On 26 January, 26 unarmed civilians were shot dead by Israel and 147 wounded in a massacre observed by heavily armed UN Peacekeepers who did not intervene. I asked the UN the very hard questions which nobody else is asking them.
The civilians were simply attempting to return to their homes in accordance with both UNSCR 1701 and the current ceasefire agreement, and indeed UNIFIL has a specific mandate under 1701 to assist displaced people to return.
So what has gone wrong with UNIFIL? Is this Srebrenica syndrome? What is the purpose of the heavy weaponry deployed by the UN’s best-equipped peacekeeping force, if it can never be fired? Why is the UN failing to monitor the hundreds of Israeli breaches of the Ceasefire Agreement? Why is the UN serving on a committee under a US General?
These and other questions I put to UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti. I did so in my usual, I hope courteous, manner. The result is a fascinating conversation which I believe is an extremely important piece of documentation of institutional failure to confront Israeli and US aggression at a critical time for the entire world.
———————————
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RoS link to Steve Bannon signaling he will fight, fight, fight for Christian Zionism, listen to this Whack job calling for victory, victory, victory.
Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White calling on Angels from Africa & South America to bring victory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DlRueGU1AU She should be in a lunatic asylum.
Starmer could hire her.
That’s one heckuva student drama rehearsal!
Mockingbird mocking,
Lightning rod topples, black swan
advances – I ran.
Love It Johnny Well Done
London’s obedient puppet FM in Scotland – John Swinney – will attend a Ukrainian event in Edinburgh today marking three-years since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
The SNP – which is in government in Scotland – created the post of Minister for Ukrainians; the minister is now the health minister in Scotland. There’s currently around 28,000 Ukrainians hiding out in Scotland – lets hope they go home once Trump and Putin thrash out a peace deal.
Also today the Irish government has stated they’ll give Ukraine some air defense systems. I didn’t know Ireland had any but apparently they got them to protect foreign dignitaries from air threats and they are outdated.
https://archive.is/IBHaY (Irish times archived link)
Zelensky probably wouldn’t be worth assassinating right now.
Macron might take him. They could appear in military t-shirts together. I’m not sure anyone else would want him, even Israel.
Perhaps Ze will leave quite peacefully, through legal procedures.
This is what was reported today – there was a vote in the Ukrainian parliament, which was attended by representatives of many European countries and European commissioners. The parliament considered resolution #13039, which states that Ze should retain powers until the newly elected president takes office.
218 deputies out of the required 226 supported it. So Trump’s words about Ze’s status are not entirely unfounded.
—
re. assasination. I suggest video ‘Ze’s nightmare’ made by AI and posted every here and there.
https://pikabu.ru/story/strashnyiy_son_12414264
A lot of garbled and one sided reporting on that resolution. This is the statement issued by he Rada after the vote:-
Quote: “The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine emphasises that it is Vladimir Putin who is responsible for the fact that it is currently impossible to organise free, transparent and democratic elections in Ukraine with international observers invited, which would be recognised as such by the international community…
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine states that the martial law imposed in Ukraine due to the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion does not allow for elections to be held in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian people are united in the belief that such elections should take place after the end of the war.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on behalf of the Ukrainian people, declares that Ukraine, as a democratic country, will announce presidential elections in Ukraine by a decision of the Parliament of Ukraine as soon as a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace is secured on its territory, and will ensure that they are held in accordance with all international electoral standards.”
So nothing has changed.
Which outlets would you recommend for honest, balanced reporting?
I read it in Telegram channel Zalizni Nardep, it belongs to Ukrainian MP Zheleznyak.
He reports that too few of the required “yes” votes were cast.
Nothing has changed except for that the vote failed.
Here it is. I’ve made a screenshot and uploaded it into Google Photo
https://photos.app.goo.gl/egztUnKHd5iyrbcE8
See the the para highlited, read the text:
Parliament of Ukraine … Vladimir Zelensky is obliged to exercise his powers until the newly elected president of Ukraine takes office…
The text above is written by the owner of the channel, it says:
…#13039 about democracy…
then, see the red cross. the word FAILED and the number 218
” Details: The statement also indicates that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mandate is not questioned by the Ukrainian people or the Verkhovna Rada. ”
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/02/24/7499829/
Trump might go before Zelenskyy.
Zelensky represents a painful embarrassment for the west, he knows too much and doesn’t know when to shut up. No-one will want him, all his so called allies will abandon him, so his future is bleak. He created this situation and he will reap what he has sowed. Good riddance.
Predictably it’s ‘reverse-ferret’ time for the British media now they have had permission from the US to raise questions about the Ukraine war. Their supposedly top foreign correspondents now have to pretend that the considerations that their own readers tried to raise three years ago are new.
“ Trump represents a painful embarrassment for the west, he knows too much and doesn’t know when to shut up.”
========
Oops. You said “Zelensky” not “Trump”. My eye was momentarily deceived.
I hope that the governments of the UK and the EU stand firm in protecting Ukraine against the unjust war of aggression started by Russia, and that Starmer maintains his integrity during his visit to Washington.
Слава Україні!
And, as could have been expected, the new leader in Germany, flanked by the neo-nazi party supported by Heil Elon has IMMEDIATELY invited dear Bibi (sorry if you resent the nickname) to come visit and share the joy.
Birds of a feather…
What to expect, Merz was recently on the board of Blackrock which I am sure want to get a foot in in Gaza, getting contracts to rebuild it. Same with his with his warmongering and support on giving Ukraine long-range german missiles. And today he whine about Trump, but Trump could remove the thousands of US troops in Germany, then, we could see how tough this Merz really is.
“The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic, drastic, and ultimately outrageous than the intervention we saw from Moscow,” Merz told reporters on Sunday night, according to the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
https://swentr.site/news/613197-merz-germany-independent-usa/
Quite absurd to claim US do not care about Europe too, hello Merz, US want to put the breaks on the risk of a grand war in Europe. If a war would come, it sure wont be fought on US soil but on european soil.
The europeans/EU look real stupid these days, running around in hysterical mode even though they are big economic and miilitary power-house, way bigger than Russia, but still acting like crybabies and always want protection by the US. No wonder US/Trump is fed up with this spoiled mentality.
The biggest success of US “soft power” may be in the soft venal mush of local elites’ brains around the world. NATO was never about western European rich c***s rationally deciding they wanted the US military’s “protection” against the USSR or Russia. It was basically compradore stuff. In Congo, minerals. In Guatemala, bananas. In W Europe, weapons and, for some, well-paid jobs in the USA. “We want the clever Europeans on our side”. Imperialism as it’s also called.
Edited to add: there is an internal security dividend from NATO governments saying what big trouble their countries are in now, and how there’s only a few months left to save everything, otherwise…
How different from Trump is Merz if they’re both sticking two fingers up at the ICJ?
Both taking their lead from the previous US administration.
Of course, it’s a well known fact that Donald Trump/Elon are simply following Biden’s orders!
If no wiggle, let’s giggle. And Red is right. Nowhere in Europe are we immune to fascist propaganda. Quite the contrary…
But fortunately, soon Scotland at least will be exempt from that plague, thanks to Craig!
Trump and Merz are merely following the lead of the Biden administration as regards the ICJ, ICC and Netanyahu. But they are really going to have to go some to match the Biden administration’s world-historic crime In Gaza.
You’re very good at repeating. Ever since grade school?
Not a biggy for you was it, Madison?
This is utterly disgraceful – Israel is committing genocide, yet the British government is aiding and abetting them – and hosting their diplomats and military men – and vice-versa.
“A senior British soldier is heading to Israel for a briefing from the country’s military, despite it being under investigation for genocide and war crimes, Declassified has found.
The trip will be led by major general Zachary Stenning, a former commandant of Sandhurst officer academy.
He is now a director of Strategic Command, part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Known as StratCom, it describes its role as “learning and adapting to make Defence more lethal…We are the capabilities you don’t usually see. Or those you can’t.”
The trip is taking place just weeks after the Israeli military’s head of operations, General Oded Basyuk, had to be given immunity from prosecution to visit the MoD in London.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/british-generals-secret-visit-to-israel-should-be-stopped/
And today EU normalized their bilateral relations with Israel and invited Israel’s foreign minister to talk about Gaza. That is like inviting the serial killer back to the crime scene:
EU and Israel resume dialogue with focus on Gaza’s future
https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-israel-discuss-gazas-future-regional-politics-2025-02-24/
And also, why is EU not inviting palestinian represenatives to the same meeting? We all know from last week that you do not only invite one side of the conflict no? That is what the EU loud and clear said right?
