Lionator

It won’t be a massive defeat unless something catastrophic happens (complete collapse of lines) which is very unlikely. It will be a war of attrition, they risk losing Kharkiv long term. Unless Russia really fancy a 10-15 year war, Kyiv is safe. But the idea of them getting Crimea back let alone Donetsk and Luhansk is basically zero at this point.

And this was the original point of what the Czech politician was saying.

Very true

But is that realistic? We’re likely to get a Republican government who only care about borders and sticking one on China. And in terms of deal’s, it’s where you have to get creative I think. Negotiate with a China or India to become a guarantor of Ukranian security.

What’s the alternative though? Ukraine are struggling with resources, Russia are too but the manpower advantage is coming through, that’s not going to disappear. You make a peace deal ceding the four regions, a DMZ on the other Russia/Ukraine borders, and probably security guarantees for a sovereign Ukraine but outside of NATO membership. If this war goes on and on then Ukraine could eventually lose all sovereignty. We aren’t putting troops on the ground either, because that would be stupid and dangerous.

this is interesting as Czech government are very anti Russia. I think if the situation deteriorates further for Ukraine then I think we could see more of this before it gets really critical. My prediction is if Trump wins in November, a peace deal might be wrapped up fairly quickly.

The west ain’t going to bat hard for Georgia anyway, as there’s no strategic value in it unlike Ukraine. We have Turkey and Azerbaijan already in the region who can provide us with what we need and look how we abandoned democratic Armenia over its imperialist Azeri neighbours because they simply meet our interests.

To be fair if somebody is a full on pro-Russian tankie then I’d be asking why because it is a bit odd. I don’t sympathise with Russia but even the smallest understanding of history can explain how we got here today. Watch traumazone by Adam Curtis on bbc iplayer (huge pro Russian propaganda arm) for example. Soviets watched their empire get crushed by corruption, misadventure and western foreign policy. It was a corrupt hell hole in the 90’s, now it’s still corrupt but the standard of living has vastly improved hence why Putin is adored in Russia, a bit like Modi in India. They’re bitter and think that Russia should be seen as the great country that they think they are. They don’t want to take over or destroy the world, they just want to be respected as a fearsome peer (like US and China). It won’t happen but if you take that perspective, a lot more of it makes sense than ‘Putin is a genocidal maniac who wants to destroy the west’.

👀

Since that Arsenal 0-0 game, Man City have won every league game, scored 30 goals and conceded 5. Wild.

Did we not have the option of signing Akanji or am I dreaming?

Why are they not showing the incident? 🤣🤣🤣 snowflakes

Ortega is better than Ederson anyway

You’d rather get studded in the head then get a full on hip to the head.

Ridiculously good goal in the circumstances.

Hard agree, I think he could hold his own at Prem level in that role provided we aren't playing bomb scares next to him.

Crikey, what a ridiculous save.

A friend who works in the MH field introduced me to the idea that anxiety/low mood/other symptoms aren't the source of a lot of mental health difficulties, it's shame. There's no such thing as good or bad thoughts, or rational or irrational thoughts. The driver of every negative feeling we have is guilt and shame because we feel like we're letting the tribe down, and when we feel that we let the tribe down, we become vulnerable (to predators historically) to negative consequences.

I hope first and foremost that you’re not beating yourself up over it, because I can imagine that’s the first thing that would come into peoples heads. If you try and normalise the situation, covid was absolutely miserable, even more so for those isolated at university. So he 100% will not be the only one who was bumbling along well in life and then bam. Lack of purpose, lack of social life, isolation, no clarity as to how long it would last = what’s the point? If you want to approach him, you could share that Wolves video with him and just reassure him that you’re always there if he needs you.

I find this Georgia stuff a bit weird unless I’m not fully getting it? The basis being that any political party or organisation gaining 20% of their income from foreign countries have to declare it as such. Now I get the implication that this is modelled on a Russian law (so bad), but in this country, if you asked people if political parties should be allowed to be funded by foreign states, you’d say absolutely no chance.

The Saudi punishment for assault is a beating, which we can all get behind in this case.

Video of it. For once I support the full implementation of the Saudi law.

Why is it worrying? People (especially kids) genuinely have less interest in China related stuff because it’s so far removed from our way of life both politically and geographically. It’s not as if these kids are going to growing up as Xi apologists.

Can’t wait for his celebrations in front of the Napoli or Lazio ultras when they sing “tua moglie e un erba”

I obviously love Vardy and will do always and forever but it says a lot about his personality that he’s besties with Wise. He could be mates with anyone in the game if he wanted.