Russian standards
Posted on
May 03, 2014 by
Chris Cairns
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Wings Over ScotlandA tall tale
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@Chris. Brilliant as usual I wiz going to say somthing about the zoom but it would spoil it for others.
punch line in every stroke of your pencil.
There seems to be a fair bit of reek coming off the boy. Is he on fire?
this is what the British sense of fair play looks like world,
take a good look!
Got it in one Graham – unlike the MSM!
Also BBC tv/radio blaring out Salmond loves Putin all week rounding off teamGB media vote No triumph with Lamont’s “If you took out Scotland and put in Britain, you’re hearing Nigel Farage” news like this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27248034
If Lamont shakes her head anymore it will cause irreversible brain damage.
heedtracker
“If Lamont shakes her head anymore it will cause irreversible brain damage”
She must’ve been a metalhead in her early days then..too late for her to get brain damage.
@ goldenayr, Stairheed air guitar is probably hopeless too. And it does explain the gibberish interviews filled with Lamontian weird er eh erm conversation with Scottish people waffle.
Next Trident
I’d have added BBC mega blast for one more loaded City merchant banker complete with his mahogany tan, yacht club blazer pretending vnob.orders.com web site was “grass roots” and that god awful song no borders, except at Dover, to keep out johnny foreigner, but we love the jocks so so much.
Imagine for a moment. If the No side win the referendum by a narrow majority. Especially after the MSM and the BBC in particular have mounted this despicable campaign of fears, smears and down right lies. A campaign that has frightened and cajoled decent ordinary people into voting against their own best interests. How angry will you be? I don’t mean this to sound like a threat but they are playing with fire.
“Yes” simply must win the referendum. The alternative just doesn’t bear thinking about.
Haud oan! on Saturday GMS Lord Trimble from Northern Ireland saying that a YES vote would destabilse NI.
See that Alicsammin, see Ming the Merciless, nay competition!
.@Thomasson
NAW!
Just seen the Votenoborders Tory site has stopped allowing comments. Seems their ‘grassroots?’ campaigning has become officially a sensored top-down dictatorial campaign.
Well done to everyone on the many Indie sites who exposed this BBC promoted charade, as exactly what it is… a manufactured spoof campaign, funded by rich Tory’s in London and marketed by a PR company.
Shame on the BBC and I will not be forced to pay for their propaganda.
Where is the equal treatment of the referendum stories in our press or on TV news coverage?
They may have a token response from a Yes supporter but its the news stories they refuse to cover particularly when a look at sites like this and a few Google searches would put them on the trail.
I have seen no Scottish press or TV coverage of Lord Robertson’s NATO welcome for Putin weeks after Salmond’s alleged faux pas, or of Brian Wilson’s friend and Better Together main donor Ian Taylor links through Vitol to Russian state-owned energy firm Rosneft, run by Putin’s close ally Igor Sechin which was covered in Private Eye and in the Telegraph four days ago.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10793307/US-Treasury-Secretary-hits-out-at-Putin-and-Rosneft-with-sanctions.html
On Friday Morning “Call” Kaye had an opportunity to question the Scottish Ukrainian spokesperson about Robertson’s remarks which had been criticised the the Ukrainian parent UK body.
Yesterday’s puff by the BBC for the minuscule London based Tory financed NO Borders group was compounded by Have I Got News For You’s prominent running caption “Scottish Independence Takes A Pounding” with no corresponding jibe at Better Together.
Thank goodness for Wings and other sites but the continuous negative newspaper banner headlines does have an impact as few bother to read the whole story or search for the truth.
That why it is very important to wear a YES badge particularly when out shopping or in pubs or at concerts or at football matches etc.
I should clarify Call Kaye refused to take the opportunity to question the Ukranian spokesperson on Lord Robertson’s remarks.
@Mosstrooper, David Trimble said he was miss QUOTED in the NI times & on Bbc.
It MAY ENCOURAGE OTHERS ON THE UNIFICATION WITH THE SOUTH
Scotland Referendem shows what can be acheived through
the Democratic process.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27247910?postId=119374335#comment_119374335
David Cameron getting ripped to shreds in the comments section.
Solution – shut it down.
Is it just me or has the KGB relocated.