No, I have never seen such morally, legally crass hypocritical people that rule the EU and since socalists, labour, alleged leftists/greens keep backtracking on their ideology of disarment and peace, it will only get worse, the only hope lies with Trump, that he will stand grounded against these barking chi-huahuas and enforce a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine.
But, but, holocaust(tm), right to defend, victims, the chosen people, antisemitism, …
Jack.
Yeah that’s vile the EU is meeting with occupiers, (mind you the EU sent delegates to meet with the proscribed terrorist outfit HTS in Syria) who are committing genocide – but the EU has shown its true colours with Gaza – Syria and Ukraine in mind – supporting Zio-Nazi’s proscribed terrorist outfits and Neo-Nazi’s – today the EU warhawk, and ultra Zionist von der Leyen announced more sanctions against Russia – and more financial aid for Neo-Nazi dictatorship in Ukraine.
Add in – that the UN is too scared to actually do anything meaningful with regards to the genocide or Nazism in Ukraine – and some EU nations are physically cracking down on pro-Palestinian demos – or free speech, which is then twisted to be seen as anti-Semitism.
All these ‘briefings’ seem to coincide with new Israeli operational pushes. So we can assume more upcoming death and destruction in gaza and the West bank. Soldier boy will have been ordered to attend to be told his role in the continuing genocide, ie. what intelligence he must collect and how many dead babies he must deliver. Time the MoD was renamed IOF(UK) to more accurately reflect their role.
Pears Morgaine. Try this one for the reporting see- saw.
“Rada disgraced Zelensky. Results of February 24 in Ukraine
The Ukrainian parliament did not support the decision to extend the powers of Vladimir Zelensky”. This vote Failed.
“Resolution No. 13039-on democracy. ” The Parliament of Ukraine emphasizes the need to comply with the principle of institutional continuity of power provided for by the laws of Ukraine, especially in the context of the legal regime of martial law and emphasizes that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky must fulfil his powers before assuming the post of newly elected President of Ukraine in accordance with part one of Article 109 Constitution of Ukraine”.
And to add to the schadenfreude
“It is noteworthy that the voting was observed by members of the foreign delegation: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and former Prime Minister Great Britain’s Boris Johnson”.
https://ukraina.ru/20250224/1061329157.html
Mind, putting sanctions on Presidential rival Poroshenko and threatening them on another, Klitschko, might not have helped his image of being a supporter of democracy in line with Resolution 13039.
You think any Russian source is going to be unbiased towards Ukraine?
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/02/24/7499829/
” Details: The statement also indicates that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mandate is not questioned by the Ukrainian people or the Verkhovna Rada. ”
So he stays in power until as and when he’s voted out.
Sorry, I didn’t understand. It looks like you’re counter-arguing, but the point of your argument escapes me.
Do you want to focus on bias? But is the source telling a lie?
I see several encouraging statements for Ze in that resolution, but parliament did not vote in support of it. Isn’t that right? What is your point, Pears?
The exact wording and purpose of the resolution is unclear but what I don’t understand is why a man we’re repeatedly told is a ‘Neo-Nazi Dictator’ needs approval from parliament to extend his power and how they dared oppose him. Adolf and Benito never had this problem and your Mr Putin faced no opposition when he wanted to change the Russian constitution so he could stay in power for longer.
Tatyana
If there are no good wars as you suggest, how would you characterise the war of choice being waged by your president in Ukraine?
(Was not the war waged against National Socialist Germany by the USSR, the USA and others necessary and in that sense “good”?)
🙂 JK, I loaded your question into Chat GPT 🙂 Here is what it says:
This statement contains a couple of potential logical fallacies:
False Dichotomy (or False Dilemma):
– The speaker is presenting two opposing options: either “no good wars” (which is the assumption they are responding to) or the specific example of the “war of choice” waged by Putin in Ukraine. This setup suggests that if one believes “no wars can be good,” then the war in Ukraine must be classified as a “war of choice” by Putin. This overlooks the complexity of the situation, where there could be multiple factors or a broader range of interpretations (e.g., geopolitical, historical, or defensive motives) that aren’t simply binary.
Loaded Question:
– The way the question is phrased (“how would you characterize the war of choice being waged by Putin in Ukraine?”) presupposes that Putin’s actions are unequivocally a “war of choice.” The term “war of choice” implies that it’s an unnecessary war, a claim that the person asking the question is already assuming. This can lead to biased or emotionally charged responses, as it doesn’t allow for nuance or differing interpretations of Putin’s motivations.
Both of these fallacies work together to limit the response options and push the person being asked into a particular viewpoint.
—
I find it quite amusing! Let’s check other comments 🙂
I also asked ChatGPT, why would one use logical fallacies 🙂
1. Persuasion and Rhetoric:
– Intentional manipulation: some commentators might use fallacies deliberately to sway public opinion or push a specific agenda. Logical fallacies, like appeals to emotion (e.g., pathos) or false dilemmas, can be very persuasive even if the reasoning behind them is weak.
– Exploiting cognitive biases: to influence people’s thinking more effectively than sound reasoning.
2. Lack of Critical Thinking:
– Unintentional fallacies: sometimes, they might be passionate about their viewpoint and assume that their reasoning is strong, when in fact, it’s flawed.
– Cognitive shortcuts: the fallacies might arise due to a lack of time or intellectual effort to make a more robust argument.
3. Appeal to the Audience:
– Catering to the audience’s beliefs: a commentator might use fallacies because they’re trying to appeal to a particular audience’s existing biases or emotions. For example, framing an issue in terms of a false dilemma (“You’re either with us, or against us”) could be effective in rallying support by simplifying complex issues.
– Confirmation bias: the commentator might know their audience holds certain biases or opinions, and thus they structure the argument in a way that confirms those pre-existing beliefs, even if it requires flawed reasoning. This can strengthen the commentator’s position among their audience, even if it doesn’t hold up logically.
4. Simplification:
– Simplifying complex issues: complex issues often require nuanced, well-reasoned discussions, and fallacies reduce the issue to a simplistic, often misleading, binary choice.
– Time constraints: they may rely on rhetorical tricks or fallacies to make their argument more compelling within the constraints of time or space.
5. Deflection and Diversion:
– Avoiding tough questions: to shift the focus away from a legitimate issue to an exaggerated or distorted version of the opponent’s position.
– Creating distractions: a tactic to discredit someone without actually engaging with their ideas.
6. Echo Chambers and Groupthink: arguments resonate with their group, even if the reasoning is flawed.
7. Entertainment Value: to capture attention and stimulate discussion, even if the reasoning is poor.
To sum up, fallacies are often used because they can be persuasive, emotionally charged, or simpler than logically sound arguments. Whether intentional or not, they can shape how people think and influence opinions, which is why it’s crucial to be aware of them in order to maintain productive, clear, and reasoned discussions.
Deployment of a list of rhetorical trickery.
https://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/fallacies.html
Such subterfuge can be deployed against one’s self.
By far the most important logical fallacy – as can be confirmed by anyone who has encouraged someone who is spouting crap to think for themselves – is the fallacy of appeal to authority.
Everything else follows from this. Many will believe that black is white if someone higher up than they are (even a schoolteacher or nurse, let alone an “expert” in the media) tells them so.
Crimea is forever Ukrainian! (Lest anyone think otherwise, this is a JOKE.)
Thank you, ET!
Brian Red, it’s my favorite type. I call them Preachers.
I mentally supplement their statements with phrases from the typical cleric set, to get some fun.
Like, Biden is innately decent (angels told me); or, Putin’s illegal war (as defined in the Holy Scriptures); or, Here is an independent source (may those godless heretics who doubt the holy purity of this burn in hellfire).
On this page, lower in the comments, I read with the addition “I greet you, brothers and sisters in the only true Faith, and I welcome your tireless preaching work for the return of the lost children of the Lord”.
It is so intellectual to call an appeal to authority an “argumentum ad verecundiam” and put it in a long list with lots of other Latin. Logic and rhetoric are interesting topics of study, but let’s get things in proportion. Believing something because people are told it by those who are higher up than they are is basically the rock on which almost the entire opiniosphere in a country like Britain is founded. It is far more important than e.g. thinking a statement implies its converse.
This is why for example so many sheeple traipsed off to get themselves jabbed by nursy a few years ago.
The conscious mind and the intellect just aren’t separate from the unconscious. All propagandists and advertisers know this. They also know that it’s great if a “reason” is supplied to help the medicine go down, because then the sheeple can avoid facing up to their submissiveness. Someone like Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence” (required reading for all serious propagandists and advertisers) says this more or less explicitly IIRC. “Give ’em a reason.”
