To think, "Well said Prince Charles!"

[FrancesNiadova]

I agree with the news commentators who say he shouldn't be writing to cabinet ministers, trying to influence policy. However, Putin, invading countries & handing out Russian passports, is behaving like a land-grabbing dictator.
Prince Charles is not the King, yet, so he is maximising his opportunity to say, well, what we're all thinking, basically.
I remember the controversy of the State Visit of the Chinese President. Instead of joining the formal greeting party & banquet, he booked himself to attend a much more minor event in Cornwall, to show his disgust for human rights abuses. The snub was not missed by the Chinese & the media.
Is it unreasonable to be pleased that he speaks out & a bit by the bad press he's getting for it!

No he isn't trapped, he perfectly at liberty to say 'nah this isn't for me' and give up any claim to the throne and spout his batshit crazy views all over the shop. However this would involve giving up the power, the trappings and the flunkies.

Haven't you considered the possibility that he (and the Queen) put up with this not because they like "the power, the trappings and the flunkies" but because they have been brought up from birth to believe that it is their duty to do so.

Charles is 100% correct and says things the politicians know but are too scared to say
Putin is acting just like Hitler in his early days.
Putin has started picking on gays just like Hitler started picking on Jews.
Putin has made trouble in neighbouring countries as an excuse to send in troops, just like Hitler did.
Putin has very dodgy 'democracy' just like Hitler did.

I think Charles is very probably a decent bloke. He's going to be a very bad King though. Too much holding forth, activism, politicisation, and sucking up to whichever American billionaire is prepared to finance his latest hobby horses. And Poundbury. That place is creepy.

I worry that it shows he doesn't understand the monarchy system we have in this country.

Yes he is entitled to his views - but he should have the brains to express them to select few in private with no media nearby to record them and he shouldn’t interfere with the elected governments polices or relationships with foreign governments.

That doesn't change even on the rare occasions I actual agree with him.

Or is it more likely that he understands it but is determined to alter it as he likes? I once read that PC actually believes in the divine right of kings. Strange if true.

I admire Prince Charles' forthrightness, especially on this issue.

Putin is displaying many characteristics of a dictator; dodgy elections, when he wasn't president he installed his deputy as a puppet; free speech & having different political viewpoints are not allowed, (think Pussy Riot); demonising an innocent group of the population; annexing countries & handing out passports.

Putin is not some regular politician, during the cold war he rose up the ranks of the KGB, I wonder how many he sent to the Soviet Gulags? He also supported the Stasi in East Germany.
The journalist, Anna Politkovskaya wrote that he was a dictator, she was murdered in her apartment.
The Putin murders are infamous. A bomb killed 94 in a Moscow suburb, next another 118 were killed. Putin blamed the Chechens, declared their parliament illegitimate & invaded Chechnya as his troops just happened to be massed on the border.
Suddenly, Putin is upset because a foreign dignitary dares to make a comment about his invasion of Crimera & his dictator profile. Boo Hoo, he's so predictable he makes me laugh or weep.

Well said HRH!

I don't think anyone is arguing that PC is wrong about Putin being dreadful though. The question is whether PC should have said anything in circs where it was very likely to be picked up and reported.

Crimea!

Uncle there were many in Austria who welcomed Anschluss, that was not 'one-sided and embarrassingly facile' either.

The parallels with the situation in the Ukraine are there.

Jews in Crimea are being told they have to register themselves.

SERIOUSLY???

SURELY NOT!

Ad hoc groups of pro-Russian activists are supposed to have handed out leaflets telling Jews to register. It is not suggested by anyone (as far as I know) that any government or mainstream political party has called for this.

That is horrendous. This should be headline news. I don't care who speaks out now.

YANBU. Newspapers have been drawing parallels with the annexation of Czechoslovakia for weeks. I don't see what the fuss is about really.

Yes - Denzil is right - but ad hoc or not it is happening.

are you sure?

Well. I read it the newspaper and heard it on the radio. Can we ever be sure of anything?

From the Telegraph in April

9.20 Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings have been told told they have to “register” with the Ukrainians who are trying to make the city become part of Russia, according to reports.
Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city’s Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee “or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated,” according to Ukrainian and Israeli media.
Emanuel Shechter, in Israel, said his friends in Donetsk sent him a copy of the leaflet through social media.
“They told me that masked men were waiting for Jewish people after the Passover eve prayer, handed them the flyer and told them to obey its instructions,” he said.
Consequences for non-compliance will result in citizenship being revoked “and you will be forced outside the country with a confiscation of property.” A registration fee of $50 would be required, it said.

Sallyingforth Thu 22-May-14 13:21:53

Charles is 100% correct and says things the politicians know but are too scared to say
Putin is acting just like Hitler in his early days.
Putin has started picking on gays just like Hitler started picking on Jews.
Putin has made trouble in neighbouring countries as an excuse to send in troops, just like Hitler did.
Putin has very dodgy 'democracy' just like Hitler did.

My opinion is that Chazzer has underthought this. Instead of reacting with force to western, mostly American, provocation, Putin has got his revenge by selling gas to China, and by using local currency is signalling the end of the dollar as world currency.

Putin's 'anti-gay' law is similar to Section 28, namely that the so called gay lifestyle cannot be promoted.

Putin did not cause trouble in Ukraine, that was the US of A. They even admitted to spending $5Bn undermining Yanukovich in order to instal Yatseniuk as their puppet. Crimea voted to join Russia and saw little to no violence, unlike the de facto coup in Kiev. I take it you didn't see the fascists burn down the trades union building in Odessa with a death toll of over 100?

^ Al that is only a few clicks away. It's very easy to find online. AFP is a good source.

Also, Putin isn't putting bounties on journalists covering Ukraine, unlike the Ukrainian authorities, then when they're captured lying about their profession.

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ExitPursuedByABear Thu 22-May-14 14:59:25

Jews in Crimea are being told they have to register themselves.

Not this utter nonsense again. That particular piece of bunkum was revealed as a hoax as far back as March. What is true though is Jews in Ukraine are being told to get out. Again, the information is there if you can be bothered to look.

OP - I agree with you and whilst I don't agree with all that Chazzer says I like the fact he says what he damn well thinks - and it's what a lot of us are thinking. I'm appalled by Putin - no one cares what I say but I think people will care what he says. No other senior figure in the UK will say anything will they!

I'm not keen on Charles and don't usually agree on what he says. But this time he is spot on. Well said Charles!

5foot5

Haven't you considered the possibility that he (and the Queen) put up with this not because they like "the power, the trappings and the flunkies" but because they have been brought up from birth to believe that it is their duty to do so.

Well then if his duty means that much to him, he should actually do it by shutting the fuck up and stop meddling in political affairs and start acting like a head of state in waiting rather than undermining the authority of the institution he will one day head.

DoctorTwo
Do you work for RT by any chance?

Putin injected special forces into Crimea to start the revolt. We all saw them on TV in their anonymous but very professional uniforms and equipped with the latest Russian weapons. They have caused similar unrest in other regions.

What many forget is that the UK has a changing elected parliament to make policy and a permanent, non-ruling, supposedly non-political head of state (the monarch) to act as a figurehead and encourage unity

It's not about whether Charles is right or not, but whether he should have made a highly political remark in public at all, since there's no mechanism for holding him to account - at least not without parliament voting for his removal, which is possible in principle but very unlikely in practice

As others have said, unfortunately he wants it both ways - and as we've seen so often, what Charles wants Charles expects to get no matter what the cost is to others

This