Since weapons have only just started rolling off production lines to build these stockpiles, the scale of war profits anticipated by the arms industry is best reflected, for now, in the 2022 increases in their stock prices: Lockheed Martin, up 37%; Northrop Grumman, up 41%; Raytheon, up 17%; and General Dynamics, up 19%.
Source: Who’s Winning and Losing the Economic War Over Ukraine? – CounterPunch.org
The question might well be asked are we witnessing another Vietnam and a fight for Independence?
Students, activists; rather, the especially educated — are hand in hand with the true aggressors. This is not an aberration, but the norm.
Matthieu Buge writes on Russia Today: “Coppola had, in the ‘70’s, understood something that former US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara only came to understand in the ‘90’s when he met with Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap. With astonishment, he suddenly realised that the Vietnamese were fighting a war of independence, not an ideological war. The 20-year conflict in Vietnam had never been about the spread of communism in the world.”
This has already been the case again for the people in the Luhansk and Donetsk Republics, who want to stop being bombed after the past 8-9 years, and want their independence recognised — at present it has been recognised only by Russia. But Westerners have truly bought into the idea of this being an ideological war between democracy and autocracy, despite the US clearly not caring about democracy in Ukraine at all — in 2014 it backed a coup against a democratically-elected government, in elections certified by the OSCE.
Source: White man’s brutality and the educated middle-class – Pearls and Irritations
History and the right of reply
A short history of neo-Nazism in Ukraine in response to NewsGuard’s charge that Consortium News published false content about its extent.
Israel America’s ally turned it’s back on aiding Ukraine
Virtually no country in Africa, Asia or the Middle East has rallied to Biden’s cause of defending Ukraine. The lack of enthusiasm has many roots, but one of them is a strong sense that the U.S. is not principled on this issue and is merely pursuing a narrow national interest. They do not see Washington as actually upholding a rules-based international order. And they are correct in this assessment.
Russia’s military “tasks” will no longer target “only” the east of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s Foreign Minister says, as the United States pledges more weapons for defending forces.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued executive orders dismissing the state security service chief and the prosecutor-general.
Western support is critical to the Ukrainian effort to defend its territory, and for its counter-offensives to regain those parts of the country seized by the Russian military. And sustaining this support means that Ukraine, its president, its citizen information warriors and its diplomatic corps will need to continue their efforts to engage the politicians and populations of the United States, Europe and beyond.
Source: Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine must maintain Western attention to win this war
Russian forces have advanced deep into the ruined eastern factory city of Sievierodonetsk, but Ukrainian troops are still holding out there as Russia’s assault on its neighbour entered its 100th day.
Source: Ukraine’s street-by-street battle to stop Russian push
NATO’s secretary general says Vladimir Putin’s invasion has not gone to plan and Ukraine “can win this war” as new intelligence indicated Russia may have lost one third of the force it sent to the country. Speaking after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s military was not achieving “its strategic objectives”. “They failed to take Kyiv, they are pulling back from around Kharkiv, their major offensive in Donbas has stalled,” said Mr Stoltenberg. “Ukraine can win this war.”
Source: Russia may have lost a third of its troops: British intelligence
Russia claims an “Own Goal” or self inflicted “accident” Ukraine a “successful misslle strike”
Russia says the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following a fire that caused an explosion, while Ukraine insists the vessel was hit by missiles. The incident on the Moskva missile cruiser occurred after ammunition on board blew up, the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying. “As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated,” it said in a statement. Russia said the 500-strong crew was all evacuated.
Source: Russian Black Sea fleet takes massive hit in Ukraine attack
Although Ukraine is hobbled by the debt it owes its international creditors, Canada’s support for the country does not include any debt relief. It does, however, include guns and even more loans.
