Boris Johnson is struggling to contain a Tory revolt today amid fury at “non-sensical” new Covid restrictions and his handling of the No. 10 Christmas party debacle. MailOnline has more.
The PM dramatically triggered ‘Plan B’ measures to control the rampant Omicron strain at a press conference last night, with fears that infections are now doubling every few days and the NHS could be crippled.
Millions of office staff will be urged to work from home from Monday, while masks will be required in theatres and cinemas, and Covid passports are being introduced for nightclubs and large venues.
But Mr Johnson stressed that office Christmas parties should go ahead, sparking derision from critics. Desperate businesses have complained that the differing restrictions for venues “don’t make any sense”.
Dozens of Conservative MPs are now threatening to rebel against the measures when a Commons vote is held next week – leaving the PM facing having to rely on Labour support to get them through.
Ringleaders have told MailOnline that it will be the biggest mutiny yet, with at least 60 expected to defy the government whip.
Backbencher Marcus Fysh said today that the latest curbs are an ‘utter disgrace’, while former chief whip Mark Harper has questioned whether the government has the moral authority to impose the limits given the row over rules being flouted in Downing Street.
There was a further setback when the NHS Covid pass website crashed for several hours last night.
Worth reading in full.
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Which war is more brutal and less justified, Iraq or Ukraine?
Iraq.
The ones not started by the USA.
Or the US invasion of Afghanistan?
Don’t forget Vietnam
The horror…the horror.
The one whose doctrine was called ‘shock and awe’ and which was waged thousands of miles away from the aggressors.
As always, it all depends on whom you ask and – even more importantly – who’ll win and thus, gets to write the authoritative history books.
Agree, but what if you pretend to be from another planet and totally emotionally detached looking at facts only. Looks like Iraq was more brutal and less justified. Although conflict in Ukraine hasn’t yet finished
As I noted on this previously, a guilty conscience is a marvellous thing.
“But the gaffe does highlight an important point. Like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US invasion of Iraq was both brutal and – legally – unjustified.”
Though the juxtaposition made by Bush’s inarticulacy is certainly very nice, this is falsely equating two events that were very different.
There is no credible defence for the attack on Iraq, either legally or morally, whereas it’s easy to defend the Ukraine attack in both terms, when one is honest about the situation in the Ukraine.
Furthermore, the time difference is significant. The attack on Iraq occurred at a time when it was still possible to claim that the UN Charter rules on the use of force might still have credibility, despite the shameful breach by NATO in Serbia. But the attack on Iraq (and subsequent further breaches) put the final nail in that coffin. It is now clear that those rules have been in practice discarded and discredited by the most powerful state in the world.
We are now, thanks to the US sphere liberal interventionists, neocons and militarists, back to a world in which the use of force is a tool of state policy. It is mere hypocrisy to cry about it when others act on this, while our own elites suffer no consequences for disregarding these rules. This is not “whataboutery”, though the stupid and the dishonest will of course, as always, try to pretend it is in order to evade reality. It is recognition of changing reality.
We are now, thanks to the US sphere liberal interventionists, neocons and militarists, back to a world in which the use of force is a tool of state policy.
And given this, states have to adjust their thinking and their strategies accordingly. How anyone can reasonably except any nation to be unconcerned by a hostile US presence on its borders, I don’t know.
The Russians repeatedly expressed those concerns, and were offered demonstrable falsehoods in return.
This is what Putin said in 2003: “The use of force abroad, according to existing international laws, can only be sanctioned by the United Nations. This is the international law. Everything that is done without the UN Security Council’s sanction cannot be recognised as fair or justified.”
Guilty as charged – by himself!
“whereas it’s easy to defend the Ukraine attack in both terms, when one is honest about the situation in the Ukraine.” – it’s easy if you’re a Putin fangirl, eager to justify everything the socialist dictator does.
“socialist dictator”
Interesting description.
Putin was democratically elected. He answers to the electorate and the constitution of Russia.
His popularity is reported at 83%, find a western leader even approaching that level.
Socialist Dictators usually see the Church as a threat to their authority and if not actively destroy the underlying infrastructure, certainly suppress it.
Putin has participated in building 27,000 Churches since 1991, shortly after the wall fell.
It seems he’s not a very good dictator.
Edit: almost forgot. Socialism is notable for destroying economies. Whilst America’s debt/GDP ratio is ~120%, Russia’s debt/GDP ratio is ~12%.
