bradiston

Quite the worst anywhere in the world. I'm in Philippines right now and if you think Thai KFC is shxte you ain't tried the stuff out here. But Grab, aka Bolt in Thailand, has some truly great burgers you can order. Yeah, go on, treat yourself!

Maybe the tip came from Hong Kong.

Suggestions to watch YouTube videos are an insult to anyone's intelligence. I see the same recommendations on other platforms, same videos, same authors, same commentators, same put downs of any sources not Kremlin approved. I've checked a few of the authors out. Mostly discredited American professors. Why would I believe them? Don't believe anything on YouTube, end of.

Well there you go again, blaming the west for Putin's stupidity and miscalculations. It's all on him and it's only your hatred of the "warmongering" haha West that prevents you from seeing that. Up til that point, you appear quite sane. Plus, the Re(tar)d Army turned out to be a complete joke. Remember the 40km tank column that got stuck? NATO could have struck then, it would have been curtains for Putin. The EU and NATO missed so many opportunities to do as you accuse them of, and block the Russian advance in the early days, it beggars belief. Putin presented a clear and present danger. Now, you say there is an existential threat to Russia. All I can say, I wish!

Actually your map is out of date. It doesn't show Finland or Sweden. A large proportion, if not all, of the post 1990 additions to NATO came as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. If the Russians made themselves that unpopular in eastern Europe, which they obviously did, then it is quite understandable that those countries, Poland, Czechoslavakia, Hungary, Romania, East Germany and the Baltic states, and latterly Finland, would want to realign themselves away from their hated overlords. Russia didn't lose anything it hadn't already lost. Sure, those ex Soviet satellite countries ran straight into the arms of the EU and subsequently NATO. So what? Anything was better, and on some cases, an order of magnitude better, than what the previous 50 years had entailed. If Putin wants to cry foul over that, well, he was a senior KGB agent in East Germany I believe when the Berlin wall came down. Seems like it's just sour grapes to then accuse NATO of expansionism. If you get a divorce because your marriage has failed, you don't get to say what the other party does after the divorce, do you? It was probably because of such control freak illusions that the marriage failed in the first place. Neither the Soviets were, nor the Russians are, competent or intelligent enough to run their empire. So be it. Vae victis.

Whose post?

In all honesty I have no idea why he invaded Ukraine. I don't think anyone really knows. Maybe not him even. He wanted to make his mark on the world stage. He's certainly done that. But at what cost? What has it really achieved territorially? The price people have had to pay for his egotistical ambition is completely out of order. I don't care to argue about this any further as your guess is as good as mine. There's no right answer. If you want to believe it was because of NATO expansion, who am I to disagree? But I do, vehemently. It seems the least likely reason, considering the costs in human life and misery. For whatever reason, he went ahead. But, actions have consequences, and they are really quite appalling. And I don't believe he foresaw the disastrous toll it would take on his own people, let alone the Ukrainians. In that sense I consider it was a massive blunder that has achieved nothing, and caused absolute havoc for millions. I don't see anything justifiable there. There was no "clear and present danger". NATO wasn't "on the move". Far from it. But that's all I have to say.

NATO expansion? What a joke!

Explain yourself. You never got the pension in Thailand because no pension agreement? Did you ever actually move there? And don't accuse me of "blathering" and "wittering" when you seem to have no idea about how the UK pension works. After your move to Thailand to escape NATO and the EU, you went home again with your tail between your legs because you thought you couldn't get your pension in Thailand. 🤣🤣🤣. What an appalling shower.

No, not in other words. In your words.

Nope. I'm through arguing nonsense with you. It serves no purpose. It changes nothing. I despise every sentence you write. I don't have time nor interest to dismantle your silly arguments.

Twisted. As usual, unless you agree with me you're "propagandised". Same old anti American rubbish repackaged for every argument. Tedious.

No pension in Thailand? You mean no pension rise. What beach are you on? Brighton?

