Guardian has a photo of it that would scorch the most desensitised consciousness. Its impossible to not be fundamentally moved by the plight of Ukrainians, wonder about the depravity of the mind behind the rocket attack, or realise how far Russia has gone down a one way street there's no coming back from.
Brexit, for once some facts.
- Thread starter flecc
- Start date
curious to have considered Grayling failing. before Hancock's affair, Boris' parties, dories' cringing, Raab's gaffes, the corruption of covid and now Rishi's cayman island trust
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rishi-sunak-akshata-murty-tax-haven-b2054179.html
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I did not infer I stated clearly that your assertion of fake news from the Ukrainian side was false. I equate it to the same level of crassness as Trump's one of " there are good people on both sides".
DISHONESTY.
Your post 106351:
"You were doing fine until the last sentence. There is no movie set designer around capable of recreating the images of Mariupol etc. If these were movie sets etc, it is not beyond the wit of the Russians to fly a spy plane over and show the actual damage. .. Even the ISS overflies the region and a high resolution camera would show the pristine beaches and streets."
That was your reply to my assertion, without mention of building damage, that there was fake news. Nor did I mention Ukraine in the post you were replying to. Here is my mention of fake news in that post 106347, so more of your dishonesty since I made no assertion of the fake news being Ukrainian sourced:
" Against these the Russians in Ukraine are mere amateurs, especially when much they are accused of is either faked or wildly exaggerated in typical wartime propaganda mode."
Now who is being crass? There are no good people and bad people, everyone ever born has the capacity for both.
For example, the "good man" who after some 450 years of wars between Russia and China brought a lasting peace for them both, with very welcome, permanent, long wanted mutual benefits. A peace we too could have enjoyed, but for the USA.
That was Vladimir Putin.
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Inaccuracy.
China and Russia did not fight constantly for 450 years and there is no guarantee that Mr Putin, a proven liar, would respect any treaty between Russia and another country.
No, not inaccurate since I didn't say it was constant, note the plural "wars". But it could equally never be said that there was peace between the two during that whole period, especially after China's attacks on Russia and Russia later seizing much of China.
There is no comparison between any of that 450 odd years and today's virtually open border and Chinese stimulated Eastern Russian economy. Thanks to Putin's vision for their future.
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Flecc
You are digging yourself deeper. I should put the shovel down..
Putin's vision for the future is hardly praiseworthy, beating kids up, poisoning opposition and starting wars. Nuclear wasteland vision? And suspect Xi is simply waiting to annexe Russia... Will be part of China before Taiwan at this rate.
You are digging yourself deeper. I should put the shovel down..
Putin's vision for the future is hardly praiseworthy, beating kids up, poisoning opposition and starting wars. Nuclear wasteland vision? And suspect Xi is simply waiting to annexe Russia... Will be part of China before Taiwan at this rate.
It's not me who should give up. Why do all of you persist in deliberately and dishonestly distorting what I post?
I very clearly posted about Putin's vision for Russian and Chinese peace. That's all, not any of the mostly unproven irrelevancies you replied with.
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earliNews
For those link has broken, Finland now planning on joining NATO. Consequence of Putin's behaviour??
China will dominate that relationship if it hasn't already done so.
China will be soon the most economically powerful country in the world.
Russia could have been a stronger, more independent Australia but Mr Putin has turned his country into not the most liked but the most feared in the world.
He has also managed to undermine the invincibility factor felt by most around Russia's military. No doubt it has performed better than Western media like to portray but when all said and done Russia has achieved nothing in Ukraine apart from killing thousands of civilians and destroying towns. For what??? Uniting rest of Europe? Strengthening NATO,risking WW3,making Russia weaker than it already was? And Trump thinks he's a genius. The man is insane. This won't be forgotten for a hundred years. Russians will be hated for generations.
Possibly, even probably, but it doesnt matter since their eventual political integration is a fundamental of Putin's and Xi Jinping's vision for their future, a future they recognise as not until long after they are both dead.
Worldwide single party democracy, communist in Jinping's vision, not importantly so in Putin's. Whether any of the separate countries remain separate countries or become regions is immaterial and unimportant in such a future.
Like Gorbachov and Yeltsin, Putin and indeed Russia wanted to be a part of and friend of Europe. But as I've posted so many times, the USA fouled up any chance of that by never ceasing to cast Russia as the enemy, driving them further into eastern alignment with China.
Now they belatedly realise their mistake of inadvertantly strengthening China by the addition of Russia, they are increasingly unwilling to recruit more into NATO as we've been seeing with Ukraine. Don't be surprised if they block or seriously delay any NATO applications from Finland, Georgia or Ukraine.
As for Russia becoming the most feared nation in the world, the Americans have also been doing a pretty good job at that for themselves over the last 70 odd years.
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Flecc, i dont quite know where to start. Russia and China are cleptocracies. Jinping and Putin do not have visions. They have lots of money. And rich oligarch friends. They have never had any interest in a relationship with europe. Actual democracy, as defined by independent institutions of state serving the needs of the populace impartially and elections (and constitutions limiting the terms they could serve) threaten their existence. That's why Putin changed that in Russia. unconstitutionally, undemocratic-ally and unforgivably. And he destroyed Russia in the process by setting himself and it on the path of blind destructive group think and imperialism.
Russia is not the most feared nation in the world. It's north Korea with nuclear weapons. An increasingly irrelevant artifact of a reality the world left behind in the previous century.
I can't see a worldwide single party democracy happening anytime soon. It may happen in science fiction but in science fact, single party implies dictatorship, the opposite of democracy. The latter implies political freedom and requires evidence of plurality.
For the foreseeable future, NATO will remain a self defence association, China's communist party will remain dominant only in China. Its model of government delivers results but no other country will be tempted.
I didn't say anytime soon, I said quite the opposite, but I also think it's unlikely to happen though that might be a pity for huge numbers.
Single party rule by wholly elected persons is neither dictatorship nor full democracy but as a compromise can have the distinct advantages of consistent policies, often denied in our democracies. Those in Russia during the USSR days who would have been the have-nots in a western democracy were instead far better off in almost every respect, explaining why so many of them still mourn its passing to this day.
Were their guaranteed permanent employment, very good medical care, holidays and pensions for absolutely everyone such a terrible thing, just because it carried a communist label?
Or is it the hordes of people devoid of hope, using food banks, sleeping, going hungry and dying on the streets in our oh-so-wonderful democracies that is the truly terrible thing?
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I’d say to be careful what you believe. Any competition whether it’s sport, a job application or a war has three elements. Politics, Finance and the actual fight. Ukrainian will be fighting their invaders on a political front as well as on the ground with bullets. An image/ report of civilian suffering and / or casualties is a great political weapon. I’d encourage Ukrainian to use any tactic at their disposal to discredit / drive out their invaders. That doesn’t mean I have to believe everything I see though.
Well said, but include the obvious .. the biggest weapon in the Ukrainian information war is their credibility. The Russians have lost theirs in the wider world. The audience that the Russians would want to get or keep onside is India and China. The audience that the Ukrainians absolutely need to keep onside is us in the West. Indian media is very critical of Russian statements . Ukraine will be dialling down the number of their actual deaths , for fear of morale, and will be flagging up each instance of verifiable war crimes.to inflame global revulsion.. And it looks as if they don't have far to look.
One vote does not make democracy. It's the plurality of voices that makes it.
What you proposed is you can only vote for one party, the kind of arguments dictators use to justify their deeds. So they have been voted in once for a limited term, what they do next is becoming corrupt, they change the system to benefit themselves.