You were commenting on the US president and parroting the right-wing view that he is 'weak'.

It is therefore entirely on topic to ask you if you prefer a right-wing one who prayed to his particular version of the sky pixie before trotting off to launch invasions.

It's certainly no more 'off topic' than your using this as another excuse to trumpet your homophobic credentials.

I preferred the Reagan and Thatcher era when strong Western leadership prevailed over weak Russian leadership and led to the emancipation on tens of millions of people. Putin has learned the lesson of history but we haven't. Freedom needs fighting for and constant vigilance.

At least Ronnie only consulted the stars, which at least do exist.

Two points:

1) It wasn't 'Russia' at the time.

2) The situation also demanded strength of leadership from Gorbachev, who recognised the economic ramifications of continuing the stupidity of the arms race. To pretend that that was 'weakness' would be errant nonsense.

With hindsight most intelligent commentators, even the American ones, can look back at the era from the late 1950s to the start of Glasnost and realise just how close the world came to conventional and nuclear conflict on several occasions during those 30 or so years, close enough to look back and think "Actually, that was all a bit stupid" close enough to understand, with hindsight, that talking and economic sanctions should ALWAYS, without fail or question, precede even threats of military action.

Sixteen years ago I stayed for a couple of nights on a British Army base in Northern Germany which was still used by a tank regiment of some description, it was the size of a small town, in fact it dwarfed the small German town next to it but it was apparently randomly located hundreds of miles from the Soviet border, except that it wasn't really for in the bad old days it was only one or two miles away from the East German border and the size of the military on call on that base gives you an indication of how seriously the NATO forces took the threat from the USSR, if an invasion had started at any point that would have been the front line and that base would have defended all of Northern West Germany and the Baltic coast.

If you're happy to spend billions every year to appear to have big balls then fine, throw some more voluntary tax into a big pot, or ask Cameron to strip off his shirt and be photographed on a boar hunt in a slightly homo-erotic publicity campaign...

No one was happy to spend the money it was considered necessary in order to prevent Europe being overrun.

The UK should perhaps have allied itself to Russia a couple of years ago. We are now allied with a split alliance - the ineffectual talking-shop that is the EU and the USA. The EU can never seem to agree with the US which leads to a weak and weaking situtation as regards the defence of Europe. Poor stategic thinking is pushing Russia toward China which would leave the old West, or more particularly, Europe very vulnerable.

Oh god no – he'd tweet it, for heaven's sake.

It's those homo-erotic pictures of strong man Putin, isn't it?

People have suggested your homophobia is Freudian – now it seems you've given the game away.

Why are such pictures "homo-erotic"? You live in a warped word.

Ooo, all machismo – images of hunting and shooting and fishing, with bare flesh and rippling muscles as well as the guns.

Ooo Dally, don't pretend you don't understand.

To what? Invasion? Really, the Chinese are going to back an invasion by the Russians of their major sales markets?

The Russian leaders are brainless thugs, the Chinese are smart, organised and their leaders have no "c0ck waving" agenda they have to follow to stay in power. Russia is a steaming S4h1thole with it's only "product" being oil and gas (as long as you don't count computer viruses, teen sex slaves, gangsters or brides for rich old dudes), which is owned and controlled by Putin and his Oligarch backers. The wealth of Russia is being siphoned off into property in West London and Cyprus banks. They scare me the way Vinnie Jones scares me, I wouldn't want to end up spilling his drink but other than that I find his acting work easy to ignore.

I'll have to find the report that appeared in one of the Sunday broadsheets where they sent a reporter to Russia to interview two Russian newspaper men ostensibly about life in general in Russia but with a slant towards homophobia.

Without prompting he was invited to a holiday home that one of the reporters had where his two hosts stripped naked and took a sauna to demonstrate what Russian males call their bonding time, he thought it was a little uncomfortable in -10 degrees but went along and got naked with his two new pals in the sauna including the beatings with tree branches and a full body massage from one of his hosts, they also sat and chatted about hunting pigs and other wild animals and his hosts were very complimentary about Putin and his fine figure of a man photos, they are very admiring of their President.

Finally at the end of the weekend the English reporter broached the subject of homo-erotica coincidentally (or maybe not) while he was being beaten with birch twigs again - he said that the atmosphere of convivial male bonding and vodka suddenly became ice cold and his hosts were very explicit on what they would do if they ever came across a homosexual male, after a little more prompting they got a little suspicious about their guest and took him straight to the airport

It was quite a funny article which reinforced every stereotype, the only thing that was missing was for the reporter to declare that he was gay.

I think I read that.

It would have been better yet if he'd declared himself gay AND kinky, and thus enjoyed all that birching.

One of the things that occurs to me is how much it illustrates just how different culturally is Eastern Europe from the west of Europe. That's the big divide.

For all Dally's desire for us to have an alliance with Russia, we have have so much more in common with the rest of Northern Europe (including, but not limited to, language). From the perspective of the UK, we've ditched a lot of that in favour of the States and a rampant import of all things American.

Hey ho ...

Amazing how within four post a thread can be completely derailed from talking about the Wests hypocrisy over the happenings in Ukraine onto the subject of homophobia!

Trying to get back to the point - there is a shocking report on Channel 4 about the Far Right leaders who have taken power being behind the sniper killings of police and protestors, backing up claims made by Putin that it is indeed a far right Fascist Coup that our glorious leader Cameron is supporting.


It is reported that Ukraine's special services, friendly to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, bugged the conversation between Baroness Ashton and a man believed to be Urmas Paet, the Estonian foreign minister. It is thought the conversation took place around the 26 February, shortly after Yanukovych fled the country.

There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition.
Urmas Paet
In the recording, the male voice says he has been told of evidence suggesting that one group was responsible for shooting both riot police and protesters alike, and that there is a "stronger and stronger understanding" that one of the Maidan leaders organised the shootings.

It has previously been reported that government gunmen were responsible for the majority of 88 protester deaths in the uprising.

The man alleged to be Mr Paet describes how he spoke to "Olga" - a person whom the female voice on the tape, believed to be Baroness Ashton, seems to know. He describes Olga as a doctors' leader in Ukraine. It is understood that Olga refers to Dr Olga Bogomolets.

Mr Paet says that Olga told him that "all evidence shows that the people were killed by snipers from both sides - among policemen and people from the streets - that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."

He continues, they don't want to investigate what exactly happened, so that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition."

Baroness Ashton apparently responds