The West Are Forced To Unite In Order To Preserve Democracy And Freedom
Russian occupation consists of imposing the death penalty and re-education through torture
A weekend of reflection, where NATO accepts that this war may go for years, and that Ukraine ceding any land would be a message to Russia that they can bully their way into getting what they want. Putin has made thinly veiled threats at other former Soviet states in NATO, stating that Russia has a right to reclaim the land. NATO cannot afford to ignore this.
While many believed that Putin ‘feared’ NATO, what he has done with this invasion is to test NATO to see how it reacted. The reaction was weak, and delayed and that played into Putin’s hands. The West on the other hand thought they were being diplomatic by avoiding escalation and rejected protecting the Ukrainian airspace or to send heavy weapons. That is exactly what Putin wanted to hear and see—that meant he could plan around how NATO reacted. It took 6 weeks before Stoltenberg (NATO) made an official comment on the invasion, during that time the Bucha massacre had already happened, and Mariupol was already encircled and doomed to be occupied. One can see that the reaction from the western alliances was too late and hesitant, resulting in the Russians making successful attacks.
Macron has lost his majority in the legislative elections where he needed 289 seats as a majority to enable him to pass reforms. This also means some of his ministers (if they lose their seats) will be out of a job and he must then do a cabinet reshuffle, as ministers who lose their seats must resign. At the time of writing, four have had to resign as they had lost their seats.
Some will ask why has he lost over 100 seats when he was voted in a couple of months ago (43 days)? This weakens his position as the French president as it will mean lengthy compromises to get laws passed, but did his foreign policy contribute to people voting against him? Did his appeasement rhetoric as a gamble fail? Is this is how his legacy will end as he cannot serve another term and France will be looking to the next leader already, and seek to tailor them to what the masses want to hear.
The election choice wasn’t good—Macron or Le Pen (far right), so I guess people chose the lesser of two evils. However, the legislative elections choose their local candidates to represent them and NUPES, has an attractive manifesto that speaks to the masses and they created a coalition against the government. Macron’s position on Ukraine has not helped his popularity where the natives mocked him for appearing to support Putin (with his do not humiliate Putin comment). His visit to Kyiv was too late in the day to change the minds of the voters, who probably also struggled to believe him as he did a full 360 turnaround after advocating appeasement and ‘no’ to Ukraine joining the EU for weeks.
There is no doubt that Russia will use the British and American captured fighters for propaganda with sham trials, and that was always the fear which is why governments discouraged travel to Ukraine to fight. This is precisely the situation that nations don’t wish to face no matter how admirable the actions are. In the British case, both had moved to Ukraine several years ago and had Ukrainian partners, and served under the Ukrainian army. Therefore, they are prisoners of war which the Russians have chosen to ignore. The American situation is uncertain, and although the fighters were aware of the consequences it still becomes a diplomatic and domestic matter.
Both governments will have to deal with ‘talks’ with the Russians, and appease the families of those who have been captured. It makes for a difficult situation when the West is compromised domestically through pressure when world democracy is at stake. I suspect that the Russians were on the lookout for foreign fighters to capture for this reason as political prisoners as is often the case in all terrorist and war activity.
Russia is no doubt planning further attacks, and reports claim they have increased their presence in the Black Sea rather than withdraw vessels for the essential humanitarian corridor for grain exportation. How can the West prepare when the do not wish to appear escalate matters? I think the time for caring what the Russians think is over for they don’t care, but will use whatever they can to justify any attacks.
It is a matter of waiting to see what Russia does this week, and then to defend any attacks, when and if they happen. The new head of the British Army (Chief of the General Staff ,General Sir Patrick Sanders) has written a letter to ‘all ranks and civil servants’ stating that the nation should be on high alert due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that Russia poses a high and potential threat. Thus, it means that everyone should be ready at their battle stations in order to protect the nation and to assist the allies to deter any potential attacks.
Day 116 (19 June)
Roman Ratushnyi, aged 24 was buried in Kyiv at the weekend. He was a well-known activist he fought for freedom since he was a teenager. His death is symbolic—he chose to fight for freedom as many Ukrainians are doing. The West wanted them to give in, and threw a few weapons their way to ease their conscience, but the Ukrainians fought on, and do to this day. When the young are willing to sacrifice their lives for democracy, then the least we can do is support them and be inspired by their courage and bravery.
Moldova and Romania have held a joint parliamentary session (18 June 2022) to support Moldova’s application to join the EU, and also to condemn the Russian war against Ukraine.
Scholz is still trying to save face, and has announced that Germany will support Ukraine as long as it is needed. Again, these are but words and Ukraine need to see action. On the domestic front, many Germans were ashamed of their country via Scholz, and to remain in power and gain the support of the people, he needs to represent them and carry out actions that the majority wish to see. Appeasement is not one of those actions.
The Russians are threatening those in Zaporizhzia who do not cooperate with the occupiers with the death penalty. This is a far cry from the Russian propaganda claiming that they are ‘saving’ people, instead they are threatening them with death if they don’t comply.
Day 117 (20 June)
Lithuania has banned the transit of goods through the country to Kaliningrad, which is an isolated part of Russia that has borders with the NATO countries Poland and Lithuania (no land border with Russia as it used to be part of Germany before it was ceded to the Russians). Kaliningrad is the Russian base for the Baltic fleet and where any missiles could be launched. By preventing imports into the country, it would weaken the base and Russian operations.
Russians are too afraid to speak out, but there are some who oppose the war. Accounts from Russians who have protested confirm that they have been threatened by the army with visits to the home, and family members have been spoken to as well. An account from teenagers whose father is fighting in Ukraine disclosed he was sent for military drills in Belarus 4 months ago, and hasn’t seen him since.
Good to learn Lithuania has taken action against Kaliningrad which should weaken the Russian Baltic fleet operation and affect missile sites.