₦airaland Forum

@Jackal

Have you heard of the EPL Title-Xmas Special? Gooners expect to be awarded a Cup for winning the League in December!

There are also trophies for reaching the Semi-Final of the League Cup in 4 of the last 5 seasons without winning any.The key trophy is awarded for the winning of a competition called Reaching The Semi-Final of the League Cup in 4 of the last 5 seasons without winning anything and Gooners are a shoo-in.Indeed,Wenger is a genius!!

debosky:
Ok ok, two barren seasons, but we reached two finals during that time so we were still competitive. . .if not at our best

. . . . . . .you then won the "Competitive Cup",didn't you?

Wenger has apparently won the Competitive Cup in 6 seasons since he came into the job.Fergie has won it thrice since 1993

PS:The Cup is for trophyless season and exists in the feverish imagination of many Gooners!

Kinsh:
Its not the matter of dating a wrong guy.
@I-man
What do u mean its your fault. Did u not read the thread even if she is caring, submissive and faithful

That's besides the point.Most girls who keep experiencing unfaithfulness chose their man because of certain qualities he exhibits-confident,charming,romantic-all that rubbish.Problem is. . . . .many of those qualities are honed in the act of womanising.So you end up going for guys who are practiced womanisers You see why its your fault?

Na CNN lock up Boris Nemtsov and Gary Kasparov ? Is it CNN that murdered pesky Russian journalists,human rights activist and and detained numerous opposition leaders?

I thought the funniest statement in Russia which epitomised the farce was when Medvedev said:"I consider it of utmost importance for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in the highest post of executive power"-they are going to change the constitution to confer more executive powers on the PM,which role Putin will take.If the Nigerian President attempted this,we will be up in arms

Putin has brought growth in some ways, though I wouldn't go as far as saying he 're-invigorated' the economy - the deals to strengthen and expand the reach of firms like Gazprom, Sibneft, and a few others by allowing them to go it alone on a number of large oil and gas projects instead of JV's have ensured that those profits remain in-country and don't go into the coffers of Shell, BP and Exxon.

These are all ex post facto.Russia's economy picked up in 99/00,same time as energy prices started edging up.So how things done fairly recently could be responsible for economic growth commencing late 99 defies logic.

Even then,the effect on of those particular policies on Russia's economy is highly debatable.I haven't seen one single economist who thought it helps Russia.Most of those projects,like the famous Sakhalin 2, haven't come on stream yet and it was only last year the major multi-nationals were made to sell their stake.

Higher military spending by Russia boosts their economy? That is not even worth addressing.

Putin will be nothing without high energy prices.Almost all the growth is generated by hydro-carbons for which Putin is not responsible for its boom

EmekaNaija:
@I-man

You need to read more about Putin to understand what he has or has not done.

A euphemistic way of saying,I don't know. Simple assignment-what policies of Putin brought about growth?

For many leaders-Lee Kuan Yew,Mahathir Mohammed,Deng Xiaoping,Chiang Kai-shek,e.t.c-one can easily point to major policy decisions that caused their economic development.The Putin praise singers are lost for words.The answer lies in the old cliche-correlation is not the same as causation

@EmekaNaija

I guess you only recently started reading up on Putin.Read up more and spare us the pablum.

Take a simple survey of all major energy exporters globally.Compare their GDP growth rates since Putin got into power to that of Russia.You will find that Russia's GDP growth rate is along the same lines,often weaker than many of them.

Singling out OBJ for comparison is risible for many reasons.If Putin is great by comparison to OBJ and Nigeria,well,that isn't much of a metric.

The only unique policy tools I can attribute to Putin is that he locks up opposition party men and plans to change the constitution to confer more powers on the Prime Minister.He is supposed to occupy the PM role upon the end of his tenure and thus continue his reign in power as de facto head of state.

I wonder what Nigerians will feel if OBJ was the Senate President and the PDP planned to changed the constitution to give the Senate President crucial executive powers

@EmekaNaija

A better answer would have been,"fools expect politicians to abhor self-promotion".

