Sanctions against Russia

[facthunter]

 You can see ,touch and interact with model planes.  Most Gods  are modelled on our faults. Not an intelligent design.  Nev

[Old Koreelah]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I was taught to be anti-catholic, but it never rubbed off...  I guess my parents were not very anti-catholic themselves.We were supposed to sing " catholic dogs, eating frogs, eating maggots out of logs" …

That resonates with me, Bruce. I grew up with quite a bit of anti-Catholic propaganda. Luckily, we lived in a town too small to support a religious school, so my best mate was a tyke.

 

My mum’s family were all from a fiercely anti-papist sect, so she had to do quite a bit of adjusting when her first three kids married Catholics! 

 

I’m impressed with how much Australian society has grown up; my staunchly Catholic in-laws have accepted into the family gays and even heathens like me!

[red750]

I was raised Presbyterian, and my maternal grandfather was an elder of the local church. My wife was Catholic. When our kids started Catholic primary school, I was invited by the priest to become a member of the parish council, even though I was not Catholic.I took a brief evening course and was confirmed into the Catholic religion by the then Archbishop of Melbourne, Archbishop Little. Later, when I was unemployed, the local priest gave me work in the parish, introducing computers into a number of parish activities. The pay from that work fed my family for a few months until I obtained more full time work. I haven't attended church for a number of years, but the same priest, now retired from parish work, conducted the memorial when my wife died.

[facthunter]

 I used to go Rifle shooting on the Long Bay rifle range with a lot of priests that ran the school Cadets (Army). They had a repertoire of Jokes I'm sure they don't tell in school and the rums afterwards helped overcome the chill winds we got there in winter. Fun bunch actually. Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

I helped start an anglican school when my kids were of the right age. I was the only atheist on the school board, and one day I nearly got burned at the stake.... my next-door guy on the board asked how the building was going, and I foolishly replied that " I had some spiritual help putting up some wall panels". well I said this too loud and the chair wanted all the details, so I said how "the level spirit guided me truly".

Well I thought this was funny but the rest of them just glared at me.

[facthunter]

IF those people are going to heaven , It WON'T be HEAVEN. The lord works in mysterious ways. You HELPED build the building and it's NOT crooked. because of your efforts.. . Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thx nev. I only did the stuff cos the wife was a high-school teacher and she said that her kids were NOT going to THAT school. In the event, the kids didn't last long at the anglican school....  the daughter was sent to an all-girls school, and the son finished up in a Lutheran school. I stayed well away from both these schools, as I reckon I had already done my share.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Those Lutherans didn't muck about....  you had to know them very well to understand that they didn't believe their own stuff, gosh they laid the jesus stuff on with a loaded trowel. But one day, this no-account girl was molested on the bus by a couple of boys from important families, and the school took their side against the girl.

 

[rgmwa]

5 hours ago, facthunter said:

 I used to go Rifle shooting on the Long Bay rifle range with a lot of priests that ran the school Cadets (Army). They had a repertoire of Jokes I'm sure they don't tell in school and the rums afterwards helped overcome the chill winds we got there in winter. Fun bunch actually. Nev

I misread `rums' as `nuns' the first time.  

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, rgmwa said:

I misread `rums' as `nuns' the first time.  

So did I! Probably says something about us. 

[facthunter]

Freudian slips, Guys. At best , it's the power of the uniform .   Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Freudian slips, Guys. At best , it's the power of the uniform .   Nev

I don't get it, what's a unicorn got to do with it?

[spacesailor]

Do ' nuns ' wear " slps " .

spacesailor

[Bruce Tuncks]

They used to wear habits, giving us the joke about the nun with a dirty habit.  In Alice Springs in the 1950's, most Catholics went to church on Sunday. If you missed, a pair of nuns, conspicuous in their habits, would visit you, ostensibly to see if you were well but the whole town knew that you were in trouble for not going to church. Gosh, they were smarter at getting people to church than the other lots.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Bruce Tuncks

[facthunter]

I wouldn't like to pick the most coercive. .Many can all be unpleasant under the guise of doing God's work. If a God was around he'd ZAP them because HE knows their very thoughts..  Nev

[octave]

As they say, "You can kiss a nun once, you can kiss a nun twice but, you can't get into the habit 

[red750]

Foxtel are playing Dr. Strangelove. Peter Sellers playing three roles. The Doomsday Machine.

[willedoo]

putler has a plan to brainwash Africa. Giving a speech at the Russia/African conference in St. Petersburg, he's proposing a 'common Russian and African information space in which objective unbiased information about world events will be broadcasted to Russian and African audiences '. He also said he wants to develop cooperation with African countries in the field of mass communications and the organisation of educational courses for the workers and students of mass media. He went on to say that the opening of offices of leading Russian mass media agencies is already in progress in Africa.

 

I don't know what the Africans think of the idea, but they'll probably do anything for cheap arms and grain.

