NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
I do like the Netherlands, where apparently 90.9% speak English, all as an additional language - that is some impressive schooling. (Unsurprisingly the Nordic countries are similar)
AIUI the source of the Canadian stat is actually for mother tongue, which some may interpret differently to first/main language currently spoken.
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
It's my absolute specialty, picking up them 'back with a new name' posters.
Pretty sure I’ve got one wriggling in the catch net at the moment.
The return of Bluest Blue?
@BluestBlue was one of my favourite posters - sadly missed - I've tried to rattle his cage with a couple of PMs but to no avail.
My complete guess is he is already back, although being more serious and this time skipping the hyper partisan Boris is a God posts.
At least it was a righty that left (I wish he'd return also). More usually it is a lefty who decides it's not worth banging their heads against a brick wall having fallen foul of the well off perhaps retired male white Anglo Saxon I live in a big house with a charming garden what's all the fuss about PB contingent.
Which is quite large.
over-worded "PB Tories always wrong". A finer creature than the usual iteration, but the last notes of its call slightly out of tune.
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
I do like the Netherlands, where apparently 90.9% speak English, all as an additional language - that is some impressive schooling. (Unsurprisingly the Nordic countries are similar)
Quite a lot of Chinese and South Asians in Canada too, whose first language may not be English.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
I’d ask Dan Hannan on twitter but the wee snowflake has blocked me.
Is India primarily English speaking? I don't think so. I would include places like South Africa and Nigeria as part of the Anglosphere, but not India.
Yes, it's one of 2 official languages along with Hindi. Bloody everyone speaks it.
If by everyone you mean 10%, I'd agree.
Everybody foreigner-facing.
I don't see that the Anglosphere is primarily defined by language anyway. Even if it is, having English as an *official* language is fairly persuasive
Hint: how many Bollywood films are produced in English?
I yield only to Zac in my passion for Bollywood, so I haven't a clue
I am not trying to culturally appropriate the subcontinent, I was just answering a question - somewhat inaccurately it now appears, but in Goa, Karnataka and all the usual places from Agra up to and including Srinagar I can't remember wanting to speak English to someone and not being able to
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
It's why if there were going to be any measures at all they needed to be implemented quickly whilst people are still angry enough.
Not sure how angry you need to be to put up with perhaps fuel and energy rationing.
'Put up with' is different from 'Implement'. People can agree to something in the moment without being willing to put up with it later, when it starts to bite. They might in the moment think themselves willing to put up with it, agree, then complain later.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
I’d ask Dan Hannan on twitter but the wee snowflake has blocked me.
Is India primarily English speaking? I don't think so. I would include places like South Africa and Nigeria as part of the Anglosphere, but not India.
Yes, it's one of 2 official languages along with Hindi. Bloody everyone speaks it.
If by everyone you mean 10%, I'd agree.
Everybody foreigner-facing.
I don't see that the Anglosphere is primarily defined by language anyway. Even if it is, having English as an *official* language is fairly persuasive
Hint: how many Bollywood films are produced in English?
I yield only to Zac in my passion for Bollywood, so I haven't a clue
I am not trying to culturally appropriate the subcontinent, I was just answering a question - somewhat inaccurately it now appears, but in Goa, Karnataka and all the usual places from Agra up to and including Srinagar I can't remember wanting to speak English to someone and not being able to
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
I do like the Netherlands, where apparently 90.9% speak English, all as an additional language - that is some impressive schooling. (Unsurprisingly the Nordic countries are similar)
Quite a lot of Chinese and South Asians in Canada too, whose first language may not be English.
Yes, the 21% immigrant stat someone mentioned does seem very high.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
I agree with you on that, but you made a simple, inconsequential error, it's fine.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
I’d ask Dan Hannan on twitter but the wee snowflake has blocked me.
Is India primarily English speaking? I don't think so. I would include places like South Africa and Nigeria as part of the Anglosphere, but not India.
Yes, it's one of 2 official languages along with Hindi. Bloody everyone speaks it.
If by everyone you mean 10%, I'd agree.
Everybody foreigner-facing.
I don't see that the Anglosphere is primarily defined by language anyway. Even if it is, having English as an *official* language is fairly persuasive
Hint: how many Bollywood films are produced in English?
