Putin but then nobody is surprised
More like minimising the suffering of the Ukrainians....Street to Street combat with the Russians will take an immense toll
I keep seeing stuff like this, and I'm sympathetic towards to the sentiment. Each time there's a glimmer of good news for Ukrainian I feel heartened before remembering increasing escalation will be bad for Ukrainians. However, if the Ukrainian people are willing to endure then that should be commended and their bravery lauded. If they can match Putin's violence with their resolve who are we to say that they shouldn't if they are willing to stand up to the tyrant?
Ask yourself what you would do today if England was being besieged by Russians.
I don't know what I would do. I would hope to display a fraction of the bravery that the Ukrainian people as a whole are demonstrating, but I don't know.
I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
Trying to step back and actually think about events - the thing I could see Starmer doing differently was the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
I don't see that. Practically every leader in Europe and the rest of the first world has chosen to help in this way. I would give Starmer a lot more credit than you seem to be doing. He strikes me as an honourable man.
Yeah you’re right - in the end I probably won’t vote for Starmer, but he’s perfectly capable of being a bog standard U.K. PM. It’s so, so refreshing vs his predecessor.
Great to hear. We'll put that on our bus come the GE.
"Vote Labour. We're bog standard."
Hey I’m traditionally British. I would be very impressed by a Labour campaign of “we’re perfectly average - vote for us and we won’t do a lot but we’re not the other guys and we won’t break anything”.
A sentiment more common than admitted. And nothing wrong with it. I share it slightly. I want radical change but I'm scared of it too.
However something else is common and that is right wingers wanting the choice to be between a red meat Tory Party and a bland managerial Labour.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
I was with you all the way on paragraph one and two, and then it all just unravelled.
As a committed Christian how do you square the circle you have created in your third paragraph? Can we sit and watch innocents die at the hands of a Dictator and wash our hands of them?
I assume your bosses are freaking out that the war is going so poorly? But keep pushing the abuser threats, the harder you squeeze, the stronger the resistance. Your boys are going down.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
I was with you all the way on paragraph one and two, and then it all just unravelled.
As a committed Christian how do you square the circle you have created in your third paragraph? Can we sit and watch innocents die at the hands of a Dictator and wash our hands of them?
If the alternative is WW3.
We should defend NATO nations that is it.
You have not responded to Germany sending weapons directly into Ukraine tonight
I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
Trying to step back and actually think about events - the thing I could see Starmer doing differently was the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
I don't see that. Practically every leader in Europe and the rest of the first world has chosen to help in this way. I would give Starmer a lot more credit than you seem to be doing. He strikes me as an honourable man.
Yeah you’re right - in the end I probably won’t vote for Starmer, but he’s perfectly capable of being a bog standard U.K. PM. It’s so, so refreshing vs his predecessor.
Great to hear. We'll put that on our bus come the GE.
"Vote Labour. We're bog standard."
Hey I’m traditionally British. I would be very impressed by a Labour campaign of “we’re perfectly average - vote for us and we won’t do a lot but we’re not the other guys and we won’t break anything”.
A sentiment more common than admitted. And nothing wrong with it. I share it slightly. I want radical change but I'm scared of it too.
However something else is common and that is right wingers wanting the choice to be between a red meat Tory Party and a bland managerial Labour.
Left wingers want the choice to be between a red meat Corbynite Labour Party and a bland managerial Major or May like Tory Party too
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
The plane is flying to Poland not Ukraine
Well I assume the supplies it is carrying are still going to Ukraine based on the tweet.
So Putin's warning to NATO to stay out still applies, the Russians could bomb truck convoys of supplies entering Ukraine as much as shoot down planes carrying them
He doesn’t control the borders yet. That’s rather the point….
He will soon control most of Ukraine airspace and has warned NATO to stay out. Any NATO nation continuing to get involved in the Ukraine, still a non NATO nation, is therefore also taking a risk
And as we’ve told you, we’re not flying into Ukrainian airspace. We will send what we can while there are open borders. And to be fair, with the troops numbers Russia has, there’s always going to be an open border.
Not even Putin is mad enough to attack us for keeping the weapons flowing, and if he does then, well NATO will hold the line. I accept we can’t sent troops into Ukraine but I’d rather die in a nuclear exchange than refuse to even arm them.
If we don’t stand up to bullies then we aren’t Britain any more.
