All I can say is…

Perry de Havilland (Prague) · International affairs · North American affairs · Russia · Ukraine

February 25th, 2025 |

4 comments to All I can say is…

• Paul Marks

  February 25, 2025 at 10:24 am

  President Reagan did not tend to curse – he had a mid West childhood with a leftist father (who was also an alcoholic and a New Deal WPA, Works Projects Administration, activist), and a religious conservative mother. Having to drag (literally) his drunk father home from bars (where the father spent the taxpayer money he was given) may have influenced the beliefs (for example, he choose to be a Protestant like his mother – not a Catholic like his father) and politics of Ronald Reagan – but he did vote for Franklin Roosevelt four times. He never used bad language about his father, indeed he hardly ever used bad language about anyone. Donald Trump’s brother was an alcoholic – he seems to have had a similar attitude towards him as Ronald Reagan had about his father, compassion but also a determination not-to-be-like-him (more extreme in the case of Donald Trump – he does not drink at all).

  One horrible fact – Ronald Reagan watched both his mother and his elder brother die of alzheimers – so when he got this disease, he knew exactly what would eventually happen to him.

  As for Ukraine – Ronald Reagan was born in 1911, the Ukraine at that time was part of the Russian Empire, as it had been for centuries (the Russians had defeated the Ottoman Empire – and the Poles and Swedes), indeed such cities as Odessa had been created by Russians and were, at-that-time, overwhelmingly Russian.

  It is true that some Ukrainians (most likely a small minority in 1911) maintained that Ukraine should be an independent country. This idea had even been used as a legal defense when some Ukrainians had sided with the Swedes under Peter the Great in the early 1700s (“we are not traitors to Russia – because we are NOT Russian”) – the (Russian) courts rejected the defense and hanged (as traitors) those Ukrainians who had taken up arms with the Swedish King Charles.

  The British government did a similar thing to William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”) who was hanged for treason to the United Kingdom (he broadcast for the Germans during World War II) – in spite of his legal defense that was not British (that he was Irish) and, therefore, could not be guilty of treason to Britain. The, British, courts ruled that he was British – and, therefore, had committed treason, because he was born when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom.

  President Zelensky was born when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and is a native Russian speaker (Ukrainian is his second language) – I can well understand why he does not want to face “justice” (so called justice) in a Russian court.

  But the world changes – what would have seemed bizarre in 1911 (or even in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was President) and was NOT a war aim of the British government during the Crimean War (contrary to what is now claimed – there was no aim to “liberate Kiev from the Russians” in the 1850s – or later, as the British and French, at-that-time, considered Kiev, let alone Crimea – which had never been Ukrainian, to be part of Russia) is now a reality – and has to be accepted.

  Perhaps because of the savage treatment Ukrainians received under the Marxist Soviet Union, when many MILLIONS of Ukrainians were slaughtered (and it was NOT just under Stalin – it started under Lenin), the idea of union with Russia is a non-starter now.

  Mr Putin was born in 1952 – for the first 30 years of his life Ukraine was part of his country – different yes, but not more so than Wales is from England, he can not seem to find the mental flexibility to accept that Ukraine is no longer part of his country, and-never-will-be again.

  If Mr Putin can not accept that Ukraine is now an independent country, real independence not nominal independence, then he will have to be replaced by a younger generation of leadership in Russia who can accept the world as it now is.

  Kiev will NEVER be part of Russia again. And Mr Putin’s savage invasion, and three years of savage war, means that some areas of Ukraine that were pro union with Russia a few years ago – will NEVER be part of Russia again.

  I remember listening to a man, a native Russian speaker – he could not even speak Ukrainian as a second language, saying he had always been confused as to whether he was Russian or Ukrainian – but then Mr Putin destroyed his home town, and that had decided him.

  He, the man, decided that he was Ukrainian.

  There are many men and women like him.

• Paul Marks

  February 25, 2025 at 10:34 am

  Destroy the towns and cities of people and they do NOT want to be part of your country – even if they were open to that idea before you acted like a savage criminal.

  This Mr Putin needs to understand – or, if he refuses to understand, he needs to be replaced by a new Russian leadership who does understand.

  A new leadership is needed in Russia who will deal with the real threat to Russia, to the Russian people – that threat is not, and had never been, Ukrainians. The real threat to the Russian people (now depleted of hundreds of thousands of young men – whose lives have been thrown away by Mr Putin in his pointless vanity project war) – the real threat to the Russian people are the forces that Mr Putin has allied with – and which are now increasingly seen in Russia.

  Russians need to ask themselves – do you want Russian cities to end up like, for example, Birmingham in the United Kingdom? Do you want end up outnumbered in your cities and towns (towns as well – for it will not stop at the cities).

  If the answer is “no” – then the real threat to the Russian people, the policies of Mr Putin – and Mr Putin himself, need to be terminated.

• Paul Marks

  February 25, 2025 at 10:45 am

  As for Ukraine – the Ukrainians are, rightly, concentrating on the threat from Mr Putin.

  But that is not the only threat to Ukraine – to the Ukrainian people.

  The policy of the European Union, and the rest of the “international community”, is not to destroy nation-states such as Ukraine by bullets and bombs (like Mr Putin), but their policy is still to destroy Ukraine and all other Western nation-states – but by other means (as has been been increasingly obvious since the 1960s).

  Partly by promoting anti birth policies (and Mr Putin, and other Soviet types, have done the same thing – look at the abortion rate in Russia, and the policies that basically FORCE women to go out to work outside the home) – leading to demographic collapse, and (presented as the “answer” to demographic collapse) promoting mass migration from other parts of the world.

  Mr Putin is the obvious threat – in that he is a vicious criminal, but the “international community” (the E.U. and so on) may prove to be a deadly long term threat. Hopefully Ukrainians will reject Mr Putin – AND will reject the E.U., U.N., and the rest of the “international community” with its agenda of destroying Western nation states. The policy of destroying Western peoples – including the Ukrainians.

• Johnathan Pearce

  February 25, 2025 at 11:05 am

  Reagan would be looking in horror at some of the things said by the 47th POTUS, and in particular, the repeated smears against Zelensky. He’d have been unimpressed by all the rationalisations, the excuses, the BS about Trump playing “four-D chess”, and so on. Yes, he would have recognised that this war has to end, but he’d make the point that peace has to be attained by making everyone understand the costs of starting another war. And that emphatically means making it clear that the overwhelming moral blame for this lies in Moscow. For example, I can see Reagan agreeing with this New York Post editorial from Douglas Murray, who has been similarly robust in his views about Israel and Oct 7. https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/opinion/putin-is-the-dictator-and-10-ukraine-russia-war-truths-we-ignore-at-our-peril/

  It may be that a deal is struck that makes it clear to Putin, and the criminals and thugs in his regime, that what happened three years ago cannot be repeated. Trump might yet surprise us all. A problem, however, is that Putin is caught in a trap of his own creation: to be seen to back down without a “win” means he’s a dead man. There are plenty of hardliners in Russia who are even nastier than he is. That is why I think we have to pursue a containment policy now against Russia, and that obviously means big spending hikes on defence. (For those of us in the UK, I would focus on things like building more submarines, frigates, and anti-missile systems and also work on areas such as drone counter-measures, expanding reserves for all branches, more infantry, etc.)

  By the way, in talking to friends about this who have, alas, fallen for some Russian talking points, I was reminded of this important essay, out a few days ago, about the myths surrounding events in Ukraine a decade ago – specifically, the Maidan revolts and ouster of a president. It is a long(ish) read but worth it.

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