Big Bad Bears - Russia and Putin

[BonnieShels]

You're contradicting yourself there.

I hate the fact that visas are needed to visit Russia to get in and out, but I have to respect it and their way of doing things. I hate the fact our government refuse to sign up to Schengen, making it more difficult for Russians (and other Eastern European nationalities) to visit Ireland, but that is how it is, and it won't change anytime soon.

By signing up to Schengen we lose the CTA. And I don't think that it would be very palatable to suddently require a passport to go from Belcoo to Blacklion and vice versa.

You spout about governments' rights to discriminate on the basis of value systems that they hold. But then equally hate the fact that say, this State sees more value in remaining outside Schengen (which I agree with) than being within.

Making it difficult for just Russians, Ukranians, Belorussians, Georgians and Moldovans essentially. Their love of Ireland knows no bounds.

---

Discrimination of any form is unacceptable. Whether on the basis of gender or orientation etc. That some places don't subscribe to these "wild" notions does not mean that we should accept it.

Just look up the road as we find ourselves in the Twelfth fortnight and see the jingoism that goes along with being the "Chosen people". Should we accept it because "they" consider it okay?

[peadar1987]

My position has been consistent from the very beginning. When evidence has been provided to back up the points, the goalposts have been moved onto something else, such as crap about life in the animal kingdom and what life is like for women in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and so on.

They weren't crap, they were analogies supposed to highlight that you were being hypocritical. In fact, they've shown you up to be something far worse.

Again, you're seeing the above example from the perspective of our culture, and to us it is wrong. In Saudi Arabia, they see it differently. What's right to us is not necessarily right to them.

Treating women not even as second-class citizens, but as property is objectively wrong, whether it's their culture or not. I'm actually staggered that someone is genuinely justifying the subjugation of half the population in the country.

ISIL are burning people alive for violating their interpretation of Sharia Law. Is that "right for them"?

If a man does a job for 40 hours (+ overtime) a week, and a woman does the same job for 20 hours a week, do you honestly expect them to receive the same salary?

No. And I never said I did.

Women receive, on average, 70% of the pay for the same work. Not for a different kind of work, not for a smaller amount of work. The same work.

Yes. You ran out of arguments.

You really think that, don't you? It makes me sad that you are probably never going to change your ridiculous opinions.

[mypost]

Amazing how many posters just can't stay on topic. Next in to bat...

By signing up to Schengen we lose the CTA. And I don't think that it would be very palatable to suddently require a passport to go from Belcoo to Blacklion and vice versa.

You spout about governments' rights to discriminate on the basis of value systems that they hold. But then equally hate the fact that say, this State sees more value in remaining outside Schengen (which I agree with) than being within.

Making it difficult for just Russians, Ukranians, Belorussians, Georgians and Moldovans essentially. Their love of Ireland knows no bounds.

---

Discrimination of any form is unacceptable. Whether on the basis of gender or orientation etc. That some places don't subscribe to these "wild" notions does not mean that we should accept it.

Just look up the road as we find ourselves in the Twelfth fortnight and see the jingoism that goes along with being the "Chosen people". Should we accept it because "they" consider it okay?

The twelfth is part of another country's culture. What we think of it isn't going to change it. Their country, their problem.

You argue that discrimination is wrong, just after happily doing so to hundreds of millions of fellow Europeans, just so you can go from Belcoo UK to Blacklion in our country without bringing your passport.

Of course, going from Belcoo to Blacklion would not be any issue at all if the brits also signed up to Schengen. Schengen is a CTA in itself, and it's much easier for said hundreds of millions of Europeans to go to the lucky ones in Schengen and invest their cash in those economies instead, so they do.

Treating women not even as second-class citizens, but as property is objectively wrong, whether it's their culture or not. I'm actually staggered that someone is genuinely justifying the subjugation of half the population in the country.

As you didn't read what I said, it's easy to see why you missed the point.

I didn't justify the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. I said that they treat women according to the traditions of their culture, which is different to ours. And if Irish people go there, they have to accept and abide by the rules of their culture, regardless whether they think it's right or wrong.

You really think that, don't you?

Indeed. Merely rewriting a quote to replace it with terms and phrases that suit your agenda is not an argument, let alone a poor one.

Discrimination exists. Trying to get rid of it, is like trying to get rid of poverty.

[DannyInvincible]

You haven't had any tolerance for different viewpoints. As you demonstrate once again below...

