Russian Tensions
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TS – “there’s no way ordinary people would be challenging their “leaders” who are attempting to incorporate them into the neo-liberal hell-hole that is the EU…”
FACT-CHECK
Sixty-three percent of Moldovans support EU membership, while 33% oppose it. Currently, 82% of Moldovans believe current relations with the EU are either very good or somewhat good and 67% believe it is one of the country’s most important economic partners.
TS- “It must be “outside agitators”. Said every fascist ever.”
A reminder that this was exactly the argument TS and the Chinese government made concerning the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong – that they were instigated by the US.
The repression continues to this day with the ongoing trial of dissidents for “subversion” ie engaging in elections to paralyse the government with a plan to win a majority of seats.
TS finds that anything that does not concur with his political perspective is “fascist” regardless of their actual real politics.
I knew of Transnistria but I have to confess I never heard of the Gagauz issue. It too can be linked to the EU and the Eurasion Economic Union divide I have referred to in earlier posts.
Another aspect I had not understood is from a Turkish analysis that one of Russia’s strategic aims was to create a satellite state of Novorossiya a region that Putin also declared to have been wrongly given to Ukraine like Crimea.
A CALL FOR PEACE
A quarter of a million people have signed an online petition urging German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to stop increasing the flow of weapons to Ukraine and to push for a peaceful resolution of the conflict instead.
The petition also notes that negotiations do not equal surrender – rather, it means “making compromises on both sides” in order to prevent “hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse.”
PROTEST FOR PEACE
February 19 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, anti-war rally, Rage Against the War Machine.
Chris Hedges, Jimmy Dore, Dennis Kucinich, Ann Wright, Jill Stein, Max Blumenthal, Cynthia McKinney, Anya Parampil, David Swanson, plus right wing libertarians Ron Paul and Scott Horton and supported by the Libertarian Party’s Mises Caucus
The demands of the rally include Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine; Negotiate Peace; Stop the War Inflation; Disband NATO; Global Nuclear De-Escalation; Slash the Pentagon Budget; Abolish the CIA and Military Industrial Deep State; Abolish War and Empire; Restore Civil Liberties; and Free Julian Assange.
Veterans for Peace (VFP), refuse to join the rally. The board of Code Pink asked its co-founder, Medea Benjamin to cancel her speech at the rally.
“FACT-CHECK
Sixty-three percent of Moldovans support EU membership, while 33% oppose it.”
Lol, hardly a “fact check”. Fully a third of the population opposes membership.
“Currently, 82% of Moldovans believe current relations with the EU are either very good or somewhat good and 67% believe it is one of the country’s most important economic partners.”
Your point being what? That the media is doing a fine job brainwashing the population into opposing their own interests?
“A reminder that this was exactly the argument TS and the Chinese government made concerning the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong – that they were instigated by the US.”
Difference being my claims are evidence based. Where’s the evidence the Russian state is attempting to overthrow the government with a violent regime change operation as was the case in Hong Kong?
“The repression continues to this day with the ongoing trial of dissidents for “subversion”.
Yeah, that’s what happens to traitors and fifth columnists. Where’s the evidence that Russia is bankrolling the opposition?
“TS finds that anything that does not concur with his political perspective is “fascist” regardless of their actual real politics.”
Good try. I don’t throw around the term “fascist” willy-nilly, I follow the evidence.
“Another aspect I had not understood is from a Turkish analysis that one of Russia’s strategic aims was to create a satellite state of Novorossiya a region that Putin also declared to have been wrongly given to Ukraine like Crimea.”
“From a Turkish analysis”? The evidence?
Crimea was wrongly given over. Ask any Crimean.
Russian state has announced that “Bakhmut is being defended as a fortress and that, as a result the city and its inhabitants would be treated as military targets”
Surely this is something that even True Narcissist has to condemn?
TN – “Crimea was wrongly given over. Ask any Crimean.”
Are you referring to the 1783 annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Empire?
Ukraine blew up a bridge near the eastern town of Bakhmut on Monday, a sign that it is planning to retreat.
New measures restricting journalists’ access to Bakhmut has been imposed.
BD – Zelenskiy said in early February that Ukraine was determined to hold Bakhmut, describing it as “Fortress Bakhmut”.
On November 25, 1920, Makhno’s commanders in the Crimea, fresh from their victory over Wrangel, were seized by the Red Army and shot.
BD – Zelenskiy said in early February that Ukraine was determined to hold Bakhmut, describing it as “Fortress Bakhmut”.
