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Ukraine-invasion-part-16

991 replies

PestorPeston · 22/03/2022 23:46

Warsaw Russian is letting out a lot of smoke - there has been no decision on who among them will be the next pontiff.

Biden is going there Friday

Is Boris Johnson the designated survivor?

Who the heck let me be in charge?

OP posts:
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18
Sorryfornamechanging · 26/03/2022 19:39

I’m so behind with what’s going on - who has been telling a rat story? I need to go and read the Financial Times free content, I haven’t looked at the news in a few days.

@catgirl1976 I’m exactly the same. Booked a weekend away for next weekend without DS and now I’m panicking about it (which is nuts I know but I have anxiety issues (diagnosed)). Hence why I dip in and out of the news at the moment.

baroqueandblue · 26/03/2022 19:40

Yep, many will disagree with my taking exception today, and that's fine. I get it. Many believe we have a right to play them at their own game, etc. But I cannot take seriously a world leader who thinks bringing 'God' into it in the 21st century is wise, useful, or credible. He might as well invoke the tooth fairy, it would do as much good. Actually, it would probably be safer. I mean, he's speaking for NATO as an alliance of countries, within which there's a lot of secularism. We don't all want him invoking such a historically dangerous and inflammatory entity!

TiddyTidTwo · 26/03/2022 19:56

The whole speech. No script. Watch how quiet he goes when he met the Ukrainian children. There's no denying his emotion.

This is a proper, real speech. He means it now he's seen first hand what it's all about.

BreadInCaptivity · 26/03/2022 20:04

@TiddyTidTwo

The whole speech. No script. Watch how quiet he goes when he met the Ukrainian children. There's no denying his emotion.

This is a proper, real speech. He means it now he's seen first hand what it's all about.

I agree.

Ijsbear · 26/03/2022 20:06

@Sorryfornamechanging

The story which Putin retells often is when he was a late teen, he was hunting rats (he grew up in squalid conditions). He cornered a big one and instead of running away, it leapt straight at his face. He was the one who ended up running away.

AgnesWestern · 26/03/2022 20:06

@catgirl1976 I’m the same. I was feeling okay yesterday, now sheer terror again.

TheHateIsNotGood · 26/03/2022 20:09

I'm probably on the wrong thread to ask this, but I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to expand the UK sponsor/hosting Ukrainian Refugee system to Afghani Refugees too.

I haven't yet registered for the Ukrainian Refugee Scheme as many with better accommodation to offer than me have done so already and hopefully things will 'turn' in Ukraine enough so that the 150,000+ homes opening their doors to refugees won't be needed.

I remember a similar 'call' going out in the 1990s for homes willing to open their doors for Kosovan Refugees - I registered and later received a letter stating it was ok, no longer needed. I still have it.

Let's add Afghani Refugees to this Hosting/Sponsoring System too.

Andouillette · 26/03/2022 20:11

"But as I noted 1/10th what the DUP got as a bung to keep the Tories in power. This was about 5 minutes after Theresa May patiently explained to a nurse there was "no magic money tree" for NHS pay rises."

Not sure that's actually true. I remember it as being 1 billion and not actually for the DUP, it was increased spending for NI. The DUP would have mainly controlled it of course as Arlene Foster was First Minister at the time. Do you hve evidence to the contrary?

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 20:33

Interesting he mentioned the pope.

I asked if the Pope had said more, given more condemnation early on and I was absolutely slammed down for being out of touch, irrelevant and how no one in Belarus or Russia cares about the pope.

Personally I think totally making it a God thing is cringy.
As pp said most countries are secular.
However, what the pope did in 1979 was extraordinary and aksd amazing.

That's why I asked if this pope had sent a strong message.

I feel rather vindicated that I mentioned the popeSmile

Ljsbear re the cornered rat I agree 🤣.

However as op said Pootin doesn't have to behave like a corner rat does he.

I think it would be the perfect time for any country who wants to join NATO to declare it right now.
Definitely.

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 20:37

Anyway I'm very pleasantly surprised by the strength and clarity of this speech.

But it begs the question... why can't he be like this in the White House? This is fabulous;

He's speaking clearly.. not slurring his word's.
I know he's got the speech issue but not now?

Obscene;!
Audacity.... might will make right...

Right make's might.

grannysbay · 26/03/2022 20:41

Sorry... not a regular poster, but the God references may be relevant to Putin. I seem to remember one of the original stated Russian aims was the reunification of the Russian and Ukranian churches. Does Ukraine sit with Istanbul, rather than Russia?

