Thread: How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?

Oh noes, Darth Vlad seems to have lost a Guided Missile Cruiser and Black Sea Fleet Flagship (that's a tongue-twister) to the murky depths.

Sunken Russian warship Moskva: What do we know? - BBC News

That's a shame. It looked nice too with its missile tubes on deck rather than beneath deck. Maybe some styling cues that the West could sneakily copy, as that would make for a rather tasty looking 1/350 scale model.

Hope it did not fall on Mendip's pipeline or else he will have to drop his trifle and hurry back.

Get some pics of it for the piccy thread next time you have got your yellow submarine in the neighbourhood Mendy!

It should be well preserved with the low oxygen levels down there!

Putin must die. By any means necessary. A man insane enough to start World War 3 must be taken down without mercy.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Has the Moskva sunk yet?

"The babushka of the glorious Black sea fleet heroically destroyed two Ukrainian missiles with its hull before voluntarily exploring the seabed." Tass/Pravda

Originally Posted by panama hat

"The babushka of the glorious Black sea fleet heroically destroyed two Ukrainian missiles with its hull before undertaking special underwater operations ." Tass/Pravda

FTFY...

Originally Posted by sabang

Alastair Crooke

Trump shill

Originally Posted by sabang

Scott Ritter

Convicted pedo

Originally Posted by sabang

Max Blumenthal

Another fucking useful idiot...

For Blumenthal's writing concerning Ukraine, Sławomir Sierakowski, the head of the Polish liberal, pro-European group Krytyka Polityczna, included Blumenthal in a New York Times opinion piece entitled "Putin’s Useful Idiots" in 2014.

Originally Posted by sabang

Seyed Mohammad Marandi

An Iranian.



What a symphony of fools. Sabang clowns himself once again.

Yes Senator, General, Ambassador, and all round Intellectual. Another stellar contribution to humankinds body of knowledge. Who taught you how to do smilies?

Originally Posted by sabang

Another stellar contribution to humankinds body of knowledge.

At least someone has to fight against puppet heads like you and the other Three Stooges who want to post propaganda and lies unimpinged.

Originally Posted by sabang

Yes Senator, General, Ambassador, and all round Intellectual.

Wait what? Are you trying to claim that the chicken heads you mentioned are all of the above? Because those clowns are none of the above.

Oh they are waiting in line for an audience with one such as you, Grand Poobah. Grow up.

One man affecting the entire world and people in Russia. Based on the chatter out there, I figure Putin will be gone by the end of April. I hope Navalny is ready to step up to the plate to lead Russia into the modern world.

When the Ukrainian soldiers from snake island told the commander to "go fuck yourself", They didnt realise how prophetic those words would be.
Luckily for the ukrainians the ruskies couldnt fight their way out of a wet paper bag of shit. The professional soldiers from some of the NATO countries must be pissing themselves with laughter watching the sheer incompetence of the Russian forces. Conscripts and crap NCOs what a combination just for starters.

^^ Now that is a larf. If Putin were to keel over tomorrow, I can assure you his replacement would not be Navalny!

Originally Posted by sabang

^^ Now that is a larf. If Putin were to keel over tomorrow, I can assure you his replacement would not be Navalny!

Just like you assured us that Russian wouldn't invade, That Canada isn't a NATO member etc ad infinitum.

Nah, it won't be Navalny, but it'll be someone less deranged

THE LORD discusses deliverables, actions and future plans with and Energy company's head.

Meeting with Head of Transneft Nikolay Tokarev

Chapter of the State held a working meeting with Nikolai, President of Transneft Tokarev.

April 21, 2022 15:45

Moscow Kremlin

"Vladimir Putin:

Nikolai Petrovich, in the energy industry, Transneft occupies a special place, providing practically – how many?

N. Tokarev:

83 percent of oil produced in Russia oil...

Vladimir Putin:

… goes through the transport system.

N. Tokarev:

And 30 percent of the products oil refining.

Vladimir Putin:

So this place is absolutely unique. in all energy.

