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  1. Thanks for the correction. I should have written that the city is mostly Russian speaking. But even so, with 33% of the population being ethnic Russians, and most of the people culturally tied to Russia through language, it's hardly evidence of a plan to commit genocide. Once again, it's not necessary to invoke the charge of genocide to contend that Russia is committing massive war crimes against the people of Mariuopl and against ciitzens of Ukraine in general.
  2. Let's use the correct words to describe things. It's only if your cause is weak that you need to present falsehoods. The cause is anything but weak so why be inaccurate?
  3. There's gong to be an EV exposition at Queen Sirikit Center in Bangkok Sep 14-16 as part of a Sustainable Energy Event https://www.asew-expo.com/2021/en/index.asp
  4. Russia is committing massive war crimes in Ukraine. But the one crime it isn't committing is genocide. Mariupol is mostly an ethnic Russian city. Is Russia really trying to eliminate people because they are Russian? Or, for that matter, does it really plan to exterminate 30 million ethnic Ukrainians? It really doesn't help Ukraine's cause when Russia's crimes are characterized wrongly. The truth is awful enough.
  5. Now? Where have you been? Here are links to reports that are at least 2 years old: https://healthmatters.nyp.org/long-covid-patients-experience-symptoms-one-year-later/ https://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/disease-index-covid-19/long-covid/ https://news.sky.com/story/long-covid-the-debilitating-after-effects-of-coronavirus-12104961
  6. I don't think there's any doubt that the Azov Battalion has a repugnant, pro-Nazi history. And no matter what their denials, I don't think it' s ideological stance has changed.. But it's only a small part of Ukraine's military. And the political party that it's associated with, got only 2.15 percent of the vote in the last election. The Russians, of course, have magnified the importance of the Azov Battalion and use it to justify their claim that they are battling Nazis.
  7. Interesting interview "This week, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, announced the onset of what he called a new phase in his country’s war on Ukraine, which appears to consist of a focus on Ukraine’s east and a more gradual speed of attack than that of the failed strikes of late February and early March... To better understand what went wrong with the Russian approach, I called Joel Rayburn, a retired Army colonel and former U.S. special envoy for Syria, who is now a fellow at New America, a think tank in Washington, D.C. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed what Rayburn learned about the Russian military from his involvement in Syria policy, the biggest mistakes the Russians have made in Ukraine, and whether the failures stem from poor decision-making or corruption." https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/is-the-russian-military-a-paper-tiger The overarching point Rayburn makes is that nothing has really changed as far as Russia's dilemma goes. It's still the same undertrained, underequipped, badly managed armed forces that got rebuffed in its campaign against Kiev. And now it's in worse shape than it was when it first invaded Ukraine. So, unless it launches nuclear weapons or chemical weapons, it looks like Russia's Donbas campaign is going to get its assets kicked in Ukraine again.
  8. Utterly irrelevant. Your reasons for not buying an LR have nothing to do with nationality. Your reasons for not buying a chinese car do.
  9. Video of Vladimir Putin gripping table during meeting sparks fresh concerns about his health Vladimir Putin’s health has been called into question again after a video showed him tightly clutching a table throughout a meeting with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu. The clip has sparked fresh theories about his health, which has reportedly deteriorated since he launched Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. In the footage posted online by the Kremlin, the 69-year-old Russian president grabs hold of the corner of the table with his right hand as soon as he sits down for the meeting, and keeps hold of it for the entirety of the 12 minute clip. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-health-holding-table-russia-b2063102.html Putin was visited by a cancer surgeon dozens of times in 4 years and takes rejuvenating baths in deer antler blood, says Russian investigative news outlet Russian President Vladimir Putin was visited by a thyroid cancer doctor 35 times, new investigation claims. Russian investigative news outlet Proekt revealed that a team of doctors frequently visited the 69-year-old Russian president at his residences or accompanied him on trips amid growing questions about his health. Yevgeny Selivanov, an oncology surgeon, specializing in thyroid cancer, flew to visit Putin at his Black Sea residence 35 times and spent 166 days in his presence, the report said. https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-health-cancer-fears-and-baths-in-deer-antler-blood-says-report-2022-4?r=US&IR=T
  10. Your belief is false. Land Rover Is Officially the Worst in Dependability, 2021 J.D. Power Study Shows https://www.motorbiscuit.com/land-rover-officially-worst-dependability-2021-j-d-power-study/ Jaguar Land Rover Promises to Fix ‘Unacceptable’ Quality Issues https://www.thedrive.com/news/41423/jaguar-land-rover-promises-to-fix-unacceptable-quality-issues Jaguar Land Rover: We’re losing 100K sales a year due to quality issues https://uk.motor1.com/news/492097/jaguar-land-rover-quality-issues/
  11. Well, you wrote "It's surrounded." But that doesn't mean much if Ukrainian soldiers can bypass Russian soldiers. And if it's not sealed off and given how large the area is, Russia is going to have to keep a lot of soldiers tied up in the effort to cordon off the area.
