Bronwyn,

"The neo-nazi threat is very real. You obviously didn’t read the link I posted. It’s clear I’m wasting my time when you won't even look at the evidence I provide."

I did read your link, I just wasn't impressed with it. Unsupported assertion on top of unsupported assertion doesn't work for me. I don't deny that there are neo-Nazis in Ukraine and in the Azov brigade. I already agreed with that in earlier posts. But there are neo-Nazis in pretty much all countries. Its said there are 70000 in Russia. Why isn't Putin moving against them?

Your assert without evidence that the neo-Nazis in Ukraine have out-sized evidence. The best evidence for that claim would be electoral support. But in the most recent vote their electoral support was effectively non-existent.

WHY do you ignore that?

"I can’t think of a nation anywhere which would accept having its borders surrounded by foreign military bases...."

Surrounded? That's rubbish. The vast majority of Russia is surrounded by friends or client states. Again, there was no prospect of NATO putting troops or armaments in Ukraine. This is just a furphy to justify aggression. And if this is their major concern, what of Estonia and Latvia?

"Why should Russia have to live under the constant fear of military attack?"

If they have such a fear (and I doubt it, its certainly not true of the Russians I know) then its entirely in their head. There is no western military threat against Russia. The west has been bending over backwards to accommodate Russia and Russian sensibilities eg Nord Stream 2. If the west truly sought to confront Russia, Ukraine would already be in NATO.

Things continue to go poorly for the Russian military. Certainly, the Ukrainians are mounting a defence that is surprising the Russians as well as the so-called experts in the west.

Kiev, according to Russian planning, would have already fallen by now and a puppet government would be forming. But that’s not happening. Its now reported that the Russian supply lines are straining under the delay with fuel and replacement armaments being in short supply. Even more surprisingly, its now confirmed that the Ukrainians have hit military targets in Russia and that the Turks have closed the Dardanelles to Russian shipping. Russia has mistakenly (?) hit shipping belonging to Japan and Turkey.

Russian attempts to secure airports near Kiev to allow for the quick movement of troops, have failed. It’s reported that several planes of elite troops have been downed and troops who did manage to land have been isolated. Its clear Russia has failed to achieve air superiority over Kiev.

The US has offered to evacuate Zelensky, but he refused…” I need ammunition, not a ride”. The guy’s reputation grows daily.

The west continues to flounder under equivocal leadership. SWIFT bans are on then off. Biden now admits that the sanctions were never going to deter Putin from invasion, having said the opposite a week ago. The legacy media pretend not to notice. (A US survey shows 62% of voters think Putin wouldn’t have done this against Trump - the legacy media pretend otherwise).

Other interesting developments:
Protests increase in Russia itself.
Marco Rubio hints a undisclosed health problem with Putin
Anger grows over Chinese duplicity in giving US intelligence to Russia and the US’s foolishness in trusting China with that intelligence in the first place.
Elon Musk, friend of freedom, has repurposed Starlink over Ukraine and is gifting receivers to stop Russians from cutting Ukraine’s internet

Dear mhaze,

You wrote:

“So, in your estimation its just coincidence that Putin sought to address what he considers the Ukraine problem in the last years of the Obama regime and the first year of the Biden regime, but was silent while Trump was in charge? Quite the coincidence. I think its more accurate to understand that Putin knows who can be pushed around and who can’t.”

My goodness what revisionist rubbish.

The reason why Putin was largely silent when Trump was in charge was because he largely got what he wanted.

Trump pulls out of Syria and the Russians get the American bases.

Trump lifts a number of the Obama sanctions on Russia that were imposed because of Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

It took Congress stepping in to impose targeted sanctions on the Russians.

Trump said he believed Putin over the FBI reports of Russian interference in the US election.

Trump gets rid of the head of the investigating body looking into that interference.

And who can forget it was the phone call to the current Ukrainian leader which got Trump impeached. The one in which he threatened to withhold arms unless Biden's son was investigated.

Trump was clearly Putin's puppy.

Dear Steele,

And even today - mhaze is saying that we "misunderstand"
what Trump really means when he calls Putin's actions
"savvy" "smart" and "genius." Trump's not at fault.
We are. We just don't understand the man. He does.

How can anyone argue with logic like that

mhaze

<< I did read your link, I just wasn't impressed with it. Unsupported assertion on top of unsupported assertion doesn't work for me. >>

There is very little in that article that is ‘unsupported'. It is comprehensively linked and footnoted and a large proportion of the text is backed up with pertinent photographic material. The author is highly qualified and experienced and has had many books and articles published on US foreign policy.

My sources are solid and reliable. From the little I’ve seen of yours, they appear to be little more than mindlessly regurgitated Western propaganda. Anyone who believes that Trump is the answer to the world’s problems is seriously deluded and has gained their information from some dodgy material.

We obviously inform ourselves from very different sources and as a result have very different perspectives. We will just have to agree to disagree.

But I must say I've at least had some more respectful and worthwhile engagement with you than I often manage to achieve on this site!

The NATO issue has been over-egged and past history belies Putin's claims e.g. when Romania and Bulgaria joined NATO Putin had no response?

However, NATO and the EU are proxies, especially the latter, for what Putin's Russia shares with (till recent weeks) both US GOP and UK Tories, along with their ecosystem of Trumpers, fossil fuels, think tanks, Fox, white nationalists, alt/far right, Christian conservatives etc.

They have a pathological aversion to how the EU and Europe are threats to Anglosphere conservatism and old commerce or industry, and Putin's Russia?

What are the threats to Putin, GOP, Tories & LNP? Climate science, constraints on fossil fuels, renewables, liberal democracy, diversity, empowered/educated citizens, financial transparency and open society.