Ukraine

[Bryn]

Putin now has an excuse to stop when he has reclaimed the bits he says belongs to Russia, spring offensive ..

He's not reclaiming, he's attempting to further annexe another independent state's territory. The annexation of Crimea may have had some potential justification in the history of the USSR but that, too, was a major contravention of international law.

[JasonPalmer]

Putin sees things differently, he russias man of destiny...

[french frank]

Are these the articles you meant?

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/ukraine-fight-war-russia-plan-peace

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/negotiations-putin-peace-talks-worthless-moscow-kyiv

Is the Jonathan Powell who wrote the first article this former Labour Adviser? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonath...abour_adviser)

Yes and yes. Interesting that brother Charles Powell was adviser to M Thatcher! Must have been a bit like "Home with the Johnsons".

[french frank]

The annexation of Crimea may have had some potential justification in the history of the USSR .

Which, in case anyone posting here hadn't noticed, no longer exists. The Russian Federation is not entitled to march into neighbouring independent countries and claim bits of them for its own.

And it isn't absolutely necessary to constantly present the opposing point of view with assertions and no evidence IMVVVVVVHO, as Lord Gould might say!

[Bryn]

Which, in case anyone posting here hadn't noticed, no longer exists. The Russian Federation is not entitled to march into neighbouring independent countries and claim bits of them for its own.

And it isn't absolutely necessary to constantly present the opposing point of view with assertions and no evidence IMVVVVVVHO, as Lord Gould might say!

Indeed. I mentioned the USSR because it was during the time of its existence that, pretty much as an administrative convenience, Crimea was assigned to what is now the independent state of Ukraine. However, that was then and when Ukraine broke from the Soviet Union in 1991, Crimea was and remains, in international law, one of its component regions.

[JasonPalmer]

Putin is friends with a philosopher who has very different views on how Russia needs a strong man and an empire

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin

Edit

"Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group said that the influence of Dugin's "Eurasian ideology" on events in eastern Ukraine and on Russia's invasion of the Crimea was beyond any doubt.[92] According to Vincent Jauvert, Dugin's radical ideology became the basis for the internal and foreign policy of the Russian authorities.[93] "So Dugin is worth listening to, in order to understand to which fate the Kremlin is leading its country and the whole of Europe."[93]"

[french frank]

Putin is friends with a philosopher who has very different views on how Russia needs a strong man and an empire

We know all about Dugin. But the discussion is about Ukraine and its future. What Putin may want, contrary to the good of others, is not what matters.

[Bryn]

We know all about Dugin. But the discussion is about Ukraine and its future. What Putin may want, contrary to the good of others, is not what matters.

Indeed, though it is worth adding that it has been suggested that far from being a reliable friend, Putin ordered the car bomb attack which killed Dugin's daughter, who shared her father's fascist outlook. The intended target was held to have been Alexander Dugin, rather than his daughter who was famed for her pro-Putin reports from the Russian front in Ukraine.

[JasonPalmer]

We know all about Dugin. But the discussion is about Ukraine and its future. What Putin may want, contrary to the good of others, is not what matters.

And yet...what he wants...matters

[french frank]

Indeed, though it is worth adding that it has been suggested that far from being a reliable friend, Putin ordered the car bomb attack which killed Dugin's daughter, who shared her father's fascist outlook. The intended target was held to have been Alexander Dugin, rather than his daughter who was famed for her pro-Putin reports from the Russian front in Ukraine.

It was certainly always more likely that Dugin was the intended victim, whatever the identity of the would-be assassins.

[JasonPalmer]

From what I heard it was Ukrainian special forces who were after the father.

[Bryn]

From what I heard it was Ukrainian special forces who were after the father.

Quite as likely a false-flag operation by the FSB (a second attempt on their part to remove him). As to Ukrainian special forces, Darya herself could have been as likely a target, given her role as a Putin propagandist.

[HighlandDougie]

As a subscriber to 'Comment is Freed', this has just appeared in my inbox:

https://samf.substack.com/p/putins-twilight-a-prelude-to-darkness?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

[french frank]

As a subscriber to 'Comment is Freed', this has just appeared in my inbox:

https://samf.substack.com/p/putins-t...m_medium=email

Lyne is probably right that a lasting peace requires a generational change in Russian leadership, though Putin is still a 'young' man - only 70.

[HighlandDougie]

Apologies to Historian but I received the below earlier - as ever, well worth reading

https://samf.substack.com/p/the-storm-before-the-calm