Spoof = BBCSCOTLANDSHIRE
Spoof =VOTENOBORDERS
I know, it is an insult to BBCSCOTLANDSHIRE, which is funny. VOTEFORBORDERS just can’t do spoofing very well!
Just listened to Lord Trimble on GMS, and he has complained quite strongly about the BBC mis-reporting what he actually said. I don’t have a link unfortunately, but it is well worth a listen. You could hear the disappointment in the interviewer’s voice when he realises that the thrust of his argument is completely demolished.
@ Alba4Eva, check out the vnob.orders.com statements about women types and they say “the trick is to avoid letting women fall to the YES message.”
So Eva, what tricks will the BBC and grassroots merchant banker Malcolm Offord use to avoid letting you girls fall for the YES message, other than actually stating it out loud on their grassroots website? “Look girls, shiny sparkly things and fluffy kittens and bonny babies too, and vote NO”
Lamont’s comment making comparisons of SNP to Farage, is simply ignorant and insults all of us.
She has become a tiresome drone. The rhetoric about wanting to help people in Newcastle, Birmingham etc as much as Glasgow would carry a little credibilty if she had succeded for the people in her own constituency first.
If she and the Labour Party couldn’t do that after the decades they held power, they are not going to be much good for those other cities.
https://twitter.com/TartanSeer/status/462496942790946817/photo/1 “the belief is that women are not paying too much attention to the debate- lets hope it stays that way till Spetember” So what’s happening in Sept women of Scotlandshire? vnob.orders.com is already shaping up to be a real hoot.
@Famous15 says
I am sickened to find that Wings applies Russian Standards to the removal of comments.
If you would care to make that comment to my face, you will find me in Gilmerton this morning along with other YES Scotland activists who are not ashamed of their own names and beliefs.
otherwise, go to hell, you cowardly little creep
Scottish & Noteable Labour MP’s voted for Tony Blair’s Iraq War – 244 Labour MP’s:
Ms Irene ADAMS (Paisley North)
Douglas ALEXANDER (Paisley South)
Mrs Margaret BECKETT (South)
Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough)
TONY BLAIR (Sedgefield)
Ms Hazel BLEARS (Salford)
David BLUNKETT (Sheffield Brightside)
Paul BOATENG (Brent South)
Ben BRADSHAW (Exeter)
GORDON BROWN (Dunfermline East)
Nick Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend)
Russell Brown (Dumfries)
Des BROWNE (Kilmarnock & Loudoun)
Chris BRYANT (Rhondda)
Andrew BURNHAM (Leigh)
Stephen BYERS (Tyneside North)
Richard Caborn (Sheffield Central)
David CAIRNS (Greenock & Inverclyde)
Alan Campbell (Tynemouth)
Dr Lynda Clark (Edinburgh Pentlands)
Ms Ann CLWYD (Cynon Valley)
Vernon COAKER (Gedling)
Jon CRUDDAS (Dagenham)
Dr Jack Cunningham (Copeland)
ALISTAIR DARLING (Edinburgh Central)
Mrs Gwyneth DUNWOODY (Crewe & Nantwich)
Ms Angela EAGLE (Wallasey)
Ms Maria EAGLE (Liverpool Garston)
Ms Louise ELLMAN (Liverpool Riverside)
FRANK FIELD (Birkenhead)
GEORGE FOULKES (Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley)
Mike Gapes (Ilford South)
Nigel GRIFFITHS (Edinburgh South)
PETER HAIN (Neath)
Ms HARRIET HARMAN (Camberwell & Peckham)
Tom HARRIS (Glasgow Cathcart)
Ms PATRICIA HEWITT (Leicester West)
Mrs MARGARET HODGE (Barking)
Geoff HOON (Ashfield)
Dr Kim HOWELLS (Pontypridd)
John HUTTON (Barrow & Furness)
ADAM INGRAM (East Kilbride)
ALAN JOHNSON (Hull West & Hessle)
Ms TESSA JOWELL (Dulwich & West Norwood)
ERIC JOYCE (Falkirk West)
GERALD KAUFMAN (Manchester Gorton)
Ms Oona KING (Bethnal Green & Bow)
Dr Stephen Ladyman (Thanet South)
David LAMMY (Tottenham)
Ms Helen LIDDELL (Airdrie & Shotts)
Tommy McAvoy (Glasgow Rutherglen)
Calum MacDonald (Western Isles)
John MacDougall (Fife Central)
John McFALL (Dumbarton)
Ms Anne McGuire (Stirling)
Ms Rosemary McKenna (Cumbernauld & Kilsyth)
