Waylander

Western media said the US blockade had faced down the Soviets, others said the US had agreed to pull Jupiter missiles out of Turkey.

I see a patter with Ukraine similar with what happened with Poland over a decade ago. Poland agrees to have US missiles on its soil. USSR complains. Poland and US say missiles are there to fight global war terrorism in Middle East (seriously!) USSR responds by putting Nukes into Kaliningrad pointing at Poland. I don't think the USSR is fussed about Polish independence or Ukraine (except Crimea and Donbas) Their issue is defence, they have been invaded 18th Century by the Swedes, 19th Century by Napoleon and 20th Century by Hitler. The US putting missiles into the Ukraine means they can reach Moscow earlier in the event of a serious war. Sabre rattling has now moved to the Middle East with NATO naval exercises while Russian and US fighters buzz each other in Eastern Syria. Russian fleets also on way to Eastern Mediterranean. This follows Russia arming Syria with s-400 missile system to prevent Israel bombing Syria.

I have read about a Lithuanian nationalist that was captured and viciously tortured and mutilated by the KGB in Soviet occupied Lithuania after the war. With Napoleon yes we was a bit Machiavellian with whom he supported. I know the Poles tried.

Interesting point on the Oligarchs potentially losing money and I guess Russia too with fuel debt payments owed by countries like Ukraine. I would not expect any referendum from Crimea to be without interference. I think the Russian state thinks Crimea is too strategically important and this is why the US took Hawaii as it offered a naval base in the middle of the Pacific. Re the Maoris if anything they were more likely descended from the Hawaiians than the other way around. The Caucasus region is a mess due to Russia using Machiavellian policies since the 90s as does Turkey now with Azerbaijan. Cannot see any easy solutions there.

Don't know too much on LIthuania though have heard about the union with Poland and of course 20th Century. Did Napoleon try and help Lithuania, I know he was considering helping Poland though after 1812 he lost his chance.

I'm struggling with your dates, who are you referring too? Poland?

Russia has already said if they are cut off from Swift they will devise their own on-line settlement platform, SWIFT is not unique just the recognised payment system. When you see that the Baltics and Finland as well as Ukraine were part of Imperial Russia and how since the end of the USSR have been allowed self determination think we need to be cautious before we demonise too much. The Donbass region is heavily concentrated with Russians that have lived in Ukraine. Crimea reminds me of Hawaii would the US allow the Hawaiians the chance of self determination outside of the US and I mean by that those of historic Hawaiin blood , I think not much too important in military affairs and I think for Russia Crimea is the same. History is interesting too in the 1850s the French and British fought the Russians in Crimea, including the charge of the Light Brigade. Stalin also moved around peoples including in Crimea. So it is very difficult to judge one side vs the other. I personally think this is about empires and who controls the fossil fuels and who buys them. Recently Germany was buying Russian fuel which was cheaper than US$ priced fuel. Germany is now under pressure to stop buying Russian fuel as this media war increases in intensity.

I thought for a brief moment that Turkey was changing it name to avoid the bird and insult connection to now being called the equivalent of an asshole............ Yet no Turkey is changing its name yet the asshole point is related to another country or region in Assam.

@Michael Nearly all your points are on the alternative news sites in the US. The mainstream call them conspiracy sites I think they are more objective though of course some articles are heavily biased as well. I also can't tell how it will proceed as neither of us know if any dark actors are on the ground to provoke a reaction. I recall a couple of years ago Putin's driver was killed on a motorway, his car suddenly went out of control and mounted the central barrier colliding with oncoming traffic. It raised questions though was not widely reported.

I think he is a front for a hidden group of Russian military figures who came together after Yeltsin as were getting concerned about Russia being taken over by foreign capital interests. Just don't see how a middle ranked intelligence officer makes the rise to become leader of Russia, the worlds second super power. If I am right he was chosen as someone most Russians would be able to relate to and then become attached to by the cult of personality. Will be interesting to see who follows him once he steps down.

Just watched most of CFC in the World Club match the Semis. CFC through due to a tap in from Lukaku yet we made heard work of it should have scored more and they actually looked decent in the 2nd 70-90 mins forcing two decent saves from Kepa. Hopefully we play better in the final.

