Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
What you are missing, is straightforward morality. Why don't we make London the paedophile brothel capital of the world, so then we can release footage of the sizeable minority of state-leading bad actors who are paedophiles in their spare time when we want to?
And if you think that sounds fanciful it's probably exactly what mossad were doing with GE.
Morality is almost always missing from realpolitik.
If crimes are committed then absolutely that should be dealt with following all due processes and with the presumption of innocent until proven guilty.
However being our potential enemy isn't a crime, being our active one is grounds for sanctions though. So you act when the time is right, not prematurely.
'Russia Regulations' license also prohibits Chelsea spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, which asks serious questions of Champions League logistics, starting with Lille away next Wednesday
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Perhaps in the same way we only did slavery so we could abolish it, here we only welcomed Russian money so that once war came we could kick it out. Deep strategy stuff.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
The other daft thing about any ‘re-arming’ debate is that in terms of conventional force (tanks troops missiles planes etc) Russia has proved itself woefully inadequate vs Ukraine. So if ‘re-arming’ means increasing our spend on those things, it does seem like just a way to funnel money to pet projects with no real value.
Cheap drones, better cyberwarfare capabilities, and of course even more investment in human intelligence all seem like better priorities.
The first part of re-arming would be buying more ordnance for the non obsolete expensive kit that we do have. In any conventional war we're likely to be directly involved in, that means medium and long range missiles for Typhoons and F35s, and likewise for the navy. A Typhoon carrying a full complement of longer range air to air missiles is massively more effective than two Typhoons carrying a couple each, for example. It's a relatively easy and cost effective way to make the most of what we have, quickly and without protracted debate.
More tanks would be some way down my list. Bringing forward the purchase of the Korean self-propelled 155mm artillery would probably be more cost effective.
That’s a great point about adequate munitions - seems like a big part of Russian underperformance has been having the kit but not the fuel/ammo/training to make effective use of it.
You’d like to think the UK is on top of things like that but I guess that may be optimistic!
The terms of the Chelsea licence of very interesting and fans of other clubs might be a little premature in cheering for them. The prohibited actions are a template list of all the ways the authorities think football clubs can launder money to their owners.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
The other daft thing about any ‘re-arming’ debate is that in terms of conventional force (tanks troops missiles planes etc) Russia has proved itself woefully inadequate vs Ukraine. So if ‘re-arming’ means increasing our spend on those things, it does seem like just a way to funnel money to pet projects with no real value.
Cheap drones, better cyberwarfare capabilities, and of course even more investment in human intelligence all seem like better priorities.
Indeed, I am not an expert by any means, but it seems clear to me that tanks are nowadays not that useful versus drones, missiles etc that can destroy them. Russian tanks seem to be the proverbial knife to a gunfight.
Are we interested in vanity projects and jobs for the lads, or what actually works?
Well there's that, but we also have to think of the next stages. Suppose both sides have saturated the air with drones, so that every tank and armoured vehicle is destroyed. What then?
How do you move infantry around in a way that protects infantry from machine guns or IEDs? Can you build drones to take down other drones, or otherwise knock out enemy drones so that you can safely move your infantry around the battlefield?
How would a drone submarine change naval warfare?
I hope no-one is proposing to rebuild the Cold War British Army, so the "Why do you want more tanks, duh?" response is irrelevant. But modernising the armed forces, and expanding their capability to meet the threat to democracy posed by dictators isn't going to be achieved by shuffling around the existing MoD budget.
We've overestimated the extent to which we can restrain dictators by means over than force. This means we require a rethink.
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
If they've 'not attacked' Ukraine then I'm a bit worried that they are planning to 'not attack' other countries, too
This is how TASS is reporting it, in between making a big fuss about supposedly US-funded biolabs they are finding inside Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.
Something lost in translation, perhaps. Given yesterday's hospital attack and failures to take out the Ukraine military it's more like "limited to militarily striking and incapacitating Ukrainian surgical infrastructure"
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will b ereplaced by one of the other posterior lickers Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Nice to hear from you Malc - Hope you and your family are now fully recovered and enjoying the Spring Ayrshire air
Thanks G , my wife is probably as good as she will get now , her lungs will never be 100% again , but she is well and we are doing ok. Has been lovely spell of weather but near end now according to forecasts. Hope you and family are all well.
Yes though we do keep taking our daily pills !!!
Our daughter in law recently announced she is expecting her third on the 1st September, so while all this appalling and horrific news dominates our daily news, we have many reasons to be very grateful
Indeed G for all our moans we are very lucky to be where we are, politicians excepted.
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
'Russia Regulations' license also prohibits Chelsea spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, which asks serious questions of Champions League logistics, starting with Lille away next Wednesday
That’s a good one. Away to Middlesbrough next weekend. Travelling entourage 50 at a guess? Should be able to get a travel lodge after the long bus ride I suppose
I'm regularly asked what Russian media are reporting about Ukraine, usually by people who don't speak Russian. And I struggle to convey the **scale of lies and sheer depravity** of Russian state media content. Words like "disinfo" aren't enough. Here's a🧵trying to illustrate.
There is an article on the website of Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. It is one of Russia's top news websites. Hundreds of thousands of people have already read the article. It is titled "Kiev has experienced an exodus" (Киев пережил исход). Here are some highlights.