Often when you tell a credulous submissive moron something that’s different from what their masters told them to believe, they will either say
1. “That’s not true” right away, or
2. “What’s your source?”, “Why do you think that?”, “Who told you?”, “Is that what people believe where you come from?” etc., often as if you are the gullible credulous one who believes everything you read on the internet.
If you try to hook their adult and have a discussion, they will think you are a loony obsessive. You really are not the sort of person they like to have around.
The proportion of people who can think for themselves in a country like Britain is about 0.1%.
Try it. Try telling your neighbour “Crimea was only in Ukraine from 1954.” They will say “Oh I don’t know about that”. They will probably think you’ve been duped by the Kremlin, lol. Or in any case that you are picking on facts or factoids only because they support your wicked kookiness.
And this is just as true of highly “educated” people as it is of non-graduates who believe the wrestling.
Brian 🙂 ‘wicked kookiness’ just made my day!
Without resorting to epithets that hint at sheep and the like, I consider such people to be at least good people, striving to act with the best of intentions.
Tatyana
I prefer to rely on human reasoning.
If you choose to use a Large Language model to generate answers then go for it.
But of course a computer generated answer doesn’t deserve human attention as the LLM doesn’t understand the question that it is answering.
A short rebuttal of your (long) computer-generated response:
The descriptor “of choice” that I prepended to the word war is my value judgement.
Try “If there are no good wars as you suggest, how would you characterise the war being waged by your president in Ukraine?
And of course my question “Was not the war waged against National Socialist Germany by the USSR, the USA and others necessary and in that sense “good”?” stands.
Your term “good” of course needs a definition.
My term “necessary” is self-explanatory.
I prefer to debate with people, not Large Language models with no intelligence, artificial or other.
Your reply is, I regret to say, just a deflection.
Why not rely on your own reasoning?
Not because of self-doubt, I’m sure.
Interesting discussion. What I’ve found over the years is that propaganda and smears and discrediting individuals or groups or organisations is kept brief and simple and easy for the ‘recipients’ to remember (and oft repeated just to make sure they do), but that taking it apart and dismantling it usually ends up being complicated and convoluted and lengthy. And it almost always includes mountain-loads of faux condemnation and outrage.and fury. About a year ago, just out of interest, I did a search on the JC re ‘fury’ and then ‘outrage’ and ‘condemnation’, having come across numerous articles on their website using such words in the headlines during JCs tenure as leader of the LP, and there were hundreds of results that came up. I can’t remember the actual figures now, so I just did some more, including some additional searches:
outrage 1369 results
fury 526 results
condemnation 878 results
outrage corbyn 156 results
fury corbyn 91 results
condemnation corbyn 79 results
Corbyn antisemitism 2629
I then did a search re >corbyn antisemitism< between 1990 (their search engine only goes back to 1990) and 2014, and got 10 results. In other words, all but 10 of the results since 1990 have been – more-or-less – since he stood for the leadership and then became leader.
And then these:
Labour Party antisemism 1990-2014 177 results (but a whole mix about A/S and not by any means all about A/S in the LP)
Labour Party antisemitism 2015-2019 2236 results
Labour Party antisemitism 2020-2025 1175 results (many about 'driving A/S out of the party' etc, and the EHRC's alleged investigation of the LP's handling of A/S, and the so-called Report they published). Have a quick gander:
https://www.thejc.com/search?q=labour+party+antisemitism&searchType=allwords&sortBy=relevance&yearFrom=2020&yearTo=2025
NB My search result came up when I copied the URL and pasted into the address bar on a new tab…..
The near unanimity on this forum in favour of Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine is impressive.
It will be welcome news to many here that the USA and Israel supported the pro Russia position in the United Nations General Assembly today.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/united-nations-backs-resolution-on-ukraine-united-states-faces-setback-over-russias-role-in-the-war-101740421022694.html
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-843586
Confirmation of the UN GA votes.
Always best to double check anything reported in the Hindustan Times.
How times have changed:-
https://www.newsweek.com/israel-defense-aid-ukraine-russia-putin-united-nations-1874095 But of course we have a new POTUS now.
I see China and India abstained.
Pears M
No surprise re China & India but for the US (and Israel) to vote with Russia and against Europe is remarkable.
No – not really.
Very interesting that ‘ those in the know’ have not twigged a major part of Trump’s onslaught ( and I don’t use that word lightly ) on the European Union.
Work this one out.
The EU is a Trade Bloc and has never been ‘ United ‘ as in United States.
The US went through Civil War to establish a Nation.
The EU is not nation – it is an agreed collection of Nations ( Sovereign ones allegedly) who created a Trading Bloc with the rest of the world.
Not the worst idea in the world and it worked for quite a while.
It is not working well now and hasn’t been for a long time.
Do you think that Trump and his mates don’t know that and will exploit the dis-unity?
This is what he and his friends are up to and doing.
The EU is a Trade rival – China is a Trade rival and a Nuke armed rival – Russia is not a Trade rival, it is a Military Nuke Armed rival.
As someone who voted to Remain in the EU ( the lesser of two evils which has been all the rage in recent political history ) I find it ultra ironic that Starmer – who’s Party was Whip voted – voted for the Brexit Deal in Parliament is now becoming all tearful and pining for his old betrayed friend in Europe.
Only a lying plank could mislead the Ukrainian people with the promise of 3.5bn year ‘ For a Hundred Years’
I don’t know who his advisers are but he’d better ditch them before they ditch him – he’s woeful.
Anyway – I digress.
Bearing in mind the above re: The Unity of Europe and its purpose.
What Trump and his wise in the US sense acolytes are doing is a kind of three in one.
One- break up the EU by breaking its major player (Germany) economically and industrially.
Two – create a fallout between Germany and France.
Three – support the Hard Right in not only the Minor EU countries but the major ones (UK included – though it’s excluded from the EU).
From that you then get the EU – via the mechanism of the Commission ( unelected of course) to ‘ Commission ‘ gas and oil from the US and form a Military Force at their own expense and buy
their weapons from the US or the EU must allow the US Arms manufacturers to make them within the EU, thereby remaining US owned companies.
I’ll give Zelensky some credit – he definitely has an idea what the US is up to but, Von Der Leyen has (like Starmer ) no idea what the game is.
That is Europe’s fate and all the right wing are recognising very early on is that the jig is up for a United EU.
Like NATO in Europe and soon to be out of it the EU will fall back under pressure from the Right and far right to go Protectionist.
You can call it Nationalist is you wish but the aim is to retreat to the Nation State which is very dangerous and that happened a while back and its outcome was terrible.
Ask the Russians.
It is remarkable JK, until you remember that the US, Russia & Israel have something in common in that they all like invading other people’s sovereign states without a UN Security Council mandate, and then killing thousands of civilians. So far this century, the only other countries I can think of that have done that are the UK, Rwanda and possibly Turkey (not sure whether thousands of civilians died in Operation Euphrates Shield). Maybe other people on here can come up with some more.
P.S. I think it’s worth noting that Iran – which has actually supplied large numbers of Shahed drones to Russia for use in Ukraine – didn’t vote against the UN resolution, preferring to abstain. I was also surprised that Serbia seemingly voted for the resolution, but have since found out that they apparently pressed the wrong button by mistake. Ooops.
“Forget about Gaza, Joe Biden is *innately* decent!”
And again. You know, it can be treated. And in your case, the risks are minimal. It’s been reported that Craig’s protracted silence is the result of “emotional toll”, and respect for this is mandatory. But why do you make a fix on Joseph B.? Did you miss a date because of him?
Is there anything more he could have done to the people in Gaza for you to think negatively of him? Why are those particular people so worthless to you and Jk?
You don’t always speak a language that makes sense. But, as long as you contribute, I guess it’s okay.
FYI, I never supported Sleepy Joe. But that doesn’t mean people who take him for a punching bag are better than him. In any case, he’s the past, we should rather discuss about today, and tomorrow!
Right, Jk and I ! ! That’s so funny
Let’s debate, no throw tantrums
“The near unanimity on this forum in favour of Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine is impressive”
Funny you should say that Redux, as it is in fact the complete opposite. And given that that’s the case, how did you arrive at such a conclusion? Or do you just enjoy turning reality on its head.
And I think it was you – or perhaps Pears – who posted a comment a day or two ago something to the effect of: Does anyone (on here) really think that Nato/the US is gonna nuke Russia (if Ukraine were to join Nato)? So perhaps you could remind us what happened in 1962. And the reason it happened in the first place!
Allan Howard
I’m surprised that you disagree when I say that there is near unanimity on this forum in favour of Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine.
