114 thoughts on “Thursday’s Papers

        1. Nullzero

          Nuance? Jesus H Christ Putin has been in power for two decades and there were a couple of two term American presidents who did nothing about him either. But let’s blame the last fella. Trump is an insufferable pillock but he’s not to blame for everything.

          1. The Millie Obnoxious™

            I completely agree, actually. My apologies, I thought you were making a ham-handed point, but obviously misread it.

            However, I think to discount Trump’s influence on these events is probably a bit simplistic too. In the same way, I think Germany under Merkel (and by extension the EU) became too cosy dealing with Putin and too reliant on their resources, the results of which we are of course now seeing.

            But then hindsight etc…

          2. Nullzero

            Trump was president for four years. Obama and W Bush never did anything to stand up to Putin and they were each in power for twice as long as Trump.

            Name a western leader over the last two deco and they’ve failed to grasp the nettle that is Vladimir Putin. The constant drive to make the invasion of Ukraine out to be the fault of Donald Trump by some people is just an example of how the people who spent the entire Trump presidency saying Trump was the new Hitler have about as much imagination as they have insight.

            Blaming Trump for the Ukraine invasion has nothing to do with stopping the invasion and everything to do with western political point scoring. I’m sure the people in Ukraine running for their lives from Russian shelling attacks are hoping that if nothing else happens that Donald Trumps supposed involvement in their plight is highlighted through the medium of political hit pieces and an endless barrage of hilarious memes.

    1. Trustin Judeau

      trump derangement syndrome strikes again

      Yes of course, more and more weapons to the Ukrainians would have stopped this… er wait, no it wouldnt

      1. Vlad X. Novichok

        Toady Choads hot for Putin boner snot love peace so much they don’t care how many dead babies in bombed maternity hospitals Putin has tocover with rubble to get it. But, you know, they’ll do the patriotic thing and say they did it to themselves. ‘Stop bobbing yourself dead baby, stop bombing yourself.’

          1. Vlad X. Novichok

            Toady Choads hot for Putin boner snot do love a bit of dead child in the morning. Or bits.

  1. Shayna

    Darragh McIntyre ‘s report on The BBC broke my heart, he spoke with an old dear, Valla., She’s 82. She’d escaped Ukraine on her own – she said it was with the kindness of strangers that she arrived in Poland. She has no family and was at the mercy of further kindness. There’s been calls for an International Brigade to defend Ukraine, non-combat trained, need not apply. If only we had Irish types, not from The Army, whom we could send?

    1. benblack

      Tyrone GAA types, perhaps?

      And, let’s not discriminate, Camogie players, too.

      Women have a vital role in protecting our democratic way of life.

      Trade your hurleys for an AK-47, Mná na hÉireann – protect democracy!

      1. Fearganainm

        Tyrone isn’t such an unlikely spot. Among Charlie Donnelly’s final words his remark that “even the olives are bleeding,” have echoed down the years.

        Mind you, we’ve a smattering of dictator fanboys here who would probably have sailed with O’Duffy’s crew:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAsJPnHzyBQ

      2. Shayna

        To be fair, camog -sure! That wasn’t the army I was talking about! Who knows better than are locked up from Colombia? I think there’s @ 4 still alive, if they were unleashed – Good-night Moscow.

        1. Fearganainm

          There were three.

          And the one with the required skill set is 77 this year – give him a break.

      3. Steph Pinker

        BB, considering you wrote ‘hurleys’ I reckon you’re a KK man… or at a push, maybe… Cork.

  2. stephen moran

    This is what Putin’s army did in Grozny. It’s what they did in Aleppo. It’s what they do. Their go-to calling card is committing atrocities against innocent civilians when there is any resistance. We’re seeing the true blood red colours of Putin’s totalitarianism and his fascist army in action. Maybe we could dispatch Ireland’s own Florence Nightingale Claire Daly on a “fact finding” field trip to inspect her paymasters war crimes first hand.

