645: Ukraine VIII - Force Majeure

This BBC photograph says it all; the photographer is a true artist.

Force Majeure - "might is right;"  who is going to stop these bastards?

No-one I suppose.

Until the next time

639: Ukraine VII (er, and China)

The BBC tells us today that the Chinese are demanding action from Malaysia – since many Chinese citizens were on the aircraft that tragically disappeared on Saturday last.

Whilst of course I sympathise with those who are related to, or friends with, those in the aircraft concerned, I am interested that the Chinese – that is the Chinese authorities, actually have a voice.

Apart from a brief statement last week the Chinese government has had nothing to say - at least publicly, about the Russian thuggish behaviour and/or Russian-inspired thuggish behaviour in Ukraine.

Russia and China in the tragic communist era had many differences; latterly it seems that their domineering governments have much in common.  If you doubt my word, consider their inhumane and complete disregard of events in Syria (and yes, I know that the Russians, finally and grudgingly assisted in connexion with the disposal of al-Assad’s horrible chemical weapons).  A little concerted action (for ONCE) in the UN Security Council could perhaps avert a great deal of misery for the people these ghastly governments claim to represent.

Until the next time

635: Ukraine VI: Putin's Anchlüss

Source

I have changed the flag since the previous one doesn't work any more and is thus embarrassing.

Putin really needs to read a history book, but only as far back as September 1939.  What he should do is have some of his thugs dress up in Ukrainian uniforms and then have them blow up a Russian radio station near the border.  Then, like his spiritual predecessor Hitler, he could go to war which is what, quite obviously he wants.

Instead we have a bunch of third-rate Russian oiks swaggering about and insulting the country in which they have no business at all.  Ironically, some of them raided a Ukrainian TV station and stole some equipment.

Veritably a triumph for Russian arms eh?

Putin, who could stop all this crap with a word, is quite obviously a criminally-irresponsible shit.

Until the next time

633: Unbuttered Parsnips - Ukraine V

Source

Well there have been plenty of fine words expressed on the subject of Putin's blatant aggressive stance and actions in a country other than his own: Ukraine.

I am ashamed of the behaviour of the United Kingdom government; yes there have been a few stern words, but the breathtaking incompetence - the carrying of a document in public view, showing apparently this country's lily-livered position, is profoundly embarrassing and indeed, pathetic.

So far - as is always the case - only the US has actually done anything and as usual, Europe sleepwalks, wringing its powerless hands.  Pathetic.  And I doubt if NATO would ever actually do anything; I wonder how much NATO costs us? What's the point of it? And the UN is a talking-shop every bit as impotent as was the League of Nations in the 1930s.

The Tsar declares that the Ukrainian government is one of "fascists and anti-semites (rubbish);" he describes the Ukrainians as having carried out an "armed coup."  He is a liar, a bully and a fascist/NKVD/Chekist thug.  It was his puppet then in Kiev who ordered snipers to shoot down unarmed protestors.  Now he is metaphorically goose-stepping around, allowing his invading soldiers, and more sinisterly, some half-uniformed thugs, to attempt to provoke the Ukrainian soldiers WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN TERRITORY, into defending that territory.

Last night, I saw on the television, an interview with American senator Mr John McCain; I was pleased to hear him refer to the events of the 1930s in  Central Europe just as I did on this blog a few days ago; perhaps he is one of my readers?  And US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry was fairly robust today. 

I should add that I groaned in despair at the sight of Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens, gathered around a statue of that murdering tyrant Lenin, carrying Soviet flags; how stupid are these proles?  Have they never read a book? Have they never heard of the starving to death (by Stalin) of millions - yes millions - of their countrymen in the 1930s, all in the name of "progress" under that self-same flag?

Amongst the books I am currently reading is Sir Winston Churchill's first volume of his history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm.  I now appreciate to the fullest extent that no-one ever seems to learn  the so-called "lessons of history." The book (written in 1947) is full of nicely-expressed (and apposite) sentiments, and I shall end this post with the following quote:

"Virtuous motives, trammelled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness."*

Amen to that.

Until the next time.

*Sir Winston Churchill The Gathering Storm, Cassell 1949 p.171

630: Ukraine IV

 

The unfolding crisis in Ukraine appears to be the sort of thing that breeds nightmares; why is Russia living in the 19th century - or at least acting in 19th century style?

Certain "tweeters" have observed the irony of these events occurring 100 years since 1914, a rather obvious parallel to draw perhaps.

 

I am more uneasy when I think of the events of 76 years ago, and shall be even more uneasy should a "summit" conference be held at Munich.