I guess you expected a politician to avoid taking credit ,maybe you expected something like this:

Time: You must feel lucky that the price of oil is so high.

Putin: I can't deny that I was fortunate to be President at a time of tremendous energy bonanza

Even his fatuous response revealed that he has no answer to the simple question,what did you do to revive the economy?

@babasin

You folks of the "copy and paste brigade" can't articulate your own opinion.How does that Times piece answer the question,what did Putin do to re-invigorate the economy?

What particular Putin policy can you point to as being responsible for Russia's growth? Name one policy.Let me give you time to use Google

@Guff

Exactly,so being a strong leader is a vacuous comment. It tells us nothing either way.

Putin is a beneficiary of circumstances beyond his control.Russians are content because,for the first time in decades,they are experiencing real income growth,however,this has nothing to do with Putin.One can even make the argument that the economy could have grown faster if certain policies were implemented.

There is little diversification away from dependence on hydro-carbon.Russia is gradually becoming another petro-dollar state captive to the boom and bust associated with such states.It is effectively like a 3rd world economy wholly dependent on the price of natural resources.

debosky:
My politician of the year? I'd have to say Putin too. . .strong economy, strong internal support. A truly charismatic and focused leader. He does have his faults, not tolerating much dissent and re-centralizing too much (in my view) but with the large support of his people, no one can question his mandate to rule. With his adept use of Russia's energy wealth/power and re-invigorating the armed forces, he is bringing Russia to the forefront again as a world power - not only militarily[b] but economically as well.[/b]

How did Putin re-invigorate the Russian economy?

My preferred nominees will be Sarkozy,Lee Myung-bak and Anders Fogh Rasmussen.All were elected this year against great odds are competent,intelligent right-of-centre politicos

Is there any worse than Shinzo Abe? Obviously,there are more clueless politicos around the world,but for one running a major country,he beats the competition.

debosky:
Seb is with B'ham, and scored that delightful goal to beat the Southern SCUM a few weeks ago. . .what else do you need to show he's a gunner?

Sidwell - chelski, bentley - blackies pennant - liverpool, good talent developed and helped to move on.

For Buddha's sake,are you suggesting that Larson is somewhat a success because he scored a good goal? The boy epitomises mediocrity .

Only Bentley deserves mention as a true potential.The rest are all mediocrities.

Only when Arsenal's present crop of youngsters win the Prem or the UCL could they be compared to the United 90s youngsters.

Its your fault

Never mind Ron Paul,what about the smirking benighted creep called Huckabee? Is there a more nauseating purveyor of windy religiosity in the entire race?

The man happened to be President at a time of an energy boom.What would Putin be without $90 oil?

@Richy "Guff" Black
Strong leader?Stalin,Hitler,Idi Amin and Saddam were all "strong leaders"

RichyBlacK:
I-man or, better still, I-fool:
I now know without a doubt that you're one of the most stupid imbeciles on Nairaland. Mumu like you, aren't you aware that the US is a signatory to the NPT?

I guess this is why many Nigerian graduates are called "half-baked graduates" How could the US have a special status under the NPT if they were not party to it?

[quote author=I-man link=topic=98690.msg1783424#msg1783424 date=1198109558]They developed theirs prior to the NPT and have a special status under the NPT. [/quote]Is the US in breach of its NPT obligations?No Not even Iran has attacked the US for breaching NPT obligations

Is Iran in breach? Yes. The IAEA has confirmed this.

Only a phenomenally stupid person can question Israel's co-operation with the IAEA.It has no obligation to the IAEA under the NPT.Also,the US,alongside the other 4 permanent members of the UNSC enjoys a special status under the NPT. Its like ranting about a goalkeeper picking up the ball,in the 18, with his hands from a header while bemoaning the fact that other players aren't so allowed. . . . . . .its an intoxicating combination of ignorance and idiocy.What next? Why is Israel and the US not co-operating with G-Unit?

