We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
I'm not sure you should be protesting tongue in cheek comments like this given your language last night.
And Salmond's defence, afaik, was that his behaviour was unacceptable but not criminal.
You obviously don't know very much, I assume you are a spotty youth who does not read newspapers. Not guilty on all counts you dunderheided moron by a jury of manly women. Get an education so you can read about stuff and understand what facts are.
BREAKING: Putin just fired his most decorated general whose war strategy has been the basis for all sorts of military nastiness. This is a significant external validation of how badly things are playing out for Russia in this invasion https://twitter.com/billneelyreport/status/1497989705903788036
Maybe he said no. With respect to the endgame. Generals are about the only people who could unseat Putin. Our policy should keep that possibility open.
I think it is some what reassuring that Russian high command has been leaking like a sieve, such that the US / UK have known about all about the detail plans for a long time.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
No. Stuart posts most of his hatred of England from his home in Sweden. From what I've heard, although he won, Salmond did not come out of the court case well. So I'm wondering if Stuart's view on this case has been coloured by his location.
"Despite being cleared of all charges, he also admitted to behaviour including stroking a female civil servant’s face while she slept, and tugging her hair on several occasions."
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
Not sure having the government deciding who can or cannot broadcast is a good thing. An arms-length regulator is a much better idea.
I find this kind of wishy-washy sentimentalism over civil liberties when the whole western world is getting sucked into an actual war on the ground, which has just been taken to a whole different nuclear threat level, naive and touching.
Have you looked at the stuff coming out on RT? Some of it is utterly disgraceful. There is NO place for RT to be broadcasting at the present time.
When Putin removes Russian troops from Ukraine, fine they can re-broadcast.
Though it is worth pointing out that we never made it illegal to listen to Lord Haw Haw in WW2. I think you probably need to give people some credit for their ability to discern propaganda. The more important point is the one made earlier that a tit for tat would cut off many Russians from the BBC which is an important source of information.
While that's true, we also didn't free up a TV station for him to use, and I don't think anyone is proposing criminalizing the watching (or reading) of RT.
And I'd also note that yesterday Russia dramatically limited the ability of its citizens to access Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I very much doubt that the BBC will last long irrespective.
In any case, surely the economic sanctions will effectively bar Russia Today and others? They mean that Sky (for example) won't be able to be in a commercial relationship with RT, and to carry their channels.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Yes, I’m just starting to do this. Need to work out when the trigger point would be to put into action. The sound of sirens would be somewhat too late.
I doubt we'll hear any sirens here in rural North Dorset.
I'm guessing the first we'll know is the power, broadband, radio/TV and mobile networks will all disappear. Maybe some flashes and booms on the horizons. Water off too within 24 hours.
A pause of a day or two maybe, then tattered survivors will start appearing in the village, before an impromptu militia take any stocks we have.
And then winter for the next 10 years. Not that we'll see more than one of them out. We'll take our own way before then.
BREAKING: Putin just fired his most decorated general whose war strategy has been the basis for all sorts of military nastiness. This is a significant external validation of how badly things are playing out for Russia in this invasion https://twitter.com/billneelyreport/status/1497989705903788036
Yup, he's under a lot of pressure, probably both from China and disenchanted siloviki. Negotiating because he has to accomodate the challenges somehow.
Seems to be a fair deal of doubt about whether this is true
The whole nuclear readiness thing gives the West opportunity.
The active Russian military is stretched, so start sending up aircraft and running exercises in the Arctic, in the Med opposite Syria, close to the Russian Far East and so on.
I would have expected them to be doing that anyway.
In fact any faction with a grouse against the Russians (form an orderly queue please) has a great opportunity to get frisky with minimum risk of reprisals.
You mentioned Wagner the other day. Putin and Wagner's ultimate boss man Yevgeny Prigozhin go back to the days when Putin was working in the administration in St Petersburg. Progozhin was a crim who remarkably got a lot of permits signed off to operate restaurants and other outlets in the city. No surprise that Putin was accused of some corruption even back then as his career has been full of it since.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
You’ve just stated that someone is guilty of something when they were acquitted in a court of law. OGH has a policy on defamation.
I'm happy to retract if OGH or the admins think it is wise.
However: I think I'm on firm ground.
So you should be asking yourself why you find it necessary to defend someone who has admitted to the stuff Salmond has, and who is also in the pay (indirectly or otherwise) of Russia?
for all you go on about the evils of the English, you seem quite a friend of badness yourself.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Given my own proximity to a likely nuclear target, my plan is to spread myself thinly over a radius of 3 square miles.
I'm right bang in the middle of a target, too. I remember staring mesmerised at a book as a child, meant for teenagers, about which parts of the country were most dangerous in the event of nuclear war, and having nightmares about it.
For some reason though, I feel as if that's about three times less likely than it was just a few hours ago. Let's hope so !
I still feel quite nervous. Funny isn’t it, what gets you scared. I was on the complacent end of the spectrum with Covid, really found it hard to get worried even given the pretty obvious stats that suggested my parents were at risk. Whereas this…
There are a few options: head to a nearish part of the country that should escape the immediate impact of a London blast and take it from there; travel to our holiday home in France which is comfortably distant from a big city but uncomfortably close to a French airbase. Or hop on a flight somewhere upwind of fallout like Morocco. Latter obviously the safest but harder to sit it out for months on end.
