Now now, didn’t Claire battle Covid and present Prime Time from her shed with remarkable stoicism.
Janet, dreams of an alternate universe
at least it will be easy to heat
benblack
The news – everything Hughie Luas isn’t.
Mad
The power of love is a curious thing
Mad
Imagine both of them together though OMFG
Vlad X. Novichok
There you go again with your rapey notions…
bisted
…well hello
Marylou…tell us…was that Novichok developed in a bio lab?
Vlad X. Novichok
Probably not. Given it’s not a biological, pathogenic agent an’ all.
But it was originally created in the Soviet Union and the version Putin used in Salisbury – you know, in the UK – was made in a lab somewhere in Russia. Oooh… let’s investigate every lab in Russia too before we demand NATO invade. Or something. Maybe Porton Down and Westport too while we’re at it.
It’s also funny you think I’m marylou or charger or whomever. Nope. Not I.
Just a standard, regular old human with deep empathy for the vulnerable, abused and those blown to bits. I also have a deep hatred of those who carry out these atrocities those those who toady for them.
And to save you your whataboutary, i don’t discriminate in my hatred.
…so you’re not the commenter previously known as MaryLou…it’s just the similarities…a weaponised avatar incorporating a figure of hate for you and a deadly poison…and like our armalite wielding friend, you are not funny…
Vlad X. Novichok
There’s nothing funny about this.
What would you prefer? I change my name to Rainbow Lollypops? Is that less likely to offend your sensitivities?
I can appreciate why Toady Choads hot for Putin Boner Snot don’t like being reminded of his penchant for nerve agents being used as a tool to assassinate his enemies.
Or maybe, probably, they do. Given of course their giddy support for this war and all the perverted pleasure they get from it.
Fearganainm
Racism cited as factor in police strip search of girl, 15, at London school
That’s the world you’ve created, Fearganainm, own it.
Fearganainm
I know that you’re not very bright but you should understand that the incident most likely stems from racism within British society coupled with the actions of a not-fit-for-service London police force. Add in the apparently abusive regime at the school in question and there you’ll find where culpability lies.
If you simply wanted to pointlessly snipe at me while making yourself look even more stupid then carry on. I can’t stop you presenting yourself as a witless moron, only you can do that.
Mad
Eh tóg é go bog é there, a chara
TenPin Terry
A survey conducted before Blighty left the EU found that Ireland was the second-most racist country in it and the UK the second-least racist.
The research was funded by the EU.
Your daily conveyor belt of Guardian links cannot hide the fact that the UK is a multi-cultural success story.
So pipe down with your student politics.
Fearganainm
Doctors consider high levels of racism in the NHS to be a ‘debilitating’ problem, finds largest survey of racism in medicine
One piece of ‘Look over there’ whataboutery doesn’t do the job that you think it does. It doesn’t begin to address the issues surrounding the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl in London. Unlike the links pointing to racism within the Metropolitan police, which are obviously more pertinent.
You probably knew that when you launched (then deleted, then relaunched) your failed diversion. Maybe it’s best if you delete it again.
TenPin Terry
You’ll need to ask Admin about the temporary deletion old sport.Nowt to do with me.
But your repeated attempts to portray the UK as an overtly racist society collapses at the mildest scrutiny.
Best address the problem in your own backyard first methinks.
Now get off your knees Beret Boy™
Fearganainm
I think that we can safely say that the many contemporary reports of racism impacting all levels of British society, along with statements by senior British politicians – including Tories, – public servants, educationalists and various other professionals are all the confirmation that’s needed to conclude that racism is and continues to be a serious problem in the UK.
No amount of wittering from you can disguise the fact.
TenPin Terry
The EU appears to disagree with you.
Of course they have you by the gonads anyway so I don’t suppose they really care.
Dry your eyes mate.
Fearganainm
The EU report you posted a reference to dates from 2018.
The article on this thread, which deals, in case you hadn’t noticed, with daily news items, dates from March 16th 2022.
Links post-dating your 2018 item are from 2021 and 2022. Their content links to convincing explanations for a possible motive that led to the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl.
Your efforts at blowing smoke and deflecting can be seen for what they are. At no time do you even attempt to refer to the incident to which the (ongoing) racism element of today’s reportage applies.
It wouldn’t be necessary to post links to racism-related issues in British society if they didn’t keep appearing in British media with such regularity, would it? Shouldn’t your actual beef be with the British media for its constant publishing of articles relating to racism in British society? Or is it that you want to censor all mention of same?
TenPin Terry
It’s you who seems to have the beef you poor thing.
You’re obsessive about it.
Calm yourself down with a few barstool renditions of the Wolfe Tones greatest hits Beret Boy™
And not from a kneeling position.
Such a bad look.
Fearganainm
I’ll put your white flag with all the others.
Time and time again British journalists exercise their rights to free speech in a democracy and honour their commitment to open justice and reportage. Yet whenever they write about some current racism issue you barge in here guldering like a failed EDL candidate and start your ranting.
There are many, many British politicians, police officers, legal spokespersons, academics, medical professionals, community workers, lawyers, barristers, journalists, authors etc. all valiantly trying to stem the ugly tide of racism that washes through British society and you regularly try to shout down their efforts to address the problem. Quite why you want to minimise it or pretend that it isn’t a real problem is your own, ignorant, business.
Let’s hope that those courageous Brits who want to eliminate racism continue with their work and that benighted people like you are swept aside in the effort.
As for your attempting to mute Irish people who comment on racism in the UK – get yourself off to Cecil Guthrie’s grave at Inchigeelagh and take a leak on it.
TenPin Terry
How could I mute a foghorn like you ?
I’d need a cork the size of Cork, like.
No mention of racism in Ireland in any of your posts.
Get off your knees™
Fearganainm
No mention of Ireland or an Irish connection in the news about the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl in London, hence no relevance in mentioning Ireland in any discussion on the incident.
Know your place, Mr. Irrelevant.
Ian - oG
You’d wonder if there might be scope to open a criminal investigation into the officers present, all that because some idiot teacher thought they smelled cannabis? After what we saw in the Sarah Everard murder, it’s hard not to wonder about what is patrolling UK streets these days. Seems any old scumbag can be a plod in the UK.
Micko
Absolutely terrible stuff.
Crazy to think that the schools first instinct was to call the police, rather then the child’s parents.
Hope they take them to the cleaners.
Ian - oG
@Micko, there are three explanations as to what happened here, racism which is always possible especially considering some of the stuff we have seen about UK police the last few years, deliberate sadism or just unsuitable people with insufficient training.
I’d personally view the last possibility as the most likely, while racism is a problem and there are probably quite a lot of nasty individuals serving, the most obvious is that the officers on the day are just not the sort of people who should be police.
Micko
Yep. Who knows the motivations of another individuals mind. Racism may have been an issue as you say.
But I think the school has to be held to account for involving the police in the first place, as no crime had been committed.
Actually, do we even charge minors with possession of drugs?
Mr. T
UK police are far more concerned about hateful language than preventing stabbings and acid attacks on the streets of london
Broadbag
Deplorable, but this utter hysteria serves no-one:
“Significantly, some six months prior, George Floyd was tragically killed in the USA and there were repercussions around the globe, including in the UK,”
Fearganainm
Met officers under investigation over strip search of girl at London school:
I’m not clicking that link as I despise that publication, but the rumors suggest the victim had a run in with the barrister and returned with some mates, no doubt to politely debate the matter, so if the eye witness is one of the mates you’d have to wonder…presumably ballistics can easily prove where he was shot.
johnny
…The court heard that there were five witnesses, four of whom are the accused employees and the fifth witness is Mr Conlon’s friend…..