It is essential that the megalomaniac Russian president not be appeased and indeed be forced one way or the other to bring his troops back within Russia's borders, where they belong.

Until the next time.

628: Ukraine III

It is somewhat curious that over the last few days, the number of visits to this blog has plunged dramatically.  Could it be that with my 627th post concerning the two ghastly "holy warriors" who have been sent to gaol for a jolly long time, I have put people off?  Well I state here and now that I have no intention of moderating my opinions in order to make recognisance of their "(in)human rights."

So, on to today's rant.  This one concerns that megalomaniac, President Putin. 

What a neck this bastard has!  Does he imagine that we are so stupid as to believe that the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are in such danger as to justify the invasion of a sovereign state by 6000 soldiers and their associated armoured vehicles? 

I wrote recently on this subject in speculative mode, suggesting that Putin might be grinding his teeth in the face of the Ukrainians daring to throw out their president, whose personal corruption would appear to be sufficient even to discountenance an African politician.

Being well aware of President Obama's weakness and lack of resolve, decent bloke though he is (think about the Syrian "red line" poison-gas farce for example) and the remarkable ineptitude of the European Union, Putin probably feels that he can get away with this just as he did in Georgia in 2008; after all nobody did anything about that did they?

I was wondering today how it is that Russia with a GDP roughly the same as Italy's, and therefore about 20% smaller than that of the UK can afford her enormous armed forces.  I suppose that this is achieved by the simple expedient of keeping most of the population poor.

Give that man a Nobel Peace Prize!

Until the next time.

Definitely Worth Supporting

From time to time here I have advocated support of various campaigns launched by the lobbying organisation AVAAZ.

This time the campaign concerns alleged attempts by the likes of the well-known freedom-loving Russian and Chinese governments (together with those of the United Arab Emirates) to impose limitations on the Internet.

As any of my regulars here know very well I am always suspicious of governments as a basic point - there's just too much - and very suspicious when they start sniffing about freedom of communication, so please join me in supporting Avaaz's campaign.  Just click on THIS LINK.

After all, we don't want anything that even vaguely approaches that which pertains in North Korea do we?

Until the next time

Pussy Riot & Tsar Valdimir

Tsar takes the salute

Picture source

Today I received an invitation from AVAAZ to sign a petition in support of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot whose members have been quite outrageously sentenced to two years' imprisonment for a protest made in a church.

Apparently there have been proposals in the European Parliament (that oh so unimpressive body) that sanctions be applied to the Russian elite; not a bad idea they appear to be a pretty dubious lot one way and the other - BP, never averse to making money gave up the Russian scheme as a bad job and I suppose that there may well have been many others who have experienced that peculiar poker-faced obstructionism that seems to flourish there.

Anyway Tsar Valdimir has continued to support the appalling Bashar Assad offering weasel words about "a political settlement" which puts him beyond the pale as far as this writer is concerned.

Here's a link if you feel inclined to offer your support to Pussy Riot.

Enemies of the State: Pussy Riot

Picture Source

Until the next time

A Little More Wikileaks

The news today of Julian Assange's arrest and the fact that he has been refused bail, despite prominent individuals offering sureties, makes it quite plain to this writer that the pressure is mounting. There are even rumblings about the US possibly seeking extradition though it is difficult to understand what possible legal charges could be laid against him.

This piece is prompted by news today of one of the leaks: that concerning contingency plans by NATO to defend eastern European countries in the event of Russian aggression.

I considered this to be hardly worth reporting; after all surely everybody - at least everybody who has ever read a book or two - understands that all nations have contingency plans for every conceivable, or even inconceivable, eventuality.

The "fourth estate" is precious indeed, but should not insult our intelligences with silly alarmism.

Until the next time.

Bent as a nine-bob note?

The news that Russia is outraged at the extradition from Thailand of one Victor Bout comes as no surprise hereabouts.

Mr Bout who as far as I can gather, is an arms dealer as dodgy as they come, started making a large pile of money as the unlamented Soviet Union disintegrated.

As the article to which I have linked this post suggests, Mr Bout must almost certainly have friends in very high places in Russia.

Incidentally is Russia still "The Commonwealth of Independent States"? That name is about as convincing as "The Democratic Republic of Congo"!

Meanwhile I imagine that that any surviving Russian journalists will be inclined to tread very carefully on this one. To be an independent journalist in Russia today requires courage of an extraordinary sort.

A Brave Man I think

This time it's Russia. I have generally concentrated on Russia's soviet past in previous postings hereabouts, but today I shall mention something contemporary.

