Is Russia just about to invade Ukraine?

[JamJar]

Well, err, yeah.

Your point being??

You’re so deep down the rabbit hole!

Ah. So, more rhetoric. Why don't you just say "conspiracy theorist" and be done with it. I guess you can't now that these things have come to pass. So just lob the occasional non specific insult to make yourself feel better.

Generally speaking, if you have nothing to say, best say nothing. There is a war going on which has every opportunity to go ballistic. Thank fuck it looks like Trump will get back into office or we'd be knocked back into the stone age.

...and I don't just mean if it goes all tits up and the nukes start flying. BlackRock now own about a third of Ukraine. Do you think that means cheaper prices for all of us now that the worlds biggest asset management company has it's hands on the bread basket of Europe? How about oil and gas? Are things going to get better now the USA have run Russia so far into the ground they are indebted to China, N. Korea and even Iran?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Unless of course you have shares in BlackRock (I guess we all do I suppose) but also Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin etc. etc. Sounds great when you're playing Monopoly with the worlds money but mother Earth is not an infinite resource unlike this ridiculous fiat money which has devalued everything we hold dear.

Conspiracy theorist

[Hoonercat]

Here's another "conspiracy theorist nutjob", often mistaken for perhaps one of the most knowledgeable and trustworthy politicians in the USA. So much so that the FBI/CIA keep murdering his family to keep the wheels of the military industrial complex spinning at an ever increasing rate.



For those who do not use X, he goes on about it being an issue over NATO, the failure to find a political solution, a scam for money laundering tax dollars into global corporations and of course, a keystone for the WEF and BlackRock's ambition towards world domination.

What a conspiracy nutjob. I mean, what does he know about anything? Bloody Kennedy's always warmongering. Uh. Or is it the other way round?

Anyway, he's saying exactly the same thing as I have for the past few years, so it must be bollocks right?

Or are people beginning to see this for what it is and secretly "knew this all along"...

Lol, if he is so knowledgeable then why is he so wrong on so many points? You really should fact check before posting bollox like this. And no, I CBA telling you where he is wrong, and nor should I have to.

[mangocrazy]

It's the old 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing. As long as he agrees with you on key points, don't look to closely into his background/other views.

[Screwdriver]

Lol, if he is so knowledgeable then why is he so wrong on so many points? You really should fact check before posting bollox like this. And no, I CBA telling you where he is wrong, and nor should I have to.

Again you're right.

No one is perfect. Just because someone might express a view I agree with, doesn't mean I believe everything they say.

I really shouldn't have to add that qualification but it's so easy to say "oh if you believe that then you must also believe this".

I'm not a huge fan of Tommy Robinson, he's a dangerous guy because the extreme right have nowhere else to go. But he does also speak the truth. A dangerous truth regarding the quality of some of those men who are crossing our borders illegally. We are driving people out of their home by supporting all these wars and some of them end up here: with a grudge.

Import the third world, become the third world.

[Mussels]

I've read a few of Robinson's tweets and his truths are somewhat distorted, he likes to make irrelevant connections to justify his rants.

[Tomcat]

The question now is, will Trump do what he said he'd do and end the war in 24 hours? I'll give him some leeway on the timescale, but if he's serious about it he can get his guy to pop over to Kiev and tell Zelenskiy, "If you and the Russians haven't got a workable peace deal by the time I'm inaugurated the flow of weapons stops permanently". The EU wouldn't be willing or able to sustain the war on their own and without all the outside assistance Ukraine would be overrun in a month. Funny thing is, I can actually see him doing it. He hates any USD going overseas unless he can get a cut of the profits and there aren't any more profits to be had out of Ukraine, just costs. Unlike other US politicians he doesn't have a pathological need to maintain an overseas bogeyman, he'd rather cosy up to dictators and build a few Trump hotels overseas instead.

[Screwdriver]

I hope he gets the chance to make good on that promise. The behind the scenes machinations of modern geopolitics is vastly, vastly more complicated than any of us mere mortals can comprehend. We know the CIA to name but one branch of US operations have been deeply involved in the Russia/Ukraine war. There is literally nothing they wouldn't do to achieve an objective, the only question being, what those objectives may be.

From where I'm sitting it looks like the main objective is to keep this going for as long as possible. Great for the military industrial complex.They will have a contingency for a Trump presidency so there may be some dirty tricks ready to go as we speak. That might scupper any chance Trump has to enforce a peace.

The war is also a great opportunity for the globalists itching to grab a massive slice of Eastern Europe. Yeah lookin' at you Blackrock. They already have a deal with Zelensky for the rebuild. Some of those massive corporate "gains" might filter back down through our respective economies (and pension schemes) but they will be slim pickings as the WEF gains another foothold in their quest for globalisation.