Nikolai Tokarev:

Vladimir Vladimirovich, speaking on the assets of Transneft, primarily 123 thousand specialists who work in 64 regions of Russia 67 thousand kilometers of main oil pipelines, this is more than half a thousand oil pumping stations. Colossal, of course, the numbers themselves.

Team works accurately, stably, reliably, fulfills all obligations for the transportation of oil on the territory of Russia and beyond it limits. I would say that this became possible due to the fact that The last 15 years have been the period of the most dynamic development company, it has become just different during this time.

It was 24.5 thousand kilometers of new highways were built, of which 10.5 thousand are large, serious projects: [pipeline systems] ESPO-1, ESPO-2, Baltic Pipeline System-2, these are [oil pipelines] Kuyumba - Taishet, the Arctic - Purpe - Samotlor, this is the expansion of the oil product pipeline to Primorsk by 25 million tons of oil products, this is a total modernization of all technological processes.

On my view, a very important advantage of all these transformations of the company was that that today there is no shortage of pumping capacities in practice in no direction. If before the oilmen had to break head, think, “bow” to walk in order to get somewhere with your oil for export or for an enterprise, today, perhaps, only ESPO has some restrictions: this is a premium destination, everyone wants to go there, she fully loaded.

Vladimir Putin:

To Asia?

N. Tokarev:

Yes, China and the Asia-Pacific region. Today, 50 million [tons of oil] is the second stage of the ESPO, and 80 million - the first, of which 30 [million] pipe goes to China, to Mohe.

For the same time, we have completely resolved issues with import substitution in terms of production of main pumps. We used to buy them in Ukraine, abroad. Today, the entire line is completely produced by us, in Chelyabinsk, at our enterprises. Electric drives, electric motors for these pumps are completely produced in our factories, provide all the needs of the company. Now we are cooperating with the railway dear, we will produce traction motors for locomotives at our enterprises.

Before bought anti-turbulence additives from American companies, today we we produce them in Tatarstan at our factory. So, 29 positions on import substitution, which we had in the program, completely completed to date.

I not to mention that today there is a new course towards digitalization enterprises. We are planning about 30 billion over the next three years. rubles of investments in this direction. Of course this allows ensure all planned indicators, work as envisaged by all our programs.

For the current the main tasks for us are to increase the reliability of work oil pipelines, this is a reduction in accidents. She is with us today approximately ten times lower than the world average, the median value in this parts, but we will go to zero. The task is worth it, and the possibilities there is for this.

So we have envisaged 175 billion rubles of investments for the current year for all tasks of technical re-equipment, modernization, overhaul of our facilities. As long as everything goes according to plan.

Certainly, in addition to production activities, the company carries out a serious social politics. We have our own non-state pension fund - 31 thousand pensioners. On average, our corporate pension is 10 thousand. Then housing policy, assistance to families with children, health resort services, medical insurance for specialists Naturally, a healthy lifestyle is carried out at the expense of the enterprise. We We try to make it a priority.

And further one important component, it is a priority for us, is charity. We have helped over the past three years to overhaul 107 schools. As a rule, it is in small settlements. Repair, equipping of chemistry, physics, mathematics classes devices, computers, that is, everything necessary for it to be interesting and ok.

55 medical institutions were put in order: this is the construction of new FAPs, and repair of clinics. New direction now getting dynamic development - these are mobile polyclinics. We help in the regions to acquire polyclinics on the basis of a heavy-duty vehicles. This is a full range of medical services, clinical examination in the most remote settlements. Even here, in the central part, we helped the Tula region - we purchased two such mobile unit.

And of course, in the field of culture, these are museums. We have been helping Museums for a long time Moscow Kremlin. We finance the complete restoration Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. This is the Tretyakov Gallery. In places, of course, our subsidiaries are actively doing the same."

Встреча с главой компании <<Транснефть>> Николаем Токаревым • Президент России

A wide range of industry and social engagements throughout Russia.

Transneft

"Joint Stock Company Transneft (Russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia.

It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world.

