"The 1980's are calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

Here's a dive into Putin's state of mind. It's a Vox interview of, "...journalist and author Marvin Kalb, [who] has loved Russia for almost 70 years. In the early 1950s, he studied Russian history as a PhD candidate at Harvard. In 1960, he moved to Moscow as a reporter for CBS News. He’s interviewed many powerful Russians. But he’s never talked to Vladimir Putin. To get insight into Putin, Kalb says, it’s better to read about him than to interview him."

Kalb concludes:

More at the link

Reminds me of someone... someone less smart and powerful....

I think Twitter embeds are an incredibly useful tool, giving a summary of information, easily ability to click through, and easy embedding of images and videos.

I also think that given the loading issues lots of them can cause, and the screen space they take up, spamming lots of off topic tweets to troll another member should be treated the same as any other kind of spamming.

I've been overruled on that latter one.

Interesting thing I just learned, for the last month or so Wikileaks hasn't been accepting any data, with many of their services offline.

Sure it's a coincidence that this happens while there is lots of material Russia doesn't want spreading.

Seek therapy.

Stop it with the images, for fuck's sake. They take too long to load on my AOL connection.

I work with several ladies from Kazakhstan. Dunno why. but there you go. They are very pleasant to be around.

It looks like Russia has eyes on trumping up an excuse to invade.

I think it's time to overrule the others, supermod. Flex your wings.

ETA: If I want to read tweets, I'd get a twitter account.

Tweets are only as good as the person tweeting. In most cases it's from some unknown. I'd give them as much credence as the spam email that used to circulate in the '00s.

Would you say they are very nice?

Wikileaks has been a Russian asset for well over a decade now. Amazing how many people still deny it.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...2EoSHqq82N2Qyxdzb40F_QvkgNA76yM49hhPY_zUxKGi8

That is really pretty amazing.

The Cayman Islands is (in)famous as an offshore haven for ill-gotten gain from some of the world's slimiest characters. So I'll just leave this official Cayman Islands Government communique here in it's entirety and allow everyone to make of it what they will.

Government Joint Task Force on Russia Sanctions Established
Grand Cayman, 7 April 2022 – In keeping with the Cayman Islands’ role as a global partner committed to helping maintain peace and security around the world, the Cayman Islands Government has established a joint task force to coordinate, identify, and implement policy amendments to implement the Russia Sanctions. The United Kingdom’s sanctions on Russia impact the work of multiple agencies throughout the Cayman Islands Government (CIG).

The establishment of the taskforce was supported at the highest levels of government, with both the Governor, Martyn Roper and the Attorney General Mr. Samuel Bulgin noting that the mission of the cross-government team is “further confirmation of Cayman’s pro-active response to the sanctions initiatives.” The primary purpose of the task force is to provide centralised discussions and decisions around policy and communications arising from the ongoing sanctions. The task force is chaired by the Director of the Financial Reporting Authority, RJ Berry, with the Cabinet Office, as task force coordinator, facilitating and coordinating inter-agency cooperation, policy, and communications. Representatives from the following agencies comprise the task force:

• Office of the Governor
• Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce
• Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA)
• Financial Reporting Authority (FRA)
• Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (CAA)
• Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI)
• General Registry Cayman Islands
• Land Registry Cayman Islands
• Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control
• Cayman Islands Bureau of Financial Investigations
• Cabinet Office

The task force meets on a weekly basis to review development and determine actions that need to be taken by each agency, domestically and internationally.

Of note, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than 800 asset freeze designations of individuals and entities have been enforced in the Cayman Islands. In compliance with their obligations under The Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020, numerous financial service providers (FSPs) have submitted over 400 Compliance Reporting Forms confirming that assets with an estimated value of US$7.3 billion have been frozen.