"Respect" can mean two things. It can mean that I acknowledge and tolerate your opinion in the sense I would defend your right to have it and would object to its suppression. I respect your opinion in that sense. The word can also connote admiration, however, but I find precious little to admire in your posts on this matter. I acknowledge your right to hold your opinion, even if I do find it objectionable, but I have absolutely no respect (admiration) for the manner in which you've continuously dodged crucial questions throughout this argument. This post was just another in a long line of avoidance attempts.

What your brain believes is really not my concern, but I don't find any of this debate a laughing matter. To me, it's pretty straight forward. Humans are brought into the world by a hetero act, and are therefore programmed as adults, to find a loving, hetero partner, so the species can be repopulated in the future. Russia as most of the world, recognises this and therefore advocates traditional family/marital relations which I fully support. That is their culture and it should be respected, not subject to sanctions. That is my opinion, it hasn't changed from the beginning, and it won't, no matter how many times you move the goalposts.

But the evidence - loads of it throughout numerous posts in this thread that you've conveniently ignored time and time again - completely contradicts your notion that humans are "programmed as adults, to find a loving, hetero partner, so the species can be repopulated in the future". There's been nobody moving goalposts except yourself in your effort to avoid Peadar's question.

If a man does a job for 40 hours (+ overtime) a week, and a woman does the same job for 20 hours a week, do you honestly expect them to receive the same salary?

Do you see it as inequitable that they don't? If not, why not and what justifies such discrimination? Why shouldn't women honestly expect to receive the same salary?

[DannyInvincible]

The twelfth is part of another country's culture. What we think of it isn't going to change it. Their country, their problem.

Does your interest in or willingness to admit or offer a solid, meaningful opinion on anything you deem "foreign" genuinely cease upon crossing an artificially-drawn territorial boundary (as any state boundary is)? It strikes me as another disingenuous pretence; just another cop-out or means of passing the buck, so to speak, because you lack the courage to face up to pertinent questions. We're all humans, aren't we? And, besides, you've already demonstrated you're more than happy to get off the fence and advocate foreign discrimination when you feel it suits you.

Anyway, your partitionist instinct may ignorantly blind you and empower you with an aloof sense of privilege or luxury of being able to feel completely untroubled by the experience of Irish nationals in the north of Ireland - good luck to you - but, even if you don't think Orangeism is an Irish cultural issue, and I'm not sure how you could think that, Orangeism has a presence in the Republic too; there are lodges in nine counties south of the border and the state provides the Order with public-money funding. So not quite as simple as "their problem" and being done with it like that.

[peadar1987]

As you didn't read what I said, it's easy to see why you missed the point.

I didn't justify the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. I said that they treat women according to the traditions of their culture, which is different to ours. And if Irish people go there, they have to accept and abide by the rules of their culture, regardless whether they think it's right or wrong.

Which has nothing to do with whether we have to agree with it or not. If I was a woman in Saudi Arabia, I would cover my hair so as not to go to prison. That has nothing to do with whether or not the state and the general population are right to systematically oppress women.

Remember that your whole line of argument before was that it was okay for Russia to discriminate against homosexuals because it was their culture? Not that there was nothing much we as westerners could do about it, or that it would be advisable for homosexuals to stay under the radar if they went there, that it was okay.

Indeed. Merely rewriting a quote to replace it with terms and phrases that suit your agenda is not an argument, let alone a poor one.

Only because you seem completely incapable of understanding the concept of an analogy.

In any case, I've been making the same argument over and over again, just rephrasing it to satisfy your constantly-shifting goalposts.

Discrimination exists. Trying to get rid of it, is like trying to get rid of poverty.

Yeah, those negroes in the southern US shouldn't have fought for equal rights, the Irish shouldn't have fought to get rid of the Statutes of Kilkenny, and women shouldn't have fought for the vote. Discrimination exists, and instead of doing anything to change it, we should just sit back and accept it.

[DannyInvincible]

I came across this interesting BBC piece on the tricky issue of gender/sex in sport: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/29446276

"For lots of good reasons, we have decided to have a class of athletes who aren't men," Epstein explained.

"But biological sex is not binary. That means whichever line you draw between men and women it is going to be arbitrary."

For now, Epstein agrees with the IAAF's experts that testosterone is probably "the best line we can draw", although he would prefer it if those experts at least admitted they were making an educated guess.

