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WELCOME TO HOW I Spend My Money, a series on The Journal that looks at how people in Ireland really handle their finances.
We’re asking readers to keep a record of how much they earn, what they save if anything, and what they’re spending their money on over the course of one week.
Are you a spender, a saver or a splurger? We’re looking for readers who will keep a money diary for a week. If you’re interested send a mail to money@thejournal.ie. We would love to hear from you.
Each money diary is submitted by readers just like you. When reading and commenting, bear in mind that their situation will not be relatable for everyone, it is simply an account of a week in their shoes, so let’s be kind.
Last time around, we heard from a civil servant on €32K living in Dublin. This week, a systems operations analyst on €57K living in Wicklow.
I am a 30-year-old woman who at the time of writing this is just going into the third month of living in our newly purchased 3-bed home in a small village in Co Wicklow. My wife and I have two cats and a dog and are still getting used to having all this space and total control over where we live.
We absolutely know how lucky we are to be in the position we are in considering how awful Ireland is at the moment for anyone looking to buy or even rent. We went through four hard years of saving and living in tiny, mould-ridden, damp apartments that we seemed to spend more time trying to repair than actually live in.
We were fortunate enough that we were able to stay with family at the start of our saving phase rent and bill-free for a few months so we could wipe all of our debts and start saving for our deposit. At the time, my wife and I were in lower-paying jobs and both happened to earn promotions around the same time with a sizable increase in salary so we rented a small apartment (€1,500) and buckled down to save up a deposit.
Personally, I have always been awful at saving money and struggled to not buy things to cheer myself or my wife up when what seemed like our endless renting got to us so I had to plan out my month in advance so I could stick to a budget and I found keeping an excel of everything really beneficial. We both made a decision that this year we would just have as much fun as possible and not impose limits on ourselves if we wanted to buy anything as, after spending four years of not being able to buy anything “fun”, we want to really enjoy our first year of living in the home we worked hard for.
I’m big into gaming and comic collecting and that’s where most of my discretionary spending goes.
Occupation: System operations analyst
Age: 30
Location: Wicklow
Salary: €57,800
Monthly pay (net): €3,459.09
Transport: Average €200 of petrol a month, we split the cost 50/50
Car loan: €700 in total, my wife and I pay half each (€350), two-and-a-half more years left on the loan
Mortgage: €961 in total, my wife and I pay €480.50 each
Savings: €500 gets split into two Revolut vaults each month: €300 goes into a holiday vault and €200 goes into a rainy day savings vault. I know this should be the other way around and I will make it so eventually but we want to have a “Treat Yourself” holiday at the end of the year
Household bills: €300 average for electricity (we both work from home and have a lot of tech running), €24.50 for our bins, €35 for Sky TV package (this includes Netflix and Disney+), €50 for Internet. We put money into the joint account at the start of each month and split bill 50/50 as we are paid almost the same amount.
Phone bill: €55
Health insurance: €110 a month paid for by my employer
Pension: €180 a month and my employer contributes €210
Groceries: We average around €300 a month. We usually either shop in Lidl or Aldi and only pop into more expensive supermarkets if we know they have a deal on for something we want
Subscriptions: Playstation Extra (€13.99) Amazon Prime (€10.27) YouTube Premium (€11.99)
***
7.35 am: Alarm goes off and gets me up for the week I have been dreading as I’m covering colleagues who are off so have a big workload ahead of me for the next five days. I feel bad complaining as our team is very good at sharing the workloads usually but it was just the perfect storm this week as I’m the only one who knows certain processes so the lion’s share is coming my way.
7.45 am: Go downstairs and make a cup of tea and a bagel with cream cheese to get me going and look longingly at my side of the bed on the way out as the dog has gotten out of his bed and into mine to sleep beside my wife who starts later than I do. Go into my office and start what I know will be a long day and my now 200-mail-strong inbox only confirms it.
10.30 am: Give myself a small break after sorting through two-thirds of my to-do list and have a scroll through the GameStop website for what was only going to be a browse, but I end up buying three PlayStation games on sale and put a preorder in for a game I have been looking forward to that’s due to be released on my birthday. (€152)
10.35 am: My break is interrupted by my colleague calling who has heard some rumours about another big tech company that is downsizing and we discuss what the future might hold for our employer. After that dread-filled call, it’s straight back into work.
1.30 pm: Hunger makes me look at the clock and realise I’ve been flying through work but haven’t seemed to make a dent. I go to the kitchen and while deciding what to have for lunch, I make a bolognese sauce and throw it into the slow cooker. I make a quick bowl of Korean spicy noodles and steamed dumplings and make a note that we have to stock up on some of our pantry essentials.
2.30 pm: Jump back into work and give myself a target of tasks to finish before the end of the day. Hopefully it works!
5.35 pm: Shut down my systems after a busy day and go for a shower, it’s become a habit to wash the stress of the day away.
6.00 pm: My wife has now finished work and we chat about dinner. She’s not a fan of bolognese so she’s going to make a leftover plate from the roast dinner we had on Sunday. We have dinner in front of the TV and watch the latest “The Last of Us” episode. It’s based on her favourite PlayStation game and though I’ve never really liked the game, I’m very much enjoying the show.