I hope someone clever in NATO leadership is figuring out the various endgames. A damaged or humiliated Putin would be hugely dangerous.
Crimea and Donbass back to Ukraine, Kaliningrad back to Poland, Karelia back to Finland, maybe an independent North Caucasus state to cut them off from the Black Sea. They can keep St. Petersburg if they cooperate.
Unlikely - status quo ante bellum quite probable. Maybe Donetsk and Lubansk oblasts fully to the Ukraine but not Crimea and no other territorial changes.
We need to offer a post-Putin Russia encouragement to re-engage with the West rather than driving it closer to China. I'm reminded you catch more flies with honey than with fly-paper.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
I was with you all the way on paragraph one and two, and then it all just unravelled.
As a committed Christian how do you square the circle you have created in your third paragraph? Can we sit and watch innocents die at the hands of a Dictator and wash our hands of them?
If the alternative is WW3.
We should defend NATO nations that is it.
You have not responded to Germany sending weapons directly into Ukraine tonight
That is up to them. Brave but they do so at their own risk
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
I assume your bosses are freaking out that the war is going so poorly? But keep pushing the abuser threats, the harder you squeeze, the stronger the resistance. Your boys are going down.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
I was with you all the way on paragraph one and two, and then it all just unravelled.
As a committed Christian how do you square the circle you have created in your third paragraph? Can we sit and watch innocents die at the hands of a Dictator and wash our hands of them?
Happens all the time look at China and the uigyhrs...your morality is selective and shaped by that box in the corner
It is going to be extremely depressing if the discussion about Ukraine moves on to the usual left/right arguments over refugees. The story should be the heroic resistance, of the people who have stayed.
That's what Twitter want to make it about and it usually ends up spilling out into mainstream discourse because we allow it to do so.
We mustn't and must remain laser-focused and united in helping Ukraine.
I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
Trying to step back and actually think about events - the thing I could see Starmer doing differently was the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
I don't see that. Practically every leader in Europe and the rest of the first world has chosen to help in this way. I would give Starmer a lot more credit than you seem to be doing. He strikes me as an honourable man.
Yeah you’re right - in the end I probably won’t vote for Starmer, but he’s perfectly capable of being a bog standard U.K. PM. It’s so, so refreshing vs his predecessor.
Great to hear. We'll put that on our bus come the GE.
"Vote Labour. We're bog standard."
Hey I’m traditionally British. I would be very impressed by a Labour campaign of “we’re perfectly average - vote for us and we won’t do a lot but we’re not the other guys and we won’t break anything”.
A sentiment more common than admitted. And nothing wrong with it. I share it slightly. I want radical change but I'm scared of it too.
However something else is common and that is right wingers wanting the choice to be between a red meat Tory Party and a bland managerial Labour.
Left wingers want the choice to be between a red meat Corbynite Labour Party and a bland managerial Major or May like Tory Party too
I'm sure they do. But, after the last few years, "Make Britain Boring Again" might be a winning slogan for 2023/4.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
I was with you all the way on paragraph one and two, and then it all just unravelled.
As a committed Christian how do you square the circle you have created in your third paragraph? Can we sit and watch innocents die at the hands of a Dictator and wash our hands of them?
If the alternative is WW3.
We should defend NATO nations that is it.
You have not responded to Germany sending weapons directly into Ukraine tonight
That is up to them. Brave but they do so at their own risk
An attack on a NATO member is an attack on us all so Russia downing a German or UK aircraft will promote retaliation
I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
Trying to step back and actually think about events - the thing I could see Starmer doing differently was the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
I don't see that. Practically every leader in Europe and the rest of the first world has chosen to help in this way. I would give Starmer a lot more credit than you seem to be doing. He strikes me as an honourable man.
Yeah you’re right - in the end I probably won’t vote for Starmer, but he’s perfectly capable of being a bog standard U.K. PM. It’s so, so refreshing vs his predecessor.
Great to hear. We'll put that on our bus come the GE.
"Vote Labour. We're bog standard."
Hey I’m traditionally British. I would be very impressed by a Labour campaign of “we’re perfectly average - vote for us and we won’t do a lot but we’re not the other guys and we won’t break anything”.
A sentiment more common than admitted. And nothing wrong with it. I share it slightly. I want radical change but I'm scared of it too.
However something else is common and that is right wingers wanting the choice to be between a red meat Tory Party and a bland managerial Labour.
