Ukraine

[j.sabourn]

#12... To act as Macrons bodyguard when times get rough ???.
JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Russia is now one of the major oil exporters, kit went to $94 a barrel today, see the price of petrol climb.
Most of the pipelines for this run through Ukraine, somehow I cannot see USA or any others doing anything to damage this.
Putin, unlike Joe is wide awake and knows what he is up to.
Until the winter Olympics is over nothing will happen.
Russia and China together, no one will want conflict with them as a team.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I see Boris happily joshing with the troops he is sending to the EU, wonder if he will be doing that when they come home in coffins, like Maggie Thatcher hiding those troops crippled in the Falklands behind screens in the Cathedral.
Des

[John Pruden]

did we not learn anything over the past 20od years lets see what NATO and the UN do or say about it history is repeating itself but have we learned anything? jp

[j.sabourn]

I put a post up about the Ukraine first thing this morning , but seems to have disappeared , maybe it wasnt worded correct and been expunged ? however inferred according to the pundits it appears the Ukraine crisis will be solved very soon one way or another to the Russians satisfaction, Russia is not going to back down on this one. Any loss of face that has to be will not be by them. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

I see Boris happily joshing with the troops he is sending to the EU, wonder if he will be doing that when they come home in coffins, like Maggie Thatcher hiding those troops crippled in the Falklands behind screens in the Cathedral.
Des

Des, it is not often I take issue with you, but would you rather the Prime Minister ignore them, would you want to be in a position where-in you have to decide whether or not you send young people to war, it is one of those situations where you cannot sit back and do nothing, there are, and always have been countries willing to do this and still reap the benefits of other peoples sacrifices. Boris for all his failings, real and imagined, is not a warmonger, or at least I perceive him not to be, others may see it different. But I do feel it is doing him a disservice to intimate he will be joshing when troops come home in coffins. Alas casualties are a reality of war and we as a country have always been ready to defend the rights of others even at a cost to ourselves. All military personnel these days are volunteers and not conscripts and are well aware that their services may be called upon in wartime as well as peacetime and I doubt they would want it any other way. Our forbears went to sea in unarmed merchant vessels to keep this and other countries (including neutrals) supplied with essentials they needed to help prevent a dictator taking over, and I like to believe that spirit lives on. Putin like Hitler will use a near neighbour as a stepping stone to invade other smaller countries until he has a border that spreads from north to south like another invisible, but real, iron curtain. You can take a man out of the KGB but you cannot take the KGB out of the man, and Putin was a trained legal assassin with the mentality of such

[j.sabourn]

Do the UK have any military commitments with the Ukraine ? The only reason why Britain declared war on Nazi Germany was that it had commitments to Poland. The Ukraine was one of the satellites of Russia at one time and shares a common border , its declaration said that it doesn’t want them to join NATO and have nato troops on their doorstep is quite easy to understand if you had opposing views to other sections of the world . Putin is more than likely to be just as much loyal to Russia as the Lord Chamberlain is to England , at least we hope he is. We in the west don’t see mass emigration from Russia like other parts of the world , so there must be many satisfied customers still residing there. The uk is not the conscience of the world , and it’s own citizens and their welfare should be its first thoughts . To hell with other people’s morals . It’s just dressed up propaganda . Cheers JS
The UK the same as Australia have What today the modern term is Defence Forces and that’s what they should be used for Defence of the Realm and not fighting in foreign wars unless they have signed a treaty of mutual defence what is going to be the war cry when a few hundred British troops are lost in a war which has nothing to do with them. What did they die for ? Certainly not for Queen and country, at least not their own country. JS

[Keith Tindell]

Putin is constantly probing for any weakness, on a weekly basis we scramble aircraft to intercept Russian aircraft flying toward UK airspace. Its a constant cat and mouse, but cannot be left unchallenged. The EU is weak, and even more weak since we left, so its really just NATO, and lets be honest with ourselves, if ever the Yanks became weak or uninterested, we would all be in trouble with a guy like Putin knocking on the door. I have to give it to him, he plays some pretty smart, but dangerous moves, but each time he gets away with it, like he did in Syria, he becomes more bold. Thats just the way i see it, but what do i know in the grand scheme of things ?, kt

[j.sabourn]

Keith the Uk would cease to exist after the first 12 hours in any all out war with Russia. In 1962 it was estimated only two thirds , so I think today my personal estimates wouldn’t be too far out . JS.
Your cat and mouse was going well from 1979 to 1983 as have personal experience of that seawise off NW Scotland and was probably going well before my time and well after. I have no doubt that the same was practised against them also. JS

[vic mcclymont]

Its interesting Puttin has been rattling his sabre once more.
Two little items of news were sneaked out under the radar and the media ignored them.
!) China has reiterated its claim on Taiwan and will take steps in the near future to reclaim the Island.
2) China has publicly stated that it supports Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands.
Puttin wont step into Ukraine until the Winter Olympics' is over, he wont want to upset his Chinese partners.
Vic