Of course there are (imo honourable) exceptions. I won’t irritate them by naming them. But we (opponents of Putin’s war) are a small minority here.
You and your mates are not opponents of Putin’s war, you’re just anti Russian, which is a different thing.
No just opponents of an unjust and illegal war. Can’t speak for JK but I opposed the invasion of Iraq for the same reasons.
The supporters of Putin’s war have, as Craig once said, got into the mindset that everything the West does is evil so anyone who opposes the West, be it Russia, Iran or North Korea, must be incapable of doing anything bad.
correct. not just anti-Russia but anti any state or movement hat is demonised by elites the British and American establishments.
there is not a chance in the world this fella opposed the British and American establishments on the invasion of Iraq.
why is that so obvious that it barely needs stating?
because in 16 months he couldn’t bring himself to post one word of condemnation for their involvement in the worst crimes of his lifetime.
I, in turn, am surprised that people can oppose America in Iraq, Putin in Ukraine, while not objecting to Ukraine’s war in the Donbass, reject peace initiatives, deny that peace negotiations were torpedoed, demand continued deaths and at the same time call the people on the other end “supporting the war”.
It looks like they believe there are good wars. Probably fought by good people, and supported by good people, and good wars are sponsored by innately decent people, right?
Stevie Boy
Yes I opposed the US invasion of Iraq – despite the obnoxious nature of the regime, similarly with the US/France/England invasion of Libya.
My opinion re Afghanistan was and is more nuanced. The Taliban, complicit in the 9/11 attacks deserved to be punished for their actions, perhaps using special forces to kill some of their leadership but the attempted occupation of Afghanistan was hubris and led to nemesis.
(As will Putin’s attempt to occupy Ukraine.)
The near unanimity and utter stupidity of the pro-regime types in Britain regarding this war is extreme. I haven’t come across a single one of them who has said
1) OK, I will educate myself about the 6 territories, aka pre-2014 eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
2) My reading has led me to the opinion that almost everyone there wants to be in Ukraine.
3) Therefore the Russian side in this war is wicked.
They just start with 3 because they’re told to by the regime and its opinion chain and its media. Then their minds “think up reasons” because they can’t face up to their own utmost cowardice, submissiveness, and credulity. That’s how it works. Stupid c***s. Hardly any of them could even name the 6 territories. They are not worth arguing with.
An honest person would start with 1 and soon realise that actually almost everybody in those regions wants to be in Russia.
“Then their minds ‘think up reasons’ because they can’t face up to their own utmost cowardice, submissiveness, and credulity. That’s how it works.”
It really is. For example there are some British types who think they are “educated” who are coming out with all sorts of details about Kievan Rus more than 1000 years ago, and pointing out that Kiev was not the only antecessor of Muscovy, whereas all of that is obviously completely irrelevant to, for example, Russians living in the Donbas today – and it was irrelevant to their greatgrandparents too.
Some of it is “talking points” that you are hearing directly from conscious psyops operators of course. But generally speaking they are successful, and the garbage gets repeated by their less conscious helpers – idiots who raise the blue and yellow flag in their front gardens in Gateshead or Glasgow or wherever. A few years ago it was “Help for Heroes”. Now it’s “Victory to Ukraine”.
There’s no point arguing with the conscious pysopsers about what is or isn’t “true”.
As for those who drink up their garbage and spew it out again, there’s not much point arguing with those types either. They have no respect for themselves, so why should anyone else have respect for them? The first advice they need is “Do a job on yourself, you f***ing idiot, and come back to me when you’ve read about the 6 territories without Mr Television and Mrs Internet in your head telling you Putin is Dark Lord Bad Guy”.
“The near unanimity on this forum in favour of Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine is impressive. It will be welcome news to many here that the USA and Israel supported the pro Russia position in the United Nations General Assembly today.”
Basically the poshboy British regime is humiliating itself on the international stage again. Is that what you’re trying to say?
Peter Mandelson refights the Boer War shocker.
The following vid was posted on Times Radio youtube channel a couple of days ago, and has over 400,000 views (and over 3,000 comments). Please just listen/watch the first twenty seconds. It’s unreal! I mean it really *IS* unreal:
Bill Browder: Putin can’t afford to end the war in Ukraine | Superpowers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO81t_Vgz7k
As with Fascist Talk TV and GB News and the Daily Mail etc, I have no doubt that most of the comments kept near the top are posted by the Integrity Initiative or some such bunch of paid fascist propagandists…. to dupe and manipulate the dunderheads.
Allan Howard
So you disagree with Browder?
And you have no doubt that most of the comments kept near the top are posted by […] paid fascist propagandists…
Good to know.
Allan Howard
That is what is so pathological about the hysteria going on now. It is schizophrenic, it makes zero sense.
So on the one hand Putin rule Trump according to this clientele, Trump doing what Putin wants but then… there is this other narrative: – Bill Browder: Putin can’t afford to end the war in Ukraine – that claim the exact opposite!? That Putin do not want peace at all, that he would lose etc. I mean why would Putin, through Trump, call for peace talks if he does no want…peace talks? It is like these rabid russophobics throwing out everything just to muddle the debate now.
These people like Browder, they are literal insane, they have so much personal issues with Russia that they will risk or even trigger WW3 just to “get back” at Russia.
Most recent video:
Browder: Trump needs to bankrupt Russia and stop ‘pandering’ to Putin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8lXTk1e3oI
The aim of all war is to make the enemy stop fighting so that you can then go ahead and do what you want. Neither leadership wants war for its own sake.
Allan Howard
I think you could call Browder a ‘ Distressed could have been Oligarch ‘ as I think he was a friend/employees – not sure though of Berezovsky.
A lot of Putin’s non favoured Oligarchs constantly do the rounds of TV and radio Stations bemoaning the fate of Freedom and Democracy in Russia when actually what they are thinking is ‘ I wish we could get rid of Putin then we can get our hands on our deserved stash we were promised under Yeltsin.
Life’s not fair eh?
Dont think he ever worked for Berezofsky.
He is a fraud though wanted for tax evasion in Russia.
There is a film about Browder which I have seen exposing him as oding tax in the US as well.
There is aldo a book exposing him called something like ” The killing of Bill Browder” written by a Monaco based hedge fund manager. I think it has been banned, but you may be able to download it.
The book is here.
Thanks, Brian.
I’ve never come across this quote before (which has its own page in the book about Browder, just prior to The Table of Contents), and is so SO true of course:
Enlighten the people generally,
and tyranny and oppressions
of body and mind will vanish
like the evil spirits
at the dawn of day.
Thomas Jefferson
Reminds me of that other one about shining a light on the dark forces, or something like that. Talking of which, I think we can be around 10,000% certain that Israel – yet AGAIN – is lying through its goddam teeth that Hamas murdered and strangled to death the mother and her two young children (whose remains Hamas returned to Israel a few days ago). From a recent CJ article:
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told the press on Friday that, “Contrary to Hamas’ lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys, they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
On reading it again, I’ve realised that I didn’t really take in that last bit when I initially read the CJ article – ie that Hamas (supposedly) “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities”. Hmm… I must see if I can find anything that’s more detailed, although I doubt I will, because Hagari probably didn’t elaborate. But the implication is that Hamas mutilated the bodies. Yeah, as if!
Needless to say, not only would Hamas have no reason whatsoever to kill them – as with other hostages – but they are of course bargaining chips, so to speak. But!, and this is the whole point, Netanyahu and his fascist buddies know that there are still hundreds of millions of people who believe that Hamas beheaded forty babies (and if anyone believes a word he says, at least a few tens of thousands of people who saw him on Sky News, quite likely believed Lammy when he said that Hamas had raped Israeli babies… the bigger the lie etc), because the vast majority of the MSM in the West – and ALL the MSM in the UK – have ommitted to tell their readers and viewers and listeners that only ONE baby was killed (by accident) on October 7th, which has been in the public domain since the end of November 2023 – ie 10-month old Mila Cohen. And if they don’t know any different, which they don’t, then these hundreds of millions of people will of course believe that Hamas murdered them (and were capable of murdering them). And then hacked up their bodies, or whatever.
I only hope Hamas had the foresight to photograph the bodies/remains before handing them over. Not that the MSM in general would cover it of course.
It seems the most obvious thing in the world to me that Hamas wouldn’t have kept a mother and her two young children in their network of tunnels somewhere, and they would have been housed somewhere, and no doubt blown to smithereens by one of the thousands of 2,000lb bombs that Israel dropped on Gaza in the first month or two (and continued to do, of course).
Hopefully this will appear directly under my 18.32 post.