So you think every time parliament needs to vote on something, they should have a national referendum? Democracy involves electing representatives of the people and the delegation of powers to pass laws and act on their behalf etc etc. Got any better ideas? Totalitarianism? Dictatorship? Putinism, aka kleptocracy? And do you know the origin of Kool Aid? As in The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test? The Grateful Dead? Ken Kesey? Owsley? West Coast? Oh there's that word again. Yeah. West. West. West. Where's the Russian Dylan? Motorhead? Pink Floyd? Spielberg. Apocalypse Now. Do they have anything to contribute? Nah. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No culture. Nothing.

It did no such thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_in_Russia_regarding_the_legitimacy_of_eastward_NATO_expansion 1991 poor USSR collapsed. The whole of Eastern Europe went down with it but all states were keen to join the EU and NATO. And who can blame them? 50 years of Soviet jackboot, ignorance and stupidity had held them back. Their economies and their societies were a total mess. People who criticise the west, as it is so fashionable to do nowadays by an embittered generation, would do well to consider what life was like on the other side of the Berlin wall. Didn't see many climbing into East Germany. Did you?

But you, and most others, moved there long before the Ukraine war, so your reply is misleading. Did you really move there to escape NATO and the EU? Then you found your pension was frozen, so you moved back? Highly principled decision making. Sucking up to Ukraine? Bizarre. And Thailand is good at sucking up when it needs to. Look at the quality tourists. Russians, Indians and Chinese. Suck on that!

Quite so. And we're referred to as "the collective west", whatever that means. Obviously they excuse themselves from membership of same. So where does it leave them? The collective east? In Essex? Or wherever @Gweiloman hails from? If they've opted out of any western association, why are they still there? Its NATO. It's EU. Move to a non EU non NATO country if you find them so offensive! Let's see... Libya? Syria? CAR? Or some other Putin outpost? North Korea maybe. Iran possibly. Venezuela?Might well be next on Putin's charm (🤮) offensive.

Yeah, NATO expanded, but not where Putin was flying his false flag. Sweden and Finland, joined up instead. As a direct result of his moronic behaviour, he now has an 800 mile NATO border all down his western flank. Plus the Baltic states who really don't like him at all. He has the USA and Japan on his Eastern border, and South Korea not far behind. And he has Turkey and Romania on "his" illegally grabbed southern borders. The Dardanelles are controlled by Turkey, so access to the Black Sea for the US 6th fleet, and any other NATO fleet is controlled by a NATO member. He's virtually landlocked. His Black Sea fleet is in tatters, and really has no escape. EU murmurings? I don't recall him objecting to EU membership for Ukraine, not that it's ANY of his business. Same as the internal affairs of Ukraine. Annexing and running fake elections in Donbas and Lugansk was typical KGB, which is his pedigree. The rest is junk. Do they help you sleep at night? Happy believing he had every right to invade a country many of whose population had close ties across the border with Russia, but who have been forced to flee or be rounded up and deported, or killed.

What's true about any of your statements?

What could possibly validate a million deaths?

You weren't being kind at all. You were being condescending and patronising. We're not your pupils, nor your congregation. We're not kids. We don't need enlightening. If people reject your version of the truth, it's not out of ignorance. It's because they see it differently.

Oh yeah. What about what about? If you'd only accept Russian victory, you'd feel so much better. In fact, you wouldn't feel a thing. The pain will go away once you surrender.

You love to describe any opposition as ignorant. Why? You think you're the only well informed commentator? There you go blaming the US. Pathetic cop out whataboutist argument. You credit yourself with telling the truth, like it's some sort of white man's burden, it's so painful and difficult, but these ignorant people must be set on the path to enlightenment. What are you? An Essex evangelical? What's your real point?

You change your tune pretty quick, don't you? Suddenly the war is pointless. Whereas the Russian playbook narrative is, it's a totally legitimate response to Western aggression, as Fat Boy Kim will tell you. Truth is, it's far worse than pointless. 1 million lives destroyed. How many wounded and disabled? If it was you having to live the rest of your life with a leg amputated, blind in one eye, or both, an arm shot off, your entire family blown to bits, would you feel quite so supportive of the instigators of this disgusting war? Families shattered. Communities ruined. This is a crime of enormous proportions. Yes, it's pointless. Always was. So why don't you speak out against the murderous sociopath who started it? And please, don't tell me it was Zelensky, or NATO, or the global north etc etc.