  12. And of course, if Russian troops are required to blockade the steel plant, that means they're not being used elsewhere.
  13. It may be surrounded but is it blockaded? Are all the entrances and exits being guarded? I don't know the answer to that question. Do you?
  14. Here are the results of a poll from Levada. https://www.levada.ru/en/2022/04/# The Kremlin forced it to register as a foreign organization. It's not a big favorite of theirs
  15. It may be a minor issue to you, but clearly to the electorate it's not. Boris Johnson approval rating: PM’s popularity surges to highest point for 5 months "Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership of the UK during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to have breathed new life into his popularity with the British people. The PM endured a difficult start to 2022 due to the ongoing ‘partygate' scandal which consequently led to his approval rating dip to its lowest ever score." https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1584498/Boris-Johnson-latest-approval-rating-evg His approval rating surged all the up to 30!
  16. Thanks for confirming that your chief criterion for evaluating a product is the country it comes from and not the company that made it. According to your way of reasoning, Land Rovers are so poorly made because they come from the UK.
  17. Maybe it doesn't have much significance for you, but to Sergei, if he is taken prisoner, it matters a great deal.
  18. Well, if your second point was sound then no Russian soldiers who surrender would qualify under the geneva conventions. They're soldiers, they're acting under the direction of their govt, so they qualiify. As for the UN considering them to be mercenaries, in most cases they would qualify. But the Geneva Conventions are absolutely clear on who and who can't be considered a mercenary. Russian nationals fighting for their government are not considered mercenaries under the Geneva conventions. The UN doesn't have the authority to abrogate international treaties.
  19. This is like saying the President made an executive decision. By definition, that's the case. If reviewed at a higher level, it will be up to other courts to decide whether the grounds for her decision were valid or not.
  20. I'm not sure who you are disagreeing with. I actually cited above the exact same list you posted here. And it's clear that Russian nationals fighting for the Russian govt can't be defined as mercenaries according to the Geneva Conventions.
  21. Actually, according to the Geneva convention they are not mercenaries if they are Russian nationals. From what I've been able to glean it seems that at least most of them are.
  22. Here's a link to some real "Johns" for you: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/ukraine-russia-war-foreign-fighters-volunteers You really didn't know that these people existed?
  23. No. John would not be a mercenary. Nor would a member of the Wagner group if he is a Russian national. (I assume most, if not all, are Russian nationals) All the criteria (a–f) must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, for a combatant to be described as a mercenary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary
  24. Maybe not: Russia accused of using ‘bunker buster’ bombs to kill remaining Mariupol troops Around 1,000 civilians were still hiding in shelters beneath a steel plant in the besieged city, officials have said.. The commander of the Azov Regiment of the National Guard stationed in Mariupol, Denys Prokopenko, alleged Russian planes had began to deploy “bunker busters” to kill the last Ukrainian fighters and civilians sheltering in Azovstal steel plant - the scene of the city's last stand against the invaders' onslaught. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-bunker-bomb-mariupol-b2060505.html
  25. It's owned by a very close crony of Putin's. His name is Yevgeny Prigozhin. He also secured the govt. contract to manufacture rations for the troops. Substandard rations, naturally.
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