Ukrainian "patriotic bloggers and other so-called leaders of public opinion" "created moral hell" by their presence in Kyiv and now they will do the same in Moldova, Poland and Zakarpattia to which they have fled.
Municipal authorities in Kyiv now "can't organize the most basic things" and the "main problem" is their "inability to organize normal provisions of medicines" even though "Kyiv isn't even blocked, roads to the south and south-west are open".
"Most people still in the city are still rather optimistic about the military action thanks to a powerful flood of information", although they "don't believe in victory so hysterically any more"
""It is completely obvious that the Ukrainian leadership is not particularly interested in saving civilian lives".
"If the de-Nazification operation is not completed, the scale of human skulls in the Third Reich will look like nothing against what they will come up with in the New Ukraine", with risk of this spreading to Russia.
This is just one awful, awful article on one major Russian "news" website. But there are dozens and dozens of websites and TV channels saying the same thing. You see, it's not just "disinformation". It's not even just the Russian-language equivalent of RT or Sputnik.
It isn't even the absense of truth which is most nauseating (although that's nauseating enough). It's the total absense of humanity, the callousness towards people who are Russians' neigbours & relatives.
No hell can be hot enough for those who work now for Russia's state media.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
The supporters chanting his name were the worst representation of football fans. Utter morons (and all sides regrettably have some).
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
Were they ever going to pay it back, except on sale of the club? Were they even paying interest on it?
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
British Chelsea would be warmly welcomed by many of their fans as a re-brand.
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
Nationalising the club would entail giving Abramovich the price of the club. Nationalisation without combination would be struck down in the courts.
Freezing the assets, prior to building a case as to what the situation actually is, won't be struck down by the courts. There is a legal framework and precedents for freezing assets and holding them for a good long while, while determining if they are seizable or not.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
British Chelsea would be warmly welcomed by many of their fans as a re-brand.
Govt should force a fan owned model in time for the new season.
On the one hand great if Russia is defeated in Ukraine.
On the other hand if Russia is facing defeat, Putin might say other countries continuing to supply Ukrainian "fascist terrorists" with weapons is an existential threat to Russia, warns everyone to back off, then uses the smallest nuclear bomb he's got on a "weapons supply line" in Ukraine to show that he means business and is really willing to use nuclear weapons.
This is why fighter jets won't be supplied to Ukraine, and why the US is probably pushing the Ukrainians to accept some kind of deal, which will no doubt be shitty.
I think the talk about nuclear war is being overdone - there is a very nasty but very localised war, with no sign that anyone wants to extend it anywhere else. Because it all feels so close and 24/7 coverage is focusing on the worst scenes, it feels more End of Days than it actually is. It's horrible but it's not obviously leading to a global meltdown as some have been suggesting.
On the domestic side, some selections which show where the Opposition is initially targeting as we gear up for a possible election:
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
Very interested to read it is illegal for conscripts to actually fight. Under a decree by Putin himself. Which would mean there was absolutely no incentive to have given them even basic training. Explains quite a bit.
If anyones watching F1 - the levels of engineering and ingenuity never cease to amaze. Literally Mercedes have turned up with 0 side pods.
We have such a spread of designs this year - will be interesting to see who has it right and who screwed up. Back in the good old days we saw radical cars launched that flopped and got seriously amended or even dropped for a rebuild of the previous car.
The latter can't happen as its a new formula, but I expect we will see B spec cars with various teams as this year goes on.
Another thought with regards to Haas. I don't think they have a new title sponsor yet have removed Uralkali and the Russian flag livery. Would putting the cars in Ukrainian colours be a step too far...?
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will b ereplaced by one of the other posterior lickers Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Nice to hear from you Malc - Hope you and your family are now fully recovered and enjoying the Spring Ayrshire air
Thanks G , my wife is probably as good as she will get now , her lungs will never be 100% again , but she is well and we are doing ok. Has been lovely spell of weather but near end now according to forecasts. Hope you and family are all well.
Yes though we do keep taking our daily pills !!!
Our daughter in law recently announced she is expecting her third on the 1st September, so while all this appalling and horrific news dominates our daily news, we have many reasons to be very grateful
Indeed G for all our moans we are very lucky to be where we are, politicians excepted.
My four year old son, this morning, asked me while brushing his teeth if there are children in the world who don't have toys (we sometimes tell him how lucky he is, when he's whining about something). Yes, yes there are. And (unspoken) it gets a lot worse than that.
I've been busy at work recently, doing extra hours at the weekend a couple of times. But recent events have given me some perspective. Time is precious. We spent most of Sunday in the garden, playing and moving some plants and enjoying the first signs of spring. And I did no work. We have to remember what is important in life and also remember that it can be taken away in a moment.
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
He’s obsessed with the term “Anglo-Saxon” as well. Rather odd
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
If they've 'not attacked' Ukraine then I'm a bit worried that they are planning to 'not attack' other countries, too
This is how TASS is reporting it, in between making a big fuss about supposedly US-funded biolabs they are finding inside Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.
Looking on the bright side, if that's their story you'd think they could come up with a deal whereby Ukraine agrees to prohibit nazis and people making chemical weapons under international supervision, and in return the Russians agree to fuck off back to Russia.
NATO protects only NATO - well, that was the whole point in the original design. Not to extend commitments beyond the core territory* of the member states. So that people would know what they were getting into.
As to defending NATO states - the US, UK and others are continuously reinforcing and increasing troop numbers in the Baltics States and Poland. That means that if the Russians attack, they will automatically be fighting them.
