maqroll Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 Interesting to see the EU flex it's muscles and make moves so quickly. China looking on with great interest. USA taking a bit of a back seat which I like, and the EU entering the stage as a super power in it's own right. Makes Brexit seem all the more costly to UK security and general influence in geopolitics. The elephant in the room might be a militarily reassertive Germany... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted February 28, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 28, 2022 1 hour ago, colhint said: I'm in a strange situation. I'm currently in a respite home recovering. Thing is most of the residents have dementia. The staff are lowly paid carers. They think it's sad for Ukrainians, but don't fully understand the situation. Every day I'm being asked ( only one compis mentis with access to internet) is there going to be a nuclear war?. I keep telling them no to reassure them. But am I doing right by them. We are also in a covid, lockdown so they are all running around like blue arsed, flies. Most only briefly check news headlines. yes, you are doing the right thing. Keep doing it. Get well soon, stay good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 1 hour ago, Panto_Villan said: Carlson's not an orthodox right winger surely? He's basically a full-on Trumper seemingly intent on discrediting everything the Republicans used to hold dear about 15 years ago. Right wing orthodoxy in the USA is now Trumpism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 3 hours ago, ml1dch said: If ever you had a moment of doubt about whether you'd read the situation correctly and were on the right "side" the same Rod Liddle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 3 hours ago, ml1dch said: If ever you had a moment of doubt about whether you'd read the situation correctly and were on the right "side" George Galloway, what a complete and utter tool. He was working for/on RT, I mentioned on here a day or two ago that I was surprised Sky were still broadcasting RT, I actually lodged a complaint with Sky and had a response today saying they can’t do anything about it as it’s an independent broadcaster and to take it up with Ofcom. Now it seems RT is being taken off air across Europe. Anyway, the BBC did a piece discussing this the other day too and showed a clip of Galloway on RT, absolutely bizarre, his accent was bizarre, he kept slipping between English and Russian in a very McLaren-esque way and was dressed like V out of ‘V for Vendetta’, utterly bizarre and contemptuous individual. No surprise he’s buddies with Farage, odious toads the pair of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Galloway is probably annoyed his RT paycheques have suddenly stopped coming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted March 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 1, 2022 2 hours ago, chrisp65 said: …and I still wouldn’t go to Margate. Skegness or Aberystwyth it is then! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted March 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 1, 2022 convoy being reported as 40 miles long now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 2 hours ago, maqroll said: Interesting to see the EU flex it's muscles and make moves so quickly. China looking on with great interest. USA taking a bit of a back seat which I like, and the EU entering the stage as a super power in it's own right. Makes Brexit seem all the more costly to UK security and general influence in geopolitics. The elephant in the room might be a militarily reassertive Germany... By quickly you obviously mean yesterday, which isn’t really quickly - or even fashionably late - but after Germany was publicly shamed into no longer stopping others from doing the right thing. The UK led the European security response and was one of those pushing (with the US) for Russia to be kicked off SWIFT. UK has also been asked by Eastern European states to lead a new body, the European Security Council. But Brexit has been “costly to UK security and general influence in geopolitics”? I mean, it’s a view… Also, if you think the US is taking a back seat then check out the flight radar app (If you can’t be bothered then spoiler alert: it’s not). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said: I take your point, but I would say the Bush-style 'MSNBC Republicans' have been so thoroughly routed that Trumpers *are* the orthodoxy nowadays. Heh, that’s probably true enough these days. But if we assume unprincipled culture war demagoguery is the new orthodox right wing stance then I don’t think you can count Hitchens as one. Farage sits somewhere between the two, part demagogue and part genuine conservative imo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Awol said: By quickly you obviously mean yesterday, which isn’t really quickly - or even fashionably late - but after Germany was publicly shamed into no longer stopping others from doing the right thing. The UK led the European security response and was one of those pushing (with the US) for Russia to be kicked off SWIFT. UK has also been asked by Eastern European states to lead a new body, the European Security Council. But Brexit has been “costly to UK security and general influence in geopolitics”? I mean, it’s a view… Also, if you think the US is taking a back seat then check out the flight radar app (If you can’t be bothered then spoiler alert: it’s not). We are 5 days into the invasion and the EU has unified behind a strategy. If they had to twist some arms to get there, I'm ok with that. I'd say 5 days is pretty fast. And they even got the Swiss involved. I hadn't heard of this new body, the ESC. They'd be fools not to involve British armed forces. I think by leaving the EU, the UK risks being out of the loop just as the EU starts to throw it's weight around. But I suppose NATO is a big enough security blanket. I think the US hasn't tried to strong-arm Europe into doing its bidding like in years past. Macron has been something of an interlocutor. And by virtue of a unified EU and everything that it potentially represents, US power is slightly reduced. Of