peterw

10 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Woah, hitting the wrong House or one car in a targeted attack due to bad intelligence is one thing.  Or accidentally hitting such a small target as collateral damage. 

But this is a massive **** off building with a big red cross on the roof. 

Some expert commentator yesterday said it is inconceivable that in this day and age a hospital could be hit by accident. This was a deliberate targeted attack on a known hospital designed to terrify the civilian population. 

" Some expert" who? We were told previously that the op[posite is true. What was the type of missile? Was it laser guided? Did it come from the ground or from the air? Was it fired from sea (I'm (not sure where the hospital was). There are many variables to consider and yes it is an act that would break international humanitarian law if deliberate. But, we really don't know that it was, we can assume, we can guess, but we don't know.

Just now, sidcow said:

Woah, hitting the wrong House or one car in a targeted attack due to bad intelligence is one thing.  Or accidentally hitting such a small target as collateral damage. 

But this is a massive **** off building with a big red cross on the roof. 

Some expert commentator yesterday said it is inconceivable that in this day and age a hospital could be hit by accident. This was a deliberate targeted attack on a known hospital designed to terrify the civilian population. 

Indeed - pretty calamitous to get it wrong - but mistakes do happen in warfare and in missile strikes. they are never as guided as the military like us to believe. the Russians have nothing to achieve by deliberately attacking a hospiutal and will harden resolve around them. It is a tangible point that it wouldn't be hit if they weren't there in the first place, but, again, we should only deal with the facts as we know them and not add the blanks that we don't.

4 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Ah yes, because Ukraine and foreign press officials showing videos of a massive hospital being bombed is made up, right? You really should be more careful about what you're saying without actually checking them first. This news and source has been quoted in pretty much all media across the world. It isn't made up, it's verified by press.

Being sympathetic to a demagogue isn't a good look.

 

I think you also misunderstand - at no point is a hospital being bombed or in rubble anything but. Nor is it made up. But we do not have other facts other than that. It may be that the Russians have bombed it - but it may also be a mistake on their part which they hugely regret. We'll not know. It may be that they deliberately targetted it, again we'll not know. It's pretty much accepted that the Russians are the aggressors in Ukraine, but not everything that is happening is down to them just being pure evil.

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

That's been reported by pretty much every reputable news organisation on the planet,  most of whom have reporters at ground zero. 

It's good to have a healthy pinch of salt but you can't just assume nothing bad is going on.  That way you're pretty much just believing Russian propaganda.  You know, the ones who repeatedly said they had no intention of invading Ukraine. 

You have to remember we have a totally free press in this country. Those reporters on the ground are not working for any Government or being influenced by secret services.  They are just reporting what they see. 

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm sayiong. I'm not saying that the Russian aren't bombing and the Ukrainians are making things up - just that we have to apply caution to what is fed out. In most BBC reports they are actually saying most of what is reported has not been independently verified.  With that in mind, we may see what is happening, or has happened, but may not have the full facts.

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

BBC has a whole team of people dedicated to verifying reports and footage before they put it out.  There was a thing about it on their website the other day. 

It's one of the reasons why you don't see for example videos from past conflicts repossessed to represent this conflict (like those Tanks being bombarded with Petrol Bombs) on there. 

Are you seriously suggesting that Hospital bombing is just made up? 

I'm not saying that it is made up just that we have to be careful with what we are being fed as being the truth during warfare. We're being fed what the news outlets want us to see and read. I haven't said that the bombing didn't happen but just to be cautious in our approach to all news filtering out. An example is that in other conflicts where the Americans have maybe hit the wrong target resulting in civilian deaths we read about apologies, mistakes, and that it wasn't intended. If the Russians have hit a medical centre it is as unlikely that they have aimed for it but what we will read would be the justified outrage from one side. 

Just now, magnkarl said:

Russia IS bombing children's hospitals - what kind of whataboutery is this? You give a dictatorship invading a sovereign nation the benefit of the doubt, and discredit media from the country being invaded? I think some soul searching is in order.

