David Lammy Mocked For Urging People to Stamp Their Feet in Show of Support for Ukraine
The Foreign Secretary has been mocked for urging people to stamp their feet in a show of support for Ukraine. The Mail has more.
His ‘Make Noise for Ukraine’ campaign has been launched despite Kyiv remaining desperately short of military equipment in its war with Russia.
So while Ukrainian commanders are forced to ration artillery shells, Foreign Secretary Mr. Lammy’s focus appeared to be on hashtags and social media posts.
The promotion also calls on UK military personnel to beep car horns and bang pots together, supposedly to send a morale-boosting message to Ukraine.
But senior British defence figures said clips uploaded on to X and Facebook were no substitute for weapons, including the UK’s deadly Storm Shadow missiles.
Kyiv remains unable to use the long-range weapons after a dispute between the U.K. and U.S. over whether their involvement would be an escalation of the conflict.
In a letter to government colleagues, Mr. Lammy urged troops and members of the emergency services to record themselves showing support for Ukraine.
Soldiers were told to “make some noise like playing an instrument, singing, chanting, clapping, stomping your feet or honking your car horn”.
In an official Ministry of Defence promotional video, shared on X, catering staff were seen banging cooking pots with stainless steel spoons.
Health workers have been told to “show ambulance sirens blaring” while Home Office officials are expected to post videos of “police dogs barking”.
Former British Army commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said: “I’m sure Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky would appreciate more weapons much more than more videos.
“I trust the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary are putting as much effort into these endeavours as they are uploading footage onto social media. Clips on TikTok aren’t going to do anything for the Ukrainians… fighting on the front line.”
Worth reading in full.
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Ah, the trusted virtue signal. It saved the NHS so why not give it a go with Ukraine!
Whenever I see him and hear him speak I keep seeing Idi Amin the brutal despot and former Ugandan dictator.
I cannot shake the image. It is there in my mind every time.
Incredibly I was considering doing what you just did because the idiot Lammy reminds of Amin as well
We are obviously of that generation.
It is like a nightmare.
Idi Amin Papa Dada, PhD Esq, last King of Scotland.
Most of the world’s press has come to the realisation that the Ukrainians stand no chance of improving their position. It is only the British press which is ignoring the facts on the ground.
The incursion into southern Russia is presenting the Russians with an opportunity that could be likened to shooting fish in a barrel, except in this case the “fish” are elite Ukrainian troops plus a fair helping of American and European mercenaries. Both they and large quantities of their equipment are being lost, which plays directly into the Russian’s hands.
Instead of making a fool of himself on the international stage, Lammy should be doing all he can to get the parties talking rather than encouraging Ukraine in a futile pursuit of Russia-baiting.
ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE FROM AN EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH YESTERDAY Aug 23, 2024 BY ROBERT F KENNEDY JNR [in which he also endorses Trump] Why I am suspending my campaign for PresidentTranscript of my address to the nation ECHOING BUT EXPANDING ON AND EXPLAINING SOME OF WHAT FARAGE HAS BEEN SAYING: I want to say a word about the Ukraine war. The military-industrial complex has provided us with the familiar comic-book justification that this war is a noble effort to stop supervillain Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and to thwart his Hitler-like march across Europe. In fact, tiny Ukraine is a proxy in a geopolitical struggle initiated by the ambitions of the U.S. Neocons for U.S. global hegemony. I’m not excusing Putin for invading Ukraine. He had other options. But the war is Russia’s predictable response to the reckless Neocon project of extending NATO to encircle Russia. The credulous media rarely explain to Americans that we unilaterally walked away from our two intermediate nuclear weapons treaties with Russia, and then put nuclear-ready Aegis missile systems in Romania and Poland, and that the Biden White House repeatedly spurned Russia’s offer to settle the dispute peacefully. The Ukraine war began in… Read more »
Just as well he pulled out. I have seldom read so.much nonsense, all in one place.
There can be no successful long term negotiated settlement to Putin’s war, because Putin (and his successors) intend a new ‘Union State’ of 250 million souls incorporating Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic States.
When it comes to foreign policy, Farage is completely out of his depth.
Anyone who is not aware of, cannot understand the demographic basis for Putin’s imperialist expansionism should never be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.
You are entitled to your perspective and POV albeit independent thinking in Starmfuhrer’s UK is in the process of being erased so enjoy it while you can.
We shall have to wait and see who is right should Trump win the election.
That will be interesting as the Baltic States are part of NATO and NATO has a long-standing partnership and areas of enhanced cooperation with Moldova.
An attack on one is an attack on all.
‘An attack on one is an attack on all’ Diplomats are never as clear cut as that. The small print: ‘consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary…..’ Exhibit A Budapest Memorandum ‘The United States of America………and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression……’ What did the U.S. and Britain actually do in 2014 when Crimea was annexed? Again in 2022, when the rest of Ukraine was invaded? Pretty much the square root of beggar all…… Exhibit B FSB Outline of Operational Aims and Means, 21 November 2021. ‘While the 9th Directorate of the FSB’s Fifth Service Department for Operational Information prepared for the occupation of… Read more »
Hi, Thanks for the helpful information. However, you have cherry-picked your quote from Article 5 and omitted parts of it – my emphasis added – and the ‘it’ in ‘it deems necessary’ is the party or parties attacked – which is thereby calling the shots literally: Article 5 “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.” This article is complemented by Article 6,… Read more »
I ask again:
What ‘assistance as deemed necessary’ from a unilaterally disarmed Europe would you think can Poland rely on……?
I would suggest: ‘Aucune’ (Gamelin 1940)
And they know it:
‘Poland’s defense minister on Wednesday signed a deal to buy a second batch of U.S Abrams main battle tanks‘
‘Former Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, who is a lawmaker for the right-wing Law and Justice party and chairs its parliamentary faction, signed numerous deals to buy South Korean weapons worth billions of dollars while in office. The orders included FA-50 light attack aircraft, K9 howitzers, K2 Black Panther tanks, and K239 Chunmoo multi-barreled missile launchers.’
So the premise of your argument is that NATO is impotent because Europe has no fighting capacity to assist any NATO member subject to attack.
So we will have to wait and see if you are right by watching Putin “simply …. ‘acquire’ the Suwalki Corridor from Poland, so joining Kaliningrad to Belarus.”
He has not done it so far.
And if he believes Europe is and so NATO is so impotent why would he be concerned about the expansion of NATO?
He would just take what he wants – but he has not except for what has happened in Ukraine and that has not turned out so well for him has it?
His ‘special operation’ of a couple of weeks has been going on now for over a couple of years and he has united the West and NATO in the process.
