Fester,

"Now I know what you will say" Are you some kind of clairvoyant, or just putting words into others mouths. If there is a possibility of peace in Ukraine through a Chinese initiative then I say why not go for it. America who clams to be, "The Great Peacemaker" of the world, although their track record says otherwise, appears to be totally disinterested in a peaceful outcome.

Paul,

Stop being such a fwit. The US does have a peace plan that it has openly stated involving Russia leaving the whole of Ukraine and abandoning its illegal and imperial aims and keeping to the 1994 treaty where it agreed to protect and respect Ukraine's borders and sovereignty.

AC, aren't you tired of being wrong so often?

The battle for Bakhmut has bled Wagner and Russia dry, and Russia's offensive has failed; about 40km2 Russia has lost 20% of its remaining tanks and about 20 000 soldiers killed.

"After 13 months of hard fighting, the Ukrainian military has destroyed or captured nearly 1,900 Russian and separatist tanks. As their losses deepened, the Russians scrambled to source replacements. The only factory in Russia that makes new tank hulls—Uralvagonzavod in Sverdlovsk Oblast—has struggled to acquire the modern Sosna-U digital sights it needs to assemble new T-90Ms and T-72B3s to the best standard. Output at Uralvagonzavod seems to have peaked at just a handful of new tanks a month."

A recent video showed refurbished T54 and T55s heading to the front as well as 70yr old ATVs that can't even stop machine gun bullets. In the meantime, modern new tanks and replacement aircraft are arriving in Ukraine along with 1000 000 Shells, long-range missiles, drones, 30 000 NATO-trained Ukrainian soldiers etc.

If the US plan was to beat the Russian army into scrap iron, then it is achieving its purpose. The Russian army will collapse, maybe even by the end of the year, and then the US's peace plan can be implemented.

Hi Fester,
I'm going to assume the story is true, but I'd argue that it's a part of Putins clampdown on any kind of western attempts to create dissent and topple the Russian government. That's why I said the West doesn't have a viable regime change plan.

I've told you all so many times the full story.
At The NATO summit in Budapest in 2008 it was the West who said they wanted Georgia and Ukraine to become a part of NATO. The US most certainly knew that this would be a redline for Russia see the diplomatic cable here
http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html
Putin opposed them joining NATO and said if Ukraine were to become a part of NATO he would take Crimea. Then you had the war in Georgia, and the Western sponsored coup 'Maidan' in late 2013 / early 2014. Putin took Crime and it voted to become independent, then a part of Russia.
Russian speaking people never wanted to be ruled by the new Kiev regime, became separatists and a war started. The separatists encircled a whole heap of Ukrainian troops and Merkel suggested the Minsk agreements, which would've given the LPR and DPR autonomy (internal right to self determination), but they would've stayed a part of Ukraine, this deal was negotiated in bad faith, Ukraine never honoured it, the war continued and the west continued to militarise Ukraine in 2022 Putin regocnised the independence of these places and invaded under the pretext of collective right to self defence, which the west made a precedent of in Serbia and Kosovo.

And China does want peace, and Russia has always left the door open to negotiations. Russia wants a new security arrangement between themselves and Europe.

Seymour Hersh has come out with a new article about the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines.

THE COVER-UP
http://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-cover-up

SM,

I like all this military opinion from you, ( makes a change from your worthless stupid legal opinions), if a Russian came within cooee, with as much as a 'pop' gun you'd start running with your tail between your legs, and wouldn't stop until you reached Antarctica ,and then you'd be begging for protection from the penguins!

You give new meaning to the phrase "keyboard warrior" with all your smug assessments from the safety of your computer desk, whilst people are dying in Ukraine because of a horrific senseless war.

Call me a "fwit" all you like, at least I'm not a warmonger like you, who is happy to trade on other peoples misery.

Hi Paul,

Yes, peace is what everyone wants, but Russian peace tends to last for as long as it takes to regroup the army. I don't think peace a simple achievement, but it is much easier to achieve if the conflict is between two nations. The United States certainly had a great role in establishing peaceful democracies in Italy, Germany and Japan, but has had a great many failures as you point out, especially when intervening in civil conflicts.

"Are you some kind of clairvoyant, or just putting words into others mouths."

For me Paul, the way a country advocating peace treats its own citizens is pertinent. What sort of peace would you expect from a country where a kid's political drawing could see you charged and placed under house arrest and your child removed from your care and contact?

The current conflict in Ukraine is where Stalin killed more Ukrainians than Hitler killed Jews. That would hardly bolster a Ukrainian belief in Russia's peaceful credentials.