Transneft is operating over 70,000 kilometres (43,000 mi) of trunk pipelines and transports about 80% of oil and 30% of oil products produced in Russia.^[5][6]

The company is led by Nikolay Tokarev.<sup>[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transneft</sup>

Excellent

Originally Posted by sabang

I can assure you

Well if you assure us of something we can usually assume the opposite will happen, so Navalny is it then.

An opinion article from the Global Times.

An Irish member of the EU Parliment, expressing her views on te Ukraine situation and resposes by various countries.

Throwing in more arms to Ukraine will only escalate war with more Ukrainians dying: MEP

Apr 21, 2022 02:22

" Editor's Note:

"How is not selling Kerrygold butter to Russia going to save any Ukrainian lives? How is buying filthy fracked US gas going to stop the war?"

Clare Daly (Daly), an Irish politician and a member of the European Parliament, asked earlier this month.

In an interview with Global Times (GT) reporters Bai Yunyi and Li Aixin, Daly said, "NATO has never brought peace anywhere in the world," and sanctions against Russia will "devastate the European economy."



GT: You recently tweeted that "anyone demanding the EU pumps Ukraine full of lethal weapons should read it carefully. It is not as simple as you think." Could you please elaborate on the stance?

Daly: My position will be similar on the situation in any conflict area - sending more arms into a war can only result in prolonging that war. It's not that I don't believe that Ukrainians have the right to defend themselves. They do. But the reality is that over the past period, there has been a growing militarization in Ukraine.

The EU throwing in more arms will not be sufficient to defeat the Russian army. It will only lead to the war being prolonged, and more Ukrainians dying. And worryingly, those arms are being distributed to people and organizations without any checks or balances. So god only knows where those weapons will end up and when, in years to come, they will come to be used in other situations.

So, it's a very dangerous tactic. I know some of the people in Europe who are calling for this, believe that they are doing this out of the desire to protect the Ukrainian people. People would like to help innocent Ukrainians, as I would. But sending more arms in is not going to do that. The only solution is a negotiated peace settlement.

GT: What should the EU do, under the circumstances, to benefit its own interests?

Daly: Unfortunately, they aren't doing it. Up to now their strategy has been to sanction Russia for the last whole number of years, to rationalize Russophobia, to be very anti Russian in their rhetoric, and to send arms into Ukraine. That has been Europe's strategy. It clearly hasn't worked in stopping the war initially, or in stopping it since it spurted. That's the wrong strategy, clearly.

What Europe should have done is playing the role of negotiating a peace settlement, getting Ukraine and Russia around the table in serious way. The negotiations now are not really negotiations, but they have the potential to be and the EU should not be doing anything to undermine them. A serious negotiated settlement is needed, which I believe should have been around, implementing the Minsk II agreement, humanitarian corridors, recognizing the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and recognizing the rights of people in Donetsk and Luhansk as well. The fact that the war is now extending into areas like Crimea would have to be part of this. Ukraine's neutrality has to be part of the settlement. What the EU should have done is pressure both sides to get their heads together to implement that. They didn't do that. So the eventual settlement will now probably not be the same - the opportunity for Minsk II is gone. But something loosely based around it could still be delivered, and must be pursued.

GT: Are you concerned about a spillover of the conflict? Do you think there might be a chance for the US to have Europe confront Russia?

Daly: I don't think it's in the interests of the US or NATO to have the conflict go beyond Ukraine. And I don't see that happening. I think they're pretty happy to have it go on at the level at the moment - It is spurring militarism. They see it wearing down Russia. It hasn't had an impact on the Russian economy yet, but it will. It had an impact on the economies of Europe and that is going to get worse.

That's where the spillover is going to be, primarily economically in the short term rather than militarily.

GT: You have recently denounced the EU'S sanctions against Russia, why? Some sanctions have even been extended to Russian cats, dogs, works of art, etc. Do you think such sanctions can really work?

