Lionator

I agree with analysis that all that actually happened yesterday was Ukraine agreeing that the US could negotiate with Russia on its behalf. Ukraine basically has been strong armed into that over the past few weeks.

I suppose the best side over two legs won. If they play like that then they won’t be far from winning the whole thing.

Donnarumma a total freak in these circumstances

With them basically kicking Ukraine out of Kursk, I’m not 100% sure they’ll reject it but they’ll obviously start military action again at some point soon after because there’s no chance of both sides coming to a compromise unless the Americans themselves massively compromise.

Old Trafford is awful though. Sightlines are terrible, roof in leaking, inside facilities (and I mean the absolute basics) are an absolute disgrace. I hope they go all out to make something which does look a bit different though I expect it to end up looking like the new stadiums in LA and Vegas that the Rams and Raiders play at.

This is the power dynamic though isn’t it and the whole downside of what’s going on. Ukraine are well within their rights to fight back like that but they have to realise they’re dealing with brazen cry baby’s. It’s just crap all round (obviously).

That’s also true but that’s the risk. Not that the Russians wouldn’t do the same. It’s just you can see Trump using it is as some kind of pretext to declare Ukraine doesn’t want peace.

I can’t think that sending hundreds of drones into residential buildings in Moscow before the meeting with the US was a great idea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cgq1pwjlqq2t This is disastrous for our coastal towns.

Such as? Are Meslier, Ampadu, Dan James and Joel Piroe going to keep them in the premier league?

Ipswich have money, they’ve spent £150m of it. Squad building is difficult while trying to survive. Forest have spent £450m over three years to get to the position they have. Leeds could try that but it would be an unsustainable gamble.

None of the teams coming up would stand a chance. Realistically who is falling off the pace enough to be threatened with relegation? You’re genuinely looking at a Bournemouth or Forest qualifying for Europe and struggling with extra workload being the main risk.

Interesting read about the Forest owner. https://newrepublic.com/article/159252/noor-one-vampire-ship-heroin-turkey-greece-corruption-scandal

The state of the championship if Leeds are the best team in it. Christ.

New Zealand have no chance, Sunday they play on a sandpit, fly to Pakistan on Wednesday to play on a road then back to Dubai on Sunday to play on a crack den again. The politics aside, the general conditions make it an unfair advantage and it’ll always have an asterisk by the Indian name. Which is a shame because India are probably the best team man for man.

Cracking off in Syria again

Busted. At that point that’s what Zelenskyy was saying. I don’t believe him now. Things have obviously changed.

I just don’t see why Russia would ever consider attacking Poland anyway. What would be the purpose? You could even say the same for the Baltics. Those countries don’t have anywhere near the same geographical relevance, provided Russia has access to the Baltic Sea.

This is cope but if they do qualify they’ll seriously struggle next season based on Newcastle and Villa over the past two seasons. They can make big signings to bolster their squad but they’ll break PSR, so they’re limited in what they can do.

Some goal that.

We don’t have to accept it but the ultimate truth is that we’re powerless to do anything about. If Trump wants Greenland and Canada, and can’t get them diplomatically, then he can order a military annexation and we’re powerless to do anything about it. Like if Trump truly withdraws all support from Ukraine, we can beat our chests and shout from the rooftops, Britain, France and the rest of Europe will be powerless to stop Russia from achieving their (recalibrated) war aims. That’s why it’s sh*t and that’s why everybody is acting so emotionally at the moment.

The one thing that China have a huge advantage on is that they’re essentially the only reliable major power, especially now. Any country investing in their future sensibly will always take the economic security of a country like China if they have any sense.

What I want to happen and what is happening are two different things. Also nobody knows what a tolerable outcome actually will be. There’s a lot of chest thumping and scare mongering at the moment. Nobody truly knows if it’s justified. All this talk of Putin’s grand plans are guesswork, Russia academics like Mark Galeotti think that Putin doesn’t really have grand plans, rather he’s just an opportunist.

Incidentally the ones that are good with the long game are China and to a lesser extent Russia.

I suppose with Trump that’s the benefit of being a bit of a sociopath. Contrary it’s maybe better that it’s happening like this as it gives us a scapegoat. The narrative has been sold for three years that Ukraine will win this war so most of the British public think it’s just a matter of time. There was one moment in Autumn 2022 when it was maybe possible but events didn’t transpire that way. Even now, the Kursk salient is falling apart with thousands of troops at risk of encirclement and there’s nothing on the news. This is now why we’re having to think of dramatic panic stricken responses rather than planning for the current, predictable scenario for the past two years. That is EU and European leaders in a nutshell.