7.30 pm: Bring the dog out on a smaller walk than he would like but he’s recovering from a bad sprained paw so he’s under doctor’s orders to take it slow. Put the bins out on the way out the door and realise our next-door neighbour who is just moving in has gotten a skip bag, filled it a bit wonky and now there are various bits of material packaging blowing all over the road and our garden. We plan to clean it up when we get back from the walk as they are not home.
8.00 pm: Back home and the rubbish we were going to clean that’s blown out of our neighbour’s skip bag has totally blown away and there’s no sight of it… sugar. We settle in front of mindless TV, my wife and I browse through an online Asia market that we frequently buy from. Stock up on noodles, spices, flour and soft drinks and can’t resist adding in some of our favourite snacks. Japanese curry-flavoured crisps are incredible and in my opinion, beat Tayto any day. (€76)
8.15 pm: Wife quickly hoovers the house. With so many animals, we have to do this daily to keep things clean and tidy.
8.30 pm: Switch on the PlayStation and continue a game I’ve been playing on and off as I’m not into the gameplay but the story is amazing. I’m powering through as the reviews for it are amazing and I find it hard to leave games unfinished once I’ve started them. My wife plays her own game on her handheld console and we chat and play and just enjoy our time together.
11.15 pm: My eyes won’t stay open so I say goodnight to my wife and the animals and head off to bed. I’m pretty sure I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
1.45 am: I’m woken up by my wife trying to go to bed only to discover the dog at some stage got out of his own and got in beside me. Once everyone’s back to where they belong, it’s lights out again.
Today’s total: €228.00
7.35 am: Alarm goes off and I stay in bed for a few minutes staring into space before I manage to drag myself up and bring the dog out for his morning bathroom break. First cup of tea for the day and surprised to see my wife up earlier than usual. We discuss our work for the day. We plan to go out and do a grocery shop as the cupboards are quite empty and we’re running low on just about everything.
7.45 am: I skip breakfast and dive straight into work as there are issues that have sprung up overnight and they need resolving.
8.50 am: Go down and make a tuna melt for breakfast with another cup of tea. Not the most conventional breakfast but really hits the spot.
9.20 am: Back at work and it’s a meeting-heavy day. Great to catch up with people but it’s hard to manage tasks and requests when you’re on teams calls for most of the day. Someone floats the idea of meeting up in the office tomorrow in person but thankfully most people are not available, so I don’t have to make any plans to go into the office. I get so much more work done from home than I do with the office and its plethora of distractions.
1.30 pm: Lunchtime and I heat up some leftover bolognese. While it’s warming, I make a grocery list for later in the evening.
2.00 pm: Back to work, hoping I can finish on time today as things seemed to have slowed down a bit and am making good progress on my to-do list.
4.30 pm: Finished work on time! A rare occurrence this time of year as the year-end fever has taken over almost every employee. Head downstairs and throw on some TV and wait for my wife to finish at 5.30 pm so we can go do a grocery shop. The dog has a nap on my lap and I throw a blanket over us for added cosiness – this was a mistake.
6.15 pm: I wake up, not sure where I am and what time it is. My wife is beside me and says she’s just ordered a chipper (€26.50) and we can postpone groceries until tomorrow as she didn’t want to wake me. True love.
6.30 pm: Chipper arrives and we throw on a movie – The Menu on Disney+. Great film and not what we expected at all.
7.30 pm: Chatting about nothing in particular while watching the movie with my wife when we hear something bang outside. I joke that it sounds like a bin that’s blown away. It is a bin that’s blown away and is now sliding down the road. It’s our bin that we forgot to bring in this morning. Go and grab it and hope we don’t get a reputation as “those neighbours”.
8.00 pm: Go have a shower and then stick the PlayStation on as I’m just about finished the game I have been playing while my wife heads up to her office to continue organising her gaming and other nerdy memorabilia. No matter how much we’ve unpacked and arranged, there’s always something else we seem to have to do.
11.00 pm: I’m finished the game I’ve not been sure about and the ending has blown me away so much that I can now only agree with the rave reviews it was getting. I read up a bit on a possible sequel before heading up to see my wife’s progress. Chat for a bit and admire all the decorations she has put up. I put the dog in his bed (and then back into it after he tries getting into mine) and watch some YouTube videos before falling asleep.
Today’s total: €26.50
7.10 am: The dog manages to wake me before my alarm as one of the cats is staring at him and making him nervous. I bring him down and he spends his morning bathroom break barking at a bird who had the audacity to land on our fence. The dog goes back to bed and I make a cup of tea while checking my emails and the news.
7.50 am: See an email about a PC game bundle that benefits charity and pick it up. It will go into my large pile of to-play games that I should really clear before buying anything else. (€13.78)
8.00 am: Make the long commute from the kitchen to my home office and start seeing what work I’ve to do today. Quickly get disheartened when I see my inbox go over 100 unread emails and settle in for a long day.