My simplistic take is that Trump will run America like a business. That will be good for Americans generally, standard of living etc. but perhaps not so good for developing or maintaining the US hegemony. Whether thats a decent trade off we'll have to see but I do believe Trump when he says he just wants people to stop dying.

[Hoonercat]

They will have a contingency for a Trump presidency so there may be some dirty tricks ready to go as we speak. That might scupper any chance Trump has to enforce a peace.

Lol the excuses are starting already

The war is also a great opportunity for the globalists itching to grab a massive slice of Eastern Europe. Yeah lookin' at you Blackrock. They already have a deal with Zelensky for the rebuild

Linky-proofy thing please

[Screwdriver]

Lol the excuses are starting already

Linky-proofy thing please

Excuse?? Merely an observation for what might happen. It will be pretty bloody obvious if they start a war with Russia and/or Iran!

Why do YOU think the Biden admin were so desperate to remain in power that they went to such extraordinary lengths to stop the most popular man from getting elected?

I say it is because Trump is not a part of the swamp. I believe he genuinely wants to restore America not merely as the worlds number one superpower but as an exemplar for true democracy for other countries to aspire to. Currently the administration is clearly being run for the personal enrichment of the corporate elites by corrupt deep state actors like Biden, Pelosi, Clintons and of course not forgetting Barry Soetoro.

I thought the Blackrock deal with Zelensky was common knowledge. Probably linked to in this very thread...

https://googlethatforyou.com?q=zelensky%20blackrock

[wheelnut]

I love the way you think global events and manoeuvring are preplanned down to the last detail. What makes you think (apart from YouTube and Twitter shite) chaos isn’t just that, chaos?

I miss your shed threads.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Said it loads of times, but IMO that's the common theme among fringe and conspiracy theories.

Large, complex, interacting events with no single identifiable cause being attributed to whichever 'them' you fancy. It's just a human tendency to try and put meaning on random chaos.

[Screwdriver]

I love the way you think global events and manoeuvring are preplanned down to the last detail. What makes you think (apart from YouTube and Twitter shite) chaos isn’t just that, chaos?

I miss your shed threads.

Sorry you'll have to nail it down, I can't respond to such vague rhetoric.

Which global event, what manoeuvre, which detail?

it is chaotic which is why I like to look into it and try and find something which might be pushing the trend to see where that might go. From that I might form an opinion that the Russia will invade Ukraine, the dems will kick out Biden at the last minute or they might try to assassinate Trump.

Interesting that you quite brazenly declare that YouTube and Twitter is "shite". Can you not see the irony in making such a ridiculous statement while trying to suggest I am some sort of blind idiot.

I am a big fan of PBS Spacetime and RRBuildings. I watched Leo from Sampson Boat Co. rebuild a 100 year old sailing vessel, TallHo, from the keel up. Cutting Edge Engineering is currently rebuilding an entire crane from laser cut sheet metal...

Those sources of information are not shite.

On X I get linked back to the most compelling podcasts from Joe Rogan, THE most popular "chat show" host on the planet. Yes, he basically gets people to talk shite on his show, for three fucking hours! But it is not "shite" in the way you mean it, they're "shooting the shit"; you get to see the real person. JD Vance is an amazingly cool guy it transpires. X is moderated by the very users who frequent it, it is super easy to see the nonsense because of the way Musk has reorganised feedback and moderation.

But don't get me started on Musk. I simply can't understand the haters. The guy is a fucking miracle. A once in a generation super genius who just happens to be an engineer. My kinda guy. His mum is super hot too. I mean, smoking hot.

There is a LOT of crap "out there" on both of those channels but it is absurd to suggest it is all shite and you compound that absurdity by suggesting that "if you believe that then you believe everything".

I did try to post some of my recent builds but I always get one of the known offenders harassing me, almost immediately. I am currently about to rebuild a couple of XT500's. One stock to sell and fund the other which will end up being a road hardened madmax rat bike. Built for endurance.

So cut the rhetoric, tell me exactly where you think I am going wrong but don't go wrong by telling me what I think. Just ask.

[Screwdriver]

Said it loads of times, but IMO that's the common theme among fringe and conspiracy theories.

Large, complex, interacting events with no single identifiable cause being attributed to whichever 'them' you fancy. It's just a human tendency to try and put meaning on random chaos.

Yeah, and I have said many (many) times that nonspecific rhetoric is lit. meaningless, useless word salad.

