Putin is paving the way to using chemical or biological weapons on Ukraine. He says that Ukraine is already stockpiling chemical weapons to use against his liberating forces. In a way he is justified in claiming this. The Ukrainian resistance has been teaching people how to make Molotov Cocktails from petrol and polystyrene granules and then storing them for future use. What are they if not chemical weapons? What they are not though, are weapons of mass destruction like the ones he has been stockpiling.
I am not a historian, but I do know that 20 - 27 million Russians were killed in WW2 in defence of Europe against the Nazis. During the final stages of the war and the advance on Berlin, the Americans delayed supply of petrol to the British troops so that they could get there first. Once there, Berlin and Germany was carved-up between the Soviets and the Americans and soon after the wall was built with a heavily defended corridor from West to East. The Cold War went on for years and was perpetuated by the West's deep dread of Communism in any form. Stalin was not a Communist, he was another despot.
Whether we like it of not, Putin has a point when he says that Russia is being hemmed-in by NATO, but paranoid despots are not very good at peaceful negotiation. Putin has gone so far down this road now that even a sane president would have an almost impossible job to back off for the sake of humanity.
This war is going on to the bitter end and, no matter what the outcome, the end will be bitter for all of us.
It is difficult to concentrate on normal life right now, isn't it?
There are bio labs on developing pathogens for warfare funded by the US in Ukraine. They were not secured before Russian invasion. US funds these since 2010. I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, the US funded bio labs in the Ukraine have the same function as Porton Down does here - in other words it could go either way. You have to be able to create pathogens in order to counteract the effects of biological warfare. Every advanced country does so, but the facilities are obviously easily abused. I am told that the facilities in the Ukraine have been recently doing research into the Corona virus, but why would that be funded by the US?
DeleteI don't see it ending for some weeks minimum. It reinforces my possibly prejudiced view that the longer an individual is in power, the less sane they become. On the point in the penult. parag., Peter Hitchens is interesting, but I don't know how much credence to give him. I don't know what to believe at all as regards whether or how it could have been prevented.
ReplyDeleteI don't anyone could know without the benefit of hindsight, but we have spent the last 75 years alienating Russia.
DeleteIt has been known that Putin wanted Ukraine back almost since the day he took office in the early 1990s. How to stop him was early admission to EU and Nato perhaps. As Ukraine became more stable Putin knew that time was running out.
ReplyDeleteYes. I don't think we could ever have been one happy family, but at least we would all be governed by the same code of conduct. You can take the man out of the KGB, but...
DeleteI meant EU and Nato membership for Ukraine in case I confused you.
DeleteOh I see.
DeleteMy comment then makes sense. If Ukraine in EU and Nato and stable it would have been much more difficult for Putin to carry out invasion. The water was lapping at his feet.
DeleteAnd WW3 would have been guaranteed.
DeleteWhatever the history or the reasoning, the people of Ukraine do not deserve this. Killing frightened families fleeing their homes with as many belongings as they can carry or shelling hospitals is obscenely wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't think the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima deserved what they got either.
Delete"It is difficult to concentrate on normal life right now, isn't it?" Yes. but we have to hope it will not get as awful as we all contemplate. The four horses of the Apocalypse are straining at the rein, let us hope that there is a steady hand somewhere.
ReplyDeleteSee Weave’s comment below.
DeleteWilliam Hague wrote an interesting article in The Times suggesting that steady hand probably belonged to President Xi.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Chinese think about 800 years ahead.
DeleteAnd then you go a little further back to Stalin and the Holodomor.
ReplyDeleteJust why have they had it in for Ukraine for so long?
I have heard that, historically, Ukrainians also have been far from squeaky clean in the 20th century, but we have to deal with modern times in the 21st. The Serbs get all the bad press these days, but I have seen photos of Croatian atrocities from previous times. We - the English - treated the Scots and Irish horribly, but we have to make reparations and move on. There will come a time for reconciliation, but it is not now.
DeleteIt's a global world today. Each and every move is or should be calculated carefully. Among other things, NATO and EU alliances help protect countries from aggressors (e.g., P). Ukraine has been positioning themselves for joining NATO. My guess is, P would like nothing better than to break up NATO.
ReplyDeleteThere are disadvantages to a global community as well as financial benefits. I know this is obvious, but it will become more obvious in the future.
DeleteEvery day 10.000 (and more) refugees are coming to Berlin - ten thousand and more. Every day. I cannot abstract from the fate of these poor people.
ReplyDeleteI have heard about how welcoming Germany has been.
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