Fullerene Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 5 hours ago, Mr Waldo said: I kinda agree with your appraisal of UK, USA leadership, but Putin is a dictator in anything but name. I really do not get the love for 'poor plucky Russia'. If Putin is a monster then we have partly created that monster. Before him, Yeltsin was regarded as a joke - a drunk in charge of a nation of drunks. At first Putin was friendly with the west but it gained him nothing. Countries that had been part of the Soviet sphere were queuing up to join NATO and the EU despite assurances to Russia that that would not happen. I don't blame any of them - the Soviet experience had not been a pleasant one. Putin changed direction, became more combative with the west, and it didn't seem to do him any harm. Russia has always feared invasion and encroachment as well. Despite its enormous size - it has very poor access to the open sea and unusually has to go through hostile waters to get there. I recall one magazine asking "Could Russia ever join NATO or the EU?" Bizarrely it suggested that if Russia and the West got too friendly then this might be seen as a reproachment of "Christian" countries that would then pose a threat to the "Muslim" world and then terrorists would attack both Russia and the west. That was years before 9-11. I wish I had kept that article. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 HMS Defender is a type 45 destroyer (the ones who had to be recently refitted as it was discovered they couldn't function properly in the heat of the Persian Gulf). The type 45's principal role is to protect the UK fleet against aircraft or missile attacks and is armed with anti-aircraft missiles. They can also be used in anti submarine operations. The type 45 is equipped with 2 helicopters. They are hardly the USS Nimitz (which first entered service in 1968. Interesting how old some warships can be). If we were trolling the Russians then it was with the UK navy's equivalent of the "Bears", the Tupulov T95 (which first entered service in 1952!) that Ivan occasionally sends over the North Sea to annoy the flyboys in Lossiemouth. Basically something that is unlikely to do your country much damage on the whole but you don't want to shoot down/sink as it might lead to complications. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 On 24/06/2021 at 17:38, Fullerene said: At first Putin was friendly with the west but it gained him nothing. This was it, a huge opportunity blown by politicians eager to keep swigging the champagne for winning the cold war, something that few if any of them had a hand in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty dingus Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) Why do we have a Destroyer out in the Black Sea when it could be off the coast of France taking out those pesky fishermen. Edited June 25, 2021 by dirty dingus 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 The BBC Radio Scotland drive time producer hired Kevin Mcguire and Edwina Currie to bring their vaudeville debating skills to bear on Hancock's corruption. In doing so they lowered the tone to an "and finally" puff piece. Quite clever really. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspect Device Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 All the main online news sites I skim through in the morning have the by election as top story. Except the BBC. Strange. It's in the politics section but not the main news. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, Suspect Device said: All the main online news sites I skim through in the morning have the by election as top story. Except the BBC. Strange. It's in the politics section but not the main news. It's the lead story on the home, news, UK, England and politics pages as I click them 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspect Device Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 1 minute ago, sophia said: It's the lead story on the home, news, UK, England and politics pages as I click them Must be because I'm not in the UK. Lead story is about Australia's covid outbreak. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, Suspect Device said: Must be because I'm not in the UK. Lead story is about Australia's covid outbreak. That's correct, they take you, I think, to their world page depending upon location 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Nosejob Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Interesting choice in their ranking of related topics, however. Especially given Labour won it. Or am I just being paranoid? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speckled tangerine Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 14 minutes ago, TAFKAM said: This really is as described. Mental. Fucking hell. Since when did an entertainment piece, a review and personal opinion require an intervention from a Government spokesman? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Venom Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Interesting choice in their ranking of related topics, however. Especially given Labour won it. Or am I just being paranoid?To be honest that's probably just a content team member placing links on a page, doubt there's much more to it than that.(Which is what they want me to think) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 I’ve had such a strange 2007 day today where I’ve listened to Supermassive Black Hole and Swastika Eyes because of the internet 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speckled tangerine Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 20 minutes ago, NotThePars said: I’ve had such a strange 2007 day today where I’ve listened to Supermassive Black Hole and Swastika Eyes because of the internet The great days of being a postie before this park and loop bullshit, on delivery with headphones in listening to these tunes on XFM scotland. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 hours ago, NotThePars said: I’ve had such a strange 2007 day today where I’ve listened to Supermassive Black Hole and Swastika Eyes because of the internet Swastika Eyes came out in 1999! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'Kelly Isley III Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 5 hours ago, TAFKAM said: This really is as described. Mental. They'll be after him following a recent profile piece in the Guardian Saturday magazine when he didn't miss the Tories and hit the wall. f**k them, with the Covid fig-leaf now slipping the Brexit shitfest will eventually do for them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Detournement said: Swastika Eyes came out in 1999! I first heard in 2007 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 I note that in Glasgow, the BBC have taken the editorial decision to avoid referring to the country of England as England. Instead they are favouring "down south". This greatly confused me this morning as after repeatedly referring to the country of England as down south, they proceeded to a weather forecast that referred to the south west. I assumed the county of Dumfries or thereabouts but it could have equally been somewhere in the country of down south. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTG Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 9 hours ago, sophia said: I note that in Glasgow, the BBC have taken the editorial decision to avoid referring to the country of England as England. Instead they are favouring "down south". This greatly confused me this morning as after repeatedly referring to the country of England as down south, they proceeded to a weather forecast that referred to the south west. I assumed the county of Dumfries or thereabouts but it could have equally been somewhere in the country of down south. Do you have a link? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 2 hours ago, HTG said: Do you have a link? GMS on Radio Scotland from 06:00 this morning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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