The Moral Balance 231


There is a logical fallacy that dominates European neoliberal “thinking” at the moment. It goes like this.

“Hitler had unlimited territorial ambition and proceeded to attempt conquest of all Europe after annexing the Sudetenland. Therefore Putin has unlimited territorial ambition and will proceed to attempt conquest of all Europe after annexing Eastern Ukraine.”

This fallacious argument gives no evidence of Putin’s further territorial ambition. For evidence of Putin’s threat to the UK, Keir Starmer risibly refers to the Salisbury “novichok” affair, perhaps the most pathetic propaganda confection in history.

But even if you were to be so complacent as to accept the official version of events in Salisbury, does an assassination attempt on a double agent credibly indicate a desire by Putin to launch World War 3 or invade the UK?

Hitler’s territorial ambitions were not hidden. His desire for lebensraum and, crucially, his view that the Germans were a superior race who should rule over the inferior races, was plain in print and in speeches.

There is simply no such evidence for wide territorial ambition by Putin. He is not pursuing a crazed Nazi ideology that drives to conquest – or for that matter a Marxist ideology that seeks to overthrow the established order around the world.

The economic alignment project of BRICS is not designed to promote an entirely different economic system, just to rebalance power and flows within the system, or at most to create a parallel system not skewed to the advantage of the United States.

Neither the end of capitalism nor territorial expansion is part of the BRICS project.

There is simply no evidence of Putin having territorial goals beyond Ukraine and the tiny enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is perfectly fair to characterise Putin’s territorial expansion over two decades as limited to the reincorporation of threatened Russian-speaking minority districts in ex-Soviet states.

That it is worth a world war and unlimited dead over who should be mayor of the ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking city of Lugansk is not entirely plain to me.

The notion that Putin is about to attack Poland or Finland is utter nonsense. The idea that the Russian army, which has struggled to subdue small and corrupt, if Western-backed, Ukraine, has the ability to attack Western Europe itself is plainly impractical.

The internal human rights record of Putin’s Russia is poor, but at this point it is marginally better than that of Zelensky’s Ukraine. For example the opposition parties in Russia are at least allowed to contest elections, albeit on a heavily sloped playing field, whereas in Ukraine they are banned outright.

Still less convincing are the arguments that Russia’s overseas political activities in third countries require massive Western increases in armaments to prepare for war with Russia.

The plain truth is that the Western powers interfere far more in other countries than Russia does, through massive sponsorship of NGOs, journalists and politicians, much of which is open and some of which is covert.

I used to do this myself as a British diplomat. Revelations from USAID or the Integrity Initiative leaks give the public a glimpse into this world.

Yes, Russia does it too, but on a much smaller scale. That this kind of Russian activity indicates a desire for conquest or is a cause for war, is such a shallow argument it is hard to believe in the good faith of those promoting it.

I have also seen Russian military intervention in Syria put forward as evidence that Putin has plans of world conquest.

Russian intervention in Syria prevented for a time its destruction by the West in the same way that Iraq and Libya were destroyed by the West. Russia held back the coming to power of crazed Islamic terrorists, and the massacre of Syria’s minority communities. Those horrors are now unfolding, in part because of the weakening of Russia through the Ukraine war.

But for those nations that destroyed Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya to argue that Russia’s intervention in Syria shows Putin to be evil, is dishonesty of the highest degree. The United States has had a quarter of Syria under military occupation for over a decade and has been stealing almost all of Syria’s oil.

Pointing at Russia here is devoid of reason.

Strangely, the same “logic” is not applied to Benjamin Netanyahu. It is not argued by neoliberals that his annexations of Gaza, the West Bank and Southern Lebanon mean he must have further territorial ambitions. In fact, they even fail to note Netanyahu’s aggressions at all, or portray them as “defensive” – the same argument advanced much more credibly by Putin in Ukraine, but which neoliberals there outright reject.

The economies of Western Europe are being realigned onto a war footing, led by the utterly transformed European Union. The enthusiastic proponents of genocide in Gaza who head the EU now are channelling an atavistic hereditary hatred of Russia.

The foreign policy of the EU is propelled by Kaja Kallas and Ursula von der Leyen. The fanatical Russophobia these two are spreading, and their undisguised desire to escalate the war in Ukraine, cannot help but remind Russians that they come from nations which were fanatically Nazi.

To Russians this feels a lot like 1941. With Europe in the grip of full-on anti-Russian propaganda, the background to Trump’s attempt to broker a peace deal is troubled and Russia is understandably wary.

The UK continues to play the most unhelpful of roles. They have despatched Morgan Stanley’s Jonathan Powell to advise Zelensky on peace talks. As Blair’s Chief of Staff, Powell played a crucial role in the illegal invasion of Iraq. He was also heavily implicated in the death of David Kelly.

Wherever there is war and money to be made from war, you will find the same ghouls gathering. Those involved in launching the invasion of Iraq should be excluded from public life. Instead Powell is now the UK’s National Security Adviser.

I am not a follower of Putin. The amount of force used to crush Chechnya’s legitimate desire for self-determination was disproportionate, for example. It is naive to believe that you get to be leader of the KGB by being a gentle person.

But Putin is not Hitler. It is only through the blinkers of patriotism that Putin appears to be a worse person than the Western leaders behind massive invasion and death all around the globe, who now seek to extend war with Russia.

Here in the UK, the Starmer government is seeking actively to prolong the war, and is looking for a huge increase in spending on weapons, which always brings kickbacks and future company directorships and consultancies for politicians.

To fund this warmongering, New Labour are cutting spending on the UK’s sick, disabled and pensioners and cutting aid to the starving overseas.


This is a picture of Keir Starmer meeting with Israeli President Herzog, six months after the ICJ interim ruling quoted a statement by Herzog as evidence of genocidal intent.

The Starmer government was voted for by 31% of those who bothered to cast a vote, or 17% of the adult population. It is engaged in wholesale legal persecution of leading British supporters of Palestine, and is actively complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

I see no moral superiority here.

 

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231 thoughts on “The Moral Balance

1 2
  • Tatyana

    Great news and quite on topic.
    The European Court of Human Right recognised Ukraine responsible for Odessa massacre on May 2, 2014
    Russian news agency reports
    https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20250313/odessa-2004757506.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp

    “The Court unanimously held that there had been a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in that the authorities had failed to do what could reasonably be expected of them to prevent the violence in Odessa on 2 May 2014, to stop that violence once it had broken out, to take timely measures to rescue people caught in the fire, and to organise and conduct an effective investigation into the events,” the document says.

    “The arrival of fire engines at the scene of the fire was deliberately delayed by 40 minutes, and the police did not intervene to help evacuate people from the building quickly and safely. Thus, the state failed to provide timely rescue measures,” the judges said.

    deliberately delayed?
    Please if someone can link to the original statement, I’d like to see the exact wording.

      • Madison

        It is absolutely admirable that the ECHR decision, only transcribed today on their website, has already been reported on Russian state media, and even immediately forwarded by the cuckoo clock. See above link for details.
        Talk about alertness! No doubt the answer to the ceasefire agreement offered by Donald and Ze will come just as promptly…

        • Jack

          Madison
          You are doing that sarcasm thing a bit too much considering that the headline all over the Russian media is that Putin is supportive of a ceasefire as such. Typical Putin move, always acting exactly the opposite of what the western msm experts said he would.

          • Madison

            No sarcasm at all. We’ll eventually find out who wants ‘long lasting’ peace or not. Be ready for a rebuttal.
            Are you suggesting that the Russian msm are privy to Vladimir’s inner thoughts?

