My first thoughts were that the west should make it clear that even after the war has ended Russia will still be treated as pariahs, their services - internet , financial sanctions, paypal, McDonalds etc will remain in place until their country is just a shell. My second thoughts were that in this day and age and with the political systems we have running the western countries, all sanctions will be dropped and it will be business as usual before the last of the bodies are buried.
The images in the media today are truly horrific. Brutal. Evil. I've a deeper worry though. The Russian soldiers have pulled back from several areas and some of the analysis of commentators is that they are to refuel and resupply, buy time, support efforts in the South and so on. I don't think Putin would do that lightly unless there was another reason. I've a niggling concern that given the ever escalating rhetoric from Russia and them continuing to deny that Ukraine is even allowed to exist.... what if their failures and losses push them to make their words actions? To take away Ukraines right to exist by levelling as much of it as they can. If they are withdrawing from parts, could that mean a new phase could be upon us shortly? Long distance missiles with the only intent to destroy Ukraine and its population.
But are they on the dark side? In 1948 the Soviets published “The Falsifiers of History.” This is Stalin’s account of WW2 and it became the basis for all teachings about the period. Now if this becomes the history you’re taught at school, you can see why we end up where we are. Full text at: http://ucf.digital.flvc.org/islando..._Text_of_communique_issued_February__1948.pdf A few examples... Pre-war policy of Britain France (and America) “Far from intending to make any serious attempt from making Hitler Germany from starting the war, Britain and France on the contrary were doing everything in their power by means of secret deals and agreements, by means of every possible provocation to incite Hitler Germany against the Soviet Union.” Finland 1939 “There could hardly be any doubt that the leading circles of Finland were in league with the Hitlerites, that they wanted to turn Finland into the springboard for Hitler’s attack on the USSR.” ”By hostile actions and provocations on the Soviet Finnish border, Finland unleased the war on the Soviet Union” On the Soviet invasion of the Baltic states… “Only enemies of democracy or people who had lost their senses could describe those actions of the Soviet Government as aggression.” Well worth a read. Because word for word, it all sounds depressingly like what we're hearing today.
Yes, I’m assuming you’re referring to my first thoughts. But I did mean it as a threat to end hostilities rather than reparations after the event But you are right, the treatment of Germany after the First World War is accepted as a leading reason for the start of the Second World War .
The imagery has been sobering beyond words and shades of WW2... but in colour, not black and white. A few hours ago, a Ukranian minister was talking about what had occurred at Bucha, but gave an even darker warning.... that Mariupol is much worse.
It’s inevitable unfortunately. Mariupol has been besieged for weeks. Got to admire the people of these places for never giving up. Heroes the lot of them.
An entire family was found dead in Mykolayiv, signs that the three year old daughter was raped. These monsters need eradicating. We need to send whatever weapons the Ukrainians ask for.
I can believe that. I was reading an article about the last foreign journalists there before they had to leave and they were saying about how there’d been almost a media blackout due to conditions there and how the Ukrainian’s felt they had been forgotten about or abandoned as no-one knew what was happening to them. When people can’t see what is happening they can get away with anything.
Oh my days, that is such a hard watch. Just watched Ch4 news and to say it is bleak is a serious understatement. Hard to believe that this is happening in Europe in 2022. I can't see how this ends. And when it does, who the hell pays. Large parts of Ukraine will need completely rebuilding.
It will end when everyone is dead and everything is destroyed. The Russians will never leave. Ukraine, however long it takes, will not exist. To quote my old man. "They kill everyone. Because that's what they do."
Evil people who have caused nothing but misery in the Ukraine are being outed. It's a shame the European Union aren't doing enough to punish Russia. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...p-filling-Putins-war-chest-oil-gas-money.html
I don’t read Daily Mail links. As a newspaper their MO for decades has been to stoke division, propaganda and hate. I won’t take lessons on morality from them and their virtue signalling $hite. I struggle to accept that all of those 120,000 people are war criminals. Some may have carried out indefensible acts, however I also imagine many will be indoctrinated soldiers, brainwashed from childhood, following orders based on a lifetime of lies. Many will have been told they were on drills one day, then found themselves on the front line the next. Cannon fodder. Putin is the real evil here, make no mistake about it. Being indicted as a war criminal becomes very difficult, if you can say soldiers were acting independently.