Things Noticeable this week

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Careful what You say,They could be one of Our trading partners in Our "Global Future"

India is already a very important UK trading partner now, today. India is ranked third in overseas investors in the UK economy and Britain is ranked third in overseas investors in the Indian economy. We already have a series of bi-lateral trade agreements with India.

[rotobott]

When I visited India I couldn't believe the poverty, and the difference between the rich and poor, gardeners crawling across a rich guys lawn cutting it with scissors, and they have a space programme

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

In reply to Donny Fartpants speech to the NRA

Trump's London knife crime comments ridiculous, says surgeon
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44017054


Does anyone give that dickwad any actual intelligence notes before he opens his mouth or does he just say what he thinks his intended audience want to hear, I firmly suspect the latter.

Absolutely he ignores all the intelligence briefs he gets and ignores his handlers. That's been verified many times. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...?noredirect=on

"that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital right in the middle is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds".

I suspect the ignorant pompadoured twat has never actually been near a war zone except under massive security details.

He's never been near a war zone, period.

I cannot wait to see what the numbnut says when he actually comes over here

You just insulted numbnuts around the planet.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/630379...ofed-geography

"Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART!"

Get Smart indeed you air-headed NRA glove puppet

He's not even smart enough to BE an NRA glove puppet.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by DTravel

He's not even smart enough to BE an NRA glove puppet.

The comments Mr Trump made in the same speech to the NRA concerning the Bataclan nightclub terrorist outrage in 2015 certainly support this view. After his recent overtures to President Macron of France, this astonishing insult to France seems to indicate a complete disconnect, a total inability to use joined up thinking. What advantage can there possibly be in offending the French people, except to please the NRA and his audience there, who in fairness did nothing to indicate that they wanted him to alienate an important international US ally and partner, and might not necessarily want to be associated with the comments Mt Trump made.

[scoundrel]

On a slightly less depressing note, I noticed something this week which may offer part of the much needed path forward for a better future in a world which is going to be much more crowded and much harder to keep environmentally clean with so much human activity and exploitation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43961898

Heavy metal contamination of the environment by human activity is nothing new. I remember being on a school trip to the Pennine hills above Wharfedale and walking along the banks of a small beck (stream) and through a cutting in the hills. There were large mounds of mine waste near the beck, still innocent of grass, which had been there for hundreds of years. The place was a former lead mine, worked by hand since at least Roman times but abandoned hundreds of years ago. There was a token human presence, noticeable only by the sight of a single diesel generator, because there is fluorite to be found in the old mineshafts and in the piles of waste, and fluorite has a commercial value nowadays. But the teachers firmly warned us not to drink the water anywhere in these hills because:

• You can get liver flukes from the water due to all the sheep in the area.
• There is liable to be toxic heavy metal pollution from the various lead mines, even though none of them has been worked for hundreds of years.

There are already various ways available to treat heavy metal pollution in water, but none of them are cheap. Usually, private commercial enterprises don't want to pay for something which doesn't directly generate profits and much more often than not they will dump untreated toxic water into the river network to save money. They risk punishment but generally get away with it.

The advantage of a cheap and portable solution such as the one in the BBC story is that, if it is cheap enough, easy enough to install and really does the job, then it changes the cost-benefit equation. Private commercial enterprises don't really want to risk being subjected to punitive sanctions and bad publicity, but will do it to avoid the costs of conventional water treatment if these are too expensive. If the costs are low and there is a benefit to be had in terms of risk management and potentially good publicity from being able to demonstrate that they are environmentally responsible, a lot of private mining enterprises will be rather interested, even in the USA where people far too often couldn't care less about the environment - unless there there is something in it for them.

Cheapness and ease of installation will be critical if this new idea is going to become widespread, but it is easy to see the potential. It might even be possible to use solar or hydro-electric power sources in conjunction and save petrol or diesel on running the process, both cleaner air and cheaper bottom line cost.

