Tag: Putin

The existential threat of modern warfare

The Courage of the people of Ukraine is unquantifiable, Putin has threatened and acts like he is trying to bomb and shell the people of Ukraine out of existence and yet still they fight on. The west though offering shelter for any that can get out to a foreigner land in a strangers home or arms Ukrainians with guns on the street, is not able to stand side by side with Ukraine and offer cover from the sky.

We create sanctions against Russia and though the people of Russia will suffer it will not stop Putin from eating what he wants and firing bullets and bombs where he wants, so in some way they seem not an effective method of shielding the Ukrainian people from Putin’s wrath.

The Untouchables (1987)

People argue that Putin wants NATO to join his war, I disagree he thinks he is untouchable and no laws apply to what he does or say. NATO has a considerable fear of engaging in world war 3 unnecessarily. Though what we don’t know yet is if Putin has already chosen to begin world war 3 and we are still watching from the sidelines, while the people of Ukraine fight and die for the benefit of the wider world.

I feel like for the first time in my life I am no longer a dove or a man or peace. But would respect and support the defence of the people of Ukraine. But wiser minds in power are fully aware that that could escalate to a full scale nuclear war if Putin wanted such a war to occur.

Putin engages in war and wishes to confront and deafeat the west democracy and free peoples of the earth, for a war he fights that he believes was originally waged by the west against him and the USSR. The collapse of the USSR was a result of a system that imploded upon itsself it was not destroyed or conquered from the outside, though try telling Putin that.  

He blames the west and NATO for the collapse of the Soviet union and with great fury and vengeance he wishes to turn the tables on the west and NATO and beat it in a war and at a game that has never actually been plaid out or lost or won. Like a gangster he hits first and doesn’t even ask questions later on. Might and fight is right for him.

I can’t bare the concept of living in a world occupied by his forces or run by him and yet his desire and will to dominate others has no limits. So with a finger on the red button of nuclear war and obliteration for us and him he truly is a dangerous man whom Ukraine stands up against and is bombed by.

Putin’s darkness does not come from his will to dominate others but from the weapons and arms of a so called modern military nation that has a great deal of capacity and capability to destroy this world many times over.

Hundreds and thousands of years ago a man of war had to fight and enslave people on one field in one battle at a time, Putin is no greater danger of a man than tyrants and villains of the past. The only difference between past and present tyrants is the perfection and evolution of destructive warfare that makes him an existential threat to humanity.

When genocide has been committed against people in the past it was never done with such precision as it can be done today, or on such a scale. This is a curse of modern warfare and mans capacity to invent ever greater weapons of death and mass destruction and is not a result of Putin being any greater or more competent in his capacity for evil than those that came before him or may rise up against humanity in the future. He is just one very bad man with a modern arsenal of global destruction at his command.

Villagers – Little Bigot

To be hopeful in dark times

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage & kindness – Howard Zinn

MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 26: Protesters take to the streets of Milan to protest against the Russian invasion of the Ukraine at the “Milano Contro La Guerra” (Milan Against War) anti-war protest on February 26, 2022 in Milan, Italy. The protesters are asking to stop the war in Ukraine and the Russian invasion. (Photo by Ming Yeung/Getty Images)
Snow Patrol – Run

Big brother Putin is misinforming you

If the battle between right and wrong is one of truth, integrity and righteousness then Putin’s Russia has already lost.

If it is a battle between might versus right then the battle is still being thought and we are all witnesses to the war that has unfolded.

What will Russia do when there are only lies left to tell to people that don’t want to believe them by people who know what they say is wrong?  

In the age of Putin’s Russia, George Orwell’s 1984 is stiflingly relatable today

Just like Russia today, Winston Smith’s world is both lawless and full of rules, incomprehensible from a human point of view but perfectly logical as a system, indiscriminately cruel and privately lyrical or even heroic.

When a lie is your currency that you pronounce to be truth you have already lost. If Russia persuades through lies, gold and oil for China to join its war in Ukraine the conflict is escalated for the many and not just the few.

