Ukraine

I know we generally steer clear of politics on here, but I felt we need to comment on this current situation.

I personally fully support the Ukraine, and denounce Russia for this evil invasion of a democratic and sovereign country. The events over the last week are shocking, in that we are seeing a country in the 21st century committing atrocities on a level not seen in Europe since WWII.

The justifications and fabricated news being given in public addreses by Putin and his government controlled news networks is unbelievable. I don't think anyone will believe the stories of Neo-Nazi infultration, or that it's not Russia but Ukraine blowing up its own country.

He completely miscalculated the fast reaction by the world after triggering this invasion. Never have we seen Europe act so quickly and decisively as a collective. This has finally united them and made them wake-up to the fact there are more important things than money. Sometimes it takes a shock close to home to trigger that to happen.

Even the UNs actions are unpresidented. And the tightening of sanctions aimed at such a large country show that Putin's actions will no longer make the world cower under his threats of nuclear war, even if the fact he has that power at his command does worry everyone. You have to stand up to a bully. As soon as you allow them to win by threat and intimidation you have lost.

I think another realisation hit home in Europe when he directly threatened Finland and Sweden. If anything the threat Russia will invade them is far more likely to make them join NATO now.

Even just 10 years ago Russia would have faced the reaction we are now seeing. The world didn't react much when Crimea was annexed, or on a global scale when Russia was initially fighting in Ukraine and shot down the passenger plane. But in recent years, with the rise of social media people have had enough and will no longer put up with anyone who has anything to do with something like this. That is why we are seeing such a massive reaction from businesses instantly pulling out of the Russian Market. Car manufacturers, technology companies like Apple, Mastercard and Visa, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Clothing companies. Rich Oligarchs being frozen and stripped of their money or forced to sell their interestments in business. It's all unravelling fast for Russia because of the actions of a single Sycopath.

But it's also the wakeup call Europe has needed. For so long have countries allowed rich outside investment to take over businesses and have influence. We are seeing that end. Will Chinese foreign ownership and investment be next in the firing line? I think China's silence speaks of the fact they are watching events with some concern because if they show too much support for Russia they might be hit hard in consumer markets.

I don't just feel sorry for Ukrainians, but also for normal Russians. They had no part in this and do not want this war Putin is waging. They are the same as everyone else, just wanting a nice house, job, family and happy life. In just 1 week their president has already destroyed that and begun to cripple their economy and leave Russia isolated.

The only hope is for Russia to realise that it isn't the West or the rest of the world that is the problem. Putin might just have triggered the seeds of a revolution that unseat him and bring about much needed change. We can only hope this will end in true democracy for Russia, the end to their current autocratic sycopathic president and Ukraine in its rightful place as a sovereign nation at the Eastern edge of Europe.

Nice write up H & probably says everything that needs to be said.

It's all about money is War....

I heard Micro$oft pulled out this morning....

Assassination has already been mentioned, but would that make him a Martyr?

Who cares eh!

Drop him ffs.

:biggun:

Just came back from Finland this morning, situation is obviously more tense there than here in Luxembourg.

I have a friend who went to Thailand, and he told us yesterday the VISA, Mastercard and those are not valid for Russians anymore, plus the exchange of Russian money gives 0.00 in return, so they are ****ed. Not only that, there's not planes going back from there to Russia.

That is a big problem. I feel really sorry for normal Russians. They can't control the insanity of their president or his government and army. But what other answer does the world have in trying to stop Putin?

Do you also have this insanely increasing fuel prices? We went to Finland the 25th of February, the diesel was 1.50€, we came back 10 days later and it was 1.72€, at midnight it was increased again by 40 cents, so today we are at 2.12€ per liter.

Usually the price here in Luxembourg is under 1€. I guess the French and German don't come now over the border anymore to fill their tank, not so good for our economy though. Plus the French also buy huge amounts of alcohol and cigarettes here.

Yes, fuel prices are going up fast here.

It has been quite high for some time here in the UK though. 2 years ago at the start of the pandemic it dropped to near £1 per litre. But it has slowly been creeping up in the last year. Since January I had been paying about £1.52 per litre. But in the last 2 weeks it has been going up at a lot of petrol stations. The one nearest me is now £1.77, which converts roughly to the €2.12 you are paying. But I managed to fill up somewhere else for £1.52. Will try again tomorrow to see if others are still lower.

The UK is in a slightly better situation that we don't buy much Russian oil at all. Currently about 6% as most of ours comes from our own North Sea oil, the US and UAE. But Europe are currently a bit stuck with a lot from Russia.

The UK government might have to reduce fuel taxes to help the economy. I can't see how else the UK could help the fuel situation to lower pump prices. We already pay over half the fuel cost in tax.

But it's a known fact the oil industry at the production end Opec consortium have an agreement with their partners to limit oil production to force increased oil prices. Something needs to be done to stop oil price fixing and also to stop this global oil value. Restructure the whole industry. But also as Biden said yesterday, this really does highlight the global need to move away from our reliance on oil.

Problem is I really don't like any Electric EV cars. The KIA EV6 is the closest I have come to a car I would want. The all Electric Mercs and Audis I quite like are way out of my price range. Equally I'm not convinced EVs are the future. Not enough fast charging points in the UK, and they are still too slow to charge and range is still too limited. You can't do a driving holiday in one. I couldn't even drive from my home in West Sussex to Cornwall on hoilday in one without vstopping over night to recharge. No good.

The KIA EV6 looks indeed nice, I much would prefer to have the Audi e-Tron GT.

Yes the e-Trons are nice, although I'm not sure about thefront grill style. The Mercedes EQE and EQS look nice. 660km range too.

Who would have thought that 7 months later Ukraine is retaking its territory and fighting back. And Russia now panicking to the point of calling up untrained citizens to fight as little more than cannon fodder.

And Russia are still using the narrative of Nazis being in Ukraine, and now according to them the whole war is being waged by NATO forces, with Ukrainian solders just there for photoshoots and TikTok. That is disgusting.

Putin's latest address to draft Russian's has just made thrm run to the borders to escape. Proving they didn't realise with thr lack of real news how things were really going until that moment. And Putin even claimed in thr address that he has provication to attack any country that has Russian emigrants living there to protect their Russian heritage.