9.00 am: Hear my wife waking up and making her commute to her own office. Go in and say good morning and chat for a bit before getting back to work.
11.30 am: Work is only getting busier for both of us so we throw a lead on the dog (who is not happy about being woken back up) and head down to the local shop to pick up a chicken fillet roll, a coffee and then without even thinking, a packet of biscuits to make the day a bit sweeter. (€14.39)
3.00 pm: It’s a desk lunch today of some crisps and a peach iced tea we had rattling around in the pantry as I’m in the middle of some complex projects and don’t want to stop while I’m in the zone. When I’m working, I usually have some sort of sitcom or movie playing in the background on one of my screens. The background noise helps me focus but now I’ve zoned out watching an episode of The Office US and get startled when I realise half an hour has passed without realising and get back to work.
4.45 pm: Finished work and just as I’m logging off the doorbell goes. It’s the games I ordered on Monday – perfect timing! Waste no time and stick the first game in to install and give it a quick go while waiting for my wife to finish work.
5.35 pm: Wife finishes up and we jump straight into the car and drive 20 minutes to the next town over as we don’t have a supermarket in our village. Chat about our day on the drive and decide to go to Lidl as we went to Aldi last time. We grab a trolley and pick up food and snacks to last us a week. Can’t resist a stroll down the middle aisle but nothing catches our fancy. Grab everything on the list and also pick up a crate of Coke that’s on offer (although now that I think about it, I always pick up a crate and it’s usually always on offer). We use our joint Revolut to pay that we both send equal money each month. (€126)
6.50 pm: We get home and bring everything in while trying to control the dog and cats who apparently thought we were never coming home. Throw some veggie schnitzels, American corn dogs and a carrot and turnip mix in the oven and I hoover the house while they cook. We have dinner while watching some YouTube videos. Odd mix but we wanted to try some new bits that we picked up in our food shop. Pretty nice!
7.30 pm: Bring the dog out for a walk and decide to walk around the town and explore some of the housing estates. They are really the only areas that are consistently lit up and as we are still not totally familiar with the area we feel a bit safer walking around them at night. There are a lot of large green areas in one of the estates that are not yet finished so the dog has a good run around.
8.30 pm: We get back home and clean up the dishes from dinner. I run for a shower and then I go back and keep playing the new game I got today. It’s good fun and my wife and I game for the rest of the evening passing the controller back and forth to each have a go.
10.30 pm: I say goodnight to everyone as I have to be up early tomorrow. Watch a YouTuber I like playing the game I just bought to see what their opinions are (they hate it) and fall asleep.
1.00 am: The cats did not get the memo about my early morning and spend a good 30 minutes chasing each other around the bedroom and use our bed as a launchpad. Eventually, fall asleep thinking about the cost involved in getting a tent and sleeping in the garden.
Today’s total: €154.17
5.57 am: Wake up three minutes before my alarm and spend those minutes trying to get out of bed. Boot up my work systems and drink an iced coffee I picked up yesterday. Straight into the thick of things at work.
9.00 am: My wife comes in to say good morning and we chat before she goes in to start her work. I take a quick break to throw some jambons in the oven and watch the dog chase a leaf in the garden.
9.30 am: Back to the grind. I put on a let’s play video that’s nine hours long and this will keep me company all day while getting through my never-ending task list.
3.30 pm: My alarm goes and stops my work marathon. I invested in an ergonomic gaming desk and gaming chair when we moved in and if it wasn’t for my set-up, I think my back would be broken after not moving for so long. We have an appointment to get new tires on our car so we head out and drive to the next town over to the garage.
4.00 pm: We leave the car in and they tell us it will take an hour. There’s a café down the road so we grab a tea, a coffee and a sausage roll to share. (€11.50)
5.00 pm: Pick up the car and the mechanic mentions an error light that was popping up, might be battery related but we just need to keep an eye on it for now. We see our four new tires that should last a good few years but they are larger than normal so they set us back, but we use the money in our rainy-day savings account. (€400)
5.30 pm: Back home and my wife says she will start dinner as I have to go back and finish work. Nothing mad happened while I was away so get stuck back in.
6.30 pm: Log out and head for a shower to wash the day away. When I go downstairs, I see my wife has made a korma with rice and garlic bread. It’s delicious as always.
7.15 pm: Bring the dog out for his walk and to help walk off our dinner. It’s getting a bit warmer which is nice. I can’t wait until the brighter evenings so we can explore more of the village.
8.00 pm: Back home and to no one’s surprise I start up the PlayStation and continue the game I’m playing. The cats settle in beside me for a nap and the dog finds a way to squeeze in. My wife heads upstairs to play her new PC game and I can hear her laughing away with her brother who has the same game.
10.00 pm: Wrecked after my early start so head up to bed and read a book, It’s a good horror book and I’m really enjoying it. Start falling asleep one chapter away from the end, so put it away and it’s lights out.
Today’s total: €411.50
7.45 am: Alarm goes and I’m up and making a cup of tea before I even realise it. The Friday before a bank holiday weekend just hits differently. Throw a load of washing on while the dog inspects the garden.
