Russia and the World Cup

[upthemaggies]

Peter Hitchens in the Mail, of all places, has published a very good article on the crisis today.

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co....-are-next.html

[upthemaggies]

You really do have to feel sorry for Putin, all these things happening on his watch and it turns out it's one big stitch-up by the west.

It's beginning to look as though both Russia and Britain are attempting to deflect attention away from their own crimes here. Russia has apparently created something new and unknown to the west (in terms of its' composition) which the British have attempted to smuggle samples out of Russia using the spy's daughter, with her believing she had taken all of the necessary precautions to avoid exposure before passing it on to Porton Down via her father.

Therefore Russia is in the wrong for making a new bio-agent when they are supposed to have ceased producing and storing this kind of weapon (although other countries including the USA and Israel still do) whilst Britain is in the wrong for potentially exposing its' own people to this agent and then trying to cover it up by blaming the Russians for bringing it onto UK soil.

[andy6025]

Nobody has mentioned Russian DNA, obviously this relates to Russia's current government, not its people. I can think of many differences between the modus operandi of Russia and of western countries though.

I don't think Iraq is a valid comparison as any military action against Russia would have catastrophic consequences, which explains why they have got away with so much for so long. Even a PR war against Russia will be acutely embarrassing as they are better than us at that too.

Let's not forget that Litvinienko's wife had to get a high court injunction into her husband's poisoning as the then home secretary (now PM) tried to brush it under the carpet. Hardly sign of a conspiracy is it?

Let's not forget also that apart from shooting down passenger planes, invading other countries, killing journalists and lawyers, imprisoning political opponents and poisoning dissidents abroad, this spy's (previously healthy) son died of sudden liver failure on his last trip to Russia. At what point do we stop giving Putin the benefit of the doubt and start applying the same level of rigorous criticism to what he says and does as we do to our politicians and institutions?

Iraq is a valid analogy because in both cases we're comparing the pressure to use dubious intelligence, or intelligence with a purposeful spin to point the finger at a culprit that may not be guilty. In the case of the Iraq war, GW and Bliar wanted an excuse to invade Iraq and they came up their 'slam dunk' case of chemical weapons and Colin Powell's presentation of anthrax and mobile laboratories to the UN security council.

Here we've got a nerve agent 'of a type developed by Russia.'

Now, when is the media going to do their actual job and start asking real questions rather than spending their time photoshopping hats?

[BigFatPie]

Intelligence was wrong about Iraq 15 years ago, therefore it’s wrong about about Russia now.

Flawless logic.

[maddogslater]

Thank god we still have a few politicians of Jeremy Corbyn's ilk and people who want the truth out.

[upthemaggies]

Intelligence was wrong about Iraq 15 years ago, therefore it’s wrong about about Russia now.

Flawless logic.

It's hard to imagine they'd do almost exactly the same thing again as a pre-text for going into Syria. If they are, the world is well and truly f**** and so much for May's insistence that this is all being done to keep us safe. You'd rather have terrorist attacks and poisonings of Russian exiles on a daily basis than face the very real possibility of World War III.

[andy6025]

Intelligence was wrong about Iraq 15 years ago, therefore it may also be wrong about Russia now. The responsible approach would be to ask tough questions and be sceptical about what the 'official' line is feeding us.

Sound logic.

Fixed that for you

[Trickytreesreds]

It's hard to imagine they'd do almost exactly the same thing again as a pre-text for going into Syria. If they are, the world is well and truly f**** and so much for May's insistence that this is all being done to keep us safe. You'd rather have terrorist attacks and poisonings of Russian exiles on a daily basis than face the very real possibility of World War III.

If it comes to that, lets hope Labour don't have to fight our corner.

Classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlfPo2eTfg

[JoePass]

If it comes to that, lets hope Labour don't have to fight our corner.

Classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlfPo2eTfg

The woman is a total imbecile.

[BigFatPie]

I’m a massive Putin apologist who will try to find any excuse to let him off the hook, despite the fact he has a ton of form for getting rid of his enemies both at home and abroad. Unless I see him with an actual smoking gun, I will believe any number of half baked conspiracy theories. And he was perfectly entitled to annex Crimea.

This quote thing is marvellous isn’t it?