I see that Chelsea fans haven't seen outside the stadium and what is happening.
You must log in or register to see media
Idi-loutsI see that Chelsea fans haven't seen outside the stadium and what is happening.
You must log in or register to see media
Well Iraq was illegal, Fez, just as Putin’s invasion is illegal. As for Libya, we only had interest there because of Libyan oil. I’m not defending Putin, I think he’s a totally immoral despot, but we aren’t afraid of illegal invasion. What sanctions have been taken against Saudi Arabia in respect of Yemen bombing, blockade and subsequent famine?Whatabout Libya, that state that supported terrorism across the world, shot our police, blew up planes over Scotland? Nothing to do with Ukraine.
Whatabout Iraq, that state that supported terrorism across the Middle East, used chemical weapons in its war with Iran (another stand up state) and on its own people, particularly the Kurds, and, like putin, invaded a neighbouring sovereign state.
No, Ukraine is all about putin. This thread is all about Ukraine. Let's keep it that way, a whataboutism free zone.
E.g. Cuban Missile Crisis.Sorry Frenchie but do you really think Nato is a purely defensive organization ? It has an extremely expansive global mission. The USA has found Nato extremely usefull to create legitimacy for wars when the UN wouldn't authorize them as with the bombing of Serbia in 1999 and Libya in 2011. Nato served to make these acts appear 'multilateral' as opposed to unilateral acts of the USA. Russia does not peceive Nato as being a neutral force for World peace, and a lot of the evidence on display indicates that they aren't. Looking at the flip side of this - would the USA tolerate it if one of their neighbours entered into a military pact with Russia and placed missiles on their doorstep - have they shown such tolerance in the past ?
To raise the Russian flag at this time, and for the inane reasons they've raised it, is just ****ing stupid. Do they really put their football club ahead of the lives of innocent people killed? And the probably very young, many essentially innocent, soldiers too.I see that Chelsea fans haven't seen outside the stadium and what is happening.
You must log in or register to see media
Didn't think for a nanosecond that you thought putin was anything else. Can't possibly take sanctions against our #1 trading partner for our #1 export now, can we?Well Iraq was illegal, Fez, just as Putin’s invasion is illegal. As for Libya, we only had interest there because of Libyan oil. I’m not defending Putin, I think he’s a totally immoral despot, but we aren’t afraid of illegal invasion. What sanctions have been taken against Saudi Arabia in respect of Yemen bombing, blockade and subsequent famine?
E.g. Cuban Missile Crisis.
I don’t want you to think that I support Putin. I don’t. My point is that all our leaders, across the world, with very few exceptions, are total ****s. Putin is definitely a **** for what he is doing to the Ukrainians. Johnson is a self-serving ****. The US are ****s for trying to turn every country in the world into a US puppet state. The Saudis are definitely ****s for what they do to the Yemenis. The Israelis are definitely ****s for what they are doing to Palestinians.Whatabout Libya, that state that supported terrorism across the world, shot our police, blew up planes over Scotland? Nothing to do with Ukraine.
Whatabout Iraq, that state that supported terrorism across the Middle East, used chemical weapons in its war with Iran (another stand up state) and on its own people, particularly the Kurds, and, like putin, invaded a neighbouring sovereign state.
No, Ukraine is all about putin. This thread is all about Ukraine. Let's keep it that way, a whataboutism free zone.
We posted at the same time. I smell conspiracy.Didn't think for a nanosecond that you thought putin was anything else. Can't possibly take sanctions against our #1 trading partner for our #1 export now, can we?![]()
![]()
Quite right. And it’s ****ing depressing. Do you know what? I genuinely forgot that was the term used by Pie.Didn't think for a nanosecond that you thought putin was anything else. Can't possibly take sanctions against our #1 trading partner for our #1 export now, can we?![]()
![]()

I think we need to make sure we're not talking past each other ** I wrote that earlier and forgot that I had not deleted that comment!I don’t want you to think that I support Putin. I don’t. My point is that all our leaders, across the world, with very few exceptions, are total ****s. Putin is definitely a **** for what he is doing to the Ukrainians. Johnson is a self-serving ****. The US are ****s for trying to turn every country in the world into a US puppet state. The Saudis are definitely ****s for what they do to the Yemenis. The Israelis are definitely ****s for what they are doing to Palestinians.
I thought the Jonathan Pie apposite point about Putin exploiting our greed was disturbing. Excellent video. And it is all, or probably most, world leaders strategising to destabilise others’ regimes to their own (usually short-term) ends that I find so depressing.

I agree with that, but have you read Hamas constitution? The Palestinian "hierarchy" has plenty to answer for, a bigger enemy of the Palestinian people than even the likes of netanyahu and his band of thuggish land thieves.Quite right. And it’s ****ing depressing. Do you know what? I genuinely forgot that was the term used by Pie.
Perhaps I took it in subliminally.
But it is how I feel. And I feel we are so helpless. That’s why I can’t believe we live in a democracy. Just before Brexit happened, the majority of the country were against it, but we went ahead. **** democracy, there are pockets to line. The amount of money this country has made through e.g. BAE selling Tornados and Typhoons, used by Saudis to bomb Yemeni children sickens me. The facilitating of laundering oligarch’s money in London’s banks sickens me. The failure to act against Putin sickens me. The cosying up to the Yanks sickens me.
