Sat 25th and Sun 26th March 2023

[AnatolyKasparov]

Good morning, all.

[frog222]

Afternoon

This is SO crazy, but then ...

[refitman]

Bigots getting things poured over them is never not fun

[AnatolyKasparov]

Afternoon

This is SO crazy, but then ...

Partly because people like him cheered the Tories on for so long.

[frog222]

[AnatolyKasparov]

Hmmm, could be just a bit embarrassing!

[frog222]

Led By Donkeys leading in the Observer .

I added the Torygraph one for 'balance'



6° but only blowing half a gale .

[frog222]

Some individuals here tend to see their inspections as exercises in fault-finding . Others such as my (French) daughter and her husband saw them as helping teachers to do better ... which they did.

The English system is basically about the first approach, scare teachers into doing better, supposedly . Just like the DWP beating people into work.

I've seen these English stories for years and have been amazed they didn't revolt, a very cowed population and therefore useless unions ?



There's probably some fault from the Target Culture dating I think from the Blair years and continued enthusiastically by the the Tories ?

[frog222]

I've seen a lot of these clips from Russian State TV .

Completely rabid stuff .



Coincidence, another ace interview from Jonathan yesterday -- publicly available details of the genocidal project against Ukraine--



Just watching, ten minutes in . " History repeating itself "

[frog222]

This is a good listen with CIA Director William Burns



Fascinating excerpt, and the first few (long!) reader reviews of his book --



Impossible to post Amazon link , it's this --
The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal Relié – 12 mars 2019

Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful ...
Rating: 4.6 · ‎296 reviews · ‎€76.0

[frog222]

[AnatolyKasparov]

There's a small matter of rape convictions (never high) now hovering around the 1% level as well.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

If anything Russian propaganda has been an abject failure, at least in its influence on Western nations. Take the U.S. Sure there's a rump of far right Putin apologists that inhabit the upper echelons of the Republican party and its media but look at what just happened to Ron DeSantis. He initially played to that gallery saying the war in Ukraine was a mere border skirmish then faced such a backlash from the more traditional Republicans who make up most of his voters that he was forced to make a humiliating volte-face.

Regardless of the efforts of Carlson et al most Republicans think Ukraine is worth fighting for.

And it's the same on the left, mass support for Ukraine apart from a few idiot tankies frothing at the mouth about the promise of a multipolar world. Apparently the idea of being ruled over by a president for life and a war criminal is better than Western hegemony.

If I were to hazard a guess I'd say there was a strong crossover between lexiters and the above.

In peacetime it was easy for the Russians to fuck about online and bribe our politicians and institutions, our ludicrously open financial environment allowed them to pour money into our property market and private schools. If they'd behaved themselves it would still be being overlooked but they shit the bed and now they'll be holidaying in North Korea.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Tankies are a tiny (though disproportionately vociferous) minority even on the left of the left.

More numerous are woolly Corbynite types (and indeed the man himself) who just talk about "peace" without any thought as to what that might really mean.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Tankies are a tiny (though disproportionately vociferous) minority even on the left of the left.

More numerous are woolly Corbynite types (and indeed the man himself) who just talk about "peace" without any thought as to what that might really mean.

There's nothing woolly about saying we shouldn't be arming Ukraine. Corbyn was effectively saying a country should surrender to its invaders and negotiate with those who had murdered them, raped them, and stolen their children. What he said was despicable.

It's one thing to be anti-war (isn't any sane person?) but quite another to abandon helpless people to a brutal fate because you're so set in your way that you can't see beyond your own ideology.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Anyway, looks like Bibi might be pushing his luck a bit in Israel. Here's to everybody there resisting his Orbanite power grab.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Tankies are a tiny (though disproportionately vociferous) minority even on the left of the left.

More numerous are woolly Corbynite types (and indeed the man himself) who just talk about "peace" without any thought as to what that might really mean.

There's nothing woolly about saying we shouldn't be arming Ukraine. Corbyn was effectively saying a country should surrender to its invaders and negotiate with those who had murdered them, raped them, and stolen their children. What he said was despicable.

It's one thing to be anti-war (isn't any sane person?) but quite another to abandon helpless people to a brutal fate because you're so set in your way that you can't see beyond your own ideology.

Yeah, not disagreeing but its not like these people (unlike tankies) actually think "Russia good".

Its just that they seem to believe simply being in favour of good things (peace) and against bad things (war) is all that is needed here.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[AnatolyKasparov]

Going to post this so you can't delete that one

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Ok.