Source: Canada Is Happy to Provide Ukraine With Weapons — But Not Debt Relief
Russian soldiers have been caught on tape discussing tactics and tips for murdering Ukrainian civilians. German intelligence teams gathered the evidence against occupying forces when they intercepted military radio, Der Spiegel magazine reports. That report adds further weight to the accusations Russian soldiers have committed war crimes.
Source: Ukraine war crimes: Russians caught by German spies discussing murders
Russian forces have fully withdrawn from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the city of Chernihiv to its north, the Pentagon said, as Moscow prepares to concentrate its invading forces in the eastern part of the country. “We are assessing that all of the Russians have left,” said a senior US defence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, on Wednesday, Washington time.
Key points:
The self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic could hold a referendum soon,
one of its leaders says Ukraine is asking allies for fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defence against Russian forces
Intelligence officials say Russia is trying to split Ukraine into two countries, similar to North and South Korea
Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Russian journalists Ukraine willing to adopt neutral status – ABC News
While Russian propaganda claims “The Ukrainians destroyed Mariupol”
France is planning a humanitarian operation with Turkey and Greece that will defy Russia’s siege of the devastated southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Source: France, Greece, Turkey to mount mass evacuation of Mariupol’s survivors
Israel does nothing for Ukraine’s Jews
Kinzinger’s comments stem from a Sunday exchange between Israeli lawmakers and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who asked the Knesset why Israel has not imposed sanctions on Russia or provided certain military aid to Ukraine.
If Putin had his way he’d clear the country of his enemies just as Stalin did
Russia’s devastating and deadly assault over the past three weeks has forced nearly 10 million people in Ukraine to flee their homes, according to figures released Friday by United Nations organizations. “Over 12 million people are estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave.” With a population of 44 million, that means nearly a quarter of all Ukrainians are now displaced either inside or out of the country.
Source: Nearly 10 Million Ukrainians Now Displaced by War, Says UN
Russia says America is conducting an “Economic” war against it. The world is Putin the world is. As Russia is as their aim is to control and take over the world’s grain and breadbasket Ukraine. Russia is so predictable always simply saying their enemies are doing it what in fact they are doing. they’re hiding their punches like a tired old boxer or school yard thug when caught out. According to Putin Ukraine was preparing to attack Russia, Ukraine is bombing itself and civilian targets, Ukraine is preparing for a chemical attack on its own people.
Is Putin really an Intelligence officer or simply a very ex- intelligent colnel gone mad? Will his advisors dare tell him he fucked up or they were wrong? Stalin isn’t forgotten?
“The global number of undernourished people could increase by eight to 13 million people in 2022 and 2023,” says a new report by FAO, the global food agency.
Source: UN Warns Russia’s Attack on Ukraine Could Spike Global Food Prices by 22%
However there is nobody to deliver them!!
As Ukrainians on Tuesday battled a Russian invasion that has led to a refugee crisis and a mounting civilian death toll, Poland announced a plan to send all of its MiG-29 jets to a U.S. air base in Germany, so the United States can transfer them to Ukraine.
Source: Poland OKs Fighter Jets to Germany So US Can Give Them to Ukraine
“Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us,” declared Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. “It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.” This conception of Ukrainian history forms the bedrock of Putin’s justification for invading the former Soviet republic, independent since 1991. On this week’s podcast, Ryan Grim talks with Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko about his country’s history, from the Dark Ages up the current war. They discuss Ukraine’s history of anarchist politics, the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution that toppled pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, and the tangled question of modern Ukrainian identity.
Source: Deconstructed: The War Over Ukrainian History and Identity
“Noting one small advantage of solar panels is that if you shell them, they break into chunks of glass.”
Source: Fears of Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine Bolster Push for Renewable Future
Ukrainians tell a story of the origins of the Ukrainian nation going back to 11th century Kyiv, surviving centuries of oppression by Russia and Poland, and, finally, emerging out of the wreckage of the Soviet Union as a sovereign Ukrainian state in 1991.