I yield only to Zac in my passion for Bollywood, so I haven't a clue
I am not trying to culturally appropriate the subcontinent, I was just answering a question - somewhat inaccurately it now appears, but in Goa, Karnataka and all the usual places from Agra up to and including Srinagar I can't remember wanting to speak English to someone and not being able to
Yeah. The vast numbers of out of the way villages, sure. But in much of India you need English to communicate with Indians from other parts of the country. So it's pretty necessary if you want to run a business.
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
It's why if there were going to be any measures at all they needed to be implemented quickly whilst people are still angry enough.
Not sure how angry you need to be to put up with perhaps fuel and energy rationing.
'Put up with' is different from 'Implement'. People can agree to something in the moment without being willing to put up with it later, when it starts to bite. They might in the moment think themselves willing to put up with it, agree, then complain later.
I expect quite a few Brits are getting a bit twitchy at the price at the pumps, and for a refill of heating oil.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
I’d ask Dan Hannan on twitter but the wee snowflake has blocked me.
Is India primarily English speaking? I don't think so. I would include places like South Africa and Nigeria as part of the Anglosphere, but not India.
Yes, it's one of 2 official languages along with Hindi. Bloody everyone speaks it.
If by everyone you mean 10%, I'd agree.
Everybody foreigner-facing.
I don't see that the Anglosphere is primarily defined by language anyway. Even if it is, having English as an *official* language is fairly persuasive
Hint: how many Bollywood films are produced in English?
I yield only to Zac in my passion for Bollywood, so I haven't a clue
I am not trying to culturally appropriate the subcontinent, I was just answering a question - somewhat inaccurately it now appears, but in Goa, Karnataka and all the usual places from Agra up to and including Srinagar I can't remember wanting to speak English to someone and not being able to
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
I do like the Netherlands, where apparently 90.9% speak English, all as an additional language - that is some impressive schooling. (Unsurprisingly the Nordic countries are similar)
Quite a lot of Chinese and South Asians in Canada too, whose first language may not be English.
Yes, the 21% immigrant stat someone mentioned does seem very high.
Me. And why would that seem high? Canada wants lots of immigrants. It's a big empty open country with a labour shortage. Getting an educational visa to study at a Canadian uni and staying on after is trivially easy. Literally you fill in one form and you can go (or at least, that's the way it seemed when I was processing the applications).
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
Looking at the English as a first language stat Suriname is the one that surprises me. 55% apparently, yet its official language is dutch. It's wiki page would suggest it's because of the counting of creoles, as Sunil raised.
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
It's my absolute specialty, picking up them 'back with a new name' posters.
Pretty sure I’ve got one wriggling in the catch net at the moment.
Oh right. So don't tell me but give me a clue. See if I already have it or not.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
And Ireland - 93% speak English as a first language (UK only 92%).
But not the West Indies. I wonder why.
For most of those countries:
Source: Crystal (2003), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
I see. Its that they don't speak proper English.
Quite an adventurous opinion to express in Barbados I expect.
Wicked! "Ethnologue estimates that Barbados has around 10,000 people who use English as their main language and 286,000 people who use Bajan as their main language."
I can imagine that there is a large number of retired HMF personnel who got down and dirty in Iraq and Afghan and who have grown restless with these recent years of peace.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
"Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’ Minister warns an immediate stop to supplies could hurt Germany’s population more than Putin"
The German delegation at the UK laughed at Trump when he said Germany was making itself dependent on Russian gas. Some people tried to turn it around and argue that this made Russia more dependent on German money, but if Germany is incapable of switching off the tap, it doesn't give Germany any leverage.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
I do like the Netherlands, where apparently 90.9% speak English, all as an additional language - that is some impressive schooling. (Unsurprisingly the Nordic countries are similar)
Quite a lot of Chinese and South Asians in Canada too, whose first language may not be English.
Yes, the 21% immigrant stat someone mentioned does seem very high.
Me. And why would that seem high? Canada wants lots of immigrants. It's a big empty open country with a labour shortage. Getting an educational visa to study at a Canadian uni and staying on after is trivially easy. Literally you fill in one form and you can go (or at least, that's the way it seemed when I was processing the applications).