Denis MacSHANE (Rotherham)
Ms FIONA MacTAGGART (Slough)
PETER MANDELSON (Hartlepool)
Michael MEACHER (Oldham West & Royton)
Alan MILBURN (Darlington)
DAVID MILIBAND (South Shields)
Dr Lewis MOONIE (Kirkcaldy)
JIM MURPHY (Eastwood)
Martin O’NEILL (Ochil)
Mrs Anne Picking (East Lothian)
Stephen POUND (Ealing North)
JOHN PRESCOTT (Hull East)
Ms Dawn PRIMAROLO (Bristol South)
James PURNELL (Stalybridge & Hyde)
Dr JOHN REID (Hamilton North & Bellshill)
Ms Barbara ROCHE (Hornsey & Wood Green)
ERNIE ROSS (Dundee West)
FRANK ROY (Motherwell & Wishaw)
James SHERIDAN (Renfrewshire West)
Ms CLARE SHORT (Birmingham Ladywood)
Ms JACQUI SMITH (Redditch)
Ms Rachel SQUIRE (Dunfermline West)
David STEWART (Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber)
Ian Stewart (Eccles)
JACK STRAW (Blackburn)
Ms Gisela STUART (Birmingham Edgbaston)
Mrs Ann TAYLOR (Dewsbury)
Stephen TIMMS (East Ham)
KEITH VAZ (Leicester East)
Tom WATSON (West Bromwich East)
BRIAN WILSON (Cunninghame North)
Ms Rosie WINtERTON (Doncaster Central)
Shaun WOODWARD (St Helens South)
http://www.britisharmykillings.org.uk/page/126/MPs-who-voted-for-war-with-Iraq#sthash.o2GYv7zB.dpuf
Very odd. I’m struggling to post a post here! Small sentences yes. Large paragraphs, no.
I think that all of this is going to come back and bite Westminster big time. With the likes of William Hague pretending to strut the world stage as though Britain was still some sort of major power will be leaving one Mr Putin rather bemused.
Come the 19th of September, I think Mr Putin will stick it to Hague ands Westminster by announcing that he recognises the newly found independence of Scotland. After all, what is good for the goose, is good for the gander. Wee Willie shout for rights, freedoms and independence for the Ukraine, well …it works for Scotland too!
After yesterdays escalations in tension, I would not be surprised if Putin demands a plebiscite in the Eastern Ukraine. And he will get it. The UN and the West will not want the whole region to descend into chaos. I expect the Eastern part of the Ukraine to re-join Russia within the next few weeks.
Votenoborders appears to tick all the right boxes …..
London based
Top down, rather than genuine grassroots
Tory backer backed
Run by marketing PR types
Finance industry money
Right wing associations
Etc
… to get right up Scottish noses, everything most of us don’t like.
You know, it is almost like a entity set up to HELP the Yes cause.
This is DYNAMITE!!
Why the better together campaign are desperate to deceive.
The underlying wealth of a nation is based on “securities”. The securities that you hold as a country will dictate how strong that your currency is and at what rate and how much money that you can borrow against these securities.
e.g. .If you own your house outright you can borrow against that “security” as the bank know that they have your house as collateral Securities for most countries are based on gold reserves held or by oil, if you are lucky enough to have that resource.
Forget everything else for a moment and think about this. ONE day after a YES vote everything changes for both Scotland and the RUK. Westminster know this and are absolutely terrified. One day after a YES vote the complete future oil reserves currently under the control of the UK government LEGALLY pass to Scotland and the RUK are left with less than 10% as defined by International maritime borders.
The official handover will take longer but the markets will react immediately.
The assessment of the future oil reserves held in Scottish waters are valued at anything between 1&4 TRILLION pounds!
Maybe never in history have the people of a country had so much power in their own hands. These incredible assets will support any currency that Scotland chooses, will allow the nation to borrow at extremely attractive market rates and support a Scottish Central Bank should this be required at any time in the future.