Clare: My opposition to sanctions has been misrepresented - sort of being somehow complicit in the war or a supporter of Putin, or some nonsense like this. I have condemned the Russian invasion, but my opposition to sanctions is primarily based on the fact that they don't work. They have never in history succeeded in stopping a military assault or achieving regime change. Unilateral sanctions, outside of the UN framework - are also illegal under international law. They won't be a deterrent. It is the people of Russia who will suffer from sanctions. Increasingly, it is the people of Europe who are suffering as well, because one sanctions starts on one side and it is reciprocated.

But even some of the measures being imposed by the European countries are going to primarily hurt them the most. I mean, the ruble has stabilized. The Russians are getting big money for their gas and energy supply resources at the moment.

The idea that Europe would cut its links to Russian energy supplies, which is what the US has wanted, is not in the immediate interests of Europeans. It would mean hundreds of thousands, probably millions of Europeans, losing their jobs.

Let's remember, none of these measures will have any impact on saving a single Ukrainian life. But they will devastate the European economy. That is why I oppose them. They don't do what they say they'll do. They are punitive measures, in this sense, collective punishment, which will not succeed in achieving anything, except weakening the European economy at the moment, and maybe inflicting hardship on ordinary people.

The so-called "self-sanctions" on cats, dogs, works of arts… that doesn't even deserve a comment. Really. The idea that people are not going to play Tchaikovsky because of the war is not going to have any impact on the situation in Ukraine. It's ludicrous, but it is demonizing all Russian people and their culture. This is crazy stuff.

The decision at the UN human rights council… what an outrage when you consider the appalling atrocities which have been carried out by other countries over the years. The US and its illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the genocide in Yemen… and none of these countries have ever been expelled. It's just appalling. Demonizing Russia in this way is not helpful. It simply backs Russia into a corner and lessens the chance of peace.

GT: NATO was established with the goal to safeguard peace and security in Europe. But judging from the Ukraine crisis and what happened in Afghanistan and other countries, do you think NATO is bringing peace or uncertainty to Europe and the world?

Daly: I never believed that NATO was there to safeguard peace and security in Europe. And if people thought that it was established for that, it certainly never succeeded in delivering. NATO's purpose is US control of Europe. Its first Secretary General, Lord Hastings, said that it existed "to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." NATO has never brought peace anywhere in the world.

It's kind of there to solve the problems that it creates. You see that very graphically in countries like Libya, where they have succeeded in decimating that country and others. They are not a force for peace at all, not just in this crisis, but in the ones before that.

Since the dissolution of the USSR, they have continued to grow nearer and nearer to Russia, despite the very clear undertaking that NATO would not expand eastward. It doesn't excuse Russia's war, but certainly helps to explain it. It would not have happened without NATO's meddling. They have helped instigate conflict.

GT: A call for greater Europe strategic autonomy has been voiced for some time. Do you share this view? What kind of security mechanism should Europe pursue?

Daly: There's a kind of an irony in that question. Europe talks about wanting to be more autonomous, especially since Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. But what has emerged since the war in Ukraine is that all ideas of European autonomy have gone out the window. And they are behaving like a vassal of the US, quite literally.

Their own economic and security interests are being sacrificed for US interests against Russia. It is demonstrably in the interests of the citizens of the whole of Europe, including, first and foremost, citizens of Ukraine, that we would live in peace on our continent with Russia, that we would do business, exchange cultures and trade and economics, and live in harmony. And the only way that can be done is in a security arrangement, not against Russia, but with Russia. But sadly, everything that Europe is doing is the opposite.

This war will have the impact of driving more EU members into NATO. While they talk about being more strategic for Europe, it actually lessens Europe strategic independence.

GT: During a speech, you mentioned that it is not only Ukrainians who have been displaced by war. People in Afghanistan and other countries also face a similar humanitarian crisis. But many Europeans and Americans are indifferent. How do you understand the reasons behind the two very different attitudes toward refugees?

Daly: Firstly, they are being exposed to this war. They're exposed to daily pictures of the horror of war. They're being exposed to graphic accounts and human stories, not just numbers, but they are being introduced to the real lives of the people who are being displaced by this war, people who are losing loved ones and so on. In a positive sense, the best of humanity is being brought out in people's desire to help.