Well its hard to judge what is low or high in these matters, particularly without a knowledge of how long somewhere has had really open borders and how much that was taken up. The Polish population in the UK went from 66k to 922k in around 15 years and now down to around 670k, but if we tried judging what the immigrant population was by current policy alone we might assume the number to be far less.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Sadly my sense on the talks is that they're just for show, certainly as regards Russia.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
I have every sympathy with the Russain conscripts. They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
And both are some of the least mystic people going, whose predictions are abysmal.
But there is still the question of the spammer IP address. A VPN wouldn’t give you that?
No, a real VPN wouldn't.
Apparently it was the address of a compromised machine. @Heathener 's explanation that she was using an compromised machine as a DIY VPN is... interesting.
It's the internet equivalent hiding your identity by wearing a balaclava, when walking down the road. It attracts attention....
Yes, I understand. like Masked Singer.
PB Masked Singer line up (spoiler alert) left to right: IshmaelZ., Yours truly, HYUFD, malcolmg, Heathener, Nigelbee (nice try, but the heels aren’t fooling us)
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
Quite right - clear all that foreign money out of the Premiership. Deduct all clubs owned by or having Russian, Saudi, Qatari and Indian interests 100 points.
We will then congratulate Norwich City on their initial Premier League success and a magnificent Champions League campaign against - assuming Europe follows our lead - the mighty KL Klaksvik.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
I have every sympathy with the Russain conscripts. They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
If they go home do you suppose they would face court martial followed by immediate cessation of chocolate rations? Or do you think they would die anyway?
Until their orders change, they're stuck there. Getting shot at for Putin's vanity and stupidity.
They shouldn't be there, I agree, but I do feel sorry for them too.
I wonder how the survivors will respond in the medium term. Will they start to rebel against the structures of the state? It happened to Nicholas II - but it did take two and a half years.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
Depending on Putin's mood those might even be the same option.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
I have every sympathy with the Russain conscripts. They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
If they go home do you suppose they would face court martial followed by immediate cessation of chocolate rations? Or do you think they would die anyway?
Until their orders change, they're stuck there. Getting shot at for Putin's vanity and stupidity.
They shouldn't be there, I agree, but I do feel sorry for them too.
I wonder how the survivors will respond in the medium term. Will they start to rebel against the structures of the state? It happened to Nicholas II - but it did take two and a half years.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
I have every sympathy with the Russain conscripts. They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
If they go home do you suppose they would face court martial followed by immediate cessation of chocolate rations? Or do you think they would die anyway?
Until their orders change, they're stuck there. Getting shot at for Putin's vanity and stupidity.
They shouldn't be there, I agree, but I do feel sorry for them too.
I wonder how the survivors will respond in the medium term. Will they start to rebel against the structures of the state? It happened to Nicholas II - but it did take two and a half years.
They're the Red Army. A certain history, a certain credibility. They can choose their enemy, and I'll give them a clue - he's a smallwit sitting in the Kremlin.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
What the fans want is for their own club to have more money than the rest. Not sure how government can satisfy that.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Why on earth would Boris put himself first before the Country ?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
I have every sympathy with the Russain conscripts. They should go home or die though. There's no middle option.
If they go home do you suppose they would face court martial followed by immediate cessation of chocolate rations? Or do you think they would die anyway?
Until their orders change, they're stuck there. Getting shot at for Putin's vanity and stupidity.
They shouldn't be there, I agree, but I do feel sorry for them too.
I wonder how the survivors will respond in the medium term. Will they start to rebel against the structures of the state? It happened to Nicholas II - but it did take two and a half years.
The third option is to surrender.
A fourth is simply to keep away, a little bit of sabotage of vehicles goes a long way.
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
It's my absolute specialty, picking up them 'back with a new name' posters.
Pretty sure I’ve got one wriggling in the catch net at the moment.
The return of Bluest Blue?
@BluestBlue was one of my favourite posters - sadly missed - I've tried to rattle his cage with a couple of PMs but to no avail.
My complete guess is he is already back, although being more serious and this time skipping the hyper partisan Boris is a God posts.
At least it was a righty that left (I wish he'd return also). More usually it is a lefty who decides it's not worth banging their heads against a brick wall having fallen foul of the well off perhaps retired male white Anglo Saxon I live in a big house with a charming garden what's all the fuss about PB contingent.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
So, the end of the Premier League as we know it?
Andrew Strauss appears to be having another go at the county championship as well.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
So, the end of the Premier League as we know it?