AJ – I was not saying Bahmhut was set up as a fortress, I was only trying to find out whether TN felt that the statement I quoted re civilians was one he supported or not.
“I was only trying to find out whether TN felt that the statement I quoted re civilians was one he supported or not.”
Link to the source of the quote, please.
Ukraine firing artillery shells faster than the entirety of NATO can replace them. But NATO isn’t being disarmed! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Is it likely that Russia will invade NATO in the near future?
As you keep saying, Russia is not the aggressor, so present shortages are not an immediate critical issue. It simply supports all those who say that NATO is not a threat to Russia.
On the other hand, if a war did unexpectedly break out, it does raise the prospect of nuclear weapons being used to compensate for the lack of conventional supplies. Without sufficient 155mm shells, a tactical nuke may well be employed.
Stockpiles of weaponry are being depleted but NATO members have all committed to increasing their military budgets and are ordering new armaments from manufacturers. It will take time for them to be produced to replenish. But it will happen.
Perhaps the time-line may not be sufficient to save Ukraine from the anticipated Russian offensive, but it does not mean that NATO is being demilitarised.
On the contrary.
NATO is on course to enlarge its membership with Finland and Sweden planning to join.
The lesson being learned is that the expenditure of ammunition in today’s modern war is vast, much more than war-games had foreseen.
Do you think NATO countries will not take such lessons into consideration when they re-stock and re-arm themselves?
For the working class, it means that national budgets will be adjusted with less GDP spent on social welfare and much more spent on the military.
Tanks for nothing, Putin and Zelensky, for putting more money into the coffers of the armament industry and less into health, education and the elderly.
Something to be proud of.
As always, it is the workers who pay the price of war.
We should add, however, if one believes that the West is provoking a war with China, then it is very currently poorly equipped to initiate one.
However, it does provide China with a timely advantage if it chooses to escalate tensions to an armed conflict.
One caveat, in such a war it would be more an air and naval conflict rather than a ground war involving artillery and tanks. America retains its dominance in that regard.
And then there is also the possibility of an Iran war. Once again, the USA will be reluctant to get directly involved if Israel attacked Iran.
BD “I was only trying to find out whether TN felt that the statement I quoted re civilians was one he supported or not.”
TW – “Link to the source of the quote, please.”
It was a report on RTE radio, I tend to listen to RTE rather than BBC as it appears to be less heavily biased that BBC and you often hear international stories that aren’t reported in the UK.
That said the veracity of the story is not really important, regardless of the truth of the story or not, the question is about your view on it.
Essentially the question is, “do you agree that it is appropriate to target civilians when there is a “fortress” situation”.
Whether it turns out to a lie or if it turns out to be true, this should not impact on your judgement on the matter.
AJ – “For the working class, it means that national budgets will be adjusted with less GDP spent on social welfare and much more spent on the military.
Tanks for nothing, Putin and Zelensky, for putting more money into the coffers of the armament industry and less into health, education and the elderly.
Something to be proud of. ”
To put this into context Alan, I did some research on military costs regarding ammunition production in Russia.
Russia is claiming that it has produced 3,558,454 152mm shells (the most used artillery shell accounting for approx 45% of artillery shells by Russian forces) between 2014 – 2021 source militarynews.ru
The approximate cost of these shells over the production of the stockpile is about $620 per shell. (cost in 2014 was $446 per unit, cost in 2022 is $650 per unit, but production levels were different across each year with production rising throughout the period from 155,337 for 2014 to 735,260 in 2021, 2022 production was not included)
That works out at a cost of 2.31 billion dollars for just one type of shell.
The costs and production numbers of Multiple Launch Rocket Shells (MLRS) can be estimated as well using Russian sources.
The estimated production of the 70,287 Urgan type shells would cost $11,222 per shell = $788,760,714 and the estimated production of Tornado G shells is 9,651 with a cost of $83,245 per shell = $803,397,495.
For one relatively small part of this war, the cost is nearly $4 billion.
The cost of the Ukraine war (over and above the human lives) has been estimated as being $400 million dollars per day, making a yearly total cost from the Russian side of $146 billion so far.
If you were to estimate roughly that the Ukrainian and Nato costs have been equivalent (they will probably be more because weapons production is more expensive in the US and Western Europe) an estimate of nearly $300 billion in costs so far for this war.
That is roughly 10% of the cost of the whole world’s food production for one year (world bank estimates of $3.1 trillion per year as costs of world food production)
Another startling example of the ludicrous waste that the capitalist system produces.
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