I’d prefer if all comments, including US ones, were coordinated through a NATO spokesperson. I’d prefer not to get nuked because she shoots her mouth off like this “ “We are going to keep going further and faster to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine.” Who the Hell is “we”?
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I’ve just linked in the Climate/Ecological Breakdown thread The Guardian report that to date the sanctions have succeeded in doubling Russia’s export income!
Unintended consequences, don’t ya hate ‘em. I’m still firmly of the view that with the right diplomacy it would never have come to war, but now that we are where we are, the bastard has to be stopped. Doing that without us all getting fried will be very, very tricky. IMO gung ho rhetoric from idiots like Johnson and Truss is very dangerous. No doubt Putin has as little respect for them as other World leaders but they shouldn’t be stoking the fire. Once again, I’m relived that my daughter is in Oz.
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Did you see this recent article advocating unconditional peace talks now John?
Further arming Ukraine will destroy it
Not arming Ukraine will also destroy it, and embolden Russia
Crap choice, but there you are.
The problem is finding the path between these two choices that does not lead to use of nuclear weapons by Russia. Maybe that is peace talks but so far little progress has been made and reportedly Putin has no interest after the sinking of the Moskva - how does the author intend to force him to the negotiating table?
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Another case of the idiots spilling the beans. He and his lapdog foreign secretary need to be muzzled. Obviously loose lips Johnson learnt nothing from his Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe gaffe.
It’s not as if they didn’t know giving Johnson access to any classified info was a risk
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Fool me once…
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i just read it Geoff and I can’t agree with it, it is nothing less than appeasement. I’m not a statesman so I probably can’t see the big picture but after what Putin has done to women and children I want him flailed alive.
I should add that I should have felt that way about Aleppo but, to my shame, it all seemed a long way away. He got away with Aleppo, who knows what’s next if he gets away with Ukraine?
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Putin should certainly be tried for war crimes (but then so should Blair, Bush, etc - do you know any politically independent international lawyer that thinks the Iraq War was legal?).
My problem is I can’t see a way for that to happen. I can see how the Ukraine war could have been avoided - I see the mistakes made by all sides - but from where we are now I don’t see a path to ‘victory’ for any side - in other words, at some point there has to be a negotiation - as there indeed is to end almost all wars.
The only negotiated deal I see coming is pretty much in line with what I believe were Putin’s aims (because I don’t believe he ever thought he could control the whole of Ukraine). My guess is he’ll stop more-or-less at the Donbass borders, and the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic - which have actually existed on the ground there for years - will have to be recognised by Ukraine, as will Russian Crimea. In this military stalemate, Putin will trade some of the other territory he has occupied - but which he’s not really interested in - to make the outcome more palatable for Ukraine and the West - but probably keep a land bridge to Crimea.
I’m sorry, but I just don’t see a way of punishing Putin without enormous damage, and risk, to the whole of Europe. The leaders of small, weak countries sometimes get tried for war crimes - the leaders of big powerful countries get away with it.
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He probably doesn’t know it all. The military are not as stupid as Whitehall.
You would have to get him out of Russia.
He doesn’t look well and it appears he has Parkinsons, hanging on to tables etc. to stop his hands shaking.