Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a “military operation in eastern Ukraine”.
In a televised address to the Russian people the president said clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces are “inevitable” and “only a question of time”.
He added that Russia doesn’t have a goal to occupy Ukraine. Putin said the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian “regime.”
Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen”.
For all the ordinary men and women, Ukrainian and Russian, who stand upon the edge of disaster, as the wheels of diplomacy spin uselessly and gigantic aeroplanes, their cargo holds stuffed with weapons, criss-cross the skies above them, oblivious to their shattered hopes and dreams.
Take my hand, beloved. Come.
The day is almost done.
Be at my side, behold the sight,
Of evening on the land.
Our life, my love’s, been hard
And heavy is my heart.
How should I live, if you should leave,
And we should be apart?
Let’s hold each other tight
Upon the edge of night.
As shadows fall, and nightmares crawl,
The sun sinks out of sight.
The world hangs by a thread.
And all the heroes fled.
Like weathered stone, we stand alone,
And watch the east in dread.
Be with me in the storm
When angry gods are born.
When flesh is rent, and love is spent,
And bloody is the dawn.
Take my hand, beloved. Come.
The day is almost done.
Be at my side, behold the sight,
Of evening on the land.
Chris Trotter
Nothing says ‘Russia’s Peacekeeping in the Donbas’ like explosions in Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
Perfect summation.
You saw it first in the NATO bombing of Serbia for 78 days non stop, in aid of Kosovo
Indeed, Francesca (very good to see a comment from you, by the way!).
Lest we forget…..
Russia has just opened the door to the stone age. Goodbye.
So long and thanks for all the fish! 😛
I suppose someone had to introduce hyperbole into the “discussion”…
Media are reporting Russia was invited into the independent states. The Federation might just be fulfilling their obligations under the UN Security Council for maintaining peace and security including conflict de-escalation.
Could you send me some of those rose tinted glasses? Already seeing images of unexploded ordinances in civilian areas of cities outside the disputed regions. Make no mistake this is war, what happens next is down right frightening Ukraine is more than capable of shelling Russia, the western world now has a very difficult choice. Let it happen or delay the start of ww3 for another day.
Filthy Russians
What? Like ‘Filthy’ Americans? Like Filthy British? Like Filthy Australians? Like filthy AO/NZ’ers?
What about South East Asia and The Middle East? To name a scant few.
Fuck off.
“I dressed my 10-year-old son. We had some breakfast, sitting as far from the windows as we could, but he was so scared he vomited. We took a candle and some water to our cellar, which will be our refuge if things get worse.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60509493
blame the filthy americans . Based on persistent patterns of past behaviour i have no doubt america has incited and supported extremist elements in ukraine to the detriment of ordinary ukrainians.
Russia is finally taking action to secure their borders which is the only rational choice in the face of rabid western hostility. Otherwise i have no doubt Russia would eventually be facing the “defensive” Nato alliance
armed with their self righteous right to protect policy and tomahawks minutes away from moscow.
Pure bullshit.
Yup a completely unjustified invasion of an independent country, poor people.
Stupidly over-simplified, James.
What about George H Bush’s verbal promises that NATO would stay West of the Elbe?
So that justifies the invasion of Ukraine does it In Vino (which is not a member of NATO)?
You also feel that Putin can be trusted to keep his promises?
no more and no less than ANY so called ‘statesman’ james
The Ukraine had an obligation to be a good neighbour, an obligation they seemed to be ignoring.
@ Ben …
No, not “filthy Russians” as you say. Filthy Putin, who is despised by many ordinary Russian people. They, like the innocent citizens of Ukraine, will no doubt become collateral damage in this war. Recent protests against the Ukrainian attacks by Putin, have seen the Russian protesters apologise to Ukraine for the aggressive actions of their leader.
Whatever Putin does is not done for his own benefit, but for the benefit of Russia. It is Russia’s strategic interests that are paramount in this instance.
Are you high ?
Ada and No Biggy: your comments suggest that you don’t know what’s been going on in the Donbass, pretty much since 2014. This isn’t surprising if you’re getting your news from Western sources.