It led me to have a a read around how we define biological sex. I came across this piece debunking the notion of biological sex as binary and thought of you, mypost (wherever you've hidden yourself): http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943

So not only is sexuality not a binary manner, scientific thinking sees biological sex as being on a spectrum or continuum now too, whilst general lay attitudes still lag behind, arbitrarily or crudely pigeon-holing complex human diversity into two neat social (but scientifically dubious) categories. If biological sex is evidently non-binary, then your whole argument that humans are pre-programmed to find a "hetero" partner of the "opposite" gender simply cannot be sustained. There are no opposites in reality; just constructs that we have erected in order to help us understand our exceptionally complicated nature. Problem is, those constructs are clearly far too simplistic. How do you explain the reality (not mere concept) of multiple sexes/intersexuality within your narrow view of human biology and sexuality? You can't just pretend intersexuality doesn't exist. In what manner do you purport intersex people are "pre-programmed" to behave sexually?

[BonnieShels]

Amazing how many posters just can't stay on topic. Next in to bat...

What's the topic? The goal-posts have moved so much I'm not even sure what bloody sport we're playing anymore.

Oh wait, bat... baseball? Yeah? I geddit.

The twelfth is part of another country's culture. What we think of it isn't going to change it. Their country, their problem.

That's why it is a problem because of this partitionist view.

You argue that discrimination is wrong, just after happily doing so to hundreds of millions of fellow Europeans, just so you can go from Belcoo UK to Blacklion in our country without bringing your passport.

Hold on a second, you think it is okay to inconvenice your own citizenry but to inconvenience a hypothetical bunch of people from eastern Europe who may or may not ever want to nor need to come to Ireland is downright unacceptable?

Belcoo and Blacklion are in the same country, my country. They just happen to be divided by two jurisdictions. That you posess a different opinion or feeling on this is up to you. But to be honest I'll inconvenience Belarussians or Moldovans over my fellow Irishmen be they from Fermanagh or Cork or Derry or Cavan anyday.

One day you'll get North of Balbriggan in your spaceship and we'll chat about it.

Of course, going from Belcoo to Blacklion would not be any issue at all if the brits also signed up to Schengen. Schengen is a CTA in itself, and it's much easier for said hundreds of millions of Europeans to go to the lucky ones in Schengen and invest their cash in those economies instead, so they do.

Why should the Brits sign up to Schengen? Schengen is a form of CTA alright, but for Ireland and Britaian the CTA is obviously more important to their citizens, culturaly, politically and economically.

As you didn't read what I said, it's easy to see why you missed the point.

I really don't have time to go over all of your absolute spacecadet ramblings.

[SkStu]

Balbriggan by space ship? Is there no direct bus?

[BonnieShels]

Balbriggan by space ship? Is there no direct bus?

There was. Network Direct saw to its demise.

Now he has problems getting from the gate to passport control to luggage collection to the 747 in 5min.

[Spudulika]

In the 2 weeks I was on holiday, my salary managed to lose 14% of it's value, which is nice. Same happened last November, go out on holidays, come back and it was slashed by 41%, and in my last job I lost over 50% of the value of my salary from when I signed the contract to when I handed in my notice! Everything is getting very tight here yet the government have more important things to worry about. Russia's close (or closer) ties with China have taken a beating as well. Ukraine is no longer a real distraction and there is some surprise that head honchos are drifting away - Yakunin in Russian Railways being the latest. Yet all the time the government are more concerned with showpiece events like destroying smuggled food/ingredients or getting as much money as possible out of the country.

Odd little cases:
Former Defence Minister was done for major dodginess, was arrested when he was in his "lovenest" with his not too old assistant - the lovenest was next door to where his family live, I mean, NEXT DOOR! So, millions gone, she takes the fall, makes a pop video, gets sentenced but disappears - only showing up doing her shopping in boutiques and exclusive Moscow food stores. She only handed back 2/3 of the money she made.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...es/527902.html Worth a read, if only to see how much money can be made if you have the right connections!

[Spudulika]

Ex Russian Football Union President and Min of Sport, Vitaly Mutko, is back as President in an unopposed election. His only rival was bought off with a role on the executive and told he can run next year.

In the meantime, Sheremetyevo is being sold off to one of Putin's buddies (Rotenburg) and Putin is shot doing a work out with the Prime Minister, with the obligatory breakfast shots.

