POLITICS CORNER

[Tizer]

As I write this Joe Biden is about to announce (15.45 GMT) a ban on Russian oil imports. He's making the move unilaterally, without his European allies, because we are much more dependent on Russian gas and oil for energy needs. This is going to be interesting because Putin has earlier warned Russia may close its main gas pipeline to Germany if the West bans Russian oil. Although only 8% of US oil and refined product imports come from Russia they're still about 20 million barrels a month. Senior Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed yesterday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. Now we wait to see how Putin reacts.

Meanwhile Shell has apologised for its purchase of cheap Russian crude oil at the weekend and has pledged to stop buying oil from Russia. It will close all its service stations in the country and stop all current work there.

[plaques]

Are you proud of UK's effort to apply sanctions. Boris makes a big play that we have over 300 sanctions. but the truth is that many like other countries they were being applied before the trouble broke out. Since Feb 22, 2022, Our efforts have been abysmal when compared to others. Like most of the hot air that Boris offers up as God given facts there is no framework reference to his numbers. Time scales mean nothing neither do previous promises offered up as new initiatives. The man's a rogue leading a bunch of right-wing Tory scoundrels.

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Sanctions Comparason. .jpg

[Stanley]

I can remember when lying to Parliament was automatically followed by expulsion. I never thought I'd see the day when it didn't apply. Are we sure that we still live in a democracy?

[Tizer]

The offer by Poland to send their MIG-29 fighters to Ramstein air base for passing on to Ukraine (whose pilots are only trained for them) has been vetoed by Joe Biden because it might draw Nato into the conflict. But this is reported on the BBC : Military analyst Col Brendan Kearney told the BBC he was "perplexed with the approach the Poles are taking". He said "the Ukrainian pilots could literally walk across the border into Poland and fly them back into Ukraine", which "seems like a much easier, much smarter move. The long-term ultimate goal of getting additional MIG-29s into Ukrainian hands is a noble one, it's a good one, but we've got to have people sitting down who know what they're talking about and coming up with a plan that is executable."

The Ukrainians argue that we are already in World War 3 so why don't we take more action against Russia. I can understand why they say that. Over the years we've let Putin get away with everything from mass extermination of civilians, as in Syria, to assassinations in other countries, as in Salisbury. Now we're letting him get away with killing civilians, destroying hospitals and schools, attacking nuclear power stations and generally eliminating the Ukrainians from their own country. It could be Moldova next - it too is not a member of Nato. It's time we faced up to Putin because he's only going to get worse and more unpredictable as time goes by.

[PanBiker]

He said "the Ukrainian pilots could literally walk across the border into Poland and fly them back into Ukraine", which "seems like a much easier, much smarter move. The long-term ultimate goal of getting additional MIG-29s into Ukrainian hands is a noble one, it's a good one, but we've got to have people sitting down who know what they're talking about and coming up with a plan that is executable."

Good idea, the Poles could then report them as stolen so not their fault that they are over in Ukraine. Can't go to retrieve them as it would be a violation by a Nato country.

[Tripps]

the Poles could then report them as stolen

Report to whom? If our Police - they'd probably just get given a 'crime number' and told to claim on their insurance.

[Tizer]

Reports coming out that big Mariupol hospital has been hit by a Russian strike and people including children are being pulled out from under the rubble. I've just watched a brief video showing the buildings, all the windows blown out and wreckage across the surrounding grounds. Also, from BBC News: President Zelensky has tweeted footage from the incident - which he described as a "direct strike" - it shows destroyed rooms along a corridor in the building. "People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?" he says.

The head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote that Russia has "not only crossed the border of unacceptable relations between states and peoples. You have crossed the line of humanity. Stop calling yourselves human beings."

We're hearing a lot about the current situation but the West's leaders need also to look to the future. If Putin remains in power in Russia we'll only see more of the same. And how will we ever deal with climate change, pandemics and world famine. Russia has large reserves, not only of oil and gas but of all the minerals that we need for our modern world and vast amounts of essential food crops. We need to face up to Putin now and displace him. It's not just a matter of saving Ukraine now, it's saving the free world and helping Russia to join that free world.

