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Is France about to surrender to the far right? – politicalbetting.com

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  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30
    biggles said:

    biggles said:

    ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I have just found out my train home tomorrow will be making an extra stop at Castle Cary to collect drug addled degenerates from Glastonbury smelling to high heaven who havent had a bath or shower in days.

    Think I will go via Bristol instead.
    Clearly spoken like someone who has never been to Bristol...
    I have been to Bristol several times but never set foot outside either Temple Meads or Parkway Stations.

    Have I missed anything?
    Bristol is a great city.

    But it has some pretty dodgy areas.
    The dodgy parts are now central, rather than St Pauls etc. Up on the downs there are shitty caravans everywhere.
    That’s the issue. Bristol tries to have too many centres. The nicest stuff being in Clifton means it can’t be by the harbour.
    10 years ago its was. Clifton is always nice but a very different world. The harbourside redevelopment is ok, but I believe a lot of the companies have left the offices down there (or only inhabit a small portion of them). And centre of town with Cabot Circus was going well, loads of restaurants, shops etc. But the massive cinema in Cabot closed down recently because nobody goes there anymore. I wouldn't hang around that part of town after dark these days.
    Has that cinema closed?! Been years since I lived there but I liked that place. Comfy seats. Can’t overestimate the value of a comfy seat in a cinema. Also one of the first cinemas I remember routinely offering beer.
    Dec 2023

    Cinema De Lux in Bristol's Cabot Circus to close next week - One of Bristol's biggest cinemas will close later this month after 15 years.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67476637
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,129
    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,003
    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Really? That’s interesting? Did they start off mostly on WWF type causes? I suppose it makes sense, thinking about it.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,280
    Another day out leafletting/canvassing.

    One lovely old lady accurately listed all of Labour's policies, told me she was undecided, she liked our candidate but that unfortunately Keir Starmer is a communist.
  • TweedledeeTweedledee Posts: 1,405
    biggles said:

    biggles said:

    ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I have just found out my train home tomorrow will be making an extra stop at Castle Cary to collect drug addled degenerates from Glastonbury smelling to high heaven who havent had a bath or shower in days.

    Think I will go via Bristol instead.
    Clearly spoken like someone who has never been to Bristol...
    I have been to Bristol several times but never set foot outside either Temple Meads or Parkway Stations.

    Have I missed anything?
    Bristol is a great city.

    But it has some pretty dodgy areas.
    The dodgy parts are now central, rather than St Pauls etc. Up on the downs there are shitty caravans everywhere.
    That’s the issue. Bristol tries to have too many centres. The nicest stuff being in Clifton means it can’t be by the harbour.
    10 years ago its was. Clifton is always nice but a very different world. The harbourside redevelopment is ok, but I believe a lot of the companies have left the offices down there (or only inhabit a small portion of them). And centre of town with Cabot Circus was going well, loads of restaurants, shops etc. But the massive cinema in Cabot closed down recently because nobody goes there anymore. I wouldn't hang around that part of town after dark these days.
    Has that cinema closed?! Been years since I lived there but I liked that place. Comfy seats. Can’t overestimate the value of a comfy seat in a cinema. Also one of the first cinemas I remember routinely offering beer.
    Wait till you hear what they call a quarter pounder there.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,562
    Apparently Emily Maitlis broke the embargo on the exit poll:

    https://x.com/maitlis/status/1807465936766586934
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,363
    Jude Bellingham says the win was not down to Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane it was a team effort. No Jude! It was almost entirely down to a moment of magic in the 94th minute by Jude Bellingham. The "team" were shite!
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020
    rkrkrk said:

    Another day out leafletting/canvassing.

    One lovely old lady accurately listed all of Labour's policies, told me she was undecided, she liked our candidate but that unfortunately Keir Starmer is a communist.

    Ok, which PBer was this? Someone own up.

    The accurate listing of policy was the giveaway.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    carnforth said:

    Apparently Emily Maitlis broke the embargo on the exit poll:

    https://x.com/maitlis/status/1807465936766586934

    Given all the issues with insider info / betting, you would think that media might want to be extra careful....
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,316

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936

    Jude Bellingham says the win was not down to Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane it was a team effort. No Jude! It was almost entirely down to a moment of magic in the 94th minute by Jude Bellingham. The "team" were shite!

    I liked his response to stupid question of who writes these scripts...I do.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,974
    edited June 30

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    It's bollocks anyway.
    Japan started its war in the east back in 1937.