But the other side of it clearly has to be a racism, that somehow European publics are being asked to believe that Ukrainians, because they're white, they're European, that somehow there is a special value on that refugee, as opposed to a refugee from Afghanistan or Yemen or Africa, or all of the places that Europe helped to destroy and destabilize, making those people refugees in the first place.

I would hope that the difference in the response now would be the start of a change so that now there would be more public pressure for governments to be more welcoming. For years, Europe has talked about a crisis of migration and a crisis of refugees. It wasn't a crisis at all. The numbers coming to Europe are relatively small. What the Ukrainian crisis has shown is that Europe is perfectly capable of absorbing millions of refugees. So if other refugees come from other wars, I hope that the lesson will be learned and that governments will be just as welcoming. I wouldn't be so sure that will be the case to be honest, but I would hope that it would.

GT: Some observers noticed that people in China, India, and some Latin American countries do not support the US and Europe in condemning Russia, and say they do not necessarily support the war, but developed a kind of resentful psychology against the West. What's your take?

Daly: It is actually the view of the countries which hold the majority of the world's population. The countries which are taking the different view are the US, Europe, and Australia. But the bulk of the world's population live outside of that territory. And most of those would have the attitude that you've described.

It's not that they agree with the war. But they see the deep irony in the fact that the US has done regime change in countries. The US has military bases on every continent all over the world, has interfered everywhere, has committed war crimes far beyond the scale of what's happened in the Russian war. It has been the global south on the receiving end of this. And in that sense, the irony of them taking the moral high ground and condemning Russia for something that they have done so often, and turned a blind eye... it is perfectly understandable."

Throwing in more arms to Ukraine will only escalate war with more Ukrainians dying: MEP - Global Times

CLARE DALY MIGHT BE RIGHT.


John McGuirk wrote on the 11th March of the limitless cynicism of Clare Daly on the Ukraine, where she criticizes ‘the West’s’ obsession with the Ukraine crisis. He notes that she has form in deflecting criticism from Russia and taking a selective approach to the different western obsessions – for example, not criticising similar asymmetric focus on the situation in Palestine to the detriment of the crises she now highlights such as in Afghanistan.

I have rarely found myself in agreement with Clare Daly, and would prefer not to, but does she have a point in this instance? Perhaps her grandstanding is cynical opportunism designed more to distract than to raise a genuine point but taken on its merits, it is worth looking at.

In response to no other crisis in recent years (if ever) has Ireland – or other countries – waived immigration requirements for people fleeing conflicts across the world. The Afghanistan situation, for example, did not result in a blanket removal of covid-19 entrance requirements at Irish airports to make arrivals from Afghanistan easier. No arrivals from Yemen or Syria have been told that their teaching qualifications will be fast-tracked through the Irish registration systems. At no time did Ireland commit to receiving 200,000 refugees from any other crisis nor to providing the level of support to enable their integration.

It can’t be denied that the war in the Ukraine has generated an unprecedented sense of pre-occupation compared to all the other conflicts around the world.

In Yemen the humanitarian situation is poised to get even worse between June and December, with the number of people likely to be unable to meet their minimum food needs possibly reaching a record 19 million, suffering from years of unending conflict.

In Syria, a decade of war has left more 350,200 people dead, over 6 million refugees and 6 million internally displaced. We have heard a lot about Syria over the last ten years yet and the government has made some gestures but nothing akin to the Irish welcome for Ukrainians seeking refuge.

In Afghanistan, since the Taliban’s seizure of power in August, a humanitarian catastrophe has loomed. U.N. data suggests millions of Afghan children could starve. Rightly, there was an outpouring of shock – and fear – at what was happening in Afghanistan with the Taliban reclaiming power, yet the focus has quickly moved away from the situation.

In Ethiopia, conflicts are popping up all over the country, and this country with more than 100m people risks a literal Balkanisation, splitting into multiple secessionist regions bringing even more death and destruction than the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in recent months and the looming hunger that comes nearly every year now, compounded by war. 27 million people are at risk of severe food insecurity. Many are already there.

