I'm going to let GC have a rest overnight here and will try again tomorrow. I will also reset my router to see if that restores warp speed. Thanks, @redstar. Will give that a read.
Downdetector website shows a lot of outages for Plusnet at the moment. We often have a problem at this peak time and have to reboot. It's then usually OK. Hubby is just seeing to his blood pressure tablets then will go on the desktop and have a look. But I think it's Plusnet. I'm going to get the dinner so I'm signing off - but it's OK on mobile so GC must be OK. Happy Birthday FC!
Seems much better this morning! Crisis over. @redstar, I don’t disagree with anything in that article. I would be hard pushed to speak of Biden’s “achievements” positively. It does not change my view that Zelensky is not the one at fault here. The trouble with wars (aside from the tragedy of civilian life loss and community destruction) is these are funded by tax payers … but the spoils of peace (rebuild contracts, possible mineral rights, etc) are siphoned off by the very wealthy, so ordinary folk never get paid back. @cactus_girl, did hubby need his BP pills because he was about to tangle with the desktop, or were these two things unconnected.
@ViewAhead I wish the BP pills would act that fast. IT does get hubby's BP up, but everything else does too! He's adjusting to new tabs and is experimenting cutting capsules in half and sealing the halves with butter to stop the powder falling out. I'm just leaving him to it! Both WiFi and mobile connections are working fine now and I see another thread is now discussing this, so I will not comment further on here.
Biden had no achievements. Not saying Zelensky is at fault. There are probably lots of other interactions between Zelensky and Putin that none of us will ever know that caused this war. It is only the worlds hope it ends soon. So sad the loss of so many lives.
@redstar Russia has coveted the Crimea for centuries to facilitate trade and warfare with a warm water southern port. During the Communist era they calmed down as they effectively had control of most of the countries bordering the Black sea so loads of access. Putin is a nasty, devious, avaricious man who wants to grasp and control both Ukraine's sea access but also its mineral and agricultural wealth. He expected to waltz in there and acquire it with little opposition so the last 3 years have beenvery expensive. Biden may not have achieved much - what US president can these days in the face of all the wealthy power plays they have to accept to get elected? He did, at least, aid the Ukraine and slow down Putin for a while. Putin is known to have interfered in elections across the western world and uses disinformation to undermine democracies with freer speech. It is naive to think that he does not have some goods on Trump and that these two, with the help of real, honest, ethical people like Musk, are not out to grab power, wealth and resources for their own personal ends.
@redstar Putin wants to recreate the Soviet Union, with himself in absolute control. Ukraine is mineral rich. That is basically why Putin started the war, and presumably assumed Ukraine would be a pushover.
The new plan is that Russia and USA get rid of the Ukranian Government and then split the resources between Trump's and Putin's rich pals.
US and UK willingness to spend GDP on military aims is less altruistic than it seems. It is a scheme to take tax-payer money and funnel it to the rich, who supply the arms. Then, when peace is finally brokered, both the US and UK snap up the rebuild projects, again using tax-payer money to pay their own large companies. It is one giant money-making scheme, with the death and destruction entirely incidental. That is what our “special” relationship is built on. Mutually assured enrichment of the richest. @Obelix-Vendée, I’d say Biden was a part of the wealthy power play, as all those “political dynasty” US families are. Anyway, the upshot of all this has been the media is now banging on about the need to spend even more on defence and taxes will rise. We are utterly powerless to prevent this. The sheer stupidity of war in a time of climate crisis will not get a mention.
As with just about every situation we are presented with, our views depend entirely on the information that we've been presented with - and that will be only what those in positions of power want us to see/read/think and therefore redacted accordingly. The truth, lies somewhere in between the two. I'll be honest, I have ZERO faith or trust in any of our media to give us the full information on anything - and I wholly believe that the same applies the world over (or potentially worse, depending on where in the world you are.