More than 28,000 people in England and Wales have been convicted of breaches of COVID-19 regulations, despite the Government’s insistence that it never intended to criminalise people for minor infractions during the pandemic. The Guardian (yes, really) has more.
The convictions are for Covid-related offences, such as attendance at gatherings during lockdowns or arriving at airports without the proper evidence of a coronavirus test. Almost 16,000 of the convictions – or 55% – involved people under 30.
The figures, which were obtained by the Guardian through analysis of data from the Ministry of Justice, are considerably higher than any previous estimate.
They reveal how tens of thousands of mostly young people have been severely penalised for relatively minor infractions of Covid rules that have left them with damaging fines and, in many cases, criminal records.
Two years after restrictions were lifted, magistrates are continuing to work their way through a backlog of cases, with about 100 Covid-related cases being heard each month.
The average fine issued in magistrates courts last year was £6,000, although some people have been fined as much as £10,000.
The figures will add impetus to growing calls on the Government to halt the criminal prosecutions. Penelope Gibbs, the Director of the campaign group Transform Justice, said: “It is ridiculous that the courts are still prosecuting people for Covid offences. All outstanding Covid prosecutions should be cancelled immediately.”
The Government said it intended to treat most breaches of Covid regulations as civil infractions, introducing fines to deter behaviour that could spread the virus, rather than criminalising people.
The then Minister for Policing, Kit Malthouse, told the Justice Committee in 2021 that the on-the-spot fines for Covid breaches were a “psychological game” and “relatively light-touch”. Lord Bethell, then a minister at the health department, said the Government was “clamping down on… but not criminalising behaviour”.
Those statements appear at odds with the 28,000 convictions, which are understood to largely stem from people who initially received fixed-penalty notices. If a fine is contested – or left unpaid – it can result in magistrate judges ruling on the case without the defendant being present, under special fast-track measures.
Misunderstood or missed paperwork has led to people being found guilty and sentenced without their knowledge. Some say they had no idea they had been convicted in absentia until the bailiffs arrived.
The Guardian adopting an anti-lockdown tone, albeit as part of a dig at the Government – maybe there is hope for the Left after all.
Worth reading in full.
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It was the US and NATO who immediately broke the terms of the agreement reached after the Iron Curtain fell. They militarised past Poland’s eastern border. Nuclear disarmament activities were a useful cover.
I am certainly not a fan of Putin.
Farage is correct.
TPTB want war. Not to mention Ukraine’s raw material wealth, now that since 9th June the Saudis haven’t renewed the petrodollar deal with the US.
The West no more provoked Russia by expanding NATO eastward than they can be accused of provoking Russia now by using British, American, French (etc) military personnel to aim and launch NATO missiles on to the Russian homeland.
If a country can’t take a smack in the teeth without getting upset, it is clearly a far-right expansionist power. </irony>
You almost had me there
I was about to type an angry response….
25 irony deficient down tickers !
You so got me there. Very good!
Russia intervening in Ukraine is a trillion times more times more rational than the UK/USA flattening Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Not to mention how evil the USA is shoving half a million Ukrainians in its meat grinder so it can have a base at Sevastopol.
Maybe the Russians can repeat the US takeover of the Uketopia and annex say Cuba or Northern Mexico, bring them into the Russian military alliance, and install military bases, missiles, arms, a puppet regime, and murder say 15.000 Americans…what would pedo money laundering Joe Idiot the election fraud prez and the CIA DoD do?…..
Not to mention Call Me Dave standing there in his blue shirt, sleeves rolled up, after the murder of Ghaddafi pronouncing Capitalism had arrived in the Arab Spring. Children died at a pop concert so he and others could grandstand.
Pricks one & all !
Excellent point.
I’ve told you millions of times not to exaggerate…
These are the reasons why Russia intervened in Ukraine.
Each one has multiple references available (if required) to expand the argument and prove the point.
Since 1991 the US has poured five billion dollars into Ukraine to influence it away from Russia, including colour revolutions and support for neo-Nazis and the cult of Stepan Bandera so that Ukraine relies on the US and not Russia. They also flooded Ukraine with Nato weapons long before Russia’s SMO.
Nato has expanded eastward even though they said they wouldn’t.
Crimeans themselves overwhelmingly desired for Crimea to leave Ukrainian control. An official 1994 referendum found that nearly 80 percent of Crimeans desired greater regional autonomy 40 years after the USSR gave Crimea to Ukraine.
November 2013, days before the EuroMaidan protests started. A deputy denounces in the Ukrainian Parliament that the United States is preparing a civil war in Ukraine, and that alleged “NGOs” are organising a coup from inside the US Embassy in Kiev.
Ukraine, with help from the West, have been waging war against ethnic Russians in Ukraine since the US led coup of 2014.
In that year 97% of Ukrainians in Crimea democratically voted to reject their neo-Nazi supporting nationalist government for closer ties with Russia.
The republics of Donetsk and Luhansk voted by a similar margin in 2014.
Also in 2014 Ukraine cuts off the water supply to the Crimea which was made worse by a severe drought in 2020. Russia supporting Crimea filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights.
Ukrainian President Poroshenko showed his hatred for the people in the Donbass. The most offensive of the president’s remarks, made in a speech October 23 2014 at Odessa’s Opera House and captured on video, noted that “we [in Ukraine] will have work; they – [in the Donbas] won’t. We will have pensions – they won’t. We will care for our children and pensioners – they won’t. Our children will go to school, to kindergartens – their children will sit in cellars. They don’t know how to organize or do anything. This, ultimately, is how we will win this war.”
The New York times later reported that in 2014 the CIA opened 12 spy networks on the Ukraine/Russia border.
Ethnic Russians in the east left the Ukrainian military and took their hardware to the Donbass to set up autonomous regions to protect their citizens fleeing from the Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi militias. There were no weapons supplied by Russia as confirmed by Colonel Jacques Baud of Nato.
Russia did not send troops or hardware to help them. However, some volunteers from Russia went to the Donbass as peacekeepers to help protect their brothers and sisters from Ukrainian persecution.
Ukraine also blew up pylons transporting electricity to Crimea in November 2015.
Russia found 20,000 documents detailing US involvement in biolab experiments in Ukraine since 2015.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) published on April 15, 2016 a report on the torture of Donbass Russians by the Ukrainian military and police forces. The report documents horrendous torture and it was done out of racial hatred of Russians.
Zelensky was elected because he said he would end the conflict in the Donbass. He did exactly the opposite due to pressure from neo-Nazis. He vowed to take back Crimea by force and join Nato and have nuclear weapons. At his first press conference he literally declared war on the ethnic Russians in the Donbass.
Ukraine ignored the Minsk Accord peace agreements. Poroshenko and Merkel admitted separately that it was a stalling tactic so that Ukraine could build up its military and defences in the east. Also confirmed by Francois Hollande ex President of France.