The only radical belief I’ve ever held was in favour of Brexit. Can’t I now live with a choice of wet one nation Tories or New Labour? That’s my ideal.
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
Because bombing a city into ruin worked so well for the invaders 79 years ago...
I assume your bosses are freaking out that the war is going so poorly? But keep pushing the abuser threats, the harder you squeeze, the stronger the resistance. Your boys are going down.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Sadly I think this one is independent, I'm sure the Kremlin can afford much better trolling.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
Good grief! This from the man who was more than happy to send the tanks in to Gibraltar and Scotland.
"If you tolerate this..."
There is a distinction between defending British territory, which I would support even against Russia and taking military action against a military superpower in a war in a foreign country that is not even in NATO
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
If, IF its true, its the beginning of the end.... for Putin. I'm inclined to agree with an earlier poster. This will all be over by next week [1]. Either with Ukraine defeated or a Russian Palace coup. I'm inclined to think the latter now.
I hope someone clever in NATO leadership is figuring out the various endgames. A damaged or humiliated Putin would be hugely dangerous.
Crimea and Donbass back to Ukraine, Kaliningrad back to Poland, Karelia back to Finland, maybe an independent North Caucasus state to cut them off from the Black Sea. They can keep St. Petersburg if they cooperate.
I think you may be a little ahead of yourself here.
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
Pray for the ukrainian people tonite...resistance is heroic but always comes with a cost
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
Good grief! This from the man who was more than happy to send the tanks in to Gibraltar and Scotland.
"If you tolerate this..."
There is a distinction between defending British territory, which I would support even against Russia and taking military action against a military superpower in a war in a foreign country that is not even in NATO
...and is a far away country about which we know little.
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
Pray for the ukrainian people tonite...resistance is heroic but always comes with a cost
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
HYUFD has made a very sensible point.
Do you really think Putin isn't quite possibly past caring about who or what he shoots down?
If Tom Tugendhadt were PM he wouldn't be doing a campaign photoshoot tonight!
It would be if it was flying to Kyiv but it is not crossing into Ukraine airspace
That's not the point. Why is Johnson publicising what we are doing? It has no function for demonstrating the UK's support for Zelensky. With an eye on GE2024 the photoshoot is to demonstrate Johnson is Churchillian. Get rid of this dangerous idiot. Tory MPs please, before he does something for a photo opportunity that we all regret.
"What is your name? Don't tell him Pike!"
The picture is one every western leader should copy. They are firstly for Putin, secondly Russian people and thirdly Ukranians
That is up to them. Brave but they do so at their own risk
I have to say once again I find myself in unlikely agreement. NATO has to be very careful not to cross the line into direct involvement. There's an overwhelming notion around we must "do something" to help Ukraine - perhaps but risking an escalation toward the unthinkable isn't it.
I realise this may be an unpopular view on here tonight but there's a limit to what we can and should do. Help the refugees by all means, offer sanctuary in the UK if we can but we cannot get drawn into this fight - the stakes are simply too high. We can apply economic pressure on Russia (and we should) but we cannot force Putin into a corner where he feels trapped and has no option but to escalate.
We need to be tirelessly pushing for a negotiated ceasefire - we need to use any back channel we have to tell the Russian Government this is a disastrous course of action and try to persuade the Chinese or any one else to press Putin into ending this sooner rather than later.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
The plane is flying to Poland not Ukraine
Well I assume the supplies it is carrying are still going to Ukraine based on the tweet.
So Putin's warning to NATO to stay out still applies, the Russians could bomb truck convoys of supplies entering Ukraine as much as shoot down planes carrying them
He doesn’t control the borders yet. That’s rather the point….
He will soon control most of Ukraine airspace and has warned NATO to stay out. Any NATO nation continuing to get involved in the Ukraine, still a non NATO nation, is therefore also taking a risk
I think most of us are willing to take that risk in order to help a democratic nation and its people fight an aggressive dictator. Unlike you, PJohnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
Pray for the ukrainian people tonite...resistance is heroic but always comes with a cost
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
The plane is flying to Poland not Ukraine
Well I assume the supplies it is carrying are still going to Ukraine based on the tweet.
So Putin's warning to NATO to stay out still applies, the Russians could bomb truck convoys of supplies entering Ukraine as much as shoot down planes carrying them
He doesn’t control the borders yet. That’s rather the point….
