Russia/Ukraine Situation and "Why I blame the arrogant, foolish West" by Peter Hitchens

This morning on Sky News, Liz Truss the UK Foreign Secretary has said that it is “highly likely” that Russia will attack the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as President Vladimir Putin pursues plans for a “full-scale invasion".

There are now calls for Britons to leave Ukraine immediately while commercial flights are still available in the expectation of an imminent invasion 

She also stated that the UK will not hesitate to impose further sanctions on Russia if there is  evidence of Moscow sending troops further into Ukraine. 

I watched the Prime Minister yesterday in the House of Commons revealing sanctions on five Russian banks and three Russian individuals, which some critics say are too lenient. Though hardly a 'critic' myself I did think that I had missed some important points in this statement and that 'too lenient' is an clear understatement.  All main news outlets confirmed my incredulity, showing that not only the opposition parties feel this but many of the party in power too. Yesterday also, the Prime Minister told the House of Commons that Roman  Abramovich -  Russian oligarch, billionaire, businessman, politician and owner of a Premier League football club was already sanctioned and refused to correct the record, indeed walking out of the Commons, when he was asked by MP Chris Bryant.  On Twitter today Mr Bryant observes that "Now he is correcting the record. So the only person who can get Johnson to correct a lie is a Russian billionaire".  He goes on to ask, "Have I got this right ? James Cleverly has said we will be sanctioning members of the Russian Duma, bit Liz Truss says we can't sanction members of the Russian Duma ?".
Clearly, it's not only little old me who wonders at the constant conflict of information and statements from this government. One might almost think that they are trying to confuse us.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a decree conscripting army reservists aged 18-60, in a sign that the country is preparing for a potential battle, while reports have emerged that at least one Ukrainian soldier has died and six others injured during shelling in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The US and EU are reported to be co ordinating sanctions on Russian sovereign debt but the UK appears to be on its own with the weakest sanctions package - at least up to now. 
Yesterday, I rather rashly suggested that I ought to put down some thoughts on the Russian/Ukraine situation after getting over enthusiastic of the day's date, and in my defence, I have tried to do that with the help of Sky News, BBC News and Twitter. 
Much of the described situation is beyond my historical and political understanding, but I can suggest that this article/blog post by the writer, author and journalist Peter Hitchens puts a background and first hand experience perception and clarity on the evolving events.
 "Why I blame the arrogant, foolish West" by Peter Hitchens . It can be found here.
I am prepared, as ever, for the usual accusations of 'sycophancy' and the Daily Mail haters who have long told me (since I started this blog in 2008 and on Twitter)  that I am deluded and that repeating or recommending Peter Hitchen's words is just wrong.
You can make up your own mind on that. I have made mine.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spiral

To Where We Belong - Musings on a mill pond

Seventy Five Years On - "I Am Neveen" - A Palestinian Child's Story