Broadbag
Fair enough, my bad – I’ve taken the hit and clicked the link – his account of the incident is really weird, as if English is his second language or something, or perhaps he’s not fully right in the head.
Johnny
In fairness Alison O’ Riordan,did a great job reporting on the bail hearing,given its sub judice.
Fearganainm
Dog bins named ‘poo tin’ in disgust at Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
About an hour long but a very worthwhile watch. Glen Greenwald gives his very informed take on the claims and counterclaims about US biolabs in the Ukraine and whether the US really has an active bioweapons program.
He re-visits the 2001 anthrax attacks on US citizens shortly after 9/11 which was highly significant in that it instilled the idea in the US public’s mind that terrorism could arrive at anyone’s doorstep in a way which the New York attacks couldn’t do.
The anthrax used was in a highly sophisticated, weaponised form and after initially being blamed on Saddam, years later the US government admitted that the anthrax strain came from one of their own biolabs. As Greenwald points out, the sheer duplicity is outrageous and still continues today – these so called “biodefence labs” go through the exact same process of making bioweapons that a bioweapons lab would, but because the Pentagon say they are also developing new vaccines to counteract those bioweapons which they’ve developed, they see this as valid justification to flatly deny that they possess, or are developing, any bioweapons. It’s madness.
Nigel
So, no evidence of bioweapons in those labs or you wouldn’t be going on about something that happened twenty years ago and fulminating wildly about unproven allegations. The bioweapons conspiracy theory originated with a Qanon account, but maybe that makes it more credible to you and Greenwald, not less.
I think given Nigel’s track history and admissions, we can assume he didn’t watch Greenwald’s piece, yet he feels compelled to post a twitter thread purporting to debunk it.
I had a look at the thread (which I’ve a feeling Nigel didn’t read either as it’s rather long). Reading through it, it soon becomes clear that it’s can’t be considered as a rebuttal of Greenwald’s opinions at all. Instead, it goes off on a tangent with a retweet of a thread posted by a Soviet-born Swedish geneticist that argues over the technical specificities found in a document reportedly shared by the Russian Foreign Ministry via Russian TV – a document which Greenwald doesn’t even feature in his presentation.
As an aside, this is an odd section of that retweeted thread:
“We may not be specialists in military propaganda (and may even fall for it), we can and will expose all the fakes published by GoebbelsTV. We work in this area, we’re not banned by Google, and we’re ordained by God himself to comb through microbes and scientific articles.”
Russian TV is labelled “Goebbels TV”, a clear indication that those presenting the analysis already hold extremist anti-Russian views. There’s an admission that they’re not experts in military propaganda and may even fall for it -which swings both ways, I guess – and even a claim they were ordained by God himself to do what they do. What can you say to that.
Watch the presentation by Greenwald instead of rushing to try to dismiss it.
Nigel
Ah, so apparently not trusting Russian state media is anti-Russian. Also, unlike Greenwald, they address the actual proof presented in regard to the biolabs in question, which, apparently, is bad, as is the fact that it’s a technical and specific discussion of technical and specific documents, rather than an all-encompassing evidence-free diatribe. Maybe that’s all anti-Russian, too.
f_lawless
You can’t resist reaching for the strawman arguments, can you? Time and time again the same type of response. It’s one thing to be sceptical or suspicious about a particular source. It’s another thing entirely to try to equate it with Hitler’s propaganda chief.
“Also, unlike Greenwald, they address the actual proof presented in regard to the biolabs in question”
Again, it’s clear you haven’t watched the video. Unless you can critique the points he makes in some reasonable way, I’m not bothering engaging with you any more. Waste of time.
_____________________
Here’s another very informative thread from today: https://twitter.com/gumby4christ/status/1503576089918156803
‘We’re told the bio-labs in Ukraine of course aren’t producing bio-weapons. .. But in 2009, [US Under Secretary of State Ellen O. Tauscher, addressing the States Parties of the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva] argued that even attempting to monitor bio-labs was useless because bio-weapons programs can so easily be “disguised within legitimate activities.”
(link to US govt web page given in thread)
This Obama admin rationale for keeping the Biological Weapons Convention toothless was announced just a few years after Obama personally traveled to Ukraine to secure their agreement to allow tons of Pentagon cash & personnel to flow into their bio-labs.
As a result of this agreement, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency converted a Soviet-era lab in Odessa into a BSL-3 that would “research…dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists.” (link given to a now archived web page dated June 18th 2010).’
— end thread —
Further quote from aforementioned page:
“U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar applauded the opening of the Interim Central Reference Laboratory in Odessa, Ukraine, this week, announcing that it will be instrumental in researching dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists…
..The level-3 bio-safety lab, which is the first built under the expanded authority of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, will be used to study anthrax, tularemia and Q fever as well as other dangerous pathogens.
“The continuing cooperation of Nunn-Lugar partners has improved safety for all people against weapons of mass destruction and potential terrorist use.”, Lugar said’
Nigel
You.. don’t know what a straw man argument actually is, do you?
‘It’s another thing entirely to try to equate it with Hitler’s propaganda chief.’
So what? He gets name-checked frequently in relation to propaganda far less egregious than this current example.
Again NO ACTUAL EVIDENCE THAT THEY’RE MAKING BIOWEAPONS. Maybe that’s what you think a straw man is, when I point out there is no evidence for the thing you are fulminating about?
You never engage with me anyway, just accuse me of using straw man arguments then goi off on lengthy and convoluted personal rants about me so wha difference does declaring you won’t engage with me any more actually make?
I make the point that characterising Russian television as “Goebbels TV” is an extremist anti-Russian standpoint. You try to misrepresent my point by pretending that the “Goebbels TV” characterisation equates to “not trusting Russian TV” .
But “not trusting Russian TV” can encompass a whole range of standpoints from reasonable and moderate at one end to extremist and agitational at the other end where you’re fond of calling it “Goebbels TV”.
You’re an awful troll. Get a life
SOQ
Oh grow up would you? Two years ago you would have been arguing there was no US involvement in Wuhan because that is what you were told to parrot.
You are clearly a shill because nobody could be that stupid.
Nigel
You keep lying about the Wuhan lab – it’s not about whether the US was involved, it’s about the fact that there has been no evidence that covid came from that, or any other, lab.
Duncan Wheeler
+1
Mr. T
DARPA “threat reduction” programme consists of creating dangerous strains of biological agents, and then coming up with a “counter” for them.
So by definition there is an element of bioweapon creation/storage involved/
SOQ
Does it really matter if those substances are technically called bioweapons or not? That is just a label and if released, will do the same harm either way.
Nigel
It mattered when the conspiracy theory was all about bioweapons. Now it’s just generic pathogens because there has never been any proof of bioweapons.
Nigel
‘An element of.’ Sure, we’ve moved on a bit from ‘bioweapon labs’ to ‘labs that work on dangerous things to find cures or countermeasures’ which is presumably every biolab in the entire world. If only there were magical ways on finding treatments for or ways of handling anthrax outbreaks without actually studying anthrax, eh?
TenPin Terry
A quiet night in for everyone tonight after caning it for a few days.
A few gin and tontons and some mellow herb.
A feller at the beach bar told me an interesting fact tonight.
About 1-in-13 people who have ever lived are alive today.
A.D. makes up only about 1% of human history but about half of all people have lived during it.