He will soon control most of Ukraine airspace and has warned NATO to stay out. Any NATO nation continuing to get involved in the Ukraine, still a non NATO nation, is therefore also taking a risk
And as we’ve told you, we’re not flying into Ukrainian airspace. We will send what we can while there are open borders. And to be fair, with the troops numbers Russia has, there’s always going to be an open border.
Not even Putin is mad enough to attack us for keeping the weapons flowing, and if he does then, well NATO will hold the line. I accept we can’t sent troops into Ukraine but I’d rather die in a nuclear exchange than refuse to even arm them.
If we don’t stand up to bullies then we aren’t Britain any more.
You are well named, I must say. I see and feel the obligation but I can't say with total honesty that I would rather die in a nuclear exchange than fail to back Ukraine to the hilt.
I assume your bosses are freaking out that the war is going so poorly? But keep pushing the abuser threats, the harder you squeeze, the stronger the resistance. Your boys are going down.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Sadly I think this one is independent, I'm sure the Kremlin can afford much better trolling.
Maybe the troll farms are suffering from the same problems as the rest of the Russian war effort?
"In this warehouse we have 10,000 noble volunteers of the 213rd Special Internet Brigade, dominating cyberspace"
{Opens door}
One weird looking cove looks up from a tiny desk in the middle of the warehouse. Otherwise it is empty.
DRM Journal @remilitari 📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
Thank you BlancheLivermore that's a really usefully link, and I so much hope its accurate.
For those who don't speak Russian, the Russian language has a word for a conscript that is equivalate to our word for a soldier, and a word for mercenary, but not a word for a professional non-conscript non-mercenary soldier who voluntarily and professional fights for his own nation. hence the translation to the word contractor.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
The plane is flying to Poland not Ukraine
Well I assume the supplies it is carrying are still going to Ukraine based on the tweet.
So Putin's warning to NATO to stay out still applies, the Russians could bomb truck convoys of supplies entering Ukraine as much as shoot down planes carrying them
He doesn’t control the borders yet. That’s rather the point….
He will soon control most of Ukraine airspace and has warned NATO to stay out. Any NATO nation continuing to get involved in the Ukraine, still a non NATO nation, is therefore also taking a risk
I think most of us are willing to take that risk in order to help a democratic nation and its people fight an aggressive dictator. Unlike you, PJohnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
No, there's no equivalence between entirely rational NATO-based calculation, and our friend Mr Johnson here.
I assume your bosses are freaking out that the war is going so poorly? But keep pushing the abuser threats, the harder you squeeze, the stronger the resistance. Your boys are going down.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Sadly I think this one is independent, I'm sure the Kremlin can afford much better trolling.
Maybe the troll farms are suffering from the same problems as the rest of the Russian war effort?
"In this warehouse we have 10,000 noble volunteers of the 213rd Special Internet Brigade, dominating cyberspace"
{Opens door}
One weird looking cove looks up from a tiny desk in the middle of the warehouse. Otherwise it is empty.
Due to gigantic administrative blunder, we sent grunts to troll farm and compsci nerds to tank convoys.
It was one day I play at Nijni-Novgorod with the pro. against Lenin and Trotsky, and Trotsky had a two-inch putt for the hole. But, just as he addresses the ball, someone in the crowd he tries to assassinate Lenin with a rewolwer—you know that is our great national sport, trying to assassinate Lenin with rewolwers—and the bang puts Trotsky off his stroke and he goes five yards past the hole, and then Lenin, who is rather shaken, you understand, he misses again himself, and we win the hole and match and I clean up three hundred and ninety-six thousand roubles, or fifteen shillings in your money. Some gameovitch!"
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
Putin has already warned NATO to stay out of Ukraine. He has the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.
Even if it is shot down, while he remains Russian President what are we going to realistically do beyond economic sanctions? We will in theory defend NATO nations but that is it.
As far as Ukraine goes we have given them all the supplies and weapons we could before the invasion and should now stay out of it
Good grief! This from the man who was more than happy to send the tanks in to Gibraltar and Scotland.
"If you tolerate this..."
There is a distinction between defending British territory, which I would support even against Russia and taking military action against a military superpower in a war in a foreign country that is not even in NATO
There is also a distinction between supplying weapons, and taking military action - which you do not seem to understand.
