OV9

If you want a useful reminder of why this war is happening, the excellent and unique Bill Browder sums it up.

I've not watched that yet, but for Putin I don't get the impression it's about his own wealth. He's old-school hardline KGB and it's all about power, control, and the ideology of what "Russia" means.

The consequence though is that he's surrounded by enablers that absolutely ARE interested in the money and he's been happy to feed them.

This guy has been pretty on the money so far so it will be interesting to see if his thoughts on what happens next come true

Is there anything new on the bunch of troops that were surrounded in Mariupol with no food or ammunition? Last I heard was they didn’t surrender within the Russian deadline but haven’t heard anything since.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:32 am This guy has been pretty on the money so far so it will be interesting to see if his thoughts on what happens next come true

That's a good summary. Liz Truss might be over-egging it a bit though. An article about that here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... are_btn_tw

Ballsy by Putin Bombing Kiev while the UN Secretary General was there on a visit.

Not near but still, sends a Fuck You UN message

Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:13 am I've not watched that yet, but for Putin I don't get the impression it's about his own wealth. He's old-school hardline KGB and it's all about power, control, and the ideology of what "Russia" means.

Yes, sure Putin's time is limited because of his obvious illnesses, and he wants to go down in history as a great empire re-creator, BUT he also knows that he can't step down because if a reformer like Navalry gets in then all his money and everything is gone and he either dies in prison or falls out of a window. It's about survival as much as anything.

Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:33 am

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:32 am This guy has been pretty on the money so far so it will be interesting to see if his thoughts on what happens next come true

That's a good summary. Liz Truss might be over-egging it a bit though. An article about that here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... are_btn_tw

She might be but it's out there now as a statement of intent! Whether there's still some horse-trading that they're hoping for I guess is the question. Give him something to want to come to the table for - or it really is a statement of intent. That Guardian article feels to me, perhaps not surprisingly, like it's skirting fairly close to the classic "socialist" bollocks that this is all the West's fault.

Just seen some clips of the Russians rehearsing their victory parade in Moscow...

And now now Lavrov has been claiming that Hitler was Jewish.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-61296682

Have we jumped the shark yet ? I’d really really like to think we have but somehow I suspect there’s more to come.

If Lavrov wants to talk about people enabling the Nazis, someone should remind him who taught and trained the Germans contemporary tank battalion movements in the late 1920s-early 1930s.

This was to deliberately and knowingly subvert the Treaty of Versailles (which prevented Germany from dong research on heavy armaments) and enabling later Nazi Germany to have an effective tank fighting force.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama_tank_school

Which, you know, became a bit relevant later in that decade.

So Lavrov can get tae fuck.

Since when did they let truth or accuracy get in the way?

Apparently, according to the Pope, NATO 'barking at the door' of Russia might have contributed to Ukraine's invasion. No this isn't a joke.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pope-fran ... utins-door

As some background, the context of the 'NATO expanding East' soundbite is based on a throwaway comments by diplomats in reference to East Germany - not NATO as a whole, and was never ratified or agreed upon in writing or any formal manner by any party on any side in any way.

Again, these are diplomats, they know if it's not in writing, signed in triplicate, it didn't happen.

It's incredibly hard to find primary sources and contemporary accounts on this all wrapped up in a simple plain English breakdo-

I'm sorry I couldn't finish that sentence. It took me all of eight seconds while having a shit. Truly, the work of ages.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... ent-again/

As such, anyone who brings this up like it's some kind of mic drop should be ignored as a complete ignoramus. There's literally no excuse for getting this shit wrong.

Next up from Pontifex - ban short skirts to stop rape. Also, stop choirboys from wearing those sexy, sexy smocks to stop priests from spreading the word of God all over little Timmy's back

Fuck the Pope, hail Satan.

I saw yesterday putin telling macron that the west can help end the “special military operations” aka war quicker by not arming Ukraine.

Basically the west could end this by letting him win…….

jamcg wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 6:41 am I saw yesterday putin telling macron that the west can help end the “special military operations” aka war quicker by not arming Ukraine.

Basically the west could end this by letting him win…….

And it's also a tacit admission that he's losing, precisely because of the support being provided to Ukraine.

Also - Putin / Kremlin getting their knickers in a twist over other people violating agreements. Have they never looked in the mirror ?

Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 9:17 am Also - Putin / Kremlin getting their knickers in a twist over other people violating agreements. Have they never looked in the mirror ?

Double standards are twice as good. And, just because they're lying, cheating, corrupt, callous evildoers, doesn't mean they won't expect better behaviour from the rest of us. In fact I think that's what they're counting on.

I was wondering - are there no other conflicts in the world at the moment?

There are but this is slightly different to a lot in that it’s an unprovoked full scale military invasion with the intention of a blatant land grab, with a growing pile of evidence of war crime atrocities

Broccers wrote: ↑Fri May 06, 2022 1:56 pm I was wondering - are there no other conflicts in the world at the moment?

I was wondering - it's Friday, have you been in the pub all day again