Ain’t life wonderful ? What a great time to be alive.
Marvellous™
TenPin Terry
There’s a gentle breeze picking up the burnt-meat scent from the cooling barbecue.
It also shimmers the surface of the lit swimming pool.
The only sounds are the gentle purr of air-conditioning units delivering 17c cold to the waiting boudoirs.
And the air pump from the dive shop next door as the lads prep for a busy tomorrow.
The smells are butterfly jasmine from the garden, toasty sun-grilled forearms and pungent sun-grown weed.
A crystal clear night sky interrupted only by the occasional passing Triple Seven.
It’s time for some Matt Monroe someone has suddenly announced.
That would be me dear reader
Life’s good.
Life’s really good.
TenPin Terry
I shall retire to one of those boudoirs in a while.
And lie naked on our bed to let the chill air cool my body and goose-pimple the skin.
Five minutes on each side and open the butt cheeks agape to cool the core temperature.
( Calm yourself down Vanessa )
Then I shall slide between the Egyptian cotton sheets and spoon a snoozing Lady TenPin.
Just such a perfect day.
Mad
Hahahaa ok Alan Shatter
Cú Chulainn
The caravan park in Youghal sounds great Charger.. Can’t wait to get there one day..
Variations on Zelenskyy saying they won’t join NATO- finally some progress. Now all he has to do is write it into the constitution and let the independent observers into those Bio Lads. How many lives did it cost to get this far?
In fairness he is just a puppet and we know who’s hand is stuck up his backside. All Biden and NATO had to do was to say they would not be accepting the Nazis, and the situation would have been immediately diffused.
Then again, when you look at the Biden / Harris/ Pelosi triangle, I don’t think any of them know what day of the week it is, let alone anything else. Take me to your dealer etc.
I love how you blame and disparage everyone except the guy who actually did the invading and all the killing. And by ‘love’ I mean ‘have nothing but contempt for.’
Broadbag
This! Twisted thinking.
SOQ
And do you think that if Russia or China was meddling in Mexico, that there would be Bio Labs along the US border? That is not how the world works- big countries meddle in smaller countries affairs all the time.
Even here in Ireland, you would be absolutely shocked if you knew how much Britain meddles in Irish affairs.
And, when it comes to NATO which was set up to counter the USSR- there is no reason for it to even exist anymore.
The Millie Obnoxious™
Last week you were saying it was because of neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine and that the Russians were attempting to neutralise them. Then it was a popularity grab for Zelensky. This week it’s secret US bio-labs.
What next to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
Nigel
And if the US invaded Mexico would you be praising them for taking out those biolabs?
SOQ
@ Millie It is entirely possible to have more than one objective? But, that the first thing Russia did was to take out six of the US Bio Labs was very telling.
The Nazis are part of the issue- because they have been slaughtering Russians in the east of Ukraine for the past eight years. Not a word on the western media of course- Azov will be neutralised for sure.
Nigel
‘because they have been slaughtering Russians in the east of Ukraine’
Wow you sure do love nuance. Hasn’t the seperatist conflict been caused by Putin sending in the Wagner Group – the mercenaries with the Nazi facial tattoos?
The Millie Obnoxious™
Yes, of course. It just reads like excuse after excuse to justify the attacks on the Ukrainian people in favour of Russian interests. And as I already said, your use of ‘special military operation’ in respect of the shelling of hospitals and attacks on residential homes and a sustained aggressive invasion is very telling.
The Millie Obnoxious™
Yeah I find the constant shifting of goalposts and deflection a little hard to take. Right down to parroting the ‘special military operation’ bull from the Russian state media, and honestly how convoluted does your thinking have to be when you’re attempting to justify the kinds of attacks on civilians and war crimes we’ve been seeing over the past two weeks.
SOQ
What else is it but a military operation because it sure as hell is not a full on invasion- they would have had that done in 48 hours if that was their goal. ‘Military operations’ was a term widely used up north back in the day btw- by both sides.
As for ‘shifting of goalposts’- anybody who cannot take onboard new information as it emerges in a situation like that, is swallowing the propaganda hook line and sinker, especially when they are cheering on Nazis.
I not in the slightest supporting Russia but if you discovered that there is Bio Labs placed along the border between north and south Ireland, especially back in the middle of the troubles when hostilities were high, how would you feel?
This is not some country GAA match where you have to take sides- it is geo politics between two world powers, and it is as dirty as it gets.
Nigel
It’s an invasion because the Russian military entered Uraine and began shooting people and shelling cities. Just because it went slower than Putin would have hoped or expected doesn’t make it something else, and he certainly didn’t do it because of biolabs, that is utterly fabricated because an online conspiracy theory took off, thanks to people like yourself and F_lawless. Biolabs on either side of the border would probably be welcome because of, y’know, jobs and investement. But SOQ wouold be in there trying to blow them up.
Tom J
What’s your definition of a Nazism.
SOQ
Well lets start with basics- someone who waves swastikas perhaps? Then a bit of racism and homophobia thrown in?
It is certainly is NOT self employed Canadian truckers.
Tom J
Start with the basics, are you giving lessons then.
jungleman
It is quite shocking to see how he grabs onto every single alt-right contrarian conspiracy theory. He also believes that trump won the election but it was rigged, that climate change is a hoax, brexit was a good idea, the Covid vaccines are part of some evil plan of Bill Gates to control our minds, pizzagate is real etc etc etc.
The guy’s a deluded loser.
SOQ
Oh look another username-
Point me to ONE post”that climate change is a hoax, brexit was a good idea, the Covid vaccines are part of some evil plan of Bill Gates to control our minds, pizzagate is real etc etc etc.”
I never said any of that- and you know it.
jungleman
“Oh look another username-“
What do you mean?
“I never said any of that- and you know it.”
You do believe all of those things though.
SOQ
I believe none of them or I would be arguing in favour of them- which I don’t and I never have.
I do think there was something dodgy about the US election yes, because I am familiar with such IT record keeping systems- and the official story did not add up.
It has recently been quietly released that the PCs were connected to the internet for example- they had to be for the software be updated the night before- but even that was denied at the time.
You are just throwing slurs- grow up.
The Millie Obnoxious™
I would call it an invasion, and act of war. They have invaded and attacked a sovereign independent nation. The Russians have attacked numerous protected buildings, residential areas and targeted citizens. They have committed war crimes. And honestly I don’t think falling back on the terminology in the Troubles (which was, let’s be honest, a war) does your argument any favours at all.
What I find really funny here about your argument here is that changing one’s opinion as new info emerges is something you took issue with regarding lockdown and masks over the past two years, for example, on more than one occasion. The situation with covid and the situation here is comparable in that it is a rapidly developing situation, and of course responses and opinions change based on newly emerging information, especially these days with so much information at our fingertips. But you can’t have it both ways.
And I think you’ll find that most people are not cheering on Nazis. They are horrified by the attacks on civilians and hospitals and they are supporting the ordinary Ukrainian people whose lives have been torn asunder by the actions of the Russian government and Russian armies.
SOQ
So all of a sudden being a sovereign state is important now is it? All of a sudden humanitarian concerns are what is paramount? What abut what the US has done or is that somehow different?
Russia wants a Moscow friendly government and more importantly, a Moscow friendly people which is why all the civilian infrastructure like electricity, water, comms etc is still intact. There is also connections between the two armies- as the Ukrainian generals were all trained by Russia.
As for Covid-19, I have consistently said that masks and lockdowns don’t work- the evidence was clear at the time, and still is- except in exactly the same way as now, some people were blinded by the propaganda.