Lots of attacks on dirty money but the Premier League of course is exempt from Russian and Saudi dirty money.?
Indeed Chelsea fans chanted Abramovich name yesterday
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Thing is, there a quite a lot of Russian soldiers who are there because they're following orders. They don't have any choice in the matter. There's evidence to suggest many of them are confused, frightened and unhappy. They're also clearly under supplied and working in very tough conditions of cold and mud, surrounded by people who are understandably furious with them. So while it's obviously very easy to be outraged and appalled for the Ukrainians, I have sympathy with those Russian conscripts who are stuck there because of their leaders.
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
There’s the ones who fly the Soviet Flag from their tank. I sense there’s more than one “making Russia great again” tank out there, is it this thread 20% in UK want the empire back (global Britain sounds a step in right direction, Darth Vader doesn’t though the soundtrack would be pretty cool).
Alternatively, when vote leave argued take UK out EU and it will result in WWIII, like, how did they know surely they have fluked it?
Yes sure there is honour, and valour and glory fighting for your land and freedom. I’m right behind the bravery and heroism. But for weeks I have had a frustration deep inside fearing that even carnage as huge as this only happened because someone with too much authority, beyond the checks and counterbalance of proper democracy, was off their head on steroids ☹️
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
What the fans want is for their own club to have more money than the rest. Not sure how government can satisfy that.
Symptom of a wider problem.
Because we're human, we like the idea of money for nothing, even if said money is pretty dirty. See the reaction of many Chelsea fans to recent events.
What we don't like is having the dirty origins of the money rubbed in our noses, which is what the current crisis is doing.
It's not just football, or even political parties. There's a bigger issue of the tax take from the City.
And it's not just the UK- other countries have similar problems, such as German dependence on Russian gas.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
Quite right - clear all that foreign money out of the Premiership. Deduct all clubs owned by or having Russian, Saudi, Qatari and Indian interests 100 points.
We will then congratulate Norwich City on their initial Premier League success and a magnificent Champions League campaign against - assuming Europe follows our lead - the mighty KL Klaksvik.
Simpler still: make the game amateur. Everyone plays for their local side.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
So, the end of the Premier League as we know it?
Lots of attacks on dirty money but the Premier League of course is exempt from Russian and Saudi dirty money.?
Indeed Chelsea fans chanted Abramovich name yesterday
Tine to clean out the swamp
The EPL generates billions in exports for the UK and wields enormous soft power. HMG knows this. They are not going to push through laws which destroy it as it stands
There will be some move to give fans more say, so that there is never another European Super League without their approval, but the government will not cripple the EPL and hand all its popular business to Spain or Italy
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Ukraine seem to have no good news to report. Lots of videos of bombing, damage and massacres. The FT are suggesting that China has agreed to provide weapons to Russia. India are buying cheap oil from Russia. The Rouble is stabilising. Presumably Russia is just moving towards its slow encirclement of Kiev, which it is going to starve out and blow to bits.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Why on earth would Boris put himself first before the Country ?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Because he's a terrible human being?
The surprise would be if he didn't do the selfish thing.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Sadly my sense on the talks is that they're just for show, certainly as regards Russia.
Please do hear my buddy on the ground there providing close protection for press crews is ok and was not at Yavoriv when it was hit.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
I've become much more callous. impart because of the similarities to Chechnya. I expect people to start disappearing for good and now the partisans are starting up civilian repression will really kick in.
The faster and sooner Russians die the sooner they will leave. I can't see any other way of displacing them.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Ukraine seem to have no good news to report. Lots of videos of bombing, damage and massacres. The FT are suggesting that China has agreed to provide weapons to Russia. India are buying cheap oil from Russia. The Rouble is stabilising. Presumably Russia is just moving towards its slow encirclement of Kiev, which it is going to starve out and blow to bits.
But, the Chinese economy is heading into serious trouble
"It’s carnage in Chinese markets today. These four charts show just how ugly it’s getting. 🧵 1/5"
"Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong had their worst day since the global financial crisis. Concerns over Beijing’s close relationship with Russia and renewed regulatory risks sparked panic selling. 2/5"
They might be looking at a Hong Kong style horror-show, and millions dead, because Omicron
This really is not a great time for them to be economically propping up a reviled Fascist state conducting a hated war of aggression, which might mean the West further detaches from China
I suspect they will discreetly give just enough help to make sure Putin doesn't get DEFEATED, but no more
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
It's my absolute specialty, picking up them 'back with a new name' posters.
