[0762]

I rarely watch the bbc these days, but I was caught up in a discussion in which one of the speakers stated we needed to stand up to Putin. Otherwise it would mean letting him damage international law and international agreements. My immediate thoughts reflected back to Iraq and the illegal invasion based on lies uttered by Blair and Bush plus the admitted lies to the UN itself by Colin Powell, one of his huge regrets before he passed last year. Don't forget the loss of 100s of 1000s of innocent lives, both in the war and in the lead up via sanctions. Over decades, millions have been killed or displaced due to foreign policies which take no account of the genuine interests of the ordinary people of the West or international law. It may be necessary for our interest and self-defence to take action against Russia/Putin for this disgraceful action against a sovereign country (note Iraq was also a sovereign country!), but we need to do it honestly and with a clear vision in order to avoid the creation of an all-out war in Europe. IMO we can do without the hypocrisy and jingoism that is spouting out of a lotta the MS media (and others), the "usual suspects" in this country at the mo, as it does nothing to help as well as laying the groundwork for future "military adventures" by leaders who IMO are "lightweight" and dodgy "into the bargain".

[Devongone]

When I lived in Chesterfield, was a member of the Labour Party and we had a proper MP in Tony Benn, he insisted, and he wasn't a conspiracy theorist in general, that after the Second World War, when he visited Japan, he was shown documents proving the Japanese were attempting to sue for peace BEFORE the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though history now records that those appalling acts ended the war.

Though a peace campaigner, nuclear disarmer and committed socialist Tony Benn was meticulous about facts and the recording of truth - to the extent that he held tapes of almost every interview he'd given and diaries kept throughout life. The whole point of wiping out all those people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was as an American warning to the Russians, who at that time were actually our allies. They were also developing a nuclear capability and were very clearly being put in their place. The message was, don't even think about it!

Given that the decades which followed saw British adventurism alongside a disintegrating empire and America expanding its interests across the globe in its self- appointed role as global policeman and guardian of capitalist right-wing Christian values, is it any wonder that Putin's Russia has difficulty with the concept that NATO, dominated by America and Britain, is a purely-defensive organisation? We cheered the disintegration of the Iron Curtain to the echoes, but sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.

I've no sympathy for the steroid-cheeked tyrant Putin and the terror he is unleashing on the Ukrainian people, but the Russia he leads was not created only inside that strange state. The West has played its part. The result for Ukraine is that it is left with one implacable giant enemy determined to erase its freedom and a fair-weather friend, which cannot for the sake of the rest of the world risk acting on its impulses.

When you manage relationships through fear, violence is never far below the surface. Unless and until we can manage relations with countries who run their affairs in a wholly different way to ours in a friendly manner we will remain committed to dispute, violence, war and destruction. We called Isis a death cult, but that is equally applicable across the human race. If alien spacecraft do indeed hover at a distance, looking nervously down on Earth I can only agree with them. Beam me up Zzinmuxian of Planet Prong 3 Quadrant 17 I'll give it a go.

[0762]

There's a Netflix documentary film titled, Winter on Fire. Ukraine's Fight for Freedom. I recommend watching this to anyone who is unfamiliar with Ukraine's fairly recent history in finally banishing corrupt governance and a President, Yanukovych, who was another kleptocrat thieving huge amounts of money and assets from the people and lying about impending EU membership while actually attempting to align with Russia and setting up close Russian influence thereby ensuring Ukraine would never be a free-thinking independent Euro country, as voted in by the people, with no outside interference from other nations like Russia. It really concerns me to see all the sacrifices that were made by millions of peaceful Ukrainian protesters in 2013-14 to force through proper democratic governance and the removal of all those political criminals who had been "ripping off" the country for years and had no great interest in democratic values and a proper written constitution. These heroic people were intimidated and beaten up, murdered, maimed by police/thugs instructed to get them to submit to autocratic rule ad infinitum. THEY DIDN'T GIVE IT UP AND EVENTUALLY WON WHAT LOOKED LIKE A NEW DIRECTION, A PROPER DEMOCRATIC AND FREE-THINKING COUNTRY WITH A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT AND LOOKING FORWARD TO A POSITIVE FUTURE FOR THEIR YOUNGER GENERATIONS WHO FELT BETRAYED BY YANUKOVYCH AND HIS CRIMINAL CABAL. My heart "bleeds" for them after achieving so much in eradicating authoritarian governance from their midst. Their values tie in with free-thinking people and politicians in democratic countries all over Europe who can only watch the outrageous way their whole country is being subjected to a reversal of everything they strived to change for the better in a war they never visualised happening.

[ritchiebaby]

The Doomsday Clock is set at 100 seconds to midnight for 2022, BUT this was done in January. I bet that the current time is less than a minute. Putin is determined to re-establish Russian dominance in Eastern Europe and is spoiling for a fight. Hewants to be remembered as the leader who regained lost Russian territory no matter the cost.

[0762]

Yep! I concur with that view; call it Putin's legacy, his vision to leave behind a Russia with retrieved satellite "puppet" states around it to the west. However, some of these states are NATO affiliated ones and that's where the "guessing game" and concerns are focused if Ukraine resistance buckles under the pressure.

[0762]

As the terrible tragedy of Ukraine continues, I salute the courage of its President and its people while observing and listening to the utter deceit of the Brit PM, Johnson, claiming that the UK is "leading the world" in action against Russia. The actions against a few oligarchs along with a Russian trade embargo have been minimal and the response of the obstructive and incompetent Brit govt towards Ukrainian refugees has been scandalous.
With millions leaving Ukraine, our Euro neighbours have taken in tens of thousands of refugees, incl over 2000 to tiny ROI, while Britain has, to date, issued visas for several hundred. Johnson's Commons statement of eventually taking in "hundreds of thousands" is another hollow promise London has become a tax haven for Russian assets and the Tory party is guilty of wooing billionaire oligarchs, with millions of pounds illegally donated to the party. IMO this scandalous story is huge (eg Rees-Mogg given time to remove certain monies from Russian banks!!) and yet our media and others have hardly "touched the surface" of the extensive paper covering it. Where is the moral authority of the once Great Britain!!!??

[hibeejim21]

Always look at what Boris and his cabal of useless xxxx DO.....rather than what they say.

Some tory MP was on the news this morning saying we had taken in the most syrian refugees of any european country..... Germany took 600k ffs

[0762]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/rus...hp&pc=U531

This is one helluvah courageous woman who I wholeheartedly salute!! I fear for her safety in such a brutal authoritarian country and govt that her banner has succinctly exposed as full of brainwashing propaganda and lies. Time to hide/"go underground" methinks!

[hibeejim21]

Soooo, the now British PM, and former Foreign Secretary, flew directly from a NATO summit to a Russian oligarch's villa and met a (former...) KGB(FSB) agent with no security? How can this be true? Seriously?

[0762]

Anything is possible with this lot in the Westminster govt TBF!!! The years of Brexit embarrassment certainly enlightened huge numbers of people in the population that these morons "know no bounds" in their quest to impose their own political ideology on an unsuspecting big chunk of the populace. Remember this is a group of fascists who had to be "pushed" by celebrities like Marcus Rashford to be serious re eg assistance in feeding/nourishing the most vulnerable groups of children in schools etc.