mistaken1
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Isn't funny how the two biggest obstacles to the not so great reset are being pitted against one another?
ALERT RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE - Consolidated Thread
- Thread starter danielboon
- Start date
Isn't funny how the two biggest obstacles to the not so great reset are being pitted against one another?
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Yes they are haven't a riot over cash registers. Only in Ukraine can you have riots over cash registers. O really?
The cash register riot sounds like part of a distraction campaign.
jward
passin' thru
The discussions are fascinating, but the secularist and such are quick to complain when religion of any flavour is introduced
..even though extraneous chat isn't appropriate here, I hope the discussions are going on somewhere..really can't have a WW3 buildup without em, dont think :: scratchin' head n shruggin :: imho
..even though extraneous chat isn't appropriate here, I hope the discussions are going on somewhere..really can't have a WW3 buildup without em, dont think :: scratchin' head n shruggin :: imho
jward
passin' thru
Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
By YURAS KARMANAU
7-9 minutes
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leaders sought Tuesday to reassure the nation that an invasion from neighboring Russia was not imminent, even as they acknowledged the threat is real and received a shipment of U.S. military equipment to shore up their defenses.
Moscow has denied it is planning an assault, but it has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks and is holding military drills at multiple locations in Russia. That has led the United States and its NATO allies to rush to prepare for a possible war.
Several rounds of high stakes diplomacy have failed to yield any breakthroughs, and tensions escalated further this week. NATO said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert for potential deployment to Europe as part of an alliance “response force” if necessary. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he is prepared to send troops to protect NATO allies in Europe.
In a show of European unity in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an easing of the crisis.
“We ... expect clear steps from Russia that will contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Scholz said.
Macron, who said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin by phone Friday, added: “If there is aggression, there will be retaliation and the cost will be very high.”
The U.S. and its allies have vowed to hit Russia with sanctions like never before if Moscow sends its military into Ukraine but they have provided few details, saying it’s best to keep Putin guessing.
The U.S. State Department has ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country, and it said that nonessential embassy staff could leave. Britain said it, too, was withdrawing some diplomats and dependents from its embassy, and families of Canadian diplomatic staff also have been told to leave.
In Ukraine, however, authorities have sought to project calm in order not to destabilize the situation and avoid panic — and many citizens have expressed skepticism that there will be an invasion soon.
In parliament, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” that Russia is preparing to invade imminently, noting that its troops have not formed what he called a battle group that could force its way through the border.
“Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. “No need to have your bags packed.”
Reznikov’s remarks follow multiple reassurances from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials. On Monday, Zelenskyy told the nation that the situation was “under control.”
In an interview aired late Monday, however, the defense minister acknowledged that “there are risky scenarios” that “are possible and probable in the future.”
Russia has said Western accusations it is planning an attack are merely a cover for NATO’s own planned provocations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday once again accused the U.S. of “fomenting tensions” around Ukraine, a former Soviet state that has been locked in a conflict with Russia for almost eight years.
Moscow has rejected Western demands to pull its troops back from areas near Ukraine, saying it will deploy and train them wherever necessary on its territory as a necessary response to what it called “hostile” moves by the U.S. and its allies. Thousands of troops from Russia’s Southern and Western Military Districts took part Tuesday in readiness drills in those regions. The maneuvers involved Iskander missiles and dozens of warplanes.
In 2014, following the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in the country’s industrial heartland in the east. The fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels has killed over 14,000 people, and efforts to reach a peaceful settlement have stalled.
In the latest standoff, Russia wants guarantees from the West that NATO will never admit Ukraine as a member and that the alliance would curtail other actions, such as stationing troops in former Soviet bloc countries. Some of these, like the membership pledge, are nonstarters for NATO, creating a seemingly intractable stalemate that many fear can only end in a war.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of massing troops near rebel-controlled regions in the east, aiming to retake them by force — accusations Kyiv has rejected.
Analysts say Ukraine’s leaders are caught between trying to calm the nation and ensuring it gets sufficient assistance from the West in case of an invasion.
“Ukrainian authorities are trying to prevent destabilization and panic inside the country, hence the calming statements saying there is no threat of an imminent Russian invasion,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.
“The Kremlin’s plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball,” he added.
The crisis didn’t stop a large group of people from rallying in front of the parliament in Kyiv, demanding changes to the country’s tax regulations and even clashing with police at one point.
Other Ukrainians watched warily.
“Of course we fear Russia’s aggression and a war, which will lead to the further impoverishment of Ukrainians. But we will be forced to fight and defend ourselves,” said Dmytro Ugol, a 46-year-old construction worker in Kyiv. “I am prepared to fight, but my entire family doesn’t want it and lives in tension. Every day, the news scares us more and more.”
Putting U.S.-based troops on heightened alert for Europe on Monday suggested diminishing hope in the West that Putin will back away from what U.S. President Joe Biden himself has said looks like a threat to invade Ukraine.
As part of a new $200 million in security assistance directed to Ukraine from the United States, a shipment including equipment and munitions arrived Tuesday in Ukraine, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
The U.S. moves are being done in tandem with actions by other NATO members to bolster a defensive presence in Eastern Europe. Denmark is sending a frigate and F-16 warplanes to Lithuania; Spain is sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces, and France stands ready to send troops to Romania.
Biden’s national security team has been working with several European nations, the European Commission, and global suppliers on contingency plans if Russia cuts off energy, according to two senior administration officials who briefed reporters about efforts to mitigate spillover effects from potential military action. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
If needed, Europe would look to natural gas supplies in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. The effort would require “rather smaller volumes from a multitude of sources” to make up for a Russian cutoff, according to one official.
