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Good post.

Also, Holt calling out fans and employees of NUFC. He works for the fucking Mail

We’re not allowed to point out what a hypocritical cunt that hypocritical cunt Oliver Holt is

Maguire

I mean, I think I can follow along in agreement right up until his refusal to engage the elephant in the room, i.e. nuclear weapons. If this was an entirely conventional war with no prospect of chemical or nuclear weaponry being introduced, then I would more or less agree with him - however, if we don't give Putin an off ramp he may simply conclude that he has no choice but to go down swinging. If he does that, it's just bad. For everyone. Now, I'm still not at all convinced Putin is minded to use any nukes, but if he was faced with total defeat then even for me that assumption changes somewhat. Moreover, what he's calling for is basically regime change. I mean what happens if Putin pulls out of Ukraine? Do we go in after his forces? How do we 'force' the issue? I'm not sure sanctions will be enough to do that - over time all they'll do is encourage Russia to pivot their economy to China. On the other side, we absolutely cannot trust Russia to honour any sort of agreement. Realistically though, I think our best bet is just to wait for him to die.

Have you seen Winter on Fire on Netflix? This whole war was caused by Ukraine's potential ascension to the EU in 2014.

In other words sucker there is no other

Tbf it’s dead unfair on them as the entire league treats them like a cup final, it’s definitely not because they’re a shite club and have found their level. Looks like they’ll be playing Forest Green Rovers next year

Erikson scores with his first touch.

Mostly smoking a fag at the same time.

No

What the author is calling for is the complete humiliation of Putin. He will never agree to that. But why should we offer Putin any concessions? He isn’t in a position of power, he’s losing and will soon be looking for a way out himself. As Rayvin says, nukes are the key here. I’m not sure that Putin can even use them if he wanted to. I don’t think that Russia’s military doctrine would allow them to use nuclear weapons so it depends on whether the military would obey what would be an unlawful order. What I expect is that Russia will begin more widespread use of chemical weapons. The question is how much of this will the West put up with? Quite a lot would be my guess. And if nuclear weapons are used in Ukraine then how do we react?

Keeper probably should have done better there.

Happy mother's Day!

And worse goal difference than those above them (-4 from closest)

Had the misfortune of bumping into some kind of catch-all "the vaccine is poison / Covid is a hoax / people are sheep / revolutionary change is coming because [unspecified reasons involving free thinking]" demo at Monument this afternoon. Does this happen often now? The atmosphere around it seemed a lot more chilled out than I'd expect given you had people with megaphones spouting hate in the middle of town on a busy sunny day, so have people just got used to ignoring them until they go away?

Socrates used to do it all the time

Without any games in hand on anyone above them too which means they basically can’t lose, or can’t lose more than once, in the next seven games. Lovely, lovely stuff

Out of the top six now.....

I don't know about Milne but I honestly think some people hate the US so much in terms of what it stands for - capitalism rather than freedom - that it blinds them to objective analysis. The fact that Russia has been actively infecting our societies with their bullshit is the thing that really shows this IMO. I mean how do these leftwingers reconcile that, I can't get my head around it. He's literally supporting far right movements in the West that in any other conversation they'd be screaming about. I think the truth actually is that they hate the US more than anything else. They hate white supremacy a bit, but it's mostly a stick to beat the US with. If it was genuine and deep rooted, they'd hate Putin too. But nah, I keep reading about how Putin is just doing to us what we did to him, that the US supports the far right elsewhere etc. And I mean ok, but you condemn the US supporting the far right. You never shut up about it. You condemn the far right in our own countries. Where is your righteous fury for Russia, who are supporting it? The left should despise Putin absolutely. He stands against everything we believe in, if we are true to our principles. They can despise the US too, but consistency of principle demands they must despise Putin. And they don't, and I just don't get it.

Crimeans voting in favour of joining Russia was obviously in no way a staged referendum. Certainly Putin would never do something like this.

They still think Russia = "idealistic socialist utopia" instead of the fascist pariah gangster state its been for 30 years, the fuckin stupid bastards

i stopped reading when you linked to a Seumas Milne oped, sorry.

Yes that whole issue will have serious domestic ramifications clearly. The longer it goes on the more will come and the higher the associated costs become. You're quite right, it could force some hands.

Perhaps you're right. Or perhaps all Cold War era technology is in the same state of readiness as the Russian armed forces. It looks like nothing has had a service since 1989. NATO intelligence will know. But I think the refugee situation by this time next year, should NATO continue to sit on its hands, will force a change of policy of some description. They'll have to stop the exodus somehow.....

