[Fleecewife]

I'm hoping there's a young member of his guard who has seen how he operates and has rellies in Ukraine perhaps, who is brave enough to take on the task.


There is some evidence the Russian supply lines are having problems, as the Convoy troops have started looting local food supplies.  Modern soldiers will put up with far less than in the bad old days, and with a killing field being prepared for them up the road, the men in the convoy will not be happy.  Add to that a huge number of Russian tanks and aircraft have been destroyed, which the wee man did not expect and you can see that things are not going quite his way. He's so dangerous though, unbalanced and deluded, untrustworthy, but perhaps his smugness will be his down fall.
My heart weeps for the people on both sides caught up in this war of greed and idiocy, for their sons dying for a cause they don't agree with on one side, and don't want on the other side.

[Fleecewife]

And now we hear he's targeting hospitals, nurseries and schools which has always been unacceptable in any war. Deliberate attacks on the civilian population.
Reading around the topic I found that the wee man observed what happened in the rest of the world when he invaded Crimea 10 years ago - nothing - and got the confidence to do it again.  He's right, we're doing nothing except sympathising with the people of Ukraine

[macgro7]

And now we hear he's targeting hospitals, nurseries and schools which has always been unacceptable in any war. Deliberate attacks on the civilian population.
Reading around the topic I found that the wee man observed what happened in the rest of the world when he invaded Crimea 10 years ago - nothing - and got the confidence to do it again.  He's right, we're doing nothing except sympathising with the people of Ukraine

This is 3rd time actually.
2008 they annexed areas of Georgia (in the Caucasus, not Georgia USA...)
2014 they annexed the entire Crimea (beautiful place btw, always wanted to visit)
Ukraine thing has been going on for years though. I was reading comments from almost a year ago, when Zelenski said he supports Israel when Palestinians were getting bombed last May, people commented "wait untill Putin attacks Donbas: 🤔 😬

[chrismahon]

So France managed to arrest the 11 members of the French Foreign Legion that decided to desert and go to Ukraine to fight. Thank God for that as they are armed members of the French forces and to get involved in Ukraine effectively means France declares war on Russia. Now 4 have deserted from the UK. I hope they stop them before they get there. As you must know, NATO will not get involved.


Suddenly, how Ukraine feeds themselves becomes, sadly, a secondary problem.

[macgro7]

As for volunteering to fight in Ukraine (or any other country in the world) - most countries consider it treason to join armed forces of any foreign country. That's the reason British people were arrested after coming back from Syria.
They should also be arrested for joining the fight in Ukraine.

[Fleecewife]

Other countries have stood back so far, but now the wee man has committed a huge war crime, with bombing a hospital full of women and children, do we continue to stand by and watch?  That was the way it went in Bosnia with evil war crimes, genocide, and we waited until it had ended before pursuing those known to be guilty were caught and dealt with.  I know it's to prevent escalation but it's horrific to just watch.
I don't think feeding people becomes a secondary issue. Starving troops on both sides cannot fight, so in this case starvation could be a good thing if it slows down hostilities.


What it does show is how scarily quickly a country with a large food production industry of it's own can be brought to its knees by lack of food.
Britain is extremely vulnerable to being cut off from food deliveries/imports and yet as a country we seem to be almost deliberately cutting our ability to support ourselves, to be self sufficient in food. We know how to do it, we did it in WW2, but it takes time for crops to go from seed to plate even in the best of circumstances. We need to learn from this.

[doganjo]

I would .love for us to retaliate, but doing so will inevitably create world war 3 and involve other forms of ammunition - nuclear comes to mind, but he is capable of using chemical warfare.

That I think would be the end of the world as we know it.  Would the human race be able to survive.

Or is he likely to go ahead and use those wepons anyway?

Who k knows what is in  his sick mind

[chrismahon]

At last we have a heating oil delivery for tomorrow. BUT it is now €1.75 a litre, was €1.07. So if Putin turns up here I'll be asking for €540 to cover our losses. We have a vice ready for his balls.

[chrismahon]

Said on French TV this morning that the average price for heating oil is now €1.91. The reason (they said) was that 'fioul' (as it's known here) is used to run tractors and the farmers union has advised all members to stock up now for the year. So demand has outstripped supply and that has pushed the price up beyond the oil price increase, temporarily.


I didn't know tractors ran on heating oil?

[Fleecewife]

It all comes from the same source, however it's processed.
Without fuel, the power goes out of the agricultural industry and without power farmers can't grow their field crops.  So a shortage of fuel caused by the war will have a knock-on effect on food production world-wide, not only in Ukraine. It's as well farmers are stocking up now as the situation will only get worse as the war continues.
We are lucky in that we don't use much fuel compared to some but I suppose we should do our bit to push prices up by filling our storage cans!

[macgro7]

Now imagine, being in that situation for 70 years, when illegal settlers are cutting down olive trees, which are often the only source of income for poor farmers in Palestine 

Ukraine exports most of their wheat, barley, beans and sunflower oil to China and the Middle East. In Egypt their is not enough agricultural land to support 90mln people living their - most of their food is imported, which means this war will have even more effect on even more lives than we think.
Average monthly wage in Egypt is around £100. Minimum wage around £60 a month.
Imagine living on this much when food is going to get a lot more expensive???

[chrismahon]

Well, after handing over a very large cheque to the oil man, I've been giving saving energy (so money) a great deal of thought. Problem we have is our oil boiler is a combi, which wouldn't have ever been my choice. We can supplement space heating with wood, which hasn't changed in price (yet), but hot water is now costing a fortune, both because of the fuel and also the poor insulation. I've checked the insulation, discovered a rat has been removing it to get to the warm tank and have repaired it . We're off to town on Monday to buy an axillary hot water tank. 100 litres with a standing load (heat loss) of just 1.07Kw per day. It's a mains pressure unit, as they all are here, which will simply be fitted into the hot water circuit pipe on the wall. Then the boiler will go off, or be turned down to its minimum of 30C and the new tank switched on. Electricity prices have been capped to a 4% increase here, so by my calculations this installation will pay back in 18 months.


If you have a hot water tank, give some consideration to the insulation, because it could be costing you a lot.

[macgro7]

Said on French TV this morning that the average price for heating oil is now €1.91. The reason (they said) was that 'fioul' (as it's known here) is used to run tractors and the farmers union has advised all members to stock up now for the year. So demand has outstripped supply and that has pushed the price up beyond the oil price increase, temporarily.


I didn't know tractors ran on heating oil?

As for energy prices going up

[Fleecewife]

Unfortunately this topic got hijacked to discuss fuel prices, not the welfare of the Ukrainian people so I shall lock it.
I knew when I started this that war would be bad, but it has turned out so much worse than I had believed possible.  I am completely stunned and horrified by what is happening in Ukraine today

[Fleecewife]

Locked