Think of Lipwig as like one of those immature lefties at school who used to fling “you’re a fascist” at anybody who disagreed with him about politics. Lipwig does the same with “socialist”.
It’s just noise.
As for “dictator”, well that’s the Official Truth in the US sphere, however ridiculously deviant from reality.
Putin has no doubt been a bad boy now and then – maybe very bad. But there are much worse. But once again the Western media have immediately taken sides and once again Joe/Jo Public thinks only one thing: Ukraine Good, Russia Bad. It’s really very depressing. Brexit/Trump/Covid/Climate Change (always, always Climate Change)…
”This is the best thing in the history of things.” Caitlin Johnstone
I take my shoe off to him.
HaHa – Good one.
You’ve got sole,brother
Heel be pleased with that compliment. No tongues, you two!
Markedly less senile that what currently sits on the throne of the empire of lies.
Surely that just means he has less excuse?
Thanks for the bushisms link.
He had the cognitive skill to at least try to make a joke out of it. Sleepy Old Joe just stutters himself into a standstill.
“He had the cognitive skill to at least try to make a joke out of it.”
Doesn’t this just sum these people up? He might be able to display “cognitive skill” but his ability to display any empathy for humanity clearly got lost when this bastard last had his nappy changed – joking about thousands of deaths? Oh very funny George.
The main thing is that nowadays he has less opportunity to cause harm than Sleepy Joe.
True, although I doubt Biden has been making any actual decisions for a while. And since politicians’ capacity to do harm by their intentional actions is always immeasurably greater than anything they could possibly do by gaffes, that mitigates things somewhat. (Though doubtless those now pulling the strings are every bit as bad).
…but only just.
Yes but the current one isn’t the real one though is he… look at his ears and the shape of his head.
This joke was first told about Reagan, but sadly it’s equally as applicable to Biden:-
It’s worrying that someone so old is in charge of the nuclear button. My grandad isn’t that old and we don’t even trust him with the T.V. remote control.
Looking at gaffes as a method to overturn the narrative is to misunderstand how narratives work.
Those intent on increasing control over us don’t care about gaffes. The direction of travel is understood, more control good, more individual sovereignty bad. Anything that supports this is applauded.
That’s it. The people in the room listening to Bush are aware of this. Many will rationalise these apparent contradictions as a noble lie. The plebs can’t make sound decisions so we sometimes lie to them for their own good.
We shouldn’t ever misunderestimate Dubya’s ability to vocalise pure, unadulterated sh1t€.
One hundred per cent projection – rigged elections (like 2000 and 2020), removal of dissent (January 6th protestors) and the brutal invasion.
Worth remembering that in the 1980s when ‘dictator’ Saddam invaded the national sovereignty of Iran – a democracy, he was given the green light by the USA, applauded and received military aid, but when ‘dictator’ Saddam invaded the national sovereignty of Kuwait – not a democracy – a few years later he was condemned and engaged in war by the USA and the ‘coalition of the willing’.
It is not a standard or law unless it applies at all times to all parties.
Also remember that when Argentina invaded the Falklands, a territory of a NATO country, the UK got no support from anyone* apart from Chile and that was only because they didn’t like Argentina.
Funny how it all works.
* to be complete, Ireland and NZ helped take over some fishing patrols while the British Navy was busy.
The Falklands conflict was outside the terms of the NATO treaty because it was south of the Tropic of Cancer.
A little anecdotal human insight into the history, from the surrender of the Azovstal nazis:
“Steshin [Russian reporter] is accompanied by a DPR soldier named Vlad, who hails from Poltava. They have been inseparable for the past 3 months on the road. Vlad was filled with hatred against these Ukrainian Nazis, and wanted revenge. But now something is happening to him: At the sight of the captives, his hatred and anger start to melt away, and he becomes calmer.
…….
An 18-year old Azovite named Nazar is the only person in the whole group of captives who speaks in pure Ukrainian dialect. He is from Lvov. He overhears Steshin chatting with Vlad and philosophizing, how this all came about. Nazar butts into the conversation and says, in Ukrainian dialect: “People were pitted against people.” Ukrainian Dmytro objects to this: He says he is from Mariupol, and he says that people were getting used to the new life (under Maidan rules). Vlad objects angrily: “I am from Poltava, I had to leave my home in 2014, because I understood that it was impossible to live under the new rules. We all spoke Russian, and they started to forbid the Russian language, they passed a lot of laws…”
Dmytro exhales: “Yeah…” But then quickly collects himself and dives into the political debate: “All the same, these were our internal, Ukrainian affairs. Why did Russia have to stick its nose in?”