The RUK‘s fiscal position one day after Independence would be nothing short of a disaster.
Without a currency Union with Scotland the pound will collapse and the credit rating of the RUK will plummet? The RUK will be forced to go to the markets with current debts of 1.4 Trillion pounds just having lost their greatest ever asset and futures securities against their massive debts.
How do you think that they will be perceived?
I would put it to better together that it is they, and not Scotland who need a currency Union and that is exactly what will happen in the event of a YES vote.
Project fear have every reason to be frightened, losing the Scottish contribution to GDP and future Oil securities must be pretty much how the government of the day felt when they lost the American colonies.
@Thomason
Apologies! I thought you were a UKIPPER or are you going to Gilmerton to shout at the Yessers?
Jeane Freeman on BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-27261711
Aye, and Hell mend them, as my ma used to say.
I believe in Karma but while I hope the people of England don’t suffer too much from the inevitable collapse of the British State, I hope the Establishment experiences new realms of metaphorical pain.
I’m not a particularly vindictive man, but there are some instances where vengefulness can be forgiven.
Things can only get BETTER & BETTER for that Great
Socialist & X PM Tony Blair £ 100 millions BETTER
Both BLAIR & BROWN on the charity bandwagon to avoid
paying TAX.
Will the rUK still want to pay their X PMs ?.
https://twitter.com/TartanSeer/status/462496942790946817/photo/1
“the belief is that women are not paying too much attention to the debate- lets hope it stays that way till September”
If enough folks share and retweet this, I think we could expose them to everyone for what they are.
That was in response to Caadfael’s post.
A couple of sneaky ones got in before I’d finished writing! ????
Been thinking about the calls for a rally at Pacific Quay.
I’ve a better idea.Do you remember that farmer that took his muck spreader to a local govt office and sprayed it with muck?
Now I’d do it myself but trundling to Glasgow in a tractor towing a muck spreader would take me all day.
Are there any farmers closer that would be up to the idea?
You could put a banner up stating..
“Here’s all the shite you’ve been feeding us back”
Ideally it should be done late July when the worlds press will be in attendance.
Chris, just glad you are on our side! Excellent.
apology not necessary, but graciously accepted, please accept mine.
I am hopeful that UKIP will evolve into the English SNP, as I pointed out in my comment that has been deleted, there are two ways we could regain our lost sovereignty…one is Scottish secession, the other would be English secession, the end result in either case would be the same
sorry, I neglected to address my reply above to Famous15
@Colin Thomasson
I’ve always advocated that UKIP are in fact the ENP. They have no interest in Scotland.
PS I note your surname. Origins Sweden by any chance. My wife has family in Sweden.
ukip stand for united kingdom,racist undertones,rightwing,flat tax rate,god help england
I wonder if the cartoon is abridged.
“Russian Standard Vodka. Triple filtered, like the BBC News in Scotland”.
Is this sort of behavior not Putin HMG under some doubt? I wounder what out monarch is thinking?
Breeks
The beeb take the distillers art to a new high.
@Steviecosmic,
Had a chat with Morag lately?:)
@TheItalianJob
re Thomasson, I don’t know, there are Thomassons in Shetland, but no family connection I am aware of, my father always maintained it was actually a forced anglicisation after the 45
UKIP are racist in exactly the same way as the SNP, that is not at all, though just as with the SNP, it is easy, if dishonest to portray them that way.
Just off to YES Scotland Edinburgh Super Saturday
I’m pretty sure the VNB tweet is actually from a spoof FB page, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference :-/
http://www.facebook.com/votenotoborders.info?fref=ts
@iheartscotland
as it happens, I’ve never actually spoken to Morag on any forum, but I do know, obviously, who you are referring to. Has she suggested a similar thing?
There are many people against the EU, and there are many who want to see an end to unrestricted immigration. At its best UKIP represents both interests. At its worst it’s extreme, Europhobic and racist. If it gets rid of the extreme and unacceptable, and sticks to its basic message, it could get support even in Scotland.
It’s not the first political party which has had extremists in its midst, and it won’t be the last.
O/T re VNB not allowing comments any more, they still allow you to email them with your reasons for voting No. So I did.
“I want us to remain part of the UK so that our government can continue to persecute the poor, reward their rich banker friends by selling off publicly owned assets cheaply, drain resources from Scotland and continue to store highly dangerous nuclear weapons close to Glasgow to ensure that London remains safe.
