Stupid World

[R650R]

Obviously someone whose never had a real job has tried to reinvent the wheel again....

[Viking01]

Must be getting hot at home, given that Boris is heading off to somewhere cooler (like Ukraine). Suppose that he will be out of range of the local UK media for a while, and not have to answer media questions (or PMQ's - or the Met Police - for that matter) .

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/...02-p59t2t.html

Maybe he is covering his bets (throwing his hat in the ring as a potential leader) in the event that Zelensky gets ousted, and he (Boris) has to step down from leadership of the Conservative Party.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2...-heads-to-kyiv

[Edit]

Having safely arrived there, Boris rang Putin to give him a piece of his mind. No doubt that was a short conversation. But it appears that Boris is not the only one confused by the whole affair. His Foreign Secretary seems (at a minimum) geographically challenged:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2005929.html

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Jen Psaki has been offering her interpretation of the situation.

https://www.rt.com/russia/548078-rus...-fox-henhouse/

It's probably just as well that Russian bears don't climb chicken houses, at the risk of harm to any western chicken hawks taking shelter inside.

[Edit 2]

It just keeps getting better and better.

First, an accusation about Keir Starmer (which had to be retracted) plus the loss of four of the PM's staff:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b2006536.html

Then another flare-up over the Brexit Irish - UK border dispute:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/worl...-rules-2477381

Just as well the tailback of lorries at Felixstowe and other UK ports have not reached London (yet).

[mashman]

Freedom Convoy: Ottawa declares emergency over trucker Covid rules protests... In a world that's slowly taking a foot off the gas, including the poking out of one of the five eyes, the other 4 keep watch over the people and try to keep them away from the logic, reason and common sense approaches that seem to be taking place in other places around the world. Political stupidity being that the mandate is taken from the number of vaccinations that are claimed to have been given and not from the people themselves.

[pritch]

I was just reading the Twitter timeline of a Q adherent. Amazing stuff. They are currently concerned about giant nuclear powered tunneling machines that can create tunnels at 60mph and are busy creating underground military bases. "Deep Underground Military Bases." And that acronym doesn't even strike them as odd?

[pritch]

It shouldn't come as a shock I guess but some of these anti-vaxxers aren't playing with a full deck. In the US there are people, predominantly Trump supporters, who wish to cross into Canada in support of the demo in Ottawa. Unfortunately the unvaxxed are not permitted to cross into Canada. So we have mainly Trump supporting, wanna be demonstrators, complaining about tough border controls. I did not have that on my batshit bingo card.

Following the concept of "monkey see, monkey do" a few Kiwis sought to have a mobile demo. One advantage of a mobile demo is that it looks big. 200 cars looks big but 200 fuckwits is a tiny demo. The South Island inbreds reportedly made it as far as the ferry. A vaccine pass is required to board. Nobody mistook them for smart so I guess we won't be shocked.

Then to show that higher levels of insanity are attainable we have people wanting to effect a citizens arrest of politicians. Last time I looked, and it was a while ago, there were detailed circumstances where a citizens arrest could be made. None are appropriate in these instances.

[onearmedbandit]

The South Island inbreds reportedly made it as far as the ferry. A vaccine pass is required to board. Nobody mistook them for smart so I guess we won't be shocked.

Except that's not true, just a fake story circulating social media.

https://www.bluebridge.co.nz/covid-1...l-information/
https://www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/...ervice-alerts/

[pritch]

Britain is sending its Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, to Moscow to sort the Russians out. Her opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, has been a top diplomat for thirty years. Liz Truss? Five months.
It's not as if she's exceptionally bright. her primary qualification for her job is her loyalty to Boris Johnson.

[TheDemonLord]

Except that's not true, just a fake story circulating social media.

https://www.bluebridge.co.nz/covid-1...l-information/
https://www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/...ervice-alerts/

Now, if the positions were reversed and I'd been making the Claim that Pritch did - multiple users would have jumped on me for 'Spreading misinformation'.

Again, it is curious that the blade only ever cuts in one direction.

[TheDemonLord]

Britain is sending its Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, to Moscow to sort the Russians out. Her opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, has been a top diplomat for thirty years. Liz Truss? Five months.
It's not as if she's exceptionally bright. her primary qualification for her job is her loyalty to Boris Johnson.

Bollucks.

She was the International Trade Secretary since 2019. But I guess doing trade negotiations doesn't qualify has being a diplomat...

And Liz is a smart cookie - she despises all the current crop of postmodern BS, she got rid of unconscious bias indoctrination and has called out the ever pernicious Wokeism.

So, we'll see how she does.

[onearmedbandit]

Now, if the positions were reversed and I'd been making the Claim that Pritch did - multiple users would have jumped on me for 'Spreading misinformation'.

Again, it is curious that the blade only ever cuts in one direction.

And you probably would have acknowledged that you got it wrong too.

[Viking01]

It's been a busy fortnight on overseas political fronts, particularly so on both the Russian and Chinese fronts.

Mr Putin issued a number of documents earlier, essentially telling NATO that it was time to take their toys (missiles) and retreat back to 1997 frontiers. The US replied, indicating that they had no intention of doing so. But that they were willing to discuss some secondary security considerations of interest to Russia.