8.00 am: Log into work and start the day. It’s thankfully quieting down and I plan to be finished on time to start the weekend.
12.30 pm: I get a call from my best friend who also recently purchased a house in the town over she is out walking her dog and asks if I want to come over for tea and a chat. She works shifts so our schedules during the week don’t usually sync up. I see if my wife can rearrange stuff to come but she’s pretty busy, so I put the dog in the car and head out.
1.00 pm: Arrive at my buddy’s and we let the dogs out the back to go and play. Have to keep an eye on mine as he is still recovering but he seems to be having a blast. We have a lot of tea and catch each other up on what we have been up to. My bud mentions that 15 years ago, we would have been sitting in her mam’s kitchen and dreaming about the type of house we would buy and what we would be doing, makes us both feel very privileged to be in our current positions and also old to reminisce!
2.30 pm: Notice the time and have to drag myself back home and to work. My dog is even more reluctant than I am to leave but eventually get him into the car and organise a lunch date with my friend and our partners for next week.
3.00 pm: Home again and work is waiting. Quickly chat with my wife and get stuck back in.
6.00 pm: Finally finished, later than I wanted but also very happy that I have the flexibility to go out during the day if I want. I go down and start dinner. Chicken Kievs, cajun wedges and mixed veg, simple but still pretty tasty.
7.30 pm: We finish dinner and I get a text from my sister asking if we want to come over for dinner tomorrow as my brother and his partner will also be over. We say we will be there and check if she needs anything picked up. She’s all good for ingredients but asks if we can bring some board games – easily done!
8.00 pm: I head back up to my office and fire up my PC for a gaming change of pace and my wife does the same on hers. I spend around an hour trying to decide what to play and flicking through Reddit and YouTube. Settle on a Star Wars game and settle in for the night.
1.30 am: My wife comes in to say goodnight and I’m surprised to see how late it is as I’m usually always in bed before my wife. I get sucked into story-heavy games and don’t even feel the time passing. Shut down everything and head to bed.
Today’s total: €0.00
7.00 am: Dog is up bright and early as nature calls. Let him out and we both head back to bed.
9.45 am: Back awake and head down for a quiet breakfast as my wife and animals are still asleep. Tea and a potato waffle sandwich are on the menu. Eat while reading the book I didn’t finish earlier in the week. My wife comes down just as I’m finishing and gets some breakfast of her own. We chat for a while as she eats and then we jump into the big clean of the week.
11.30 am: House is freshly hoovered, mopped, wiped down, bathrooms cleaned, fridge cleaned out and wiped down and bed sheets are put into the wash as we put the new ones on. It’s a good workout and since we do spot cleans during the week, it’s never too bad. I bring the dog out for a walk while my wife finishes organising her office.
12.30 pm: Back home and the dog goes straight into his bath. He’s not happy about this weekly event but if he doesn’t get washed frequently, he sheds like there’s no tomorrow.
1.15 pm: Make some noodles and steam some dumplings for lunch and then head back to the PC to play the game I started yesterday and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
5.00 pm: Wife jumps into the shower and I go after and we get ready to head out to my sister’s for dinner. We bring the dog, who’s excited to be going out again, and we stop in the newsagents on the way there and pick up some drinks. I don’t drink and my wife rarely drinks so just grab some sodas. (€6)
6.00 pm: Arrive at my sister’s and have great craic all evening with some very tasty dinner courtesy of my sister and some fun board games. There’s a 10 and 11-year age gap between my siblings and I and it makes me happy that I can have such fun times with them now as they are older.
11.00 pm: Arrive home and chat with my wife about the evening and our plans for tomorrow. My sister had mentioned wanting to go to the Asia market with us that we shop at to pick up some ingredients, so we shoot her a text if she wants to go tomorrow. Head to bed and was going to start a new book but fall asleep as soon as I lie down.
Today’s total: €6.00
8.30 am: Woken by one of the cats using my head as a climbing frame. Bring the dog out for his morning business and make a cup of tea. Watch some TV and just relax, see my sister texted back to say she was free to go shopping today. Shoot her back a text that we will pick her up at around 11 am.
9.30 am: I can hear TikToks in the distance which is a good signal my wife is awake. Head up and see if she’s up for heading out later and she is, so our plans are set for the day.
10.30 am: After some cereal for breakfast, we get ready and drive to pick up my sister and make tracks towards the Asia market.
11.45 am: We arrive, grab a trolly and start shopping. We have fun just going through the aisles and finding some favourites and some new things to try. I pay for my sister’s groceries as well as the small bits I picked out when we checkout as a thanks for the dinner last night. (€112)
1.15 pm: We stop at a bubble tea place on the way back home as I had a craving and my wife pays for our drinks. Go for a stroll around the town and window shop while chatting.
2.30 pm: Drop off my sister and head back home. Put the groceries away and sit down in front of the TV to relax. I send my brother some money as I don’t want to leave him out after I got my sister’s haul. He’s delighted at the surprise and I enjoy being able to share what I have. (€100)
3.00 pm: We plan to lounge in front of the TV for the rest of the day and get settled in front of some movies.