1990's Yugoslavia says hello.
Yes - perhaps the exception that proves the rule. The Serbs had some vague backing from the Soviet Union, but nothing definite. Some argue, though that the Pristina Airport thing was a pivotal moment in Russian Greater Nationalism and it's revival....
The difference is we were prepared to confront and defeat the Serbian bully but the bigger Russian bully not so much. We prod him, we take his pocket money away, we say horrible things to him. But the bully still attacks our friend and will continue to do so and other friends until we put the Russian bully on his arse.
Nice idea. How?
I noted my views last night and there was a lively debate Essentially :
1. No fly zone with immediate effect 2. Admit Ukraine into NATO with immediate effect and Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia should they wish. 3. Immediate ceasefire and Russian forces to begin withdraw within 12 hours.
You make Liz Truss look like a CND pacifist
Which she probably was at some point in her variegated political journey.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
The other daft thing about any ‘re-arming’ debate is that in terms of conventional force (tanks troops missiles planes etc) Russia has proved itself woefully inadequate vs Ukraine. So if ‘re-arming’ means increasing our spend on those things, it does seem like just a way to funnel money to pet projects with no real value.
Cheap drones, better cyberwarfare capabilities, and of course even more investment in human intelligence all seem like better priorities.
Indeed, I am not an expert by any means, but it seems clear to me that tanks are nowadays not that useful versus drones, missiles etc that can destroy them. Russian tanks seem to be the proverbial knife to a gunfight.
Are we interested in vanity projects and jobs for the lads, or what actually works?
Well there's that, but we also have to think of the next stages. Suppose both sides have saturated the air with drones, so that every tank and armoured vehicle is destroyed. What then?
How do you move infantry around in a way that protects infantry from machine guns or IEDs? Can you build drones to take down other drones, or otherwise knock out enemy drones so that you can safely move your infantry around the battlefield?
How would a drone submarine change naval warfare?
I hope no-one is proposing to rebuild the Cold War British Army, so the "Why do you want more tanks, duh?" response is irrelevant. But modernising the armed forces, and expanding their capability to meet the threat to democracy posed by dictators isn't going to be achieved by shuffling around the existing MoD budget.
We've overestimated the extent to which we can restrain dictators by means over than force. This means we require a rethink.
What if the drones are armed with small capacity guns or explosive charges? What if they are programmed to attack anything with a heat signature of human body temperature that is moving?
LATEST: Ukrainian Foreign Minister @DmytroKuleba speaking after meeting with Russian FM Lavrov. "Russia is not in a position at this point to establish a ceasefire. They seek a surrender from Ukraine. This is not what they're going to get. Ukraine is strong, Ukraine is fighting." https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1501861898953891840
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
You do. But that's not what she said. Anyway, you go dance on a pinhead if you want.
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
Nationalising the club would entail giving Abramovich the price of the club. Nationalisation without combination would be struck down in the courts.
Freezing the assets, prior to building a case as to what the situation actually is, won't be struck down by the courts. There is a legal framework and precedents for freezing assets and holding them for a good long while, while determining if they are seizable or not.
Indeed the law must be followed, seizures outside of the legal framework are never appropriate.
If a case can be built to do a legal seizure then great, all the better if the full £1.5bn of debt ends up having to be repaid or debt-financed too. I wonder how much annual interest would be due on £1.5bn of debts?
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
It’s astonishing how a mediocre (at best) Foreign Secretary from an “irrelevant” country can live rent free inside his head….
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
You do. But that's not what she said. Anyway, you go dance on a pinhead if you want.
It is what she said. She said they have [present tense] no place in our economy or society due to the war in Ukraine.
Please quote the exact words she used to say they had [past tense] no place in the past?
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
So how were they not complicit in Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine 2014 etc etc etc but they are now complicit in Ukraine? And what were Holac and MI whoever on about when objecting to that pig Lebedev in 2020? They got precogs? Aren't even you a bit embarrassed about appointing this piece of ordure to the legislature, then sanctioning him in under 2 years?
FM @DmytroKuleba after speaking to Lavrov in Turkey: "We cannot stop the war if the attacking country has no desire to do so. Today I heard that Russia ties a ceasefire to demands made by Russian president to Ukraine. I stress that Ukraine has, is not, and will not surrender" https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1501872006316363781
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
He’s obsessed with the term “Anglo-Saxon” as well. Rather odd
That plays well to some Europeans who have a thing about the UK and America.
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
He’s obsessed with the term “Anglo-Saxon” as well. Rather odd
I thought that Peter the Great had a high old time in London, and that the relationship afterwards was fairly good. There was a break in diplomatic relations concerning the Russian expansion in the Baltic, but that was more of a dust up than a serious War War thing.
A Journalist asked - “How do you justify bombing a Maternity Hospital” Lavrov said: “With regards the Maternity hospital it is not the first time we see pathetic outcries concerning the so called atrocities perpetrated by Russian military” https://twitter.com/JimMchargj/status/1501867965423235074
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
Nationalising the club would entail giving Abramovich the price of the club. Nationalisation without combination would be struck down in the courts.
Freezing the assets, prior to building a case as to what the situation actually is, won't be struck down by the courts. There is a legal framework and precedents for freezing assets and holding them for a good long while, while determining if they are seizable or not.