Vlad retorts angrily: “You wanted them to just kill us all, with nobody intervening? You have Europe and the U.S. behind you, so we have Russia behind us. Does that seem normal to you? Is it normal to waste your youth fighting in a war?”
Dmytro: “I have also been fighting since 2014. I also wasted my youth in this.”
Vlad [getting curious]: “Really? Whereabouts were you fighting?”
Steshin leaves these two soldiers to their reminiscing, noting that they kept up their conversation for at least an hour.”
Ukraine War Day #85: Up Close Look At Azovstal Surrender, I Mean Evacuation
A point I have made repeatedly. Putin was watching a genocidal, humanitarian disaster evolving in Donbas and intervened, not invaded.
Unlike the west on many occasions, when they have intervened far too late and many are dead.
https://strangesounds.org/
Yes there are occasional ads for stuff you might think a bit loopy on this guy’s website. However, he had no choice after his income stream got cut off because of yet another example of discriminatory censorship by Big Tech.!
Interesting site.
This is treating “America” as though it were a single person. Presidents come and go with different values. The Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld government had little respect for Iraq sovereignty. There was no intention to annex an part of Iraq – just to get rid of an extremely unpleasant dictator and, initially, the majority of Iraqis were glad to get rid of him. It was a terrible mistake but it was their mistake.
Subsequent presidents have been dumped with the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Wouldn’t a diplomatic solution – even one that violates the ‘principle of national sovereignty’ – be better than war?
There was plenty of diplomatic action before the war and, for all we know, it continues at the moment. Who knows what terms were/are being discussed. Ukraine has already said it will no longer apply for NATO membership which at one point seemed to be the major issue. But then Putin made up so many reasons it is hard to know which ones were genuine.
Wow! Good post.
My only question being, what reasons has Putin given?
My only question being, what reasons has Putin given?
Many of them are to be found in this speech (which you probably know). It is quite a rambling speech so it is hard to pick out exactly what are his reasons but they seem to include:
The threat from NATO’s eastward expansion
It is unacceptable to have a military presence in territories bordering on Russia
Ukraine is Russia’s historical land
There is a potential genocide of millions in the Donbass
The Ukraine is run by far-right nationalists and Nazis
The Ukraine will undoubtedly bring war to Crimea
The Ukraine has openly laid claim to several other Russian regions
The Ukraine aspires to acquire nuclear weapon s
The people of Donbass have asked for help
later there was the whole biological weapons thing
“This is treating “America” as though it were a single person. “
Not really, as far as Carl is concerned – at least not in the infantile way you and your ilk refer to Russia. He specifically refers to the issue in a grownup way: “Like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US invasion of Iraq “. It’s Bush here who’s trying to personalise it, as US warmongers always try to personalise these issues.
Bush, of course, characteristically shoots himself in both feet.
“There was no intention to annex an part of Iraq“
Formal annexation is not the normal way of US expansion, it’s about destroying resistance to US power, installing compliant elites and regimes.
In the case of the Ukraine, it’s very different anyway. Significant parts of the population (the vast majority in Crimea, probably majorities in many eastern and southern oblasts) would actively prefer to be part of Russia, and while Russia has spent the past 8 years avoiding that position (Crimea aside, for several very good reasons), it might now be the only reasonable outcome.
“Ukraine has already said it will no longer apply for NATO membership which at one point seemed to be the major issue. “
If Ukraine had said that before the war started, and agreed to abide by the Minsk accords that it signed (and done so), that would doubtless have been enough. Not now, though.
‘But we’ve just seen that America doesn’t actually care about national sovereignty (except when caring suits it). So why is this principle so inviolable in the case of Ukraine?’
It quite clearly isn’t:
‘1.The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act, to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine……
4.The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.’
Budapest Memorandum 1994
Immediate UN Security Council action has not been sought.
‘…the 15-member Council would have deplored, in the strongest terms, the Russian Federation’s aggression as being in violation of Article 2, paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United Nations….’