I’m fed up with the whole ****ing lot of them. I’ve spent years trying to change things through the ballot box and **** all happens. It’s a ****ing mess and I hate all of them. I wish Putin and his cronies, the Saudi hierarchy, the Israeli hierarchy… I’ll stop ranting there, but you get my drift?![]()
I had a generalised knowledge of the Hamas constitution, but I’ve just read it in full.I think we need to make sure we're not talking past each other ** I wrote that earlier and forgot that I had not deleted that comment!
I agree with that, but have you read Hamas constitution? The Palestinian "hierarchy" has plenty to answer for, a bigger enemy of the Palestinian people than even the likes of netanyahu and his band of thuggish land thieves.
The current mess in Ukraine is also certainly a consequence of the most corrupt American government ever, almost absolutely certainly passing secrets over to putin about the state of affairs in the region. tRump tried to get the Ukraine to lie about Biden to influence their election. I'm not keen on cosying up to the U.S.government either but we are seeing what happens when they don't particularly want to cosy up to us!
Just police showing solidarity by displaying Ukrainian flag colours, surely?You must log in or register to see images
Is this a normal response if you have your home broken into?
They watered their document down a couple of years ago. The old version calls for outright genocide, this is really a minor "legal" adjustment in the light of stricter international law: the core meaning and their own interpretation remain the same.I had a generalised knowledge of the Hamas constitution, but I’ve just read it in full.
How excellent was the Moslem poet, Mohamed Ikbal, when he wrote:
"If faith is lost, there is no security and there is no life for him who does not adhere to religion. He who accepts life without religion, has taken annihilation as his companion for life."
I’m in the poop, then.
Sorry to those who are religious on this forum, but this document is based on, to my mind, archaic nonsense. Calls for genocide based on archaic nonsense.
Article Nine reads:
The Islamic Resistance Movement found itself at a time when Islam has disappeared from life. Thus rules shook, concepts were upset, values changed and evil people took control, oppression and darkness prevailed, cowards became like tigers: homelands were usurped, people were scattered and were caused to wander all over the world, the state of justice disappeared and the state of falsehood replaced it. Nothing remained in its right place. Thus, when Islam is absent from the arena, everything changes. From this state of affairs the incentives are drawn.
The bit in bold I agree with, but I dispute that this is an absence of Islam as its root. It is the absence of morality, which is a concept, imho, distinct from religion (in practice). And this is where we find ourselves now, in Ukraine, in Yemen, in Afghanistan, in Iraq… the list goes on. This is why I link these atrocities, Fez. And our governments (where are all the atheist politicians? Which I say because so many see fit to make clear their religious sensibilities) indulge in proxy aggravation of areas of the world to satisfy our greed. What I find impossible to swallow is the disingenuous holding up of hands in despair that governments across the world play-act, when their agency has instigated/aggravated much of the hostility.
Large numbers of people walk this earth thinking that the governments they elected have nothing to do with the strife that devastates the lives of innocent civilians in other countries (let alone their own). I disagree.
Fez, the Russian conditions for withdrawal from the Ukraine include a written guarantee as to the long term neutrality of that country ie. that they will never join Nato or have US military establishments stationed there. So this discussion automatically involves enlargement of the debate to discuss the role of Nato in the World and whether we see it as a truly peace keeping defensive organisation or as a kind of catspaw serving the interests of the USA. For an organization which professes to be only a defensive one it has been involved in enough invasions of other countries sovereignty for the Russians to see it as a threat.They watered their document down a couple of years ago. The old version calls for outright genocide, this is really a minor "legal" adjustment in the light of stricter international law: the core meaning and their own interpretation remain the same.
I make no apology for "offending" the religious. Offence is only taken and they do not have the right not to be offended. Indeed agnostic, atheist and anti-theist politicians are far too far and few between, let alone apistevists (the rejection of Faith) like me.
The only reason that there are poor people in the world is because the rich can't be satisfied.
Whilst I would agree that the lines between the various conflicts around the world can be demonstrated to be blurred, for the sake of this forum I think it is necessary to make the distinction and draw a boundary around the putin aggression and stick with the outfall from the invasion as the topic.
Fez, the Russian conditions for withdrawal from the Ukraine include a written guarantee as to the long term neutrality of that country ie. that they will never join Nato or have US military establishments stationed there. So this discussion automatically involves enlargement of the debate to discuss the role of Nato in the World and whether we see it as a truly peace keeping defensive organisation or as a kind of catspaw serving the interests of the USA. For an organization which professes to be only a defensive one it has been involved in enough invasions of other countries sovereignty for the Russians to see it as a threat.
Sorry, ofh, but Ukraine started formal NATO discussion over thirty years ago, according to the NATO website.It shouldn't be up to the Russians to set any conditions. They have invaded a country that has every right to set its own alliances. Do we really want to see countries that have different values try to impose their views by military force all the time? The Ukraine only started talking about joining Nato after the invasion, and this is not about that. From what I see this is Putin trying the regain his empire.