He is not concerned about NATO ‘expansion’. Why would he be? That is a silliness invented by interested parties as a pretext. ‘Russia is a part of European culture, and I do not consider my own country in isolation from Europe … Therefore, it is with difficulty that I imagine NATO as an enemy.’ Putin 2000 ‘The expansion of the European Union must not only bring us closer geographically, but also economically and spiritually’ Putin 2004 ‘The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all. A discussion regarding NATO in 1990 concerned NATO not deploying large armed forces on the territory of the then-GDR [German Democratic Republic] after German reunification’ Gorbachev 2014 ‘Farage inadvertently let the cat out of the bag, bungling his comment by adding that NATO and the EU gave Putin “an excuse” to make war in 2018.’ https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-vladimir-putin-nigel-farage-nato-expansion-war-in-ukraine/ Putin has taken what he wanted: Crimea. And then he came back for more. Why? Because he is trying to recreate the might of the USSR as a new ‘Union State’ with a superstate population of 250 million people. He doesn’t care that it is taking several years. His successors will carry on the programme of the ‘Union… Read more »
Putin
Do an online search on “putin nato expansion quotes”.
There seems to be a lot of results addressing Putin’s concerns about NATO expansion.
How do you explain that? Are you saying it is a conspiracy by the legacy media?
Putin has no concerns about ‘NATO expansion’ Like many totalitarian dictators, he has a very effective propaganda machine. He also has a great deal of petrodollars with which to suborn political parties across Europe who also effective propaganda machines. That is why you google search picks up so much on that matter. On the other hand, this is what my google search revealed: ‘Putin has in recent years played up grievances against NATO enlargement in ways that he did not when NATO was enlarging in Russia’s neighbourhood. The four countries that joined the Alliance after 2004 are all in the Balkans, quite distant from Russia’s borders. The Russian president reacted calmly to this year’s Finnish and Swedish decisions to apply to join — even though Finland’s addition will more than double the length of Russia’s borders with NATO. As for Moscow’s concerns about Ukraine entering NATO, Russian diplomats and spies surely understood there is little enthusiasm within the Alliance for putting Ukraine on a membership track. With Russian troops occupying parts of Ukraine (even before the February attack), membership would invariably raise the question of allies going to war against Russia. Ironically, Russia had a neutral Ukraine in 2013. A 2010 Ukrainian law enshrined non-bloc status for the… Read more »
The Brookings article you cite are arguments of the author and not the institute.
And as a US institute and part of a US university and a sub-institute of another institute it is impossible to track who is pulling whose strings.
They are, of course, arguments of the author…..but good ones….
Steven Karl Pifer is a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe as well as the director of Brookings’ Arms Control Initiative.
He may know what he is talking about……
And without doubt there are others with a completely different position.
If so, then you are not helping your position by putting only one side of the case.
You are supposed to be doing the other side……
Don’t tell me what to do.
If you like taking advice you might want to listen to Chris Packham and follow his advice for Barclays customers.
I’m not telling you what to do.
What would be the point of that?
I am not writing an essay. I am debating with you and others. A debate is generated by different perspectives.
I try and support my perspective with references.
Of course there are other perspectives, references but those references are rarely if ever to be seen on here and I will not be placing them on here because I do not agree with them, find them unconvincing if not downright stupid.
There are a great many of us who would like Mr Packham to follow his own advice.
Take a day off pal.
You just told me I have to argue the counterpoints.
That is telling me what to do.
So don’t tell me you are not telling me what to do when you are telling me what to do.
Is that clear?
I am a very long way away from being your pal.
You know how to read, don’t you?
I said that you were supposed to be putting the other side of the discussion. It’s a debate. That is what debaters generally do.
If I was telling you what to do, I would have said ‘Put the other side of the discussion!’
Resorting to petulance invariably indicates the wrong end of the argument.
I have already demonstrated that when I deal with a point you make you then claim it is a point you can rely on.
You just love being the centre of attention.
So go right ahead and you will be pummelled for it in a respectable but unrelenting way.
This is just silliness; petulance.
LOL.
It is boredom with your exalted opinion of the soundness of your military strategies.
Snore. z z z z z z z z z z z
How old are you?
5? Or older?
Has Daddy accidentally left his computer logged in?
You are embarrassing yourself.
Aw, shucks. Diddums.
Petulance is not an argument.
More of your superb incisive commentary.
PS are you sure you know the meaning of ‘petulance’?
Let me help you:
More incisive commentary.
Well done.
Are you sure you know the meaning of ‘petulance’?
Let me help you:
Thank you.
Never mind Article this and Article that – nobody sane would imagine that the USA would risk its cities being nuked to save any of the rag-tag States in the East or even Western Europe.
Those with no history should be aware the strong aversion by the US public to get involved in European wars in 1914 and 1939. There is no evidence that sentiment has changed.
A very good speech, whereby I would ask him what other options Putin had? Had all channels of diplomacy since 2014 not already been exhausted? At some stage, when thousands of people have already died, you have to say enough is enough.
The do nothing option!
2014 Option No. 1: Not to invade…..
2022 Option No. 1: Not to invade…..
The do-nothing option had cost around 16,000 lives and Ukraine continues to bomb innocent civilians, e.g. from the Russian Foreign Ministry: In the afternoon of August 16, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the Galaktika shopping centre, full of visitors, in the Petrovsky District of Donetsk. An enormous fire erupted there. According to the preliminary information, there were more than 100 visitors inside the building at the moment of the Kiev regime’s terrorist attack, among them a lot of children. Right now, the fire has already covered 10,000 square metres. There is no data so far about the exact number of victims, including those killed, but even now it is clear that the numbers can be great, according to media reports and video recordings of the massive fire. The situation around the Galaktika shopping centre is aggravated by Ukrainian monsters’ attempts to use attack drones against rescue teams that arrived to extinguish the fire and doctors providing assistance to the wounded. This vile attack on the shopping centre was an act of terrorism carefully planned by Ukrainian neo-Nazis and a gesture of desperation on the part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amid the Russian troops’ confident advance along the battle contact… Read more »
The do nothing option prior to 2014 cost no lives at all. Putin selected a different option thereafter. ‘Nearly a year after the annexation, Russia finally dropped all pretenses that its military wasn’t involved in the seizure of Crimea. In a March 2015 documentary aired on state television, Putin said he told top security officials of his intent to take Crimea shortly after Yanukovych abandoned power. “I said that the situation in Ukraine has unfolded in such a way that we are forced to begin the work of returning Crimea to Russia,” Putin said in the documentary. He added that he had ordered his military and security agencies to save the life of Yanukovych, who turned up in southern Russia less than a week after fleeing Kyiv on February 22, 2014. The film, titled Crimea: The Way Home, makes clear that the “little green men” who took control of the Crimean government buildings, airports, and other facilities were Russian soldiers. “In order to block and disarm 20,000 well-armed [Ukrainian soldiers], you need a specific set of personnel. And not just in numbers, but with skill. We needed specialists who know how to do it,” Putin said in the documentary. “That’s why… Read more »
You never directly answer anything but always go off on a tangent. The Maidan coup itself cost a few lives, not to mention the peaceful demonstrators burnt or clobbered to death by the Banderite/Nazi thugs in Odessa. Then we had the Minsk peace agreements, which Merkel and Hollande not long ago admitted were a trick to give Ukraine more time for it to be armed by the West and for the West to train Ukrainian soldiers – a trick played on Putin. Why? A trick which does not say very much for the honesty of Germany and France. Then Ukraine started bombarding the Donbas area and continues doing so to this day – as written above. These bombardments have cost around 16,000 lives, which explains why many Donbas residents are not at all happy that it took Putin until 2022 to start his SMO. As far as Crimea is concerned, I do not recall a great uprising of people demanding a return to Ukrainian control. And such an uprising with the current Ukrainian government and its illegitimate president would be difficult to comprehend.