The citizens of the Donbass have been asking for Russian assistance: what the Ukraine has been doing there isn’t being reported here. The Ukraine military is now getting its ass kicked, and not before time.
A comparison would be if the NZ government sent troops to the South Island because it had declared independence, and those troops systematically bombarded the towns and cities, killing and injuring thousands.
What sort of government deploys its military against its own citizens? Small wonder the DPR and LPR want out. The Crimea made good its escape in 2013: it had tried twice before, since the Ukraine got its independence in 1991.
That of course would fully explain why it is so essential for Russia to bomb Kyiv. Protecting the Donbas by a forward defence.
Wayne, do you know what’s been happening in the Donbass since the US-sponsored putsch (which brought neo-Nazis to power) in Kiev? Evidently not. Do you know what happened in Odessa shortly after that putsch? Obviously not.
Russia has bombed military facilities in the Ukraine, and taken over military airports. As it would.
Save your sympathy for the unfortunate citizens of the Donbass. Don’t waste any of it on Zelensky and his government. And while you’re at it, read the links which Shona has very helpfully posted below.
Reports are a bit confused but IF (as CNN are reporting) there are missile strikes in Kiev this is outside of the scope of ‘peacekeeping’ operations. There is a distinction between recognising DPR and LPR, a good part of which has been defacto, outside of Ukrainian control, and an offensive military operations.
Neither the US/NATO or Russia are good faith actors in this and things could easily spiral.
The Donbas is a long way from Kiev.
Don’t know how you can credibly claim the protection of people in Donbas requires bombs in Kiev.
Ada: “Don’t know how you can credibly claim the protection of people in Donbas requires bombs in Kiev.”
Yes. Of course it does.
Russia has targeted military facilities in Kiev and elsewhere. As it would: such places have been used for mounting attacks on the Donbass.
If your information comes from the usual Western sources, you will not know what’s been going on in that part of the world.
Don’t believe everything you see or hear on RT…
Ada: “Don’t believe everything you see or hear on RT…”
Who said anything about RT? It’s for foreigners, you know.
Ada: don’t believe anything about Russia which you read on western media. If reportage is accurate, it’s only by accident.
A friend living in Kiev is saying rockets are overhead, make no mistake this is going to turn to all out war, Ukraine has a very large and well equipped standing army.
No, it doesn’t.
The Ukrainian armed forces are poorly paid and poorly trained. Most of the weaponry sent to them by the NATO countries is piled up in warehouses – where it will probably stay until the Russians seize it.
Modern warfare requires not only modern weapons but a full understanding of how to integrate them into an effective battle-plan. This the Ukrainian forces do not have. If they resist the Russians – and many, very sensibly, are not – they will be destroyed.
The Ukranians should sue for peace immediately and save themselves a lot of bloodshed.
Chris Trotter: “Most of the weaponry sent to them by the NATO countries is piled up in warehouses….”
Scuttlebutt says that the Ukrainian military sold the weapons on the international black market, then burned the warehouses to disguise the fact. There’s some evidence to support this claim.
D’ Esterre. And America has been skulking around Russia’s borders via NATO for years, trying to provoke conflict and an overt threat, and I’m pretty sure that the USA has had troops in Donbas in recent weeks, and God help everybody.
Snow White: exactly so.
“I’m pretty sure that the USA has had troops in Donbas in recent weeks…”
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear it. Contractors, no doubt, enabling plausible deniability on the part of the US.
We were aware that the US has had “advisors” in the Ukraine for some time. To be expected, I guess, given that it was the US which backed the putsch in Kiev.
Shona has posted some very useful links on this thread. I do hope that other commenters read them. It appears that some people still believe the US ‘s self -propaganda.
maybe a touch of ‘regime change’ in kiev would placate putin…
just occured to me….
Q – the most feared creature in europe?
a – ‘VLAD THE INVADER’
yes it’s back to the schoolyard with gagarin.
D’ Esterre
Clearly you have been paying attention to this whole scene since at least the 2014 coup.
