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Samizdata quote of the day – priorities To all the people holding a vitriolic hated, anger & haranguing Zelenskyy,
Whom remain completely silent over Putin, as if he doesn’t exist – despite the fact that he’s the tyrant that started this invasion & could stop it whenever he wanted to – you’re a pro-Kremlin shill.
– Andreas Koureas
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Mr Koureas does not say who he talking about – and I can not think of anyone who has a vitriolic hatred of President Zelensky (his opponents tend think of him, rightly or WRONGLY, as a puppet of the “international community” – rather than have a vitriolic hatred of him) or has never mentioned President Putin – even his allies, China, Iran, and so on “mention” President Putin.
But it does not matter now – whatever the rights or wrongs of this matter may or may not be, the United Kingdom is now pledged to total support for Ukraine in the war with Russia. The die is cast – further discussion is now moot.
All we can do is pray for victory and hope the conflict does not escalate into a nuclear exchange.
Oh FFS Paul, haven’t you been on the internet lately?
lol what? Does Parliament or the House of Commons not have to vote on war with Russia for the UK and Russia to officially be in a state of war? Does the BBC now decide when UK is at war?
Can everyone relax a tiny bit please.
Z is a burned bridge. I don’t know anyone who hates him. I also know few who still respect him. For Ukraine’s sake, replace him and move on. Or lose.
I don’t know anyone who hates him. I also know few who still respect him. For Ukraine’s sake, replace him and move on. Or lose.
“Move on”.
I think Zelensky is highly likely to want to stand down at some stage, not because he is a liability to Ukraine – he isn’t – but because he looks exhausted. I would be. His steadiness under fire – literally – is something hardly anyone on this blog (apart from maybe a few who have been the armed forces) can easily comprehend. But I think if he is to show the world that all this BS about him being a “dictator” really is nonsense, then a handing over to a new political candidate would be a good thing. And reflect on the fact that Zelensky will need 24-hour security for the rest of his life as long as the Russian government is like it is. Even after Putin goes, either willingly or not (I expect he will be eventually killed), Z. is not going to be able to relax.
I watched part of the White House press conference again and there was a point where, in his meandering stream-of-consciousness style, Trump referred to how he had been persecuted like Putin, almost referring to the Russian dictator as a sort of kindred spirit. I mean, what the hell?
As I thought the other day, it would not be so bad if Trump was a consistent America-firster and an isolationist. While wrongheaded, there is a certain logic. But he’s not; in his transactional approach to politics, in which he treats public life as akin to being a golf course developer, he is at times happy to take the side, implicitly if not always explicitly, of a brute regime over a less brutal one. Now and then, his deal-making obsession produces a good result if the parties involved have a genuine reason to agree, such as the UAE and Israel. But this is hit and miss: There is no moral compass, whatever. In fact, I bet that Trump thinks that having a moral sense, secular or religious, is a sign of weakness, a sign of being a “loser”.
If he is to show the world that all this BS about him being a “dictator” really is nonsense, then all he has to do is unban the other political parties in Ukraine and hold free and fair elections.
FTFY
Z Suspended pro-Russian parties and declared martial law for the duration of combat. Given the circumstances of Ukraine’s fight for survival, and the realities of holding an election in a war, not very surprising. Oswald Mosley and others were confined during WW2.
Opposition parties continue to operate. And from my understanding, he’s not getting an easy ride.
https://kyivindependent.com/explainer-how-ukraines-political-opposition-has-responded-to-more-than-2-years-of-full-scale-invasion-and-martial-law/
On another thread I said that I had seen no evidence that the Democrats told President Zelensky to reject the agreement offered to him – the agreement that Secretary of State Marco Rubio thought that President Zelensky had accepted.
However, it has been pointed out to me that the New York Post (and others) have reported a communication from Senator Murphy’s (Democrat Connecticut) office, that he and others met with President Zelensky 40 minutes before President Zelensky arrived at the Oval Office – and that there had been a pact to reject the agreement.
In short the “ambush” was certainly not by President Trump or Vice President Vance.
Still this is now water-under-the-bridge – the situation is now a United Kingdom concern. Again – we must pray for victory over Russia in Ukraine, and hope there is no escalation to a full scale conventional war between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation let alone, God forbid, a nuclear exchange.
As a matter of history I would still want more evidence that a meeting with the Democrats, a meeting BEFORE the meeting with President Trump, took place.
It is hard to believe that such a thing actually happened – I want iron-clad evidence that this pre Oval Office meeting with the Democrats (a sabotage meeting) took place.
It would be fine to meet with political enemies of the President (servants of the international community) AFTER the agreement was signed – but not BEFORE the meeting with the President and other Cabinet officers.
Again – more evidence is required.
Then it’s a good thing you didn’t elect him.
But we did. We still like him. He still appears to be working towards results that we want to see. You can think him an irrational boor as long as you like. That does nothing for Ukraine.
Z as dictator? Elections? Trump as Putin-lover? All strawmen.
Trump has made it clear what we will do for Ukraine, and what he expects in return. Z said okay, and then burned him, publicly.