Putin could have chosen to do nothing in 2014. He chose to invade Ukraine. Nothing excuses that and the subsequent criminal behaviour for which he has been indicted. Russian children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova has said that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. ‘I share insights from Kin Majorities based on qualitative fieldwork that I conducted in Crimea prior to annexation. This data, collected during a time of calm, questions what we actually know about the varying identities and preferences of Crimea’s residents, at a time when annexation was inconceivable….. Few in Crimea identified as pro-Russian nationalists. In fact, only those I interviewed within pro-Russian parties and movements identified as such. Instead, many identified as ethnically Russian, but with few cultural or political ties to Russia. Many others identified as between Ukraine and Russia: as Crimean. Meanwhile, many younger people did not identify, ethnically, even as Russian speakers, rather they identified as Ukrainian citizens. We know we had underestimated the strength of people’s political identification with Ukraine before Russia’s war against Ukraine. My book also highlights the fact that Crimea was passportised by Russia after annexation and not… Read more »
Putin could have chosen to do nothing in 2014.
And Bush could have chosen to do nothing in 2008 but instead he insisted Ukraine could join NATO and Russia would not be allowed to veto it. Now why would USA possibly be so interested in Ukraine joining NATO?
Because the U.S. had guaranteed Ukrainian territorial integrity in 1994 in return for the surrender of Ukraine’s nuclear warheads, something Ukraine no doubt now regrets.
NATO membership for Ukraine would simply underwrite assurances already given.
Russia, incidentally, also gave assurances regarding Ukrainian territorial integrity in 1994 so why would Russia object to Ukraine joining NATO, I wonder?
1994? Because Russians, perhaps, object to having nuclear missiles aimed at Moscow along the 2,000km border to their country? Which other country in the world has nuclear missiles aimed at its capital directly on its border? USA? Hardly. UK? Also not.
By the way, your argument above that “The four countries that joined the Alliance after 2004 are all in the Balkans, quite distant from Russia’s borders” is incorrect in both instances, as I am sure you are aware: even if you meant “after 2004” …
This makes no sense.
Russia has nuclear missile submarines constantly off the coast of both the U.S. and Europe.
The countries that joined NATO after 2004 were Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and North Macedonia, none of which pose any kind of threat to Russia.
It is Putin himself who has brought NATO closer to Russia, Finland and Sweden joining in response to his 2022 invasion of Ukraine….and who can blame them?
Sorry, what makes no sense about not wishing to have nuclear missiles aimed at your capital and other cities placed along your country’s border?
And USA has nuclear missile submarines which are undoubtedly also often situated in strategic locations.
I blame Sweden and Finland for bowing to US hegemony and ultimately threatening a neighbouring country. Finland had a lot of citizens frequently crossing the border to work in Russia, as well as visitors to neighbouring areas, and vice versa: that all had to stop when Finland decided (why?) to close all the borders to a country that posed no threat to them whatsoever. Politicians are among the dumbest people in any country.
What makes no sense is suggesting that the U.S. and U.K. do not have nuclear missiles aimed at them from just across the border. Of course they have Russian nuclear missiles targeted at them from just across their border. Maritime or land border, it makes no difference.
Finland and Sweden are the best judges of what threatens them, not some random commentator on this site. And so is Poland, now equipping itself with 1500 new tanks.
Both Poland and Finland know, within living memory, what it is like to be invaded by the Russian army under the auspices of the USSR.
Just take a day off.
It is a bank holiday weekend.
You are very free with advice.
Why not save your efforts for the things that you can affect?
Speak for yourself.
You are far too free telling others what you think they should do.
I had hoped promoting you to Allied and NATO Supreme Commander might shut you up for a few minutes but sadly that is not the case.
Ego it seems has no limits.
Adolf H had a similar character flaw.
It did not end well for him – or so the official account of his demise goes.
Self indulgent wibbling, adding nothing.
Yes. You do it so very well.
Keep up the good work.
‘wibbling’ – so who’s swallowed the dictionary today?
But still cannot get it right:
Thank you.
My God you are boring.
What is worse?
Boring? Irrelevant or simply not on the same page as the rest of the world.
Yawn.
Give yourself a big pat on the back for hanging in there….but why not lose the atmospherics?
Thanks.
I try to please.
Well done.
That assumes we always know where the Russian nuclear subs are.
As Clint’s famous line goes, do you want to say to any nuclear power “Are you feeling lucky, Punk? Are you?” and then explains the power of the weapon he is holding a Magnum .44 and says “Make my day”.
So, are you feeling lucky too?
Is Russia a threat to UK? Now possibly, granted, since UK supplies weapons to Ukraine which are used to kill Russian citizens. But before?
And what threat was Russia to USA, apart from the old Cold War attitude which Putin suggested to Clinton could be laid aside? Vice versa, USA still has the Cold War attitude to eastern Europe, as though there was no fall of the Berlin wall, and is currently leading Ukraine down the path to destruction against Russia.
I am convinced, and there is plenty of evidence on the internet, that modern Russia poses no threat whatsoever to anyone. On the contrary, Putin has done everything possible to align himself with the West, modernize Russia, and dispose of the old world thinking. But USA has, and continues, to thwart every attempt to dispose of the old attitudes: after all, who would need a US military without an enemy?
But I loved the Clint Eastwood films and do consider myself lucky today, thank you!
Enjoy the afternoon!
