International Relations

According to Kiev, the EU has paid about 8.7 billion euros ($9.6 billion) for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Arctic Yamal project in the first 10 months of this year, the sanctions-monitoring NGO Urgewald said on Nov. 12, citing Kpler data.It would appear that sanction busting is bad unless you want to buy something yourself.  - @FredAddress your comments to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Someone there might respond if they can find anyone with enough brain cells. You could just write "***hole" on your envelope. USPS will know exactly where to deliver it*.*thank you Derek and Clive for the tip - @fluffy2560

Again, no points to offer, just insults. You realise this report is from Ukraine,  don't you?

Address your comments to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Someone there might respond if they can find anyone with enough brain cells. You could just write "***hole" on your envelope. USPS will know exactly where to deliver it*.*thank you Derek and Clive for the tip  - @fluffy2560
Again, no points to offer, just insults. You realise this report is from Ukraine, don't you? - @Fred

You didn't say anything we didn't already know. No added value.

The British government, at great expense to taxpayers, is training Ukrainian troops on British soilhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/3000 … -world-warI'm assured Russia is a threat to the UK, but evidence suggests the opposite is possible. - @Fred

Again, so what? This is ancient news everyone knows already.  No added value.

Just more caca-rotation.

BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers.  It's written on the tin - EXPATS.  This is not the angle you think it is.

The British government, at great expense to taxpayers, is training Ukrainian troops on British soilhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/3000 … -world-warI'm assured Russia is a threat to the UK, but evidence suggests the opposite is possible.  - @Fred

Again, so what? This is ancient news everyone knows already. No added value.

Just more caca-rotation.

BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers. It's written on the tin - EXPATS. This is not the angle you think it is. - @fluffy2560

Its just getting tiresome now. Remember, the UK is a shit hole over run by druggies, the EU is just corrupt with unselected leaders. Then we have the Poor old Russia, so defenseless and picked on by the CIA.

Again, so what? This is ancient news everyone knows already. No added value. Just more caca-rotation. BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers. It's written on the tin - EXPATS. This is not the angle you think it is. - @fluffy2560Its just getting tiresome now. Remember, the UK is a shit hole over run by druggies, the EU is just corrupt with unselected leaders. Then we have the Poor old Russia, so defenseless and picked on by the CIA. - @SimCityAT

Haha, yes.  And that guy Musk has now switched off Starlink over Ukraine again according to reports.   

Perhaps it's to do with the Trump geniuses Witless and his SIL being there in case they get bombed. 

Never mind Huang of Nvidia, when is Musk going to get his comeuppance?   I cannot stand him and his right wing politicking.

@fluffy2560

Sadly Trump is off his meds again...

@fluffy2560Sadly Trump is off his meds again... - @SimCityAT

Well, who is paying attention to his BS now?  He got a slapping in the mid-terms but he doesn't seem to have learnt a thing.   I did read about a renewed caravan of migrants heading North.  We've seen it before.

In a couple of months, he'll be really screwed - as soon as the new Congress takes office.   Shame it takes that long.  He's got absolutely no chance of solving any war in the next 2 years.   Your closeness to a Nobel peace prize might as well be orbiting Jupiter Donny. More duck than a Chinese takeaway. Utterly quackers.

Days of DJT are dark days for us all.

US (CBS):

House petition for new Epstein files bill gets enough support to force vote

Washington — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie has secured enough support to force a vote on legislation that would compel the release of the remaining Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie launched a discharge petition over the summer to circumvent leadership and force a vote on the bill, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.

In order to bring the legislation to the floor, the discharge petition needs 218 signatures. It hit that threshold Wednesday. Four Republicans, including Massie, and all Democrats have added their names. The other Republicans who signed on are Reps. Brian Fitzgerald of Pennsylvania, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, both of South Carolina.

The underlying bill allows members of Congress, state attorneys general and Epstein survivors to sue the Justice Department for failing to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act, which was signed into law nearly a year ago after lawmakers pulled a similar maneuver.

