News Round-Up
26 July 2024
Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech
26 July 2024
by Toby Young
It’s for the Ukrainians to decide the value of their own freedom and what negotiating position they wish to take. The West should not pressure Ukraine to negotiate with the untrustworthy Russian leader.
Supplying arms to Ukraine *may* work, but we shouldn’t just assume it’s the right policy. The best thing the West can do is pressure both sides to negotiate, in the hope of a reaching some kind of settlement.
The problem with arguing we shouldn't arm a country in case it prolongs a war is that it is an aggressors’ charter, blaming defenders for hurting their own people by not surrendering sooner.
What do people in the “non-Mearsheimer camp” believe Ukraine should have done? Even if we blame Russia entirely, an invasion cannot be considered a good outcome, so it’s worth asking how it could have been avoided.
If we lived in a world without nuclear weapons, we could enter the war and probably achieve a decisive victory over Russia. But that *isn’t* the world we live in. And we have to make plans based on reality.
Ed West has written a brilliant analysis of why some Right-wing populists have either sided with Putin or think Putin's Russia and Zelenzky's Ukraine are morally equivalent – they're suffering from oikophobia.
Ukraine is certainly not a 'Nazi state'. However, there are powerful neo-Nazi elements within it endorsed by the state, such as Azov. To what extent are Zelenskyy's hands tied by these militia as he negotiates peace?
According to a speech made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ukrainian refugees arriving in Italy will be forced to "either agree to have a swab every 48 hours or agree to be vaccinated“.
Back in 2015, John Mearsheimer, said: "The West is leading Ukraine down the primrose path and the end result is that Ukraine is going to get wrecked". Quite prophetic, no? But now students are trying to cancel him.
Britain has today followed the U.S. and banned Russian oil imports as drivers started queuing for fuel after being hit by the steepest weekly hike in fuel prices in more than 18 years.
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