Pretty sure I’ve got one wriggling in the catch net at the moment.
Oh right. So don't tell me but give me a clue. See if I already have it or not.
Hmm. This is a manifestation of another poster rather than a returnee.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Why on earth would Boris put himself first before the Country ?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Because he's a terrible human being?
The surprise would be if he didn't do the selfish thing.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Yes. The assumption is that it is a pause for resupply before renewed Russian attacks, but it could merely be a stalemate.
Of course, the Ukranian mobilisation and defensive fortifications get stronger each day too. Their mobilisation only started after invasion.
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Why has Met put such huge resources into the protest at the oligarchs massive mansion in London?
Another bonkers operational decision by PC Dick?
I was under the impression that if some squatters obtain entry into a house on Acacia Avenue plod doesn't want to know and the owner has to spend weeks/months getting court orders.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Isn't that a rather low bar?
There were 70,000 of them, as against 50,000 from the north. Not huge in an armed cohort of three million, it's around 3% if my maths is correct, but not negligible either.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Isn't that a rather low bar?
There were 70,000 of them, as against 50,000 from the north. Not huge in an armed cohort of three million, it's around 3% if my maths is correct, but not negligible either.
Including nearly 5000 who deserted the Irish forces to fight, mostly as British.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Isn't that a rather low bar?
There were 70,000 of them, as against 50,000 from the north. Not huge in an armed cohort of three million, it's around 3% if my maths is correct, but not negligible either.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
They certainly do when your campaign is as dismal as May's was.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Isn't that a rather low bar?
There were 70,000 of them, as against 50,000 from the north. Not huge in an armed cohort of three million, it's around 3% if my maths is correct, but not negligible either.
I took Irish armed forces to mean RoI
Well, there were around 40,000 of those, not including reservists. So no, not a high bar. But equally, there are only around 85,000 in the current British army. So it wasn't as small as all that.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
No good reason to have a GE before 2023. It won't happen.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
They certainly do when your campaign is as dismal as May's was.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Firstly, good on you for getting involved.
As for the process, sounds to me like the government is trying to put people off doing it.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
No good reason to have a GE before 2023. It won't happen.
Spot on. And boundary changes are one bloody good reason to have it late 2023 onwards.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Ukraine seem to have no good news to report. Lots of videos of bombing, damage and massacres. The FT are suggesting that China has agreed to provide weapons to Russia. India are buying cheap oil from Russia. The Rouble is stabilising. Presumably Russia is just moving towards its slow encirclement of Kiev, which it is going to starve out and blow to bits.
But, the Chinese economy is heading into serious trouble
"It’s carnage in Chinese markets today. These four charts show just how ugly it’s getting. 🧵 1/5"
"Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong had their worst day since the global financial crisis. Concerns over Beijing’s close relationship with Russia and renewed regulatory risks sparked panic selling. 2/5"
They might be looking at a Hong Kong style horror-show, and millions dead, because Omicron
This really is not a great time for them to be economically propping up a reviled Fascist state conducting a hated war of aggression, which might mean the West further detaches from China
I suspect they will discreetly give just enough help to make sure Putin doesn't get DEFEATED, but no more
I am not expert, but doesn't China basically have unlimited money? Surely they will be unable to resist the lure of propping up Putin in a distressed state. Fantastic potential long term returns.
Just got my Cost of Living award through the post.
Cheeky £150 just about offsets the higher rate of income tax I pay up here. Not particularly well targeted tbh - there are people much worse off than me.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
Comments
treat yourself to a G&T.
Source: Crystal (2003), p. 109. Note this includes speakers of an English creole.
I am not trying to culturally appropriate the subcontinent, I was just answering a question - somewhat inaccurately it now appears, but in Goa, Karnataka and all the usual places from Agra up to and including Srinagar I can't remember wanting to speak English to someone and not being able to
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
Quite an adventurous opinion to express in Barbados I expect.
I spent the last week figuring how the American far-right became obsessed with "Ukranian biolabs."
I learned two things:
1 — The right really is warming back up to Putin.
