"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.

Armchair Critic said basically what you just said Mox a year or two ago and referred to George Webb- Kudos.

Arthur Dent seems to have an infamous history- and his use of WWI Russian communist propaganda is fascinating.

MOX

What unmitigated bollocks. Irrespective of what pissed off the Russians, the Ukrainians have been preparing for this war and so far are kicking the Russians' butts.

With the sanctions, the Russian economy is about to go into a tailspin and there is no way the Russians can hold the territory they have won for long while the West continues to rearm the Ukrainians with anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Russians are now as popular as a dose of syphilis.

Shadowminister, seems you are an example of the quote "lliteracy in the 21st century is not people who cannot read or write. It is those who resist unlearning lies they have been brainwashed to believe." Also note the one " The difference between what the US government does in other countries and what the majority of the American people THINK it does is one of the greatest propaganda achievements". Is obvious to me that the US installed Ukrainian government is doing very well regarding propaganda compared with the Russians and very badly regarding the military situation. You are one of many who seems to largely blindly accept what you have heard from mainstream news and often just tries tactics like personal abuse against those who question it rather than being open minded regarding listening to and considering evidence which indicates possible "holes" in "official' stories. One example is "False Flag" atrocities. Best use search engine for definition and examples if don't know what they are. At least is increasing awareness of possibility of them nowadays and information suggesting they are can now be very quickly widely circulated with current technology. Is often not easy to get truthful balanced up to date information on war situations. Need to check around so called "alternative" news sites that do not necessarily regurgitate what basically originates from mainstream media. For current views of Ukraine situation, re a couple I reckon are currently worth watching: ie www.thesaker.is Run by a Swiss citizen who currently lives in US with American wife and his site uses server in Iceland - which should make it difficult for US goverment especially to hack or close down. Another, which includes a lot of detail with maps etc is www.southfront.org. Then worth noting that western governments have been trying to silence the largest Russian Federation based media organisation which has long had news bureaus in US and UK which runs www.rt.com and www.sputniknews.com This is despite it giving what many would regard as more balanced and honest news coverage than a lot of western mainstream media.

Mox,

For someone making accusations of illiteracy, your English is pretty poor. Don't worry I will use small words.

There is none so blind as those who do not wish to see. Yanukovych and his cronies embezzled nearly $40bn and lived a lavish lifestyle while Ukrainians suffered. The main reason he refused to join the EU which his predecessors worked on was that he would not be able to hide his corruption.

The Maidan revolt by the people of Ukraine was primarily because of his corruption and general incompetence. The west's involvement started primarily when his police started shooting protesters. That Putin got pissed off when he lost his puppet and started attacking Ukraine was not because of any threat from Ukraine but because they defied him.

While there was never any great love of Russia, Putin has now managed to make most Ukrainians hate Russia. This war and sanctions are costing Russia many $bns every day along with many lives, tanks aircraft etc. The Russian army has 100 000 men tanks etc stuck on the highway with little food and fuel and unless something changes the assault on Kyiv is going to collapse.

This is a war that Russia cannot win. Even if it takes the major cities the constant stream of weapons from the west will continue to destroy soldiers tanks and aircraft and any puppet government will never be recognised.

Shadowminister, Yanukovych was obviously corrupt, etc but basically what Yanks did was replace a bad leader with one that was worse. Seems typical of what they often do when meddling in internal affairs of other countries. All they care about is having puppets and stooges who are obliging at pushing policies wanted by Washington. Also, want Ukraine to join NATO so they can move more military close to Russian border. Russians for good reasons strongly oppose this. Especially as with demise of the Soviet Union they were initially promised NATO would not expand eastwards. However, as frequently happens, US is first to break agreements they made and persuaded many former Warsaw Pact countries to join NATO. The real reason for this is to keep the US in Europe, the Russians out and Germany down. Now it seems the Russian Federation is unlikely to want to expand significantly. Enough trouble keeping itself together with all its different ethnic groups. Now note good reason for Russia to help significantly ethnic Russian republics in eastern Ukraine who declared themselves independent because they did not want to be ruled by neo nazi types in Kiev. Over the last 8 years, attacks by Ukrainian military attempting to subdue and retake Donetsk and Luhansk has cost around 14,000 lives in those areas. .