LongTimeLurker

Doubtful Putin wants what Russians jokingly refer to as Banderastan.

They have already been there since 2014.

Recognition only up to the contact line and the Crimea scenario thereafter is the easy way out of this crisis to some sort of stability but he probably still hopes more breakaway republics emerge in an arc from Kharkov to Odessa so that's no sure thing.

An important thing to remember in all of this is that the Russian Army has been in the DNR and LNR since 2014 even though they officially pretend otherwise. Ukraine would have won outright if they had not intervened at that point.

Think Gary Jardine of Civil Service Strollers is the obvious possible upgrade in LL terms based on who is doing a lot better than you would expect right now on limited resources. Took Edinburgh City into the SPFL previous to that. Other clubs might have the same idea though so who knows how easy that would be to actually achieve, so there's no point changing just for the sake of it if the people who are closest to the situation think the guy they have can turn it around.

Spain would have a stronger case if they hadn't held onto Ceuta and Melilla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceuta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilla

Bear in mind that Elgin getting relegated and Bonnyrigg Rose promoted would mean no relegation from the LL. Recent form at the foot of League Two is making that scenario look more likely than it did earlier in the season.

I'd be wary when eastern Europeans from an area with a history of launching pogroms start peddling that particular number. Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands is worth a read for a history of the famine that unfolded in Ukraine (and neighbouring parts of southern Russia) and the Holocaust because it avoids following any particular nationalist narrative. He highlights how undergoing control by both Stalin and Hitler in quick succession was particularly bad news for the area described by the book's title.

...and because the players they really want to sign aren't going to be available until after the season is over and their contracts expire.

It's based on a local annual holiday for the miners of Bo'ness that long predates the children's fair, which was brought in because the miners' holiday had traditionally been used as an opportunity to get absolutely trollied. https://ichscotland.org/wiki/boness-childrens-fair-festival The Bo'ness Fair takes place annually, generally at the end of June when the school term ends. The Fair as we know it came into being in 1897 but can trace its roots to the Mines Emancipation Act of 1779 which freed miners from the serfdom or virtual slavery under which they and their families lived. They took a holiday from work on a Friday and the Fair has been held on a Friday ever since. The earliest fairs turned into drunken parades... It actually wasn't until 1799 that the miners were really freed from serfdom and my Bo'ness United supporting grandfather's take was always that things weren't hugely better in the 1800s because although they could theoretically get other jobs without getting prosecuted in practice it was still very difficult to do so if you came from a mining family.

There's no point trying to reason with some of these guys. Of course it has raised the profile of the league to some extent and even led to some unusually large crowds. The sensible approach to counter that would be to simply acknowledge that as being case but then go on to explain why other factors such as the OF colts fielding weakened teams during international breaks in a manner that could potentially have impacted promotion and relegation outcomes make their inclusion a net negative overall. That's not the sort of response you will receive though. Childish red dot frenzies and trying to argue that every single aspect of their participation has been negative is more their sort of level.

The semantics don't matter on this, so your post is an absurd waste of time. Hopefully, @bravehearts dad can clarify whether he has heard for sure that they are not getting back in next season.

You know that for certain about the OF colts being kicked out or is that only what you would prefer to happen?

Will be interesting to see what happens on this but think it's important to remember this is still part of the SJFA so an open public park or very basic 3G cage probably isn't going to cut it unlike what happens in the NCL. You are expected to be able to cope with a few hundred fans showing up for an SJC tie and be able to charge admission if they do because the visitors get a share of the gate.

A long forgotten footnote of history is that the Soviet Union asked to join in 1954 shortly after Stalin popped his clogs. The Yeltsin era was a missed opportunity to try to have a better relationship with Russia. What tends to be brushed over by the western media is that the NATO bombing of Serbia and recognition of Kosovo as an independent state tends to be viewed in Moscow in much the same way as the west views Vlad's antics in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea and the Donbas.

St James were able to use St Joseph's old ground and Letham had an unusually good setup for an amateur club regardless of the knockback from the EoS, so who else has access to something similar this time around? Breadalbane do and get mentioned on here whenever this subject crops up but then don't actually apply. Can't think of anyone else with a suitable ground (Stobswell and Osborne's old ground is now a cemetry and a second coming for Bankfoot, Alyth, Errol, Balbeggie or Crieff Earngrove seems unlikely) so that basically makes Luncarty, Jeanfield, Kinnoull and Montrose Roselea the prime suspects to put the old Tayside regional setup back together again but they may be happy where they are.

Most of them probably lived within walking distance in that era. The old ground wasn't that bad back when it still had four sides to it.

The buildup was probably mainly about testing western resolve (didn't blink basically) and reminding Kiev that there's more than just the breakaway republic armed forces to be contended with in the Donbas if newly acquired Turkish drones start to be used in a big way. Biggest disappointment from a light entertainment sort of angle is that Oleh Lyashko, the biggest nutter in Ukrainian politics, didn't feature prominently in what has unfolded:

There could still be a move by the Russian Duma to recognize the two breakaway Donbas republics in the works. That would be another step towards another Crimea style annexation.

He avoided arming Ukraine unlike what happened subsequently so don't think he was flavour of the month in Kiev:

One thing you can count on is that Vlad either sits uncomfortably close or ludicrously far away in meetings with his top officials.

Their president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish so the idea that Ukraine is a hotbed of neo-Nazism in the present day is difficult to sustain.

Such as this part? ... Bandera was an antisemite and Nazi collaborator.[70] ...