This is an important article that highlights the reason America and Russia are using Ukraine as the rope in a game of geopolitical tug-of-war. Ukraine has significant strategic value for its agricultural output, and this has been true for a very long time. The Russian Empire spent much of its history trying to bring the area under direct or indirect control because of its agricultural value and because of its Black Sea ports. Just about as soon as they threw off the Mongols, they tried to conquer the lands to their immediate south. They were initially not very successful, and usually faced heavy resistance from the ethnic groups that lived there, notably the Cossacks, who successfully resisted Russian domination for a long time. The city of Odesa didn’t come under Russian control until the reign of Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Until then, it had been a minor fortress which, like much of Ukraine, passed back and forth between various Eastern European and Middle Eastern powers. The Russians greatly expanded it, making it into an important city, so, in many ways, Odesa represents the culmination of centuries of struggle for the Russian Empire, the fruits of generations of blood and treasure spent. Its symbolic value is far greater than its practical value, especially to Russia. For America and the west, the war in Ukraine is about the strategic value of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. That’s why the EU was interested in having Ukraine join the bloc despite the country’s well documented corruption and not quite fully Democratic government, and that’s why the US is willing to give up billions of dollars in weapons to keep the country independent. For Russia, it is more than that, which is why they continue to accept significant losses to reacquire it that they ultimately will never recoup even if they succeed. America and Europe may have overestimated the competence of the Russian military, but I suspect they greatly underestimate Russian resolve.
The West’s motives are complex; it’s not just about Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Most important, the Russians are, I think correct to see an attempt to diminish their power – while spending someone else‘s blood. But it was their foolishness in invading that allowed this to happen.
We’ll see how much resolve the Russians have. I have had a meme for a while now that ‘the Ukrainian people want freedom more than the Russian people want Ukraine’. We’ll see.
Remember also what happened to the USSR after the invasion of Afghanistan. Yes, there were several causes, operating at various timescales, but… As Mark Twain didn’t say, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes”.
I agree the west have seen an opportunity to weaken a rival and have acted accordingly, if the situation was reversed I’d expect Russia and China to do the same. The Russians have armed numerous groups opposed to the west in the past so they can’t really complain that this time it’s happening to them. As you say however it’s the stupidity of the Kremlin that has allowed it to happen, who maybe became complacent after there was no pushback after Donbas, Crimea, Georgia etc.
Yup; the classic being the arming of the North Viet Namese. In both cases, it wasn’t just a desire to damage a rival, though; there was also an element of support for an country with a somewhat similar ideology – socialism in the case of North Viet Nam, democracy (admittedly with flaws of various kinds) for Ukraine.
Yup; the classic being the arming of the North Viet Namese. In both cases, it wasn’t just a desire to damage a rival, though; there was also an element of support for an country with a somewhat similar ideology – socialism in the case of North Viet Nam, democracy (admittedly with flaws of various kinds) for Ukraine.
I agree the west have seen an opportunity to weaken a rival and have acted accordingly, if the situation was reversed I’d expect Russia and China to do the same. The Russians have armed numerous groups opposed to the west in the past so they can’t really complain that this time it’s happening to them. As you say however it’s the stupidity of the Kremlin that has allowed it to happen, who maybe became complacent after there was no pushback after Donbas, Crimea, Georgia etc.
The West’s motives are complex; it’s not just about Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Most important, the Russians are, I think correct to see an attempt to diminish their power – while spending someone else‘s blood. But it was their foolishness in invading that allowed this to happen.
We’ll see how much resolve the Russians have. I have had a meme for a while now that ‘the Ukrainian people want freedom more than the Russian people want Ukraine’. We’ll see.
Remember also what happened to the USSR after the invasion of Afghanistan. Yes, there were several causes, operating at various timescales, but… As Mark Twain didn’t say, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes”.
