ALB
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I don’t know if everyone will be able to watch this but it looks as if the Indian media might be where to find reasonably balanced reporting on the war. At least you won’t hear it said that what has happened was “unprovoked” and the “sole responsibility” of Russia as the pro-NATO politicians are always claiming. Both sides are to blame and a plague on both of them.
It’s capitalism and its built-in clashes between states over markets, sources of raw materials, trade routes and investment outlets and spheres of influence to protect them that is the ultimate cause of all wars. It’s the system, stupid.
Not all Ukrainians are the fanatical nationalists we are told they are:
“Ukrainian men try to escape country in car boots
Men have hidden in the boots of cars and jumped on trains in desperate attempts to flee Ukraine, the country’s ministry of internal affairs has said.
In its latest update, the ministry said some men had also pretended to be foreigners or tried to bribe border guards.
Ukrainian men of fighting age are currently not allowed to leave the country and are being strongly encouraged to fight against Russian forces.
One man was discovered in the boot of his wife’s Lexus at a border checkpoint in Luzhanka on the Hungary-Ukraine border.
Another was found hiding among possessions in the boot of a Mitsubishi car.
The man had then tried to pay the border guards,
Another man jumped on a train and tried to cross the border without passing border control, the ministry said.”Good luck to them but I hate to think what the “Ministry of Internal Affairs”will be doing to those they caught.
Yes the current wave of Russophobia and Ukrainomania is quite irrational. But nobody minds the kleptocrats from the Gulf. Their money is ok and has been for half a century. And they are bigger autocrats than Putin. They are on “our” side, so they can keep their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets, their football clubs, and other “ill-gotten gains”. The hypocrisy of the US-led NATO bloc knows no bounds.
A report from the Arab channel Al Mayadeen alleging that the Azov battalion is preventing civilians from leaving Mariupol by breaking the ceasefires and that it has clashed with the regular Ukrainian army there. Might not be at all that reliable as Al Mayadeen is said to be close to Hezbollah. Looks like Russian disinformation but still something to add to the file.
And then the same, but with Georgia, and a demand that it promise never to join NATO.
Russia has already been there, done that.
Ukraine is not willing to compromise on its territorial integrity in talks with Russia but is open to discussing “non-Nato models” for its future, one of its negotiators told Fox News.
Ukraine has pursued membership of the European Union and Nato, both opposed by Moscow. Vladimir Putin has cited Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato as evidence of what he portrays as Nato aggression toward Russia.
“The response that we are getting from the Nato countries is that they are not ready to even discuss having us in Nato, not for the next period of five or 10 years,” negotiator David Arakhamia said in remarks published by Fox News late on Saturday.
“We are ready to discuss some non-Nato models. For example, there could be direct guarantees by different countries like the US, China, UK, maybe Germany and France. We are open to discussing such things in a broader circle, not only in bilateral discussions with Russia but also with other partners.”Well, well. Looks as if Russia might get its way, though Arakhamia might end up being killed mysteriously like that other member of the Ukraine negotiating team.
Every year the Economist Intelligence Unit publishes a “Democracy Index” ranking the world’s states and classifying them into one of four categories: full democracy, flawed democracy, authoritaian, and hybrid regimes (between flawed and authoritarian).
Here is what the 2021 Report says of Ukraine:
“A total of 13 countries in eastern Europe improved their score in the Democracy Index in 2021, with Moldova and Montenegro registering the biggest improvements. Eleven countries suffered a deterioration in their score, with the Kyrgyz Republic facing the largest decline. There are still no “full democracies” in the region: out of the 28 countries, there are 16 “flawed democracies” (comprising EU eastern member states and most of the western Balkans), four “hybrid regimes” (Armenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine), and eight “authoritarian regimes” (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia and all Central Asian states).”
and
“The average score for the region’s “hybrid regimes” declined marginally in 2021, with two countries—
Armenia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina—registering an improvement, while the remaining two — Georgia and Ukraine — recorded worsened scores. Ukraine’s score registered the steepest decline among the four east European countries in this category, and Ukraine now shares 86th place with Mexico in our global ranking, down from 79th place in 2020. Ukraine’s score declined in part as a result of increased tensions with Russia. Government functioning under a direct military threat usually restricts democratic processes in favour of the centralisation of power in the hands of the executive and the security or military apparatus with
the aim of guaranteeing public safety. In Ukraine, the military played a more prominent role in 2021 and exerted more influence over political decision-making; government policy also became less transparent.”It was just below Hong Kong which is 85th. Russia is 124th out of 167. So this is a Wat between a Third Division and a Fourth Division team.
Normally, that would mean it wouldn’t be eligible to join the EU.
Yes, mysterious killing but one that can hardly be blamed on Russia even though it is the sort of thing that might be expected to happen there.
More bad publicity here — an admission that the Azov battalion is involved in defending Mariupol (from the Guardian’s live coverage):
“Russia and Ukraine blame each other as Mariupol evacuation fails again
Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s National Guard accused each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor out of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sunday, the second time the sides have attempted to arrange it.
Ukraine 24 television showed a fighter of the Azov Regiment of the National Guard who said Russian and pro-Russian forces that have encircled the port city of about 400,000 continued shelling the areas that were meant to be safe.”With the war in Ukraine we have overlooked that there was a by-election in Birmingham last Thursday. Not surprisingly really, SPEW have taken to opposing Labour Party candidates again. In this by-election they put up former Labour Party MP Dave Nellist who, standing as TUSC, finished first of the also rans (which includes the LibDems and the Greens). In a low turnout he got 360 votes or 2.1%.
Just heard Zelensky call on the people in Russian-occupied places like Khersom and Berdyansk to rise up and kick out the Russian troops. So not only does he want to provoke a war between NATO and Russia, he wants the people in these places, where some sort of co-existence has been reached to allow life to go as normally as possible, to get killed and get others killed in a futile uprising. Hopefully they will ignore his call. I used to think he was relatively rational but he has turned out to be a dangerous nutter. Or maybe he is putting his acting experience to use and hoping that his histrionics will win him an Oscar.
Some evidence that the Azov Battalion will be in charge of defending Mariupol (and so possibly using the inhabitants as human shields as they make their last stand against the Russian army). Anyway, bad publicity for Ukrainian and NATO propaganda that the issue in Ukraine is defending democracy and democratic values.
https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/03/02/russian-forces-sartana-mariupol/?amp
https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/02/what-is-ukraines-azov-battalion/
I don’t know about Greek City Times but Snopes is reliable. It’s a well-known fact-checking and myth-busting site.
It’s telling how superficial the anarchism of some anarchists is when put to the test. Obviously, if you really are against capitalism (and not just for direct action to get reforms), you don’t take up arms in defence of a capitalist state and kill, or help others to kill, fellow workers.
That idea is discussed in the second link given by Moo in the thread on the New World Order. But the only rule in relations between capitalist states is Might is Right. Always has been. Always with be. And nothing can be done about it. Except of course replacing capitalism with socialism, the common ownership and democratic control of the Earth’s natural and industrial resources.