There is, in reality, little real freedom of speech in the so-called democratic west; in recent Russia there appears to be rather less. There have been several murders of certain characters who had, it seems, the effrontery to criticise the system (a.k.a the Kremlin) and a distinctly laggardly approach to solving these dreadful crimes. Recently a lawyer has died in prison in Moscow, apparently as a consequence of the authorities withholding medical treatment. Of course President Medvedev has ordered an inquiry. I doubt if anything will happen though; I seem to recall that the president has ordered various inquiries... I have a nasty feeling that his prime-ministerial colleague is unlikely to be in accord.

Anyway, today's post concerns Russian outrage over a new film about the first Tsar: Ivan the Terrible. A prominent historian, Vyacheslav Manyagin, has asked that President Medvedev ban the film as it is deemed to be "an insult to Russian statehood" (!) Obviously M. Manyagin is not the "brave man" I referred to in my title.

The brave man is M. Pavel Lungin who directed the film. In response to these criticisms he made a very brave (especially in today's Russia) response. He said, in an interview with the Moscow Times:

"We can see a lot of the characteristics of his power today [...] After his reign, Russia was left behind in the process of progress. We have made no headway since that time."

I found this story reported in today's Daily Telegraph. Full article here.

Here's a picture from the film:

Nice... Picture source, here.

I sincerely wish M. Lungin a long and successful career...

Until the next time

How to make your country a laughing-stock - or perhaps not...

The easiest way to make a country a laughing stock is to practise some sort of stupid ideology. Good examples of this would be Kim Jong-Il's ludicrous Stalinist state of North Korea, a country which cannot feed itself yet produces missiles and Albania under the rule of the pathetic Enver Hoxha - and of course Pol Pot's Cambodia.

Another state that should be a laughing stock is Saudi Arabia, with its Islamo-Facistic religious régime complete with its own Mohammedan Gestapo, the so-called "religious police" praise its bloody holy name... Of course when you have the world's largest proven oil reserves and stupendous quantities of money, others tend not to laugh so much, but condemning a 75-year-old widow to a whipping? Barbarians for all their revolting holiness.

The tragedy of course is that these perverted states and in the case of Tibet regions, are a nighmare for the persecuted innocents who are not allowed freedom of expression - no laughing matter for those poor souls.

Zimbabwe, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Belarus, Chechenya, Tibet, Russia, China etc. etc. etc.

Until the next time

Russian Family Matters

Two Georgian mothers and a coincidence.

At the top is Vera Putina, who claims to be the mother of Russian Emperor Vladimir Putin.  She lives in Gori.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Putin's spokesman denies that she is his mother, stating that both his parents are dead. Meanwhile, Mme Putina says "I used to be proud of having a son who became President of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed."

On the left [picture source Life] is Mme Ketavan Jughashvili mother of notorious Soviet Russian Dictator, Josef Stalin.  It is a strange coincidence that both her terrible son and Vladimir Putin were apparently born at Gori.

There is possibly a second coincidence, this time concerning Russia's relationship with Georgia. The latest events in Georgia are probably too familiar to be reported here, but bear them in mind when thinking about the brutal absorbtion of Georgia into the Soviet Union: the so-called Georgia Affair.  Curious is it not that at the times of this and also the recent war, that arguably the second-in-command in Moscow was a Georgian (I suppose I should add in one case allegedly).

When Stalin was in control, a detachment of his special (presumably NKVD) troops was sent to guard his mother's house.  According to "A.I. Romanov" who was in reality B.I. Baklanov, a NKVD defector, there was a joke circulating in Russia at this time: it was said that the troops had not been sent to guard Mme Jughashvili, but in fact to prevent her from producing another Stalin.

I have not yet seen any reports of a guard at Mme Putina's house; perhaps Putin's spokesman is telling the truth!

Until the next time

"Newspeak" in Russia Today

As time and life go by, my respect for George Orwell increases.

His wonderful concept of "Newspeak" that he introduced in "1984" is alive and well in Russia in 2008.

In Putin's Russia, bad news is evidently not acceptable according to the Daily Telegraph which reported on a survey of public attitudes to the Russian economy yesterday:

 "And sure enough, at a time when their country is locked in its worst financial crisis in a decade, they [The Russian people] are more optimistic about the economy than they have ever been. According to opinion polls, 57 per cent reckon it is flourishing, up from 53 per cent in July.

The survey's findings are a triumph for the state, proving that the Kremlin has not lost its touch when it comes to manipulating fact. Obeying orders from the top, Russian television has banned the use of words such as "crisis", "decline" and "devaluation. "

Soon no doubt, official policy will be that belief in fairies is mandatory!

One could I suppose,  characterise recent Russian history in Orwellian terms: 

From Animal Farm to 1984 in twenty years!

Until the next time