[kreuzberger]

Thank you for reading this far, perhaps in the hope that there is a reason for this post. There isn't.

Well, that eskyalated quickly. Our friend and host in Regensburg was wondering what I was posting about, after that fine dinner of stuffed cabbage leaves and mash. I explained what we had seen and how I felt. She sighed. A wince. Visibly crest-fallen.

I should explain that our pal is a reasonably big noise in financial control at one of the global manufacturing concerns in this neck of the woods. Recently divorced, lovely big townhouse on the edge of the Regensburg old town, the Kreuzette has known her since god was a slip of a lass.

Anyway, I slept dreadfully last night and decided to make a slow start of it this morning. Coming downstairs for a fag and a coffee (in that order), she was just logging off a call with the local UA help organisation which has sprung into action round here.

Boosh! Two Ukrainian women, each with a child, will be moving in later this week. The bedrooms are being rearranged so that the UA families have their own space as well as an extra bathroom plus the roof terrace as we ease in to spring and beyond. The internet up on the second floor is a bit sketchy. A man is coming tomorrow to sort that out.

Meanwhile, we are boning up on Ukrainian recipes (stuffed cabbage leaves: check!) and downloading everyday DE/UA phrasebook essentials. What a ride, what a wonderful opportunity to do micro good in the midsts of a major clusterfuck.

To be honest, I am absolutely blown away.

[Boiler]

Stuffed cabbage leaves (galumpki, as Dad called them) - top stuff. Minced beef and rice in ours, served with tomato sauce. Beetroot soup of course, but never with cream.

Also potato dumplings, probably better known as pierogi (we had them plain, with butter). Don't forget cinnamon and sugared doughnuts, caraway seed bread and poppy seed and honey roll.

[davidjay]

Total, utter respect Kreuz.

[Oboogie]

Hear, hear, hat tip to the Kreuzer.

[The Weeping Angel]

[Bones McCoy]

Anybody know whether he's related to Valery Gerasimov (Chief of Staff of the armed forces) ?

[mattomac]

Is this what this is all about in truth.

At this point I just think they are some really heartless uncaring people. I’ve had it with this lot and anyone who enables them, go to hell the lot of them.

[Bones McCoy]

GB noos speke there branez!

[davidjay]

Is this what this is all about in truth.

At this point I just think they are some really heartless uncaring people. I’ve had it with this lot and anyone who enables them, go to hell the lot of them.

The bottom line with them is that for all their fine words they don't want any foreigners because we're full up and we should look after our own. Then our own homeless would only spend it on drink and drugs. And our poor spend it on plasma TVs and fags. And anyone who disagrees is just virtue signalling.

[mattomac]

GB noos speke there branez!

To be honest that was Patel and Truss together today… I felt sorry having to respond to ineptitude on a scale rarely seen.

We’ve got a processing centre that exists/doesn’t exist hidden because it makes it harder to seek asylum that way.

Whilst the Brains Truss couldn’t quite get her head around the ICC and it’s inability to judge in these cases even though Tom Tungenhat had told her at least three times.

She probably thinks it’s the Cricket governing body.

[kreuzberger]

Total, utter respect Kreuz.

This isn't me who is flinging the doors open, rather a friend of ours.

[Nigredo]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60635927

Russia have been laying land mines on the humanitarian corridors out of sieged cities.

I thought exceeding Serbia's evil in the 1990s would take some doing but Putin has managed it.

[Cyclist]

They've still got a way to go to reach the lows they set in Afghanistan in the '80s. To whit, packing explosives in children's dolls and dropping them over Afghan villages, specifically for small children to pick up.

The Russians have never played by the rules.

[The Weeping Angel]

This is like going to a BLM rally with a Confederate flag it's crass, insulting and utterly wrong.

[Andy McDandy]

They've still got a way to go to reach the lows they set in Afghanistan in the '80s. To whit, packing explosives in children's dolls and dropping them over Afghan villages, specifically for small children to pick up.

The Russians have never played by the rules.

Every so often one of us on here will talk about the long standing Russian foreign policy goals - buffer zone, warm water sea access etc - but this is an important thing. Understandable in a historical context, but tragic in the present, is their attitude to "the rules" - best summed up as "So what?". They will argue that everyone cheats, breaks treaties, all the usual whataboutery, at least they're open(ish) about it. Win first, mull over the morality of it later. While at the same time crying foul when anyone else makes an underhand move.

[Youngian]

What possessed this pro Putin cock sucker to go there? Stupidity and desperation

[Youngian]

Confidantes of the future PM and LOTO

[Rosvanian]

I was wondering which are the go-to news sources for updates on the situation in Ukraine for Mailwatch users. I don't use social media so for me it's limited to the mainstream news sites. I'm wary of anything else, actually, as I'm always conscious that such sites are rarely unbiased despite claims to the contrary.

[kreuzberger]

I was wondering which are the go-to news sources for updates on the situation in Ukraine for Mailwatch users.

Verified journalists on Twitter, the Guardian live stream, Sky News, Deutsche Welle, and, of course, Mailwatch - I trust most users on here to curate stuff I might have missed elsewhere.

Lyse Doucet on the BBC is brilliant for analysis but, generally speaking, if have found the BBC to be mainly voxpop-driven bollocks.

[mattomac]

I don’t mind the BBC for it’s news, it’s opinions I generally avoid.