Source: Ukraine as a ‘borderland’: a brief history of Ukraine’s place between Europe and Russia
Young climate campaigners with Fridays for Future took to the streets across the globe Thursday to stand with the people of Ukraine—whose country was invaded last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin—and call for a world that prioritizes peace and freedom from fossil fuels for all. As Ukrainian forces and civilians fought Russian invaders who have been accused of war crimes, members of the youth-led movement—who generally hold school strikes on Fridays, inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg—carried signs that said #StandWithUkraine and #NoMoreWars. Demonstrators also used the hashtags to share updates on social media.
Source: Climate Youth Fill the World’s Streets to #StandWithUkraine
Putinists exist in Ukraine just as Trumpists exist in the US. They are the tools that Putin told to “stand back and standy” and used to “save from Ukraine Nazis” just as Trump hoped he could to justify his civil war in America. Trump’s problem he didn’t totally control the media or the military as much as he tried. However the GOP will keep on trying.
“We can’t live in the same country as the Nazis,” she tells me. “We can’t forgive all that we experienced through the years. How can I live in one country with those who killed my loved ones?”
Source: Inside Donetsk, the separatist republic that triggered the war in Ukraine – ABC News
Those who don’t stand in solidarity with the oppressed cannot call themselves leftists.
If you opposed the criminal U.S. attack on Iraq in 2003, then you must oppose this criminal attack on Ukraine.
Source: How the Left Should Respond to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Will Putin now invade Finland as Stalin did in 1939 because they are now too, considering joining NATO?
An embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its bond with the West on Monday by applying to join the European Union, while the first round of Ukraine-Russia talks aimed at ending the fighting concluded with no deal but an agreement to keep talking. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted photos of himself signing the EU application, a largely symbolic move for now that could take years to become reality and is unlikely to sit well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the West of trying to pull Ukraine into its orbit.
Source: Ukraine Seeks To Join EU As Round Of Talks With Russia Ends | HuffPost Latest News
One Man’s Legacy, Putin’s threat of a nuclear winter.
Kyiv: In a dramatic escalation of tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers. The directive came just minutes before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed a delegation from Kyiv would meet Russian representatives on the Belarusian border for peace talks, and as Russian troops drew closer to the capital, Kyiv, a city of almost 3 million people.
It’s surprising just how quickly politicians ask when civilians on both sides to find an answer when politicians created the problem in the first place and not civilians.
Helmut Schmidt, a Social Democrat West German Chancellor, possibly exasperated, reportedly said Russia was the “Third World with missiles”. It highlighted the vulnerability to economic pressure, ill-matched with high-end technology, including war technology and the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. It might take nervous awareness of that danger and hard times to bring civilians on both sides – whether Russians with no money, Europeans unable to get fuel for the last weeks of winter – to bring on the pressure, if only they can, to end the conflict.
Source: Ukraine: Three decades after the Cold War, back to open conflict
Two-faced Dutton and Morrison are in rapture over Putin’s gift to their political chances but will it stick and are they doing a Rumpelstiltskin dance behind closed doors that will see their undoing ?
In Australia, Defence Minister Dutton and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are madly wagging the dog trying to repeat John Howard’s rise from the ashes on the back of a burning refugee boat in 2001. There is no doubt that if the US and UK did go to war with Russia, Dutton and Morrison would do what Australian governments have always done: follow blindly.
Source: The West has three options in response to Ukraine. None are good
Unfortunately, it sounds like the White House has now decided Putin’s incursion, whether it ends up “limited” or something even more dangerous, means diplomacy is now off the table. Whatever the explanation for Western obstinacy, it’s ordinary Ukrainians who will suffer, along with everyone else who feels the conflict’s ripple effects, among them the Congressional push to flood Ukraine with weapons where they will unavoidably get in the hands of neo-Nazis and other extremists. Putin is ultimately responsible for whatever horror he unleashes. But save some outrage for those Western governments and officials who chose to make war inevitable by refusing to compromise, sacrificing a country they regard as little more than a chess piece.
