How can the Ukraine war end?

Let me make clear I strongly oppose the brutal Russian invasion and their resort to medieval sieges with modern bombs and artillery raining down on civilians and defenders. I do not post here the few submissions I get which slavishly follow Russian propaganda denying atrocities or blaming others for the  deaths and destruction we can see from reputable media sources.

I also strongly support NATO policy to take every precaution to avoid this becoming a NATO/Russian war.  Whilst NATO would overwhelm Russia there could be much larger loss of life and destruction  in Ukraine and the conflict would be widened by Russia into NATO countries before they lost. NATOs aim should be to encourage settlement between the parties whilst helping Ukraine resist Russia’s unprovoked aggression.

The U.K. as a leading member of NATO needs to stick with NATO policy. In the end like all wars there has to be a truce and preferably a peace settlement which can only come from talking. The U.K. will not play an important role in that as it falls to Russia and Ukraine as the combatants to decide what compromises they will make to end the fighting. It may  take a neutral intermediary like Israel to help them.

Russia seems to want to gain legal title to Crimea and the bits of Donbas it already influenced. It wants to add a land corridor from Russia to Crimea. It wants Ukraine to pledge it will not join either the EU or NATO. Maybe it still wants a change of Ukrainian government. It does not look as if Russia can either easily conquer the whole country or govern significant parts of it by military occupation now it has united most Ukrainians outside Crimea and Donbas against it. Maybe Russia still  thinks it can get unconditional surrender by starving and bombing people out of cities, but it still leaves it with too few troops there to keep down a population of more than 40 million.

Ukraine wants the Russian army to exit and wants to restore democratic government to the whole country. These positions are so far apart because Russia still looks as if she thinks she can at greater cost in lives and destruction claim more territory and the Ukrainians have growing confidence they can make further conquest difficult for the Russians.

There will only be a truce or peace if Russia gives up many of her imperial ambitions and if Ukraine offers Russia some way of climbing down that Putin can accept. Unpleasant  though that is  to the Ukraine side a lot of lives rest on it. It looks to an outside observer who does not have to do any fighting  as if Ukraine will not be able to join the EU or NATO any time soon. It  looks  as if Crimea would in a free vote vote to be Russian. Maybe these are building blocks for a ceasefire. The EU and US  involvement in removing an elected President of Ukraine in 2014 for being anti closer links with the EU triggered military responses from Russia  which have just got a lot worse.Whilst President Macron seeks a ceasefire the  EU issues a Council statement about Ukraine’s European EU future. This in Putin’s other reality is a further provocation of an expansionist Europe.

270 Comments

  1. oldtimer
    March 13, 2022

    Wars can end when there is a clear winner and a clear loser. WW2 ended this way with “unconditional surrender”, a long stated war aim. Putin has stated his war aims, which include acceptance of Russian annexation of Crimea and independence for the predominantly Russian Donbass and Lukansk (?) Regions. He also demands “denazification” of Ukraine by the appointment of a pro Russian PM. So long as Ukraine is supplied with enough defensive weapons, it looks as though people will fight to defend themselves and inflict losses on Russian forces. When those losses get high enough and the war can no longer be easily financed, Putin will then negotiate a settlement for his stated territorial demands and claim victory. A victory march in Moscow will follow. Ukraine will be smaller but will have discovered a new found national identity.

    1. Peter
      March 13, 2022

      ‘It may take a neutral intermediary like Israel to help them.’

      Reports of Israel’s involvement around the events in South Ossetia rule it out as any sort of honest broker.

      1. Hope
        March 13, 2022

        JR, the answer is easy give in to all the demands of Russia. Ukraine should remain neutral not an expansion zone for the EU and NATO, the west agreed to that. What did our govt achieve in Afghanistan, Libya or Iraq- Loss of life, destitution and mass immigration while stirimg up racial hatred for those who wanted to come here and kill us?

        We read Gove has a new tax wasting scheme to give households ÂŁ350 for housing a Ukrainian!

        How about covid? Will it be mandatory that all those who come here will be vaccinated and have vaccine passports?- your govt. sacked 40,000 care workers for not wanting vaccines- they risked their lives when it was unknown how deadly the disease was.

        How about the snappy strap line of Johnson save lives save NHS mantra?

        Hardly a humanitarian act if the Ukrainians pose a risk to life of the people here and overwhelming NHS!

    2. mickc
      March 13, 2022

      Unconditional Surrender was not a long stated war aim of the Western Allies in WW2.
      In fact, its announcement by the USA was a surprise to Churchill at the time. It probably prolonged the war, and cost thousands of lives.

    3. oldtimer
      March 13, 2022

      A further thought. If Putin cannot decapitate Zelensky and those around him he may develop his own version of assymetric warfare in the rest of Ukraine. This would involve small undercover teams despatched around the country to kill mayor’s and other leaders of civic society. It is said he has a list of those he wants eliminated just as Hitler had of leading figures in the UK at the start of WW2. They may also seek to infiltrate western Europe – a compelling reason to check the identity of refugees seeking to come to the UK.

    4. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      “Can” but not necessarily, not by any means.

      They also end when both sides realise that the cost and attrition are far too high.

      I agree fully with nearly everything that Sir John says. I think that it is one of his clearest and best ever pieces.

      However, the 2014 popular revolution in Ukraine has now been supported by two generally judged to be fair elections, and Zelensky got 73% of the vote in the last one, so I think that continuing representations of what has happened as the results of a western-backed coup are now void and worthless.

      Salient in John’s piece is the need for respect for the self-determination of regions of Ukraine which may democratically choose to be independent, or to be a part of Russia.

      It is equally unreasonable for Ukraine to deny them that choice as it is for Russia to insist on their being that.

      Internationally-observed referendums are not difficult to arrange.

      It is also necessary for the nations of Europe, as one voice, to have a quiet word with the US, about dialling down any expansionist aims that it also might have for its empire in eastern Europe, I think.

      1. Denis Cooper
        March 13, 2022

        Perhaps the nations of Europe could send Jose Manuel Barroso to have that quiet word with the US. And on the flight he could usefully read Putin’s speech at the 2007 Munich Conference on Security Policy:

        https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/03/09/sanctions-disrupt/#comment-1305211

        UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who is being lauded in a Sunday Times article today:

        https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-ben-wallace-fought-securocrats-to-donate-uks-tank-busting-weapons-to-ukraine-zz05m28g2

        could also benefit from reading that 2007 speech and realising that the current catastrophe in Ukraine has been long in the making, it did not have its genesis in 2021 or even in 2013.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          Empires do not expand by neighbouring countries clamouring to join.

          They do so by war and by slaughter.

          The European Union is not an empire then. The UK could not have left by the mere sending of a letter if it were.

          Please use words sensibly to mean what they are understood by normal people to mean.

          1. Denis Cooper
            March 13, 2022

            You should address that request to Barroso, as they are his words not mine.

            As you can confirm from the link that I provided in the earlier post.

          2. Mike Wilson
            March 13, 2022

            Empires do not expand by neighbouring countries clamouring to join.

            It is interesting that politicians in countries that want to join the EU rarely ask the people in a referendum before they join. When they do, the people can (and some have) say ‘no’. And, every country that has joined in recent times expects to be a net recipient of money and to improve their exports. This is the easy way out that seems to be universally grasped at by useless politicians that cannot run their own country.

            In our case, of course, it was much worse. We paid a lot of money to be a member and had an appalling balance of trade with the EU. A lose-lose for us. No wonder, when we were given the chance, that we voted to leave.

            Alas, we still have politicians that cannot act sensibly.

          3. dixie
            March 13, 2022

            How very absolutist of you.

            From Britannica – Imperialism: “Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other territories and peoples.
            “Because it always involves the use of power, whether military or economic or some subtler form, imperialism has often been considered morally reprehensible”

            The EU is very much imperial and very much an empire. In this case it is the people of Ukraine who are paying an unacceptable price for EU territorial ambitions and failures, perhaps the EU should bear part of the cost of reconstruction along with Putin.

          4. Lifelogic
            March 13, 2022

            @ NLH – The EU was/is certainly an embryo empire and a rather evil and clearly anti-democratic one too. The UK was taken into it without any authority from the people by the dire Ted Heath and this was clearly done on a very blatant lie (ie that it was only about free trade with no loss of sovereignty).

            For the people to finally force our mainly dire remainer politicians to actually sent the section 50 letter and actually leave was one hell of an achievement – but even now we are not out fully especially NI who have surely been appallingly betrayed.

          5. Mickey Taking
            March 14, 2022

            Don’t you ever listen to yourself Martin, and you talking about using words to be simply understood.

      2. John McDonald
        March 13, 2022

        The elected government shelled the 23% who did not agree with the result.
        EU democracy ? The EU and NATO have been supporting this Government since 2014 because they are anti-Russian. Russia is not the Soviet Union.
        Kind regards,
        John

        1. Denis Cooper
          March 13, 2022

          There was no vote in the eastern regions or Crimea, but where did I see that pointed out?

          Not here:

          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47895061

          That is where I read:

          “Critics question Mr Zelensky’s fitness for office, pointing to his lack of political experience.

          But he has been politically engaged. He supported the Euromaidan protests that toppled ex-president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

          When the conflict with Russian-backed separatists erupted in the east he helped fund a volunteer battalion fighting the rebels.

          He has vowed to settle that conflict through direct talks with Russia. “I am ready to do a deal with the devil so that not one more person dies,” he said.”

          So is it to his credit that “he helped fund a volunteer battalion fighting the rebels”? If the EU had not blocked RT, Russia Today, with the approval of the UK, it would still be possible to see what the Russian side has to say about that conflict. It could all be lies, of course, but then a lot of what our government says is also lies, especially from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

          It was here:

          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48007487

          with a map showing the areas where each candidate won, plus those where no vote was taken.

          This is not our damn war and we should not allow Russophobes like Zelensky and this woman Lesia Vasylenko who was given a platform by Sophy Ridge on Sky News this morning:

          https://youtu.be/9PgaINPxQS8?t=2495

          to suck us in so that it becomes our war; it is just another unnecessary war that politicians in the US and UK and other allied countries have fomented and are still fuelling.

          1. anon
            March 13, 2022

            Use a VPN a Russian one if you dare? A free browser plugin. The censors may have interfered with the results of the search engines. If you don’t already know it.Try guessing. It wont be too different from the British Broadcasting Company, which is easy to find.

          2. Denis Cooper
            March 13, 2022

            I especially noted her saying that UK and US strategic partners have always been around through all the eight years of war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine. Oh, and that Russia may never been invited to rejoin Council of Europe bodies once she has had it expelled, presumably because the intolerable wickedness of Russia is not just a matter of the present Russian government but is inherent in Russia and the Russian people. And also that there is an anti-Putin coalition forming in eastern Europe and Scandinavia and the UK has not just the opportunity but the responsibility to become its leader. Because Putin will not stop with Ukraine, he will carry on into the rest of Europe, etc etc etc.