Ukraine limited the use of the Russian language which the vast majority in the east and south of Ukraine use and Zelensky banned 3 Russian speaking TV stations and was reprimanded by the EU.
A new law on education was signed by President Poroshenko on 25 September 2017, according to which “the Ukrainian language is the language of education at all levels except for one or more subjects that are allowed to be taught in two or more languages, namely English or one of the other official languages of the European Union” (i.e. not Russian).
In November–December 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out raids across Ukraine against United Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate churches and priests, and such raids have continued sporadically since then.
Zelensky banned 11 legitimate political parties.
In 2020 40% of the Ukrainian armed forces were paramilitary militias as confirmed by Colonel Jacques Baud of Nato.
continued
The characterization of the Ukrainian paramilitaries as “Nazis” or “neo-Nazis” is considered Russian propaganda. But that’s not the view of the Times of Israel, or the West Point Academy’s Center for Counterterrorism. In 2014, Newsweek magazine seemed to associate them more with… the Islamic State.
In February 2022 Ukraine massed 150,000 of their military for a “final solution” against the ethnic Russians in the Donbass.
On February 16th 2022 —a full 8 days before the Russian SMO— the shelling of the Donbas increased dramatically and steadily intensified for the next week “to over 2,000 per day on February 22nd.” The vast majority of these blasts were logged in daily summaries by observers of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) who were on the frontlines. In other words, the records were kept by trained professionals who collected documented evidence of the Ukrainian Army’s massive bombardment of areas inhabited by, supposedly, their own people.
14,000+ people including many civilians and children had already died in the Donbass from the Ukraine civil war between 2014 and the Russian SMO. Russia quickly recognized the democratic republics of the Donbass and were invited in to help defend them with their Special Military Operation to counter the imminent further slaughter of innocent ethnic Russian civilians in the Donbass. There are still racist Russophobes who try to minimize the 14,000+ deaths in the Donbass.
Russia has not “invaded” the east of Ukraine as they were invited in and has not entered the west of the country. They surrounded Kiev to temporarily stop reinforcements to the Donbass and to persuade Zelensky to negotiate. His US and UK handlers told him not to negotiate so Russia withdrew from Kiev after fierce resistance.
They have entered the south to eventually achieve their goal of de-Nazifying Ukraine particularly their stronghold in Odessa where neo-Nazis burned alive many pro Russians in 2014 and to protect the Crimea.
Even the BBC in multiple reports have highlighted the neo-Nazis in Ukraine who eschew politics in favour of strongarm tactics of persuading government policy towards their own warped goals.
The US and Ukraine always vote against the near-yearly UN anti-Nazi resolution.
Article 51 of the UN Charter allows UN countries “self-defence” to protect its people from attack.
The UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005 also allows for Responsibility to Protect.
Russia invoked UN Article 51 a few days before they entered Ukraine. Russia’s SMO in Ukraine is little different to what the US and Nato did to the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya etc. etc. but the UN (a tool of the US) and the world have used double standards by only sanctioning Russia. When Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights they may have had UN resolutions against them but they didn’t have worldwide sanctions.
Russia had every right to use the “Kosovo Precedent” set by Nato and the UN in their actions against Ukraine which means the SMO was more “legal” and more “justified” as previous Nato incursions. Ukraine’s actions against the ethnic Russians in Ukraine nullifies the Budapest Memorandum of 1994.
Russia has tried to minimize harm to civilians at great expense to its own casualties. Ukrainian troops deliberately house weapons in empty schools, empty public buildings and empty hospitals making them a target for maximum propaganda results as reported by Amnesty International. They are well trained by France/UK/US (FUKUS) in the black arts of false flag events.
Russia has showed remarkable restraint since 2014 in not intervening sooner to protect the ethnic Russians who voted overwhelmingly in 2014 for closer ties to Russia away from the Nationalist Ukraine.
It could well be that Russia has spent the last 8 years insulating its economy against the inevitable unfair Western sanctions and that is why they didn’t intervene sooner and were hopeful the EU would honour their agreement to implement the Minsk agreements.
The West are fighting a proxy war against Russia and are using Ukraine for their own ends.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg admits that NATO allies have been training and arming Ukraine inside the country since 2014 (and probably before).
The vast majority of the citizens in areas “liberated” by Russian and LPR and DPR forces welcome their “liberation”.
Other European countries should not fear Russia as long as they do not join NATO (no eastern expansion was agreed back in 1991), house US nuclear missiles and if they do not join any proxy war against Russia.
Imagine the response by the US if a hostile bloc sent weapons to a neighbouring country to the US.
The US would bomb them to oblivion and install a puppet government friendly to the US as they have done in many other countries throughout the years.
The symbology of certain Ulrainian military units (eg Azov Brigade) shows uncanny similarity with Nazi symbology of the second world war. They idolise Stepan Bandera who was undoubtedly a Nazi.
I liked him as the Ginger Cat in Shrek
I would be most grateful if you would reference your ‘invited in’ claim regarding Eastern Ukraine.
Britain and the U.S. have been training Ukrainian forces overtly since 2014 as they train the defence forces of many other nations worldwide, Kuwait, Oman and Sierra Leone being cases in point having also all been invaded in the recent past.
“Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, requested help “in repelling the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces,”
“The two rebel leaders wrote to Putin to tell him that Ukrainian government shelling had caused civilian deaths, according to Peskov.”
“The actions of the regime in Kiev are evidence of a refusal to end the war in Donbass,” the letter said.
The appeal also stated that the aggravation of the situation has forced many to leave their homes and evacuate to Russia, Interfax cited Peskov as saying. The two breakaway regions began calling for residents to evacuate to Russia late last week.
The heads of the DPR and LPR also accused Ukraine of destroying civil and industrial infrastructure of the two “people’s republics” in the statement cited by Interfax.”
Ergo, the DPR and LPR “invited” Russia into their Republics to help against Ukrainian persecution of the ethnic Russians.
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-says-donbas-separatists-ask-putin-for-military-support/a-60893224
Thanks very much…..not really
‘In early 2015, Salikov was aware of false flag operations carried out to blame the Ukrainian military for strikes against civilians and sow confusion. For example, he says artillery systems placed in no man’s land outside Donetsk were used for shelling of residential buildings.
Salikov discloses these deception operations were organized by FSB officer Sergey “Kupol” Ivanov and “DNR” leader Alexander Zakharchenko as a way to create ongoing tensions and showcase victimization. Proxy agents masked their origins while conducting such attacks.
These false-flag operations became a cornerstone for Russia’s propaganda narrative about Donbas, culminating in Putin’s Big Lie about an alleged “Donbas genocide” used as a pretext for invading Ukraine in 2022.
Even now, Russians who support the war against Ukraine cite alleged Ukrainian bombing of the Donbas population as a justification for Russia’s full-blown war.’