I would like to know your thoughts on a few points.
Do you see this action by Russia, taking out the military installations in Ukraine, purely as a necessary defence of the Donbass region? or is it the start of Putin’s strategy that he must have had in mind following the negative response he received ( and must have expected) from the US and NATO to his security submissions made in December?
As I opined in an earlier comment I thought that committing to assist the Donbass if asked was all he needed to do to stop the attacks on those provinces. Clearly I was wrong. “South Front” reports a significant escalation i violence by the Ukraine army against the Donbass following that announcement, Did this motivate Putin to go further than he originally intended? Did Zelensky’s talk of developing Nukes provide the motivation?
He had said so many times that he had no intention of invading Ukraine as a whole; i don’t or haven’t felt he was a person who spoke to deceive. But this does seem to be hard to distinguish from an invasion of Ukraine generally , taking out the military installations all over the country seems pretty much like a general invasion.
Is he making an example of what will happen progressively to one previously USSR country that has become a nato member after another as the installations housing nuclear capable missiles are taken out .?
Biden has repeatedly stated that as Ukraine is not a NATO member that the US will not step in to protect them against a Russian invasion. This might be to try to disguise the degree to which US “advisers ” and “Trainers” are actually running the show in Ukraine against the Donbass, and the numbers of US mercenaries that are involved, but given the involvement of members of his administration and he himself in the coup that set up the present Ukraine administration , to now abandon Ukraine to her fate at the hands of what he in particular is describing Russia as an unscrupulous tyrannical aggressor, seems to beg the question of why he would commit to assist another country in similar circumstances that has had far less of US and his personal attention just because of the technicality of belonging to NATO. Would he or any other NATO members act differently if it was a NATO member that Putin decided to “demilitarise” or at least “de nuclearise” By taking out with precision guided missiles the US missile installations they promised not to install?
I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.
D J S
David Stone: yes indeed, we’ve paid close attention to what’s been going on in the Ukraine. We have extended family connections to the Donbass, so it cuts very close.
“Do you see this action by Russia, taking out the military installations in Ukraine, purely as a necessary defence of the Donbass region?”
In our view, it was a necessary step to prevent the continuing attacks by the Ukrainian military on the Donbass. Those attacks have over the years killed and injured thousands, and caused much destruction. The attacks are often mounted close to the border, but the wherewithal has come from installations much further away. Clearly, that was also the Russian view.
““South Front” reports a significant escalation i violence by the Ukraine army against the Donbass following that announcement….”
We think that this fact left Russia with no alternative but to launch an all-out attack on the Ukraine. It was clear that “peacekeeping” in the Donbass wasn’t going to be feasible, without neutralising the Ukraine’s attack potential.
Putin has said that Russia wishes to demilitarise and de-Nazify the Ukraine. Demilitarising means ridding the country of NATO and US weapons. The government, brought to power by the US, is indisputably neo-Nazi. Given the fact that the USSR defeated the Nazis in WW2, and given the atrocities committed by said Nazis in the USSR, having such a regime so close to the Russian border has always been insupportable for Russia. As – one would think – it would also be for the US and for the NATO countries, given the suffering inflicted by the Nazis on so many people.
We’re of the view that this will not have been an easy decision for Putin. Despite US propaganda, he’s known to be cautious and a liberal. But Russia simply won’t tolerate any more of what the Ukraine has been doing to the Donbass. Nor will it tolerate NATO’s continuing encroachment.
We watched with interest the swift move on Odessa. You may not know of the atrocity committed there by the neo-Nazis, shortly after the putsch. There were people protesting what had happened in Kiev: those people were locked in the Trade Union building, which was set alight. They were burned alive. Nobody was ever charged over that, but Russia vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. I hope that they got there before those perpetrators could flee. The neo-Nazis are truly awful people.
We note the following:
https://www.rt.com/russia/550649-chechen-soldiers-deploy-ukraine/
There may well be truth in it, given that RT is reporting it. The Ukrainians would find the Chechen presence bracing indeed!
