At War

Posted on by under Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

Just about two hours ago, Ukraine President Zelenskyy said that Russia has carried out missile strikes on Ukraine infrastructure and on Ukrainian border guards with explosions being heard in many cities across the country.

In a speech at 5:50 a.m. Russian time, Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin announced …

“I have taken the decision to carry out a special military operation. Its goal will be to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime. For this we will aim for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as taking to court those who carried out multiple bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation. Our plans do not include occupying Ukrainian territory.”

Ukrainian officials say Russian troops have landed in Odessa while others are crossing the border into Kharkiv. The Ukrainian interior ministry made the announcement on Telegram, adding that rocket attacks are targeting Ukrainian fighter jets at an airport outside Kyiv. Ukraine’s state emergency service says attacks have been launched against ten Ukrainian regions, primarily in the east and south of the country.

I have no more words … only tears for the lives that will be lost, for the future of the world.

142 thoughts on “At War”

    • Thanks for stopping by! My emotional response is that I wish we were sending troops to support the Ukrainians. However, that would not be the smartest thing we could do at the moment, for it would stand a good chance of leading to the use of nuclear weapons, which Putin has already alluded to. I think our response must be more measured, but I do hear you and yes, the people of Ukraine need help and NOW! It’s a very tough call and Western leaders are walking a tightrope.

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  2. I heard that Putin’s popularity in Russia has been waning since 2018. Nothing like a good, sabre-rattling war to get those polls soaring again. Ukraine is suffering because of one man’s ego and determination to hang on to power. Sadly the repercussions will extend way past Ukraine or even Russia itself. If Russia is allowed to get away with invading another country on such a flimsy excuse, then the world is sending a message to all rising powers that this is okay. Which country then will be the next to go?
    I’m a pacifist to the core so I don’t want to see armed conflict, but I do want to see the world forget about profit for one bloody minute and cut Russia off from all global trade and financial transactions. I fear that’s a step Western countries won’t want to take because…hey, lives are cheap but money talks.

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    • I believe it is true that his support has been waning, though people don’t mention it too often, for one can easily be thrown in jail for disagreeing too loudly. I’m impressed by the protests of the Russian people today against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine … it shows true grit, given that they could well be arrested. Oh yes, every nation will feel the repercussions to a greater or lesser extent. Like you, I am a pacifist, but I also see that we cannot simply stand back and let Putin annex country after country, which I firmly believe is his long-range plan. We’re in for some tough times, but not nearly as tough as the people of Ukraine are enduring as we speak. Sigh.

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      • Yes. 😦 I haven’t dared look at the news yet this morning. I simply can’t imagine what the average Ukrainian family must be feeling now. Nowhere to run and the situation getting worse by the hour. How do you protect your kids? If things get really bad…how will you feed them?
        And the snippet of video I saw of women of all ages learning how to shoot guns and defend themselves…-shudder-

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        • I’ve seen pictures of families seeking shelter in subway stations and elsewhere, mothers trying to calm frightened children. And I’ve seen the pictures of shelled homes with huge chunks of wall missing. And then, when I start to complain about something largely irrelevant, I see those images in my mind and realize that even if the bathroom lights aren’t working and even if the cat peed on the floor, I really have no problems. I hear more than 1,700 Russians protesting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine were arrested on Thursday/Friday … at least Russians aren’t taking this lying down! There will be tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees … remember how so many people were dead set against immigrants from the Middle East after the Arab Spring? Will those same people try to deny the Ukrainian refugees? Sigh.

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    • Thank you, Ned! I think many of the Russian people have awakened to Putin’s violence, for I read today that they are protesting en masse against his attack on Ukraine, despite knowing they could very likely be arrested for their protests. Not that it matters to Putin, for he cares not one whit about them. Thanks again!

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  5. Pingback: AT WAR. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  6. Thank you for sharing!!… sad to say it will not accomplish anything but fuel suffering, anger and hate… Putin using lofty words to dignify war, an attempt to create a image… unfortunately for him and others (here in the USA Trump and others) technology is showing the truth and reality and the universe will judge them for what they really are… and there will be no ending as long as mankind chooses the sword over the pen… 🙂

    Until we meet again..
    May your troubles be less
    Your blessings be more
    And nothing but happiness
    Come through your door
    (Irish Saying)

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    • You’re right, my friend … there is nothing good that can come of Russia’s aggressive moves. People will die, buildings and infrastructure will be destroyed, and all for the ego of one ‘man’. Sigh. Thanks for the Irish Saying, Dutch! As always, it made me smile.

