This cartoon was not in The Washington Post - I added the Kevin Siers cartoon from The Charolette Observer. It is one of so many political cartoons appearing recently that have captured the reality of this Putin -created war.
The training exercises are the largest Russia has ever conducted in Belarus. They included operations to detect ambush sites for improvised explosive devices and small group tactics, according to Russia’s Tass news agency, in apparent preparation for urban battles and unconventional warfare against militias and volunteers.
Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has massed more than 100,000 troops — Kyiv has put the number as high as 140,000 — near the borders of its smaller neighbor.
Moscow’s recent military maneuverings are nudging some countries that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers part of Russia’s sphere of influence further toward the West. Lithuania’s president on Wednesday said Vilnius would request that Washington station troops in the Baltic country permanently to help boost security. [The fact is that little Vladimir’s tortured and misguided view of history and the people of Ukraine has left him totally incompetent to judge either the people of Ukraine or their reactions to his barbarity – the consequences of his actions. His behavior has done more than any Ukrainian President has been able to do in united the people of Ukraine – against Russian aggression. RAM]
U.S. and European officials are continuing to push for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, though efforts such as French President Emmanuel Macron’s trips to Moscow and Kyiv this week have produced no breakthrough.
Political advisers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will meet Thursday in Berlin for “Normandy format” talks that aim to implement the Minsk agreements, signed after Moscow seized Crimea. The talks have been pushed by Berlin as a way out of the current crisis.
But Moscow and Kyiv are deeply divided on how to proceed. “There are differences of opinion,” said German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner. “In essence, it will be a question of further reducing them.”
Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, reportedly told German media that Berlin and Paris should be “more assertive” in urging Kyiv to accept and implement the terms of the peace accords. [Russia’s ambassador, just like Putin and the Kremlin spin, spin, spin the Minsk “agreements” are terrible and Moscow’s reading thereof is self-serving and as inaccurate as Russia’s lack of compliance to what was agree is blatant. RAM]
Kyiv’s political leadership has argued that the deal, which is focused on the breakaway parts of eastern Ukraine, should be renegotiated. It is widely regarded by Ukrainians as favorable to Moscow-backed separatists, and Ukrainian officials have said it would trigger internal unrest if fully implemented. [It is a great step forward that reporters like these are no reporting from Ukraine and not only from Moscow and Washington about Ukraine but – good grief – still adhering to the Russian propaganda of “Moscow-backed separatists? Shameful. Will any mainstream media ever report facts like - - early on when two Russian – not Russian-backed separatists but Russian -- soldiers were captured in Donbas they admitted they were shocked they had been firing at Ukrainians saying that they were told they would be fighting Americans. Hello world. Ukraine is the current military battlefield but Putin’s war is against the United States, NATO, and the geopolitical structures that have been established for international stability. RAM.]
Putin said in a statement Thursday that the world is becoming “more and more turbulent and tense.” [And here it might have been noted that the little fellow happens to be responsible for the situation – and he is responsible for the lives that have been and may soon be lost due to his unilateral war. RAM]
The situation “requires additional persistent efforts to ensure strategic stability and counteract emerging threats and challenges, first of all, by seeking comprehensive, legally enforceable security guarantees for our country from the United States and its NATO allies,” he said. [What a fraud! RAM]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the next few days are “probably the most dangerous moment.”
He said that “the combination of sanctions and military resolve plus diplomacy is what is in order” in what he described as “the biggest security crisis Europe has faced for decades.”
Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the British leader said he does not think Putin has decided whether to attack Ukraine but that an invasion is still possible in the near future.
“Our intelligence, I’m afraid to say, remains grim,” Johnson said. “We’re seeing the massing of huge numbers of tactical battalion groups on the borders of Ukraine, 70 or more.” Johnson is also scheduled to head to Warsaw on Thursday for meetings with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda.
Stoltenberg agreed that Europe faces a “dangerous moment” for its security. “The number of Russian forces is going up,” he said. “The warning time for a possible attack is going down.” .
