thplinth

Why don't we know this? Because everyone on it is most likely being blackmailed and is compromised. Prince Andrew is I think meant to be the distraction but he was also blackmailed. That is how they got him to visit Epstein and walk around central park so their photographer could get the snaps. Prince Andrew is really remarkably stupid as we saw in his infamous interview. But there are far more important people who fell into that trap. And they are all being protected still. Elon Musk better watch himself even with his amount of money. The Epstein thing is a glimpse into something much bigger, much more sinister.

Before the war in Ukraine I thought we would beat them and lose to Wales. Hard to give a shit about supporting Scotland as you know at the most critical points we just don't turn up. It is just weird behaviour and I am fucking bored of it. It happens under all the managers.

😀

I think there is a lot of truth in this as well... especially for Europe. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/is-america-the-real-victim-of-anti-russia-sanctions Is America the Real Victim of Anti-Russia Sanctions? By misjudging the size and importance of Russia’s economy, the West might have taken steps toward its own isolation BY ARNAUD BERTRAND Remember the claims that Russia’s economy was more or less irrelevant, merely the equivalent of a small, not very impressive European country? “Putin, who has an economy the size of Italy,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in 2014 after the invasion of Crimea, “[is] playing a poker game with a pair of twos and winning.” Of increasing Russian diplomatic and geopolitical influence in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, The Economist asked in 2019, “How did a country with an economy the size of Spain … achieve all this?” Seldom has the West so grossly misjudged an economy’s global significance. French economist Jacques Sapir, a renowned specialist of the Russian economy who teaches at the Moscow and Paris schools of economics, explained recently that the war in Ukraine has “made us realize that the Russian economy is considerably more important than what we thought.” For Sapir, one big reason for this miscalculation is exchange rates. If you compare Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) by simply converting it from rubles into U.S. dollars, you indeed get an economy the size of Spain’s. But such a comparison makes no sense without adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP), which accounts for productivity and standards of living, and thus per capita welfare and resource use. Indeed, PPP is the measure favored by most international institutions, from the IMF to the OECD. And when you measure Russia’s GDP based on PPP, it’s clear that Russia’s economy is actually more like the size of Germany’s, about $4.4 trillion for Russia versus $4.6 trillion for Germany. From the size of a small and somewhat ailing European economy to the biggest economy in Europe and one of the largest in the world—not a negligible difference. Sapir also encourages us to ask, “What is the share of the service sector versus the share of the commodities and industrial sector?” To him, the service sector today is grossly overvalued compared with the industrial sector and commodities like oil, gas, copper, and agricultural products. If we reduce the proportional importance of services in the global economy, Sapir says that “Russia’s economy is vastly larger than that of Germany and represents probably 5% or 6% of the world economy,” more like Japan than Spain. This makes intuitive sense. When push comes to shove, we know there is more value in providing people with the things they really need to survive like food and energy than there is in intangible things like entertainment or financial services. When a company like Netflix has a price-earnings ratio three times higher than that of Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, it’s more likely than not a reflection of market froth than of physical reality. Netflix is a great service, but as long as an estimated 800 million people in the world remain undernourished, Nestlé is still going to provide more value. All of which is to say that the current crisis in Ukraine has helpfully clarified how much we’ve taken for granted the “antiquated” side of modern economies like industry and commodities—prices for which have surged this year—and perhaps overvalued services and “tech,” whose value has recently crashed. The size and importance of Russia’s economy is further distorted by ignoring global trade flows, in which Sapir estimates that Russia “may account for maybe as much as 15%.” While Russia is not the largest producer of oil in the world, for example, it has been the largest exporter of it, ahead even of Saudi Arabia. The same is true for many other essential products such as wheat—the world’s most important food crop, with Russia controlling about 19.5% of global exports—nickel (20.4%), semi-finished iron (18.8%), platinum (16.6%), and frozen fishes (11.2%). Such commanding importance in the production of so many essential commodities means that Russia, like few other countries on the planet, is in many respects a linchpin of the globalized production chain. Unlike “maximum sanctions” on a country like Iran or Venezuela, attempting to cut the Russian link has meant and will likely continue to mean a dramatic reorganization of the global economy.

