Ukraine

I can only speak from what I remember written on the wall in Folkestone where an under sea cable leaves England and crosses to France, and it appears to be a two way street if we have excess power and they want it we will help, and vice versa.
Now if only the French could manage to rustle up enough people to man 12 booths at Dover docks and get the traffic moving the old "on tont cordial"(spelling),might get going again.

 

Putin is doing exactly the same. He is not as isolated as our carefully curated news would suggest. Last I heard China and India had both refused to rule out trading with him, and he's just had a very successful meeting in Iran. Then there's still quite a few former Soviet states that aren't members of the EU or NATO that are on his side. Not least of course Belarus. And we're not hearing much in the news lately about the likes of North Korea, or Pakistan, the latter regularly pretending to be a western ally but not really showing it. I haven't heard much from Syria lately either. They owe Putin a favour.

 

Putin is not isolated by any means, only from the West.

 

An interesting summary of how the Russian economy is (or rather is not) dealing with sanctions.

Actually, the Russian Economy Is Imploding

It puts to bed all the common myths around high energy prices; selling gas to Asia; whether China fears loss of market access to US or Russia.

 

Looks like Putin is going to have to wait a little longer for his Iranian drones:

Israel launched a missile attack on a drone company in Iran, and also destroyed a warehouse with finished products.

 

Does a change of UK prime minister herald a change in stance on British support for Ukraine?

Since the invasion started, as far as the BBC was concerned the Ukrainians couldn't put a foot wrong.

Then today, there's this:

Ukraine orphanages: Children tied up and men in cots

 

Yes, very quick to point out that this is left over from the old days of Russian control.

Why has Ukraine done nothing about it was the question.

 

Indeed. Because the BBC is obligated to appear impartial. It's just a strange coincidence that no sooner Boris gets ousted, and we see a high profile story that might change the British public opinion of the Ukrainians.

It doesn't change the fact that they're currently the victims of the aggression of the more powerful neighbour. But I wonder if our ability to support Ukraine is diminished, and the government and BBC has decided it's time to prepare the public for withdrawing support.

 

I think this Ukraine war is going to rumble along for a long time.
Its already falling back in news reports as other stories come along, mostly like how much its going to cost the bloke in the street regarding energy bills.

Support will wain and the longer it goes on the less support there will be, it needs to be settled fast before the support does dwindle and Russia gets the upper hand.

I think you can put too much emphasis on Boris, he just does what the civil servants tell him, like all ministers do, dont think they told him to hold parties at no 10 though.

 

We have to support Ukraine for at least another year because of the Eurovision song contest.

 

Yale? What do they know? Putin reckons sanctions are having no impact - I mean he's set up a fake McDonalds to prove it....

Russia's economy has been "catastrophically crippled" by western sanctions and the mass exodus of international companies, according to a Yale University study.

The research -- which the authors say is the "first comprehensive" analysis of the Russian economy -- found that since the start of the Ukraine war, Russia has taken a devastating hit across multiple metrics.

 

Sanctions are definitely affecting Russia's economy. They're also affecting everyone else's economy too.

I'm not saying the sanctions are wrong. Just an objective observation.

It's time we opened up diplomatic channels with Russia. It's absolutely crazy, and extremely dangerous, that we're effectively isolating Russia.

How childish our government is. They see a fight. They respond by effectively raising a hand and saying 'tell it to the hand cos the face ain't listening'. I'm not suggesting in any way that we side with Putin. The opposite in fact. But we need to communicate. Even Thatcher and Reagan did better at managing the Russian threat, and I never thought I'd ever find myself sticking up for Thatcher.

 

It's not just us and our government, if it was I'd be very worried.
We make big noises but we don't have the clout it's mainly a NATO thing and I can see the Putin propaganda machine using that fact back home in Russia.
If we, NATO, react like this when a non NATO country is attacked and let's face it, he thinks Ukraine is and has been part if Russia, we must be hostile.

Not sure where this leaves us, pretty much up the creek without a paddle .

 

Apparently from a recent poll in Kyiv - 84% of those who responded would not give up any Ukrainian territory in return for cessation of hostilities.

Putin and those around him are liars. Any negotiations would be meaningless - Putin has shown us time and time again that he is not trustworthy.

In the end he will back down - because Ukraine are getting stronger and Russia are getting weaker (militarily).

I for one am quite happy to take an economic hit - if it means that tyrants like Putin will think twice about using force to impose their will on another nation.

He has to lose - this all boils down to a battle between good and evil.

 

He won't lose, he has to be allowed to save face.
I wonder what the Kiev poll would say if the west was not backing Ukraine .

I don't think good and evil comes into the real world,it's a case of the one with the biggest clout wins in most cases.
I can only see two ways out, a negotiated settlement or Putin gets overthrown.
I'm not betting on either.
A financial hit is all well and good for those that can afford it.
Especially after the recent financial hit of covid.
Putin's Russia may or may not be on it's knees, but i do wonder how far we are from that stage, it all has to be paid back one day.
And it probably won't be us oldies doing it.