Indeed the law must be followed, seizures outside of the legal framework are never appropriate.
If a case can be built to do a legal seizure then great, all the better if the full £1.5bn of debt ends up having to be repaid or debt-financed too. I wonder how much annual interest would be due on £1.5bn of debts?
That would be one for lawyers. Lots of lawyers. Depends a lot on what terms the loan(s) - multiple tranches I understand - were negotiated under.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
You do. But that's not what she said. Anyway, you go dance on a pinhead if you want.
It is what she said. She said they have [present tense] no place in our economy or society due to the war in Ukraine.
Please quote the exact words she used to say they had [past tense] no place in the past?
She said "I have documents on all of you. All of *you*". And all of you can kiss my Russian ass.
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
You senile old twat.
Or are you auditioning for the village hall production of Dr Strangelove.
Why do I have the urge to watch a load of films this weekend? Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe, By Dawn's Early Light, The Day After, Threads, When the Wind Blows etc.
Still think On The Beach is one of the best of that genre, the film gave me the creeps when I was a kid and the book when a teenager. All the more effective for lack of mushroom clouds and incinerated humans.
Lavrov seems to have a thing about Liz Truss. He says that the English made up the same 'fake news' about the threat from Peter the Great's expansionism.
He’s obsessed with the term “Anglo-Saxon” as well. Rather odd
I thought that Peter the Great had a high old time in London, and that the relationship afterwards was fairly good. There was a break in diplomatic relations concerning the Russian expansion in the Baltic, but that was more of a dust up than a serious War War thing.
He rented a house off John Evelyn, and pissed him off by wrecking a holly hedge (driving wheelbarrows through it while drunk).
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
If they've 'not attacked' Ukraine then I'm a bit worried that they are planning to 'not attack' other countries, too
This is how TASS is reporting it, in between making a big fuss about supposedly US-funded biolabs they are finding inside Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.
Looking on the bright side, if that's their story you'd think they could come up with a deal whereby Ukraine agrees to prohibit nazis and people making chemical weapons under international supervision, and in return the Russians agree to fuck off back to Russia.
Problem is that Russia is insisting on their military doing the vetting...
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
Nationalising the club would entail giving Abramovich the price of the club. Nationalisation without combination would be struck down in the courts.
Freezing the assets, prior to building a case as to what the situation actually is, won't be struck down by the courts. There is a legal framework and precedents for freezing assets and holding them for a good long while, while determining if they are seizable or not.
Indeed the law must be followed, seizures outside of the legal framework are never appropriate.
If a case can be built to do a legal seizure then great, all the better if the full £1.5bn of debt ends up having to be repaid or debt-financed too. I wonder how much annual interest would be due on £1.5bn of debts?
Depends how high the base rate goes in response to inflation. Man Utd were paying about 15% on the money they borrowed to buy themselves for the Glazers. So that would be £225m a year.
'Russia Regulations' license also prohibits Chelsea spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, which asks serious questions of Champions League logistics, starting with Lille away next Wednesday
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will be replaced by one of the other posterior licking Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Sadly, the spash that Blackford is going seems overstated. He has issued a denial.
Even so, there are certainly stresses and strains. On gender, and oil 'n' gas.
Fergus Ewing MSP, former minister, and member of SNP royalty, pretty damning of energy policy and alliance with Greens. Worth a look.
The Home Office seems to be a longstanding disaster area, and beyond the ability of any minister to put right. Not helped that the minister presently in charge is Ms Patel.
Very interesting article in ConHome by Andrew Gimson here:
"The appointment on Tuesday of Richard Harrington as Minister for Refugees, working for the Department for Levelling Up as well as the Home Office, suggests a well-founded lack of confidence in the latter department, and indeed is humiliating for the ministers already there.
"On Wednesday morning, Harrington was seen having breakfast with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
"An adviser who until recently worked in the Home Office agreed that its ministers are at present quite unable to exercise proper oversight of the department’s multifarious responsibilities. There is almost no oversight of the security services, while the police are expert lobbyists who run rings round civil servants in their mid to late twenties.
"This adviser said the department is so overtaxed by its present responsibilities that it ought to be split in two. One department would deal with national security and policing, while the other would concentrate on borders and immigration."
Sounds like a reasonable reorganisation. Even with a competent Home Sec the remit is unwieldy.
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
As a Swindon fan I bitterly recall the trauma of your club being punished. In 1990 Town were relegated two divisions (reduced to one on appeal) for illegal payments to players. No contest that the payments had been going on, although I still think Town were punished a la Admiral Byng (to encourage the others). But as a Town fan who had just seen his team promoted to the old first division, to see that snatched away 10 days later was horrible.
And for all that Chelsea have had glory bought by dodgy Russian money, I would still feel sorry for the fans if there are serious consequences for the club. By all means believe that the ones who chanted Abramovich's name are idiots, but your club is a huge part of your life.
The hospital strike in Mariupol killed only three. For which much thanks.
Take note those on here last night that wanted to use this attack as a pretext for nuclear war.
People that want to take on Putin aren't looking for a nuclear war.
You might passionately believe that's all they'll find by taking on Putin, but that's a different thing.
They are being too reckless though and hot headed and emotional
"Reckless?"
"emotional?"
The evil is not being done by us. It is being done by Putin's troops. *He* is the one being reckless. *He* is the one threatening neighbouring democratic countries so he can obtain his fevered dreams. *He* is the one threatening the world with nuclear weapons.
