Vladamir Putin

“Every time you think, ’No, he wouldn’t, would he?’ Well, yes, he would…”

Brian O'Neill on March 1, 2022, 11:08 am

| Readers 1870

Fiona Hill is an expert on Russia and a biographer of Putin. Her interview with Politico is a good background to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some quotes: Putin is usually more cynical and calculated than he came across in his most recent speeches. There’s evident visceral emotion in things that he said in the past few weeks justifying the war in Ukraine. The pretext is completely flimsy and almost nonsensical for anybody who’s not in the echo chamber …

Ukraine Crisis: the folly of false historical analogies

Turgon on March 8, 2015, 7:04 pm

| Readers 1222

The ceasefire in Ukraine seems to be sort of holding. No one, however, seems terribly optimistic that peace is going to come. Certainly there is no sign of the displaced refugees returning home. The conflict has repeatedly been portrayed as a binary good vs. bad situation analogous to the most simplistic of cowboy films by the West with the only dissent tending to be from the usual suspects (such as John Pilger here – that said good to see the …

Ukrainian crisis: it hasn’t gone away

Turgon on August 3, 2014, 10:02 pm

| Readers 958

The conflict in Gaza seems to have largely pushed that in Ukraine off international consciousness. The Guardian, however, reports that the Ukrainian government have been making steady gains against the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. The west has become somewhat quieter about the downing of the Malaysian airliner MH 17 over the last couple of weeks and the Americans seem to have accepted that it was a mistake. The internet is still awash with conspiracy theories about …

The downing of MH 17 shifts spotlight back to Ukraine

Turgon on July 20, 2014, 3:41 pm

| Readers 1430

The downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine has been one of the major events of last week. Most of the fingers of blame have been pointed at the pro-Russian separatists who have previously shot down Ukrainian military aircraft with sophisticated Russian surface to air missiles (though both sides have access to such weaponry). The photographs are quite harrowing – personally I find the ones of toys and books etc. to keep children happy during the flight the most …

Ukraine: impotent activism and the limits of US power

Turgon on March 15, 2014, 7:30 pm

| Readers 46

Tomorrow will bring the referendum on Crimea leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. Most people are aware of the sequence of events: the Ukrainian president turning down a deal with the EU in favour of one with Russia; mass protests in Kiev leading to the fall of the government; the new government being unacceptable in Crimea and then the entry of the Russian army. This sequence of events can be argued over at great length with arguments for and against each …