      3. Hat man
        March 13, 2022

        You missed the point about Zelensky’s overwhelming majority in 2019, lad. He’d stood on a platform of peace and reconciliation between the warring regions of Ukraine. He succeeded in getting a deal agreed between Ukraine, Russia and OSCE that year, the so-called Steinmeier Formula. However, according to e.g. Foreign Policy magazine that October (definitely not a pro-Russian source!), he ran into trouble when extremists on his own side wouldn’t let him implement the deal, which would have made for elections in an autonomous Donbas under OSCE supervision. So Zelensky’s landslide victory at the elections unfortunately counted for nothing, thanks to intimidation from the ultra-nationalist factions responsible for the Maidan uprising. Yes, the 2019 election looked like a game-changer, lad, but sadly wasn’t allowed to be.

    5. Lifelogic
      March 13, 2022

      You comments sounds about right to me – depressing though this is.

      Jeremy Quin MP (Minister for Defence Procurement) on Any Questions yesterday still wittering on about the dire threat of CO2, renewables and the net zero lunacy. Another deluded remainer and Oxford arts graduate with zero grasp of energy, climate, physics, defence or engineering realities. The government still do not get it.

      If they really think CO2 is the dire threat to the world they claim then why have they not banned private jets, first class travel, football fans and players flying round the world on jets to kick a ball around, the absurd HS2, the subsidies of EVs (they actually increase CO2) or Truss flying on private jets to Australia for ÂŁ250,000?

      Much of this war was/is the result of deluded eco loons in the UK, Germany and elsewhere. I used to work on Military Aerospace projects many years back. Defence procurement has been appallingly inefficient, wasteful and incompetent for as long as I can remember which is back as far as the TSR2 project. Witness the two recent aircraft carriers.

      Doubtless the green crap defence nutters now they are planning battery ships, tanks and aircraft with battlefield recharging stations and wind turbines! Or low CO2 missiles and sailing ships perhaps! We are governed by ignorant, deluded incompetents who rarely have a clue.

      1. Donna
        March 13, 2022

        Great comment and I concur. However, many of the ignorant, deluded incompetents are making a great deal of money out of the Climate Change scam (or expect to, providing they toe the line) so there will be massive resistance to ditching the Net Zero lunacy.

        1. Original Richard
          March 13, 2022

          Donna :

          To quote Upton Sinclair :

          “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        March 13, 2022

        Fantastic and accurate post L/L.

  2. turboterrier
    March 13, 2022

    I think the real difficulty for a negotiated peace is, it is not what has happened but the way it has happened.
    Russia despite a its feeling of being superior and it concerns about the Ukraine being ignored leading to the war, has destroyed every last element of trust and respect and if a long lasting negotiated peace is going to have an even chance of surviving then it is going to have to be Russia with the biggest olive branch.
    The Ulrainian people like some of the European countries with their resistance groups and more recently the Taliban are more than capable and will extract a high price and force Russia to have to face a long war of attrition similar to Afghanistan.
    The biggest problem is Putin saving face, one can only hope that although not mortally wounded his position and judgement will be so weakened he will be overthrown or just resign.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Yes, even if peace comes, the whole world is now changed drastically, and many countries will have to rethink completely their relationship with Russia, so long as it remains a thug rule dictatorship, whether under Putin or yet another like him.

      This looks to me – and to many others – like it has gone badly wrong for Putin, and tragically, his only chance of avoiding being brought to justice might be to prolong the war, however.

      1. Mickey Taking
        March 14, 2022

        or a sniper’s work, or a brave insider suicide act?

  3. Andy
    March 13, 2022

    The war will end with Putin deposed. He’ll either be removed quietly and be sent to The Hague or he’ll get a bullet in the head.

    Meanwhile those western politicians who’ve acted as Putin’s useful idiots for all these years should also be afraid. Very afraid. They will also get their days in court.

    1. Sea_Warrior
      March 13, 2022

      It’s a joy to find something we can agree on. Here are some scenarios for you to ponder over your Wheatabix:
      (1) Putin being encouraged to retire, and enjoy his loot, by the Russian prime minister and chief of the general staff.
      (2) An outright military coup, as a result of a collapse in army morale at the front – if Ukraine can hang on for a 2-3 weeks.
      (3) A more kinetic action by the FSB itself or by disaffected FSB members.
      As for the ‘useful idiots’, across the political spectrum, yes, they should face some legal consequences.

      1. Peter Wood
        March 13, 2022

        Your point 3, remind me who was in charge when Germany and Italy became dependent on Russian gas and oil….

        PS stories appearing Putin is planning a false flag attack on Chernobyl, if things start looking bad for him…

      2. rose
        March 13, 2022

        Getting rid of a dictator in a police state is easier said than done. He himself can never retire, for fear of what comes next. Those around him, all secret police, not generals, will prevent his despatch, for fear of what comes next. And no-one else can get near enough to do the deed.

        1. Lifelogic
          March 13, 2022

          Alas this is often true and what is to day the replacement will not be even worse!

        2. Hope
          March 13, 2022

          Rose, who do you mean Trudeau? Listening to Trudeau now criticising Putin you have to wonder if he is a schizophrenic or suffer from complete loss of memory. It may of course be that democracy is what he says and thinks it is and everyone else can be crushed through arrest, freezing their bank accounts etc if they disagree or show dissent with his view of life! They will be silenced at whatever cost.

          It a bit like our govt. allowing BLM and eco lunatics cause physical and economic harm cordoned by p9lice and govt but stopping Brexit demonstrations, anti vaccination protests or people going for walks in the country during lockdown!

          1. Lifelogic
            March 13, 2022

            +1

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 14, 2022

            Take note, reasonable, balanced folk.

            This poster thinks that Trudeau is as bad or worse than Putin.

    2. Ian Wragg
      March 13, 2022

      It can’t come soon enough
      The Russian people are beginning to realise what is happening and will be very angry when they understand what Putin has done in their name.
      There should be a massive reward offered for his head on a plate.

      1. Shirley M
        March 13, 2022

        What can the Russian people do? They can complain but nothing will happen, except maybe more will be imprisoned as dissidents, or worse.

        Also, what can we in the UK do about the destructive net zero we are being forced into by our government? Democracy sidelined, yet again. We can do nothing until the next GE, and even then democracy will be denied if the political parties all decide to do the same thing. It is like EU membership all over again, and it will take a new party to break the cartel.

        1. Hope
          March 13, 2022

          Shirley, the UK has level playing field for a host of issues like environment, state aid, employment etc. The country is still in vassalage through regulatory orbit of the EU. The ECJ still applies and N.Ireland has no say over taxation, laws or regulation with a border down the sea. It also controls a large proportion of our fishing waters! I am not aware of any advantages for leaving the EU yet, Johnson has stopped any taking place. But he has put Rees-Mogg in a sham job to make it appear something is happening!

          I am sure that is the opposite of what Johnson told us. So the annexation of part of our country where the invader determines what can or cannot be done while the host nation (UK) pays it tens of billions!

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 14, 2022

            So what “advantages” do you think are even possible, then?

      2. Ian Wragg
        March 13, 2022

        BTW has anyone from the Westminster talking shop told Cuadrilla not to concrete over their gas wells yet or are we to keep wzvi g the green surrender flag whilst we freeze to death.
        I see sleepy Joe is issuing more permits for our and gas extraction. The WEF must be having palpitations.

    3. Mary M.
      March 13, 2022

      Mark Galeotti, lecturer and writer on transnational crime and Russian security affairs, explains in an article in the Daily Telegraph (11.3.2022) how difficult deposing Putin would be: ‘How Putin could be removed from power – and who would replace him’.

      Worth a read.

    4. Richard1
      March 13, 2022

      It would be nice to think of Putin being brought to justice in The Hague, but difficult to see it happening any time soon. Putin’s most useful idiots have of course been figures such as Schroder and Merkel. I don’t see them being brought to trial, and I’m not sure what the charges would be. But they Certainly they deserve opprobrium and disgrace for the way they’ve put Europe in hock to Putin. The one who really called this out at the time – to universal derision of course – was President Trump.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        I think that the relevant authorities and prosecutors already have a pile of evidence as to who the useful idiots have been, especially here and in the US, but you aren’t going to like it.

        Carole Cadwalladr’s brilliantly researched pieces are easy enough to find.

        Reply But not all accurate and not endorsed by this site

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 14, 2022

          Yes, I think that there were a couple of spelling mistakes and other such details.

      2. Sea_Warrior
        March 13, 2022

        I see that Schroder’s staff resigned en masse a little while back. Good for them.
        As for Trump, on the one hand he has shown great prescience over Nordstream 2. On the other, his indebteness look likely to knock him out of the race in 2024. I think we’ll see a President DeSantis in 2025.

        1. rose
          March 13, 2022

          Pompeo?

      3. Wrinkle
        March 13, 2022

        Won’t the Americans stop any move to bring Putin to the ICC – they have said they would crush any member of the ICC if they dared to bring any American there. Oh, no one will remember or know of it so they will probably try it.

        I wish JR would tell us what reputable media sources he is thinking of. None of US of course including any US govt spokesperson giving out uncorroborated, evidence free and from anonymous sources
        .
        Because of the decades long lies from govts., medical info., covid source, Pfizer’s 50,000 pages of vaccine trial patient damage etc., etc. we are now forced to have no confidence whatever in the truth of any official, prominent persons’, expert statement put out. That is now the default response.

        Probably not all govt. talks are lies, they probably say something that sounds good with no knowledge of the subject.

        I am reassured that many in the West know exactly what Putin thinks and is thinking and what he is planning to do – he is an open book to many.

        The war won’t end until the Americans want that, which is the complete cowering of Russia, their plan all along.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 14, 2022

          It’s a very good point about the US and the ICC, Wrinkle.

          Also worth remembering that they have nothing resembling the rights guaranteed by ECHR either, which is a pity, as they would have prevented the sub-prime foreclosure crisis which precipitated the global financial crash.

    5. Nig l
      March 13, 2022

      Yes. But too many and too powerful politicians to pay any actual price. All of them are and will be in total denial that they are in any way to blame. The EU and the U.K. by offering and encouraging Ukraine NATO and EU membership have played a major role in provoking Putin.

      The Ukraine stupidly believed them and they now of course have back slid. In the meantime we have been pouring money into Putins coffers for oil, gas and coal funding the army whose actions we are now complaint about.

      Pipsqueak politicians efforts to invite contempt remain unabated.

      And in that respect we see the Article 16 sell out as we expected.

    6. Original Richard
      March 13, 2022

      Andy : “Meanwhile those western politicians who’ve acted as Putin’s useful idiots for all these years should also be afraid. Very afraid. They will also get their days in court.”

      I agree with you completely. It should start with all those advocating Net Zero, a scheme hatched up by communists to cripple the West with false claims that anthropological CO2 emissions will destroy the planet in the next few decades and that wind power can not only provide a secure supply of electrical power but even that it is free.

