Nator comments

@CC

It is available if you look but to be quite honest both sides are not doing a very good job of being factual.

@Desert Tort.

I expect some satelites are in a stationary position over ukraine so ulikely to be a time for that to happen. They would also have to remove the ID of the plane which I also expect is not that easy. It could also be interpretated as a war-crime not to properly identify yourself.

Essentially if NATO wants to provide planes it has got to do it openly and take the risk. I personally think that risk is far, far to high.

@AS

Most likely the front pages are purely an economic decision. Not long ago in the UK it was all day/every day about covid, then boris and his cake and now ukraine.

I check the front pages of the UK each day and they are sharing the same story and photo at the moment so they are just printing what they are told which is essentially the deal they make for this type of situation.

@MM

If there is any chance of getting putin on war-crimes you are going to have to link him to the generals who are acting the front line. You are also going to need evidence rather than opinon. I hope that it is being collected properly.

@JRO

I have kept an eye on RT since the begining. Although I gave up watching it on YT because it repeas so much. RT does aknowledge there is a war and is reporting on it.

I have just checked regarding the hospital bombings and can not see any stories on it at all on its English language site. As it would be impossible to link directly maybe you could copy/paste a quote from RT regarding these people being crisis actors. Obviously I would want what RT has said rather than someone in their comments section.

What interests me is why most of the escape routes seem to be working accept the Mariupol one. Why is that city so important to both sides?

The EU has voted to sanction Poland and Hungary for past indescretions. You would think they had more sense than to decide on something now when Poland has taken in more than a million refugeess on behalf of Europe. Hungary has also done its bit.

The world is being run by some very odd people.

@express sister

Because the BBC has for a long time not really reported the news factually. Many people in the UK do not bother to watch it anymore. Many will not watch ITV, CH4 or SKY either. News-media does need to be trusted and although I know we are livining with war-level propaganda if people just switch off becasue they feel they are not being told everything that will only help putin.

I read the RT headlines each day knowing full-well its bias and the only reason I am doing that because normally I have zero interest in RT is because all the other media is failing to be trustworthy.

@Dango

I used to work with a Romanian who was grew up under communism. She said the longest q was always for coffee. Something I have yet to see being sent to the Ukrainian soldiers. Plenty of nappies (bulky) and water (heavy) though.

Does anyone know what they are actually wanting on the front line apart from war-planes.

@gakinotsukai

Maybe you would be kind enough to answer at least one of them with a link. I doubt you can for any of my quesions. It is not putin propaganda to ask if the hospital was functioning or not. It is not putin propaganda to ask if the hospital was the target. In fact that is exactly what the hague will have to ask to prove a case against putin.

Exactly how close does a bomb need to be to make it a hit? They show one hospital on the news and then the crator which is obviously not a direct hit but about 2 metres out.

Next question were the hospital the target or was something close to the hospital the target?

Next question has it been independantly confirmed to be a russian attack or are we as always relying on the word of its opponent?

Next question three hospitals and only (as of now) three deaths seems to indicate either they were not directly targeted or the hospitals were not being fully occupied. It is a war-crime to target hospitals but only if they are actually being used as hospitals and only if they were the intended target.

As for this genocide claim. Considering how many people are leaving the country I can not see that as the plan. Unllike China that is committing genocide but was still allowed to have the olympics and still has yet to be sanctioned for it.

@Phylis

When my local city changed its rubbish collection system I measured that each week my household of two has a 30 litre bag worth of plastic and we were being reasonably careful. The burnable rubbish fits into 7.5 litre.

I also calculated that the estate-agent adverts in my city cost 5 grand to recycle each month. Who really needs an advert from an estate agent each and every day.

One of the good things about being a rare white person in my city is that I have trained all the local shop staff that I do not need a bag, spoon, fork, chop-stick or anything else but what I aome to buy. Have been doing it for years because personally I do not need a government law for such stuff.

However like the bags in the supermarket I see most people just either buy a bag or have everything wrapped in a bunch of smaller plastic bags rendering the process useless.

I do not believe the IPCC and its dodgy science but I have never liked waste so maybe the government should start being a bit more fussy with taxi's and lorries idling all day or the massive amount of extra-lighing, heating, cooling that goes on all-year round.

The only thing that Koike said to the British government regarding the environment was office-workers not wearing suits and ties in the summer which is hardly going to make much difference if they still switch on every electric device they can.

@zichi

What about pimlico?

@choose poorly

Actually courts of law, the police and the CPS all do in the UK. Plus there is more than one type. I think there are about 15 various types in the UK depending on situation and accusation.

In the wider public and media quite a lot is insinuated regarding this so it is not as black and white as you think and this is why we should not just blame putin and ignore the other factors.

I think we can all agree what putin did was wrong but why he did it and if he was provoked and if now it has happened others could act in the interest of the people being killed and having to leave the county. NATO is absolutely right not to get involved because that would just increase the problem. Zelensky is absolutely wrong to keep asking for their involvement.

