Russia invades Ukraine

This putin has addressed russain media saying any attempt by the west to stop this special mission in ukraine will be met by consequences the world has never seen before.

 

No boris fan but what are people wanting? I doubt any sanctions will bother him. Europe needs russia more than it needs us.

 

Even if Putin was bluffing and the other leaders knew it to be true, there's clearly no military or public will to escalate this any further as it would undoubtedly mean inflaming the situation beyond all recognition.

That's all good in middle Eastern countries, but not on your own doorstep.

 

To be fair, I don’t know who the baddies are anymore.

 

This is long, and took some time . Some will disagree but should think first.

Disastrous morning. Horrific and unthinkable. Putin is a thug, an imperialist and a stain on human progress, as are all those who support him, including in the West. Really not remotely interested in hearing any excuses about ratcheting up sanctions. The worst has happened. The Kremlin's network of oligarchs must be wrenched from London. Russia should be pushed out of the Swift payment system. Major structural Russian firms like Gazprom should not be allowed to enjoy secondary listing on the London stock exchange. Companies like Shell and BP should be forced to leave Russia. The West should be flooding Ukraine with weapons. We might not be willing to send troops. But they are a free people fighting an oppressive state. They must have everything they need to be able to do so, especially if Putin tries to install a puppet government.

And the West should prepare the ground for a debate now on refugees. And from the UK none of the weasel words. None of the small-minded tiny-hearted ********. Chances are we will soon be having to accept many Ukrainian refugees. We should do so gladly, enthusiastically and proudly.

Statement from EU already come out. Statement from UK Government shortly. Don't know about US yet. Looks like there will be more ‘sanctions’ then, but this time we will really, really mean it. ‘Sanctions’ are how we pretend to ourselves that we are not politically impotent. To cloak the hard stark truth that short of a military (mis)adventure there is nothing we can do directly (Defence Secretary quoting the Scots Guards in the Crimea ffs). We can help indirectly by giving Ukraine what it asks for, from arms to humanitarian help. In practice, ‘sanctions’ are mere pebbles and boulders being placed against the flow of Russian money. The river just finds its way round such impediments. Such impediments have to be worth placing there anyway, but nobody should hold the illusion that they will work more generally.

But lets be honest, our so called leaders, and the "great and the good" don't give a f***. In 2018 Rees-Mogg had £44.5m in Sberbank, then 23 days ago he sold it all. Did anyone else, with shares in Russian banks, get the national security briefings on Ukraine before the UK sanctions?

Gen. Sir Richard Sherriff, former NATO dep supreme commander was just on BBC Radio 4. Said UK should send more troops to Eastern Europe. But in an uncomfortable reminder of Tory military cuts: “I’m afraid the cupboard is pretty bare after the cumulative defence cuts of the last decade plus”

Can you tell I am angry, horrified, despairing, worried and depressed yet ? But I keep hoping, somewhat naively, that more unites us than divides us - we are all human and this should count for something, and enable something to be done.

 

I'm not so sure, I was listening to a senior Lithuanian last night, they're clearly worried that if Putin gets away with this that the Baltic Republics will be next.
It's the worst news I've heard in 50 years, I've never woken up to news that's worried me for the safety of the world more than this... God knows what's going to happen now... it's a good job that Trump isn't in charge in the US, a pity though that its not someone who is more capable the Biden appears to be.

 

Agree If it was happening in the middle east we would be straight in with America throwing our weight about.

 

All the Baltics and Finland will be more than a little concerned. Putin's rambling speech made clear he considers these areas part of Russia.

 

That's a very good post and pretty much sums up my feelings.

I feel pretty low about humanity and governments at this point, probably moreso since the shambles of COP and now Putin has chosen such a moment for a wanton attack on a sovereign country based on an epic lie.

The west has been woeful. The UK, the worst of them all, but a government funded and supported by Russian money and influence.

It's a really dark day, and I fear it's going to get darker.

My concern is that Ukraine is only the start. My concern is that Putin is playing a game the West have forgotten and as such will be slow to deploy and potentially impotent in its result. My concern is that technology now allows great devastation on lives just from button clicks.

To think we are safe on our little island is a comfort we shouldn't hold too tightly.

 

There's a museum in Gdansk that has a huge wall with a backlit image of Europe. It rolls through time and shows the changing boundaries and power shifts as Nazi Germany expanded its reach firstly, but then as the iron curtain came down, how the soviet state accounted for a huge amount of land of states we now see as European and sovereign. When you look now compared to those times, you see how Europe has expanded and how many independent countries could be in the sights of Putin.

 

And, quelle surprise, that haunted pencil Rees-Mogg removed over £44M of personal assets from one of those very banks 23 days ago! Who knew?!

* Apologies, Langer Dan, I hadn't read your excellent post above.

 

I agree with everything you've said there LD.
Just to add to that, on the subject of military cuts, UK and France have always maintained the agreed 2% of GDP to Nato, as have many of the smaller nations, Germany however has freeloaded for years, the richest country in Europe has sat by and let others do the spending. I understand the awkward situation they are in historically but underspending on defence for so long should make some German politicians take a long hard look in the mirror.

 

I'm sure it will be headline news on the BBC and the Met Police will be sending him a questionnaire about it any minute now.......

 

Outstanding post. I've spent a bit of time in Russia over the last few years. Not just Moscow and StP, all over the bloody place and it's such an amazing country. The people are little different to us and it's inconceivable they would want what's happening this morning.

 

Surely, "dangling corrected" would be more appropriate?

 

The key in all of this will be China. Will the Chinese put all of their eggs in Putin's basket in an effort to regain Taiwan, at the potential cost of cutting off their consumer base? They support North Korea so they've history of being aligned to pariah states, but is it worth standing by Russia if major sanctions are applied? This could potentially be a Suez moment for Russia, if they're told to get into line by China can they continue to attack?

 

I read this morning that a China official essentially said there had been no invasion. Yet appealed for diplomacy. I suspect they will continue to pander to both sides of the fence.

 

Beat me to it with that one!