      1. Shirley M
        March 13, 2022

        +1 Even a supposedly democratic country such as ours is unable to prevent unwanted dictatorial actions by our government(s).

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        March 13, 2022

        I’m all for that Original Richard

    7. Roy Grainger
      March 13, 2022

      Hi Andy. Just off topic can you keep us updated on your offer to host Ukrainian refugees in your own home ? The scheme has just been announced. It will maybe make those of us less keen on an an open-ended offer to accommodate several hundred thousand more willing to help ?

      1. Andy
        March 13, 2022

        I’m happy to host a Ukrainian refugee family. My house is currently being rebuilt – and we’re in temporary accommodation until the building work finishes later this year – but when it’s done we’ll have a spare room. In the meantime we’re donating significant sums – in addition to the ÂŁ100k plus a year we spend on your pensions. A massive waste of our money.

        1. John C.
          March 13, 2022

          Thanks for your donation Andy. More, please.

    8. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      Andy – What useful idiots in the West ?

      The ones who empowered Putin with their green zealotry ?

      The EU that pushed right up to Ukraine, interfered in her politics and gave Putin the excuses he needed to invade ?

      Brexit at one end of the map and a war torn nation with tens of thousands dead, millions displaced, cities in ruins.

      Hmmm. What’s in between those two things, I wonder.

      Whatever. Your claims that the EU is the greatest peace project in human history is shot to pieces, quite literally.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        March 13, 2022

        NLA. +1

      2. Andy
        March 13, 2022

        Not really. It isn’t EU members fighting each other – is it?

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          That’s the beginning and end of it.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            March 14, 2022

            NLH and Andy

            Putin says it’s the EU and Nato that’s the problem.

            That’s the beginning and the end of it.

            Let’s be clear. The EU was designed by a Frenchman to stop Germany invading his country again. I don’t expect Putin is happy about a German lead axis approaching his Western border within living memory of the Great Patriotic War, in which 27 million of his countrymen died.

            Leave well alone.

            The 1975 referendum in the UK gave no mandate whatsoever to make Ukraine ‘our back yard’, nor countries behind the Iron Curtain.

            Now we have war in Europe, if not the EU for the sake of pedantry.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 15, 2022

            There’s mass murder and the breakdown of the rule of law in Mexico, despite the United States, so by your “analysis” the US is pointless.

            What a peculiar outlook you have.

      3. Qubus
        March 13, 2022

        It may be rather petty, but I should like to know why Scholz and the preening little French squirt are doing the negotiating with Putin, the UK not being included.

        reply They are the Mintz negotiators who promote constitutional change for Ukraine.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 14, 2022

          Maybe because being leading nations in the European Union they are significant, whereas the UK now is not?

    9. MFD
      March 13, 2022

      Yes Sir, I suggest we start now with VDL and the scheming , greedy eurocrats who caused this all by pushing to enlarge their wallet or POWER!

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        The clamour for Ukraine to join the European Union comes from Ukrainians, not from the European Union, which has been quite clear as to the criterions that Ukraine must first meet.

        What do you expect them to say to such a neighbour? “Shut up, go away, and mind your own business”?

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 15, 2022

          Oh, it was one Gavin Williamson who said something like that to Russia, wasn’t it?

          How did that work out?

  4. DOM
    March 13, 2022

    There was no need for this conflict. In 2014 someone fired the starting pistol for this war. Who?

    And now Iran has attacked the US Consulate in Erbil with long range missiles. That’s Biden’ rapprochement down the toilet then

    It’s telling that the axis of despotism (Russia, Iran and China) has waited for Trump to be downed before ramping up the assault on the West

    We have Neo-Marxist progressive halfwits in charge of the west and it ain’t gonna end well

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      It must be very hard for politicians to know exactly whom they are backing in situations like this.
      However a cursory glance at the history of Russia/Ukraine tells a tale.
      Judging by western govt’s actions in their own countries in recent cancelling and anti nationalistic times
.
      You might think they would have a care whom they leaped into bed with.
      Keep clapping?

      1. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        Ooops
        With whom they leaped into bed

      2. Sharon
        March 13, 2022

        As numerous historians have said, look back in history to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again
 but politicians never do, and so they do!

        1. Everhopeful
          March 13, 2022

          +100000

    2. Neil Sutherland
      March 13, 2022

      We have a fake democracy controlled by propaganda from a vile lying media and a Uniparty system. Fake Brexit followed by a fake pandemic and a manufactured war to distract us from the imposition of a net zero prison. Our government is trying to replace us with mass immigration that we voted against.

      We are the bad guys.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        Please describe, in some detail, the main points of a “real” brexit, and how that would work?

        1. Chris
          March 13, 2022

          6-years of discussion on this blog not enough for you?
          Why don’t you address the main points rather than trying to distract?

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 13, 2022

            No, you never can, can you?

          2. R.Grange
            March 14, 2022

            I’ve noticed the lad’s speciality is one-line throwaway comments. He doesn’t do reasoned discussion or argument. Mind you, anyone reliant on Carole Cadwalladr for their information would probably find that too much of a challenge anyway.

      2. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        +1

      3. Shirley M
        March 13, 2022

        +1 Neil – democracy went out the window when Heath took us into the common market without electoral approval, and has never been restored. Boris has followed suit with fake Brexit, net zero, mass immigration and the rest of his efforts to starve us into submission … (sorry, I got carried away there, but that could well be the end result of Boris’s tenure).

      4. glen cullen
        March 13, 2022

        +1

      5. Fedupsoutherner
        March 13, 2022

        Neil. Yes, fake Brexit. Arlene Foster said on GB News this morning that the 5%vat cannot be removed from bills because we would have to grovel to the EU first. Makes you want to vomit.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 14, 2022

          Have a bucket!

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      +1

      And it was not lost on Putin that Biden and Son interfered greatly in Ukraine at that time. Revenge perhaps.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        March 13, 2022

        In response to Dom.

    4. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Dom, try to wise up, just a bit.

      The “reasons” given for Putin’s war of choice are most probably simply, rather, excuses.

      He would never, ever, admit to his true reasons, I doubt.

      1. anon
        March 13, 2022

        The reasons are strategic. They have been outlined. “I hope you hear me”
        Why would a new Russian leader change this, if it is a well thought out defensive strategy.

        Ukraine could suffer immensly in the meantime. The strategic aims of Russia would still be met.

        The EU may not be attacked directly but the Ukrainians population may pay a higher price.

  5. Pernell
    March 13, 2022

    I would like to know a lot more about how so much more Russian money is in the UK than any other European country

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      Russian money was welcomed with open arms I imagine.
      Whence the property boom?
      After all, think of the others denounced as monsters by monsters who have owned property here!

    2. Ian Wragg
      March 13, 2022

      I think Malta and Cyprus run a close second. Wait till they default and the Euro collapses.

      1. Wrinkle
        March 13, 2022

        Malta and Cyprus -didn’t they both sell EU passports? Or still do perhaps.

  6. Sea_Warrior
    March 13, 2022

    Another very sensible post, Sir John. A few random points:
    (1) The EU’s development of a military dimension will have made Ukraine’s membership of that almost as much of a problem for Putin as membership of NATO.
    (2) Perhaps Ukraine should offer to sell the Russian-speaking areas to Russia. They are more trouble than worth.
    (3) NATO needs to start thinking about Moldova.
    (4) Government policy-making on Ukrainian refugees is a mess. The latest scheme – settling refugees inside housholds – needs three improvements. First, the hosts (of women and children) need to be vetted. Second, the access of the refugees to near-full benefits needs to be withdrawn. Third, as there is a very high prevalence of drug-resistant TB in Ukraine, it follows that all refugees should be screened for the disease before being distributed around the country.
    (5) Putin’s threat to weapons-resupply convoys should be ignored. He is the war-criminal.
    (6) May I encourage your readers to check out a TED talk, given in Berlin, by William Browder, on the subject of the murder of Sergei Magnitsky. Shocking stuff, which shows the nature of Putin very clearly.
    (7) That Putin is now locking up his FSB officers, and that Ukraine took 500-600 prisoners in a single day, gives me hope.
    (8) God bless the Ukrainian people!

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 13, 2022

      Googling for:

      “Staying neutral: Moldova’s PM Natalia Gavrilița says yes to joining the EU but no to NATO”

      should immediately locate her recent interview on euronews.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      I have to say, that however good the motives, what Ursula VdL has said publicly of late has sometimes been highly ill-measured in my opinion.

      But let us remember, she is not the head of the European Union at all, the Council of the twenty-seven leaders are, and she should not speak as if she were.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        March 13, 2022

        Putin has declared that the EU is part of the Ukraine problem, NLH.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          Could you provide a source for that? I’ve searched but cannot find it.

          I seem to recall his expressing his disappointment that European Union membership had a tendency to be linked to that of NATO, unnecessarily.

      2. Sea_Warrior
        March 13, 2022

        I think that Western politicians struggle to shut-up when in war or near-war situations. What they say should come from a Media Ops/Info Ops Board, of some description; here, it looks like the output from outer offices keen on making their masters look good.
        You make a good point about VdL. She is just like the Head of our Civil Service, so shouldn’t have a speaking role at all. But I wonder how the telephone calls between Putin, Macron and Scholz (sic?) are going.

    3. Wrinkle
      March 13, 2022

      William Browder – yes his story, told by himself, points to him being the good guy, perhaps very true but there is another seemingly reasonable story that he is a scoundrel – so which to believe? That is the present day dilemma of not being able to trust any story.
      One could say the same of Tony Blair.

  7. Alice
    March 13, 2022

    Reputable media sources”?

    Are those the same sources which lied extensively about covid and refuse to publish both sides of the argument?

    Yes they are the same.

    There are two sides to every story.

    I absolutely condemn the war but the reason why it started is because neither the West or Russia want the other in their backyard, or potentially so.

    There was an opportunity to negotiate but Russian security concerns were ignored.

    It has much similarity to the events of 1962, but in reverse. So if Kennedy had a point, so does Russia.

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      + many

    2. J Bush
      March 13, 2022

      I agree with what you write, particularly about the West and Russia not wanting either in their backyard.

      Whilst Putin is no angel, neither are the west. It was the west that breached the agreement and plonked NATO in Russia’s backyard. Then there was Cameron saying “Britain has always supported the widening of the EU. Our vision of the EU is that it should be a large trading and co-operating organisation that effectively stretches…from the Atlantic to the Urals”! And there is also the US putting questionable bio-Med labs in the Ukraine, several near the Russian border.

      How would the west feel, if Russia had done that? What would the west think, if, say, China had said Russia should extend to the Pennines?

      A question few of us an categorically answer is, if the west had not breached an international agreement, had not interfered in the Ukraine, not made stupid statements, would Russia have any sense of being threatened?

      Looking at this situation holistically, it appears now to be a case of ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other’ and as usual, it is only the innocent that suffer from this myopically stupid and dangerous political game-playing.

