The War starts Putin announces "Military Operation" in Ukraine. Explosions heard in Kyiv

[Gofer Blue]

Jesus wept…someone needs to take the loon out before he goes too far…..

Brinkmanship is what he is all about. I think we would see another Operation Valkyrie style hit if he ever issues the order to go nuclear.

[blue matt]

Russian nuclear deterrence forces put on “high alert” in response to “aggressive” NATO statements.

lets not forget, we were on high alert for years, F 111 jets with nukes were left engine running at USAF Upper Heyford 24 hours a day

I Once popped up to Upper Heyford ( part of the site was being used as a industrial unit ) a few years back, Myself and Youngest daughter went to collect a surf board from a courier who couldn't get it to us in time ( we were going on holidays in a few days ),after picking up the board We Ignored a " keep out " signs, weaved around some bollards and cones ( I might have had to jump out and move 2 cones ) and had a drive around the site, up and down the runway where the planes were waiting, took a picture of the " active runway sign " which is a canvas in my shed ( dont know why ? ? )

then went in one of the armoured aircraft hangers where the aardvarks were parked ( it was being used to store farm machines ), the old control tower was still standing, some of the concrete buildings were massive, I mean 3 M of concrete thick walls, then drove over to the old housing bit, they still had the supermarket standing ( also had a cinema on the site ), the old houses were being pulled down ( they are building a new posh estate on a bit of the site )

a fascinating site, spent 2 hours having a nose around, bumped into security who said as long as we didnt go into any buildings it was fine

saw a great painting on a wall ( which I later found out was a patch that the USAF crew wore ) it said " F111, Warsaw Pact central heating "

I believe the UK have tried to have the site a " world heritage site " to protect its history, but it failed, a shame really, as its a fascinating bit of history and with a little preservation could be a nice day trip out

[Rjk]

https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting...m_source=share

[Elwood Blues]

Source please?

This it would seem

https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status...44090070872068



Whether the Border Force have actually stopped Ukrainians going onto Eurostar I have no idea, but......

RS Archer is apparently a fictional twitter id. The 'David Saunders' series of books he is meant to have written do not exist.


Fake news quite possibly

[ninian opinian]

You can follow the Ukrainian President on Twitter https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/stat...486641155?s=21

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

Very weak from FIFA, although they have said a full ban could follow later.
"Fifa has ordered Russia to complete their upcoming matches without their flag, anthem and as the Football Union of Russia in neutral territory, following the invasion of Ukraine."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60548685

[the other bob wilson]

Very weak from FIFA, although they have said a full ban could follow later.
"Fifa has ordered Russia to complete their upcoming matches without their flag, anthem and as the Football Union of Russia in neutral territory, following the invasion of Ukraine."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60548685

Yes, as the article says, who would agree to be the neutral venue for a Russia game at the moment? Belarus? I hadn’t realised that all of the teams Russia could come up against in the Play Offs had refused to play them.

[Elwood Blues]

Yes, as the article says, who would agree to be the neutral venue for a Russia game at the moment? Belarus? I hadn’t realised that all of the teams Russia could come up against in the Play Offs had refused to play them.

And England now say they won't play any Russian sides.

I can see every country in the upcoming qualifiers and the World Cup refusing to play them. Knowing FIFA they will then all get disqualified for not playing and the "Football Union of Russia"will win the World Cup by default!!

[life on mars]

Jesus wept…someone needs to take the loon out before he goes too far…..

Back in 2014 during Crimea invasions which the West did little about, Putin stated that freezing them out of SWIFT was a like declaration of war , Obama and West bottled it, interestingly his go to man with the Ukraine brief was Biden , so yes we know , and we're worried then ,however we should have called his bluff then ,not now some 8 years on ?

Hunter Biden would be useful in all this he has down some good groundwork in the Ukraine.

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

And England now say they won't play any Russian sides.

I can see every country in the upcoming qualifiers and the World Cup refusing to play them. Knowing FIFA they will then all get disqualified for not playing and the "Football Union of Russia"will win the World Cup by default!!

Wales too now
https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/faw-st...asion-ukraine/

[ToTaL ITK]

ummmm!

[blue matt]

ummmm!

Bald is a great Vlogger, I Love his old Soviet country travels, looking for old soviet mosaics, his mate Harold balder ( he's Scandinavian ) is another ( they do some together )

I do sometimes find his Videos with Alina a little awkward , he comes across as a little bit of a perv occasionally

if anyone wants to watch a good one they have done, they ( both Bald and Harold ) teamed up with Simon Wilson ( Bloke from wrexham ) and did Mexico after Covid lockdown, its a decent lighthearted watch

them 3 are fairly high on my YouTube Vlogger list,

[Gofer Blue]

I haven't seen any source for the "fruit picking" statement but David Lammy did mention it on the Sunday Morning programme on BBC TV this morning, so I presume it's true, in which case that is disgusting. As someone who has already brought a Syrian refugee family to the UK via the Home Office local community sponsorship scheme I will be writing to my MP to put pressure on the Home Secretary to announce a specific number of Ukrainian refugees that the UK will take so that local authorities and individual community groups can plan ahead. Without that information then little will happen sadly. I would urge fellow MB members to do the same - write to your MP, don't just whinge on a football forum.