    The U.S. sanctions might have promoted the Japanese attack, but 'provoked' suggests Japan wasn't already waging a brutal war of aggressive conquest.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,162
    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    PB I need your advice. I’ve got one more day in st malo (which is of course gorgeous - why didn’t we rebuild Exeter and Coventry and derby and and and SOB)

    So where do I go? Dinard for the beauty or Cancale for the oysters? I adore oysters so I think I should make a pilgrimage to the oyster capital of the world BUT Dinard is said to be lovely…

    Dinard. You should have gone over the weekend as good fun bars and the Casino etc but still a lovely beach to overlook from a nice bar.

    Edit to add, you can drop the car off in st malo and get the sea bus between St Malo and Dinard so you can indulge and not worry about drink driving.
    Yes maybe. Also I can surely get Cancale oysters in Dinard
    Have a break from the oysters and just get a dirty big tray of langoustine with proper mayonnaise and crispy bread with a nice bottle of white.
    Skip oysters? Here??? Are you mad????

    That said I’ve done the langoustine thing a few times on this trip and it too is lovely

    Think that’s my plan for Monday. Head to dinard and have a douzaine cancales and then the langoustines with mayo for lunch. And a proper white not this cheap muscadet crap

    That’s how to begin the working week
    This is the website re the 10 min water bus between St M and Dinard.

    https://compagniecorsaire.com/en/destination/saint-malo-dinard/
    Merci
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595
    biggles said:

    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Really? That’s interesting? Did they start off mostly on WWF type causes? I suppose it makes sense, thinking about it.
    They were the Ecology Party from 1975-1985, before that they were "People".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(UK)
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,345

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    If you read the article, that is *not* his argument.
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,809
    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Yes and it refused to have a "leader" in an anarchic culture that at least had some soul .Now it bans any views that differ from the hard left trans gender viewpoint.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,363
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    FFP doesn't apply to Chelsea or Citeh it would seem, just Leicester, Forest, Everton and their ilk. Aren't they forcing Villa to sell players too?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,395
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Remarkably.
    Leicester have sold to stay within FFP!
    It's a farce.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,003
    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Really? That’s interesting? Did they start off mostly on WWF type causes? I suppose it makes sense, thinking about it.
    They were the Ecology Party from 1975-1985, before that they were "People".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(UK)
    Oh, I see. It came out of the 70s thinking on overpopulation. You don’t see that line of thought much any more do you? I wonder why? Perfectly legitimate point of view. I don’t agree with it but I understand it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Particularly as Leicester had to sell KDH in order to meet our FFP criteria.

    £30 million will go some way to fixing our finances. He is a decent player at Championship level, and Maresca is a fan. A local lad from Shepshed, but I really don't think he will set the Premiership alight.
  • Heathener said:

    ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I have just found out my train home tomorrow will be making an extra stop at Castle Cary to collect drug addled degenerates from Glastonbury smelling to high heaven who havent had a bath or shower in days.

    Think I will go via Bristol instead.
    Clearly spoken like someone who has never been to Bristol...
    I have been to Bristol several times but never set foot outside either Temple Meads or Parkway Stations.

    Have I missed anything?
    Bristol is a great city.

    But it has some pretty dodgy areas.
    Like most of them then.

    Probably the only place in the country where you are likely to be mugged by someone who thinks it is "speak like a pirate day" every day though.
    You’re very irritating.

    Unless you are a parody account, in which case well played.
    I just need to trigger Anabobazina now.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    dixiedean said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Remarkably.
    Leicester have sold to stay within FFP!
    It's a farce.
    Leicester will already get a hefty penalty for missing it last time they were in the premier league, but they might get a smaller points penalty now I guess.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    Nigelb said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    It's bollocks anyway.
    Japan started its war in the east back in 1937.

    The U.S. sanctions might have promoted the Japanese attack, but 'provoked' suggests Japan wasn't already waging a brutal war of aggressive conquest.
    Thing that REALLY "provoked" Japan to attack Pearl Harbor - and also Hong Kong & Malaya - in 1941, was fact that Japanese troops got whupped by Soviets in border clashes in 1938 & 1939. Which pushed the dominoes in Toyko in favor of attacking Western powers instead of USSR.

    Of course the perceived need to attacking ANYTHING including China was symptom of the desperation and rottenness of the Japanese right-wing military dictatorship.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    edited June 30
    Foxy said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Particularly as Leicester had to sell KDH in order to meet our FFP criteria.

    £30 million will go some way to fixing our finances. He is a decent player at Championship level, and Maresca is a fan. A local lad from Shepshed, but I really don't think he will set the Premiership alight.
    Seems an insane price tag. Good bit of business.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
    Danny Drinkwater - another overrated former Leicester player - is still on their books I believe.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,529
    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,836
    Spain Vs Georgia, which I can half-watch because the pain factor is removed, is quite entertaining, but when the Spanish attack is described in the commentary I can't help but hear that Limahl is playing for them. See also: Cher at centre back for Switzerland.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,788

    Heathener said:

    ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I have just found out my train home tomorrow will be making an extra stop at Castle Cary to collect drug addled degenerates from Glastonbury smelling to high heaven who havent had a bath or shower in days.

