I watched in horror today as Nicola Sturgeon told Border TV that NATO should not rule out a no-fly zone over Ukraine. “The west has to keep its mind open…All of these things must be considered.”In stating this and mindful of the fact that Faslane makes Scotland a prime target it is the most reckless and idiotic thing I have ever heard from any politician in Scotland, ever!
This conflict was just something else Nicola Sturgeon could not stay away from. It was no surprise when she popped up on television posing as a geopolitical and defence expert. That may have been her intention all she has succeeded in doing is once more exposing her absolute unsuitability to hold any position of power. She spoke on this as someone who had no realisation of the consequences of her words. She either does not understand what a no fly zone means or is oblivious to the consequences of such a perilous action.
We have watched as Nicola Sturgeon has tried to outdo other politicians in the stupidity stakes.I cannot say today surprises me. Sturgeon just loves to be centre stage. Like all those that crave attention she often speaks before collecting her thoughts. Also, as a micro manager she has to speak on every topic and about every situation. Good leaders and politicians know their limitations. Sadly, Nicola thinks she has no limitations and has ideas way above her intellect. She is no fool, nor though is she a genius.
Being First Minister and defacto leader of the independence movement is just not enough for this charlatan. This time though her desire for self-publicity and attempts at being seen as a world leader will rebound on her. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing especially when the person concerned is a massive narcissist and not the intellect to understand such complex issues as geopolitics. After all, this is a person that thinks a male in a frock with lipstick and his genitalia intact can be a woman, if he just says he is.
She is now joining a long list of politicians that are mocked for their crass stupidity.
How we laughed at Lord Foulkes who accused the SNP Government of Alex Salmond of improving services for the people of Scotland on purpose.
We could hardly contain ourselves as Dominic Raab informed us that Calais was very very close to England and that surprise, surprise a lot of UK’s exports leave via Dover.
We were beside ourselves with joyful laughter when Ian Gray the leader of the Scottish Labour Party asked where the money for an Oil Fund would be found.
We guffawed as Chris Grayling, MP, gave a ferry contract to a company with no ferries and no port to sail from.
Now we have Sturgeon making a suggestion that would almost certainly lead to WWIII and make Scotland a prime target for a nuclear strike. Before she opened her mouth did she not think about that? A missile attack on Faslane would wipe out half the Central Belt and kill almost half the Scottish population! That chilling fact palls into insignificance it seems to Nicola when there is a chance to grandstand on television and impress everyone with her genius. The only flaw in this is that she exposed her very limited knowledge of geopolitical and defence realities.
We really should not be surprised by her rush to the cameras. From the day she inherited the leadership of the SNP and defacto leader of the independence movement she has craved attention. She never even attempted to consolidate the wonderful achievements of her predecessor. Instead, she set off on the first of her bandwagons.On 21 November 2014 Sturgeon’s first cabinet was announced. It was formed of ten people: Sturgeon and nine cabinet secretaries. It was gender-balanced with five men and five women. The SNP the only party in the UK that did not require positive discrimination, received it. Our Nicola loves a first! The party of Wendy Wood, Winnie Ewing, Margo MacDonald, Margaret Bain, Roseanna Cunningham, Joanna Cherry, Philippa Whiteford, Nicola herself didn’t need help in promoting women.
This resulted in some real disasters none more so than Shirley Ann Somnerville who has been promoted way above her actual ability.This was clear from day one when as Cabinet Secretary for Social Security she was forced to return powers to London citing data problems preventing implementation. Instead of being sacked Sturgeon promoted her to Education Secretary another portfolio she has failed in spectacularly.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-blames-data-problems-for-failure-to-use-its-powers-fjcl6fqfr
With her gender balanced Cabinet in place, Nicola needed something else. A new bandwagon was needed to get her the attention and recognition she craves. Fortunately, for her the Tories were on hand to do just that for her. Brexit was a godsend for Nicola, horrific for Scotland who rejected the notion by 62% to 38%. Instead of capitalising on this for our benefit, she decided instead to head to England to give them the benefit of her wisdom and insight.
She spent or if you prefer, wasted three years trying to convince England to reverse its democratic choice. The irony of an SNP leader trying to overturn a democratic vote in England was lost on Sturgeon but not on a great number of us in Scotland. While she avoided every single independence march and gathering in Scotland Nicola took every opportunity to march for the Peoples Vote in England. She loves nothing more than a selfie and she took plenty with her new British Establishment chums.
As the Peoples Vote captured the English media and public there was Nicola in the TV studios or on the radio.Meanwhile, Scotland’s independence cause with the best ever circumstances was withering on the vine of neglect. Anyone that dared to voice criticism of the dear leader faced a huge social media backlash. Nicola has a secret plan dontya know! In the past few days we have realised what that plan is.
When the Peoples bandwagon ground to a halt Nicola was again at a loose end. She couldn’t be arsed with that boring Independence nonsense it doesn’t get you Recognition on English TV, only in that backwater Scotland would that be of interest. Nicola’s sense of self-importance is such that she craves a bigger stage than Scotland can give her ego.
After wasting years trying to save England from its own stupidity Sturgeon only had the UK General Election of 2019 to stroke her ego. She basked in the possibility of being the King maker at Westminster post December 2019. To get that she had to bring out the old faithful, an Independence Referendum. One more mandate went out the cry. Vote for Nicola and have an Independence Referendum in 2020, and don’t be dragged out of the EU against your will. It worked, but we were indeed dragged out of the EU and shortly after the election Nicola admitted that and told us there would be no Referendum either. Of course she knew that before the election she chose though to lie to the Scottish voters. Winning the election trumped being truthful. It wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time she will lie to us.
