Ukraine Invasion Part 18

[Ijsbear]

Place for information, discussion, points of view, useful links and above all, a hope that this sovereign land can regain its freedom.

@ClaudineClare

We shouldn't have sat and watched that build up peace keeping forces should have gone in to hold that's border and protect Nuclear sites

I agree with this.

..and the “peace keeping force” would be?

It’s just horrific. I hate that we’re not doing more in this war.

Europe, inc the UK buying Russian energy isn't why we are here, some might not know but even during the height of the Cold War, the 'West carried on buying raw materials from the USSR... if you don't want 3rd world starvation, where do you get grain from? EV's? Where will the nickel come from for their batteries etc?

Russia felt enabled to invade because we did nothing over Georgia, Crimea, Salisbury poisonings, allowed Putin to buy the Tory party, buy Brexit, most of London and we told the Russians we wouldn't intervene if they did invade... stupid, even my cousin who was a lowly NCO choked on his coffee when he heard that one.

But its what we do next that matters, opening up the Black Sea is probably the most risk free thing we can do, whether the USA has the political will to do so is another matter, Europe hasn't the means to do it, esp the UK after years of naval cuts, leaving us with around 19 frigates, with only 7 that can be deployed.

If the US wont do it, then Europe needs to get off its arse and send anti ship missiles, even if that means using "contractors" to operate them, plenty of ex services are in ukraine already.

Apparently the UK has among the best ones, so over to BJ to do the walk.....

Italy expels 30 Russian diplomats.

Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio attributed the move to Russian aggression against Ukraine

even during the height of the Cold War, the 'West carried on buying raw materials from the USSR

Ladas were on sale in the UK even as the shells were killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

It shouldn't be hard to see why there's Europe, and then the rest of the world on this one.

Apparently the UK has among the best ones, so over to BJ to do the walk.....

Which ones are you thinking of and are they capable of being launched from a land based platform (cf. the Exocet which hit HMS Glamorgan in the Falklands conflict)?

@DGRossetti

even during the height of the Cold War, the 'West carried on buying raw materials from the USSR

Ladas were on sale in the UK even as the shells were killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

It shouldn't be hard to see why there's Europe, and then the rest of the world on this one.

Of course there is logic in this madness, a Nuclear state going into economic collapse/revolution/breakdown is a scary thing, would we really want to see nuclear weapons or materials in the hands of say ISIS?

Russia has a great deal of economic and ideological influence in Africa, South America, Asia... even our own Rishi Sunaks family cannot bring themselves to condemn Russia.

The Memorial Human Rights centre in Moscow being closed down.

The Memorial Human Rights Center, one of Russia’s most prominent and storied human rights organizations, announced its closure Tuesday in a statement published online.

Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the closure of Memorial last December as part of a campaign of legal and administrative attacks on the country’s civil society and human rights organizations.

"Today, on April 5, 2022, the Memorial Human Rights Center will be liquidated," the official statement reads, warning that "a return to the totalitarian past is possible, it is happening now, in front of the whole world."

Memorial, one of the country's oldest human-rights organizations, monitors political repressions in modern Russia and has documented the crimes of totalitarian rule in the Soviet Union.

www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-04-05-22/index.html

Mariupol Women Report Russians Taking Ukrainians To 'Filtration Camps'
Witnesses say Russian officers are subjecting Ukrainian civilians to interrogation and confiscation of personal items before moving them to Russia
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/filtration-camps-russia-ukraine-war_n_624ac8b9e4b0e44de9c485ea

Of course there is logic in this madness, a Nuclear state going into economic collapse/revolution/breakdown is a scary thing,

@Alexandra2001 but isn't that exactly what's happening right now?

Good news
Chernobyl has got a sensor up and running, here's hoping they continue to progress towards normality.

Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that “the morale and the emotional state” of staff working at the country’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) were “very low” a month after Russian military forces seized the site, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-42-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine

@notimagain

Apparently the UK has among the best ones, so over to BJ to do the walk.....

Which ones are you thinking of and are they capable of being launched from a land based platform (cf. the Exocet which hit HMS Glamorgan in the Falklands conflict)?

Its not me thinking of it, i'm not going to know what the MOD has, it was BJ's suggestion, i assumed he would know.... wrong again... but its probably France's fault.

But it appears that the UK never purchased Harpoon II with the land launched option and only has TWO destroyers with them fitted.... as Harpoon is going in 2023 and its replacement is due in 2030.....