‘“Russia is simply shit. At first it seemed that we could fix, but f*ck it, I don’t know how it can be fixed, but I should try. I don’t know how to raise my kids there.”
Igor Salikov, GRU Officer, Russian Main Intelligence Directorate
‘Our point is extremely simple: Russia does not need a war with Ukraine and the West. Nobody threatens us, nobody attacks us. A policy based on promoting the idea of such a war is immoral, irresponsible, and criminal, and cannot be carried out on behalf of the peoples of Russia. Such a war can have neither legitimate nor moral goals. The diplomacy of the country cannot take any other position than the firm rejection of such a war.
The war not only does not correspond to the interests of Russia but also endangers its very existence.’
Open letter, ‘Russian Congress of intelligentsia against war’ 30 Jan 2022
‘Official Russian rhetoric suggests that a pretext for launching an invasion (of Ukraine) can be fabricated at any moment….In this case, Ukraine will be accused of aggression in any way, and Russia’s actions will be presented as a forced response to this aggression….’
Open letter, ‘Russian Congress of intelligentsia against war’ 21 Feb 2022
Having checked my sources no-one has hear of a “Igor Salikov”.
Hi, GlassHalfFull. I’m really interested to know more about Russia/Ukraine. Do you have a website or anywhere you publish?
I don’t have a website, I prefer to correct the lies and propaganda from the mainstream media on social media like facebook and X (Twitter).
For the past 45 years I have been well read on modern world history and modern world affairs and obtain my information from a variety of “trusted” sources.
I compare this information to the lies, propaganda and omissions of the truth from Western governments and their “presstitutes” in the main stream media to formulate a well informed opinion and I feel it is my moral duty to correct these lies from the Western media.
Russia are totally justified in the actions they took against Ukraine and they are winning this US and their vassals proxy war against them.
There are at least two sides to every story.
The Western media are only reporting one side.
The UK government has banned websites which give the Russian side of events.
Facebook has banned linking to many independent websites suggesting that Russia was “provoked”.
Western government friendly Fact Checking sites are an assault on “free speech”.
“Russia has tried to minimise harm to civilians at great expense to its own casualties”
Don’t think so
What you “think” is immaterial.
Reality says otherwise.
Don’t believe everything you read in the main stream media.
Brilliant analysis and covers more than I found by far.
Thank you for offering references.
For starters please reference your ‘biolab’ claims.
US biolabs in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation provided necessary documents which evidenced financial, scientific, technical and personnel support from the United States to the dangerous research on the territory of Ukraine. The laboratories there carried out operations with components of biological weapons, and where studies of pathogens of particularly dangerous and economically significant infections were carried out.”
https://southfront.press/russian-military-reveals-new-details-about-us-biolabs-in-ukraine/
Thanks very much…..not really
The FSB directly operates disinformation outlets. SouthFront is an online disinformation site registered in Russia that receives taskings from the FSB. It attempts to appeal to military enthusiasts, veterans, and conspiracy theorists, all while going to great lengths to hide its connections to Russian intelligence. In the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, SouthFront sought to promote perceptions of voter fraud by publishing content alleging that such activity took place during the 2020 U.S. presidential election cycle.
So in other words if it’s not in the main stream media you don’t believe it.
I rest my case.
Crimeans themselves overwhelmingly desired for Crimea to leave Ukrainian control. An official 1994 referendum found that nearly 80 percent of Crimeans desired greater regional autonomy 40 years after the USSR gave Crimea to Ukraine.
The Crimeans got deported by Stalin. That the personnel and associated civilians close to a large Russian military base won’t openly ‘vote’ against Russian military presence in their area is not very surprising.
No-one put a gun to their heads.
Why is it so difficult for people to believe that the overwhelming majority of Crimeans would rather be under Russian control than the malign influence of the US.
It was a free and fair referendum.
Did I write that I didn’t believe that people economically dependent on the Russian navy would vote in favour of Russian occupation? I don’t think so.
Yes let me think like a Crimean ! Putin or Biden ! Putin is at least transparent unlike ObamaBiden !
This Do we want to get shafted by US politicians or Russian politicians? false dichotomy is extremely irritating. What about none of them?
That’s the benefit of multi-culturalisme, internal conflict, warfare.
Us next.
Swathes of the professional and managerial classes don’t seem to think that kind of thing could ever happen to them. They may be in for a huge shock.
“An official 1994 referendum found that nearly 80 percent of Crimeans desired greater regional autonomy 40 years after the USSR gave Crimea to Ukraine.” So? Essex wants greater autonomy. Look at this:
54% voted for independence in 1991. All of Ukraine did.
Yes, we did. The west repeatedly poked The Bear, not least by supporting a coup which disposed of a Russia-friendly Ukrainian President, in order to install an EU-friendly one.
I recall the constant drumbeat of American rhetoric prior to the advance on Kiev. For several weeks prior they were constantly threatening Russia if they dared to cross the border. At the time I thought Putin had finally snapped, but in retrospect I have found that it was a pre-emptive move on Kiev to halt the major strike by Ukrainian government troops on civilians areas in Donbass.
Isn’t Zelensky a game show host Stooge with a massive Villa in Florida ??
I defy anyone to reference a signed international document or even an unsigned draft that promises no Central or Eastern European country will be permitted to join NATO.
Over the last eighty four years, just about every Central and Eastern European country has been invaded by the USSR whose ‘red army’ was predominantly Russian, Russian officered and spoke Russian.
That is why so many of them applied for NATO membership and were accepted.
Documents from inside the Kremlin tell the real story.
‘While the 9th Directorate of the FSB’s Fifth Service Department for Operational Information prepared for the occupation of Ukraine from July 2021, the 11th Unit of the Department for Operational Information, responsible for Moldova, was assessing plans for the next round of operations under the direction of Major General Dmitry Milyutin. In November 2020, the FSB’s strategic objective in Moldova was to bring about ‘The full restoration of the strategic partnership between Moldova and the Russian Federation’.’
FSB Outline of Operational Aims and Means, 21 November 2021.
‘The authorship of the strategy document, according to one Western official with direct knowledge of its construction, belongs to the Presidential Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation, a subdivision of Putin’s Presidential Administration, which was established five years ago. The rather innocuously named directorate’s actual task is to exert control over neighbouring countries that Russia sees as in its sphere of influence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.’
https://kremlin-roadmap.gfsis.org.ge/agencies/display/24
Even Moscow’s own School of Management confirms that Russia has imperial delusions
‘Russia is an empire: it perceives itself as an empire, it has an imperial history, and currently in geopolitics it sees itself as continuing to play the role of an empire. For this reason most Russian negotiations, not only those by the Russian government, but also those conducted by Russian business people, come from a power perspective.’
https://embahs.skolkovo.ru/en/emba-hs/blog/culture-and-negotiations-the-russian-style/
Britain’s greatest contemporary historian of Russian leaders makes it crystal clear what is going on:
“I don’t think he’s a madman at all and everyone always says that about leaders whose motivations and culture they don’t understand,” Montefiore said.