Russia has been targeting British cities for decades.
‘The up-to-date (Russian nuclear targets in UK) list – the most complete ever held by British intelligence services – was passed to a British intelligence officer in Eastern Europe by a Russian agent.
As well as laying out the targets, it reveals details of which military airfields Russian bombers would fly from and the number of aircraft allocated to the operation.
“The information includes details of a high-level attack in addition to a low-level strike,” said a Whitehall source.
March 2024
You are a bore.
Boring. Old news.
Okay…..actually lose the harmful chemicals…..they aren’t working for you……
Uh?
You wibble so well.
A class wibbler.
Never seen such superb wibbling.
You have now made 12 comments one after the other with another to come.
All 12 near perfect wibbling.
Wibbling should be an Olympic sport.
Good progress. Keep it up.
It is working well so far.
It is a no-brainer that we should make peace with Russia.
And seek a just peace for Ukraine.
Why there is a war at all is unfathomable unless Putin’s Russian has a well-grounded fear of US hegemony.
There is a war because Putin invaded Ukraine (twice).
Awesome incisive commentary yet again.
You have just helped everyone immensely by explaining that there is a war because there is a war.
Amazing.
How do you do it? Such impossible ability.
So grateful for comment number 13 in a row from you and you manage to add absolutely nothing of any value yet again.
Tremendous. I have never before experienced such ability.
Congratulations.
Well done even.
A retrograde step, I’m afraid.
There is a war because Putin invaded Ukraine (twice).
Clue: an invasion is not a war. Wars involve fighting, invasions not necessarily.
You would know this if you had ever participated in a bloodless invasion…..but you have not…….
The invasions caused the war.
Putin gambled that they would not……and lost……..
Oh, OK.
Then what you meant to say was there is a war in Ukraine because Putin started a war in Ukraine and kept on with the war in Ukraine for no other reason than he wanted to have a war.
His troops invaded Ukraine because if they did not there would have been no one to fight.
Maybe he was bored after having seen your comments on another forum somewhere and did it for amusement.
Great logic.
Utter utter nonsense. Well done. Congratulations. Immense and utter idiocy IMHO.
But then again, Monro, when you are on such a streak of idiocy, it would be a shame to spoil it by saying something sensible.
At root the conflict is about cultural differences between ethnic Russians – about 20% – and Ukrainian majority. Ukraine was never a distinct Nation State with a monocultural demos – it was a region and one time part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, then Imperial Russia.
Culture determines society. Monocultural societies tend to be peaceful, stable, prosperous. Multiple cultures = multiple societies = tribalism = no unity = conflict. Multiculturalists please note.
It is the history of the World, all wars are rooted in cultural differences – and nothing to do with race. The EU and the US caused friction between the cultures in Ukraine nearly ten years ago, and… we are where we are.
Naturally Russia sided with those culturally aligned AND out of strategic interest to maintain control over the Sea of Azoz, the Crimea and thus Black Sea to ensure unrestricted access to its only warm water port – merchant and military – and route into the Med, Suez Canal and out into the Atlantic.
The USA, when it comes to “International Law” and recognition of the borders of Sovereign Countries, doesn’t practice what it preaches.
By that logic, England should be part of Normandy and so France since England itself only existed for three centuries before 1066, then ruled since by Norman Kings mainly speaking French. ‘The Kievan Rus’ – a medieval state that came into existence in the 9th century and was centred around present-day Kiev – is regarded as a joint ancestral homeland that laid the foundations for both modern Russia and Ukraine. But from the time of its foundation to its conquest by the Mongols in the 13th century, the Rus’ was an increasingly fragmented federation of principalities. Its south-western territories, including Kiev, were conquered by Poland and Lithuania in the early 14th century. For roughly four hundred years, these territories, encompassing most of present-day Ukraine, were formally ruled by Poland-Lithuania, which left a deep cultural imprint on them. During these four centuries, the Orthodox East Slavic population of these lands gradually developed an identity distinct from that of the East Slavs remaining in the territories under Mongol and later Muscovite rule. A distinct Ukrainian language had already begun to emerge in the dying days of the Kievan Rus’ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/2020/07/01/there-is-no-ukraine-fact-checking-the-kremlins-version-of-ukrainian-history/ But, by now, those historical records are otiose. ‘Through its intervention in Ukraine it has… Read more »
Indeed it was but the other way around.
Henry V was king of England and France.
But Henry VI gave it all back to the French and England degenerated into the Wars of the Roses.
Precisely my point. Makes no difference whichever way you look at it. William I was a vassal of Philip I of France.
Maybe, historically, then, Russia should be run from Kyiv as Rus was 9th-13th century.
But, as I say, that is all now otiose. 92% of Ukraine voted for independence in 1991, majorities in all regions. That nationalist fervour has now been cemented firmly in place by this profoundly stupid, criminal and barbaric invasion.
The purpose of this noisy twaddle has nothing to do with Ukraine itself. There must be a feeling somewhere in Whitehall that the British public are, for the most part, completely detached from this Russo-Ukrainian war. And the feeling would be right. So, how to remind these dullards? Wake them up by getting them to make their own noise. That noise won’t enlighten them as to the risks involved in the UK’s supplying of weapons that are now used on Russian territory. The public express no alarm at what in the Cold War would have been unthinkable. Have Western leaders and the public lost the fear of nuclear war that in the Cold War prevented NATO sending weapons to support the uprisings that occasionally occurred behind the Iron Curtain? If so, what has caused this? Have other catastrophes supplanted nuclear war? Such as ‘climate’? ‘Global boiling’? At least nuclear heat would dissipate. On the one hand the British public are plied with ‘anaesthetic for the community’ to pacify them after some shocking outrage. Then they are to be woken up from their Soma-like torpor but the sound of banging saucepans. But in neither case are they awoken to the dangers… Read more »
Is there an option to bang a pan instead.? Asking for a friend…
Bang two politicians together- empty vessels do make the most noise.
What can do to rid ourselves of these embarrassing clowns making us look like dickheads on the international stage?
It reminds of that tory defence secretary who said something like that horrid mr putin can jolly well go and boil his head (paraphrased slightly).
Is this really the government we deserve?
God have mercy.
There is now a recall process. It’s not great as the MP in question has to have been found guilty of something in the view of Parliament before the process advances to a petition of the constituents.
If a recall petition does arise let’s not miss the opportunity.
It is the Government “we” deserve – some of “we” anyway. Others have tried to warn but the Great Unwashed has too much muck in its ears.
4 in 5 voters did not vote for this government.
So basically you are saying the Left, Far Left and others who voted Labour are the great unwashed with muck in their ears.
