The Revival Of Lend-Lease By The USA
Russia threatens countries that will vote against them in the UN General Assembly meeting today
We rely on the brave reporters to bring us news of the events in Ukraine, but we must be wary of propaganda, but also outlets that have an agenda of their own. While the outskirts of Kyiv are cleared and the horrific stories of what happened are shared by the survivors, I cannot help but feel this is a dangerous time for Ukraine. At present, they feel strong and victorious for holding off the Russians, but what has also happened is that they have created a through road should they decide (and they will) to invade Kyiv again. Think about it—the outskirts of Kyiv are now rubble with no people there, so with the defensive outskirts taken out, that means the Russians they can roll their tanks in having disposed of all the men that would be able to fight and have a clear road having bombed the towns already.
One story touched me in particular, where a man told his story of what happened to his friends. The Russians ordered all men under 50 years of age to come out. They were shot, and he was helpless to do anything. He took shelter from the shelling, and the Russians threw a grenade into another shelter for fun and blew up his other friend. The man asked if he could bury his friends (to keep the dogs and crows off them) and his request was denied. Eventually they let him pick up his friend’s body parts and bury them. I cannot imagine the pain and fear that the man went through, and for what?
I listened to John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary and am finding it hard to believe that he was once a Rear Admiral from his recent comments. He stated that the US would not supply aircraft to Ukraine as it would be seen as an escalation of war, and that the US doesn’t want that. At least they are no longer hiding behind NATO, because other countries have been forthcoming with weapons who are in NATO, so we can see this is a US position. They fear a nuclear attack, and I assumed most in the Armed Forces have experience of knowing how to mount a defence before they are attacked. I did not hear that in his statements, but I did hear fear. I had never heard of him, but John McCain called him ‘an idiot’ and having listened to some garbled bumf by him yesterday, I am inclined to agree. If that’s the best the Pentagon can do then the US should be worried.
As for the no-fly zone, it seems a bit late now for that as multiple cities and towns have been destroyed, thousands of people have died, lost their homes, families have been wiped out and animals too.
What does the revival of the Lend-Lease Act mean? Does it mean that the US is actually helping? Back in March 1941, the Act was used to help supply the Allies with aid because the US didn’t want to get involved in the war. It was their way of staying isolated and to keep themselves out of the war and to make sure Germany didn’t attack them.As many countries didn’t have the finances to buy weapons, Lend-Lease was enacted, and repayment was to be determined through benefits such as military bases in the countries. When Pearl Harbor happened in December 1941, FDR was quick to send a memo out to restrict Lend-Lease shipments stating that ‘We need the equipment for ourselves now’. The US had been manufacturing weapons for Lend-Lease, and due to this they had a supply of weapons on hand. It was a matter of time before the US had to get involved and the same applies today.
I see the revival of Lend-Lease as the Americans wanting to look as if they are helping because the world expects them to. I also believe that they want to help, but don’t want to get involved at a level where their domestic lives will be affected. There will always be those who prefer isolation, and from reading some American responses that seems to be the case. People sympathize with the Ukrainian situation, but when they see vast figures of aid being spent on Ukraine, the selfish are thinking, ‘What about us—that’s our money?’ The New York Times (not the paper it once was) has been promoting a video allegedly of Ukrainian soldiers shooting a wounded Russian soldier, and claim they have verified it. What does that even mean that they verified it? Have they named the source, location, the context? It is not the first time the NYT has made huge errors in a bid to gain exclusives and published misinformation.
In an era where we know images can be staged for propaganda it is wholly unwise and irresponsible of the NYT to be posting such material. What were the aims? Was it to show that soldiers can be killed? All soldiers who go to war know they may get killed because that is their job. Was it staged, and why would anyone video the event and then send it to the NYT? What is has done (and who knows if it was the aim) is turned people against the Ukrainian army, and in turn that may mean some countries will not support Ukraine or send weapons. That is exactly what the Russians want, so did the NYT stupidly play into Putin’s hands? We know many Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have died already, and their deaths were probably not pleasant at all, but context matters and the NYT may have published it with an aim to turn Americans against Ukraine, so as not to support US intervention. They had a choice whether or not to share the video, and with the UN vote today, it may affect how some countries choose to vote as well as the Russian threats. Such actions cost lives and affect the decisions made during war, and if they had concerns it should have been handed to the Ukrainians first to investigate.
The UN General Assembly will meet today at 10 a.m., to vote on whether Russia should be suspended from the UN Human Rights Council. Two-thirds is what is needed to expel them, but it will also tell the world through their vote whether a country supports Russia or Ukraine. Russia has already stated that a ‘yes’ or abstention would be seen as ‘unfriendly’ and Russia will respond accordingly. There are 193 member states in the UN.
Will Russia care if they are suspended? I doubt it, with the Russians claiming if they are suspended it will undermine the credibility of the UN. The credibility of the UN is already diminished, and appear to be in the same situation that the League of Nations was in around 1934 when Germany left, and mounted their campaign to take Europe.
Here is a list of the current 47 members, but if Russia is expelled, will they be replaced or will the numbers be reduced to 46?