    Think I will go via Bristol instead.
    Clearly spoken like someone who has never been to Bristol...
    I have been to Bristol several times but never set foot outside either Temple Meads or Parkway Stations.

    Have I missed anything?
    Bristol is a great city.

    But it has some pretty dodgy areas.
    Like most of them then.

    Probably the only place in the country where you are likely to be mugged by someone who thinks it is "speak like a pirate day" every day though.
    You’re very irritating.

    Unless you are a parody account, in which case well played.
    I just need to trigger Anabobazina now.
    Jus\t talk about giving cash to Glasto refugees to go away from your bit of the train. Infallible.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
    Danny Drinkwater - another overrated former Leicester player - is still on their books I believe.
    No, he retired. There are absolutely loads that are still on the books who you look and think never getting a game.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479

    Heathener said:

    ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I have just found out my train home tomorrow will be making an extra stop at Castle Cary to collect drug addled degenerates from Glastonbury smelling to high heaven who havent had a bath or shower in days.

    Think I will go via Bristol instead.
    Clearly spoken like someone who has never been to Bristol...
    I have been to Bristol several times but never set foot outside either Temple Meads or Parkway Stations.

    Have I missed anything?
    Bristol is a great city.

    But it has some pretty dodgy areas.
    Like most of them then.

    Probably the only place in the country where you are likely to be mugged by someone who thinks it is "speak like a pirate day" every day though.
    You’re very irritating.

    Unless you are a parody account, in which case well played.
    I just need to trigger Anabobazina now.
    Do your job and continue arse-licking your hero Trump and stop bothering me!!!
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,009
    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    And now they are a Hamas tribute act.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,080

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Meanwhile, in the US, the GOP again comes out in favour of Biden.

    … asked what his greatest accomplishment in the Senate is, Vance cites funding for the Great Lakes that was part of the infrastructure bill he voted against..
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1807428972579315897

    I closed out my VP bet on him for a profit.
    Doug ‘Boring’ Burgum is the current, short odds favourite.

    I met Doug Burgum in the last 90s when he was the CEO of Great Plains, and he seemed like a very smart guy.

    Until the last year - when he decided he wanted to become the Republican Presidential nominee - he was notably moderate, particularly on social issues, where he vetoed a number of his own parties bills on transgender issues.
    Being Trump's VP he would:

    1) Have a strong chance of becoming President within four years
    2) Have a strong chance of being GOP candidate in 2028
    Is it definitely the case that Trump can only serve one more term or is there any possibility of the supreme court ruling that this only applies to consecutive terms?
    No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
    This Supreme Court could declare the Constitution to be unconstitutional, or just ignore the plain sense of it is they already have repeatedly.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
    He will start. Maresca is very stubborn with his system. KDH will play inside left.

    Get used to some very one dimensional football Chelsea fans, Maresca makes Southgate seem flexible.

    Which is why Leicester fans were happy to see him go, despite taking us up as Champions. His football is tedious to watch, and ultimately atkick off we want to see some entertainment.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,341
    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,395
    pigeon said:

    Spain Vs Georgia, which I can half-watch because the pain factor is removed, is quite entertaining, but when the Spanish attack is described in the commentary I can't help but hear that Limahl is playing for them. See also: Cher at centre back for Switzerland.

    If she could turn back time.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    ….
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,974
    edited June 30
    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    Since it (predictably) came pretty close to triggering nuclear war, yes.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,974
    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738
  • SteveSSteveS Posts: 182

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    Narvik?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30
    Foxy said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
    He will start. Maresca is very stubborn with his system. KDH will play inside left.

    Get used to some very one dimensional football Chelsea fans, Maresca makes Southgate seem flexible.

    Which is why Leicester fans were happy to see him go, despite taking us up as Champions. His football is tedious to watch, and ultimately atkick off we want to see some entertainment.
    There are going to be some very angry international footballers at Chelsea if that is the case.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,469

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Didn’t they recently sell a hotel that was an asset of the club for a lot of money to a company that is conveniently owned by the same owners and therefore eased a lot of the financial issues with regards to the club’s balance sheet.

    They will also likely have a clear out of more players like Gallagher over the summer who count as home grown and all new players on the long 6/7 year contracts.