    1. benblack

      Her paymaster is the European parliament – which she is, democratically, elected to represent the people of Ireland.

      Well done, Clare Daly, and more power to you.

  3. f_lawless

    “Russia plotting a chemical attack” according to The Telegraph. Haven’t we been here before? In 2018 when Assad was making serious grounds and on the verge of regaining control of the Syrian city of Dhouma, he supposedly commits the one act (a chemical weapons attack) that would give US-led forces a pretext for a full-scale intervention in Syria. Whistleblowers from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons later confirmed it to have been a false allegation. A crude “false flag” operation by US/UK backed proxy forces.

    What strategic advantage would Russian forces have a plotting a chemical attack at this point? Anti-Russian hysteria has been whipped up to unprecedented levels in the West by Western media. No chance of convincing Western audiences it was the Ukrainians. Try to pull one over on the Russian public at the expense of a hot war with NATO? Not remotely worth it. No strategic advantage, but Putin is going to do it just because he’s a “crazy evil doer”?

    With NATO currently showing hesitancy to get overtly involved in a hot war with Russia, in my view it’s not hard to see that if Western corporate media is fingering Russia for an imminent chemical attack, then the immediate suspicion is that the danger lies with either elements within the Ukrainian forces or else CIA-trained agent provocateurs seeking to draw NATO further into the conflict.

    Considering some of the atrocities that have been carried out by Ukrainian forces in the bombing of their own civilians in the Donbas region over the last 8 years or so, it’s doesn’t stretch credulity that the more extremist elements within their forces could be prepared to go to similar lengths if it promised serious gains in a propaganda war.

    1. Steph Pinker

      f_lawless, don’t be surprised if you read about many non-Ukranian [international] civilians lacking military training signing up to go similar lengths with fewer, if any gains.

      Pure propaganda; potential death for many.

      It’s not a war yet, there’s still time to negotiate.

      1. bisted

        …since when has US/NATO needed flimsy excuses to justify intervention…careful what you wish for Nigel…this bear bites back…

        1. Nigel

          The only thing I wished for is for people not to cover for Putin’s chemical attacks.

          Yes we know this bear bites. It just mauled a maternity hospital. Maybe a newborn baby poked him?

          1. bisted

            …I don’t think you believe any of this spin…no matter how much you feign otherwise…

    2. Duncan Wheeler

      Those darned white helmets enabling false flag events in a war coming to you soon. It is staggering the blindness of folk who it seems wilfully ignore the evidence. Assad has the support of his peopkle which is why he hasn’t been ‘changed’ Ghadaffi the same but was betrayed by his own greedy politicians. Not forgetting bombing Serbia under demonstrably false pretext. Nato/US are the most evil warmongers of the past 60 years. I can think of no instutions that have created so much chaos out of functioning soverign states on the same scale. Most of S. America. Middleeast, Europe, Africa, all negatively effected. No sanctions, No fines and when Julian Assange does provide direct evidence of war crimes commited by the US he gets hounded into jail in the UK. Could the disliked in his country & neo-nazi Zelensky have bombed his own childrens hospital? Yes. Is it likely that Putin, given his stated aims, bombed a childrens hospital? I doubt it. Prove me wrong.

      1. Nigel

        ‘neo-nazi Zelensky’

        He’s Jewish.

        ‘Prove me wrong.’

        You haven’t produced any evidence to disprove.

          1. GiggidyGoo

            Of course you know that the ‘prove me wrong’ was getting at your modus operandi to see how you’d take it. You obviously can’t handle it. Tsk tsk.

            You can’t have it both ways. Then again, sure it’s Nigel, so Nigel does what makes Nigel feel good at any particular moment in time – ‘ busted flush’ must be a real good feeling then, as it’s a regular occurrence.

          2. GiggidyGoo

            Yep, you said it, and I repeat it back to you – in cases like above – to show the busted flush that you are. Simples.

          3. GiggidyGoo

            You’ve run out of road = you haven’t got road anymore. Try again. I know getting the last word in is important to you.