People who say he needs stopping are not being 'reckless'. They realise the devil that we are dealing with.
As for 'emotional': well, yes. It's hard to see innocent Ukrainian civilians being slaughtered and not get emotional. If you are not getting emotional about that, perhaps you should ask yourself why?
'Russia Regulations' license also prohibits Chelsea spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, which asks serious questions of Champions League logistics, starting with Lille away next Wednesday
Kuleba: "Upon my initiative, we dedicated most of the time addressing humanitarian issues on the ground...to bring relief to people who have suffered." But he says Lavrov did not agree to a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol. https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1501862061869047817
Russians seem determined to have their medieval siege.
I think the talk about nuclear war is being overdone - there is a very nasty but very localised war, with no sign that anyone wants to extend it anywhere else. Because it all feels so close and 24/7 coverage is focusing on the worst scenes, it feels more End of Days than it actually is. It's horrible but it's not obviously leading to a global meltdown as some have been suggesting.
On the domestic side, some selections which show where the Opposition is initially targeting as we gear up for a possible election:
Thats fine Nick and I agree with you as far as the war currently goes. Do you think that will still be the case if NATO start bombing targets inside Russia in support of a No Fly Zone?
Totally off-topic but had an odd one on our online store. Complaining that we had sent totally the wrong order. Lists what he ordered and what he received. Check web store and what he thinks he ordered is totally different to what he claimed he ordered. Send a screen grab.
Another email back with yet another list of what was received. So I'm going to have to open an investigation into what exactly was on the pick sheet, whether the picker made a mistake etc. Eugh. Oh, he asks for a full refund. Which I have given him.
As with my other posts on customer service it is more costly to get into an argument - time, money and reputational cost - than to operate no quibble and issue a refund a move on.
It's worth repeating how Amazon does customer service
1) the customer is always right Up to the point we don't want them as a customer anymore...
Absolutely agree, refund and don't argue the toss. Customers are wrong more often than they think, it is a cost of doing business. With retail distance sales there are some customers you don't want. Because the are cheating stealing criminal serial complaining people.
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will be replaced by one of the other posterior licking Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Sadly, the spash that Blackford is going seems overstated. He has issued a denial.
Even so, there are certainly stresses and strains. On gender, and oil 'n' gas.
Fergus Ewing MSP, former minister, and member of SNP royalty, pretty damning of energy policy and alliance with Greens. Worth a look.
If anyones watching F1 - the levels of engineering and ingenuity never cease to amaze. Literally Mercedes have turned up with 0 side pods.
That’s quite an astonishing looking car they’ve designed.
It’s quite amazing that, even with the regulations becoming more and more prescriptive, ten teams of people can come up with ten wildly different designs for a car.
'Russia Regulations' license also prohibits Chelsea spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, which asks serious questions of Champions League logistics, starting with Lille away next Wednesday
I think the talk about nuclear war is being overdone - there is a very nasty but very localised war, with no sign that anyone wants to extend it anywhere else. Because it all feels so close and 24/7 coverage is focusing on the worst scenes, it feels more End of Days than it actually is. It's horrible but it's not obviously leading to a global meltdown as some have been suggesting.
On the domestic side, some selections which show where the Opposition is initially targeting as we gear up for a possible election:
Nick, you either believe in democracy or you do not. Do the states to the west of Russia have a right to choose which security, political or economic blocs they are in? Or should they cave into every demand from their neighbour to the east, for fear?
I think Chelsea fans should be worried. The government could have exempted Chelsea from the sanction. They could have nationalised the club and put it up for sale. But they didn’t.
As a Swindon fan I bitterly recall the trauma of your club being punished. In 1990 Town were relegated two divisions (reduced to one on appeal) for illegal payments to players. No contest that the payments had been going on, although I still think Town were punished a la Admiral Byng (to encourage the others). But as a Town fan who had just seen his team promoted to the old first division, to see that snatched away 10 days later was horrible.
And for all that Chelsea have had glory bought by dodgy Russian money, I would still feel sorry for the fans if there are serious consequences for the club. By all means believe that the ones who chanted Abramovich's name are idiots, but your club is a huge part of your life.
In life you have to take the rough with the smooth. Sorry for not shedding any tears for their fans.
I think the talk about nuclear war is being overdone - there is a very nasty but very localised war, with no sign that anyone wants to extend it anywhere else. Because it all feels so close and 24/7 coverage is focusing on the worst scenes, it feels more End of Days than it actually is. It's horrible but it's not obviously leading to a global meltdown as some have been suggesting.
On the domestic side, some selections which show where the Opposition is initially targeting as we gear up for a possible election:
Thats fine Nick and I agree with you as far as the war currently goes. Do you think that will still be the case if NATO start bombing targets inside Russia in support of a No Fly Zone?
If Nick Palmer is right then SKS's stance (and other European opposition parties) is inexplicable. Let's say that Biden, Boris et al have cold feet at an outside risk and so take the line they do. If they were obviously wrong on the basis of confidential briefings to opposition leaders Labour would have an open goal to urge the government to back NATO in getting involved, with emotional support from the public as they watch maternity hospitals being attacked.
SKS, and others, are not. They think solidarity in the west too important + the risks of NFZ etc are too great. Sadly I think we should trust their judgement for now.