Yes, the countryside probably a slightly more advised place to be for a little while.
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
The whole nuclear readiness thing gives the West opportunity.
The active Russian military is stretched, so start sending up aircraft and running exercises in the Arctic, in the Med opposite Syria, close to the Russian Far East and so on.
So, the DUP want us all reduced to smouldering cinders? Suppose that includes the Pope, so mission accomplished.
He will be in the bad fire, they, the elect, will be in the good place listening to endless Ian Paisley sermons.
War can see some confusing alliances. We have nazis fighting for a Jewish head of state and Muslims fighting for a country that spent many years killing 100ks of them (and had recent wars against other Muslim brothers).
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
What’s your view of the endgame? Not sure we should be putting all our eggs in the basket where Putin changes his mind or suddenly throws his hands up and says he’s had enough.
At some point, someone, somewhere will have to be clever. Hopefully they are doing that now.
Is there a Russian general who doesn’t like this, who needs reassurances?
Its dangerous because we're not dealing with someone sane.
Today I can foresee four credible paths.
1: Russia wins the war, but its very bloody, and they fail to keep a successful occupation. 2: A negotiated settlement with the Donbas rebel areas being recognised and Russia withdraws from the rest of Ukraine. 3: Putin finds a face-saving reason to pull out. 4: Putin has an 'accident' and someone else in the Palace negotiates a truce.
None of them seem particularly likely today, number 1 did at the start but not anymore.
Some other possible paths:
5) The conflict becomes bogged down as a stalemate - Putin doesn't withdraw but allows it to become frozen 6) The economic sanctions lead to a revolution in Russia
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
The whole nuclear readiness thing gives the West opportunity.
The active Russian military is stretched, so start sending up aircraft and running exercises in the Arctic, in the Med opposite Syria, close to the Russian Far East and so on.
Could we persuade Kim Jong-un to invade?
As mentioned before, Russia is a big place, too big to defend everywhere at once, and it would only take a Chinese fleet to sail north.
My best case of NATO's response in the case of Putin using nuclear weapons is that it would be launch targeted Trident strikes on all Russian military and nuclear launch facilities to cripple its capability to fight, and would try and destroy Putin personally.
It wouldn't look to irradiate and destroy its major cities, although there would undoubtedly be major collateral damage.
It would depend on the target. If the targets are in Ukraine, I would *not* respond with nukes. I would get a worldwide moratorium on Russia and everything Russian. Make them a pariah state (more so than at the moment).
Sadly, we may need to respond with nukes if the targets were anywhere outside Ukraine.
What worries me is if Russia used chemical or biological weapons. They have the capability, and we don't. Our only response is nuclear.
Russia has already used nuclear and chemical weapons on our soil.
I don't think Putin has many boundaries.
I mean, Putin isn't a good guy who has suddenly gone doolally. He's a bad guy gone evil. This has been clear for well over a decade.
No I think this is wrong and a wrong mix of words.
He's an evil guy who has also now gone doolally. There's plenty of evidence for that.
I've been livid with Putin for years, deploring his evil acts, but it's the last few weeks which have seen him go crazed, losing his marbles. The address to the nation was like nothing else he's delivered. Just nuts.
You have jessop down to a tee there, totally doolally.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Yes, I’m just starting to do this. Need to work out when the trigger point would be to put into action. The sound of sirens would be somewhat too late.
I doubt we'll hear any sirens here in rural North Dorset.
I'm guessing the first we'll know is the power, broadband, radio/TV and mobile networks will all disappear. Maybe some flashes and booms on the horizons. Water off too within 24 hours.
A pause of a day or two maybe, then tattered survivors will start appearing in the village, before an impromptu militia take any stocks we have.
And then winter for the next 10 years. Not that we'll see more than one of them out. We'll take our own way before then.
Yes, these are very dangerous times.
As I evaporate in the East Midlands, it won't console me that a Muscovite is evaporating too.
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Given my own proximity to a likely nuclear target, my plan is to spread myself thinly over a radius of 3 square miles.
Good plan. Instantaneous evaporation much preferable to horrifically long, slow, painful death that awaits the poor bastards just outside the impact zone.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
What’s your view of the endgame? Not sure we should be putting all our eggs in the basket where Putin changes his mind or suddenly throws his hands up and says he’s had enough.
At some point, someone, somewhere will have to be clever. Hopefully they are doing that now.
Is there a Russian general who doesn’t like this, who needs reassurances?
Its dangerous because we're not dealing with someone sane.
Today I can foresee four credible paths.
1: Russia wins the war, but its very bloody, and they fail to keep a successful occupation. 2: A negotiated settlement with the Donbas rebel areas being recognised and Russia withdraws from the rest of Ukraine. 3: Putin finds a face-saving reason to pull out. 4: Putin has an 'accident' and someone else in the Palace negotiates a truce.
None of them seem particularly likely today, number 1 did at the start but not anymore.
Some other possible paths:
5) The conflict becomes bogged down as a stalemate - Putin doesn't withdraw but allows it to become frozen 6) The economic sanctions lead to a revolution in Russia
7) Putin becomes cornered and orders a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the west.
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
To paraphrase a great British political analyst, well, he would do that, wouldn't he?
Hope someone sensible somewhere is thinking about the endgame.
Indeed.
Putin needs an off-ramp, but I don’t think the west is in the mood to give him one.
Dangerous times.