          4. Nigel

            But you’re well dug-in to that ditch.

            I particularly enjoy it when you think you have to explain and repeat the entirely commonplace expressions you use as if they’re obscure or difficult concepts because you’re worried they didn’t hit home.

          5. GiggidyGoo

            I know they hit home, I’m just playing with you now, and you’re so thick you can’t see it.

          6. Nigel

            Sure they did. Trying to hit people on the road from your ditch, you take what you can get.

          7. GiggidyGoo

            The George Hook of BS.
            Busted flush. Tsk tsk.

            Off you toddle and lick your wounds then.

          8. Nigel

            I know you can’t see very clearly from your ditch, but those are called ‘road markings.’

        1. SOQ

          And so is the funder of Azov? There are plenty of neo-Nazi Jews, the two are not mutually exclusive.

          1. Nigel

            If you’re going to accuse a Jewish person of being a neo-Nazi you should probably have proof other than the presence of some neo-Nazis in his country of 43 million.

          2. SOQ

            No- just search for yourself.

            I charge for such education- Bitcoin.

            We all know where that originated now don’t we?

          3. SOQ

            Why are you so reluctant to disclose your nationality Nigel account?

            What is your nationality Nigel?

      2. f_lawless

        For the sake of some balance, here’s a quote from the statement made by Russia’s representative at the UN Security Council Meeting on the 7th of March a few days before the hospital incident :

        ‘By our records, 200 thousand civilians are trapped in Mariupol alone and held at gunpoint by the Azov battalion. The humanitarian situation in cities deteriorates rapidly. As for humanitarians who are ready to help, they cannot get in there and prevent the unfolding disaster. People in other regions of Ukraine that have been blocked by nationalist battalions find themselves in the same desperate situation.

        Ukrainian radicals show their true face more distinctly by the day. Locals reports that Ukraine’s Armed Forces kicked out personnel of natal hospital #1 of the city of Mariupol and set up a firing site within the facility. Besides, they fully destroyed one of the city’s kindergartens.

        ..let me quote the mayor of Sumy, Mr. Oleksandr Lysenko, who made the following statement today jointly with a commander of a nationalist battalion: “There will be no green corridors, no civilian will exit to Russia, and those who attempt doing so will be shot”. ‘

        https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Statement+and+right+of+reply+by+Permanent+Representative+Vassily+Nebenzia+at+UNSC+briefing+on+the+humanitarian+situation+in+Ukraine&t=h_&ia=web

        Again, I don’t find this implausible because I’m familiar with the grotesque propaganda tactics – such as the use of hospitals to stage military operations – that have been used in the “Dirty War” waged against Syrians.

        1. Fearganainm

          March 2nd – a few days before Russia’s representative gave his version of reality at the UN Security Council Meeting:

          Nobody got ‘kicked out’ – maternity services were moved to a basement.

          https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-maternity-ward-moved-56b501dc4ffed870ab78c5d4cbc41e2b

          Maybe the ‘local reports’ the Russians claim to have had – if they existed at all – didn’t really have a clue about what was going on in the maternity unit.

  4. Steph Pinker

    BS, regarding one of your older posts titled ‘The World That Philip Cairns Felt So Threatened By Is Becoming Much Clearer’; I didn’t know Gardaí were appealing for witnesses [2021] and that someone had written a book about his disappearance – not to mention the theoretical aspects and *insights* of such a tragedy.

    Paper never refuses ink.

    1. Steph Pinker

      * Apparently, the book is written by Irish Sunday Mirror journalist Emma McMenamy titled The Boy Who Never Came Home.

