Russia Invades ukraine

[Mark J]

35 minutes ago, difflock said:

I dont know whether to laugh or cry.

Do both, it's Friday. 

[difflock]

16 minutes ago, Johnsond said:

try finding Schedule D taxation for Divers and Dive Supervisors only involved in oil and gas exploration/recovery within the HMRC guidance. 

Are you saying that you lot were earning so much, sans UK tax, such that HMRC found it necessary to write specific regulation just for younz?

wow!

Impressive.

[Baldbloke]

The threats of joining NATO was possibly the final straw for Putin. Not that it’s excusable, but someone previously mentioning buffer zones had a valid point. This along with the potential of Russia losing access to Black Sea ports for trade and military use.

Reference to Ukraine being a European country seems a bit of a stretch by the Media and western governments.

It’s no wonder there’s no appetite for outside countries engaging Russian troops or planes. It’s only Russia and China that have hypersonic nuclear missiles. Imagine what would happen if Russia was being taught a lesson in a ground war by arrogant western forces with such a nutter in control of these weapons.

The Media might be acting with their usual judge and jury attitude, but I’m happy that any Blair type gung ho wankerism is absent.

 

Personally I’d isolate Russia from all and any trade including oil product export. With tax on fuel all governments have adequate leeway to temporarily take a tax loss, and encourage the ramping up of production from existing fields to make up the deficit, although I realise not all types of crude are useable for all applications. Russia’s continuing access to oil revenues is merely aiding and funding the continuation of conflict as most of these oil reserves/revenues are state owned and controlled.

You only have to look at a map to see why the West is so keen to make Ukraine a western state and why Putin doesn’t concur.

It’s also a vast country with a high agricultural output. We can expect the price of our future loaves of bread to rocket alongside our fuel costs.

 

 

[nepia]

I was told yesterday that this is a bad analogy but it works for me.  The West has been cosying up to Ukraine for a while: how would the US behave if Russia had been behaving likewise to Mexico?  OK 'the enemy' isn't the next country beyond Mexico as is the case with Ukraine but that buffer word returns to mind.

 

Not that I want to appear a Putin apologist or sympathiser (too much!); I've said before that I see him as a grubby little psycopath.  He wants go down in history as an empire builder.

Little man, big big ego

[Johnsond]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

Are you saying that you lot were earning so much, sans UK tax, such that HMRC found it necessary to write specific regulation just for younz?

wow!

Impressive.

Lo no 

it was a throw back from the early days of the North Sea ops 

Put in place to stop foreign guys “ mainly American “ jetting in and out and paying nothing in the way of tax. 

[Stere]

Quote

PUTIN’S USEFUL IDIOTS
2
Executive Summary
x Over the past five years, there has been a marked tendency for European populists, from
both the left and the right of the political spectrum, to establish connections with Vladimir
Putin’s Russia. Those on the right have done so because Putin is seen as standing up to the
European Union and/or defending “traditional values” from the corrupting influence of
liberalism. Those on the left have done so in part because their admiration for Russia
survived the end of the Cold War and in part out of ideological folly: they see anybody who
opposes Western imperialism as a strategic bedfellow.

 

https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Putins-Useful-Idiots.pdf

 

Liking Putin is common ground among Trumpists and Corbynistas

[Mark J]

Foundations of Geopolitics - Wikipedia

EN.M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

The 'Content' section is worth a browse.

[Logdaft]

[Stere]

Many in Finland and  Sweden must now be now re-thinking wether to join NATO?

[trigger_andy]

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