The crack-down within Russia continues.
Interesting.
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With all due respect, why are we watching some American dude in his garage? 
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Why not?
I think life is too short to watch some randomer bullshitting, isn’t it? Unless one likes that sort of thing of course.
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You do have to ask whether the western powers have really thought this through…
Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of state for Defence seems to have a different agenda to the Ukrainians bravely fighting against Russia. So is the US using them to fight a proxy war against Russia, $32bn does seem a very big amount to spend just on supporting Ukrainia to merely defend itself.
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Well worth a read - if only to balance the lionising of Zelensky we see in most western mass media - and this is one of the few pieces I’ve come across that fits my personal experience in Ukraine, and that of the colleagues I worked with there…
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Well it may not be ending any time soon - there’s a suggestion that Moldova will be next, and fairly soon:
.Decision to invade Moldova already approved by Kremlin - The Times
I don’t know how reliable this is. Both sides are being generous with propaganda, although only one country invaded another.
I heard on Radio 4 this evening that Putin may well declare ‘all out war’ on Ukraine on May 9th - thus enabling him to impose marshal law and ramp up conscription. Things are not going the way he planned them methinks…
Another article here trying to give a more balanced view of the war and what should be done…
Note to @billybutcher and others that found my last posting of an academic article on the war a bit ‘dense’ - the problem is the only place you really find balanced views from real experts is in the academic journals world, and apart from the fact that academics don’t always write in a very accessible style, they’re trying to tell a much more complex and nuanced story than the mass media - quite rightly…
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Good cartoon Geof.
I don’t mind “dense” Geof - just not when I only have time to glance at an article rather than read it thoroughly. Also I think my real complaint about that particular article was not only that it deserved a thorough read, not merely skimming, was that I would need to spend about 10x the time that it took me to read it to bone up on Ukrainian history to decide if it was fair.
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An interesting shift in gas dependency:
Oh I know what you mean Billy - there are many subjects on which I feel the same.
I’m in a different position on Ukraine I guess because I worked there on and off for several years (including a big research and advice project for USAid) so I have a long-standing interest, local contacts, and had some direct insight into the games America was playing there even before it blew up.
Which is why of course I’m frustrated that the full (or at least a fairer) picture is not getting across - not to mention the danger this entails of further escalation.
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Interesting read (dont know anything much about the author though)
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Interesting. It wouldn’t surprise me at all and I wonder are some of those around Putin are wondering the same? If he has been suckered it won’t sit well with his fabricated macho persona.