I’m sorry for not sounding sympathetic to ordinary Ukrainians, but I’m not: I save that for the citizens of the Donbass.
Thanks D’Esterre
About what I thought. With the coverage Russia seems to have of Ukraine airspace it seems shipments of additional arms from NATO into there are unlikely to land safely.
I watched some of the neo nazi guys interviewed and got the feeling they see the Russians among them as unwelcome colonists. Given the USSR history it is not hard to recognise this feeling with so many Ukrainians having close links with Russia and their roots there.
Apart from the racial cleansing motivation is there any other characteristic that defines “neo nazi” to you?
Cheers D J S
David Stone: there’s bad blood between the Ukraine and Russia. The reasons are complex and go back centuries. A family member – whose passion is history – is particularly well-informed. Better than I am!
While the following link is about the Crimea, it includes quite a bit of interesting material about the Ukraine:
https://www.rt.com/russia/549962-peninsulas-complex-fate-how-crimea/
The Ukraine is a post-revolution construct: Putin has referred to that recently. Ordinary people of course got no say in such reorganisations. The nearest approximation here was the Rogernomics/Neoliberal economic revolution, with the profound societal dislocations which resulted.
My extended family – born in the Donbass and nearby areas, the eldest of them long before the revolution, were Russian to their bootstraps. They received their higher education in Russian universities and academic institutions (the Moscow Conservatorium, eg). One still teaches at a university in Moscow. Western Ukraine is rather less Russian, being closer to western countries. Part of it was occupied by Poland until WW2.
As to the neo-Nazi parties in government: this is how they characterise themselves. They are ultra-nationalist, at present attempting to replace the Russian language with Ukrainian
David Stone: the history of bad blood between the Ukraine and Russia is complex and goes back centuries. I have a useful link from RT, but unfortunately I can’t access it at present. RT is being intermittently blocked, it appears.
The Ukraine is a post-revolution construct. Putin referred to that fact recently. Ordinary people had no say in such large-scale reorganisations of course. The nearest approximation here was the profound economic and societal dislocation brought about by the Rogernomics/Neoliberalism revolution.
The parties which were dropped into power by the US following the 2013-14 putsch were and are far-right. They characterised themselves as neo-Nazi, though they don’t now use that term when English speakers are about! They’re ultra-nationalist, and are at present attempting to eliminate the Russian language from the Ukraine. After that putsch, one of their number (a woman) went into preschools (as I recall) and berated children for having Russian names. Really…We saw the footage at the time.
Nonetheless, it’s instructive to note that Zelensky spoke in Russian when he gave his address to the nation recently. The situation would be farcical, were it not for the fact that so many citizens of the Donbass have been killed by Ukrainian military attacks since 2014.
Thanks again D’Esterre
I have read that Zelensky is a native Russian speaker; like that was the language spoken in this family home. We got the sense during his election that his popularity was due to a widespread hope in Ukraine that he would normalise relations with Russia and indeed he started out with a meeting with Putin and a prisoner swap was the initial result.
Do you think he is even informed on what his army is doing , or has been doing in the Donbass , let alone being a party to decisions on what is to be done. Is it possible that he has confided in Putin on what he can and can’t control , and what he has to say in public. Could a reasonable outcome emerge from their talks?
D J S
David Stone: yes indeed, it was our impression that Zelensky was elected because he promised to normalise relations with Russia: a large proportion of the population of Eastern Ukraine is ethnically Russian.
He was the alternative to Poroshenko, who had failed so badly that the Americans weren’t willing to help him cheat enough to win.
However. Zelensky was a supporter of Maidan and the ATO (anti-terrorist operation zone: the attacks on the Donbass, in other words) and actually donated money out of his own pocket to the volunteer battalions.
“Do you think he is even informed on what his army is doing , or has been doing in the Donbass , let alone being a party to decisions on what is to be done.”
Regrettably, yes. As above, he’s a supporter of the ATO, so he is fully au fait with, and in support of, the Ukrainian military attacks against the Donbass, whatever he may have said to get elected, or may say now. Last I heard, the death toll in the Donbass is around 14000, with many refugees fleeing to Russia over the last few years.