Another bandwagon was to fall into Nicolas lap. That was the global #metoo movement. Now if only Nicola could get in on that bandwagon she might even get world, never mind English recognition. A victim, a victim, my principles for a victim! There was her friend and mentor of 30 years, the person who made her First Minister. She attempted to throw him to the wolves to get herself kudos. That the highest court in the land deemed the entire procedure illegal and tainted with bias did not deter her from continuing her false pursuit of an innocent man. She didn’t get on to this particular bandwagon and came up empty again! Fortunately, a jury thought different and Nicolas ego and narcissism took another beating.
Once again the Selfie Queen got lucky, another bandwagon was coming down the line. Joy of joys a global pandemic!, Nicola, never one to miss a chance at self-promotion, quickly elbowed aside her very talented Health Secretary, Jean Freeman and put herself centre stage. Hence the nickname The Covid Queen was born. A daily TV slot no less, this was an opportunity that Nicola couldn’t miss by allowing the person who had the brief get limelight. Daily she told us about her sleepless nights spent worrying. Maybe that is how she is able to read ten new novels every week!
That pesky independence would need to be shelved until long after the TV bosses cancelled her daily show. She only took Fridays off from her show because that was the day she apparently ran Scotland.She told us often nothing on anything could be done as long as Covid was around. That is except self-identification and GRA Reform. Believe me not even a nuclear strike will halt work on that. However, all work on the Independence Referendum Bill was halted. Funnily enough as we approach another election she is telling is independence is back on again.
The only time her daily shows were halted was when COP26 arrived in Glasgow. That was just something that the Selfie Queen could not pass up on. A chance for world leaders to have their picture taken with Nicola, how could she disappoint them. So many world leaders and Royals and so little time.
COP26 gave Nicola yet another bandwagon to ride. That of environmental warrior, she decided during this gathering her best way to get publicity was to out Green Greta Thurnberg. Nicola announced to the world that UK should take a 4 nations approach to Scotland’s Oil and certainly halt any development of the Cambo field. Once more allowing a soundbite and a moment in time expose her lack of knowledge on a topic. Instead of gaining her the kudos and admiration she craves it brought her nothing but ridicule and embarrassment. She displayed her lack of understanding of the oil and gas industry. We make some 6,000 different products from oil using it as a base product. It is not just for powering our cars and heating our homes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-59312510
However, today’s bandwagon is her most ridiculous and dangerous escapade to date. I thought that Donald Trump in the White House was the biggest danger to the world and bearer of a nuclear holocaust. Take a bow Nicola you are a bigger danger to world peace than even President Bawbag! As Mark Twain said Nicola, best to retain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and confirm it!
,
Just read this out to my OH. His first comment, “Is she a bloody idiot?”.
Yes!.Aff her ruddy chump! Maggie reincarnated.
It`s bad enough when idiots in the MSM call for a no-fly zone but when the FM of Scotland which has the UK`s nuclear arsenal parked in it`s central belt states that it should be kept on the table as an option then it`s time to break out in a cold sweat. Sturgeon as a political leader is in way over her head as has been obvious for many a year and your summary clearly highlights some of her many failings. Any escalation in the Ukrainian/Russian hostilities doesn`t bear thinking about. Stick to book reviews Sturgeon and Scotland will be the better for it.
I don’t even believe she reads. She uses the trendy, trite tripe she shows off in the media – crap about intersectionality, female supremacy, etc – as a badge of ‘intellect.’ She wants to be seen as the Dreghorn Intellectual (TM), but to anybody outside a small Ayrshire village that crap doesn’t cut it. If you want comedy, watch her and the talentless Jackie Kay, our last, thankfully-recently-departed National Makar, making goo-goo eyes at each other as Kay reads a love poem of hers Sturgeon has chosen for her to read. Risible drivel. Go to 15:00 and boak away:
Twenty six seconds I lasted
Honestly I can’t even look at her
Google
sturgeon stramash at dreghorn chippie
I’m told it’s based on a real event
Sturgeon has hoodwinked the independence movement for to long, she has no interest in delivering independence she is a self serving narcissist hell bend on remaining in power. Money and power is her only motivator and feeds her craving for narrsistic supply along with the need to destroying people , she runs covert smear campaigns designed to ruin reputations. it wisnae me ,someone touched up a flying monkey, or the jigsaw crime nonsense. She can only destroy she will never unite the independence movement she is incapable.
She use to says the right things and the right time but does nothing to deliver anyof it, but people are now noticing the lack of substance she is like a chocolate Easter bunny. Looks the part from the outside but disappointingly theres nothing in the inside a void. The only people that still believe in her are the whacko gender benders. This Dangerous dud leader must go sooner rather than later,
Unbelievable stupidity – she has absolutely no influence on anyone’s foreign policy (mainly because she repeatedly failed to use her mandates for independence). Virtue signalling and to hell with the consequences.
She has also just dangled the indyref 2 carrot . Again. The hate crime bill and the transpersons charter are proving very, very unpopular.
She’s finished. It’s just a matter of when.
When she get arrested over the Salmond conspiracy we can now throw in a charge of reckless endangerment, though I’m concerned that a plea of insanity just became more likely.
Of all the idiotic things politicians in Europe have said in the past two weeks this is right up there. And for what? Political opportunism, so she can get a headline or two. She’s unfit to represent the country. I was going to say unfit to lead but that ship sailed quite some time ago.
Could she have been aided yo this position by either of the two military+ members of the SNP?
Game on to replace Angus Robertson
Nicola Sturgeon is a dangerous woman. This time she has gone too far in her quest for power. We must see the back of her.
I ve been saying it for quite some time . It’s time for the white jacket and padded cell This person is nuts no other way of putting it. NUTS. I’ve wasted an afternoon of my time trying to get through to her thick idolising Muppets. They are beyond hope. I dread to think what excuse these “el thickos” will come up with for this totally bonkers statement, that’s if they have a clue as to what it means as in the GRA bill.
Quote .
