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Reports today that Putin is keen on a ceasefire based upon current battlelines. Whilst an end to hostilities would be fantastic news, Ukraine would lose territory. Perhaps the biggest issue is how do you stop Russia rebuilding its forces for another crack - they’ve made no secret that they wanted to seize Kiev.
Putin, like Hitler tells lie after lie. Any guarantees of a more permanent peace would surely require an international force on the border. Promises alone cannot be enough, I mean if you can’t trust a malevolent dictator, who can you trust…
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 16:45 - May 24 with 4782 views
Reports today that Putin is keen on a ceasefire based upon current battlelines. Whilst an end to hostilities would be fantastic news, Ukraine would lose territory. Perhaps the biggest issue is how do you stop Russia rebuilding its forces for another crack - they’ve made no secret that they wanted to seize Kiev.
Putin, like Hitler tells lie after lie. Any guarantees of a more permanent peace would surely require an international force on the border. Promises alone cannot be enough, I mean if you can’t trust a malevolent dictator, who can you trust…
1938 is calling, it wants it's broken record back.
There was a ceasefire negotiated after the Russian backed breakaway in 2014, Russia couldn't help itself though. It will play the same game if it gets to freeze the conflict again. The West must hold firm and steadfast in it's support of Ukrainian victory. Otherwise you might as well host the negotiations in Munich and use black magic to resurrect Chamberlain to take part.
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:32 - May 26 with 4674 views
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:32 - May 26 by Eireannach_gorm
Two guided missiles hit their target.
I hope to keep the two topics separate overall but at what point does the ICJ start investigating Putin for war crimes? This has lead to the death of civilians for no reason other than a sick power play (as has much of the war).
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:44 - May 27 by pointofblue
I hope to keep the two topics separate overall but at what point does the ICJ start investigating Putin for war crimes? This has lead to the death of civilians for no reason other than a sick power play (as has much of the war).
It is only the ICC which can take actions against individuals as opposed to states.
Concerning the ICJ and the war in Ukraine, on 16 March 2022 the ICJ ordered Russia to "immediately suspend the military operations". The order is binding on Russia, but the ICJ cannot enforce it. This is similar to the order the ICJ recently made against Israel, although the order concerning Israel only related to operations in Rafah.
Concerning the ICC and the war in Ukraine, on 17 March 2023 following an investigation the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. In the case of Israel, the ICC has asked for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu to be issued for war crimes.
The arrest warrant has had an impact on Putin's movements, and the same would be true for Netanyahu.
[Post edited 28 May 2024 11:22]
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:54 - May 28 with 4322 views
Reports today that Putin is keen on a ceasefire based upon current battlelines. Whilst an end to hostilities would be fantastic news, Ukraine would lose territory. Perhaps the biggest issue is how do you stop Russia rebuilding its forces for another crack - they’ve made no secret that they wanted to seize Kiev.
Putin, like Hitler tells lie after lie. Any guarantees of a more permanent peace would surely require an international force on the border. Promises alone cannot be enough, I mean if you can’t trust a malevolent dictator, who can you trust…
Russia were never after Kiev, they just wanted the ground they have now.
It was always going to end this way, as there is no way Ukraine could ever beat Russia militarily.
Best thing now for all involved is to try to come to peace terms, and maybe allow some of the area to be neutral territory. No point continuing a war, and bankrupting the whole of europe, for very little gain. We aren't going to beat Russia without NATO boots on the ground, and that then presents a whole new problem.
Also atrocities committed on both side. Maybe time now to try and put an end, before the youth of both countries is completely decimated.
For some reason talking of peace is controversial now though.
[Post edited 28 May 2024 11:57]
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:58 - May 28 with 4308 views
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:20 - May 28 by DJR
It is only the ICC which can take actions against individuals as opposed to states.
Concerning the ICJ and the war in Ukraine, on 16 March 2022 the ICJ ordered Russia to "immediately suspend the military operations". The order is binding on Russia, but the ICJ cannot enforce it. This is similar to the order the ICJ recently made against Israel, although the order concerning Israel only related to operations in Rafah.
Concerning the ICC and the war in Ukraine, on 17 March 2023 following an investigation the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. In the case of Israel, the ICC has asked for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu to be issued for war crimes.
The arrest warrant has had an impact on Putin's movements, and the same would be true for Netanyahu.
[Post edited 28 May 2024 11:22]
Thank you. With it being issued over a year ago I had forgotten they had issued a warrant.
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 12:51 - May 29 by Eireannach_gorm
This could be an interesting development and big pressure on US to allow it.
Really interesting to see the EU more hawkish on this than the US. Not how it's always been in the past. Funny how for all the negative talk from Trump regarding NATO (and the noise about him being too cosy with Putin), it's Biden that is so weak.
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:54 - May 28 by Roggydem
Russia were never after Kiev, they just wanted the ground they have now.