Citizens there have for years been pleading with Russia to intervene, but it was loath to do that until it had exhausted the possibilities of a diplomatic solution. The Minsk Accords were intended to bring peace in the Donbass, but the Ukraine just ignored them, and the western countries tasked with ensuring they were complied with failed to do so.
I do not think that the future of the Ukraine will be better with Zelensky as president.
Here’s a link from The Saker, which mercifully hasn’t been blocked:
http://thesaker.is/the-situation-in-the-ukraine-predictions-vs-reality/
“Russia had the full legal right to invade the Ukraine from several perspectives: to defend its allies in Donetsk and Lugansk; to defend itself against Ukrainian WMDs, which the Ukrainian president threatened to start producing at the Munich Security Conference; and to stop NATO from continuing its advance toward Russian borders in violation of its previous commitment of “not an inch to the east.” Russia exercised its right of self-defense under article 51 of part 7 of the UN Charter. The Ukraine had forfeited its right to territorial integrity under the 1970 UN Declaration by refusing to honor the rights of its Russian-speaking population. It also refused to renew its Friendship Treaty with Russia and therefore no longer had a defined border with Russia that Russia was obligated to honor.
From a strictly legalistic perspective, claims that “Russia violated the Ukraine’s territorial integrity” or that this is “an act of Russian aggression” is just pure twaddle. From a moral perspective, the fact that the entire international community idly stood by and ineffectually discussed politics for eight years during which the civilian population of Donetsk and Lugansk was continuously shelled by the Ukrainian “anti-terrorist operation” is utterly shameful.”
Nobody could disagree with the above, really. I note the pile-on by the west, cheered on by the US. They are profoundly wrong, of course, but when did that ever stop them? They’ve done this before, vis-a-vis Russia.
For those who haven’t read it, I recommend David Talbot’s book “The Devil’s Chessboard”. It’s about Allen Dulles, the CIA and the rise of America’s secret government. For people who wonder how the hell the world ended up here, Talbot’s book is a must-read.
Trotter – fatuous to the end. Pour yourself a Sav Chris – you’ve earned it.
Sav be damned! I’m on the Stoly!
Celebrating?
Yeah sounded like it . . pretty shit if he is.
Well, Biden etc can’t say they weren’t warned. Putin has been signalling for a while that the US/Nato has to back off and give it some space but they would not listen.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57002.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57002.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57005.htm
The first link is wrong to wholly dismiss the role of Ukraine and NATO in this and to instead put it all down to geopolitical economic concerns. Nord Stream is a major factor but good old fashioned border and territorial security is just as important.
The West is denying establishment of nonaligned buffer states on Russia’s borders, something the USA insists upon having in its own hemisphere.
I get a sad feeling reading the terminal fatuousness and crassness of the three or four above. I felt similar when reading the last post on Israel and Palestine. If people haven’t anything constructive to say, or that speaks in sorrow for human negative interaction, it would be good to say simply ‘That is sad’. As Tom Lehrer said about those keen to communicate their every opinion, this would suffice – ‘just shut up’.
Aside from the ongoing suffering in Ukraine, this has real potential to spiral and I see no Kennedys or Khrushchevs to row us back. If so, super bubbles and COVID will be the least of our concerns. In such a situation humour is a valid reaction sorry if you feel different.
I’d hazard a guess @GW agrees that humour is a valid reaction.
I wish their was more of it because there sure a shit is plenty to ridicule and make fun of with some of the muppety muppety commenters here and elsewhere. Tough shit if that sounds arrogant.
Between the ‘researchers’ and those demanding “Evidence Ploise”; the truly sofustikits to the down-trodden; the egotistical to the humble; the Cabsavs to the whiskeies – there is a heap of humour on this bloody site.
Probably something that ‘The Standard’ could get a few learnings from in this media space, going forward – even if it’s run by the best programmer in the world
Be a dear and make us a nice pot of tea…..
