I still think they're very good.
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I still think they're very good.
https://mronline.org/2021/10/11/bell...ists-in-syria/
I have no idea if this is verifiable and in itself could be misinformation. Or not. Such is the age we live in. And, if I was a defence contractor, I'd be throwing them money as well. "Hey, we might get accused of shit and it would be nice if you could be operational and funded well enough to verify shit that goes down."
You'll need to scroll through the tweets to get the gist. It's in the Times this morning but they're paywalled. A few different people reckon this is a legit assessment inside Russia.
I don't understand how such a massive country can get to the point where one man is so utterly untouchable. I know even in this country we have a carefully constructed cabal of shameless bootlickers for Boris Johnson / any given PM, but there are more than enough checks and balances in the system that any actual human atrocities would be prevented quite easily.
China the same. I guess it's the heir of a socialist system in which the conceit is that one person/party designs the system for everyone else.
There's a bit on that in Hypernormalisation. Surely it's the same now. Nobody really believes in the state, but the state is the state and voicing that you don't believe in the state is a good way to end up dead. So everyone just trudges on in apathetic melancholy.
The UK isn't particularly different. We may not be stuck with Boris Johnson, but we're stuck with people exactly like him and with a system that's utter bollocks.
Even if we're able to change PM, we're still stuck with the same system, just a different face. Budding PMs who have potential to upset the apple cart are quickly hounded out before it gets that far.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Edit: what Spikey said.
Yes but no PM in our system would, for example, be able to send 10,000 young men to die pointlessly in the space of a week because he fancied it. Say what you like but it's a hell of a sight better being an average British person than Russian or Chinese.
That's true. I suppose the one-party system is the perpetrator of that (China de jure, Russia de facto). It allows the ruling party to dish out authoritarianism and propaganda completely unabated unless the general population is up for complete rebellion; even in China and Russia, a good chunk of the population is content enough with life to accept, or at least be oblivious to, the status quo, so full-scale rebellions are pretty much a pipe dream.
Granted, but the lack of ability to change course has the same route cause.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
That said; over the last few years we have normalised authoritarianism to the extent that people actively crave being forced to stay at home and the government can now criminalise any protest they don't like.
We're in a much better position than the Russians and Chinese, but we're closer to their position now than we were 3 years ago.
The FSB twitter thread is interesting, whether it is real or not, and gives credence to my thinking that the danger in 'controlling the information' is that you control it too much - in the same way that government by focus group fails when things like rail disasters happen, because no one gives a fuck about rail safety one day and then the next it's THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE OF THE DAY.
In the same way that Southend will be closer to Man City if they win on Saturday. In this country (and all western countries) you can do and say almost anything you want. Stop the War are free to tweet their absolute shite and go on marches through London. In Russia it's 15 years in jail for claiming that there's currently a war in Ukraine.
I'd say the Johnson government is worse on this count than other recent governments, but mostly I'd put that down to them being unusually thick/lazy and unable to make coherent arguments for anything, so they want to enforce their opinions via law. Future governments will be better.
'route cause' is a new one for the TTH Lexicon.
Actually speaking of the lack of appetite for rebellion, even in Russia maybe the decimation of the economy might stir them up. The Moscow Stock Exchange has been kept closed again this week, and the longer that goes on, the more confidence that is eroded. Hyperinflation is almost a certainty at this point, as even a quick takeover of Ukraine this week (terribly unlikely) would not be enough to reverse course immediately. The problem is I don't think other countries will hold out on the severe sanctions that have set this off for more than several months so the hope is that Russians are active enough to oust Putin before that point.
Again, granted. As I said, we are in a much better position. I'm just saying we're going the wrong way. I'm not sure if it does get better necessarily either. The SNP have more or less turned us into a one party system and they know that. As do Labour, who are responding to this by being utterly useless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
The question becomes how much power does the next government want. Because if Liz fucking Truss is next up, then I might ask 7om if he wants a new flat mate in Nanjing.
This is a funny one. Notwithstanding the prospect of Russia firing on them anyway, the corridor for Kyiv goes to Belarus and the corridor for Kharkiv goes to Russia lol.
:moop:Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
I think this is doing them a bit of a disservice. I'm not sold at all on Starmer Labour but they seemed to realise what was needed of an opposition through the Partygate shite and this war has finally made them draw a line in the sand which in this case is full of security and patriotism vibes, which our population just gets a stonking hard-on for. It's not something that will win a vote per se, but it takes away another excuse for the swing voters to go Tory, which is the correct tactic from them in my opinion. A lot of people voted Tory in 2019 purely for Brexit and not-Corbyn so winning them back should be achievable if you play the right tunes, such as this one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
We're still a little while away from a general election but in the last three months they've gone from no chance to somewhat possible with regards to being the next Government, in my opinion.
Say hello to the mayor of Odessa.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Wu...4b27f9971863d4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modwWKIl2nw
A plausible programme for government is all they'd really need. They haven't had one for, what, 3 electoral cycles? State backed socialism also at a bit of a low ebb geopolitically right now so maybe don't go with that again.