The following is also from the Caitlin Johnstone article:
Hamas reported back in November 2023 that the Bibas children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike along with their mother. In December 2023 it was reported in the mainstream press that Hamas had offered to return their bodies to Israel but Israel refused, telling the press that “Israel will not address propaganda-based reports coming from Hamas”.
I mean what sort of a response is THAT to Hamas offering to return their bodies to Israel, as if to say that THAT explains why Israel refused to take them back. Doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense to me. No-one was asking Israel to address anything, but just to take possesion of the bodies/remains.
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/israel-pushes-new-atrocity-narrative-just-as-ceasefire-deadline-approaches-cccb7f9fe2a7
A wee bit more on Browder.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Bill_Browder
Thanks, RoS. I think there is also a film which I saw a few years ago which also exposes him as a fraud. The film was light and amusing but very informative, made by someone who moved in the same circle as him.
It is a astonishing that a complete fraud like Browder can get the US and UK to enact anti Russia laws and even be taken seriously.
Geoffrey
Wasn’t sure but he was tied in with an Oligarch or two from memory.
A Would be – if he could be? ‘ Bag Carrier ‘ maybe?
I’ll just put this down to be fair to JK Redux and others on here:
‘According to the constitution, the prime minister becomes the acting president when the incumbent steps down. On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin announced his resignation, and Vladimir Putin, who held the position of prime minister, automatically became the acting president.’
And yes without doubt Putin is an Oligarch and he has his band of Oligarchs.
The one’s who want him out are obviously not Putin’s greatest fans but if you can get a stipend or salary or funding out of whinging about it – it’s better than nothing – that’s Browder.
Navalny was another.
By the way – no one ‘ likes wars ‘ not even the so called Evil Ones – war is very very costly and a pain in the arse to boot so, it’s easier if you can get your way – The Donald way – just through pure threat (not actions) is surely that is less troublesome and expensive?
But some wars are necessary – let’s say the Second World War – yet do not be fooled that WW1 and WW2 were anything to do with The Defence of Democracy.
It was an awful fight between rising industrial Germany and the falling British Empire.
The US was rising too and in WW2 the world witnessed how much the US had actually risen – despite The Great Depression.
It is falling now as all Imperial Empires decline but, it is not done with yet.
Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day – The US will not collapse in a day.
Many people on the Left need reminding of that.
I must admit that I’ve never really given any thought to why Israel is so secretive about its nuclear weapons, but now I understand. This from wikipedia:
Due to a US ban on funding countries that have weapons of mass destruction, Israel would lose around $2 billion a year in military and other aid from the US if it admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
I thought it was more like $3 billion. Anyway, so although the whole world knows – and has known for decades – that Israel has nukes, Israel and the US pretend they don’t. How sweet.
See under subheading: States believed to possess nuclear weapons
List of states with nuclear weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons
Many states lie about other types of weapon too – chemical, biological, radiological, electronic, neutron. Agreed though that Israeli “non-committal” about nukes sticks out, when everyone knows they’ve got them. (FWIW they also provide security for US nukes.)
French and British uniformed troops in Lvov or Kiev is an offramp for those regimes and all two dozen of them will probably sit around playing yahtzee.
Brian Red
You hear nothing of Ukraines’ second biggest City.
A bit like Birmingham.
I honestly don’t know what is really happening away from the Dnipro River.
The MSM of course lie by omission ( the creme de la creme being the State Broadcaster) and I am more suspicious with those outfits when I hear nothing, as it means to me that something(s) are going on but it’s not for us lower orders to know.
A Division of Israel Tanks has rolled into Jenin and not a carrot about it on the MSM.
Plus there was a big demo the other day in Romania against the EU’s cancelling of elections.
That wasn’t on the BBC.
Plus last week there were two massive anti Afd Demos on Hamburg and Munich?
All three were not covered by the ‘ No Spin – Fact Checking ‘ BBC.
Even in the UK the BBC’s presentation of Energy Price rises is very shifty.
£1800 average for duel use energy prices = ‘s £144.00 a month?
Do the British all live in shoe boxes.
The Presenter rambled on about ‘ finding fixed price deals ‘ and said that people
could ‘save ‘ money and in the next breath said that water price were going up by 24%
Where’s the saving?
They have been to University most of these Presenters.
Makes you wonder hat they learnt studying business/economics – history and politics?
At least they can all read their Bank Statements and that’s all that matters.
Butterflies Flying
My Love I loved till her Death
Evil Israel
Brianfujisan
Powerful haiku Brian.
I hope am not misinterpreting this, but the loss in the haiku prompts me to ask, at least rhetorically
“are you OK ?”
I am not sure what the copyright situation is for quoting complete poems. The great19th Century Russian poet Afanasy Fet made hauntingly beautiful poems about the loss of his love. The one he composed in 1878 whose first line ” You’re through with suffering, I suffer still;” [translation by James Greene] is a masterpiece.His poem of 1883 about coming through the Winter [same translator] The final stanza is:
“But believe in the spring ! Its spirit will break through,
Breathing warmth and life once more,
For bright days, new revelations,
The ailing soul revives”
Peace and best wishes.
After 3 years of fighting Ukraine have not barely acquired any larger land mass, even BBC admit as much (see link below), still the west keep pouring arms, ammo on Ukraine like that would change anything! It is a war psychosis going on, the western media/political elite simply cannot admit defeat, there is too much presitge for them now. That is what happen when you live in a bubble and groupthink. They were warned so many times that this was a done deal, Ukraine would not be able to win, but they refused to listen.
Comparsions of maps between 2022-2025
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/22F8/production/_133725980_ukraine_control_quad-2x.png.webp
And the re-taken land for example in the northern Ukraine early on into the war was rather a result of Russia retracting by themselves, not because they faced a military threat from the ukrainan army.
Another article from 2023, from the year of the hyped up Ukrainian offensive that was supposed to change everything but pretty much nothing happend:
2023:Who’s Gaining Ground in Ukraine? This Year, No One.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/28/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-map-front-line.html
Jack
For the West plan A has failed miserably, on to Plan B , fill the place with so-called, peacekeeper troops, Wait till they get fired on by Russia (yea sure) and then a proper war kicks off.
Yes, exactly! But we won’t even get to that point, because there’s no way Russia is gonna accept so-called peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, as Sergey Lavrov made crystal clear last week.
Interesting – one wonders what the peoples of these regions think about this – if indeed they even know about it – which I myself doubt.
“When asked to comment on Trump’s claim of “major transactions” between Russia and the US, Putin told Russia 1 TV journalist Pavel Zarubin on Monday that discussions were indeed taking place.
“Yes, some of our companies are in contact with each other and are discussing such projects,” the Russian leader said. Putin added that Moscow is prepared to work with Washington in developing rare-earth mineral deposits, including those in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. At the same time, he noted that the rare-earth deal that the Trump administration is negotiating with Kiev “doesn’t concern” Moscow, as the actual value of Ukraine’s mineral deposits remains uncertain.”
Could THIS be the reason why the UK and France and Germany et al are pushing so hard to sabotage any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, along with Zelensky no doubt – ie because their sanctions – and the cost of the war (in more ways than one) – are starting to have the desired effect:
Is 2025 the year that Russia’s economy finally freezes up under sanctions?
Atlantic Council – January 8th, 2025
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/is-2025-the-year-that-russias-economy-finally-freezes-up-under-sanctions/
Afterthought: I mean why would the Starmerfuhrer think to impose more sanctions on Russia just when Donald Trump is trying to get peace negotiations going. Oh, right, to put more pressure to negotiate supposedly. Yeah, sure!
Go back in the Atlantic Council archive and consult their predictions for the 2023 sanctions.
fonso
The reason I did a search in respect of Russia’s economy is because of what David – Hamas raped Israeli babies – Lammy said in this video (which I just happened to come across on youtube yesterday evening):
David Lammy: Ukraine’s Security is the UK’s Security | £400bn Sanctions on Russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOKUDG3NSIw (3mins 50secs)
As it transpired, I came across the AC piece and, as such, didn’t then continue searching to confirm whether the figures Lammy cites were legit or not… what with him being such a lying c8nt, one feels obliged to do.
PS I take it the AC were saying the same thing back then!
Yes, Russia’s total economic and military collapse is permanently imminent according to the AC. That won’t change.
I’d love to see Craig do a stand alone piece on the British foreign secretary at some point. The rt hon Mr Lammy is more like something from the imagination of Tom Sharpe than an actual existing person.
The reality is that the collapse of the UK economy and it’s military is a lot closer than Russia’s. And, the reason for that is not sanctions but years, if not decades, of government corruption and incompetence.
