wheelyhappy99 wrote: ↑17 Mar 2025, 6:15pm
Welcome back Biospace.
Any chance of finding the time to answer the questions above, please?
Iirc the questions you had posed were along the lines of why do you think we've more in common with most Russians than most Americans, and do you believe Ukraine is a sovereign state that is entitled to decide it's own economic and foreign policy?
Given the first is such a lengthy subject which could hardly be covered well in a short answer, start a new topic and see what people have to say, if you are genuinely interested. To the second, of course Ukraine is a sovereign state and so should be entitled to decide its own policies.
wheelyhappy99 wrote: ↑17 Mar 2025, 6:15pm
Welcome back Biospace.
Any chance of finding the time to answer the questions above, please?
Iirc the questions you had posed were along the lines of why do you think we've more in common with most Russians than most Americans, and do you believe Ukraine is a sovereign state that is entitled to decide it's own economic and foreign policy?
Given the first is such a lengthy subject which could hardly be covered well in a short answer, start a new topic and see what people have to say, if you are genuinely interested. To the second, of course Ukraine is a sovereign state and so should be entitled to decide its own policies.
Er, you made the statement. Please provide your evidence or withdraw it. I don't recall any restriction on the length of posts so feel free to explain at length if that's necessary.
Peace process. Some interpretation of the very impressive drafting is called for I think. Well up to our FO standards IME.
"The Russian president set out several conditions for a fuller ceasefire during the 90 minute call, including that any settlement should "eliminate the root causes of the crisis", the Kremlin says..." (BBC News)
The existence of Ukraine as an independent state is the root cause of the crisis and thus should be eliminated. Honest yet opaque!
Trump is clearly pushing hard for a deal, and has earned Putin's respect:
https://www.newsweek.com/watch-putin-la ... ll-2046618
Russian president Vladimir Putin can be seen smiling and laughing when he was told that he's running late for his highly anticipated call with President Donald Trump in a video circulating on Twitter.
__________________
Putin kept Trump waiting for an hour.
Before this, he kept Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, waiting for eight hours (in the lobby) on March 13.
wheelyhappy99 wrote: ↑18 Mar 2025, 6:17pm
Er, you made the statement. Please provide your evidence or withdraw it. I don't recall any restriction on the length of posts so feel free to explain at length if that's necessary.
Surely it's not difficult to recognise the commonalities between British and Russian people? If my opinion is that we have more in common with them than US citizens, do you have a problem with this unless I write a small essay on the subject in evidence of my opinion? It appears so. If you're so disbelieving, I'll offer two points: tea drinking and our home cities being bombed by the Germans in the 1940s.
Or perhaps, through treating opinions contrary to your own as facts, you simply enjoy trying to pick apart points of those who question you, rather than engaging with the actual discussion in a constructive manner.
Personally, I find it impossible to tell how much or little we have in common with anyone much beyond Western Europe and Scandinavia, Russia being a particular challenge because of the substantial language barrier, and the relative lack of ordinary communication.
The USA is a real conundrum, because it’s crystal clear that we do have an immense amount in common, but also that in many cases our underlying assumptions and values are quite fundamentally different ……. The sheer prevalence of conflict and violence in vast swathes of US culture never ceases to amaze me, for instance, and that right down into TV shows aimed at the youngest children.
But then again, I sometimes get nasty shocks at how the underlying values and assumptions of a significant portion of fellow UK-ites range far and wide from mine (I’ve just been reading the comments under a news item on the Daily Express feed, which involved 3000+ people jumping to a massively wrong conclusion on the basis of racist and islamophobic prejudice), so maybe the venn diagram of things in common is complicated, and three or four dimensional, whether the subjects are you and your next door neighbours, or you and a randomly selected family in some far flung corner of a foreign land. It might be that things like age, social class, educational level, prosperity etc are better predictors of commonality that is nationality.
Nearholmer wrote: ↑11 Mar 2025, 8:50pm
Interesting idea that The Russia Problem is confined to the invasion of Ukraine, because from where I sit it seems to include a lot of other things too, one of which is persistent meddling in UK politics by multiple means.
That will not be stopped by military means.
Do you think giving them Ukraine will help?
