[Tubby Isaacs]

This opportunity has fallen in China's lap.

[Bones McCoy]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... sanctions/

China's been playing the long game.

For all their desire to do sanctions busting, geography doesn't favour China as Russian's prime trading partner.

Maybe they will burn enough of that not-in-demand oil to make the Northern Sea Route an all year prospect.

[Youngian]

China’s receiving some consolation prizes but they’re the reasonable mobster who wants to get back to business.

[Cyclist]

Seen in Crystal Palace park

[Nigredo]

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles ... -%20112017

How the war in Ukraine could get much worse,

[Nigredo]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/uk ... 022-03-11/

To no one's surprise, Ukraine's civilian losses exceed those of their military.

[Abernathy]

If the crisis in Ukraine points up anything, it’s the sheer futility of nuclear weapons - for everybody.
Russia has invaded its neighbour Ukraine and is engaged steadily in murdering Ukrainian people and laying waste to Ukrainian cities. A consensus seems to be emerging that Vladimir Putin has obviously malign intent, may well be psychologically and mentally unstable, and has to be stopped.
There is also a growing feeling that action in the form of a full military response to repel Putin’s invasion is now required. Ukrainians have called for western allies, and specifically NATO, to take action against Putin and protect the Ukrainian people by establishing and policing Ukrainian air space as a “no fly” zone.
But NATO cannot meet this request, firstly because Ukraine is not formally a NATO member state, but principally because policing a “no fly” zone would necessitate engagement with, and the possible bringing down, of Russian military aircaft by western forces. Doing so would, it is feared, trigger a full-scale war - or World War Three, if you will - between Russia and the western allies and NATO. Which might be acceptable in the context of the robust military response in Ukraine which the perhaps emerging consensus deems to be required - however, Vladimir Putin is the malevolent, possibly irrational and unhinged, dictator of one of the two biggest nuclear powers on the planet. He has already indicated that he has ordered Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal to assume a condition of readiness. There are reports too, that Putin may be planning to use chemical weapons against the Ukrainian people.
So effectively and ironically, the western alliance is prevented from responding militarily to Putin’s barbarous agression by the very existence of nuclear weapons, and the concomitant very real threat of (virtually) global nuclear conflagration. If there were no such weapons, an effective western military response could, and no doubt would, repel Russian forces in Ukraine and foil Putin’s malign intent, but because those weapons exist, the western allies’ response is effectively hamstrung.
To quote a previous Russian leader, “What is to be done?”. Do the western alliance forces arrive at the conclusion that regardless of the risk of global thermonuclear war, Ukraine simply must be granted the military intervention it so badly needs ? Is Putin bluffing when he says that Russia’s nuclear missiles are now on standby? And what of the doctrine of “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD)?In theory, it is working as intended, but it is worse than useless, since it prevents effective military intervention for Ukraine.
NATO and the western allies know that the use of nuclear weapons in the European theatre of war is unconscionable. Putin knows this too, but for him, the prospect of deploying such weapons appears to be rather less so. As long as this situation prevails, a truly meaningful response from the western allies and NATO to save Ukraine is regrettably off the agenda.
I’m beginning to think that perhaps Putin’s bluff on using his nuclear weapons should be called.
Which probably means it’s a very good thing that I’m not in any position to decide these things.

[Boiler]

I understand that Putin is on record as saying that if there is no Russia, there is no point to this planet.

[Abernathy]

On record? Got a source?

[Rosvanian]

If the crisis in Ukraine points up anything, it’s the sheer futility of nuclear weapons - for everybody.
Russia has invaded its neighbour Ukraine and is engaged steadily in murdering Ukrainian people and laying waste to Ukrainian cities. A consensus seems to be emerging that Vladimir Putin has obviously malign intent, may well be psychologically and mentally unstable, and has to be stopped.
There is also a growing feeling that action in the form of a full military response to repel Putin’s invasion is now required. Ukrainians have called for western allies, and specifically NATO, to take action against Putin and protect the Ukrainian people by establishing and policing Ukrainian air space as a “no fly” zone.
But NATO cannot meet this request, firstly because Ukraine is not formally a NATO member state, but principally because policing a “no fly” zone would necessitate engagement with, and the possible bringing down, of Russian military aircaft by western forces. Doing so would, it is feared, trigger a full-scale war - or World War Three, if you will - between Russia and the western allies and NATO. Which might be acceptable in the context of the robust military response in Ukraine which the perhaps emerging consensus deems to be required - however, Vladimir Putin is the malevolent, possibly irrational and unhinged, dictator of one of the two biggest nuclear powers on the planet. He has already indicated that he has ordered Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal to assume a condition of readiness. There are reports too, that Putin may be planning to use chemical weapons against the Ukrainian people.
So effectively and ironically, the western alliance is prevented from responding militarily to Putin’s barbarous agression by the very existence of nuclear weapons, and the concomitant very real threat of (virtually) global nuclear conflagration. If there were no such weapons, an effective western military response could, and no doubt would, repel Russian forces in Ukraine and foil Putin’s malign intent, but because those weapons exist, the western allies’ response is effectively hamstrung.

A Ukraine surrender seems to me to be the only way to prevent the complete destruction of Kyiv and slaughter of countless Ukrainians.

[Abernathy]

Well, that’s not going to happen, is it? Certainly not if Zelensky has anything to do with it.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think you are right.
We have to wait for the demise of Putin.

[Boiler]

On record? Got a source?

From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60551140

"In a 2018 documentary, President Putin commented that "…if someone decides to annihilate Russia, we have the legal right to respond. Yes, it will be a catastrophe for humanity and for the world. But I'm a citizen of Russia and its head of state. Why do we need a world without Russia in it?"

[Boiler]

Well, that’s not going to happen, is it? Certainly not if Zelensky has anything to do with it.

And herein lies a problem.

Zelensky does not want to surrender, and I can't see Putin's demise happening any time soon either.

It's a bugger, innit?

[MisterMuncher]

Purely theoretical, but what way does Russia slide if someone were to slot Vlad?

[Boiler]

I shudder to think, MM.

[The Weeping Angel]

[AOB]

Spam website set up to reach millions of Russians

A Norwegian computer expert has created a website enabling anyone to send an email about the war in Ukraine to up to 150 Russian email addresses at a time, so that Russian people have a chance to hear the truth their government is hiding.

Great idea. The 21st century equivalent of the WW2 leaflet campaigns. It says in the article that the email is lengthy, unfortunately. Lengthy emails are very off-putting regardless of the subject so I hope it was set out well, and not just one big block of text. It needs to keep as many recipients reading as possible, and not pressing the delete button.

[Youngian]

This is a very good hook from GMB to hold the attention of viewers who don’t usually follow international affairs.

[Youngian]

Purely theoretical, but what way does Russia slide if someone were to slot Vlad?

Is there such a thing as Putinites? Soviet leaders were servants of the party and state so there was continuity when they were ousted or died. Putin is the state. He might become a 90 year old King of the ashes, like Mugabe. An impotent international joke convinced of his greatness.