Connected to the war in the Ukraine, it is not so well known that the Ukraine conflict will not only affect prices here in Ireland but have far more devastating consequences in the abovenamed places. According to UNOCHA, “Ukraine – commonly referred to as Europe’s breadbasket – is a major producer of wheat, barley, rye, corn and sunflower.

Together, Ukraine and the Russian Federation supply around 30 per cent of wheat and 20 per cent of corn to global markets. Prolonged hostilities in Ukraine, especially in the south-east – where much of the wheat crops are concentrated – could have devastating impacts on food security that will reverberate across the globe. Some of the world’s hunger hotspots, like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen, could be disproportionately exposed to the unfolding crisis due to their dependence on wheat.”

These are just a few of the conflicts whose scale of death, destruction and displacement can reasonably be claimed to equal or exceed that of the Ukraine. And we have not yet mentioned the Rohingya displacement from Burma to Bangladesh, whose level and speed of displacement was unprecedented in recent years – with over 1.5m ran out of their country in a short few weeks. They did not arrive to a welcoming environment as the Ukrainians have in Europe but instead landed in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, a flood prone swampland where Rohingyan’s already there existed with very limited rights.

Then there is the conflict in Nigeria, previously made famous by the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign after over 700 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Repeats of this have not seen the same headlines. 20 years of conflict in Darfur, Sudan, is no longer the poster child of conflict with celebrities such as George Clooney championing its cause. Millions remain in camps. Conflict in Somalia is never ending but is rarely heard of since the 1994 withdrawal of US troops and Black Hawk Down.

The civil war in Mali barely makes the news but rings a bell when the name of the iconic town Timbuktu is mentioned. Next door in Burkina Faso hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. You may never have heard of its capital, Ougadougou. International Crisis Group highlights Africa’s newest jihadi fronts—in northern Mozambique – where insurgents who claim a new Islamic State province in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians. Nearly a million people have fled the fighting. Then there is South Sudan, the world’s newest country, independent since 2011, that cannot seem to escape the vicious circle of war.

The list goes on. Haiti. Israel-Palestine. Libya. Western Sahara. Civil war in Cameroon. Before the latest iteration of the Ukraine conflict, already over 800,000 were displaced from their homes because of the simmering conflict that has continued since 2014. Little was heard of this in the last five years until Russia started sabre-rattling.

Globally, in 2022, 274 million people were anticipated as needing humanitarian assistance and protection before the conflict in the Ukraine. More than 1 per cent of the world’s population is now displaced, about 42 per cent of whom are children. 1% sounds small. 1% is 70 million people. 30 million children. Hunger is rising and food insecurity is at unprecedented levels. Globally, up to 811 million people are undernourished. Famine-like conditions remain a real possibility in 43 countries around the world according to the UN 2022 Global Humanitarian Overview.

So, maybe Clare Daly has a point, irrespective of any inconsistencies in her priorities. It is, if nothing else, an interesting question worth asking ourselves. It is a question that Syrian refugees in Europe have asked: why are Ukrainians getting preferential treatment as non-EU refugees? It is a question that is not going unraised in other conflict affected countries. After a week of fundraising, Irish people donated close to 20m euro to agencies responding to the crisis. Many also started collections and have travelled toward the Ukraine with truck loads of goods. Over 20,000 pledges have been made to house families fleeing Ukraine. No other crisis has received a similar response from the public.

There have been criticisms in some of the more ‘politically correct’ that there is an element of sub-conscious bias in the asymmetric focus on the Ukraine – because they look like us, live like us, eat like us – even go to the toilet like us – that is close to accusations of racism. It is an interesting discussion in a world where we are all expected to be global citizens – cosmopolitans – to use the philosophical term – being more worldly, having equal connections, empathy, concern for all citizens of the world irrespective of who they are, or where they are.