The entire country was and is very right wing- because the left wingers were exiled. There is a number of them who came to Ireland btw- although they keep a low profile.
Nigel
‘So all of a sudden being a sovereign state is important now is it?’
According to you it’s now completely irrelevant, conveniently for Putin.
‘I have consistently said’
You have been consistently wrong on this subject.
Fergalito
Really it’s that simple?
Like a domestic abuser standing over a partner who’s just been given a few digs, cooing softly in their ear “all you had to do was come home when i told you to come home?”
All are chattering on the margins – the extreme peripheries outside the reality of life in that part of the world. Criticism of propaganda from Side A while distributing propaganda from Side B while saying don’t believe what you read but believe what I read? Social media is constructed to keep us in the sandbox, priapic with self-righteousness and spiraling to the same lacuna of repetition, dreary day after dreary day full on some numb-nut nobody’s “hot-take” diluted with misinformation and bias.
Such luxury. Such passive engagement while the kettle the boils in the background and we make plans for the weekend. Go ahead anyway, play the game. Puff your chest as an expert on modern warfare, economics, recent history, domestic and international foreign policy while following the breadcrumbs laid out just for you.
None of it matters. We know fupp all about fupp all despite any denials to the contrary.
No-one can be an expert on everything. Humility trumps hubris any day of the week.
“The truth is out there.”
SOQ
Yes it really is that simple- did you even read what Russia’s demands were?
Or did you just get swept away on the fear mongering that Putin was the new Hitler and that he was going to invade all the ex USSR countries?
Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots. It is not in their strategic interests to invade Ukraine.
Cato
You thundering moron.
Nigel
‘Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over-‘
He’s not Hitler – he’s literally saving the world!
Broadbag
All hail Putin, what a guy, he’s the best!
The mental gymnastics involved in spinning everything to a pro-Russian/anti-West slant is both mind-boggling and quite depressing, I feel a real sadness for people like this, if they’re not just on the wind-up.
SOQ
If the last two years should have thought you anything, it is that things are rarely what the state propaganda says.
But here we are again. It MUST be a good guy / bad guy reduction. No nuance will be tolerated, no discussion of anything more granular than which team do you support will be accepted.
Broadbag
Nuance is good, constantly parroting Kremlin propaganda is not. I also find zero nuance in your posts, it’s all anti-Ukraine and pretending Russia isn’t the aggressor like a child sticking their fingers in their ears.
Nigel
‘No nuance will be tolerated’
You are literally painting everybody but Putin as the bad guys. That’s not nuance. That’s state propaganda, only Russian.
jungleman
“Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots.”
Haha this is possibly the craziest thing you’ve ever said on broadsheet. You’ve fully lost your mind. I’m actually slightly embarrassed for you.
Duncan Wheeler
Stop projecting, it’s embarrassing.
jungleman
“Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots.”
I must say I really am intrigued to hear what you’re getting at with this one.
Fergalito
Yes I did read their demands and no I don’t do fear mongering.
stephen moran
Something for the old skool Irish Masters of the Financial Universe to wear upon the morrow
we (youth) didnt mass emigrate after covid like they’d hoped. so now theyre making it insanely too expensive to live here and force us out that way.
SOQ
The Irish establishment have always used emigration as a pressure value when things got tight, but what was really disgusting was how after the 2008 crash- the entire media went into emigration overdrive.
Within the space of weeks, all the talking heads were yapping on about what were the best countries to go to, how to apply, how much it would cost etc- it really was relentless.
None of them were ever forced to emigrate of course- always the ‘other’.
SOQ
Elon Musk asked to ‘turn off’ Teslas in Russia as he makes superchargers free for people fleeing Ukraine
I assume this is technically possible, in which case the joke about the Tesla driving itself back to the garage if you default on the payments, is not so far fetched after all.
Patch that into a Credit Score system with ‘hackable humans’ and you really are looking at a dystopian nightmare.
johnny
“Trusted Business Journalism”
“Ronan Group Real Estate said refinancing arrangements were at an advanced stage, which would enable the receivers to be discharged and for the firm to retain ownership of the properties”
“RGRE continues to liaise with the parties involved to explore the extension of payment arrangements over the next six months to allow sufficient time for a successful refinance of the loan, and we have had a number of productive discussions to that end.”
Ronan has defaulted,the debt were due to be repaid in full by end of January,its’s know as a maturity default.
They would have been well aware of this maturity date,every effort you can assume was made in last quarter to refinance this debt,potential partners or lenders have finally decided,that one the most obnoxious Irish RE developers,I ever encountered has had his last drink,at the last chance saloon.
Most normal rational partners had made that decision a long time ago,his sugar daddy Tom Barrack,is headed to trial against the feds,he was really his lender of last resort,no more sugar for Ronan.
stephen moran
The “romantic novelist” ,MENSA member and Queen of the all day prosecco strikes again – who let the white witch out of rehab
“Nadine Dorries arrived at a meeting with software giant Microsoft and immediately asked when they were going to get rid of algorithms, according to an official given an account of the meeting.”
She will publish Britain’s online safety bill tomorrow
No, your reading and comprehension skills are weak. Reports are appearing both on Twitter and in other media. These reports are based on other sources, usually given by the source posting on Twitter or within the media articles. Thus, the origin of the information is not ‘Twitter’.
You should know this, unless you’re a total simpleton.
‘Yesterday we had record high temperatures in Ny-Ålesund. Was measured 5.5°, the previous record was from 1976 at 5.0 ° #NyÅlesund is the northernmost science station in the world’
Marina Ovsyannikova. Everything Claire Byrne isn’t.
Now now, didn’t Claire battle Covid and present Prime Time from her shed with remarkable stoicism.
at least it will be easy to heat
The news – everything Hughie Luas isn’t.
The power of love is a curious thing
Imagine both of them together though OMFG
There you go again with your rapey notions…
…well hello
Marylou…tell us…was that Novichok developed in a bio lab?
Probably not. Given it’s not a biological, pathogenic agent an’ all.
But it was originally created in the Soviet Union and the version Putin used in Salisbury – you know, in the UK – was made in a lab somewhere in Russia. Oooh… let’s investigate every lab in Russia too before we demand NATO invade. Or something. Maybe Porton Down and Westport too while we’re at it.
It’s also funny you think I’m marylou or charger or whomever. Nope. Not I.
Just a standard, regular old human with deep empathy for the vulnerable, abused and those blown to bits. I also have a deep hatred of those who carry out these atrocities those those who toady for them.
And to save you your whataboutary, i don’t discriminate in my hatred.
Yeah it’d never leak from Porton down..
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/04/-sp-100-safety-breaches-uk-labs-potentially-deadly-diseases1
…so you’re not the commenter previously known as MaryLou…it’s just the similarities…a weaponised avatar incorporating a figure of hate for you and a deadly poison…and like our armalite wielding friend, you are not funny…
There’s nothing funny about this.
What would you prefer? I change my name to Rainbow Lollypops? Is that less likely to offend your sensitivities?
I can appreciate why Toady Choads hot for Putin Boner Snot don’t like being reminded of his penchant for nerve agents being used as a tool to assassinate his enemies.
Or maybe, probably, they do. Given of course their giddy support for this war and all the perverted pleasure they get from it.
Racism cited as factor in police strip search of girl, 15, at London school
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/15/black-girl-racism-police-strip-search-london-school-hackney
That’s the world you’ve created, Fearganainm, own it.