—-
Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani in Washington, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berliin, Barbara Surk in Paris and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.
apnews.com
By YURAS KARMANAU
7-9 minutes
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leaders sought Tuesday to reassure the nation that an invasion from neighboring Russia was not imminent, even as they acknowledged the threat is real and received a shipment of U.S. military equipment to shore up their defenses.
Moscow has denied it is planning an assault, but it has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks and is holding military drills at multiple locations in Russia. That has led the United States and its NATO allies to rush to prepare for a possible war.
Several rounds of high stakes diplomacy have failed to yield any breakthroughs, and tensions escalated further this week. NATO said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert for potential deployment to Europe as part of an alliance “response force” if necessary. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he is prepared to send troops to protect NATO allies in Europe.
In a show of European unity in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an easing of the crisis.
“We ... expect clear steps from Russia that will contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Scholz said.
Macron, who said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin by phone Friday, added: “If there is aggression, there will be retaliation and the cost will be very high.”
The U.S. and its allies have vowed to hit Russia with sanctions like never before if Moscow sends its military into Ukraine but they have provided few details, saying it’s best to keep Putin guessing.
The U.S. State Department has ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country, and it said that nonessential embassy staff could leave. Britain said it, too, was withdrawing some diplomats and dependents from its embassy, and families of Canadian diplomatic staff also have been told to leave.
In Ukraine, however, authorities have sought to project calm in order not to destabilize the situation and avoid panic — and many citizens have expressed skepticism that there will be an invasion soon.
In parliament, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” that Russia is preparing to invade imminently, noting that its troops have not formed what he called a battle group that could force its way through the border.
“Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. “No need to have your bags packed.”
Reznikov’s remarks follow multiple reassurances from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials. On Monday, Zelenskyy told the nation that the situation was “under control.”
In an interview aired late Monday, however, the defense minister acknowledged that “there are risky scenarios” that “are possible and probable in the future.”
Russia has said Western accusations it is planning an attack are merely a cover for NATO’s own planned provocations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday once again accused the U.S. of “fomenting tensions” around Ukraine, a former Soviet state that has been locked in a conflict with Russia for almost eight years.
Moscow has rejected Western demands to pull its troops back from areas near Ukraine, saying it will deploy and train them wherever necessary on its territory as a necessary response to what it called “hostile” moves by the U.S. and its allies. Thousands of troops from Russia’s Southern and Western Military Districts took part Tuesday in readiness drills in those regions. The maneuvers involved Iskander missiles and dozens of warplanes.
In 2014, following the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in the country’s industrial heartland in the east. The fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels has killed over 14,000 people, and efforts to reach a peaceful settlement have stalled.
In the latest standoff, Russia wants guarantees from the West that NATO will never admit Ukraine as a member and that the alliance would curtail other actions, such as stationing troops in former Soviet bloc countries. Some of these, like the membership pledge, are nonstarters for NATO, creating a seemingly intractable stalemate that many fear can only end in a war.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of massing troops near rebel-controlled regions in the east, aiming to retake them by force — accusations Kyiv has rejected.
Analysts say Ukraine’s leaders are caught between trying to calm the nation and ensuring it gets sufficient assistance from the West in case of an invasion.
“Ukrainian authorities are trying to prevent destabilization and panic inside the country, hence the calming statements saying there is no threat of an imminent Russian invasion,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.
“The Kremlin’s plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball,” he added.
The crisis didn’t stop a large group of people from rallying in front of the parliament in Kyiv, demanding changes to the country’s tax regulations and even clashing with police at one point.
Other Ukrainians watched warily.
“Of course we fear Russia’s aggression and a war, which will lead to the further impoverishment of Ukrainians. But we will be forced to fight and defend ourselves,” said Dmytro Ugol, a 46-year-old construction worker in Kyiv. “I am prepared to fight, but my entire family doesn’t want it and lives in tension. Every day, the news scares us more and more.”
Putting U.S.-based troops on heightened alert for Europe on Monday suggested diminishing hope in the West that Putin will back away from what U.S. President Joe Biden himself has said looks like a threat to invade Ukraine.
As part of a new $200 million in security assistance directed to Ukraine from the United States, a shipment including equipment and munitions arrived Tuesday in Ukraine, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
The U.S. moves are being done in tandem with actions by other NATO members to bolster a defensive presence in Eastern Europe. Denmark is sending a frigate and F-16 warplanes to Lithuania; Spain is sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces, and France stands ready to send troops to Romania.
Biden’s national security team has been working with several European nations, the European Commission, and global suppliers on contingency plans if Russia cuts off energy, according to two senior administration officials who briefed reporters about efforts to mitigate spillover effects from potential military action. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
If needed, Europe would look to natural gas supplies in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. The effort would require “rather smaller volumes from a multitude of sources” to make up for a Russian cutoff, according to one official.
—-
Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani in Washington, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berliin, Barbara Surk in Paris and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.
Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
Ukraine’s leaders are seeking to reassure the nation that a feared invasion from neighboring Russia is not imminent.
apnews.com
jward
passin' thru
Irish fishers to peacefully disrupt Russian plans for naval exercise off Cork coast
The artillery drills at the start of February will take place in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
A flotilla of Irish fishing vessels in on the River Lee in Cork. Picture: Greg Murphy
Tue, 25 Jan, 2022 - 10:33
Vivienne Clarke
Irish fishers are planning to peacefully disrupt plans by the Russian Navy to conduct military exercises 240km off the coast of Cork next month.
The artillery drills at the start of February will take place in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Patrick Murphy, chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the area was very important for fishers and that they wanted to protect biodiversity and marine life.
There are currently half a billion tonnes of blue whiting in the area that move up along the coastline, he said.