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
This is an important article that highlights the reason America and Russia are using Ukraine as the rope in a game of geopolitical tug-of-war. Ukraine has significant strategic value for its agricultural output, and this has been true for a very long time. The Russian Empire spent much of its history trying to bring the area under direct or indirect control because of its agricultural value and because of its Black Sea ports. Just about as soon as they threw off the Mongols, they tried to conquer the lands to their immediate south. They were initially not very successful, and usually faced heavy resistance from the ethnic groups that lived there, notably the Cossacks, who successfully resisted Russian domination for a long time. The city of Odesa didn’t come under Russian control until the reign of Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Until then, it had been a minor fortress which, like much of Ukraine, passed back and forth between various Eastern European and Middle Eastern powers. The Russians greatly expanded it, making it into an important city, so, in many ways, Odesa represents the culmination of centuries of struggle for the Russian Empire, the fruits of generations of blood and treasure spent. Its symbolic value is far greater than its practical value, especially to Russia. For America and the west, the war in Ukraine is about the strategic value of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. That’s why the EU was interested in having Ukraine join the bloc despite the country’s well documented corruption and not quite fully Democratic government, and that’s why the US is willing to give up billions of dollars in weapons to keep the country independent. For Russia, it is more than that, which is why they continue to accept significant losses to reacquire it that they ultimately will never recoup even if they succeed. America and Europe may have overestimated the competence of the Russian military, but I suspect they greatly underestimate Russian resolve.
M. Gatt
1 year ago
The never ending anti-Russia propaganda from this author is truly disgusting. Makes me question why I subscribe. Just utter and complete rubbish.
Balance? Surely you jest? Did you read his piece from last weekends edition? Just full of the worst kind of hateful anti-Russian bigotry. Appalling really. I cannot imagine saying things of that nature towards any other nationality and having it published.
Balance? Surely you jest? Did you read his piece from last weekends edition? Just full of the worst kind of hateful anti-Russian bigotry. Appalling really. I cannot imagine saying things of that nature towards any other nationality and having it published.
A great many top global writers would write an anti-war story, but Unherd sticks with the pro-war, anti-peace stories. Commission Ben Harnwell, or one of the many ex-security State people out there who say this needs to end, what it is doing, why it is doing that.
This war is destroying the global economy which was reeling from the HUGE self harm of the covid Plandemic.
”“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” ― Ian Fleming,”
Well this chain of self harm is 1000 times – it is enemy action, and we need to be looking for who it is trying to destroy the global order and economy. Actually… Flemming would say Dr Evil… and we all know who that is, he looks and talks the exact part, and we know who his secret dozen at the high table with him are…..
A great many top global writers would write an anti-war story, but Unherd sticks with the pro-war, anti-peace stories. Commission Ben Harnwell, or one of the many ex-security State people out there who say this needs to end, what it is doing, why it is doing that.
This war is destroying the global economy which was reeling from the HUGE self harm of the covid Plandemic.
”“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” ― Ian Fleming,”
Well this chain of self harm is 1000 times – it is enemy action, and we need to be looking for who it is trying to destroy the global order and economy. Actually… Flemming would say Dr Evil… and we all know who that is, he looks and talks the exact part, and we know who his secret dozen at the high table with him are…..
You’re free to write a pro Russian piece if you wish, defending their actions in Bucha and the like
M. Gatt
1 year ago
The never ending anti-Russia propaganda from this author is truly disgusting. Makes me question why I subscribe. Just utter and complete rubbish.
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
I see we have several “useful idiots” here (a term from the 1930’s, for Westerners who are gullible, and short-sighted, enough to believe the Russian propaganda line du jour – people who, blindly following their ideology, were ready to swallow anything – back then, in service of Communism, which had become the ‘bright and shiny object’ of the Russians, and also of some in the West).
What’s happening to people around the world is indeed very distressing, but it’s all fundamentally a result of Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine, back in February.
As to why it did that – Russia had been an expansionist power for hundreds of years. There’s a reason Russia is 10 time zones wide! The expansion East-ward to the Pacific, starting in the 1600’s; the invasion South of the so-called ‘stans, starting in the 1700’s, completed in the late 1800’s with the conquest of the Turkmen at Merv (although I suppose Afghanistan in the 1980’s can be seen as an extension of that). And finally, attempted expansion to the West, an on-going process over several centuries – the repeated dismemberment of Poland; multiple invasions of Finland; repeated seizures of the Baltics; the seizure of the victims of Germany in the later 1940’s. “Nothing’s new; they’re still the same people”, in the incredibly memorable closing words of Hedrick Smith’s wife, in his wonderful book on the Russians.
One would have thought that people would have woken up to this by now, but I see not.
Let the down-voting begin! I will wear each one as a badge of honour! Thank you to those giving them out!
