Ukraine

[C8RKH]

18 minutes ago, ramjet said:

Apparently, the maternity hospital was full of injured Ukrainian soldiers.

 Probably another piece of ‘reliable intelligence.’

Oh that's OK then. I mean It's perfectly acceptable to target injured soldiers who can't fight back and the doctors and nurses tending to them.

 No hint of cowardice or poor form in that approach.

If true, I can't imagine many Russians who are captured living for long.

[ramjet]

Was interesting watching captured Russian soldiers being interviewed in one of the media conferences. Some answers took awhile. Soldiers crying as well. Who knows what to believe.

They weren’t wearing masks either. Tut, tut. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

The other day I stopped work for a tea break and put the TV on. There was a Channel 5 talk show on and they were discussing the Ukraine refugee crisis and what the public made of the 50 visa limit being banded about at the time. This woman phones in and says “Well 50 is too many. We’re a small country and we don’t have the room for them”. Not feeling the love of the panel, she back-tracked a little and triumphantly added “If we take 50, then every other country should take 50 and then it’ll all be sorted”.

I guess maths is not her strength. There are 195 countries in the world, so if they all took 50 refugees, that’d be homes for 9750 people. So not quite the 2 million already displaced then…

 

[andydclements]

Possibly even worse if we only took one refugee for each IQ point she has.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I was half expecting someone to post a reply along the lines of:

”Was it Priti Patel?”

😁

[Barrykearley]

Was it Diane Abbot ??

[LotusFella]

Just watched the news about the terrible going’s on in Ukraine and then switched over to channel 4 and they’re showing the Paralympic’s.   Just so mad that sport is just continuing, especially when in China! Hong Kong’s gone quite and I guess Taiwan are shitting themselves.  What is it with these Dictators!  

[exeterjeep]

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Well I certainly overestimated Vice President Kamala Harris’s input into this. She seems to have just flown over to Eastern Europe and laughed at the Ukrainian refugees. She may as well have stayed at home. Spineless and shameful. I am sorry to say that the Biden administration is showing real international weakness. Putin must be laughing his weasel face off.

[Mysterae]

8 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

I was half expecting someone to post a reply along the lines of:

”Was it Priti Patel?”

😁

[windymiller]

seems like china are now actively engaged in de escalating the situation,

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Biden basically threw Ukraine under the bus yesterday and gave Putin the green light to complete the invasion however he sees fit. A week ago, there was an ideal window of opportunity to get the Polish MiG deal done and have a crack at bombing the stalled convoy North of Kyiv. Biden dithered and dallied and eventually vetoed it, because he was worried what Putin might think. It’s all very well boasting about sanctions against Russia and sending 1000 troops to Romania, but that won’t save Ukraine. He even rambled on about starting WW3 and not sending US troops and aircrews into Ukraine, to try and justify his decision. Why mention that? It was never part of the deal. They could have set up a Patriot air defence battery at the Slovakian end of that border airport and got all those MiGs over safely last weekend. Slow Joe just doesn’t have the balls. Notably 40 of the 50 Republican senators signed a letter asking Biden to reverse his decision on the MiG deal.

Meanwhile Putin is recruiting foreign fighters from Syria, Chechnya and DR Congo to kill Ukrainians. Do you think he is at all worried about what Biden thinks of that?

[C8RKH]

Amazing how armed with only news feeds and twitter feeds we're all now military analysts and experts, including those whose only uniform in life was the one they wore at school.

Let's remember that France and Germany laughed in the faces of the UK and US when we warned this was coming.  I am not so sure I'd be supportive of sending UK service personnel into this war.  One, because we've all seen enough coffins be being driven through Wootton Bassett of UK service personnel fighting some Other Buggers war, and two, because I am not so sure about the ramifications and escalation that could see missiles land on and in our cities.

It's very easy to shout about what we should do. Are we ready for what the implications might be?

Right now, my amateur understanding is that militarily we are right at the limit of what we can do, the next step would be to declare we are at war with Russia. Who's going to be first in the queue to sign up then from here?

Also, yes I agree, we need to allow more Ukrainians in. Given our housing, education, healthcare, social care etc issues and shortages, do remind me again where they will be housed, fed, supported, educated, cared for, etc?

[Chillidoggy]

53 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Amazing how armed with only news feeds and twitter feeds we're all now military analysts and experts, including those whose only uniform in life was the one they wore at school.

Let's remember that France and Germany laughed in the faces of the UK and US when we warned this was coming.  I am not so sure I'd be supportive of sending UK service personnel into this war.  One, because we've all seen enough coffins be being driven through Wootton Bassett of UK service personnel fighting some Other Buggers war, and two, because I am not so sure about the ramifications and escalation that could see missiles land on and in our cities.

It's very easy to shout about what we should do. Are we ready for what the implications might be?

Right now, my amateur understanding is that militarily we are right at the limit of what we can do, the next step would be to declare we are at war with Russia. Who's going to be first in the queue to sign up then from here?

Also, yes I agree, we need to allow more Ukrainians in. Given our housing, education, healthcare, social care etc issues and shortages, do remind me again where they will be housed, fed, supported, educated, cared for, etc?

Scotland?

[C8RKH]

Fine by me @Chillidoggyas you'll get the bill as usual.

[Chillidoggy]

Unless I’ve missed it, I’m surprised that Wee Krankie hasn’t taken the opportunity to score some political points from it. Or maybe she’s worried that England would move to invade Scotland, post-independence.

[C8RKH]

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19983850.nicola-sturgeon-utterly-irresponsible-completely-naive-ukraine-no-fly-zone/

https://www.itv.com/news/border/2022-03-09/sturgeon-nato-shouldnt-rule-out-no-fly-zone-over-ukraine

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/new-uk-entry-requirements-for-ukrainians-still-not-good-enough-says-fm-3605234

 

The general consensus in the Scottish Press is that she needs to STFU and focus on fixing the issues that her Government have created in Scotland. But as usual, she just blethers on regardless...

[red vtec]

I've been reliably informed that UK reservist are being called up 

[Barrykearley]

[ramjet]

I reckon the Japanese might have been onto something you know.

Get Putin. Leave him clothed. It isn't going to matter. Tie him on his back over a bed of bamboo shoots. When he yells "But I have nothing to tell you!"

The reply. "We know. We don't care really. A little scream will do just fine. Then we will leave you to it, lock the door and head back to our lives. Hope you enjoy the rest of yours."

[ChrisJ]

Here's an interesting twitter thread about that convoy

 

 

[Kimbers]

Money. It beats everything it seems. It takes thousands being murdered before the UK stops Russians from laundering their dirty money here. Sport is not about competing or made to heal rifts as they would have you think. It's about money.

You watch. When this is all over the very Russians who back Putin will be welcome again, Cyprus and Greece will still have 50% of their properties owned by Rich Russians. London will still thrive on Russian money and ultimately it will go back to status quo as everyone seeks to get a piece of the Pie after sanctions are lifted!!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I think Putin just wants to revert to the glory days of his “colossally successful” (his recent words) Soviet Union. 75 years of repression, lies, misery, terror, death and ultimately failure. In private I am sure he despises the oligarchs around him, who have made vast fortunes since the demise of the first Soviet Union. They’ll be first for the chop or salt mines if they hang around long enough.

[ramjet]

Gee, the Russians don't want to get it wrong and fire something or slip across the border into Poland.

That would be interesting and terrifying. Both at the same time.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I can see why the Russians attacked that base if it was the conduit for ex NATO weapons supplies and training in their use. As for rogue missiles, well the Indians are leading the way on that front.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-60711653