Cameroni

I see it the same way, the advanages are too distorting. I suppose it is hard to test everyone and a bit invasive, the IOC would run potental legal risks.

He or She or it, is a bit inbetween, she has female and male characteristics but opted to be designated female. The Olympics needs to sort this out and ban Intersex people from women's sports. But good to see her own camp now coming out with the truth that she indeed has XY chomosomes and hormone issues, as many of us had suspected.

I am not thrilled to see Ukrainian military terrorising a peaceful population. Civilians are cilivians, even if they are Russian civilians and 1000 or so troops rampaging through civilian settlements is not cause for celebration really. A bit sad that Ukraine does not attack military targets instead of terrorising civilians. I understand they are desperate and have very limited means, but any right thinking person has to condemn military terror imposed on civilians.

And the truth comes out: "Imane Khelif's Coach Admits Boxer Has 'Problem With Chromosomes'" https://www.ibtimes.sg/imane-khelifs-coach-admits-boxer-has-problem-chromosomes-after-she-won-gold-paris-olympics-75644

I saw the Basketball men's final. Nice to see other counries like France, Germany and Serbia be so competitive, even with an American dream team including LeBron, KD, Curry, Davis etc. It was close with France but Curry settled matters in a few minutes. Even sending their very best Team USA can be beat now, as we saw in the Manila world cup finals, and again here in Paris where it was very close indeed.

Surely Danish butter is better than Swedish butter?

It does look worse than it is. Best to stay away from Africa and monkeys generally...

It's harmless though, monkeypox. Hopefully no one year closure of business like the geniuses in politics mandated last time.

Just anecdotal, my kids went to a school where a number of Ukrainian refugees also arrived. The school tried to make them feel welcome by translating school messages in Ukrainian. Only for the Ukrainian parents to say they can't understand them and if they could write them in Russian. See this author as well, who is Ukrainian and says in private he speaks Russian. But I may have overcooked it. It would appear that about 67% to 80% of Ukrainians can speak Ukrainian, but used to speak Russian outside the home as teenagers, the other 33% to 20% speak mostly Russian. Since the invasion this has now changed dramatically for obvious reasons. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/the-russian-language-is-another-victim-of-the-war/48526412 https://translatorswithoutborders.org/language-data-for-ukraine It's a shame the Russian language has become a victim of this conflict, at my kids school they used to teach Russian, but after the war they closed the Russian department. Wholly philistine in my view. Oh, I'm aware of the dislike for Russians, world wide, not just Europe wide. In terms of restraint, I specifically referred to economic exploitation if you read my message. The fact that two warring parties agree that the other can export its grain is really unheard of and quite rare.

I have a Delsey hard shell suitcase plus a nameless rucksack made specifically for air travel that is indestructible. I particularly like the latter because its dimensions seem to satisfy any airline.

Duke's pizza is the best in CM, but there was a guy in Jing Jai market who made excellent pizza. But I think he stopped going there because he said he was going to open a pizzeria in Mae Rim. If you find a new pizzeria in Mae Rim you could be pleasantly surprised.

Okay, I understand now. Her giving you the "no more sex" talk, you had to make clear that is completely unacceptable to you. But in any event her refusal to combine resources shows she is not in it in any meaninful way. The good news, since you're merely in your 50s, you can have your choice of attractive younger women. I don't think going for a Thai 50 year old is your best option anyway. Maybe it is better to focus on your income side first though. Best of luck.

Not at all. It was perfectly clear to me that 1000 armed men can cause a lot of destruction before they are defeated. But I have no doubt these 1000 troops will be defeated, or will flee. No, I think there are still Ukrainan troops in Russia, but I certainly would not celebrate jackbooted military terrorising the peaceful civilian population of Russia. Looks like pure terrorism on a civilian population. A bit akin to Britain carpet bombing civilians in WWII out of desperation, but obviously not as bad. I don't think Russia said they had "killed them all", what they said is that they had stopped their advances and foiled an attempt to cross into another area. This may well be so.

Actually, you will find that the vast majority of Ukrainians have no idea how to speak Ukrainian or use their alphabet ,most speak Russian and use the Russian alphabet. Yes, the Ukrainians did colloborate with the Germans to some extent, no doubt that is the fire which stokes the fascist insults from Russia. As far as theft in war goes Russia has been restrained in this war. Do you remember Putin allowed a corridor for Ukraine to continue selling its resources by ships? This came to an end when the West continued to impose sanctions on Russia. It was pretty unique to have two warring parties agree to ship grain, and for one party to allow another to continue economic trade.