What are you talking about? You picked me up once regarding the Dominion voting machines which was helpful. Just waving your hands in some aimless direction and saying "stuff" is less helpful.

I do not "put meaning" on anything. I dig around and form an opinion and share it here to see how it flies. Is Biden really running anything, will they kick him out before the election, will Russia invade Ukraine, will the deep state try to assassinate Trump... These are all opinions or conjecture I form myself from a multitude of sources.

Then I share them here. It baffles me that all of those things are derided as conspiracy theory nonsense at the time. An undeserved insult which flies in the face of those events which transpire.

Yes, some of those sources I might frequent are full of shite but there are nuggets of info which form a pattern from which I form an opinion. Aurum ex stercore, you might say...

[Mr. Dazzle]

But don't get me started on Musk. I simply can't understand the haters. The guy is a fucking miracle. A once in a generation super genius who just happens to be an engineer.

I should start this point out by saying that I think the achievements of both Tesla and SpaceX are bloody impressive. Tesla basically kick started the whole EV thing and lit a fire under everyone else, bringing the market 'forward' by at least 10 years IMO. SpaceX speaks for itself.

But I don't think Elon Musk is an Engineering genius, I'm not even sure he's an Engineer! Does he describe himself thus?

Musk's great skill is having a vision and then selling that vision.

Nothing that SpaceX or Tesla have done is a new idea or a great revolution of thought. They've massively sped up things which were already going on, but despite what Musk puts on Twitter* everything they do was already 'in the works'. NASA were looking at self landing rockets in the 1970s, indeed all the probes they sent to Mars etc in the 70's and 80's were self landing rockets which also had to operate from 90 million miles away. Ditto on reusable Spacecraft - Space Shuttle anyone?

It's the same with Tesla, the tech in their cars is impressive (the EV side of it at least, which is the focus of course) but it's ideas which were already in the pipeline. I can give you one very specific example: Musk posted on Twitter about how the Model S has a carbon wrapped rotor which "no one outside a lab" has built - this is utter bollox, that tech has been in the market for >25 years and Tesla don't even do it the "good" way. Their cars are full of stuff like that.

As above, the thing that Musk has done really really well is bring together the people, and crucially the money, to make these ideas into a saleable reality. He's provided the motivation if you will.

It's not an accident that whenever SpaceX do something cool they end their broadcast with "For the chance to work at SpaceX, visit...."

*Sorry, "X". I wouldn't necessarily file that whole thing under his greatest ideas, but then again I have to accept the world's richest man knows business better than I do

[DefTrap]

X is moderated by the very users who frequent it, it is super easy to see the nonsense because of the way Musk has reorganised feedback and moderation.

So it's just a cooler way of being spoonfed the opinion you want to hear. Where's the balance and fact checking that ethical journalism is bound by? Where's the repercussions if you get it wrong? Who's moderating the moderators?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have their/your nonsense in full view, but don't kid yourself that Twitter is better than proper journalism.

[Screwdriver]

X is moderated by the very users who frequent it, it is super easy to see the nonsense because of the way Musk has reorganised feedback and moderation.

So it's just a cooler way of being spoonfed the opinion you want to hear. Where's the balance and fact checking that ethical journalism is bound by? Where's the repercussions if you get it wrong? Who's moderating the moderators?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have their/your nonsense in full view, but don't kid yourself that Twitter is better than proper journalism.

There is certainly an element of that but the algorithmic preselection for which media the statistics calculates you will prefer has been around for years now. We are all wise to that phenomenon. Do not presume to suggest I am not aware of the propagandist and manipulative element in ANY news source.

Interesting that you infer X and "ethical journalism" are mutually exclusive. X has become the worlds meeting place and everyone is on there. From all walks of life and all professions. Everyone except those who choose not to for their own political reasons.

The very last thing you will see on the mainstream media is balance and fact checking. Most large medai corporations are now either state controlled or (as the name suggests) owned by corporate bodies which have their own agenda and narrative. If the real news, the actual stuff that is demonstrably happening, does not satisfy that agenda or suit the narrative, the MSM simply will not carry it. End of.

But now if something newsworthy occurs and I hesitate to give the obvious examples, the MSM suppress those stories at their peril. Keir Starmer can lock up as many people as he likes for sharing their opinions/experiences but the story will end up on X or on some of the other "uncontrolled" sources.

And I know what that suggests, that these "uncontrolled" sources of course have their own prejudices and narratives but they are fragile outlets. We know that because Google/Alphabet/YouTube can throttle them at their whim. They also have to be right more often that they are wrong or they will throttle themselves.

