bylinetimes.com
'Rwanda plan being quietly abandoned'
I don't like Farage or his political ambitions, but he is absolutely right that Nato, prompted and led by the USA, is entirely responsible for the Ukraine war. The continuous provocation that eventually led to Russia attacking started in 2004 as I'd long ago detailed in another thread,
None of it was foolish. It was all planned and organised by highly intelligent people with deliberate intent.
I disagree. Putin is entirely to blame. He can choose to step down after two terms of office but he didn't. The war in Ukraine is a direct result of him clinging to power.
You need to reset your calendar, taking into account all the events your were taking no notice of in earlier decades, so as a result you've fallen for the American lie that Putin is intent on reviving the USSR.
The only thing I would add to the above is that he was obliged to step down after two terms in office by the Russian Constitution, but having got his talons on power, he made sure that he would never let go while the blood moved in his veins. Even then, be sure he will have installed a successor, so that as in North Korea, the state gang controls all.
Putin can't go, because he has stolen vast amounts of money and has murdered a lot of people who got in his way.When he goes,it will be in a box. The problem is, he has surrounded himself with FSB goons, so the likely successors will be at least as dangerous.
I don't think this is true. Putin has been quite adept at getting around sanctions. NK has sent him 5 million artillery shells. He can pound the Ukrainian defences very well with those. One of the biggest set backs was the obscene carry on with the Republicans in the Senate who stropped the transfer of weapons for their own internal political reasons. Putin could have had unacceptable losses imposed with modern American weapons back in the winter and spring. Now the Ukrainians have lost a lot of good men and some territory.
Look at the value of the rouble since 2022. The rouble is a rough indicator of balance of power or success of Russian strategy. Putin made tons of profit at the beginning of the Ukraine war, the rouble was $0.0174 and now around $0.0111. Another indicator is the number of friendly nations which support Putin at the UN. India and China have distanced themselves. All it takes is for Belarus and Kaliningrad people to look West for their future and Putin will be finished.
Putin's hope is in Trump winning the election. Even if Trump did, which is a big if, given how unhinged Trump appears to be and polls recently, Trump would still be forced by the generals to choose Ukraine and against Putin for the foreseeable future.
It has never been my impression that the generals in the USA called the shots about anything other than how to best carry out the orders they were given.
Ukraines independance was never threatened by Russia. It was Russia who created the country called Ukraine just over a century ago when Lenin gave them their independence for the first time ever in 1917 as a separate country and Krushchev who later expanded Ukraine's territory and power. Before 1917 Ukraine, wholly on the Russian Steppes, had been a part of Russia, before that a part of Poland, being wholly contained within the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, and variously at other times owned by others like the Muscovites and Austro-Hungarians. That is why Ukraine is such a mongrel country with many languages and cultures, chiefly Ukrainian, Russian and Polish.
they did not have any reason to go against their commander in chief until now.
Sanctions don't work for the intended purpose, have never ever worked, will never work. They are pretty good at making lots of people rich defeating them.
in the case of Putin, sanctions have worked relatively well. The West managed to compensate for lack of Russian oil and gas thanks to Canada, Norway and the world market. Russia has to sell oil at deep discount (no more than $60/barrel). Gazprom loses money for the first time in its history. The Russian economy has to support the war. Russia will emerge from the war a much weaker power.