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      • Perhaps there will be some good come of it in the manner of uniting people, people like you using today’s technology, and will be able to prevent conflicts in the future, something the U.N. has been unable to do in spite of good intentions… 🙂

        “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ( Mother Teresa)… 🙂

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        • True enough. I was reading this evening that technology will play a role, too, as people are able to see in real-time on the internet the devastation and destruction. Putin won’t be able to whitewash what he is doing. So yes, maybe this will help unite people, though it’s hard to see right now, when our own politicians are so divided, some of them blaming President Biden for what Putin has done! Mother Teresa was definitely a wise, kind woman and one to emulate!

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  8. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Russia had “no plans to occupy the Ukrainian territories” after announcing that a special operation had been launched to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics from “Ukrainian aggression.”
    The operation’s ultimate goal is “to protect the people who have been subjected for eight years to genocide by the Kiev regime,” Putin said in an address on Thursday morning, adding that Moscow would “embark on a demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, and handing over to justice those who committed numerous atrocities against civilians.”
    The Russian president noted, however, that Moscow harbors no far-reaching plans to take over the whole territory of Ukraine.
    “We do not have plans to occupy Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force,” he said. Kiev’s forces have maintained control over swathes of territory claimed by Donetsk and Lugansk.

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      • I gotta admit the reach of Putin’s reactions surprised me as I calculated a quick in n out, making a lot of nazi POWs and escorting as many Russians savely out of the Ukrainian reach. Now it looks like he’s making designs to turn the Ukraine into a landlocked state. The better.

        I’m in South Africa only since like 20 years, before that mostly just as tourist. We’re still citizens of Germany. Both countries have and had no impact on our political stance, as I don’t believe in patriotism. I was a democratic socialist ever since I can remember, so you’ll always find me on the side of the people … and fuk any political constructs/countries. I hate Putin like all the other politicians and world leaders but I see he honestly cares about his people and made Russia a respectable superpower again, after Yeltzin drank all the vodka. Now workers get their wages, pensioners receive their pensions even in the most remote hamlets of Siberia, number of vagrants is lowlow, everybody seems to live a life of purpose.

        And what the Russians made such standouts during history is still true: They don’t talk about their plans, they act, and then go back to sleep. Lately the USA has overdone it again: Maidan coup d’etat, install a nazi regime, poke Russian bear until he wakes from hibernation and is, of course, in a foul mood. 😦

        Actually is Putin – and the Chinese guy – the only one of the great players I can respect. And I’m not the only one as 68% of Germans would vote for him if he was eligible in Germany. Similar numbers in most other EU countries.

        Under Putin you prosper, under the Western politclowns you get the short end of the stick. 😦

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    • Putin justifications for starting a war sound like Hitler’s justification for going into Austria and the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s. Putin is the reincarnation of both Lenin and Stalin. The unfortunate civilians in Ukraine are the pawns and victims of this international act of Barbarism.

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      • Good analogy … they are very similar and equally dishonest ‘justifications’. And like what followed after Hitler invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia, there will be many lives lost pointlessly for the ego of one megalomaniac.

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        • shit … my keyboard was freekin’
          The Ukrainian civilian are victims of the Ukraine regime; the populations of Donetsk and Lugansk are to be protected from Ukrainian shelling and terror by the nazis. Both republics have called for help, Putin reacted.
          Please stop playing dumb by making completely wrong comparisons and assumptions.

          Hitler wanted war back then, like the USA wants it today. The Russians just wanna live and strive peacefully, in secure distance from the NATO minions.

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  9. Russia, or the current government of Russia has taken a step which is historically predictable. In terms of International Relations- Realism Theories (there are many ) this was also predictable. That does make it any better. Putin in style of Czar Nicholas I or Stalin or Lenin or Alexandra I has moved to endeavour to create a series of satellite states west of Russia’s border.
    In terms of conventional warfare Russia can defeat Ukraine. Whether Russia can hold Ukraine as a complaint population is another subject…. USA & UK can tell this govt. all about Iraq. USSR’s veterans can tell the govt. all about Afghanistan.
    Whether Putin and his group can hold the Kremlin is also another question.
    There are always a whole raft of questions when a war starts.