“He’s not crazy at all, he’s projecting a vision of Russia that he was brought up with that many people in Russia still adhere to – a vision of the Russian state as an empire that has to expand, and expansion is how you judge leaders,” he said.’
‘“New Russia’s what Putin wants to call it,” Montefiore said.
He said Putin had probably planned to take back the southern coast as far as Odesa as part of Russia, and keep northern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv as a republic but governed by a puppet leader like Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.’
‘Montefiore predicts that Putin’s “idiotic” gamble, driven out of his desire to carve his name alongside the Russian greats, would spell his downfall.
“At the age of 69, Stalin had conquered the whole of eastern Europe, conquered Berlin, made Russia a nuclear superpower and industrialised Russia and Putin had just taken the Donbas – a few Godforsaken rust-belt towns in eastern Ukraine.’
“And I do think he just felt now is his time to take his place in history, to join Peter the Great and Stalin and based on poor intelligence he gambled for it and I think he didn’t think it was as a big a gamble.”
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/he-s-not-crazy-at-all-stalin-s-biographer-says-putin-is-channelling-tsars-and-dictators-20220318-p5a61q.html
The idea that either the EU or NATO provoked Putin is total and complete nonsense.
Putin sees himself as a Czar, a Caesar.
‘There is a tide in the affairs of men.’ Brutus.
I agree with what I think you’re saying, Putin is an old-fashioned imperialist. He wants Russia’s borders to be what they were in 1938.
Very well and bravely said.
Mr Montefiore really does know what he is talking about.
In fact Putin probably already has more than the 1938 borders because Belarus is already now part of the planned ‘Union State’.
Added to which, the new ‘iron curtain’ to which I think he aspires is a great deal shorter and more easily defended than the 1938 border.
A brief look at the map suggests that the ‘Union State’ hoped for western border will run from Kaliningrad in the north to Odessa in the south, incorporating, in addition to Belarus, most of Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic States.
He will not necessarily expect to achieve this in short order but certainly within the next ten years unless stopped.
The defensive posture of NATO is clearly demonstrated by its aim to reconstruct Ukraine defensively as a ‘porcupine’, difficult to attack but with no offensive capability.
And that process has already begun
That is precisely part of Putin’s proposal. That and protection from Ukrainian oppression for Russian speaking occupants.
You are another mindreader then.
He gets no Rubber Rafters does he !
Did the West provoke Russia? Come on Will, I know there are certain political lines that you guys at the DS have to toe, but you’re flogging a dead horse with this one. I doubt there are many visitors to this site who haven’t considered the implications of Western meddling in that Region and rationalised a balanced view of the roles of responsibility in that conflict. That’s excluding AI-generated comments of course.
I don’t think these DS editors understand how much damage they do to their credibility when they spew out the official party lines regarding Putin and Russia.
It’s almost like taking a sledgehammer to their brand.
If you are after rational and balanced views in the comments here, then you have come to the wrong place entirely.
Russia gave Ukraine security assurances regarding its territorial integrity in 1994.
It has invaded Ukraine twice since then.
It has done so in pursuit of a ‘Union State’ comprising Belarus (completed), Ukraine (in progress), Moldova and the Baltic States (commenced), evidenced by documents from within the Kremlin.
The idea that NATO or the EU have provoked such a program is, quite simply, batsh*t crazy.
So come then. Male a prediction. By when will Russia have invaded one of the Baltic states (and provoked war with all of NATO). Go on, give us a time frame. You’re so certain you must have at least a time frame.
So that we can test exactly how wrong you are.
Great question and of course Putin will never invade the Baltic. Taking a scientific view one can then conclude the whole russian hate campaign is a pathetic effort at US expansion.
He doesn’t have to invade it. He has Belarus. A coup de main occupying the Suwalki corridor joins Belarus to Kaliningrad. All he needs then is Moldova (already begun) and Odessa. Job done, the Baltic States so cut off fall into his hands.
He doesn’t have to invade the Baltic States, as I explain below.
A lot has changed in 30 years mainly due to the malign influence of USA.
Blair did it to us with his Devolution ! We were once as One , now reduced to a feeble Rabble squabbling over bullsh1t !!
Farage is issuing a simplistic statement, perhaps banking on a belief that most potential voters do not understand the built in problems inside Ukraine – which are quite well described by other commentators here. I suspect that this is a common tactic of people like that.
Farage warned of war in Ukraine and why it would happen in some detail. He was the first to do so. Farage has been right on everything yet you claim he is somehow playing to the stupid. Oh dear me.
Farage predicted this war in2014 because he well understands Russia is a sovereign nation. Unlike the UK which has been occupied by the USA since 1942.
I find it impossible to believe that anyone cannot see what is in front of their face. I also find it incredibly dumb to come out with something as pathetic as:
‘Hmm, not sure Putin’s brutal and dishonest methods of “taking control of Russia” are something to “admire”, Nigel.’
Saying that Putin handled it well and got what he wanted done is a fair comment. There are very few in all of history that can do what certain people manage to do. Most certainly no politician around today will ever achieve what Farage did almost single-handedly.
One does not have to love the outcome of what is achieved. In my opinion the greatest politician of the 20th Century was Hitler. That doesn’t mean I agree with his methods but I am certainly an admirer of the fact he set out from nowhere to turn his country into the greatest single power of the 20th Century.
I read the pathetic article in the Telegraph this morning and, as many comments mentioned, it was a blatant attempt to discredit Reform and did not even attempt to accurately show what he said. The parties are frightened of us and the press are terrified of us.
As to Putin, well, if you cannot admire the fact that Russia is over 3% growth last year and compare it to 0.5 in the UK and recession in Germany, chaos in France then you are simply lying to yourself.
If you admire Putin, then you are admiring a man wholly responsible for innumerable and uncountable barbarisms, many of which are documented in detail and for which he will be held accountable in a court of law.
That would place you completely beyond the pale.
Your comments about Hitler are plain nonsense to which the state of that country in 1945 bear eloquent testimony.
Which means that you do not grasp the basics of the English language. Putin has defied the West for years and always comes out smiling whilst outperforming most of the West.
Contrast (look it up, it’s a simple word) that with the performance of the West which put sanctions in place which not only wrecked their economies but bolstered Russia’s economy and power in the world.
Do I agree with Putin’s methods? No. Do I wholeheartedly believe Russia was right with regard to Ukraine? Absolutely, the facts speak for themselves.
You should try reading facts sometime, they are enlightening
Semantics.
You are beyond the pale.
Nah, fairly brown all year. I note you do not contest any point I have made.