It was always going to end this way, as there is no way Ukraine could ever beat Russia militarily.
Best thing now for all involved is to try to come to peace terms, and maybe allow some of the area to be neutral territory. No point continuing a war, and bankrupting the whole of europe, for very little gain. We aren't going to beat Russia without NATO boots on the ground, and that then presents a whole new problem.
Also atrocities committed on both side. Maybe time now to try and put an end, before the youth of both countries is completely decimated.
For some reason talking of peace is controversial now though.
[Post edited 28 May 2024 11:57]
1) there would be no atrocities at all if Russia hadn’t invaded. Every civilian death is on Russia as the foreign aggressor. 2) they didn’t want Kiev? Only if you ignore their attempts to capture Kiev at the outset of the war. 3) clearly you have no clue about economics or scale. The EU is the second largest economy in the world, Russia has an economy smaller than Italy, it would bankrupt a long time before Europe. Especially as Russia has been cut off from most of the capital markets in the world.
Fantastic both-sidesing.
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 22:42 - Jul 7 with 3327 views
Whilst some have pointed to the resilience of the Russian economy on a macro level, it’s important to point out that sanctions have still left it in trouble. As I’ve noted before, Russia is not expected to reach pre-war levels of oil and gas exports until 2030, Gasprom are having to sell exports subsidised and lost $7bn last year. It is not true to say sanctions have been ineffective ‘because they’ll just send exports to China and India instead’. The infrastructure does not currently exist, there are medium term plans for a pipeline from Siberia to China. However, as I noted before China is no real ally to Russia - they are a shark circling a wounded prey. To this point China are leveraging the pipeline project, only agreeing for it to go ahead at a price that will lose money for Russia. With the Russian’s already burning off gas they can’t sell, and selling the rest at a loss, Xi is no fool:-
“China, however, rarely allows an opportunity to extract a price to pass by. It is playing economic hardball with Russia, and Russia has little ammunition with which to fight back. Regardless of how this negotiation turns out, the Sino-Russian relationship is changing. Vladimir Putin now knows that, notwithstanding any prior claim that with China he has a "friendship without limits." Simply put, China will not inconvenience itself to help its northern neighbor. Simultaneously, Russia's economic isolation is only deepening, and Vladimir Putin may be running out of time to reverse it.”
With the cost of living crisis easing in the West and inflation largely tamed, the same cannot be said for Russia. The central bank has maintained the base rate at 16pc in order to try and prop up the Rouble, and ease inflation driven by the rising cost of imports. Both have hit disposable incomes for Russians added to day to day inconveniences such as shortages of car parts due to trade ties been cut with the West.
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 10:23 - Jul 8 with 3206 views
There is a belief that this attack is to send a message to The NATO summit.
Also Biden's difficulties are being amplified.
Several foreign officials said that Biden’s slump in the polls would compound problems from this year’s bruising fight in Congress over the $60.8bn in military aid to Ukraine and make it less likely for the administration to take bold action.
“The issue with his age has become a major concern … a distraction from other real issues [for Nato],” said a European official. One administration official told the Washington Post that the summit has “gone from an orchestrated spectacle to one of the most anxious gatherings in modern times”.
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 12:38 - Jul 9 with 2925 views
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 12:11 - Jul 9 by Eireannach_gorm
There is a belief that this attack is to send a message to The NATO summit.
Also Biden's difficulties are being amplified.
Several foreign officials said that Biden’s slump in the polls would compound problems from this year’s bruising fight in Congress over the $60.8bn in military aid to Ukraine and make it less likely for the administration to take bold action.
“The issue with his age has become a major concern … a distraction from other real issues [for Nato],” said a European official. One administration official told the Washington Post that the summit has “gone from an orchestrated spectacle to one of the most anxious gatherings in modern times”.
Indeed but even Belgium as Western European peer, and at the heart of the EU is rated as a ‘flawed democracy. It’s not a metric I see used when assessing political risk, because it’s such a blunt rating - for instance India would have a far greater risk than Belgium or the US, and Israel despite ranking higher than Portugal would be considered a more risky jurisdiction.
14 out of the 27 EU states are considered flawed, so if we are eager to be in a political union with them, we can’t then really use it as a stick to beat others in my opinion.
As for India, interestingly they were big buyers of Russian arms pre-Ukraine but have subsequently cancelled some and reduced orders on other contracts. It was speculated that the poor performance of Russia and its equipment in Ukraine may have been the driver.
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The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:56 - Jul 10 with 4147 views
The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:04 - Jul 10 by SuperKieranMcKenna
As are over half of the EU’s 27 countries, including several in Western Europe, whom a majority of posters wanted to be in a political union with.
That's certainly true. As it is, I always preferred the political aspects of the EU to the economic, but the EU is no longer the beacon (to use an oft misused word) that it was even at the time of Brexit.
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