Which country’s army would you select not to escalate the situation further?
Remember that the UN doesn’t any forces of its own.
Oh the antivax peace convoy should do, don’t you think? Crystals and tambourines at the ready.
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You’re getting mixed up with Hare Krishna, Vero!
Tom Tugendhat (who I quite like) suggests on the W@1 that Putin’s wealth hoarded in the UK should be on the front page of every newspaper to highlight to the Russian people he has “raped and pillaged” them. While true, I suspect the Russian authorities probably have quite a bit of dirt on the Tories and their supporters too. So, I don’t see that tactic being adopted very soon 
He moved his luxury ‘yacht’, more like a small liner from a German port last week.
That should have been a fair indicator of his intentions. He wouldn’t want it impounding by the Germans.
Germany has announced that it will not proceed with Nordstream 2.
These dictators become more and more distanced from reality the longer they have been in power and when the sanctions really hurt the ordinary citizens of Russia, he will have a huge problem on his hands.
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I’m sure knowing that the crimes/mistakes of the United States and other western nations invalidated their attempts to prevent Russia invading Ukraine will be enormously comforting to the widows of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, killed in the invasion.
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Excellent article Nigel. We are where we are but it’s not only the lunatic in Moscow that got us here. There have been equally mad individuals in Washington.
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Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what these ‘attempts’ were?
For avoidance of doubt, neither my post / reference to the MSNBC article or I suspect the article itself was for the purposes of ‘bringing comfort’.
I don’t really know how to respond to that comment? It is not that the crimes/mistakes of the United States and other western nations has invalidated their attempts, it is that the the crimes/mistakes of the United States and other western nations, to a large extent, has brought us here. I think it is important to recognise that as the jingoistic bullshit escalates on both sides.
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Poor Johnson, he’s the most consistent, inadvertent liar I have ever come across.
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That’s just making excuses for Putin, he wasn’t forced or provoked into putting the Russian army in Ukraine, that was his intention all along. The demands he made were never ever going to be met which he well knew so he just thought ***k it, let’s see what the world does now.
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While I cannot argue against the west being partly responsible for the present situation, the feeling that I get from reading here - and forgive me if this is a wrong impression - is that there is pleasure being taken in pointing out the failings of the west. And - perhaps my understanding is wrong here too - there have been sanctions made against individuals and institutions, there have been negotiations, there have been threats and there have been meetings, there is a cancelled gas pipeline, all in the name of trying to prevent this happening.
Apparently there is more that could be done. I very sincerely hope it IS done.
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IMO, what the ‘West’ should have done was to give an assurance that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO .
But he wants that and so much more, he’s trying to turn the clock back to 1997 when the geographical limit of NATO was further west.
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We cannot be certain of that - yet.
If assurances re NATO had been given at the very least it would have removed one (major) reason for the invasion.
Don’t you think it is more about Ukraine not being allowed to develop into a wealthy modern state echoing west European countries’ prosperity and quality of life? Putin does not want Russians comparing life in Russia to something looking a lot better next door.
Really, so it’s all the West’s fault and that much missunderstood, maligned, little old pussycat that is Putin has been forced into invading other countries by the West… Or is it that the megalomaniac, murdering twat that Putin is does not need any excuse, he will do what he wants, when he wants to get his egotistical vision of the reinstatement of his vision of the old USSR, he will kill, or conquer anyone who gets in his way as he is an out and out dangerous nutter who happens to be in charge of one of the world super powers.
Did you actually listen to his speech the other night John, it was a rant of a seriously disturbed man.
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