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    • ” Whether Russia can hold Ukraine as a complaint population is another subject”
      No, it’s not a subject at all. Russia has no interest in the Ukraine, it’s a problematic poorhouse with an anti-Russian Population and Putin knows it. He doesn’t want Ukraine even less than then NATO mafia wants to have it.
      “Whether Putin and his group can hold the Kremlin is also another question.”
      Again, no. I guess Putin won’t be willing to do another term at the Kremlin. And then West should be afraid of what comes next! There are more than enough hardliners waiting in the start blocks. So if Putin’s gonna be a candidate for another term it will be to protect the world from nuclear termination.

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        • But they don’t have an interest in the Ukraine as it is right now: A poor, corrupt, mismanaged country, ruled over by stupid nazis and their American overlords. I don’t think the duma wants to bind that brake block onto its leg. Right now they just wanna protect the population of the Donbas republics and Odessa … and, of course, demilitarize and de-nazify the Ukraine and bring all the Maidan criminals to justice.

          Contrary to the USA/NATO mafia the Russian intentions are righteous and I’m rooting for them.

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          • Orca … you can and do say what you wish to me, but please do not be rude to my readers. I removed one of your comments last night that was excessively rude to a reader and I don’t appreciate or tolerate that.

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          • If you are not learning from the past, then young lady that is your problem.

            “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.

            Now I would suggest unless you care to escalate this into a rather heated exchange where I proceed to dismantle your rather unique view of the world, for the rest of the contributors to see, you no longer contact me.
            I am not in a mood for singular and blinkered views, I have witnessed too many of them, from all sides of the political divide.

            This is a warning

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    • Yes, many questions and only time will be able to provide the answers. Unlike one of my readers, I have ZERO respect for Putin, I see him as a power-hungry autocrat, a cruel and evil excuse for a leader. Even the people in his own country are against the Ukraine invasion … knowing they may well be arrested for their dissent, they are still protesting.

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      • Jeff Danziger for years has been portraying him as a brooding czar slouched on a throne. He is a kind of amalgam of some of them.
        By chance I was listening to an audio book ‘Crimea’ by Orlando Figes about the disastrous, hypnotical war between Russia and Britain and France (Over the Ottoman Empire- like the latter two really cared about it).
        The opening chapters revealed the then czar Nicholas I as obsessed with spreading Russian Orthodox Christianity and driving the Ottoman Turks out…of everywhere and taking charge.
        The similarities between his views (and those around him) and Putin (and those around him) are rather similar.
        Russia got humiliated, us and the French just lost a lot of soldiers, needlessly (of course)

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        • Reminds me of that old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Different faces, different players, but still the same ol’ same ol’. It also reminds me of an old Bob Dylan and later Peter, Paul & Mary song, “Where have all the flowers gone?” and that one line in the song … “When will they ever learn?”

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          • They don’t Jill.
            It’s wired into Internal Politics; at least if you subscribe to what is formally called The Realist / Realism schools of thought. There are others and some liberal schools had their day when the USSR was falling apart, but the mistake they made was not to read their history.
            I can give you a bunch of reasons why Russia did this, like the same way I could give you a bunch of reasons why Germany invaded Poland…Reasons don’t make the act right though.

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            • I think, at least in my view, that it is the goal that is important. Sure, there are lots of ‘reasons’, or more aptly excuses, but those reasons all lead to a goal, a goal of domination, of extreme power and wealth. And that is NOT an admirable or noble goal. I guess, then, that it all boils down to the flaws in humans, those flaws that make some believe there is more value in their own egos than in helping everyone. It is, as I see it, a fatal flaw that will play a role in the extinction of the human species. I once thought we could educate people, make them see that individual wealth and power have no value, but today, having seen some of the things I’ve witnessed in the last decade or so, I’ve given up that notion.