I don’t even think those you describe are necessarily pro Russian, they’re just that anti west that they’ll believe anything written that’s critical of western nations whilst dismissing anything that’s positive as propaganda
I don’t even think those you describe are necessarily pro Russian, they’re just that anti west that they’ll believe anything written that’s critical of western nations whilst dismissing anything that’s positive as propaganda
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
I see we have several “useful idiots” here (a term from the 1930’s, for Westerners who are gullible, and short-sighted, enough to believe the Russian propaganda line du jour – people who, blindly following their ideology, were ready to swallow anything – back then, in service of Communism, which had become the ‘bright and shiny object’ of the Russians, and also of some in the West).
What’s happening to people around the world is indeed very distressing, but it’s all fundamentally a result of Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine, back in February.
As to why it did that – Russia had been an expansionist power for hundreds of years. There’s a reason Russia is 10 time zones wide! The expansion East-ward to the Pacific, starting in the 1600’s; the invasion South of the so-called ‘stans, starting in the 1700’s, completed in the late 1800’s with the conquest of the Turkmen at Merv (although I suppose Afghanistan in the 1980’s can be seen as an extension of that). And finally, attempted expansion to the West, an on-going process over several centuries – the repeated dismemberment of Poland; multiple invasions of Finland; repeated seizures of the Baltics; the seizure of the victims of Germany in the later 1940’s. “Nothing’s new; they’re still the same people”, in the incredibly memorable closing words of Hedrick Smith’s wife, in his wonderful book on the Russians.
One would have thought that people would have woken up to this by now, but I see not.
Let the down-voting begin! I will wear each one as a badge of honour! Thank you to those giving them out!
David McKee
1 year ago
This is a subject which is far more serious than the Harry ‘n’ Meghan end-of-the-pier show. Yet I’m the first to comment. That says a lot about the insularity and frivolousness of us in the West, when you think about it.
Clearly, food supplies are going to be dicey until Putin is defeated. So the sooner we give the Ukrainians the tools to finish the job, the better.
Stopping the fertilizer is 100X the bigger problem. The stopping of materials from the Sanctions – Metals, fertilizer, rare gasses (neon for chip making) oil, gas, and much more – these are what is killing the poor by harming the global economy and supply.
So where are the humanitarian passes to allow those vital Russian And Ukrainian materials out?
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and every poor – they cannot afford kerosene and gas for cooking – diesel for their trucks and tractors. Jobs lost to reduced materials which feed international industry, and thus jobs and goods world wide.
The Sanctions will kill Millions – powers more than the slow wheat shipments.
In Europe 26 fertilizer manufacturers are shut or slowed down hard – because the natural gas they make the Nitrogen part from is too high and rationed! So Europe buys on the world market instead of exporting. Russia is a huge Potash supplier, the biggest Nitrogen fertilizer producer – yes, some gets shipped by permit around sanctions – which shows the hypocrisy of all this insane war.
This writer looks at details and misses the big picture.
Neo-Con Warmongers, Military Industrial Complex, desire to export LNG from USA, and someone wants to crash Europe – to wreck its economy – and it is us Westerners. This all is self harm Peace Now!
Stopping the fertilizer is 100X the bigger problem. The stopping of materials from the Sanctions – Metals, fertilizer, rare gasses (neon for chip making) oil, gas, and much more – these are what is killing the poor by harming the global economy and supply.
So where are the humanitarian passes to allow those vital Russian And Ukrainian materials out?
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and every poor – they cannot afford kerosene and gas for cooking – diesel for their trucks and tractors. Jobs lost to reduced materials which feed international industry, and thus jobs and goods world wide.
The Sanctions will kill Millions – powers more than the slow wheat shipments.
In Europe 26 fertilizer manufacturers are shut or slowed down hard – because the natural gas they make the Nitrogen part from is too high and rationed! So Europe buys on the world market instead of exporting. Russia is a huge Potash supplier, the biggest Nitrogen fertilizer producer – yes, some gets shipped by permit around sanctions – which shows the hypocrisy of all this insane war.
This writer looks at details and misses the big picture.
Neo-Con Warmongers, Military Industrial Complex, desire to export LNG from USA, and someone wants to crash Europe – to wreck its economy – and it is us Westerners. This all is self harm Peace Now!
David McKee
1 year ago
This is a subject which is far more serious than the Harry ‘n’ Meghan end-of-the-pier show. Yet I’m the first to comment. That says a lot about the insularity and frivolousness of us in the West, when you think about it.