We know Starmfuhrer has muck in his ears as he does not listen and nor does his cabinet some of whom are definitely loony left like Miliband and Lammy.
Both say and do the stupidest things.
So why did Two-tier Kier appoint them? The thinking processes of a Prime Minister which defy logic cannot be limited to just the appointments of those two clowns.
David Lammy, who thought the Nobel Prize for Physics winners Pierre and Marie, had the surname ‘Antoinette’.
Grifting moron.
Physics? Hey Ed! What’s Physics? Damifino.
As much a mystery as economics.
He used to have a show on LBC alongside that fence-sitting purveyor of twaddle James O’Brien.
O’Brien always avoids committing to anything by first saying what he really thinks which is often IMHO nonsense and then qualifies it by saying something like ‘I could be wrong’ so that when his is shown to be he does not look as big an idiot as he really is IMHO.
Obviously this practice of O’Brien’s is based on long experience of years of being wrong.
And thought Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII.
Watches too much Dr Who.
Look on the bright side: If there’s a global thermonuclear war Sir Keir and pals won’t have to be held to account by the electorate ever again. Ed Milliband won’t have to explain why the grid has failed and there’ll be a brilliant demonstration of anthropogenic climate change (‘see, I told you so’).
‘If’?
‘When’ seems more probable than ‘if’.
And also – if one is a believer in biblical predictions:
And we shall have global warming and climate change so the likes of Kwiss Kwackenham will be vindicated.
This is the statement released on the government website:
‘The UK Government and our partners in NATO are leading an international campaign to Make Noise For Ukraine on Ukrainian Independence Day, 24 August.
We must not be silent in the face of Russia’s aggression.
This Ukrainian Independence Day, help us celebrate Ukraine’s bravery and resilience by showing your support on social media.
Organisations and members of the public are encouraged to join our campaign by posting a video making noise for Ukraine on social media with the hashtag #MakeNoiseForUkraine.
Please post your video on 24 August 2024, Ukrainian Independence Day.
You can make noise in any way you like: clap or cheer, play an instrument, sing a song, stomp your feet or ring a bell. You could also shout ‘Slava Ukraini’ – Glory to Ukraine!’
Words fail.
David Hammy represents the state of the nation: fat, useless, insincere and profoundly stupid.
Stupid? The pot banging worked during “Covid” so worth another try. He’s a senior government minister so he’s doing very well for himself. Stupid would best describe those who voted for him or his party.
Then let us see what further exhibitions of his intellectual gifts he gives us over the next few years, but, for a British foreign secretary to have already insulted the next U.S. President and now to have exhorted the battering of kitchen implements in pursuit of foreign policy objectives does not seem, at least to me, as a particularly cerebral start.
In an acronym ‘FFS’.
I am not convinced that Ukraine represents a “foreign policy objective” and anyway all of this is for domestic consumption, for various reasons probably. As for insulting Trump, everyone does that and I don’t think it will make much difference – and again, those things are for domestic consumption and/or for his mates in the WEF, UN, Blair foundation etc etc who he hopes to get a job with when he eventually leaves office.
What do you think Britain’s foreign policy objective will be when Russia annexes the Suwalki Corridor in Poland, as it clearly intends to do in due (expedient) course?
I have no idea and believe there are more pressing things to worry about, such as the ongoing murder/suicide of our civilisation. If Russia does this, how will it increase any “threat” to the UK?
More pressing things than the security of the entire nation? You follow an unusual star!
Explain to this simpleton how this “corridor” that Russia might annex is some I should worry about
The Suwalki Corridor is part of Poland. Its annexation would trigger Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which, as another commentator above suggests, would mean a (doubtless ultimately nuclear) war between NATO (including Britain) and Russia.
There will be a town near you on the Russian target list……
Seems unlikely to me
The invasion of Crimea in 2014, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the invasion of Russia in 2024 all seemed unlikely to pretty much everyone and yet here we are…….
Yes but those events are not in the same category as attacking NATO and one side or the other going nuclear
Putin has threatened to go nuclear from an early stage.
‘Russia was ready to put its nuclear forces on alert over the crisis in Crimea last year (2014), such was the threat to Russian people there, President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary that aired on state TV on Sunday night.
Asked if Russia was prepared to bring its nuclear weapons into play, Putin said: “We were ready to do it.’
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/16/europe/russia-putin-crimea-nuclear/index.html
‘On February 27, 2022, Putin placed Russia’s nuclear forces on “high combat alert.” Putin claimed that this decision was a response to the “illegitimate sanctions” and “aggressive statements” from the senior officials of NATO member states.’
https://features.csis.org/deter-and-divide-russia-nuclear-rhetoric/
But is thankfully has not happened and despite Ukrainian forces now taking Russian territory.
NATO members thankfully kept their silence in response to not inflame the nuclear rhetoric.
Putin’s threatened use of tactical nuclear weapons would be a game changer to the degree I will not speculate here on how such a situation might develop.
And I suggest it would be wise for you to cease following that line.
Everything you put up are arguments which others will have counterarguments for.
This kind of open public speculation is in my view unwise.
Of course there are counter arguments. This debate will run and run. But the counter arguments are in general rather silly and unsupported by anything in way of real evidence. That is why I dismiss them.
Regarding first use of nuclear weapons, there is no need for speculation. The United States has made it perfectly clear to Russia exactly what would happen should Putin use nuclear weapons.
‘“Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea………”
David Petraeus
Only because you enjoy being the centre of attention and for no other reason.
OK.Chatham House is rather silly. See my comment here on their view.
Obviously this internationally recognised body is ‘rather silly’ even though its international recognition arises because it is not.
But Monro, if it came to a pissing match between you and Chatham House, you are clearly the greatly intellect or pisser and I concede the argument entirely to your brilliance.
Not.
You are clearly not enjoying this debate, so let us just leave it there.
Blimey. Talk about not being able to take a hint.
Out of your own mouth….
Awesome.
First a comment of only 8 words here.
Now you manage only 5.
Next surely only 2 and after that – thank you thank you – there is a God – down to none.
Ha!
Setting an example which you have, I must say, rather petulantly, chosen not to follow.
And you were doing so well
C-
Hmm. Petulantly misusing ‘petulantly’. Great job.
100% up to your fine intellectual standards.
Naturally, not a hint of sarcasm or indeed just plain humour in sight.
And you were doing so well in shortening your comments to nearly nothing.
Dontcha just love it.
Well as I am sure you realise, what politicians say and what they mean and what they end up doing are not the same
The security assurances that we gave to Ukraine in 1994 are not so very different from Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, in part the reason why we give Ukraine so much material support, having failed to live up to those 1994 assurances.
