This is a short to medium term impact. Russia has made itself a pariah state. No-one will now invest there, and the west has learned its lesson on over reliance on them for energy supplies, and is now taking the urgent measures needed to correct that.

Doubtless, Russian oil and gas will still find its way onto international markets but it will never again be so easy for them and their ability to use energy as a weapon will disappear.

This is the medicine we have to take for being so foolish as to trust Putin. This isn't something to just be brushed aside once the shooting stops. This is a seismic shift in international affairs with consequences which will take decades to finally work through.

In the meantime, we will not only all have to tighten our belts but get prepared to have to help those worse affected than us.

This though requires leadership, and that is sadly lacking in our own country.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Posted by Wisbech eagle: Clearly they did, or they wouldn't be members. The EU might have been flexible with their rules when admitting Greece.

The EU bent rules so far they went up their own a**e.

Greece later admitted that they had lied about their GDP to get in to the EU. The EU auditors must have been down the pub instead of doing their job.

Greece then admitted to lying again when they wanted EU funding and lower interest loans.

The rules that were originally made have been wiped out. This resulted in countries that were effectively 3rd world countries joining and thus this was the start of the cess pit conditions that eventually resulted in us voting to leave.

In terms of Ukraine, were they to have EU membership granted that would effectively make them part of NATO.

People will claim there's more to it.. 'you can get on a sunbed and change colour yada yada yada'... ' but clearly at its core it's primarily a revulsion of the visually other, regardless of character and if someone looks 'close enough' regardless of their actual background, history or heritage, they're 'alright' or closer to it anyway. No questions asked. This isn't a critique of the average person, as most are perfectly decent, just those who go 'all in' in this regard.

Of course you could say this on other cultures too. On my visit to Japan it was quite clear they viewed 'foreigner visitors' as different, amusing almost, and due to their immigration policy and massive language barrier I could well understand why and factored that in. Very little malice to it. Ignorance isn't always aversion.

Here (in the UK) though a person isn't 'foreign' or of less belonging based on their race. That horse has long since bolted. If someone is born here and has the same experience as others, they are this place. There is no scenario where they are being dragged or persuaded elsewhere to placate others and no excuse for automatically viewing people overly as 'other' by default. As I say by all means people should take a view on immigration, and if for instance the majority even want the border completely closed then so be it. Fine by me. Beyond that though, you cannot unbake a cake and most realise that (and of course almost all young people understand that reality and live it). It's clear that mixed individuals especially create a problem for fringe types because they represent an imagined threat that they can't 'ever' undo or remove. Unfortunately for them, that's the present and future of my family.. and inevitably of theirs.

Edited by BlueJay (30 May 2022 11.00pm)

I am not. I am telling you what I will do.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Who gives a feck.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

You, obviously, or you wouldn't get so angry!

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.