6.00 pm: My wife makes dinner with bits and pieces we picked up in the Asia market – steamed bao buns, veggie gyoza and I make some chicken fried rice to go along with it.
10.30 pm: Off to bed after our lazy evening. Watch some more YouTube videos and fall asleep after a few minutes.
Today’s total: €212.00
***
What I learned –
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it’s bad for both EU and Russia business wise, but EU has more to lose and especially Ukraine when winter comes alone Russia will raise the gas prices for heating for the Ukraine people.
The ones driving this are the Americans. They do negligble trade with Russia so a round or two sanctions hardly affects etiher party. Europe on the other hand does huge amount of trade with Russia. Europe has to stop dancing to Washington’s tune. A new cold war benefits nobody except the American defense industry.
And the greedy Federal Reserve.
Scipio it’s Russia doing the annexation and invasions here not the US, are you that biased against them that you can’t see that? Russia is playing the part of Germany late 1930s and you’re blaming the US
I’m not biased against anybody. I just have not forgotten about the Kiev coup encouraged by the likes of Nuland and backed by fascist/ultra nationalists that ousted a democratically elected head of state that the vast majority of easterners voted for, that started this mess.
If you wish to swallow silly Washington rhetoric about 1930s Germanay, you’re free to do so.
Ryan Carroll ,, Its NATO sh*t*ing on Russia’s doorstep….Get over it.
“it’s Russia doing the annexation and invasions ” lmfao have you tried comedy?
Amerikaw annexed california new mexico and others, they are invading countries all over the middle east, nato is a murdering terrorist organisation and you blame putin…………………..lmfao
Ablitive, the Ukraine is not Russia’s doorstep. They are a sovereign nation which has a right to choose who they decide to work with.
Ryan, you’ll find that there are plenty of people on this site who are of the impression that the US or the EU are entirely to blame for the overthrow of Yanukovych. They somehow seem to ignore the fact that secretly organising 400,000 people to protest would be an almost impossible organisation task or the fact that Yanukovych was incredibly corrupt and elected on a false election manifesto.
A ’400,000′ protest including many who were ultra nationalists out of a nation of over 40 million is not a democratic mandate to overthrow a democratically elected president. and replace him with ironically, the ousted president’s finance minister.
Jason.. NATO assured Russia in the past that it would not expand eastwards….they LIED.
NATO is based on one big LIE. …They use false flags and deception as a means to illegally expand and invade soverign nations, rob their resources, ethnic cleanse the place and leave it FAR WORSE OFF than they were to begin with.
We will soon see Syria turned into another mid eastern terrorist run wasteland thanks to US “liberation & democracy”
BTW.. Barack Obama is arming ISIS in Syria to Fight ISIS….explain this Jason,
http://www.pakalertpress.com/2014/09/11/obama-plans-to-fight-isis-by-arming-isis/
Frank, I can’t take anything you say seriously when you openly blame the Ukrainians for shelling occupied cities yet blame Syrian rebels for the Syrian government forces bombing occupied cities. Your blatant hypocrisy is awe-inspiring.
Scipio, do you deny that Yanukovych was corrupt and elected on a manifesto which he later completely disregarded?
Jason …Ukraine would not be in the mess that it is in only for this Zi0nist puppet junta that is currently in power and it is only going to get worse.
We see the same cancer spreading right across the middle east, same hallmarks. How long will it be before NATO starts its proxy terrorist regime changing campaign in Iran?
ISIS is not going to dissapear too quickly, they are too much of a convience for Western Backed forces. We will see plenty of “make believe” assaults on Isis on television media for the gullible masses to believe in.
How is that ironic?
Whether he is corrupt or not is besides the point. I suppose you’re naive to think Porshenko who served as Yanukovyvh’s finance minister is corruption free? Corruption seems to be an essential characteristic of Ukraininan politcs. As for not fulfilling his manifesto, there would be a coup every election in Ireland if the basis for launching one was the failure to fulfill a manifesto. That’s ludicrous reasoning and you know it.
@Ryan if the Americans are so worried about invasions where are the sanctions against Israel for not only killing hundreds of innocent Palestinians but for yet another land grab in the West Bank?
Jason you’re talking crap again
Cosmo Kramer … The US is in Bed with the Zi0nist regime, same excuses for the same war mongering, If this was not so the US would have intervened in GAZA but NO.. You can be damn sure Israel’s stock of Hellfire missiles will be replenished fully within the coming months.’ Israel has every right to defend its self” we will hear again from this equally fascist regime….
israel also benefits, with the russian military busy with events in ukraine they and the us have less resistance in the middle east. israels war crimes are largely ignored with the media promoting this (falsely i would add).
Abilitive, I couldn’t agree with you more France building warships for the Russian navy was certainly against NATO assurances of not expanding eastwards. You were right to pick up on this point and lets hope that Nato strengthens its resolve against Russia’s regression to cold war politics and Putin will see a bit of sense in future.
@ryan what fu*** invasion are talking about Ryan ? the imaginary one that the fu*** dogs in the State Department came up with ? If i hear another person saying Russia invaded Ukraine or the Crimea I will blow my top ……..mother of jesus..
