Its a very interesting piece though hey Goldy. Just imagine the uproar if it had been Corbyn with all those links to Russia! Now ive never been Corbyns biggest fan and would have struggled to vote for him but surely someone has to explain what all this Russian money has paid for.
Good to see that the Met Police reacted so quickly and in such numbers (with riot shields for ****'s sake) to that Oligarch's mansion being occupied. Try getting them to turn up if your house gets burgled.
Oborne is a highly respected journalist, what's how he voted in the Brexit referendum got to do with the points the makes here? Yes, he's anti-Johnson - with many good reasons - but how do you respond to this....? Let’s imagine that Corbyn had somehow won the last election. That he had then filled up Labour Party coffers with Russian money; that his party chairman had an office in Moscow to advise oligarchs; that Corbyn personally had repeatedly visited a Russian oligarch whose father had been a KGB agent and close friend of Putin, and that he had been reported to have ignored security service objections to secure this friend a peerage, and funnelled government money towards his paper. For day after day there would have been front-page denunciations of Corbyn. He couldn’t have survived. In my view rightly so. Yet Johnson is the one who’s done all of these things. But Corbyn is the one who’s supposed to be pro-Putin.
The Western World was willing to give Putin a chance in the early days. Merkel based Germany's energy policy around getting Russian gas. Macron was Putin's best buddy. Trump lauded Putin. Eastern EU members were close to Putin. The UK was no different, whether Blair or Cameron or Johnson. In hindsight, all these leaders have been proved wrong, possibly because Putin has become more aggressive, possibly for unknown health reasons. Whatever the reason, the West is having to reevaluate fast. The difference between all the above leaders, and Corbyn, is, as I said in my earlier post, Corbyn wanted to leave NATO, abandon the nuclear weapon deterrent and when the whole world was up in arms about Novichok, the poisoning of the Skripals and the death of a UK citizen, Corbyn (often backed by The Guardian) refused to condemn the Kremlin. That was the beginning of the end for his leadership. PS Personally, I've always thought Oborne was a self-promoting idiot, much like Hitchens. They're contrarians so they can shout - "Look at me..."
Tomorrow we will be treated to the wholly unedifying sight of our Prime Minister begging Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, to increase oil production. He will fail, just like Biden has (by phone). And doubtless convince himself that it would decrease our ‘leverage’ to even raise the matter of 81 executions in Saudi last Saturday. If there is anything good to come of the current nightmare, over and above the demise of Putin, it might be a collective push to energy self sufficiency and even faster investment in renewables and, dare I say it, nuclear power. So at least we are not hostage to these tyrants in the future.
Here's what Corbyn said about the Salisbury poisonings (quoted in Oborne's article)..... "Either this was a crime authored by the Russian state; or that state has allowed these deadly toxins to slip out of the control it has an obligation to exercise. If the latter, a connection to Russian mafia-like groups that have been allowed to gain a toehold in Britain cannot be excluded." He added: "The Russian authorities must be held to account on the basis of the evidence, and our response must be both decisive and proportionate." His positions on NATO and our nuclear deterrent are moot given the current situation, but if we all get out of this one safely, I for one would prefer Britain to be part of a European Defence Alliance going forward than to continue to be bound to the US via NATO.
Forget what Corbyn says or doesnt say, why are people not questioning our close ties and money donations to our ruling government???
Corbyn is gone. Old history. Why worry about him He never was in power in this country... we just need to worry about the Government at the moment , and those in power over the last few years. And that was not Corbyn, or Starmer or the Labour Party. Boris got into bed with the Russians.
He never had any sort of national power Ellers. He never had the power to enable the Russians to infiltrate the governmental system. Regardless of what he thought or said or didnt say, he couldn't actually do anything... Harping on about him is pointless and meaningless.
Thats not what I said. As for powers he’s an MP so he does have powers. He has many MPs that have supported him for years. Of course he has powers.
On a serious note Mrs Ellers has just registered us to provide a home for a Ukrainian/s. We have the space and my son doesn't use his room anymore. Hopefully the government will act a bit quicker to help these families. People moan about this country but I have seen nothing but support from its people.
Now that is a really wonderful thing to do Ellers and Mrs Ellers.. Well done both of you Hopefully they will be better organised. On my part, after reading an enlightening article about the physical gifts of toys, clothes and toiletries and how much it costs to get it there...in time and money...I will not be doing that at all...and just donating money to the Disaster Emergency Fund....to spend the money as they see fit in and around Ukraine and the refugees. I had no idea about the logistics, and how much of the donated stuff doesn't get there..just because it can't
I could rename it if you want Ellers..."The Government and/ or Corbyn bashing thread". But to be fair Ellers..any/ all Governments if they deserve it should be "bashed"... Otherwise we could rename the whole country Russia
Good stuff Beth! Do what you can. Yeah this whole thing has upset me. Bloody Putin! only problem is my son left his room in a state... they may think they have left one war zone for another. I will keep you all informed as to what happens. Hopefully the World is moving forward and the Putins are a thing of the past.