Source: With Putin’s Ukraine Incursion, Hawks in Washington Got Exactly What They Wanted
Biden has been wedged by neo-Nazis and a Russian Imperialist in a face-off. Who does he side with. Putin has false flags in place in the Southern Donbass region of Ukraine to justify his invasion. Biden can’t for a moment justify he’s even saving a Democracy.
While Senate Democrats consider a way forward to send Ukraine hundreds of millions of dollars so it can buy new weapons, some of the most influential advocates are neglecting measures to make sure they don’t wind up with the country’s notorious neo-Nazis.
Source: For Senate Dems Pushing Weapons for Ukraine, Neo-Nazis Not Top of Mind
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.
via Ukrainegate Should Be Called Adam Schiffgate or Schiff/Bidengate – Stephen Lendman
Tony Abbott was ready to go to war with Russia to protect these neo-Nazis. He was busting his chops to help these guys. (ODT)
via Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine | The Nation
Around 3,000 Ukrainian nationalists came out into the streets of Kiev carrying torches to celebrate the 107th anniversary of the birth of controversial WWII figure and nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with Nazi Germany.
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, laughs with Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, during their meeting in Melbourne on Thursday.
Prime minister tells Ukraine’s president exports from Australia could help secure Ukraine’s energy sources
Australia is considering exporting coal and uranium to Ukraine it was announced, as the leaders of the two countries met for a historic state visit.
President Petro Poroshenko became the first Ukrainian leader to visit Australia, after accepting an invitation from the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, to discuss security issues in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July.
“The MH17 atrocity has brought our countries together in a remarkable way,” Abbott told reporters on Thursday.
“I want to say thank you to you, Petro, for the help and assistance that Ukraine and your government gave to Australia and our citizens in the aftermath of that terrible atrocity. And coming from this tragedy, I believe will be a strong and lasting friendship between the Australian people and the Ukrainian people,” Abbott said.
A permanent Australian embassy is due to open in Kiev in February, and Poroshenko has invited Abbott to Ukraine for a state visit, saying he is one of the most popular foreign leaders in the country. “It’s nice to be popular, even if only in Kiev,” Abbott quipped.
Abbott and Poroshenko attended an ecumenical church service on Thursday to honour the nearly 300 victims of the MH17 disaster, 38 of whom were Australian.
“I should acknowledge the part that faith has played in our culture and in our public life, in the culture and public life of civilised countries,” Abbott said.
“There would hardly be a country on Earth so subject to existential threat as Ukraine is. If the freedom of one country is diminished, the freedom of all is diminished. I have come to know Petro Poroshenko quite well over the last few months. And I want to say that not just Ukraine, but freedom has a great champion in Ukraine’s president.”
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Australia is part of an International Monetary Fund contribution aimed at stabilising Ukraine, which has been in a precarious security situation since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March. Russia sides with rebels in eastern Ukraine, but denies providing them with the arms that brought down the Malaysia Airlines flight.
Abbott and Poroshenko acknowledged the importance of securing energy sources for Ukraine, and said that Australia would consider the export of coal and uranium to the country.
Russia has threatened to take Ukraine to the international court if it fails to pay the more than $3bn it owes the Kremlin in unpaid energy debt. Shipments of natural gas from Russia to Ukraine started again after a six month suspension, ending an energy crisis in the country.
Abbott also announced that Australia would give $2m to the Ukrainian military, but skirted the issue of whether Australia was taking sides in the conflict.
“The side we take is the side of freedom, democracy and self-determination,” Abbott said, adding that he had frank discussions with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, when the leader was in Australia for the G20 conference in Brisbane last month. “We seek freedom and dignity for every person in every country and that’s not taking sides.”