[PanBiker]

I reckon if Putin gets to Odessa he won't stop there. He will probably go for the next non NATO country which is Moldova, easy pickings right next door as its considerably smaller than his current target.

I saw a guy on the news who had travelled over to Poland with humanitarian aid from the British people. He went through Germany and said that he is ashamed to be British when he saw the hundreds of German citizens holding placards up offering free accommodation to refugees in their own homes. "large room will sleep four", "can take a mother and two children"......

The whole of the EU has suspended VISA requirements for refugees for three years, why can't we do the same. Give them passage and sort the paperwork out after. Makes me really angry at the mean attitude of this bloody government. Priti Patel the daughter of immigrants herself should resign over her lying to parliament about her surge of help to Calais. She wont because she has no conscience or empathy for anyone, a proper nasty piece of work.

[Stanley]

I can do nothing but agree with you about Patel Ian. She is a disgrace and should be sacked. Johnson's bad judgement again, he should have sacked her over the bullying. We have a corrupt and heartless government, before we start on Russia we should get rid of this lot!

[plaques]

Mushroom management that beats any Kafkaesque nightmare.

From Sky news.
A visa centre being set up in northern France to assist Ukrainian refugees will not offer appointments or walk-in access, and its exact location will not be made public, the Home Office has confirmed.

Boris is also trying to deflect his abysmal performance on Ukrainian refugees by quoting historical figures that are only true if you carefully select partial parameters out of a general poor performance. What matters is what we are doing now. He only moves from this disastrous ideological hard border xenophobia when public opinion reaches such a pitch it may be costing him votes and even then the promises he makes are ignored or watered down.

Notice how everything is qualified with the words 'Red Tape'. A subliminal reference to the extra paper work which we imposed on ourselves by Brexit. All this Red Tape is the EUs fault. Therefore by default anything with Red Tape in the headlines is someone's else's fault even when we impose it on ourselves and nobody else does.

[Stanley]

Just to add fuel to your flames Ken.... Did you hear that Quasi Kwarteng has said that people will not complain about the extra expense and inflation caused by Putin's attack on the Ukraine, they will regard it as solidarity with the Ukrainian people (or words to that effect).
Which planet is he living on? These people are so insulated in the Westminster Bubble that they have lost all feeling for real life.

[Tizer]

Did you hear Martin Lewis, he of MoneySavingsExpert.com, on Today slamming the government for pretending that the price rises and austerity are due to the Ukraine war, and not admitting they were already the situation before the war?

I see that Russia has now admitted to using a thermobaric weapon (`vacuum bomb) in an attack in Ukraine and the US says they believe Russia is also planning to use chemical weapons. And guess what, the Russians (Sergei `Liar' Lavrov) now claims the Americans are sending chemical weapons to Ukraine. Someone on the radio this morning mentioned `crossing a red line' but we've allowed Putin to cross a series of `red lines' without stopping him. There will come a point where he'll threaten to use nuclear battlefield weapons - will we let him cross that red line?

[Stanley]

The subliminal message behind Kwarteng's stupid statement was that the inflation was due to the Ukraine war. It was coming anyway due to Brexit and flawed government policies. Lewis is right.

[Tizer]

There's an interesting bit on the front page of the Telegraph this morning...
`Russian state television goes off message by broadcasting criticism of war: Normally a loyal source of pro-Kremlin propaganda, Russia 1 broadcasts guests describing the invasion as like ‘Afghanistan, but even worse’ Telegraph
`Russian state television has broadcast calls for Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, to stop his war in Ukraine during a programme in which pundits openly likened the invasion to "Afghanistan, but even worse"....'
I can't access any more of the web article, it's behind a paywall but anyone can see it if they go to the BBC Front Pages for today's papers here: BBC news front pages for today, 11/03/22 Scroll down to the Telegraph then zoom to read it.