‘Kyiv’s Permanent Representative Tells Council President, ‘Your Words Have Less Value Than a Hole in a New York Pretzel’
Once again, regurgitating your drivel, whilst deliberately omitting vital sections within the memorandum.
We have been through this before and you continue to lie by omission. Usual leftist tactic.
I may have damaged my ribs……..
Feel free to contribute the ‘vital sections’
You couldn’t even find the Memorandum text previously……
I posted it for you. Lying again, this time overtly.
Like I said, we’ve been through this, I’m not repeating myself to educate you.
Enough said
“Immediate UN Security Council action has not been sought.”
Perhaps because Ukraine hasn’t “become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.”
There is no comma in that sentence, for a reason.
You could try and maintain that Ukraine has not become a victim of an act of aggression but that would make you look very silly indeed.
The absence of a comma is why my interpretation is correct: the act of aggression has to involve the use of nuclear weapons.
And, of course, that “Immediate UN Security Council action has not been sought.” would tend to suggest that the governments of the USA and UK agree with my interpretation.
Correct!
But it won’t stop the dishonest, malicious and wholly dishonest Monro from reciting his drivel ad nauseam.
Very silly indeed
This is the part you deliberately and maliciously omit from your meaningless post’s.
Article 51
of the Charter of the United Nations
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.” (my emphasis)
The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reported 5,000 artillery shells fired into Donbas by western Ukraine in the seven days prior to Russia’s intervention.
Specifically:
The February 15 report recorded some 41 explosions in the ceasefire areas. This increased to 76 explosions on Feb 16, 316 on Feb 17, 654 on Feb 18, 1413 on Feb 19, a total of 2026 of Feb 20 and 21 and 1484 on Feb 22.
This constitutes an “armed attack” (see Article 51 above) for which “individual or collective self-defence” is authorised (see Article 51 above also).
‘Collective defence’ is undefined so reasonably, A UN member state, Russia, allied with eastern Ukraine to defend the region collectively against aggression from western Ukraine.
Section 51 is explicit. This is a legal response and whilst it must be reported to the Security Council, which Putin did. It does not restrict the response in any way.
Why is this such a difficult concept for you to either understand or recite honestly?
Had the artillery bombardment of Donbas not occurred, Putin would have been in violation of Article 51 and United Nations member states would have been within their rights to intervene directly, with an armed response.
But they haven’t, have they? Why do you imagine that is?
Perhaps because they are fully aware of the initial Ukrainian bombardment of Donbas provoking the defence of the region by another UN member state i.e. Russia.
None of this is desirable however, the likely result of non Russian intervention would likely have been the cleansing of ethic Russians in Donbass which has been ongoing since 2014, resulting, so far, in 14,000 deaths.
You, like most leftists, much prefer the concept of genocide.
Too much sauce, ‘Bucky boy’
How many of these were in government controlled areas?
“the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.” Bush then whispered “Iraq, too”, before saying “I’m 75”. [off quote]
ex soak dubya finally comes clean, I wonder if his pardner in crime – tony is available for comment?
Where’s tree/actually sceptic? – (s)he must be outraged by Bush’s ‘whataboutism’
It’ll pop up with yet another nom de plume soon. No doubt skulking until it thinks it won’t be rumbled again.
They have been withdrawn CG. Sent for some R and R suffering Battle Fatigue.
People in the West should know what is going on in Ukraine:
‘Vadim Shishimarin, a tank commander, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian in the north-east Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on 28 February.
“I acknowledge my blame … I ask you to forgive me,” he told the widow, Kateryna Shalipova, on Thursday….
The widow told the court she had heard distant shots fired from their yard and that she had called out to her husband the day he was killed.
“I ran over to my husband, he was already dead. Shot in the head. I screamed, I screamed so much,” she said.
Shalipova said her husband had been unarmed and was dressed in civilian clothes. They had a 27-year-old son and two grandchildren, she added.
Shishimarin is accused of firing several shots with an assault rifle at a civilian’s head from a car after being ordered to do so.
Asked if he had been obliged to follow an order that amounted to a war crime, Shishimarin said “no”.
“I fired a short burst, three or four bullets,” he told the court.
“I am from Irkutsk Oblast [a region in Siberia]. I have two brothers and two sisters … I am the eldest,” he said’
Reuters 19 May 22
Continuing to flog this story to death is a futile exercise in emotional manipulation.
