Ukraine what now

Now, today it has been announced that Germany will allow its Leopard tanks owned by NATO countries to be exported to Ukraine and in addition will supply a dozen or so of its own. The UK has promised 14 tanks and possibly the USA will send some Abraham tanks. The stated assumption is that Ukraine will, with the assistance of these tanks, take back land that Russian forces have occupied and push them back to the border including retaking Crimea.

In order to consider the future we must also consider the past. When the Soviet Union broke up agreements to maintain peace were soon made between the ‘West’ (meaning the behest of the USA) and the emerging democracy of Russia. One agreement was that nuclear weapons based in the old Soviet of Ukraine would be removed and in exchange NATO would not advance through the new free nations of the Balkans and Ukraine. Over the years this agreement has been broken by the West as they steadily approved NATO membership of the old Soviet nations and advanced ever closer to the borders with Russia. Behind NATO followed the EU. This is all an obvious threat to Russia’s security. With new governments in Ukraine including a coup accompanied by overtures towards the West when previously it had very close ties with Russia, Putin could see the threat closing in on Russia as Ukraine had the great sea ports of the Black Sea including Crimea. He expressed his alarm eventually turning to threats that were ignored and was basically pushed into annexing Crimea and finally invading Ukraine. I suggest this was a deliberate plan of the West.

We must now throw in a few facts, most of which are not disputed when even a sliver of honesty is about. Ukraine is one of the world’s most corrupt countries not only government but also in business, it’s endemic and Zelenski is not immune making it fertile ground for capitalism. Next, the people of eastern Ukraine are largely of Russian origin and a happy mix of Russian/Ukrainian and have gone about their lives in a spirit of neighbourliness with those over the border. Indeed movement across the border for trading, family, friendships were the norm. Ukraine has never been one big nation but made up of several ethnic groups, the ones to the east being, as I said, Russian and a majority were opposed to the Ukrainian government moving closer to the West, NATO and the EU. They decided to secede and form their own regional state which was opposed by the government Kiev and eventually shelled by the army. Russia assisted secessionists which given their closeness in ethnicity is understandable but still held back from actually going over the border and absorbing Donbass and Donetsk into the Russian Federation as requested by the majority of the people.

The West seeing a perceived opportunity to weaken Russia (Capitalism requires weak subservient states) maybe as Russia had a bad pandemic, agitated the situation, building up Zelenski while goading Putin until he had virtually no choice but to move into the Eastern region and war soon followed as predictable as a sunrise.

So where are we now? We have over a quarter of a million people dead which probably means a million injured, countless cities and towns destroyed, 3 million Ukrainians living in exile, agriculture severely curtailed meaning hunger for many in the developing world and rising prices elsewhere. The West has supplied vast monetary sums to the corrupt government and a steadily increasing supply of weapons and ammunition. Not only this but the destructive fire power supplied has also been escalating with tanks just being the latest example. It can easily be argued that the West is also testing weapons with the lives of Ukrainians as neither Russia could ‘win’ and take over the entire Ukraine nor can Ukraine ‘win’ against the might of Russia. With every consignment sent the risk of open warfare between the West and Russia rises with all the imagined horrors that could mean. That we haven’t as yet arrived at that terrible confrontation is as much down to Putin’s self control as it is to luck.

Red Poppy Remembrance Scam

 Here we go again ‘wear your poppy with pride, remember, lest we forget’ and other such jingoistic entreaties. Out trot the masses to chuck a few coins in a tin, pin on the poppy replica and walk away thinking ‘I’ve done my bit’ when actually they are just another sheep running with the flock. The Remembrance Sunday do in London will be carried out with all solemnity and pageantry choreographed to perfection as it is every year and few will notice that it represents in microcosm the conducts of the wars they pretend to remember. The massed ranks of military personnel, past and present (& don’t miss the Chelsea Pensioners,”Arh bless ’em” brought in for a bit of colour and to tug at the patriotic heartstrings) who will stand for hours, perform their attentions and marching on cue whether they are freezing cold or soaking wet before finally getting get a mug of hot tea and making their journey back in the following hours. Meanwhile the royals, the politicians, the military top brass will arrive just in time to perform their wreath laying with sad solemn faces before walking stiffly away to their clubs, offices, pubs, for a double Scotch and a warm up to discuss the Sunday papers or, in the case of the royals to wave briefly at the adoring crowds from a balcony at Buckingham Palace.

So it is with all wars, rich men sending young men out to die protecting their wealth.

If we’re going to remember let us remember what we know from history, not the myth of our lads going bravely over the top for king and country but that the choice they had was go over when the whistle blew to take a chance on survival or the certainty that if they didn’t obey their own officers would shoot them there and then or have them taken away for a perfunctory court martial and shot at dawn by their mates who, if they didn’t, would be shot themselves. I would argue the really brave ones were those said they will not kill, the conscientious objectors, who suffered terribly for their stand. Let us recall too that the UK, France and the USA following the end of WW1 stole the resources of Germany, the iron, steel and coal leaving the German people destitute and starving that soon paved the way for the rise of Hitler, Nazism and WW2.