  5. bisted

    …have to agree with Newton Emerson on the front page of the IT…a major demographic shift seems to be taking place in the North and one of the major benefactors will be Alliance…they seem to be mopping up the middle class vote from the UUP, DUP and SDLP…DUP look like they might not even come third…I’m going to call it SF first and Alliance second…

  6. TenPin Terry

    Ukraine residents, even in the middle of an invasion, are being targeted by opinion pollsters.
    And it’s clear who they see as their real friends and supporters in the conflict.
    Quite rightly they put a higher price on thousands of UK anti-tank weapons and the latest anti-aircraft technology being given them rather than a slight snafu over refugees.
    Well done Boris.Rising to the challenge at a time of international crisis.A true Churchill for our times.
    And second only to Zelensky in popularity.
    We’ve got your back Ukraine.
    Marvellous™

    https://mobile.twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1501571883573075972?cxt=HHwWiICz0YTr09YpAAAA

    1. The Millie Obnoxious™

      I’m sure history will remember, even if the English do not. And for my own part, I think comparisons of Boris with Churchill are quite accurate.

      But I’m not a fan of Churchill, for all he was a great orator.

    2. SOQ

      Zelenskyy was apparently very unpopular before this broke out but if you listen to the western media, he is the opposite. It would be very interesting to know what the Ukrainian public’s opinion of him is now, but you can be certain that if it is bad, then it will be buried.

      As for supplying the Ukrainian KKK with weapons go- that is an act of war- except Russia is not calling it out because the implications are huge. The US has been trying to push Poland into the front line to supply aeroplanes but Poland knows the implications and are refusing.

      It is mad to think that all of this is because Zelenskyy will not commit to a position of neutrality- but then again, if Biden can have the top Ukrainian prosecutor sacked, it is pretty obvious that this is a government in name only.

      1. Nigel

        No, this is all because Putin invaded Ukraine. Wonder how popular Putin is in Russia? Oh, I forgot, it’s irrelevant.

          1. Nigel

            That’s not complicated, that’s stupid. I can’t see how you can force a country to be neutral by invading it. Forcing a country to be your buffer is essentially restoring it to its status when it was part of the USSR. Which Putin has said is what he wants.

          2. paddy apathy

            Why should an independent sovereign country have their constitution written for them by a foreign invader?

          3. SOQ

            There is no evidence that Russia wants to replicate the USSR- absolutely none- just more spin and BS.

            As for the independence argument, funny that it is so important for Ukraine but not for all the other countries the US has levelled? If you are on the doorstep of a super power- ANY super power- then you do not threaten them or they will retaliate- it really is that simple.

            All they have to do is commit to independence but they won’t, because it is a corrupt Nazi kip of a place, bankrolled by the US.

          4. paddy apathy

            Russia might not want to recreate the USSR but Putin certainly does, it’s one of his most often stated objectives.

          5. Nigel

            Turning Ukraine into a buffer state against the West isn’t replicating the USSR?

            The US isn’t levelling Ukraine, Russia is.

  7. The Millie Obnoxious™

    Hi Bodger, my comments seem to be going straight to moderation. Just wondering if there’s a reason? Thanks :)

  8. stephen moran

    de Pfeffel is an odious grifter as are his cabal of Kleptocrats (Jacob Reek Smirk et al) – He’s a perfect product of Eton which we all know is Hogwarts for w*nkers where you learn Latin and money laundering dressed in a morning suit. The man hasn’t a compassionate bone in his body indeed the one only he’s worried about is getting back to waving his trouser snake round with impunity – Churchill wouldn’t give him the steam of his pi$$ – here are are your heroes action yesterday

    https://twitter.com/bmay/status/1501640206818107399

    1. scottser

      in other words, blighty makes a profit on the war and lets russian kleptocrats away with a nice little drink and a pat on the arse while ireland and the eu deal with the human carnage. that’s actually what you meant isn’t it?

      1. SOQ

        Thing is, if you are a weapons manufacturer, you need a mini war every now and again to show case new tech. After the Falklands for example, there was a huge increase in British sales and if a few thousand people get killed or displaced- sure what odds.

        It is all wrapped in jingoistic bollocks about helping this side or that side, but it’s actually about product placement- its a disgusting industry.