NATO, via Stoltenberg, decided to reply as well (separately). But Russia decided that it would rather talk with the organ grinder - instead of the monkey. If things do happen to heat up too much, Mr Stoltenberg has hedged his bets by applying for the role of head of the Norwegian central bank (upon the pending expiry of his role as NATO Secretary General).

Ukraine
The western media - on behalf of its political masters - have continued to parrot the message that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "imminent" ("tomorrow", "next week", "sometime soon"). To the point where even the Ukrainian President Zelensky earlier told the US to "dial down the Russian invasion rhetoric" , and more recently to provide some actual proof. If only because of the adverse effect upon the tanking Ukrainian economy.

https://sputniknews.com/20220212/wha...092970024.html

Meanwhile, some of the major western powers continue to repeatedly threaten Russia with all manner of reactions (e.g. financial sanctions; expulsion from SWIFT). But they'd much prefer to do so after Russia has invaded Ukraine - which has still yet to happen.

What's taking Russia so long ? Maybe Putin was correct in his statement that Russia had no interest in invading Ukraine. For a variety of reasons.

Maybe - after recently armed Ukraine with surface-to-air Stingers and Javelin anti-tank missiles, all that is now needed is a false flag ? In which case, both Russia and the US have thought it prudent to remove some of their staff from Ukraine:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...-crazy-quickly

The following US crowd will probably return after Super Bowl next week:

https://sputniknews.com/20220212/pen...092968919.html

Russia
The major European powers (France, UK, Germany) have each sent their representatives to Moscow in turn these past 7 - 10 days. First it was France (Macron), then the UK (Truss) and next week, it will be Germany (Scholz).

Mr Macron obviously needed some "positive press" in light of upcoming French elections (a self-appointed role as "peace maker") , but all his hard work may come to naught with French trucker protesters descending upon Paris.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/r...ukraine-2022-2
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...freedom-convoy

Boris was busy visiting Zelensky in Kiev, advising them that having delivered some more weapons, the UK "stood in solidarity" and would help fight off any invading Russians ("down to the last Ukrainian") - but would choose to do so from the safety of Poland.

And to make sure that Mr Putin got "the message", he sent the UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss to deliver it in person. If Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wasn't a chain smoker beforehand, having to host Liz Truss was probably sufficient to push him over the edge (in more ways than one):

https://www.rt.com/russia/548904-uk-...-talks-lavrov/
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/0...tain.html#more

Mr Scholz was recently in Washington meeting Joe Biden, and Scholz was informed in a post meeting media session that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would not be commissioned if Russia invaded Ukraine (Joe said "we can, and we will stop NS2"). Which was probably news to Scholz.

Scholz is due to meet with Putin this coming week.

Germany had avoided supplying weapons (and other EU allies) to Ukraine to date, but it remains to be seen whether it will (i) focus on its own interests and promptly bring Nord Stream 2 into operation (ii) bend to western political influence and impose sanctions upon Russia (iii) increase future German %GDP payment to NATO :

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/20...ider-the-cost/

While Scholz is new on the job as German Chancellor, he will be aware that the continued health of German industry is dependent not only upon continued cheap gas supply (US is physically unable to meaningfully bridge any loss of Russian gas), but also upon access to markets such as China and Russia.

He will also be aware that reduced EU growth (whether due to sanctions or military conflict) will reduce the importance of the EU as a major economic node in any future multi-polar world, and that the US would still benefit from that outcome.

Which all rather helps obscure the points :

1. That Mr Putin's demands of NATO were (i) stopping NATO's further eastward expansion (ii) refusing to allow strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and (iii) returning the NATO bloc's military infrastructure in Europe to how it was in 1997.

And perhaps, in the process, seek to show how ineffectual and unnecessary NATO has become since 1990 (end of the Cold War) as a means of preserving peace within Europe.

2. That prior to the start of the Beijing Winter Olympcs, Putin and Xi inked an agreement relating to the integration and inter-operation of their two countries:

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/0...multipolarity/

Perhaps China does not wish to see NATO involving itself outside of the EU, just as it did in the Balkans (Yugoslavia) and the Middle East (Libya). And being used as a US enforcer.

Interesting times ahead.

[R650R]

A few pertinent things you may have missed Viking....

Russia has NATO member Germany by the balls.... thanks to Fukushima and the Germans shutting dow a lot of nuke power stations they are scarily dependant on Russian gas, with some saying their may even be a split to east and west Germany again such is the threat of living in a dark winter very cold.

In the last conflict Russian forces did very little apart from some special forces inside Georgia borders. Most of battleship were done by separatist rebels sponsored by Russia with the visual backdrop of all that military backup helping them to a swift victory.... the same scenario is be replayed....

We’ve already seen the refugee crisis from Syria, any proper conflict with America or nato poking its nose in will result in a catastrophic refugee influx into Western Europe crippling their economies and security forces.

Putin is a pretty smart guy the real worry here is basement Biden doing something silly...

[husaberg]

A few pertinent things you may have missed Viking....