People die in wars. Atrocities are part of that. A single man (there are three now) being found guilty of a war crime is no indication of a planned or habitual practice.
Passing judgement on any side at this stage of a conflict is setting yourself up for ridicule when and if a full, impartial investigation is undertaken when the war is concluded.
The Donbas region has endured 14,000 deaths in the last eight years from incursive Ukrainian forces. Do you naively imagine no crimes have taken place there?
Have you even inquired, or are you satisfied with sensational western media headlines?
You are entitled to your opinion.
In my opinion it does you no credit.
It’s not an opinion that you habitually lie by omission.
The Irn Bru is talking again, from all orifices….
“a futile exercise in emotional manipulation“
Attempted emotional manipulation, I suspect. It seems unlikely anybody alert enough not to have fallen for the US sphere Official Truth would fall for such transparent nonsense.
But it’s worth continually slapping
MoronMonro for his overt deceit.‘Bucky boy’ on the sauce again…..
“I mean of Ukraine.” Bush then whispered “Iraq, too”, before saying “I’m 75”.
Joe Biden is 79. How old is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz running the teleprompter?
This point is debatable. The ‘allies’ invaded Iraq on the basis of WMD’s, which were never found, and Saddam had already gassed some of his population, so was there even a humanitarian reason to invade?
Whilst Russia had their forces amassed on the border of Russia and Ukraine, western Ukrainians spent seven days bombarding Donbas with artillery. Artillery is, conventionally, a forerunner of mechanised invasion of a region so Putin could reasonably assume western Ukrainians were planning one.
Was he prepared to sit back and wait until a genocidal, humanitarian disaster evolved, as the west has so often done, before intervening?
Putin has always said he would protect eastern Ukraine’s ethnic Russian population which, like Crimean’s, identify with Russia rather than Ukraine.
It’s notable the Russians are now ‘dug in’ across eastern Ukraine having pursued the Ukrainian military into its political and military home, Kiev, presumably to destroy as much armour as they could.
The ‘tyrannical despot’ Putin has been a participant in building 27,000 Christian Churches across Russia since 1991. Brutal tyrants are better known for eradicating anything to do with Christianity than actively seeking to promote an entity more usually considered a threat to the state.
George W Bush, he’s not as thick as he was made out to be, he’s considerably thicker.
Obama, Captain Underpants and Joke Biden being thick doesn’t excuse how thick Bush is.
A thick POTUS is a necessity. The deep state can’t function without one.
or a compromised leader…
That’s a bonus.
The bureaucracy, you mean.
However, you’re right in that the entire trend is towards ever more stupid politicians as mind-rotting ideology is taught as knowledge.
Bureaucracy, Deep State, all the same thing. We escaped the same in the EU, but we still have our own.
Just flat out untrue and more Putin worship from this most unreliable of contributors. You are the Seamus Milne of the Daily Sceptic.
Massive diplomatic efforts were made to head off the invasion, including the highly unusual release of intelligence. What Putin wanted was surrender, not negotiation. We wouldn’t accept that in the UK, I fail to see why Ukraine should.
Some cheek you have, falsely accusing Carl while in the same post lying so shamelessly.
“Massive diplomatic efforts were made to head off the invasion, including the highly unusual release of intelligence. What Putin wanted was surrender, not negotiation.”
All the Russians sought for the past 8 years was two things: adherence to the Minsk accords agreed by the Ukrainians and supposedly guaranteed (though actually ignored) by the Ukraine’s US sphere backers, and a firm commitment to no NATO membership and no NATOisation/militarisation of the Ukraine.
This is almost the opposite of “surrender”, and it’s the very definition of negotiated settlement.
The Russians were openly laughed at by the arrogant Americans and Europeans, who thought the Russians had no choice but to take what was dished out to them, and the US sphere pretended that the very idea of making a commitment not to militarise or join NATO was some kind of outrage against sovereignty. Or, as liars like yo pretend, somehow equivalent to “surrender”.
Well, now the Ukrainians are seeing what the alternative to negotiation was.
Fingers just makes shit up constantly.
Minsk was a way to get a ceasefire but neither side really believed in it and both broke the ceasefires.
From a Ukrainian point of view, Minsk was a kind of Versailles treaty. No better than the agenda for a future war.
In any case this has nothing to do with diplomacy to head off the present invasion.
Carl is on the same level as Seamus Milne, Corbyn’s right hand man. Kremlin worshipper.