Abbott wants Putin to keep his promises on promoting peace in the region. “I say to president Putin, who obviously I’ve got to know reasonably well over the last few months, that this is an opportunity for him to be a statesman as well as a patriot,” Abbott said. “And I appeal to everyone to heed the better angels of their nature here because… we will all advance together or none of us will advance at all.”
Poroshenko wants those responsible for the shooting down of MH17 to be deemed a terrorist organisation and said Ukraine was “making war for peace” to defend its borders. “The truth is with us,” Poroshenko said. “The whole world is with Ukraine, and Russia stays in isolation.”
Russia has denied sending troops to the eastern parts of Ukraine, saying that Russian fighters stationed there are volunteers who feel empathy with Crimeans, many of whom look to Moscow for leadership.
Australia has condemned the annexation of the area, and has called for tougher sanctions to be imposed on Russia until peace talks are successful.
It seems these days, not an hour passes where the Western vassal presstitutes regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot contain themselves from attacking him. Neither do the MSM sock puppets have any compunction from heaping more vitriol on a principled man and the great leader of his people. Moreover, the Western backed purveyors have harangued both he and Russia with their outright lies and fabrications for nine months running. Their drivel now is tiresome.
By Montresor, November 8, 2014.
Of course, stooges that they are, at the butt of their non-stop anti-Russian rhetoric are the threat of more sanctions. Just what the wider world needs; doesn’t bother them a bit though that the accusers as well are all mired in a deep recession. The sanctions pendulum swings both ways!
No surprise either that the vast majority of the Russian people continue to support their President in this conflict between East-West perceptions for the world; some ‘experts’ call it the renewed ‘cold war’ or re-set. And despite what the West claims, Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings eclipse 80 per cent and continue to climb. Imagine that: Russians collectively on down from the President won’t capitulate to the Western propaganda!
Early on, some of that vitriol was to be expected given that Ukraine, long since a failed state after the bloody and murderous Maidan coup d’état in February had fallen deeper into the abyss after 298 lives were lost aboard the crashed civilian jet MH17 over East Ukraine during the genocidal and still ongoing civil war. Right on cue, the West was quick to blame Russia; even before an official, and international investigation was launched.
Yet in the absence of real proof against Russian complicity in Ukraine’s internal affairs, one would hope that at least one courageous editor-chief had the modicum of intelligence to understand and report the truth: that continued U.S./IMF/EU/NATO meddling in Ukraine’s internal sovereign affairs was more the causative factor in the country’s slide into total collapse; more so than from any ‘perceived’ Russian involvement.
The naysayers here and elsewhere will be quick to trot out their usual suspect objections: Putin invaded Crimea, he did the same in East Ukraine, he has now targeted all of Europe, and his expansion plans for the Russian empire include the Baltic States. The new ‘Stalin’ has even set his sights on the Holy Grail: England. What nonsense! Let us examine the real context, shall we.
A revolution by any color pales when juxtaposed to the real truth: the Maidan Protests and subsequent coup d’état was hatched by America; and for America. Washington’s sole aim was to install a puppet government whereby the proxy illegal Kiev government would preside over Ukraine with only America’s (IMF/CIA/NATO) best interests at heart. How dumb is that!
Did these treasonous collaborators really think that Russia would stand idly by; watch their navy dislodged from the Black Sea Sevastopol port in Crimea? And did the Western scoundrels equally believe that Russia would grovel before this illegal junta to acquire a new lease? Why should America and the world be surprised that Crimea legally voted and quickly to secede and join Russia? Any real sovereign nation would have acted in similar fashion to Russia; full stop.November 8, 2014.
Well, many from America bought the lies; and still do. Senator John McCain (who will now probably chair the U.S. Senate Defense Policy Committee) is a prime example. After he returned from Ukraine while addressing colleagues and the press, warmonger McCain was dismissive of Russia. And his description possibly born of ignorance, ‘Russia is a giant gas station’ was altogether disrespectful. Uh, yes Senator, Russia is that now. What you are remiss to understand is that Russia is not Moscow. Neither is it St. Petersburg nor Sochi. Russia is however that vast tract of territory from the Polish border on the west to Vladivostok and Siberia in the east. In fact, Russia contains the world’s largest land mass replete with many natural resources.
