Like it or not, Australia is now a left-wing, or socialist, country, the same as the Scandinavian countries that more enlightened then than now Australians used to sneer at.

"The Liberal Party's future can't be teal progressivism"?

What a joke! The Liberal Party doesn't have a future. Nor does Australia have a future worth anything. Voters saw to that at the election. Too be fair to voters though, they didn't have much choice; and if they were not forced to vote, I doubt that more than about 40% of them would have bothered, such is appalling state of the political class.

Dont vote. I await my fine with joy and thanksgiving for individual foresight!

Fester

The three flags?? Okay, I see the tenuous connection in your brain wiring!

Yes, there were three flags at that flag-raising ceremony in 2023 ... that of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation. The first two iterations could indeed be described as imperialistic, but the third and current is not. Russia honours its history carefully ... that’s all this was ... nothing at all to suggest it has resurrected its old imperialist ambitions.

Regarding your ‘pulp fiction’ claim, yes, most countries in the world contain a nationalistic movement, including our own. A country waging a military operation and one demonised by pretty much the whole of the Western world (which let’s not forget is little more than 10% of the total global population) is particularly likely to have such a movement. It’s largely (but not exclusively) driven by young males from the Right of the political spectrum. This doesn’t mean it’s being orchestrated by the Russian government.

The Kremlin does use the term ‘pulp fiction’ to dismiss some of the more fantastical claims levelled at it by the West, eg that it would blow up its own gas pipeline, as the West accused it of, when it was they themselves that had sabotaged Nordstream. There are so many other examples of Russia being scapegoated for crimes it hasn’t committed. The Kremlin now simply denies them or dismisses them as pulp fiction, propaganda, lies or some such term. It knows its truth can never prevail in the face of the mighty Western propaganda machine. Its dignified denial is its usual recourse.

TBC

Fester

To describe Russia as a 'country run by amoral criminals’ simply demonstrates how completely you’ve bought into the simplistic narrative of goodies and baddies which the West resorts to in order to maintain its position of world dominance. Russia doesn’t get it all right, nor does China, Iran, North Korea or any other country the West perceives to be its enemy. But they do get a lot right and deserve far more respect than shown them by the West. The main commonality these countries have is that they all stand up to the West and refuse to be pushed around by it.

"The three flags?? Okay, I see the tenuous connection in your brain wiring!"

Indeed Bronwyn. My brain does not shut down when I see contradictions in a narrative.

"To describe Russia as a 'country run by amoral criminals’ simply demonstrates how completely you’ve bought into the simplistic narrative of goodies and baddies"

I don't see that it differs greatly from Nazi Germany, or East Germany for that matter. The thought experiment for a free nation is whether you would feel comfortable and not face persecution for expressing an opinion. That isn't even the case in Australia. Personally, I think that the freedom of people to hold and express differing opinions is fundamental to a healthy civilisation.

One million Russian casualties and counting. Putin could withdraw the invading army from Ukraine and Russia would be in no danger of foreign invasion, so why doesn't he withdraw his army?

Putin is trying to get Zelensky to negotiate a lasting peace settlement which addresses the root causes of the current conflict and can bring it to an end.

So far, Russia has attempted to do this through the 2014/15 Minsk Accords (which were broken by Ukraine and the Western signatories), the draft peace treaty it presented for discussion with the West in 2021 (which was totally ignored by the West) and with the draft treaty Russia and Ukraine were close to signing in Istanbul in March 2022 (until the West stepped in and told Zelensky to walk away and keep on fighting).

At the start of this month Russia presented its proposed memorandum for ending the conflict. It’s a comprehensive document with plenty of scope for negotiation. Both sides have to make concessions. So far, Zelensky has refused to do so, even though he comes to the table in a much weaker position than Russia. The Ukrainian draft proposal presented to Russia is different to the one presented to Western media, which only confirms that Zelensky is a capricious and unreliable negotiator.

Zelensky wants all Ukraine's south eastern territories returned, even though their citizens were being killed and discriminated against by Kiev and as a result voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia. He wants to join NATO and have NATO troops and missiles permanently located along Russia’s borders. Russia will not return the five territories and once again leave their citizens at the mercy of Ukrainian force. And Russia will not allow predatory Western forces along its borders. Why should it? What Western country would put upon with that?

This conflict is a proxy war with the West. The West is using Ukraine to bring about regime change in Russia and to once again establish a pliable government like those it had under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This conflict wouldn’t exist if the West hadn’t begun its destabilsation of the region in the early 2000s in response to Putin's stepping up and reclaiming of the Russian economy from Western exploitation. You have to understand that history to understand the current impasse.