Probably when one major country’s economy collapses, the rest will follow. Back in 2020 the line in the entire MSM was mothball most of the economy while paying people at 80%, and don’t worrrrry, it can all be paid back over decades, or over centuries if necessary (creditors not identified). There’s no proooblem!
Funny that the gold price has doubled since then.
Meanwhile the war will be paid for out of titanium for aerospace, plus a bit of lithium for batteries? Yeah right. Economic boom time all round! The supposed richest man in the world is waving a chainsaw to say so!
When the ruling class say the future is going to be “Amaaazing!”, it’s almost time to bug out.
“Rearming” at such a time (what a quaint word) is an obscenity.
I don’t know if anyone has posted about this, but ‘commentators’ have recently started comparing Donald Trump to Chamberlain, as in this opinion piece in the Guardian on Feb 13th:
Trump’s senseless capitulation to Putin is a betrayal of Ukraine – and terrible dealmaking
Timothy Garton Ash
As the US and its European allies head to the Munich security conference, Europe must learn from its tragic history and oppose appeasement
Donald Trump’s appeasement of Vladimir Putin makes Neville Chamberlain look like a principled, courageous realist. At least Chamberlain was trying to prevent a major European war, whereas Trump is acting in the middle of one. Trump’s “Munich” (synonymous in English with the 1938 deal in which Britain and France sold out Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany) comes on the eve of the big security conference in today’s Bavarian capital, where his emissaries will meet western allies. That Munich security conference must be the beginning of a decisive European response, learning from our own tragic history in order to avoid repeating it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/13/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine-us-europe
And then the following passage, from a Guardian article on Feb 22nd:
Some Americans went so far as to compare Trump to historical world leaders who shrank in the face of fascism, such as Neville Chamberlain, the former UK prime minister who adopted an ultimately disastrous approach of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/22/trump-putin-friendship
And this opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post from four days ago:
Donald Trump is the new Neville Chamberlain
As Trump plans mutual visits with Putin and his VP lectures Europe about its far-right, America has reversed its 80-year policy of confronting Russian aggression.
THE NEW American attitude is, in effect, “Russia good, Europe bad.” It’s a historic U-turn, and its announcement was shouted in three rapid installments within 48 hours.
The first installment came last Wednesday, when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation – the first between an American president and his Russian counterpart since Russia’s grand invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
The second came Thursday, when Trump said he and Putin were planning to visit each other, “he’ll come here and I’ll go there,” as he put it to reporters in the Oval Office…
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-843079
There’s no doubt scores of such articles and opinion pieces spouting this total B/S in the Western media and, as such, duping and deceiving their collective readership of tens of millions of people. The point being of course that the fascist propagandists are just building on the falsehood(s) they were disseminating from the outset – ie that Putin is setting out to conquer Europe etc etc etc ad nauseum. Yep, these scumbag so-called newspapers all want the killing and destruction and devastation to continue until Russia is completely fucked, and they don’t give a damn about how many more hundreds of thousands of people (mainly military) are killed and maimed on both sides in the meantime.
They really are no better than the goddam Nazis… just evil to the core.
Yes it senseless, if every move you take towards peace is considered “appeasement”, if you got that narrow outlook, well obviously escalation and full blown nuclear world war is the only result of such idiocy. Not one of these warmongers ask the obvious question – why there have been no imperial building by Russia for the past 25 years that Putin have ruled? How come? To the contrary, there were good relations between West and Russia right up until the western backed Maidan Coup. There have been good relations up until the creeping Nato expansion. They, the western warmongers, create the problems and then whine about the (russian) reaction, claiming the reaction was “what started it”.
No one of these warmongers ever put themselves in the perspective of the other and how they might view things. Why should Russia trust the west when they are the ones that rip agreements on troop movements in Europe? When it is the west that rip their promise not to expand Nato? When it was the west that ripped Minsk 1&2 agreements? When it is the west that illegally confiscate russian money? When it is the west that blow up russian pipelines? When it is the western ammounition given to Ukraine, that murder russian soldiers daily? etc
Russia have all their reasons to mistrust the west but the people ruling the west believe they have done nothing wrong. They are not diplomats, they are children.
The obvious thing to do in a situation like this is to create trust between west and Russia, as you are supposed to according to any confidence/peace-building theory! You learn this in kindergarten!
That is what US did, they have reached out their hand to Russia, a big couragous step, that is what the EU should do too, you sit down and work out the problems you have, as adults – but EU are so hateful of anything russian. Their hatred is on par with right-wing anti-immigration parties hatred for muslims.
Jack
Are you seriously saying that:
“When it is the western ammunition given to Ukraine, that murder Russian soldiers daily? etc”,
i.e. that Ukrainian troops firing on Russian invaders are committing murder?
The laws of war permit self-defence.
Do you disagree?
The laws of war permit self-defence.
JK redux.
What about the laws of genocide – do they permit self-defence, or is it only the Neo-Nazi Ukrainian troops that are allowed it, or what about the people of the Donbas, and the eight years of war against them by the Neo-Nazi Ukrainian troops – are they permitted to defend themselves.
Ros
Thanks for answering but my comment was directed to Jack.
I’ll respond to your comment once I have seen and responded to his.
JK redux
Yes? That is my point, westerners do not realize, do not understand how provocative western governments act against Russia.
The conflict is between Russia and Ukraine. So why are then ammo/arms from Germany, France, US killing russians in Ukraine (or even in Russia proper like Kursk)?
As for your other question, Russia could claim “Responsibility to protect” to protect the russian minority that suffered under the ukrainian regime ever since 2013, some 9 years prior to the russian invasion. The laws of war permit protection of civilians, “do you disagree”?
Jack
You didn’t answer my question:
Are you seriously saying that:
“When it is the western ammunition given to Ukraine, that murder Russian soldiers daily? etc”,
i.e. that Ukrainian troops firing on Russian invaders are committing murder?
JK
A bit desperate to repeat your question when I clearly responded to it, you simply do not like, like most western governments, the truth of the matter that the EU, the U.S commit acts of war against Russia through Ukraine.
Excellent post Jack. Sums it all up perfectly (your 17.12 comment, that is).
Russia also ignored the Minsk agreements.
“(T)here were good relations between West and Russia right up until the western backed Maidan Coup”
That’s been memory-holed now.
“No one of these warmongers ever put themselves in the perspective of the other and how they might view things.”
That is certainly true of the British born-to-rule Sandhurst types and political party types that I monitor. I haven’t seen a single one of them, even though they’re all modern day Clausewitzes, say let’s look at this from the Russian government or general staff’s point of view. They all say if the Russian forces aren’t stopped and Britain doesn’t rearm, the Russian army will soon be in the Baltic states and then they’ll be at the Channel coast. It’s as if it’s permanent Tory blue-rinse night in the British officers’ messes. You wouldn’t have thought these geniuses had recently lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are probably still a few who don’t believe that sh*t, at least among the political party types, but they’re too scared to say so because they’ll be ostracised. When the war was at its most intense, they were saying nuclear war between NATO and Russia wouldn’t be as scary as all that, and they practically jumped for joy when a missile exploded in Poland and hadn’t yet been verified as Ukrainian. The ones who went to private boarding school and who know the exact definition of “pleb” are saying things like “Si vis pacem, para bellum”. (“If you want peace, prepare for war.”)
Brian Red
Yes the memory hole keep getting filled up by the west and only their small, shrinking, narrow narrative is to be accepted, these people really behave like children, trying to filter out any inconvenient or conflicting information making their thinking so easy and shielded – like, deliberately not thinking about problems, will cause the problems to go away! That is what children do.
Jeffrey Sachs spoke about this childish western behavior recently:
THE STUPIDEST IDEA OF NATO – Jeffrey Sachs in Brussels, 1:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mVhW-m0bwY
One could also add the 2008 Georgia war that are often used by the warmongers as an example proving that Russia is so evil and cannot be trusted, but speaking on the memory hole, even EU admitted that it was Georgia itself that triggered that war:
2008″Georgia started war with Russia: EU-backed report”
“In the Mission’s view, it was Georgia which triggered off the war when it attacked Tskhinvali (in South Ossetia) with heavy artillery on the night of 7 to 8 August 2008,” said Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, who led the investigation.