FRA Director, Mr. Berry shared, “The level of reporting to date is indicative that financial services providers are able to identify funds or economic resources owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by designated persons and are freezing those assets or economic resources. The relevant agencies within the Cayman Islands also have a long-standing track record of responsiveness and cooperation with international counterparts, and will continue to maintain that record in our approach to the Russia Sanctions”.

The recent amendments to The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations are expected to be extended to the Cayman Islands via The Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2022, to come into force on April 14 2022. These amendments include new financial, trade, and maritime measures, and restrict specified financial services with the Russian Central Bank and other Russian Federation agencies. Sanction measures apply in the Cayman Islands in the same way they do in the United Kingdom.

The Premier, Hon. G. Wayne Panton shared, “The establishment of this task force demonstrates the Cayman Islands proactive approach to compliance with international sanctions. Collaboration and coordination between our public service entities has resulted in swift, unequivocal action. Our commitment to robust regulations in the Cayman Islands financial services sector has ensured that we are able to contribute to international peacekeeping, global security, and good governance.” Echoing the sentiments of the Premier, HE Roper shared, “I am grateful for all the hard work that has gone into implementing Russia sanctions. This underlines the reputation of the Cayman Islands as a responsible and reputable financial centre working to implement the highest standards.”

The Cayman Islands is monitoring the global situation and will continue to issue sanctions updates primarily via the FRA and CIMA circulation lists and websites as advised by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The Cayman Islands Government stands ready to carry out the sanctions as extended by the United Kingdom.

(ENDS)

Fuck Clinton. If you're at all remotely familiar with the history of various former Eastern Bloc countries, then their reasons for wanting to join NATO after the Fall of the Soviet Union should be obvious. And even if you wave a magic fucking wand and ensure that Russia is going to be a model democracy after the end of the Soviet Union (which it wasn't), then former Eastern Bloc countries wanting to be part of NATO should still be screamingly obvious.

The song is really horrible, but it's more the intention that counts.

After Richard Wright died, Gilmour and the others agreed that they'd not use the name Pink Floyd again (which is why when Waters and Gilmour toured together a couple of years ago, they didn't use the name "Pink Floyd"). If you listen to the complete discography of Pink Floyd, you'll notice that during the years when Waters was a member, that the same guitar part appeared in various songs on every album. On the albums released after Waters left the band, that part is missing.

Waters, for the most part, was a fantastic lyricist, and the post-Waters Floyd albums haven't always been as good as what they produced when he was a member. But there are a number of tracks on David Gilmour's first two solo albums that are as good as anything Floyd put out when they were at their peak. Saying that this song isn't as good as what Pink Floyd put out (regardless of if Waters was there or not) is missing the point. Animals had five songs on the entire album. You can't dance to them, they're not as approachable as the ones on Dark Side of the Moon, but damn if some of them aren't brutal in how they criticize modern society. The same is true of The Final Cut (which Gilmour claims were songs rejected by the rest of the band for inclusion on The Wall album).

I saw Brit Floyd three years ago. Fucking awesome show. A good tribute band can be more entertaining than the "real thing". The last concert of the original four was interesting. Waters was having a grand old time (he was the one who begged everyone to play for a benefit) and the other three were gritting their teeth and going through the motions. It was still good, but uninspired. Brit Floyd has the luxury of drawing on the entire songbook without any worries about any potentially awkward internal political strains cropping up. FWIW, I thought the Division Bell was a worthy addition to their catalogue.

Hey, I'm a hardcore fan of Pink Floyd and I also love the albums after Roger Waters.

But this song is not exactly outstanding!

David Gilmour is God! No comment on Roger Waters except that he was more of a confused political activist than a serious musician in the last decades.

Not sure how I feel about this…

It's sorta like with the Beatles after they broke up. All of them did some really good things, but they also all did some really shitty things (though none quite so bad as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr). Had, however, you managed to get them all together for the best of each member's individual work, you'd have had something really spectacular.

Pretty clear that he didn't listen to Molotov Cocktease's commands during training.

Everybody could stand 100 chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them too!