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              • It’s a conundrum Jill and agree with you about ‘The Flaw’.
                As mentioned I’ve been reading up a bit on International Relations studies, of late; how nations, groups and suchwhich interact, or the various theories on why and how they act.
                Whenever someone comes up with a worthy idea on how it should be, there’s always a ‘But’ (usually caused by a group of butts) which spoil the idea.
                The only hope is we can by dumb luck survive long enough to evolve our way out of the past 5,000 years’ worth of mistakes.

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                • I have long had a fascination with International Relations and that was the focus of my work on my Ph.D., but unfortunately life interfered before I was able to write my dissertation, and I haven’t kept up since then. But yes, it is fascinating! One thing’s for sure … humans better remove their heads from their posteriors and wake up to the reality of climate change, for we won’t be doing much evolving if we have no water to drink, no air to breathe, and no food to eat. I often have to laugh when I hear somebody refer to a critter as a “dumb animal” … most every species is smarter when it comes to basic survival than humans are!

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    • “has moved to endeavour to create a series of satellite states west of Russia’s border.”

      … by giving up all the former USSR satellites? What a cunning move, how smart. Are we in kindergarten here or what?

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      • I have zero respect for the USA BUT ON THIS OCCASION THEY HAVE NOT CREATED THE SITUATION THAT HAS PUTIN LYING ABOUT NOT INVADING THE UKRAINE.the two areas you mention in Ukraine. are Lorded over by Pro Russian militants. No Country would aallow this inside thi own borders. The PeoplE OF uKRAINE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE AN INDEPENDANT SELF GOVERNING COUNTRY WITHOUT SECTIONS CLAIMING THEY WANT TO BE GOVERNED BY ANOTHER COUNTRY OUTSIDE THEIR BORDERS..
        thE PEOPLEM OF rUSSIA ARE NOT PROSPERING UNDER pUTIN, THEY ARE RECEIVING WHAT IS THEIR DUE WHICH IS HIS JOB. bUT IF YOU HPPEN TO DISAGREE WITH HIS POLICIES ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A REPORTER OR A WRITER YOUR LIFE CAN BECOME VERY DIFFICULT. PUTIN HAS ENRICHED HIMSELF WITH ASSETS LIKE GAS COMPANIES AT THE EXPENSE OF HIS cOUNTRY. a TYPICAL POLITICIAN LIKE SOME OF OURS IN THE UK NOW.

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        • “THEY HAVE NOT CREATED THE SITUATION THAT HAS PUTIN LYING ABOUT NOT INVADING THE UKRAINE.”

          Oh yes, they have. May I direct your attention to the Maidan coup in 2014? The operatives even shot some people dead to blame it on the police. That’s how ruthless they are.

          “the two areas you mention in Ukraine. are Lorded over by Pro Russian militants.”

          Militants or not, doesn’t matter. Those militants are the best people to defend the newly aquired freedom from the oppressive junta in Kiev. And of course they are pro-Russian. Everybody in the Donbas is! People wanna be part of the Federation. And they fought long and hard for their status. For their own republics.

          “SECTIONS CLAIMING THEY WANT TO BE GOVERNED BY ANOTHER COUNTRY”
          They don’t. They are pro-federation, have Russian passports and strive tom become a part of the federation. That doesn’t mean they wanna be governed by Moscow. You must imagine the Russian Federation like a super huuuuge EU, with Moscow standing in for Brussels. Not a 100% fitting analogy but it’s a bit like that.

          “thE PEOPLEM OF rUSSIA ARE NOT PROSPERING UNDER pUTIN, THEY ARE RECEIVING WHAT IS THEIR DUE WHICH IS ”
          … more than enough for most and much more than citizens of many western countries get. And what they didn’t receive under Yeltsin or Gorbachov. If I receive my pension on a regular basis I can strive. Only then I have the freedom to prosper!

          I can’t say much about Putin’s riches … and they are irrelevant. He’s a first rate president, doing his best for the people of Russia and the federation and its friends. That makes him an atypical politician these days as you can’t say the same about Trump, Biden and son and Johnson, Scholz and all the rest of those losers.

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  11. I am at a loss for meaningful words. Is this going to turn into a world war? It could! Is it going to turn into a nuclear war? It might. Is Covid going to disappear? Not a chance. Is c,limate change going to stop changing? Only if there is no more world, or human life.