Clearly, food supplies are going to be dicey until Putin is defeated. So the sooner we give the Ukrainians the tools to finish the job, the better.
Last edited 1 year ago by David McKee
martin logan
1 year ago
Russia since Soviet times has reflected the morals of a “Thief in Law”. Most Russians honestly know no better, Putin most of all. Stalin systematically removed any sense of pity, or even empathy, from them in the 30s.
To expect understanding, much less pity, for starving third world Africans is beyond them. Go ask Vagner, if you don’t think it’s true.
If it hurts Ukrainians, nothing else matters.
The ironic thing is that if you replace Russians above with say Arabs, Chinese or Zulus, it would be much more accurate – and absolutely verboten to express.
The ironic thing is that if you replace Russians above with say Arabs, Chinese or Zulus, it would be much more accurate – and absolutely verboten to express.
martin logan
1 year ago
Russia since Soviet times has reflected the morals of a “Thief in Law”. Most Russians honestly know no better, Putin most of all. Stalin systematically removed any sense of pity, or even empathy, from them in the 30s.
To expect understanding, much less pity, for starving third world Africans is beyond them. Go ask Vagner, if you don’t think it’s true.
If it hurts Ukrainians, nothing else matters.
Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
Iris C
1 year ago
The Ukrainian government wants more US military hardware to continue the destruction of their country but I wonder what the majority of Ukrainian citizens think. The last poll was taken many months ago – it showed 30% backed government policy; 30% were against; and 40% just wanted the war to end. Remember that Ukraine is made up of many different nationalities from surrounding countries, (including Russia).
We know that the Ukrainian army conducted vicious retaliation (and killed Russian prisoners) in areas they won back because a British journalist told us this, so it could be that members of the army (and possibly the Zelensky government) could face war crimes when the war ends.
This could be a reason for the continuation of the war and should not be ignored…
I’m sure every Ukrainian wants the war to end, however it’s a pointless question without stating how they want the war to end. If ending the war involved become a Belarus like client state for Russia then I’d wager most would say keep fighting, especially while there’s a realistic chance of liberating a large portion of their territory
It should end by peace negotiations initiated through the United Nations and legally binding, taking into account the interests of the different nationalities on the fringes of Ukraine’s fluid borders and Russian security.
“legally binding” – Like the Budapest Memorandum – also filed at the UN? Every country feels free to ignore things it has agreed to – the only question is how often they do so; some do it more often than others.
Russia ignored the last treaty they signed with Ukraine so why should the Ukrainians trust them to uphold the next one? They’ll want a more cast iron security guarantee than the UN and Russias word to abide by it
“legally binding” – Like the Budapest Memorandum – also filed at the UN? Every country feels free to ignore things it has agreed to – the only question is how often they do so; some do it more often than others.
Russia ignored the last treaty they signed with Ukraine so why should the Ukrainians trust them to uphold the next one? They’ll want a more cast iron security guarantee than the UN and Russias word to abide by it
It should end by peace negotiations initiated through the United Nations and legally binding, taking into account the interests of the different nationalities on the fringes of Ukraine’s fluid borders and Russian security.
I’m sure every Ukrainian wants the war to end, however it’s a pointless question without stating how they want the war to end. If ending the war involved become a Belarus like client state for Russia then I’d wager most would say keep fighting, especially while there’s a realistic chance of liberating a large portion of their territory
Iris C
1 year ago
The Ukrainian government wants more US military hardware to continue the destruction of their country but I wonder what the majority of Ukrainian citizens think. The last poll was taken many months ago – it showed 30% backed government policy; 30% were against; and 40% just wanted the war to end. Remember that Ukraine is made up of many different nationalities from surrounding countries, (including Russia).
We know that the Ukrainian army conducted vicious retaliation (and killed Russian prisoners) in areas they won back because a British journalist told us this, so it could be that members of the army (and possibly the Zelensky government) could face war crimes when the war ends.