Make your own tea, probably all you would be good for. You sound like one of those easy about war because you’re too old, have flat feet or other disability, are in a ‘special’ occupation etc. If I was making tea for you I’d put some senna in it, that would get you on the run. ‘Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler, If you think we’re on the run!’.
It’s all good fun really isn’t it Sid. No time to be sneering about the loss of our good young men and their vitality and brains. I am reading a book about Siegfried Sassoon who might have been regarded as a not a very bold character because he wrote poems deriding war. But though a poet he was very brave, and probably liked tea as well.
When I wrote my comment above there were only three about above me – No Biggy, Ada, James Brown etc. Cricklewood? And Sid Lovelock was running with some smart alick comment sneering at my comment which was along the lines that it was a shame in this modern age that we were still resorting to this sort of armed politics. No Sid I am not making tea for you while you enjoy yourself watching the fight as if it was a warfiction film. And also, do people think that by choosing to watch realistic versions of aggressive maneouvres on our screens that we are accepting a brutalised version of our present and future? Can’t we adopt a fairer and more reasonable scenario for living on this planet, with more concern for each other and the planet. It’s the only way we’ll survive – what we see now is organised madness and obsession dressed up as appropriate behaviour for real men and their female hangers-on.
I
And Nato will be shown as the toothless paper tiger it is. Putin called a bluff and wants to see the cards.
Unfortunately true.
And I think Taiwan is extremely nervous right now.
The Olympics are over, Biden is distracted (well he’s always been distracted), NATO only want to give hugs to people and the UN is a cesspit of uselesshess.
If I was China, it will never be a better time.
well I didn’t think this would actually happen…if the fighting is confined to donetsk it’ll get boris and biden off their respective hooks but if it goes pearshaped….well that actually doesn’t bear thinking about…nato troops can’t fight in the ukraine (except the us ‘advisors’ humm hummmm) so on the ground the ukraine is on it’s own but nato can stoke the fire with arms and airstrikes to keep the pot boiling nicely.
Not even airstrikes. Just the supply of weapons. I note the usual Kremlin apologists says it is all the fault of the West, but i would ask a simple question, who has stated at the war? No NATO forces are anywhere but in NATO countries.
While I do get that Putin wants, at least some extent, to restore historic Russia, he is doing so at the cost of a new Cold war between Russia and the West that will last for decades. He has just reminded every NATO country why NATO exists. For their mutual defence.
I am pretty certain about one thing, that Putin will not attack any NATO country. However, the result of there current attack is that NATO nations, especially the Europeans, will substantially bolster their forces. Just to make it clear to Putin that crossing into NATO country will result in a full-scale war. If the Cold War is anything to go by, that threat was enough to prevent general war in Europe.
Most of US military is contractors these days isn’t it? How many US military contractors are in Ukraine at the moment?
D J S
David Stone: “Most of US military is contractors these days isn’t it?”
Yes, you are correct. I imagine it enables plausible deniability on the US ‘s part. The US has had military “advisors” in the Ukraine, pretty much since 2014, I believe. Not surprising, given that it sponsored the putsch there in 2013-14.
except the deniability is far from plausible
they lie
we know they lie
they know we know they lie
BUT THEY STILL LIE.
Expect inflation to hit double figures by Christmas. This is good for no one.
“This is good for no one”
Balls.
This’ll make many billionaires. After all, this is what it’s all about.
Agree. The last thing the world needs right now which is exactly why Putin did it.
@ DJS? Where are you?
Sleepy Joe Biden has been shameful through this crisis. He spouted off about resolving the crisis via diplomacy while attacking Putin as a bare faced liar. How did that work out?
He shuffles on to the stage, blabs incoherently to the media, then refuses to answer any questions despite the importance of what’s unfolding and shuffles off the stage like a 103 year old Rest Home resident suffering from numerous age related issues. He’s weak and an embarrassment. China and Russia are looking on and giggling. If Biden is the deterrent, there isn’t one.
I’m not a Putin supporter but had the United States had an actual leader, this crisis could likely have been averted. Biden can add this situation to the diabolical withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Thinking-Man: “I’m not a Putin supporter….”
