To sell or not to sell?

The Russian fear of invasion can probably be traced back ,in relatively recent times , to Operation Barbarossa , when Nazi Germany invaded without warning for a push towards Moscow despite a previous non aggression pact between the two countries.
That this failed was due to the fact that the Germans had to advance through the Baltic States , Belorussia and the Ukraine and then got bogged down in a freezing winter which starved them of supplies , although at one point they were within 15 miles of Moscow.
Thousands of Russians were starved to death and murdered during this operation , which may explain why Russia , or Putin , is so twitchy now those buffer states are now longer part of a Greater Russia , leaving Moscow much more exposed.
It's a much older story than that. Remember that Napoleon's armies took Moscow in 1812. Russia is a country with a rich past. Nationalism is an easy tool to use for the teams aspiring to power. Like many smaller countries much nearer home. And Russia, not without justification feels that it is viewed with suspicion.
Remember that VE day is celebrated in Russia on May the 9th because the Russians wanted to sign a separate capitulation with the Germans in 1945. The great patriotic war as they call it. Without going into detail, one can understand them, to this day, everyone evoques the D day landings in Normandy, but without Stalingrad, they wouldn't have happened. Were I a Russian, the country of 20 million dead in WW2, I would feel quite pissed off with the way my country has been considered. That leads to dangerous reactions.

Which doesn't excuse anything.

Paul
 
one war tactic to use against an invading army is to remove all your road signs so they do not really know where to go
But in Ukraine they are replacing their road signs with new signs

Ukraine road sign

Entry to Chornomorsk (Odesa oblast) on 27 February. The sign being put up reads Straight ahead f**k off, to the left, also f**k off, and to the right, F**k off back to Russia
That is so cool
 
Entry to Chornomorsk (Odesa oblast) on 27 February. The sign being put up reads Straight ahead f**k off, to the left, also f**k off, and to the right, F**k off back to Russia
That is so cool

Like those Georgians on the boat telling the Russian Navy ship to "paddle to shore" because they were low on fuel ....... and adding "Russian Warship ..... Go fuck yourself!"

Ukraine ...... little country punching waaaaaay above their weight and still not backing down!

If it was only politics then why do Russian unguided missiles (Grad rockets) fall on residential areas? War crimes.

Jim
 
I was wondering what those small white beads were being added to the Molatoff Cocktailer are, apparently bean bag beads, Pollystyreen beads melt in the fire and become sticky and make it act like Napalm. Better than straight petrol. Live and learn.
 
Were I a Russian who knew that that 20 million was less than what the great leaders of my country had killed through pogroms and holodmor and famines and the great purge and ........ oh never mind. I am not Russian. I live comfortably in the west so nothing really matters.

Jim
That Jim is a very useless accountancy and one can spend a lifetime throwing cadavers and numbers around. We all come from places with piles of bodies in our histories. The difference lies in the fact that some can look that in the face, and others not. A people that can say "we did that" is a better people than one who can't.

Paul
 
That Jim is a very useless accountancy and one can spend a lifetime throwing cadavers and numbers around. We all come from places with piles of bodies in our histories. The difference lies in the fact that some can look that in the face, and others not. A people that can say "we did that" is a better people than one who can't.

Paul

You started the useless number count ...... I just confirmed that it is idiotic and the entire shitshow is just that .... a shitshow.

Jim
 
Oh, oh, there it is,,,,lurking Trump Derangement, waiting, wishing. The entertainment value is epic.
The AFPAC convention in Orlando has revealed how Don the Con and his cronies stand to Mad Vlad and the situation in the Ukraine. Publicly supporting him, it doesn't get any more obvious.

Seems there's only a very few left in the GOP that remember what democracy stands for, Mit Romney is full of contempt for many of his fellow republicans... all chanting out what the orange moron up front dictates.

I would never have thought that such a large part of the US would show such openly fascist and racist traits, having been the defender (with a few glitches...) of democracy for almost a century. The US constitution is regarded one of the best and most democratic in the world, but these idiots are doing their best to destory it completely.

piet
 
I was wondering what those small white beads were being added to the Molatoff Cocktailer are, apparently bean bag beads, Pollystyreen beads melt in the fire and become sticky and make it act like Napalm. Better than straight petrol. Live and learn.
Molotov was Russian, one of Stalin's foreign ministers.
Apparently, what was later to become known as the Molotov cocktail was first used in the Spanish civil war by Franco's nationalist troops against the Soviet tanks of the republicans.

Paul
 
The AFPAC convention in Orlando has revealed how Don the Con and his cronies stand to Mad Vlad and the situation in the Ukraine. Publicly supporting him, it doesn't get any more obvious.

Seems there's only a very few left in the GOP that remember what democracy stands for, Mit Romney is full of contempt for many of his fellow republicans... all chanting out what the orange moron up front dictates.

I would never have thought that such a large part of the US would show such openly fascist and racist traits, having been the defender (with a few glitches...) of democracy for almost a century. The US constitution is regarded one of the best and most democratic in the world, but these idiots are doing their best to destory it completely.

piet
Yes, the US is a big place and can become a big danger if it goes the wrong way, and a lot of people worldwide are leaning the wrong way, not only in the US.

I prefer to think of the agents inside the Capitol, guns drawn behind barricaded doors when the barbarians attacked freedom and democracy. Or the armed citizens of Kiev in their streets.
Same fight.

Paul
 
And some more History, the Internationals that engaged the fascists in Spain would roll over in their graves if they heard the comments from the Oz Foreign Minister waffling on today about anyone from Oz who tries to go and fight for Ukraine would be breaking an Oz law that in reality was drafted to stop people travelling to The Middle East and becoming Terrorists.
 
As the world is going mad, thanks to Mr Putin, his mates and a bunch of jingoistic western ‘leaders’ (I also expect to wake up in the next few days to the news China has invaded Taiwan) I‘m thinking my nice collection of bikes might not be of much use to me soon.
Therefore, open to all reasonable offers - providing it‘s sufficient to pay for a suitable nuclear bunker beneath my house. 🤯

This is the legitimate Laverda politics thread. Those who like and those who dislike are welcome!

Jim
 
I was wondering what those small white beads were being added to the Molatoff Cocktailer are, apparently bean bag beads, Pollystyreen beads melt in the fire and become sticky and make it act like Napalm. Better than straight petrol. Live and learn.
Sugar works in the same way.
 
Sugar works in the same way.
But the polystyrene is aireised polyethylene, when alight PE burns deeply through the skin and is holds its temperature for a very long time as it burns deep into flesh. No amount of hand patting relieves the pain from the molten plastic, but what it does do is sticks the molten plastic to the skin on your patting hands, further fucking up your attempts to relieve the pain because it is being spread elsewhere.

Hurts like hell, for a very long time. Boiling oil over the castle walls is a tickle in comparison.
 
I was up along the Putty Rd during the the fires there in 2013. We were asked to light up the base of the cliffs to create a fire break. I found some old bottles and made some molotov cocktails using drip-torch fuel (mix of unleaded and diesel). We were ordered to pull out before we could light up and the bottles, with wicks, were left by the side of the road. Bet they caused some consternation when found and I hope my fingerprints weren't recoverable.
Any way, back to the war.
 
Here is an interesting book I read a couple of years ago that explains international politics from a geographical standpoint, history following geography in many instances. Of course chapter one is about Russia's western border... A sequel came out last fall but I haven't gotten to that yet.

Prisoners of Geography
 
Back
Top