      • Tatyana

        Thanks, Pears.
        There’s no need in ploughing through, when you get a digital doc. Simply push Ctrl and F buttons and hold them for a while. The text field appears on the screen. You can print a word and the machine finds it in the text.
        In mobile brousers this feature is accessible via 3 vertical dots in the right upper corner. The option is Find on the page.

        Well, I found this, the second entry in the page you gave.
        https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-242505%22]}
        Using the feature that I described above I found in the text the following:

        The three SES officials were charged with aggravated leaving in danger on account of the delayed dispatch of firefighting vehicles and equipment on 2 May 2014, in compliance with the manifestly unlawful order by Mr Bodelan (see paragraphs 64-66 and 68-69 above).

        Although the firefighters reportedly faced obstruction and threats from some aggressive activists (ibid.), there is nothing in the extensive publicly available photographic and video evidence to suggest that they were considerably delayed in carrying out their mission once at the scene.

        Although it was never disputed that Mr Bodelan, the former Head of the SES Main Department in the Odesa Region, had been responsible for the delayed deployment of fire engines to Kulykove Pole (see paragraphs 65 and 182 above), no criminal investigation was launched in respect of him until 1 March 2016 (see paragraph 186 above)

        • Crispa

          Thanks also to Pears Morgaine for the link. It is indeed a weighty document and judgment. In a nutshell, the verdict seems to be. “Yes, Ukraine failed to protect its citizens from being murdered, but that was really Russia’s fault”.

    • AG

      A German documentary feature about the events in Odessa by East German director Wilhelm Domke-Schulz:

      “Remember Odessa” (aired around 2022), shot 2014/2018
      90 min., BW
      https://odysee.com/@alexbynature:d/rememberodessa:4

      The original sound is UKR/RU
      Subs are German. But its mainly old-style observational (tradition of “direct cinema”), i.e. no talking heads.
      Good handheld camera, shot on location.

      For those who have a YT-account to log into (I don´t) it´s on YT too, may be an Engl. auto-translation is available there:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itJizpcx34Q

      movie info:
      “In the winter of 2014, mass protests rocked the Ukrainian capital. At the end of February, the violence escalated. The bitter street battles between demonstrators and police claimed over 100 lives on both sides. President Yanukovych was overthrown. Radical Ukrainian nationalists seized power in Kyiv.

      The coup triggered large-scale counter-protests in eastern and southern Ukraine. The Russian minority did not recognize the Ukrainian nationalist government. Odessa became an important center of civil resistance. Tens of thousands of people protested against the illegitimate regime in Kyiv every week.

      In the spring, a decision was looming. On May 2, 2014, several hundred radical nationalists stormed the protest camp. The government opponents fled to the trade union building behind it. There, dozens of them fell victim to flames, poison gas, and brutal gangs of thugs. They died agonizing deaths.

      Since then, every year on May 2nd, thousands of people have gathered on Kulikov Field in front of the Trade Union Building to commemorate the unforgettable victims of Odessa. At the same time, Ukrainian nationalists march through the city streets and celebrate their “Victory Day.” The murderers of Odessa remain at large to this day.

      The film “Remember Odessa” delves into the deeply wounded soul of the torn-apart city. The camera observes the precise moment when nationalist murderers and the grieving relatives of their brutally murdered victims meet in close quarters. Face to face. On the day of the tragedy. On May 2nd, 2014. And four years later. On May 2nd, 2018. In the center of Odessa and on Kulikov Field in front of the Trade Union Building. At the site of the horrific crime that remains unpunished to this day.”

      • Tatyana

        Let me add a link to the recording of Ukrainian TV show Shuster.Live
        https://youtu.be/CmCU9OL0j9k
        The TV was on air May 2, 2014. Some Goncharenko showed videos of the tragedy and reported “separatists are defeated, Ukraine won”. And the people in the studio applauded and rejoiced.

        Ukrainians, these good caring christians, found it a reason for extremely cynical jokes. For example, “Odessa-style kebab” and “fried separatists” appeared on the menu in restaurants.
        Now these good people run around the squares of European cities with flags, saying that they’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing bad in Ukrainian nationalism, and that the war is unprovoked.

        Goncharenko today sits in the Council of Europe, you won’t believe it, he is busy with migrants and refugees policy.

        • AG

          Goncharenko: of course he is….
          Yes it´s a giant mess here.
          I have completely stopped even looking into TV program schedules.
          You can´t imagine the level of incompetence and jingoism spread via the major TV-stations.
          I have been thinking repeatedly of that Hollywood dystopia “V for Vendetta”.
          Whilst we are not there that people are dragged off the street and tortured and killed.
          The mood in the media is similiar to what you are getting in that film.

          For sure it´s impossible to change the course of government by legal means.
          The worst thing for me is, people who I know often do not see it.
          Some respond and claim this is not the Third Reich.
          I have never said that. But in the 3rd Reich people had families too, there were love stories, they slept with each other, they fought, they had birthday parties, they felt happiness and sadness, they went out for a walk, the played soccer and pool and built little things with their kids and breast-fed them and so on.
          As long as you were not a Commie or a Jew you could have a decent life.
          Even under “Mr. Hilter”.
          The normalcy of the abnormal.

          • Tatyana

            Gonchareko just reported that Demian Ganul was killed in Odessa.
            https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20250314/odessa-2004977927.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp

            The man is believed to be the perfomer of the tragedy.
            Ganul was in the Right Sector, Ukrainian nazi movement. Later he made ‘Front of the Streets’ movement in Odessa. No football fans, as many prefer to describe them.

            On the May2, 2014 tragedy commemoration event Ganul brought grilled meat on skewers. He posed for the camera, hinting at people who were burned alive. He commented “no regrets, they weren’t people, I don’t consider it a crime”.

            There are reports that he was shot down, a control shot was fired then, right on the city street under cameras. People are speculating that after the ECHR decision, the organizers are getting rid of the perpetrators, in anticipation of a possible investigation.

  • Ebenezer Scroggie

    “To Russians this feels a lot like 1941”

    To me it feels more like 1914.

    Then, as now, there was a complicated tangle of alliances and enmities. Everyone was armed to the teeth. Any spark, no matter how minor, was inevitably going to set Eurasia ablaze. Then a couple of pistol shots fired at an obscure Duke, of whom most Brits had never heard, triggered a World War.

    This time around we are all in ever greater peril because of the existence of absurdly overstuffed arsenals of thermonuclear weapons, the use of which will render our blue planet inhabitable than by little more than microbes and perhaps some hardy species of cockroach.

  • Republicofscotland

    It was the great Russian General/Marshall, Georgy Zhukov, who said, We’ve freed Europe from Nazism, and they’ll never forgive us for it – or words to that effect.

    It shows us just how evil – certain EU bigwigs are (Kallas von der Leyen, etc) that they are have embraced Nazism in order to try and break Russia ; mind you the US gave sanctuary to many Nazi’s post-WWII – Churchill was great admirer of the Fascist Mussolini – the likes of Canada, also has certain groups who have affiliations with the Neo-Nazi’s in Ukraine

    For many leaders in the West, Nazism and Zionism are in fashion.