Re: taking Ukrainian refugees into the UK - Boris Johnson indicated on the BBC news tonight that the UK will give first priority to Ukrainian citizens who have relatives in the UK which seems reasonable as this could represent quite a number of refugees (I think I read somewhere that there are 30,000 Ukrainians living in the UK?). He made no mention of others but I guess we need to see how many would come under the "relatives in the UK" connection category.

I have already emailed my MP and received an acknowledgement from him. He always responds in full within a week or so.

I have also written to Andrei Kelin (Russian ambassador in London) to suggest that he resigns his position in protest at the actions of his deranged president otherwise he too will have the blood of innocent Ukrainians on his hands. This will have no effect whatsoever of course (I am not that naive) but I feel I have done something! I suspect it may only be a matter of time before he is expelled anyway. BTW both his private address and the embassy address are available on the Internet.

[ninian opinian]

And still this government pushes ahead with the Borders Bill which will criminalise any refugee entering the UK without a visa, including Ukrainians. This Tweet from the Home Office is only 14 hours old. What is this government doing? https://twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/sta...535973377?s=21

[life on mars]

Putin said:

"To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history. All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me."

If he's threatening nuclear attacks on any country that tries to defend Ukraine, yeah it might affect us.

yep

[life on mars]

And still this government pushes ahead with the Borders Bill which will criminalise any refugee entering the UK without a visa, including Ukrainians. This Tweet from the Home Office is only 14 hours old. What is this government doing? https://twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/sta...535973377?s=21

I'm sure that will be changed as usual you are in the hands of civil servants who can be a bit slow getting back to the office unless its for a party

[Elwood Blues]

Russian nuclear deterrence forces put on “high alert” in response to “aggressive” NATO statements.

Liz Truss's fault apparently

She saidIn trevorPhillips program on Sky yesterday

"This long-running conflict is about freedom and democracy in Europe,

If we don't stop Putin in Ukraine, we are going to see others under threat: the Baltics, Poland, Moldova, and it could end up in a conflict with Nato. We do not want to go there."

Putin was jus reacting. Russia found these statements unacceptable!!

[Dorcus]

Liz Truss's fault apparently

She saidIn trevorPhillips program on Sky yesterday

"This long-running conflict is about freedom and democracy in Europe,

If we don't stop Putin in Ukraine, we are going to see others under threat: the Baltics, Poland, Moldova, and it could end up in a conflict with Nato. We do not want to go there."

Putin was jus reacting. Russia found these statements unacceptable!!

I see No 10 has slapped down Liz Truss today. It is recommending people do not rock up for mercenary duties in Ukraine. Ex Attorney General Dominic Grieve has confirmed it would be illegal anyway.

These are difficult times and highly charged, I would feel much better if No.10 sidelined Truss until the conflict is over, and leave commentary to grown ups. We cannot countenance slipshod talk.

[goats]

Tell you what Putin has managed one job that I thought wasn’t achievable, he’s managed to unify the whole of Europe like never seen before….I bet the idiot never saw that one coming. What with the rest of the world bar the usual untrustworthy suspects also on board, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a world leader make such a dick of oneself on such a grand stage. No doubt we will have to concede something to him now so he doesn’t look like such a fool before he crawls back under his iron stone…..

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Tell you what Putin has managed one job that I thought wasn’t achievable, he’s managed to unify the whole of Europe like never seen before….I bet the idiot never saw that one coming. What with the rest of the world bar the usual untrustworthy suspects also on board, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a world leader make such a dick of oneself on such a grand stage. No doubt we will have to concede something to him now so he doesn’t look like such a fool before he crawls back under his iron stone…..

It's difficult to imagine what Putin's realistic end game is. Yes, he could have taken the more pro-Russian southern and eastern parts of the country and possibly have occupied them long term - but I think that he will have enormous problems occupying the pro-western part of the country, Kyiv in particular.

[ToTaL ITK]

I think social media will make a huge difference. people on the spot telling things how they are without rose tinted glasses, or a political leaning.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Tell you what Putin has managed one job that I thought wasn’t achievable, he’s managed to unify the whole of Europe like never seen before….I bet the idiot never saw that one coming. What with the rest of the world bar the usual untrustworthy suspects also on board, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a world leader make such a dick of oneself on such a grand stage. No doubt we will have to concede something to him now so he doesn’t look like such a fool before he crawls back under his iron stone…..

I agree with you. The only problem is, he's a dick with a sh*t load of nuclear warheads and has made veiled threats. I'm pretty nervous about him being humiliated on the world stage.

[ninian opinian]

Do you reckon the Brexiters who believed the prospect of an EU army was a terrible idea?

They were fed a giant crock of shit!

Stronger together.

[Rjk]

I agree with you. The only problem is, he's a dick with a sh*t load of nuclear warheads and has made veiled threats. I'm pretty nervous about him being humiliated on the world stage.

yes, I think the major players are definitely worried about completely backing him into a corner, knowing about his nuclear arsenal. they will need to offer him a way out of this that doesn't lose too much face.

its a pity that is the case, but it is.

[chrisp_1927]

Do you reckon the Brexiters who believed the prospect of an EU army was a terrible idea?

They were fed a giant crock of shit!

Stronger together.

What EU army ? There is no EU army. Even the countries who were half interested in the concept have had no real traction in getting one sorted. The EU constituents have also massively underfunded their own armed forces over the last couple of decades.

Your insistence on blaming this russian invasion on brexit is quite frankly demented