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Support for Ukraine


HitchinRed

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1 hour ago, HitchinRed said:

I see that Poland has confirmed that it will refuse to play Russia in a World Cup qualifier. 


We all know that FIFA will be weighing up the $s before they consider what action to take, so the question is should England also boycott any match with Russia, even if this means disqualification from the World Cup?

 

%100 YES

Russia needs to be made a complete pariah state , in every single way, frozen out from the civilised world

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How will Ukranian sportsmen and women feel if they have to compete against russian teams or competitors? I think we should be banning Russia from all sports in solidarity but it would be interesting to hear their views. I saw a tennis player saying today he will be going back home and joining the militia. If that is any indication we should be 100% behind a ban. Allowing them into the olympics as ROC was a joke. 

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12 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

How will Ukranian sportsmen and women feel if they have to compete against russian teams or competitors? I think we should be banning Russia from all sports in solidarity but it would be interesting to hear their views. I saw a tennis player saying today he will be going back home and joining the militia. If that is any indication we should be 100% behind a ban. Allowing them into the olympics as ROC was a joke. 

 He is not on his own:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ukraine-russia-war-football-kravets-26327608.amp
 

It has to be said at least one Russian international footballer has spoken out against the war. Massive respect to him and any other Russian player brave enough to do so but it just sends out the wrong signal to willingly play competitive sport against a country trying to invade a country and overthrow a democratically elected government.

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2 hours ago, HitchinRed said:

I see that Poland has confirmed that it will refuse to play Russia in a World Cup qualifier. 


We all know that FIFA will be weighing up the $s before they consider what action to take, so the question is should England also boycott any match with Russia, even if this means disqualification from the World Cup?

 

Yes

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2 hours ago, HitchinRed said:

I see that Poland has confirmed that it will refuse to play Russia in a World Cup qualifier. 


We all know that FIFA will be weighing up the $s before they consider what action to take, so the question is should England also boycott any match with Russia, even if this means disqualification from the World Cup?

 

Yes.

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All far too little too late isn't it?

2018 World Cup, GazProm sponsoring Champions League.  Numerous of Putin's criminal friends buying and controlling clubs.  

Sport has served its purpose as far as Putin is concerned.

We've also been useful.  The Russian elite refer to London as their Laundry.  To our Prime Minister as 'Comrade Alexander'  (Alexander is his real name).  Brexit directly benefitted Russian strategic aims as did Trump's concerted undermining of NATO.  

 

 

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3 hours ago, HitchinRed said:

I see that Poland has confirmed that it will refuse to play Russia in a World Cup qualifier. 


We all know that FIFA will be weighing up the $s before they consider what action to take, so the question is should England also boycott any match with Russia, even if this means disqualification from the World Cup?

 

fifa will probably kick out  poland from the world cup.

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1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

%100 YES

Russia needs to be made a complete pariah state , in every single way, frozen out from the civilised world

It will be Europe that will be frozen if they stop buying Russian gas so there has to be a measured response to this.

Staying on football I thought Russia were pretty awful in the euros and doubt they would have even qualified anyway. For me they should still play (there are other bad countries out there who still play) but it's going to look awful for FIFA if they insist that Poland play them or get kicked out. Maybe just get the winners of Sweden vs Czech Republic to qualify.

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3 hours ago, City oz said:

Why?. It is Putin that is the issue and not the majority of Russians or there football clubs. My opinion is if the Russian football teams are willing to travel then lets play.

Why should the world wide greatest sport be a pawn in a chess game with an idiot like Putin.

 

Because by alienating Russia in its entirety will help in turning the Russian population against putin . 

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Going to play Devil's Advocate for a moment. I don't disagree in principle btw.

A Devil's Advocate position though, would ask should UK and US have had similar action during the Iraq invasion? I guess a key difference is that we are democratic states however.

2 hours ago, Tin Soldier said:

Agreed. Putin is ex KGB, he is closely entwined with crooks such as Abramavich and many others. If anyone wonders what Putin is all about, Catherine Belton has written a compelling, fact based book called Putins People.
It is brilliant!

Reasonable number of oligarchs, although not Abramovich AFAIK, donate to the Tories too I believe. I know bits about the oligarchs and it seems on the face of it although PR can help, that Abramovich is one of the less objectionable although he also seems to have some of the best PR strategies too.

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Many Russians adore Putin. He is the strong man who has bought respect back to their country.They are a world force again after the ‘ humiliation ‘ of the breakdown of the USSR.

In fairness they need to appear strong against the Chinese and other potentially hostile nations but invading other neighbouring states is not big and it’s not clever. 
Putin is a danger to world stability and needs to be stopped. 
 

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34 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

I read a book years ago on roman.

I think it was called the billionaire from nowhere. sorry if wrong.

Many think he put himself in the public eye for good reason.

I've heard of that book too, his backstory sounds interesting to say the least...interesting can be taken one of many ways.

Edited by Mr Popodopolous
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I'm not against it and I generally oppose the idea that sport is set apart from politics, however it does pose an awkward question on how many other countries compete despite the awful crimes committed against their own people and also other countries. 