That may well be the case, but I just can’t see Russia wanting to go much further west – and you yourself mention a new iron curtain a lot further east than the old one. I can accept that not everyone within this new iron curtain might want to be in it, but I don’t see how it’s an existential threat to the UK. How we act in this matter has surely to be based partly on trying to guess true intentions now and in the future, intentions which are not necessarily going to be spoken about publicly – or when people do declare intentions, it’s for public consumption and not necessarily what they really mean – applies to all sides in this business.
Putin’s Russia, if permitted, will dominate European foreign and domestic policy. Its Modus Operandi is to place pro Russian leaders in power wherever it can by whatever means may come to hand. It does not necessarily need to move further west to achieve that. Nevertheless Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia have all been invaded by Russian forces under the auspices of the USSR within living memory. No-one, particularly not me, is saying that Russia appears to pose an existential threat to this country. But an expansion of Russian power, a undemocratic pro Russian totalitarian government imposed on this country, is definitely a threat to our way of life, freedoms. Some will say on here that they prefer the idea of a Putin style dictatorship here. That seems to me to be a profoundly stupid point of view, whatever the shortcomings (and they are many) of our current political system. This is how it could happen: ‘An Atlantic community paralyzed by its military inferiority in Europe could only wring its hands as (Russian) power and influence moved unimpeded into the so-called Third World, portions of which provide the materials upon which the industrial, economic, and social health of the industrial West depend.… Read more »
Clearly Monro we need to appoint you Supreme Allied and NATO Commander.
Nothing less will do.
At least it will shut you up for maybe five minutes.
I’d prefer to see him in a senior cabinet role not connected to foreign policy.
I’d prefer to see him in sectioned under the Mental Health Act and in a straitjacket to prevent more harm to the UK.
Up your game and aspirations especially where someone of the proven calibre of Lammy is concerned.
More silliness; petulance.
No need.
More boring boring.
Oh dear!
Amazing – I guessed exactly right here – a comment of only two words from you.
Can this be the last?
Oh dear Lord, let it be. Please please let it be.
But not from you…..
G–
Really, why?
I just love the idea you think Putin started a war in Ukraine for no particular reason.
Awesome.
I think the USSR invasions of those central/eastern European countries happened in different times, times which I doubt will return.
Yes I suppose a stronger Russia would try to throw its weight around more, internationally, but that’s what all countries do and I don’t think they are going to dominate the USA and China and India. In any case I don’t see how engaging in territorial expansion is going to help them get stronger – perhaps just expanding the population but taking over and keeping territory is a big drain and distraction.
Putin believes that the break up of the USSR was a mistake.
It makes no difference whether we agree with him or not.
His intentions and likelihood of carrying them out is all that should concern us.
He intends a new superstate in Europe.
That will impact our way of life dramatically unless we deter him.
The first step in that process is denying him success in Ukraine.
Boring sadly and twaddle IMHO.
Nor do I care if I am right or wrong because it is now all so boring.
And yet you are still here…..
Monro, you were doing so well cutting down your comments with your prior being only two words.
Then you go and spoil it – but at least only 6 words and no more nonsense military advice on the dreadful war in Ukraine.
‘Nonsense’ should read ‘nonsensical’.
No evidence offered to support the somewhat mangled assertion.
Hitchens’s razor applies.
G–
None needed. It is easy to prove you successfully made a comment of only two words – everyone can read and count them for themselves.
Funny kind of ‘mangled assertion’.
It is you who claims Putin started a war because he was bored and just felt like it.
But it is not.
See my comment here clarifying.
IMHO Monro is someone who feeds on attention.
Possibly. Or possibly he just cant understand why sceptics who share his views on many things could have such different views on Russia.
I am delighted for others to hold views different to my own and defend their right so to do.
I find those views difficult to understand if they have no substantive evidence to support them.
The dreadful SARS CoV 2 common cold coronavirus nonsense which cost us well north of £400bn shows where unsubstantiated ‘faiths’ can lead.
If that were the case he could simply have said that and ended this charade by agreeing others do no share his views.
But your attempt to shut this down is appreciated nonetheless.
That should be clear to even the dimmest lamp……the essence of debate…for those who have the wit to see it…..
Total and utter nonsense.
‘We’ [not me personally] would drop Ukraine like a hot brick if support did not serve strategic interests of the UK.
Trump currently sees no strategic benefit from a prolonged war but does see a benefit in ending it by a negotiated settlement.
Biden in contrast is committed to the forever war.
Kumala? [as it is pronounce according to Kamala].
Walz?
Currently I have no idea.
Does anyone on DS know. It may just be an online search but I am too bored to bother.
What strategic interest does Britain have in Ukraine?
Indeed. What is it?
Tell us all what your esteemed but immensely boring opinion is.
If we are paying billions in support because, as you claim above, we have a ‘strategic interest’ you have exactly what to support your point of view……tumbleweed?
The most expensive tumbleweed in history.
So you amaze us all yet again with your razor sharp incisive understanding of the conflict.
The UK is supporting Ukraine according to you because BoJo just felt like it and everyone else carried on what he started because they have nothing better to do – and probably were bored with your comments on strategic advice on some other forum somewhere.
You claim, above, that support for Ukraine serves Britain’s strategic interests but you are, when questioned, unable to support that assertion.
Why, then, make such an assertion?
Ha.
This from you who claims Putin started a war because he was bored and just felt like it.
I don’t need any evidence.
If you who is now saying the UK is supporting Ukraine just because the Prime Minister and Cabinet are bored and wanted some amusement and there is no other reason, not even a strategic interest for doing so.
You are just awesomely funny even if just a touch boring with long comments about military strategy which really are just as sensible as your latest assertions.
What is there not to love?
That does not explain the significance of what you call this ‘corridor’, why Putin would want it, what advantage it gives him and why he would risk a war with NATO members for it.
Just claiming it is there to be taken and then jumping to the conclusion there will be a nuclear war because of it is not a logical argument nor persuasive in any sense at all.
So why should anyone be concerned?
The Suwalki Corridor links Poland to Lithuania. It is Polish territory. Annexation by Russia of the Suwalki Corridor would trigger article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Its annexation would join Kaliningrad to Belarus as part of Putin’s ‘Union State’, of which both are already part.
That annexation would also cut off the land corridor between the Baltic States and Poland, isolating them and facilitating effective Russian control of the external and internal policies of those states, dependent as they then would be on Russia for trade with the outside world.
A new iron curtain would descend in Europe from Kaliningrad to Odessa and Russia would threaten/dominate a unilaterally disarmed Europe.
