44th Chess Olympiad, Moscow

[JustinHorton]

Putin's actions are not "Intellectual incoherence" or "bad decision making".

What a silly thing to say. Of course launching a reckless war is bad decision-making, whatever else it may be.

It was thought that he used them in Syria and Chechnya as well.

Yes he did! Did you miss it at the time?

How did you think Chechnya was recaptured? How did you think Putin conducted the war in Syria? How do you think aerial war against cities is carried out? How do you think it is carried out when the UK or its allies does it?

[NickFaulks]

They are at best caused by some kind of psychological illness, at worst they are just coldly calculated and criminal.

We've done the mental illness thing. No doubt declaring Putin to be insane gives you warm fuzzy feelings and it certainly obviates the need for thought, but it does precisely nothing for the people of Eastern Europe.

Are his actions coldly calculated? Of course they are, although it is possible that things aren't going quite according to plan. I wonder whether he allowed sufficienly for the fact that his vital long term ally Angela Merkel is finally gone - I am surprised and pleased by the behaviour of her successor, even if so far it is only words.

Are they criminal? Invading a foreign country is by its nature illegal, but that has never stopped a major power from doing it. Please don't tell me that using a combination of bribery and bullying to rustle up a majority at the UN has any legitimate meaning.

Putin's current thinking is most likely that if you are running a country which is surrounded by enemies, would you prefer that country to be Russia or Russia+Ukraine? There is only one answer to that.

While writing this, I have watched our PM waffling in Warsaw. If the Ukrainians are expecting him to do anything but use their plight to keep himself in No 10, they are seriously out of luck.

[Nick Burrows]

Putin's actions are not "Intellectual incoherence" or "bad decision making".

What a silly thing to say. Of course launching a reckless war is bad decision-making, whatever else it may be.

The point is that reducing his decisions to mere "bad decision making" is a truly epic understatement when he is about to level Kiev and everyone in it.

[Nick Burrows]

We've done the mental illness thing. No doubt declaring Putin to be insane gives you warm fuzzy feelings and it certainly obviates the need for thought, but it does precisely nothing for the people of Eastern Europe.

A discussion about the mental stability of a dictator who is speaking in a delusional manner before committing a devastating attrocity is perfectly appropriate and very possibly true. There is no suggestion that this conversation is going to help anybody in Eastern Europe - which for some reason both you and Justin deem a criteria for the vailidity of a topic.

Are they criminal? Invading a foreign country is by its nature illegal, but that has never stopped a major power from doing it. Please don't tell me that using a combination of bribery and bullying to rustle up a majority at the UN has any legitimate meaning.

Equivocating with previous attrocities again. It is ok to just plain condem this particular evil, Nick.

[JustinHorton]

The point is that reducing his decisions to mere "bad decision making" is a truly epic understatement when he is about to level Kiev and everyone in it.

What a silly thing to say, as if the foolishness of a decision meant it had no ethical aspect, or vice versa.

It is ok to just plain condem this particular evil, Nick.

You do that, if that is what you want. No-one is preventing you. Insisting that other people do as well, and do nothing else, and making none-too-veiled insinuations about them, is something other than OK.

Orwell wrote about "all the familiar wartime idiocies, spy-hunting, orthodoxy-sniffing", and one of the latter is insisting that everybody else speak only the terminology of evil and the condemnation of that evil. Sometimes such people think they're defending liberal and democratic values in doing so, but their behaviour comes from a rather different place to that.

[NickFaulks]

There is no suggestion that this conversation is going to help anybody in Eastern Europe - which for some reason both you and Justin deem a criteria for the vailidity of a topic.

Yes, speaking for myself I do consider that to be of the greatest importance - rather more so than just virtue signalling.

It is ok to just plain condem this particular evil, Nick.

Ok, I hereby confirm my unqualified condemnation of the current invasion of Ukraine. Maybe this will stop Putin's tanks in their tracks and maybe it won't, but if it makes you happy then I suppose that is what matters.