Everyone will be fed up with the Conservatives come the next election, as is ever the case with the pendular nature of our politics, allowing a centrist from the left [not sure if it's Starmer but he's plausible] to saunter to victory.
Edit - I suppose Starmer could be defeated by a Major type [assuming Boris is ousted] in a repeat of 1993, opening the way to TB2 in 2029 or whatever.
I think Keir will win but probably barely or maybe with a minority, which will piss off the jocknats as they desperately need more Tories in England.
I'm surprised they haven't started comparing themselves to Ukraine yet.
Hasn't Wales already jumped the gun on that one?
If Labour manage to win the next election it will be almost entirely down to how terrible the current government has been. They shouldn't need a shambles gift wrapped in order to be a vocal opposition. Starmer is annoyingly good at it when he does take them to task too, which just makes his hesitance all the more baffling.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben
At times he comes across more like a pissed off backbench Tory than he does the leader of the opposition.
I agree almost entirely with that. I think he is treading carefully for a reason: a good amount of their (still secretive) policies aren't that much different from the currently-more-economically-liberal-than-usual Tories, so either he is waiting for them to show their true conservative values to prove he is different (whilst taking the easy wins in PMQs over things like corruption), or he'll base his entire campaign around simply not being a corrupt Tory which might actually be enough given all the ammunition they keep supplying. He's a very skilled barrister so you've got to assume there's a very calculated method to all this apparent hesitancy.
In other news, Russia have announced they arrested 5,000 people yesterday for anti-war protesting (so likely even more), which is more arrests than the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire constabularies managed in the whole of 2021.
A load of shite. Our version of whatever the rolling news on RT looks like atm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben
Can't be that skilled if he pro-nonced Saville. :henn0rz:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben
It struck me as an article written entirely to convince Nato to get militarily involved and that there's absolute no risk, no sir-eee, of WW3 if they do.Quote:
Originally Posted by -james-
The Ukrainians are trying all sorts of shit to try and get NATO involved. It's understandable, but also very naive.
The most straight-forward explanation for Russia and China is that they aren't particularly arsed about [Western-style] democracy. Putin has generally been very popular over his years in charge, and, insofar as you could ever realistically measure it, this war is probably quite popular as well (if only in the abstract - the economic fallout might change things over time).
As for this country, I am inclined to stick to my prediction that the shitty Labour Party won't beat the shitty Conservative Party without some sort of general economic disaster. We are due some of that, but if the government can blame it on Russia then people might give them the benefit of the doubt.
What an odd thread to brag about making the middle class in Top Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
Just caught up with the thread after vwibg away for a few days and it’s interesting to read stuff here as it sort of brings so many different news outlets into the same place.
I have you right. Without a major economic crisis, I just can't see Labour being able to win enough seats. Not with the SNP holding so many Scottish seats, and the Greens, Lib Dems, etc dividing the left still further.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
I think they'll win back most of their traditional seats in the North, so there will be a smaller majority, but I just can't see where the seats come from for a Labour win.
The cost of living will have an impact you'd think.
Imagine if this shadow cabinet was running the country. Jesus wept.
YouGov polls aren't a great indicator but it seems that while the electorate was livid a month ago, they're currently willing to give it all a pass if it's blamed on Russia. Will be interesting if they still cling onto that when the energy cap hits £3,000 in October and wheat and grain is suddenly extortionate (a lot of it comes from Ukraine and they'll not sow any crops this year will they); already unrest in Egypt over this.
Putin's barmy Coeliac army. :drool:
Instead we have Johnson, Truss, Dorries etc. we're so lucky. :cab:Quote:
Originally Posted by Manc
Germans now talking about bringing back national service. Maybe World War III is on its way.
Talk about going full VorsprungDurchtuturn on military policy.
edit - seems they only actually got rid of it 10 years ago. :cab:
Send Kiko in.
I don't think they truly got rid of it. It's quite common even in Europe (Austria for example), and Germany only suspended the requirement for conscription, rather than abolishing it, so it would be easy to bring back.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Yeah but you didn't have to do it in the military.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Back when I learned German (2000s) they all seemed to do their national service making tea for old ladies.
I think most countries with mandatory national service offer the chance to do non-military. Even my mate in Cyprus did some alternative despite them ostensibly being in perpetual stand-off with the Turks.
At some point it was only us and the Greeks and maybe Poland in Europe or something who drafted every male. Obviously you have the choice of civil service or going to jail for a bit if you didn’t fancy the army.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben
Sounds like our version of it is the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.
Yeah, a friend of mine at uni worked with disabled kids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Was he a good teacher?Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
Glass houses.
Russians are apparently stalling our nuclear deal now with Ukraine related requests that have nothing to do with our honorable aim of cleansing the world of hasidic cunts.
Surely that'll be pushed through as we may mitigate the oil crisis somewhat but strange to see.
I saw former president Ahmadinejad tweeting against Putin the other day, I don't know whether his twitter is genuine or operated by a cabal of his enemies who have him trussed up in a wardrobe somewhere, but it was quite interesting.