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War - Re (23rd Mar 2022 - 20:20:47) Just wondering if anyone else is thinking the same why is the world standing bye and letting that madman Putin kill innocent People. Thousands are being thrown out of their country because he wants Their country he is just like that other Madman Hitler and look what happened when he got going. He needs to be stopped now before he overruns EUROPE.

Re: War - Sam (23rd Mar 2022 - 22:14:07) Part of his 15 year plan to do this was to create/assist Brexit, the guy is clearly a talented chess player but also an utter madman. Anyone whom voted Brexit voted for Putin. Cant expect the editor to approve this post, the editor is happy to post various hate but having voted for Brexit themselves they don't approve free speech... much like a certain Russian leader

Re: War - Ian (24th Mar 2022 - 09:06:14) And the USA, France and GB have never tried to overthrow a foreign government because the perceived it to be a threat to national interest? What do you think would happen if Mexico or Canada moved towards a military alliance with China or Russia? Not apologising for Putin but Realpolitik is not an exclusive Russian policy.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (24th Mar 2022 - 14:06:58) Re The reason why Europe, UK and America have not intervened ie by creating a No Fly Zone over Ukraine or sending in troops and artillery is because this would trigger World War III. With nuclear weapons in the hands of many countries the result of a European War would be catastrophic. There would be no winners. I feel sick and horrified by what is happening in Ukraine and glad that UK, America and Europe are helping where they can by sending weapons and money. Some European countries have taken in thousands of refugees and now the UK is stepping up to the plate. However if Putin attacks a Nato country then this would be the start of World War III and I think everyone should pray this does not happen. I am old enough to remember the Cuban Crisis in 1962. I was very young at the time, but I remember my parents being very, very worried. We were on the brink of a nuclear war with Russia. Sam I really do not understand your post. Re your first para can you explain it and how Brexit makes a difference. When World War 11 broke out there was no Common Market. That was created in 1957 and then was legally replaced by the EU in 2009. The biggest mistake that the West has made is being so reliant on Russia and China for so many things. With regard to your second para you seem to be accusing the Editor of behaving like Putin which is not very nice. Please justify.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (24th Mar 2022 - 17:37:03) Ian Ukraine was not a threat to Russia and never has been. It is Putin's paranoia about Nato and his power crazy psychosis that is driving him. He has never got over glasnost and perestroika. He simply refuses to accept that the Soviet union was faltering and its collapse inevitable. He wants to re-build the Russian Empire and does not care how many people have already died and will die in the process. I would not call him mad- he is a psychopath.

Re: War - Ian (24th Mar 2022 - 22:11:48) Penny- a lot of Russians do see NATO’s expansion East as a threat regardless of what you think!

Re: War - Ian (24th Mar 2022 - 22:25:46) I would also ask you Penny if you think think that Grenada was a threat to the USA prior to their invasion?

Re: War - dave (25th Mar 2022 - 08:54:07) The problem with Putin is that he has been in power too long. Any leader in power beyond 10 years tends to become megalomaniac. Happened to Maggie and also Blair, both achieved positives in the early years of their terms and both became detached from reality, in Blairs case supported Bush's "false flag" over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction which led to that invasion (Iraq was not a threat to either USA or Britain, that was was about regime change as well). Perhaps the Yanks are right to constitutionally limit the number of years/terms of a Presidency. For all the US foreign policy misdemeanours at least they have checks and balances.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (25th Mar 2022 - 15:11:41) Ian, Nato is made up of independent member states who agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. It is not an aggressive alliance, it is a defensive one. You say that Russians feel threatened by Nato – most Russians are brainwashed because they do not have easy access to independent news – in spite of this there are many Russians who are against the war – the ones who are brave enough to protest. With regard to the invasion of Grenada by the US opinion was divided at time. However it cannot be compared to the invasion of Ukraine as in the case of Grenada the invasion was triggered by internal strife within the People’s Revolutionary Government, resulting the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Hudson Austin then formed The Revolutionary Military Council and protesters clashed with the new government while violence escalated. It took 6 days for the US to overthrow the Military Council and there is a Thanksgiving day on 25 October marking the anniversary of the invasion. Ukraine was not threatening Russia – Ukraine was a peaceful country and is a Sovereign State. Putin has razed Mariupol to the ground as he did in Aleppo and I don’t think he will stop there. Dave while I agree that Maggie and Blair did some good things at the beginning of their premiership and things did go badly wrong at the end, I do not see how you can compare Maggie and Blair to Putin. In the first instance they were not dictators and the UK is a democracy. You quote the US, also a democracy, as having elections every 4 years – the UK has them usually every 5 unless one is called before end of term. The only difference between the UK and the US is that in the US the President cannot stand for more than 2 terms. However it must be taken into account that the US President is the Head of State and has enormous power as was demonstrated by Trump, whereas in the UK the Queen is Head of State and the Prime Minister does not wield the same power. There is much more similarity between Putin and Mugabe. Mugabe also did some very good things at the beginning of his reign but he was a dictator and a classic case of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As Churchill said “democracy is the worst form of government until you look at all the rest.” He really did have a point.