Why else would Poland now be spending 5% of its GDP on defence? That demonstrates the scale of their concern far better than any words of mine.
We will, eventually, our politicians kicking and screaming all the way, have to do the same. Not to do so will, ultimately, be even more expensive.
Even a negotiated peace in the short term will not end this.
Both Ukraine and Russia see this as a long term (next fifty years at least) struggle for the survival of their countries..
Decades of Russian rule of the whole of Poland from 1945 to the 1990s – only 30 short years ago – and the more recent invasions of Ukraine.
Precisely. Poland sees the threat.
A NATO alliance in Europe lacking U.S. support as it might do under a Trump Presidency might very well adopt the do nothing option if Russia annexed the Suwalki Corridor, opening the way for Russian imperial primacy in Europe.
FFS I answered you with a different threat and you claim it is the threat to the Suwalki Gap. So what does Chatham House have to say about your discredited theory which you hang on to seemingly IMHO obsessively and keep banging on about. “The so-called ‘Suwałki Gap’ has generated much discussion regarding NATO’s deterrence and defence measures on the eastern flank of the alliance. Many analysts and media outlets portray the border region between Poland and Lithuania as a uniquely vulnerable part of Europe. However, the reality is that it will only have strategic significance to the degree that NATO accords it (undeserved) priority. ….. Why is it wrong? The perceived strategic importance of the Suwałki Gap flows from a misunderstanding of its military value and vulnerability. To be sure, NATO deems the area important enough to have positioned the US-led Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup in Orzysz, Poland, about a two-hour drive from the Lithuanian border. However, as much as the location of the battlegroup makes sense given its proximity to Kaliningrad and Belarus, there are good reasons to think that some of the concern surrounding the Suwałki Gap is vastly overstated. First, it is unclear why Russian… Read more »
The Suwalki Corridor is Polish territory. That is why I say that Poland perceives a threat to its territory! ‘The threats stemming from Russia ҅s multifaceted abilities have been stressed also by General (ret) Wesley Clark, General (ret) Sir Richard Shirreff and Jüri Luik, the current Minister of Defence of Estonia, arguing that: Russia would be capable not just of sealing off the Baltic states in the “bubble” that covers air, sea and land dimensions, but also of fiercely contesting other spaces of critical importance to military operations—in the electromagnetic spectrum, cyberspace, and even outer space (by using anti-satellite capabilities). (Clark et al 2016) In addition, similar opinions are shared by General (ret.) Sir Richard Barrons, who argues that Russia could be ready for action within 48 hours and “some land and control of airspace and territorial waters could be lost before NATO’s 28 member states had even agreed how to respond” (Haynes 2016). Likewise, senior NATO officials, including General Philip Breedlove, the supreme allied commander Europe, and General Frank Gorenc, commander allied air command, have raised concerns over A2/AD in a European context during 2015 (Barrie 2016). In this way, the NATO Alliance clearly feels threatened by the reinforcement… Read more »
Ye Gods.
I give up.
I surrender.
The incessant word bombs from Monro are not something I or anyone else need be concerned about.
Monro is best left talking to him or her or its self
OMG. I am beginning to believe Monro is Lammy.
Does he ever give up or are we condemned to a lifetime of Lamminess?
Is this the best argument that you can muster?
The most savage conflict in Europe since 1945……and you are a bit bored….
Steady on there old girl.
These exchanges with you really do not qualify as:
But they are the most boring.
We are not having a conflict.
We are having a discussion.
Ukraine and Russia are having a savage, brutal, barbaric war.
Your peculiar resort to silly and intemperate language suggests that things are not altogether right with you.
My best wishes for a speedy recovery.
No.
You think you are having a discussion.
I am just enjoying the show.
Even though you manage the most boring comments “in Europe since 1945”.
Wibbling needs to be an Olympic event as you my friend would win gold every time.
It worked because so many airborne baby Covids got squashed to death.
More effective than the fake scamdemic vaccines.
What do the letters F O stand for……?
Just a minute… I’ve got it: Foreign Office. Can’t think of any other words they fit.
I would rather slide down a razor blase using my balls as brakes. There is nothing noble or beautiful or true about the current state of Ukraine. I think you would have to be a pretty sick individual to support a state like that one and the usual malady is venality. It makes me physically ill to even conjure up a mental image of the sort of person that would support Ukraine.
“Home Office officials are expected to post videos of “police dogs barking.”
Well, I would say that Lammy as shown himself to be barking!
What a shambolic state of affairs.
Somehow we allow these imbeciles to rule us. What can you say. Does the fish rot from the head or the tail or do they rot in unison so that their rot is accelerated by mutual blame? It is fascinating in the way that lifting up a rock to reveal the insect life beneath is fascinating.
My sympathies are with Russia and the Russians. We have no business being involved in any way.
.
‘The collected evidence further shows that Russian authorities have committed the war crimes of wilful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation’ a United Nations commission of inquiry on Ukraine said in a report submitted to the UN general assembly.
‘The commission has recently documented attacks that affected civilian objects, such as residential buildings, a railway station, shops, and a warehouse for civilian use, leading to numerous casualties.’
The commission said it had focused its recent investigations on Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces and found “evidence that Russian authorities committed rapes and sexual violence in a district of Kherson province”.
The commission investigated further reports regarding transfers of unaccompanied children by Russian authorities to the Russian Federation or to areas they occupied in Ukraine. It notably documented the transfer of 31 children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation in May 2022, and concluded that it was an unlawful deportation and a war crime.
This March, the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/coiukraine/A-78-540-AEV.pdf
Are you going to mention the war crimes committed by Ukraine in Kursk or just gloss over that as it doesn’t suit your narrative?
I have not seen any U.N. evidence of Ukrainian war crimes
If you have evidence of Ukrainian war crimes, this is what to do:
In the UK, you can report a war crime to the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Team in several ways:
Online: Fill out the online form on the Metropolitan Police website
By phone: Call 101 at any time
In person: Visit a local police station
Who cares.
This thread about David Lammy has become the most boring in the history of the universe
And yet you are still going at it…..
Well worth it to get you down to making a comment of only 8 words.
That is a world record for you.
One day you might even decide not to comment at all.
A blessed relief for mankind that will be.
The herbal remedy is clearly not as efficacious as you might have hoped.
Why not try a bit of fresh air and exercise?
My very best wishes.
Maybe when the sport here finishes.
After all I am getting a great deal of exercise with all the laughter.
Thanks for the medical advice. It is almost as good as your advice on military strategy.
Lammy continuing to make Britain the Laughingstock of the World.
Taxpayers were never asked if they wanted their money lavished on yet another Foreign War, yet another Meatgrinder War.