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      • There was only one way the military build-up could go, it was only a matter of when. But who does Putin think he is kidding, with his lame excuses and his idiotic claims. Oh yeah, he believes all the conservatives/republicans in the world will listen. And they will, because they are stupider than him.

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        • He had other assistance and you had to be in the UK to watch it. This was a section of the UK Left who as an article of faith comparable with Qannon did not believe Russia could do anything bad, or if they did ‘something’ it was understandable because….yadda yadda.
          Some of them were still spinning it over the past few weeks.
          There is a lot of dispute by social and political historians as to whether the Russian invented the phrase ‘Useful Idiots’ or whether it was a response by commentators critical of supporters and defenders of The USSR but in Serbian the phrase is recorded as:
          ‘Korisne Budale’, or Useful Innocents…originating in Tito’s time.
          Oh yeah and there were those in the USA (looking at you Fukuyama) who believed after the fall of the USSR that was it; USA would benevolently rule the world through Capitalism…..The ignorance of History and Humanity’s inclinations to hostility was breath-taking and infuriating.
          We enter the fog, again, unsure where the edge of the cliff is….

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            • It’s not you rawgod. It’s the UK Left, which is a fractious collection of views, many of which do not coalesce into one body of thought.

              My standard explanation to anyone from across the Atlantic was that if a visitor was to meet five socialists in a room and ask them to explain Socialism, the following would happen.
              1. The visitor would have to break up a fist fight between two.
              2. Rearrange the chairs after another stormed out shouting that all the others are traitors and slamming the door.
              3. Having listened to the other two concluded there are at least five different types of socialism.
              4. They would then return to their hotel room, take some pain killers and lie down in a darkened room, waiting for the killer headache to go away.

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              • That is so unfortunate. Socialism is our best hope for humanity, short of getting rid of all government. I take it they cannot even agree on the basics, provide everyone with all the necesdities of life equally, so noone needs to go hungry, or covet the possessions or lifestyles of others.

                At least, that is my understanding of what Socialism can do for this world. But I am a visionary. I see what can be. Reality is a screwed up mess.

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                • That is how it should be rawgod, but if there is one thing a Socialist hates more than a Capitalist / Conservative, it’s another Socialist who has a different idea of ‘getting there’…because that is not The Correct Way.
                  It’s why Labour (Socialist) Party governments in the UK are infrequent events and riven by bitter feuds over doctrine more than personal gain.
                  (I admit, I’m as bad as the rest of The UK Left)

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                  • Lol. You live in a hellish situation. I have lived under 3 SOCIALIST (NDP) provincial governments. They were not alike, but at least they all tried to move those provinces towards a more equitable social and ecomomic situation. But most Canadians suffer from the same disease as do a lot of Americans, Socialism and Communism are EVIL WORDS. I’m not sure very many people even understand what Socialism can do for them, because they hate it before tney can learn about it. Federally the NDP has never been elected power, though since the mid-60s they have influenced many things that Canadians take for granted, including unemployment insurance and free public healthcare, things tney cannot do without.

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                    • Our Labour Party elected a Left-Wing leader Jeremy Corbyn and it was a disaster. I shall explain….
                      This may sound cynical but European folk tend to have a rather 1,000 year hardened view of the world.
                      The primary duty of any UK Labour Party is to get into government by reducing the the credibility of the Conservative Party. By all means and ways.
                      Corbyn and his movement blundered and stumbled with clumsy moves like they were a group of activists in a wind swept town hall at night, passing resolutions no ordinary folk cared about.
                      They gave the Right-Wing press all it needed. Blamed everyone else with a MAGA like intensity and never read the public mood. This was against the gift of a Conservative party in disarray. Corbyn by his lukewarm support of Europe also gifted the leaving EU Brexit movement an extra credit.
                      Result, next election The Conservative have an 80+ parliamentary majority and Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. With a Labour Movement, bitterly divided.
                      From my own even farther left-wing stance Corbyn and his group betrayed the ordinary people of the UK by being Useful Idiots to the Conservatives…..
                      (You don’t get a more vitriolic debate in the UK than between Left-Wingers who do not agree. )

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                    • That is a horribly sad story. Your Labour Party needs a shake, or else a new SOCIALIST Party!
                      Meanwhil, bad leaders afe almost always good for the other part, except in Alberta right now, ehere Conservative voters outnumber Socialist boters 3-1, (at least!