Hard to imagine what kind of an off-ramp you can give to someone who has deliberately driven into an untenable position.
Personally I think there is much that could be offered: i) Ukraine agrees never to join NATO. (This is a bit phony because it was never going to do it anyway and doesn't need to now because it is de facto in anyway.) ii) Give up the Southern Oblasts. (You're not going to get them back anyway and they have large, awkward Russian minorities) iii) Let Russia keep the Crimea.
Now piss off please Mr Putin.
The trouble is that even if you give all of that it hardly compenates him for the cost of this mad adventure. He and his henchmen become pariahs. The Russian economy goes even further down the tubes. The Russian 'Empire' will never again increase an inch in the territory it holds. That's it - line in the sand. Russia stops where it is.
Net result is that Putin goes down as the craziest Russian since Rasputin and the country disappears down the toilet.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
You’ve just stated that someone is guilty of something when they were acquitted in a court of law. OGH has a policy on defamation.
He wasn't acquitted of being a sex pest, just of breaking the law in doing so.
In fact wasn't his defence basically saying that he was, but just not in an illegal way?
Another deranged Tory halfwitted cretinous retard joins the list of cowardly Little Englanders. Phil don't tell anyone I work for CCHQ please as I am so thick I used my own name for ages and made it plainly obvious I was as thick as mince and now I want to pretend I am someone else.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Yes, I’m just starting to do this. Need to work out when the trigger point would be to put into action. The sound of sirens would be somewhat too late.
I doubt we'll hear any sirens here in rural North Dorset.
I'm guessing the first we'll know is the power, broadband, radio/TV and mobile networks will all disappear. Maybe some flashes and booms on the horizons. Water off too within 24 hours.
A pause of a day or two maybe, then tattered survivors will start appearing in the village, before an impromptu militia take any stocks we have.
And then winter for the next 10 years. Not that we'll see more than one of them out. We'll take our own way before then.
Yes, these are very dangerous times.
As I evaporate in the East Midlands, it won't console me that a Muscovite is evaporating too.
As a pedant I feel I should say that I reckon the Muscovite is more likely to evaporate a good 30 minutes after you do.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
You’ve just stated that someone is guilty of something when they were acquitted in a court of law. OGH has a policy on defamation.
I'm happy to retract if OGH or the admins think it is wise.
However: I think I'm on firm ground.
So you should be asking yourself why you find it necessary to defend someone who has admitted to the stuff Salmond has, and who is also in the pay (indirectly or otherwise) of Russia?
for all you go on about the evils of the English, you seem quite a friend of badness yourself.
Also happy to retract if so.
All sorts of rumour and conjecture on the Salmond thing, but two things are true:
- He was acquitted of the crimes he was accused of - His behaviour was inappropriate
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Yes, I’m just starting to do this. Need to work out when the trigger point would be to put into action. The sound of sirens would be somewhat too late.
I doubt we'll hear any sirens here in rural North Dorset.
I'm guessing the first we'll know is the power, broadband, radio/TV and mobile networks will all disappear. Maybe some flashes and booms on the horizons. Water off too within 24 hours.
A pause of a day or two maybe, then tattered survivors will start appearing in the village, before an impromptu militia take any stocks we have.
And then winter for the next 10 years. Not that we'll see more than one of them out. We'll take our own way before then.
Yes, these are very dangerous times.
As I evaporate in the East Midlands, it won't console me that a Muscovite is evaporating too.
As a pedant I feel I should say that I reckon the Muscovite is more likely to evaporate a good 30 minutes after you do.
To be fair to her she realised halfway through she’d screwed up and started to back peddle
Liz Truss answered instinctively, and in the liberal tradition of England to be fair to her, didn’t she? A country that for centuries is happy to provide a safe haven to radical people of all sorts of views, who could be unsafe if they didn’t flee homeland, even Lenin and Stalin lived in London, in Chelsea I think.
Truss did mean whatever your views on this war, British passport holder, but with family ties with one of the protagonists, it’s okay to go and fight for them in this war and come back in afterwards. So politically and morally that is right, fits in with our history and what UK has always been about, just legally it’s tricky?
It would be how it all ties up legally would be a problem wouldn’t it. In this case it’s straightforward in layman’s eyes - Putin, and a few dozen bastards in a bunker, versus the rest of the world, but courts would need something for less clear cut cases where one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter?
It was a mistake by Truss. A forgiveable mistake.
Maybe a mistake, maybe not. Because it was not a pre planned thing, it came from her heart, from her political instincts, and showed her very much in tune with the tolerance of Conservative liberalism our country has been founded on for centuries.
It’s time to look at Liz Truss in a different way now after that moment. In just a matter of weeks she might be Prime Minister, and her very first act will be to sack Priti Patel to install a liberal-Conservative.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Nope. We did it last night. Not me that initiated the discussion. IMHO the only reasonable plan is to get into very remote parts of South America or Africa. I’m not gonna be doing that. My Portuguese and Swahili are rubbish.
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
To paraphrase a great British political analyst, well, he would do that, wouldn't he?
So apart from the sanctions and the pushing everyone else forward on various actions and send weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing the Baltic states....
This crisis is turning into the possible end of Putin. Can't really see that as a win for Putin, particularly since he will probably be looking at a bullet or an accident with one of those awkward Moscow windows. They have a terrible record of accidents with windows there.....
