buctootim

I agree in part - if it happened in London or Western Europe. But you have to remember Poland along with most of central Europe was invaded in 1939 by the Soviet Union along with Germany and held prisoner for 50 years. The Soviets killed the entire Polish political and military class at Katyn, massacring 20,000 people in one go. Why the fuck should they allow the Russians to celebrate Soviet soldiers. Its amazing tolerance they didnt tear down the memorial years ago. Remember Germany and Russia only ceased being allies and became enemies because they fell out over who got rhe bigger share of the invaded territories. Had they not we reallty would be speaking German and everyone east of the Rhine Russian. The only reason Britain and France didnt declare war on the Soviet Union as well as Germany is because we couldnt hndle them as well as the Axis nations.

Brown shirts marching with armbands.

According to Russian tv it was British intelligence which staged that 'provocation'

Something like this negotiated settlement to divide a country and prevent violence you mean?

That was Odessa you plank. At least get the city right.

Charisma is an important part of being a leader. It isnt too much to expect that the Prime Minister of 65 million people will have a full set of skills - intelligence, competence, work ethic, honesty and ability to engage people.

This is always an interesting read. Analysis of events inside the Kremlin updated everyday. Obviously unverifiable, but seems credible to me. https://t.me/generallsvr Dear subscribers and guests of the channel! Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting via videoconference, which was attended by Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, Director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and four other people. It should be noted separately that representatives of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces did not take part in the meeting. During the meeting, they discussed the problems of conducting a military operation in Ukraine and the prospects for the development of events. Discussing the actions of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Putin spoke in the sense that he had decided on May 8 to remove Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, from the leadership of the military company. Gerasimov will continue to nominally be the chief of the General Staff, but he will not make decisions and influence the course of the military operation. Gerasimov will continue to represent the General Staff at briefings, collegiums, meetings and official events, but as a talking head, by analogy with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who now retains the post of defense minister, but does not make or influence key decisions. We have already said that the Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov promised the President the result in the form of the occupation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine within their administrative borders until May 7, but he did not keep his word, and Putin was extremely dissatisfied. Tomorrow, Putin plans to communicate with Gerasimov in a one-on-one video link, and here the intrigue is whether he will give Gerasimov the opportunity to justify himself and rehabilitate himself in some way, or simply confront him with the fact of a decision already made. Before the start of the war, Gerasimov was invariably in good standing with the president, and Putin himself always showed affection and respect for Gerasimov, almost always listening to his opinion on professional topics. The failure of both the beginning of the war and, in fact, the second phase of this war changed everything and Gerasimov fell out of favor with the president. And knowing Putin, it is always fraught.

I think most people would agree there isnt much quality in any of the parties. Its a choice between 'crap but mostly honest' and 'crap and mostly dishonest'

That'll be news to Poland, Czechsolvakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithunania. Finland, Albania, Georgia and Ukraine.

They were planning to deploy them in UK and US.

If its thryroid cancer as rumoured that normally very fixable unfortunately

Exactly. It's UK exceptionalism again - we're great and the nasty EU is to blame.

How about the other c£14bn of non energy imports from Russia? Also in reality we buy a large amount of Russian gas, more than 3%. The Netherlands buys gas from Russia and then pipes it to us. We just choose to claim its Dutch gas or, at best we buy gas from the Dutch North Sea and they substitute with Russian gas for their own needs.

UK spent £4.5 billion on Russian oil, gas and coal in 2021. Overall Britian was Russia's third largest buyer of exports, spending $23 billion in 2020 - 25% more than Germany. Glasshouses and stones. https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/exports-by-country

Maybe you misheard and he said 'giving up control' of immigration and not allowing unregulated exports?

What are you saying then Johnny? That democracy is bad and countries shouldnt be allowed to choose who they have alliances with? Maybe Russia wouldnt feel so threatened if they had some erm, you know, friends? And yes you're right. It is unfair to miss a tournament because you're Russian. It's also unfair to get shot in the back of the head because you're a Ukrainian on the way to the shops. I vote we sort out the gross injiustices first and the minor ones will disappear of their own accord. What do you say?

Sigh. Those Pfizer statements and bog standard for talking about the future propsects for the business and highlighting any potential issues which might affect profitability and therefore share price. No-one knows what will happen in the future so you highlight any risks. Thats claim culture for you.

The Donbass is the most 'pro' Russia area of Ukraine. In 2013 before the Russian invasion the population was around 6.3 million. When Russia invaded (the leaders of the 'militia' were Russian army officers) 3 million refugees were created. 2.5 million relocated within Ukraine and only 500,000 relocated to Russia - despite Russia offering immediate passports, jobs and money and it being a richer country. Thats a pretty clear referendum imo - and that was 8 years ago - before the present day schitt.

Really? Who wants to be Russian?

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Fascinating thoughtful analysis about the future not just of this war, but of the whole of Russia and China taking in nuclear weapons, famine in China and population

Why would Ukrainians want Soviet / Russian monuments on their territory? They were invaded and occupied by them. Do you have any idea what Stalin and other Soviets did to them? - worse even than the Nazis. Invasion and destruction of their country in 1917, a deliberate forced famine to subjugate them in the 1930s killing around 4 million. Another 6 million in WW2 - 25% of the population wiped out by purges and brutality with an average life expectancy of 8 years at birth. The NKVD massacring the prison population of Ukraine in 1941. Why woulds they want any monuments celebrating how wonderful it all was? These are Ukrainian monuments.

https://giphy.com/gifs/Filmin-filmin-rain-man-gif-f8tiW9a9LGoHsXszd7