Mr Murphy said his members felt this was a very serious issue. He referred to the Green Party leader Eamon Ryan who had been on the radio programme earlier talking about the importance of fuel.
“This is the same for us. This isn't about €100 per person, this is the livelihoods of fishermen and fishing families all around the coastline here," Mr Murphy said.
"We've already seen 25% of what we were allowed to catch taken from us in the Brexit negotiations, and the cure to that is to wipe out one-third of the fleet again? Another 60 boats are looking to be decommissioned by this Government.
“We’re entitled to go fishing here. It’s our waters. Can you imagine if the Russians were applying to go onto the mainland of Ireland to go launching rockets, how far would they get with that? It's no different to fishermen, this is our ground, this is our farm, this is where we earn our living.
On Monday the Russian ambassador to Ireland, Yuri Filatov, said that plans by Russia to hold navy military exercises off the coast of Ireland are a “non-story”. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
“Why should somebody be able to come in and do that in our waters? This is going to affect our livelihoods and the marine life. There's seismic activity out there for years and it actually changed the migratory pattern of tuna at one stage.
“This is a very important ground where fish come to spawn and we don't know what's going on out here.
“We should be entitled to go fishing there, and if we're fishing there then these boats, these warships shouldn't be having war games”.
On Monday the Russian ambassador to Ireland said that plans by Russia to hold navy military exercises off the coast of Ireland are a “non-story”.
At a press conference in the Russian Embassy on Monday, Yury Filatov downplayed the significance of the navy exercises after concerns were raised by the Irish Government.
Foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney had earlier said the plans were “not welcome”.
Mr Murphy pointed out that the ships would likely be followed by submarines and asked what would happen if the fishing gear and nets got tangled with a submarine. This was a real concern as fishing boats had been sunk by submarines in the past.
“We in our industry feel nothing's being done here, like everything else, and we want to act. We're not going to face down boats, we're not going to take them on that way, but we are definitely making a point here and we want our Government to do something for us.
“Getting rid of us is not the cure, trust me.”
Read More
Expert: Russia believe Ireland a 'weak spot' between Nato's biggest powers
'War is looming'
The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne says he fears war is looming in Europe because of the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I think this is really a moment of great danger in Europe and I'm not sure that we're fully apprised of the seriousness of the situation that there is war looming in Europe and I think it is extremely, extremely worrying," he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.
Members of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, volunteer military units of the Armed Forces, train in a city park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
“I think we're in a very precipitous situation. There have been diplomatic efforts going on for weeks and months now at this stage to try to prevent this. We support all efforts to try to stop this - this could be very dangerous if it happens”.
Mr Byrne called on Irish citizens in Ukraine to register with the Irish embassy which opened in Kiev last year.
“We've a lot of Irish citizens there, what we're asking is that Irish citizens register with the embassy. In our experience in situations such as this - whatever number of Irish people we have registered, there's multiples more who aren't registered.
“I think it's very important that they do in case of the outbreak of hostilities and we are advising people not to go to Ukraine at the moment on any non essential business or travel.”
A woman walks past a security guard at the British Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Senior officials in Brussels are all “extremely concerned, extremely worried” about the situation.
“We are showing as a European Union 100 percent full solidarity with Ukraine - they're entitled to the integrity of their sovereign area, they're entitled to set their own destiny as a country. We must support democracy there and we must support their rights as a sovereign state.”
Unlike the US, European countries were not withdrawing personnel from diplomatic missions in Ukraine, added Mr Byrne.
“It's very important that we continue to review the security situation in Ukraine, we're doing that all the time, obviously the safety of people there is very important. But it's also important that we show full solidarity with Ukraine and not simply walk away from that. I think we've done that consistently”.
When asked about Russian plans for naval trials off the south west coast of Ireland, Mr Byrne echoed the comment by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Russian Ambassador: “Russia are not welcome here, this is very, very worrying, as to what they are doing.
“The difficulty we have is that they are entitled to do this under international law in our exclusive economic zone, once they give notification to the Irish Aviation authority they are in compliance with international law.”
www.irishexaminer.com
The artillery drills at the start of February will take place in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
A flotilla of Irish fishing vessels in on the River Lee in Cork. Picture: Greg Murphy
Tue, 25 Jan, 2022 - 10:33
Vivienne Clarke
Irish fishers are planning to peacefully disrupt plans by the Russian Navy to conduct military exercises 240km off the coast of Cork next month.
The artillery drills at the start of February will take place in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Patrick Murphy, chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the area was very important for fishers and that they wanted to protect biodiversity and marine life.
There are currently half a billion tonnes of blue whiting in the area that move up along the coastline, he said.
Mr Murphy said his members felt this was a very serious issue. He referred to the Green Party leader Eamon Ryan who had been on the radio programme earlier talking about the importance of fuel.
“This is the same for us. This isn't about €100 per person, this is the livelihoods of fishermen and fishing families all around the coastline here," Mr Murphy said.
"We've already seen 25% of what we were allowed to catch taken from us in the Brexit negotiations, and the cure to that is to wipe out one-third of the fleet again? Another 60 boats are looking to be decommissioned by this Government.
“We’re entitled to go fishing here. It’s our waters. Can you imagine if the Russians were applying to go onto the mainland of Ireland to go launching rockets, how far would they get with that? It's no different to fishermen, this is our ground, this is our farm, this is where we earn our living.
“Why should somebody be able to come in and do that in our waters? This is going to affect our livelihoods and the marine life. There's seismic activity out there for years and it actually changed the migratory pattern of tuna at one stage.
“This is a very important ground where fish come to spawn and we don't know what's going on out here.