Coming more up to date let us remember the war against Iraq to seize back control of the oil fields to feed the greed of the richest in the West. Let us remember the war in Afghanistan yet another war for greed and a natural gas pipeline running from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and so bypassing Russia.  Can’t have a pipeline that the Taliban would be likely to blow up!

Let us also be aware that we are one of the evil nations of the World that supply weapons for others to kill millions just for the rich man’s profit.

Whenever there is a war there is no problem finding Billions of Pounds to fight it, there is no problem finding Billions to prepare for the next war, because there always is one, war is profitable, so there should be no problem in finding the money to care for those who are damaged in fighting those wars. The only problem is that the rich men, the faceless corporations who benefit, want the people to fight for them, to die for them on the cheap.

I remember but I don’t wear that damned poppy.

Amazement!

You would think by my time of life it would take a lot to surprise me and it does but I am genuinely shocked how blind to truth many of you are out there.

The government is spending at least £50 Million on WW1 remembrance events not to mention local costs and of course various royals trundled around to make fine speeches prepared for them to deliver in praise of millions of soldiers sailors and airmen who died in those terrible four years. Not one of those men is still alive so why is this enormous energy being spent on publicity, media connivance and money that would be better spent on feeding our hungry who are forced into Food Banks?

So what is going on? Well let’s start with what it’s not, just briefly. If it was about remembering the dead, then we should be reminded of the terrified men ordered over the top knowing the insanity of the orders and that  they would be facing machine gun crossfire resulting in either death or if ‘lucky’ serious injury resulting in being sent back to England. Knowing too that too question the madness or to refuse the order even if suffering from what we now know to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would mean being shot on the spot by their own officers. We should be reminded also of the incredible bravery of conscientious objectors who through religious or moral reasons refused to fight and were also shot by firing squad or served long terms in prison with the worst of conditions. We should also be reminded that some CO’s died working in coal mines and also in particular, those who joined the Friends Ambulance Brigade (mostly Quakers) who served on the front lines collecting the injured under intense fire very many of whom were themselves killed. It’s not either, about learning the lessons of history because clearly we haven’t, repeating the same mistakes over and over again, in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Egypt, Falklands, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya …….

So what is it about? It’s about conditioning your minds, mild brain washing if you like, into nationalism, patriotism and an acceptance of waging war yet again if required. It’s about the royals and senior figures strutting the stage of history, making themselves look good bedecked in medals and rank that they have not earned but been given by their peers. It’s about politicians who have never been in the thick end of war spouting about the bravery of others long since dead about who’s lives they know nothing and care less. It’s about linking the past to the present and glorifying our vast war machine and gaining your acceptance for the massive expenditure that you have to pay for. When they spend £200 Billion on nuclear weapons that they can never use you will hardly murmur, or tens of Billions on aircraft carriers which by their very nature mean they are preparing for wars far away already, you won’t bat an eyelid. When hundreds of our soldiers die in Iraq or elsewhere and thousands lose limbs for the City of London you raise money for artificial limbs but you don’t ask why, you don’t say stop. Two million people marched before the Iraq war to say NO and they fear that next time there may be 10 million, 20 million, marching and demanding an end to war and the capitalist war mongers and arms salesmen will not add to their fortunes if we say no more. Capitalism not just thrives on war it depends on war. Fear of war allows acceptance of expenditure on the military and remembrance keeps that bit of fear in the mind, linking the past to the now.

 

Finally, they will not be remembering or reminding us of the mutinies and the strikes in the military towards the end of the 1914-18 war nor will they point out how many were shot and crushed as the uprising took hold and were put down by the government. So when you see ceremonies, hear some politician praise those poor sods in the mud with the stench of death all about, or see heroic films just ask yourself what is behind it? What thoughts are they trying to put into your mind? 

 

Remembrance & Imagining

The hype over the 1st World War really gets under way today being the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the slaughter. We are urged to imagine all kinds of things but let’s imagine something else, let’s imagine all those men, on all sides, were properly informed. Let’s imagine they knew it was all about the vanity and power grabbing of a few royals and aristocrats along with wealthy bankers. Let’s imagine all those millions said NO we will not fight!

War will cease when men (& now women) refuse to fight. Let’s imagine that.

Can You Help Me Here Mr Cameron?

OK, let me get this straight Mr Cameron as I really want to understand.

Are you saying that Assad who is winning his civil war deliberately gassed some of his own people to provoke the US and it’s lapdog, us, into dropping bombs on Syria that will kill even more people and possibly Assad himself and his family?