TiddyTidTwo · 26/03/2022 20:41

Isn't the pope thing a nod to the polish? I dunno I'm not into religious crap.

TiddyTidTwo · 26/03/2022 20:45

Paper* * arent the whitehouse trying to dilute some of his speech. Well binden is in Poland, he's seeing it for himself. He's in it now. He's right. That speech came from the heart and that's why I believe he spoke so well (for the first time ever!)

TheABC · 26/03/2022 20:47

We may be (mostly) secular here in the UK but a lot of the USA has a strong faith, as does Biden himself. If there is ever a time for invoking God(s), a war like this qualifies.

I think it will take a blooming miracle to remove Putin (but then, I thought the same about Saddam Hussein, so what do I know?).

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 20:49

Yes Poland Catholic And pope's actions were incredibly powerful in the fall of the iron curtain.

Yes Putin tried to make it a God war.

Look does it matter.. surely it's every shoulder to the wheel all religions leader's should be screaming into the war void...in whatever your god's name is ; stop.
???

Anyway...I'm mightily impressed.

Very impressed!!

Very impressed.

He out classes Putin. Makes him look like the gangster thug he is.

Phew. Thank you biden!!

TiddyTidTwo · 26/03/2022 20:51

I'm impressed too!! I was no Biden fan but I think I'm seeing the real Biden now.

That speech was churchillian. Well not quite but near enough!

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 20:54

Well I imagine they are panicking about regime change;

Very in the thick of it could be a huge gaff!

If I was Putin watching this I'd honestly feel somewhere just inside a teeny bit ashamed.

Tbh really all the smaller countries should either apply for NATO or.. and probably better make their own special " Putin anti aggression alliance* for countries that are at Risk for what happened to Ukraine.

Right now whilst he's on the back foot.

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 20:55

Same tiddy.

I've felt very frustrated with him until now.
Very disappointed and that exit from Afghanistan!

blueshoes · 26/03/2022 20:56

I was blown away by Biden's speech. It felt like he spoke from the heart. A true statesman, on this occasion.

Frivolous question: Biden did not seem to have notes. Did he have an autocue or equivalent? How did he do it?

EsmaCannonball · 26/03/2022 20:57

Nothing says regime change like invading a country, murdering thousands of its citizens, sending in mercenaries to kill its president, and kidnapping its politicians and replacing them with ones of your choosing (including that one in Melitopol, who is now apparently blocking the distribution of humanitarian aid that has been sent to the city, with it being given to Russian soldiers or sold off.)

So tired of anything the West or Ukraine says or does being accused of being escalatory or poking the bear when the escalation is all on one side and the bear is already on the rampage.

MarshaBradyo · 26/03/2022 20:58

Reading up on elections in Russia I probably saw it at the time but his constitutional reform to get round two term limit is even worse now. Although he probably wouldn’t have gone anyway.

MarshaBradyo · 26/03/2022 20:59

On the speech I haven’t listened to whole thing but I’m more inclined to say why should we tread so lightly at all times when he’s trampling over peoples lives.

TiddyTidTwo · 26/03/2022 21:00

Christ that exit from Afghanistan was abysmal. Unforgivable really.

But he wasn't there. Now he's in Europe he's seeing it with own eyes.

Afghanistan is different from Europe though, obviously, but maybe it's turned his head away from the big ol US for a bit and realise if Europe goes down then his biggest ally will go down. I do also think him seeing the devastation and those children made a difference. He really was emotional talking about them

YoshysMum · 26/03/2022 21:03

Kharkiv nuclear research reactor hit - reports

A nuclear research reactor in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, has been hit by Russian shelling, according to authorities cited in a Ukrainian news outlet.

The Kyiv Independent said because of constant shelling in the area, in the north east of the country, authorities have been unable to assess the damage to the site.

Russia has been repeatedly criticised for targeting nuclear power plants in Ukraine, such as the Zhaporizhia nuclear plant in the south east.

Though risky, there has so far been no release of radioactive material from this site.

ScrollingLeaves · 26/03/2022 21:03

“TiddyTidTwo

Isn't the pope thing a nod to the polish? I dunno I'm not into religious crap.“

I think it as very much a nod to the Polish.

“John Paul II has long been credited with being instrumental in bringing down communism in Catholic Eastern Europe by being the spiritual inspiration behind its downfall and a catalyst for peaceful revolution in Poland.
en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
Holy See–Soviet Union relations - Wikipedia”