    Its a farce and if they don’t start winning things soon then they will fall into a mess as their assets they can offset will be gone and the players signed on long contracts will be closer to end of careers so very little sell on value.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020
    Nigelb said:

    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738

    They have some big issues coming up, like their population halving in the next 50 years.
  • Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
  • Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    Since it (predictably) came pretty close to triggering nuclear war, yes.
    But it didn't, and the Soviets gained from it.
    Brinksmanship is dangerous, but can be rewarding.
    That ought to be obvious on a betting site.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,341
    dixiedean said:

    pigeon said:

    Spain Vs Georgia, which I can half-watch because the pain factor is removed, is quite entertaining, but when the Spanish attack is described in the commentary I can't help but hear that Limahl is playing for them. See also: Cher at centre back for Switzerland.

    If she could turn back time.
    I hope she wasn't walking in memphis.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,077

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    More Russian twattery,

    Russia has attacked its peaceful neighbour for reasons of pure imperialism, in order to deny the freely expressed democratic will of Ukraine not to be a province of a threadbare Russian empire of brutality and poverty,

    The cost has been massive for Ukraine, but equally Russia itself has taken nearly half a million casualties. The vile and depraved way the Russian army has behaved has made the entire Kremlin complicit in and responsible for war crimes as defined under the UN Charter and International law. Russia is loathed for its despicable behaviour and its influence in all spheres of life around the world is going down the drain.

    There is little to no constituency in the UK that supports the mafia thugs of Putin`s Russia, despite the subversion, corruption, threats, bribery and hybrid war that Putinistan launches against the West on a daily basis.

    Eventually you will lose, but unless you push Putin out of the window there is no way back for Russia. Since 1945 Germany apologised for its crimes. Since 1991, Russia has repeated its crimes, and before you get on your high horse, OF COURSE Soviet Socialism was as disgusting as National Socialism. It killed more people, more brutally and for longer. Stalin and Hitler were both equally vile, morally bankrupt criminals. For as long as Russia defends its crimes, the more it will be shunned and held in ever greater contempt.

    But thanks for coming by our little forum, anyway.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,345
    edited June 30
    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    The removal of the missiles from Turkey and Italy had already been decided the previous summer, as they were obsolete. Their inclusion in the deal was essentially a device to help Khrushchev save face.

    With regard to Cuba, since the Americans had decided not to make any more immediate attempts after the Bay of Pigs fiasco and that allowed Castro to build up strong conventional forces. I think it's doubtful it can be claimed as a strategic success on those grounds.

    Bottom line is, it didn't achieve what Khrushchev wanted, gained no additional security for Cuba or the Soviets, nearly provoked a nuclear war, severely embarrassed the Soviets in front of their allies by making the leadership look weak and was a key factor in Khrushchev's own removal in 1964.

    It's hard to see that as anything other than a strategic failure for the Soviets..
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    edited June 30
    boulay said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Didn’t they recently sell a hotel that was an asset of the club for a lot of money to a company that is conveniently owned by the same owners and therefore eased a lot of the financial issues with regards to the club’s balance sheet.

    They will also likely have a clear out of more players like Gallagher over the summer who count as home grown and all new players on the long 6/7 year contracts.

    Its a farce and if they don’t start winning things soon then they will fall into a mess as their assets they can offset will be gone and the players signed on long contracts will be closer to end of careers so very little sell on value.
    Postecoglou is an admirer of Gallagher so they might be able to sell him to Spurs. It would enrage their fans but the crackpot Americans who own the club have no grasp of or interest in traditional rivalries. Getting rid of Poch was moronic: he’d sorted the team out against all odds by the end of the season. The club is a basket case.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,009
    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738

    They have some big issues coming up, like their population halving in the next 50 years.
    Role models for the rest of the world.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020
    MattW said:

    Theresa May, door knocking and on a recording doorbell.

    Say what you like about Britain and it’s politics .. but there ain’t many western democracies where you’d get a former Prime Minister leaving a lovely little message on your ring doorbell.

    https://x.com/cllr_aston/status/1807467159032901901

    Charming stuff. Not all about high level meetings with millionaire donors and stage managed party rallies.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,925

    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Yes and it refused to have a "leader" in an anarchic culture that at least had some soul .Now it bans any views that differ from the hard left trans gender viewpoint.
    Trans rights are entirely consistent with libertarianism. It's neither the state's business what anyone does with their own body, nor anyone else's.

    There are already laws to prevent harm to other people in the unlikely event a trans person assaulted another person, same as if a non trans person assaults another person. And I have news for you - there is no special forcefield around the girls' loo, so if a man looking to expose himself or assault a woman wants to enter a 'female only' space, legislating against trans women (who are far more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than the perpetrators) will not prevent them.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,395
    edited June 30

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    FFP doesn't apply to Chelsea or Citeh it would seem, just Leicester, Forest, Everton and their ilk. Aren't they forcing Villa to sell players too?
    They are. Villa have sold Tim Iroegbunam to Everton for £9m. They get the full 9 mill credit for him as he is an Academy player. And Everton can spread the costs across the length of his contract. So Villa are heftily in profit. And we only take on a small FFP hit.
    The fact that we've sold Lewis Dobbin (also an Academy product) to them for exactly the same fee, and length of contract, is, of course, entirely coincidental.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,657
    MattW said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Meanwhile, in the US, the GOP again comes out in favour of Biden.