I maintain my view that the West will make no progress in solving this mess ( other than by blowing Russia to bits ) until we understand what is impelling Putin to act in this way. Simply chanting in unison that he is mentally disturbed, so there is no point in looking for any rational motives, is at least unhelpful.

[Mick Norris]

World Teams (in Jerusalem) next month, chess24 reports - The Polish Chess Federation says that if Russia aren't removed from the World Team Championship this April, Poland won't play in Polish

[Matt Mackenzie]

(Lord, I can think of a prominent English chess personality who was for some reason given space in a major chess magazine to write "Scotland was, presumably, correctly deemed not to be a nation". Was this evidence of psychiatric deterioration or of being a boorish nationalist loudmouth?)

It was at least a sign of said person being a dickhead - and yes, I can think of more than one possible candidate unfortunately.

(and yes, there is indeed a nutty fringe of British nationalism who thinks the constituent parts of the UK should be forcibly prevented from leaving if necessary - indeed, the fringe of that fringe thinks we should "retake" the RoI)

[JustinHorton]

World Teams (in Jerusalem) next month, chess24 reports - The Polish Chess Federation says that if Russia aren't removed from the World Team Championship this April, Poland won't play in Polish

As I was saying.

(and yes, there is indeed a nutty fringe of British nationalism who thinks the constituent parts of the UK should be forcibly prevented from leaving if necessary

I can recall an incident some years ago where the political columnist Simon Heffer expressed the view that Wales waan't a nation but no more significant an entity than an English county (I think he specifically named Essex). I don't actually think that particular view is widely held, but it didn't lead to questions about Heffer's mental staye, or indeed to Heffer being considered a fringe or otherwise unacceptable figure.

[Gerard Killoran]

World Teams (in Jerusalem) next month, chess24 reports - The Polish Chess Federation says that if Russia aren't removed from the World Team Championship this April, Poland won't play in Polish

Despite Israel occupying: East Jerusalem (illegally annexed), the West Bank and Gaza; the Golan Heights (also illegally annexed); and the Shebaa Farms which are part of Lebanon. In addition to killing Palestinian civilians including children on a daily basis, Israel regularly bombs Syria and violates Lebanese airspace to do so. Israel is in breach of the Geneva Conventions, Security Council resolutions and decisions of the International court of Justice. In addition Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem have all declared that Israel is practising a system of Apartheid.

I suppose FIDE is just too busy reading Karjakin's Tweets to notice any of the above.

[Nick Ivell]

Ah, we just have to bring Israel into this again.

It's the itch that just has to be scratched.

[Matt Mackenzie]

World Teams (in Jerusalem) next month, chess24 reports - The Polish Chess Federation says that if Russia aren't removed from the World Team Championship this April, Poland won't play in Polish

As I was saying.

(and yes, there is indeed a nutty fringe of British nationalism who thinks the constituent parts of the UK should be forcibly prevented from leaving if necessary

I can recall an incident some years ago where the political columnist Simon Heffer expressed the view that Wales waan't a nation but no more significant an entity than an English county (I think he specifically named Essex). I don't actually think that particular view is widely held, but it didn't lead to questions about Heffer's mental staye, or indeed to Heffer being considered a fringe or otherwise unacceptable figure.

The argument is surely that perhaps it should have done. The UK media is almost incredibly bad (just see Dan Hodges today)

[NickFaulks]

The UK media is almost incredibly bad (just see Dan Hodges today)

I haven't seen anything today, what did he say?

[JustinHorton]

Ah, we just have to bring Israel into this again.

It's the itch that just has to be scratched.

It's where the tournament is actually being held, you absolute buffoon.

(I mean really. "Why are people bringing Israel into it", could there possibly be a more bad-faith argument than this in the circumstances.)

[Nick Ivell]

Nothing like a world crisis to bring out the Corbynista tendency on the forum.

It isn't pretty. Indeed, an impartial observer must think us a laughing stock.