BoJo likens Putin to Hitler and the world cup to the 1936 Olympics

Boris Johnson has likened the way President Putin is promoting the World Cup in Russia to Hitler's notorious use of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The foreign secretary said Labour MP Ian Austin was "completely right" to say Russia's president wanted to "gloss over [his] brutal corrupt regime".
Mr Johnson said that he would have an "urgent conversation" with Russia about the safety of fans at the tournament.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said he was "poisoned with hatred".
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed Mr Johnson was speaking on behalf of the government and that they were working closely with police on plans for the World Cup.
The foreign secretary said it was of "crucial importance" in light of 23 British diplomats being expelled from Russia - including the individual responsible for football fans.
So far, there have been 24,000 applications from England fans to attend the World Cup this summer, compared with 94,000 at the same stage in the build-up to Rio in 2014.
Mr Johnson said: "The numbers are well down but that does not mean we are not deeply concerned about how they may be treated."
The Foreign Office will produce detailed travel advice closer to the time.

The exchange came as the Foreign Affairs Select Committee discussed the Salisbury spy attack.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition in hospital after being poisoned with the Russian nerve agent Novichok.
The former military intelligence officer and his daughter were found slumped on a bench and unconscious on 4 March.
Image copyrightEPAImage captionOfficers still guard areas of Salisbury which the Skripals had visited
Earlier, Boris Johnson described it as "a sign" from President Putin that "no-one could escape the long arm of Russian revenge".
He said: "[The attack] was a sign that President Putin or the Russian state wanted to give to potential defectors in their own agencies: 'This is what happens to you if you decide to support a country with a different set of values. You can expect to be assassinated'."
He also said Russia chose the UK for the attack as it had "called out" Russian abuses "time and again".
Analysis: By James Robbins, BBC diplomatic correspondent
Image copyrightFOX PHOTOS
Just when you thought relations between Britain and Russia couldn't get any worse.
Drawing any sort of parallel between Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler is incendiary.
Much of Russia's self-image is based on accounts of the Soviet Union's triumph over fascism and Nazism in "The Great Patriotic War"- never mind that there had been a Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact until Hitler smashed it by attacking Soviet positions in 1941.
Boris Johnson has been trying to keep this major row an international one, pitting Britain and her Western allies against the Kremlin. That international support for Britain undoubtedly remains strong, but just now the diplomatic dispute feels a bit more like a bilateral one- between two states - once again.
Adolf Hitler became German leader in 1933 and used Berlin's hosting of the Summer Games of 1936 as part of the propaganda for his Nazi regime.
He had already brought in rules in the country to ensure all athletics organisations had an "Aryan-only" policy, which led to international backlash.
But despite boycott threats, the games went ahead.
Speaking at the Commons committee hearing, Mr Austin said: "The idea of Putin handing over the World Cup to the captain of the winning team; the idea of Putin using this as a PR exercise to gloss over the brutal, corrupt regime for which he is responsible; it fills me with horror," he said.
Mr Johnson could be heard saying, "I'm afraid that's completely right, completely right", during Mr Austin's comments.
The foreign secretary then added: "Your characterisation of what is going to happen in Moscow in the World Cup, in all the venues, yes, I think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right.
"I think it is an emetic prospect frankly to think of Putin glorying in this sporting event."
'Wrong to punish team'

However, when Mr Austin said he believed the football team should pull out of the competition, Mr Johnson disagreed.
"On balance it would be wrong to punish them [the fans] or the team who have worked on this for an incredibly long time, given up their lives to it," he said.
On the issue of fan safety, Mr Johnson said he needed to have an "urgent conversation" with the Russians around how they "propose to fulfil their obligations under their FIFA contract to look after all fans".
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThe England team is in training for the competition this summer
However, he admitted this conversation had yet to take place.
Despite the attack, Mr Johnson said the overall aim of improving relations with Russia - as discussed during his trip to Moscow in December 2017 - remained "effectively unchanged".
He claimed the UK had "many admirers among the Russian people" and the UK wanted to "hold out the hand of friendship" to them, as the quarrel was with the Kremlin, not the citizens.