  • Harry Law

    Alastair Crooke in this article argues that Euro leaders are leading their electorates into conflict with Russia, and are delusional about its ability to defeat Russia both financially and militarily. Trump reportedly views with utter disdain the UK and European boast that should the U.S. not do it, then Europe will. The Brussels class claims to be able still – after three years of losing in Ukraine – to be able to inflict a humiliating defeat on President Putin.
    The European élites are deeply unstable ‘leaders’ who are risking the prosperity and stability of the continent. It is clear these countries do not have the military capacity to intervene in any concerted manner. More than anything, it is the European economy circling the drain that is the reality at the gates.
    Zelensky is accomplice to the European insistence that defeating Russia takes priority over achieving peace in Ukraine, in spite of lacking any strategic rationale as to how it may be achieved after three years of a worsening military situation. Both plans – crushing the Russian economy with sanctions and attrition of the Russian military to the point of collapse – have failed. Why then does Zelensky resist Trump’s peace proposals? On the surface, it makes no sense.
    https://www.eurasiareview.com/12032025-europe-faces-a-maga-vibe-shift-as-trump-moves-to-his-primordial-objective-the-global-reset-oped/

    • Stevie Boy

      Zelensky doesn’t want peace for the same reason Netanyahu doesn’t want peace. They know what awaits them around the corner …

  • M.J.

    Putin’s ambitions regarding Ukraine are clear from a speech he gave on 21st Feb 2022 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_concerning_the_events_in_Ukraine#Related_topics).
    May he fail to destroy Ukrainian democracy, thanks to the resolve of the United Kingdom and the European Union, even if Trump lets him down (and lets down America’s historic ideals and responsibilities as well, in the process of betraying Ukraine as a fellow democracy).
    Слава Україні!

    • Jack

      I think it is interesting that people without any understanding began to shout ” Слава Україні!” just like that, especially foreigners, atleast germans understood what the term “Sieg Heil!” meant and who created the slogan. 99,8% of westerners have no idea of course that ” Слава Україні!” originally is a fascist term. Really prove how easily duped people really are.

      • Brian Red

        What, no Yes Minister-enko running against Boxerenko standing for the Punch Party?

        (Absolutely no offence intended to the memory of actor Paul Eddington or to the former boxer Frank Bruno.)

        • Bayard

          Since the Kiev regime’s definition (and yours, it seems) of “pro-Russian” is everyone who isn’t a enthusiastic supporter of the current government’s policies, including anyone who might dare to prefer peace to war, you may have a point there. However, this was most definitely not the case in wartime UK.

          From your link: “the latter oppose the government and are mostly unrepresented in government bodies.” i.e, they are the Russian equivalent of the ragtag and bobtail parties who stand at every election in the UK and never win a single seat. Does this mean that the UK is not a democracy either?

        • Jack

          JK Redux

          The “pro-russian” label is used to fool people like yourself that the anti-democratic act of banning of some 15 political parties is somehow legitimate.

          Mosley represented a fascist party, parties banned in Ukraine, among them the biggest, was not a fascist party and was the party reps. elected in free and fair election (see link below). Bringing up Mosley seems a bit disingenuous considering your views on Russia and considering the view Mosley had on Russia, one wonder if you would not have been an ardent supporter of Mosley if you where born back then?

          The final time Yanukovich was elected. International observers say Ukrainian election was free and fair"
          https://www.oscepa.org/en/news-a-media/press-releases/press-2010/international-observers-say-ukrainian-election-was-free-and-fair

        • Cornudet

          You would have to be blind,deaf and stupid to think that real democracy prevails in the US or its allies. As Gore Vidal pointed out, in the US the Republicans and the Democrats form but two wings of the Property party. The late US election has foisted the lunatic fringe of this party on America and indeed the wider world, in about every sense of the word

        • Tatyana

          formal logic, rule #1: a thought must be identical to itself. In simple terms, both parts of your statement must contain comparable things. Checking for compatibility is easy.

          please, check:
          The only opposition parties that were banned (*in Russia) were pro-Ukrainian. – Russian, Ukrainian, ethnicity, ethnic minority, neighbouring, international relations.
          And:
          How many pro-war MPs sit in the (*Ukrainian) Rada? – war, conflict, deaths, suffering,

          The same you can apply everywhere, like, you can say ‘Russians must die’ but you cannot say ‘Jews must die’. In terms of logic it is a contradiction, which means the idea is incorrect in its essence..

        • Bayard

          “The only opposition parties that were banned were pro-Russian.”

          So they were banned for disagreeing with the party line of the government. Not much of a democracy, then, is it?

        • Crispa

          How many pro-Ukraine war parties and members sit in the House of Commons and mirrored in the House of Lords? Warmongers, the whole of the British establishment (excepting the Independent Alliance which of course is not a political party)

        • Baron

          How many anti-Ukraine MPs sit in the Commons then.

          650 UK elected representatives giving a standing ovation lasting 20 minutes to a drug addict that could have signed the Istanbul peace agreement preventing the death of over one million mostly the young is a sign of healthy democracy, is it? You what? Released too early Pears?

      • AG

        Craig,
        how independent do you think ECHR is e.g. with its Odessa verdict.

        Also compared to ICJ and such criticism as Finkelstein´s allegations against judge Sebutinde.
        Is it conceivable there would have been more sympathy by the court towards Assange in comparison to a case involving Russia in some form, or rather not.

      • Madison

        Mr. Murray, we’d like to be sure what you mean exactly.
        If you condemn the current Ukraine regime for allegedly banning opposition parties, does it imply that, despite previous statements, you still believe yet in democracy as a desirable political situation. If so, please quote nations that currently fulfill your beliefs. If not, why rebuke Ukraine for not following whims you reject or cannot be implemented?
        There’s here another logical conundrum, let alone fallacy. And for the cuckoo clock, formal logic rule #2

        • Tatyana

          omitting your personal fixation on cuckoos and clocks (I’ll generously save your nerves by not sharing the pictures that my creative imagination paints about this)
          I want to note: you are incorrectly attributing rule #2
          Rule #3 should be applied here, but I believe that you have not yet progressed to this paragraph of the textbook.
          There’s a set of criteria to live up to the name. Either it is a democracy, or it is not. Tertium non datur.

    • Stevie Boy

      The link is to a Wikipedia (really !) article that ‘interprets’ Putin’s speech along with various inline comments that essentially say well that’s false because Putin. You might as well have quoted BBC fact checkers. Sorry, It’s all BS.
      And, there is no such thing as Ukrainian democracy to be destroyed, but there are a few nazis getting a little nervous.

      • JK redux

        Stevie Boy

        You are dismissing the wiki article simply because it is wiki.

        If you disagree with the article, please specify the Russian opposition parties that have been permitted to stand for election to the Duma or the Presidency.

        • Bayard

          “If you disagree with the article, please specify the Russian opposition parties that have been permitted to stand for election to the Duma or the Presidency.”

          Irrelevant, but if you really want to know, it’s all in Wikipedia.

        • John Manning

          The Communist Party of Russia is one of the largest opposition parties and is well represented in Russia’s parliament. They also retain their historical news media, Pravda. Pravda regularly prints articles which contest government policy and decisions linked with President Putin.

          My opinion of freedom of speech in Russia compared with western Europe is that they are similar. Both regions have sensitive topics they do not want discussed in public. With regard to media I find Russia’s news sources more accurate in describing events today and predicting outcomes for tomorrow.

    • Bayard

      “Putin’s ambitions regarding Ukraine are clear from a speech he gave on 21st Feb 2022”

      Did you actually bother to read your link? There is nothing in there about “destroying Ukranian democracy”, not even anything about annexing Ukraine. All there is is a perfectly understandable desire for Ukraine not to join NATO, an organisation that was formed to oppose Russia and has continued in that aim ever since. It is not as if NATO has made any secret of this, either. Also for it to uphold the commitments it made in the Minsk agreements, which it had completely failed to do.

      • Pears Morgaine

        Well according to some there is no such thing as democracy in Ukraine. What Putin did do was to challenge the right of Ukraine to exist as a sovereign state. He believes it to be an historical part of Russia so his intention is to reintegrate it into Greater Russia with direct governance from Moscow via a suitable apparatchik or Quisling as he already has with Crimea and the Donbas regions.