      1. Zorro
        March 13, 2022

        Good points – well made

        Zorro

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        It was Gorbachev, who envisaged the Common European Home stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals, and Putin was right by him when he expounded that.

        Others such as Cameron have simply quoted him on this.

    3. Richard M
      March 13, 2022

      You cannot get a more false equivalence. Kennedy did not commit mass genocide in Cuba, and had not been building an aggressive presence on Russia’s doorstep.

      1. Denis Cooper
        March 13, 2022

        One can compare and contrast the two events, but only if one has heard of both of them.

      2. Mark
        March 13, 2022

        That’s not correct. The US was busy installing ICBMs in Turkey. The crisis was ended by both sides backing down from building sites on each other’s doorsteps.

        1. Denis Cooper
          March 13, 2022

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

          “Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union … Secretly, the US also agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs, armed with nuclear warheads, which were deployed in Turkey and Italy against the Soviet Union.”

      3. hefner
        March 20, 2022

        Thanks for that, Denis.
        They were indeed 30 Jupiter in Italy, 15 in Turkey and 60 Thor in the UK.

    4. Norman
      March 13, 2022

      Alice – well said.

    5. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      The US did not bomb and shell Cuba back to the Stone Age, Alice – just that once, admittedly.

  8. Richard II
    March 13, 2022

    Dear Sir John , I’m intrigued to know what you mean by ‘reputable media sources’. Could these include the media outlets that constantly spread incorrect stories about Covid for the best part of two years? Could they be the outlets that were advised by Ofcom not to print stories that deviated from the official line? Could they be the media that were paid vast sums to print/broadcast government messaging nonstop? Could they include the media corporation that more than once denied you a platform to speak about the situation, when they knew what you were going to say?

    And could they be gaslighting us again?

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      Oh HEAR! HEAR!
      A voice of reason
.đŸ€—đŸ€—

      1. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        +++ Oh YES!
        Regarding the weird and extremely rude cancellations.

    2. Donna
      March 13, 2022

      I think he must have been referring to Talk Radio and GB News ….. the only channels which allowed and encouraged a degree of debate about the Covid authoritarian policies and accompanying propaganda.

      1. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        Don’t think so
if I remember rightly.
        He was cancelled at VERY short notice twice ( I think) by
guess who?

      2. glen cullen
        March 13, 2022

        Agree

      3. Wrinkle
        March 13, 2022

        Donna – yes Mark Steyn on GB News is the only one I know of who says what others are too scared or cowardly to say. His analyses are spot on.

    3. Sharon
      March 13, 2022

      Richard 11

      Hear, hear! The MSM have a lot to answer for.

    4. Bryan Harris
      March 13, 2022

      @Richard II Well said
      +99

      The so called ‘reputable media sources’ are not in the least bit honest – they all push the same fake stories.

      When it is no longer even possible for parliament to know the real facts, then our decline and fall is not that far off.

    5. J Bush
      March 13, 2022

      +many

    6. BOF
      March 13, 2022

      +1 Richard ll. And a rousing cheer!
      Would this also be the same media, well funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? The very reason that I did not resume my subscription to the Telegraph.

    7. Otto
      March 13, 2022

      Yes, JR’s acceptance that we have reputable media sources, does that make him a useful idiot?

      reply I did not list them and keep an enquiring mind about what I am being told

  9. Old Albion
    March 13, 2022

    Russians can end this war. Notably Russian military, who could assassinate Putin. He’s clearly gone mad. I don’t believe the ‘ordinary’ Russian people want this war.

    1. formula57
      March 13, 2022

      @ Old Albion – and “ordinary” British people did not want the war in Iraq.

      1. J Bush
        March 13, 2022

        Agreed and we Brits publicly protested, were vocal in our dissent and Blair ignored it all.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        Erm, had they been asked, then they probably would have said no to WWII as well.

        1. formula57
          March 13, 2022

          A morally repugnant view that relies upon ignorance of history.

          Of course people prefer peace to war as a general proposition but events of the autumn of 1939 were the outcome of a number of years’ development and there was surely a well-formed understanding that war was coming whatever might have been wished and accordingly it was right, necessary and inevitable that a stand had to be taken. There is therefore a material distinction to the adventure in Iraq. One day perhaps George Bush might explain why Saddam Hussein, uninvolved as he was with the 911 attacks, was made the principal target of his war on terror, so called.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 13, 2022

            My point is that sometimes public opinion is wrong.

            Viz: brexit.

          2. SM
            March 13, 2022

            +10

      3. Old albion
        March 14, 2022

        Probably true.
        Unfortunately Bliar did.

  10. Fedupsoutherner
    March 13, 2022

    I’m amazed Putin hasn’t threatened Western allies with a nuclear war for supplying Ukraine with weapons. We are told it’s these supplies that are preventing Russia from making the progress Putin would like. If that threat comes then what? This war still has the potential for a bloody disaster for us all. Maybe Zelengsky will have to consider a truce giving Russia more than he wants to give for the sake of the wider community and countries surrounding Ukraine. The best thing is Andys suggestion. Putin gets taken out and there is a truce. The West can never trust Russia again though and we still need to give up our dependence on energy from them. Trump was right in that Putin was clever in that he has struck when we are dependent on them for gas and oil and sanctions have less effect now that his Siberian pipelines are in place.

    1. formula57
      March 13, 2022

      @ Fedupsoutherner “I’m amazed Putin hasn’t threatened Western allies with a nuclear war…” – the certainty of mutually assured destruction probably.

      1. Mark
        March 14, 2022

        He has, and repeatedly.

    2. Sea_Warrior
      March 13, 2022

      Putin isn’t stupid enough to start a nuclear war, which would destroy him, his country and his loot. What has suprised me the most is that he hasn’t launched a massive cyber-attack. I suspect that he will keep that in reserve for when he wants to pressure the West into relaxing sanctions.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        The attempted cyber-attacks have been relentless for years.

        1. Sea_Warrior
          March 13, 2022

          True – but we’ve not had, recently, something of the severity of Solar Winds.

      2. Ian Wragg
        March 13, 2022

        If the man’s off his head on drugs he probably doesn’t care about the consequences.
        I bet the Russian Oligarchs are bothered though.
        Its5got to be someone he trusts to top him.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 14, 2022

          I don’t think that he trusts anyone.

          Those long tables aren’t just about covid19, I doubt.

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      FUS

      These weapon supplies will result in Putin using ever more drastic tactics and will lead to a crossing of red lines – a gas attack or a battlefield nukes.

      I have begged my wife NOT to take part on the supply of military kit to Ukraine. Our church is now packed with combat fatigues, medi-kits, tourniquets, roll mats, bergens…

      I am appalled.

      This will protract a war which will leave Ukraine uninhabitable and the EU/NATO too broke to rebuild it because of sanctions blow-back and our woke/greenist suicidal tendency, as well as having been already wrecked by our Covid panic.

      Biden is a disaster. An utter utter disaster.

    4. anon
      March 13, 2022

      This is apparently strategic to the Russians. Do you disagree? Do you expect a Russian mindset in achieving them.

      There will be calculations & miscalculations, as the situation progresses, hence why war is so dangerous.

      Putin i agree does not wish to start a nuclear WW3. However why would a mostly uninhabitable Ukraine not meet his stated security needs? Technology and war is very advanced in its destructiveness.

      Also, remember the Lusitania , was it carrying munitions . Therefore was it a legitimate target.

  11. Everhopeful
    March 13, 2022

    I expect it will end like the virus did.
    With a whimper.
    And then we’ll go on to hurricanes and tempests and flooding etc etc.

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      But like the virus the war will leave a legacy.
      A very useful one in some quarters.
      A huge leap for mankind towards 
.no travel
no cars
no industry
no heat
no food.
      Satisfied?

      1. Zorro
        March 13, 2022

        At least you’ll have nothing and be happy đŸ˜«

        Zorro

        1. Everhopeful
          March 13, 2022

          +1
          Lol
          I think someone else said that!
          đŸ€” Now, who was it
..

    2. glen cullen
      March 13, 2022

      Play nice appear weak, whimper on after the Crimea and you get an 8 year stalemate in the Donbas region with effective Russian control
..you need decisive hard kinetic action to repeal an invader
      I fear Everhopeful, that as you suggest, this conflict will whimper on and on for years

      1. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        +1
        Ten years, they say
?

  12. Donna
    March 13, 2022

    The EU and NATO systematically poked The Bear by seeking first to draw Ukraine into their sphere of influence and by encouraging the 2014 removal of the elected President in favour of one more to their liking. If we were talking about the USA and a large, strategically important country on its border which it used to rule, say Mexico, which was now being encouraged by another perceived “hostile” power to switch sides, do we seriously think the USA would meekly accept it? Look what they did to Iraq!

    Putin can’t hold Ukraine by force; it will turn into a protracted war of attrition and with the Russian economy on its knees it will be far, far worse for them than their invasion of Afghanistan. So Putin will want a settlement and it is in the interests of both NATO and Ukraine that there is a settlement. NATO has already made it clear that it will not go to war with Russia over Ukraine so ruling out NATO membership has, effectively, already been conceded. Ruling out EU membership should be possible, although since the EU is expansionist it won’t like it, but a compromise might be a trade treaty or membership of EFTA. That leaves Crimea, which Russia already holds and is likely to vote to stay Russian, and the Donbas regions. Why not propose Referendums so that there is at least a democratic justification for their transfer to Russia, if that is what they choose, as seems likely?

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 13, 2022

      Poking The Bear will figure at the end of the letter I plan to send to our local paper later today.

      “One can poke a bear, and when it reacts violently one can blame the bear; but might it not be wiser to recognise the nature of the beast and refrain from unnecessary provocation?”

      Or similar.

      Sevastapol and Crimea have already voted to become federal subjects of Russia:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_subjects_of_Russia

      1. Old Salt
        March 13, 2022

        Denis
        so the recent Belarus recent election

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      I hope you’re right.

  13. alan jutson
    March 13, 2022

    It will only end properly when Putin (his supporters and others like him) are no longer in charge of Russia, otherwise aggression will be seen to have had it’s rewards, and may embolden others around the World to chance their luck.

  14. MFD
    March 13, 2022

    I am at the point of “ Dont Know- Dont care”
    We have been fed a meal of lies for the past three years , there is talk of virus manipulation labs in Ukraine , we have no true facts to form an opinion .
    Lies lies lies. I just do not care what is happening , I am going to TRY to look after my family and no one else!

    Going into town yesterday a council roadside sign was saying “ get boosted for Devon” more total rubbish.

    I am going to just make my own space- finish!

    1. Norman
      March 13, 2022

      Understandable, MFD – and certainly better than jumping on the latest mass bandwagon.

      1. J Bush
        March 13, 2022

        Agreed. I also ignore political bandwagons, especially the one before this Russian one.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Here’s an excellent quote from George Bernard Shaw:

      “The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.”