I know that you’re not very bright but you should understand that the incident most likely stems from racism within British society coupled with the actions of a not-fit-for-service London police force. Add in the apparently abusive regime at the school in question and there you’ll find where culpability lies.
If you simply wanted to pointlessly snipe at me while making yourself look even more stupid then carry on. I can’t stop you presenting yourself as a witless moron, only you can do that.
Eh tóg é go bog é there, a chara
A survey conducted before Blighty left the EU found that Ireland was the second-most racist country in it and the UK the second-least racist.
The research was funded by the EU.
Your daily conveyor belt of Guardian links cannot hide the fact that the UK is a multi-cultural success story.
So pipe down with your student politics.
Doctors consider high levels of racism in the NHS to be a ‘debilitating’ problem, finds largest survey of racism in medicine
https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/doctors-consider-high-levels-of-racism-in-the-nhs-to-be-a-debilitating-problem-finds-largest-survey-of-racism-in-medicine
Institutional racism entrenched in UK entertainment, landmark survey suggests
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/institutional-racism-british-entertainment-survey-b1907936.html
UK still uncomfortable talking about race, new survey finds
https://www.bitc.org.uk/news/uk-still-uncomfortable-talking-about-race-new-survey-finds/
How racist is Britain today? What the evidence tells us
https://theconversation.com/how-racist-is-britain-today-what-the-evidence-tells-us-141657
Senior Met officer acknowledges racism problem in UK’s largest force
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/15/senior-met-officer-acknowledges-racism-problem-force-bas-javid
‘Student politics’ from the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, eh? What’s his game then?
Investigation into Met Police officers uncovers racism, misogyny, harassment and offensive social media messages
https://news.sky.com/story/investigation-into-met-police-officers-uncovers-racism-misogyny-harassment-and-offensive-social-media-messages-12530179
If you want to play racist links tennis …
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/ireland-among-worst-eu-states-for-racial-violence-based-on-skin-colour-1.3889478
New balls please.
Hehx3™
The Met Police ‘is definitely racist’ and at ‘extreme end’ of the problem says Black police chief
https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/met-police-is-definitely-racist-23107511
Racism in Met Police ‘worse now than 20 years ago’, former top cop says
https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/02/racism-in-met-police-worse-now-than-20-years-ago-ex-top-cop-says-14694367/
Racist links tennis ?
https://labourheartlands.com/the-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-european-union/
Game,set and match.
New balls please.
Hehx3™
One piece of ‘Look over there’ whataboutery doesn’t do the job that you think it does. It doesn’t begin to address the issues surrounding the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl in London. Unlike the links pointing to racism within the Metropolitan police, which are obviously more pertinent.
You probably knew that when you launched (then deleted, then relaunched) your failed diversion. Maybe it’s best if you delete it again.
You’ll need to ask Admin about the temporary deletion old sport.Nowt to do with me.
But your repeated attempts to portray the UK as an overtly racist society collapses at the mildest scrutiny.
Best address the problem in your own backyard first methinks.
Now get off your knees Beret Boy™
I think that we can safely say that the many contemporary reports of racism impacting all levels of British society, along with statements by senior British politicians – including Tories, – public servants, educationalists and various other professionals are all the confirmation that’s needed to conclude that racism is and continues to be a serious problem in the UK.
No amount of wittering from you can disguise the fact.
The EU appears to disagree with you.
Of course they have you by the gonads anyway so I don’t suppose they really care.
Dry your eyes mate.
The EU report you posted a reference to dates from 2018.
The article on this thread, which deals, in case you hadn’t noticed, with daily news items, dates from March 16th 2022.
Links post-dating your 2018 item are from 2021 and 2022. Their content links to convincing explanations for a possible motive that led to the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl.
Your efforts at blowing smoke and deflecting can be seen for what they are. At no time do you even attempt to refer to the incident to which the (ongoing) racism element of today’s reportage applies.
It wouldn’t be necessary to post links to racism-related issues in British society if they didn’t keep appearing in British media with such regularity, would it? Shouldn’t your actual beef be with the British media for its constant publishing of articles relating to racism in British society? Or is it that you want to censor all mention of same?
It’s you who seems to have the beef you poor thing.
You’re obsessive about it.
Calm yourself down with a few barstool renditions of the Wolfe Tones greatest hits Beret Boy™
And not from a kneeling position.
Such a bad look.
I’ll put your white flag with all the others.
Time and time again British journalists exercise their rights to free speech in a democracy and honour their commitment to open justice and reportage. Yet whenever they write about some current racism issue you barge in here guldering like a failed EDL candidate and start your ranting.
There are many, many British politicians, police officers, legal spokespersons, academics, medical professionals, community workers, lawyers, barristers, journalists, authors etc. all valiantly trying to stem the ugly tide of racism that washes through British society and you regularly try to shout down their efforts to address the problem. Quite why you want to minimise it or pretend that it isn’t a real problem is your own, ignorant, business.
Let’s hope that those courageous Brits who want to eliminate racism continue with their work and that benighted people like you are swept aside in the effort.
As for your attempting to mute Irish people who comment on racism in the UK – get yourself off to Cecil Guthrie’s grave at Inchigeelagh and take a leak on it.
How could I mute a foghorn like you ?
I’d need a cork the size of Cork, like.
No mention of racism in Ireland in any of your posts.
Get off your knees™
No mention of Ireland or an Irish connection in the news about the strip searching of a 15-year-old girl in London, hence no relevance in mentioning Ireland in any discussion on the incident.
Know your place, Mr. Irrelevant.
You’d wonder if there might be scope to open a criminal investigation into the officers present, all that because some idiot teacher thought they smelled cannabis? After what we saw in the Sarah Everard murder, it’s hard not to wonder about what is patrolling UK streets these days. Seems any old scumbag can be a plod in the UK.
Absolutely terrible stuff.
Crazy to think that the schools first instinct was to call the police, rather then the child’s parents.
Hope they take them to the cleaners.
@Micko, there are three explanations as to what happened here, racism which is always possible especially considering some of the stuff we have seen about UK police the last few years, deliberate sadism or just unsuitable people with insufficient training.
I’d personally view the last possibility as the most likely, while racism is a problem and there are probably quite a lot of nasty individuals serving, the most obvious is that the officers on the day are just not the sort of people who should be police.
Yep. Who knows the motivations of another individuals mind. Racism may have been an issue as you say.
But I think the school has to be held to account for involving the police in the first place, as no crime had been committed.
Actually, do we even charge minors with possession of drugs?
UK police are far more concerned about hateful language than preventing stabbings and acid attacks on the streets of london
Deplorable, but this utter hysteria serves no-one:
“Significantly, some six months prior, George Floyd was tragically killed in the USA and there were repercussions around the globe, including in the UK,”
Met officers under investigation over strip search of girl at London school:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/16/met-officers-under-investigation-over-strip-search-of-girl-at-london-school
Black girl strip-searched by Met officers at London school tells of trauma:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/16/met-officers-under-investigation-over-strip-search-of-girl-at-london-school
A Joycean stream of consciousness courtesy of the Donald
How many Trumps does it take to change a lightbulb ?
https://twitter.com/bmay/status/1503874082999357451
I’d say more Pythonesque than Joycean.
You have to admit though, he is quite the entertainer.
Diarmuid Rossa Phelan bail hearing.
https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/barrister-allegedly-shot-unarmed-dad-in-back-of-head-after-farm-altercation-court-told-41450942.html
I’m not clicking that link as I despise that publication, but the rumors suggest the victim had a run in with the barrister and returned with some mates, no doubt to politely debate the matter, so if the eye witness is one of the mates you’d have to wonder…presumably ballistics can easily prove where he was shot.