        • Bayard

          Did you actually read what he said? Because he didn’t do that either. All he said was that Ukraine as a separate state doesn’t have a very long history. Your analysis of Putin’s intentions regarding Ukraine is, of course, completely a work of imagination.

        • Baron

          Ukraine was a sovereign state until Feb 24 2014, Pears, corrupt but independent, after Victoria Nuland’s violent overthrow of a democratically elected President and her appointing the PM and the other Ministers (it’s still on u-tube, check it out) Ukraine turned into a colony of the US, what Putin challenged was a colony of the US not a sovereign state unless in you were to argue that the country whose Government is appointed by a middle ranking apparatchik from another country is a proof of the former country being sovereign and independent.

    • Brian Red

      The sad thing is, JK, you could actually have a fair point if you didn’t use the crude rhetorical technique of putting words for the side you’re against into “foreign” while retaining English forms for the side you favour – a practice that makes you sound like a Tommy Robinson fanboy, which very probably you aren’t.

      One question is what foreign mercenaries, if any, are present in the Kursk region.

      • Tatyana

        Perhaps Georgian mercenaries doing job for Ukraine? The city of Sudzha is reported to be taken back under Russian control. People post photos, there is a sign on the square saying ‘Russians, learn how to fight’.
        Actually, it’s a paraphrasing of the similar sign, left by Russians in Georgia in 2008.

        Not to forget the Saakashvili then Georgian president, who later came to Ukraine and became a governor. He is famous for chewing his necktie right on TV in 2008. And also known by his funny quarrel with Avakov in Ukrainian parliament meeting – those two were fighting over who of them is more Ukrainian 🙂 A Georgian and an Armenian, scolding each other in pure Russian language 🙂

        • Brian Red

          At least Avakov is actually from the Ukraine, unlike Saakashvili. 🙂

          Both Ukraine and Georgia have parachuted figures from abroad (who aren’t exiles like Khomeini) into high political positions.

          Ukraine – Natalie Jaresko from USA, Saakashvili from Georgia.
          Georgia – Yakobashvili and Kezerashvili from Israel.

          In Britain quite a few leading politicians are proud to have big smears of “USA” all over their CVs.
          But in the future, perhaps the practice of recruiting figures directly from abroad, who aren’t even compradores but who have the right political and business connections, might spread.

          • Tatyana

            Avakov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. His father is Armenian and his mother is Ossetian.
            I found that quarrel funny, because I’m Russian. Look, all of them were born in USSR, it was one country, sort of EU. I mean, one currency and no borders in between 15 or so national republics.
            No Armenian was forced to live in Armenia only, nor a Georgian was demanded to live in Georgia.
            Now, when we all drew borders, people pretend to exclusively belong to a certain newly independent state and fiercly argue that they are Ukrainians. Yet they don’t use Ukrainian mova, but prefer their native Russian language.
            Amazing farce.

      • Bayard

        “One question is what foreign mercenaries, if any, are present in the Kursk region.”

        Well there seem to be plenty of people who think that there are lots of North Koreans on the basis of no evidence whatsoever apart from assertions by the usual suspects. On the other side there are videos circulating on the ‘net of soldiers fighting for the Ukranian army that are from countries other than Ukraine, some even displaying symbols that were used by a political party in 1930s Germany that most definitely has no followers in Ukraine today.

        • JK redux

          Bayard

          You don’t believe that there are DPRK troops fighting for Putin?

          Perhaps you also doubt that the Islamic Republic of Iran is supplying drones etc to Russia?

          • Bayard

            “You don’t believe that there are DPRK troops fighting for Putin?”

            Why should I believe it? I’ve not seen any evidence that they are. Unlike you appear to, I don’t automatically believe everything the government tells me.

            “Perhaps you also doubt that the Islamic Republic of Iran is supplying drones etc to Russia?”

            Why should I doubt it? There is plenty of evidence outside the organs of government that they are. The truth does not automatically become a lie when it comes from the mouth of a liar.

          • Crispa

            JK Redux
            You don’t believe that NATO forces have been actively engaged in support of Ukraine?
            You don’t believe that Ukraine has been using weapons supplied by USA, UK , EUI and all the rest?
            What is the point of your questions?

          • AG

            JK redux

            we never had any independent sourced evidence on NK troops.
            When I looked – just for the sake of it, because – I am sorry – any sane person discarded the idea of NK troops in Ukraine at once – I always ended up at the same point: Zelensky giving an interview to a South Korean (!) TV reporter team.

            With all due respect but that is not serious evidence.

            And than you might recall that really embarrassing Daily Mail “mistake” with the photoshopped picture which was “accidentally” used and which showed two female soldiers described as NK – to take it off the site 24 hours later because it had turned out this had been an original picture with two non-Asian females.

            “Daily Mail Apologizes After Publishing Photoshopped Image of ‘North Korean Women’ Fighting in Ukraine”

            https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/international-relations/daily-mail-apologizes-after-publishing-photoshopped-image-of-north-korean-women-fighting-in-ukraine/ar-AA1vikEG

            So much about truth and the total lack of racist thinking in our enlightened Europe.
            Because naturally if we see slit-eyed individuals those are
            1) Asians nationales
            2) if they are not fighting for our side they are evil and by design NK. That there are plenty of various ethnic groups in Russia (200?) who see themselves as Russian is news to our news.

            p.s. of course MSN wouldn´t be MSN if they did not make the original, revealing picture as small as they could compared to the fake one 😉

      • JK redux

        Brian Red

        A prolific poster on this forum used the word hohol to refer to Ukrainians a few days ago.

        The term Russkiy is mild in comparison.

        No?

      • JK redux

        Squeeth

        Kind of like the Katyn massacre == socialist reeducation of the Polish intelligentsia…

        No reason to doubt the truthfulness of the Soviet/Russkiy military…

        • Crispa

          It ‘s no good trying to convince Squeeth. Convince Putin: “Encircled Ukrainian troops who committed crimes against civilians cannot go free”. We will see what intercessions Ukraine and any other troop supplying countries will make on their behalf. I doubt they will amount to much.

        • MR MARK CUTTS

          JK Redux

          No idea what anyone has done to anyone else.

          What I do know is that this War and we could have endless ‘ debates’ about
          who did what to whom in a War and who’s fault it was etc etc.

          It is a fact that the Russians were not very polite to the Nazis when they captured them
          and vice-versa the Germans early on.

          Russia has and is winning so, usually the winner writes the history.

          Unless the losers and their supporters spend the rest of their lives pretending
          they didn’t lose?

          This War and why you should never cheer Wars on – from either side.

          But I do note that the loudest shouters for War are those who will never be asked
          to become involved in one.

        • Bayard

          JKR, of course, those nice Ukranians wouldn’t do anything nasty,like, for instance,locking people into a building and then setting it on fire, so these “atrocities” must be made up.

  • Brian Red

    Gotta wonder whether Zionists have played a role in the publicity surrounding the conviction of UN judge Lydia Mugambe in Oxford crown court, and perhaps not only in the publicity but also in the decision to prosecute:

    https://www.irmct.org/en/about/judges/judge-lydia-mugambe

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/lydia-mugambe-un-judge-slavery-b2714575.html

    The press are playing up Mugambe’s role as a UN judge, but to judge from her CV her main profile seems to have been not at the UN but in the Ugandan judiciary. Nonetheless you still get headlines saying this slaving crime was committed by a UN judge. That’s bad for the public relations of the UN judiciary. Who’s it good for?

    International figures whether diplomatic or in international treaty organisations or NGOs etc. commit a large number of slavery crimes. Few get exposed. When one does get exposed, there have got to be special reasons.

