Alan B especially: The claim that action by Russia was an "unprovoked attack on a peaceful non aggressive neighbour" is a BLATANT LIE which is lately being peddled by Western governments and mainstream media which deliberately try to draw attention away from the background story. Which many who have kept an eye on alternative news sources are well aware of. In Ukraine in 2014, there was a US sponsored coup which replaced an arguably bad but democratically elected government with a worse one that was more obedient to Washington. In Eastern Ukraine, where population has stronger ethnic ties to Russians, this did not go down well. Quick action by Russia stopped what Yanks obviously hoped to achieve in taking over Russian military installations in Crimea. Then Crimeans voted very strongly to rejoin Russia. In the Donbass area, Donetsk and Luhansk declared themselves republics independent from Ukraine Since then the government in Kiev has waged a low level war against them, largely ignored peace agreements and around 14,000 people have been killed by their terrorist type activities. Then recently when there ware several indications Kiev was planning a full scale invasion to retake the so called "rebel areas" their Presidents ASKED Russia for help, The Russian Parliament then recognised these governments and authorised Vladimir Putin to initiate appropriate action. It remains to be seen how far Russians will have to go before what seems to be reasonable demands are conceded by Ukrainian government obviously under strong influence of Washington. ie Recognition of independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, permanent cessation of hostilities against them and guarantees - probably in Constitution that Ukraine will not join NATO. Remember NATO was originally a defence pact which should have been disbanded when the Soviet Union was broken up. Since then it is basically served to keep the US in Europe, Russia out and Germany down. And also effectively sponsored several wars which should not have happened.

So, Mox. Explain if you can without lying through your teeth? What did the Ukraine do that provoked The Russian attack? Nothing at all!

And how would its entry into NATO or the EU do anything but curtail Putin's ambitions for more territory.

The answer is, the Ukraine did nothing other than seek shelter inside NATO and the EU! And however you bend and twist the truth. No reason for the unprovoked attack on a free nation which like any other sovereign nation, has the right to apply for membership into any alliance, as a deterrent against the very thing that has happened.

And the murder of hundreds of thousands of non armed, non combatant boys, girls, women and babies. By the Butcher of babies! And a fitting epitaph!

And for what? The remake of the old imperial Russia under the new czar. Mr mad man dictator, evil incarnate, Putin?

Hitler had the same lies and other ethnic minorities as his scapegoat! And a civilian population that believed his blatant BS.

As for me, I'll allow other readers to judge for themselves who is the blatant liar and who is the straight shooter and tells it like it is without fear or favour or sucking up to a Russian madman?
Alan B.

The Crimean vote was a sham with Russian thugs at every polling station! And looking over shoulders as the people filled out their ballot papers.

You can claim a U.S. sponsored coup? Without providing a single shed of factual evidence! Neither you nor the butcher of babies has anything more than a litany of lies to justify the unjustifiable! And every other poster can see through all of (garbage in, garbage out) them!
Alan B.

What will stop Mr Putin is the west finding and using, as outlined above, alternative sources of vastly cheap energy! And that will almost certainly hurt the average Russian and the creation a decades long Great Depression in Russia! Given how much of their economy relies exclusively on energy sales to the west! Slavey a very poor substitute!

And not an answer if the fruits of that enslavement are also boycotted by the west! And time that was also applied to China and the products of slave labour! Which in the latter, funds their massive military build up!?

All of which will be laid at the dictator's (power addicted) feet and see both thrust out of office by one means or another. And so sad and unnecessary! As is a global economy destroying nuclear winter!

One can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time!
Alan B.

Just ignoring the ravings of MOX clearly infected with Russian propaganda, the issue of sanctions working depends on what you want to achieve.

Russia has a small economy and a huge military. However, nearly every piece of equipment that the military has dated back to the USSR. All the tanks are variants of the T72 which dates back to the early 70s the planes and helicopters are no better. The new Armata tank that has come out is a dud and Russia only has a few of them. The vast amount of money spent on developing the new "stealth" SU57 has delivered only one combat-ready plane that is nowhere near as stealthy as the F35.

The steady stream of equipment being destroyed costs vast sums to replace as well as the huge cost of maintaining a huge invasion force. To top this intelligence is coming in that the Russians are beginning to run out of ammunition not just because of logistics problems, but because the stockpiles are emptying and the factories can't keep up.

The war is estimated at costing $20bn per day and with the Russian economy floundering Russia's ability to finance this war is shrinking every day.

Even if Russia captures the major cities the fighting will continue bleeding Russia dry of money, materiel and men until Russia retreats with its tail between its legs.

While Ukraine felt it had the right to apply to join NATO, and many agree, that is what provoked Putin. No matter what we think of Putin or Russia, the attack on Ukraine is perfectly logical. The whys and whatfors are not in doubt. How to stop the war is the only problem, and that will not be achieved by sanctions that are jacking up costs and making it harder for people in the West - particularly in America, where the idiot Biden dismantled that country's oil independence.

The whole shooting match is a sidebar (vile and tragic though it is) to Putin's war against America. So busy was the Yankee Left denigrating Donald Trump and suggesting that he was getting help from Russia that they missed the real Russian interference in their election and domestic politics: the Russian bankrolling of the anti-frackers and all the whiteants leftists working to move America to the left. Putin got what he wanted: a weak enabler of his plans in the Whitehouse. Biden and his leftist Democrats have given Putin (and Xi) the shot they have been patiently waiting for. Xi has already warned the West not to try the same stunt (sanctions and weapons) when China takes back Taiwan.

It can even be said that a weak US, and an equally weak Western society, started the horror against Ukraine.