…The court heard that there were five witnesses, four of whom are the accused employees and the fifth witness is Mr Conlon’s friend…..
Fair enough, my bad – I’ve taken the hit and clicked the link – his account of the incident is really weird, as if English is his second language or something, or perhaps he’s not fully right in the head.
In fairness Alison O’ Riordan,did a great job reporting on the bail hearing,given its sub judice.
Dog bins named ‘poo tin’ in disgust at Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/dog-bins-named-poo-tin-in-disgust-at-putin-s-invasion-of-ukraine/ar-AAV4SJs
Putin’s barred from the Loaf and Cheese in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, too.
Pressure on.
One for the grown-ups:
https://rumble.com/vx2iq7-the-white-houses-game-playing-denials-of-bio-labs-in-ukraine.html
About an hour long but a very worthwhile watch. Glen Greenwald gives his very informed take on the claims and counterclaims about US biolabs in the Ukraine and whether the US really has an active bioweapons program.
He re-visits the 2001 anthrax attacks on US citizens shortly after 9/11 which was highly significant in that it instilled the idea in the US public’s mind that terrorism could arrive at anyone’s doorstep in a way which the New York attacks couldn’t do.
The anthrax used was in a highly sophisticated, weaponised form and after initially being blamed on Saddam, years later the US government admitted that the anthrax strain came from one of their own biolabs. As Greenwald points out, the sheer duplicity is outrageous and still continues today – these so called “biodefence labs” go through the exact same process of making bioweapons that a bioweapons lab would, but because the Pentagon say they are also developing new vaccines to counteract those bioweapons which they’ve developed, they see this as valid justification to flatly deny that they possess, or are developing, any bioweapons. It’s madness.
So, no evidence of bioweapons in those labs or you wouldn’t be going on about something that happened twenty years ago and fulminating wildly about unproven allegations. The bioweapons conspiracy theory originated with a Qanon account, but maybe that makes it more credible to you and Greenwald, not less.
On Greenwald’s claims in the video:
https://twitter.com/ichbinilya/status/1503077582539005953
On the origin of the biolab propaganda:
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1503434867614228480
I think given Nigel’s track history and admissions, we can assume he didn’t watch Greenwald’s piece, yet he feels compelled to post a twitter thread purporting to debunk it.
I had a look at the thread (which I’ve a feeling Nigel didn’t read either as it’s rather long). Reading through it, it soon becomes clear that it’s can’t be considered as a rebuttal of Greenwald’s opinions at all. Instead, it goes off on a tangent with a retweet of a thread posted by a Soviet-born Swedish geneticist that argues over the technical specificities found in a document reportedly shared by the Russian Foreign Ministry via Russian TV – a document which Greenwald doesn’t even feature in his presentation.
As an aside, this is an odd section of that retweeted thread:
“We may not be specialists in military propaganda (and may even fall for it), we can and will expose all the fakes published by GoebbelsTV. We work in this area, we’re not banned by Google, and we’re ordained by God himself to comb through microbes and scientific articles.”
Russian TV is labelled “Goebbels TV”, a clear indication that those presenting the analysis already hold extremist anti-Russian views. There’s an admission that they’re not experts in military propaganda and may even fall for it -which swings both ways, I guess – and even a claim they were ordained by God himself to do what they do. What can you say to that.
Watch the presentation by Greenwald instead of rushing to try to dismiss it.
Ah, so apparently not trusting Russian state media is anti-Russian. Also, unlike Greenwald, they address the actual proof presented in regard to the biolabs in question, which, apparently, is bad, as is the fact that it’s a technical and specific discussion of technical and specific documents, rather than an all-encompassing evidence-free diatribe. Maybe that’s all anti-Russian, too.
You can’t resist reaching for the strawman arguments, can you? Time and time again the same type of response. It’s one thing to be sceptical or suspicious about a particular source. It’s another thing entirely to try to equate it with Hitler’s propaganda chief.
“Also, unlike Greenwald, they address the actual proof presented in regard to the biolabs in question”
Again, it’s clear you haven’t watched the video. Unless you can critique the points he makes in some reasonable way, I’m not bothering engaging with you any more. Waste of time.
_____________________
Here’s another very informative thread from today:
https://twitter.com/gumby4christ/status/1503576089918156803
‘We’re told the bio-labs in Ukraine of course aren’t producing bio-weapons. .. But in 2009, [US Under Secretary of State Ellen O. Tauscher, addressing the States Parties of the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva] argued that even attempting to monitor bio-labs was useless because bio-weapons programs can so easily be “disguised within legitimate activities.”
(link to US govt web page given in thread)
This Obama admin rationale for keeping the Biological Weapons Convention toothless was announced just a few years after Obama personally traveled to Ukraine to secure their agreement to allow tons of Pentagon cash & personnel to flow into their bio-labs.
As a result of this agreement, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency converted a Soviet-era lab in Odessa into a BSL-3 that would “research…dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists.” (link given to a now archived web page dated June 18th 2010).’
— end thread —
Further quote from aforementioned page:
“U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar applauded the opening of the Interim Central Reference Laboratory in Odessa, Ukraine, this week, announcing that it will be instrumental in researching dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists…
..The level-3 bio-safety lab, which is the first built under the expanded authority of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, will be used to study anthrax, tularemia and Q fever as well as other dangerous pathogens.
“The continuing cooperation of Nunn-Lugar partners has improved safety for all people against weapons of mass destruction and potential terrorist use.”, Lugar said’
You.. don’t know what a straw man argument actually is, do you?
‘It’s another thing entirely to try to equate it with Hitler’s propaganda chief.’
So what? He gets name-checked frequently in relation to propaganda far less egregious than this current example.
Again NO ACTUAL EVIDENCE THAT THEY’RE MAKING BIOWEAPONS. Maybe that’s what you think a straw man is, when I point out there is no evidence for the thing you are fulminating about?
You never engage with me anyway, just accuse me of using straw man arguments then goi off on lengthy and convoluted personal rants about me so wha difference does declaring you won’t engage with me any more actually make?
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
“You misrepresented someone’s argument to make it easier to attack.”
I make the point that characterising Russian television as “Goebbels TV” is an extremist anti-Russian standpoint. You try to misrepresent my point by pretending that the “Goebbels TV” characterisation equates to “not trusting Russian TV” .
But “not trusting Russian TV” can encompass a whole range of standpoints from reasonable and moderate at one end to extremist and agitational at the other end where you’re fond of calling it “Goebbels TV”.
You’re an awful troll. Get a life
Oh grow up would you? Two years ago you would have been arguing there was no US involvement in Wuhan because that is what you were told to parrot.
You are clearly a shill because nobody could be that stupid.
You keep lying about the Wuhan lab – it’s not about whether the US was involved, it’s about the fact that there has been no evidence that covid came from that, or any other, lab.
+1
DARPA “threat reduction” programme consists of creating dangerous strains of biological agents, and then coming up with a “counter” for them.
So by definition there is an element of bioweapon creation/storage involved/
Does it really matter if those substances are technically called bioweapons or not? That is just a label and if released, will do the same harm either way.
It mattered when the conspiracy theory was all about bioweapons. Now it’s just generic pathogens because there has never been any proof of bioweapons.