Aye, Shirley Ann Somerville – before she was an abject failure in social security, she was an abject failure as Minister for Further & Higher Education and Science (aye Science, and she also thinks a bloke can take a wander round Boot’s of an afternoon, scoosh a few testers and miraculously turn into a woman)
My FE colleagues and I were on strike for weeks while she insisted our national equal pay agreement was nothing to do with her or the Scottish Government, even though the restructure of FE was in their 2011 manifesto (remember, the election Alex won the majority in – how did that go five years later Kommandant Sturgeon? Oh, you lost it)
We all spent many happy afternoons on picket lines and in George Square, in the sunshine, chanting “What’s the plan Shirley Ann?” a bit like we have been since 2015 at El Présidente Sturgeon but true to form neither of them have ever produced one. We did get equal pay but that was due to our solidarity and the Scottish Government by-passing S. A. S. & sending in John Scott QC to chivvy the employers along. It’s almost like she can’t do anything wrong isn’t it……strange that
And as for Nicola Queen of Covid, the Omicron Mix – now we find that among all those other talents she found in a lucky bag, she’s managed to channel the spirit of Sun Tzu and lift her head from the chick lit – can we still call it that? – long enough to realise her true forte is modern warfare.
Or maybe she was doing a spot of ironing and suddenly thought, hang on, what do those men at NATO know about no fly zones anyway – men, huh! I’m going to make a pronouncement – “Liz, get me all the major news channels, Sky, BBC – not just Scotland, this needs a four nations approach – France 24, CNN, NBC, ooh not RT I want to take Putin by surprise, oh and Al Jazeera….. Peter, give me back my mascara…”
(Later that day)
“Borders television Liz????? Just BORDERS TELEVISION?????”
“Sorry exhalted and most holy Fräulein General of Govan, it’s all I could get – no–body else could believe even you could be so far up yourself that you could wear your tonsils as earrings”
Just heard what Putin/Russia’s demands are. Going by the 4 demands Russia are making in order to restore peace, Sturgeon has either been completely left out of the loop regarding foreign affairs or she is blood thirsty. The 4 demands: 1) Cease fighting (well duh, obvious) 2) Acknowledge Crimea is part of Russia (has been for years now.) 3) Be a neutral state (adjusting constitution to reflect – they had said in previous years that they didn’t want to join NATO) 4) Recognise the 2 republics in the Donbass region as sovereign states – the had already agreed to the Minsk Agreement. These are not unreasonable. Would Sturgeon, if she is aware of the demands, prefer war and needless bloodshed to essentially Ukraine upholding previous agreements, ceasing hostilities and becoming a neutral ally? It would appear so.
If they are already done why are Russia invading and bombing cities?
Too many folk who were quick to condem the West for their murderous acts are too willing to make excuses for Putins actions in the Ukraine.
When Rev Stu titled an article “Sturgeon the Betrayer”, I must admit, I winced. Not because it wasn’t true, but I think we are all accustomed to more diplomacy in our headlines. Now however, I consider the title tame and understated, and an undue kindness to Sturgeon. She is so very much worse than merely our betrayer.
Sturgeon badly needs a wee dunt on the napper from Gandalf’s staff… but I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes when sanity returned.
That photo of a leader of the SNP cheek to cheek (multiply meaningful) with Alistair Campbell will live in infamy.
The one who went into a channel 4 news studio to stop them uncovering the truth so that the Nu Labour invasion of Iraq could go as planned. The other who made up a novel investigative process and got her lord advocate to prosecute it using the real police force and the real judiciary… And bribed our MSM to the tune of millions to play along…
Cheek to Cheek
In fa my.
A depressingly accurate litany of Nicola Sturgeon’s narcissism and abject failures in government. Scotland is being subsumed into a Greater England and Holyrood will become a meaningless talking shop ( we’re almost there ). What a humiliation and utter betrayal.
Shirley Ann Somerville epitomises the sheer mediocrity of those in charge, utterly incapable of learning lessons to try and resolve problems in a failing education system. In August 2015, Nicola Sturgeon went to the Wester Hailes Education Centre, a small secondary school in one of the most deprived parts of Edinburgh, and declared that her government would “ close the attainment gap completely “. “ Let me be clear “ , she added, “ I want to be judged on this “. It was entirely and transparently cynical and brazen political manoeuvring dressed up as a promise of accountability…posturing rhetoric.
Here she is again, deluded in her belief that what she says matters on the world stage of war and conflict. She doesn’t believe in Independence for Scotland. She hasn’t even tried to imagine an alternative vision for a future independent Scotland and she has tried to eradicate the history of the SNP to exclude Alex Salmond. What does she believe in? Nothing?
Let’s not forget her track record of professional misconduct as a failed lawyer, when statements by witnesses established the facts of the case. Her dereliction of duty concerned a client who was the victim of domestic abuse.
As the late anthropologist and activist David Graeber said, if there’s going to be any kind of society worth living in, we’re going to have to create it ourselves. All politicians seem powerless to stop corruption and are empty of new ideas. The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently. We are far stronger than we think.
Oh the crap I suffered on WoS 2015 when I critized the Sturg.
It doesn’t really give me much pleasure in that ,Honest
I thought she would have got binned about 3 years ago, by the members (they have just been bought)but covid saved her
I have been looking at the upcoming local elections and it don’t look good
I’d suggest the Labour councillors and SNP councillors have done a deal, that to me became apparent when Sarwar spoke last week
There was something else I did notice , but I don’t want to say, for two reasons , I don’t want to give ideas if I.m wrong , OK one reason then.
And anyone where is the money coming from for her spending?
Do they have any large donors not ultra donors but say £10k on,
The SNP(members) have lost any backbone
Todays description of The Sturg
She’s short arsed Type 83 destroyer
That’s Ali Jack now jumping on the band wagon and shouting NS is courting a nuclear Armageddon with her no fly zone. She is an idiot. At FM question times today when asked by Douglas Ross why couldn’t Scotland offset dependency on Russian energy supplies she gave a pedestrian response that Scotland was at full capacity etc. No mention that we weren’t dependent on Russia gas and oil England is. She even went on to say that Europe is more dependent than us on Russian oil and gas as if Europe is a completely distinct entity. We are European as indeed is Russia.
