Roadsternut

I thought Thailand was overrun with foreigners working in schools in TEFL. Is it possible most of them are lousy teachers? I wonder how it works in the UK/US; do they let tour guides work right off the boat? In principle, British kids will all learn a second language at school; French, German or Spanish usually. Few will show any apitude in these languages later on.

Its not so much the Russian birthrate in decline, but the Rus slav birthrate Current projections say slavs will be a minority by 2100; during the lifetime of current Russian children. Currently, Russian Slavs are 70% of the population (2021 Census), so the Slavs are really facing catastrophic changes in quite a short period of time. It doesn't mean Russia faces having a Chechen president. We know that rapid cultural changes in society cause it to become unstable. The voice of seperatists will become stronger, those for the status quo become quiet. It will mean Russia splits in half. Putin needs more slavs. He probably can't prevent the ultimate disintegration of the Russian Federstion, but he's hoping in the continuance of European Russia as a substantive power.

This some sort of piss take?

Has he <removed> wet himself? https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/23/live-reports-as-federal-agents-arrive-in-bay-area-at-coast-guard-island

You are misinformed. Russia does have conscription. As of April, 2025, all males, except those in full time education, aged 18-30, are required to serve 12 months, unpaid. Previously it was 18-28. There were a few people aged 28-30 who had previously never served because of extended higher education. Russian Youtuber NFKRZ goes into some detail the process, and how Russians try and game the fitness test rules, to delay entry. The increase in age is indicative of manning issues in the Russian army. Officially conscripts do not serve in combat zones. When Ukraine went into Kursk, they captured a lot of shocked conscripts. Those in the combat areas have a contract, the so called professionals. This includes convicts and pressganged Bangladeshis/Somalians/Indians/Nepalese etc. They are not paid a bonus of 20-30k Euros. Their bonus is paid in rubles, and varies depending on where they come from Recently, the Russian government cut sign on bonuses on Tatarastan recruits from 3.1m rubles to 800,000 rubles. Belgorad recuits, from near the border with Ukraine, previously received sign on bonues of 800,000 rubles to 500,000 rubles. About 2 trillion rubles has been spent on recruitment and support during H1 2025. 400 million rubles went on recruitment (so you can do the math), 865 million rubles on salaries and 765 million rubles in compensation to the dead and maimed. Injury compensation ranges from 100,000 rubles for minor injuries, 1 million for significant injuries (1-2 limbs lost) to 3 million for severe injuries (vegetable). In service compensation consists of a one off payment of 3 million for the injury and 2 million for the death. This data comes from the Russian Defence Ministry and Rosstat. In Ukraine, since 2022, all men aged 18-60 are prohibited from leaving Ukraine (though clearly some do, for holidays). Until April 2024, all men aged 27 to 60 were liable to conscription, subject to fitness and whether they were in a protected occupation (which is a pretty normal thing in wartime; society doesn't stop just because of a war). The Americans wanted it lowered to 18. Under pressure from the Americans, Ukraine recently lowered it to 25, so your explanation is complete <deleted> and a deliberate falsehood. All Ukrainian troops aged 18-25 are volunteers. Those signing the Contract18-24 are paid a 1 million hryvnia bonus, split into a small sign on bomnus followed by staged payments. This article explains the logic behind Ukraine's reluctance to lower the age of conscription. https://www.forcesnews.com/ukraine/ukraine-faces-seemingly-endless-russian-soldiers-refuses-send-18-years-war Anywhere from 200,000 and 400,000 Russians have been killed. And probably a similar number (or a little less) for Ukraine, but there is a key historic difference. About 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan. Likely 10x that number of Afghans were killed fighting for their country. But 30+ years later, the USSR is a memory, and Afghanistan is still very much there. The Soviet Union collapsed for many reasons, and one of those reasons was the activism of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers. The Soviet Army put up this myth of the tough Soviet soldier, able to absorb monumental losses that Western armies couldn't stomach. The truth is that the Soviet losses in WW2 were huge not because of heroic defiance of the Soviet soldier, but the murderous incompetance of their commanders. Like today's Russian soldier, they didn't have much choice (and when they did, the Soviet surrenders were biblical in scale). In Afghanistan, the Soviet government covered up losses. The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers got the government to admit to the losses, and the brutality that existed in the military. This contributed to erosion of the faith on the state, and its subsequent downfall. Soviet opinion rejected the war in Afghanistan as being a patriotic war. In Ukraine, Russian soldiers have to be paid to fight, whether voluntarily, through trickery or through threat. What are they fighting for? Some sort dream of Vlad, to return a state none of them remember, their dads barely remember. For Ukrainian troops, paid or not, its rather simple, for their country. Russian troops can always turn around and go home.

So you are in the habit of ignoring court orders? Court orders are rules, aren't they. You can't selectively obey the law because it doesn't suit you. And what is legal about Putin's aggression? He literally broke Russian law in 2022 when his forces crossed the border in Ukraine. What is legal about his deliberate targeting of civilians? What is legal about his pressganging of foreign nationals in Russia. What is legal about his repression of the opposition? What is legal about his shadow fleet of oil tankers? We seized Nazi Germany's overseas assets (frozen); you would have favoured letting the Nazis gain access to that? Saddam Hiusseins bank accounts were used to reconstruct Iraq.

But the BBC says https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/ws/640/cpsprodpb/626c/live/893c61d0-b00b-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp I think this is a fake photo: But these appear genuine:

As a lifelong Tory, I did. Strange that, different strokes for different folks.

See earlier. Some of the donors have allowed their names to be published (earlier reply). Others remain private. The corporate donations are of course reportable to the SEC. Donations by non-profits I think might appear on tax filings, which being non-profits, are a public record.