But the reality is that very few of us are cosmopolitans in the purest sense. There are many who will signal their virtue as such through social media platforms where there is no cost or real commitment needed and the citizens of the world can unite in 164 characters. But even the Ukraine conflict has shown that virtual e-cosmopolitanism is exceeded by a communitarian spirit with #ukraine and blue and yellow flags on people’s status more prevalent than any amount of #Syria nevermind #Rohingya.

Although some try to make the issue about skin-colour and thence about race, the reality is much simpler. We have spheres of interest. Circles of interaction. We have responsibility and concern for our direct families first and foremost. Those of us who remain the ‘somewheres’ in this world are attached to our community and our neighbours. Modern living in ‘the West’ has seen a growth in the ‘anywheres’, people with few if any physical connections to their community, whose circle of concern are those who share their same worldview, their intellectual peers and their work colleagues, rather than the melting pot of community living.

There may be an element of ‘they look like us’ to the response but the reason they look like us is because they live nearby us, at least in the relative sense. Ireland is part of Europe as is the Ukraine. The conflict brings back memories of the Cold War and brings the spectre of war to the edges of the EU. The Ukraine may not be an EU member but it is as European as any member of the EU from a geographical sense. The Ukraine is historically and culturally more closely tied to Europe than the places mentioned above.

When it comes to human suffering, many would say that this should not matter. No life is more important than another. No person’s suffering is any less than another’s. And this of course is true. But my family’s suffering is of more importance to me than a stranger’s. My neighbours is more important to me than a stranger’s. Does this make me cold or indifferent? It does not.

No one has the mental capacity to be equally concerned about everyone else as that would mean loosing the ties that bind family, community, tribe, and nation. To be concerned about everyone in the same way is to be tweet about your sister’s plight instead of helping her out; to post a status update about your granny being robbed instead of defending her.

And I am sure that someone in one of these far flung places is equally agreed: they would do the same. We rightly do not expect a Kenyan to be as equally concerned about the war in the Ukraine as they are about the war in Ethiopia or the chaos in Somalia. And no doubt, nor would Clare Daly. The expectation of cosmopolitanism is the consequence of having too little to worry about for the last 30 or 40 years relative to years past or to the majority of those living under the shadow of conflict, severe poverty, hunger and many other issues that the vast majority in Ireland no longer have to genuinely worry about – probably since the end of World War II and certainly since the end of the Cold War.

But it is not unreasonable to debate whether there is an excess or obsession with the Ukraine, for whatever reasons, nor to remind people that the war in the Ukraine is not the only conflict going on at the moment, and right now possibly not the worst.

But in a world of only angels and demons, there is little space for nuance or context when it comes to whatever the trending national obsession du jour may be.

Clare Daly might be right. - Gript

Originally Posted by OhOh

THE LORD discusses deliverables, actions and future plans with and Energy company's head.

Meeting with Head of Transneft Nikolay Tokarev

Chapter of the State held a working meeting with Nikolai, President of Transneft Tokarev.

April 21, 2022 15:45

Moscow Kremlin

"Vladimir Putin:

Nikolai Petrovich, in the energy industry, Transneft occupies a special place, providing practically – how many?

N. Tokarev:

83 percent of oil produced in Russia oil...

Vladimir Putin:

… goes through the transport system.

N. Tokarev:

And 30 percent of the products oil refining.

Vladimir Putin:

So this place is absolutely unique. in all energy.

Nikolai Tokarev:

Vladimir Vladimirovich, speaking on the assets of Transneft, primarily 123 thousand specialists who work in 64 regions of Russia 67 thousand kilometers of main oil pipelines, this is more than half a thousand oil pumping stations. Colossal, of course, the numbers themselves.

Team works accurately, stably, reliably, fulfills all obligations for the transportation of oil on the territory of Russia and beyond it limits. I would say that this became possible due to the fact that The last 15 years have been the period of the most dynamic development company, it has become just different during this time.

It was 24.5 thousand kilometers of new highways were built, of which 10.5 thousand are large, serious projects: [pipeline systems] ESPO-1, ESPO-2, Baltic Pipeline System-2, these are [oil pipelines] Kuyumba - Taishet, the Arctic - Purpe - Samotlor, this is the expansion of the oil product pipeline to Primorsk by 25 million tons of oil products, this is a total modernization of all technological processes.