Andrew Morton”
@ Gill, except this https://twitter.com/TartanSeer/status/462496942790946817/photo/1 isn’t on this https://www.facebook.com/votenotoborders.info?fref=ts
It was on nob.orders.com
Just checked, it is a spoof page. Can’t imagine that will last long.
Colin
UKIP are racist in exactly the same way as the SNP, that is not at all
If you could hear my English, UKIP supporting, offshore colleagues in full race hate mode I think you would retract that statement in an instant.
Just been lurking on the guardian site over breakfast and the rag has set a few teeth grinding at the quality of MSM up here . If the comments are the norm then word is getting round and more folk are beginning to spread the word about online story’s which are Quicker to find the facts and are less about scare than finding the truth’s.
My friends in England say the press down there is often saying the opposite of what we are told and because of W.O.S. bella etc getting facts out they are AT LAST starting to see this is the case all over the UK regarding MSM. There might be hope yet for our English cousins who, i am assured don’t believe YES voters are Anti-English. But the MSM will still peddle out the rhetoric telling anyone who will listen that we are.
Many see the loss of Scotland as part of the UK a cert and are worried about the effect it will have on them. Scotland can stand on it’s own two feet they are sure but can England.
Many will have strong sympathy with them. Fair enough, so why dont they start a grass root campaign???? And stop feeling like victims because Scotland has had enough of this union.
The link to the BBC GMS David Trimble interview
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041ym5f
Listen from 29 mins in. Disappointment of interviewer is palpable. Young Mr Trimble is very controlled in his delivery of a rebuke 🙂
Chris – re the cartoon – perfect capture of Cameron’s wee, mealy mooth.
Heedtracker says
“It was on nob.orders.com”
Superb,
I left a message on the page congratulating them, you notice how many people urnae sure if its a windup or not?
It’s the way they tell them. In today’s Herald a letter titled –
Independence would cause harm to research base in this country, and signed by ten persons, At the start of the 4th paragraph-
“As a small country negotiating with a vastly larger partner, Scotland will have little power to determine outcomes and the idea that an independent Scotland can negotiate even better terms than received at present is, frankly incredible.
So gals and boys, currently we RECEIVE from our vastly larger partner, in her gift, and with independence we would have the whole wide world to seek and negotiate better terms than our vastly larger partner donates to us now. That opportunity to negotiate on a world scale seems – frankly credible to me.
@heedtracker
It was on their page when I posted the link.
Maybe they have deleted the post from the page as so many think it’s for real.
RUTH DAVIDSON IN A STROP- SEE IT NOW BEFORE IT IS DELETED
Here is the link to Ruth the truth’s strop at the First Ministers rebuttal to her Vlad question:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland-27236972
Start at 16mins 51 seconds, the strop is at 18 mins 58 secs..
I would say that Ruth was PUT IN her place!
Thought AS did well considering the Holyrood 3 ganged up on him.
I saw a bit of the late night Andrew Neil/Michael Portillo/Diane Abbott prog on Thursday. They were discussing Euro elections and the rise of UKIP with a woman pollster. Portillo said nothing much would change after wards no matter the result but what was really worrying him was the Scottish referendum where he said everything would change overnight. They were all nodding vigorously but AN said that discussion was for another time. I think it’s really beginning to hit home in the Westminster Village.
I am annoyed at myself for believing all that baloney that Trimble is supposed to have said last year regarding Scotland’s referendum, and which he denied most fervently this morning on Radio ‘Scotland’.
Is there ANYTHING that I can believe the BBC has ever said regarding this referendum? It doesn’t look like it. What a disgusting bunch of rogues.
See you BBC Scotland? Come independence you guys are out the door: pronto. And you can forget any ideas about a payoff. If I had my way none of you would work in public broadcasting ever again.
Re: Trimble
The BBC have shocking form in trying to misrepresent people and their opinions. They set leading questions and try to illicit opinions rather than determine what people really think. I listened Naughtie the other day carefully constructing questions so as to both provide a friendly platform for the whatever Better Together drone he was speaking to and also to prompt and lead them.
