The origin of this particular side discussion is Daniel Hannan, prick at large, bleating about the delays in receiving Ukrainian refugees and complaining about how they could not stop brown refugees from other countries.
Do you not remember this? So Hanan is somehow very comfortable with some refugees, and not with others. This is what I am pointing out.
Feel free to throw around the term 'obtuse' and 'strawman', but it would be helpful if you knew what the actual discussion was about.
Posting form as in highlighting western nations and western media hypocrisy?
You appear to be shooting down an argument that nobody made. Nice shootin', Tex.
Would NOT like to be reporting to Herr Putin these days. The bots can thank their lucky red stars that they are lowly enough to be beavering away on boards.ie rather than reporting the latest to Putsy.
Surprised we've not seen that Hitler in the Bunker converted for this.
There was a failed coup d'état attempt made against Gorby in 1991. Military generals I recall. Might happen with Mr Putin.
It wouldn't shock me one bit to find out it was true Yurt. In times of what they see as an attack by the West they'll stand behind their leader and the sanctions will very much add to that, pumped up by decades, generations of propaganda and a populace that because of that propaganda is simply not very used to asking questions, or looking at both sides. A fair number did in the period between the end of the USSR and the beginning of putin. Many left because of the answers, the ones who didn't generally see putin as an answer.
We may decry the whataboutists and fence sitters in the West, but we have them Yurt and that's a good thing. Being a fence sitter means you you're at least exposed to a better further view than those down in the fields and can make a choice accordingly. If for most of your life you were in a field looking at a fence and the enemies beyond and being a fence sitter was frowned upon, even dangerous... Well that's not good and that would reflect quite a bit of street level Russian thinking.
As I say the sanctions will likely add to that in this honeymoon stage. Until they don't and more and more parents and loved ones get letters about boys that are never coming home. There's only so much Hero of Russia tin medals can cover up.
No fan of Hannan at all, but I think a lot of people see the need to take in refugees from neighbouring countries and don't see an obligation to take them from far off conflicts. Certainly China, Japan, South Korea etc don't do it, it seems to be just some European countries who are expected to do it.
Aren't the complaints about the Azov regiment also whataboutery though? It's a whataboutery triangle.
With modern Russia it's impossible to know how popular Putin really is. That said, we can piece together that he still has strong support among certain blocks in Russia, e.g. nationalists. He's spent two decades indoctrinating the invasion, it's potent stuff, we have examples of Russian relatives in Kyiv claiming their parents won't believe them when they tell them what is really happening.
? All Russians are uncultured barbarians?
True, but there is no way for China to receive it was their point. There was a couple of tiny capacity lines to China and think he said they weren't even setup that the EU supply could be diverted in that direction.
There was a successful one in Ukraine in 8 years ago. Parliament buildings were stormed by protestors and this was all supported by the U.S.
Its funny when the capitol building was stormed in Washington DC this was called an insurrection.
Watched quite an amount of footage this morning (a lot of heavy/grim stuff) but the anti-tank weapons, the ATGM's and Javelins seem incredibly potent against Russian tanks and armor. Unless Russia changes it's tactics dramatically I don't see how they can sustain these losses for months let alone weeks.
Today's English lesson. The difference between good and bad insurrection.
Good insurrection - eg Ukraine (when the democratic will of the people was enforced).
Bad insurrection - eg USA (when cretinous followers of a cretinous president attacked Capitol Hill)
Political woke gone mad (in my opinion)
From the Guardian:
The United Nations has blocked staff from using the words “war” or “invasion” to describe the situation in Ukraine, reports the Irish Times.
The move, understood to have been communicated to UN staff in an email on Monday, is reportedly aimed at balancing political sensitivities after member state Russia also banned those words.
Staff are instead advised to refer to the war as a “conflict” or a “military offensive” - despite the fact that hundreds of civilians have been killed and two million residents forced to flee.
They were also banned from using the Ukrainian flag in personal or official social media accounts or websites.
“Some specific examples of language to use/not use at the moment,” the email said, according to the Irish Times.
“[Use] ‘conflict’ or ‘military offensive’ and NOT ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ when referring to the situation in Ukraine.”
“Do NOT add the Ukrainian flag to personal or official social media accounts or websites,” it reportedly added.
The policy is aimed at avoiding “reputational risk”, according to the email. “This is an important reminder that we, as international civil servants, have a responsibility to be impartial,” it said. “There is a serious possibility of reputational risk that has been flagged by senior officials recently.”
The UN did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Guardian or the Irish Times.
I just found it surprising that Hanan could be so upfront about finding certain 'types' acceptable, and other 'types' not. Usually Brexiter racism is obfuscated under a couple of layers of disingenuous nonsense.
Thanks for that contribution, Vlad. Please check in with more false equivalences as you think of them.
It seems to me that Russia has never asked itself in all of this why Ukraine never joined CSTO instead or why Poland and the Baltics opted for NATO.
Let's face facts, here:- Russia is, and always has been, a second-rate economy compared to the USA, constantly failing to make the best use of the not inconsiderable resources at its disposal. It's also f*cking grim, ruled by sullen authoritarians, and the national narrative is one of, in the words of Gerry Hannan, "Misery, misery, misery. The whole flipping way..." It's no wonder the governments/peoples of those countries that once comprised the eastern bloc would look west. On the one hand, you have Hollywood, Las Vegas, the American dream, "egalité, liberté, fraternité", Rock n Roll, general post-war optimism.... and on the other hand, blocky soviet kruschyovkas and meditative art films by Andrei Tarkovsky. It could be of no surprise which way hearts and minds would go, and with those went their governments. Russia didn't have enough to offer, and it would always require a certain amount of coercion to keep those countries within its sphere of influence, and therefore, ironically, an even better reason for those countries to want to be a part of NATO, and so we arrive at the Ukraine situation.
All Russians have said this or do ya think it might just be the putin propaganda machine maybe…..🧐
Pressure being brought to bear with sanctions, the wedge driven between the Russian people and their government will increase. That will put people in a difficult position where they are struggling for fuel and food yet the Russians can over spend on defence. It goes back to the point I made about Putin last week, I dont think he is of sound mind
I would guess this applies to the 'civil service' employees of the UN, in which case it makes sense to be scrupulously neutral. They are just the platform - there are plenty of representatives from the various nations to tell Russia what the world thinks of them.
Now that is a blast from the past - although I have to admit I have an Amiga emulator and various Lemmings games I can run on the PC I'm using this very minute!
I used to friggin love that game (had totally forgotten about it). Can hear the music now as the lemmings trooped ever onwards. 😀 Loved gaming until they all became first person shooters Zzzzzzzz
UK and US to announce ban on Russian oil today.
How much longer can the Russian war effort be sustained if this is true?
Someone posted a link to BBC drama 'Threads' a few pages back and everyone tapping on their phones and their keyboards about using nukes would be well advised to take a look at it. Even after nearly 40 years, it's still the best visual representation of what would happen after an exchange of nuclear arms.
Steady, I'm on the verge of feeling sorry for the Russian soldiers!
Completely reasonable imho. Their role is not to pick sides so they don't call it by the preferred term of either side and instead use a term that is accurate but not aligned with either sides terminology
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