    (Former?) Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa seems to be in the frame too, so it’s all happening and one can only hope Private Eye don’t make a joke about it, because slavery isn’t funny.

    If she’s guilty, I hope Mugambe gets a long prison sentence.

    Mugambe doesn’t seem to have worked with the ICJ, but interestingly the Ugandan judge there, Julia Sebutinde, is clearly in Israel’s pocket. Has the Ugandan judiciary and political class been divided on the issue of the genocide? Are the Zionists with their little British helpers effecting a bit of a shake-up?

    Oxford University and Pembroke College politics will also have been involved. FWIW, the master of Pembroke College is Chris Smith, who was once the culture secretary under Blair. From an early stage, university and college movers and shakers in Oxford will have been kept informed about this case so that they could consider the implications for their brands.

  • MR MARK CUTTS

    Two interesting articles for consideration about the sham split between the US and Europe and the lie that the US is for Peace.

    Not only in Ukraine but,anywhere.

    The second article is EU NATO current spending on the Military V Russian current spending on its Miltary.

    Brian Berletic analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLg9iFg7icA

    Russian spending EU NATO V Russia : https://www.socialistaction.net/2025/03/11/rearmament-is-not-a-response-to-a-threat-it-creates-one/

    Although Brian is correct in my opinion, he has forgotten the arms used up and required for further attacks on Palestine and possibly on Iran by Israel and the US.

    Possibly another reason why the EU’s orders from the US are to take up the military burden whilst the US attacks ( directly and indirectly) away from the European Theatre.

    Work subbed out as they say.

    Both are well illustrated examples of how Ultra Imperialist America works and will continue to work in the future.

    And that Europe is just as much a proxy as Ukraine is.

    • Brian Red

      >60% of EU NATO countries’ weapons spending is on weapons from the USA.
      For Britain the figure is close to 90%.
      Logic suggests that Uncle Sam bungs are available for EU and British figures who scream most influentially for “rearmament”.

      Which is not to say I buy into the notion of ultra-imperialism.

      “Rearmament” is a propaganda term because a) it implies there was no armament before, and b) it connotes past bouts of rearmament or increased military expenditure that actually happened, and which therefore in the mind of the sheeple must have been inevitable and right.

    • AG

      Thanks for the text link.

      One big issue with EU rearmament is however that money and size of budgets spent mean nothing in themselves – money cannot buy military expertise, either with building machines or on the staff and command level.

      Europe has no resources and they have no knowledge base that would outperform their current mediocre skills.

      (Besides: Why should Russia sell the European gas and oil knowing that it will be used to build a hostile army?)

      But beyond that:

      NATO tanks, AD, planes, missiles all failed in Ukraine in ways nobody expected, I assume not even the Russians.

      One reason of course, they were never tested before against peer enemies or those who are even superior.

      Same is true for tactics and strategy. US personnel and training staff know about these deficiencies but they have major difficulties in finding solutions and implementing them.

      see e.g. Dexter Filkins in the NEW YORKER:

      “The U.S. Military’s Recruiting Crisis
      The ranks of the American armed forces are depleted. Is the problem the military or the country?”
      3/2/25
      https://archive.is/A7RIn
      or
      https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/02/10/the-us-militarys-recruiting-crisis

      Long story short, NATO lags behind 30 years. And what is true for NATO is even more relevant for Europe.

      I assume as soon as to-be-chancellor Merz and Co. will realize what blogs have been warning of for months and years they will silently shelf any serious war-making plans (if they haven´t already. I could never take their threats against Russia seriously. When Merz had to decide over TAURUS deployment he voted against it. And the closer the moment came to send tanks the smaller the number became and the less countries eventually participated.)

      Yet In essence this won´t change any of the destructive policies. The population will still be lied to, will still be pushed into jingoism and its wealth extorted which will be redistributed to the benefit of the ruling classes.

      In the end there will be no serious European fighting force. Only money burned and riches stolen and destroyed civil societies, with culture, education, public transport, social security and medical services in shambles – surrounded by tanks that can´t shoot, planes that won´t fly, missiles that won´t hit – and a youth that does not want to go to war.

      You do not just spend 500B and then have an army.
      You need decades to develop that infrastructure of R&D. You need a huge industrial base which the EU never really had because the EU initially was intended as a peace project. So no surprise there. Same goes for command and training of an army.

      Just to illustrate my point on US/NATO´s inadequate military equipment see for instance:

      D.C.-based, former secret intelligence, serving several tours in Afghanistan, Lee Slusher, a few months ago:
      “The State of Western Warcraft”
      https://deepdivewithleeslusher.substack.com/p/the-state-of-western-warcraft

      Former Royal Navy, Steve Jermy
      “Right now NATO could not win a war with Russia”
      https://responsiblestatecraft.org/nato-war-with-russia/

      On the catastrophe of the F-35, William Shryver Blog
      „The Weakling Wunderwaffe“
      https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/the-weakling-wunderwaffe

      Western tank weak armor, Stephen Bryen, member of Reagan Admin.:
      “NATO’S WAR PROBLEM: WEAK ARMOR”
      https://weapons.substack.com/p/natos-war-problem-weak-armor

      And this is just the tip of it all.

  • Allan Howard

    The CAA are calling for the suspension of the licence fee, and took out full page ads in last Sunday’s Times, Telegraph and Mail to that effect. This of course in relation to the BBC documentary. Here’s the headline and a few clips:

    CAA takes out full-page ads in Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday calling for suspension of the licence fee

    This weekend, we launched a full-page advertisement campaign in the Sunday newspapers calling for the suspension of the TV licence fee, pending an independent investigation into the BBC in relation to the Gaza film scandal and wider issues of bias against the Jewish state in its coverage.

    The striking ads, which appeared in The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday thanks to the support of a generous donor, observed that a majority of the British public supports the launch of an independent investigation, according to polling commissioned by Campaign Against Antisemitism and conducted by YouGov, more on which below.

    It is unconscionable to force people to pay a licence fee that for years has funded biased reporting and has now been handed to the family of a Hamas terrorist. The licence fee must be suspended pending an independent investigation.

    Everyone has had enough of BBC bias and handing licence fee money to a Hamas terrorist’s family has to be the final straw [£790 apparently, or so I read in a Telegraph article yesterday].
    [ … ]
    Earlier in the week, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee heard from Dr Samir Shah, Chair of the BBC, and the Director-General of the BBC, Tim Davie.

    The hearing came as the BBC is engulfed in scandal following its publication of the so-called documentary, ‘Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone’.
    [ … ]
    For the second time in as many weeks, last Thursday evening we protested again outside Broadcasting House.

    The hundreds in attendance heard from our Chief Executive, Gideon Falter; broadcaster and comedian Josh Howie; actress and columnist Dame Maureen Lipman; Nova music festival survivor Natalie Sanandaji; and Mark Birbeck, founder of Our Fight UK.

    Last week, our protest demanded that the BBC stops whitewashing terrorism. This week, we gathered to tell the BBC: “We refuse to fund terrorists with our licence fee!”

    Gideon Falter told the crowd: “A national treasure has become a national embarrassment.”

    Josh Howie, who at last week’s protest announced on stage that he will no longer pay the BBC licence fee, told demonstrators this week: “We have no choice. We are all compelled to be here—compelled by decades of racism, compelled by the distortions, the omissions and the outright lies—all in service of creating a warped biased hateful narrative that has been directed at our community by the BBC. And just as much, we are also compelled to be here by the decades of inaction, dismissal and denial by the BBC of that racism.”

    Dame Maureen Lipman asked: “Where is the balance? As always, all I ask for is a level playing field.”