Moscow meeting

Meanwhile, the British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, has been accused of snubbing a meeting called by the foreign ministry in Moscow to discuss Skripal case.
A tweet from the Foreign Office said a representative did attend, but added: "We received no credible explanation why a nerve agent produced in Russia was used on UK soil.
"Instead, Russia continues to spread lies & disinformation."
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Putin, said: "Perhaps this is another eloquent demonstration of the absurdity of the situation when questions are being asked but the unwillingness to hear some answers is being shown."
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionOfficers are helping inspectors with their equipment in Salisbury
Speaking at the meeting, Russian foreign ministry official Vladimir Yermakov suggested the UK might have been behind the attack.
"Either the British authorities are not able to provide protection from such a, let's say, terrorist attack on their soil, or they, whether directly or indirectly, I am not accusing anyone, have orchestrated an attack on a Russian citizen," he said.
Mr Yermakov also disputed the UK's finding that Novichok was used in the attack.
"Any use of a military-grade poison would inevitably lead to numerous casualties immediately on the site of the poisoning," he said.
"The picture in Salisbury is completely different."
In Salisbury, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have arrived to begin collecting evidence, including at The Mill pub, where the Skripals drank before falling ill.

Funny how back when Russia actually hosted the Olympics in 2014 hardly anyone cared about it. Despite the fact that they were at the time passing laws making human rights abuses legal, and they literally annexed a country not even 2 months after the event. Why kick up a fuss now? This poisoning incident is hardly an isolated thing. Unless perhaps the UK government has some bad news to bury? It's kinda puzzling.

Did Russia really annex a country, though?

According to Russia, Crimea declared independence. Then Russia invaded and annexed it, using a sham referendum to give themselves some legitimacy.

It's kinda puzzling.

Did Russia really annex a country, though?

Is it Mr Putin that said I love babies, but I could never eat a whole one at one sitting? Crimea may not have been a country to the rest of the world, but it was sovereign Ukraine territory, rather as Wales is British.

Why kick up a fuss now? This poisoning incident is hardly an isolated thing. Unless perhaps the UK government has some bad news to bury? It's kinda puzzling.

The western democracies and populations have been lulled into acquiescent acceptance of many Western - usually American, but its poodles comply with Washington's marching orders - infractions not only against Russia, but against any sovereign state it wants (orchestrating a coup in Ukraine; supporting and arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine; sending troops, jets, tanks and other equipment to the Russian border under the guise of protecting the Baltic states; sending ships into the Black Sea and within 20 km of Sevastopol; expanding toward Russia's borders and installing missile defence systems, which it claims are against Iran - a country that has no nukes, let alone missiles that can reach Europe and North America; trying to destabilise Syria by supporting and arming Salafi-jihadists; bombing the Syrian Arab Army at key moments prior to its engagements against ISIS near Palmyra; successfully destabilised Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq; arming, in addition to providing logistical support, to Saudi Arabia in its intervention in Yemen, which the UN is calling the worst humanitarian disaster on the planet; supporting more than 70% of the world's dictatorships) and it has taken a 'clear' action on British soil, which the British government has yet to provide the world with a shred of evidence, to make otherwise intelligent individuals believe that "the Russians have long since started a second cold war."

Fixed.

which the British government has yet to provide the world with a shred of evidence

But, like most diatribes, effectively unreadable, alas.

Are you sure? Were you privy to what went on in those intelligence meetings and diplomatic gatherings?

Or do you expect the public to be kept informed on detailed security matters, most likely to the detriment of our intelligence networks?

why keep it a secret?

I already told you that, but shouldn't need to as its obvious. In revealing the evidence you are likely reveal give strong clues as to how you got it. Do you think we want the Russians to know how we have details of their nerve gases? Do you want more agents to be found and killed to quench your appetite for information?

Boris johnstone is a disgusting fat little creep who I hope gets hit by as bus and dies a slow painful death.

So the logical solution is to ensure the protection of British agents by escalating the tension between the two sides with the vast majority of nuclear weapons on the planet.