        1. TenPin Terry

          Well I suppose it does give the Ukrainians more of a chance of fighting the Russian army than with handbags, your preferred weapon of choice on here …

    2. TenPin Terry

      The people of Ukraine are incredibly grateful for Boris coming to their rescue at a time when Germany and France and their underlings in the EU like Ireland were trying to appease Putin.
      Talk is cheap – NLAWs are not.
      Britain led the world on vaccines and it’s leading the world in the fightback against a tyrant.
      No wonder so many people from all over the world are sooo desperate to move there.
      We’ll try our best to look after you all lads but we’re a tad busy at the mo.

    1. scottser

      and as soon as poland and hungary get on board with with the eu’s pro lgbt stance, the sooner those sanctions will be lifted. that’s the problem with you tans, you just never understood what the eu was actually for.

      1. TenPin Terry

        Indeed, that’s why we left.
        You however are happy to hand over your sovereignty, decision-making, laws and independence to the likes of Druncker and his ilk in the corrupt and unaccountable EU.
        Get off your knees you snivelling cur.
        Michael Collins would be spinning in his grave if he saw simpering fools like you rimming the fat cats of Brussels.

          1. TenPin Terry

            The utter irony of someone in Ireland highlighting graft and corruption in another country.
            You really are gormless.
            Whoooosh …

          2. scottser

            The utter irony of a tan highlighting graft and corruption in another country.
            You really are gormless.
            Whoooosh …

            jaysus charger, i can literally cut and paste my way through your bolloxology. it’s like you don’t even try any more.

  9. Fergalito

    Today is brought to you by the word “Weltschmerz.”

    Same as yesterday.

    Guess what tomorrow’s word will be?

    1. Nigel

      Lot of environmentally destructive opporutnism gearing up in lieu of alternatives and lower energy consumption.

  10. johnny

    i am shocked,shocked to find….one FG’s biggest supporters involved in this!

    “The Attorney General is acting in a private capacity for former directors of Independent News & Media in their dealings with High Court inspectors who are investigating the company’s affairs.” IT

    the Ag’s weekend nixer comes back to haunt him,oh stop its Ireland.

    sniffing around in the staffs emails.

    “Mr Webb and Ms Scott, along with Mr O’Reilly and Karl Brophy, who was INM’s director of corporate affairs, were the four people whose email accounts and private data was most closely targeted in the illegal secret data operation ordered by former INM chairman Leslie Buckley and paid for by a company connected to Denis O’Brien, who in 2014 was INM’s major shareholder.”

    “Mediahuis’s law firm, Matheson, outlines in legal documents lodged in recent weeks as part of the case that Blaydon paid an invoice of €46,260 that was submitted in December 2015 to INM by Welsh IT firm TDS. It also refers to a separate invoice of €14,944.50 that was submitted in December 2016 to Mr O’Brien’s Island Capital group by DMZ Limited, a company connected to IT consultant Derek Mizak, who helped Mr Buckley with the data operation.”

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ag-aiding-former-inm-directors-in-private-capacity-with-high-court-1.4687026

  11. Fearganainm

    Introducing the Two Minutes Hate:

    Meta Platforms will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

    The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, according to a series of internal emails to its content moderators. These calls for death will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, one email said, in a recent change to the company’s rules on violence and incitement.

    Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Last week, Russia said it was banning Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform. Moscow has cracked down on tech companies during its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special operation.” Many major social media platforms have announced new content restrictions around the conflict, including blocking Russian state media RT and Sputnik in Europe, and have demonstrated carve-outs in some of their policies during the war.

    Emails also showed that Meta would allow praise of the right-wing Azov battalion, which is normally prohibited, in a change first reported by The Intercept. Meta spokesman Joe Osborne previously said the company was “for the time being, making a narrow exception for praise of the Azov Regiment strictly in the context of defending Ukraine, or in their role as part of the Ukraine National Guard.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/10/ukraine-news-russia-war-kyiv-vladimir-putin-volodymyr-zelenskiy-russian-invasion-hospital-bombing-latest-live-updates?page=with:block-622a749b8f087f6d099f501e#block-622a749b8f087f6d099f501e

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