This could be a reason for the continuation of the war and should not be ignored…
This is an important article that highlights the reason America and Russia are using Ukraine as the rope in a game of geopolitical tug-of-war. Ukraine has significant strategic value for its agricultural output, and this has been true for a very long time. The Russian Empire spent much of its history trying to bring the area under direct or indirect control because of its agricultural value and because of its Black Sea ports. Just about as soon as they threw off the Mongols, they tried to conquer the lands to their immediate south. They were initially not very successful, and usually faced heavy resistance from the ethnic groups that lived there, notably the Cossacks, who successfully resisted Russian domination for a long time. The city of Odesa didn’t come under Russian control until the reign of Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Until then, it had been a minor fortress which, like much of Ukraine, passed back and forth between various Eastern European and Middle Eastern powers. The Russians greatly expanded it, making it into an important city, so, in many ways, Odesa represents the culmination of centuries of struggle for the Russian Empire, the fruits of generations of blood and treasure spent. Its symbolic value is far greater than its practical value, especially to Russia. For America and the west, the war in Ukraine is about the strategic value of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. That’s why the EU was interested in having Ukraine join the bloc despite the country’s well documented corruption and not quite fully Democratic government, and that’s why the US is willing to give up billions of dollars in weapons to keep the country independent. For Russia, it is more than that, which is why they continue to accept significant losses to reacquire it that they ultimately will never recoup even if they succeed. America and Europe may have overestimated the competence of the Russian military, but I suspect they greatly underestimate Russian resolve.
The West’s motives are complex; it’s not just about Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Most important, the Russians are, I think correct to see an attempt to diminish their power – while spending someone else‘s blood. But it was their foolishness in invading that allowed this to happen.
We’ll see how much resolve the Russians have. I have had a meme for a while now that ‘the Ukrainian people want freedom more than the Russian people want Ukraine’. We’ll see.
Remember also what happened to the USSR after the invasion of Afghanistan. Yes, there were several causes, operating at various timescales, but… As Mark Twain didn’t say, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes”.
I agree the west have seen an opportunity to weaken a rival and have acted accordingly, if the situation was reversed I’d expect Russia and China to do the same. The Russians have armed numerous groups opposed to the west in the past so they can’t really complain that this time it’s happening to them. As you say however it’s the stupidity of the Kremlin that has allowed it to happen, who maybe became complacent after there was no pushback after Donbas, Crimea, Georgia etc.
Yup; the classic being the arming of the North Viet Namese. In both cases, it wasn’t just a desire to damage a rival, though; there was also an element of support for an country with a somewhat similar ideology – socialism in the case of North Viet Nam, democracy (admittedly with flaws of various kinds) for Ukraine.
Yup; the classic being the arming of the North Viet Namese. In both cases, it wasn’t just a desire to damage a rival, though; there was also an element of support for an country with a somewhat similar ideology – socialism in the case of North Viet Nam, democracy (admittedly with flaws of various kinds) for Ukraine.
I agree the west have seen an opportunity to weaken a rival and have acted accordingly, if the situation was reversed I’d expect Russia and China to do the same. The Russians have armed numerous groups opposed to the west in the past so they can’t really complain that this time it’s happening to them. As you say however it’s the stupidity of the Kremlin that has allowed it to happen, who maybe became complacent after there was no pushback after Donbas, Crimea, Georgia etc.
The West’s motives are complex; it’s not just about Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Most important, the Russians are, I think correct to see an attempt to diminish their power – while spending someone else‘s blood. But it was their foolishness in invading that allowed this to happen.
We’ll see how much resolve the Russians have. I have had a meme for a while now that ‘the Ukrainian people want freedom more than the Russian people want Ukraine’. We’ll see.
Remember also what happened to the USSR after the invasion of Afghanistan. Yes, there were several causes, operating at various timescales, but… As Mark Twain didn’t say, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes”.
This is an important article that highlights the reason America and Russia are using Ukraine as the rope in a game of geopolitical tug-of-war. Ukraine has significant strategic value for its agricultural output, and this has been true for a very long time. The Russian Empire spent much of its history trying to bring the area under direct or indirect control because of its agricultural value and because of its Black Sea ports. Just about as soon as they threw off the Mongols, they tried to conquer the lands to their immediate south. They were initially not very successful, and usually faced heavy resistance from the ethnic groups that lived there, notably the Cossacks, who successfully resisted Russian domination for a long time. The city of Odesa didn’t come under Russian control until the reign of Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Until then, it had been a minor fortress which, like much of Ukraine, passed back and forth between various Eastern European and Middle Eastern powers. The Russians greatly expanded it, making it into an important city, so, in many ways, Odesa represents the culmination of centuries of struggle for the Russian Empire, the fruits of generations of blood and treasure spent. Its symbolic value is far greater than its practical value, especially to Russia. For America and the west, the war in Ukraine is about the strategic value of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. That’s why the EU was interested in having Ukraine join the bloc despite the country’s well documented corruption and not quite fully Democratic government, and that’s why the US is willing to give up billions of dollars in weapons to keep the country independent. For Russia, it is more than that, which is why they continue to accept significant losses to reacquire it that they ultimately will never recoup even if they succeed. America and Europe may have overestimated the competence of the Russian military, but I suspect they greatly underestimate Russian resolve.