      You Leave fanatics should think about that, and have a word with yourselves.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        March 13, 2022

        War torn country at one end of its map and Brexit at the other.

        The EU caused both.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          Yes, 100% of divorce is caused by marriage.

          Let’s ban it.

    3. Zorro
      March 13, 2022

      Oh yes but the MSM is saying that the bio medical labs (of which there is ample evidence) are ‘un-evidenced conspiracy theories’
. Now, when have we heard that phrase in the last couple of years? 😏

      Nobody with a brain cell accepts what our media says without question.

      Zorro

      1. Everhopeful
        March 13, 2022

        +many
        Agree!

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      March 13, 2022

      MFD. Yes I feel the same. Along with my massive council tax bill I received a leaflet telling me all the ways my county council is promoting and supporting green energy. It went straight in the bin.

  15. Denis Cooper
    March 13, 2022

    Western leaders, in both NATO and the EU, have encouraged Ukrainian leaders, especially Zelinsky, to stand up to Russia and in particular Putin, but now it has come to the moment of truth those who egged him on are leaving him and the Ukrainians in the lurch. He and Boris Johnson both think they are cutting a Churchillian figure but while the latter is doing it from a position of safety the former is sharing in the enormous suffering into which he has led his people and from which they are unlikely to gain anything, or at least anything which could not have been gained by peaceful means. I can no longer bear to see either or them on television.

    1. Hope
      March 13, 2022

      +1
      Johnson who has failed to stand up or even deliver Brexit! Truss who will not rule out security and defence vassalage with EU!

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        Give your silly, petty-minded obsession a rest just for a bit, thanks.

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      March 13, 2022

      Indeed Dennis. I was sent an email yesterday by the Conservative rep for the local elections campaign urging me to keep Labour out. My thoughts are I don’t want either in and I’ll vote Reform if we have a candidate. I can’t bring myself to vote for any of the 3 main parties.

      1. Shirley M
        March 13, 2022

        Will anyone believe their manifestos? Maybe they would, if the manifestos said they would do their best to make the UK people colder and poorer (via net zero), second class (but cash cows) to the illegal immigrants being encouraged to come here, as they get better care and treatment than those here legally, and they will also leave our country wide open to abuse and blackmail by relying on hostile nations for our food and energy by discouraging home production.

        The above may be honest, but they wouldn’t get many votes. We need some method of booting out MP’s who get elected as a result of a deceitful campaign. If they campaigned to support Brexit, and then voted against it, there should be an automatic bi-election. As it stands, they can lie to their hearts content, swap parties, and no end of other dishonest practices and still keep their seat.

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          March 13, 2022

          Shirley. Don’t depress me even more.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Nobody forced the people of Ukraine to elect Zelensky with 73% of the vote at the last elections.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        March 13, 2022

        Who’s lying now then ?

        You only support elections which result in pro EU outcomes.

      2. Otto
        March 13, 2022

        ‘Nobody forced..’ How do you know that? Haven’t many here said that the media is full of lies? What was the mind set to vote in a TV comedian? Could be a good choice though to avoid the usual political nonsense – but then we have Boris, a combination – hasn’t worked.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          Given e.g. the Leave vote, what, exactly is your point?

  16. JustMyQuestion
    March 13, 2022

    Sir John

    On a separate note I see that the EU Parliament has, with a large majority, called on the EU to block funds to Poland and Hungary despite that Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party had unsuccessfully proposed an amendment calling for the rule-of-law mechanism not to be applied due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic.

    Given the behaviour of the EU and how it treats its members even at a time like this, why is the government worried about triggering Art 16? I believe they have decided to postpone it?

    Why is our government so concerned about the sovereignty and borders of another nation, yet refusing to adequately protect and preserve our own?

    1. Bryan Harris
      March 13, 2022

      @JustMyQuestion

      +99

    2. Andy
      March 13, 2022

      You left the EU. It isn’t your business. You clearly haven’t read article 16 as it doesn’t do what you think it does.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 13, 2022

        Curtains will twitch…

        1. No Longer Anonymous
          March 13, 2022

          Yes. A new iron curtain which the EU helped to draw and force us into a new cold war that we could do without right now. That’s if we are lucky enough to avoid a hot one.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 13, 2022

            That’s plain silly.

          2. RedBill brown
            March 13, 2022

            No longer anonymous

            The EU has nothing to do with a new iron curtain this is a load of rubbish

      2. Denis Cooper
        March 13, 2022

        The Irish Free State left the United Kingdom a century ago, but their interest in our national affairs is still intense. As they should mind their own business, by your lights, why not drop a letter to the Irish Times and ask them what on earth they think they are doing with editorials like this:

        https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-britain-s-ukraine-response-we-ll-help-but-please-stay-away-1.4823686

        “The Irish Times view on Britain’s Ukraine response: ‘We’ll help, but please stay away’”

        “London’s offer to Ukrainian refugees is bureaucratic and cruel”

        But there is one area where they should definitely mind their own business:

        https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/brexit-time-to-mind-our-own-business-1.3636142

        “Brexit – time to mind our own business?”

        “The legitimate interests of the EU and its Irish satrapy do not extend beyond the nature of the goods circulating in its own EU Single Market … ”

        Of course you would not agree with that.

    3. J Bush
      March 13, 2022

      Our politicians make so many stupidly myopically decisions and instead of rectifying their failures, they shout look over there! and then make more stupidly myopic mistakes.

  17. John McDonald
    March 13, 2022

    Sir John, You ask how the War can end. Agree that Ukraine remains neutral not in NATO, Ukraine has lost Crimea and Donbas because the Kiev Government would not accommodate the aspirations of the ethnic Russian citizen and started shelling them in 2014. Why is this fact swept under the carpet by Western Politicians?
    No one can support the wide scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia to, in their words “de-nazify and de-militarise ”
    The Russian’s are shelling towns as there are soldiers and now citizens defending them. This is War and the innocent suffer and are killed. Not the Political leaders with their grand speeches on either side of the conflict. NATO wants to expand. The EU Wants to expand.
    The UK voted to Leave the EU. The BBC was clearly for Remain and still is. You can’t trust what the Media says none can be said to be unbiased. They all have an agenda that suits their aims and sells their publications. Remember Iraq , the UK invaded a country based on a lie. I see we are now in WMD mode and the Russians are about to use chemical warfare. Looks like the US has biolabs in Ukraine as well as China ( outsourced that is 😊)

    1. R.Grange
      March 13, 2022

      John, the reason why Western politicans sweep under the carpet the actions of Kiev’s military in the Donbas for the last eight years is that these politicians belong to NATO countries. And, as you say, ‘NATO wants to expand’. It has treated Ukraine as a de facto ally for years, training and equipping its army, and most recently inviting Ukrainian soldiers into joint manouevres in Germany last December. So it wouldn’t have been diplomatic towards the Kiev government if Western politicians had at the same time turned the spotlight on their human rights abuses in the Donbas.

  18. mickc
    March 13, 2022

    The UK should have opposed the NATO policy of expansion to the East. It broke the undertaking given to Russia at the end of the Cold War.

    As George Kennan said at the time of the first move East, the policy was disastrous…and so it has proved.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      When did the UK last oppose the US over anything?

      Take the unwarranted imprisonment of Assange, as just one small example.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        March 13, 2022

        NLH – I for one wish we had opposed the USA on many occaisions. Iraq being the main. But all sorts of regime changes which result in huge refugee crises and suffering.

        Ukraine being but the latest. With our very own Baroness Ashton (as EU High Representative) handing out buns alongside Nato officials in Ukraine after a *popular* revolution which led to a restricted election (because of the ensuing civil war) delivering the desired pro EU/NATO result which led to Russian invasion.

        NATO regime changes, don’t you love ’em ?

        Our biggest mistake is to think that we’re the ones with the moral high ground.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 13, 2022

          Well, for a pro-Russian country – as you imply – the Ukrainians are putting up remarkable resistance to their “friends”, aren’t they?

        2. RedBill brown
          March 13, 2022

          Anonymous

          This has nothing to do with moral high ground, civilians and children are being killed

      2. mickc
        March 13, 2022

        Regrettably true….

    2. Otto
      March 13, 2022

      Many US planners, thinkers, generals in 2017 plus said expansion of NATO east was stupid as it would antagonise Russia. Even Biden said so in 2017 or so. One also said, in 2017, ‘we will fight Russia over there (Ukraine) so as to not fight them here (USA)!!

  19. Denis Cooper
    March 13, 2022

    At the bottom left hand corner of page 2 in its March 8 edition the Times printed a heading:

    “Russia offers to end war in exchange for territory”

    “… talks in Belarus failed to stop the Russian assault … the demand that Ukraine declare its neutrality and surrender territory … “they should recognise that Crimea is Russian territory and … Donetsk and Luhansk are independent states.””

  20. Bob Dixon
    March 13, 2022

    Badly.
    There will be no winners.
    Many Ukrainians will never return to their homes.
    Ukrain as it was is no more.
    Many buildings and homes have been reduced to rubble.
    Businesses have been destroyed.
    Food production is unlikely to be grown in 2022?
    Can the free world stop Russia from further mad acts?
    Will charges be raised against Putin and his military commanders?
    Will Europe and the EU take the necessary steps to stop further eastern countries being overwhelmed?

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      And we will be in no condition to help her rebuild. And the EU is NOT a democratic federation. You cannot even say that a man cannot be a woman without being cancelled or even worse.

      Putin is not the one trying to enforce newspeak and ideologies here.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        Silly, precious social attitudes, among a very small minority of the population, resulting in a few catty twitter posts, are nothing whatsoever to do with the law, NLA.

        Stop fretting about trivia.

        Your right to free speech is protected by ECHR.

  21. Everhopeful
    March 13, 2022

    The three preceding Industrial Revolutions have been brought forth in pain and upset.
    Total destruction of societies and lives and cultures.
    Maybe the First more shocking than the following two.
    But this Fourth will be the bloodiest and most painful of all.

    And all to make money for a very few!

  22. Bryan Harris
    March 13, 2022

    How can the Ukraine war end?

    It could end if:

    – the truth behind USA involvement in Ukraine, and a little history, was known.

    – those of Russian descent in East Ukraine were safe from annihilation by Zelensky.


    As America so often does in other countries, it has been ‘playing’ Ukraine for a number of years, installing presidents under their control while draining money from the country for the benefit of a few.

    It will not end if we keep supplying weapons to make us feel less guilty that a fragile peace has been shattered, but it will conclude if real diplomacy and understanding is balanced against honest compromises.

  23. DOM
    March 13, 2022

    Putin. Obama. Merkel. History if allowed to be written without political interference will condemn these three terrible politicians

    1. hefner
      March 20, 2022

      Who would you recommend for writing the History of ‘these three terrible politicians’ ‘without political interference’?