No one can claim to be surprised when Trump acts as he does. This makes Z’s performance – and the performance of his American Democrat friends who counseled him – so shockingly stupid.
Frankly, I think that Z – and Ukraine – are being brought down by American Dems who see a shot at stressing Trump. I think Z got played, I think Ukraine got played, and I hope the role of the Dems in this affair gets some airtime. They were truly venal.
My daughter could have read Trump. Z either failed in that, or thought he was someone else’s hole card and took the chance. He lost, badly.
Z is now like Trudeau in Trump’s eyes. Ukraine will get as much respect from Trump as Canada does. Canada needs to jettison Trudeau if it has an interest in working with Trump, and thus with the USA. Ukraine needs to jettison Z if it has an interest in working with Trump, and thus with the USA.
Neither of them needs to do this. They are free countries. They can both walk away from the USA, and work without it or maybe even against it. But expect nothing from us otherwise.
Lot of people insist that we need to ‘support Ukraine’.
Not many people actually willing to put their money where their mouth is. They don’t donate their own money – only other people’s. They don’t put their lives on the line – only other people’s.
Violence is always attractive when someone else is suffering it.
I have sent as great deal of my money to various Ukranian military charities & I am far from alone.
It has been pointed out many times here it is *the law* that there cannot be elections during a state of emergency. The law. It’s not up to Zelenskyy.
And I guess you would have unbanned the British Union of Fascists in 1940 too 😀
The western world needs to rearrange their affairs so “working with Trump, and thus with the USA” simply isn’t as important. Leave USA to focus on the coming war with China (which I am no longer confident it will win), whilst Europeans adopts a French-style “tous azimuts” policy. I can only hope Trump’s shock-and-awe style is sufficently alarming to make that happen but I am not confident. We’ll see soon.
What Perry said about reducing our reliance on Trump/US.
I have seen a number of US-based commentators rail against American involvement in many international events and wars, and to an extent they have a point. Not least, they’re right to ask hard questions about what America gets in return for all that apart from our love. Selling fancy military jets and tech is nice, but not much compensation, arguably, for much of the grief that comes with financing military efforts. So even if a different POTUS was office, we’d have reached this situation, if not quite the same way.
Remember that less than two months ago, the POTUS was a senile, crooked, and in my view deeply unpleasant old man who liked to shove America’s nose into UK domestic matters, such as Northern Ireland, to take just one example. So this is a bipartisan problem, not one specific to Trump and his circle.
In a way, Trump is doing Europe and certain other countries a favour, even if it does not come across that way. I expect S. Korea, Japan, even Taiwan, to spend even more on defence, such as anti-missile defence. Those nations must be deeply alarmed. I expect Israel to get involved in lending out its expertise to countries willing to work with Israel. (One side-effect of this period is that behind the scenes, military co-operation between Europe and Israel will increase. Let’s get IDF pilots of a certain age to train folk up. They’re the best in the world.)
Various thoughts this morning in London, as I get ready to fly on business to Zurich (the Swiss have some clever tech, by the way):
Net Zero is dead. Keir Starmer must in whatever way he can to sway his backbenchers and the chattering class, put NZ into the side of the road. That might mean sacking energy secretary Ed Milliband. Deindustrialisation must stop. Windmills, solar energy and happy thoughts cannot build a submarine, artillery shell factory or a bunch of anti-missile batteries. And screwing the British economy to make a tiny dent in C02 emissions so we feel all virtuous is a luxury belief. Luxuries are out.
Liz Kendall, the minister responsible for benefits in the UK, will have to squeeze benefits paid to millions of people who are currently allegedly too ill to work. We spend tens of billions on keeping working-age adults away from productive work. It’s unsustainabile, financially and morally. It also robs the UK of productive potential, and lets human capital disintegrate. If Starmer can blitz foreign aid, he can instruct his colleagues to do the same on welfare.
European nations will start to further restrict the ability of US-based companies, investors etc from buying controlling stakes in unlisted and listed European firms that produce tech and goods that have military uses, either explicitly, or potentially. Such firms will also be banned, or restricted, from listing on the New York Stock Exchange for the forseeable future.
Americans coming to Europe on various trips may notice that visa-free applications become more onerous. I don’t like it but I won’t be surprised if it happens, particularly if such a person has been to Russia in the past decade.
Intelligence sharing among the “Five Eyes” alliance that dates back to WW2 (the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) will squeeze out the US to some extent, if not completely. Subtly, however, there will be more of a move towards countries we might have to trust a bit more. With Tulsi Gabbard as a intelligence-related US government member, some of the 5E countries will be nervous.
I want to stress that I don’t necessarily endorse all the actions that will be taken, or at least I don’t have time here to go into the finer details. Trump is going to be in office for four years and we don’t know what happens after the mid-terms. He’s also getting older and more volatile. At some point his acolytes will fall out (Musk, probably.) But whatever happens, Europe must rearm significantly, must increase focus on security and intelligence gathering capabilities, and prevent further US leverage over our resources where possible.