But here's the trick: I know what I'm going to get with Tucker Carlson, Don Bongino, Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson etc. Some of them have wildly biased views in certain subject areas. I know that. But at least I get to hear a version of the story rather than no story. That's the kicker. Give me everything there is to know and I will sift through it and see what I think about it, not what someone else thinks and not what I have been told to think.

[DefTrap]

There is certainly an element of that but the algorithmic preselection for which media the statistics calculates you will prefer has been around for years now. We are all wise to that phenomenon. Do not presume to suggest I am not aware of the propagandist and manipulative element in ANY news source.

Before I critique, thanks for responding.

Of course twitter isn't journalism, at best the analogy is that it's like a Newsroom where drunken idiots interrupt all the time and start shouting until the host gives up. it's no better than the pub. I'm not sure I have the energy to sift through pub chatter for News, and I certainly don't have the energy to wade against the flow of the algorithm.

I have no great interest in the likes of Joe Rogan, I'm aware that he gives airtime to those who like to spread unscientific misinformation about COVID vaccination as fact for example (why not - he's a standup, turned presenter, turned shock jock he's not a journalist, he's in it for the views) which puts him firmly on my 'idiots' list, because this is dangerous nonsense. I could give less of a fvck what he thinks about the likes of Trump on the other hand, so recently gave him another try, for perspective, because it's interesting to hear what millions are hearing daily. It was what I expected really, he's just giving other idiots a platform. But what comes next is the problem - social media now thinks I want to see 24/7 Joe Rogan and friends, it's all over me like a rash. If I don't use my "piss off" filter, that's all I'm ever going to see from this point forward.

So, no, social media is a rubbish alternative to proper journalism. The algorithm can be twisted and paid for to suit - and it doesn't take a genius to see why Musk is involved in twitter. It can't be free speech if it's moderated and it's definitely not impartial if the algorithm is in control of viewable content, and if certain people are in control of both. Of course we're all aware this happens - but when folk are getting all their news from social media because they've been told that MSM are all liars I think this is a massive problem. And I don't get why you don't think that this in itself isn't newsworthy.

[Screwdriver]

I'll let Tucker Carlson know he's not a journalist.

Damn, he's been masquerading for decades....

I did not say X was journalism, I said you cannot claim that it does not allow journalists to present their information via that outlet.

Joe Rogan definitely isn't a classic "journalist" but then, he's a podcaster and is able to drag the personality out of people like no one else. But he did famously uncover the truth about Ivermectin. A truth the MSM and big pharma did not want anyone to know. In fact they drove a coordinated attack on Rogan to disinform the world. That has not played out yet, we need more data and that is the last thing big pharma want you to see.

Who are you going to rely on for the truth? Antoni Fauci? Good luck with that. That worm is one of the key protagonists in the entire COVID saga. He is a thoroughly nasty little man who has lied constantly regarding the manufacture of this bioweapon hidden as gain of function research, set up the Wuhan lab to try and hide it. Then lied to the world when it somehow escaped.

Interesting to see you admit you are not prepared to "sift though pub chatter for news". This tells me you actually want someone to just tell you what to think and ignore any other version, including all of the "back story" that MSM typically ignore. It is as if you need a comfort zone to protect your world view. The truth is too hard to handle, much easier to simply wrap yourself in a bubble.

We will have to agree to disagree because while you may be correct to suggest "all of MSM are liars" is not true, most of the mainstream media is lying and there is plenty of empirical evidence to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

That is indeed a massive problem.

[irie]

... social media is a rubbish alternative to proper journalism ...

This ^^^

Hardly surprising given the rise of the internet combined with education/reading age/IQ/etc. distribution curves. But infinitely more dangerous than the 'good old' "newspapers" with lots of pictures and minimal text.

[wheelnut]

Sorry you'll have to nail it down, I can't respond to such vague rhetoric.

Which global event, what manoeuvre, which detail?

…….

So cut the rhetoric, tell me exactly where you think I am going wrong but don't go wrong by telling me what I think. Just ask.

In the late 1800s Alfred Wallace, a respected naturalist, accepted a bet from John Hampden, a flat earther, to prove the earth was not flat.

Wallace was broke and had a young family and thought it would be an easy £500.

A long unpleasant story followed in which Wallace went bankrupt and had a good few years of aggravation.

The worst part for him was that he lost all respect from his peers in taking the bet in the first place. Their point was that you can’t reason with people who are irrational to begin with. There’s no common ground, no acceptance of a logical starting point.

That the whole ethos of the people you listen to. You can’t ‘prove’ them wrong.

And that’s why (apparently) 40% of Americans believe that the world is governed by some shady secret cabal.