Notes

When will the war in Ukraine end? And 9 more questions about Russia's invasion : NPR
They merely wish Britain to be the foremost partners to the USA in its plans to extend its hegemony, as it was in Iraq. British troops have no business in Eastern Europe – they only serve to ratchet up tension further. Balazs Orban, chief political aide to the prime minister, said Hungary sent a proposal to the EU over the weekend showing it was open to using the budget for the aid package if other "caveats" were added. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been highly critical of the EU's financial and military aid for Ukraine and has maintained close ties with Russia. Only aircraft deployed to protect energy facilities, or those carrying top Russian or foreign officials, will be allowed to fly with special permission in the designated zones, according to the Vedomosti daily newspaper.


It has since emerged that he has been in touch with his Russian counterparts, to warn them not to use nuclear weapons. On November 9th Mr Biden said Russia and Ukraine would “lick their wounds” after the battle for Kherson, and might then be ready for compromise. “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia — never,” President Joe Biden said in a speech in Poland this year, and rightly so.

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Vladimir Putin launched a straightforward war of aggression and territorial conquest. That said, there wasn't much of a political will for third countries to sanction Cuba at the time. https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-big-is-ukraine-compared-to-uk.html with Russia might make such a policy more politically palatable if the U.S. attempted it again, though I can't find any serious proposal in the government to do just that. It is theoretically possible for the U.S. to sanction countries that maintain economic ties with Russia.


Since 1946, all five permanent members – widely referred to as the ‘P5’ – have exercised the right of veto at one time or another on a variety of issues. The first time the Council authorized the use of force was in 1950 under what was referred to as a military enforcement action, to secure the withdrawal of North Korean forces from the Republic of Korea. Because the source of the intelligence could not be shared it was sometimes hard to overcome this incredulity, one official says. In London, the intelligence - coming in from GCHQ and MI6 - was met with near-disbelief in some quarters.

On what terms could the war in Ukraine stop?
Ukrainian replacement troops go through combat training on Feb. 24 in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. And even though the fall of the Soviet Union was notable for its lack of bloodshed, many in Ukraine refer to today's conflict as a true "war of independence." All these measures were approved when both the House and the Senate were controlled by Democrats. Some Republicans are saying the U.S. should stop funding Ukraine. Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly support aid for Ukraine, and most Republicans do as well.


Must there be a period of months or years in which Russia does not fire a single shell into Ukraine? Tying Ukrainian NATO membership to such conditions would give Putin another incentive never to meet them. This would be a defensive pact, but not a commitment to take direct part in any future offensive operations Ukraine might choose to undertake.


The Ukrainians have fought a clever media war, and they are remarkably consistent in the messages that they deliver to their own people and their Western allies, as well as their enemies in Moscow. It is vital to remember that anything Ukrainians, especially the ones running the country, say about their Russian enemies comes in the heat of a fight that they see, correctly, as a struggle for national survival. It started, they said, with his disastrous decision to mount a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The Wagner mutiny, and Mr Prigozhin's denunciation of the Kremlin's justifications for the war have, they said, removed what remained of Mr Putin's chances of hanging on. Russia might have hoped that the energy crisis its war has created would lead Western governments to put pressure on Ukraine to compromise its sovereignty, but they have refused to do so. They suspect that once Putin saw any panic among Ukraine’s backers, he would be tempted to raise his demands.


Indeed, the Tories have taken large sums of money from oligarchs to fund their own party – more than £2 million since Boris Johnson became PM. The Biden administration is making it clear that the UK will have to clamp down if sanctions are imposed, but the government has made no moves in that direction. The Tories have no serious interest in tackling corruption by Russian money, which a US report noted has close ties to “the ruling Conservative Party, the press and its real estate and financial” industries.


"From summer we saw a small group of senior people planning for a full military invasion of the whole country," explains one Western intelligence official. At the same time, the Secretary-General called for unimpeded humanitarian access for life-saving assistance, and support for reconstruction and recovery efforts. In addition, he urged all parties to swiftly agree and implement a nuclear safety and security protection zone at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, in line with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). From an African perspective, he said, wars only result in people’s suffering. In fulfilling its duty, the international community must now uphold the UN Charter’s provisions on collective security, he added.

A second way for Ukraine to win — at least theoretically — would be through a diplomatic agreement. Even if Putin were to be assassinated now, I’m not sure that these hawks wouldn’t simply escalate the war and press on. Gains by America-first Republicans in the midterm elections on November 8th, although smaller than expected, are a reminder that American politics might change dramatically after the next presidential election, in two years’ time, and with it policy on Ukraine.
If it runs out, then Russia could unleash its fighting planes. Now the U.S. and European militaries are training Ukrainian forces in Europe. Most U.S. training takes place at U.S. military bases in Germany.

It was promised in 1991 that NATO would not expand eastwards, but this happened nevertheless. Now the Chief of the General Staff, Britain’s top solider, is saying that the army must once again be prepared to fight a land war against Russia in Europe. As already noted, the British government has taken one of the most aggressive and belligerent positions on the conflict, aided and abetted by the hapless and hopeless Starmer leadership of Labour, entangled in “patriotic” bipartisanship as it is. Encouraging the Ukrainians to continue, however just their cause, is merely making their country uninhabitable.
Website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-big-is-ukraine-compared-to-uk.html