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
You’ve just stated that someone is guilty of something when they were acquitted in a court of law. OGH has a policy on defamation.
I'm happy to retract if OGH or the admins think it is wise.
However: I think I'm on firm ground.
So you should be asking yourself why you find it necessary to defend someone who has admitted to the stuff Salmond has, and who is also in the pay (indirectly or otherwise) of Russia?
for all you go on about the evils of the English, you seem quite a friend of badness yourself.
You really are a cretinous deluded fool. Sad indeed.
Many now owe David Cameron a big fat massive apology. Remember the mockery and scorn he was subjected to when he said that peace in Europe is not something that can be taken for granted?
And Brexit has had fuck all to do with Putin in Ukraine.
The internal network of Belarusian railways has been attacked, all services are out of order and will soon be deactivated until Russian troops leave the territory of #Belarus.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Nope. We did it last night. Not me that initiated the discussion. IMHO the only reasonable plan is to get into very remote parts of South America or Africa. I’m not gonna be doing that. My Portuguese and Swahili are rubbish.
New Zealand would look like a good bet... but too late if you haven't already made the move.
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
I didn't complain about your language at all. In fact, I posted a video of a Predator clip last night to defend your 'edgy' language.
You asked "what language?"
You also claimed to be drunk, so I thought you might need reminding of your 'edginess'.
BREAKING: Putin just fired his most decorated general whose war strategy has been the basis for all sorts of military nastiness. This is a significant external validation of how badly things are playing out for Russia in this invasion https://twitter.com/billneelyreport/status/1497989705903788036
Yup, he's under a lot of pressure, probably both from China and disenchanted siloviki. Negotiating because he has to accomodate the challenges somehow.
It's almost certainly false, that story is dated the 26th, but Gerasimov was at the meeting where Putin ordered the nuclear alert level raised.
Apologies if this unnerves people but we're dealing with a madman and anything is possible, especially with the escalations.
Why is he nuking Swansea?
There are very good reasons so to do, but I can't see it from a Russian perspective.
Anyway, if the Swansea blast doesn't get me, the Bristol one might.
They’re also nuking Oxford but not Brize Norton, apparently. And every nuke is a Tsarbomba.
No that list is only of the 20 city targets. It is one part of 105 targets in the UK. Or was back in the late 80s. The target list will be somewhat reduced and altered now in part because we have shut a lot of the airbases.
Many now owe David Cameron a big fat massive apology. Remember the mockery and scorn he was subjected to when he said that peace in Europe is not something that can be taken for granted?
And Brexit has had fuck all to do with Putin in Ukraine.
And Stark Dawning is wrong.
And the response to Cameron was that NATO keeps peace, not the EU, anyway.
That's been fully vindicated. The UK has through NATO played a leading role in this since before the invasion, the EU have started to rise to the occasion (credit to them for that) but are very much bit players.
Hope someone sensible somewhere is thinking about the endgame.
Indeed.
Putin needs an off-ramp, but I don’t think the west is in the mood to give him one.
Dangerous times.
Hard to imagine what kind of an off-ramp you can give to someone who has deliberately driven into an untenable position.
Personally I think there is much that could be offered: i) Ukraine agrees never to join NATO. (This is a bit phony because it was never going to do it anyway and doesn't need to now because it is de facto in anyway.) ii) Give up the Southern Oblasts. (You're not going to get them back anyway and they have large, awkward Russian minorities) iii) Let Russia keep the Crimea.
Now piss off please Mr Putin.
The trouble is that even if you give all of that it hardly compenates him for the cost of this mad adventure. He and his henchmen become pariahs. The Russian economy goes even further down the tubes. The Russian 'Empire' will never again increase an inch in the territory it holds. That's it - line in the sand. Russia stops where it is.
Net result is that Putin goes down as the craziest Russian since Rasputin and the country disappears down the toilet.
Not very appealing.
The problem is this is rewarding Putin for his bad behaviour
To be fair to her she realised halfway through she’d screwed up and started to back peddle
Liz Truss answered instinctively, and in the liberal tradition of England to be fair to her, didn’t she? A country that for centuries is happy to provide a safe haven to radical people of all sorts of views, who could be unsafe if they didn’t flee homeland, even Lenin and Stalin lived in London, in Chelsea I think.
Truss did mean whatever your views on this war, British passport holder, but with family ties with one of the protagonists, it’s okay to go and fight for them in this war and come back in afterwards. So politically and morally that is right, fits in with our history and what UK has always been about, just legally it’s tricky?
It would be how it all ties up legally would be a problem wouldn’t it. In this case it’s straightforward in layman’s eyes - Putin, and a few dozen bastards in a bunker, versus the rest of the world, but courts would need something for less clear cut cases where one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter?
It was a mistake by Truss. A forgiveable mistake.
Maybe a mistake, maybe not. Because it was not a pre planned thing, it came from her heart, from her political instincts, and showed her very much in tune with the tolerance of Conservative liberalism our country has been founded on for centuries.
It’s time to look at Liz Truss in a different way now after that moment. In just a matter of weeks she might be Prime Minister, and her very first act will be to sack Priti Patel to install a liberal-Conservative.
Well helping those on an undisputably 'good' side in a war seems to be sensible enough. However I think the UK is right not to help anyone. I rather like Patel, but she has her faults too.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
I'm not sure you should be protesting tongue in cheek comments like this given your language last night.
