Rod Liddle on how this all could have been avoided.

People far too easily forget the past and go with the bought and sold media's summaries....the majority of which is written by hacks.

Just remember how highly paid the elites are who...if it's indeed deliberate....manage to f*** up the lives of hundreds of millions of people....at best it's sheer incompetence.

[Link]

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Not really sure at all. Suspect a lot more sabre rattling and all this sanctions baloney but Russia is largely immune to that. Or more than willing to bite the bullet. The sheer scale of not only their foreign currency reserves but also gold and so on, is hard to comprehend. They can ride this all out with ease

And people will be paying silly money for their gas.

The bit I truly don't get is why the West has pushed Russia in the way that it has. Russia is no real threat to anybody outside of these minor, very localised, issues involving primarily Russian speakers. China is the real threat, a genuine civilisational enemy and absolutely superb at playing the long game. Just look how much money they have been pumping into the Labour party along with MI5 going public about a specific lady who they name as being part of the Chinese intelligence community and her CLOSE links to Barry Gardiner (I believe her son was even his PA). Yet all the West seem to be doing is pushing Russia and China closer together. And if they do ever decide on a formal alliance (unlikely but not beyond the realms), then the West has a genuine threat to counter.

As I have said, and no doubt bored people stupid with, but the Ukrainian government is just rotten. Utterly corrupt. And is immersed with the Biden family. That for me is the key to understanding all of this. Bidens son. The conduit.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

Excellent post.

There is a fundamental problem with our elites and it goes back a long way.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Crypto-communists like Steeleye bang on about 'illegal wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan and want Blair and Bush tried as war criminals. Then when Putin starts an illegal war in Ukraine they praise him and concoct every excuse they can think of to justify his actions while blaming the West. They are beneath contempt.

Edited by georgenorman (22 Feb 2022 9.25pm)

mmmm - not really sure about this.

The issue with Putin is that he has no ideology, no real political heritage and is therefore very unpredictable and hard to strategise against. He is basically a KGB stooge turned president.

He’s also not doing terribly well at ‘home’ contrary to your assertion - a little bit of warmongering always helps solidify national pride. Straight out of the communist playbook.

I feel you are more right in saying he’s doing what he wants to do more than other nations, although who knows what influence China has over him these days. Best for Putin. Not best for Russia.

Personally I don’t see how this gets resolved. The west don’t want to lose control of Ukraine as it’s a strategic buffer, and also they’ll look weak if it falls, massive win for Putin both geographically and geopolitically. Putin doesn’t want to back down for similar reasons, he also doesn’t want NATO potentially expanding further into another nation that borders his country. Plus it makes him look weak if he concedes. Both of those reasonings are understandable, frankly.

The more this continues the more entrenched both sides become because of both sides cause and effect decisions to escalate. Can’t see any way this doesn’t play out with Russia occupying Ukraine entirely and the west slapping sanctions. Also - this whole topic is hardly new, it’s been kicking around between the west and Russia for years and years. It was always going to erupt at some point.

To answer the OP this creates a long term problem that very much will affect the average joe, for at a minimum the next decade or so. The butterfly effect of long-standing severe sanctions and Ukrainian occupation / absorption into Russia has massive implications for the foreseeable.

Edited by SW19 CPFC (23 Feb 2022 12.16am)

Edited by SW19 CPFC (23 Feb 2022 12.19am)

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

To me it appears this whole process has been extremely well scripted by the Russian Government. It will annex parts of Ukraine that naturally align to Russia, which also have some good natural resources. The West is being trained to be relieved when the rest of Ukraine is not invaded. So it will accept the annexation as it did with Crimea (which is 65% ethnic Russian and 15% Ukrainian).