Ukraine

[bogle]

I wonder when Xi visits Putin to discuss potential supply of lethal weapons how their conversions will go?  Or did that already happen?  Sorry, I just had surgery so doing some catch up.  Xi definitely has the upper hand since Putin is desperate.

[Bibs]

His visit is due next week I believe mate 👍

[drdoom]

Obviously enough the future is to be more multi-polar than what we've seen over the course of our long lives so far. China will consolidate to the extent it deems manageable in terms of cost, while the West will seek to delineate that as near to status quo as we can afford. Russia will be supported by China and rest of the authoritarian regimes, though with diminished sway due their pitiful economy. India will be an interesting case of geopolitical positioning.

This is no serene era for snowflakes of any stripe.

Cheers

[Bibs]

The trouble for China is that although their ideology is on par with Russia, the majority of their economy is supported by exports to the West. If they are hit with sanctions, an already faltering economy will take a kick in the teeth I don't believe they can afford.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Yes India is milking this for all its worth. Benefiting from Putin’s cheap energy like never before. India is now Russia’s Number 1 customer for oil and the quantities keep increasing month by month and this is helping Russia to fund the war. In fact Russia only supplied 0.2% of India’s oil pre-invasion, whereas that has now rocketed to over 28% in one year! India gets at least 30% discount off the global market price, if they buy from Russia now.

I was in India last month and the general public really don’t get what all the fuss is about over Ukraine and seem rather bemused about it. None of the mainstream media outlets seem to blame Russia for anything in particular. In the past they were a large customer for Soviet arms whilst the West were supplying Pakistan, but they themselves have been buying increasing amounts from the West (eg. C17, Rafale etc.), whilst they slowly try to develop and manufacture indigenous modern weapons technology. Of course, their other primary enemy is China to the North-East, so watching Russia and China growing closer might be awkward for India.

How long can the West keep turning a blind eye to India on Russian oil?

[C8RKH]

Firstly, all overseas UK aid to India has to stop now.

Then we should look to use diplomatic pressure to modify Indias behaviour through threatening an embargo on IT services, firstly to the UK Government and bodies, and then a wider ban.

India has aspirations to be a global power so it needs to understand that it cannot sit on the fence cherry picking the best bits from both sides, as it is doing now.

The West needs to decide on whether it is worthwhile to continue to prop up Pakistan (and piss off India) from a strategic point of view. I.e. stop sitting on both sides of the fence cherry picking.

China will prop up Russia as it distracts the West and bleeds iur strategic reserves, at a time when China's previous 20 year strategy has been to buy up natural resources globally (especially Africa and to some extent South America) and bring them under their control, denying or restricting access for the West.

We've slept walked into this, the Aussie's have been screaming about it (and everything else) for years.

Think about it. Europe and Americas power was built on a carbon based economy - coal, oil, iron and steel combined with industrialisation and relatively cheap labour with a sprinkling of aspirational opportunity to build individual wealth through an enlarged middle class. We had the raw materials we needed under our feet and seabeds.

The opportunities in the 21st Century are all around digitalisation, electrification, high tech etc. Hmmm, who controls most of the raw materials to feed this? A big clue, it ain't the US and Europe!

The balance of power is slowly shifting back to the east. Not a lot we can do about it as we got fat, lazy, and complacent and our children have gone one step beyond and become woke snowflakes paralysing our ability to act decisively and strongly .

[Chillidoggy]

I’m thinking of stopping eating curry.

[bogle]

No problem for me as I don't like curry.  In fact, India is one place I'll happily avoid for the rest of my life.  Ringo also left Bangor early as the food didn't agree with him.

 

[tim_marra]

1 hour ago, bogle said:

No problem for me as I don't like curry.  In fact, India is one place I'll happily avoid for the rest of my life.  Ringo also left Bangor early as the food didn't agree with him.

 

Was it the rarebit he disliked?

5 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

I’m thinking of stopping eating curry.

