A Political Thread pt. 2

[McTallshort]

I thought they got rid of the green goddesses now as they were so laughably out of date there was no point keeping them?

What are the laws on police and military strikes...?

Don't know about the police but you can't strike in the military, or be a member of any political organisation. You can vote but that's it.

 

[Saintjay]

Yeah the fleet was sold off years ago. It was put in place after the last fire strike that engines would be handed over for military to use as strike cover.

The Police can't strike by law. I think the army can't strike by a combination of national security, law, Military Kings Regulations etc

I seem to recall it's also a criminal offence to cause disaffection by members of a police force.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Don't know about the police but you can't strike in the military, or be a member of any political organisation. You can vote but that's it.

Figured that was probably the case. It's ridiculous how this government thinks the army is there to just fill in every role. Border security, fire fighting, ambulances... Worse, the number of nutters who seem to believe they actually did a better job than the people who actually do that every day.

 

[Reiser99]

What impact has Brexit had on the UK economy?

It is three years since the UK left the EU and time to start looking at the evidence.

www.bbc.com

UK expected to be only major economy to shrink in 2023 - IMF

Even sanctions-hit Russia is expected to grow this year, but the IMF says the UK is "on the right track".

www.bbc.com

Well at this stage it's either Brexit or an successive, inept Conservative governments. Either way the UK is clearly worse off than any other comparable country.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

What impact has Brexit had on the UK economy?

It is three years since the UK left the EU and time to start looking at the evidence.

www.bbc.com

UK expected to be only major economy to shrink in 2023 - IMF

Even sanctions-hit Russia is expected to grow this year, but the IMF says the UK is "on the right track".

www.bbc.com

Well at this stage it's Brexit and successive, inept Conservative governments. Either way the UK is clearly worse off than any other comparable country.

FTFY

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward over The Trump Tapes for $50m

Former president claims Washington Post reporter ‘never got his permission to release these tapes’

www.theguardian.com

Voluntarily give recorded interviews to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bob Woodward to boost his own ego then turns round and sues him. Why give recorded interviews to a journalist who brought down Nixon unless he is complete Narcissist.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Hillsborough disaster: Police to respond to Bishop's report

Bishop James Jones has criticised the fact the government is yet to respond to his 2017 report.

www.bbc.co.uk

Justice delayed is justice denied. #Justice4the97.

 

[ncurd]

UK expected to be only major economy to shrink in 2023 - IMF

Even sanctions-hit Russia is expected to grow this year, but the IMF says the UK is "on the right track".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[McTallshort]

The sooner we lose our dependence on gas the better.

I'm guessing Russia is set to grow because their economy crashed so badly in 2022 and the Kremlin is pumping billions into it Military industrial complex. That or they are making billions on the high gas price.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Right, lots to unpick here.

Firstly the tanks that Britain, America and Poland/Germany are supplying are not necessarily better tanks. The Leopard 2s and Abrams in question are not the latest models and to be honest are very dated. The British Challengers are the latest model but use different ammunition to the Leopards and Abrams due to having a rifled barrel. All 3 use different ammo to the Soviet models.

Secondly the numbers are tiny. 14 Chally 2s, 30 Abrams, 14 Polish Leopards (14 in the number of vehicles in a Company/SQN) So that's currently enough for 4 Squadrons but with 3 different types you have to have 3 separate supply chains. Tanks use a huge amount of spare parts and having to source spare parts for 3 different models is going to be a massive headache, also they all have there own ammunition requirements which are completely different to the current Ukrainian ones. The point about the American tanks you made above is actually a fair one. The Abrams has a Gas Turbine engine that is a real gas guzzler and most militaries cannot sustain it in the field long enough to make it worth while, only the Yanks have the resources to do it. I believe the export model has a more standard diesel engine or they wouldn't sell any.

Thirdly Western tanks are bigger, Heavier and require a loader (crew of 4). A chally 2 for instance is 70 odd tonnes, a Ukrainian T-64B is about 45 tonnes. All the Ukrainian army heavy transport, bridging equipment and supply chains are geared up for smaller tanks with smaller crew (Soviet tanks have an auto loader crew of 3). It will take about 6 weeks for a trained commander, driver and gunner to convert from a T-64 to a western model with the need to train loaders from scratch and change SOPs for the rest of the crew.

So we have lots of small numbers of bigger, different tanks which are not really any better than the upgraded Russian ones (T-90s is arguably better than all 3). This could be a logistical nightmare for the Ukrainians and could cause them more problems than it solves. Logistics win wars more than weapons

The ideal situation would have been for Poland to give the Ukrainians some of its PT-91s and T-72MIR which are both based on the T-72 but have been upgraded to a much better standard than the models of Abrams and Leopards on offer and the crews could almost jump in an drive off in them but Poland are not going to give these away as they could find themselves next in line for Russian aggression. Giving away a few aging Leopard 2 is one thing but its not going to gut the core of its most capable models no matter how much they want Ukraine to win.

Its up to over 300 tanks promised by allies, which is more than I expected. NATO pleading with South Korea (technically still at war by NK and next to China and Russia to start supplying Ukraine. I can't see that happening. Similarly US and Germany categorical about not supplying fighter jets.

A general air of pessimism seems to have triggered the the tank u-turn. Ukraine is consistently losing Donbas territory now and Russia haven't had a further territorial setback since abandoning Kherson and sourcing Iranian drones (not the kamikaze ones) and (probably) North Korean shells. Seems the old tactic of hurling men at the front and making them more afraid of being executed for 'cowardice' than they are of running into the teeth of the enemy is still effective to some extent in the 2020s, at least during winter. Hopefully Ukrainian tanks become more relevant as the ground dries out. There is literally no reasonable analysis of the situation that I am finding. No explanation for why Ukranian lines in Donetsk that held for about 10 months have started yielding.