I get the feeling she might not be around for much longer, seems to be dropping out of a lot of gigs lately. Prince Andrew was her favourite child apparently and he is permafucked now in the eyes of the public. Her husband recently passed away. Harry and Meghan are woke twats. Prince Charles and Camilla are very dislikeable. She must be thinking WTF...

Unfortunately (for us) I think this guy is right in his analysis.

Great result for Johnny Depp. Even though I started watching for a laugh I think it will prove to be an important case for various reasons. Amber Heard... wow. She has already said something like this is a bad result for women. No Amber it is you that is damaging to women and genuine victims of abuse. You are a living example of why we can't assume guilt based on accusations alone and why the "believeme" rubbish has been fatally torpedoed as a result. Amber Heard is exactly why we assume innocent until proven guilty and we have trials and juries. I have been trying to find a suitable word to describe her and I honestly cannot find something strong enough. She should go to jail for what she did. It was so malicious and false, she tried to destroy Depp while elevating herself on the back of it. And she was the abuser! It is disgusting really what she did. Johnny Depp has done us a big favour in exposing her, and showing us all.

I don't think you can really judge anything from friendlies nowadays other than the individual performances of players. We made 6 substitutions in that game and so did Austria. So how can you read anything into that, its a dogs dinner. (This is why I don't watch friendlies, Both sides changing out more than half their team during the game. Whatever the result it is meaningless IMHO.)

If we had gone down swinging last night I don't think anyone could complain about the campaign at all. Ukraine are in the play-offs for a reason same as us. Getting passed both them and Wales was always a tall order. It is just the manner of the defeat. Very disappointing after the efforts wining 6 games back to back to get us there. But really who could have foreseen the unique circumstances of the game when it was finally played. I know Ukraine got invaded but I feel we were incredibly unlucky yet again as had we played that game under normal circumstances I think we would have performed much better, we were on a roll and this just let the tyres down on it. Still at least we are not getting shelled and shit.

Analisation was not high on my list of reasons but I otherwise agree with you. If you had to chose a WC to miss out on then this is a good one to pick. Unfortunately we are picking every WC to miss out on irrespective of their laws regarding anal.

I think there are some folk in our support who are tripping over themselves to run us down at every turn. You know, the cunts who turn up on the battlefield after the fact to bayonet the wounded. You don't hear these bold statement from them before the game...but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Out of our 10 games we won 7 drew 2 and lost 1. That is a pretty solid qualifying campaign for us or anyone at our level. To win our last 6 games like we did is something I can't recall any Scottish team doing. We just did not turn up last night. And we have a habit of doing this. We are mentally fragile and all the turmoil around the fixture was enough to dissipate the momentum we had built up. You could sense it going into the game. It is a shame because it took a lot to get us into that position and we just rolled over. If Clarke is conservative it is because he knows we are well capable of doing this. It breeds fear and that makes us overly cautious. Just look at some of ridiculous comments on here. No wonder some players are indifferent about playing for us. It is a thankless task.

You are stupid. And as has been pointed out you are just trying to be controversial. It is tedious. Denmark had not even conceded a goal in all their games until we beat them in what was a meaningless fixture for them.

Great call. Replaced 30 mins of shite with 30 mins of pleasure. Justice was done at least on that pitch.

Ohhhh cheers and goodbye football thread.

2-2? Not a fucking chance.😀

And it is off. 😀 I think forever. 😀

Agreed. Reminds me of the Georgia games of recent campaigns where we just did not turn up and seemingly deliberately threw a great chance away.

oooft 30 mins to go... not sure I will make it.. anything else on TV worth watching? 😀

Pathetic performance from Scotland even by their standards. Six games in a row heroics turned into the usual cave-in wank. Every good thing I ever said about them in this campaign I take back with interest.

We could be out of this already. That save from Gordon where he scrambled back to save it should have been a goal. Mentally we have just not turned up. If we win this it will be down to Steve Clarke at half time.

Unrecognizable from the team that won the last 6 games to get us here.

The beard and wig ok but Debian might struggle to get a false one of those down the joke shop.

We are headless chickens without a clue in possession. The Ukrainians seem to have space and time and look far more composed. They look dangerous and we don't.

Early days but I am thinking the ref is not going to be doing us any favours here.