The never ending anti-Russia propaganda from this author is truly disgusting. Makes me question why I subscribe. Just utter and complete rubbish.
Balance I guess, if you can call it that. Skim it and move on!
Balance? Surely you jest? Did you read his piece from last weekends edition? Just full of the worst kind of hateful anti-Russian bigotry. Appalling really. I cannot imagine saying things of that nature towards any other nationality and having it published.
Balance? Surely you jest? Did you read his piece from last weekends edition? Just full of the worst kind of hateful anti-Russian bigotry. Appalling really. I cannot imagine saying things of that nature towards any other nationality and having it published.
A great many top global writers would write an anti-war story, but Unherd sticks with the pro-war, anti-peace stories. Commission Ben Harnwell, or one of the many ex-security State people out there who say this needs to end, what it is doing, why it is doing that.
This war is destroying the global economy which was reeling from the HUGE self harm of the covid Plandemic.
”“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
― Ian Fleming,”
Well this chain of self harm is 1000 times – it is enemy action, and we need to be looking for who it is trying to destroy the global order and economy. Actually… Flemming would say Dr Evil… and we all know who that is, he looks and talks the exact part, and we know who his secret dozen at the high table with him are…..
You’ve fallen a long way down the rabbit hole haven’t you
You mean…GIANNI INFANTINO???!!
You’ve fallen a long way down the rabbit hole haven’t you
You mean…GIANNI INFANTINO???!!
You’re free to write a pro Russian piece if you wish, defending their actions in Bucha and the like
Balance I guess, if you can call it that. Skim it and move on!
A great many top global writers would write an anti-war story, but Unherd sticks with the pro-war, anti-peace stories. Commission Ben Harnwell, or one of the many ex-security State people out there who say this needs to end, what it is doing, why it is doing that.
This war is destroying the global economy which was reeling from the HUGE self harm of the covid Plandemic.
”“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
― Ian Fleming,”
Well this chain of self harm is 1000 times – it is enemy action, and we need to be looking for who it is trying to destroy the global order and economy. Actually… Flemming would say Dr Evil… and we all know who that is, he looks and talks the exact part, and we know who his secret dozen at the high table with him are…..
You’re free to write a pro Russian piece if you wish, defending their actions in Bucha and the like
The never ending anti-Russia propaganda from this author is truly disgusting. Makes me question why I subscribe. Just utter and complete rubbish.
I see we have several “useful idiots” here (a term from the 1930’s, for Westerners who are gullible, and short-sighted, enough to believe the Russian propaganda line du jour – people who, blindly following their ideology, were ready to swallow anything – back then, in service of Communism, which had become the ‘bright and shiny object’ of the Russians, and also of some in the West).
What’s happening to people around the world is indeed very distressing, but it’s all fundamentally a result of Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine, back in February.
As to why it did that – Russia had been an expansionist power for hundreds of years. There’s a reason Russia is 10 time zones wide! The expansion East-ward to the Pacific, starting in the 1600’s; the invasion South of the so-called ‘stans, starting in the 1700’s, completed in the late 1800’s with the conquest of the Turkmen at Merv (although I suppose Afghanistan in the 1980’s can be seen as an extension of that). And finally, attempted expansion to the West, an on-going process over several centuries – the repeated dismemberment of Poland; multiple invasions of Finland; repeated seizures of the Baltics; the seizure of the victims of Germany in the later 1940’s. “Nothing’s new; they’re still the same people”, in the incredibly memorable closing words of Hedrick Smith’s wife, in his wonderful book on the Russians.
One would have thought that people would have woken up to this by now, but I see not.
Let the down-voting begin! I will wear each one as a badge of honour! Thank you to those giving them out!
I don’t even think those you describe are necessarily pro Russian, they’re just that anti west that they’ll believe anything written that’s critical of western nations whilst dismissing anything that’s positive as propaganda
Right, they are not really pro-Russian – just willing to believe what the Russians say, without subjecting it to critical thinking.