Argentina
Armenia
Benin
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
Brazil
Cameroon
China
Côte d’Ivoire
Cuba
Eritrea
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Germany
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Japan
Kazakhstan
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malawi
Malaysia
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mexico
Montenegro
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
Pakistan
Paraguay
Poland
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Russian Federation
Senegal
Somalia
Sudan
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
Uzbekistan
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
The G7 have made a statement that warns Russia that if they continue the attack on Ukraine they will send in more aid and impose further restrictions. Is such a statement going to scare Putin? I think not, and it is also about 6 weeks late. Did they really not expect the scenes that we saw in Bucha? We all expected it, but then the reality hit when we saw the images of the charred bodies, and bodies with blood stains on the ground. There are mass graves, and apparently some have mines in them so as to kill people who try and retrieve the bodies. Such despicable acts and inhumane ones are reminiscent of the Nazis.
I used to work in crisis management, and what is key it to look at what loopholes are open, or that can be exploited and to close them up to prevent reoccurrence. Belarus and Hungary are issues as the governments support Russia, and Hungary is a NATO and EU member. They are potential red flags for Russians to exploit.
It’s clear also that by focusing on the Donbas region, that was also in the Turkish negotiated talks that no external aid was allowed in that area, or in Crimea. What that means is that if a peace deal is agreed, Russians would leave all areas except Donbas and Crimea and no one could interfere in their special military operation. In a way, it is saying, ‘Hand Donbas and Crimea over and we will spare everywhere else for now.’ We also know that the Russians will not stop at that though, and that is where the problem lies. In the end Russia must be stopped and told that they cannot invade other countries as the international community will hold them accountable and punish them.
Much has been said about genocide and where some have been reluctant to call the war crimes genocide. Here is some information about previous genocide events. An intentional wiping out of a race, in this case Ukrainians can be considered genocide.
The mass graves and images speak for themselves back in 1940, where the Soviets prevented the Polish from having an army to defend the country. Isn’t that what Russia is doing to Ukraine?
https://warsawinstitute.review/issue-2020/the-katyn-massacre-mechanisms-of-genocide/
Day 43 (7 April)
The UK has imposed further sanctions— this time against Russian banks, Credit Bank of Moscow and Sberbank.
Last night Congress voted to revive the Lend-Lease Act that was passed in March 1941 during the Second World War. This will enable the US to send military aid more effectively to Ukraine.
Putin’s daughters (Katerina and Maria) have been put under sanctions by the US. To be frank, that should have been done from the start as it is pretty obvious that all businessmen and those with funds they know can be seized, stash funds with their children and other family members.
An emergency meeting will be held today to vote whether to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. A two-thirds vote will see them removed from the 47 member body. Russia has warned that yes vote or abstention will be seen as ‘unfriendly’ and that they will retaliate.
As more CCTV footage of Russians sending parcels to Russia from Belarus, cameras are being forced to be turned off.
A Ukrainian delegation has been in the UK to be trained on how to use weapons that the UK will supply.
The G7 (Canada, France, Japan, UK, USA, Italy and Germany) have made a collective statement condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Witnesses in Obukhovychi have stated that the Russians have used civilians as human shields which is unlawful, yet we know it occurs.
The Russians have surrounded Mariupol and are determined to destroy the city and occupy it. By doing so, it will allow them to move further down the south coast and create their path into Europe.
More people have been evacuated from Mariupol, but this has taken weeks as the Russians who claimed to open the evacuation corridors did not keep to their word and attacked those leaving. There has been an agreement to open new evacuation corridors but previous agreements have not been honoured by the Russians.
Japan has continued to serve ties with Russia, but still has links with a tobacco company. Time will tell if they will suspend their activities in Russia.
I should put up an edit of my earlier post: it is not "word on the street" but a formal announcement by the Finnish government that it plans to submit a membership application to NATO by end of May. I believe after that, it takes about a year to revise and edit and approve. The response from Russia was immediate: a cyberattack on government websites, and a Russian plane entering Finnish airspace for three minutes. These actions were supplemented by outright threats from Russian ministers about "signing a card for the destruction of their country", although the latter pretends to refer to the extensive trade relationship between the two nations.
Mr Putin clearly never heard the one about catching more flies with honey than vinegar.
Apparently, public support in Finland for joining NATO soared 34% to over 60% in the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
I cannot imagine why . . . TC
Firstly looking at the list of countrys above well quite a few have less than good HR records. I was a little surprised by some included. I was always under the impression that such organisations were always of uneven numbers less chance of a hung vote.
Prior to Lend - Lease planes destined for Britain were towed across the US/ Canadian border where they would be picked up and flown back to Britain by young civilian women who prior to the war had held a pilots licence for light aircraft, think only one was lost. Lend Lease was certainly not without its problems certainly concerning ship building, its an interesting period without doubt. Arms etc are theoretically anyway easier, tanks I think we are finally seeing have had their day in modern warfare. A friend of mine was part of a tank crew stuck in the Golan heights during the 6 day war he said it was hell on earth.
Seeing the pictures of the Polish prisoners was a sharp reminder of stories I was told. I grew up in a very multi cultural area Sikhs Hindus as well as people from the Windrush, but before them were the Poles who seeing what way the wind was blowing fled and made their way to England. once here they formed their own company's within the British Armed forces and had their own RAF Squadrons one of which flew up from the local airfield. The Locals would invite them to Sunday lunch such as it was, as they hoped someone would their boys so far from home. These young men knew with great certainty that they could not return home or see family and friends left behind but they came with their blessings in the hope that someday things would change. After the war many stayed in the area married locals and even raised funds for building their own church, and their desendants still remain. A few lived to see Poland "Free" fewer still got to go back to visit. The renewing of family ties was left to a later generation. I metion these things because we have to try to have hope as they did over 80 years ago.