Russian invasion of Ukraine

[VincentGuerin]

21 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

48 minutes ago, beefybake said:

Fair enough.   The next question is fairly obviously who in the various UK media outlets, inc BBC, stopped programmes like this being broadcast, or printed
well before now.  Scared of all the London lawyers paid by the oligarchs ?
Or ?

There's no conspiracy, the public stopped programmes like that from being broadcast by not giving a f**k.

Absolutely.

It's easy to see more to it than there is, but the reality is that nobody gave a flying f**k about dodgy money coming in from Russia or from anywhere else. People were far more interested in Mourinho's press conferences than who was paying him or where the money was made.

One thing that will be interesting to see is what lasting impact the current climate has on sportwashing. The questioning to Eddie Howe is a big improvement on what we got before, and I hope it continues. Likewise Tuchel being asked to answer questions about the origin of his massive salary. Hopefully they give a bit more of it to Guardiola too.

It's overdue, but attitudes have shifted, ignorance of what is happening is much lower now than before, and you'll never see a club given such as easy ride over ownership again.

[ICTChris]

I think there are a number of reasons why people didn’t care about guys like Abramovitch. One is that I think the governments and societies thought, or made themselves think, that these oligarchs were a necessary price of the transition from soviet communism to liberal democracy. These guys were ruthless and got rich in ways that are distasteful but this was the start of the new Russia. By offering the expertise and services od the world leading City we can help civilise these emerging markets. The fact that there was huge dollops of cash to be made no doubt helped people come to this view.

The other reason is that it was all very exciting for the Premiership, which was dominated by Arsenal and Man Utd in the years preceding Abramovichs takeover. The top two had been the same for the previous seven seasons. Someone throwing this sort money was novel and that side of it drowned out any concerns about the source.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

BBC1 Panorama tonight, in a few minutes, at 20.00 hours.   
Reveal of documents that show Roman Abramovitch's  corrupt acquisition of Russian oil company.
Criminal cartel of low-bidders in government auction of oil company Sibneft.
Abramovich paid around $250m (£190m) for Sibneft, then sold to back to the Russian government for $13bn in 2005.
 
 
 

The way this is bring reported you'd think it was a big secret - it's been common knowledge for a long time.

We were discussing it last week before this "publication".

It's not exactly cutting edge journalism to prove Abramovich is a crook.

[coprolite]

1 minute ago, ICTChris said:

I think there are a number of reasons why people didn’t care about guys like Abramovitch. One is that I think the governments and societies thought, or made themselves think, that these oligarchs were a necessary price of the transition from soviet communism to liberal democracy. These guys were ruthless and got rich in ways that are distasteful but this was the start of the new Russia. By offering the expertise and services od the world leading City we can help civilise these emerging markets. The fact that there was huge dollops of cash to be made no doubt helped people come to this view.

The other reason is that it was all very exciting for the Premiership, which was dominated by Arsenal and Man Utd in the years preceding Abramovichs takeover. The top two had been the same for the previous seven seasons. Someone throwing this sort money was novel and that side of it drowned out any concerns about the source.

The wider political culture at the time was conducive to it as well. Remember Mandleson saying he was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" 

The tide hadn't yet gone out. 

[ICTChris]

The woman who ran onto the set of the news was an employee of state TV. She pre recorded a statement, translation here

 

[Sergeant Wilson]

1 hour ago, beefybake said:

BBC1 Panorama tonight, in a few minutes, at 20.00 hours.   

Reveal of documents that show Roman Abramovitch's  corrupt acquisition of Russian oil company.

Criminal cartel of low-bidders in government auction of oil company Sibneft.

Abramovich paid around $250m (£190m) for Sibneft, then sold to back to the Russian government for $13bn in 2005.

 

 

 

My flabber has never been so gasted!

[O'Kelly Isley III]

7 minutes ago, coprolite said:

The wider political culture at the time was conducive to it as well. Remember Mandleson saying he was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" 

The tide hadn't yet gone out. 

Indeed.  And a bit off-topic we now have the multi-millionaire Rod Stewart out fixing potholes and bleating about his Essex local authority.  Some of us are old enough to remember when there were less filthy fucking rich and a more equitable distribution of money across society.  Maybe Rod should check JK Galbraith's quote about private wealth and public squalor, because that's the world we all now inhabit.

[jagfox]

8 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Indeed.  And a bit off-topic we now have the multi-millionaire Rod Stewart out fixing potholes and bleating about his Essex local authority.  Some of us are old enough to remember when there were less filthy fucking rich and a more equitable distribution of money across society.  Maybe Rod should check JK Galbraith's quote about private wealth and public squalor, because that's the world we all now inhabit.

When was this utopian period?

[Shandon Par]

31 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

The way this is bring reported you'd think it was a big secret - it's been common knowledge for a long time.

We were discussing it last week before this "publication".

It's not exactly cutting edge journalism to prove Abramovich is a crook.

Who does Abramovich think he is eh? Scottish Power?

[Dan Steele]

4 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Who does Abramovich think he is eh? Scottish Power?

Oligarch wages for Utilities directors. Oh, as you were.

[welshbairn]

15 minutes ago, jagfox OG said:

When was this utopian period?

I think in the 70s directors' salaries were roughly 10 times that of the average employee, now they're more like a hundred times. 

[D Angelo Barksdale]

Elon now offering Putin a square go. She has most definitely turned the weans against him.

 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

13 minutes ago, jagfox OG said:

When was this utopian period?

There never was a Utopia, but the UK I lived in prior to 1979 was a fairer society.

[ICTChris]

Russia want the Chinese to sell them military ration packs.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/us-china-russia-ukraine/index.html
 

 

[Andre Bo]

49 minutes ago, coprolite said:

The wider political culture at the time was conducive to it as well. Remember Mandleson saying he was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" 

The tide hadn't yet gone out. 

Peter Mandelson who liked to hang about on Oleg Deripaska's super yacht with George Osborne.

[vikingTON]

1 minute ago, Detective Jimmy McNulty said:

Elon now offering Putin a square go. She has most definitely turned the weans against him.

 

If Musk really wanted to bring down the Putin regime then he could just have Tesla design all their military hardware. 

[Clown Job]

1 minute ago, ICTChris said:

Russia want the Chinese to sell them military ration packs.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/us-china-russia-ukraine/index.html
 

 

Steve doesn’t rate the Chinese MRE’s 

 

[Welly boy]

53 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

The woman who ran onto the set of the news was an employee of state TV. She pre recorded a statement, translation here

 

 Lets hope that isn't the last time she’s seen alive.

[Clown Job]

 

[Fullerene]

58 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

I think there are a number of reasons why people didn’t care about guys like Abramovitch. One is that I think the governments and societies thought, or made themselves think, that these oligarchs were a necessary price of the transition from soviet communism to liberal democracy. These guys were ruthless and got rich in ways that are distasteful but this was the start of the new Russia. By offering the expertise and services od the world leading City we can help civilise these emerging markets. The fact that there was huge dollops of cash to be made no doubt helped people come to this view.

People use the term "oligarch" as if this is a uniquely Russian thing.

In reality the view was that if Russia became capitalist then like other capitalist countries some people would become obscenely rich but that's okay because that is how capitalism works and there would some sort of trickle down of all that money - except that there wasn't.

Anyone who thinks these oligarchs (I.e. Russian Billionaires) alone are disgustingly rich should also be aware that the three richest men in America have more money than the poorest half of America.