The Russians for days have been warning that there are concerns re a false flag operation by the Ukrainians. The press are reporting that the maternity hospital in Mariupol has been destroyed by the Russians. I checked on line the maternity hospital in Mariupol is still open and the photos of the hospital are different from the supposed hospital that apparently has been destroyed.
mbiyd: I don’t know, and I don’t want to sound callous because it could be just as the news states, that several hospitals appear to have been targeted, but it just doesn’t feel right. I looked in vain for some sign of a red cross on the hospital building in Mariupol and I could see none. Why not? Why did the Ukrainians not have a massive Red Cross on that hospital that could have been seen for miles?
There was another one elsewhere – I cannot remember where – and it, too was supposed to have destroyed by Russian artillery, and there was no sign of a red cross on it either. The Geneva Convention makes the deliberate targeting of civilian targets, such as hospitals, a war crime, albeit they do sometimes get hit when a missile goes astray, but, as far as I was aware, this type of building should be distinguishable from military targets or infrastructure in any conflict.
I would not want to claim that we are being hoodwinked because those poor people and the destruction of the hospital could have been very real, but the Ukrainian leadership does seem to have upped the ante. That doesn’t condone the Russian aggression – no way – but there is something that bothers me and I can’t quite pin it down. Maybe I’m too cynical.
Google Earth has footage of the hospital from 2019. The colour looks completely and the hospital has 4 storeys. I just dont know what the truth is. I know that our journalists just aren’t doing their jobs and I have sourced photos etc of the hospital and phone number by a cursory check.
Mbiyd: they do say that the first casualty of any conflict is the truth. I’m not outright disbelieving it or believing it; I expect we’ll have to wait for the conflict to end to discover all the ins and outs – or as many as they want us to know, which is not the same thing. Renegade groups, I can believe bombing hospitals, but the Russian military? What do they have to gain except the disgust of everyone? It’s not this one hospital, but the news has reported others and the hint is that they are targeting hospitals. Why? I’ll reserve judgement for the moment until I see proof positive. It was said, some time back, that groups of Ukrainians had targeted hospitals in the Donbas, and that was never proved.
The real point im making is its easy to factcheck for journalists. There are lots of Ukrainians here, you have access to phone numbers for hospitals in Ukraine. photos, etc to see if what the Ukrainian government is reporting is verifiable. I had a Ukrainian friend here in Scotland worried about the news here and phoned his family back in Ukraine- they didn’t have a clue what he was going on about cause it was all made up. Look at the deceit of the soldiers on snake island. We were told they were all killed and died heroically and now we are told they surrendered to the Russians and are all still alive.
Whatever the truth of the matter . We were told in WW1 that German soldiers were bayonetting children. It was made up to vilify the Germans. It shows you in terms of war how little we have moved on.
Yes, I got your point, mbiyd, but it is easy to check only if the will is there to check. There appears to be little will on the part of the Western media (or the Russian either) to check anything. Both are just spouting the narrative provided by their respective regimes. They even brought up that so-called chemical attack, by the Russians, in Syria which was roundly debunked by a British journalist on the ground at the time, but which was suppressed because it didn’t suit the narrative.
Listened to an interview by Matt Frei with Victor Gao, a Chinese official, and it was the most pragmatic and realist point of view I’ve heard. I daresay the Chinese understand that they are next in line after Russia. Matt Frei looked very uncomfortable as Mr Gao explained that Ukraine (he didn’t say, but hinted, with the West’s, or America’s, connivance) cannot possibly become part of NATO and probably never could as long as the circumstances in that area are what they are. I must admit that I have been astounded by the Ukrainian President’s alarming calls for escalation, trying to draw in boots on the ground from the West.
Mr Gao stated quite unequivocally that a nuclear holocaust is very close unless the West’s steps down over Ukrainian membership of either NATO or the EU for the foreseeable future. What Nicola Sturgeon, like so many, does not appear to appreciate is that, although Russia is the aggressor here, it was sorely provoked by Ukraine and only someone not au fait with the region’s geopolitics, or past Ukrainian corruption, could possibly have thought that it could join NATO any time soon, regardless of its right to do so. It’s not what you can do in any set of circumstances, but what you should, perhaps, not do.
The West’s bluff has been called and we are now on the brink of nuclear war if this conflict escalates. The Chinese are great pragmatists and realists and would make a fearsome enemy because we, in the West, are not pragmatists and realists.
I do think that, often, unless they are very well grounded, people who attain power, no matter how sensible they were, get a wee sip of the koolade and go doolally. President Zelensky is calling for the West to act as if wiping out all humanity (and every other species) was going to save Ukraine. Now, we have Nicola Sturgeon putting Scotland right on the front-line of a nuclear holocaust to impress… who, exactly? Politicians get away with far too much ego-driven ordure and never pay the price they deserve to pay for their gross stupidity and callous disregard of the lives of others so that they can beat the drum of some kind of war, whether gender war or nuclear war.
The saddest thing in all this, is that Russia is not Europe’s natural enemy. Without Russian pain and sacrifice, we probably wouldn’t even recognise Europe. That it is perceived as the great enemy, (apart from the fate of it’s Tsar), is a post WW2 phenomenon. But with Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika, there was end to the Cold War, and the possibility of a new Europe, with Western Europe’s peace and stability extending to the East.
