"Putin pretends Russia faces a military threat from NATO..".

Everything about NATO is a pretence. Since Trump’s day, it has slipped back into uselessness, with most members not spending the agreed amount to sustain it. The UN is also useless, and merely a club for dictators. And, what about the EU! And the U.S! Putin doesn't have a lot to worry about.

Glad to see Arthur still writing Kiev, and not Kyiv - pronounced 'keef' by Western dills, who are embarrassed by their own Western culture and language, even as they watch how the non-West behaves.

Lots of speculation and assumptions here. But correct inasmuch as saying western sanctions similar to be beaten with a wet lettuce.

What we could and should do is forcing the cost of energy down to below Russian production costs and the closure of waterways/seaways, NATO or its members control, to the Russian fleet.

Someone somewhere needs to understand, we fund Putin's military adventures, with the price we pay for energy!

We need to stop supporting/trading with Russian allies like China and the backdoor sanctions breaking trade deals they make possible for Russia. The finger wagging is not at all productive! The jettisoning of Russia and China from the UN security council is another must do if we are serious! If that is not doable, then the other members need to leave and form another body that then excludes the aforementioned!

What is required is resolve and nailing our colours to the mast! To do less is saying we are not opposed to slav slavery. We need to invest in the production of biogas, oil rich algae production and the transition to nuclear power, i.e., MSR thorium nuclear power And the production ASAP of a reprisal, nuclear weapons arsenal!

If the usual coal-fired recalcitrants and anti-nuclear greens stand in the way? They need to be removed from positions of power!
Alan B.

They need to be removed from positions of power!
Alan B,
To achieve that we must first remove Political University lectures !

Military aggression and new despotism is not acceptable in the West, the Middle East and everywhere else including Ukraine. The Macedonian people suffered military aggression in the Two Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 that led to the partitioning of Macedonia by the unscrupulous colonialists from Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia acting with the support of the British Empire, Tsarist Russia and imperial France. It also exposed our people to decades of forced Hellenisation, Bulgarisation and Serbification which we rejected. The EU has not been kind to the Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria which don't recognise our people but want to steal our identity, culture, history and human rights. The EU political elites have supported the worst imaginable policies and practices by the neo fascist states against the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian people.

Very interesting.

Every war has a “Fat Lady” to sing the Aria before the war is ended.

Dan

This article, like so many other misleading ones recently makes no mention of what REALLY prompted this so called "Russian Invasion" of Ukraine. In 2014, the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine refused to be ruled by the government in Kiev installed after a US backed coup deposed the previous democratically elected one. Since then, they have been subjected to terror type attacks by Ukrainian military with aim of retaking area by force. Recently when the Kiev regime started soliciting weapons from NATO countries which looked like for a planned full scale invasion attempt, the Presidents of Donetsk and Luhansk ASKED Russia for help. The Russian parliament voted to recognise these republics and authorised Vladimir Putin to take appropriate action. The aim is to permanently stop aggression against the Donbass region. Seems with a lot of Russian help, locals are well on the way to getting rid of Ukrainian military from their general area. Question is how far do Russians have to go subduing the rest of Ukraine before change of government or attitude in Kiev. Nowadays unlikely they want to remain in territories where local people do not want them there permanently. Seems enough trouble keeping the present Russian Federation with its different ethnic groups together. Remember Chechnya 20 years ago? Then note a very high proportion of people in Crimea, which is largely ethnic Russian voted to rejoin it in 2014. Maybe what happened in Georgia in 2008 is a precedent here. Government of this former Soviet state sent in troops to their South Ossetia and Abkhazia areas when people there declared independence. Russian military went in and helped kick unwanted Georgians out.