People wonder how dictatorships arise..

They may be - but how do you know for sure? Because of photos distributed by Ukraine? Just because we want it to be true (in the apportioning of blame type way) doesn't mean that they are not engaging in propaganda warfare every much as Russia are. The truth is we simply do not know.

18 hours ago, Genie said:

I’d like to take my lad to a Barcelona or Real Madrid match, does anyone know of a good / reliable way to get tickets or packages?

If you're going to Spain anyway  you can just buy from the ground itself as they have kiosks open prior to the game to sell matchday tickets.

19 hours ago, Rodders said:

Why is it stories like this, the archaeologist, marine bod / expert etc always seem to have peculiarly great names...

Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far," said marine archaeologist Mensun Bound there's got to be some kind of nominative determinism involved with that.

His brother Homeward is gutted he missed it.

1 hour ago, Seat68 said:

I am fairly pedestrian, cow, deer, goat, chicken, fish, mollusc (oyster), pidgeon, pheasant, sheep, pig, frog, and as a by product, insect. 

Possibly ate others and can't remember what frog tasted like, chicken, by all accounts. 

I can confirm frog is a chicken flavoured delicacy. I can add crcodile to that list, shark and dog.

I had dog in Thailand from a street guy who had a kebab thing. When I asked he said it was lamb but I said it clealry wasn't lamb as it tasted nothing like it. I said that I really didn't mind what it was and that i just wanted to know for interest sake and he admitted it was dog. FYI - the meat was quite flavourless and quite fatty.

had horse too - that was quite salty. 

Oh, yeah, had Seahorse and scorpion too. In beijing. Unsurprisingly they just tasted of fish.

The longer it goes on the less likely we are to have accurate information from both sides. I'm pretty what we're railing against from China/Russian media reports will probably be already seeping into western media reports. Of course we know where our sympathies lie, and of course it's more likely that we are on the side of the good guys. But I'm looking less and less at the BBC in time reporting now as it just isn't possible to verify that Russia is bombing children's hospitals, or that Ukraine aren't building chemical weapons (I very much doubt the latter I hasten to add). It's said that the first casulaty of War is the truth and it will become increasingly difficult to know excactly what is happening until it's finished or almost finished.

10 hours ago, thunderball said:

Gregg Evans suggested that he was sold the project and ambitions of the club, it was exactly what he wanted to buy into. I think it’s already done, he just needed to prove the magic was there after three years of struggle. The owners, Purslow and Gerrard will all want him not only for talent but as a talisman, a representation of the clubs ambition. He has huge value in marketing and prestige in the pursuit and attracting another level of player and sponsor, this is what will justify his wage and I wouldn’t think many at the club would begrudge him of his CL wages.

That's what we told when Jack grealish signed his 5 year deal.

As it is I'm relaxed over the whole issue. We have a genuinely world class talent on loan with us until the end of the season. I strongly doubt he'll stay even though he may want to. We're not going to be able to get anywhere close to matching his current deal and unless he's willing to cut his wage demands by half (or if not 'demands' his current salary) then he'll find someone who will be able to pay a lot more than we will. If he does well with us until the end of the season there will be many suitors who will question the clubs he went to, the systems they played, rather than the player himself.

We could have done with him at this time last season as that may have been the difference between being in Europe then as the gap is just a bit too big now. Which is the other thing. Would he want to stay for another season with a middle of the table prem club if there are other offers? Time will tell, but as he's not our player at the moment, and as the best we can realistically aim for is around 8th, him being here or not next year shouldn't stop us from still trying to achieve that.

I'll think he'll be off. A last chance of a pay-day in th MLS or somewhere where he'll still be able to make a dufference and be one of the star players.  It's been great to have him back in a Villa shirt and I still love him checking back in on the left and looking to cross as we saw v Southampton. 

