Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[Chindie]

There's absolutely no chance we'll hamper any significant amount of money coming into London (or the Conservative party).

We will posture, we will do things that look good, but we won't make decisions that hurts the UK or the Conservative party to any meaningful degree. And as such Putin will carry on, and we'll pretend we've done something.

[chrisp65]

The 1991 Independence referendum, % voting pro independence.

84% voter turnout.

Note Crimea.

Never mind that tosh about what language is spoken, or ethnicity, or what church they attend, or any of those other false indicators.. How did they vote in a democratic referendum on what country they wanted to be.

[desensitized43]

3 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

The 1991 Independence referendum, % voting pro independence.

84% voter turnout.

Note Crimea.

Never mind that tosh about what language is spoken, or ethnicity, or what church they attend, or any of those other false indicators.. How did they vote in a democratic referendum on what country they wanted to be.

Tbf even in Crimea...we decided to shoot ourselves in the face with less of a mandate.

[PieFacE]

 

 

[Risso]

3 hours ago, Chindie said:

Possibly.

But they are also in bed with the British government (London is the Russian money laundering epicentre)

Is it balls. Cyrpus and Malta have far more Russian cash, as do the Baltic countries. There's a fair bit of Russian ownership of property in the posh bits of London of course but that's a drop in the ocean of their actual wealth, most of which is held elsewhere.

[Chindie]

5 minutes ago, Risso said:

Is it balls. Cyrpus and Malta have far more Russian cash, as do the Baltic countries. There's a fair bit of Russian ownership of property in the posh bits of London of course but that's a drop in the ocean of their actual wealth, most of which is held elsewhere.

Our closest ally is getting intelligence that the government, and London more widely, is so entangled with Russian money the US may need to intervene.

[Genie]

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

Our closest ally is getting intelligence that the government, and London more widely, is so entangled with Russian money the US may need to intervene.

Could still mean there’s more elsewhere than there is in London.

[Chindie]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

Could still mean there’s more elsewhere than there is in London.

That's alright then. Move along. Cough.

[7392craig]

8 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Our closest ally is getting intelligence that the government, and London more widely, is so entangled with Russian money the US may need to intervene.

I can’t imagine we’re the the only major country ‘compromised’ by Russian money. That’s a web that’s got a few tangled up in, the question is what to do about it, rather than just pointing it out.

[a m ole]

Time for me to occupy, I mean liberate, a lovely, empty London new build.

Edited February 22, 2022 by a m ole

[Awol]

31 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

 

 

That was the worst case scenario. Very likely the units in Donbas will engage and fix Ukrainian forces along the line of contact, then a much larger force attacks from the region around Belgorod, encircles Kharkiv, then envelopes the bulk of Ukrainian forces facing the Donbas. That would effectively give them everything east of the Dnieper River, with the option of also striking towards Kyiv with the forces massed in Belarus.  

[Risso]

35 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Our closest ally is getting intelligence that the government, and London more widely, is so entangled with Russian money the US may need to intervene.

You said that the UK is the centre of Russian money-laundering. You were incorrect. Read the third paragraph in the Twitter link you provided. You'll notice it doesn't mention UK banks. Russians may like spending their money in London, but as I said previously, this is the tiniest tip of the iceberg. Stopping them spending their money would hurt them because they enjoy doing it. That doesn't mean that the vast, vast majority of it is not going through the banking system elsewhere. Malta is essentially in special measures because its financial services sector is not fit for purpose and anybody can buy citizenship and therefore an EU passport with a few hundred thousand pounds. Cyprus isn't much better.

[chrisp65]

 

 

[tonyh29]

58 minutes ago, Risso said:

Is it balls. Cyrpus and Malta have far more Russian cash, as do the Baltic countries. There's a fair bit of Russian ownership of property in the posh bits of London of course but that's a drop in the ocean of their actual wealth, most of which is held elsewhere.

what with this being VT , I'm just waiting for a post saying it was Thatcher's fault   

I think Cyprus finally clamped down on Golden passports for investment , but its rumoured without the citizenship by investment scheme ( around 50% of which went to Russians)  , the Cypriot economy would be pretty much bankrupt

[Chindie]

25 minutes ago, Risso said:

You said that the UK is the centre of Russian money-laundering. You were incorrect. Read the third paragraph in the Twitter link you provided. You'll notice it doesn't mention UK banks. Russians may like spending their money in London, but as I said previously, this is the tiniest tip of the iceberg. Stopping them spending their money would hurt them because they enjoy doing it. That doesn't mean that the vast, vast majority of it is not going through the banking system elsewhere. Malta is essentially in special measures because its financial services sector is not fit for purpose and anybody can buy citizenship and therefore an EU passport with a few hundred thousand pounds. Cyprus isn't much better.

An exaggeration, yes, my error, 12 points, but it's still bloody bad. Bad enough our government has buried a report on it.

But focus on the issue. Other places are bad, but ignoring the extent to which we are knowingly compromised is criminal. And will hamper what we do to stand up for a ethical right.

[Sam-AVFC]

15 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

what with this being VT , I'm just waiting for a post saying it was Thatcher's fault   

I think Cyprus finally clamped down on Golden passports for investment , but its rumoured without the citizenship by investment scheme ( around 50% of which went to Russians)  , the Cypriot economy would be pretty much bankrupt

Why would they bother going back that far? The current day Conservative party is drowning in dodgy Russian money and influence and it's not exactly been hidden, people just decided they didn't care until now.

Russia played a blinder pouring money into influencing Brexit & US Elections as they basically bought mass deniability from people who refused to consider anything that could undermine their 'cause'. Now it's a little hard to row back on a lot of that.

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

 

 

Now let's do Washington and Baghdad.

[tonyh29]

1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said:

Now let's do Washington and Baghdad.

1812 Washington is the only one that counts   

[The Fun Factory]

3 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

The 1991 Independence referendum, % voting pro independence.

84% voter turnout.

Note Crimea.

Never mind that tosh about what language is spoken, or ethnicity, or what church they attend, or any of those other false indicators.. How did they vote in a democratic referendum on what country they wanted to be.

That is over 30 years ago to be fair. In 1975 Britain said we will stay in the European Community. 40 years later,a  different answer.

[The Fun Factory]

The west- 'now that covid-19 pandemic is drawing to its close, we can start to get back to normal'

Putin-'hold my vodka'