Why couldn’t the EU’s freedom of movement have been extended into Russia, and our supermarkets stacked with a few Russian trade goods? Just imagine that it had been. You could have jumped on a train and just kept going…
But unfortunately, and ok, maybe with some justification, Russia’s “softening” was never really reciprocated by the West. Not really, and I fear an opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation was missed. Now with NATO’s expansionism, with Ukraine, the trust has not been built on when it could have been, and we are now careering in the opposite direction, with decades more of mistrust, cynicism, and belligerence ahead of us… and smirks of the faces of Arms dealers everywhere.
Nobody is winning anything in Ukraine.
I agree, Breeks. Gorbachev tried his level best to get the West to co-operate, and I believe it was an opportunity missed by the West. Russia is part of Europe, and its ruling regime apart, it is the seat of so much of our European culture. Ukraine is a tragedy that could very well have been avoided, but we live now in nuclear age when options are even more limited. It is always the weakest who suffer the most, and those are the civilians, the non-combatants, the women and children.
I have felt for a long time now that the UN just does not go far enough in bringing politicians to the courts to answer for their ego-driven decisions, which would deter the kinds of stupid drum beating that we are seeing once again. Parts of the MSM really needs to be brought to book, too, for their rallying calls for military action. Some of these people seem to wet themselves at the prospect of yet another conflict in which innocents are murdered.
Sometimes, war becomes necessary, but it is always a failure of reason and diplomacy, and, so often, it could have been avoided had there been the will to avoid it. So much of this Russian-Ukraine conflict has been down to a wary and belligerent Russia being poked by both the West and Ukraine, and a Russian president who will not tolerate it. It should be obvious now that pressing for NATO expansion is not the way to protect the states around Russia because it looks, even to many Western eyes, as if dismemberment of Russia is the ultimate aim.
I don’t, personally, hold with the idea that Putin is trying to roll back time and set to expand Russia’s borders Westwards, create a new Russian Empire. It makes no sense because Russia simply is not strong enough. So what is the goal? It must be to isolate China. The rest of us are just pawns on the American-Sino chessboard and a new Cold War, in Asia, is beginning.
“I have felt for a long time now that the UN just does not go far enough in bringing politicians to the courts to answer for their ego-driven decisions, which would deter the kinds of stupid drum beating that we are seeing once again.”
And how would YOU ensure Putin and Lukenshenko would actually attend any court Lorna ? Feel free to share your plan as i’m sure the World Court will sit up and take notice of you (Not)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-russia-face-off-world-court-over-genocide-claim-2022-03-06/
Did I say they would, Eunice? Did I press your button? We barely managed Nuremberg, so, yes, you have a point. I don’t actually think that any of them, Nazis, Serb war-mongers, et al, actually volunteered to appear; they were taken there in handcuffs. Yes, indeed, it all falls short, too, but that’s no excuse for not trying. If it deters even one moronic, psychopathic war-monger, it has done the job.
I don’t need to share my plan because these courts actually exist already. What needs to be done is to stiffen their backbone and try to prosecute before the war-mongers get off the blocks. Failing that, independent videos are available these days for people like yourself to watch, Eunice, where real journalists put their lives on the line to tell it like it is, not after it has been filtered through the colon of the propagandist mass media of the West or the East.
There is such a thing as weighing up the facts and trying to prevent conflict. That was not done in relation to Ukraine because the West was intent on both pulling Ukraine – with all its oil and gas – into the Western sphere of influence, and in poking Russia. They backed Putin into a corner, and a cornered bear is always dangerous. There are always atrocities in war – gasp, even we commit them, or have you forgotten the missile fired into the underground shelter in Baghdad almost on the first day of the Iraq invasion, based on lies? Hundreds of women and children were burned to death. War is always a death sentence for many civilians – which is why we need to use every means at our disposal to prevent conflicts rather than beat drums for them or babble nonsense that would only escalate them.
“the West was intent on both pulling Ukraine – with all its oil and gas – into the Western sphere of influence”
Wow more nonsense from you again , aren’t you aware that most of the World already has plans
to move away from Fossil Fuels by 2030-2035 ? Yet you are trying to promote a conspiracy theory here of the West trying to “Steal ” more ? Try and catch up at the back eh ?
In fact while you are at it why don’t you provide an authoritive Link from the World Court
or from the UN or Security Council ever backing up any claim that the West has ever in fact stolen
any Oil at all instead of your ingrained brainwashing on that Lie ? Nothing but an invented Nationalist and Far Left Trope is all it is.
What? Iraq? Libya? Syria? Why Iran is in our sights? You really believe it’s all about establishing democracy? You did know that the West funded the various Islamist groups that became Al Qaida? You did know that the Kurds, who fought on the side of the West because an agreement was reached that they would have a homeland, were betrayed by the West?
Was it salt that the UK government decided to take out of the North Sea way back in the 1970s and so generously handed over to the Scots – not? I am not on the far left: I loathe the far left, which you would know if you had ever bothered to actually read anything I have ever written. I am on the left, yes, but the far left, no; the far left is a plague on British politics with its pseudo ‘woke’ nonsense, and it invariably allows the right in at the door it always opens for it.
Brainwashing? Nah, Eunice, unlike you, I don’t believe that black is white because some t**t in power tells me so. I’m very firmly of the ‘most things are grey, and most things are down to cock-up rather than conspiracy’ school of thought. What world court? It is the International Court, in The Hague, and if you haven’t heard of it, perhaps you shouldn’t mention it to support your spurious arguments? The UN is where policies to try and regulate countries behaviours towards each other are formulated. As for the plans to move away from fossil fuel, yes, they have plans…
The West doesn’t need to steal oil: it just enforces regime change and places friendly puppets in charge, whose pockets and Swiss bank accounts and off-shore tax havens are guaranteed by the West just so long as they do what the West wants. Did you know that Poroshenko, former Ukrainian puppet president, was dangling from the West’s strings at the tune of several billions from the US? Almost none of it went into the Ukrainian people’s pockets. Did you really imagine that Ukraine means anything to the West apart from a source of irritation for Putin and a source of shale oil and gas for the West? The Donbas is where it is mainly. Did you know that the Ukrainians and Russians have a pipeline agreement for gas, and one for water which the Ukrainians were threatening to shut off completely from Crimea (the water supply)? Did you know that the present Ukrainian president and Putin are in daily talks to try and reach a settlement?