“We should be entitled to go fishing there, and if we're fishing there then these boats, these warships shouldn't be having war games”.
On Monday the Russian ambassador to Ireland said that plans by Russia to hold navy military exercises off the coast of Ireland are a “non-story”.
At a press conference in the Russian Embassy on Monday, Yury Filatov downplayed the significance of the navy exercises after concerns were raised by the Irish Government.
Foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney had earlier said the plans were “not welcome”.
Mr Murphy pointed out that the ships would likely be followed by submarines and asked what would happen if the fishing gear and nets got tangled with a submarine. This was a real concern as fishing boats had been sunk by submarines in the past.
“We in our industry feel nothing's being done here, like everything else, and we want to act. We're not going to face down boats, we're not going to take them on that way, but we are definitely making a point here and we want our Government to do something for us.
“Getting rid of us is not the cure, trust me.”
Read More
Expert: Russia believe Ireland a 'weak spot' between Nato's biggest powers
'War is looming'
The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne says he fears war is looming in Europe because of the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I think this is really a moment of great danger in Europe and I'm not sure that we're fully apprised of the seriousness of the situation that there is war looming in Europe and I think it is extremely, extremely worrying," he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.
“I think we're in a very precipitous situation. There have been diplomatic efforts going on for weeks and months now at this stage to try to prevent this. We support all efforts to try to stop this - this could be very dangerous if it happens”.
Mr Byrne called on Irish citizens in Ukraine to register with the Irish embassy which opened in Kiev last year.
“We've a lot of Irish citizens there, what we're asking is that Irish citizens register with the embassy. In our experience in situations such as this - whatever number of Irish people we have registered, there's multiples more who aren't registered.
“I think it's very important that they do in case of the outbreak of hostilities and we are advising people not to go to Ukraine at the moment on any non essential business or travel.”
Senior officials in Brussels are all “extremely concerned, extremely worried” about the situation.
“We are showing as a European Union 100 percent full solidarity with Ukraine - they're entitled to the integrity of their sovereign area, they're entitled to set their own destiny as a country. We must support democracy there and we must support their rights as a sovereign state.”
Unlike the US, European countries were not withdrawing personnel from diplomatic missions in Ukraine, added Mr Byrne.
“It's very important that we continue to review the security situation in Ukraine, we're doing that all the time, obviously the safety of people there is very important. But it's also important that we show full solidarity with Ukraine and not simply walk away from that. I think we've done that consistently”.
When asked about Russian plans for naval trials off the south west coast of Ireland, Mr Byrne echoed the comment by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Russian Ambassador: “Russia are not welcome here, this is very, very worrying, as to what they are doing.
“The difficulty we have is that they are entitled to do this under international law in our exclusive economic zone, once they give notification to the Irish Aviation authority they are in compliance with international law.”
Irish fishers to peacefully disrupt Russian plans for naval exercise off Cork coast
The artillery drills at the start of February will take place in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
www.irishexaminer.com
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Yep. I'm a Christian, and I do believe there will be an End Times period. The secular part of me is also aware that some power centers would love to simulate an End Time and the various situations and actors to attempt the manipulation of believers.
When it's real, the residents of the world, the universe, will know. Otherwise, trying to anticipate it is a crap shoot.
jward
passin' thru
Ali Özkök
@Ozkok_A
1h
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: "NATO is not deploying NATO combat troops in Ukraine"
++++++++++++++
First Squawk
@FirstSquawk
1h
U.S. WON'T RULE OUT ADDING LATER TO 8,500 U.S. TROOPS ON ALERT
That discussion is taking part all over the world and does not stop at the Christian gates.
That is also a problem. So far everything has been man caused. Expect a miracle make miracles happen.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Is this similar to "Expect an Antichrist, make an Antichrist happen"? There is no certainty that synthesis will work. God's timing is his timing, and we'll know it when it happens.
The Hammer
Has No Life - Lives on TB
If the apparent targets of the invasion are not yet freaking out, it makes one wonder why the Biden folks are...Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
By YURAS KARMANAU
7-9 minutes
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leaders sought Tuesday to reassure the nation that an invasion from neighboring Russia was not imminent, even as they acknowledged the threat is real and received a shipment of U.S. military equipment to shore up their defenses.
Moscow has denied it is planning an assault, but it has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks and is holding military drills at multiple locations in Russia. That has led the United States and its NATO allies to rush to prepare for a possible war.
Several rounds of high stakes diplomacy have failed to yield any breakthroughs, and tensions escalated further this week. NATO said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert for potential deployment to Europe as part of an alliance “response force” if necessary. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he is prepared to send troops to protect NATO allies in Europe.
In a show of European unity in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an easing of the crisis.
“We ... expect clear steps from Russia that will contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Scholz said.
Macron, who said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin by phone Friday, added: “If there is aggression, there will be retaliation and the cost will be very high.”
The U.S. and its allies have vowed to hit Russia with sanctions like never before if Moscow sends its military into Ukraine but they have provided few details, saying it’s best to keep Putin guessing.
The U.S. State Department has ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country, and it said that nonessential embassy staff could leave. Britain said it, too, was withdrawing some diplomats and dependents from its embassy, and families of Canadian diplomatic staff also have been told to leave.
In Ukraine, however, authorities have sought to project calm in order not to destabilize the situation and avoid panic — and many citizens have expressed skepticism that there will be an invasion soon.
In parliament, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” that Russia is preparing to invade imminently, noting that its troops have not formed what he called a battle group that could force its way through the border.
“Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. “No need to have your bags packed.”
Reznikov’s remarks follow multiple reassurances from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials. On Monday, Zelenskyy told the nation that the situation was “under control.”