And with the oil and gas proceeds, President Putin is committed to building the infrastructure for a better tomorrow; for all Russians. And in case McCain also forgot, Putin’s Russia, inherited from his predecessor Yeltsin was still antiquated and more so corrupted. The economy, barely free from the Communist era was in the throes of transformation to the Western, ‘capitalist’ model. Free markets and ‘privatization’ were all very nascent principles for not only the common people but for the bureaucrats and politicians as well; but not to the oligarchs. Criminals like Khordokovsky stole shares and then cashed in at expense of the people. Spot the difference?
Instead of lecturing Russia and its leaders on how to comport themselves in the real, broader multi-polar world, the decadent West should take some time to read more; learn the lessons of history.
William Shakespeare’s play Henry V would be a good start. The scene is Agincourt in northern France during the 15th century.
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on, Though France himself and such another neighbor Stand in our way. There’s for thy labor, Montjoy. Go bid thy master well advise himself: If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder’d, We shall your tawny ground with your red blood Discolor: and so Montjoy, fare you well. The sum of all our answer is but this: We would not seek a battle, as we are; Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it: So tell your master.
Like England’s King ‘Harry’ who rallied his countrymen to help him lay claim to that which was rightfully his (French crown) but denied him by the bogus Salic Laws, President Putin’s cause, is equally just. What business is it of the West if he protects Russia’s own interests and people from foreign aggressors who have amassed their encircling military forces right at Russia’s borders?
The West though still doesn’t get it. Now the real question is ‘who blinks first’. Hard to believe let alone accept that the world’s at this juncture. Forget peace. The blast of war is in the air, everywhere; really, this is all too tragic.
Montresor
GERMAN intelligence has pointed the finger of blame at pro-Russian rebels for shooting down a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine using missiles captured from government forces, a media report said Sunday.
Kiev and the West have previously charged that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was blown out of the sky in July by separatist fighters using a BUK surface-to-air system supplied by Russia.
Moscow has denied the charge.
But the head of Germany’s BND foreign spy agency Gerhard Schindler said intelligence gathered by his network indicated the rebels had captured a BUK system from a Ukrainian base and fired a missile that exploded directly next to the plane, Spiegel magazine reported.
American intelligence officials had in July said that the plane could have been shot down mistakenly by ill-trained separatists.
Mr Abbott’s comments have prompted another scathing rebuke from Russian newspaper Pravda.
In an email exchange with the ABC’s AM program, Pravda journalist Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey said Mr Abbott’s comments were “the most blatant example of shit-faced ignorance and pig-headed arrogance the world has seen since the likes of Hitler or Pol Pot”.
Bancroft-Hinchey was speaking after penning an editorial for Pravda, in which he wrote of Mr Abbott that: “It is difficult to find a more blatant example of childishness, incompetence for the position, criminal intent, downright nastiness and an indication of a disturbed mind crying out for therapy. Don’t the Australian people deserve better?”.
Pravda is historically associated with the Russian Communist party and was an official government mouthpiece during the Soviet era.
“While I do not speak for President Putin, if someone ‘shirtfronted’ me, then I would throw the perpetrator over my shoulder, slam him onto his back on the floor behind me, place my boot on his face and ask ‘What was that you were saying?’ before I saw him scurry away snivelling to his sister’s for a clean pair of Y-fronts,” Bancroft-Hinchey wrote.
Treasurer Joe Hockey, speaking in London where he had been holding preparatory meetings for the G20, said he would not get into commentary about the words used by the Prime Minister, but said his comments echoed the “deep-seated anger across the Australian community about what happened to the 38 poor souls who were Australians that died on the Malaysian plane”.