We need to deal with the situation we are now in not the situation of the past and personally this putin is 100% and he should be killed does not solve the problem. He might actually be a moderate and his replacement might actually be worse. Hitler gets a lot of the blame but he was most defintely not the only person in germany that had his way of thinking. Thankfully many of them were hung but not all and many were given a free trip to america. Remember a prime-minister of Japan was once a black-marketeer and he got a tasty bung from the CIA.

Reported by RT and UK-News media that some British Soldiers have gone AWOL to help fight in Ukraine. I hope they are careful.

@Cleo

I beg to differ. In a negotiations both parties have 'red lines'. The negotiaions are done on what each side is willing to discuss. I am sure one of the red lines from ukraine is not giving up their country and I sure putin will not want to give back some of what he has stolen.

In the EU vs UK ongoing mess both May and Borris had certain things they would not give up on and the EU have outright refused to be helpful on other stuff.

@Bungle

"will not concede a single negotiating point,"

There is a nuance and the commar at the end of the quote and lower case at the begining indicate a very selective edit.

As far as I am aware the three non-negotiable points for russia are:

2.A recognition on the areas that are now under Russian occupation.

3.No build up of millitary.

If russia is winning at the moment then all three seem reasonable. If russia is not then 2 and 3 could be watered down a bit.

@Bungle.

Can you source 'He has also stated he will not make any concessions to Ukraine and NATO, and will pursue his objectives to the bitter end.'

The ukraine leaders have regularly asked for the planes and I felt it was because they wanted to involve NATO in the war. Why after two weeks there is still speculation about this I do not fully understand. Putin has stated very clearly that providing planes would be an act of war (in his head) and that should have been the end of it.

I have a feeling that after the lull and the removal of civilians things are going to be ramped up on both sides. Ukraine is going to be a building site and those that have left wont have a home to go back to.

As for WWIII and big-nukes I doubt either side are truly contemplating it. However there are dirty bombs and battlefield nukes which could be putins last stand. A mistake was made regarding war-crimes. If you think about it logically if some commanders are already up for a trial their best option it commit more crimes. The more crimes, the longer the investigation and trial, the longer they have to be free. Putin even more so because he really does not have many more years to live anyway.

Google search, Ukraine currently has 225 planes and the russian convoy is 230 tanks.

@Peter

Borris said the other day in parliament it was not that easy to bomb that big long line of tanks. He did not explain why though. It does look like a sitting target.

@Peter

You obviously did not hear what zelenski said to the UK parliament yesterday and what the various party leaders replied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwlZ0f401w&t=6s

skip to 14.00...

I am sure in WW2 there was a similar stand-off with UK, Canada and the US. Effectively the US did not want to help the UK because it would mean entering the war. We (UK) sent over Rohald Dahl to stay with Roosevelt and feed back on his mood.

Not sure send JK Rowling anywhere would help this time. Does she have any polish friends in the white-hourse.

@Laguna

It is entirely possible if the polish had not made this public they would have been pushed into something they did not want to do. It maybe this was their only way to prevent being forced into the war.

Ukraine asks for planes and russia says if they are supplied the country that does it is in effect part of the war. US suggests Poland hand over their planes and in effect asking poland the country that has 1 million refugees, who have already been bombed out of their country to re-enter the war whilst the US takes zero risk.

All is well but the polish being savvy offer for the US and Germany to join in the risk and the US run as fast as their jelly legs can away from the issue.

Maybe unilateral talks between NATO countries is not a good idea and NATO itself should be taking the lead on the decision making.

At least in many places normal civilians have been able to move closer to safety. Lets hope those in mariupol get a forth chance. Not sure who is stopping it as depends on the news-media outlet.

Good ol-IAEA and its disaster planning that never seems to have ever been done. As war is always a possibility and as nuclear plants are obviously dangerous your would think they had something of a pathway to safety other than relying on madmen never getting into positions of power.

At mz16.

My gas and electric bill in Japan has not changed much YET. My mums gas and electric bill in the UK has also not changed much YET. We don't have cars so petrol price is not of a concern until it hits the price of food in the supermarket.

Many talk about price hikes but I would suggest those that do, actually give us an indication of the price compared to their own life because I personally have YET to feel any change.

@quercetum

UK parliament is much the same. They can get stuff done in one day but only when they truly want to. Normally they like at least two years and that after five years plus of discussion of if civil-servant level paper-pushing.

The only way to by-pass guff-n-bluster is a phone call to the queen. She maybe quite reluctant to accept a rise is fuel prices considering that Buck-House, Windsor and Balmoral are all buggers to heat. She may have to start employing more log-boys.

So two things learnt from today (source Al Jazeera). Poland has offered to send its planes to germany for nato to then send on to ukraine. Obviously the US that was very happy to put poland directly in danger decided that was a bad idea. Well done Poland.

Also those people who want to fight/help in Ukraine it is worth noting that the contract is open ended and some people who were willing to go into the battle field have not wanted to do so without a chance of leave. Makes sense most armies have tours of duty. Hopefully the Ukraine recruitment centres take that into account. Although unless people are trained I can not help thinking they would just be in the way.

To clarify Germany in league with the IMF. Most EU countries are in debt and theirfore just do what they are told.