Re: War - Ian (25th Mar 2022 - 20:06:59) Penny, despite the length of your reply it’s noticeable that you have made no reference at all to the points raised about the Wests aggressive invasion of Iraq based on lies pushed out by so called democratic governments, says it all really and completely invalidates your arguments

Re: War - Joe (26th Mar 2022 - 07:06:33) Penny, the Queen is not able to exercise any real power in political situations. She is a respected figurehead and has been a real asset to this country but her finger is not on the nuclear button. Boris asks permission from America before he decides important issues.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (26th Mar 2022 - 11:20:42) Ian The difference between the US and UK’s invasion of Iraq was that the its purpose was to topple the terrible and bloody regime of Saddam Hussein, an unspeakable man who ruled by terror and murdered many of his countrymen. Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be a good man and Ukraine appeared to be a very happy and progressive country before Russia invaded so I don’t know why you keep harping on about Iraq. It has been well documented that our invasion of Iraq was, with hindsight considered illegal, but it doesn’t make what is happening in Ukraine justifiable. Joe The Queen in theory could overrule the Prime Minister and Parliament. In practice this would not happen as the last Monarch to do this was Charles 1 and he lost his head. However when I said that the Queen is Head of State I did not mean to imply that she has real power – we are democracy and Parliament is sovereign. However she provides stability and continuity, she is highly intelligent and knowledgeable on so many fronts and has enormous influence.

Re: War - dave (26th Mar 2022 - 12:04:31) Penny, is not the Saudi regime bloody and terrible? Using your case for invasion of Iraq as a template then there should be an invasions all over the world! But of course, there are those that blindly believe West is best and the East is a beast

Re: War - Penny Williamson (26th Mar 2022 - 12:52:38) Dave I am not saying that the Iraq war is a tenplate for future invasions of countries with bloody and terrible regimes. What I am saying that Putin's invasion of Ukraine is completely unacceptable and brutal. I am not saying the West is best and the East is the beast. I am looking at what is happening now in Ukraine so please do not muddy the waters.

Re: War - dave (26th Mar 2022 - 13:21:02) Penny, no-one is supporting Putins war, I am just picking up on hypocrisy; there is no muddying of the waters here, it as clear as a mountain spring you have tried to justify the War In Iraq. Based on the last 70 years US foreign policy (mostly supported by the United Kingdom) has been just a bloody and wrong as Russian.

Re: War - Ian (26th Mar 2022 - 13:32:06) wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion Interesting article about one of the components of the National Guard of Ukraine. Does not in anyway validate what Putin is trying to achieve but does show that the situation is not black and white and there are shades of grey in this war

Re: War - passfield resident (26th Mar 2022 - 16:10:52) Anyone can put any kind of rubbish on wikipedia (including the Russian authorities who are expert at manipulating internet opinion).

Re: War - Sam (26th Mar 2022 - 20:41:17) Its only them that is being manipulated, we are free..... hold on! Nothing your told is true, yeah its more than likely Putin is evil but don't fall for the democracy Hollywood turd we have been fed either. All citizens are fed lies by the political class, we are just as stupid as those munching Russian TV tonight, we read the daily star, we validate people like Boris and Farage, our own home bred Kim jung ill's. Leadership class and political class are the same everywhere