If it were not so pravdaesque in an almost satirical way it would be a fundamental undermining of democracy. However we have the internet…things will never be the same again.
@dadsarmy
UKIP are an extreme right wing party. Their allies in the European Parliament include out and out fascists. They want to strip workers of most of their rights amongst other things. If they ever get into coalition with the Tories at Westminster, and Scotland is a part of the British state, I would start shaking with terror. I am afraid they are that bad.
@ Gill.john, nob.orders.com is just one more pile of grot peddling project fear as in Margaret Curran saying women types aren’t “swept away” to independence by Braveheart, the greatest girly film ever http://archive.today/FANhb.
You see, women have to be swept away or they just wont budge and also this crap from vote No Guardian-
“While there are structural reasons that keep women out of mainstream politics, Boyd adds: “It’s also that when you see a report from the House of Commons, with all that yelping and booing, it’s just not conducive to women’s participation.”
Lucky that bettertogetherGuardian’s never watched gorgeous pouting Stairheed rammy FMQ’s week after week in Holyrood then.
Muttley
Not only that don’t they want to reintroduce hats of rank
Flat caps for the plebs
Trilby hats for the middle classes
Deerstalkers for the nobs
Something like that anyway…they spend about 50% of their energy just hiding the crazy. However, at 38% in the polls one has to ask who is the crazier.
I think the VNB have got their words and spaces mixed up, surely it’s…
Vote Nob Orders
Another mis representation allegation?
Where do we go from here, they’re untouchable, aren’t they.
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/referendum/9136-former-ni-first-minister-attacks-bbc-over-indy-ni-peace-threat-claims
It looks as if the “Vote no borders” website (co.uk) has disintegrated after just 2 days. Comments have been wiped, registered users get a message that their email and password do not match, hit the “Have Your Say” button and, as you would expect from a website run by propaganda-mongers, you are not allowed to have your say. Result. Another one bites the dust. However, the dot com version is definitely worth a look.
I’, not sure if I regret contributing to VBN now, if they weren’t in it for the long-run. I thought we were all in it Better Together.
Eck was right about the phoney war, but we have moved into a new phase, I believe the UK government is conducting a war,direct and in many ways by proxy against the soul and body of Scotland and the Scots, British fair play? Is this what is taught on the playing fields of Eton?
T/T (Tangential Thought)
I used to work with an Irish lad who had to sign off the work I’d done. His signature was pretty much NOB[squiggle] which is how he became known shortly after I pointed that out.
Pretty sure he’d have nothing to do with VNB.
@Cameron
agree wholeheartedly. They’ve pots of money (allegedly) but zero stamina.
It’s been said before but I think there will be a genuine need for a Truth and Reconcilliation commission post-Indy. If the truth comes out, so many No voters will be incensed at the way they have been lied to and cynically used by the state they held dear.
Many of us remember our ‘red pill’ moment so imagine what it will be like for them.
@heedtracker, entirely agree with you with regards to the legit VNB.
I was furious when I saw that tweet this morning, it was only when I went to check myself when I chanced upon the spoof page which at that time had said post. Satire too near the truth…
According to Mags Curran, YES voters in Scotland that aren’t women have been swept away by Braveheart so what’s the equivalent movie for women in Scotland then anyway? Sex and the City starring Mags Curran and Jojo Lamont, producers nob.orders.com
Wouln’t it be dreadful if every winger with a facebook page were to ‘like’ the spoof VNB instead of the ‘official’ one – they would certainly have problems with their chi then.
@ heedtracker, I would stop listening to the likes of Mags Curran, she is probably in London more often than here that she doesn’t know many Scots women. So all of the women on this page are a mirage, or do they just hope we are.
David Smith
Never took the “red pill”.
I was born with it in my blood.
The state of the MSM in Scotland is really deplorable.
The BBC/CBI/EC debacle, all the press jumping on the “Alex Salmond loves Putin” bandwagon, the BBC’s uncritical plug of the astroturf VNB “campaign”…
As to the Putin thing, the headlines and often also the copy misrepresented what AS had actually said in the GQ (as yet unpublished?) interview. It also wasn’t made clear that the interview was conducted in mid-March, right after the Sochi Olympics and before the events in Crimea.
AS criticised aspects of Putin’s rule but admitted that restoring Russian pride in themselves was at least a good thing.