Russia invaded Ukraine (crimea is Ukraine btw)
Justin Mc Nulty .. and US NATO FORCEFULLY INVADED….Afganistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria (Arming headhacking ISIS terrorists by proxy).
No..its the openly swastika wearing Ukraine members of government in kiev that resembles Germany in the 1930s…..people in crimea voted 96 percent to re join Russia…….eastern Ukraine people are fighting the right wing nazis wearing swastika murderers claiming to be the Ukraine army……they are referred to as pro Russian rebles but actually and factually are Ukraine people who don’t except the coup government that hijacked their country and immediately ban the language of half the country.
Didn’t the Russians invade Afghanistan as well and brutally repress Chechnya, also Hungary, checezlovakia and stl shouting abtlitive, it makes you look unhinged.
@ Ryan Carroll . I suppose you can see all this with your 3D vision, lets broaden the vista from your flat world for a moment. It is America and its allies that rely on wars of expansion to keep their economy’s at the top, 1.5 Mil dead in Iraq ! Always wars, never peace. Yes Ryan, most of the world is biased against America, after all, their children have to migrate to find a decent life, your 3D vision failed to see this in Ireland ?
You ask others if they are so biased against America ? Why not ask yourself why you are so biased in favour of wars and economic oppression. It is clearly America that is acting like the Nazis, the world wants peace, America wants war, like the Nazis it has brainwashed people to believe it is the master race, invincible.
“Author: Maurice Rodgers
Comment:
No…..the Russians never did any invasion of Afghanistan….hungry or any other country actually. ………it was the Soviet union…….Gorbachev was from Ukraine….so was kruschev who actually gave crimea to Ukraine for
political gain. ….Stalin was from Georgia.
..blaaa….blaa…..blaa”
Not sure why you deleted this comment Maurice, Maybe you realised that Kruschev was actually born on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine, Maybe you copped that the leaders at the time of Afghanistan, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Chechnya were all actually Russians and made you look like a clown with a bags of ………..’s and blaaa’s Anyway it renders all of your Russian propaganda null and void so I’ll be paying you no attention in future. Ta Raa!!
The EU fools are at it again. Do these morans know what they are doing? Russia will have no problem turnng to China to sell it’s oil and gas and raise finance. We are approaching winter in Europe. Large swaths of central Europe rely on Russian gas and oil for heating and manufacturing. Watch the price of oil for the coming months while European exporters to Russia go out of business. Cheese and some other produce prices have collapsed. Oh……I forgot….silly me….shur when oil and gas prices rise so does government revenue!
I wouldn’t count on Russia turning to China do quickly. They have at best a cold shoulder relationship on a Buber of fronts, not least the expansion of Chinese interests into border areas of Russia.
don’t be so sure I saw something the other day that they were going to setup their own payments system outside of Swift. And I believe Russia is accepting Yuan as payments for oil instead of dollars.
In fairness Jack I can see where they are stuck. Russia is in violation of international law. All the people on here harping about how the US should be chastised when it does this, and I agree, ought to be saying the same for Russia.
”All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”
So there are two ways to deal with this:
1. The Gulf War/Korean War way: Assemble a coalition and drive them back from the area they have conquered. The Russian Armed Forces have deteriorated badly, esp their navy, since the end of the Cold War. If NATO went full-throttle against them the Russians would begin to loose, badly. Then pressure would come on Putin to use tactical nukes to regain the initiative, and once they start flying it’s not a big step to a major strategic exchange. Even if it stayed conventional, estimates are that a NATO-Russia war would kill well into the millions of civilians.
NATO don’t want to go this route, esp since none of their members have been attacked, I think Obamas too weak to do this even if Russia did attack NATO tbh
2. Economic and Diplomatic pressure. Nobody gets killed, accounts are frozen, trade is disrupted, it’s not MEANT to cut them all from all weapons, it’s just meant as an irritant.
The only other option besides those two is to do nothing, and we’ve seen in past history what happens when appeasement is used against a country that is annexing neighbors based on the fig leaf of uniting all peoples of the same ethnicity.
Doing nothing at all will only encourage him to push harder. Putin is going to push as far as he can until he’s sure another move will start a war. He is determined to redress the strategic balance of NATO creeping closer to the Russian border, taking over former Warsaw Pact states, this has jack all to do with local ethnicity and everything to do with that bigger strategic picture, he wants to make sure no more NATO blue creeps closer, he want’s that balance redressed AND he wants to use it as an opportunity to play the strongman at home, where he has the makings of a personality cult with censored media and a rubber stamp parliament. He is gonna keep pushing until he can push no more without starting a war.
@Ryan Carrol, I read a lot of opinions, but I’ve never read so much drivel the likes you have written in all my life.