You may also wish to look up the words “Nuance” and “subtlety”. Understanding a point of view requires an understanding of both. “Context” is also a useful word when dealing with anything MSM related.
You are talking to someone who believes everything the West and Ukraine says about Ukraine. There is no rationality.
Oh please. What court of law are you talking about? Is it the same one that should be trying Blair for his illegal war.
Putins not gone Woke ! No drag Queen shows in schools or disfigurement of young confused people , no outside religions being ushered in ! no inflatables What’s not to like .
To simplify this for the hard of thinking:
NATO tried to get Ukraine to join NATO and accept missiles on Russia’s longest border with the West.
End of debate. Simple. Farage warned them in 2014 and look what happened.
Agreed
This is, I’m afraid, complete nonsense. Ukraine cannot join NATO
B. Principles of enlargement
6. States which have ethnic disputes or external territorial disputes, including irredentist claims, or internal jurisdictional disputes must settle those disputes by peaceful means in accordance with OSCE principles.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_24733.htm#:~:text=NATO%20enlargement%20will%20extend%20to,democratic%20development%20of%20new%20members.
Clause B. 6. means that, until Ukraine either accepts the loss of or negotiates the return of its territories currently under Russian control, it cannot join NATO and has not been able to join NATO since 2014.
When did rules and principles matter when the USA wantsn to achieve its ends?
The US believes in a rules based sytem where it writes and amends the rules.
Whataboutery is not an argument.
That was not whataboutery. it was a question followed by my belief.
Have you got over your insistence on not addressing my comments directly now? It did strike me as childish.
Nor is anything you say because you do not know the facts. This is a site where most of us do know the facts. Spouting crap here is not the same as on The Guardian. I have not read one piece of genuine evidence you have said.
Above you talk about Ukraine not being able to join Ukraine whereas I knew what the NATO General Secretary said in Ukraine. It also happens to be on a NATO site for heavens sakes.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_225160.htm
Funny that because, speaking in Ukraine, the NATO General Secretary, Stoltenberg, said (29 April 2024):
“Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. Ukraine will become a member of NATO. The work we are undertaking now puts you on an irreversible path towards NATO membership, so that when the time is right, Ukraine can become a NATO member straightaway.”
What do you think – did the West “provoke” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine . yes definitely!.
i think and thought from the beginning that russia and putin had every right
to fight back. who wouldn’t ?and the cia got rid of the elected pro russian president . farage is right
I think, given the evidence put forward by various members (much of which is stunningly well researched, oh if only the MSM bothered), the author of this article is talking ill-informed and nonsensical garbage. How is it possible to think that planning to put missiles on Russia’s border means that Farage is wrong?
Just as the USA thought it was wrong in USSR placing its missile almost on its border in Cuba with all the attendant hooha. This was in response to USA placing its missiles on USSR’s border in Turkey. Strange how history repeats itself and lessons are not learned.
Of course.
Meanwhile, we prop up one of the world’s most corrupt regimes.
Are you talking about the USA or Ukraine?
Prior to the invasion, the NATO hadn’t ‘expanded’ since 2004 and at that time, it was already closer to the centre of the Russian state said than a (hypothetical) Ukraine expansion had enabled it to get. With a delay of 18 years between action and supposed reaction, Putin must either be located in some star system about 9 light years away from ours or his underlings are just lying about this.
Classic normie comment.
Of course our lot aren’t brutal ever. Because.putting everyone under house arrest to stop the spread of a virus, then make their liberty conditional on medical treatment, that is no way brutal.
Invading Iraq and causing the death of hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. Not brutal. Nope.
Causing regime change and civil war.in Libya, that’s not brutal either.
Prosecuting postmasters for a crime you know they haven’t committed or can’t be bothered to check properly. That’s very civilised and not at all heavy handed.
Let’s see, Israel’s campaign against Hamas, which the DS seems to be fully in support of, is that not even a tiny bit brutal?
Poor. Very poor. I really expect something better and more nuanced from the DS.
Why not try and post something rather better yourself, then?
A list of non sequiturs doesn’t really move the discussion forward.
The non sequitur is bringing up whether Putin’s leadership is to be admired or not when discussing whether Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine. THAT is totally irrelevant.
But clearly is was brought up because it’s very hard to argue against Farage’s point. The DS did something that discredits it which is to go ad hominem when you don’t have a proper argument.
Sort of what you’ve done.
Two distinct matters in question. They are not linked:
‘not sure Putin’s brutal and dishonest methods of “taking control of Russia” are something to “admire’?
‘I participated in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we proved, in fact, that Putin, using Russia’s Federal Security Service, was responsible for this attempted murder.’
Alexey Navalny
Have you seen the video Navalny made? Well worth a view. But Putin definitely not admirable.
‘did the West “provoke” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’?
Clearly not since Kremlin documents set out Putin’s plan to set up a ‘Union State’ comprising Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic States.
I am sorry that you believe criticism of your comment to be a personal attack on you. I can assure you that it was not so intended.
You are a Farage supporter. He believes in calling a spade a spade.
Your comment was weak; a series of ‘whatabouteries’ signifying nothing.
It is possible to make weak comments and be an outstanding individual.
Probably most outstanding individuals have made weak comments from time to time.
You may, for all I know, be an outstanding individual. I really have no idea, or interest.
Your comment was weak, not necessarily you……
Eh… no I’m not.
A good example of how you jump to all the wrong conclusions with unbounded, completely irrational confidence.
Semantics
‘It’s very hard to argue against Farage’s point’
You find it hard to argue against Farage’s point.
You may not think that makes you a Farage supporter, but, in the context of this particular discussion, like it or not, that is what you are.
So If I find something you and Putin agree on, then that makes you a Putin supporter. According to your logic. Brilliant.
In the context of a particular point, obviously, as I have already indicated, that, of course, would be so, and also the case with Farage, you.
But you will not find any point on which Putin and I agree because, unlike Farage, I understand that, for Putin, expediency is all. There is nothing in which he truly believes, except his own self interest.
To agree with him, ever, is simply to serve his purpose.
“you will not find any point Putin and I agree on” given he stopped the us funded Isis at the gates of Damascus I’m assuming you are for a Muslim caliphate across the middle east? Idiot!
Yet more unevidenced assertions.
Give yourself another pat on the back; your only motivation.
When you run out of arguments I see you got for ad hominem. Do you dispute Russian hardware stopped isus at Damascus? After the USA/UK had armed Isis to the teeth believing the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Personally I find it objectionable that my taxes are arming islamic extremists even if you don’t.
Here’s the Andrew Bridgen’s collection, detailing the humanity of the Establishment:
https://youtu.be/pidSG5nMkW8?si=aoAjBBtMYNCL73Nc
If one man can gather this amount of evidence, just imagine a what semi-functioning government and civil service could do.