  24. JoolsB
    March 13, 2022

    Off topic John but I see you’ve changed your header again and no longer purport to speak for England. Just who does speak for England then because it certainly isn’t any of the 533 U.K. MPs squatting in English constituencies, that’s for sure. Prescriptions about to go up, England only, free elsewhere in the dis U.K., tuition fees £9,250 England only. Hospital parking charges, England only. Up to £2,000 per head less spent on us than the rest of the dis U.K. Johnson spouting his levelling up but no plans to scrap Barnett Formula so how does he plan to level up funding in England to that of Scotland? 117 MPs from outside England allowed to vote on matters relating only to England thanks to traitor Gove scrapping EVEL to appease his precious Scotland and stuff the English. Conservative and Labour Party determined to break England up into competing regions with no plans to consult the English, unlike the rest of the dis-U.K. on how they wish to be governed. Tell us John, do any of the MPs squatting in English seats care about the rotten deal England gets from this so called union let alone speak for us? Obviously not.

    reply Yes I do speak for England. I did not run that as my offer in the last election because securing Brexit and Brexit wins for the whole U.K. took priority

    1. MWB
      March 13, 2022

      JOOLSB + 100%.
      But never anything on this from any of the English so called MPs. They are too busy virtue signalling.

    2. Shirley M
      March 13, 2022

      + lots and lots JoolsB. Inequality abounds in the UK, and it is a deliberate political strategy. Unfortunately, minorities get preference over the majority, every single time! The majority are just the cash cows.

    3. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      +1
      Ah
politicians are terrified of anything nationalistic/patriotic/ flag waving/ torchlit marches etc.
      Unless they clap for it !
      And isn’t it very important that England, although the paymaster, is not seen to dominate the Union? ( Imagine the roles reversed).

      The search engine doesn’t forget though!

      1. hefner
        March 20, 2022

        EH, ‘the search engine doesn’t forget though!’ No, the Google search engine will provide you with ‘information’ according to your past searches and clicks, so you can be assured that you will always find your ‘favourite sites’ at the top of your queries.

        ‘How does Google’s search algorithm work in 2021?’, M.Ofiwe, 07/10/2021, semrush.com

    4. Dennis
      March 13, 2022

      Well JR what’s your comment to JoolsB piece? Don’t have one?

    5. Fedupsoutherner
      March 13, 2022

      Jools. Agree totally and having lived up there for far too long I can tell you they never stop moaning about their lot. They need to get in the real world.

  25. L Jones
    March 13, 2022

    ”Reputable media sources”. And how do you identify those? We all know that the BBC is biased (I don’t mean in this case, necessarily, but it’s certainly queered its own pitch recently) so what other ”sources” might we believe? Or should we only swallow what we’re fed without question? It’s not our war – we should consider what both sides say about it, shouldn’t we?

  26. agricola
    March 13, 2022

    I agree with you that NATO should not get directly involved in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. However we can make Russian agression so expensive that it becomes untenable. Reagan/Thatcher achieved this and caused a reversal of the Cold War because it became too expensive for Russia to pursue.

    Russia is conducting a continuation of WW2, allbeit with current day weaponry. However this makes them very vulnerable. We should confine ourselves to the training and supply of Ukrainians with the means to destroy tanks, helicopters and combat aircraft. I hope we are providing the Ukrainian military with real time intel so allowing them to cause maximum pain to the Russian agressor.

    Were Russia to occupy Ukraine entirely, guerilla warfare would make it a continuing expense. The ultimate expense that Putin could not afford would be the loss of support of the Russian people, and that is what we should be aiming to achieve. A bunch of raghead tribal fighters made it so hot for Russia in Afgahnistan that they got out. They did not fare to well in Chechnia either. The Ukrainians with our help could make the present adventure a living hell for Putin.

    1. Sea_Warrior
      March 13, 2022

      Sage words, Agricola.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      It’s always good to have the views of the elite 101st Chairborne Division – thanks.

    3. Bill B.
      March 13, 2022

      Surely Russia is *not* continuing WW II strategy, Agricola. In 1943-44 the Red Army had to fight its way into and across Ukraine via a succession of bloody urban battles in Stalingrad, Kharkov, Kiev and other places. This time, the Russians seem to be avoiding going into urban centres, instead aiming to cut off the Ukrainian forces from supplies and reinforcements.

  27. MPC
    March 13, 2022

    I fear we will soon have power cuts under a Conservative government who will blame Russian aggression in Ukraine for the shortage of gas. Power cuts will become a new normal and will progress into climate lockdowns under a Labour led government.

    1. Lifelogic
      March 13, 2022

      Just like we had under the appalling socialist Ted Heath and his three day week (at least we now have far better LED torches rather than candles.

      Will the appalling tax to death socialist Sunak also give us a prices and incomes policy with rationing to tackle the inflation his incompetence has caused? In a statement to the House of Commons in 1972, Prime Minister Edward Heath told MPs the government had decided to bring in laws enforcing price and pay controls. In the period before legislation was passed there would be a freeze, effective immediately, on prices, wages, dividends and rents”.

      The solution are simple far less government, a bonfire of red tape, stop pissing money down the drain on green crap, HS2, net zero, EV subsidies (that in fact increase CO2)… Then simpler lower taxes, scrap climate alarmism and woke lunacy and get real and fare competition between the state and the private sector – particularly in healthcare, education, transport, housing…

      Police and a criminal justice system that (at least attempts to) tackles and deter real crime might be good too.

      Who will point out that Sunak and this socialist, green crap government really have taken leave of their senses?

  28. Dave Andrews
    March 13, 2022

    All the time this war continues, the Russian army will be depleted of material and personnel to wage it, with the Ukrainians continually supplied by a sympathetic West with modern defence weapons. More and more Russians will refuse to take part in the campaign to beat up their little brother.
    Eventually Putin will resort to battlefield nukes when he sees his forces are no longer capable of continuing conventional warfare. Ukraine will never bend to his will and he will never order a retreat.
    The only end to this war is when Putin is taken out in a box by fed up Russians. The West and more particularly Ukraine can then talk to a more reasonable leader and everyone can load the blame on Putin, as we did with Hitler. After that, Russia must agree to reparations, a withholding tax on payments for their oil and gas.

    1. Clough
      March 13, 2022

      Meanwhile in the real world, Dave, your friends are in serious trouble because they are losing the war in the South and East, a long way away from the journalists in Kyiv. Once Ukrainian resistance completely collapses there, the Russian army has a lot of options. They include rolling up the whole Ukrainian defence line by advancing up the west bank of the Dniepr threatening Kyiv from the South. It will then be time for Zelensky to realise he has to accept whatever peace terms he can get.

  29. Philip P.
    March 13, 2022

    The war in Ukraine that began in 2014 could have ended years ago if Zelensky had been allowed to carry out the programme he was elected on in 2019: peace and reconciliation between Eastern Ukraine and the rest of the country. Those who were stopping him needed to be taken out of the equation, so that he was longer intimidated. When the recent crisis erupted, some sort of Ukrainian national coalition government might have been possible, especially if the opposition leaders imprisoned by the Kiev government had been released. Whatever still remains of this scenario is in my view the only way forward, making for a neutral democratic Ukraine where politicians, not oligarchs and militia thugs, take the decisions. It would then be better able to get on with its large and powerful neighbour, which it ultimately has to, if only for reasons of geography. The alternatives seem to be endless guerilla warfare between Ukraine and Russia, or total Russian conquest, both appallingly bad outcomes for ordinary Ukrainians.

    The EU could have played a role here by insisting more firmly on reforms before Ukraine could be considered for EU membership. In fact Macron and Scholz could still do so, I would have thought. Maybe Ukraine’s accession to the EU would be a concession Moscow would grudgingly accept as part of a peace deal, as long as it has no security implications for Russia. Saying that, I wouldn’t wish EU membership on anyone, but if it could be a bargaining chip in obtaining peace, why not?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 14, 2022

      Generally I think that you make a good analysis.

      However, I think that you will find that the European Union has always made clear to applicants as to the criterions that they must meet for accession, and the case of Ukraine has been no exception.

      Unfortunately the global media may well have given the impression that things were moving swiftly and inevitably towards that, which was by no means true.

      However that doubtless has had an effect on Russia, who always see NATO behind its skirts.

  30. Original Richard
    March 13, 2022

    I too strongly oppose Russia’s totally unacceptable and brutal invasion of Ukraine and he should have sought peaceful means to achieve his objectives. Perhaps suggesting referendums in the disputed regions.

    But it has to be said that the EU’s greed for expansion eastwards has not helped, such as the meddling in Ukrainian politics and PM Cameron’s 2013 speech in Kazakhstan where he said he wanted the EU to extend from the Atlantic to the Urals.

    And I suspect the UK would not have left the EU if the EU had not expanded to include the former eastern bloc countries.

  31. a-tracy
    March 13, 2022

    Donbas: “According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897, Ukrainians (“Little Russians”, in the official imperial language) accounted for 52.4% of the population of the region, whilst ethnic Russians constituted 28.7%.” Source: Wiki. “In April 1918 troops loyal to the Ukrainian People’s Republic took control of large parts of the region.. In the 1991 referendum on Ukrainian independence, 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast and 83.6% in Luhansk Oblast supported independence from the Soviet Union. Turnout was 76.7% in Donetsk Oblast and 80.7% in Luhansk Oblast.”

    So what happened that Russia thinks it has the right to this territory? “During the reconstruction of the Donbas after the end of the Second World War, large numbers of Russian workers arrived to repopulate the region, further altering the population balance. In 1926, 639,000 ethnic Russians resided in the Donbas. By 1959, the ethnic Russian population was 2.55 million. Russification was further advanced by the 1958–59 with the Soviet educational reforms, which led to the near elimination of all Ukrainian-language schooling in the Donbas.”

    So population movement to a concentrated region in a different Country now entitles the original Country of the immigrants to state a claim to that territory? People stand aside around the rest of the World and say “its what the people that live there want”? This is a troubling assertion isn’t it, especially when clique regions in the UK have been handed over and housing allocated en-mass to certain groups of a single ethnicity with no balance. We’ve got Mayors in the UK using rate payers money to put up signs in a foreign language on tube stations this week. I have no problem with any race coming to make their homes in the UK and take on our culture, language and learn to assimilate but we are sleepwalking into a Ukraine situation ourselves and this should ring alarm bells.

    1. John Mcdonald
      March 13, 2022

      That was 1991 not 2014 A lot changed between 1991 and 2014. Please update your history to justify your view.
      Kind regards,
      John

      1. a-tracy
        March 13, 2022

        Thanks John, I did put that my source was Wiki, I don’t know anything about this region and looked it up this weekend to try to understand something about the conflict. What changed between 1991 and 2014 that changed from wanting independence from the Soviet Union with over 80% of the vote? A movement of Russian people, a mistreatment by the main Ukrainian government of the regions people? What turned them?