If a NATO ally is attacked Russia has nuclear weapons to threaten Westerm Europe with If a NATO ally isn't attacked Russia still has nuclear weapons to threaten Western Europe with If we let Russia and Ukraine fight it out for the next decade (at least) the population of Ukraine would empty out into Western Europe. 2.5 million have already left in a month. I have no idea what anyone's best move is but I do think that an eventual confrontation between NATO and Russia is inevitable . Get it over with soon. The nuclear trigger isn't physically in Putins hands. Try to destroy the infrastructure that controls it? Hes finished anyway... Destroy all Russian positions in Ukraine from the air. Pilots will obviously die . Better them than 1000s of Ukrainian civilians? At least they know what they signed up for. I'm no military expert but I can't see any other way of stopping a protracted conflict and the resultant tide of human misery washing up across the globe...some nettles need to be grasped at NATO and at the EU

Ukraine is very different to Russia. That isn’t up for debate is it?

I think the free world, despite its flaws, is worth fighting for. It’s the side I pick. And I pick it despite these fact we have supported despots to fight in proxy wars all over the world. Fascism is an existential threat. I applaud the Ukrainians who would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. These are people who want to be included in our clubs. They don’t want to be part of a new soviet empire. NATO saw it coming and chose to let it happen. It gives the lie to all the posturing propaganda we indulge in about promoting and protecting democracy. Where does pragmatic appeasement in the face if authoritative aggression end? Is an invasion of a NATO country the red line. Or would the west react if other non-nato countries such as Finland were targeted?

And the only common denominator throughout that period has been... the fans.

I think it's almost impossible for any of us to imagine how hard this is for you and your family MF. Thankfully it's something very few of us have to face. And time is strange, 20 years ago for me feels like last week and if you're anything like me you'll easily get dragged back into the moment. Wishing you, your mam, and family, all the best.

Fucking hell MF, if you have told this story, I must have missed it. I am only dealing with relatives of murder victims during criminal proceedings until the sentencing but do know from first hand experience how traumatic not only the crime can be but also having to deal with the facts. I think you were doing well in censoring some of those facts and do always recommend doing so. There are always things better not to know about or having seen. Have good beer and enjoy someone not getting out of jail too soon.

It’s hard to know where to start with that, MF. It will never go away. I imagine it gets to a point where it doesn’t make a difference if it’s 10/12/14 years but as you say the last thing you want is seeing the cunt walk round free as a bird. You’re pursuing entirely the right line and I hope you have success in getting the right result for both you and the rest of your family.

Had a meeting today with a Parole Victim Liason officer, regarding the upcoming parole hearing of my brothers murderer. It was, as expected , emotional, frustrating and also, informative. The main takeaways are that he’s extremely unlikely to be released this year, which also means that he’s unlikely to be released within the next 2-3 years. What was also interesting was that we discussed an exclusion area for when he is eventually released, based on places my Mam regularly goes to, so that she never has to worry about bumping into him. It happens that the area he’s not allowed in also includes where his family live, and it was nice to hear the Liason Officer essentially say “ Tough luck for him”. It means that he’ll be monitored more than the norm, and if he’s found to have entered the area… straight back to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200. Oh dear, what a shame. I’m not going to pretend today wasn’t tough mind, it dredged up memories that I’d long since buried, I’m not ashamed to say that a tear or two might have leaked out. Two that came back to me, which fucking killed me, were my Mam having to be taken to Asda at 4:00am by the police, only 4 hours after it happened, to buy clothes, since hers needed to be taken as evidence, and also the police liason lads coming to see me at the cardiac ward ( my Mam ended up there for over a week in the immediate aftermath), a few days afterwards, to give me the results of the autopsy.… which laid out precisely how brutal his killing was, multiple weapons, multiple (20+) wounds. I’d asked them to tell me the results so that I could “censor” them for my Mam, and tbh I’ve still not told her the true extent of it. Fucking killed me thinking about that again. Anyway, all that misery aside, the upside is that he’s not getting his freedom just yet, so, happy days. I’m glad that’s over and done with

The xA (expected annoyance) of a world cup without Italy and Turkey is almost 0 when it comes to fans here I am now starting to look forward to it.

They failed to beat Switzerland, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland and North Macedonia on their way to being dumped out of the WC qualification. That doesn’t happen the best teams.

Keto farts

Just a little update to confirm that the donations were received. Yemen Ukraine Thanks Everyone.