I wonder what the late Alexei Navalny would say about this.
‘Murder is the only way he knows how to fight. He’ll go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all remember Alexander the Liberator [Alexander II] and Yaroslav the Wise [Yaroslav I]. Well, now we’ll have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.’
‘he’s busy holding meetings where he decides how to steal politicians’ underpants and smear them with chemical weapons to try to kill them.’
‘We’ve got 20 million people living below the poverty line. We have tens of millions of people living without the slightest prospects for the future. Life is bearable in Moscow, but travel 100 kilometers in any direction and everything’s a mess. Our whole country is living in this mess, without the slightest prospects, earning 20,000 rubles [$265] a month. And they’re all silent; they try to shut people up with these show trials. Lock up this one to scare millions more. One person takes to the streets and they lock up another five people to scare 15 million more.’
‘The explanation is one man’s hatred and fear — one man hiding in a bunker. I mortally offended him by surviving. I survived thanks to good people, thanks to pilots and doctors. And then I committed an even more serious offense: I didn’t run and hide. Then something truly terrifying happened: I participated in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we proved, in fact, that Putin, using Russia’s Federal Security Service, was responsible for this attempted murder. And that’s driving this thieving little man in his bunker out of his mind. He’s simply going insane as a result.
There’s no popularity ratings. No massive support. There’s none of that. Because it turns out that dealing with a political opponent who has no access to television and no political party merely requires trying to kill him with a chemical weapon. So, of course, he’s losing his mind over this. Because everyone was convinced that he’s just a bureaucrat who was accidentally appointed to his position. He’s never participated in any debates or campaigned in an election.’
Alexey Navalny 02 Feb. 2021
Gonzalo lira says hi but he can’t he was murdered by the Ukrainians
I wonder what Gonzalo Lira would say about this.
After these truthful comments by Farage I am now more likely to vote Reform in the General Election.
As an old socialist I did vote tactically for UKIP before to force a referendum on UK membership of the EU to get us out.
A big vote now for Reform may stop our current weak politicians from dragging us into WWIII and a nuclear holocaust.
“Ukraine cannot be allowed to lose”
Apparently the mantra doing the rounds in the so civilised West.
So, troops in from NATO or whatever banking on successfully winning a game of chicken with by far the largest country in the world – and who are used to losing 30 million plus souls in a war threatening its very existence.
Theory doing the rounds is that TRPTB told Sunak to lose the election asasp because they were concerned that the rightwing tories might refuse the clarion call for war with Russia.
No such problem with the Blair controlled Starmer.
Real question is why is this happening?
Is it because TRPTB know their time is up – theyve grown rich on fractional banking which is effectively dead – and their only hope now is to rise from the ashes of chaos.
US hegemony, the unipolar world and the dollar are toast.
The multipolar world where every country is equal is on the way and TPTB in the West are clinging on to their so-called power for dear life.
The Anglo-Americans have pretty much admitted as much. The idea is to engage Russia and thereby gradually deplete it and thus starve it into submission. They talk about the economic disparity, so many of them mention that Russia has an economy which is only as big as a medium sized European country, how the soldiers are poorly trained and ill-equipped and of course to this day they harp on about the remarkbaly successful sanctions. Painted into a corner by their own chutzpah and irrational excuberance and now they look really scared. It is quite amusing but you never know with this lot what they will do in their desperation. The decision has already been made for all out war with Russia by August and Lebanon is likely to be hit in the next few days. I suppose they are amusing in the same way that Baghdad Bob was amusing.
Zelensky killed Gonzalo Lira for OPPOSING THE UKRAINE WAR.
Putin killed Alexei Navalny for OPPOSING THE UKRAINE WAR.
Both Lira and Navalny denounced the senseless slaughter of Ethnic European Men in the Meatgrinder War, exterminating Ukrainian men and Russian men.
Get it through your thick skulls, people: Putin & Zelensky are in cahoots, helping the Globalist Genocide against Ethnic Europeans = White Men.
The Meatgrinder War has no other purpose than to kill White Men.
I don’t think it’s exactly clear he murdered Navalny. He was being kept in very poor conditions in Siberia it’s perfectly possibly the awful conditions caused his heart attack.
According to Scott Ritter, Navalny was “a disgusting human being”. Scott gives a lengthy description of what sort of person Navalny was here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruv49PYBeds (from 01m40s to 24m20s) – and concludes Navalny died of natural causes.
Scott Ritter the Convicted Sex Offender, you mean?
Scott Ritter’s Arrests and Conviction for Sex Offenses
Ritter was the subject of two law enforcement sting operations in 2001. He was charged in June 2001 with trying to set up a meeting with an undercover police officer posing as a 16-year-old girl. He was charged with a misdemeanor crime of “attempted endangerment of the welfare of a child”. The charge was dismissed and the record was sealed after he completed six months of pre-trial probation.
Ritter was arrested again in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl.
The next month, Ritter waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was released on $25,000 unsecured bail. Charges included “unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communications facility, corruption of minors, indecent exposure, possessing instruments of crime, criminal attempt and criminal solicitation”. Ritter rejected a plea bargain and was found guilty of all but the criminal attempt count in a courtroom in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on April 14, 2011.
In October 2011, Ritter received a sentence of one and a half to five and a half years in prison. He was sent to Laurel Highlands state prison in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in March 2012 and paroled in September 2014.”
Scott Ritter’s Car Park Masturbation
In the early 2000s, with little work, and struggling to fill the time, Ritter and his wife Marina joined Delmar’s volunteer Fire Department. Ritter became one of its most active members, and was eventually selected as an assistant chief.
According to court testimony, by 2004 when Ritter stopped attending therapy, he had made an almost daily habit of trying to meet women from chat rooms, in cars or out-of-the-way places, so they could watch him masturbate.”
No, I mean Scott Ritter, the guest of multiple internet forums, highly respected for his knowledge on Russia and his military expertise. I am not particularly interested in anyone’s sexual fantasies.
You mean Scott Ritter the Convicted Sex Offender, the “Disgusting Human Being” whom you recommended because he called the late great Alexei Navalny a “disgusting human being”?????
If you disagree with Scott Ritter’s description of Navalny, then please provide your alternative viewpoint, preferably with reference to Scott’s accusations made in the video. Thank you.
It’s perfectly clear. It wasn’t a heart attack, according to some of the prison staff, who said his guards were suddenly replaced by strangers, who gave him a “KGB Heart Punch”, after forcing him to stand outside in sub-zero temperatures for four hours.
I know it sounds great to people in certain countries, the idea of big war. At the time of the second Iraq invasion there was an upsurge in beer and Pizza sales because people would get together to watch the bombing on television in the same way that they might watch a football match. It is a very different thing when it affects your country. For one thing it can disrupt sleep patterns so that you find it very difficult to sleep at any time and this can affect your health and make you feel mentally and emotionally worse and then you might not be so enthusiatic about the beer and pizza.