‘An element of.’ Sure, we’ve moved on a bit from ‘bioweapon labs’ to ‘labs that work on dangerous things to find cures or countermeasures’ which is presumably every biolab in the entire world. If only there were magical ways on finding treatments for or ways of handling anthrax outbreaks without actually studying anthrax, eh?
A quiet night in for everyone tonight after caning it for a few days.
A few gin and tontons and some mellow herb.
A feller at the beach bar told me an interesting fact tonight.
About 1-in-13 people who have ever lived are alive today.
A.D. makes up only about 1% of human history but about half of all people have lived during it.
Ain’t life wonderful ? What a great time to be alive.
Marvellous™
There’s a gentle breeze picking up the burnt-meat scent from the cooling barbecue.
It also shimmers the surface of the lit swimming pool.
The only sounds are the gentle purr of air-conditioning units delivering 17c cold to the waiting boudoirs.
And the air pump from the dive shop next door as the lads prep for a busy tomorrow.
The smells are butterfly jasmine from the garden, toasty sun-grilled forearms and pungent sun-grown weed.
A crystal clear night sky interrupted only by the occasional passing Triple Seven.
It’s time for some Matt Monroe someone has suddenly announced.
That would be me dear reader
Life’s good.
Life’s really good.
I shall retire to one of those boudoirs in a while.
And lie naked on our bed to let the chill air cool my body and goose-pimple the skin.
Five minutes on each side and open the butt cheeks agape to cool the core temperature.
( Calm yourself down Vanessa )
Then I shall slide between the Egyptian cotton sheets and spoon a snoozing Lady TenPin.
Just such a perfect day.
Hahahaa ok Alan Shatter
The caravan park in Youghal sounds great Charger.. Can’t wait to get there one day..
Ahem, less of the caravan bashing please.
I just bought my first caravan recently!
Oh… It’s the carnie life for me.
I can feel my hands getting smaller every day…
https://tenor.com/view/small-hands-carnies-austin-powers-mike-myers-gif-9869905
jaysus I hope it’s horse drawn….moneybags ;)
Congrats Micko! I’ve started saving for a campervan, now that we’re not paying a king’s ransom in rent.
I have the most wonderful memories of campervan holidays as a kid in France.
they know how to camp there, the sites can really be something else
Cheers guys.
Ah it’s about 20 years old – so nothin fancy.
It’s clean, in good nick with no leaks or damp and with a bit of TLC will be ready for festival season in no time!
I just can’t do tents for a weekend anymore. ;-)
Good luck with the saving Millie – campervan would be deadly!
Sounds great Micko, hope it gives you many years of pleasure!
Always fancied a trip around Europe in one, just pulling up to a site and setting down for a few days and deciding where to next at the last minute.
Ta Ian
And then Walter Mitty woke up to the screams of the nurse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elnARmKa-cU
Variations on Zelenskyy saying they won’t join NATO- finally some progress. Now all he has to do is write it into the constitution and let the independent observers into those Bio Lads. How many lives did it cost to get this far?
In fairness he is just a puppet and we know who’s hand is stuck up his backside. All Biden and NATO had to do was to say they would not be accepting the Nazis, and the situation would have been immediately diffused.
Then again, when you look at the Biden / Harris/ Pelosi triangle, I don’t think any of them know what day of the week it is, let alone anything else. Take me to your dealer etc.
https://www.tiktok.com/@patriotts2022_2.0/video/7075145120777030955
I love how you blame and disparage everyone except the guy who actually did the invading and all the killing. And by ‘love’ I mean ‘have nothing but contempt for.’
This! Twisted thinking.
And do you think that if Russia or China was meddling in Mexico, that there would be Bio Labs along the US border? That is not how the world works- big countries meddle in smaller countries affairs all the time.
Even here in Ireland, you would be absolutely shocked if you knew how much Britain meddles in Irish affairs.
And, when it comes to NATO which was set up to counter the USSR- there is no reason for it to even exist anymore.
Last week you were saying it was because of neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine and that the Russians were attempting to neutralise them. Then it was a popularity grab for Zelensky. This week it’s secret US bio-labs.
What next to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
And if the US invaded Mexico would you be praising them for taking out those biolabs?
@ Millie It is entirely possible to have more than one objective? But, that the first thing Russia did was to take out six of the US Bio Labs was very telling.
The Nazis are part of the issue- because they have been slaughtering Russians in the east of Ukraine for the past eight years. Not a word on the western media of course- Azov will be neutralised for sure.
‘because they have been slaughtering Russians in the east of Ukraine’
Wow you sure do love nuance. Hasn’t the seperatist conflict been caused by Putin sending in the Wagner Group – the mercenaries with the Nazi facial tattoos?
Yes, of course. It just reads like excuse after excuse to justify the attacks on the Ukrainian people in favour of Russian interests. And as I already said, your use of ‘special military operation’ in respect of the shelling of hospitals and attacks on residential homes and a sustained aggressive invasion is very telling.
Yeah I find the constant shifting of goalposts and deflection a little hard to take. Right down to parroting the ‘special military operation’ bull from the Russian state media, and honestly how convoluted does your thinking have to be when you’re attempting to justify the kinds of attacks on civilians and war crimes we’ve been seeing over the past two weeks.
What else is it but a military operation because it sure as hell is not a full on invasion- they would have had that done in 48 hours if that was their goal. ‘Military operations’ was a term widely used up north back in the day btw- by both sides.
As for ‘shifting of goalposts’- anybody who cannot take onboard new information as it emerges in a situation like that, is swallowing the propaganda hook line and sinker, especially when they are cheering on Nazis.
I not in the slightest supporting Russia but if you discovered that there is Bio Labs placed along the border between north and south Ireland, especially back in the middle of the troubles when hostilities were high, how would you feel?
This is not some country GAA match where you have to take sides- it is geo politics between two world powers, and it is as dirty as it gets.
It’s an invasion because the Russian military entered Uraine and began shooting people and shelling cities. Just because it went slower than Putin would have hoped or expected doesn’t make it something else, and he certainly didn’t do it because of biolabs, that is utterly fabricated because an online conspiracy theory took off, thanks to people like yourself and F_lawless. Biolabs on either side of the border would probably be welcome because of, y’know, jobs and investement. But SOQ wouold be in there trying to blow them up.
What’s your definition of a Nazism.
Well lets start with basics- someone who waves swastikas perhaps? Then a bit of racism and homophobia thrown in?
It is certainly is NOT self employed Canadian truckers.
Start with the basics, are you giving lessons then.
It is quite shocking to see how he grabs onto every single alt-right contrarian conspiracy theory. He also believes that trump won the election but it was rigged, that climate change is a hoax, brexit was a good idea, the Covid vaccines are part of some evil plan of Bill Gates to control our minds, pizzagate is real etc etc etc.
The guy’s a deluded loser.
Oh look another username-
Point me to ONE post”that climate change is a hoax, brexit was a good idea, the Covid vaccines are part of some evil plan of Bill Gates to control our minds, pizzagate is real etc etc etc.”
I never said any of that- and you know it.
“Oh look another username-“
What do you mean?
“I never said any of that- and you know it.”
You do believe all of those things though.
I believe none of them or I would be arguing in favour of them- which I don’t and I never have.
I do think there was something dodgy about the US election yes, because I am familiar with such IT record keeping systems- and the official story did not add up.
It has recently been quietly released that the PCs were connected to the internet for example- they had to be for the software be updated the night before- but even that was denied at the time.
You are just throwing slurs- grow up.