No, but I don't think it will make any difference.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Good to see you working through the full range of poor faith rhetorical devices on the thread.
Hardly. If so bothered about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, why don't you put your boots where your mouth is and go and fight. Repelling the invasion involves real people fighting and dying.
Bad faith rhetoric examples:
"If so bothered about homelessness, why don't you invite them into your house?"
"If so bothered about potholes, why not go and fill some in yourself?"
"If so bothered about poverty, why not sell your possessions and give to the poor?"
etc etc ad infinitum.
It's really just a way of admitting you haven't got a defensible position.
Hardly bad faith. For example I am bothered about poverty, so a few weeks ago I donated a five figure sum to a local foodbank. Over the year I will be donating similar sums to various other organisations that need money for "good causes".
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Had the big guns on the ride, incredible, first time I've heard them since the 80's. Extensive military flying, had disappeared since 1990, the Typhoons bombing over the hill at the end of the 30 mile spin, has been extraordinary, the past 5 months. More jets in a day, than have typically seen in a decade or more, may actually be a + 30yr's since had so many low flying.
Noticed a couple camo bivvies on our side of the road, Saturday before last. We were always told in the 80's, "they're not supposed to come over to our side". Oh and that substantial bridge built '37-'38, suddenly closed off for 3+ months, main beams being replaced
To put it mildly, someone must be taking that "war on our doorstep", seriously
No, but I don't think it will make any difference.
It will materially give them more resources and wealth. That is inarguable.
Most would also agree that it will make them even more brazen at taking liberties with other sovereign nations (amongst many other things; messing with our democracy, grabbing more land, poisoning UK citizens, destroying ocean-floor infrastructure etc etc ... )
Nearholmer wrote: ↑19 Mar 2025, 3:54pm
But then again, I sometimes get nasty shocks at how the underlying values and assumptions of a significant portion of fellow UK-ites range far and wide from mine (I’ve just been reading the comments under a news item on the Daily Express feed, which involved 3000+ people jumping to a massively wrong conclusion on the basis of racist and islamophobic prejudice), so maybe the venn diagram of things in common is complicated, and three or four dimensional, whether the subjects are you and your next door neighbours, or you and a randomly selected family in some far flung corner of a foreign land. It might be that things like age, social class, educational level, prosperity etc are better predictors of commonality that is nationality.
Whilst I'd generally go with the view that most are more similar than the general consensus which usually has a degree of exceptionalism in most cases (e.g. the Netherlands cycling is in their culture and could never work anywhere else argument) I would probably not judge anything from comment sections either on the paper's site or on social media.
They are not representative samples and we know from existing research that they are plagued by astroturfing efforts and bot farms who in turn rely on the terminally online to parrot/boost the desired talking points.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
Yes, I did wonder how much of it was bot generated, and how much deliberately seeded destabilisation stuff, but, depressingly, the same news item got pretty much the same sort of comments when run on other outlets, and most of the comments are individuals who can’t spell or use grammatical sentences.
The next riot and attempted lynching will involve a person who isn’t pure aryan, and who has driven on a pavement and knocked down a pedestrian.
wheelyhappy99 wrote: ↑18 Mar 2025, 6:17pm
Er, you made the statement. Please provide your evidence or withdraw it. I don't recall any restriction on the length of posts so feel free to explain at length if that's necessary.
Surely it's not difficult to recognise the commonalities between British and Russian people? If my opinion is that we have more in common with them than US citizens, do you have a problem with this unless I write a small essay on the subject in evidence of my opinion? It appears so. If you're so disbelieving, I'll offer two points: tea drinking and our home cities being bombed by the Germans in the 1940s.
Or perhaps, through treating opinions contrary to your own as facts, you simply enjoy trying to pick apart points of those who question you, rather than engaging with the actual discussion in a constructive manner.
As ever I am simply asking for evidence to support the statements people make. I had, genuinely, expected any substantive reply to set out some cultural synergy I was unaware of. Instead, you seem to believe that tea drinking and the shared experience of being bombed by Nazi Germany, a common enemy 80 years ago (also shared by Norway, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, France, among others) are an appropriate basis for deciding geopolitical allegiances today. Have you found anyone in the Foreign Office who supports that approach?