I'm pretty relaxed about this. He's not our player and he's on a huge amount at barcelona that we will not be paying. If he wants to cut his salary by at least half then there's a question to ask. If not, then there isn't. I'll enjoy him for the time we have him and if we - as we expect - end up around midtable there's likely to be a lote more offers on the table for him, and he'll probably be off elsewhere..

20 hours ago, Phil Silvers said:

I want something so big it can be seen from Bordesley.

Oh don't worry, they know it's there.

On top of that it will tap into the vast natural resources (kids) in the local areas. They see this on their doorstep and they'll want to be involved. The denouement is regeneration and regentrification of Aston. it will once more be the centre of the universe.

8 hours ago, paul514 said:

The express has gone for it today making predictions....

We are in for Kessie and Suarez.
We may sell Luis
Cash off to Madrid

Football insider thinks we want to sell Watkins for a better striker.

There was some other crap too 

 

To be honest - and this has nothng to do with the FI nonsense - I want a better striker than Watkins, too. 

I think the issue is that he just doesn't feel like one of ours. There's no investment in him as a younmgster from the club, and in turn none from the fans. He was relased (?) by Albion and we picked him up and immediately loaned him out. We know next to nothing about him and have no usual emotional connection to him as you would when your academy players get loaned out. He is likely to be one of those that we get a fee for and keeps the academy ticking over financially. Good luck to him.

I can understand why anyone would be frustrated to be dropped after a decent run of perosnal form; but it;s his job to make the passes, create the chances, open the doors that were missing v Watford and Newcastle. Either he or Coutinho had to pay the price for being unable to do it. The game before Coutinho scored and laid on two so had more brownie points in the locker than Buendia. Who, if we're brutally honest, is still not giving is the 90 minute week-in week out performances a £30+m  player should be. 

We still don't look quite right and it maybe that at some point it will be Bailey that gets the chance before Buendia. This is top level elite sport. You shouldn't get many chances without brownie points in the bag, so when you do get the shirt you don't let your performances lose it.

He's a decent player but I've never been blown away by Bissouma. Yes he wasn't all that on Saturday but it simply be him having an on off day. For 50m though I'd want players that do not have off days whenever I see Villa play them.

17 hours ago, Mr_Dogg said:

But Russia (Putin) views Ukraine as part of historical Russia, he doesn't recognise their legitimacy.

Indeed but its not quite the same. Ukraine is a country recognised by a state by all other states within the international system. taiwan is recognised by a state by something like only 7 or so other states (not sure of the exact number but is tiny) with all others recognising China's One China principle, including NATO and the US. What Russia is doing is contrary to any UN law and its charter set up to stop countries deciding to invade another. 

On 19/02/2022 at 20:46, Genie said:

I don’t personally think he fixed it for Max to win, he just **** up at a moment of intense pressure.

 

And say what you like about how it ended last season,  butI don't think f1 has had as much publicity - and ther associtaed buzz -  as it's having right now for a very long time going into a new season.

3 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Putin says he will send "Peace Keepers" into the Donbar region and in actuality bombs several Ukrainian cities. He isn't going to stop there - he sees Eastern Europe as up for grabs. 

China will watch the West's response and if it's deemed to be weak they'll go for Taiwan. Who knows what the nutter in N Korea will do but it looks like WWIII is no longer a tongue in cheek possibility.

You're right that the Chinese will be watching the western repsonse - but Taiwan is different to Ukraine in that China sees it as part of China. Also Xi Jinping has not ratched up tensions in Taiwan and their position has always been that China will eventually regain control. Should taiwan look to declare full independence then it is likely China would respond, but they are very unlikely to any time soon and seeingh Russia's response in Ukraine, taiwan are also unlikely to go anywhere near that.

8 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Excuse my ignorance but didn’t all of this happen with Crimea and then eventually the media got bored and found something else to talk about ?

You're right with regards to western lack of action, but it's worth noting the slight difference was that Crimea (with many of its strategic military positions) was on a lease to the Russians and was predominated by Russians. That made it 'easier' for Russia to annex after a referendum. Bit like what we caould have done with Hing Kong I guess.