And Salmond's defence, afaik, was that his behaviour was unacceptable but not criminal.
You obviously don't know very much, I assume you are a spotty youth who does not read newspapers. Not guilty on all counts you dunderheided moron by a jury of mainly women. Get an education so you can read about stuff and understand what facts are.
Just a millennial with normal blood pressure Malc.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Given my own proximity to a likely nuclear target, my plan is to spread myself thinly over a radius of 3 square miles.
Good plan. Instantaneous evaporation much preferable to horrifically long, slow, painful death that awaits the poor bastards just outside the impact zone.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Given my own proximity to a likely nuclear target, my plan is to spread myself thinly over a radius of 3 square miles.
Good plan. Instantaneous evaporation much preferable to horrifically long, slow, painful death that awaits the poor bastards just outside the impact zone.
All those gung ho for war earlier today now terrified of nuclear annihilation....mmmm
Just a question - where does Russia get its food from?
Ukraine mainly
I presume @IshmaelZ that you've comprehensively apologised for your comments last night?
Look. I-- I'd had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, 'That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.'
I can only repeat my reply to a previous hon gent, adding the observation that I have always loved the Dylan line "It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
No. Stuart posts most of his hatred of England from his home in Sweden. From what I've heard, although he won, Salmond did not come out of the court case well. So I'm wondering if Stuart's view on this case has been coloured by his location.
"Despite being cleared of all charges, he also admitted to behaviour including stroking a female civil servant’s face while she slept, and tugging her hair on several occasions."
Personally, I'd call that sort of behaviour 'sex pest'.
What a demented twat you are, Mary Whitehouse reborn, how unlucky could your wife have been to be landed with a nutter like you. Good old Mr Perfect , stick to the Naked Rambling rather than the verbal diahorrea.
The whole nuclear readiness thing gives the West opportunity.
The active Russian military is stretched, so start sending up aircraft and running exercises in the Arctic, in the Med opposite Syria, close to the Russian Far East and so on.
So, the DUP want us all reduced to smouldering cinders? Suppose that includes the Pope, so mission accomplished.
He will be in the bad fire, they, the elect, will be in the good place listening to endless Ian Paisley sermons.
Hope someone sensible somewhere is thinking about the endgame.
Indeed.
Putin needs an off-ramp, but I don’t think the west is in the mood to give him one.
Dangerous times.
Hard to imagine what kind of an off-ramp you can give to someone who has deliberately driven into an untenable position.
Personally I think there is much that could be offered: i) Ukraine agrees never to join NATO. (This is a bit phony because it was never going to do it anyway and doesn't need to now because it is de facto in anyway.) ii) Give up the Southern Oblasts. (You're not going to get them back anyway and they have large, awkward Russian minorities) iii) Let Russia keep the Crimea.
Now piss off please Mr Putin.
The trouble is that even if you give all of that it hardly compenates him for the cost of this mad adventure. He and his henchmen become pariahs. The Russian economy goes even further down the tubes. The Russian 'Empire' will never again increase an inch in the territory it holds. That's it - line in the sand. Russia stops where it is.
Net result is that Putin goes down as the craziest Russian since Rasputin and the country disappears down the toilet.
Not very appealing.
Can someone just arrange for someone to put some poison into his wine?
BREAKING: Putin just fired his most decorated general whose war strategy has been the basis for all sorts of military nastiness. This is a significant external validation of how badly things are playing out for Russia in this invasion https://twitter.com/billneelyreport/status/1497989705903788036
Yup, he's under a lot of pressure, probably both from China and disenchanted siloviki. Negotiating because he has to accomodate the challenges somehow.
It's almost certainly false, that story is dated the 26th, but Gerasimov was at the meeting where Putin ordered the nuclear alert level raised.
I doubt overall though that it's false that he can feel some significant signs of internal disquiet. I'm sure he knows he's under pressure he has to accommodate in some way or other , now.
More seriously (BBC journalist). Russian troops are in Berdyansk. They're getting closer to Mariupol. Also not clear about the northern direction - Volnovakha I heard was totally cut off by Russian troops. They're encircling Mariupol from all sides. https://twitter.com/abdujalil/status/1497998348992798730
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
I didn't complain about your language at all. In fact, I posted a video of a Predator clip last night to defend your 'edgy' language.
You asked "what language?"
You also claimed to be drunk, so I thought you might need reminding of your 'edginess'.
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
To paraphrase a great British political analyst, well, he would do that, wouldn't he?
So apart from the sanctions and the pushing everyone else forward on various actions and send weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing the Baltic states....
This crisis is turning into the possible end of Putin. Can't really see that as a win for Putin, particularly since he will probably be looking at a bullet or an accident with one of those awkward Moscow windows. They have a terrible record of accidents with windows there.....
Certainly hope your last para is correct. Including (God help me) the window. . .
As for your first para, well, have been convinced for a long time that Boris Johnson is part of the Putinist league. Perhaps (mostly) unwittingly, but he's still a key element of Vlad's game plan, as is (of course) #45.
Could be wrong, about BoJo anyway. But doubt it - can smell his stink on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific).
Just a question - where does Russia get its food from?
Ukraine mainly
I presume @IshmaelZ that you've comprehensively apologised for your comments last night?
Look. I-- I'd had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, 'That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.'
I can only repeat my reply to a previous hon gent, adding the observation that I have always loved the Dylan line "It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
Just a question - where does Russia get its food from?