That analysis of the Kursk raid seems plausible to me. However, the symbolism may go the other way, since in that tank battle you menion the Russians launched counter offensives that broke the Wehrmacht for good. Now too, it is inconceivable that 1000, 2000 or even 4000 troops can resist the overwhelming Russian force they will soon face. That convoy on Kiev may have been a decoy to bind forces around Kiev, whilst Russia attacked its real objective, the Donbass. The convoy just disapeared out of the blue and never engaged Kiev. If the whole of Ukraine had been the goal then Western Ukraine would have been targeted militarily it seems to me but it has not. Given that Russia has severe limitations to its economy they may not have the capacity to fight and occupy all of Ukraine long term. Russia's economic size is of course a result of its population size, which was reduced by 20 millon or so in WWII, as Russia did the real fighting to defeat Germany in WWII whilst Britain hid on its island mostly without an army, and the US focused on Japan. But yes, doctrinaire delusion of the communist kind was clearly a problem and incompetence as a whole too, not to mention corruption. To be honest, I am surprised Putin has left so many oligarchs with their fortunes. They robbed Russia blind during the systemic changes, I would have thought he would go after all of them. But he used some as allies. Very pragmatic since he must hate them.

True, the when was left open, perhaps because 2008 was when the plan to allow Ukraine into Nato was revealed and a firm date would have been seen as too much of a provocation of Russia. After all, prior to 2008 it was consistently stated that NATO would not expand and that Russia would be included in a subsequent peace framework. Since Ukraine already in 2002 made clear its interest in joining NATO it seems to me it is true to say that Ukraine was keen to join NATO before 2014. You are right though that the West prevaricated about Ukraine's actual joining date, perhaps because Germany strongly opposed it. However, as we both agree, it was just a question of "when", not "if", once the cat was let out of the bag in 2008.

NATO certainly did make clear at the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of NATO. The exact wording used is contained here: "Georgia and Ukraine had hoped to join the NATO Membership Action Plan, but, while welcoming the two countries’ aspirations for membership and agreeing that "these countries will become members of NATO", the NATO members decided to review their request in December 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bucharest_summit Yanukovych of course disappeared and more anti-Russian and pro American leaderhip emerged. Since NATO had stated clearly that Ukraine WILL become a member of NATO, even if that was under review and conditions had to be met, this obviously made it very likely that it will happen since Ukraine was very keen on it.

Russia possesses a total of 5,580 nuclear warheads as of 2024,[5] the largest confirmed stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world. Russia created the first ICBM. the R-7. In terms of numbers Russia has almost three times as many ICBMs as the US. The table here illustrates that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercontinental_ballistic_missile In addition Russia has already developed fast moving missiles that can not be intercepted by missile defense systems. Ukraine never had Ukranian ICBMs, since the Ukraine never had nuclear weapons of its own. It only hosted Russian nuclear weapons and ICBMs.

No doubt America will tell Germany and all the other NATO members to pony up for rebuilding Ukraine. After pouring billions into keeping the war going. It really is a cynical and ugly game the US is playing, because it knows full well that the Ukraine can never win this war. Of course the US do not care, because for them it is all about weakening Russia, not Ukrainian freedom. Anyone who believes that will believe Father Christmas lives in Greenland.

I suspect that is why the rockets were moved from Ukraine, to prevent tampering and sabotage. This Kursk excursion is only 1000 troops. To say it is just theatre may be overstating it since 1000 armed man wreak a good havoc for a while, but given the numbers these Ukrainians face soon I would not put money on them holding on to any land. All politicians by their nature lie like there is no tomorrow, however, we do not just have Putin making statements, we also have evidence of where the fighting is taking place. If Putin had intended to take all of Ukraine this campaign would have looked very different. And remember, Russia has an economy smaller than Texas, it knows it can not fight or occupy the Ukraine long term, since military might is based on economic strength. This is why these arguments that Putin wants all of Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden, and to rebuild an Imperial Russia are so risible. They cannot, and Putin knows they cannot.

Ukrainians are quite ingenious and beautiful people, no doubt about it. However, as Kenny Rogers tells us, "there'll be plenty of time for countin'..when the dealin's done". And the way it looks now is that Ukraine will permanently retreat from the Donbass. Ukraine can not win anything by fighting Russia. Yes, Russia paid a price, but Ukraine has too, far worse. And no, they could not have cracked the nuclear launch codes anymore than Mexico could crack US nuclear codes.

In 2002 Putin and Russia still believed that Ukraine would never be a member of NATO. Only in 2008 did NATO reveal its full expansion plans would include Ukraine and Georgia. Russia, as that article makes clear, immediately stated this was a threat to Russia's security and a step too far.

No, I have. Twice. You just were unable to read what was posted for you. I'll post it again: "Ukraine established ties to the alliance with a NATO–Ukraine Action Plan in November 2002,[145][161] joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in February 2005,[162] then entered into the Intensified Dialogue program with NATO in April 2005." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO

Ukraine did not have its own nuclear weapons. Those were Russia's nuclear weapons and Russia always retained the codes. Yes, Russia is paying a price for its security. This is of course exactly what America wanted. To weaken Russia. Russia, I suspect, prefers to be weaker but intact, rather than emasculated and at the whim of NATO, like Germany, Britain, France, all impotent vassals of America. Just like Australia

I did. You just did not read the article thoroughly. "Ukraine established ties to the alliance with a NATO–Ukraine Action Plan in November 2002,[145][161] joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in February 2005,[162] then entered into the Intensified Dialogue program with NATO in April 2005." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO Since you are big on timeline, you will note this is all before Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.