All the while the 3rd Rome burns as the currency bounces all over the place in line with oil. Today I'm attending a meeting of European Businesses, more than 1/3 of foreign (EU-NAm) workers have left since November 2013 and the number has not been replaced - according to the FMS (migration service). 1 in 6 Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Uzbek have left the country in the last 9 months - due to a mix of labour laws and firings.

In May I exchanged euros for roubles and got about 51rb-1eur. Last week it was 81r-1eur.

[SkStu]

His domestic governance may be abhorrent but his take on international matters is on point. This is a stirring speech and it's about time America and its buddies were told the truth.

http://newsrescue.com/putin-un-speec...#axzz3nNeKQZym

[bennocelt]

Id say there must be a mad scramble of CIA ops from that area of Syria at the moment

[mypost]

Which has nothing to do with whether we have to agree with it or not. If I was a woman in Saudi Arabia, I would cover my hair so as not to go to prison. That has nothing to do with whether or not the state and the general population are right to systematically oppress women.

I never said it was right, I don't even agree with it, but if women go to Saudi Arabia, then they must respect the culture and laws of Saudi Arabia, whether they like it or not.

That's why it is a problem because of this partitionist view.

Hold on a second, Belcoo and Blacklion are in the same country, my country. They just happen to be divided by two jurisdictions. That you posess a different opinion or feeling on this is up to you. But to be honest I'll inconvenience Belarussians or Moldovans over my fellow Irishmen be they from Fermanagh or Cork or Derry or Cavan anyday.

Belcoo, Fermanagh, and Derry are in the United Kingdom. Blacklion, Cork, and Cavan are in Ireland. The border is an internationally recognised line separating one EU state from another, as other borders do likewise throughout Europe, and beyond. It didn't just happen, it's there for a reason, and it hasn't budged an inch for almost 100 years. That's not a "partitionist view", that's the way it is.

10 years ago, Frazier and his merry band of brits were drawing up plans to wave their flags and bang their drums in OCS, which brought strong debate on this forum. Even though they had zero chance of making it down the street, the authorities refused to cancel the event, and on the day itself, the inevitable happened.

The Twelfth itself is british culture for brits in the UK. It's a matter for them to deal with.

I really don't have time to go over all of your ramblings.

Hence you don't get the point. Now, bring on the quizmaster.

"Respect" can mean two things. It can mean that I acknowledge and tolerate your opinion in the sense I would defend your right to have it and would object to its suppression. I respect your opinion in that sense. The word can also connote admiration, however, but I find precious little to admire in your posts on this matter. I acknowledge your right to hold your opinion, even if I do find it objectionable, but I have absolutely no respect (admiration) for the manner in which you've continuously dodged crucial questions throughout this argument.

I'm looking for the latter. You never get the former for holding non-pc opinions. I'm not demanding respect for avoiding certain questions. Some of them shouldn't even be asked, never mind answered.

But the evidence - contradicts your notion that humans are "programmed as adults, to find a loving, hetero partner, so the species can be repopulated in the future".

It doesn't. It was one of my first posts on the issue, reflecting a clear black and white biological reality of life, and you've spent the rest of the thread trying to turn it grey. Without success.

[mypost]

Back to the Ruskies, whose government have in their wisdom, decided to have a go at Syria. What military targets are left for any airforce to attack there is a mystery to me, but it's cost them about 250 lives to date, with aircraft shot down or blown apart. It's over double the amount massacred in Paris, but received a tenth of the media attention. Mass murder is mass murder, whether it's in Paris or anywhere else, the consequences are the same, and so should receive the same level of attention.

As a result, I believe the Russian government have instructed their clubs not to buy players from Turkey. That to me is government interference in football affairs, which is banned under FIFA regulations with crystal clear consequences. Yet the silence from them so far has been deafening. Why?

[DannyInvincible]

I never said it was right, I don't even agree with it, but if women go to Saudi Arabia, then they must respect the culture and laws of Saudi Arabia, whether they like it or not.

But you condoned, or endorsed even, Russian discrimination against homosexuals and the reason you gave for your approval was "because it [homophobia] is their culture". Now you're disapproving of discriminatory Saudi policy in respect of women despite patriarchy also being an element of Saudi culture. You're guilty of double standards. If you can take moral issue with Saudi Arabia on account of its discrimination, what's really stopping you from taking issue with Russian discrimination? Your own homophobic prejudices perhaps?

The Twelfth itself is british culture for brits in the UK. It's a matter for them to deal with.