Ukraine mainly
I presume @IshmaelZ that you've comprehensively apologised for your comments last night?
I'm still confused by this. @IshmaelZ had a good explanation for it earlier so happy to let it go, but still a bit uneasy about that language being bandied around on PB unless very obviously joking (or quoting).
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Nope. We did it last night. Not me that initiated the discussion. IMHO the only reasonable plan is to get into very remote parts of South America or Africa. I’m not gonna be doing that. My Portuguese and Swahili are rubbish.
New Zealand would look like a good bet... but too late if you haven't already made the move.
My best case of NATO's response in the case of Putin using nuclear weapons is that it would be launch targeted Trident strikes on all Russian military and nuclear launch facilities to cripple its capability to fight, and would try and destroy Putin personally.
It wouldn't look to irradiate and destroy its major cities, although there would undoubtedly be major collateral damage.
It would depend on the target. If the targets are in Ukraine, I would *not* respond with nukes. I would get a worldwide moratorium on Russia and everything Russian. Make them a pariah state (more so than at the moment).
Sadly, we may need to respond with nukes if the targets were anywhere outside Ukraine.
What worries me is if Russia used chemical or biological weapons. They have the capability, and we don't. Our only response is nuclear.
Russia has already used nuclear and chemical weapons on our soil.
I don't think Putin has many boundaries.
I mean, Putin isn't a good guy who has suddenly gone doolally. He's a bad guy gone evil. This has been clear for well over a decade.
No I think this is wrong and a wrong mix of words.
He's an evil guy who has also now gone doolally. There's plenty of evidence for that.
I've been livid with Putin for years, deploring his evil acts, but it's the last few weeks which have seen him go crazed, losing his marbles. The address to the nation was like nothing else he's delivered. Just nuts.
You have jessop down to a tee there, totally doolally.
I love you too Malc. Just not enough for you to fondle my hair in bed if I was to go to your 'official residence'. Since you think that's acceptable behaviour...
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Nope. We did it last night. Not me that initiated the discussion. IMHO the only reasonable plan is to get into very remote parts of South America or Africa. I’m not gonna be doing that. My Portuguese and Swahili are rubbish.
Serious question Stuart, is Sweden that much of a target for nukes given it is neutral and can't hit back? I would have thought out in the Swedish countryside is probably as safe as anywhere.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
you flatter yourself , go get a life saddo. Ill-educated troll.
Usual stream - tick
ill-directed - tick
verbal diarrhoea - tick
How sad get one get, now F**k off and bore someone else to death, you ignorant cretin.
If only you took your insults and followed your own advice.
Oh Dear Mr Blowhard joins the fray. You know you are in trouble when you are only supported by the W-eak one. Gives us a few of your usual boasts about what a big shot you are , make us laugh some more.
Just a question - where does Russia get its food from?
Ukraine mainly
I presume @IshmaelZ that you've comprehensively apologised for your comments last night?
I'm still confused by this. @IshmaelZ had a good explanation for it earlier so happy to let it go, but still a bit uneasy about that language being bandied around on PB unless very obviously joking (or quoting).
He did not. His argument was that if someone had said something vile before it was fine to quote it back. I'd doubt anyone would agree with that.
I have some feeling the moment of worst danger is over. i hope I'm right,
Opposite here. It's all going too well. Expecting a great clunking fist, not nuclear but say an overnight carpet bombing of Kyiv.
That could still happen. I have some feeling that the nuclear danger has subsided slightly, though.
I wish I shared your confidence.
Am I the only one running through my plans for "what would we (Mrs. P and I) do in the event of a full-scale nuclear war"?
(Hint, none of the options involve long-term survival).
Nope. We did it last night. Not me that initiated the discussion. IMHO the only reasonable plan is to get into very remote parts of South America or Africa. I’m not gonna be doing that. My Portuguese and Swahili are rubbish.
Serious question Stuart, is Sweden that much of a target for nukes given it is neutral and can't hit back? I would have thought out in the Swedish countryside is probably as safe as anywhere.
I think it’s a question of prevailing winds if we get whacked here.
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
I didn't complain about your language at all. In fact, I posted a video of a Predator clip last night to defend your 'edgy' language.
You asked "what language?"
You also claimed to be drunk, so I thought you might need reminding of your 'edginess'.
I'm probably too stupid to understand you though.
I don't understand your point, then.
You don't understand why your oh-so-very-cleverly-inoffensive use of offensive language might have upset some people (not me, I'm just trying to help you see what you've done), and you might need to temper your super-intelligent-but-not-offensive offensiveness?
Just a question - where does Russia get its food from?
Ukraine mainly
I presume @IshmaelZ that you've comprehensively apologised for your comments last night?
Look. I-- I'd had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, 'That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.'
I can only repeat my reply to a previous hon gent, adding the observation that I have always loved the Dylan line "It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
How can you judge my level of stupidity?
By the content of your posts, duh. Including this one.
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
To paraphrase a great British political analyst, well, he would do that, wouldn't he?
So apart from the sanctions and the pushing everyone else forward on various actions and send weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing the Baltic states....
This crisis is turning into the possible end of Putin. Can't really see that as a win for Putin, particularly since he will probably be looking at a bullet or an accident with one of those awkward Moscow windows. They have a terrible record of accidents with windows there.....