    2. dixie
      March 13, 2022

      You make an excellent point – “So population movement to a concentrated region in a different Country now entitles the original Country of the immigrants to state a claim to that territory?”
      The Russian empire over time populates regions to it’s preference then declares they are Russian and employs excessive force to impose it’s will.
      Western politicians ignore the process and declare “natural affinity” should hold sway, conveniently ignoring the deaths and deprevation.
      So what will happen to our country John with all the “more preferred” groups imported by your colleagues?

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        That’s what happened in England, when the Anglo-Saxons came to dominate the Britons, isn’t it?

    3. Denis Cooper
      March 13, 2022

      Here’s a moderately interesting article from last April, on the France24 website:

      https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210401-new-law-stokes-ukraine-language-tensions

      “New law stokes Ukraine language tensions”

      The angry Russian speaking lady veterinarian quoted in the AFP article was in Mariupol, now besieged and largely reduced to rubble with household pets that she tended left behind and scavenging for food.

      1. a-tracy
        March 13, 2022

        Thanks Denis that was interesting and again troubling. There are people now in the UK that are changing English worded signs on tube stations to another Countries, so that tends to make me think that local schools prioritise another language, I think we should be told by the Mayor that did this how he justifies this in England. We English could soon not be welcome in that area or treated differently if people start acting as this Russian veterinarian did in the Ukraine.

  32. ChrisS
    March 13, 2022

    Putin will not stop unless he is made to do so by force. The West is rightly trying to avoid a direct conflict between NATO and Russia but if Putin carries out his threat to physically disrupt supplies heading for Ukraine or uses chemical or biological weapons, that will demand a NATO intervention. These should be publically stated red lines so that Putin knows the boundaries.

    However, after Obama’s failed Red Line policy with Syria, Biden would need to convince Putin he is serious.

    Crimea cannot be recovered and is largely populated by people with a natural affinity to Russia.
    The areas in the East who are fighting Kiev are similar. Any settlement is bound to cede those areas to Russia. If that gives Putin a face saving formula to cease the war, that would be OK and probably in Ukraine’s best long term interest but giving up any more territory or agreeing not to join the EU or NATO would allow Putin to claim a much bigger victory and would encourage him to go further.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      March 13, 2022

      Then WW3 it is.

      Personally I think it is better to tell the Ukrainians that even the best outcome is hell – far worse than Putin’s peace offer.

      From all of this it is quite clear that Russia is militarily weak and has no intention of taking further countries. We should drop the Putin is Hitler rhetoric – it is completely inaccurate.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        Certainly, if NATO forces were free to attack then no land assault would get ten metres over any border.

  33. gyges
    March 13, 2022

    Hi John
    can you share your opinion of the Neo-nazi problem in the Ukraine and how you would deal with it?

    1. Everhopeful
      March 13, 2022

      +1

    2. Mark
      March 13, 2022

      VergangenheitsbewÀltigung has worked quite well in Germany. Psychological propaganda to develop a sense of guilt and shame. Such propaganda is reported to be part of Russian plans should they capture the Ukraine, but their propaganda is likely to be a bit more extreme than that applied in Germany, and be accompanied by coercive elements and imprisonments in GULAGs.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 14, 2022

      Maybe his party would pander to them and get their votes?

  34. beresford
    March 13, 2022

    Ukraine cannot win this war, Putin doesn’t need the Ukrainian people and can drop his bombs of choice to destroy Kiev and Kharkov and ethnically cleanse any survivors. Apparently he is now trying to establish new ‘facts on the ground’ to block Ukraine from the Black Sea with a new ‘republic’. The truth is that once the territory is repopulated and rebuilt by Russian nationals the sanctions will be quietly forgotten, leaving the West with 30 million displaced people to rehouse. What they can do is be enough of a nuisance to have some weight in negotiations, which is the situation now.

    The Russian demands should be remodelled to become more palatable. Ukraine should accept its place as a neutral non-nuclear buffer state whose integrity is guaranteed by Russia and the West. Annexation of Crimea, Donbass and Luhansk should be agreed but in return Russia should agree that any Russian nationalists in the remainder of Ukraine should face forcible deportation to these regions. An ordered population exchange should occur for those who wish it, and those who stay should pledge loyalty to the country they live in.

  35. No Longer Anonymous
    March 13, 2022

    Putin offered a peace deal. Three areas of Ukraine to be occupied by Russia, no EU membership and no NATO membership for the rest.

    I think Zelensky should have taken it.

    Instead we offered him our empty but loud support in the heart of our own Parliament. There was unanimity among a sea of clapping seals. The BBC drumbeats for wider war getting louder and louder – even Jeremy Vine (who was only weeks ago squawking about staying masks and under restrictions to KEEP SAFE) using the vilest of war talk “Russian soldiers deserve to die” him knowing nothing of what it means to be a conscript in Russia.

    What are we promising Ukraine ?

    Life in our own debased economies ? A woke wasteland in which you can be cancelled for saying that a man can’t ever be a woman and where votes and referenda are frequently overturned ?

    The cynical side of me feels that Ukraine is being duped into fighting a proxy war for us to warn China off Taiwan. I wonder if Zelensky knows this.

    I wonder if Zelensky knows that even with the best outcome, his ruined cities and dead will not be brought back by EU money nor Nato help because – after the sanctions blow-back has hit us, and because of our green folly – we will all be stoney broke and there will be no money left in the West to do it.

    Help in food and clothes and shelter by all means, but anything that prolongs this war in terms of military kit and encouragement is the cruelest thing for us to do.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 14, 2022

      “Resistance is useless”

      We’ve heard that before, haven’t we?

  36. Richard1
    March 13, 2022

    Any ceding of territory by Ukraine to Russia as part of a peace deal must be ratified by free and fair referenda of the people concerned under international supervision. The $100s of billions of frozen Russian assets (much seized by the U.K.) must be used to compensate Ukraine for the damage done – estimated at $100 bn so far – and the people who have suffered. Whilst better scrutiny should have been applied especially in London to money laundering by kleptocrats surrounding Putin, the good thing is their money can now be used, to the extent money can be any recompense, to pay for the damage Putin has done.

  37. William Long
    March 13, 2022

    It is possible to envisage some sort of commitment from NATO to stop trying to recruit Ukraine, but I cannot see such a pragmatic approach coming from the EU, so it would appear that any withdrawal of Ukraine’s application is going to have to come from Ukraine itself. And for all Zelensky’s leadership qualities, it seems odd to me that with his insistence of the sovereignty of his country, he would want to give it away to another Imperial organisation, so perhaps not such a big step.

  38. ukretired123
    March 13, 2022

    There will come a point where the stark images of Hell on earth unleashed by Putin in the name of Russia lying to his own people about saving Ukraine by killing country cousins unravels.
    Pray this comes quickly with all the technology via the inter as the Russian people are key to understanding this at a human level – treat others as you would yourself!

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Your last phrase highlights the shameful role that the Orthodox Church under its patriarch has played in the maintenance of Putin’s power, describing his presidency as akin to a miracle.

      Much of Russia is remote villages, where attitudes and beliefs have not changed for generations.

      (I suppose that it’s a bit like the US in that regard…)

  39. BOF
    March 13, 2022

    Well summed up Sir John, but what about ex Israeli special forces getting involved? Israel is perhaps not so nuetral.
    It is unfortunate that there has been so much involvement of prominent Americans, most especially the Bidens and notably Hunter Biden, in a Ukraine which was known for corruption.

    This and the removal of a pro Russian president can only have left a bitter taste in Russian mouths. However, this Russian aggression needs to be stopped, but probably not until Putin feels he is in a strong enough negotiating position.

  40. ukretired123
    March 13, 2022

    Err Internet!

  41. Duyfken
    March 13, 2022

    There seems to be little attention paid to the question of who picks up the pieces? The invasion has taken many Ukrainian lives or left injured, displaced millions, and devastated buildings and infrastructure, and is still doing so. What of the enormous cost of reinstatement and compensation, and how should Russia be made to provide reparations? Should not this be included within any peace negotiations?

    1. a-tracy
      March 13, 2022

      Duyfken – yes

  42. dixie
    March 13, 2022

    Do you seriously think Putin and those that follow him will give up on imperial or acquisitive ambitions?
    Seriously?
    And what example are you then setting for the equally acquisitive China and the EU?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Your equating the entirely at-will, consensually-joined European Union with violently expanded empires is a typically purulent abuse of language.

      1. dixie
        March 13, 2022

        spare us your typical euphilic flatulance and posturers word for the day.
        I chose my wording carefully.

      2. Mickey Taking
        March 14, 2022

        Oh Martin – get over yourself. Simple English, please.

  43. glen cullen
    March 13, 2022

    It only takes good men to do nothing for evil to succeed
    If Ukrine wants our military support, we should give it without fear of the bogeyman

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 13, 2022

      Don’t accept the simple formulation “Ukraine good, Russia bad” promoted by our politicians and media.

      1. glen cullen
        March 13, 2022

        One did invade the other

  44. Roy Grainger
    March 13, 2022

    Israel seem very improbable intermediaries given Russia’s involvement in the Middle East. I would have thought the only intermediary who would carry sufficient influence would be China.

  45. MB
    March 13, 2022

    When you say ‘Russia’ I think you mean’Putin’, as as far as I know, there hasn’t been a referendum, nor is it the will of the majority of the Russian people to invade the Ukraine.

    I also don’t see why the Ukraine have to offer a chance to save his arrogant face.

  46. MFD
    March 13, 2022

    Its been rumoured that the government will pay ÂŁ350/week to take in a Ukrainian!
    I would not be in the line to get a tenant, think of all the problems that would bring

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 13, 2022

      Don’t worry it’s not compulsory, but many people will make friends for life by the help that they give.

  47. Sea_Warrior
    March 13, 2022

    I see reporting today that Gove wants to throw money at Ukrainian refugees while some companies here will offer work. It’s the latter course that is the right thing for us to do. Gove needs to be reined-in.

  48. XY
    March 13, 2022

    There’s much sense in this – or there would be if it were not for the Budapest Memorandum, which was signed on 5 December, 1994 at the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In it, Ukraine, a nuclear power at that time, voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.

    The guarantors were the USA, Russia and the UK, who pledged, among other things, to respect the independence and “existing borders” of Ukraine.

    The Soviet Union, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed similar memoranda on the same day.

    We have a duty to Ukraine that is not a NATO issue. Any actions we take should be justified and justifiable via the Budapest Memorandum and we should be constantly reminding Russia and the USA of their responsibilities in that regard.

    One thing that we do know from this is that Russia cannot be trusted to adhere to any agreement it makes, so what would be the point in entering into yet another agreement with Russia which is will simply bank for now, then do what it wants the next time it perceives an opportunity? Putin’s word is not worth the air it’s breathed upon.

    All of which would justify Ukraine continuing to fight until it removes every Russian from its land, followed by a rapid re-armament and a drive to develop nuclear weapons. Who could possibly blame them for doing that?

  49. Freeborn John
    March 13, 2022

    The post-conflict settlement should cover Belarus. The poor performance of the Russian military means that NATO should be able to drive a hard bargain over Belarus is return for some cosmetic “off-ramp” concessions in border readjustments in the Donbask.