Seal – Crazy

God bless Ukraine

Bob Marley & The Wallers – Redempion Song

I have heard a number of people argue that Putin cannot lose or has already won and although he might occupy some land and take many lives, but he has also lost morally, economically and spiritually due to his choice of action and the consequences thereof.  

The concept of what happens if he wins or how he makes a form of winning happen are quite dark and what he does will contiune to be witnessed and broadcast so long as there is working camera on the ground from either citizen’s phones or major news outlets.

The options to Putin’s victory are quite dark but those for his defeat or withdrawl from Ukraine are all still options on the table and include but are not exclusive to the following for Ukraine and ergo humanity.

  1. There is a nuclear accident or deliberate assault on a nuclear facility in Ukraine that leads to a ceasefire.
  2. The Russian army puts down its weapons against its Slavic brothers.
  3. Putin dies of natural causes or is assassinated.
  4. There is regime change in Russia and Putin is held to account for war crimes along with those that supported said crimes.
  5. An ongoing war with much bloodshed and TV coverage that has no winner and exhaustes Russian resources.
  6. Russia does not use its nuclear arsenal.
  7. NATO escalates its commitment to Ukraine and a conventional war is undertaken which Putin loses.
  8. Any other combination of possibilities 1-7.

These are just a selection of what could happen. No one knows what will happen yet, but I hope we still exist when this madness has ended and that includes Ukraine and its people and homes too.

To assume Putin must win or has already won is short sighted and I pray and hope he will not, this one of the most critical prayers I and the world has ever pray for and although I do not know Gods will or vision for the future, I pray it includes living sentient beings.

To Prep or not to Prep

Am I mad to consider prepping for a serious emergency or disaster or am I mad not to? It feels like thinking the unthinkable.

I have made some small changes to my life recently just in case there is nuclear situation that effects the Ukraine, Europe or the world, or a nuclear accident at a power plant in Ukraine which might risk people not being able to go outside their homes.

  1. I have empty water bottles in my kitchen stacked together that I could fill up quickly.
  2. I invested in a new pair of sturdy walking boots and thick pairs of walking socks in case I need to walk a long distance anywhere at any time for any reason.
  3. I have purchased a new first aid kit and first aid book as my old one was a number of years out of date.
  4. I have purchased a radio that can be recharged by a hand wind up and used in an emergency with no electricity. It also has a phone charger on it.
  5. I have a new windup torch again charges through a turning handle which does not need batteries or electricity.
  6. I have purchased a number of protein bars which I eat normally anyway but I have more than I would normally have just in case I am suddenly in need of food and shelter in my home.
  7. I am going to hopefully clean out an airing cupboard on the weekend too so that I could use it as a shelter if needed in an emergency.

This is stuff that I never thought I would have to do but I am fearful that we are potentially closer to  a nuclear catastrophe whether that be from a power plant accident in Ukraine or from the actual launching of rockets from Russia and it all feels so bloody unnecessary.

I feel guilty thinking and writing about this stuff. It’s easier to write down what I am up to on here than talk about this with others at the moment.  

Frank Turner – Be More Kind

Poland praised for welcoming over 1m Ukrainians

The bravery of the Ukrainian people and the generosity of the Polish people to the Ukrainians shames Putin and all he stands for and the atrocities committed in his name.

More than 1 million people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland since the Russian invasion began on 24 February, the Polish border guard has said.

Poland, which shares a 310-mile border with Ukraine, has taken in the majority of the 1.7 million people who have left their homes since the war began, with aid efforts largely operated by volunteers, as well as NGOs and municipalities.

The Polish government is introducing an aid package to fund food and temporary lodgings along with measures to allow refugees to work legally and access public healthcare and social assistance. The bill, which also provides one-off benefits for each refugee and financial help for those hosting Ukrainians, will be approved by parliament in fast track legislative procedure.

The exodus from Ukraine is the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war, according to the UN. Vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians have been fleeing cities under bombardment, including the besieged coastal city of Mariupol.

Data showed Polish border guards cleared as many as 142,300 at border crossings on Sunday, the most in a single day since the war began, and 129,000 people on Saturday.