In an interview aired late Monday, however, the defense minister acknowledged that “there are risky scenarios” that “are possible and probable in the future.”
Russia has said Western accusations it is planning an attack are merely a cover for NATO’s own planned provocations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday once again accused the U.S. of “fomenting tensions” around Ukraine, a former Soviet state that has been locked in a conflict with Russia for almost eight years.
Moscow has rejected Western demands to pull its troops back from areas near Ukraine, saying it will deploy and train them wherever necessary on its territory as a necessary response to what it called “hostile” moves by the U.S. and its allies. Thousands of troops from Russia’s Southern and Western Military Districts took part Tuesday in readiness drills in those regions. The maneuvers involved Iskander missiles and dozens of warplanes.
In 2014, following the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in the country’s industrial heartland in the east. The fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels has killed over 14,000 people, and efforts to reach a peaceful settlement have stalled.
In the latest standoff, Russia wants guarantees from the West that NATO will never admit Ukraine as a member and that the alliance would curtail other actions, such as stationing troops in former Soviet bloc countries. Some of these, like the membership pledge, are nonstarters for NATO, creating a seemingly intractable stalemate that many fear can only end in a war.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of massing troops near rebel-controlled regions in the east, aiming to retake them by force — accusations Kyiv has rejected.
Analysts say Ukraine’s leaders are caught between trying to calm the nation and ensuring it gets sufficient assistance from the West in case of an invasion.
“Ukrainian authorities are trying to prevent destabilization and panic inside the country, hence the calming statements saying there is no threat of an imminent Russian invasion,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.
“The Kremlin’s plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball,” he added.
The crisis didn’t stop a large group of people from rallying in front of the parliament in Kyiv, demanding changes to the country’s tax regulations and even clashing with police at one point.
Other Ukrainians watched warily.
“Of course we fear Russia’s aggression and a war, which will lead to the further impoverishment of Ukrainians. But we will be forced to fight and defend ourselves,” said Dmytro Ugol, a 46-year-old construction worker in Kyiv. “I am prepared to fight, but my entire family doesn’t want it and lives in tension. Every day, the news scares us more and more.”
Putting U.S.-based troops on heightened alert for Europe on Monday suggested diminishing hope in the West that Putin will back away from what U.S. President Joe Biden himself has said looks like a threat to invade Ukraine.
As part of a new $200 million in security assistance directed to Ukraine from the United States, a shipment including equipment and munitions arrived Tuesday in Ukraine, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
The U.S. moves are being done in tandem with actions by other NATO members to bolster a defensive presence in Eastern Europe. Denmark is sending a frigate and F-16 warplanes to Lithuania; Spain is sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces, and France stands ready to send troops to Romania.
Biden’s national security team has been working with several European nations, the European Commission, and global suppliers on contingency plans if Russia cuts off energy, according to two senior administration officials who briefed reporters about efforts to mitigate spillover effects from potential military action. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
If needed, Europe would look to natural gas supplies in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. The effort would require “rather smaller volumes from a multitude of sources” to make up for a Russian cutoff, according to one official.
—-
Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani in Washington, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berliin, Barbara Surk in Paris and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.
Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
Ukraine’s leaders are seeking to reassure the nation that a feared invasion from neighboring Russia is not imminent.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
They expected an invasion until we began issuing directives for our human shields, uh, I mean, diplomats and their families to leave.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
I will no longer engage in the thread drift. Have a good day.
jward
passin' thru
Terror Alarm
@terror_alarm
Ukrainians are on edge and growing anxious as uncertainty about #Ukraine's future due imminent invasion by #Russia — wrecks havoc on their collective psyche. incidents such as these have spiked in the last few days. Civil unrest is likely.
View: https://twitter.com/terror_alarm/status/1486025986563096576?s=20
@terror_alarm
Ukrainians are on edge and growing anxious as uncertainty about #Ukraine's future due imminent invasion by #Russia — wrecks havoc on their collective psyche. incidents such as these have spiked in the last few days. Civil unrest is likely.
View: https://twitter.com/terror_alarm/status/1486025986563096576?s=20
Every day is a good day. Keep an open mind, you are going to need it.
jward
passin' thru
Stop Panicking About Ukraine—and Putin
Russia has its own limits and logic that make war unlikely.
By Jeff Hawn, a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s department of international history.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Jan. 24. Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
January 24, 2022, 1:15 PM
In early November 2021, several media outlets and the U.S. government began to warn of an imminent full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on a scale not seen since the Iraq War of 2003. The attack was predicted to come around Christmas or in mid-January. Both dates have come and gone, and no invasion has materialized, yet some policymakers and most pundits continue to warn that it will happen, and soon. Moscow announced a series of demands on European security—unrealistic ones, but ones that seem set as a starting point for a dialogue among peers. This is a shift in the dynamic that Russia has been pushing for years: increasing its indirect confrontations with the United States to get America to treat it as a peer, not a spent force that can be ignored or dictated to.
Rest beyond paywall
foreignpolicy.com
Russia has its own limits and logic that make war unlikely.
By Jeff Hawn, a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s department of international history.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Jan. 24. Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
January 24, 2022, 1:15 PM
In early November 2021, several media outlets and the U.S. government began to warn of an imminent full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on a scale not seen since the Iraq War of 2003. The attack was predicted to come around Christmas or in mid-January. Both dates have come and gone, and no invasion has materialized, yet some policymakers and most pundits continue to warn that it will happen, and soon. Moscow announced a series of demands on European security—unrealistic ones, but ones that seem set as a starting point for a dialogue among peers. This is a shift in the dynamic that Russia has been pushing for years: increasing its indirect confrontations with the United States to get America to treat it as a peer, not a spent force that can be ignored or dictated to.