Even if you do wish to ignorantly dismiss anything and everything north of the border as non-Irish, you are aware that the Orange Order has a long-standing presence in the south? They are an all-island organisation (funnily enough). Indeed, they receive governmental funding from both jurisdictions. They regularly meet in the south - there are Orange halls in Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Laois, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan and Wicklow - and they even have a march in Rossnowlagh (Donegal) every year. And you must know where the Boyne is? Y'know, that river by which the battle they commemorate took place...

Now, bring on the quizmaster.

Your continued hostility to closer scrutiny of your publicly-expressed views is telling.

I'm looking for the latter. You never get the former for holding non-pc opinions. I'm not demanding respect for avoiding certain questions. Some of them shouldn't even be asked, never mind answered.

You're seeking admiration from me? I'm afraid you won't be getting it, nor am I under any duty whatsoever to give it (I find the views you've consistently expressed throughout this thread thoroughly repugnant and insulting, as well as demonstrably inaccurate, and the manner in which you've gone about "debating" them has been wholeheartedly disingenuous and evasive), but why do you seek my admiration? You've not been particularly respectful yourself, have you, yet you expect admiration from others?... Laughable hypocrisy.

Who is denying you your voice for holding "non-PC opinions"? You're as free to post them and have then questioned as I am mine, which I think is great, although the examination clearly irks you as all you've done is try to dodge it. Others holding your views up to scrutiny doesn't equate to intolerance on their part. If you don't want to debate and have your views challenged by others, stop publicly expressing them and engaging. And the issue isn't that your views are "non-PC", lest you get away with playing the poor victim (spare us, please); it's that they simply don't stack up. They're based on groundless and ignorant presumptions and that has been demonstrated time and time again, but you don't even have the honesty to acknowledge the validity of the counter-arguments.

Or have you gotten mixed up between the meanings of "latter" and "former"?

Why exactly shouldn't the questions be asked? Why are they taboo? Because you say so? Because it forces you to scrutinise your shaky presumptions?... You expressed opinions and others, including myself, have asked questions of them. What were you doing expressing them on a public forum in the first place if you didn't want questions asked of them?

It doesn't. It was one of my first posts on the issue, reflecting a clear black and white biological reality of life, and you've spent the rest of the thread trying to turn it grey. Without success.

But there is no "clear black and white biological reality of life" in the sense you try to portray in terms of gender and sexuality. You simply stating that doesn't reflect proof or evidence of anything, nor does simply ignoring the substantive points I've raised to contradict your assertions. The definitions we commonly use - "man"/"women" or "homosexual"/"heterosexual" - are human constructs that have arisen as a result of particular historical patterns of human behaviour (or societal preferences for particular behaviour). They help simplify things for us into easier-identified categories in order to make "understanding" life's complexities and its social organisation a bit more convenient (or, indeed, to make life a bit more difficult for "others"/"outsiders", in many cases), but they are nevertheless limited in their arbitrariness.

Biology, gender and sexuality are not binary concepts; they are evidently fluid, spectral or of a continuum, or grey, if you prefer. It might be easy enough to identify what we socially think of as a biological man or a woman in most cases because there are a certain number of physical human traits that we see as being exclusive to both that most humans of either category respectively possess exclusively, but the existence of humans who possess a combination of these supposed exclusive or essential traits or who straddle the line of our constructed definitions demonstrates that the definitions are not concrete and are only that; fallible constructs of our imaginations. "Man" and "woman" are simply broad covering terms, but they do not cover the totality of sexual diversity. Once you acknowledge that reality, you can no longer sustain the notion (which is unproven and highly suspect anyway for the many reasons already outlined to you) that humans are "programmed as adults, to find a loving, hetero partner, so the species can be repopulated in the future"; the statement cannot even make sense as far as what we commonly refer to as transsexual/transgendered/intersex persons (and you cannot just deny that they exist) are concerned. If someone is evidently intersex, the notion of an "opposite sex" has no meaning for them because there's no such thing as even a perceived or constructed opposite in such a context.

See you again in a few months maybe...

[Lionel Ritchie]

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...erous-numbers/

"I am certain, and I stress, I am certain that the Ukrainian military and the Russian military will not be facing each other, they will be on the same side in a fight." Vladimir Putin, March 4th 2014



from Report preface: The war in eastern Ukraine is known under multiple names; most often formulations similar to Ukrainian civil war or Ukrainian conflict are still used to describe the war. The implied characteristic as solely internal Ukrainian conflict is heavily disputed and an active Russian participation is widely accepted. While there is now plentiful evidence documenting a direct and decisive participation of Russian servicemen and the Russian armed forces in the fighting in eastern Ukraine since summer 2014, it is however not possible to support the various claims about the size of the Russian involvement using public available information.