Certainly hope your last para is correct. Including (God help me) the window. . .
As for your first para, well, have been convinced for a long time that Boris Johnson is part of the Putinist league. Perhaps (mostly) unwittingly, but he's still a key element of Vlad's game plan, as is (of course) #45.
Could be wrong, about BoJo anyway. But doubt it - can smell his stink on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific).
I think you're very much wrong. Not about 45, but about Boris, that's the FBPE invented version of Boris not the real thing.
Boris has never been the same thing as either Trump or Putin and its always been very puerile to link them together. Lets not forget Boris was quite happy to laugh at Trump behind his back, I think at the G7.
Boris is interested in Boris, not Trump or Putin or anyone else for that matter.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
I'm not sure you should be protesting tongue in cheek comments like this given your language last night.
And Salmond's defence, afaik, was that his behaviour was unacceptable but not criminal.
You obviously don't know very much, I assume you are a spotty youth who does not read newspapers. Not guilty on all counts you dunderheided moron by a jury of manly women. Get an education so you can read about stuff and understand what facts are.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
I'm not sure you should be protesting tongue in cheek comments like this given your language last night.
And Salmond's defence, afaik, was that his behaviour was unacceptable but not criminal.
You obviously don't know very much, I assume you are a spotty youth who does not read newspapers. Not guilty on all counts you dunderheided moron by a jury of mainly women. Get an education so you can read about stuff and understand what facts are.
Just a millennial with normal blood pressure Malc.
Well read the verdict , see who were lying through their teeth. NOT GUILTY on all charges despite the government and most others against him. A jury of his peers consisting of mainly women found him innocent on all charges.
We are relying on the tact and diplomatic finesse of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
No we aren't.
The time for tact was before Russia invaded. Macron tried that and it was a disaster (no objection to him trying).
Boris has been through this wonderfully blunt and untactful. Between Macron and Boris there was a good cop/bad cop dynamic.
That last thing that is needed at the minute is tact.
You lived through the dick-shrivelling embarrassment of Lizzie Goes To Moscow, and you are still prepared to have a pop at Macron?
He is an absolute moron
Is anyone not a moron in your eyes, aside from yourself and in-the-pay-of-Russia-sex-pest Salmond?
(Gets ready for the usual stream of ill-directed verbal diarrhoea).
Moderator might want to have a think about that one.
It's true, though, isn't it? Or does Swedish society have different norms when it comes to the way they treat women?
Is it unprovoked racial smear night?
I'm not sure you should be protesting tongue in cheek comments like this given your language last night.
And Salmond's defence, afaik, was that his behaviour was unacceptable but not criminal.
You obviously don't know very much, I assume you are a spotty youth who does not read newspapers. Not guilty on all counts you dunderheided moron by a jury of manly women. Get an education so you can read about stuff and understand what facts are.
Like their US GOP comrades assembled at CPAC, UK Tories would rather rave about dangers of Woke than wake up to the Putinist threat abroad AND at home.
Thus bending over backwards giving aid and comfort to their spiritual leader - Vladimir Putin.
Side note - keep your eye on Hungary, where Viktor Orban is clearly hoping to get some goodies out of the deal now going down. Including (I'm guessing) "autonomy" for Sub (or Trans) Carpathia, part of which has ethnic-Hungarian majority.
Perhaps you should stick to commenting on Washington politics?
Don't be be like that! We all comment on other countries' politics all the time. Not as important as the Bristol South Town Council by-election, true, but still vaguely interesting, and SSI's US perspective is as interesting as anyone's.
The perspective isn’t interesting when it is totally wrong.
Seems that yours truly has really touched a nerve here?
If Boris Johnson and 45 are NOT Putinists in mind & spirit, then I'm the Grand Rabbi of Kyiv.
Aside from Boris posting x tons of military hardware to Ukraine to literally kill Putin's ambitions?
To paraphrase a great British political analyst, well, he would do that, wouldn't he?
So apart from the sanctions and the pushing everyone else forward on various actions and send weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing the Baltic states....
This crisis is turning into the possible end of Putin. Can't really see that as a win for Putin, particularly since he will probably be looking at a bullet or an accident with one of those awkward Moscow windows. They have a terrible record of accidents with windows there.....
Certainly hope your last para is correct. Including (God help me) the window. . .
As for your first para, well, have been convinced for a long time that Boris Johnson is part of the Putinist league. Perhaps (mostly) unwittingly, but he's still a key element of Vlad's game plan, as is (of course) #45.
Could be wrong, about BoJo anyway. But doubt it - can smell his stink on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific).
I think you're very much wrong. Not about 45, but about Boris, that's the FBPE invented version of Boris not the real thing.
Boris has never been the same thing as either Trump or Putin and its always been very puerile to link them together. Lets not forget Boris was quite happy to laugh at Trump behind his back, I think at the G7.
Boris is interested in Boris, not Trump or Putin or anyone else for that matter.
Yes there’s many reasons to dislike Boris but he isn’t Trump and he’s no friend of Putin.
Comments
In fact wasn't his defence basically saying that he was, but just not in an illegal way?
I mean, Salmond admitted to 'unacceptable behaviour' like climbing on top of a female guest at his official residence and kissing her whilst she was in bed.
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/salmond-said-sorry-to-woman-for-unacceptable-behaviour
"Despite being cleared of all charges, he also admitted to behaviour including stroking a female civil servant’s face while she slept, and tugging her hair on several occasions."