No, indeed. If you’re not a Russian citizen, you couldn’t possibly be a Putin supporter. He isn’t our president, we don’t vote in those elections. But it doesn’t follow that we cannot respect his statesmanship and political skill.
Those poor devils
Yup a lot on inncoent people are about to die.
PUTIN wants his KGB USSR BACK.
AS does all his ass licking EX KGB oligarch’s who are all in his back pocket.
PUTIN wants his KGB USSR BACK.
AS does all his ass licking EX KGB oligarch’s who are all in his back pocket.
sit y’self down and crack another stubby geoff
That is moving poetry Chris; appreciations ! Not that I am any shakes at poetry.
I don’t think the outlook is so gloomy though; Putin has gone further and faster than i expected but he is closer to the situation and probably knows what he has to do. too bad he seems to be smashing up all the loverly new military tonkatoys the US has just sent over to the Ukraine . Oh dear how sad never mind.
I believe him when he says that he doesn’t want to hurt any civilians but he is trying out NATO and the US by soiling all the pressies they gave to Ukraine to scare him with.
What are they going to do about it? Talk I imagine.
D J S
Bring it on
The West will/has abandoned Ukraine.
Sanctions mean nothing with PRC/Brazil Et al. willing to buy it all, and continue trading.
The first salvo dares a response, that is the sad part of all this.
EU is threatening, Putin is bombing and shooting… the discrepancy of action mind numbing
as long as western bankers and pollies are sucking on the rich creamy tit of oligarchs money putin is safe and as post brexit britains only industry is laundering black money, there will be lots and lots of big words, mission statements and international forums that have little or no effect. as they’re not actually intended to.
Be all over by lunchtime.
Update;
The US, Biden says the US is out unless a Nato nation is attacked and…the US has some gas to sell Europe at only 2.5 times the cost of what they’re paying now plus delivery costs.
This whole disaster has been manufactured by the US and the Nazi within Nato and the EU.
The Ukraines are on their own unless they handover all of their wealth to the US and the EU to ‘pay’ for any assistance that they might receive.
Victoria Nulan is going to lead this for the US!!
In a 2014 telephone conversation, she was heard saying, “fuck the Germans and fuck the EU and Nato!”
In 2022 she says??
or at least christmas at the latest.
Signma rule number 2 – always bring a bigger cannon.
The best analysis of the current situation was an essay by Aris Roussinos on Un Herd over three weeks ago. Talk about prescient!
“In the coming days, the likelihood is that a shock and awe campaign analogous in scale to that of America in Iraq will take place in Ukraine; its chances of success seem far greater. The demands Russia has made of the United States — over the head of a Europe kept weak and powerless by its own leaders — cannot be met without America ceding its imperial role and prestige. Perhaps they are not intended to be met, and perhaps by enhancing the Nato presence on its borders, they will turn out to be counterproductive.
Yet once again, these flat and snowy borderlands seem destined to play their allotted role as arena for the contest of great empires, and the cockpit of Europe’s bloody history.”
First published on 31 January 2022
https://unherd.com/2022/02/how-russia-could-invade-ukraine/
No, this is not yet the end. It has nothing to do with Chamberlain and ‘Peace in our Time’. Chamberlain clearly told Hitler that if he attacked Poland it would be war. And when Hitler did, he declared war.
This time, Biden told Putin that he would get “really serious sanctions” and other “seriously serious measures”. Waffle and bluff – Putin is intelligent and knows what he can get away with, and he is doing it. And despite those ‘serious sanctions’ I suspect that he is brainier than our lot, and will get what he wants. Not world domination, but security for his own nation, which the USA constantly tries to undermine.
I think it fair that Russia should be allowed the equivalent of the USA’s arrogant ‘Munroe Doctrine’. If not, why should the USA be allowed it?