Dealey plaza was just the overture. Like Dylan said, the killed him once they killed him twice. They killed him like a human sacrifice. Since that day we have been living under this evil. It was their way of intitiating us. Now we can ask, do we want to stay like that forever or do we want to break it I doubt that the JFK secrecy will be broken in the next twenty years because like Trump said, if you knew what was in the JFK assassination file then you wouldn’t release it.
Yes.
Next point..?
If we can break the spell around Dealey Plaza then that could open up a lot of things not least the most top secret file since 1947 which is information collected on cryptoterrrestrial technology. The alternative is that you have a breakaway civilisaton which is reverse engineering this technology and could well use it as a tool in our further enslavement. We have a duty and imperative to uncover this work. There has been a recent Pentagon release which admits that this force isn’t extra-terrestrial but is crypto-terrestrial and dwelling among us. That is a good place to start.
Yes we are surrounded by water. Yes that gives us a massive protection but this is not an absolute protection. Other contries have missiles that can go over water and can travel for a long time. We are not some sceptred isle in this age. Missiles don’t care hopw far they travel or if they have to go over water. I am surprised that I have to tell people about his.
You are about to get your asses kicked big time. I would admire that if it was acknowledged and understood. But you are going to get your asses kicked without knowing. You are revealing how pathetic you are. Part of me hoped that the Russians would deal with you with complete ruthlessness. You are obviously a waste of space on every level.
The ‘Of course I condemn the Russian Federation for invading Ukraine but it was entirely provoked into doing so, and as such acted as I predicted it would.”
line is exactly the same as
“Of course I condemn the stalker for beating his victim to death with a hammer, but it was her non-compliant behaviour which provoked him into carrying this out – just as I warned her about and advised complete submission years before the actual murder took place.”
What is genuinely astonishing is this attempted combination of a generally libertarian / anti-state / pro-democracy / individualistic and morality based ideology (ie that of Reform) with support (or at least ‘understanding’) for one of the most tyrannical, mass murderous, fascistic and imperial-expansionist programmes since the 1930s and 40s Hitlerian one.
Indeed in some ways more so – the Nazi government ‘only’ threatened to annihilate the entire Jewish population of Europe if another major war broke out (ie the one that they themselves instigated via the Anschluss / invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland etc, and a threat that they came tragically close to carrying out) whereas the Putin regime – both directly and via its controlled media mouthpieces such as RT – has threatened to wipe out the entire population of the world via initiating nuclear armageddon if anyone dares stand in the way of their empire building, mass subjugation project.
I entirely support Reform’s rejection of Net Zero, and at the same time despise this endorsement of international thuggery – for exactly the same humanitarian reasons.
Farage is not endorsing Putin’s Ukraine war, he is merely analysing the situation truthfully. He sees as many do that this is not about winning or losing for either side but about ending the war using management, yes management of the situation so that both sides can emerge from the disaster with some dignity and to the satisfaction of the ethnic populations of Ukraine. Demonisation of Putin is unhelpful to such a process.
Nigel is correct – other people have explain in their comments in great detail how and why. I would just add that this war was engineered/timed specifically to keep supplying the military industrial complex with funds, directly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan (and the loss of spending). The equipment left behind in Afghanistan was portrayed as a disaster in the media…not for the manufactures is wasn’t, they still got paid by the tax payer, most of whom hate war. After Ukraine is destroyed and no longer has the manpower to fight on, which is what will happen, there will be a peace deal. The US and its corrupt partners (who care little for the people of the world) are already setting up the next war, in Iran, and then probably with China over Taiwan, after that. It’s all deeply depressing that peoples lives/livelihoods can be destroyed without conscience, to make a few bucks (billions actually!).
And who will make millions from the rebuilding of Ukraine, also funded by western taxpayers?
Same old, same old. Farage makes a rather realistic observation that has previously been made by many other honest observers and the press and commentators get their knickers in a twist trying to make out that the statement is beyond the pale. He’s so clearly a racist and warmonger, it turns you into a stupid person just looking at him.
F in Hell ! Way More comments than usual ! He certainly touches nerves does Nigel ! Hopefully he’s Real ! He certainly speaks the same truths as the voices in my Head tell me ! He is 100% Spot on ! Legend !
Colonel Macgregor, retired U.S. army. Please listen to his full explanation of President Putin’s position. All on twitter/X. Farage is a puppet, not the sharpest pencil in the box.
Farage is absolutely spot on. The West were goading Putin for years and continue to do so. Apparently Will if you ask expats they are perfectly happy living and working in Russia. We’re just being fed government propaganda via the MSM over here and frankly I’m getting fed up with it.
I guarantee all the downticks pay their BBC licence
There is one overlooked aspect to this (in my opinion). Putin had been becoming steadily more unpopular during 2013. Whatever you may think of his actions, Putin is a clever operator. Putin happily used Europe’s troop movements towards the Eastern border as an excuse to move into Crimea, thus deflecting attention away from unrest inside Russia. The oldest trick in the book.
Following the annexation of Crimea his popularity rose signifcantly amongst the Russian populace. We in the West were the useful idiots that provided Putin with the fuel for his actions.
My favourite article from this period (1st July 2013) is in The Grauniad (thanks to a comment in the Daily Telegraph). Headline:
“EU should extend further into former Soviet Union, says David Cameron. Speaking in Kazakhstan, British PM says European Union should stretch from the Atlantic to the Urals.”
Says it all really.
He pretty much had to annex Crimea following the overthrow of the Russia-friendly Yanukovich government and replacement with a US-friendly one, since that is where the Russian naval fleet operations were (and are) based.
You can admire someone for their skill in leadership without necessarily agreeing with their actions or views. What’s wrong with that? As usual the luvvies can’t take the truth! Putin is impressive.
I believe Putin warned the West to back off any further expansion East. I wrote a short article that incorporated this theme:
https://open.substack.com/pub/sandrews/p/in-our-democratic-world-some-narratives?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=16e1vo
An interesting newsletter. You write the famous phrase “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely” but I do not believe that applies particularly to Putin. He is entering his 25th year of power and has the unprecedented support of his people, simply because he is highly intelligent and politically amazingly competent. Listen to his speeches (all documented on http://en.kremlin.ru/ ). Learn and appreciate the work of the Russian Foreign Ministry around the world: https://mid.ru/en/. Everything is exceedingly open and published in several languages.
Putin’s whole sense of purpose is that Russia has a geographically and historically important role to play in today’s world and that he will do everything in his power to protect and assist his people and their country, particularly against our western politicians who apparently still live and base their decisions as though we continue in a cold war with the Soviet Union. Those days are over and Russia wanted desperately to be accepted by the west but the west wanted only to control and exploit Russia. So Russia had no choice but to turn to the east.
