In the minds of most people outside Russia, Hammer and Sickle = unsafe, unreliable, uncomfortable, commie, no English spoken.

Who in their right mind would not, in fact, get rid of the logo?

Don’t discount it! Neighbouring countries like Kuwait and Saudi are run by Islamic nutcases, and the new Iraq might turn out a lot more secular and inviting for Westerners.

A bit of each I would say.

A – the “Paris France, you know?” phenomenon
B – the “do what we’ll say or we’ll bomb your arse”
C – the “General something” world knowledge

But mostly C.

Certainly, the IOM authorities are trying to encourage other airlines to start a local presence. They aren’t trerrifically happy with BA.

BA will pull out of DUB flights soon I believe. Aer Arran aren’t going to be going for high frequencies, so the main carrier IOM-DUB will be Euromanx.

TTP – good points

I would venture to speculate that the British attitude is that the US spends too much on defence whereas the Europeans spend too little. The UK also spends too little, but perhaps not to the extent of our neighbours.

I agree that the Typhoon is not quite as advanced as the F-22, but in its defence, it is more British than the F-22 would have been (even if we had spent the last decade as a partner in your F-22 project).

Also, the A400 has been a political problem in the UK. The RAF are being coerced into buying them, but would prefer more C130J’s. Typical compromise is that the A400 is still on order whilst there aren’t enough C130Js.

Re: that’s not true mongu

Originally posted by Vortex
During the Faulkland wars, the US offered intellegence data for the British and there were even rumours that if push comes to shove the USN will be sent to protect the RN. On the contrary, the French LIED about the Exocets.

Well, we expected a fair bit of support from the US and not much from the EU. Although there was support from the US, it was only “backup” stuff like intelligence and I think we had the use of an airbase to refuel or something.

Also, in the early days the US were diplomatically unsupportive and only started helping in a support role when the “chips were down”.

I’m not criticising though, because the US did help and no nation is obligated to help us.

Welcome back, and good luck for the old man.

Oi’m from jer-zee, hic :p