FIFA and other sporting bodies have made it hard to apply these sort of rules due to their own indifference and corruption in the race for money in recent years. 

Definitely think the players and individual nations can make their own choices so it's good to see solidarity.  It's probably that which will force the authorities hands. 

Edited by Rebounder
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A couple of random thoughts.

Yugoslavia at the time of those wars were not only banned from Euro 92, but this also remained in play during World Cup 94 and Euro 96.

Blatter, yeah him and Platini were corrupt in a range of ways but I think his stance here was basically:

"Football and politics separate wherever possible".

Therefore, horrible Government at home and possibly also at times foreign policy ah not that bothered so long as they don't interfere with their FA!

However intervention with the FA was a big red flag for Sepp, whether democracy or dictatorship. Think Greece and Spain- both democracies albeit flawed ones- tried Government intervention with their FA and he threatened to suspend them!!

Corrupt or amoral, perhaps both in this example.

Putin

Oligarchs very much existed between his election in 2000 and indeed an important reason for his election win in 2000, was the excesses of the oligarchs and Russia's economic chaos in the 1990s.

Initially he did quite a good job in this regard I'd say, in restoring a bit of dignity and stability to Russia and taming the oligarchs as they were, but sadly he himself directly or otherwise seems to have become the top or sole oligarch. Something changed or maybe that was his plan all along?

Had he done what he did until the mid 2000s and then taken a different course, things would look quite different now I believe.

Edited by Mr Popodopolous
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35 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Going to play Devil's Advocate for a moment. I don't disagree in principle btw.

A Devil's Advocate position though, would ask should UK and US have had similar action during the Iraq invasion? I guess a key difference is that we are democratic states however.

I think the difference was that the UK/USA invasion of Iraq was only after a UN resolution being passed, on the basis of Iraq s possession of WMD.

Yes, we now know that there were no WMDs and that this was achieved in no small measure because of Blairs dodgy dossier, but no military action was taken until endorsement by the UN.

Putin is sole judge and jury of the decision to invade Ukraine. As far I can tell he has the support of absolutely no one else.

How Blair escaped punishment for his actions in the Iraq war is a mystery.

 

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1 hour ago, Oh Louie louie said:

I read a book years ago on roman.

I think it was called the billionaire from nowhere. sorry if wrong.

Many think he put himself in the public eye for good reason.

Pretty sure you are correct.

Abramavich was “placed” in to the UK public eye via Putin according to book Putins People. Abramavich has had plenty of “dirty £££” from Putin. One of the schemes Putin help set up, was to sell Russias core commodities (oil, wheat, gas, etc) to a “middle man/broker” at a vastly reduced price into the world market. And the middle man then sold at top dollar to the customer. The profit made then went to Putin and his oligarchs. The Russian state got very little.

Think it’s called corruption!

Edited by Tin Soldier
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2 hours ago, downendcity said:

I think the difference was that the UK/USA invasion of Iraq was only after a UN resolution being passed, on the basis of Iraq s possession of WMD.

Yes, we now know that there were no WMDs and that this was achieved in no small measure because of Blairs dodgy dossier, but no military action was taken until endorsement by the UN.

Putin is sole judge and jury of the decision to invade Ukraine. As far I can tell he has the support of absolutely no one else.

How Blair escaped punishment for his actions in the Iraq war is a mystery.

 

I respect your views.....however it is far from a mystery that Blair and other similar politicians avoid punishment for their various crimes?   Due to them all covering each others backs with favours and deals, and in so doing, manage to squirm their way out of any possible punishment or repercussion ?   I cannot think of one UK politician I could trust?

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1 hour ago, maxjak said:

I respect your views.....however it is far from a mystery that Blair and other similar politicians avoid punishment for their various crimes?   Due to them all covering each others backs with favours and deals, and in so doing, manage to squirm their way out of any possible punishment or repercussion ?   I cannot think of one UK politician I could trust?

I should have put mystery inside quotation marks, as it was said somewhat sarcastically and with tongue firmly in cheek.

I agree with all you say.

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7 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Abramovich has announced that he's temporarily handed over control of Chelsea to the trustees of the club.

Essentially a legal move to ensure the club can't be touched in the event of sanctions or an asset freeze against him.

Chelsea's "charitable foundation", does that mean that they don't pay any tax?

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My initial reaction would be yes, we should refuse to play them (though as far as I’m aware there’s no game with them? It’s hypothetical) and they should be banned from the World Cup and removed from European competition.

However, as others have pointed out, where do you draw the line?

WC in Qatar where thousands have died building the stadiums? Not to mention questionable human rights laws - though you could argue their country, their rules.

Isreal still play despite the atrocities against Palestine.

There’s genocide taking place in China, still taking part in sport.

We and the US saw no sanctions whilst bombing hospitals and schools in the Middle East. It’s “collateral damage” when we do it.

that’s just the well known ones, probably loads more conflicts and concerns going on in the world.

So where would people draw the line? Who can play sport and who can’t?

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