Worry not, the vast majority of curry restaurants over here are owned and run by Bangladeshi's 

[bogle]

In regards to Ringo, he found the food too spicy overall. 

[Bibs]

So it's about six months since Wagern rocked up to Russia prisons and offered murderers and rapists their freedom back if they survived six months on the front line. 

They're going to be members of Russian society with a full pardon but with six months on a hellish front lie to add to their previous sins. Nice. 

[bogle]

Wonder how the average Russian citizen think about these murderers and rapists allowed back into society?  What about the families of the people who were effected by these criminal's actions?

[C8RKH]

I wonder if they know anything about them at all @bogle.

[C8RKH]

4 hours ago, bogle said:

In fact, India is one place I'll happily avoid for the rest of my life

You're actually missing out. It's a fascinating country. From north to south, east to west, there is something wonderful to see and experience.

You don't have to like and eat curry to experience India. It's not all spicy hot, hot, hot. The food in Goa is just sublime, the fish in Kerala can be amazing, and then the simple street food vegetable samosa can be something else.

I've been about 12 times and it was an eye opener (it has its societal issues like everywhere else but rarely anywhere else do you see the sharp contrast of "have everythings" right next to the "have nothings". 

[ChrisJ]

I'm not sure very many complete their 6 months - as they seem to be being used as cannon fodder.

[yeller77]

3 hours ago, Bibs said:

So it's about six months since Wagern rocked up to Russia prisons and offered murderers and rapists their freedom back if they survived six months on the front line. 

They're going to be members of Russian society with a full pardon but with six months on a hellish front lie to add to their previous sins. Nice. 

Sounds like The Dirty Dozen" without Lee Marvin around to keep them alive 🤷‍♂️

[Escape]

And who says they'll actually be released after their 6 months? They can hardly take Wagner to court for breach of contract, so any excuse will do to keep them fighting. Especially as there is still a desperate need for troops to make up for the continued losses.

[ChrisJ]

 

[bogle]

Now that's a proper sendoff!

[ChrisJ]

BBC iPlayer - Stacey Dooley - Ready for War?

You'll need a VPN if watching from anywhere but the UK

[ramjet]

I'll admit to checking on how this is all going, basically every day. I don't know why. I just believe that what Putin has done is all his ego. He will be remmebered in history, but I doubt very much how he thinks.

Anyway, propaganda. Of course it exists and will exist on both sides. However, I would REALLY like to know what is going on with this image. Was this an effort to make a missile strike on an apartment building look worse than what it is? As if that is possible.

I can't help but think that the huge chunk of concrete has been added to the original. By who though?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Looks to me as if the rescue services are just craning down a dangerous piece of loose concrete to stop it falling on those working below.

[ramjet]

Aha. I missed that when I looked. Pays to zoom in on things.Thanks for that.  

 

[DanR]

I'd like to see all media reference to "Russian" stopped and instead everything is reported as "Putin's army, Putin's attack, Putin's missiles" etc etc. Basically demonize him and not the Russian people. That might even get the Russian people themselves blaming and turning against him.

They did something similar with Napolean which left room for the French people feeling they weren't the problem and enemy.

[ramjet]

I understand your thinking @DanR, but if enough of the Russian people thought that what Putin is doing is wrong, why aren't they protesting by the tens of thousands? What are the police and the courts going to do?

Maybe Russia has enormous prisons and an exceptional court system where they can process thousands and incarcerate thousands of people in a very short time.

Or maybe the populace just does not care. if they don't care, then they deserve whatever moniker gets imposed on them. Maybe they have all bailed out of Russia due to the mobilisations? If they have, then why aren't they protesting wherever they are now. If they are In Russia and they get mobilised, just refuse by the tens of thousands to turn up for war on Monday.

What would a policeman do if his family protested? Lock all of them up?

Unfortunately, I think it is probably fair to say the Russian 'whatever'.