Why publicise? The Russians will now be looking out for it to shoot it down. Putin will try and use it as a warning shot to NATO to stay out
You are really not very you good at this
Russia shooting down a UK aircraft would be an act of war against a NATO country
HYUFD has made a very sensible point.
Do you really think Putin isn't quite possibly past caring about who or what he shoots down?
If Tom Tugendhadt were PM he wouldn't be doing a campaign photoshoot tonight!
It would be if it was flying to Kyiv but it is not crossing into Ukraine airspace
That's not the point. Why is Johnson publicising what we are doing? It has no function for demonstrating the UK's support for Zelensky. With an eye on GE2024 the photoshoot is to demonstrate Johnson is Churchillian. Get rid of this dangerous idiot. Tory MPs please, before he does something for a photo opportunity that we all regret.
"What is your name? Don't tell him Pike!"
The picture is one every western leader should copy. They are firstly for Putin, secondly Russian people and thirdly Ukranians
If you say so.
Footage of thousands and thousands of people across to he world demonstrating our solidarity with the Ukraine is far more powerful.
We should do that in the UK, whilst we still can, before it is defined as a riot in the Police Bill.
That is up to them. Brave but they do so at their own risk
I have to say once again I find myself in unlikely agreement. NATO has to be very careful not to cross the line into direct involvement. There's an overwhelming notion around we must "do something" to help Ukraine - perhaps but risking an escalation toward the unthinkable isn't it.
I realise this may be an unpopular view on here tonight but there's a limit to what we can and should do. Help the refugees by all means, offer sanctuary in the UK if we can but we cannot get drawn into this fight - the stakes are simply too high. We can apply economic pressure on Russia (and we should) but we cannot force Putin into a corner where he feels trapped and has no option but to escalate.
We need to be tirelessly pushing for a negotiated ceasefire - we need to use any back channel we have to tell the Russian Government this is a disastrous course of action and try to persuade the Chinese or any one else to press Putin into ending this sooner rather than later.
Ye. Lots of brave keyboard warriors who have no clue about geopolitics.
Reminds me of my first year seminars during my international relations undergrad. Almost everyone was a liberal internationalist. By the third year, pretty much everyone was a realist.
The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent·1h⚡️Multiple reports suggest that Russian forces are about to conduct heavy airstrikes and rocket attacks against Kyiv.
Pray for the ukrainian people tonite...resistance is heroic but always comes with a cost
I hope someone clever in NATO leadership is figuring out the various endgames. A damaged or humiliated Putin would be hugely dangerous.
Crimea and Donbass back to Ukraine, Kaliningrad back to Poland, Karelia back to Finland, maybe an independent North Caucasus state to cut them off from the Black Sea. They can keep St. Petersburg if they cooperate.
Unlikely - status quo ante bellum quite probable. Maybe Donetsk and Lubansk oblasts fully to the Ukraine but not Crimea and no other territorial changes.
We need to offer a post-Putin Russia encouragement to re-engage with the West rather than driving it closer to China. I'm reminded you catch more flies with honey than with fly-paper.
Crimea was taken by force. At the very least its future should be decided by the people there. If we are talking maximalist ambitions (and we should whilst being honest that it's the most optimistic scenario) I'd be more concerned with dealing with Lukashenko who allowed forces to go through Belarus into Ukraine and the starnge goings on in Transnistria.
Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
What bit of "Russian warship, go fuck yourself" do you not understand?
Somehow I don't think PJ was opening a philosophical discussion on the fact of history and myth being replete with the concept of heroic last stands in their seeming confusion people would fight on.
The material is reworked, effects from Instagram have been added, and his statements are cut off old statements that someone pasted on and that do not even match the movement of the mouth. Original video with Kadyrov, from which the frame and his lips are taken here: https://youtu.be/rwyfOOTJNpE?t=4
yes a deep fake
Is that the third or fourth fake posted here just today? It would be nice if people waited to see if things are genuine before doing the cut ‘n paste
In fairness, it's hard for the lay person to tell if they're fake - which is the whole idea of course.
Despite all the positive reports of Ukrainian resistance and Russian ineptitude, I am steeling myself for the prospect that Ukraine falls within the next week.
I do so much hope I am wrong.
It's only sensible. Even if the positive reports of the first few days are true, no one seems to dispute the facts on paper about the martial resources potentially at play, so despite being true things could yet go even worse.