A really tragic lack of domestic criticism in Russia. I know you are risking jail but I'd have expected Russian mothers to be more vocal by now given the way they held previous governments to account for previous wars.

I can see Putin taking Donetsk by May, then claiming 'victory'. But frankly, who knows.

 

[McTallshort]

Its up to over 300 tanks promised by allies, which is more than I expected. NATO pleading with South Korea (technically still at war by NK and next to China and Russia to start supplying Ukraine. I can't see that happening. Similarly US and Germany categorical about not supplying fighter jets.

A general air of pessimism seems to have triggered the the tank u-turn. Ukraine is consistently losing Donbas territory now and Russia haven't had a further territorial setback since abandoning Kherson and sourcing Iranian drones (not the kamikaze ones) and (probably) North Korean shells. Seems the old tactic of hurling men at the front and making them more afraid of being executed for 'cowardice' than they are of running into the teeth of the enemy is still effective to some extent in the 2020s, at least during winter. Hopefully Ukrainian tanks become more relevant as the ground dries out. There is literally no reasonable analysis of the situation that I am finding. No explanation for why Ukranian lines in Donetsk that held for about 10 months have started yielding.

A really tragic lack of domestic criticism in Russia. I know you are risking jail but I'd have expected Russian mothers to be more vocal by now given the way they held previous governments to account for previous wars.

I can see Putin taking Donetsk by May, then claiming 'victory'. But frankly, who knows.

If you watch the youtube video I posted above it answers quite a few of those questions. Its an in-depth interview with an Aussie volunteer who trains Ukrainian troops . There is Chinese tech in the hands of Wagner now, the Kherson offensive was a failure for Ukraine, 90% of Russian forces withdrew in good order, they were able to shorten their front line and redeploy to Donbass. While those troops were tied down in Kherson they couldn't be committed to Donbass, now they can along with the 300k newly mobilised troops. Also the casualty rate among the veteran Wagner troops is pretty low, its only the fresh troops taking the casualties.

If something doesn't improve in the next few weeks the whole Donbass front could collapse. I have a horrible feeling those 300 tanks are going to arrive too late......

 

[The Seeker]

 

[The Seeker]

Trump in Even More Legal Hot Water After Lying to Judge

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty ImagesFormer President Donald Trump appears to have lied in sworn court records, opening him up to severe sanctions by a New York judge who has already lost his patience and threatened to punish him before.Trump claimed he wasn’t the president of the Trump Organization...

news.yahoo.com

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Sunak can't justify how he's filled his cabinet with scumbags and blaming Labour for the strikes, it's absolutely pathetic. Seriously the Tories need to just **** off right now, they are absolute lying scum. I don't see how even Tory supports can look at all the sleaze and corruption and accept "hurr hurr ur beholden to ur union paymasters and don't know what a woman is!" as a ******* reasonable response to each and every question!?

1/3rd of this country still look at this lot and think they are electable? HOW!? I'm pulling my hair out in frustration and the sheer bloody minded idiocy of a huge chunk of the population.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

UK interest rates: How high could they go and how a rise would affect you

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates later, pushing some mortgages up further.

www.bbc.co.uk

US feds increased theirs by 0.25%. Wouldn't be surprised if BOE did the same rather than 0.5%.

 

[BrokenWing]

Oh good, just in time for my renewal.

 

[Gavin]

Ironic

 

[Kiwiwomble]

question for UK people, havent read the whole thread, its gets away from me too often

I saw there were teacher strikes the other day, my best mate is a teacher in the UK so i flicked him a message, he was running down some of their issues, promised raises without increase (with inflations/cost of living) in overall budget so every other aspect of the school being defunded one stark example

I asked him when the next election would be as someone new might come in and help, he wasn't sure so i googled....no later than 2025, that will be 6 years since the last one...is that normal? seems like a long term

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

question for UK people, havent read the whole thread, its gets away from me too often

I saw there were teacher strikes the other day, my best mate is a teacher in the UK so i flicked him a message, he was running down some of their issues, promised raises without increase (with inflations/cost of living) in overall budget so every other aspect of the school being defunded one stark example

I asked him when the next election would be as someone new might come in and help, he wasn't sure so i googled....no later than 2025, that will be 6 years since the last one...is that normal? seems like a long term

It's the maximum term a PM can legally have. As the Tories know they will get eviscerated if they have an election now, they will just hold out for as long as they can in the hope things will be better and they can try to sell it as them fixing a problem whilst hoping people forget just how much of that problem was of their making.

 

[General Melchett]

question for UK people, havent read the whole thread, its gets away from me too often

I saw there were teacher strikes the other day, my best mate is a teacher in the UK so i flicked him a message, he was running down some of their issues, promised raises without increase (with inflations/cost of living) in overall budget so every other aspect of the school being defunded one stark example

I asked him when the next election would be as someone new might come in and help, he wasn't sure so i googled....no later than 2025, that will be 6 years since the last one...is that normal? seems like a long term

The last election was in December 2019 and the maximum terms is 5 years which means the next election has to happen by December 2024. The Governing party can call it anytime and historically don't usually leave it to the last minute. They normally call it when they think they have the best chance of winning based on polling data. I would guess that Sunak will want to deliver a few things first e.g. getting inflation under control, economic growth etc before being in a position to promise tax cuts as a way to win votes.