Why did Russia turn down requests from Donetsk and Luhansk to become part of the federation for eight years? What you’re saying makes absolutely no sense. Strange kind of expansionist regime that waits eight years to intervene in a deadly war on their own border.
There was no hurry and some political advantages in delaying. For example, so long as Ukraine had an unresolved border dispute it couldn’t join NATO.
South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in 1991 but wasn’t recognised by Russia till 2008 and still hasn’t formally joined the Federation – even though if has permanent Russian troops
Links matter Fingers.
At least we haven’t started any wars recently, unless you count the war against a virus, which in fairness, although extremely expensive, ironically hasn’t harmed a single virus. Call it an ‘all you can spend’ shopping experience.
BOGOF.
Something like that, I imagine.
Anyone know more about this vaccine disaster of 60 years ago?
From roughly 1955 to -63, large numbers of polio jabs contained a carcinogenic virus. The discussion on ‘official’ US websites is mostly of the type ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘is not known whether’. Unofficial sites are a bit more precise:
https://nicolestefko.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/httpwww-realfarmacy-comcdc-admits-98-million-americans-received-polio-vaccine-contaminated-with-cancer-virus/
So 98 million American baby boomers received a jab that might later cause them to develop cancer. The scandal also affected the UK, Italy and Soviet Union. The risk to humans isn’t clear but the virus definitely causes tumours in (other) animals.
As with the current disaster, I don’t recall any discussion of this scandal on UK TV or in the serious papers. I do vaguely recall thalidomide making the front pages although I was pretty young.
So … most Brits. aged early 60s to 75 may have this to contend with, but it depends how much of the UK vac. supply was contaminated.
I found this gaffe quite endearing really. After all, he’s just a harmless old fella that we can laugh along with as he reminisces. Unlike Sleepy Joe who has his finger on the nuclear button.
Bush is one of those pulling pedo Joe’s strings.
The Bush’s are the deep state.
People in the West should know what is going on in Ukraine
‘In 1 of the 22 newly documented killings, in the Kyiv region, Anastasia Andriivna said that she was at home on March 19 when soldiers detained her son, Ihor Savran, 45, after they found his old military coat. On March 31, the day after Russian forces withdrew, Anastasia Andriivna found her son’s body in a barn about 100 meters from her house after recognizing his sneakers sticking out the barn door.
Civilians described being held by Russian forces for days or weeks in dirty and suffocating conditions at sites such as a schoolhouse basement, a room in a window manufacturing plant, and a pit in a boiler room, with little or no food, inadequate water, and without access to toilets. In Yahidne, Russian forces held over 350 villagers, including at least 70 children, 5 of them infants, in a schoolhouse basement for 28 days, severely limiting their ability to leave even briefly. There was little air or room to lie down, and people had to use buckets for toilets.
“After a week everyone was coughing violently,” said someone formerly held at the school. “Almost all the children had high fevers, spasms from coughing, and would throw up.” Another said some people developed bedsores from constant sitting. Ten older people died.’
Human Rights Watch 18 May 22
Did Human Rights Watch document anything over the last 8 years of Donbas incursions by Ukraine?
No?
Or are you just being selective as usual…….
You really don’t know the answer to that question, do you…..or to much else…..
Look familiar? Just in case you thought the Ukrainian fanatics were any different under the skin than our own wokists:
Russians With Attitude
@RWApodcast
Alexander Nevsky monument being demolished in Kharkov… The statue was installed in 2004 to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the city’s founding. It was located near the St. Alexander Nevsky Church which was built in 1905.
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1527288111880777735
People should know what is going on in Ukraine
‘Human Rights Watch documented seven cases of torture in which Russian soldiers beat detainees, used electric shocks, or carried out mock executions to coerce them to provide information. “They put a rifle to my head, loaded it and I heard three shots,” said one man who had been blindfolded. “I could hear the bullet casings falling on the ground, too, and thought that was it for me.”
Human Rights Watch documented nine cases in which Russian forces fired on and killed civilians without an evident military justification. On the afternoon of March 14, for example, as a Russian convoy passed through Mokhnatyn village, northwest of Chernihiv, soldiers shot to death 17-year-old twin brothers and their 18-year-old friend.
All of the witnesses interviewed said they were civilians who had not participated in hostilities, except for two torture victims who said they were members of a local territorial defense unit.’