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned Russia on Thursday that invading the Ukraine would be “disastrous,” as she urged Russia to pursue a path of diplomacy. “Fundamentally, a war in Ukraine would be disastrous for the Russian and Ukrainian people, and for European security. And, together, NATO has made it clear that any incursion into Ukraine would have massive consequences and carry severe costs,” she said. [A critical problem here is the West’s perception of this war. There is little to no evidence the United States or Europe grasp the fact that this war is against them (us) – Ukraine is but the primary current target. Whether Russian tanks roll into Ukraine now or not, Putin’s ultimate objective doesn’t change, only tactics and timing. It is a mistake to talk in terms of Putin not havign made up his mind – hello! It is just a matter of tactics and timing, his mind is set. His focus and intention is not in doubt. If he does not increase his on-going war against Ukraine with further invasion, incursion or shellings at this moment it would be a catestophic mistake for Washington and the West to declares some sort of victory and relax. All of the deterrance must stay in place (and actually increase). Putin should be punished for what he has already done. Anything else would be a failure by Washignton and the West. RAM]
Truss was speaking from Moscow, where she was meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. She urged Russia to abandon “Cold War rhetoric” and said the West cannot “ignore the buildup of over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and the attempts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.” But, she said, “there is an alternative route, a diplomatic route that avoids conflict and bloodshed.”
Lavrov said he was “frankly disappointed” in his conversation with Truss, complaining that Britain failed to listen to Russia’s concerns. [Lavrov and Putin constantly complain that nobody listens to their concerns – wrong. Everyone has heard and reviewed their outrageous concerns and flat out rejected them. That posture must continue. They can wallow in their discontent but their tears are nothing more than propaganda. RAM]
Western nations are stepping up their military presence in the region even as they pursue a diplomatic solution. A grim U.S. military and intelligence assessment reported Saturday that a war could cause Ukraine’s government to collapse within days, kill or wound up to 50,000 civilians and displace up to 5 million people. [Again (a) let us not think Putin’s not rolling tanks into Ukraine now would solve anything in the long term. His only adjustment would have to do with timing and tactics unless the West shuts him down! (b) Stop and digest the paragraph above - - would “kill or wound up to 50,000 civilians” – what is the definition of a war crime? RAM]
London, which is playing an outsize role in trying to resolve the crisis, has placed 1,000 troops on standby in the event that a renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine triggers a humanitarian and refugee crisis. [“in the event” – further invasion - equals lives lost, families destroyed and that is a humanitarian crisis. RAM]
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said during a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine will receive some Stinger antiaircraft missile launchers “in the near future.” The man-portable launchers are intended to bolster Ukraine’s ability to shoot down helicopters and low-flying aircraft.
The United States is also moving some troops from Germany to Romania to support NATO’s eastern flank. A Stryker squadron departed Germany on Wednesday and will arrive in several days, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
The Biden administration is resisting comparisons to Afghanistan, where U.S. troops last year helped evacuate more than 100,000 people in the chaos after the fall of Kabul. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that the United States, which is advising American citizens to leave Ukraine, “does not typically do mass evacuations.”
“The situation in Afghanistan was unique for many reasons, including that it was the end of a 20-year war. We were bringing a war to an end; we were not trying to prevent a war, as we are certainly in this case.”
The Kremlin is demanding a sweeping rewrite of the post-Cold War European security order, including a permanent ban on Ukraine joining NATO and the removal of the bloc’s forces from Eastern Europe. Washington and its allies have ruled out ending NATO’s “open door” policy, though they have offered to negotiate on issues Moscow deems of “secondary” importance.
“What we need to see is real diplomacy, not coercive diplomacy,” Britain’s Johnson said in a statement Thursday. “As an alliance we must draw lines in the snow and be clear there are principles upon which we will not compromise. That includes the security of every NATO ally and the right of every European democracy to aspire to NATO membership.” [Yes, yes, of course every NATO member gets protection and defense but are any of these spokespeople noticing how emphasis on defending NATO countries leaves obvious the fact that none are talking about the defense of Ukraine – Putin certainly notices. I am not talking defense in the sense of direct military involvement but despite significant support we – the United States and NATO members have yet come close to providing Ukraine the weapons and systems it needs to fight Russia for its own interests and ours. If Ukraine is invaded further and lost the blame will rest on what overall has been feckless Western support. RAM]
For Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the eight-year battle with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east, war is not a looming geopolitical threat. [“Russian-backed separatists” – outrageous by-in to Russian propaganda. RAM] It’s a daily grind. “They try to hit us with grenade launchers, shelling, small-arms fire,” said Maxim, a 26-year-old soldier on the front lines in a former industrial zone in Avdiivka. “It isn’t easy conditions, but it’s what we signed up for,” he told The Washington Post, declining to give his last name to protect his family’s privacy.
Dixon reported from Moscow and Pannett from Sydney. Steve Hendrix in Avdiivka, Ukraine, Loveday Morris in Berlin, Karla Adam in London and David L. Stern in Kyiv contributed to this report.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The view from a Ukrainian coast guard boat isn’t pretty | Trudy Rubin
As Russia conducts warship “exercises” in
the Black Sea and harasses Ukrainian shipping in the Sea of Azov, the world
wonders if this is a prelude to a naval attack.