Rest beyond paywall
Stop Panicking About Ukraine—and Putin
Russia has its own limits and logic that make war unlikely.
foreignpolicy.com
But they sure will suck up all the weaponry and training we can give them just in case.
jward
passin' thru
Sure got quite a few nice gifts under the tree, didn't they.
..not clear why they're straddling that line between "it's safe here, don't over react" and "send the calvery"
..not clear why they're straddling that line between "it's safe here, don't over react" and "send the calvery"
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Two part reply:
1) saying 8,500 troops and then was it parts of the 18th Airborne and 82nd Airborne Division doesn't add up. That would be over 15,000 troops. Now if they meant to say elements of the 82nd yada yada yeah. So was wondering if I could get some clarity on that.
2)Just to let y'all know: My neighbor's son works for Blackwater Corp. And he has been shooting nearly all day. Started off with pistols, and now he's up to rifles. Some of those shots are either hitting tannerite or he's doing some .50 cal shots. So I'm wondering if Blackwater called and told him to get some practice in, or he did it on his own. In anticipation of the coming conflict.
1) saying 8,500 troops and then was it parts of the 18th Airborne and 82nd Airborne Division doesn't add up. That would be over 15,000 troops. Now if they meant to say elements of the 82nd yada yada yeah. So was wondering if I could get some clarity on that.
2)Just to let y'all know: My neighbor's son works for Blackwater Corp. And he has been shooting nearly all day. Started off with pistols, and now he's up to rifles. Some of those shots are either hitting tannerite or he's doing some .50 cal shots. So I'm wondering if Blackwater called and told him to get some practice in, or he did it on his own. In anticipation of the coming conflict.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Yes, I know about the complaints. That's why I don't want to discuss biblical views here. There are more appropriate threads for those discussions. BUT, when an article posted here in the thread has biblical connotations/view, it is worth addressing, if only in passing.
Its the 18th Airborne Corps which has both Airborne divisions, the 10th Mountain and 3rd Infantry Divisions. As for the numbers. 82nd AB keeps one of its 3 brigade combat teams on standby and is supposed to be ready to deploy in 18 hours as the Immediate Response force. Each of those brigade Combat Teams is approx 4200-4300 men. So 2 brigade combat teams gets us to that 8500 soldiers.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Like I said, a lot of differing views. I don't want to see the discussion on the thread get off topic onto religious views. It's a great thread as is, and I think it's the best ongoing discussion on TB right now.
jward
passin' thru
hmm.
Terror Alarm
@terror_alarm
#ALERT | #Belarus dictator #Lukashenko appears to have completely gone insane after going on a rant claiming yet again, that #IMF & #WorldBank tried to bribe him so he could impose lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates.
View: https://twitter.com/terror_alarm/status/1486029504019640324?s=20
Terror Alarm
@terror_alarm
#ALERT | #Belarus dictator #Lukashenko appears to have completely gone insane after going on a rant claiming yet again, that #IMF & #WorldBank tried to bribe him so he could impose lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates.
View: https://twitter.com/terror_alarm/status/1486029504019640324?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Insider Paper
@TheInsiderPaper
4m
BREAKING: Biden says we have no intention of putting US forces into Ukraine
@TheInsiderPaper
4m
BREAKING: Biden says we have no intention of putting US forces into Ukraine
The Hammer
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Signs that things will fizzle out?
Either Putin does whatever he feels like, surrounded by a chorus of global harrumphs, or maybe some kind of deal.
Yes they are haven't a riot over cash registers. Only in Ukraine can you have riots over cash registers. O really?
i gotta talk to a friend about this tomorrow
adgal
Veteran Member
Yesterday, chief Pentagon spokesman Kirby said that the troops would only be stationed in NATO countries that border Russia and the Ukraine - to protect the NATO members' countries.
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Seeker22
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Please keep that off this thread. Google works.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Excuse me? You need to wait about jumping me, until you read all my posts. Thanks.
Well Shazam. If that translation in the video is accurate he sounds pretty rational to me.
Mark D
Now running for Emperor.
Don't get me wrong, I think Vlad is a tyrant, but the part in bold is a huge part of Vlad's complaint against the West. The U.S. equivalent would be having Russian troops in Canada and Mexico. I think we would be a bit on edge if that was the case.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
not necessarily insane---as all who've kept up w covid from the beginning know--after all, Sweden has been doing what he's suggesting all along, and NEVER shut down or went along with the mandates.
But how does this relate to the Russian invasion/situation?
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Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
THIS is Russia' CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
Stop Panicking About Ukraine—and Putin
Russia has its own limits and logic that make war unlikely.
By Jeff Hawn, a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s department of international history.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Jan. 24. Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
January 24, 2022, 1:15 PM
In early November 2021, several media outlets and the U.S. government began to warn of an imminent full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on a scale not seen since the Iraq War of 2003. The attack was predicted to come around Christmas or in mid-January. Both dates have come and gone, and no invasion has materialized, yet some policymakers and most pundits continue to warn that it will happen, and soon. Moscow announced a series of demands on European security—unrealistic ones, but ones that seem set as a starting point for a dialogue among peers. This is a shift in the dynamic that Russia has been pushing for years: increasing its indirect confrontations with the United States to get America to treat it as a peer, not a spent force that can be ignored or dictated to.
Rest beyond paywall
Stop Panicking About Ukraine—and Putin
Russia has its own limits and logic that make war unlikely.
Here is an old "Foreign Policy" article. Like we been here before.
Sorry, America, the New World Order Is Dead – Foreign Policy
An expert's point of view on a current event.