Re: War - Janine (26th Mar 2022 - 22:08:55) We should NEVER promote war. It would seem no one understands what happened with the American sponsored coup in 2014 with vice president Biden and Victoria Nuland deposed a sitting President Yanucovych and created the system and founded the neo nazi battalion Azov. The Minsk protocol was signed by all parties to protect the pepple in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions however the civil war continued and estimates are that 13000 locals have died since then. This is not a recent conflict but something that has been going on for a long time and is way more complicated than we can imagine. The victims are ALL ukranian people but the USA and Russia are both to blame. We must descalate and the media must be honest about all sides instead of stoking the flames and pushing for a war.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (29th Mar 2022 - 12:20:54) I agree with Janine - there are no winners in wars as even the "winning" side suffers terrible consequences. It is to be hoped that this latest war can be resolved by diplomacy. Dave I am not trying to justify the US and UK’s war with Iraq. It was an illegal war. I am sure that Dr David Kelly was murdered by the authorities because he told the truth about Weapons of Mass Destruction. Stating a true fact is not hyprocritical – Saddem Hussein was a brutal dictator and murdered many of his people for just being Shias –Iraq was a not a peaceful and stable country and sadly it is even worse off now. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a brutal dictator and Ukraine was a stable and progressive country. Nothing you say can change that. Ukraine's biggest mistake was wanting to join Nato. The West's biggest mistake is being so reliant of Russia's gas. Two wrongs don’t make a right but Putin’s invasion is by far the greater wrong.

Re: War - dave (29th Mar 2022 - 12:35:34) Penny, I don't think the people in the east of Ukraine would agree with you that it was a peaceful and stable country before Russian intervention

Re: War - Penny Williamson (31st Mar 2022 - 11:23:48) Dave perhaps you could elucidate on this. I know what I have read - it would be very interesting to read your thoughts and opinions on Eastern Ukraine. I am genuinely interested.

Re: War - dave (31st Mar 2022 - 11:58:09) Penny, perhaps you need to broaden your reading and depend less on The Daily Mail. It's out there to find if you have an open mind.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (31st Mar 2022 - 13:49:28) Dave I don't know why you have to verge on the almost rude or make the assumption that I read the Daily Mail. I do not read the Mail or any other newspaper. I just wanted you to explain what you meant by your statement "I don't think the people in the east of Ukraine would agree with you that it was a peaceful and stable country before Russian intervention." I really am genuinely interested in what you mean by this and BTW I do try to have an open mind which is why I am asking you to elucidate. It always helps one to have an open mind if you listen to other peoples' opinions so I await with interest.

Re: War - passfield resident (31st Mar 2022 - 14:04:12) Penny-you are wasting your time asking him to explain-the internet is full of people making big statements who don't actually want to have a proper discussion and often don't know what they are talking about (hence resorting to patronising you).

Re: War - dave (31st Mar 2022 - 16:16:58) Penny, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine have for many centuries been populated by large numbers of Russians (similar to Northern Ireland and the Scottish). Ever since the early nineties there has been violence and intimidation between those Russians and Ukrainians, on both sides there have been extremists such as the neo Nazi Azov group which Putin refers to in his attempts to justify his invasion. The topic is much broader and more complex than I have the time or inclination to put on this forum, you can investigate further online, (the BBC news app recently had some interesting links on the violence directed at ethnic Russians by the Azov Battalion which was incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces). The reality is that eastern Ukraine has not been peaceful since Ukraine independence from the USSR and as is the norm in that part of the world, it is never a case of black and white, good vs bad.

Re: War - Penny Williamson (1st Apr 2022 - 15:09:06) Dave Thank you for that. It is well document that relations between Russia and Ukraine have been hostile since the Russia’s annexation of Crimea. However the real reason for Putin’s tyrannical and brutal behaviour is much simpler. Putin has never been reconciled to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine was persuaded to give up nuclear weapons and Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances on the condition that Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States would issue an assurance against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. Russia was one of the signatories of the Charter for European Security where it reaffirmed the inherent right of each and every participating State to be free to choose or change its security arrangements, including treaties of alliance as they evolve. Despite Ukraine being a recognised independent country since 1991 Putin has never accepted this. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in 2014 because it was perceived he was pro Russian and wanted closer ties with Russia. He was also against Ukraine joining the EU. Russia/Putin does not like westernised democracies on Russia's boundaries. Putin knows that people who live in democracies are much happier than those who live under a dictatorship as freedom is essential to the human spirit. The last thing he wants is for Russians to see and understand this. Since 2019 Russia has issued over 650,000 internal Russian passports in Ukraine which was considered by the Ukrainian government as a step towards annexation of the region. In 2020 it became increasingly apparent that Ukraine wanted to join NATO. This I think was the final straw in Putin’s mind and escalated his plans for invasion. Dave I know there are always rights and wrongs though not usually in equal proportions. The overwhelming wrong is what Putin has done and is doing to Ukraine. I stand corrected when I said that Ukraine was a peaceful, stable country. What I should have said that most of Ukraine was peaceful and stable. However Zelenskyy appears to have been and continues to be a good leader and a good man. Putin is neither of these things.

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