I do find it rather interesting that instead of chimpanzees we are looking at pigs for organ transplants in human. If we are so close to chimps, why choose pigs........

I actually think this shrinking of the Amazonian rain forest via an unknown feedback mechanism has increased the devastation of hurricanes we see today. If we look at it objectively increased rain forest destruction has been happening for about 120 years. Of course we are not just talking about the Amazon yet African, Central Asia and SE Asia. Once it goes expect much more unpredictable whether if I am right.

In politics we are all in subsets Some are regional, for example, Wales, Merseyside, Home Counties etc. These will influence our outlook to a degree. Then states of life, student, worker, parent, unemployed, retired etc. Consider retirees normally on fixed incomes so dislike inflation, they are a big voting block so any party wanting to win needs to be seen as a safe pair of hands. The Johnson govt is now on the backfoot over energy bills. Then idealogies some identify with socialism or freemarkets or nationalism more than anything else. Some full for the cult of personality, Thatcher, Blair or bizarrely Johnson. Some political insiders think we need a good relationship with the US others thought Europe though that is probably on the backfoot now. My point is understanding politics you need to look at the broad picture, this is just a snapshot of some of the factors that may influence voters. The Johnson government is in a difficult place and he is not appointing the best people if Dorries is anything to go by. If Johnson is forced to step down by his party they won't give a general election they will appoint a new leader to fight the next election. Johnson is not a typical Tory more of a maverick individual and opportunist perhaps he will with hindsight come to be seen to be like Richard Nixon (Watergate).

If only Christopher Reeve was still alive.........

I've got the DVD though thought it was just part of the normal film, I saw it when to came out so can't confirm either way.

Like you I disliked the Legolas scenes of killing those oliphaunts or whatever. I notice they also wrongly wrote him into the Hobbit ($$$$). The scenes I would have liked to see are the meeting of Halbarad and Aragorn and Theoden that happens on the way to Gondor and the Puklemen that show the riders of Rohan the quick way to Gondor and a route that is not watched by Sauron.

Actually Aragorn's age or lack of ageing is covered in the Two Towers by Miranda Otto asking if he has the blood of the Dunedain. The remark goes further about the ancient bloodline being descended from the First Men of Numenor or something like that.

I've always felt Pogba was too laid back at Utd treating it like a holiday camp and have the feeling he is now shocked there are no big money moves for him to go to Spain or Italy. Fernandes's form has dropped and Fred is not favoured. Is Rangnick brave enough or even authorised sufficiently to make drastic changes if not Utd may struggle. Will be interesting to see what changes occur over the next couple of months.

With the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Iranians upped their game in the military stakes. With their presence along much of the Gulf coastline, mountains, Hezbollah and the question of their missile ability suggests the Gulf would close sending oil prices catastrophic. It is hard to know how effective their missiles are though one hit the US airbase in Iraq during Trumps tenure and he said no damage was done and then admitted later some staff suffered. 'headaches'. So somehow they fired a missile that went undetected and unchallenged over 100s of miles. The US or Israel will not get much advantage of a surprise attack due to proximity of other countries with citizens sympathies towards Iran or against US/Israel.

There should be a buzz around Newcastle now as you appear to have bought well in a number of positions. I would be surprised if you still go down.

I've seen a clip and yes much closer yet we have gone from a short guy to a bodybuilder with fair hair. I'm sure Reacher had dark hair and though no was no weakling was not a bodybuilder either. Still suppose the fight scenes look more authentic.

@Dr. Gonzo I take it you know the USSR had to be coerced to leave Iran post WWII. However that does not justify the other sides presence either. The Islamic nations of the Arabian peninsular friendly to the US have also been trying to diversify their economies. Though if there is Middle Eastern war involving Iran they will likely be caught in the cross-fire of missiles and need to rebuild possibly with less oil revenue due to climate change favouring other energies. The war on Yemen get's little mention in our media probably because we sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

Cryptos to me always seemed like a Ponzi scheme, if you cannot spend them in a supermarket, what's the point.

I always remember that interview a day before 9/11 by Rumsfeld talking about the missing billions of the Pentagon budget and then of course this never seemed to get raised ever again.