You mention the Skripals and Novichok but are possibly unaware that there were reports that Porton Down was playing with that substance – who knows? We have all learned in past years not to believe every word that mainstream media publishes. And the story of Russian police asking for money to remove a body is a bit weird – who would ever have paid them? But, sure, if you survived living in USSR, you may have learned some unsavoury habits.
As far as corruption is concerned, what do all those lobbyists do walking around our parliamentarians every day? Why do political parties accept large sums of money from donors? Why did so many democracies bow to the will of the pharmaceutical world recently and abandon all democratic principles? Why is UK supplying weapons to a war zone? And so on. We should first clean up our own political environment before pointing accusing fingers elsewhere in the world.
Farage probably should have said ‘respect’ rather than ‘admire’.
It is clear that ‘the West’ provoked Russia. The fact that so many people, in Russia and the West, believe it proves it. The question is more whether the provocation was such that Russia/Putin was justified in the SMO.
Obviously, and sensibly, the West would rather get Ukraine on their side rather than Russia’s. All good standard geopolitics. My problem is that we miscalculated Russian resolve and are now willing to sacrifice Ukraine and its people to avoid Elite embarrassment and in a, failing, attempt to weaken Russia. In fact it is both strengthening Russia and, even more seriously, the Sino-Russo axis.
We should instead have been looking to ensure Russia would join the West against separate Sino and Islamist plans for World domination.
It has been a catastrophic disaster of Western neocons.
Agreed – one of the greatest tragedies since the collapse of the USSR was the failure to embrace and welcome Russia into the commonwealth of nations. Instead, the West chose to humiliate Russia and, for military-industrial complex reasons (of course) preferred to have Russia portrayed as “the enemy” and an ongoing threat.
I came across this article yesterday and it conveyed a particular angle on the Ukraine situation. I’m not in a position to say whether it’s demonstrably correct or not so am unable to offer a view. However, it may be of interest to some.
‘In 2014, Ukraine faced a financial crisis and received two loan offers:
1) The World Bank (IMF): $15 billion with conditions:
a) End the ban on private sector land ownership.
b) Reduce pensions and fuel subsidies.
2) Russia: $15 billion without austerity and privatization requirements, just standard interest.
Then Ukrainian President Yanukovych opted for Russia’s offer. This angered Washington, who in response supported a coup that led to Yanukovych’s ousting.
The new puppet regime put in place immediately accepted the IMF loan, agreeing to the conditions of austerity and privatization. As a result, multinational consortia, including those with US capital, have acquired one-third of Ukraine’s farmland.
Such predatory ploys by the wealthy West are increasing.
Financial powers provide loans with high-interest rates, which leads to borrowers accumulating debt. When borrowers cannot repay these loans, they have to transfer real assets (like land or property) to the lenders, often based in Western countries.
It is financial warfare, aided by manufactured crises.
From the ‘climate crisis’, to the proxy war in Ukraine, to the COVID pandemic, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, this wealth transfer is clear and well-documented.’
One does not have to know anything about the political situation in the Ukraine to know who are the aggressors and law breakers. You just need to read about the history of the intelligence and military agression of the USA, Britain and the other Western countries since the 2nd world War seeking hegemony in the world. This should end any debate about what is going on here.
NATO & EU flirted with Ukraine, which led to the installing of a pro western government in Ukraine, which led to the ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine being persecuted, which led to Putin’s excuse for an invasion.
He wasn’t looking for an excuse – the persecution of ethnic Russians and the provocative language around inviting Ukraine into NATO (in Feb 2022 by Kamala Harris, but many times earlier and since) virtually forced his hand (and that of all the governing elite in Moscow). He would much rather Ukraine had declared neutrality and respected the Minsk Accords of 2014, under which eastern Ukraine would have peace and a degree of autonomy.
I find it frustrating that this is portrayed in such a binary, black and white way. Holding the opinions that NATO provoked the conflict AND Putin is grabbing territory in the face of a weak West doesn’t seem to me to be an unreasonable position.
It was a tad provocative taking Crimea. Don’t suppose Putin wanted a naval base on the Black sea or anything
Russia and the Soviet Union had had a naval base on the Black Sea for centuries. It was only when their ability to continue to do so was threatened, following the US-inspired and co-ordinated coup in 2014, that they annexed Crimea. It is ludicrous to assume they would have simply sat back following the coup and not taken steps to safeguard their naval base.
And when you say they “took Crimea”, the reality is that many ethnic Russians or Russian sympathisers within the Ukraine military in Crimea simply defected to Russia following the coup, seizing control of government buildings, airports and the naval operations.
No secrets here – just a complete failure by the mainstream and the Daily Sceptic to listen to people such as Professor Jeffrey Sachs who have stated the FACTS until they are blue in the face! The United States has directly brought about regime change, civil war and finally East-West conflict through its ruthless and selfish foreign policy- policy which routinely aims to destabilise and take control of client states.The West naively assumes it has the moral high ground and world-wide approval in this, whereas the ‘rest of the world’ basically supports Russia. having seen through the immoral way in which the United States acts.
Farage should not have said that the West ‘provoked’ Russia to invade Ukraine. He’s meant to be a grown-up politician. He should have known full well that his words will be seized on by Russia to justify even more taking of land from their former empire.
Only a fool or someone who is willfully blind believes that Russia wasn’t looking for an excuse, any excuse, to invade Ukraine.
All credit to TDS for sticking to their guns on this one.
Angela Merkel (and I also believe Sarkosy) admitted the entire reason for the Minsk Accords was to buy time to arm and prepare Ukraine to take on Russia as a NATO/West Proxy.
The Maidan uprising was a West sponsored coup against a democratically elected (more so than Biden in 2020) Russian favouring leader Viktor Yanukovych.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, Russia (no longer the Soviet Union/USSR) was assured that NATO had no intention of expanding Eastward. The Warsaw Pact was dismantled and NATO should have done the same.
Ukraine joining NATO was a red line too far for Russia, plus the Eastern Donbas region, which is ethnically Russian was being constantly bombed and over 10,000 Donbas/Russian citizens had been killed prior to the so-called Russian “Invasion”, which was in reality a limited Liberation of the Donbas.
NATO and the West have since used weapons, money and propaganda to escalate the limited conflict, using Ukrainian citizens as cannon fodder.
Zelensky is a 2 bit actor war criminal, he seems to not care how many Ukrainians will die in a conflict they can’t win, but could escalate to a Nuclear WW3 – and no-one seems to care! He is a also a de facto dictator as he recently cancelled all elections in Ukraine. Previously he has banned dozens of opposition parties, shut down no state broadcasters, banned the Russian language and entered a political alliance with known (and Western acknowledged) Neo-Nazi groups including Azov Brigade, Svoboda and Right Sector.