    … asked what his greatest accomplishment in the Senate is, Vance cites funding for the Great Lakes that was part of the infrastructure bill he voted against..
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1807428972579315897

    I closed out my VP bet on him for a profit.
    Doug ‘Boring’ Burgum is the current, short odds favourite.

    I met Doug Burgum in the last 90s when he was the CEO of Great Plains, and he seemed like a very smart guy.

    Until the last year - when he decided he wanted to become the Republican Presidential nominee - he was notably moderate, particularly on social issues, where he vetoed a number of his own parties bills on transgender issues.
    Being Trump's VP he would:

    1) Have a strong chance of becoming President within four years
    2) Have a strong chance of being GOP candidate in 2028
    Is it definitely the case that Trump can only serve one more term or is there any possibility of the supreme court ruling that this only applies to consecutive terms?
    No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
    This Supreme Court could declare the Constitution to be unconstitutional, or just ignore the plain sense of it is they already have repeatedly.
    If he gets back in, they will really struggle to get him out again. GOP will find a way.
  • MisterBedfordshireMisterBedfordshire Posts: 2,252
    edited June 30
    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738

    They have some big issues coming up, like their population halving in the next 50 years.
    Fear not, North Koreas birth rate is far higher. 1.81 (vs 0.66 in S Korea) and rising and Kimby has ordered them to have more.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,341
    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    Yes. Khrushchev got krucified and was out on his tod for Brezhnev within a year.

    Cuba was freed from threat of invasion but the land based nuclear missiles were rendered strategically irrelevant by Polaris. And Western Europe was chock-full of NATO tactical nukes on top.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    The battle of Savo Island?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island#:~:text=During the naval surface battle,were also killed in action

    I think there were others in the Solomans campaign.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020

    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738

    They have some big issues coming up, like their population halving in the next 50 years.
    Role models for the rest of the world.
    Yes, I'm sure the crisis of economically providing for such a large elderly population with a vanishing working age population will do wonders for them, and have no possible negative consequences for the world.
  • Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    If the US invaded, that makes the US the aggressor.
    Mind you, the US hasn't needed anything like that big an excuse to meddle in other American states' business. It's wrong when America does it so why should it be ok for Russia?
    It is wrong on both sides. But it is reality.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,345

    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    Yes. Khrushchev got krucified and was out on his tod for Brezhnev within a year.

    Cuba was freed from threat of invasion but the land based nuclear missiles were rendered strategically irrelevant by Polaris. And Western Europe was chock-full of NATO tactical nukes on top.
    Actually it was two years (almost exactly two years).
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,341
    SteveS said:

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    Narvik?
    Oh, that's a point.

    We actually did rather well at that and basically wiped out half the surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,974

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    Russia is a failing imperial power.
    That's the reality.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,363
    ...
    dixiedean said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    FFP doesn't apply to Chelsea or Citeh it would seem, just Leicester, Forest, Everton and their ilk. Aren't they forcing Villa to sell players too?
    They are. Villa have sold Tim Iroegbunam to Everton for £9m. They get the full 9 mill credit for him as he is an Academy player. And Everton can spread the costs across the length of his contract. So Villa are heftily in profit. And we only take on a small FFP hit.
    The fact that we've sold Lewis Dobbin (also an Academy product) to them for exactly the same fee, and length of contract, is, of course, entirely coincidental.
    When do you think Citeh will get their 90 point deduction reduced to 3 on appeal?
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 1,987

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    £30 million amortised over the next five years and a £37 million profit on an academy player accrued this current year = budget within allowable losses.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30
    dixiedean said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    FFP doesn't apply to Chelsea or Citeh it would seem, just Leicester, Forest, Everton and their ilk. Aren't they forcing Villa to sell players too?
    They are. Villa have sold Tim Iroegbunam to Everton for £9m. They get the full 9 mill credit for him as he is an Academy player. And Everton can spread the costs across the length of his contract. So Villa are heftily in profit. And we only take on a small FFP hit.
    The fact that we've sold Lewis Dobbin (also an Academy product) to them for exactly the same fee, and length of contract, is, of course, entirely coincidental.
    Omari Kellyman has also been bought by Chelsea for £20m from Villa. And Aston Villa have bought Ian Maatsen.

    This merry go round of youth products isn't looking dodgy at all....
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,657
    Paging @Leon


    Gabriel Milland
    @gabrielmilland
    ·
    1h
    That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists.

    https://x.com/gabrielmilland/status/1807497170477834241
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,341
    ydoethur said:

    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    Don't be a twat.
    He threw a strop over Ukraine wanting to join the EU.
    Which had nothing to do with US 'hegemony'.