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/georgia-started-war-with-russia-eu-backed-report-idUSTRE58T4MO/
And there are tons of information written how just this bias, groupthink is what risk to lead to conflict, war, still west keep walking right into it:
“Conflicts sometimes are characterized by a negative spiral, whereby they escalate due to the reciprocally aggressive and competitive behavior of the contending parties. This chapter proposes that people’s inclination to perceive others as biased—particularly others who disagree with them—can initiate this conflict spiral, as well as fuel it and prevent its resolution. It reviews evidence that parties who disagree are especially likely to see those on the other side as biased and themselves as objective. Further, it demonstrates that people’s perceptions of their adversaries as biased leads them to act conflictually towards those adversaries. That conflictual action, in turn, is perceived by its recipients as a sign of bias, thereby leading those recipients to respond conflictually, as the spiral continues. An understanding of this bias-perception conflict spiral illuminates how conflicts develop and grow between both individuals and groups.”
https://academic.oup.com/book/6852/chapter-abstract/151065569?redirectedFrom=fulltext
“Rearmament” has similar resonance in Britain to “appeasement”. For those who don’t already know, the main uses of the first term in Britain are in relation to Germany in the 1930s and Britain and West Germany in the 1950s. Those two epochs remain reference points for British posho neo-colonial “military history” and “political history” types, who think in terms of what foreign states such as Russia should be allowed or not allowed to do – allowed, that is, by Englishmen born of rich parents who sent them to boarding school.
What a day of voting errors, don’t you think?
Yesterday’s unsupported resolution of the Ukrainian parliament was supported in a new vote today.
Yesterday’s vote by Serbia against the UNGA resolution forced it to apologize for the mistake today.
France and Britain pulled a trick: in the General Assembly they did not support the Ukrainian resolution until they made their amendments to it, and a few hours later, when the US brought the same project to the UN Security Council, they voted without the amendments.
Magnetic storms, or is someone good at persuasion?
Serbia has deep routed ties to Russia and may well have come under pressure to abstain. It wouldn’t have changed the end result anyway.
The Security Council resolution was passed with 10 in favour and five abstentions including France and the UK.
What about Ukrainian parliament?
What a spectacle, since there are no oppositional parties (Zelensky have banned 10-15 parties since he took power) inside of Ukraine the ukrainian parliament consisting of 100% pro-Zelensky puppet parties voted in effect to approve their leader as an evidence that Zelensky is sure popular and democratc! What a sham vote.
Poroshenko’s party opposed the draft resolution on Monday. Any real dictator wouldn’t be bothered with seeking parliamentary approval. Zelensky is still acting within Ukraine’s constitution and not seeking to change it so he can stay in power for another 12 years like somebody else.
Pears Morgaine
I can see ‘Servants of the People’ who are described as Liberal-Populists.
They have 235/450 in the Rada.
Including the Oblast Councils they have 305/1780.
Would you like to explain to me (as Wikpedia doesn’t explain) what Liberal-Populism is?
I do note that the Centre-Left and Left is only mentioned in the Oblasts – can’t spot them in the RADA and definitely No Communists/Socialists – not even in the Oblasts.
Pears Morgaine
Dictatorial leaders are of course much more keen to prove they are popular than more obvious democratically elected leaders that is why Zelensky was such in a hurry past days to prove that he is popular, asking his friends in the parliament to “prove” this.
Putin’s approval rate is at some 87% with his lowest approval rate at 59% , so Putin’s lowest number even beat Zelensky’s highest number.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/
If west are going to call Putin a dictator, well then they must claim that Zelensky to be an even a bigger dictator unless they rule by double standards.
By the way Zelensky even approved sanctions on Poroshenko just the other week, real democratic:
What’s at stake for Poroshenko, ex-president sanctioned by Zelensky?
https://kyivindependent.com/whats-at-stake-for-poroshenko-ex-president-sanctioned-by-zelensky/
Wiki says that this parliament was formed in 2019, and elections were not held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (constituencies 1-10) and Sevastopol (constituencies 224, 225). Elections were also not held in nine constituencies (No. 41-44, 53-56, 61) of Donetsk and five constituencies (No. 104, 108-111) of Luhansk regions.
As for the opposition, Wiki also reports that “European Solidarity” (Iryna Gerashchenko) has gone into opposition, since the bills submitted by Zelensky and “Servant of the People” could turn Ukraine into a totalitarian state. I assume that it’s about the subordination of the National Guard to the president, the president’s right to form an anti-corruption and investigative bureau, as well as an initiative to reduce the number of deputies from 450 to 300.
Also, “Batkivshchyna” (Yulia Tymoshenko) went into opposition because of the law on the sale of agricultural land.
I see that the opposition was formed due to fears of usurpation of power and the sale of resources to foreign ownership
This parliament legalized the Right Sector and the OUN, which were fighting in Donbas at that time. They were granted the status of military veterans and got payments and social benefits.
In 2020, this parliament passed a law where education in Russian for Russians in schools is limited to 5 grades, when for other ethnicities, education in their native language lasts the entire term of study.
In 2021, this parliament passed a law where Russians were not recognized as the indigenous population of Ukraine, and were not subject to the protection of national minorities, as was explained “since they have their own national state.”
In other words, Russians were offered to either change their ethnic identity, or leave the country, or live in a state where their rights are not guaranteed, but also discriminated against.
Tatyana
” In other words, Russians were offered to either change their ethnic identity, or leave the country, or live in a state where their rights are not guaranteed, but also discriminated against.”
Exactly, just as this nazi-boy from Ukraine admitted casually some 10 years ago:
Neo-Nazi threat in new Ukraine: BBC NEWSNIGHT, 6:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SBo0akeDMY&t=123s
Two men were arrested at a pro-Kiev protest yesterday in Marseilles in connection with the throwing of explosive devices at the Russian consulate in that city earlier in the day. They have not been named. Nor have the types of device been described. It is possible that only petrol was used. But petrol bombs can of course injure and kill people.
Two men carry out a violent attack on a consulate and then they go to a protest demo where, guess what, they’re identified? What’s going on here? Why didn’t they hide? Gotta wonder whether the guys arrested are the same two guys that attacked the consulate.
There are details about this case in our news.
On Monday evening, at a demonstration in support of Kiev in Marseille, the police detained two French researchers – an engineer and a chemist, born in 1965 and 1977. They admitted that they had made an explosive mixture containing nitrogen. The homemade explosive devices that attacked the diplomatic mission contained aluminum acid. The attackers threw three explosive devices made from plastic bottles, but only two of them exploded.
The suspects were taken into custody. A criminal case was opened due to the incident.
After the attack on the Russian consulate in Marseille, the French association SOS Donbass held a rally in support of Russia.
The association commented that what happened was, on the one hand, an act of violence against the diplomatic mission, on the other hand, Russia has never taken hostile actions against France.
“It’s time to open our eyes and get out of the imposed narrative,” the association concluded. In their Telegram channel, the community publishes photos of posters pasted on the streets of France; the leaflets read “Europe with Russia”, “Russia is not my enemy”.
Yves Engler is free at last.
“Free speech win. After spending five days in jail I was released without restrictions on my ability to discuss the charges brought against me. The judge effectively forced the crown to drop its bid to muzzle me.
Why did an author spend five days in jail to be allowed to write about the charges brought against him for criticizing Israel & the police? Why was I initially charged for social media post criticizing Israel? Why are the police claiming my writing about the case amounts to harassing them?
The crown should immediately drop all charges against me, apologize & compensate me for my imprisonment”
https://nitter.poast.org/EnglerYves/status/1894221884423602579#m
Will it go anywhere? I hope so, but I’m not holding my breath.
“For the first time ever, a US-based organization has formally asked the International Criminal Court to investigate a former US president for possible complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 172-page request submitted by the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) alleges several figures – including former President Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin – aided and abetted Israeli war crimes in Gaza.”
https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-icc-asked-to-investigate
Interesting stuff – though it more like Fourteen Eyes than Five Eyes.
“White House official pushes to axe Canada from Five Eyes intelligence group”
https://nitter.poast.org/FT/status/1894407407196860509#m
Le Petit said this whilst standing next to Trump – France and America have impinged upon – crossed so many borders illegally that, this from Macron would be funny if it wasn’t such BS. Recently Le Petit’s imperialist troops have been getting kicked-out all over Africa – so Macron will have an abundance of troops standing around – not making money for France’s elite or French corporations.
“French Pres. Macron lauded the “courage of the Ukrainian people” in their fight against Russia, saying at a White House press conference on Monday: “No one in this room wants to live in a world where … international borders can be violated from one day to the next by anyone.””
https://nitter.poast.org/ABC/status/1894117419532046742#m
Starmer – doesn’t care one little bit about the population in Britain, especially the less fortunate ones.
“BAE’s share price jumps as Keir Starmer announces he’ll increase military spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.
Military-industrial complex guides policy, not “national security”. They fund “think tanks” to push militarism.