On my view, a very important advantage of all these transformations of the company was that that today there is no shortage of pumping capacities in practice in no direction. If before the oilmen had to break head, think, “bow” to walk in order to get somewhere with your oil for export or for an enterprise, today, perhaps, only ESPO has some restrictions: this is a premium destination, everyone wants to go there, she fully loaded.

Vladimir Putin:

To Asia?

N. Tokarev:

Yes, China and the Asia-Pacific region. Today, 50 million [tons of oil] is the second stage of the ESPO, and 80 million - the first, of which 30 [million] pipe goes to China, to Mohe.

For the same time, we have completely resolved issues with import substitution in terms of production of main pumps. We used to buy them in Ukraine, abroad. Today, the entire line is completely produced by us, in Chelyabinsk, at our enterprises. Electric drives, electric motors for these pumps are completely produced in our factories, provide all the needs of the company. Now we are cooperating with the railway dear, we will produce traction motors for locomotives at our enterprises.

Before bought anti-turbulence additives from American companies, today we we produce them in Tatarstan at our factory. So, 29 positions on import substitution, which we had in the program, completely completed to date.

I not to mention that today there is a new course towards digitalization enterprises. We are planning about 30 billion over the next three years. rubles of investments in this direction. Of course this allows ensure all planned indicators, work as envisaged by all our programs.

For the current the main tasks for us are to increase the reliability of work oil pipelines, this is a reduction in accidents. She is with us today approximately ten times lower than the world average, the median value in this parts, but we will go to zero. The task is worth it, and the possibilities there is for this.

So we have envisaged 175 billion rubles of investments for the current year for all tasks of technical re-equipment, modernization, overhaul of our facilities. As long as everything goes according to plan.

Certainly, in addition to production activities, the company carries out a serious social politics. We have our own non-state pension fund - 31 thousand pensioners. On average, our corporate pension is 10 thousand. Then housing policy, assistance to families with children, health resort services, medical insurance for specialists Naturally, a healthy lifestyle is carried out at the expense of the enterprise. We We try to make it a priority.

And further one important component, it is a priority for us, is charity. We have helped over the past three years to overhaul 107 schools. As a rule, it is in small settlements. Repair, equipping of chemistry, physics, mathematics classes devices, computers, that is, everything necessary for it to be interesting and ok.

55 medical institutions were put in order: this is the construction of new FAPs, and repair of clinics. New direction now getting dynamic development - these are mobile polyclinics. We help in the regions to acquire polyclinics on the basis of a heavy-duty vehicles. This is a full range of medical services, clinical examination in the most remote settlements. Even here, in the central part, we helped the Tula region - we purchased two such mobile unit.

And of course, in the field of culture, these are museums. We have been helping Museums for a long time Moscow Kremlin. We finance the complete restoration Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. This is the Tretyakov Gallery. In places, of course, our subsidiaries are actively doing the same."

Встреча с главой компании <<Транснефть>> Николаем Токаревым • Президент России

A wide range of industry and social engagements throughout Russia.

Transneft

"Joint Stock Company Transneft (Russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia.

It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world.

Transneft is operating over 70,000 kilometres (43,000 mi) of trunk pipelines and transports about 80% of oil and 30% of oil products produced in Russia.^[5][6]

The company is led by Nikolay Tokarev.<sup>[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transneft</sup>

So unlike you to support a capitalist monopoly in a communist country.

Some dumb Irish bint says something they like and the wanketeers cut and paste paaaaaaaaaages of the shit.

Talk about desperate.

More off topic, ad hom childishness. The intelligent reader is quite capable of deciding for themself 'arry, they really do not need to rely upon your opinion of another poster posting an article containing somebody elses opinion and commentary on a given matter. They are quite capable of reading and deciding for themselves.

But thank you for your rational analysis of the actual article and following opinion piece, being "some Irish bint". I'm sure Chomsky himself is impressed with your intellect and maturity.