Sorry, America, the New World Order Is Dead
Putin isn't dragging the world back to the 19th century. Obama just needs to stop pretending it's 1991.
By Eric A. Posner
Photo: Getty Images
MAY 6, 2014, 2:56 PM
Russia is dragging the world back into the 19th century, at least according to Barack Obama’s administration. "You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext," said Secretary of State John Kerry, following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. "What we see here are distinctly 19th- and 20th-century decisions made by President [Vladimir] Putin to address problems," added another senior administration official. "Sending in troops and, because you’re bigger and stronger, taking a piece of the country — that is not how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st century," President Obama declared a few weeks later.
As Moscow continues to threaten a broader invasion — most recently demanding that Kiev withdraw its troops from eastern Ukraine — America’s indignant response reveals a great deal about how its leaders think about international norms. Unfortunately, it is the Americans, not the Russians, who are trapped in a time warp.
They believe that the legal norms promoted by the United States during its brief period of global hegemony — which started in 1991 and has eroded over the last decade — are still in force. They aren’t.
In the 1990s, it was possible to believe that a new international order had replaced the bipolar system of the Cold War. Memorably dubbed the "new world order" by President George H.W. Bush, it was characterized by the peaceful settlement of disputes through international courts, universal human rights, international criminal justice, and free trade and investment. Above all, the new liberal order emphasized international rule of law — the idea that international law and legal institutions would be the major source of global organization.
It was not a coincidence that this order emerged after the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving the United States the sole superpower — and American politicians, commentators, and intellectuals supremely enthusiastic about it. Today, this order is breaking down, the result of the decline of U.S. power and hence America’s ability to enforce its values and interests abroad. While many American intellectuals believed that the order reflected the consent of foreign elites to a self-evidently superior system of international organization, it in fact represented their acquiescence in the face of superior power. Now that this superior power is gone, so are the norms that it promoted.
The first pillar of the post-Cold War liberal order was the international court. The idea that countries should use international tribunals rather than war to settle their disputes actually dates back to the 19th century, when the United States and Britain successfully used arbitration to resolve their differences. But after World War I, and then again after World War II, the victors established permanent international courts with jurisdiction over all disputes that could arise under international law. The most prominent such court has been the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a U.N. organ established in 1945. In the 1990s, more than 100 countries established a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism aimed at resolving disagreements over trade barriers. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which was given jurisdiction over maritime disputes, began operations in the same decade.
But though such forums have helped resolve trade disputes, it is clear now that the broader ambition of international tribunals — to provide a peaceful avenue for resolving quarrels that might otherwise lead to war — has failed. The ICJ has successfully handled some minor border disputes, but when the interests of powerful countries are at stake, it has been evaded at every turn. When the court ruled against the United States in a dispute with Nicaragua in 1986, for example, the United States simply disregarded the judgment and withdrew from the ICJ’s jurisdiction. Today, the two most dangerous sources of conflict are Russia’s and China’s relations with their neighbors. Neither country has been willing to submit those conflicts to international courts. The reason is simple: International law favors the status quo allocation of territory and the sovereignty of states, while Russia and China seek to enhance their power by exerting influence over foreign countries or areas. Because the United States and other countries are not strong enough to compel Russia and China to embrace international tribunals — and these countries have no independent interest in doing so — the forums gather dust.
The second pillar of the post-Cold War order was recognition of human rights. Under international human rights law, all governments must respect the rights of their citizens. While the number, nature, and scope of those rights are contested — and while many countries that signed onto human rights treaties argued that rights must be interpreted in light of their own religious, traditional, or practical commitments — the new liberal order envisioned a world that abided by the basic terms of liberal democracy. The Soviet Union’s collapse seemed to provide spectacular vindication for this view and to portend its universal acceptance.
Yet the human rights regime has failed as well.
It has become increasingly clear that many countries simply disregard their human rights commitments. Russia, for example, has moved toward authoritarianism despite its ratification of universal human rights treaties and its accession to the relatively robust European Convention on Human Rights, which empowers people to bring cases against their governments. China has certainly not liberalized. Most developing countries lack the capacity to implement their human rights commitments, even when their governments and publics support them. Even Western countries violated the spirit of these treaties by taking harsh measures against al Qaeda in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The failure of the human rights regime has put the West in a difficult position. When violations become too obvious to ignore — as was the case in the Balkans and Rwanda in the 1990s and in Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria in the 2000s — the West faces a choice between ignoring them and thus violating its commitment to human rights, and launching a military intervention that violates its commitment to peaceful resolution of disputes. The only escape from this dilemma is the U.N. Security Council, which alone possesses the legal authority to launch wars against countries that do not comply with their human rights obligations.
But the United Nations functioned effectively only during the early 1990s, when other members of the Security Council feared U.S. might. It was in 1991 that the Security Council authorized a military intervention in Iraq, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. But today the Security Council is as frozen as it was during the Cold War, and declining U.S. power has made it difficult for the West to defy Russia, China, and world opinion as NATO did in 1999, when it intervened in Kosovo, and as the United States and its allies did in 2003 by invading Iraq. A small bright spot was the Security Council’s 2011 authoriza
tion of military force in Libya, a resolution from which Russia and China abstained. But that brief period of cooperation quickly descended into acrimony as Moscow and Beijing accused Western countries of exceeding their authority to protect the civilian population and instead using military force to overthrow the Libyan government. Now both adamantly oppose intervention in Syria.
The third pillar of the liberal order was international justice: the idea that people, especially national leaders, who commit or order atrocities such as torture or genocide, or who launch illegal wars, should be tried and punished before an international criminal tribunal. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II were the first to embody these ideas, but they were not expanded upon or replicated until after the Cold War. In the 1990s, the United Nations set up two ad hoc tribunals to try people accused of committing atrocities during the Balkan wars and the Rwanda genocide. In 2002, an international treaty signed by 139 countries entered into force to create a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC).