Ryan, I follow your logic but it is not as simple and straight forward as you set it out. When Ukraine gained it’s ‘freedom’ after the collapse of the USSR it was on the understanding that it would not join NATO and understand the need for Russia to maintain security of it boarders. The EU and USA in the guise of NATO have been steadfastly expanding East right up to the boarders of Russia. Look at the reaction of the US to the Cuba missile crises and then ask why Russia is not entitled to take the same view. The US has been engaged in an expansionist policy for the last 50 years and one has only to look at the middle east to see the mess that has been created there. We have to learn and accept that nation states are entitled to be different to us and we must respect their right to exist on their terms. Russia was faced with a civil war on its doorstep where Russian and pro Russian people were being murdered by Ukraine forces encouraged by the West. It’s like saying that we in the 26 counties should not have had an interest or acted to protect the nationalists in Northern Ireland. No country can ignore this sort of thing on its doorstep.
The proper approach the EU should take and an option you have not considered: USA and NATO……stay put of it! Their involvement serves merely to provoke. The EU does have an interest and should be saying to Putin ‘ OK let’s fix this together’. What do the Ukraine people want? What would reasonably satisfy Russian interests.
Maybe shorten it a tad. Most people come to the comments section to read a comment, not a 500 word opinion piece.
Jack, NATO is a voluntary defensive organisation. Why are countries bordering Russia feeling the need to apply to a defensive alliance? It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with their long history of invading and bullying their neighbours, would it?
I’ve seen longer pro-russian rants from the conspiracy gang in fairness.
More nonsense Jason
Jason Culligan ..”Jack, NATO is a voluntary defensive organisation”..
I never heard such sh*ite from you before since I started posting . Tell that to the hundreds and thousands killed and injured in the illegal wars of Iraq and Lybia and Syria by proxy. Nato is an aggressive power grabbing military cult that is starting to show its true colours in the middle east and Eastern Europe.
@dee4 that is correct Dee4 …
@ . T U C . Ah, sure hes great at writing drivel, in fact he excels, probably looking for a job in the Garda or government God help us all !
Russian’s defeated Japan in china and stopped the massacre. .then handed back china to the Chinese in WW2…….. its a serious relationship Russia and china have…very serious actually. …….
All this and what did the international community do to Israel. F all
The eu is backing the wrong side we should strengthen business links with our European neighbours Russia.
Russia has proven to be an unreliable nation many times. They’re prone to cutting off trade agreements at will, they’ve driven foreign companies in Russia out of business to seize assets for Russian state companies. They imprison political rivals of Putin and his party or drive them out of the country/label them ‘mentally insane’. Most media is state owned/funded and those which aren’t are driven underground or intimidated or ‘acquired’ by the government.
Hell Putin even openly fudged the constitution so he could keep himself and his buddies in power longer than was previously legal. Lets be perfectly honest here, Russia is not a country Europe can rely on.
‘ they’ve driven foreign companies in Russia out of business to seize assets for Russian state companies’ In other words Putin brought those assets back under Russian control after the country was plundered by foreign interests during the kamikaze capitalism of the Yeltsin years, with the approval of course of the vast majority of the Russian people.
So Scipio, what about Yukos then? The company Putin had driven into the ground and who’s assets he moved into the hands of Gazprom to cripple a political rival.
Maybe we will strengthen our business links when they stop invading our neighbors!
Yukos was involved in a case of tax evasion on a colossol scale.
But with very little benefit to the average Russian.
Not really Scipio. Yukos was chosen as the means by which to bring down Khordorkovski. If it had not been tax it would have been some other corporate law breach and if that did not work he would have ended up like Politkovskaya or Litvinenko. Let’s not forget that Putin also tried to kill Yanukovych and did all in his power to dislodge Timoshenko. The election you talk about which brought Yanukovych was broadly accepted as Democratic but Yanukovych did not rule democratically. His cronies in the police provoked wider protests than might have happened if they had been less heavy handed. His handling of the 2012 parliamentary election was dictatorial. His removal was inevitable, given the state of Ukraine.
Yukos is not the issue here. His removal would have been legal and accepted by Ukraininans east and west if it had been though democratic means,there was an election due anyway, rather then a ultra nationalist backed coup.
Putin tried that trick with BP and it cost the Russian government billions in the internationaal courts. Presently BP owns around 20% of Russia’s biggest oil company.
Stop repeating state department nonsense Jason no one is listening to your pile of DUNG……..you are talking out your arse again…….
Please Russia sanction the living daylights out of us please maybe then the people of Europe will wake up to the scam which is the s-called “Union” …… SANCTIONS PLEASE……
Same ould nonsense a gain …….RUSSIA BAD MAN v WEST GOOD MAN…….what a load of bollo* ……..we are so good and clean west who murdered hundreds of thousands on a PACK OF LIES and even worse look at the state of the place now ……..their should be sanctions but not for Russia……these people are SICK Satan loving GIMPS
Yes we’ll really miss those Russian imports! Ha ha
Bit late for humanitarian aid from UN. Merkel, Obama and Cameron – congratulations on restarting the cold war.
Anne tell me, what do you think they should do then?
@Ryan. A ceasefire has been called. According to poroshenko all the alleged Russian troops have left. Why impose more sanctions and further destabilize relationships when hostilities are meant to have ended. It now seems clear that western intentions all along were not to protect Ukraine, but rather to punish Putin.