Russia has NATO member Germany by the balls.... thanks to Fukushima and the Germans shutting dow a lot of nuke power stations they are scarily dependant on Russian gas, with some saying their may even be a split to east and west Germany again such is the threat of living in a dark winter very cold.

In the last conflict Russian forces did very little apart from some special forces inside Georgia borders. Most of battleship were done by separatist rebels sponsored by Russia with the visual backdrop of all that military backup helping them to a swift victory.... the same scenario is be replayed....

We’ve already seen the refugee crisis from Syria, any proper conflict with America or nato poking its nose in will result in a catastrophic refugee influx into Western Europe crippling their economies and security forces.

Putin is a pretty smart guy the real worry here is basement Biden doing something silly...

isn't odd you have issues with the validity of US elections yet never mentioned the Russian elections

[Viking01]

A few pertinent things you may have missed Viking....

Russia has NATO member Germany by the balls.... thanks to Fukushima and the Germans shutting dow a lot of nuke power stations they are scarily dependant on Russian gas, with some saying their may even be a split to east and west Germany again such is the threat of living in a dark winter very cold.

In the last conflict Russian forces did very little apart from some special forces inside Georgia borders. Most of battleship were done by separatist rebels sponsored by Russia with the visual backdrop of all that military backup helping them to a swift victory.... the same scenario is be replayed....

We’ve already seen the refugee crisis from Syria, any proper conflict with America or nato poking its nose in will result in a catastrophic refugee influx into Western Europe crippling their economies and security forces.

Putin is a pretty smart guy the real worry here is basement Biden doing something silly...

Morning.
Thanks for the reply. I was choosing to focus on recent events relating to NATO. And just chose not to include two of the points you raised (i.e. Germany – nuclear energy; NATO nations involvement in Syria). Indeed, they are quite relevant to the current situation.

Germany
Yes, German rejection of nuclear power - as a clean (?) source of cheap energy - is partially responsible for its current predicament re continuity of its energy supply.

It is interesting to watch the actions of its next-door neighbour France, which is taking the opposite tack re deployment of nuclear energy (even if the “nuclear waste disposal problem” has yet to be adequately resolved at a global level).

It is not just happenstance that the German Greens are both involved with both the rejection of nuclear power within Germany, and the Russo-phobic response to the certification and activation of NS2. It may be that German FM Baerbock (Greens) might have been temporarily reined in, but I watch the weeks following Scholz’s visit to Moscow with interest (i.e. what actions that the Germans choose to embrace).

Syria
Yes, the Syrian war (starting back in 2011) has been portrayed by the West as just a civil war, arising from dissatisfaction with al-Assad. But that would be to turn reality on its head, and ignore much of the other political machinations that were going on in the background at the time, in relation to:

1-Western desire to kill off Ba’athism and any vestiges of Arab nationalism within the Middle East;
2-Israeli desire to isolate Iran, as well as to cripple Hezbollah in Lebanon (which had dealt it a military setback in 2006);
3-Western desire to remove both Iran and Russia as suppliers of energy (gas) to Europe;
4-Western desire to isolate both Iran and North Korea as “supporting acts” to both ME countries such as Syria, as well as Russia and China;
5-Possibly the use of Syria as a launch-pad (or conduit) for the further delivery of more “political and economic refugees” into Europe (primarily Western Europe), and (jihadis) into the soft under-belly of Russia and China (via Afghanistan).

One of Al-Qaeda subsequent incarnations, ISIS, did not just come into existence without both heavy Arab and western support and funding. But that’s a separate story.

With reference to the following image, following al-Assad’s refusal in 2009 to accept a Qatari request (and instead accept the Iranian path), it was simply a matter of time before Syria – and al-Assad – were slated for a colour revolution (which duly started in late 2011).

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tEUnM-8L2...a-pipeline.jpg

And now, 10 years later, we can look back on the results of the Syrian war, with (as you mentioned) one outcome having been the flood of refugees into western Europe (via Turkey and Greece). And the consequent effects upon their economies and their social fabric.

While NATO (as an organisation per se) may not have seen as a major flag-bearer in Syria, its major European countries (e.g. France, Germany) and the UK were all heavily involved in Syria in some shape or form (especially during the period 2014-2017). And while France and Germany may have decided to since head home, the US – and its ever obedient junior partner (the UK) - still continue to do “sterling work” (not just in Syria but also in Yemen). What humanitarian crises, you ask?

I have only to see what has happened within Denmark (and even wider, the other major Scandinavian social democracies) within the past 10 years to see that NATO – as a purely military organisation – has not been acting in (European) long term (economic and social) interests.

How much those various EU countries mentioned earlier have been willing partners in the wider "NATO crusade" - and precisely which parties have gained financially as a result, well, you be your own judge.

But in the context of what Putin and Russia has achieved the past 10 years – especially in frustrating western achievement of many of the 5 points listed earlier, it should be no surprise that US neo-cons must very much look forward to Mr Putin’s future passing.

[TheDemonLord]

And you probably would have acknowledged that you got it wrong too.

Woah, I wouldn't go that far.....


I might admit that I've changed my mind based on new evidence....