I hate to disappoint you, Eunice since you are hell-bent on tarring me as some loudmouth know-all – which, to be fair to you, I suppose I might be – but I do have some knowledge of that of which I speak. I am certainly no expert, and I would never claim to be so, but, then, I suspect, neither are you, nor most folk on these threads. The university of life is also a great leveller. We are all offering opinions for discussion. That’s healthy. I’ve studied a number of subjects in my time, geopolitics included, and I tend not to offer opinions on that of which I know nothing. If I’m proved wrong, I will admit to it, and if I change my mind, I will admit to that. I was utterly wrong about Putin invading Ukraine, because I believed he was too smart. You know the old adage, never judge a book by its cover? You might do well to remember it. Now, I have no intention of bandying words back and forth with you on a personal level, so I suggest we call it a day?
I watched the BBC programme on Anthrax Island and how the MOD refuses to test the mainland for contaminated soil. It made me think of the nuclear radioactivity in Dalgety bay which has not been cleaned up properly and the rotten rusting nuclear submarine hulks in Rosyth. In short have we not had enough of being a colony, of being the English establishments dumping ground for their waste and more importantly being their cannon fodder for their expansionist dreams. My heart goes out to the Ukrainians but also to the Palestinians or Iraqis and Afghans who have suffered under the yoke of imperialism whether American, British or the Russian variety.We are being played by a media intent to keep a corupt British elite in control by taking our eye of the cost of living crisis and the abject failure of Brexit. This also suits the SNP with an other excuse for a nonexistent gold standard referendum. At times like this you feel you have no power ,we cant control what happens in the Ukraine but we cannot aford to let politicians escape the hook from tackling child poverty, food banks and the lack of opportunity in a otherwise rich country. Meaningful debate is crushed and shut down and ignored by the politicans and media alike. We can change things here by focusing on our future do not let the media set the narrative. Stop voting for the liars and start at the council elections by rejecting those who have betrayed and rejected us. Soar Alba.
Wow. Times have changed. When I joined the SNP in the mid 2000s, many members spent their time talking about an independent Scotland ditching what they said was a warmongering NATO with it’s nukes. Now some are talking about not ruling out military action which NATO believes would dangerously escalate the situation.
Can it be that it’s simply because they’re in awe of a leader who needs publicity like oxygen and who dangles the indyref2 carrot or is it something more?
I saw one saying that NATO conflict with Russia is “going to happen anyway” and we might as well get on with it! Another saying Nicola’s right as we have to keep the “enemy” guessing. Who on earth would have bet that suggesting nuclear brinkmanship as an option would be on the cards for the SNP in 2022!! Strange times.
Yes David, the SNP hierarchy has moved away from nationalism (and hence from the decolonisation and liberation of the Scots) to embrace US style liberalism instead, which actually promotes aggressive colonialism/imperialism, as we see with the ongoing political narrative. They should remember what Professor Mearsheimer, who in 2015 predicted events in Ukraine, said: ‘on foreign policy the US has the midas touch in reverse’.
Great article and comments – with which I can only agree in great sadness.
“We were beside ourselves with joyful laughter when Ian Gray the leader of the Scottish Labour Party asked where the money for an Oil Fund would be found.”
I’m beside myself too , where would it be found then, when even Alex Salmond had to do a U turn
as no even Abramavich can spend the same money twice ? https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-independence-alex-salmond-takes-step-back-oil-fund-2511096
Oh dear we have a colonised Aunty’s Jock in our midst.
So go ahead and answer the Question yourself that the SNP itself cannot then Roddy ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni5dTPBgLKE
I suppose though with you being alreadly a UK supported Ex Pat your future Pension income would be safe,
in fact would be even more protected by Scotland leaving the UK because the SNP are clearly admitting that now they cannot guarantee an Indy Scottish pension at all or at worse a means tested one where all the hard grafting Scots who tried to provide for their own old ages to avoid being a burden to their Children were the ones who will pay the price for the lies sold to them by the SNP elites ?
I am a Scottish immigrant living in Catalonia. I paid into my pensions nothing is protected the thieving imperialists in England are merely returning my monet to me that I lent them over a 50 year period.If I live to be 100 it will not amount to the taxes I paid in to get this measley amount. England is a parasite nation with gullible fools like you that are clueless on the real world. You lap up and believe the nonsense the corrupt UK media spew out to you.
BB You have given me 2 yellow cards for less.
Eunice, really you must try harder at obfuscating the truth about Independence! Using a couple of busted flushes like Blackford and Sturgeon to support your relentless pessimism about Scotland is pointless. Particularly when the bulk of contributors on here regard those two as fellow travellers to you and as worse than useless at explaining anything positive about Scotland and its future.
First point: all pensioners in the UK accumulate personal rights to their State pension via their N.I. and tax contributions based on years of work. The fund for this is the duty of the UK State, in whatever way that they, the UK Gov, fund it. It is a legal contract. The domicile of the recipients matters not on receipt of this pension. Thus, hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens from the R.O.I. have happily spent their entire working life in the UK and retired back home with a full UK pension. The lucky ones may have entitlement to years accrued in the Republic and consequently receive a higher pension. Not hard, as the UK is the most miserly pension in Western Europe.
Unionist commentators such as yourself seem to savour the idea that the RUK on Scotland’s dissolution from it will somehow have our pensioners punished and disenfranchised from their rightful contributions. Something that would be discriminatory and illegal, but would apply also to other recipients from other countries. So it is a malicious nonsense and belongs with all the other ‘Better together’ lies spouted in 2014.