Anne Marie Devlin – Have you forgotten about Crimea?
ann
spot on,
putin gave obamacare a black eye in syria, obama was humiliated throughout the world, the yanks don’t like people standing up to them,
EU is the new tyrant.
The EU is the revived ancient Roman Empire set up by the treaty of Rome in 1957. The tyrants are starting to come out of the woodwork…
meanwhile in Russia….better start stocking up of wollies for the winter….. gotta love the EU, screwing with farmers and risking gas supplies being cut, I’d hate to be at the end of that pipeline…oh wait that us
http://news.yahoo.com/russian-gas-supplies-poland-drop-093035904.html
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A spat has broken out between Poland and Russia over what Warsaw claims is a sharp drop in natural gas supplies. The move comes amid concerns Moscow is ready to use its energy exports as a political weapon over the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian gas supplier Gazprom was elusive in its position: while it claimed its deliveries didn’t drop, it warned that they depend on volumes available for export. It also argued that the problem is due to Poland ramping up its demand, something the Polish state gas company didn’t want to confirm.
Russia will bankrupt itself cutting the gas supply off to Europe. Their economy is already shrinking, the Ruble is worth at least 20% less than what it was when they invaded Crimea and the main earner for the Russian economy is exports of oil and gas to Europe.
“invaded crimea”
i seem to recall a referendum being held which the citizens of Crimea voted to be part of Russia
I seem to remember only 6 countries in the world recognising that referendum as valid while 100 rejected it as illegal. I also remember the real results being leaked to the public showing that, even though Tatars were prevented from voting and even non-Ukrainian Russians being allowed to vote and multiple times per person, the leaked results showed only a tiny majority wanting to leave the Ukraine.
they will deal with China
Eventually, but selling oil and gas needs infrastructure to transport it. Russia will need to survive off borrowed money until 2018 when the oil and gas will start to flow into China if they stop supplying Europe. Until then nobody in their right mind would lend money to Russia.
jason
you mean like the poor black people in miami were prevented from voting in the us elections which handed the presidency to the bushmongers.
The horse has already bolted, it was a take over, you should rename yourself liedy lies.
Straws and clutching come to mind.
point out one lie that i wrote just one you lying hypocrite
Jason Culligan “Russia will bankrupt itself cutting the gas supply off to Europe”
Have you ever heard of BRIC nations? China? Iran has just signed a 60 Billion trade contract with Russia. There is no fear with Russia and it is better for them to deal with the truth than deal with the Devil.
BTW Jason.. Obama who now dictates to the EU is going from Halo to the Devils Horns.
@ . Jason C .. I think the Russians already planned for that, you seem to believe the last 20 years of working on a new alternative economic system for half the world was just words. When this is over the world will no longer have to fear America and its camp followers.
@ . Justin McNulty . They would come to your mind, after all, its all you can do.
Whatever
The eu have mismanaged this from start to finish. Sanctions only hurt the little people. The eu should not support use of ukr military against its own people. Eu should not support the ukr government allowing private armies financed by the likes of igor kolomoski or others or right wing groups to cause havoc kidnapping beating up the people in the east. Those people have rights too and these have been trampled on.
What about the rights of the people of the Donbass who have had fake referendums claiming they want to join Russia when the reality is the opposite? What about the rights of the people in cities occupied by armed terrorists funded,led and armed by Russia?
What about the rights of the vast majority of easterners who voted for Yanukovych only to see him ousted by a fascist backed coup?
Well Scipio, they had a chance to vote for a new president yet many couldn’t due to Russian-backed thugs attacking polling stations and threatening/beating people who dared to go out and vote.
You’ll also note that the fascist groups who were involved in Maidan were crushed in the presidential election.
They voted for Yanukovych who was ousted by ultra nationalist thugs who now provide units such as the Azov brigade which are acknowleded to be the most effective fighting forces Kiev has at it’s disposal.
‘You’ll also note that the fascist groups who were involved in Maidan were crushed in the presidential election’
And you should also note the ultra nationalist Svoboda party controls 25 % of government ministries.
@ . Jason Culligan . Qui the BS Jason, next you will be telling us the people that funded and instigated a coup are good people to guarantee the elections by their Kiev muppets was a fair one.
That’s like the rapist getting to judge his own crime.
From Russia with love.
Ah FFS, I just ordered an AK47 on Ebay, what a joke! DHL tracking should be interesting on this one!
ted
i just got mine but wwhen i was signing for it the gun went off, the dhl guy is dead, what you you suggest i do? there’s a woodchipper out the back……………………………………..
How unbelievably stupid do you have to me to think that Putin is not behind all of this situation in Ukraine? He created it, nurtured it, encouraged it and backs it. All in the name of his own vanity, gambling addiction and aspirations to reconstruct the USSR again. All you anti EU, Anti USA conspiracy theorists are just too stupid to argue with because if I do argue with you your superior stupidity will drag me down and beat me with you superior experience in stupidity and your breathtaking lack of any logical thought process.
Cold war again??? It’s a cover for the bigger picture..
have your say