2 — The origins of this specific conspiracy theory are dumber than you’d ever imagine.
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1503434867614228480?
But in much of India you need English to communicate with Indians from other parts of the country.
So it's pretty necessary if you want to run a business.
"Ethnologue estimates that Barbados has around 10,000 people who use English as their main language and 286,000 people who use Bajan as their main language."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajan_Creole
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
https://twitter.com/kolezev/status/1503443309469052933
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
Another good reason to hope for progress in the peace talks, among many others.
That said, of course, there are plenty of truly vile utter bellends in the Russian forces whom we can be positively pleased to hear have shuffled off this mortal coil. The death of Tushaev for example may have inspired tears, but they would have been tears of laughter at the irony.
PB Masked Singer line up (spoiler alert) left to right: IshmaelZ., Yours truly, HYUFD, malcolmg, Heathener, Nigelbee (nice try, but the heels aren’t fooling us)
We will then congratulate Norwich City on their initial Premier League success and a magnificent Champions League campaign against - assuming Europe follows our lead - the mighty KL Klaksvik.
Until their orders change, they're stuck there. Getting shot at for Putin's vanity and stupidity.
They shouldn't be there, I agree, but I do feel sorry for them too.
I wonder how the survivors will respond in the medium term. Will they start to rebel against the structures of the state? It happened to Nicholas II - but it did take two and a half years.
Not sure how government can satisfy that.
Another bonkers operational decision by PC Dick?
The “bioweapons” were an English-language (green) conspiracy theory until last week.
Now, most posts about it are in Russian (blue).
Russia finally found a pretext—well, posttext—for the Ukraine war, a gift from the American far-right.
Indeed Chelsea fans chanted Abramovich name yesterday
Tine to clean out the swamp
Alternatively, when vote leave argued take UK out EU and it will result in WWIII, like, how did they know surely they have fluked it?
Yes sure there is honour, and valour and glory fighting for your land and freedom. I’m right behind the bravery and heroism. But for weeks I have had a frustration deep inside fearing that even carnage as huge as this only happened because someone with too much authority, beyond the checks and counterbalance of proper democracy, was off their head on steroids ☹️
Because we're human, we like the idea of money for nothing, even if said money is pretty dirty. See the reaction of many Chelsea fans to recent events.
What we don't like is having the dirty origins of the money rubbed in our noses, which is what the current crisis is doing.
It's not just football, or even political parties. There's a bigger issue of the tax take from the City.
And it's not just the UK- other countries have similar problems, such as German dependence on Russian gas.
It's human nature.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
There will be some move to give fans more say, so that there is never another European Super League without their approval, but the government will not cripple the EPL and hand all its popular business to Spain or Italy
Starmer must resign!
The surprise would be if he didn't do the selfish thing.
The faster and sooner Russians die the sooner they will leave. I can't see any other way of displacing them.
"It’s carnage in Chinese markets today. These four charts show just how ugly it’s getting. 🧵 1/5"
"Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong had their worst day since the global financial crisis. Concerns over Beijing’s close relationship with Russia and renewed regulatory risks sparked panic selling. 2/5"
http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-14/china-s-tech-rout-deepens-amid-lockdown-geopolitical-worries via
@JeannyYu
@CharlotteYTYang
https://twitter.com/RChoongWilkins/status/1503361316253155329?s=20&t=x2ek4lWyGUhV0RNMeOO3Kg
They might be looking at a Hong Kong style horror-show, and millions dead, because Omicron
This really is not a great time for them to be economically propping up a reviled Fascist state conducting a hated war of aggression, which might mean the West further detaches from China
I suspect they will discreetly give just enough help to make sure Putin doesn't get DEFEATED, but no more
Highest point, from which a saint can be seen.
Is that too crosswordy?
Of course, the Ukranian mobilisation and defensive fortifications get stronger each day too. Their mobilisation only started after invasion.
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
In fact, dismal is overpraising it.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1503420730100396032?s=20&t=x2ek4lWyGUhV0RNMeOO3Kg
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
As for the process, sounds to me like the government is trying to put people off doing it.
And boundary changes are one bloody good reason to have it late 2023 onwards.
Cheeky £150 just about offsets the higher rate of income tax I pay up here. Not particularly well targeted tbh - there are people much worse off than me.