As a Finn, I’ve always been a bit wary of the USSR/Russia (the state, not the people. All the Russians I know personally are lovely, generous, hospitable people). Yet it’s true that Putin has been good for Russia and many ordinary Russians (obviously not all).
The country was in a terrible state after the collapse of the USSR and the Yeltsin years. That’s when the rise of the oligarchs happened. Pensions or public sector pay didn’t get paid (or were paid only in part) for weeks or months at a time and the whole economy went haywire. The country lost a lot of territory due to many Soviet republics becoming independent, the country lost its international “superpower” status, the country was even ridiculed by the West, many ordinary Russians felt insecure and humiliated.
Putin’s rule has made the country function again. Life is better for many ordinary Russians and they once again have a sense of pride in their country.
There are many aspects of Putin’s rule that I don’t approve of. Denying gay rights, shutting down dissident voices in the media and online, continued cozy relationship between the political leaders and pro-Putin oligarchs, demonising Finland in the press, the personality cult being built up around Putin (all that bare-chested macho strutting stuff 😀 ).
From what I’ve read about the GQ interview, AS criticised all of the above except the Finland thing and the personality cult.
AS was asked his opinion on several other political leaders, e.g. Angela Merkl, but it was that one bit on his thoughts about Putin that the MSM pounced on. The reason is obvious: the MSM thought that could be used to smear AS.
Of course, no mention of David Cameron’s pleas to Putin only a couple of months previously to help thwart Scottish democracy, or Lord “Cataclysmic” Robertson’s overtures to Putin to join the NATO – after the Crimean annexation!
Apparently in other parts of the interview, AS talks about his weight loss (he’s lost 2 stone) and the World Cup (he wants the best team to win and hopes England does well) but those don’t make such good “shock, horror” headlines.
As to Ukraine, I gave up trying to understand their politics soon after the Orange Revolution ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution ). Not all “good guys” are as good and some of the bad guys aren’t as bad as the western press paint them. Most of all, I feel sorry for millions of ordinary Ukranians whose lives are affected by all the corruption and political posturing and worse.
Sorry to go o/t but I was in Hamilton this morning when I was stopped by a woman who tried to give me a questionnaire from United with labour , well what she was thinking I don’t know because I have yes badges and my SNP pin on my jacket sufficit it say she wishes she hadn’t and I still don’t know why we are better together
@Cadfael
Where did you get that rubbish from?
Paula Rose @ 11.34am
I think the VNB have got their words and spaces mixed up, surely it’s…
Vote Nob Orders
Keyboard-tea moment! 😀
Fortunately my laptop has a Spill-Resistant Keyboard.
Westminster bullies will continue to attack A Salmond, it is all they have left.
Cameron and his ilk will only consider supporting a country seeking Independence if it benefits his agenda, so to have a country like Ukraine in a state of such political strife is nice and convenient. They can pull the strings in their covert way, or try to, but here in Scotland it is a peaceful process that is shining through the dark clouds that westminster are so desperately trying to whip up.
Why did Cameron sign the Edinburgh agreement when it is obvious now that it is not worth the paper it is written on given the incredibly negative and now obstructive stance that the unionist side are taking. Lets hope it doesn’t get anymore destructive, but looking at how things are panning out, the anti Independence camp will stop at nothing.
O/T
Is it just me or is something fishy going on what with another bomb scare, this time in Lanarkshire, thats what, 4 now, and then today power cuts to much of Aberdeen, get the candles in folks.
@ Hi Helena Brown, no can do I’m afraid! You see Helena, I’m a silly male type YES voter and I always get “swept” into voting for stuff that I see in movies like Braveheart. You’re lucky though, you’re a girl which means you’re not in fact “swept” away, off your feet etc into voting YES by Braveheart and that must be true because Mags Curran says so in bettertogetherGuardian.
Mags also says that because you have that XX chromosome, only you can tell voting YES is forever and ever and can never be changed, ever.
I also have a huge mullet, because old whatisface Mel has one, in the 90’s.
Another good cartoon.
BTW it looks like they might have found the tomb of Alexander the Great. The bones are being carbon dated just now.
Possible line there with our own Alexander the Great?