    And so it goes on, just piles of nazi-type shit from people who fully back genocide and the mass murder and maiming of hundreds of thousands of women and children and todlers and babies and pregnant women and the sick and the elderly and journalists and doctors and nurses and non-combatant men. I detest them all with every fibre of my being, and needless to say, they ALL have exactly the same supremicist mindset as the Nazis, and just like the Nazis, every single one of them is totally evil.

    https://antisemitism.org/campaign-against-antisemitism-takes-out-full-page-ads-in-sunday-times-sunday-telegraph-and-mail-on-sunday-calling-for-suspension-of-the-licence-fee/

    And get this from their petition page:

    “It is unconscionable that the British public should be forced to pay money to an institution that has apparently given money to the family of a senior Hamas terrorist, and whose biased broadcasting has become propaganda instead of journalism.”

    Needless to say, being hard-core nazi-type propagandists, the CAA doesn’t elaborate and give any examples of this alledged bias and propaganda.

    https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/suspendthelicencefee

    • Allan Howard

      And JVL reposted the following a couple of days ago:

      US student organisers defiant against deportation threat

      JVL Introduction

      The arrest of Palestinian activist Mohammed Khalil by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is another repressive act in the White House campaign to crush protests against Israel’s war on Palestine, a step so alarming that Judge Jesse Furman, an observant Jew serving on the bench at a federal district court in Manhattan, has issued an order blocking Khalil’s deportation.

      A group of international graduate student organizers studying at universities in the United States have written the defiant statement below, published by Mondoweiss with an editor’s note explaining that the authors have requested anonymity “due to the current targeting of Palestine activists on student visas (and now, it seems, green cards) for deportation.”

      Their message is one we should all heed:

      We have taken on the role of witness, and we now carry a responsibility to act. This is true for millions of people all over the world, who, through Palestine, have witnessed the real face of the US empire.

      NWI

      We are international students organizing for Palestine, and we won’t be deterred

      They can deport every last one of us, but they cannot erase the spirit of Palestinian resistance. That is what they fear.

      by Anonymous contributor, Mondoweiss

      We are international students who have organized in solidarity with the Palestine liberation struggle over the past 16 months. We write anonymously because the moment demands, strategically, that we do so. However, we will not be silenced. You may censure and suspend us, you may send ICE to knock down our doors, you may deport us back to our home countries, but we are only one drop in a vast ocean, and the tide of support for Palestine is rising everywhere….

      https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/us-student-organisers-defiant-against-deportation-threat/

    • DunGroanin

      The main purpose of this campaign is to ‘privatise’ the assets of the BBC and earn direct advertising revenues. Don’t be fooled by the pantomime and the Usual Suspects pushing the Constant Narrative of The Collective Waste.

      I cancelled my poll tax some 6 years ago – mostly due to its heavily pro ziofascist daily agenda on its ‘news’ and ‘entertainment’ propaganda sewer.

      The incessant attacks on the then elected by the membership leader of the largest political party in Europe and cancelling of multiple grass roots candidates for parliamentary seats is truly the CIA Gauntlet that owns and runs our journalism and political class.

      The fealty demanded to the illegal apartheid entity in the Levant – daily – only became more draconian and overt as the fake war on terror 7 countries in 5 years escapade under the Bairite Ziofascist global robbery and mass murder of millions, failed to achieve all its goals. It does to this day with the survival of Iran and spreading discontent of West Asia and North Africa and of course the Great Game humiliation in the Black Sea and ukraine.
      With more promised and certain with the unstoppable multipolar rising.

      Of course I was forced to stop watching all the other channels too which are not funded directly by the licence poll tax.

      There followed a cold turkey withdrawal pangs in the first days – which thoroughly exemplified the sordid and despicable nature of the inculcated addiction ingrained in every new born for decades in the U.K.

      But after just 6 weeks the mental fug cleared!
      The brain chemistry ‘renatured‘ – the daily propaganda became as obvious as the difference between night and day.
      The shadows and shadow casters became obvious.

      Across the gamut of media – radio broadcasters and much of the internet blogosphere, social media, advertising and the now ‘old media’ of cinema; much of it clearly dross – all with the same subtle and not so subtle promotion of ‘supermen and women’ supremacy! The might of weapons and liberal mentality a western ‘civilisation’ which promoted pornography and paedophelia in the music and video output too!
      Sex and drugs and rock and roll! Football and gambling, the daily idiot tax lotteries.

      Well that TV room has not been used for many years now; the gizmo itself long dismantled and gathering dust is no longer a drug dispenser I attached myself to with my nearest and dearest for several hours every single day for decades since childhood.

      Now there a pile of letters arriving weekly as if by a demented stalker and blackmailer costing more in postage than their absurd demand that the poll tax to be propagandised to must be paid! Threats to extract thousands of £’s, of investigators and secret agents that will appear at my door …

      It took just a few weeks to throw of the chains of that mental slavery.

      I highly recommend it – especially as we get older and want to get ‘wiser’ and be able to call out the propaganda about support the innocents from the leeches and killers that is the collective waste declining and dying empire.

      • Bayard

        “Now there a pile of letters arriving weekly as if by a demented stalker and blackmailer costing more in postage than their absurd demand that the poll tax to be propagandised to must be paid! ”

        I collected them for years, but gave up when I had an inch-thick pile of empty threats. I was rather hoping that some poor sod would have been despatched from London to the wilds of west Wales only to find that I really didn’t have a TV, but no-one ever turned up.

    • MR MARK CUTTS

      Allan Howard

      All they have to do is square the circle of how Hamas can be ‘ Terrorists ‘ in their own land being as
      the ones they are allegedly ‘ Terrorising ‘ don’t legally live in Gaza and are ‘ Occupiers?’

      Hamas did not invade Israel on October the 7th – they invaded their own land through a Fence
      which the occupiers built to keep the Occupied out of the Occupied Territory which they had occupied.

      Unless there is a special Case of Occupier Terrorism which only applies to Israel and Israelis?

      As usual with the Right Wing Media they don’t understand what happened previously in Israel and Gaza
      even though some of their intrepid reporters wrote about it.

      Truthfully or not.

  • Jack

    Putin said some critical things about a possible ceasefire:
    “How will the issues of control and verification be resolved? How can we be guaranteed that nothing like this will happen? How will the control be organized?”

    “Who will give orders to stop hostilities? And what is the price of these orders? Can you imagine? Almost 2,000 kilometers. Who will determine where and who broke the potential ceasefire? Who will be blamed?”
    https://swentr.site/russia/614170-putin-ukraine-conflict-us/

    Exactly how is the surveillance going to be managed and by who? There need to be third-party, non-partisan teams that monitor such ceasefire. Is that even possible? I cannot see Russia approving monitors from the EU due to their bias and also risk for obvious spying against Russia.

    Just the other day it was reported how OSCE most likely shared intel with ukrainian army:
    OSCE shared intel with Ukraine before 2022 – ex-Greek ambassador
    “Former envoy to Kiev Vasilios Bornovas claims to have witnessed the Ukrainian army hitting DPR and LPR positions revealed by the observers”
    https://swentr.site/news/613592-ex-greek-ambassador-osce-helped-ukraine/

    • Tatyana

      Trump said after the talks in Jeddah something about the ball in Russia’s hands (sorry I don’t know this idiom). The meaning was the question if Russia will agree to a ceasefire.
      We discussed this in another thread, and I expressed the opinion that we will probably agree, but I hope that we are ready for another betrayal.
      I was thinking about what could be the best way out of this situation. And the phrase “I’m not in a hurry” came to my mind.
      This is the culmination of the short film The Mathematician and the Devil, based on the story The Devil & Simon Flagg by Arthur Porges. It seems to me that this is exactly what came to Putin and Lavrov’s minds as well, after all, we belong to the same culture and the same mentality 🙂

      • Tatyana

        Found it on YouTube
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52yhBkkulXw
        The film is in Russian, still you’ll understand what I mean.
        Episode starts at 8:40, watch the devil writing down “3 squared + 4 squared = 5 squared” and the answer to be found in 24 hours 🙂
        I imagine Trump writing down his Peace Plan like this “Look, guys, it’s simple! Ukraine agrees to a ceasefire + Russia agrees to a ceasefire = peace” in 24 hours 🙂

      • Laguerre

        “Trump said after the talks in Jeddah something about the ball in Russia’s hands (sorry I don’t know this idiom).”