Makes me wonder (not) why there's so much resistance to releasing the files.  Even if it failed now, it'd be back on the agenda next year.  There's no way to stop it passing and DoJ blocking.

Moscow Proposed to Sign Non-Aggression Pacts With NATO Countries

Russia has proposed concluding bilateral mutual non-aggression agreements with individual NATO countries.

This was announced at a collective security forum in Moscow by Alexei Drobinin, director of the Foreign Policy Planning Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

According to Drobinin, participants in the future Eurasian security system could mutually acknowledge that they have no hostile intentions toward one another. He cited bilateral agreements as one option, noting that “in substance, they meet the criteria of mutual non-aggression pacts.”

Can governments build on this to produce peaceful relationships that means cash spent on weapons can be diverted to health and other things that benefit their people?

Remember, the UK is a shit hole over run by druggies - @SimCityAT

It's hard to argue with that. Thank you for backing up by assertion.

the EU is just corrupt with unselected leaders. .  - @SimCityAT

I disagree. Whilst EU corruption is a serious issue, EU politicians are elected.

However, commissions not so.

. Then we have the Poor old Russia, so defenseless and picked on by the CIA.  - @SimCityAT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: … and_Europe

From 13,000 US troops sent to fight in the 1918 Russian Civil war, various spy activities including illegal U2 and Blackbird overflights, to stealing Russia's cash in 2022.

Russia even took the blame for the near nuclear war caused by the Cuban missile crisis, but it was the US putting IRBM into Turkey in 1961 that actually started it off. The Soviets were trying to counter the US first strike weapons.

This is amazing,  but I agree with every one of your points except Russia being defenceless.  In fact Russia has a serious arsenal they could use if attacked.

BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers. It's written on the tin - EXPATS. This is not the angle you think it is. - @fluffy2560

Selfishness?

Because you don't pay UK taxes, poor sods that can't afford a fair lifestyle can go hang?

The NHS has mad waiting lists, seeing a UK dentist is close to impossible,  and poverty is becoming a very serious issue, but the stupid UK government spends cash on training foreign troops in some sort of pathetic attempt to regain colonial type power.

Scrapping those two aircraft carriers and their ridiculously expensive air wings would be a good start. That cash could go to setting up dental care that people can actually get an appointment for.

BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers. It's written on the tin - EXPATS. This is not the angle you think it is. - @fluffy2560
Selfishness?
Because you don't pay UK taxes, poor sods that can't afford a fair lifestyle can go hang?
.... - @Fred

Thems the rules. Not like anyone has any other options.

BTW, none of us are UK taxpayers. It's written on the tin - EXPATS. This is not the angle you think it is. - @fluffy2560 Selfishness? Because you don't pay UK taxes, poor sods that can't afford a fair lifestyle can go hang?The NHS has mad waiting lists, seeing a UK dentist is close to impossible, and poverty is becoming a very serious issue, but the stupid UK government spends cash on training foreign troops in some sort of pathetic attempt to regain colonial type power.Scrapping those two aircraft carriers and their ridiculously expensive air wings would be a good start. That cash could go to setting up dental care that people can actually get an appointment for. - @Fred

They made a mistake not making the aircraft carriers nuclear.  Shame that. Could have run forever.

While you are here, have a whinge about the AUKUS submarines.   Plenty of mileage for you to moan about despite the US and Aussie and British subs being the entire AP region's future protectors.

While you are here, have a whinge about the AUKUS submarines. Plenty of mileage for you to moan about despite the US and Aussie and British subs being the entire AP region's future protectors. - @fluffy2560

Good idea.

Australis got scammed for billions when they signed up to a stupidly expensive program to defend against their biggest trade partner.

As a note, China's navy was pretty much local until US carriers started to threaten them. Thank that idiot, Obama and hi pivot to Asia, for that one. There was never a Chinese threat, nor is there one now.

China is interested in trade, not war. If you want to see the difference between the US and China, look at how many wars they have started since 1947, and how many democracies they have toppled. I'll give you a clue, the US has been at war with at least one country, often three, since 1947. China had a couple of border spats.

The warmonger is obvious when you look at history.