Sanctions against Russia

[kgwilson]

Yes I agree, it is all about "What's in it for Me" from Xi.

[willedoo]

I took the liberty of censoring this one.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

8 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Yes I agree, it is all about "What's in it for Me" from Xi.

Indeed.. and thinking down a rabbit hole...

 

Xi sails in with a statement that every country should claim its sovereirnty over its original borders - whatever that means. You dont have to go too far back when Prussia as part of Germany, so should it be restored? But then, Germany was created out of 4 separate states, so should Germany be disunifed and the 4 separate states be reinstated as countrues, etc., etc (I may havce facts slightly out of kilter, but you get the idea).

 

Then he brokers his peace deal by convincing Putin to withdraw (to what borders, I am not sure); Then he says, well, if it's good enough for the west to have their "original" borders reinstated, surely it is good enough for the east - so I am just taking Taiwan now.. and please don't interfere because we all have legitimasied it and I will go to war with anyone who tries to stop me

 

(Never mind the people of that tiny Island don't want anything to do with me).

 

Thanks,

Xi...

[willedoo]

That Chinese ambassador stirred up a hornets nest when he more or less said former Soviet states don't have legitimacy as independent states. I guess he forgot the Russian Federation is also a former Soviet state. It stirred up the Baltic nations who were forced into the Soviet Union by conquest and not choice. After that the Chinese government turned around and poured a bit of water on the ambassador's gaffe.

[Jerry_Atrick]

These Freudian slips by the Chinese government individuals seem to be becomming a regular thing. Though, sometimes, I can't help but wonder if the words come out wrong. I used to work in the Czech Republic and would lead business iomprovement sessions with the local client. I had a translator, and one day, after a particularly tough session, I said, "Look, all I want to see is the to be successful." I noticed a lot of consternation in the faces of our clients and I asked the translator to tell be what she said. She whispered, "All I want is for this not to be successfull". I had to get her to correct it quick smart, to the relief of the client.

 

When one is not speaking in their native tongue, they can make innocent mistakes.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[willedoo]

5 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

When one is not speaking in their native tongue, they can make innocent mistakes.

You just have to look at how we pronounce the Bridge on the River Kwai. To a Thai, you are saying Bridge on the River Penis.

[willedoo]

Back to the anticipated Ukrainian push - the orcs don't appear to be taking their ability to defend for granted. They've dug in heavily along the northern Crimean border and recent reports claim they are digging in and fortifying outside Mariupol. It could be just an insurance plan, or more likely, the Russians are expecting to get pushed back significantly.

 

It sounds like the Russians are expecting to fight them on the beaches.

[Old Koreelah]

Taiwan is a little different:

 

There is some ambiguity about it being part of China proper; when the KMT retreated there during the Civil War, they displaced several indigenous peoples- who had themselves been colonised and exploited by Imperial Japan.

 

Taiwan is a functioning democracy, in direct contrast to the autoritarian One-Part state on the mainland. Will other democracies stand by and see this democracy over run and subjugated, as we saw in Hong Kong?

Taiwan is strategically important to the west, producing the bulk of high-tech chips needed for military and industry- a prize China will risk much to capture and which the west would sorely miss.

 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Agree, OK.. but marauding leaders will use the flimsiest excuse to justify their actions; enter Putin right stage.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Agree, OK.. but marauding leaders will use the flimsiest excuse to justify their actions; enter Putin right stage.

Or a Bush (or two).

Or..........

[facthunter]

Generally Mentally disturbed  people who should never have been given the Power 5they assume and exploit. Putin put in  a lot of effort and coercion to arrange things for him to be where HE is NOW and if you need any evidence of what a mistake has been made look at the fate of those who stood &/or stand in his way and how much his WORD is worth to anybody. He's trashed the Russian name almost single handedly and amassed an extremely Large  fortune in a country where many people live a hard life. HE cares NOUGHT for them Or anyone who gets in his way.  Respect for the lives of others is dispensed with easily by such people To behave otherwise would be seen as a weakness.  Nev

[willedoo]

It's astounding how gullible some of the older people are with their devotion to putin. It's probably a mentality forged by growing up under the communist Soviet Union where the state does the thinking for you. A lot of them think putin's doing god's work by waging war. The country is sick.

[facthunter]

It's Brainwashed. State controlled Media with unrelenting Promos of the Czar -God. saving them from dragons. The US provides the Dragons so that makes his existence necessary. Mandatory actually. Nev

[Marty_d]

I see reports that the orthodox church is in trouble in Ukraine. The monkey in charge of the mother church in Russia is a rabid Putin fetisher who supports the invasion. The Ukrainians are kicking out a lot of bishops because they spout the same nonsense.   So that's another loss for the little Russian dickhead. 

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

I see reports that the orthodox church is in trouble in Ukraine. The monkey in charge of the mother church in Russia is a rabid Putin fetisher who supports the invasion. The Ukrainians are kicking out a lot of bishops because they spout the same nonsense.   So that's another loss for the little Russian dickhead. 

Marty, it's not the Ukrainian Orthodox church that's in trouble, only the remaining Russian Orthodox churches and priests in Ukraine under the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate. Last year, the Ukrainian Orthodox church broke away completely from the Russian Orthodox church, and now they are expelling them for treasonous activity. The orthodox church is alive and well in Ukraine, it's just the ones under the control of ex-KGB Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (the monkey) that are getting the boot. And rightly so. The Russian Orthodox church is basically a gangster outfit. Patriarch Kirill's wealth is in the billions.

[nomadpete]

10 hours ago, willedoo said:

Patriarch Kirill's wealth is in the billions.

And now my view that the orthodox church is shattered. Thought it was more honorable than their government. Now you tell me they are a financial institution using trickle-up cashflow similar to the RC's 😞

 

[kgwilson]

I don't think honorable is a word that can describe any religion. They all need your money and then set about using it for purposes other than what they tell you.

[facthunter]

Plenty of them certainly don't stand scrutiny. Judge the tree by the fruit it bears. "den of thieves" etc  IF man is involved , it will be corrupted if not scrutinised.   Nev

[Old Koreelah]

[Marty_d]

It was L Ron Hubbard that said "Want to be a millionaire?  Start a religion" - although his followers now deny this.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I hope that after throwing out the russians, the ukranians turn their attention to the oligarchs. I sure wish we would do that here too.

[willedoo]

Looking at the video, that's quite a big oil fire burning in Sevastopol at the moment. I don't know whether it's a refinery or just holding tanks for shipping, but it looks like most of the facility is going up in flames. Drone strike according to the Russian authorities.

 

[nomadpete]

Can't believe the Russian press is saying the fire is under control. That looks uncontrollable to me.

Is this the first step toward reclaiming Crimea?

 

[willedoo]

It's still burning. There were reports that the local Crimean authorities were asking for outside help to put it out. According to some independent damage assessments, almost two thirds of the tanks are destroyed. The whole facility will be O/S due to the interconnected pipeline system. I was reading that in all the occupied territories, there are only three such terminals, so it's a big loss.

 

The biggest effect will be psychological. With all the news about the impending Ukrainian push, people will think this is the start of it, and it might be. It will be interesting to see if it forces some of the Russian naval assets to re-locate. The naval fleet is not far north of this fire in Cossack Bay. I was looking at the fuel storage for the Black Sea Fleet on Google Maps, and it's much more dispersed than these tanks. But the navy fuel tanks are much larger, so would be a good target even if they only hit one.

[willedoo]

Another view. They won't be using it for a while.