Adoption at 31 is feasible Look at that Wayans movie,Little Man,for inspiration

Afam:
Iran need not be proactive, it should in fact be reactive.

The NPT requires each signatory to be pro-active.

Afam:
What of nations that are neither proactive nor reactive as regards nuclear weapons that they build as they like - Israel, India & Pakistan, these nations refused to even recognize the NPT talk less of signing it.

If you voluntarily enter into an agreement,you have to abide by your agreement and not point to people who are not parties to the agreement. This is pure common sense

What of those that have actively developed nuclear weapons - US, Britain, France, Chine, Russia?

They developed theirs prior to the NPT and have a special status under the NPT.

RichyBlacK:
@I-man,
You can see that the IAEA says Iran is cooperating, though not proactively.
I would not expect any country to be proactive in cooperating with a body like the IAEA that is heavily influenced (to the detriment of Iran) by the West.

How proactive has the US or Israel been in cooperating with IAEA? Will they even allow the IAEA inspect their nuclear facilities?

Please stop spreading lies against Iran.

You are a guff merchant.

To try to absolve Iran on grounds that "its cooperating,though not proactively",is an absurdly clumsy attempt at semantics.The NPT requires proactive cooperation otherwise it would become a worthless piece of paper.

A classic example is the Natanz question.Iran never notified the IAEA that this was a nuclear plant,however,once an opposition group exposed this,Iran allowed the IAEA to inspect it. Iran was under an obligation to notify the IAEA ab initio,not wait till it was caught before cooperating.

Your allusion to Israel and the US exposes your monumental ignorance of the core issue-you are not bound to do what you are not bound to do.You can keep copying and pasting articles off the net,your posts are a case study of an inverted pyramid of piffle.You start with a conclusion and try to mold your "facts",actually a load of piffle, into the initial conclusion.

Iran could have simply exercised the option not to enter into the NPT.That it was entitled to do,it chose not to but instead, to utilise the advantages of being a NPT signatory while playing hide and seek with the IAEA.

PS:Interesting article:http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011011

There is no elixir to fix unemployment.Economic growth lowers unemployment.So tackling unemployment entails implementing growth-friendly policies

So Barcelona changes their jersey when they play in Muslim countries

Hope no Muslim will look at this thread,don't want them to be "traumatised" by images of the cross

This is the real Knights Templar cross

@Leilah

Is a man obliged to make the triple talaq in front of witnesses?

debosky:
Bros D take am easy now!

its 7.7 billion naira we are talking about oh! what African country are you talking about? even Swaziland or Niger would have a bigger budget than that

I presume the amount works out at $57m(I used N134 TO 1$).Commoros Island,population of at least 720,000-total revenue in 2001 was at $27m-that is less than half of the RCCG's expenditure on a single auditorium. Things like should make you put such expenditure in perspective in a continent with tremendous needs.

Yes,that amount is higher than the annual budgets of countries like Sao Tome and Principe and the Commoros Islands.What a nation approaching a population of 1million live on in year,that is what one organisation uses to "worship God" by building an auditorium.

Lets further place it in perspective:

-The amount is more than the health budgets of Liberia,Sierra Leone,Guines-Bissau individually

-Larger than the eduction budget of the above countries and many other African countries.

-It can fund ARVs for 100,000 HIV patients in Africa over the course of a year.

@Jackal

Did you see Liam Brady's comments in today's Evening Standard?

He said United are clear favorites to win the League and that Arsenal are too young to win it.That is what I call "preemptive excuse making" for the age difference between Utd and Arsenal's squad is about 12 months when averaged,this ignores whether Toure,Song,Eboue and Adebayor are giving their true ages

Never mind fools like Dayokanu.He is rectal-cranially inverted.