You misunderstand the point I’m trying to make I think. In my opinion they’re simply contrarian rather the ideological
That could be. I’ll have to ponder it. (And perhaps some are contrarian, some are ideological, and some are a bit of both – people are complicated.)
That could be. I’ll have to ponder it. (And perhaps some are contrarian, some are ideological, and some are a bit of both – people are complicated.)
You misunderstand the point I’m trying to make I think. In my opinion they’re simply contrarian rather the ideological
Right, they are not really pro-Russian – just willing to believe what the Russians say, without subjecting it to critical thinking.
I don’t even think those you describe are necessarily pro Russian, they’re just that anti west that they’ll believe anything written that’s critical of western nations whilst dismissing anything that’s positive as propaganda
I see we have several “useful idiots” here (a term from the 1930’s, for Westerners who are gullible, and short-sighted, enough to believe the Russian propaganda line du jour – people who, blindly following their ideology, were ready to swallow anything – back then, in service of Communism, which had become the ‘bright and shiny object’ of the Russians, and also of some in the West).
What’s happening to people around the world is indeed very distressing, but it’s all fundamentally a result of Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine, back in February.
As to why it did that – Russia had been an expansionist power for hundreds of years. There’s a reason Russia is 10 time zones wide! The expansion East-ward to the Pacific, starting in the 1600’s; the invasion South of the so-called ‘stans, starting in the 1700’s, completed in the late 1800’s with the conquest of the Turkmen at Merv (although I suppose Afghanistan in the 1980’s can be seen as an extension of that). And finally, attempted expansion to the West, an on-going process over several centuries – the repeated dismemberment of Poland; multiple invasions of Finland; repeated seizures of the Baltics; the seizure of the victims of Germany in the later 1940’s. “Nothing’s new; they’re still the same people”, in the incredibly memorable closing words of Hedrick Smith’s wife, in his wonderful book on the Russians.
One would have thought that people would have woken up to this by now, but I see not.
Let the down-voting begin! I will wear each one as a badge of honour! Thank you to those giving them out!
This is a subject which is far more serious than the Harry ‘n’ Meghan end-of-the-pier show. Yet I’m the first to comment. That says a lot about the insularity and frivolousness of us in the West, when you think about it.
Clearly, food supplies are going to be dicey until Putin is defeated. So the sooner we give the Ukrainians the tools to finish the job, the better.
Stopping the fertilizer is 100X the bigger problem. The stopping of materials from the Sanctions – Metals, fertilizer, rare gasses (neon for chip making) oil, gas, and much more – these are what is killing the poor by harming the global economy and supply.
So where are the humanitarian passes to allow those vital Russian And Ukrainian materials out?
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and every poor – they cannot afford kerosene and gas for cooking – diesel for their trucks and tractors. Jobs lost to reduced materials which feed international industry, and thus jobs and goods world wide.
The Sanctions will kill Millions – powers more than the slow wheat shipments.
In Europe 26 fertilizer manufacturers are shut or slowed down hard – because the natural gas they make the Nitrogen part from is too high and rationed! So Europe buys on the world market instead of exporting. Russia is a huge Potash supplier, the biggest Nitrogen fertilizer producer – yes, some gets shipped by permit around sanctions – which shows the hypocrisy of all this insane war.
This writer looks at details and misses the big picture.
Neo-Con Warmongers, Military Industrial Complex, desire to export LNG from USA, and someone wants to crash Europe – to wreck its economy – and it is us Westerners. This all is self harm Peace Now!
Stopping the fertilizer is 100X the bigger problem. The stopping of materials from the Sanctions – Metals, fertilizer, rare gasses (neon for chip making) oil, gas, and much more – these are what is killing the poor by harming the global economy and supply.
So where are the humanitarian passes to allow those vital Russian And Ukrainian materials out?
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and every poor – they cannot afford kerosene and gas for cooking – diesel for their trucks and tractors. Jobs lost to reduced materials which feed international industry, and thus jobs and goods world wide.
The Sanctions will kill Millions – powers more than the slow wheat shipments.
In Europe 26 fertilizer manufacturers are shut or slowed down hard – because the natural gas they make the Nitrogen part from is too high and rationed! So Europe buys on the world market instead of exporting. Russia is a huge Potash supplier, the biggest Nitrogen fertilizer producer – yes, some gets shipped by permit around sanctions – which shows the hypocrisy of all this insane war.