I think we have to get over this fear that Putin will use WMDs. What are we going to do, accept his domination because he might use WMD's? Fuck that. I'd rather die than be Putin's slave. The assertive thing to do would subtly mention that mutually assured destruction applies and carry on with the business of defending our allies. We should be fighting with the Ukrainians.
There's no suggestion Putin and Russia are going to directly invade or attack the armed forces or territory of any NATO country. As someone who lives in London, my life expectancy in a nuclear war can be measured in minutes - I'll draw little comfort in that period of absolute terror knowing I won't be "Putin's slave".
Nuclear conflict means millions of deaths and the degradation of human civilisation - and you worry about being someone's slave. In any case, Putin can barely run a bath let alone conquer Europe.
We need to confine the conflict to Ukraine and work tirelessly for a negotiated ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces. Let's be resolute in support of Ukraine and generous in response to the looming humanitarian crisis.
As a wise man once said, jaw-jaw is always better than war-war.
This might be scant consolidation but of Russia's 6,000+ nukes most are held in reserve and only 1,600 are immediately deployable. And then there's the question of whether they will all fire and target properly after all these years.
He doesn't have time to bring all the rest of them online and up to scratch if it gets that far. And he's got to target all of Europe, the UK and the US with that. He wouldn't be able to guarantee universal destruction.
Meanwhile France and the UK (combined) can deploy a third of his number alone, and target them properly, and the US has well over 5,000 of them.
So, if he did use them enough of them in an all-out first strike enough of the West would survive for him to be utterly annihilated*.
It's way too risky and therefore bluster.
(*Btw, total global current nuclear stocks aren't enough to wipe out all of humanity even if evenly targeted on all the major cities at once - I think the estimate is a max of 3 billion dead so 6 billion survivors, and humanity goes on)
Comments
DRM Journal
@remilitari
📍We are checking the information that in Russia’s Belgorod 5,000 soldiers staged a riot and refused to go to fight with Ukraine; the report is coming from Obozrevatel and local media.10:25 PM · Feb 26, 2022.
https://twitter.com/remilitari/status/1497699493889949702
Tom Tugendhat
@TomTugendhat
The SWIFT sanctions are going through. This could cripple the Russian economy and cause runs on banks.
Putin is sacrificing two countries to his vanity and the lives of millions are suffering for him alone.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/26/putin-british-rich-mans-law-avoid-scrutiny-crippling-cost
… Let one example stand for thousands. The Parisian intellectual Nicolas Tenzer tweeted that the French equivalents of George Galloway and Nigel Farage acted as the Kremlin’s “useful idiots” when they appeared on Putin’s propaganda channel RT. RT sued, claiming that not only had Tenzer libelled the station but that he was guilty of an “encroachment on the dignity” of its journalists – as if security guards did not strip its hacks of dignity every time they went to work. Naturally, the French courts found against RT. Astonishingly to anyone involved in the struggles for free speech in the UK, the cost of the case was just €10,000 (£8,400).
Compare that with the price of writing about the Putin regime in the UK. In January 2021, after Putin’s agents had poisoned him but before he was jailed, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny praised Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People. It is indeed the book of the moment, which shows how KGB men created the world’s most dangerous rogue state. Abramovich, three other Russian billionaires and Putin’s energy company Rosneft sued.
The case was trivial. Belton’s publishers HarperCollins settled it agreeing to make changes to the text most readers wouldn’t notice. Yet although it never went to a full hearing, the case, it was revealed to me, cost HarperCollins £1.5m – 178 times the price of the libel trial in France. In effect, HarperCollins was fined a small fortune for publishing an anti-Putin book by the English legal system...
In a disturbing number of cases, British justice simply isn’t.
@FedorovMykhailo
@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1497701484003213317
Bill Ackman
@BillAckman
I wouldn’t want to keep money in a bank that can’t access the SWIFT system. Once a bank can’t transfer or receive funds from other banks, its solvency can be at risk. If I were Russian, I would take my money out now. Bank runs could begin in Russia on Monday. #StandWithUkraine
https://news.obozrevatel.com/ukr/russia/u-bilgorodi-5-tis-kontraktnikiv-vlashtuvali-bunt-ta-vidmovilisya-ihati-voyuvati-z-ukrainoyu-eksklyuziv.htm
Related to Stuart Truth?
https://twitter.com/PaulaChertok/status/1497666479596003328?t=LGFnIVB2DmjlAemI_Yf5tQ&s=19
"What is your name? Don't tell him Pike!"