The Chelsea sanctions are, objectively speaking, hilarious. 20 years of Russian oligarch money comes with its' price. Doing it on their 117th anniversary is even better.
If anyones watching F1 - the levels of engineering and ingenuity never cease to amaze. Literally Mercedes have turned up with 0 side pods.
That’s quite an astonishing looking car they’ve designed.
It’s quite amazing that, even with the regulations becoming more and more prescriptive, ten teams of people can come up with ten wildly different designs for a car.
That's astonishing. It's either going to be brilliant or an absolute disaster.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
Nail his feet to the floor, his hands to the desk, glue his eves open and show him film of bombings, destruction and murder of civilians. Hold a nail gun to his groin until he acknowledges the attacks, the war, the lies and agrees they are crimes against humanity.
Ukranian refugees to be able to come to UK with just a passport or ID card and an online form. Biometrics to be taken at a later date.
At last! (And yet, five more days to wait)
Ah, no, Guardian has a longer quote. Ukrainians will still have to wait for their application for a visa to be considered. So there could still be long delays between application and decision, and you could have large numbers refused for trifling bureaucratic reasons.
Also fascinating to see China is refusing to supply Russia with aircraft parts. They are now looking to India and Turkey. No planes to travel about would be a huge blow to the economy. Chinese are very quietly peeling away.
The Home Office seems to be a longstanding disaster area, and beyond the ability of any minister to put right. Not helped that the minister presently in charge is Ms Patel.
Very interesting article in ConHome by Andrew Gimson here:
"The appointment on Tuesday of Richard Harrington as Minister for Refugees, working for the Department for Levelling Up as well as the Home Office, suggests a well-founded lack of confidence in the latter department, and indeed is humiliating for the ministers already there.
"On Wednesday morning, Harrington was seen having breakfast with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
"An adviser who until recently worked in the Home Office agreed that its ministers are at present quite unable to exercise proper oversight of the department’s multifarious responsibilities. There is almost no oversight of the security services, while the police are expert lobbyists who run rings round civil servants in their mid to late twenties.
"This adviser said the department is so overtaxed by its present responsibilities that it ought to be split in two. One department would deal with national security and policing, while the other would concentrate on borders and immigration."
The Home Office is not fit for purpose? It was broken up by "Doctor" John Reid so it must be fixed now, unless these Whitehall reorganisations are just cover for politicians without a clue.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
Also fascinating to see China is refusing to supply Russia with aircraft parts. They are now looking to India and Turkey. No planes to travel about would be a huge blow to the economy. Chinese are very quietly peeling away.
China knows where its markets are.....they are in the places appalled and unforgiving about Russia's actions.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
What are you talking about? This is the quote again, emphasis added:
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
Riiiiiiight
So what oligarchs were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began? I'm waiting ...
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
You do. But that's not what she said. Anyway, you go dance on a pinhead if you want.
It is what she said. She said they have [present tense] no place in our economy or society due to the war in Ukraine.
Please quote the exact words she used to say they had [past tense] no place in the past?
"once again". As in something had been the case in the past. She is not solely talking about the last 10 days.
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will be replaced by one of the other posterior licking Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Sadly, the spash that Blackford is going seems overstated. He has issued a denial.
Even so, there are certainly stresses and strains. On gender, and oil 'n' gas.
Fergus Ewing MSP, former minister, and member of SNP royalty, pretty damning of energy policy and alliance with Greens. Worth a look.
His mum was royalty. Her offspring are marginal figures.
Instant promotion from Yoons when SNPers are perceived as causing problems for the SNP.
Ewing SNP royalty Salmond the best PM that the UK never had Cherry the best Westminster leader the SNP never had Sillars SNP elder statesman
I’d hope that the news that Sillars donated £2000 to Jackie Baillie’s re-election campaign means that he’ll stop being quoted as any authority on independence or the SNP, but I fear I must hope in vain.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
"You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie."
My sympathies lie entirely with ordinary people caught up in this.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
"You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie."
My sympathies lie entirely with ordinary people caught up in this.
I want the fighting stopped as soon as possible.
Unconditional surrender by Russia will do that, nicely.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
"You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie."
My sympathies lie entirely with ordinary people caught up in this.
I want the fighting stopped as soon as possible.
And you think it's not possible for Russia simply to end the attack?
Mr. Pioneers, while they're mostly better on that score lately, the Mercedes has been a bit iffy here and there when it comes to cooling. Superskinny sidepods, though.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
I am part of the 20 %.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
"You've been quite clear Vlad on whose side your sympathies lie."
My sympathies lie entirely with ordinary people caught up in this.
I want the fighting stopped as soon as possible.
You want that whatever it means for the Ukrainians.
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will be replaced by one of the other posterior licking Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Sadly, the spash that Blackford is going seems overstated. He has issued a denial.
Even so, there are certainly stresses and strains. On gender, and oil 'n' gas.
Fergus Ewing MSP, former minister, and member of SNP royalty, pretty damning of energy policy and alliance with Greens. Worth a look.
His mum was royalty. Her offspring are marginal figures.
Instant promotion from Yoons when SNPers are perceived as causing problems for the SNP.
Ewing SNP royalty Salmond the best PM that the UK never had Cherry the best Westminster leader the SNP never had Sillars SNP elder statesman
I’d hope that the news that Sillars donated £2000 to Jackie Baillie’s re-election campaign means that he’ll stop being quoted as any authority on independence or the SNP, but I fear I must hope in vain.
