Ukraine

Not bad money for an afternoon snooze.
I didn't pass the eleven plus so I didn't stand a chance.

 

But you can snooze in a chair so you pass

 

Yes, but the Hungarians are paying them to build them.

 

Hungary is a prime example of why the EU doesn't really work. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary was always a difficult relationship. They don't want to tow the EU line, and are more aligned to their former Soviet roots. They vetoed the EU's efforts to sanction Russia after the invasion, resulting in a watered down and largely ineffective set of sanctions.

On a more positive note though, on the earlier point about the economic war, we've had one before. The USA Vs USSR. We like to call it the space race nowadays, which makes it sound kind of nice and almost friendly, but the reality is each side was trying to out do each other, to make each other waste all their money. USSR was just all round better technologically, having put the first artificial satellite into orbit and the first man in space, but they ran out of money as the yanks kept pushing the boundaries. As a bonus for us ordinary civilian sorts, some good tech that we take for granted today came out of that economic war.

 

Only those that have managed to survive the winter.

10% is like 2 days a month gas by April.

 

I found a very interesting documentary that puts an entirely different spin on the war in Ukraine. At one point, a guy says, 'I hate for people to live in a situation where London and Washington to have the last say on everything'. I can't say I agree with everything, but it's certainly another side to the western narrative.

EDIT: I should at least give a brief synopsis as it's a long video. Basically, a young British journalist has gone to the Donbas region to see how the youth are living their lives in a war zone. He finds that despite them all living in fear, they are maintaining a sense of normality and unity through clubbing and illegal house parties. We learn how most of them really don't care whether their cities are in Russia or Ukraine, as they see it as one and the same. Many of the people the journalist meets are soldiers or para military, actively fighting the war, but letting their hair down when off duty.

The theme throughout is they don't hate anybody, even the soldiers they're fighting. They see it as a travesty, two powers sending people to fight a fight they don't believe should be happening. Throughout, the British journalist and his crew were treat with the utmost respect.

At one point, after curfew, the journalist goes out on patrol with the police. This is where the mood changes. Suddenly it's not light hearted fun of groups of young people partying. They find some people on the streets after curfew. The cameras don't film what happens. The people out after curfew are arrested and detained.

At one point, the journalist meets a pro Russian rebel. It's really surreal. As they're talking near a destroyed building, there is the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance. Somebody interrupts the interview to tell them they have to go, the shelling is getting closer. Our young British journalist is visibly scared but the old rebel soldier hasn't finished telling his story. He casually waves the messenger away and keeps talking calmly. He's explaining that they have no fight with the people of Ukraine or anywhere else. They just don't want to live in a world where London and Washington has the final say on everything. They see their fight as a people's uprising against capitalist elites.

All in all, worth a watch if you have time. It puts a very different perspective on what mainstream media is telling us.

 

I see a critic of Putin has 'accidentally' fallen out of an hospital window.

Yes - the head of a Russian energy company - Lukoil - he fell feet first - decapitating himself on the way through the open window. That's really bad luck. Thank God we live in the UK.

Putin is so desperate - he's been blowing up wooded himars.

God is standing with Ukraine - they will win.

 

I shouldn't laugh, but I read in the news yesterday that he died after a long illness. I didn't think it took long to descend in free fall from 6 stories.

 

Cor...just...cor...

The Russian leader said Western currencies were falling while Russia was not losing anything.

 

I saw that in the BBC news.

It's hard to disagree with Putin on that point. Europe is knackered. Here in the UK alone, unless the new PM goes ahead with the expected promise of subsidised energy for a while, we're going to see a lot of businesses go bust over winter. That is not only bad for those businesses, it will mean more unemployment, and even more people unable to heat their homes.

Elsewhere in Europe, they've already started rationing gas. They haven't called it rationing of course, that would be a political faux pas. But what else is it when Germany suddenly decides that the showers in public swimming complexes suddenly have to be cold, and France bans companies from using lit advertising in certain areas.

Facebook is filling up with calls for public disorder campaigns in protest all over the UK and Europe.

Putin is not winning, but he's certainly got us bent over Nordstream 1 with our pants down.

The worst part of it all is it could have been avoided. The UN has once again proven to be utterly useless. They could have implemented a demilitarised zone along the Russia Ukraine border, and kept productive negotiations going, but they did precisely nothing.

Elsewhere in the news today, the US has moved to ban US tech companies from building factories in China, which is only going to increase the rift between them and the US and tighten ties between China and Russia. This is a few days after they poked China with a stick by sailing warships through the Taiwan strait just because they can.

It's about time we got some actual grownups in power who know how to talk, make peace, and build stable international relationships.