[onetrack]

On 26/07/2023 at 12:03 PM, facthunter said:

 I used to go Rifle shooting on the Long Bay rifle range with a lot of priests that ran the school Cadets (Army). They had a repertoire of Jokes I'm sure they don't tell in school and the rums afterwards helped overcome the chill winds we got there in winter. Fun bunch actually. Nev

Monks with guns?? They weren't Greek Orthodox and from Preveli, were they? I've been to Preveli, those old Greek monks didn't hesitate to wipe out German soldiers after the Nazi soldiers massacred a number of monks.

 

http://travelingclassroom.org/?p=2594

[facthunter]

St Ignatius and Alloysius from memory.  Nev

[onetrack]

It's being reported that sales between China and Russia for equipment that is suitable for military use has reached US$100M. China is cunningly avoiding the embargo on supplying goods to Russia that can be used to bolster their war efforts, by declaring they're "dual use" goods. In other words, they can be used for both civilian and military uses.

 

So on that basis, the Russians are buying Chinese drones wholesale, and declaring they're civilian purchases - but they're going straight to the Russian military, and being used against the Ukrainians.

[willedoo]

putin has told several African countries that Russia can supply grain to replace Ukrainian grain with free shipping thrown in. He would be seeing it as a win for Russia; increase Russian grain sales and make African countries more dependent on Russia. It's all about money and influence. The African nations make up the largest voting bloc at the U.N., so putin is keen to have them in his pocket.

 

Meanwhile, the Africans are asking putin to consider their proposed peace plan. Under the plan, Russia would leave Ukraine, putin's arrest warrant would be cancelled and all Western sanctions on Russia abandoned. In other words, Russia goes home with no repercussions or penalties for waging the war.

[facthunter]

IF TRUMP gets in the Ukranians will be sold out to Putin. . Nev

[willedoo]

I'm not a big fan of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but I've been reading some of his thoughts on what could happen to Russia post war, in the event that they lose the war and withdraw completely from Ukraine. He makes some good points on four scenarios:

 

Scenario 1.  Russia breaks up and gives birth to several unstable nuclear states. He had a fair bit to say about this option, but it's fairly obvious how that one would work out.

 

Scenario 2.  Putin stays in charge. If the war ends and Putin stays in power, then he’d face all the same economic problems Russia has now, but without a war to use as a convenient excuse. He’d also have to deal with tens of thousands of armed, trained nationalists who aren’t ready for civilian life and aren’t happy with the lack of money and opportunities. How would he deal with them? He’d have a choice: magically improve the lives of Russians tenfold, go back to war, or lose his power and his life. Fairly obvious which one he'd choose. If Putin stays in power, the war in Ukraine will just be replaced with a new one.

 

Scenario 3.  quote: [Scenario 3 is preferred by the US establishment: keep the Russian state as it is, but replace Putin with a new, ‘good’ president. Sorry, but this is a very naïve way of thinking, and wouldn’t work. First, ‘good guys’ only take power in fair elections, and who would organize them? And even if a ‘good guy’ became president, he’d need to keep the country together and persuade the Russian regions to keep paying 60% of their taxes to Moscow. How is it possible?] end of quote.  Khodorkovsky and most Russians know the western fantasy of installing a new poster boy president is just that, a fantasy. The way Russia currently works, a 'good guy' couldn't get a toe in the door.

 

Scenario 4. According to Khodorkovsky, the only viable option and one he's talked about for more than twenty years - quote: [What Russia needs is to replace the current presidential model with a parliamentary republic and broad federalization.  A parliament solves many of Russia’s problems: unlike a president, it has no cult of personality, and makes it much harder for elected leaders to hang onto power once their time is up. It’s more resistant to uprisings because its decisions are representative and legitimate. And it is stable – even if a governing coalition collapses, the system itself keeps going with a new coalition. Federalization would negate imperialism — if more decisions are made at the regional level, then they’re free of imperialistic ambitions, because regions do not have ambitions outside national borders.

 

Implementing such a system will not be easy. Unlike autocracy, it cannot happen by accident. It will take a lot of hard work. But out of all the options, this is the only one that would suit all involved sides. A federalized parliamentary Russian republic will no longer be a threat to its neighbors, and it negates the possibility of many small, militarized, China-aligned, nuclear states springing up at the gates of Europe. At home, parliamentary democracy and federalism will safeguard Russia against a return to autocracy — and give Russians the chance to improve their lives.] end of quote.

 

It's wishful thinking, but I'd say he's right. Whichever way the war goes, the world is in for some more trouble. The mess will take years to sort out, if ever it does.

[nomadpete]

Gee, thanks.

 

Depressing options. No light at the end of the tunnel in my lifetime.

 

Add in the possibility that it it won't be in china's long term interests to encourage a united Russia, so scenario No1 might suit them so they can 'reclaim' more territory.