    And the Bag of Pigs, and Kruschev's ill considered move, were sixty years ago.
    Was Kruschev's move "ill-considered"? It was, in my view, a strategic victory for the Soviets. It resulted in the protection of Cuba and the removal of US nuclear missiles from the Mediterranean.
    Yes. Khrushchev got krucified and was out on his tod for Brezhnev within a year.

    Cuba was freed from threat of invasion but the land based nuclear missiles were rendered strategically irrelevant by Polaris. And Western Europe was chock-full of NATO tactical nukes on top.
    Actually it was two years (almost exactly two years).
    This level of pedantry is why I love Pb.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936
    edited June 30
    sarissa said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    £30 million amortised over the next five years and a £37 million profit on an academy player accrued this current year = budget within allowable losses.
    I thought they were stopping the amortised valuation loophole?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,080
    edited June 30
    Foxy said:

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    The battle of Savo Island?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island#:~:text=During the naval surface battle,were also killed in action

    I think there were others in the Solomans campaign.
    Battle of the North Cape (sinking of the Scharnhorst).
    Battle of the Denmark Strait (sinking of the Hood).
    Battle of the Oslo Narrows - rather small though.

    Plus, I think, various ones in the Med, in defence of convoys etc.

    Is there anything in 1943 when the US had essentially no (or maybe one) aircraft carriers, and were waiting to get the one into action they borrowed from us?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,936

    Paging @Leon


    Gabriel Milland
    @gabrielmilland
    ·
    1h
    That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists.

    https://x.com/gabrielmilland/status/1807497170477834241

    Its more shocking that is only just news that rural France votes for them. That has been true for quite a long time now.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507
    Foxy said:

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    The battle of Savo Island?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island#:~:text=During the naval surface battle,were also killed in action

    I think there were others in the Solomans campaign.
    Yes mostly at night so no planes involved. Plenty of torpedos tho.

    Battle of cap bon wasn't a big battle but fits the bill. Also at night.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,981
    edited June 30

    SteveS said:

    Sean_F said:

    Cicero said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    Well I have met Peter Hitchens socially a few times, and I have to say he does, at times, seem a little... slow.
    I’ve always liked the “the Japanese were provoked” argument for WWII

    Yes, the Americans and others cut off oil and steel supplies (among other things) - not an embargo, but refusing to sell. Refusing to sell to a country that was using these materials to attack an ally of the US (China) and threatening to use them to attack the US itself and allied countries. For being friends with China.

    So the US was supposed to sell oil and steel so the Japanese could build more Yamato class battleships to attack… the US?
    The bad joke is that the Japanese invasion of South East Asia netted them *three* shipments of oil from the conquered territories

    There never was a Japanese war strategy. The Kwantung Army was defeated in Siberia, the war in China was going nowhere, and the navy wanted to show that it could do better than the army. After Midway, Japan had lost.
    I'm trying to think of a WWII naval encounter between Allies and Axis that was decided by gunnery alone.

    Struggling beyond the Battle of the River Plate.

    You could argue the hunt for the Bismarck was, but that was ultimately settled by aircraft.
    Narvik?
    Oh, that's a point.

    We actually did rather well at that and basically wiped out half the surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine.
    One of PB’s quaint traditions is History-Today style discussions of military encounters on WW2. I learn a lot from them.

    My grandfather was on HMS Dorsetshire during the battle of the Bismarck. He spoke of the sickening sight of hundreds of German crew being left to drown after the ships withdrew for fear of u-boats.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,529

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595

    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Not something you see every day.

    Almost 700,000 citizens call for Yoon's impeachment in online petition
    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=377738

    They have some big issues coming up, like their population halving in the next 50 years.
    Fear not, North Koreas birth rate is far higher. 1.81 (vs 0.66 in S Korea) and rising and Kimby has ordered them to have more.
    I think that will be the saving of Koreas demographics when reunification happens.
  • TweedledeeTweedledee Posts: 1,405
    kyf_100 said:

    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Yes and it refused to have a "leader" in an anarchic culture that at least had some soul .Now it bans any views that differ from the hard left trans gender viewpoint.
    Trans rights are entirely consistent with libertarianism. It's neither the state's business what anyone does with their own body, nor anyone else's.

    There are already laws to prevent harm to other people in the unlikely event a trans person assaulted another person, same as if a non trans person assaults another person. And I have news for you - there is no special forcefield around the girls' loo, so if a man looking to expose himself or assault a woman wants to enter a 'female only' space, legislating against trans women (who are far more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than the perpetrators) will not prevent them.
    Why are trans people unlikely to commit assaults? Normal people do, at a rather easily assessed rate. I hope you are not saying that trans people are fundamentally abnormal?