“I think the Prime Minister is reflecting the anger and understandable emotion of many Australians about what happened,” Mr Hockey said.
Earlier a spokesman from the Russian embassy in Canberra described Mr Abbott’s comments as “immature”.
Alexander Odoevskiy said the comments were indicative of the fact that “Russian/Australian relations are at historic low”.
Thirty-eight Australian citizens and residents were among the 298 passengers and crew killed when MH17 went down on July 17 over territory held by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev and the West have accused the Moscow-backed separatists of shooting down the jet with a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia.
Moscow denied the charge and pointed the finger at Kiev.
Mr Peskov said in Russia’s view, the investigation into the tragedy “is not active and effective enough”.
He said “lots of data” from Ukrainian air traffic control had not been submitted to the investigators.
Russia, he said, insisted that this data was submitted.
Consider the number of shouts and whispers we heard after MH17 went down.
First the crime, then the cover-up. The criminals will be brought to justice. Putin will be held personally responsible for this act of evil. The worst peacetime atrocity in modern history. Putin ‘not welcome’ in Brisbane. Putin to be denied permission to come to Australia. Putin, if he comes here, will be ‘brought to justice’. Hundreds of millions to be spent ‘bringing them home’. A war should be suspended so we can recover the bodies. Hundreds of millions spent while we wait for the war to be suspended. A national day of mourning. A multi-faith service in a Melbourne cathedral for the innocent dead.
None of this, after Gaza, ISIS and Ebola, seems very proportionate any more.
What was clear from the start, that it was an unintended shooting down of a plane that was foolishly in air space over a war zone and mistaken for another plane, seems the case now, like a six-car pile-up on New Year’s Eve, or a Mediterranean ferry sinking in a storm.
And now we have Putin coming to Brisbane. How will he be treated? As a murderous neo-Communist dictator the ICC should put on trial for crimes against humanity? Or as what he is, the world’s most powerful man, one we should treat pretty gingerly?
The politics of the exclamation mark make it difficult for us either to greet him or to shun him. Did he personally order the shooting down of the plane? Of course not. Is his war on Ukraine illegal? Absolutely. Was his takeover of Crimea constitutional? Possibly. Will we be selling him our uranium and beef again soon? Of course we will.
So…?
Abbott and Newman are in a fix of their own making. They are accustomed to dealing with semi-fictional enemies — the wicked people-smuggler, the homegrown crucifying terrorist, the furtive criminal unionist, the heinous Kevin Rudd who personally sent boys into roofs where they were electrocuted — and faced with actual, complex, powerful humans with agendas of their own, they are at a loss as to what to do or say, lest the bad guy … answer back.
It is not beyond the bounds of likelihood that Putin will want to debate Abbott in a public place and Abbott will flee from the encounter. It is not beyond the outskirts of possibility that he will persuade some delegates that Kiev did the shooting-down and doubts will be officially articulated on this score.
But because Abbott, who deals only in menacing fictions, is unprepared for the real Putin and not just a huffing muppet he wanted not to come here, Abbott, the hyperbolist, will have no words to deal with him face to face, as Bob Carr might have done, and engage him in actual conversation. And will look, as he usually does, a fool.
The Abbott adventure gets worse and worse. Kobane will fall and Abbott will be shown to have been forbidden by Baghdad to send help there. Baghdad will fall and ISIL command the former Mesopotamia. The Budget will be rejected and Palmer demand that Hockey be sacked before any more negotiation take place. Abbott will be too weak to sack him and Turnbull will move against him.
It is no joke to say, as I have every other day for eighty-four days, that this is the worst free-elected government in a thousand years on this planet.
And, daily, it gets worse and worse.
“Tony Abbott strides large on stage after MH17 disaster”
Even god’s archangel doesn’t blow a louder trumpet than Andrew Bolt.
“Tony Abbott strides large on stage after MH17 disaster”
olddogthoughts 