Second point: On independence, the working population will continue to be entitled to the UK pension contributed component up to that date. They will then receive the new Scottish Government State pension in addition, based on their ongoing entitlement accruing from that date forth.
Third point: which is the most pertinent one. According to G.E.R.S. 2021, that tory created accountancy fiction designed to present Scotland’s economy in the worst light and as a colony of the UK, Scots currently contribute £11476 millions in pension payments via N.I. etc. They receive only £8517 millions in return.
This means that if Scotland was Independent tomorrow, it could increase the pension by 1/3 based on a surplus of £2959 millions. No doubt, we could afford a lot more for that and other benefits to general society if we had access to the true wealth of Scotland.
Maybe if you consider this along with the illustration I gave you of the oil wealth stolen from Scotland, you might open your eyes to Scotland’s potential instead of being a dog in a manger about your (?) country’s prospects and potential for its citizens.
No, you’re right, he can’t – and he certainly can’t if the powers that be – which are not up this way – have spent them all. They’re opening up new fields in Scottish waters to try to off-set rising world prices. What a blessing that Scotland exists as the perennial and magic ‘porridge pot’ – always just on the cusp of running out of everything when independence is mentioned – and what a blessing it must be to you to know that we are also the front-line in any nuclear holocaust. Think what you will be able to sacrifice willingly, in pursuit of non-independence and a perceived U turn by Alec Salmond? Every Scot in Scotland! No more talking about independence when we’re all reduced to small heaps of ash, eh?
How apt Eunice, a 12 x year old quote to sneer at eh? Try this for a more contemporary perspective: Norway, a Sovereign state, with the same population as Scotland has accumulated a Sovereign fund worth 1.58 billion Kroner from significantly less oil revenue than has been stolen from Scottish territorial waters by the UK government.
The fund investment yielded in the last year 14.5%. The same fund is invested in 1.4% of all world listed stock.
Each man, woman and child in Norway is worth £244,000 of this fund.
If you are a Britnat, then ask yourself the question: why didn’t the UK Gov. follow the Norwegian example?
Would we be sitting here now dreading the next months rocketing energy prices and ensuing economic meltdown? If you are Scottish, why are you such a self loathing and colonial minded individual? That is assuming that you are not a denison of Denison Barracks?
Nicola Thatcher would be the appropriate sobriquet for Sturgeon. Her behaviours as so uncannily similar in so many ways.
Slavishly calling for more armaments and weaponry with UK and US jets going head to head with Russian jets is the policy of escalation. No doubt like Maggie Thatcher Nicola sees this as her Argentinian moment.
But Russia isn’t Argentina, and sadly Ukraine is a proxy where two world powers are fighting it out – with horrendous consequences for the populace. De-escalation is what we want, not escalation, and you have to ask yourself what brought this conflict about, and would widening and deepening it be a good thing.
Nicola Thatcher May think so. That is the nature of her presidency, her leadership. The last three or four years have shown us that.
But one last thought if I may.
During the Falklands War one Tory MP stood up in Westminster and declared that the U.K. should consider a nuclear attack on Beunos Aries – Churchill’s grandson I think it was. Maybe this is what Nicola Thatcher supports in her call for escalation and her very own Thatcher moment.
We do after all have the weapons right here on our doorstep.
Nicolas Somes . . . .I think
I reflected that my earlier comment about what Nicola Sturgeon says doesn’t matter re the war in Ukraine was misleading on my part, which I want to correct. Of course her posturing rhetoric was downright dangerous in the extreme for the reasons articulated by Roddy.
I guess I am so past the point of believing a word she says and feel embarrassed and ashamed I ever voted for her party. I want an Independent Scotland to be neutral, to be rid of WMD’s and to be a peace loving nation.
She keeps on playing the blame game. She conspired to inflict a vindictive act of revenge on Alex Salmond. Her total lack of diplomacy and reason in respect of this war is appalling. As a narcissist, she needs the love, attention and admiration of others to survive because she cannot produce enough healthy self-respect to be at peace. Wake up Scotland and remove this woman and her cabal from power.
You’re correct in addressing her rhetoric , I would call her style as ” violent rhetoric” it’s beyond aggressive.
And it’s getting worse visibly daily, She is out of control
Wonder if Hills are “making a book” on when she hits somebody
If you look at her performance since the start of 2015, when she took over, everything she has tried had failed.
Her rhetoric has had a bad effect of the Loyalist Sturgeon Posse they too have taken up that behaviour, and it’s reflected in those who are not pro-independence.
At some point her failures are going to catch up with her
ps I watched Ms Cherry speaking during the week, although WM wasn’t busy,there were two gentlemen speaking on the same subject one of whom praised Sturgeon , Ms. Cherry had it ideal opportunity to scupper Sturgeon, but didn’t . . . . . .Different class
Why do you want to be rid of what protects you ? Last country to rid itself of Nuclear Defence was
of course Ukraine so how did that work for them ? Lessons to learn surely., not having weapons doesn not protect you it makes you weak.
Utter nonsense being in NATO and having WMD makes UK a major target although globally they are a puny power except in the minds of the Anglo supremacists and their Uncle Jocks. Day one of Independence England takes them znd sticks them in Thames,Mersey,Tees or we get the international community to scrap them.
Your argument is, of course, a valid one, although many would not agree with it. Sorry, but the nuclear weapons in all the Russian former republic and affiliated Warsaw Pact countries belonged to Russia according to international law, and none of them had either the right or, conversely, the obligation to hold on to them because that would have breached proliferation treaties. The weapons that Ukraine had would have been subject to removal anyway, and it would not have been up to them to dispose of them or keep them. In the event of independence, Scotland would very likely also be in that position, but, of course, no one, either at Westminster or in the Scottish government would tell the Scots that because, I suspect that, when independence does come, the nukes would become a bargaining tool for both sides.