Nuclear conflict means millions of deaths and the degradation of human civilisation - and you worry about being someone's slave. In any case, Putin can barely run a bath let alone conquer Europe.
We need to confine the conflict to Ukraine and work tirelessly for a negotiated ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces. Let's be resolute in support of Ukraine and generous in response to the looming humanitarian crisis.
As a wise man once said, jaw-jaw is always better than war-war.
Shades of the Eastern Front in WW1?
However something else is common and that is right wingers wanting the choice to be between a red meat Tory Party and a bland managerial Labour.
We should defend NATO nations that is it.
PS. Putin is a flabby chested shortie with a small penis.
Not even Putin is mad enough to attack us for keeping the weapons flowing, and if he does then, well NATO will hold the line. I accept we can’t sent troops into Ukraine but I’d rather die in a nuclear exchange than refuse to even arm them.
If we don’t stand up to bullies then we aren’t Britain any more.
We need to offer a post-Putin Russia encouragement to re-engage with the West rather than driving it closer to China. I'm reminded you catch more flies with honey than with fly-paper.
We mustn't and must remain laser-focused and united in helping Ukraine.
I'm inclined to agree with an earlier poster. This will all be over by next week [1]. Either with Ukraine defeated or a Russian Palace coup. I'm inclined to think the latter now.
If you are right- fantastic!
Javier Blas
@JavierBlas
UPDATE: The German government says that the ban only affects the Russian banks that were **already sanctioned** a few days ago! (which are big important banks, but obviously already under sanctions)
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/verbuendete-schliessen-russische-banken-aus-swift-aus-2008220
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1497703114744414210
They are firstly for Putin, secondly Russian people and thirdly Ukranians
I realise this may be an unpopular view on here tonight but there's a limit to what we can and should do. Help the refugees by all means, offer sanctuary in the UK if we can but we cannot get drawn into this fight - the stakes are simply too high. We can apply economic pressure on Russia (and we should) but we cannot force Putin into a corner where he feels trapped and has no option but to escalate.
We need to be tirelessly pushing for a negotiated ceasefire - we need to use any back channel we have to tell the Russian Government this is a disastrous course of action and try to persuade the Chinese or any one else to press Putin into ending this sooner rather than later.
This is reported by Channel 24, citing its own sources in the Ukrainian Security Service.
🇺🇦
"In this warehouse we have 10,000 noble volunteers of the 213rd Special Internet Brigade, dominating cyberspace"
{Opens door}
One weird looking cove looks up from a tiny desk in the middle of the warehouse. Otherwise it is empty.
For those who don't speak Russian, the Russian language has a word for a conscript that is equivalate to our word for a soldier, and a word for mercenary, but not a word for a professional non-conscript non-mercenary soldier who voluntarily and professional fights for his own nation. hence the translation to the word contractor.
It was one day I play at Nijni-Novgorod with the pro. against Lenin and Trotsky, and Trotsky had a two-inch putt for the hole. But, just as he addresses the ball, someone in the crowd he tries to assassinate Lenin with a rewolwer—you know that is our great national sport, trying to assassinate Lenin with rewolwers—and the bang puts Trotsky off his stroke and he goes five yards past the hole, and then Lenin, who is rather shaken, you understand, he misses again himself, and we win the hole and match and I clean up three hundred and ninety-six thousand roubles, or fifteen shillings in your money. Some gameovitch!"
Footage of thousands and thousands of people across to he world demonstrating our solidarity with the Ukraine is far more powerful.
We should do that in the UK, whilst we still can, before it is defined as a riot in the Police Bill.
Reminds me of my first year seminars during my international relations undergrad. Almost everyone was a liberal internationalist. By the third year, pretty much everyone was a realist.
He doesn't have time to bring all the rest of them online and up to scratch if it gets that far. And he's got to target all of Europe, the UK and the US with that. He wouldn't be able to guarantee universal destruction.
Meanwhile France and the UK (combined) can deploy a third of his number alone, and target them properly, and the US has well over 5,000 of them.
So, if he did use them enough of them in an all-out first strike enough of the West would survive for him to be utterly annihilated*.
It's way too risky and therefore bluster.
(*Btw, total global current nuclear stocks aren't enough to wipe out all of humanity even if evenly targeted on all the major cities at once - I think the estimate is a max of 3 billion dead so 6 billion survivors, and humanity goes on)