Given the nature of open source evidence, it is near impossible to provide an exact number of Russian servicemen participating in the fighting in eastern Ukraine only relying on this type of information. The open source research done by @Askai707 and InformNapalm strongly suggest that – at minimum – hundreds of Russian servicemen were involved in the fighting so far....

[mypost]

It's been a while since I was last here, so maybe it's time for some catching up.

Now you're disapproving of discriminatory Saudi policy in respect of women despite patriarchy also being an element of Saudi culture. If you can take moral issue with Saudi Arabia on account of its discrimination, what's really stopping you from taking issue with Russian discrimination?

I never said it was discrimination. What I said was, if you go to these countries, you comply with their laws and their culture. Whether you agree with it or not is immaterial.

Even if you do wish to ignorantly dismiss anything and everything north of the border as non-Irish, you are aware that the Orange Order has a long-standing presence in the south? They are an all-island organisation (funnily enough). Indeed, they receive governmental funding from both jurisdictions. They regularly meet in the south - there are Orange halls in Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Laois, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan and Wicklow - and they even have a march in Rossnowlagh (Donegal) every year. And you must know where the Boyne is? Y'know, that river by which the battle they commemorate took place...

So what. There are Mosques in Ireland for the Muslim minority. This is still a Catholic country, in the same way as Russia is a conservative Orthodox country.

I'm an Irishman living in Republic of Ireland. What happens in Drumcree is treated by me as if it were in Doncaster or Dover. The issues are for foreigners living in a foreign country to deal with.

Your continued hostility to closer scrutiny of your publicly-expressed views is telling.

You're seeking admiration from me? Laughable hypocrisy.

As it happens no. This is what I look for.

"Respect" mean that I acknowledge and tolerate your opinion in the sense I would defend your right to have it and would object to its suppression. I respect your opinion in that sense.

Unfortunately however, it doesn't quite work in practice.

If you don't want to debate and have your views challenged by others, stop publicly expressing them and engaging.

Ok. So again, what part of "I don't want a debate on this", do you not understand?

You've made it a debate. Furthermore instead of debating Russia, you've made me the focus of the thread. So that means I have no choice but to respond, or as you put it, "engaging".

Why exactly shouldn't the questions be asked? Why are they taboo? Because you say so? Because it forces you to scrutinise your shaky presumptions?... You expressed opinions and others, including myself, have asked questions of them. What were you doing expressing them on a public forum in the first place if you didn't want questions asked of them?

5 questions in that paragraph alone.

This is a thread about Russia. Not NI, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, America, or anywhere else. It's not about the animal kingdom or nature. It's about Russia, Russian culture, Russian politics, and Russian life. That is all. If questions asked have nothing to do with Russia, I'm not obliged to answer. If they contain views or language I find objectionable, I'm not obliged to answer. If it's a pile of glorified rubbish/waffle, I'm not obliged to answer. Most of what I am responding to, is about me. When I post about Russia as I should, you don't respond as you're not interested.

With diplomatic American-Russian relations at rock bottom, the election of Trump is timely, and will hopefully smooth things. Putin has warmly welcomed the stunning success of Trump, who stormed into the Oval Office by blowing the blue wall away, by overcoming 17 opponents of varying degrees of experience. But it will be interesting to gauge Trump and the West's response in general when the Russian Presidential elections are held in 15 months. Well not so much an election as an elaborate coronation for Putin, who is certain to win, just in time for the World Cup, and allow every visitor a rare visa free experience criss-crossing the country.

[backstothewall]

So what. There are Mosques in Ireland for the Muslim minority. This is still a Catholic country, in the same way as Russia is a conservative Orthodox country.

I'm an Irishman living in Republic of Ireland. What happens in Drumcree is treated by me as if it were in Doncaster or Dover. The issues are for foreigners living in a foreign country to deal with.

Our constitution makes it very clear that Ireland has no state religion. The Catholic Church may well be the biggest denomination, but even counting the legions of people who claim to be Catholic without showing up at Mass from one decade to the next, the Irish Republic is 84% Catholic. The number of people claim another religious affiliation or none is roughly the same as the number of people who are left-handed.

I've never heard anyone refer to us as a right handed country.

And I am not a foreigner.