        It’s “the ball is in Russia’s court”, and comes from tennis, where the ball the ball is for Russia to play.

        Of course, Trump means that Russia should say simply yes or no. Yes means to accept the agreement without question, no is to be demonized as a warmonger. Of course Putin did not do either, as I would expect.

        • Tatyana

          Thanks, Laguerre.
          Also, from my experience, if someone offers me a very very very good deal that must be concluded quickly here and now and there is no time to think and the offer is final and the details are not discussed, then most likely this deal is profitable for the seller, but not for me.

  • DunGroanin

    Thank you CM for this timely and very apt article as we are slow boiled to folly of the ‘Never Again’ mass slaughter of our young men in pursuit of the age old dynastic ambitions of the Few.

    When the crazed neonazis, always fascists, talk about driving Germany into building tanks and armaments to invade Russia – they mean invade not defend from – and Europe collectively zig hails that effort – then irony is dead.

    The whirling noises from millions of war dead becomes masochistic tinnitus background music.

    Yup the ziofascist natzos godfathers of war and bloodmoney want another rerun with their number one target in west Asia – Germany. 
It must be kept down. 

    The Russkies must be kept out, separated from that great synergy.
    
The Yankee poodles must be kept in! As the big liitle brother mongrel fighting dog of the old aristocrat bankers dynasties.

    How? They have started by ‘deindustrialising’ and now accelerating with their grotesque headed technocrat Banker new leader, to drive the next stage of self destruction.

    ‘ 🇩🇪Volkswagen CEO said that the company is ready to produce weapons at its factories.
    It is reported that this option is being considered due to a 50% reduction in car exports , which will allow the use of free production capacity at factories.
    🔴 @DDGeopolitics | Socials |Donate | Advertising ‘

    Dumb is as dumb does. The Germans must be crazy if they actually go ahead with the plan of their further self destruction, again for the benefit of those City godfathers, mostly living their shapeshifter dynastic lives as French and Anglo aristos with their ancient lust to possess EurAsia.

  • Jack

    Disappointing news today that Russia somehow forced Trump’s special envoy to Russia-Ukraine, Keith Kellogg,out from of the negotiating table, claiming he was too hawkish. I thought from what I have read past months that Kellogg’s was quite level-headed about the conflict – a Realist (referring to the international relations theory), I cannot see how a replacement would be any softer on Russia, most likely Kellogg views is likely grounded within the Trump team.
    Russia should be vary of not demanding maximalist goals, if there is going to be a permanent peace there is going to be a compromise.

    • Laguerre

      As my exchange with Tatyana above at 9.36, Trump is offering Russia a deal to which Russia is only allowed a yes or no answer, no negotiation. Not surprisingly Putin demands negotiation to arrive at an acceptable deal.

    • Tatyana

      No need to worry, Jack. Kellogg was replaced by Special Envoy Witkoff and our news reported that yesterday he was in Moscow and his plane left today on the return trip with some messages from Putin to Trump.

      As for the fact of the replacement, my opinion: after meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office, Trump was convinced that it’s very important to choose the right people to build an effective process. It’s not about wearing a suit.
      Btw, our bloggers and media seem to be as much concerned about clothes as the American ones then. Yesterday ours discussed all day long whether Putin’s appearance in the Kursk region dressed in camouflage was some kind of “signal”.

      To be honest, I am so excited about this process, that the possibility of a diplomatic solution has appeared on the horizon, that I feel like a puppy on a walk outside for the first time 🙂 I really hope that adults and serious people will do their job well.
      I wish them success and thank everyone who makes efforts in this direction.

    • Tatyana

      On this 30-day ceasefire, Putin commented: “The idea of ​​a truce is right in itself. We are for it. But there are nuances.”
      Our media bloggers noticed a hint of a famous joke in the word nuances, and I dare say that if a Russian saw a hint of a joke, you are unlikely to stop him from telling this joke. I apologize in advance, cannot resist, I’ll tell you 🙂

      For background, the word nuance landed in Russian in its French form and is perceived as a foreign loanword in the language. There are two characters in the joke, one of them is Chapaev, a brave warrior, hero of the first world war, straightforward and rude, but savvy. The second character is his loyal adjutant, young and trusting friend, Peter, whose name is used in the diminutive form Petka.

      A million apologies from me again. I didn’t make up this joke myself, let’s pretend that I’m just a reporter and translator, a messenger, so to speak:
      Petka asked Chapaev what a nuance is.
      Chapaev replies: “I’ll show you if you take off your pants and bend over.”
      Petka obeys and Chapaev sticks his dick in Petka’s ass.
      Here Chapaev explains: “Look at the situation we’re in. The dick is in the ass. You feel it, that the dick is in the ass. I feel it, too, that the dick is in the ass. But there is a nuance.”

      We were taught in English lessons that “excuse me” is said when you are about to do something, and the word “sorry” is said when you have already done it. So, now I’m sorry
      .
      I honestly think that Putin used the word nuance without any ulterior motive, but if he did hint at this joke, it’s extremely ironic considering that our troops are advancing in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian ones in the Kursk region are isolated and being destroyed.

      • JK redux

        Tatyana

        Amusing joke.

        Do you believe that the hundreds of thousands of young Russian men who were sent into Ukraine by your President – and died there – died for a cause worth their lives?

        • Tatyana

          Thanks for asking this question, John.
          My personal belief is that conflicts should be resolved through negotiation. Humans as a species are intelligent, so compromise is possible.

          I’m also convinced that all people on the planet have their own beliefs and freedom of choice.
          I, sitting in relative safety, am simply not in a position to impose my humanistic abstract and philosophical opinion on those who have decided to go there. It would be great if such an understanding of their own role was also present in those who inspire people to continue the war.
          Would have saved lives, possibly hundreds of thousands of lives.

          • JK redux

            Tatyana

            I understand that my question may be difficult (or unwise) for a Russian citizen to answer:

            “Do you believe that the hundreds of thousands of young Russian men who were sent into Ukraine by your President – and died there – died for a cause worth their lives?”

            but if you can safely answer I would be very interested in your reply.

            Please ignore this question otherwise.

          • Tatyana

            Quite clever now, John, congratulations, you are making noticeable progress. Sincerely.
            With the same sincere motives, let me please point out the error in your system of axioms,, which seems obvious to me, and looks like not obvious to yourself.
            The fact that I am Russian does not necessarily mean that I belong to the bloodthirsty, and vengeful orcs. It will be easier for you to understand what I mean if you allow for a moment the thought that I am human.

          • JK redux

            Tatyana

            As you choose to answer, why not simply say “No”?

            Or indeed “Yes” if that is your preference.

            To avoid an answer is understandable but not the most honourable choice. In my opinion.

            After all, millions of German women hoped that their husbands, sons and brothers would return safe from Unternehmen Barbarossa. But very very few spoke out against it.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

          • Tatyana

            John, you are deliberately overcomplicating your questions by cramming them full of theses. Then you demand that I answer yes or no, so that I will agree or reject all the theses that you have loaded into your question.
            I just don’t play such games.