There is an awful lot of contaminated water out there just waiting for a flash flood to force it out of storage ponds into the drinking water supply. This new technique could be seriously good news for our future.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

OPCW have managed to get people on the ground, but they report a great deal of 'sanitation work' has been done in the area

Says who and where? I've heard nothing about that. But I'll tell you something we both know without looking -- people will remove bodies & body parts (to bury them) and this does involve disinfecting areas where there are body fluids etc. It also won't be possible to hide all traces of a chemical attack, which I sincerely doubt took place. So wait for their results

I expect our Russian contributors will attack this post, I just remind everyone of two things, firstly the Russians have not retaliated, either militarily or diplomatically to the strikes, and secondly the Russians have gone very very quiet on the subject of Salisbury

I don't believe either of the attacks took place, and nor does Moscow. It wouldn't be the first time your people had manufactured a story and sold it to a gullible people & parliament, would it? Both stories are unravelling, as the last one did

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

Says who and where? I've heard nothing about that. But I'll tell you something we both know without looking -- people will remove bodies & body parts (to bury them) and this does involve disinfecting areas where there are body fluids etc. It also won't be possible to hide all traces of a chemical attack, which I sincerely doubt took place. So wait for their results

I don't believe either of the attacks took place, and nor does Moscow. It wouldn't be the first time your people had manufactured a story and sold it to a gullible people & parliament, would it? Both stories are unravelling, as the last one did

Unravelling only in your own mind, Palo. Presumably in this context "both stories" means the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury as well as the alleged gas bombing in Doura.

The thing is, we have heard so many Russian denials of things which are so self-evidently fact that we can't afford to believe anything coming from Russia or her sympathisers (sorry Palo) on issues of Russian and Russian allied aggression. What Moscow says she believes is not worth the time we would spend listening to it.

Russia is an empire in decline and empires in decline are dangerous and liable to irrational acts of violence. We have seen this on large scale, such as the aggressions against Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea, the shooting down of Flight MH17, and of course the repeated use of chemical weapons by Russia's ally, Syria. We have also seen petty but intensely personal and malicious murders and attempted murders; flagrantly disrespectful to my own country to do these things here - and you have seen that Britain can and does pay Russia out when she acts in this way.

We will wait to hear what the inspectors report. You, on the other hand, appear to already know.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

The thing is, we have heard so many Russian denials of things which are so self-evidently fact that we can't afford to believe anything coming from Russia or her sympathisers

The key word there is "afford", and the reason is because it would undermine your not-credible arguments against Russia, and your illegal presence in Syria. Your leaders should be in front of the ICC for your illegal activity there

Russia is an empire in decline and empires in decline are dangerous and liable to irrational acts of violence. We have seen this on large scale, such as the aggressions against Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea, the shooting down of Flight MH17, and of course the repeated use of chemical weapons by Russia's ally, Syria. We have also seen petty but intensely personal and malicious murders and attempted murders; flagrantly disrespectful to my own country

Not exactly. USA is an Empire in decline, and extremely dangerous, as we've seen from their proliferation of military bases & wars, costing millions of lives and much misery

Concerning Georgia, Ukraine & Crimea. I can only suggest you get an education, sori to put it that way, but it's true. You don't appear to know much about the USSR and its former republics, or where Russians live

Oscetia & Donbas etc are mostly Russian, so if they are attacked militarily by forces supported by the West (or anywhere else) Russia will not tolerate it. You would not tolerate it either

Crimea was always Russian, and always wanted to be Russian, but it didn't matter that it was made Ukrainian when USSR still existed, because we lived together. However, it was seen as a mistake when the US organized a coup against an elected government in Kiev, and it looked like aggressors would try to gain military bases where our people live

And that's why Crimea had a referendum to stay with Russia, approved by 97%. Unlike your Brexit vote, this was extremely convincing

As for MH17 and murders, you've never provided evidence, which is why you lack credibility. You ought to know by now that almost all the world gets the internet, and almost no one believes you, because they know you have a dishonest anti-Russian agenda

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by palo5

And that's why Crimea had a referendum to stay with Russia, approved by 97%. Unlike your Brexit vote, this was extremely convincing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea...ferendum,_2014


A referendum held whilst under military occupation, maybe Cameron should have called the army in

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

A referendum held whilst under military occupation, maybe Cameron should have called the army in

Military occupation of its own people?

Ir's well known your press mislead you and just repeat government lines. I suggest you investigate deeper, or even go there and find out for yourself. It's not difficult to find out what is really the case

Do you know how much Crimea's GDP has grown since it returned to Russia? Think about it