*Its not me thinking of it, i'm not going to know what the MOD has, it was BJ's suggestion, i assumed he would know.... wrong again... but its probably France's fault.

But it appears that the UK never purchased Harpoon II with the land launched option and only has TWO destroyers with them fitted.... as Harpoon is going in 2023 and its replacement is due in 2030.....*

I'm sure I saw some cannons at Dover Castle, could they work?

I'm sure I saw some cannons at Dover Castle, could they work?

Isn't the plural of cannon; cannon ?

Its not me thinking of it, i'm not going to know what the MOD has, it was BJ's suggestion, i assumed he would know....

I'd start by assuming BJ knows stuff all on this, he's yet another high profile person with a twitter account playing "military terms BS bingo" to please the masses.

It would be nice to think the Ukrainians could access something suitable, but as always the bigger kit doesn't come from Amazon in a big box, and certainly isn't "plug and play"

Ideally, someone should arm the Ukraine with some ( very identifiable ) Chinese weapons. There is no way there aren't some held safely somewhere in the west. Even if they are in special effects stores. Because frankly at this stage of the game there needs to be some pushing going on. Let the Chinese tell Putin that's "fake news" and see how that goes.

@DGRossetti

Ideally, someone should arm the Ukraine with some ( very identifiable ) Chinese weapons. There is no way there aren't some held safely somewhere in the west. Even if they are in special effects stores. Because frankly at this stage of the game there needs to be some pushing going on. Let the Chinese tell Putin that's "fake news" and see how that goes.

Trump had the same idea, a few weeks ago.

Trump had the same idea, a few weeks ago.

Clearly great minds think alike.

Haven’t the ordinary Russian people heard about Norway? Where the fossil fuel shares are distributed fairly amongst the Norwegian citizens because the Kleptocrats didn’t con the population out of them? and as a result the standard of living and happiness indexes are very high?
I’m sure it’s not as easy as that though. Although I’m sure a lot of Russians would have questions, unfortunately for them a strong prevailing ethos in Russia does seem to be this violent, materialistic hard-chaw culture.

I'm horrified by the images from Bucha. It was what I feared would happen.

I hope we supply more weapons and work on the energy issue. The energy issue to going to need a multi-faceted approach, we're going to have to reduce demand (changing behaviour, insulating homes) and find new sources to replace Russian gas (including renewables like domestic solar, imports from other countries, look at nuclear). We are going to have to do this is in the UK too, we need to free up some of the North Sea gas to replace Russia's in Europe, if we can. It's going to have to be a "how do you eat an elephant?" approach with reducing our reliance on imports one bite at a time.

It's hard to watch the video of such a beautiful countries with people living their lives, after seeing the photos and videos of the destruction of war.

Ukraine war: The women sharing their memories of Ukraine before the war
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-60843227

I reckon Putin has got the measure of the West. Come July and Ukraine will have joined climate change as something the whole world is committed to tackling. With precisely the same effectiveness.

Dominica is an independent Republic and a member of the Commonwealth. Also a UN member.

@RedToothBrush
Instead, they have sat behind public opinion or simply sat and watched rather than driving it. They didn't care until the media showed up and made it unavoidable as a subject. Because of a 'its not my problem' / 'I can bury my head in the sand' type attitude.
It makes me incredibly angry. It outright apathy and almost like the response of a deer transfixed in the headlights of oncoming traffic.

There is another possibility of course. This was all foreseeable and preordained. Incredible but possible as part of the long game.

Suzanne Lynch @suzannelynch1

NEW - European Commission announces 5th package of #sanctions against #Russia over #Ukraine war
Details of new EU sanctions:

• import ban on coal worth 4 bn a year
• full transaction ban on four Russian banks

-ban on Russian vessels/Russian operated vessels accessing Russian ports -ban on Russian and Belarusian road operators... -further targeted export bans worth 10 bn (semiconductors, machinery)

• specific new import bans worth 5.5 billion euro - seafood, liquor etc

-ban on Russian companies in public procurement

• further listings of individuals

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says EU also "working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports."

Russian bank VTB to be included in new banking measures announced as part of 5th sanctions of package by the EU this afternoon

@WeAreTheHeroes

Dominica is an independent Republic and a member of the Commonwealth. Also a UN member.

But not under US or UK protection, it seems.

Mind you, neither are all those Brexit-reflagged ships either.