Refugees from Ukraine have been taken into homes of Polish people with many remembering that an act of kindness provided to one of their grandparents after or during world war 2 helped their relative survive. There are many opening not just their arms but their homes to house those in need. This is unimaginable kindness in the face of such unimaginable wickedness from Putin.

Paul Simon – Homeless

Putin’s Roadmap to Ruin

Putin says the war is a way to protect Russian speaking Ukrainians. As people in Ukraine try for three days on the run now, to flee for their lives through so called peace corridors, they are then shelled for their attempts to save their lives by the Russian artillery. This is a war where Putin protects Russia speaking Ukrainians by bombing them, so that they then rest in peace on the blooded cities, towns and villages of Ukraine, this is very dark stuff.

A war where Putin intensifies emotion in those he lies to on his own side by stating that the war is one to denazify Ukraine. Why he needs to bomb innocent civilians the elderly, women and children while the world films and watches at the horror of these atrocity I really am not too sure.

The world like a oil and natural gas addicted junkie is unable to commit to cancelling its orders for oil and gas from Putin just yet. What could someone like Putin do if left in charge of a major military power that also just so happens to have one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals, well we are in the process of finding out.

There is not enough oil or money in the world to pay off apologist for his regime so that more enlightened human beings don’t see straight through the propaganda it now spouts.

Portishead – Roads

Truth in war

On March 8, 1917 women textile workers held a demonstration in Petrogad, Russia that eventually engulfed the whole city, demanding “Bread and Peace”—an end to World War I, to food shortages, and to Tsarism. Such a repeat protest would be illegal in Russia today as since 2014, holding a demonstration without the permission of authorities, even a peaceful single-person picket, is punishable by a fine or detention of up to 15 days, or up to five years in prison if it is the third breach. Why worry about a peaceful protest if you’re Putin if you can jail those that try to oppose you or protest about anything?

In this day and age in Ukraine, Putin’s fight for peace is like screwing for virginity, and with that in mind this could potentially lead to a global conflict which ensures we all get screwed. Putin is now beginning to put his cards on the table and explain to the world where he is coming from and what he is capable of and the world still appears to be in denial about this, like a victim unable to comprehend the horror that it is being threatened to be inflicted upon it.

The world is gambling with Putin that the Ukraineain and Russian blood and sacrifice of lives at Putin’s political alter of beliefs will quench his thirst and appease him a little longer.

But no bloody thirsty tyrant in the history of the world has ever had their thirst quenched by the blood of others. There are not enough bodies on this mortal plain that could be offered at the altar of Putins desires and beliefs to satisfy his thirst for vengeance and wrath upon the rest of the world.   

Putin has now gone on record stating the west’s sanctions are akin to an act of war on Russia and that any country that implements a no fly zone over Ukraine would be considered “participants in a military conflict”.

Although it feels like there is only one man bating the world to inflict World War 3 upon it and no one else calling for it but Putin? He has hit Ukraine hard and fast its only 10 days since the start of this madness and he still does not describe what he is doing to his own people when he patronises them with lies and misdirection on state TV in Russia as a war in Ukraine but a special military operation. Russians now face 15 years in prison for posting ‘fake news’ about Ukraine war under new law.

With the whole of the Russian state media and government officals are producing and posting constant fake news about the war then they are guilty of the very crimes that the state imposes on its own citizens. This legislation is like the mad ramblings of a demented Tzar trying to stifle truth and the road map to peace on his own people. If the truth was allowed to be heard Putin knows it would be deafening and disruptive to his road map to potential global war.

A Climate of fear & changing times for us all

Who would have thought just a few weeks ago that after having nearly tamed corona virus and with countries starting to try to implement a road map to mitigate climate catastrophe World War 3 was on the horizon and not just that but that we are only minutes away from a potential nuclear catastrophe like we had not been threatened with for over 50 years.   