[Stanley]

I heard a report about it on R4 yesterday.
It strikes me that one of the problems about war reporting is that people home-in on what they want to believe and the media know this. In today's competitive climate there is always temptation to report on the 'good' news.
See THIS for an imaginative way to use the power of the web.....

[Wendyf]

The new Time Time kicks off over 3 days next weekend on YouTube, it looks good!

[Stanley]

What is it?

[plaques]

I've a lot of sympathy for the ordinary Russian people. In WW2 without them its doubtful if WE would have won. Since then they have had to suffer Stalin's dictatorship and with the exception of a brief period of Mikhail Gorbachev they slipped back under Putin's dictatorship. With absolute control of the state media and wall to wall propaganda not to mention that the West casts them as villains at every opportunity its not surprising that they still back Putin.
A similar propaganda war is taking place in the UK. The extreme right-wing press (Typically the Express) is the main source of information coupled with downright lies from Boris Johnson and his totally inept Cabinet making any informed judgement impossible.
Peter Stefanovic has been doing short videos on YouTube for some time now but his latest compilation has gone viral. see this on GMB.

[Stanley]

Absolutely right Ken. I have said for years that it was the Russians who broke Germany in WW2 and they never got the credit for it or their total casualties which were getting on for 38 million (nobody knows the actual number, sufficient to say it was as much as all the other Allies put together.) America needed a new enemy for their people to focus on and leave their war savings in the Treasury so they made the choice of Communism. That had repercussions for Russia, China and of course Korea and Vietnam. Remember Kissinger and his 'Domino Theory' based diplomatic tours? We forget decisions like 'Bomb them back into the Stone Age' Nixon and Kissinger sitting down and agreeing to bomb Cambodia which was totally illegal.
All this has been documented by historians if we take the trouble to seek it out but unfortunately that's too onerous for Joe Public so he blows off what he has heard the politicians say, the worst possible source!
(I recently lent Ken two books on Russia which tell the truth. 1500 pages, far too much for most people to take in or even attempt!)

[plaques]

(I recently lent Ken two books on Russia which tell the truth. 1500 pages, far too much for most people to take in or even attempt!)

Stanley, You will be please to note that I've made a start on the first book. (900 pages) Very descriptive styled like Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' and a combination of Stalingrad. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

[Tizer]

We're probably reaching a critical point now in the Ukraine war. The Russians have bombarded the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security with 30 rockets in the city of Yavoriv, 6 miles from the Polish border. At present there are 9 dead and 57 injured. The centre operates the EU Partnership for Peace, a programme intended to enhance co-operation between Nato members and non-members and there are often American and European troops there for joint training. PfP So now Russia has attacked an EU funded establishment and may have killed or wounded EU personnel and destroyed EU-funded infrastructure.

Also, Russian artillery has attacked a railway train that was on its way to collect refugees and one of the Ukraine cities is now described as completely obliterated. Clearer skies have allowed collection of more satellite images. Even Belarus, Russia's ally, is concerned because it's now thought that Putin will carry out a false flag attack on Chernobyl to make it look like the Ukrainians have attacked and caused a release of radioactive material. Chernobyl is on the Ukraine-Belarus border.

Unless Russians themselves depose Putin Nato will end up having to help Ukraine. But we might have to do that to motivate the Russians to oust him. Catch 22. If we don't do anything then we can expect Putin to push further west. Moldova, on Ukraine's western border, has already applied to join Nato because it sees Russian forces starting to move down the western Ukraine border to meet up with it's troops from the south.

[Stanley]

They are good Ken and you can trust him implicitly to tell the truth.

[plaques]

Those familiar with Complex numbers will know the trick is to transfer a catch 22 answer into a symbol ( I, or J ). Ukraine could transfer its borders to be under the temporary ownership of the EU and give them legitimacy for troops, no fly zone etc. If the rules don't suit.. change the rules.

[Stanley]

That completely baffled me Ken. It is evident that some areas of my education are deficient!

[plaques]

I was thinking in the terms of 'Hong Kong'. The treaty on Nanking, During this time we could defend it against our enemy invaders. Why not Ukraine?