Apparently their name in a brick. Or in the case of Lockheed Martin, a $170bn contract.

Presumably you have similar objections to seized Iranian government assets being used to compensate victims of Iranian terror. Yes, its likely to fuel US interest rates for obvious reasons, and arguably, it breaks the U.N. Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property.

The Ford factory, where they used to build Transits and Mondeos, is now making drones.

Its paid for by private donation.

Yes. You are entitled to an opinion regarding the President's spouse. The photo is from 2000, shortly after the man divorced wife number 2. At the time, she was an expatriate model, and the man helped her get more modeling jobs, to enable her I suppose, maintain visa status. I would agree, many people thought of Adolf Hitler when seeing Barack Obama. I assume you are one of those people. You probably weren't aware, but at the time, the man in the photo you picked was a former President, not a sitting President, who was not perusing a modification to the skyline of the capital, but a former President inspecting an architects model of a presidential museum, construction of which was interupted due to nooses being found on site. The current President was inspecting proposals for a replica of Paris's Arc de Triomphe to be built in Washington to celebrate 250 years of America. Its a shame that after 250 years, Americans still can't come up with an original monumental design, but has to co-opt another design (the French weren't original; its a replica of the Arc of Titus in Rome). Many countries copy this arch, like Mexico, and North Korea. What a modern arch looks like Obviously this plan needs congressional approval. The NCPC suggests that processes concerning such monuments takes time, and that it is extremely unlikely that a quality and lasting construction will be possible in 9 months, or even 21 months. The memorial will be funded by money left over from the construction of the ballroom, which was funded by donors to the president. Corporate donors include Google, R.J. Reynolds, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, Palantir and NextEra Energy. Nothing unusual in that. The President has suggested that the Arch will be fully funded by money left over from donations to the ballroom. The ballroom is expected to cost $250 million. So far, $200 million has been raised. In 1976, no national monument to mark 200 years of the American Revolution was constructed. Planning for the 1976 events started in 1966, so I would assume planning for 2026 started in 2016. Back in 1973, as part of the run-up, there was a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party, which people took to be a cue to protest the issues of the day (Nixon was fresh in the memory).

Meh, various US Presidents and politicans have entertained IRA terrorists at official functions before. I suppose you moaned when Mandela was feted. And lets not even think about Menechim Begin. The reason Gerry Adams has a beard is because he was shot in the face by UDA gunmen. The US classified Mandela as a terrorist right up to just before he died. In a legal sense, all these blokes are grinning in the company of terrorists Sometimes bygones are bygones. Look at this Syrian leader, who has to suck it up, with the world's number 1 terrorist, a prize cnut, who's boys devised the barrel bombs and nerve agent dropped on Syrian civvies.

Whether he put it on deliberately or not is immaterial; hours before the image appeared on US media, it was being circulated by Russian media, crowing about it. Its not a tie he has worn before in public. In principle, after the President, Hegseth, as a former news pundit (and a fan of Botox it seems), ought to be the most media savvy member of the cabinet. He would have had a TV fluffer preparing him every day for his Fox appearances.

When they release these official photos, do they not think of the rather poor optics? There is the rather serious comparison And then the p*ss take ones.

That's not true. That's just your opinion. Qatar seems to want them (the terrorists). Why not mention them, rather than bashing your country, like Mr Farage keeps doing.

ICE Agents manages to shoot a US Marshal because he uses a gun as a door knocker. Is that part of the weapons handling training they receive? Recruitment ad Oops, not that. So stripping the local police forces of officers.

Some old news https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/border-patrol-agent-indicted-producing-and-distributing-child-sexual-abuse-material https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-customs-and-border-protection-officer-sentenced-abducting-and-sexually-assaulting https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-border-patrol-agent-sentenced-18-years-drug-smuggling-and-bribery https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-11/cbp-charged-resisting-arrest-long-beach A reminder, Bortac is supposed to be the elite cadre within ICE.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/customs-and-border-protection-agent-charged-attempted-transfer-obscene-material-minor

He only had one ball. His mother, the dirty bugger, cut it off when he was small. It was displayed in the City hall.

Apparently they were off their face on Captagon. This is based on reports from the Israeli government. Its not the first time that the use of stimulants has been associated with war crimes. Captogon was also used by both sides in thr Syrian Civil War, and that has got to be one of the most savage civil wars in modern history. You go way back to the Vikings; the Berserkers were off their tits on magic mushrooms when they went berser.k. During WW2, German troops were issued with effectively crystal meth, called Pervatin. When Lashkar-e-Taiba went on the rampage in Mumbai in 2008, they were found to be on a cocktail of LSD, cocaine and steroids. Generals and terrorist leaders face the same issue; most humans really don't like killing other humans. PTSD is endemic in the British and US militaries during a conflict. Suicide rates are high, because men are haunted by what they saw, experienced, and in some cases, did. Christ knows how screwed up Russian and Ukrainian troops will be when the war is all over. Psychoactive drugs are used to "motivate" troops and fighting men. Those in mental health can relate to the cases of hideous crimes carried out by people off their heads. My mother was a psychiatric nurse, and related to the case of a big bloke, who after smoking various drugs all day, decided to twist off the head of his new born son like he was tearing off a strip of jerky. Couldn't remember a thing afterwards. Use of army amphetamines in Vietnam: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/04/the-drugs-that-built-a-super-soldier/477183/ Doesn't excuse the evil acts, but explains the ferocity.

Thank feck for that.

He self identifies as DHS law enforcement. Yes, its quite possible he's a pen pusher. Probably not, given how he describes himself. Driving drunk is a reckless act of endangerment to yourself, other road users and certainly your passengers. It betrays psychotic behaviour. There are some dinosaur drivers out there who think drinking and driving is ok. You one of them?