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                    • Apparently Corbyn was going to form a new party Peace and Justice, or something equally vague and hopelessly inadequate to the harsh world of UK politics.
                      In the UK breakaway parties sometimes have their moment in the sun, but tend to lose direction and get squeezed out by The Big Two.
                      A form of Proportional Representation would be a good solution, even at the risk of allow extremist right-wingers a seat or two in Parliament.

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                    • 😃… Thank you rawgod. But as I have told other folk, not me. Spend too much time in my kind of Left and an authoritarian streak settles in….
                      Which, contrarywise I am pleased to say I realise is NOT the way to do things. My place in on WP.
                      (Ask Jill, she’ll tell you allllll about some of my more questionable views on ‘keeping Society safe for the General Good of All’)
                      Weirdly yours,
                      Roger

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                    • I welcome you to try, but I’ve known Roger for a long time and I don’t think you’ll get far. He’s a good man and so are you. Good people don’t get far in the political world of today either in the U.S. or the UK or probably Canada either.

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                    • Nope, they don’t, and that is one of the biggest problems with politics, and why I will never partake of it again. Where there is only room for grifters and grafters there is no room for honest folk.

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                    • Thanks guys, I appreciate this…BUT…..Pull up a seat when you read this, or stop driving or whatever. Here’s the kicker. Full disclosure time. Copies to you both….
                      Y’know that guy Putin? Short fellow, born in the early 1950s, brooding, suspicious type, chip on his shoulder, calculating sometimes but prone to ‘go off on one’, authoritarian streak a mile wide. Government trained with a ‘do as your told’ sentiment.
                      Errr… (hand raised)…. that’s be me too…on the domestic front. International politics…..tread carefully.
                      By good happenstance I never took up the chance to go into politics. Family, writing, social media and other stuff; that’s where I belong

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                    • No problem, Roger. It’s just that government should never have to rely on politics to get the job done. It is why I call it one of the worst-ever inventions of man, along with god, gold, and guns. (Jill gets credit for that last one! )

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                    • We have ourselves, and if we cannot rely on ourselves, yes, the answers look bleak. The thing is, the experts tell us if we do not look at the past, we are bound to repeat the future. I don’t believe that. Looking at the past puts us in a box that defines the future. We need to forget about the past, and create the future we want. Not easy, no. Lots of roadblocks, yes. But those roadblocks have ways sround them we have not tried yet. The future is wide open if we want it to be. And there lies the rub. Not enough people have the will to want to change the world. They have been taught to fear the future, while working to save a glorified past that never existed in the first place. The real past is a hell-hole of human suffereing. Why would any sane person want to save that?
                      I lay claim to the label “visionary.” I can envision a much greater future. But when I try to suggest it, express it, I am shot down even by friends who are so used to being trumpled down they can no longer stand up on their own two feet. Their will is gone. And there is nothing I can do to help them get their will back.
                      But I refuse to stop having visions. They sustain me in times of weakness. They excite me in times of strength. I cannot save the world, no, but I am going to keep on trying to save me. And that is a victory towards a better future…

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                    • You should have your visions rawgod and you should never give up on them, because if you influence two, they can influence another two, each and you get a growing movement. I have no problem with that, for there are many aspects now no longer accepted and even made illegal, which centuries ago were accepted as part of Life.
                      And maybe, just maybe, in these small steps which you folk strive for will change the world at some stage in the far down future.
                      In the meantime there’s folk like me, steeped in centuries of history who expect things have ‘not changed that much’ and we keep alert to the echoes of the Past, because its stains will come seeping back.
                      Maybe we are there for a purpose. Maybe we are the half-way house, getting in the way of those who who drag us all down, while you folk keep striving on.
                      I don’t know if that is the case or not, but I have no argument with visionaries who strive for a better future.
                      The English translation of the Chinese proverb is “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
                      You keep on keeping on. I’ll be here in the sludge, wishing you well.