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/6745626/alex-salmond-sorry-behaviour-women-inquiry/
Personally, I'd call that sort of behaviour 'sex pest'.
There are very good reasons so to do, but I can't see it from a Russian perspective.
Anyway, if the Swansea blast doesn't get me, the Bristol one might.
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/3813170#Comment_3813170
#StandWithUkriane
https://twitter.com/LatestAnonPress/status/1497994644864520206
And I'd also note that yesterday Russia dramatically limited the ability of its citizens to access Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I very much doubt that the BBC will last long irrespective.
In any case, surely the economic sanctions will effectively bar Russia Today and others? They mean that Sky (for example) won't be able to be in a commercial relationship with RT, and to carry their channels.
I'm guessing the first we'll know is the power, broadband, radio/TV and mobile networks will all disappear. Maybe some flashes and booms on the horizons. Water off too within 24 hours.
A pause of a day or two maybe, then tattered survivors will start appearing in the village, before an impromptu militia take any stocks we have.
And then winter for the next 10 years. Not that we'll see more than one of them out. We'll take our own way before then.
However: I think I'm on firm ground.
So you should be asking yourself why you find it necessary to defend someone who has admitted to the stuff Salmond has, and who is also in the pay (indirectly or otherwise) of Russia?
for all you go on about the evils of the English, you seem quite a friend of badness yourself.
5) The conflict becomes bogged down as a stalemate - Putin doesn't withdraw but allows it to become frozen
6) The economic sanctions lead to a revolution in Russia
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
As I evaporate in the East Midlands, it won't console me that a Muscovite is evaporating too.
I say let 'em play.
Strangely.....
Personally I think there is much that could be offered:
i) Ukraine agrees never to join NATO. (This is a bit phony because it was never going to do it anyway and doesn't need to now because it is de facto in anyway.)
ii) Give up the Southern Oblasts. (You're not going to get them back anyway and they have large, awkward Russian minorities)
iii) Let Russia keep the Crimea.
Now piss off please Mr Putin.
The trouble is that even if you give all of that it hardly compenates him for the cost of this mad adventure. He and his henchmen become pariahs. The Russian economy goes even further down the tubes. The Russian 'Empire' will never again increase an inch in the territory it holds. That's it - line in the sand. Russia stops where it is.
Net result is that Putin goes down as the craziest Russian since Rasputin and the country disappears down the toilet.
Not very appealing.
https://twitter.com/ralee85/status/1497940431040098309?s=21
“The damaged vehicles will be picked up and repaired”
“They sent the old equipment and conscripts in first to check out how things were”
If these aren’t trolls, it suggests a serious disconnect between Russian awareness and reality.
All sorts of rumour and conjecture on the Salmond thing, but two things are true:
- He was acquitted of the crimes he was accused of
- His behaviour was inappropriate
And every nuke is a Tsarbomba.
It’s time to look at Liz Truss in a different way now after that moment. In just a matter of weeks she might be Prime Minister, and her very first act will be to sack Priti Patel to install a liberal-Conservative.
This crisis is turning into the possible end of Putin. Can't really see that as a win for Putin, particularly since he will probably be looking at a bullet or an accident with one of those awkward Moscow windows. They have a terrible record of accidents with windows there.....
You asked "what language?"
You also claimed to be drunk, so I thought you might need reminding of your 'edginess'.
I'm probably too stupid to understand you though.
And the response to Cameron was that NATO keeps peace, not the EU, anyway.
That's been fully vindicated. The UK has through NATO played a leading role in this since before the invasion, the EU have started to rise to the occasion (credit to them for that) but are very much bit players.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60549390
I can only repeat my reply to a previous hon gent, adding the observation that I have always loved the Dylan line "It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."
"Not a word I knew till 2 minutes ago, but apparently used only as an ethnic slur. And what is this "normally considered fair game" shit? I mean, yes, we are all on the Ukr side, but you sound like a Victorian gent reading the ticker in his club and hoping the North is giving the niggers a dam' good pasting."
you are literally too stupid to read that as a condemnation of ethnic slurs? Literally? Really really? Genuinely? Not kidding?
The point of PB used to be the very high level of intelligence one could expect from one's readership. Those were the days.
"In this digital age, high-tech and ICT are probably the best response to tanks and missiles"
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1498006784275066888
This is civilisation - in response to nuclear threats, cut off their roaming services.
Russian troops are in Berdyansk. They're getting closer to Mariupol. Also not clear about the northern direction - Volnovakha I heard was totally cut off by Russian troops. They're encircling Mariupol from all sides.
https://twitter.com/abdujalil/status/1497998348992798730
As for your first para, well, have been convinced for a long time that Boris Johnson is part of the Putinist league. Perhaps (mostly) unwittingly, but he's still a key element of Vlad's game plan, as is (of course) #45.
Could be wrong, about BoJo anyway. But doubt it - can smell his stink on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific).
It seems a really odd hill to fight on.
https://twitter.com/jake_northwest/status/1497941214858907650?t=LlA98b2eexAh80I4ui2sMg&s=19
You are just too clever for everyone.
Boris has never been the same thing as either Trump or Putin and its always been very puerile to link them together. Lets not forget Boris was quite happy to laugh at Trump behind his back, I think at the G7.
Boris is interested in Boris, not Trump or Putin or anyone else for that matter.