I really want to get this right so help me to grasp the thinking will you Dave? So we drop bombs on Syria until the opposition wins, is that it Dave? The opposition though are mainly made up of Islamic Fundamentalists who hate us, right? So is the hope that because we helped get them into power they will turn all sort of lovely and friendly and give us lots of oil at a knock down price?

By the way, I know being gassed must be a horrible way to die but can you explain to me why it’s worse than having your intestines ripped away or your legs blown off by a shell and dying slowly from that? I must admit I’m still struggling a bit with the theory Dave but I’m sure you know best; or do you?

Very Strange

A huge row has erupted today over a YouTube video that appears to show four US Marines urinating on the bodies of several dead Afghanis or Taliban. An investigation has been instigated and threats of prosecutions and even imprisonment if this video is genuine and leads to the identification of those involved.

Now, any decent person would find this act utterly appalling and disgusting but that said it is hardly surprising and in some respects understandable. In order to fight effectively soldiers must be trained and encouraged to ‘de-humanise’ their enemy, to think of them as less than animals, so with such a mindset pissing on their dead bodies wouldn’t seem, to the soldiers, as the abhorrent act that it would and does to us.

What is strange though to my mind is, that it is ordered, approved and applauded for the military to riddle the enemy with bullets, to throw grenades at him and blow his body into little pieces or to drop bombs on a village killing or maiming the innocent as well as the enemy and ultimately to drop a nuclear device over a city and kill millions.

Let’s stop the killing first and then there’ll be no bodies to urinate on.

Remembrance Day

Yes it’s perhaps right and proper that we set aside a specific day to remember the dead in past and present wars. The trouble is that the reasons that they died are carefully put to one side, artfully concealed from scrutiny by the mass of the population. History, sadly very limited now in our education system, is, in any case, framed and taught by the victors.

All wars have at their root cause, greed. Greed by those have the most wanting to protect that which they have and more likely wanting more. It is not though, those with the wealth and the power who fight and die, it is those over whom they excercise that power. With guile they manipulate information and even, as we have seen in recent times, give false information to engender fear, outrage and an acceptance of war and the media, being a part of this covert system, willing participants in the deception.

On remembrance day thousands will bow their heads and pay homage to the fallen, in Wootton Bassett the funeral prossession of the next funeral of yet another dead young man,  will pause for flowers and the flags of old soldiers will be lowered. The events will be broadcast but little if any mention will be given of the hundreds maimed whose lives will never be the same. For every soldier killed there will be five times as many at least severely injured. Even as I write the rehabilitation centre Hedley Court is expanding to cope with the increasing numbers of double and treble amputees. In Afghanistan alone since 2006 – Jan this year 7000 civilians killed and how many severely injured? Who will hold a ceremony for them? Who here will remember them even though we did the killing?

Trident Replacement

This new government is quite obviously incapable of thinking things through as can be seen by the Child Benefit debacle but they have excelled themselves on Trident.

Liam Fox has just announced that they will be replacing the Trident nuclear missile system at a cost of £20bn. Yes £20bn at a time when we are told there are huge cutbacks in social services to be made. We all know as well that a government estimate for cost usually doubles particularly when it comes to defence spending.

Even the most fevered mind would be hard put to come up with a scenario in which a British Prime Minister would actually give the order to destroy 10’s of millions of people. As for being an independent system everyone knows that it depends entirely on the USA for the missiles and for the guidance system that can be switched off at any time. Even the regular refurbishment of the nuclear warhead carried out at Aldermaston is done by an American owned company.

Apart from France no other mainland European country has these weapons; are they all shaking in their boots because they haven’t got some? I suggest not, they are spending their £20bn plus on better lives for their citizens.

Finally this decision  is nothing more than encouragement to countries, like Iran, to develop their own nuclear capability on the grounds that if Britain says that they are essential for it’s defence then it must also be essential for theirs. There was an acronym for this idea during the cold war; MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. The madness goes on.

Terrorist Threat Heightened

Let’s see now, we were told that it was necessary to invade Afghanistan in order to negate terrorism threats here in the UK.

Hundreds of our military have been killed, many hundreds more have had arms, legs, genitals blown off, thousands of Afghanis killed and maimed and the financial costs run into £billions. The result of all this terrible waste? A higher level of threat of a Mumbai type attack on the streets of London and other cities.

Money to burn in UK

The financial cost to the UK of the Iraq & Afghanistan invasions have now passed £20 billion. That figure does not include the wages of the troops and neither does it include the ongoing cost of caring for the wounded who must now be in their thousands although detailed figures are not released.

We are of course, still in Afghanistan with troops numbering over 10,000 and so the cost is ever increasing and not just the financial cost with the numbers of the military killed now reaching 300 wasted young lives.

As has been said by many people, not just me, this escapade cannot be won so if you find yourself in a hole the first thing to do is stop digging. We will get out eventually without a satisfactory conclusion, so why not do it now and save enormous sums of money that we cannot afford and lives too. Perhaps then it will not be considered so necessary to impoverish so many of our own citizens.