Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

Firstly. That is obviously a Yank. We don't have "diapers" in Britain we have "nappies."

Yeah a good joke but pointless as the truth is that Putin is far more popular than most of our leaders are.

Putin’s popularity has been achieved in an information vacuum. An informal set of censorship rules, actively enforced by the Kremlin, makes it virtually impossible to discuss important issues and question official actions through the mass media. Today, independent voices rarely reach into Russian living rooms over the airwaves. In recent months, the government has tightened its noose, pressuring even outlets serving niche audiences, such as the news Web site Lenta.ru, the newspaper Vedomosti and the Moscow station TV Rain. Meanwhile, feverish state propaganda feeds Russian television audiences an unchallenged and delusive flow of information designed to show the country’s leaders in the most positive light while blaming problems on “fascists,” “foreign agents” and “fifth columns.”

Sergei Reznik, a journalist and blogger based in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don who has been held since November 2013, was due to have been released in May on completing an 18-month sentence, but a court increased his sentence to three years in prison at the prosecution’s request at the end of a new trial yesterday. This means he will not be released for another 21 months.

MOSCOW — Russia showed off new machines of war, including a highly sophisticated tank, on Saturday in the annual Victory Day military parade through Red Square that marks the surrender of Nazi Germany and the Red Army’s key role in the defeat.

The Armata tank drew a strong round of applause as it rumbled through the square. Also on view for the first time at the parade was a lumbering RS-24 Yars ICBM launcher, along with several new, smaller vehicles.

Putin got out and pushed.

The unlikely sounding device is the brainchild of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, which describes itself as the world's oldest peace organization.

In an effort to combat military aggression and homophobia in one fell swoop, it's created the "subsurface sonar system" to greet any Russian submariners who might find themselves lost in Swedish waters.

The animated neon sign shows a man wearing only a sailor's hat and white underpants thrusting his hips, with little love hearts flashing. It bears the message: "Welcome to Sweden" in both Russian and English, with the text "Gay since 1944" -- a reference to the year that Sweden legalized homosexuality -- added in English.

A Morse code message simultaneously calls out: "This way if you are gay."

The headline-grabbing move is a response to the Swedish government's stepped-up military efforts after a suspected Russian submarine incursion into Swedish waters last year.

The Swedish military carried out an intense sweep of the waters off Stockholm but later said it was not able to confirm the nationality of the intruding submarine.

Last month, the government proposed a defense bill that would see military spending grow by 11% over the next five years -- the first such increase in more than two decades. The additional spending would allow "additional reinforcement of anti-submarine warfare capability," among other measures, it said.

The activists' move is also a comment on Russia's perceived homophobia, centered on its "gay propaganda" law, which makes it illegal to tell children about gay equality. The law, passed in 2013, has been widely criticized not only by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates but also by Western leaders, who have called it archaic and discriminatory.

In a statement, the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society invited any submarine crew -- Swedish or foreign -- that picked up the message to join them at Stockholm's Gay Pride parade in August.

"In times of unrest, love and peace across boundaries is more important than ever. We want to break up with the violence," said Daniel Holking, the society's communications and fundraising manager.

"If military actions and weapons had functioned as conflict-resolution methods there would be peace in the world a long time ago," added Anna Ek, the group's president.

An 11% increase — for one submarine sighting? Heavens: What if Sweden actually had enemies?

A change of doctrine and new toys would be expensive. Here there is a disadvantage of being small countries, these toys would take up a sizeable part of a smaller budget, and these are essentially political toys, not defence toys.

Likewise invading Russia is not a cunning plan.

Quote from: jax on 2015-05-16, 04:32:05

Likewise invading Russia is not a cunning plan.

Hitler learned that lesson too late.

So did Napoleon. Tragic thing is, Hitler might have learned from history if he had chosen to. The same things that got Napoleon's armies helped destroy Hitler's armies--- the Russian winter, and a British adversary that wouldn't stop fighting on the other side.

And why shouldn't Russia too smilingly welcome EU's outstretched arms?