First leading officials from the NATO powers promised Russia that NATO would not expand one inch to the East. After they broke that promise, they promised Russia the new NATO member states would not have military forces and weapons based on their territory. They then broke that promise (particularly with the new missile emplacements in Rumania and Poland, risibly justified as a response to an Iranian threat to eastern Europe). After assuring the world ad nauseum that NATO is a purely defensive alliance, it proceeded to attack Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Libya, while intervening militarily in Syria, Lebanon, and countless other countries across the globes directly, through Jihadi and other proxies, and/or through economic warfare such as the starvation sanctions leveled against Yemen, Venezuela, and Iran. That Russia felt it had no place to retreat to and was under direct threat as NATO sought further expansion into Russia’s periphery (Ukraine, Georgia, destabilizing regime change efforts in Khazakshan and elsewhere), and after having issued innumerable warnings, the fact that Russia struck back now that it has established military supremacy in Europe should surprise no one. We can only hope that the US and its NATO vassals come to their senses and give Russia the security guarantees treaty it demanded back in December. If not, I’m afraid we will see more and wider war both on the economic front (with China having Russia’s back) and, regretfully, the military front as well.
nice one midge
Hopefully history, if we are still around, will see this stand by Putin as a turning point in the idiotic globalist designs of the utterly corrupt USA empire. The big concern is the USA could easily throw its toys out of the cot and go nuclear.
By allowing Russian money into US, UK and EU politics and funding disruption of the West, such as Trump and the UK Conservative party, a new opportunity for non democratic countries to expand…. while the powers that be do nothing to stop it.
Russian donors have given £3.5 million to the Conservative party
https://theferret.scot/russian-donors-conservative-party/
Malta’s ‘golden passports’: Why do the super-rich want them?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50633820
How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/
NZ
What a $100k (and more) donation brings you in NZ
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Colin Zheng, the younger one, he’s put his name in for candidates college and so I assume he’ll get through candidates college and we’ll just make some decisions as a party further down the track as to what we want to do with candidates.
SIMON BRIDGES: I mean, it’s like all these things, it’s bloody hard, you’ve only got so much space. Depends where we’re polling, you know? All that sort of thing. Two Chinese would be nice, but would it be one Chinese or one Filipino, or one – what do we do?
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Two Chinese would be more valuable than two Indians, I have to say.
SIMON BRIDGES: Which is what we’ve got at the moment, right? Your problem there is you end up in a shit fight because you’ve got a list MP – you’ve got two list MPs – it’s a pretty mercenary cull – sitting MPs, all that shit. And then we’ve got the issue of – we could end up getting rid of some list MPs if we want and bringing in some of those new ones, and if you do that you’re just filling up your list even further with ones that you’ve gotta sort of look after – I mean I reckon there’s two or three of our MPs, not picking up obvious ones like Finlayson or Carter, but actually we just want them to go. You know? Like Maureen Pugh is f**king useless.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Yeah, I know. Carter, Finlayson, Nicky Wagner – they don’t really need to hang around.
Simon: Yeah, but then, we get, yeah, yeah, we don’t want them to go this year though.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Oh, no.
Sadly democracy is dying and political policy and politicians being sold cheap around the world. Increasingly western government decision making is compromised and large fake media campaigns are being run to create division in the West aka Covid protests.
Chelsea FC is owned by one of Putin’s bum chums and there will be a lot of fallout over filthy Russian money in world sport.
Fully agree, Garibaldi
I seem to remember that one of Putin’s filthy rich henchmen owns a mansion somewhere in Central Otago. That’s one Russian asset we could seize.
Mike the Lefty: “That’s one Russian asset we could seize.”
I assume that you mean our government. No: NZ should stay the hell out of it. It’s obvious from the PM ‘s comments that they have absolutely no understanding of the situation at all.
That bad, you reckon?
Good flippin poem. Mine were turgid with undigested thoughts.
It is hard to hold the ideals of ’45 and the social democratic movement in one hand and the rotten bullshit power history of the species from the industrial/colonial age on in the other. ’45 in the ‘West’ was a new Spring of ideals somehow, which our generation is ever governed by.
On the other hand, are you putting off addressing your pro-Russian views on Ukraine in this new light/dark? Sorry to be annoying (ferretty toothy smile).