course, none of this matters if Putin decides to nuke us all. Edited March 1, 2022 by maqroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 1, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 1, 2022 3 hours ago, Panto_Villan said: Farage sits somewhere between the two, part demagogue and part genuine conservative imo. 100% grifter and has always been a Putin shill There's nothing genuine about him at all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 7 hours ago, sidcow said: Thing is, the World is not going to forget this. The sanctions are not going to be lifted once they've subjegated Ukraine. BBC just ran a piece about Russia wanting to become a financial powerhouse. They showed a skyline of Moscow I've not seen before with a cluster of modern office skyscrapers. Germany have already announced they are going to end their reliance on their gas and are going to build new LNG terminals for future gas imports from USA and the Middle East and are building more storage for reserves. And I am certain the world will now accelerate a move to renewables. My own gas and electric bill is going up £1,000 annually in April and what another £1,000 at next review. So maybe £2,000 or more extra a year. I could coat my roof in a huge solar panel setup for about £7k. That was supposed to have a 10 year payback period, I may get it back in just a couple of years now. It's hard to see a way back for them from this. Even if they had massive reserves they're still going to be bankrupt in a couple of years. They'll have no access to modern tech other than what China decide to supply to them for free. The whole thing is just madness. The energy part of your post is spot on. I just had similar letter from BG, a extra £1000+ to my bill. I actually have no idea how they are expecting people in this country to live. Everythings going up except wages 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted March 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 1, 2022 4 hours ago, Awol said: By quickly you obviously mean yesterday, which isn’t really quickly - or even fashionably late - but after Germany was publicly shamed into no longer stopping others from doing the right thing. The UK led the European security response and was one of those pushing (with the US) for Russia to be kicked off SWIFT. UK has also been asked by Eastern European states to lead a new body, the European Security Council. But Brexit has been “costly to UK security and general influence in geopolitics”? I mean, it’s a view… Also, if you think the US is taking a back seat then check out the flight radar app (If you can’t be bothered then spoiler alert: it’s not). LOL, no mention of the Tory's treatment of Ukrainian refugees, and some dubious interpretations of reality yourself here. If you think Brexit has not damaged the UK on the world stage you are a total fantasist. This crisis, far from making the EU crumble as Putin wanted (he expected the same kind of reaction to the Crimea annexation by the look of it) has created a stronger and more united EU with the UK in a very much more minor role than pre Brexit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnkarl Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) If anyone thinks the plan wasn't to win in a couple of days, RIA (Russian news agency) has published a pre-prepared article celebrating the Russian troops returning triumphantly to Moscow. Oopsie! https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/russian-news-agency-appears-to-accidentally-publish-article-claiming-victory-3590253 Quote Ukraine-Russia conflict: Russian state news agency appears to accidentally publish article claiming war victory It is the blunder feared by every news outlet that has pre-prepared articles written in the event of a sudden breaking story. Edited March 1, 2022 by magnkarl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted March 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 1, 2022 32 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: The energy part of your post is spot on. I just had similar letter from BG, a extra £1000+ to my bill. I actually have no idea how they are expecting people in this country to live. Everythings going up except wages Russian backed Brexit tanking the economy just in time for a pandemic. The problem is the media still does not call out the insane profits that have been made during this period, and the longer period since privatisation of gas and electric etc. and it does not link these profits to the price you pay for energy. If shareholders are getting enormous dividends over the last 10-15 years that's money that comes from your bill and goes into their pockets. The fact that these profits have increased in a crisis is criminal, it's pure greed and at the worst possible time. If even the nurses and the NHS didn't get significant investment in real terms (above inflation) then what chance has anyone else got after all they've done during the pandemic? The EU is hooking Ukraine up to it's grid via Poland and Slovakia to ease it's energy pressures, as far as UK bills are concerned it needs legislation but the people in power are the mates of the people making all the money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 1, 2022 8 hours ago, Panto_Villan said: Carlson's not an orthodox right winger surely? Yeah, I always had him pegged more as an inside forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 5 minutes ago, sidcow said: I always had him pegged 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 5 hours ago, TheAuthority said: convoy being reported as 40 miles long now I hope my theory is wrong, but it's entirely possible Russia wanted to go in, make a mess, start a war, end enter yesterday's negotiations with "you have not seen anything just yet". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXD Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I catch myself thinking every morning when opening news websites 'I hope Kiev hasn't fallen last night'. With the images of the convoy heading that way, I think tonight might be the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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