Well as I posted previously, I'm currently a EU resident. Some uncomfortable facts are possibly not getting aired over there in Oz. They don't get mentioned nuch here either to tell the truth. Whilst I do not in any way shape or form approve of Vlado's war on Ukraine, Ukraine too apart from being know for corruption is unfortunately not the pure clean innocent mlilly-white virgin its currently being painted.
Firstly Ukraine over recent decades has indeed become a major pole for nazis and the extreme right --- Vlado ain't wrong there.
Secondly prior to Russia's invasion, the Donbas (predominantly ethnic Russian) is where the vast majority of casualties occured --- ie.the majority of those being uprooted, killed & maimed were ethnic Russians. The Azov battalion (a neo-nazi formation through and through) is one of the Ukraonian units most heavily engaged in the Donbas over the last 8 years as are other Ukraine army unitsformed from previously privately funded ultra-nationalist militias. Check out the kind of violent white-sipremacost and racist shit those Azov guys were involved in previously and you might think twice about funding them to kil Russians in the Donbas! Check out the beatings currently being handed out to Indian and African students trying to flee Ukraine by Ukrainian (and Polish) border guards and transport police. You can find photos and videos on the Internet --- and not just in Russian/pro-Russian media. That is classic nazi-ism in action right now --- today --- and at a state level.
Funny how Poland treats 400,000 (white ethnically european) Ukrainian refugees compared to its recent (and on-going treatment) of middle eastern, Afghani and African refugees ---- init? (see my comment below on studying up on European history)
Thirdly --- and most to the point of this thread ---- Zelinsky is trying his darndest to turn the conflict into an attack on Nato. Check out his calls to join instantly and without pre-condition the EU (please noooo not that!!!). This is because the Nato alliance is a "one for all, all for one" type of affair. An attack on any Nato member is counted as an attack on all Nato memebvrs --- including Uncle Sam. Most EU nations are also Nato members. A Ukraine in the EU woud inevitably draw other EU states into the fray.
Zelinsky --- whom the Western press is touting as a modern day hero --- is also forming a "Foreign Legion" so that any Russia hater whatevber their persuasion or motive can come to Ukraine to "defend Ukranian liberty" (and kill Russians). Handy guise for serupticiously involving military from other nations without insignia, perhaps --- eg. the UK and particulalry from Poland; military people who already know well how to use the tide of "free" armaments ("defensive" of course) currently washing into an embattled Ukraine. Also his demand for a "no fly zone over Ukraine" --- whose enforcement would instantly draw US and Nato air power into dog-fights with Russian aviators --- hence invoking the Nato pact. Thankfully Sleepy Joe has thus far refused this demand.
Note that Turkey, also a Nato member, announced today that it has now closed the Dardenelles to warships in transit using a convention dating to the 1930s --- thus effectively locking Russia's Mediterrnean fleet out of the Black Sea. Another potential trigger?
The crisis in Ukraine may also soon spill over into the rest of Europe.
Anybody ever heard of Kosovo and the "Republika-Serbska"?
The Serbs, one must not forget, are also slavs and long time freinds of Russia right in the heart of Europe. Just like Kosovo, the Bosnia Hertzogovina issue is far from being settled to the satisfaction of the Serbs and Russia (in the case of Bosnia, not to the satiosfaction of the Croats also).
People should inform themselves on European history --- starting with the wars between the Russian Empire and Poland/Lithuaia/Latvia/Estonia (the map of Europe has changed much over the centuries) over the piece of land land now called Ukraine in the 15th to 18th centuries That way they might understand the ethnic composition and "rivalries" (aka hatres) currently at play in the Ukraine --- and also become aware of some of the other skeletons in this here european closet (Ukraine, Bosnia, Serbia ----- they ain't so far away from here where I'm writing this post). People's pasts do rather tend to colour their views of the present.
All this while Vlado's "forces of dissuasion" are as he announced in a state of "maximum alert" --- ie.his (itchy?) index finger is actually resting on the nuclear button ---- and while Russia (and China) field the only operational (and virtually unstopable) hyper-sonic delivery systems.
So how would Australia's economy be if there was an economic collapse in Europe too? Its well on the cards.
Rape. Murder. Its just a shot away (quote from a song by Mick Jagger)