Tell Ukraine to sort out its own problems. We have enough of our own.
The Anglo-Americans argue that the prize is worth the price: complete control of Russian natural resources as well as the trillions in Ukraine. They really believe that they can beat the Russians. It is like playing toy soldiers at school that is their mindset. Ask any military man or serious strategist and they will tell you that it is insane to go to war with Russia. The officer training in Russia involves very high level mathematics in terms of chess moves. You will not beat these people in modern warfare.
I think you’re deluding yourself as to the quality of the Russian officer class, the only reason they ever win is because of the vast distances, an infinite capacity to sacrifice the sons of their working class/serfs, horrendous winters and in the case of ww ii vast logistical support from the USA and indeed the UK which at the time was still a major industrial power.
That said our supposedly unconditional support for Ukraine ignores history, geography and military reality- all that energy should have been extended looking for a ceasefire.
Russia should be an ally against Islam and China.
Instead our genius leaders have forced her into an unholy alliance with China and Iran.
One of the worst outcomes possible.
Possibly I don’t doubt the degradation of Russian culture but you have to see these things in relative terms. Any depravity that might occur in Russia needs to be set aside the total vampiric parasitic wasp situation of the West. Do you know that recruitment numbers have been falling in US and UK even among poor white
working class populatations that often joined the army as an escape from hell.. If you lose that then you lose everything regardless of the machines you possess.
Agreed. It’s a sign of the damage the globalist have already done but it’s also a sign that the crucial class is waking up; they’ll still fight for their families and their communities (see Southport “riots”) but not for 2tk’s multiculti shit-hole.
There’s a long way to go though…
How do you reverse demoralisation when even the threat of death or the destruction of your culture doesn’t even register. It is a long way back. The self-belief has to be there.
The ability of the Russians to recover from Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa was miraculous including dismantling entire factories and shipping them lock, stock and barrel east and rebuilding them there. Then they designed and built weapons of considerable superiority and in vast numbers including the T34 tank which made such a contribution to the war on the Russian front. Logistical support from the USA was limited as it came by sea convoys into Murmansk the route to which can be blocked by ice in the winter months. However, this is not to diminish the one single factor over all others which brought about the defeat of the axis powers. That single factor was the USA’s industrial capacity in providing weapons munitions and all other needs for its armies to overcome the opposition in Europe and the Pacific. The end came about sooner of course because of many factors including but not limited to Russian ability to recover and then mount large-scale counter-offensives and defence, Hitler’s growing distrust of his generals and his meddling in the conduct of the war effort and numerous additional factors like the leaking of German attack plans to the Russians by a spy in the UK’s code-breaking… Read more »
I will be banging my saucepan in support of Russia.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to up to 4,400 Ukrainian troops, 65 tanks, 27 infantry fighting vehicles, 53 armoured personnel carriers, 316 armoured fighting vehicles, 133 motor vehicles, 31 artillery guns, five SAM launchers, nine MLRS launchers, including three of HIMARS system and one MLRS system, six electronic warfare stations, as well as four units of engineering vehicles, including two counterobstacle vehicles and one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle.
Mainly because of its size it’s relatively easy to get into Russia.
Getting out has always proven to be rather more difficult.
Other than a PR exercise and the vain hope Russia would pull back troops from Donbas all Ukraine has achieved is the occupation of a few hundred square miles of fields.
Russia knows now exactly where they are. They have no air support and can be picked off at will.
I will not stamp my feet for Ukraine, any more than I will clap my dorsal fins and bark for the NHS, nor express my solidarity with the politics of Sponge-Bob. I extend no more sympathy towards Ukraine and NATO than I would have done during the Second World War towards the Soviet Union.
Making noise for Ukraine is utterly pointless, but so are the weekly pro-Palestinian marches. Whatever the rights and wrongs of what happened in Ukraine pre 2022, or even pre 2014 IMO nothing can justify a full scale invasion. Maybe the virtue signallers should pay some attention to the plight of Ukraine, or numerous other injustices that are happening/have recently happened rather than just focusing on what Israel is doing. Obviously hating Israel is the best way to show woke/left wing credentials so the situation is unlikely to change.
Putin quaking in his boots at all the clattering frying pans.
Lammy really is terminally thick!
Sadly its not terminal.
All politicians who favour war over diplomacy should be sent to a front line of their choice to fight for a couple of weeks. Then they should be allowed to choose again. Lammy should be specific: how many Russian soldiers should be killed with British weapons? 1000, 10,000, 100,000 or more? Then he should specify how many civilians should also be killed because, firstly, there is always ‘collateral damage’ and, secondly, especially the Ukrainians like killing civilians: I remember at least two Storm Shadow missiles (presumably many more) were successfully fired at markets in Belgorod and Donetsk, each killing around two dozen pensioners, housewives with children, and the like, doing their weekday shopping. And then Lammy should finally multiply his chosen numbers by a factor of 5 to 10, which will result in the number of Ukrainians killed in proportion to his number of Russians killed, due to the vast military superiority of the latter. And are we still firing uranium coated shells over there? They will continue to cause death by cancer for another decade or two (or three – see Irak). I am sure Lammy approves. And if Russia were to retaliate by shelling an English village or… Read more »
On the basis of this, and previous evidence, it would appear that Lammy never learnt that it is better to keep quiet, so people just think you’re a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it.
Please tell me he was just joking! I think I must be living in a lunatic asylum – either I’m mad or I’m just surrounded by the madness of everyone around me. Help!
A fart would be more productive.
No-one ever campaigns for Peace, and cessation of hostilities – and a negotiated surrender on the best terms they can get, Donbass and Crimea are non-negotiable at this point, and likely everything East of the Dnieper river
Toby is still not reading, when it comes to ‘Ukraine’. It’s uncomfortable to see him sitting at the same table as the Starmer and Lammy. ‘More weapons’ will just make things worse, and but for the demented Biden and his poodle – the totally selfish and amoral Boris Johnson – there would have been an early peace agreement to work with. Robert F Kennedy Junior strikes a much more sensible balance, which I would commend to Toby. But I waste my breath.
Stamping feet – a tantrum when people don’t get all their own way and what they want.
So given the dire, hopeless situation for Ukraine, a stamping feet seems appropriate.
Diversity hires are one thing, but Lammy, really?????
Putin is not my enemy, Starmer Rowley and Lammy are
Two things come to mind with the AFU incursion into Kursk. Wacht am Rhein and Citadel, both of which went badly for the perpetrators. Both operations used up resources that could never be replaced and were unsuccessful. In this case it the loss of troops that is more important than the loss of hardware even though supplies of some such as western tanks are not available. Weapons are of little use without troops.