            As for your false axioms, I’ll explain in simple terms:
            there is a “match” going on where you cheer for the “reds” and you believe that I cheer for the “blues”. This premise is false. I believe that this kind of “game” is cruel and such “competitions” should never be held at all, and I applaud the decision of the jury to stop the game.
            If you understand my analogy, then just answer yes.
            If you don’t, then I can’t help you any further.

        • Schmidt

          JK redux, if the EU/US didn’t facilitate regime change in Ukraine, none of this would have happened. On the other hand was it wise by the UK/US/France to destroy Libya, arm the JIhadists in Syria (the new ‘president’ is an ex IS leader, committing genocide, yet the UK and other US vassals are fawning over him)? Syria was a tolerant middle income country on the middle east, btw.
          Because of these, you have no right to complain about migration to the UK or Europe.

          • JK redux

            Schmidt
            You must be thinking of someone else.

            When did I “complain about migration to the UK or Europe.”?

            Btwt the Anglo French attack on Libya was a folly that led to disaster.

            Syria imo is not as straightforward; Assad is a shit who murdered many of his people, the new ruler may be better though the Alawite killings suggest otherwise.

            Of course Russia wants its air and naval base back….

        • Bayard

          “Do you believe that the hundreds of thousands of young Russian men who were sent into Ukraine by your President – and died there…..”

          Conveniently ignoring two facts, one that a large number were from Donetsk and Luhansk and therefore were already in what had been Ukraine and two that the vast majority of these young men were volunteers, i.e. they were there by choice. Also the figure of “hundreds of thousands” is, of course, simply made up.

          As to whether those Russian soldiers that have died, died in a cause worth dying for, presumably they thought so, or they wouldn’t be fighting. After all, they weren’t bundled into minibuses off the street and sent to the front with minimal training, they volunteered.

  • Harry Law

    Imagine either Russia or China initiating a regime change in Mexico and inserting a government favorable to Russia or China, this was done in 2014 with the help of Victoria Nuland at the US state dept, she admitted spending $6 billion dollars through NGO’s to achieve this aim.
    Then consider what would be the reaction of the US if Russia or China formed a military alliance with Mexico and placed missiles all along the Mexican border aimed at the US. This was done with the Cuban missile crisis. Of course the US would not allow this and would act in a far more belligerent way than the SMO conducted by Russia. The western warmongers would hypocritically say “we can do these things because we are stronger than you, and you are too weak to do anything about it” now the west have been disabused of that foolish notion, they cannot admit their failure and so must push further down the road of confrontation. The fools.

    • Jack

      Yes US/EU conduct during “Maidan” was such a blatant violation of the diplomatic code. It is already 12 years since Maidan occured but it feels like yesterday, I remember multiple politicians from the EU, US mingling around the protesters like something normal. What if russian politicians or iranian politicians travelled to the US or any EU nation, mingling with pro-violent protesters calling on the democratically elected leader to step down? It would be considered almost an act of war!
      And no regrets no apologizes always this arrogance by, especially, the EU.

      • Bayard

        Imagine if Russian politicians had mingled with the folks in the Capitol after the “invasion”. As with everything,it’s OK when “we” do it,it’snot OK when “they” do it.

  • Allan Howard

    I was just checking out an article on the Mail’s website regarding the BBC documentary about Gaza and spotted the following, posted three days ago:

    Russia issues blunt warning to Australia over Ukraine

    Russia has issued a blunt warning to Australia after Anthony Albanese announced he was considering joining the ‘coalition of the willing’ by sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. The Prime Minister spoke to UK leader Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday, where he said he would ‘consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine’, according to a statement from Downing Street…

    ‘Once again, Western boots on the ground are unacceptable for Russia, and we will not remain passive observers,’ a statement from the Russian Embassy said. ‘To those inclined to construe the above as a threat: it is not. It is a warning.

    ‘Russia has no intention to harm Australians, and Canberra can easily avoid trouble by simply refraining from irresponsible adventurism in the zone of the Special Military Operation.’ The stern statement added said that the presence of military from NATO members and western countries within a likely peacekeeping zone in eastern Ukraine was ‘totally unacceptable’.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-14486295/Russia-issues-blunt-warning-Australia-Ukraine.html?dicbo=v2-qB9Cfkp

      • Bayard

        Would that be because it would come under the definition of “misinformation” ? I suppose it depends on which Aussies you are thinking of.

    • JK redux

      Allan Howard

      How on earth could Russia, a country of (?) 120 million harm Australia?

      Using nukes would lead to the destruction of Russia.

      Otherwise a land invasion of Australia by the greatly depleted Russian Army is self-evidently absurd.

      The Russian Navy could I suppose make a nuisance of itself but it would be a long way from home.

      Perhaps the sole Russian aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov could steam up and down off the Australian E coast emitting toxic diesel smoke?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_aircraft_carrier_Admiral_Kuznetsov

      Which leaves… ?

      • Allan Howard

        JK, Perhaps I’ve got it wrong, but you appear to be making assumptions – or AN assumption – about my reason for posting the DM article. The sole reason I posted it was just to bring it to peoples’ attention. Full stop.

        • JK redux

          Allan Howard

          I’m just responding to the piece that you presented from the Daily Mail.

          You presented it without comment.

          I prepended your name to make it clear that I’m responding to your post.

          The phrase “Russia issues blunt warning to Australia over Ukraine” is noteworthy and it is to that that my post is directed.

      • MR MARK CUTTS

        JK Redux

        No – Australia is along way away from Europe so it would be a long walk (sail ) for The Russian Hordes to
        go for little reward.

        It is interesting that we keep coming back to the:

        If they try that – they will be Nuked Scenario.

        If you think the US will sacrifice its people for Australian people then you are seriously mistaken.

        The US is not prepared to do this over Ukraine or Europe in general for that matter so, what exactly
        would make Australia special?

        Trump with his current Foreign Policy has said the US isn’t prepared to sacrifice itself for any country.

        Maybe not even Israel.

        Maybe not even for itself?

    • Tatyana

      and this low rank did not become an obstacle for electing him as head of state.
      He seems to really kbow how to do things, especially negotiation. Today in our news they say Trump posted something in his social media Truth (Those who lived in the USSR and remember the newspaper Pravda are smiling here). Trump asked to release Ukrainian troops blocked in Kursk region.
      Putin dealt with the request just brilliantly. According to the law and also in humanistic way. That is why he is seen as a good president.

  • Jack

    Tomorrow Latvia will celebrate their so called “Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires”, these nationalist “legionaries” often fought with the German Waffen SS nazis against the Russians and not only that, they fought anyone, including large segment of jews and the mentally ill and it was not so much that they were forced against their own will to kill innocent minorities because they had the same racist-mentality as Nazi Germany.

    One of the more pathological of collaborators, the so called “Arajs commando” without a doubt committed genocide:
    In 1941 alone, the Arajs commando is estimated to have killed 30,000 Jews, practically destroying the Jewish community in Latvia. It also took part in burning villages and their inhabitants in Latvia and Belarus suspected of collaborating with the Red Army.
    https://www.rferl.org/a/1093519.html

    Latvians Honour Waffen-SS Veterans: March on Latvian Legion Day Honours Soldiers for Nazi Germany
    Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19FpXgkt1g

    One has to question, if these marches, sentiment in Latvia (Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine) is considered legitimate and ok why then should not german nazis in Germany be free to march in the streets of Berlin, commemorating German nazis that fought the Russians and the Jews? The question is rhetorical of course – but what is really the difference here?

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