Growing up when reading about potential problems for the future one threat that was talked about was the concept of climate change wars. This being a situation where nations and people would be increasingly fighting for ever decreasing resourses and when I look to Putin and how his actions in the Ukraine are unfolding that is exactly what this is a violent and deadly grab for resources on his own boarder in the name of reunification of Ukraine to Russia. People are calling him mad which he might well be. But he is also cold and calculated and has so much to lose if his war goes wrong for him that I fear what is still yet to come for Ukraine and the those next in Putins sights.

He will surely see the West’s sanctions and his now global status diminished to that of leader of a pariah state as an act of war and further evidence in his own mind that the west has always hated Russia and it does not matter what he does he just can’t win . His political judgements are increasingly looking like the actions of a gambler on a heavy losing streak risking it all and yet having still not hit rock bottom. There are very little factors in place to stop him from creating more devastation for Ukraine and the planet and continue to role his dice and inflict his decisions on others again and again and again.  

A leading academic called Harald Welzer , author of Climate Wars: Why People Will Be Killed in the 21st Century, stated back in November 2017 that “My belief is that we will see a renaissance of violent conflict in the 21st century, and that many of these conflicts will spring from climate change.”

A professor at the University of Flensburg in Germany, Welzer studies the cultural and political implications of climate change. His book, first published in 2012.

Twentieth-century wars were fought over land, religion, and economics. But Welzer argues that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over something quite different: climate change, and the shortages of water and food that will come from it.

“Ideology will always be a surface-level justification for conflict, But if you look deeply at the source of future conflicts, I think you’ll see a basic resource conflict at the bottom of it all.”

So with that in mind I don’t see Putin as just mad but I do see him as an incredibly dangerous individual with a large arsenal at his disposal and a lot to lose and nearly nothing left to gain. This is all very dark stuff that has been rattling around in my head for the last week. There are very few positive outcomes from this scenario should it have a hint of truth within it at all.

One of the biggest game changers for this conflict that has yet to state how it will act under the circumstances is that of China. China could embolden Russia to continue along a potentially catastrophic path or could be the peacemaker. Though Russia is on the brink of having lost global power and influence due to its invasion of Ukraine, China on the other hand is a powerful nation with more to gain from a thriving and more stable and peaceful world than it has to gain from one at nuclear war with itself. Putin might get to a point where he feels that he has nothing to lose by escalating a war to a nuclear crisis put China and President Xi Jinping will not be in such a hurry or have the belief and conviction concerning the necessity to set the world on fire.

China though having tried and failed to set out a coherent diplomatic position in the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is now attempting to position itself as a potential peacemaker to end the war.

That position has not entailed acknowledging that Russia has invaded Ukraine, let alone condemning it. But as China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a call on 1 March, Beijing stood ready to support negotiations to reach a political settlement. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Kuleba said he was willing to move forward with talks and “looked forward to China’s mediation efforts for the ceasefire”. 

This horific real life story is in no way over and continues to unfold before our very eyes.

Putin The Antidemocratic President

I am not a Christian so do not believe there will one day be an anti-Christ, my father told me when I was young that many people believed that Hitler was the anti-Christ due to the amount of atrocities he had willingly committed and this to me seemed plausible.

One of my fears concerning anti-Christ theory’s is that they are constantly looking for one and accusing others that they are one and that we therefore are living in the end of days all the time. At the time of Jesus some of his believes then truly with all their hearts also belived that they to were living in the end times and 2000 years later the debate still rages on amongst people of strong religious beliefs across a whole spectrum of religions about when are they going to happen and who is the anti-christ or leader of evil.  So I hope and pray that there is no anti-christ and that Putin is therefore not one to.

Darth Putin

Putin is weaving us down his very dark path through time immemorial. He is building his legacy on the bones & bodies of the dead ordered at his command. The non-believer in the freedom of thought, action and expression of individuals. The denier of Sovereignty to states and denier of democratic rights of his own citizens as well as those of others, well he does not have my vote.

His actions are not those of someone that wishes to protect others, but punish them from straying from his hell bent perception of the world. The strength of will of the people of Ukraine really shames Putin and all that he stands for.  

I thought you could not kill an ideal once born into this world. I now know thanks to Ukraine you can’t kill a nation that knows it has the right to exist.