  • SMukeshSMukesh Posts: 1,754
    Had a 11-1 on Spain winning 3-1 and the buggers just went and scored another one :-(
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,657

    Tripe Marketing Board 💚
    @TripeUK

    As they say at the D-Day Commemoration...

    Quote

    Rishi Sunak
    @RishiSunak

    It’s not over until it’s over.
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 1,987

    sarissa said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    £30 million amortised over the next five years and a £37 million profit on an academy player accrued this current year = budget within allowable losses.
    I thought they were stopping the amortised valuation loophole?
    Limiting it to five years max instead of Chelsea’s previous of up to eight.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,925

    kyf_100 said:

    Foxy said:

    biggles said:

    kle4 said:

    I do appreciate how these candidates are grouped in the wiki page - anyone up for a vote for 'micellaneous centre*'?

    *Includes 8 Ensemble candidates, 13 non-Ensemble Union of Democrats and Independents candidates of 38 total UDI candidates, 5 of 7 Les Centristes candidates, 2 LR candidates, 1 non-Ensemble Radical Party candidate, and 1 Ensemble dissident out of 149 total candidate

    I love the idea of the “ecologists” as a political block. Never struck me as the type.

    “What do we want?”

    “More information so we can form a reasoned assessment of what’s happening to the stoats in this area”.

    “When do we want it?”

    “In due course, once we have taken time to conduct a proper peer reviewed study”.


    Our Green Party were originally the Ecology Party.
    Yes and it refused to have a "leader" in an anarchic culture that at least had some soul .Now it bans any views that differ from the hard left trans gender viewpoint.
    Trans rights are entirely consistent with libertarianism. It's neither the state's business what anyone does with their own body, nor anyone else's.

    There are already laws to prevent harm to other people in the unlikely event a trans person assaulted another person, same as if a non trans person assaults another person. And I have news for you - there is no special forcefield around the girls' loo, so if a man looking to expose himself or assault a woman wants to enter a 'female only' space, legislating against trans women (who are far more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than the perpetrators) will not prevent them.
    Why are trans people unlikely to commit assaults? Normal people do, at a rather easily assessed rate. I hope you are not saying that trans people are fundamentally abnormal?

    I'm suggesting they're no more likely to commit assaults than any other person. 99.999999999999% of people - trans or not - go about their daily business without assaulting anyone else.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,363
    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    I've played water polo but I'd never heard of golf swimming. Sounds both intriguing and difficult.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595

    Foxy said:

    Chelsea have agreed a £30m fee with Leicester for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

    How the f##k are Chelsea within financial fair play. They have spent like £1bn and still spending.

    Bonkers. Maybe they are happy to just take the points penalty? Also, £30m for KDH? Really?
    Chelsea already have about 50 players that aren't exactly world beaters. They just keep adding to that list. What's KDH going to do, stand in the wall or be there to do shape for training?
    He will start. Maresca is very stubborn with his system. KDH will play inside left.

    Get used to some very one dimensional football Chelsea fans, Maresca makes Southgate seem flexible.

    Which is why Leicester fans were happy to see him go, despite taking us up as Champions. His football is tedious to watch, and ultimately atkick off we want to see some entertainment.
    There are going to be some very angry international footballers at Chelsea if that is the case.
    Indeed, and fed up fans.
  • Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    Russia is a failing imperial power.
    That's the reality.
    So is the US. But far less down the path. Crossover with China is coming. Much as there was Crossover between US and UK after WW1.

    The question is will the UK just accept it (as the UK did) or will they go down with a big war, as is the norm.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,595

    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    I've played water polo but I'd never heard of golf swimming. Sounds both intriguing and difficult.
    That's not a bunker, it's the seabed!
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020
    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    If the US invaded, that makes the US the aggressor.
    Mind you, the US hasn't needed anything like that big an excuse to meddle in other American states' business. It's wrong when America does it so why should it be ok for Russia?
    It is wrong on both sides. But it is reality.
    We've already seen a large portion of the world deciding that Russia shouldn't get its own way in Ukraine.

    That's the most real part of realpolitik: in the end, people can only be pushed so far before someone takes aim at the bully. Russia has spend a little too long fucking about and it's got a little taste of find out. That's good.
    They still may come out 'ahead' in the short to medium term, but hopefully the world has learned something from it.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,316

    Paging @Leon


    Gabriel Milland
    @gabrielmilland
    ·
    1h
    That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists.

    https://x.com/gabrielmilland/status/1807497170477834241

    That is somewhat patronising.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,981

    Paging @Leon


    Gabriel Milland
    @gabrielmilland
    ·
    1h
    That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists.

    https://x.com/gabrielmilland/status/1807497170477834241

    Its more shocking that is only just news that rural France votes for them. That has been true for quite a long time now.
    Come and stay in a gîte in the mâconnais. Macronists to the core.