Mr. Sandpit, I wonder how the cooling is on the Mercedes.
Yeah, exactly what I thought. F1 engines cooking themselves used to be a regular occurrence and this design looks to be inviting it to happen.
That's what is so fascinating about it. Mercedes know their stuff, and they know their engine. They wouldn't have done this if they didn't think it wouldn't work. So how does it work? I await Scarbs...
However, in the first 'test' they ran a traditional sidepod arrangement, so it might be they have that as a backup.
But if this works, it might be another step in the evolution of F1 cars. Rear engine, wings, no sidepods...
Comments
If crimes are committed then absolutely that should be dealt with following all due processes and with the presumption of innocent until proven guilty.
However being our potential enemy isn't a crime, being our active one is grounds for sanctions though. So you act when the time is right, not prematurely.
https://twitter.com/samwallacetel/status/1501859838502002689?s=21
The terms of the Chelsea licence of very interesting and fans of other clubs might be a little premature in cheering for them. The prohibited actions are a template list of all the ways the authorities think football clubs can launder money to their owners.
https://twitter.com/dsquareddigest/status/1501857866411651074?s=21
The mills of god grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine…
It will be interesting to compare the scope and reach of sanctions applied across different countries….
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Which Oligarchs and Kleptocrats were welcomed after the war in Ukraine began?
The war in Ukraine is the trigger for this. She's saying so explicitly and repeatedly. Anything before the trigger, doesn't count, that's how time operates.
How do you move infantry around in a way that protects infantry from machine guns or IEDs? Can you build drones to take down other drones, or otherwise knock out enemy drones so that you can safely move your infantry around the battlefield?
How would a drone submarine change naval warfare?
I hope no-one is proposing to rebuild the Cold War British Army, so the "Why do you want more tanks, duh?" response is irrelevant. But modernising the armed forces, and expanding their capability to meet the threat to democracy posed by dictators isn't going to be achieved by shuffling around the existing MoD budget.
We've overestimated the extent to which we can restrain dictators by means over than force. This means we require a rethink.
How can we deal with a country that refuses to accept reality.
@Joanna_Szostek
I'm regularly asked what Russian media are reporting about Ukraine, usually by people who don't speak Russian.
And I struggle to convey the **scale of lies and sheer depravity** of Russian state media content.
Words like "disinfo" aren't enough.
Here's a🧵trying to illustrate.
There is an article on the website of Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. It is one of Russia's top news websites. Hundreds of thousands of people have already read the article. It is titled "Kiev has experienced an exodus" (Киев пережил исход). Here are some highlights.
Ukrainian "patriotic bloggers and other so-called leaders of public opinion" "created moral hell" by their presence in Kyiv and now they will do the same in Moldova, Poland and Zakarpattia to which they have fled.
Municipal authorities in Kyiv now "can't organize the most basic things" and the "main problem" is their "inability to organize normal provisions of medicines" even though "Kyiv isn't even blocked, roads to the south and south-west are open".
"Most people still in the city are still rather optimistic about the military action thanks to a powerful flood of information", although they "don't believe in victory so hysterically any more"
""It is completely obvious that the Ukrainian leadership is not particularly interested in saving civilian lives".
"If the de-Nazification operation is not completed, the scale of human skulls in the Third Reich will look like nothing against what they will come up with in the New Ukraine", with risk of this spreading to Russia.
This is just one awful, awful article on one major Russian "news" website. But there are dozens and dozens of websites and TV channels saying the same thing. You see, it's not just "disinformation". It's not even just the Russian-language equivalent of RT or Sputnik.
It isn't even the absense of truth which is most nauseating (although that's nauseating enough). It's the total absense of humanity, the callousness towards people who are Russians' neigbours & relatives.
No hell can be hot enough for those who work now for Russia's state media.
https://twitter.com/Joanna_Szostek/status/1501503408703950848
Freezing the assets, prior to building a case as to what the situation actually is, won't be struck down by the courts. There is a legal framework and precedents for freezing assets and holding them for a good long while, while determining if they are seizable or not.
You harping on about stuff that happened before the war in Ukraine began is completely idiotic as anyone complaining that Germany was buying Russian gas before the war in Ukraine began, when they've stopped buying it now.
You act different in peacetime to conflicts, that's only logical.
For which much thanks.
Interesting sidepod situation.
On the other hand if Russia is facing defeat, Putin might say other countries continuing to supply Ukrainian "fascist terrorists" with weapons is an existential threat to Russia, warns everyone to back off, then uses the smallest nuclear bomb he's got on a "weapons supply line" in Ukraine to show that he means business and is really willing to use nuclear weapons.
This is why fighter jets won't be supplied to Ukraine, and why the US is probably pushing the Ukrainians to accept some kind of deal, which will no doubt be shitty.
On the domestic side, some selections which show where the Opposition is initially targeting as we gear up for a possible election:
https://labourlist.org/2022/03/exclusive-14-key-seats-allowed-to-select-labour-mp-candidates-early-revealed/
Which would mean there was absolutely no incentive to have given them even basic training.
Explains quite a bit.
The latter can't happen as its a new formula, but I expect we will see B spec cars with various teams as this year goes on.
Another thought with regards to Haas. I don't think they have a new title sponsor yet have removed Uralkali and the Russian flag livery. Would putting the cars in Ukrainian colours be a step too far...?