Why did Cameron sign the Edinburgh agreement when it is obvious now that it is not worth the paper it is written on
He signed it with that wee smarmy smirk on his face that Chris has captured so beautifully because he thought the referendum would have been a few months after signing, but we have a real politician on our side who has given us the time to wipe the smirk off that Eton boy’s face.
@lumilumi
Don’t want to go Off Topic too much:
Is it true Finland had WAR with Czarist Russia, around WW1 because Russia invaded and imposed Russian as Finlands official language and teaching language in schools!
A fight that Finland won.
Thank you for your support
You are very welcome.
ps. would be interested in any links to books and websites about Finlands struggle for Independence!
@ horseboy above
Er.. Finnish history is complicated but we did not have a war agaist Czarist Russia during WWI.
Finland didn’t exist as a state when the post-Viking Swedes came here on a “crusade”. Nobody’s really sure when exactly it happened but 1250 is a good guess. (We were all supposedly pagans before that.)
Then Finland was part of the Swedish “Rik” (realm) and Sweden and emerging Russia fought several wars on -surprise! – Finnish ground.
The last war, in 1809, Sweden lost, so the Österland (east land = Finland) was seceded to Tsarist Russia. Now, the Russian Tsar was politically very astute and love bombed Finland. We could keep all our own laws and got a diet (not a food thing but a primitive form of a parliament).
Imperial Russia liked to keep Finland sweet and onside because Finland had more harbours and a western economy and culture and then even idustrialised while the Russians still had serfs. (It was actually a Scot, a James Finlayson, who kick-started the industrial revolution in Finland.)
All fine and dandy. From the 1840s onwards some university types discovered Finnish culture and got all nationalistic about it – these guys were Swedish-speakers as all educated people were at the time. They made an effort to learn Finnish, the vernacular, the language 90% of the population spoke. They translated their Swedish surnames into Finnish.
Then, Russia had a different Tsar and he didn’t like all this national and democracy nonsense. He had troubles enough in his own country without the uppity Finns getting ideas.
So they tried to “Russify” Finland. Shut down Finnish-language newspapers, decree Russian as the only language allowed in official interactions (before that Swedish and then Finnish had been used in courts of law, etc.)
Epic fail.
It only served to feed the Finnish independence movement.
Listen to Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia and the dark tones in the beginning are all about the “Russification” period, but then it’s so full of wild hope!
OK, Russia had its problems. Finland was already going its own way but Russia tried to appease us (the devo-max fallacy). Finland was the first country in the world to have a full unqualified suffrage and a proportional representaion Parliament – even before we became independent! 😀
Some say NZ got there first but women’s suffrage was qualified and Maoris didn’t have the vote so, sorry, Finland wins this one.
Then we come to WWI. Finland was a part of the Russian empire so ordinary Finnish soldiers had to fight in the empire’s rank and file. Then Russia had their revolution and effectively removed themselves from WWI.
Lenin was a bit busy so when the delegation from the Finnish Parliament came to him with this Declaration of Independence, Lenin apparently signed it no probs, just let me get on with the Russiuan revolution.
OK, so we were independent, recognised by the country we were becoming independent from.
Er… It wasn’t that easy. The Reds wanted working class solidarity across borders, the Whites wanted independent Finland to be a western democracy but preserving the old privileges.
We had a bitter civil war. It only lasted a couple of months and more people (Reds) died in POW camps than in actual fighting.
The Winter War and Continuation War (WW II in Finland) when Finland really fought for our independence, our very existence, saw all Finns put civil war grudges away and fight for our coutry.
Afterwards, the civil war was still a sore point. Only now that all civil war veterans are dead and most of their kids are dead or very old, only now we can talk about it.
Even the name of that war. The whities usually called it freedom war, the reds class war. It’s only recently that people can call it what it really was, civil war.
I don’t think Scotland’s aprirations will lead to a civil war unless the Westminster establishment stir up trouble in the vain hope of holding on to a disappeared empire.
Sorry, long post, but horseboy did ask…
My old Dad really surprised me today, not only stuck up for FM but came out with some diatribe about not trusting Ukranians! he said they supported the Nazis and helped with persecution of Jews in WW2. I told him I didn’t know but he was quite forceful in saying not to give this story any credence as the US is more complicit in the trouble in Ukraine than Mr Putin.. I dunno who do you believe?