    It’s like the Tiverton and Honiton of rural France.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,395
    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    Golf/swimming sounds like an interesting and challenging game.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,316

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    Russia is a failing imperial power.
    That's the reality.
    So is the US. But far less down the path. Crossover with China is coming. Much as there was Crossover between US and UK after WW1.

    The question is will the UK just accept it (as the UK did) or will they go down with a big war, as is the norm.
    China is a failing imperial power, as its population falls.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,529
    Live coverage from France 24 in English.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap-UM1O9RBU
  • MisterBedfordshireMisterBedfordshire Posts: 2,252
    edited June 30
    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sean_F said:

    ydoethur said:

    Also, FPT as it's quite important:

    I have finally tracked down the article that Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.

    Here are Kagan’s very precise words:

    Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact

    The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by his inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.

    This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying pretty much the exact opposite.

    So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.

    Full article here (free with registration):

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony

    Hitchens is not stupid, so one should conclude that he is a deliberate liar.

    One can only speculate as to why he would want to lie for Putin.
    He isn't lying.

    The guy said "Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe."

    So he reacted much the same way that the US did when Kruschev decided to put missiles in Cuba.
    I don't recall the USA invading Cuba recently.
    MrBed is incapable of seeing nations having their own interests beyond those of the U.S. and Russia, apparently.
    A key feature of this position is denying the Ukrainians have their own agency. Zelensky is just a puppet of Washington/NATO etc.
    All hegemonic imperial powers treat neighbouring states as their back yard.

    Watch what happens if China set up PLA bases in Mexico. It wouldn't be pretty.

    Its not just, its just reality.
    If the US invaded, that makes the US the aggressor.
    Mind you, the US hasn't needed anything like that big an excuse to meddle in other American states' business. It's wrong when America does it so why should it be ok for Russia?
    It is wrong on both sides. But it is reality.
    We've already seen a large portion of the world deciding that Russia shouldn't get its own way in Ukraine.

    That's the most real part of realpolitik: in the end, people can only be pushed so far before someone takes aim at the bully. Russia has spend a little too long fucking about and it's got a little taste of find out. That's good.
    Bollocks. China, India, Brazil South Africa, Saudi and half of South America, South Africa and the far east and middle east are all either supporting Russia actively or in a nudge nudge way.

    The US and Europe isn't the world anymore.

    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Leonid-Grinin/publication/323143515/figure/fig1/AS:593473241632768@1518506455424/Dynamics-of-the-share-of-the-West-and-the-rest-of-the-world-the-Rest-in-the-global.png
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860

    Paging @Leon


    Gabriel Milland
    @gabrielmilland
    ·
    1h
    That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists.

    https://x.com/gabrielmilland/status/1807497170477834241

    Its more shocking that is only just news that rural France votes for them. That has been true for quite a long time now.
    Yeh that really is hardly news. I know only a little about French politics, but that I did know.
  • TresTres Posts: 2,694

    boulay said:

    James at Glastonbury. Apotheosis of dad rock.

    I do love a bit of James, one of the bands that transports back to school days in a good way.
    Many years back, at Reading, Liam Gallagher started insulting the crowd. Many were metal heads who’d come to see Metallica play Sunday night, and were doing the whole weekend. So quite a lot in the crowd were just watching out of interest. Not enough worship for Mr Gallagher…

    Anyway, his insults got more stupid and stuff was flying at the stage. Just at that moment the set ended and James came on next. The crowd was in an ugly mood, but the lead guy said something like - “Sorry, but we have to do this…” and launched into Sit Down. Which was on every jukebox in the UK.

    The crowd went from StormTheStage to WeLikeThese guys in about 30 seconds…
    struggling to think of any festival where James would be playing after Liam Gallagher. Be like Dave, Dee, Mich and Tich playing after David Bowie.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    That has simply triggered more questions!
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,345
    dixiedean said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    Golf/swimming sounds like an interesting and challenging game.
    After the rains of the last 18 months the water hazards are just something else.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,020
    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Damn, I stopped watching the football 5 minutes before the end of normal time in the England match. It's Murphy's Law that all the interesting stuff has happened since then, including Georgia going ahead against Spain.

    Why did you stop watching? Are you new to this live sport thing?
    I had to go to a golf/swimming club with some other people.
    I've played water polo but I'd never heard of golf swimming. Sounds both intriguing and difficult.
    That's not a bunker, it's the seabed!
    Damnit, I sliced badly and now it's on the abyssal plain, I think I'll take a mulligan.
This discussion has been closed.