I've been busy at work recently, doing extra hours at the weekend a couple of times. But recent events have given me some perspective. Time is precious. We spent most of Sunday in the garden, playing and moving some plants and enjoying the first signs of spring. And I did no work. We have to remember what is important in life and also remember that it can be taken away in a moment.
Chelsea shirt
@DmytroKuleba speaking after meeting with Russian FM Lavrov. "Russia is not in a position at this point to establish a ceasefire. They seek a surrender from Ukraine. This is not what they're going to get. Ukraine is strong, Ukraine is fighting."
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1501861898953891840
If a case can be built to do a legal seizure then great, all the better if the full £1.5bn of debt ends up having to be repaid or debt-financed too. I wonder how much annual interest would be due on £1.5bn of debts?
You might passionately believe that's all they'll find by taking on Putin, but that's a different thing.
Please quote the exact words she used to say they had [past tense] no place in the past?
"We cannot stop the war if the attacking country has no desire to do so. Today I heard that Russia ties a ceasefire to demands made by Russian president to Ukraine. I stress that Ukraine has, is not, and will not surrender"
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1501872006316363781
A Journalist asked - “How do you justify bombing a Maternity Hospital”
Lavrov said:
“With regards the Maternity hospital it is not the first time we see pathetic outcries concerning the so called atrocities perpetrated by Russian military”
https://twitter.com/JimMchargj/status/1501867965423235074
Ukranian refugees to be able to come to UK with just a passport or ID card and an online form. Biometrics to be taken at a later date.
Even so, there are certainly stresses and strains. On gender, and oil 'n' gas.
Fergus Ewing MSP, former minister, and member of SNP royalty, pretty damning of energy policy and alliance with Greens. Worth a look.
https://twitter.com/ITVBorderRB/status/1501627266480156674
LAB: 39% (+2)
CON: 33% (-2)
LDM: 10% (+3)
GRN: 7% (-1)
REF: 4% (-1)
SNP: 4% (-1)
Via @YouGov, Changes w/ 3-4 March.
Why would Keir do this?
But as a Town fan who had just seen his team promoted to the old first division, to see that snatched away 10 days later was horrible.
And for all that Chelsea have had glory bought by dodgy Russian money, I would still feel sorry for the fans if there are serious consequences for the club. By all means believe that the ones who chanted Abramovich's name are idiots, but your club is a huge part of your life.
"emotional?"
The evil is not being done by us. It is being done by Putin's troops. *He* is the one being reckless. *He* is the one threatening neighbouring democratic countries so he can obtain his fevered dreams. *He* is the one threatening the world with nuclear weapons.
People who say he needs stopping are not being 'reckless'. They realise the devil that we are dealing with.
As for 'emotional': well, yes. It's hard to see innocent Ukrainian civilians being slaughtered and not get emotional. If you are not getting emotional about that, perhaps you should ask yourself why?
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1501862061869047817
Russians seem determined to have their medieval siege.
Absolutely agree, refund and don't argue the toss.
Customers are wrong more often than they think, it is a cost of doing business.
With retail distance sales there are some customers you don't want. Because the are cheating stealing criminal serial complaining people.
His mum was royalty. Her offspring are marginal figures.
It’s quite amazing that, even with the regulations becoming more and more prescriptive, ten teams of people can come up with ten wildly different designs for a car.
That's what happens when you don't donate some of your vast fortune directly to the Tory Party.
(Incidentally, another minor victory for 'Captain Hindsight', who was calling for Abramovich to be sanctioned over a week ago).
Urrm, have you been listening to Russia's words over the years? The list of Russia's demands from last year is a start:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-issues-list-demands-tensions-europe-ukraine-nato
Nick, you either believe in democracy or you do not. Do the states to the west of Russia have a right to choose which security, political or economic blocs they are in? Or should they cave into every demand from their neighbour to the east, for fear?
https://twitter.com/AKurkov/status/1501842092552863748
SKS, and others, are not. They think solidarity in the west too important + the risks of NFZ etc are too great. Sadly I think we should trust their judgement for now.
Because I reject the idea that if you are not for us, then you are against us.
I am not for anyone in this conflict, which is one of the stupidest ever fought since Jenkins lost his ear.
HMG are still getting this wrong.
No planes to travel about would be a huge blow to the economy.
Chinese are very quietly peeling away.
The Ukrainians fighting to defend themselves against invasion is not "stupid" and they are the forces of good not because they're on their own side, but because they are valiantly fighting to defend themselves.
That you can't see that and want to perceive this about "for us" or "against us" shows your own prejudices not others.
Ewing SNP royalty
Salmond the best PM that the UK never had
Cherry the best Westminster leader the SNP never had
Sillars SNP elder statesman
I’d hope that the news that Sillars donated £2000 to Jackie Baillie’s re-election campaign means that he’ll stop being quoted as any authority on independence or the SNP, but I fear I must hope in vain.
My sympathies lie entirely with ordinary people caught up in this.
I want the fighting stopped as soon as possible.
Thank fuck they've got some fight in them.
Those four lines were, of course, time-honoured Nat tropes not so very long ago.
And, yes, you probably do hope in vain.
However, in the first 'test' they ran a traditional sidepod arrangement, so it might be they have that as a backup.
But if this works, it might be another step in the evolution of F1 cars. Rear engine, wings, no sidepods...