Human Rights Watch 18 May 22
Dribbling again.
HRW isn’t an official agency as has no authority to judge who did what.
Simple interviews.
Even you should be able to get the hang of that…..and yet……
Human Rights Watch? the Western NGO based in New York and funded by George Soros? That Human Rights Watch?!
My previous response refers.
Two of those quotations can be taken as admission of guilt, the third like something Alex Jones would blurt out in his well-funded crusade to discredit conspiracy theorists.
A viewer of Alex Jones are we?
Too much for my taste.
Clearly you’ve watched him enough yourself to have such an opinion.
Thanks for highlighting this gaffe – one of the most inadvertently “truth revealing” I’ve read in a while.
And it’s not just Iraq that America invaded, resulting in millions of unnecessary deaths and traumatic injuries. It’s also Afghanistan. If we include minor incursions we could include Syria. If we include, non-stop bombings and drone attacks, we should add Libya. If we include nations America has supported that committed their own war crimes, we would include America’s great ally and human-rights champion Saudi Arabia, whose war with Yemen has left too many casualties to accurately count.
You could go back to Vietnam, a war President Bush got out of by joining the Air National Guard. But 58,000 Americans who ended up dead did not get out of that war. And that’s just counting American casualties and does’t count those who survived with grave physical and mental injuries..
I keep harping on truths that Americans can’t handle. If you counted up all the children and women who have had their limbs blown apart by American bombs and missiles and artillery, and put all these victims in one giant grave – the grave would have to be deeper than the Rose Bowl.
President Bush – who made sure many of these deaths happened – is a revered past statesmen who gets to make $100K giving speeches – speeches where he criticizes Putin for killing innocent people under false claims.
Surely, the worst part of his gaffe was the ‘one man’s decision’ bit, whereby he airbrushed his old mucker, T Bliar.
People should know what is really going on in Ukraine
Two more Russian soldiers have pleaded guilty to violating the rules of war during the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Aleksandr Bobykin and Aleksandr Ivanov appeared in court this morning.
They were charged with shelling civilian areas of Ukraine with GRAD missiles.
Bobykin told the court his unit had been notified that it would be holding exercises with the Belarusian army but were diverted to Ukraine and ordered to shell Kharkiv.
They are the second and third Russian soldiers to go on trial during the war following Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, who pleaded guilty to murdering a 62-year-old civilian in north eastern Ukraine.
Isn’t “shelling civilian areas” SOP for theUkrainians? Isn’t placing military units in civilian areas also SOP?
I can see that this stuff might convince semi-literate cretins like you, but for us realists it’s one big yawn.
Did you manage to write that all by yourself?
‘A gaffe’??? Are you sure?
I think such rare instances of a politician being honest confuses people.
5 min clip of interview with Dr Fleming.
Gain-of-Function: Why it’s Unlikely COVID-19 Originated From a Bat With Dr. Richard Fleming
https://rumble.com/v1553vz-gain-of-function-why-its-unlikely-covid-19-originated-from-a-bat-with-dr.-r.html
There is no evidence that Covid-19 is naturally occurring, asserts Dr. Richard Fleming. There is, however, evidence of US governments owning patents for gain-of-function research.
Interview with Steve Kirsch
American Airlines Captain Robert Snow speaks out about his vaccine injuryHe almost died after landing an American Airlines plane.
He’s now disabled, pissed, and speaking out about how they forced him to take the vaccine that ended his career.
Other pilots are flying injured just like he is, putting your life at risk.
https://rumble.com/v14r4zs-american-airlines-captain-robert-snow-speaks-out-about-his-vaccine-injury.html
In this interview with Snow, Kirsch mentions that according to his analysis of the VAERS data, one dose of the J&J vax is twice as dangerous as two doses of Pfizer, with the Moderna coming somewhere in between.
Snow took the J&J because he believed a single vax would be safer than injections which required boosters.
At 30 mins
The lockdown cult has its origins in the Patriot Act. Bush was a patron of the disgusting Ferguson creature, who first aired his disgusting fantasies in 2006. Roger Henderson slapped this nonsense down at the time.
All comes out in the wash as my granny used to say…..