But international criminal justice has also ground to a halt. The tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are being wound down. Although the ICC has launched a number of investigations and held a few trials, it is increasingly clear that it will never be more than a marginal institution. Only weak African countries seem to have anything to fear from it, and their leaders resent the court’s nearly exclusive focus on them. Inevitably, the ICC has come to be seen as a tool of imperialists. It will never try Russians, Chinese, or Americans, because their governments never ratified the treaty. Moreover, the ICC depends on powerful countries to support it, to send it business through U.N. referrals, and to arrest suspects. It cannot risk offending them.
The fourth pillar was free trade and investment. After World War II, Western countries entered a legal regime, then known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, that required them to gradually lower tariffs. This regime was strengthened in the 1990s, when the WTO was established. Efforts were also made to bring international investment under legal control — encouraging rich countries to invest in poor countries by preventing poor countries from expropriating those investments. In recent decades, hundreds of bilateral investment treaties have been signed, both protecting investments and providing for arbitration in case of dispute.
Trade is the one bright spot in the current international environment.
No one is reverting to protectionism, as countries did prior to World War II. The WTO dispute settlement mechanism continues to function. But efforts to improve on past successes have nonetheless foundered. Investment law has also faced problems, as countries have begun to disregard adverse judgments from arbitration panels.
Back in the 1990s, at the height of optimism about international law, academics believed that they had to answer a puzzle. The four pillars of the new international legal system self-evidently embodied a liberal worldview that countries like China and Russia did not subscribe to and that indeed most countries outside the West had traditionally rejected. So what would compel these countries to obey international law? An enormous number of theories were produced, with their accompanying buzzwords: Countries complied with international law because their leaders had internalized the law. Or because they were bound by cooperative networks of judges and bureaucrats from different countries. Or because domestic and international NGOs put pressure on violators. Or because countries had become interdependent. Or simply because it was fair. At the heart of all these theories was the assumption that all countries complied with international law more or less equally.
The most obvious explanation for legal compliance was all but ignored. Countries obeyed international law in the post-Cold War period because the United States and, to a lesser extent, Europe forced them to do so. Part of the explanation, of course, was that with the Soviet Union’s collapse, the liberal order gained significant prestige. But much of the explanation lies in the fact that countries feared that if they did not play by the rules set by the West, they would be deprived of aid, investment, technical cooperation, and opportunities to trade — and, in extreme cases, might be threatened with sanctions and military force.
If this explanation wasn’t clear in the 1990s, it is clear now. As the United States loses power, it has become obvious that no one else will guarantee the peaceful settlement of disputes, enforce human rights, or ensure that international criminals are tried and convicted. Indeed, the one exception among the collapsing pillars of the liberal order — international trade — proves the rule. The United States, Europe, Japan, and China are the four great trading blocs, and they cooperate with each other because they know that if anyone reverts to protectionism, others will retaliate. The system functions because it never depended solely on enforcement by the United States. The United States is just one of several countries that enforce the rules through the threat of mutual retaliation.
Put another way, the liberal order that was born with the Soviet Union’s collapse rested on a fiction: that all nations were equal and submitted to the same rules because they reflected universal human values. In reality, of course, the rules were Western rules, and they were enforced largely by the United States, which was no one’s equal. Today, the fiction has been exposed, and the world order looks increasingly like the one that reigned during the 19th century. In this order, a small group of "great powers" sets the rules for their relations with each other and interacts under conditions of rough equality.
Smaller countries survive by establishing client relationships with the great powers. The great powers compete with each other over these client relationships, but otherwise try to maintain conditions of stability that allow for trade and other forms of cooperation. The major challenge for the great powers is to ensure that competition for clients does not erupt into full-scale war. In the late 19th century, the great powers were Russia, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Today, they are the United States, China, Russia, and Europe.
The implications of this new-old order are significant. The great powers will settle their disputes through diplomacy (one hopes) or war, not with courts. Human rights and international justice will prevail only in the Western sphere of influence, at least until people in China and Russia decide that these ideals are attractive to them. But we can expect trade and investment to continue to flourish, as they did at the end of the 19th century up until World War I.
From this standpoint, many of today’s conflicts, which seem inexplicable from the perspective of the post-Cold War order, are not hard to understand. In its disputes with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other neighbors over various islands in the Pacific, China refuses to submit to a tribunal because its goal is
not to vindicate international law, but to extend its power over its neighborhood. The same is true for Russia with respect to Georgia and Ukraine. Syria used chemical weapons against its own citizens because its government saw an advantage in doing so. President Bashar al-Assad does not fear the International Criminal Court because he enjoys the protection of Russia. North Korea provokes South Korea and the West in order to gain concessions in diplomatic negotiations; it does not fear the U.N. Security Council or the International Court of Justice because it can rely on China’s support. Governments throughout the Middle East — Egypt, Turkey, Libya, Iraq — are cracking down on dissent because they are more worried about local disorder than about their obligations under human rights treaties. And Western powers share the fear of disorder and so will not pressure them to improve human rights.
These are the facts — it’s time for theory to catch up.
Samuel Adams
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I think, like the Revolution, “God” is watching/waiting.....to see what we will do.
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adgal
Veteran Member
I totally agree with you.
Seeker22
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Not doing this today. Post stands. This is a tense time and people come here for news, bible study has its own thread and does play a part. You are excused.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm not going to discuss this further with you. I've said over and over in my comments that this is not the thread for biblical discussion. What about that don't you understand?