[Abernathy]

https://news.sky.com/story/putin-long- ... a-13213722

. Long-range missile approval would put NATO - including UK and US - 'at war' with Russia, Putin warns

Putin’s bluffing, isn’t he ? Isn’t he ?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Wot?

[kreuzberger]

Wotld, that famously bleak oblast in wester Russia with which NATO will be at war, if Putina says so.

Shit's getting real, but only marginally so.

[Abernathy]

You know, wotld. The whole wotld .

[kreuzberger]

You know, wotld. The whole wotld .

Even in Braga and Ferguslie Prak?

(It's worse than I thought.)

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ukraine's invaded part of Russia and he didn't really do anything. There were leaked documents earlier this year saying that would meet the threshold for a nuclear response. So I'm highly sceptical missile attacks would lead to much of a response.

But if anything were ever above my pay grade, this is it.

[Youngian]

A preposterous threat that would mean game over for everyone but Putin isn't a rational actor. Or pretends not to be one but do we want to call his bluff?
Allowing Ukraine to possess these missles and the capability to fire them but not doing so might be the best move for now.

[The Weeping Angel]

I've found Jimmy to be a reliable commentator and analyst on Ukraine.

[Oboogie]

You know, wotld. The whole wotld .

Even in Braga and Ferguslie Prak?

(It's worse than I thought.)

You seem to be having a lot of trouble with your Rs, have you tried Preparation H?

[mattomac]

It’s convenient it came after his candidate had the debate to forget.

[MisterMuncher]

Realistically, Putin has to have fairly strong inklings, if not actual information, that Russian capabilities are pretty far from what they are on paper. So much hardware has been stolen, sold, left to rot, has no qualified operators, and just plain didn't work in the first place that he's running at a reasonable chance of hitting the button and getting a spray of confetti and an IOU from Viktor Bout. Though I note that particular piece of shit is back in Russia after a prisoner exchange...

[kreuzberger]

Europe-wide, the infrastructure which underpins the modern world is under attack. No bangs and pops, well not many. Just the interconnection of nation states being destroyed and barely an eyebrow being raised.

The issue here is that it is all too late. The marine charts of the shallow Baltic Sea meticulously detail where the cables are running. Presumably, that is so that hapless sea-dawgs such as myself don't run an anchor along the bed and fuck the whole thing up.

Malign actors clearly have other ideas.

[Bones McCoy]

Now kicking off with a late night declaration of Martial Law in South Korea.

[Oboogie]

Looks like the South Korea crisis is going to end with humiliation and resignation for Yoon Suk Yeol.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn38321180et

[The Weeping Angel]

Unlike us South Koreans know what it's like to like under authortarianism.

[Crabcakes]

Looks like the South Korea crisis is going to end with humiliation and resignation for Yoon Suk Yeol.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn38321180et

You have to wonder - as a largely unpopular leader with people in his own party not supporting him, and a seemingly made-up reason, what did he expect to happen?

[kreuzberger]

I work with a couple of South Koreans. Both are very level-headed classical flautists and, when I picked up the news this afternoon and broke it to them, both made the screwy-finger-mental gesture against their temples.

Yoon is not a man who enjoys widespread respect.

[Bones McCoy]

I work with a couple of South Koreans. Both are very level-headed classical flautists and, when I picked up the news this afternoon and broke it to them, both made the screwy-finger-mental gesture against their temples.

Yoon is not a man who enjoys widespread respect.

Nominative Determinism would grant him a second political career with the Scot's Tories.

[Oboogie]

You have to wonder - as a largely unpopular leader with people in his own party not supporting him, and a seemingly made-up reason, what did he expect to happen?

Bloke says something rash and hasty, online, late at night...does he drink, do we know?
Whatever, he's now backed down, martial law is cancelled, the South Koreans are very angry with him and everybody else is mocking him.

[Youngian]

Don't yet know enough about South Korea to challenge my only thought about Yoon, this sounds like a man who has had a breakdown. He'd drawn up a list to lock up his opponents.

Meanwhile in Syria, Assad forces are in retreat from a rebranded 'we're not Al Quaeda' rebel alliance. This conflict is now seen with different lenses. If Putin can no longer prop up a key strategic ally on its southern flank this is as bad for the Kremlin as the communist administration falling in Kabul in 1979. Assad' s other major ally is Iran and Israel is keeping them busy. These rebels are no fools.