I would call it an invasion, and act of war. They have invaded and attacked a sovereign independent nation. The Russians have attacked numerous protected buildings, residential areas and targeted citizens. They have committed war crimes. And honestly I don’t think falling back on the terminology in the Troubles (which was, let’s be honest, a war) does your argument any favours at all.
What I find really funny here about your argument here is that changing one’s opinion as new info emerges is something you took issue with regarding lockdown and masks over the past two years, for example, on more than one occasion. The situation with covid and the situation here is comparable in that it is a rapidly developing situation, and of course responses and opinions change based on newly emerging information, especially these days with so much information at our fingertips. But you can’t have it both ways.
And I think you’ll find that most people are not cheering on Nazis. They are horrified by the attacks on civilians and hospitals and they are supporting the ordinary Ukrainian people whose lives have been torn asunder by the actions of the Russian government and Russian armies.
So all of a sudden being a sovereign state is important now is it? All of a sudden humanitarian concerns are what is paramount? What abut what the US has done or is that somehow different?
Russia wants a Moscow friendly government and more importantly, a Moscow friendly people which is why all the civilian infrastructure like electricity, water, comms etc is still intact. There is also connections between the two armies- as the Ukrainian generals were all trained by Russia.
As for Covid-19, I have consistently said that masks and lockdowns don’t work- the evidence was clear at the time, and still is- except in exactly the same way as now, some people were blinded by the propaganda.
I suggest you watch Ukraine on Fire- seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93695fYe0KU
The entire country was and is very right wing- because the left wingers were exiled. There is a number of them who came to Ireland btw- although they keep a low profile.
‘So all of a sudden being a sovereign state is important now is it?’
According to you it’s now completely irrelevant, conveniently for Putin.
‘I have consistently said’
You have been consistently wrong on this subject.
Really it’s that simple?
Like a domestic abuser standing over a partner who’s just been given a few digs, cooing softly in their ear “all you had to do was come home when i told you to come home?”
All are chattering on the margins – the extreme peripheries outside the reality of life in that part of the world. Criticism of propaganda from Side A while distributing propaganda from Side B while saying don’t believe what you read but believe what I read? Social media is constructed to keep us in the sandbox, priapic with self-righteousness and spiraling to the same lacuna of repetition, dreary day after dreary day full on some numb-nut nobody’s “hot-take” diluted with misinformation and bias.
Such luxury. Such passive engagement while the kettle the boils in the background and we make plans for the weekend. Go ahead anyway, play the game. Puff your chest as an expert on modern warfare, economics, recent history, domestic and international foreign policy while following the breadcrumbs laid out just for you.
None of it matters. We know fupp all about fupp all despite any denials to the contrary.
No-one can be an expert on everything. Humility trumps hubris any day of the week.
“The truth is out there.”
Yes it really is that simple- did you even read what Russia’s demands were?
Or did you just get swept away on the fear mongering that Putin was the new Hitler and that he was going to invade all the ex USSR countries?
Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots. It is not in their strategic interests to invade Ukraine.
You thundering moron.
‘Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over-‘
He’s not Hitler – he’s literally saving the world!
All hail Putin, what a guy, he’s the best!
The mental gymnastics involved in spinning everything to a pro-Russian/anti-West slant is both mind-boggling and quite depressing, I feel a real sadness for people like this, if they’re not just on the wind-up.
If the last two years should have thought you anything, it is that things are rarely what the state propaganda says.
But here we are again. It MUST be a good guy / bad guy reduction. No nuance will be tolerated, no discussion of anything more granular than which team do you support will be accepted.
Nuance is good, constantly parroting Kremlin propaganda is not. I also find zero nuance in your posts, it’s all anti-Ukraine and pretending Russia isn’t the aggressor like a child sticking their fingers in their ears.
‘No nuance will be tolerated’
You are literally painting everybody but Putin as the bad guys. That’s not nuance. That’s state propaganda, only Russian.
“Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots.”
Haha this is possibly the craziest thing you’ve ever said on broadsheet. You’ve fully lost your mind. I’m actually slightly embarrassed for you.
Stop projecting, it’s embarrassing.
“Russia moved to take those labs out as soon as the pandemic was over- join the bloody dots.”
I must say I really am intrigued to hear what you’re getting at with this one.
Yes I did read their demands and no I don’t do fear mongering.
Something for the old skool Irish Masters of the Financial Universe to wear upon the morrow
https://shop.morningbrew.com/products/green-is-good?variant=42562041938140
we (youth) didnt mass emigrate after covid like they’d hoped. so now theyre making it insanely too expensive to live here and force us out that way.
The Irish establishment have always used emigration as a pressure value when things got tight, but what was really disgusting was how after the 2008 crash- the entire media went into emigration overdrive.
Within the space of weeks, all the talking heads were yapping on about what were the best countries to go to, how to apply, how much it would cost etc- it really was relentless.
None of them were ever forced to emigrate of course- always the ‘other’.
Elon Musk asked to ‘turn off’ Teslas in Russia as he makes superchargers free for people fleeing Ukraine
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/elon-musk-ukraine-russia-tesla-b2027067.html
I assume this is technically possible, in which case the joke about the Tesla driving itself back to the garage if you default on the payments, is not so far fetched after all.
Patch that into a Credit Score system with ‘hackable humans’ and you really are looking at a dystopian nightmare.
“Trusted Business Journalism”
“Ronan Group Real Estate said refinancing arrangements were at an advanced stage, which would enable the receivers to be discharged and for the firm to retain ownership of the properties”
https://www.businesspost.ie/business/receiver-appointed-to-12-properties-in-ronan-group-over-eur142m-debt-e15404d1
oh.
“RGRE continues to liaise with the parties involved to explore the extension of payment arrangements over the next six months to allow sufficient time for a successful refinance of the loan, and we have had a number of productive discussions to that end.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/ronan-group-seeks-six-months-grace-as-receiver-appointed-1.4826838
Ronan has defaulted,the debt were due to be repaid in full by end of January,its’s know as a maturity default.
They would have been well aware of this maturity date,every effort you can assume was made in last quarter to refinance this debt,potential partners or lenders have finally decided,that one the most obnoxious Irish RE developers,I ever encountered has had his last drink,at the last chance saloon.
Most normal rational partners had made that decision a long time ago,his sugar daddy Tom Barrack,is headed to trial against the feds,he was really his lender of last resort,no more sugar for Ronan.
The “romantic novelist” ,MENSA member and Queen of the all day prosecco strikes again – who let the white witch out of rehab
“Nadine Dorries arrived at a meeting with software giant Microsoft and immediately asked when they were going to get rid of algorithms, according to an official given an account of the meeting.”
She will publish Britain’s online safety bill tomorrow
Looks like the Broadsheet clean up crew are having a lie in
And they were flying it last night cleaning up after him
Russian troops opened fire on people who were standing in line to buy bread in Chernihiv this morning. At least 10 people killed according to reports:
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1504060376333357060
According to reports, from twitter. Right.
No, your reading and comprehension skills are weak. Reports are appearing both on Twitter and in other media. These reports are based on other sources, usually given by the source posting on Twitter or within the media articles. Thus, the origin of the information is not ‘Twitter’.
You should know this, unless you’re a total simpleton.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ukraine-russia-crisis-10-waiting-bread-line-killed-by-russian-forces-in-chernigiv-ukraine-2827209
‘Yesterday we had record high temperatures in Ny-Ålesund. Was measured 5.5°, the previous record was from 1976 at 5.0 ° #NyÅlesund is the northernmost science station in the world’
https://twitter.com/Anna_Filip/status/1504049623257731076