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                    • Thanks guys, I appreciate this…BUT…..Pull up a seat when you read this, or stop driving or whatever. Here’s the kicker. Full disclosure time. Copies to you both….
                      Y’know that guy Putin? Short fellow, born in the early 1950s, brooding, suspicious type, chip on his shoulder, calculating sometimes but prone to ‘go off on one’, authoritarian streak a mile wide. Government trained with a ‘do as your told’ sentiment.
                      Errr… (hand raised)…. that’s be me too…on the domestic front. International politics…..tread carefully.
                      By good happenstance I never took up the chance to go into politics. Family, writing, social media and other stuff; that’s where I belong

                      Liked by 1 person

          • “This was a section of the UK Left who as an article of faith comparable with Qannon did not believe Russia could do anything bad”

            You’re not part of the left I assume. So what are you doing on the internet other than trolling for the USA hegemony of super rich capitalists? This reeks so bad.

            /me can’ take it anymore and shows herself out …

            ktxbai

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            • Oh I am Left, so far left as to give some fellow Left-wingers nightmares. Let’s just say I have a Stalin outlook….Winning is what counts.
              The deluded knee-jerk anti-american section of the UK Left steeped in their small-hall meeting mentality, have betrayed the ordinary people of the UK by their incompetency. They have failed to gain government, and that is what counts. By this lack of imagination and focus they are incipient traitors to the Left-Wing cause.
              The minimisation of the Conservative Party, the return to state ownership of all Utilities and transport infrastructures and the suppression of all hate groups have been lost, thanks to their blinkered foolishness.
              This is currently a world of International Relations Realism and Realpolitik.
              The previous Labour Leadership did not have a clue; they were the best gift The Conservatives could ever have had.
              ‘Not part of the left’…..Folk are always making that mistake about me, they think The Left is some sort of cosy place full of well-meaning folk.
              Wrong. I repeat…..Winning Government is what counts.

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              • “Winning Government is what counts.”

                Even if it means you’re not the same awesome person you were when you started out? When you end up a compromised, washed-out career politician of the sort we all hate so much?

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                • That is the risk folk face daily
                  There has not been a perfect politician, nor will there ever be.
                  The best you can hope for is one who retires with dignity and lets someone else take over, who has a reasonable idea of carrying on.
                  Harsh world isn’t it?
                  If you live in a nation with a post WWII stable albeit flawed democracy you can consider yourself fortunate.
                  Not so lucky for many .

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    • “Is this going to turn into a world war?”
      Depends on America/NATO. If they stop producing empty speech bubbles and agree to earnest negotiations, I see no reason for a war.

      “It could!”
      Let’s hope Biden isn’t a warhead like Hilary. And let’s hope the Americans love their children, too.

      “Is it going to turn into a nuclear war? It might.”
      Is Washington really THAT desperate?

      “Is Covid going to disappear?”
      Good as gone already. Countries all over the world are losening the emergency rules. BA.1 and BA.2 are weak and no reason to stay alert.

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        • It amazes me that people think it is slowing down when we are consistently averaging 2,000+ deaths each day in the U.S.! And from what I’ve read, this new BA.2 sub-variant may prove to be even more lethal than the original Omicron. People are wearing their rose-coloured glasses, sticking their fingers in their ears and singing “La la la la … I can’t hear you” at the top of their voices.

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          • The latest results from our Health Services is that the incidence of Omiron BA-2 (or something like that) is on the rise, and it is deadlier than Omicrom ever was. But I hear “la-la-las” everywhere I go too. The lying piece of filth Jason Kenney says Covid is over, and they hear what they want to hear. Kenney has been lying for 3 years now, becoming a bigger and bigger bully, but they don’t care. Where his leadership review was going to end in defeat, suddenly his stupid conservatives love him again. He is taking credit for the upswing in the economy, which he lucked into. He is riding the wave of the oil price wave, but no one cares — YET — that we will soon be paying over $2.00 a LITRE (NOT A GALLON) to drive our cars, and most of that is tax money that ends up in the pockets of him and his rich cronies.

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            • Some people are capable of hearing only what they want to hear. I call it stupidity. And when they die because they weren’t smart enough to listen to the scientists and the doctors, I will call it karma. Well shoot … I was hoping that Kenney was on his way out the door! He reminds me so much of Trump … two bloomin’ idiots in a pod! Send them both to Russia … see how they like that!

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  13. “This is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill on November 10th in 1942. The echo of these long ago spoken words is heard today.

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