People have a right to know
Compare and contrast:
Putin’s war aims written up by Putin in his own newspaper:
‘….not just the B….. version of Nasty Ukraine will be eradicated, but including, and above all, Western totalitarianism, the imposed programs of civilizational degradation and disintegration
‘The peculiarity of modern nastyified Ukraine is in amorphousness and ambivalence, which make it possible to disguise Nastyism as a desire for “independence” and a “European” (Western, pro-American) path of “development” (in reality – to degradation)
‘To put the plan of denastyfication of Ukraine into practice, Russia itself will have to finally part with pro-European and pro-Western illusions, realize itself as the last instance of protecting and preserving those values of historical Europe (the Old World) that deserve it and which the West ultimately abandoned’
‘…therefore the denastyification of Ukraine is also its inevitable de-Europeanization.’
RIA Novosti 04 April 22
Putin’s daughter:
‘Putin’s youngest daughter (Tikhonova) broke up with her first husband no later than 2017, and from that time Tikhonova began to fly to Munich actively, sometimes several times a month.’
‘By the end of 2019, Katerina Tikhonova, apparently tired of constantly flying to Munich, and she decided to move in with her partner. At least, this is what one of the letters in the archive of the security guard of Putin’s daughter Alexei Skripchak says.
At the end of October 2019, an SBP officer received a letter with the telling title “Moving to Germany”, in which a representative of an international moving company explained how to correctly describe and evaluate the items being transported. The letter specifically stipulated what to do with the books, which, apparently, were many.
The fact that Tikhonova has an extensive and expensive library,…..For example, only the carpet in the library of Putin’s daughter in the house on Rublyovka cost 54 thousand euros – more than 2 million rubles at the then exchange rate (for such a price you can buy an apartment in many cities of Russia).’
Maybe Putin should borrow some of those books…..for example ‘Tactical withdrawal in contact’ by N. Bonaparte, 1812
Can we use the right term for the US or USA instead of “America”? America is a big continent with many countries!
“Like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US invasion of Iraq was both brutal and – legally – unjustified.”
Seems a pretty sweeping idea, doesn’t it? Are the two situations exactly comparable? Of course not. Not quite letting Putin off the hook, but have a look at this, Noah: https://labourheartlands.com/jacques-baud-the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine-update/#Part_One_The_Road_To_War
I think the USA has actually shown incredible restraint in this conflict.
Renember, the US army could easily and rapidly defeat the Russian army if it chose to invade Ukraine like Russia has, but it has chosen not to.
I’d be willing to bet that Russia has covered itself, legally. Citing UN charter Article 51 It is coming to the aid of a region it has recognised as ‘independent’ and around which armed forces were massing. Ukrainian shelling of civilian areas in the DPR/Donbass had already intensified on 16th – 18th February. Crimea was also under threat. The intention to wage war in Donbass and Crimea, and take them back under full Ukrainian control was announced by Zelensky in March 2021. Russia knew that this assault would begin on 16th February, as did Joe Biden… (only – he put it the other way around).
Anybody can just cite it. Hitler could have cited it (if the UN had existed then).
What matters is whether the UN endorsed it – and they did not. The UN has officially condemned the invasion under Article 2.
People have a right to know:
‘Russian paratroopers executed at least eight Ukrainian men in a Kyiv suburb on March 4, a potential war crime.
It is the last time the men would be seen alive: In two videos, Russian paratroopers march them at gunpoint along a street in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv. Some of the Ukrainian captives are hunched over, holding the belts of those in front of them. Others have their hands over their heads.
“Walk to the right, bitch,” one of the soldiers orders them.
The videos, filmed on March 4 by a security camera and a witness in a nearby house and obtained by The New York Times, are the clearest evidence yet that the men were in the custody of Russian troops minutes before being executed.
“Hostages are lying there, against the fence,” the person filming one of the videos says. He counts: “One, two, three, for sure, four, five, six …” In total, nine people are being held.
The men are forced to the ground, including one wearing a distinctive bright blue hooded sweatshirt. The video ends.
But eight witnesses recounted to The Times what happened next. Soldiers took the men behind a nearby office building that the Russians had taken over and turned into a makeshift base. There were gunshots. The captives didn’t return.
A drone video filmed a day later on March 5, also obtained by The Times, is the first visual evidence that confirms the eyewitness accounts. It showed the dead bodies lying on the ground by the side of the office building at 144 Yablunska Street as two Russian soldiers stood guard beside them.
Among the bodies, a flash of bright blue was visible — the captive in the blue sweatshirt.’
NYT 19 May 22