All of these things must be considered.”In stating this and mindful of the fact that Faslane makes Scotland a prime target it is the most reckless and idiotic thing I have ever heard from any politician in Scotland, ever !
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Why on earth would you think that ? You can bet your last Euro that all the Subs are armed and at Sea under the Polar Ice Cap doing their job right this minute and will be for months on end now. Large Industry and high Population centres are as big targets than Faslane itself , you not going by some daft invented fantasy meme based on Glasgow are you ? https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/scottish-nuke-map-reveals-danger-23190911
You underestimate what expelling nuclear weapons from Scottish Territory would do for peace and reconciliation, and the status of a Scottish Nation which was determined it will neither entertain, nor be party to, the nuclear annihilation of anybody.
The de-militarisation and harmonisation of Europe was proceeding fine until NATO started to renege on it’s commitments. As US Secretary of State James Baker declared in 1990, “not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction”.
It seems clear NATO’s attitude towards Nuclear Weapons isn’t so much for peace, respectful coexistence and an honourable defense, but license for NATO to act dishonourably, lie and break its agreements with impunity. (No surprise that Boris Johnson is such an enthusiastic cheerleader).
Far from becoming more vulnerable to attack, Scotland’s principled stance on the unethical and obscene use of nuclear weapons might even see Scotland promoted as a principled intermediary and capable arbiter, and thus be empowered through its neutrality to help diffuse tensions between squabbling nuclear powers before wanton stupidity or careless accident vaporises the only planet we have to live on.
We must of course hope, and take due precaution, that no ignorant charlatan like Nicola Sturgeon would ever rise to become that intermediary.
Nicola Sturgeon is the lesser worry , we really should all hope that you never ever get
into any postion of any sort of authority ever at all. Szkocja ma tylu idiotów
I wsrod brytyjskich unionists jest masa latwowiernych kretynow. Nie sa tak madrzy jak mysla o sobie. Wiecej osobistych atakow I zostaniesz zablokowany.
For everyone else. 1 more personal attack in English,Polish (or any of another 5 languages) from you and you will be blocked.
I read that this week Saudi Arabia had an orgy of executions with 81 souls dispatched in one day. Not since 1980 when 63 had their heads chopped off in a day has there been such a slaughter.
The blood must have flowed in torrents this week as the Saudis got their rocks off ritually mutilating the condemned to death. It must have been like a slaughter house. Hopefully, as on one reported previous occasion they did no5 enjoy the venerated pleasure of nailing a de-capitated head onto a pole.
With some of the executed being killed for their political allegiance this act of mass slaughter, mass mutilation shows how perverted the Saudi regime. Killing in the most grotesque and offensive way is their pleasure.
And this week Boris Johnson is off to Saudi Arabia for discussion with the Crown Prince who he says he has fantastic relations with. Obviously a supporter of the pleasure of mass beheadings maybe Johnson and the Crown Prince will have the pleasure of watching snuff movies of the killings.
Losing the Head, the Gutters Run Red, Chop Shop Massacre. Or what about Acid Bath Madness in memory of the slain journalist. it’s not difficult to flippantly make light of this obscenity. But Saudi Arabia is our pal, an international ally, and these things are what allies do.
You couldn’t make it up. The UK’s support for ritual slaughter know no bounds and no doubt Nicola Thatcher, as she slavishly calls for air strike intervention against Russia, like Johnson, agrees too.
Not a lot hope is there Roddy when you read about things like this.
And another thing whilst the orgy of Saudi Arabian butchery goes unremarked by our leaders Sturgeon and Johnson am I the only one who is having difficulty understanding the wall to wall media coverage in the main stream media.
Putin’s forces are being beaten. The Ukrainians are stopping them in their tracks. Convoys are bogged down, broken down, out of fuel. Russian jets and tanks are being destroyed. Russian soldiers lie dead everywhere and soon the Russians will in retreat back home.
Conversely whilst the Russians are being so comprehensively beaten and beaten back their forces never the less seem able to focus on non military targets bombing hospitals, maternity units, kindergartens, schools and homes. Indeed, they are finding time too to rape Ukranian women such is their barbarity.
And all the while, whilst the Ukranian forces which are not reported on other than winning are calling through their president for the US and the UK to deploy fighter jets to shoot down Russian jets.
Now in war there are no winners, not at least for the ordinary civilians, Ukranian or for that matter Russians, Economic war moreover causes utter chaos whereby we are now looking at the £10.00 gallon of diesel, the £3,000 annual gas and electricity bill and food and good inflation that could run to maybe +20% with supply shortages to boot.
A whole nation impoverished as the defence industry makes hay whilst the sun shines.
So what is it that has driven all of this. Is it exclusively the bad evil Vladimir Putin or is it a combination of other things. The war planners obviously modelled all kinds of scenarios as they ran the numbers on the impact of all of this. And make no mistake this chaos was not unexpected. Everything happens for a reason but that doesnt mean to say folks get told the right reasons.
Sadly for so many of us, when you ask the questions about why this is happening, why we seem to be living in a propaganda bubble, you get cast as some kind of commie supporting, socialist loving, Hitler supporting monster. Dulce et decorum est in pro patria mori is after all, or should be everyone’s mantra.
And yes, with our very own Nicola Sturgeon screaming support for militarily engaging the Russians, that sentiment seems very much alive in Scotland too. Ukrainians good, Russians bad, kill Russians, you know the story – or you should.
Profoundly depressing as we, under President Nicola Thatcher, are by and large, unquestioning in our support for war war.
I was nice to see Eck putting the boot into the Boot the link i’m afraid is the only one i can find
https://www.facebook.com/themajorityscot/videos/1418838181884396/
Happy to Grandstand Ferries when it suits https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=992630350791810
More Ferry Trouble for the Sturge is coming along the line.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/20016085.snp-told-lifeline-ferries-contract-award-turkey-unlawful/