Meanwhile, the two-child benefit cap is still in place.”
https://nitter.poast.org/kennardmatt/status/1894391434859454949#m
https://abcnews.go.com/International/ukraine-parliament-affirms-elections-wartime-rebuff-trump/story?id=116193627
Good news for supporters of Ukraine.
The UK did not hold elections during the second world war, nor did they ban the opposition parties as Zelensky has done, the conservative government at the time incorporated Two Labour men who became part of his five-man war cabinet. He has also banned most opposition newspapers and many church leaders, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has signed into law legislation banning religious organizations linked to the Russian Orthodox Church from operating in Ukraine.
Harry Law
Britain certainly did ban Mosley’s Blackshirts. And their party newspapers.
Almost all British political parties supported resistance to Hitler.
Sad to say, some Ukrainian politicians support Russian invasion and occupation of their country.
Traitors who should be interned till the war is over as Blackshirts were in England.
Offering the US access to minerals is an eye-catching move by Putin, given how much pride the Kremlin has taken in keeping Russia’s natural wealth in Russian hands. In 2023 Putin accused the West, particularly the US, of trying to “dismember” Russia to gain access to its natural resources.
We’ve certainly come a long way from the Biden administration goal of ‘weakening Russia’ – to use the words of former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-says-major-deals-discussed-us-while-dangling-russian-rare-earth-mineral-access
Trump and Putin are certainly playing havoc with the Euro vassals, whilst Starmer is proposing sending troops to Ukraine and imposing further sanctions, Trump is doing deals with Putin, maybe Trump could take a leaf out of India’s book and import many Russian natural resources and, acting as middleman, flog them on to its vassals at a highly inflated price, they will buy. Putin must have read Trumps book ‘art of the deal’.
He could further inflate Trumps ego by offering to build the tallest skyscraper in the world in the centre of Moscow. And name it, what else, ‘Trump tower’.
A genuine question to all concerned.
Once The Orange One does another American Runner what will happen to the US Nukes?
Will Donald take his Nuke Balls home?
Inferring that the Europeans will have to install their own Nukes to protect Ukraine in perpetuity
just in case they decide to invade Europe/Ukraine in 2099 after their gas and oil runs out?
Can France get its Force de Frappe Nuke armed submarines into land locked Germany to defend Democracy?
Can the UK get its Aircraft carriers out of the Repair Docks before the Evil One’s Strike?
And can any Fighter Jets take off and land safely without burning big holes in the Flight Deck.
Will the UK’s – pre-loved ( meaning – useless to the US ) Nuke Missiles be fired from the British Submarines before swirling around at 10,000 feet then plunging pathetically into the Floridan Sea to defend democracy?
Sir Kier and Man of the Hour Macron, need to answer these important questions more than us lot on a Comments Board.
But – I prefer your answers than theirs as they know very little other than big mouth Bullshitting.
If I were Ukraine – I really wouldn’t want ‘ protection ‘ of that calibre.
Do a Mineral Deal and the US will stay – kind of – for a fee.
Begging the question – who’s paying the fee?
Military types think Britain’s aircraft carriers are a joke.
The whole military ‘kit and caboodle’ is a joke. But not a funny one.
Who pays ?
Easy, they fuck up we pay, simples.
who’s paying the fee?
I saw yesterday a journalist interviewing Ukrainians in Barcelona. Among other questions was this one: Do you support the idea that Europeans should pay tax to Ukraine because we (Ukrainians) are fighting to protect them from Putin?
If those experts who talk about the formation of a new world order with macro-regions, are right; and if they are right that Europe is forming its own region, with its own currency and army,- then you can expect such a tax.
You will pay for protection from me, and I, apparently, for protection from you.
Sad, but quite likely.
Since it is obvious that a peaceful settlement of the conflict based on compromise and respect for concerns was not included in European plans, not even back in the era of the “Minsk Agreements”.
It’s good to see that our wonderful Starmerfuhrer is fighting the good fight for peace… Tomorrow’s front pages:
https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/
And it’s all predicated on a massive big black gargantuan falsehood (that the majority of the people in the UK have been led to believe), and fear-mongering.
Gordon Bennet, it’s getting confusing. Just last week Sergey Lavrov said that peacekeeping troops in Ukraine would be completely unacceptable (under the terms of a peace deal), but now (on Monday) Trump is saying that Putin is OK with it and would permit a peacekeeping force as part of a peace agreement:
Trump: Putin Would Permit EU Peacekeepers in Ukraine as Part of Peace Deal
President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be open to having European peacekeepers deployed in Ukraine as part of a possible agreement to end Russia’s ongoing conflict there.
He made these remarks to reporters at the start of a White House meeting on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump said. “I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for World War.”
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Monday…
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-putin-would-permit-eu-peacekeepers-ukraine-part-peace-deal-2035498
Either Putin told Trump to say that, or else Trump made it up.
A few dozen British and French soldiers may be allowed to be stationed in Kiev or Lvov, not as mercenaries but officially, where they can play leapfrog in their mess rooms and moan about shortages of Branston pickle or whatever.
‘Either Putin told Trump to say that, or else Trump made it up.’
Well, Trump being Trump, it’s probably the latter (and I couldn’t help but notice that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to Newsweek’s email!).
———————–
Anyway I just checked out JVLs website, which I haven’t done for at least a week, and their latest reposting (at the time of typing) is ‘Who really killed the Bibas babies?’.
Here’s the JVL introduction:
Jonathan Ofir carefully examines the evidence that Israel has used to claim that Hamas murdered the Bibas babies. He finds there is little and none that stands up to even the most cursory scrutiny. This has not stopped the Israeli government making incendiary claims; claims that have been gleefully echoed and amplified by a global coalition of genocide enthusiasts and uncritically repeated across western media.
The Israeli claims rest on a single statement by an Israeli forensic scientist who did not even say that Hamas committed the murder but merely said, with no supporting information provided, that, “There is no evidence of harm due to bombing,”. Dr Kugel’s scientific impartiality is severely compromised by his assertion that, “We have encountered abysses of evil and malice that we could not imagine existed”. If there were clear evidence of murder then surely the Israelis would have had no hesitation in encouraging outside experts to confirm their findings. Their reluctance speaks far louder than their ‘evidence’.
It has been correctly pointed out that Ariel and Kfir and their mother would not have died if they had not been abducted and there can be no excuse for holding babies hostage. This act was serious enough in its own right. It is typical of Israeli hasbara to deliberately embellish any incident into the realm of gross falsehood to whip up emotion to inflame support for their own criminal actions.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/who-really-killed-the-bibas-babies/
Just one quick point (and I don’t mean to contradict Mike Cushman, who I believe wrote the introduction), but if Israel hadn’t stolen most of Palestine in the first place – or had given the Palestinians their own state decades ago (never mind the subjugation and brutality during the past eighty years or more) – then not only would Ariel and Kfir and their mother still be alive today, but so would many others.
I was just closing a few tabs here and there before I turn off my laptop and crash out. and I spotted this:
“Kill ALL MEN In Gaza”: Netanyahu Ally’s Genocidal Demand Gets No Media Coverage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKjvJhlmBM0 (Owen Jones – 14mins)
Bernie Sanders is bullishly exhorting the antiwar left to regard ending the Ukraine proxy war as a Very Bad Thing.
Is Bernie a righteous man of great moral clarity, as Oliver Kamm and co are now suggesting? A voice that needs to be taken extremely seriously?
Well consider this. Throughout 2024 and to the present moment, Sanders has denigrated every major human rights organisation and genocide scholar by angrily refusing to acknowledge the genocide of Palestinians.
How to explain it?
If Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International designated any other genocide as genocide, Bernie Sanders would immediately, without hesitation accept it and repeat it.
But not for Palestinians.
Sanders is very obviously a vicious anti-Palestinian racist, a trait he shares with most Ukraine proxy war hawks.
He should be treated with no less derision and contempt than the rest of the genocidal, warmongering political and media class.
Is bernie the bastard lovechild of Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson ?
Trump or someone working for him has posted an insane video on his “Truth Social” account, showing “What’s Next” for Gaza.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5HlrkLQWnc
This could be said to be a step on from both his Pyongyang effort and his trading cards.
Turn on the sound for full effect. The lyrics are:
“Donald’s coming to set you free,
Bringing the light for all to see,
No more tunnels, no more fear:
Trump Gaza’s finally here.
Trump Gaza’s shining bright,
Golden future, a brand new life.
Feast and dance the deal is done,
Trump Gaza, number one.”
Lightbringer = Lucifer.
Don’t miss the bearded transvestites in Hamas-style green headbands at 0:48.