This writer looks at details and misses the big picture.
Neo-Con Warmongers, Military Industrial Complex, desire to export LNG from USA, and someone wants to crash Europe – to wreck its economy – and it is us Westerners. This all is self harm Peace Now!
This is a subject which is far more serious than the Harry ‘n’ Meghan end-of-the-pier show. Yet I’m the first to comment. That says a lot about the insularity and frivolousness of us in the West, when you think about it.
Clearly, food supplies are going to be dicey until Putin is defeated. So the sooner we give the Ukrainians the tools to finish the job, the better.
Russia since Soviet times has reflected the morals of a “Thief in Law”. Most Russians honestly know no better, Putin most of all. Stalin systematically removed any sense of pity, or even empathy, from them in the 30s.
To expect understanding, much less pity, for starving third world Africans is beyond them. Go ask Vagner, if you don’t think it’s true.
If it hurts Ukrainians, nothing else matters.
The ironic thing is that if you replace Russians above with say Arabs, Chinese or Zulus, it would be much more accurate – and absolutely verboten to express.
Human nature, I fear. Humans evolved to be an apex predator.
Human nature, I fear. Humans evolved to be an apex predator.
The ironic thing is that if you replace Russians above with say Arabs, Chinese or Zulus, it would be much more accurate – and absolutely verboten to express.
Russia since Soviet times has reflected the morals of a “Thief in Law”. Most Russians honestly know no better, Putin most of all. Stalin systematically removed any sense of pity, or even empathy, from them in the 30s.
To expect understanding, much less pity, for starving third world Africans is beyond them. Go ask Vagner, if you don’t think it’s true.
If it hurts Ukrainians, nothing else matters.
The Ukrainian government wants more US military hardware to continue the destruction of their country but I wonder what the majority of Ukrainian citizens think. The last poll was taken many months ago – it showed 30% backed government policy; 30% were against; and 40% just wanted the war to end. Remember that Ukraine is made up of many different nationalities from surrounding countries, (including Russia).
We know that the Ukrainian army conducted vicious retaliation (and killed Russian prisoners) in areas they won back because a British journalist told us this, so it could be that members of the army (and possibly the Zelensky government) could face war crimes when the war ends.
This could be a reason for the continuation of the war and should not be ignored…
I’m sure every Ukrainian wants the war to end, however it’s a pointless question without stating how they want the war to end. If ending the war involved become a Belarus like client state for Russia then I’d wager most would say keep fighting, especially while there’s a realistic chance of liberating a large portion of their territory
It should end by peace negotiations initiated through the United Nations and legally binding, taking into account the interests of the different nationalities on the fringes of Ukraine’s fluid borders and Russian security.
“legally binding” – Like the Budapest Memorandum – also filed at the UN? Every country feels free to ignore things it has agreed to – the only question is how often they do so; some do it more often than others.
Russia ignored the last treaty they signed with Ukraine so why should the Ukrainians trust them to uphold the next one? They’ll want a more cast iron security guarantee than the UN and Russias word to abide by it
“legally binding” – Like the Budapest Memorandum – also filed at the UN? Every country feels free to ignore things it has agreed to – the only question is how often they do so; some do it more often than others.
Russia ignored the last treaty they signed with Ukraine so why should the Ukrainians trust them to uphold the next one? They’ll want a more cast iron security guarantee than the UN and Russias word to abide by it
It should end by peace negotiations initiated through the United Nations and legally binding, taking into account the interests of the different nationalities on the fringes of Ukraine’s fluid borders and Russian security.
I’m sure every Ukrainian wants the war to end, however it’s a pointless question without stating how they want the war to end. If ending the war involved become a Belarus like client state for Russia then I’d wager most would say keep fighting, especially while there’s a realistic chance of liberating a large portion of their territory
The Ukrainian government wants more US military hardware to continue the destruction of their country but I wonder what the majority of Ukrainian citizens think. The last poll was taken many months ago – it showed 30% backed government policy; 30% were against; and 40% just wanted the war to end. Remember that Ukraine is made up of many different nationalities from surrounding countries, (including Russia).
We know that the Ukrainian army conducted vicious retaliation (and killed Russian prisoners) in areas they won back because a British journalist told us this, so it could be that members of the army (and possibly the Zelensky government) could face war crimes when the war ends.
This could be a reason for the continuation of the war and should not be ignored…