Russian invasion of Ukraine

[BigDoddyKane]

34 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

I recall being on a train when somebody started talking to two women from the USA.   One of the women was asked what she was studying at university.  She replied "Theology and Latin American Studies".

There was a long pause.

Finally somebody said "Latin American Studies.  What's that all about?"

In the words of the great Dan Quayle "only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people."

 

Edit:

Just googled that and seems Quayle didnt say that, could be it was a joke reported as fact at the time. Was well reported at the time too.

Edited April 21, 2022 by BigDoddyKane

[bennett]

Sending a message to Putin?

 

 

[Hedgecutter]

4 hours ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

Ah yes. The kind of person who gets on the bus and starts talking about gods, and expresses surprise when all the other passengers get off at the same stop. 

Sounds like a top tip to get a bit of space on the bus, or just rid them of those weirdos who wear garments featuring wolves.  Shall bear in mind, thanks.

[Fullerene]

1 hour ago, Hedgecutter said:

Sounds like a top tip to get a bit of space on the bus, or just rid them of those weirdos who wear garments featuring wolves.  Shall bear in mind, thanks.

Either that or you will find yourself sitting beside a true believer who regards you as their new best friend.  Bit risky I think.

[Fullerene]

In other news, in Inverness, I spotted that the old Christian bookshop on Castle Street is now a Whisky Shop.

No hope for us.

[Newbornbairn]

1 hour ago, bennett said:

Sending a message to Putin?

 

 

That's a very interesting 'something' on the back of the US sub. Almost looks like a deep sea submersible. Has anything sunk recently that the Americans might want a look at? <whistle> 

[Salt n Vinegar]

8 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

In other news, in Inverness, I spotted that the old Christian bookshop on Castle Street is now a Whisky Shop.

No hope for us.

How odd. When I see former ecclesiastical buildings being converted to other uses, I'm usually quite pleased. 

At least those working in a whisky shop aren't associated with an imaginary product... 

[falkirkthebigclub]

5 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

That's a very interesting 'something' on the back of the US sub. Almost looks like a deep sea submersible. Has anything sunk recently that the Americans might want a look at? <whistle> 

It's for manganese nodules, m8.

[ICTChris]

 

 

[bennett]

1 hour ago, Newbornbairn said:

That's a very interesting 'something' on the back of the US sub. Almost looks like a deep sea submersible. Has anything sunk recently that the Americans might want a look at? <whistle> 

I thought it was for special forces to exit and enter the sub underwater but not 100% sure.

Edited April 21, 2022 by bennett

[doulikefish]

26 minutes ago, bennett said:

I thought it was for special forces to exit and enter the sub underwater but not 100% sure.

Is it not a rescue mini sub again that can be entered from inside and deployed.I think that it's shaped like that so it fits any subs hatch and the skirt at the bottom means it seals around the hatch,water gets pumped out and anybody trapped can escape as in the film the Hunt for Red October?

 

[Boo Khaki]

1 hour ago, bennett said:

I thought it was for special forces to exit and enter the sub underwater but not 100% sure.

The 'Lockout Trunk' is entirely inside the main hull of the sub. The thing on the back is where the SEAL's store their UV's and bulky gear. You can fit more guys in the trunk if they aren't lugging all that stuff with them. They flood the trunk until water pressure is equalised, the SEAL's then just swim out through a hatch and can open the store to retrieve their delivery vehicles. Some of the subs also have a store compartment in the sail that the divers can access from the outside.

[LongTimeLurker]

On 20/04/2022 at 21:00, beefybake said:

.....You hardly need to search too far on the internet to find the stories of massacres carried out by the British Army in Malaya in the 1950's.

Little reference, is said about the fact that the officer/commanding officer ranks of outfits like 3 Para murdering 13 innocent civilians in Ireland in 1972....

Aden would be more relevant by that point but it's a joke to try to compare how the British Army behaved in places like that to what was happening on home turf in NI.

People only seem to want to remember the monumental cockup on command and control that was Bloody Sunday nowadays and forget how Republican no-go areas were tolerated by the British Army from 1969 until Operation Motorman in 1972. Things went a wee bit differently from that where the handling of something like the Mau Mau insurgency was concerned.

Think people are beginning to lose sight of what was so alarming about this invasion at the outset though. Putin basically decided unilaterally that Ukraine shouldn't even exist as a sovereign state and decided to completely disrupt the prevailing international order by doing something about it. That was late 1930s level stuff with the only significant difference being that Hitler knew how to pull off a successful blitzkrieg.

[Thane of Cawdor]

On 20/04/2022 at 08:23, Detournement said:

I think the 8 year war in Donbass, persecution of Russian speakers, American funded military biolabs, the increasingly Nazi character of the Ukranian state, the refusal to implement the Minsk agreements and the lack of progress in security negotiations justify the war. 

It's similar to Vietnam invading Cambodia in 1978. 

I think most people saw the Vietnamese invasion of Pol Pot's Cambodia, and the Tanzanian invasion of Amin's Uganda, as necessary and justified instances of 'regime change'. The general view was that both men were dangerous and seriously unstable, and who should be removed by any means necessary. Your analogy would only work if Ukraine had invaded Russia to remove the dangerously unstable Putin.

[Fullerene]

32 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Aden would be more relevant by that point but it's a joke to try to compare how the British Army behaved in places like that to what was happening on home turf in NI.

People only seem to want to remember the monumental cockup on command and control that was Bloody Sunday nowadays and forget how Republican no-go areas were tolerated by the British Army from 1969 until Operation Motorman in 1972. Things went a wee bit differently from that where the handling of something like the Mau Mau insurgency was concerned.

Think people are beginning to lose sight of what was so alarming about this invasion at the outset though. Putin basically decided unilaterally that Ukraine shouldn't even exist as a sovereign state and decided to completely disrupt the prevailing international order by doing something about it. That was late 1930s level stuff with the only significant difference being that Hitler knew how to pull off a successful blitzkrieg.

Putin is an old style Soviet.  He thought Ukraine 2022 would be like Hungary 1956 or Czechosolvakia 1968.  The Kremlin decides how things need to be and the rest of the world just has to suck it up.

Not sure he has understood how the world has changed.

[vikingTON]

3 minutes ago, Thane of Cawdor said:

I think most people saw the Vietnamese invasion of Pol Pot's Cambodia, and the Tanzanian invasion of Amin's Uganda, as necessary and justified instances of 'regime change'. 

Erm the Americans and Chinese didn't; they fucking backed the Khmer Rouge as a noble counterweight to the 'Soviet' regime in Vietnam. 

This regime change mantra was simply not how international relations operated at any point prior to the 1990s. And even since then, the entirely selective application of it needs little elaboration. 

[HoBNob]

On 20/04/2022 at 12:18, Detournement said:

 

1300 British troops are fighting illegally in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Shader.

Nope. 

[Salt n Vinegar]

6 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Nope. 

This is most odd. I asked Detournament a question and received no response. You have directly contradicted him, and again no response. 

Time for a search party? 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Just now, Salt n Vinegar said:

Time for a search party? 

 

6 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Nope. 

 

[jagfox]