I was looking through the nominees for manager of the year.Couldn't find Wenger. . . . . .can't UEFA see that he is the "best" manager on the planet(who has bettered a record of 3 league titles in 11 years? )

[url]http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-23428445-details/Ramos%2C+Ferguson%2C+Benitez%2C+Capello+and+Ancelotti+up+for+UEFA+coach+of+the+year+award/article.do[/url]

chuckdee4:
I would have started a "Platini/UEFA hate Wenger" thread
Good he got away with just the one game ban

If you draw Milan in the 2nd round,would it make a difference whether Wenger is sitting on the bench or in the stands?

dayokanu:
Bayern made record profit in the last quarter, They spent 70 million and they are top of their league Man UTD spent how much and they are not top of their league.

You are an unrepentant idiot! The Bundesliga is not of the same quality as the EPL,so topping it on goals difference is no more spectacular than Celtic topping the SPL.Bayern spent 70m Euros,how much did their rivals spend?Bremen,Hamburg and Leverkusen spent peanuts by comparison and Bremen are missing many of their players.

If playing well in the league is no big deal,how come you couldn't make the top 3 last season?Surely,you should be able to accomplish that with ease.

It is quite clear that Hitzfeld has lost the dressing room.This is the 2nd time at Bayern.How does a supposedly top manager always contrive to lose control of his dressing room?How many times has one heard about Wenger or Fergie struggling to control his players?

Hitzfeld's achievements come in dribs and drabs.He is spectacular one season and loses the plot completely in the next.This happened as well at Dortmund.Consistency is the hallmark of true greats.Flip flopping from one season to the other is hardly remarkable.

I have always noted that the UCL is a cup competition and is subject to the vagaries of cup competitions.Vincente Del Bosque won the UCL twice,I bet you won't want him as Bayern coach.Look at the great Capello who coached an awesome Milan team.How many UCLs has he won?Are we supposed to believe that Ancellotti and Del Bosque are better managers than Capello?

@Jackal

Ottmar Hitzfeld is in line for his second sack at Bayern.There are suggestions he has lost the dressing room.Kahn knocked Toni and Riberry for not trying hard enough.The club is in serious crisis.This was the same Hitzfeld they suggested was better than Fergie.Imagine such nonsense!

Who else can keep reinvigorating a side as Fergie does?He has kept on building brand new teams and each generation keeps winning.

@Debo

You have simply lost the plot!You need deliverance from your delusions.Who cares about conversations you had with yourself in 2004?

When you start hearing voices in your head giving footie analysis,you should know its time for "men in white coats"!

It hasn't even started and you are going bonkers!What will you do in January?The league is only half way through,better strap yourself to a chair before its time for some full frontal lobotomy

@Jackal

Were is that pseudo-Kraut,Dayokanu? FC Bayern are living up to their reputation as FC Hollywood Anytime they under perform,the boy goes into hiding .

I told him Weder Bremen is a better club to watch anyday than Bayern.Should have seen Bayern against Hertha Berlin,it was worse than an endoscopy.Riberry is wasting his career lining up for those losers.

@Jackal

The most apt analogy to Gooners this season is Leeds United 99/00 season.This side reminds of that team and will end up like them.

It is amazing that despite our poor start,we are even closer than we were to Leeds then. Nobody in the top 4 is out of the title race,not even Liverpool. I have always said that the sweetest part of this season is the way Gooners hopes have been raised to high heavens.That is what makes this season absolutely fantastic

I would prefer Arsenal to hold on to 1st place for as long as possible.I have a superstition about holding a very narrow lead leading up to Xmas. . . . . . .the 2nd part of the season is the cliched "business part of the season". What people fail to realize is that the margins are so narrow,2 poor games and and your rivals are snapping at your heels.

@Debo

I'm not interested in who tops the league in January,February or even March.Anybody who has been watching the Prem for long knows that a table topping team even as late as March can end up 4th or even 5th placed.

My forecasts have been known to beat yours hands down every time on this forum. It was because of me you adopted a more cautious tone,instead of the usual bleating you used to do. You never recovered from that glorious "treble" you achieved in one week last season .

For God's sake,I was here prior to your game predicting you will win.Even you didn't have the cojones to predict your club's result. You are not winning the league.Do you want to stick your neck out and contradict me?