    We can’t have a Russian vassal-state on the border with NATO-member Poland that has assisted Russia in the invasion of Ukraine and now plans to host Russian nuclear weapons. Both Ukraine and Belarus should be neutral in the manner of Finland or Switzerland. Belarus must revert to non-nuclear status, end its supranational union treaty with Russia and Russia and Belarus must permanently enter into commitment that there will never be a political union between them.

    This won’t solve the Baltics problems which Tony Blair created by handing out NATO membership like bags of sweets. But the Baltic states like Finland are something of a sideshow whereas Belarus is directly on the principle attacks lines toward us from Moscow.

  50. Iain Gill
    March 13, 2022

    Some rock stars are planning to setup a concert, partly to raise money for the needy, but also to give some airtime to some straightforward honesty about the real situation in Ukraine.

    With the basic idea that enough people follow them collectively in Russia that Putin will not be able to censor what they say, so giving information to the ordinary people to help put pressure on the Russian leadership.

    It may not be a conventional approach, but i’d like to think it will help.

    Russia will change when their ordinary people force change, but we need to be careful because thats possibly an even more complicated world.

  51. X-Tory
    March 13, 2022

    Of course Britain should send weapons to Ukraine, as this (i) helps them remain free; (ii) weakens Russia and in particular Putin (who is an enemy of Britain, having waged war on UK soil); and (iii) is an excellent test of the efficacy of our weapons (which have proved to be pretty damn good!). But no Sir John, this has nothing to do with NATO, as NATO exists solely to defend member states (and Ukraine, of course, is not one one of them). For NATO to become offensive in any way would only feed the Russian fear, and would therefore be completely counter-productive!

    Even more importantly, however, Britain is an INDEPENDENT country, and as such should ALWAYS pursue an INDEPENDENT FOREIGN POLICY, based on OUR interests, and ours alone, and we should NOT therefore slavishly “stick with NATO policy” (or the policy of any other foreign organisation, such as – in particular- the EU). If other countries want to follow us, fine, but we should NEVER follow THEM. WE must be in control.

    reply The U.K. and NATO are right to rule out war with Russia. The U.K. will not and should not go to war with Russia without NATO.

  52. X-Tory
    March 13, 2022

    To answer your question directly, the Ukraine war can only end with a messy compromise. Neither Russia nor Ukraine can win outright, and even if Putin is deposed (as I think could very well happen) his successor will not want to be seen as a weak leader who surrenders to the West. So given that neither side can land a knockout blow on the other, a negotiated settlement becomes inevitable. Russia will probably get to keep Crimea and the Donbas, but as these have not been under Ukrainian control for the last 7 years they may see this as an acceptable price for peace. Russia would not dare attack them again, given the bloody nose they’ve recieved this time, so the peace settlement would be durable.

    But while Boris Johnson has been quick to support Ukraine, he has completely betrayed Northern Ireland, and has surrendered to the EU’s attack on our sovereignty and their conquest of our territory. Does Boris the Traitor think that we have forgotten about this? Well we haven’t. And now I read that the useless Remainer Liz Truss has also prostrated herself to the EU and decided NOT to revoke the Protocol, or even activate article 16. Surely no Brexiteer, no patriot and no Unionist in the Tory party could ever vote for this vile woman as a future leader after this capitulation and betrayal of our country? She needs to be told that she has lost the support of the backbenches. Or has the ERG also given up? If they do not make a stand on this issue what is even the point of their existence?

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 13, 2022

      A letter to newspapers in Northern Ireland:

      “Given that Boris Johnson has greatly enhanced his international reputation as a (proxy) war leader by openly supplying Ukraine with excellent anti-tank weapons made in Belfast, and given that he has repeatedly expressed his own strong unionist belief and his love for Northern Ireland, perhaps he could now reward the province by arranging to release it from the foreign rule imposed by the Irish protocol he negotiated?”

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 14, 2022

        The world now sees exactly what tyranny means, and realise that the European Union is the polar opposite.

  53. Denis Cooper
    March 13, 2022

    Apparently the attack at Yavoriv was on the International Center for Peacekeeping & Security, where NATO helped train Ukrainians to fight Russians. I guess that it could also have been a transit point for the weapons supplied through the EU’s European Peace Facility. It’s all about peace, you see, not war.

    1. Mitchel
      March 14, 2022

      Yes and not just weapons but mercenaries,sorry,volunteers,too.

  54. forthurst
    March 13, 2022

    JR refers to “reputable media sources”; there aren’t any. The MSM has had a serious problem since the widespread use of the internet because it has seriously damaged their incomes; no longer can they afford an army of journalists including foreign correspondents so they simply print the propaganda they are fed by governments and NGOs augmented by the professional bores who drivel away every day without any attempt to arm themselves with facts.

    I have just watched Oliver Stones excellent documentary, “Ukraine on Fire” which tells how the situation in Ukraine developed up to 2016 in which the current situation very obviously has its roots .

    “Ukraine on Fire” is available on many media platforms.

  55. Denis Cooper
    March 13, 2022

    I’ve sent my letter to the Maidenhead Advertiser, with appended references.

    “It is a shame that some EU supporters are now trying to blame Brexit for the tragedy in Ukraine.

    Perhaps they could develop a new theory of time, to explain how Brexit in 2020 also triggered Putin’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and his annexation of Crimea in 2014.

    Or they could explore a simpler explanation, starting with Putin’s speech to the Munich Conference on Security Policy in February 2007.

    Putin protested against the expansion of NATO up to Russia’s borders, contrary to assurances given in 1990, as he claimed, a development which he termed a “serious provocation”.

    Nevertheless, despite Putin’s strong opposition, the following April at their Bucharest summit NATO leaders just went ahead and invited Georgia and Ukraine to join the alliance.

    Within days, Russia had publicly declared that it would do everything it could to prevent that ever happening, taking military and other steps.

    One can poke a bear, and when it reacts violently one can blame the bear; but might it not be wiser to recognise the nature of the beast and refrain from unnecessary provocation?”

  56. Denis Cooper
    March 13, 2022

    https://www.cityam.com/northern-ireland-protocol-truss-to-halt-plan-to-trigger-article-16-and-provide-economic-support/

    “Johnson’s government has continually threatened Brussels that it is willing to trigger Article 16 and suspend the protocol if it does not agree to re-write the protocol and end almost all checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

    The foreign secretary now thinks this threat should not be upheld while the UK is trying to co-ordinate its response to the Ukraine war with EU countries.”

    But even if the war was ended there would just be another excuse from this bunch of traitors.

  57. Mark
    March 13, 2022

    I note the newspapers are suggesting we may soon have to ration diesel supplies because we jumped without considering the implications into banning all Russian oil imports before there was any idea how they might be replaced. I did give immediate warning when the topic of import bans first came up that this would be a problem that would be rather more difficult to solve than replacing Russian crude oil supply, and repeated it. Does the government ever think things through?

  58. Iain Gill
    March 13, 2022

    Since I personally know a number of people diagnosed with cancer in England, who have been waiting a long time for treatment I am absolutely furious that our ruling classes have flown in 21 Ukrainians, so far, to receive cancer treatment here. This is virtue signalling beyond belief. When you have paid into the NHS for decades and it fails to deliver cancer care, are we expected to sit here and clap while the rest of the world is given treatment? I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS, THIS IS THE BEGINNINGS OF THE END, THE ORDINARY PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO FALL FOR THE SPIN ON THIS FROM THE MEDIA AND POLITICAL CLASS. Forget 3rd world war, there is going to be civil war here if this absolutely outrageously rubbish way of running the country continues much more.

  59. Paul Cuthbertson
    March 13, 2022

    It will end in a totally different direction from that “reported” by the Globalist Main Stream Media. Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 14, 2022

      But you said that a Russian assault on Ukraine was NOT coming, Paul?

  60. Rhoddas
    March 14, 2022

    Putin’s Russia will never ever be trusted by the West again.

    Maybe some DMZ’s are required in Ukraine like NKorea/SKorea as part of a negotiated settlement as a Phase 1?

    How does this play out for China is a Phase 2… ditto the Gulf states and India/Pakistan…. IF China decides to fund/bailout Russia and/or send weapons, then it’s looking like a full cleave of autocracies vs democracies, massive Chinese sanctions, inflation & recession (at best) with supply chain chaos. And Russia could possibly become part of the Chinese empire….purchased for a Yuan song!

  61. Pauline Baxter
    March 14, 2022

    I take issue with your final points Sir John.
    A large part of Russia is within Europe.
    Putin’s problem is with the expansion of the E.U. not an expansion of Europe!
    Putin’s problems include the expansion of NATO all around him.
    Why is Turkey in NATO?
    Ukraine is not a homogeneous country. It is very mixed in culture and language and has not always been one country.
    While I feel sorry for the people there, who have suffered warfare over and over, I can’t help wondering whether it might be better if the country is divided along more sensible lines.
    The Dnieper River perhaps ??

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 14, 2022

      Almost all the countries of central and eastern Europe are mixed in that way.

      Take peaceful Switzerland, with at least four languages.

  62. Amanda
    March 15, 2022

    Good Morning Sir John, to answer your question

    1. For your Government and MPs (and others) to recognize that Russia has legitimate concerns over security and NATO/EU/US actions in Ukraine. You cannot begin to negotiate peace with a settlement if you do not recognize this. And not to recognize it is an act of aggression in itself.

    2. For your Government and MPs (and others) to recognize that Ukraine was not and is not a peaceful, united democracy. That there has been a civil war there since the US backed coup of 2014, and even before that there were major and divisive issues. And, that Ukraine has some very ‘nasty’ characters in key roles and positions. To back such people with support, money and weapons, is to prolong the nightmare for Ukrainians, it does not help ‘the people’.

    Had the UK taken this stance to start with instead of ‘sabre rattling’ and joining in the NATO/EU/US propaganda war, then it could have acted as an honest broker of a settlement. Instead, not only has the UK Government made the world situation more dangerous, but it has now ensured that the British people will suffer too – alongside many, many other innocent people across the world. And, no, I don’t blame the Russians for this, or indeed Mr Putin.

    I am not too concerned if you publish this or not, my message if for yourself in answer to your question. You seem to have a number of readers already who think along similar line. I have also been talking with family and friends, many of whom have also come to this conclusion. The Covid propaganda war of the last two years, followed by partygate, and the questioning of the lockdown policy, has opened a number of eyes to our own propaganda machine.

  63. Lindsay McDougall
    March 19, 2022

    Throughout history nations have been born, expand, contract and die. The fact that Russia and Ukraine may have been one nation sixty years ago does not mean that they are now. Indeed, if you want to foster nationalist sentiment, one of the best ways to achieve it is to invade.
    My reading of the situation in the Ukraine is that Russia can grab territory in eastern Ukraine or they can have a neutral Ukraine. BUT THEY CAN’T DO BOTH.

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