There is always a conflict between high principle and pragmatism. Embracing both is probably a wise strategy—at least in theory. But you cannot have it both ways, or at least you shouldn’t! This is a lesson that the UK Minister of Defense is learning, and the hard way, as he has opened his mouth and inserted his foot.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ recent “suggestion” of British troops being sent to Ukraine to train the military for the first time was quickly walked back; at least, that is what is appeared to be the case when clearer thinking prevailed from above. Certainly, this is what we are being led to believe when reading the mainstream news.
Testing the Waters
However, much more is involved here than first meets the eye, and in reality the offer, as reported in the British media, seeks not only to test the waters but pave the way for commercial joint military production, especially in Western Ukraine
”I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country’.” Mr Shapps said he hoped British defence companies such as BAE Systems would proceed with plans to set up arms factories in Ukraine.
Naturally, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy was acting as one of Pavlov’s Dogs when he responded in telling how he “wanted to turn his country’s defence industry into a “large military hub” by partnering with Western weapons manufacturers to increase arms supplies for Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russia.”
Ukraine has evolved into a hot mess of hate, and a financial and moral sinkhole of failed good intentions. It is not a coincidence that the UK’s rhetoric comes at a time when the US is thinking twice of the quagmire it has gotten itself into. It has temporarily suspended military aid in light of the corruption in Ukraine, especially regarding questions of where the money and weapons have gone, and how it got itself into this mess in the first place.
Don’t Look Up!
Blame that on Putin too, is the call, as the NYT diverts the blame for wavering support for the Ukraine project, and the political class are not tightly closing ranks as before, as they know [only too well] that there are more serious issues for those who voted them into office—like surviving, meeting basic needs and holding onto hope for the future. But people don’t want to face reality by not looking up as the world as they knew it ends.
The stopgap budget bill, which seeks to keep the US government running on borrowed money for another 45 days, may purport of things to come, especially as it was passed without any provisions for the continuation of military aid to Ukraine. Much to the dismay of Ukraine and Defense Contractors, the budget measure didn’t include the $6 billion in military assistance that Ukraine claimed it so urgently needed
But Ukraine does not have to give up hope just yet, according to the WSJ and other media outlets, at least for a few more months, as The Pentagon still has over US$5 billion in its coffers, from an accounting mistake, to supply Ukraine with weapons and other security assistance.
This amount might help support the political careers of some American politicians, in the meantime, as they look for the closest exist and how best to deny their poor choices.
It should also be noted, that due to the recently discovered and very unpleasant fact (at least for the casual observer) that Western military equipment is designed not to be effective on the battlefield, but instead to be eye wateringly expensive in order to make money for the Military Industrial Complex.
The money also flows to their paid puppets in various governments, media outlets and militaries, that what seems an immense sum is, in fact, a drop in the ocean of aid that to date has been sent, which has only slowed the inevitable collapse of the Ukrainian armed forces in the face of Russia’s massive logistical and firepower superiority, and the uncomfortable fact that their weapons systems actually work….
Pulling it all together
But clearer minds are beginning to prevail, not only in the US. As the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, confirmed that there are no immediate plans to send British military instructors to Ukraine, and this neutralized Grant Shapps’ hope that soldiers could be deployed to Ukraine to carry out training.
The British PM now insists that “there are no plans of seeing troops for training in Ukraine “here and now” and further clarifies that such plans as voiced by the defence secretary would be for after the conflict with Russia had ended.”
But Britain also understands that it is next in line to step up and make up shortfalls when Americans demand that funding be curtailed, as public and political support for the war waivers even more. Many of America’s political leaders’ futures depend on what happens in the Ukraine, and how close that “special relationship” is between the US and the UK, which dates back to WW2.
There is no question that Ukraine is challenging it more than ever, and even if it was not already under threat. All what is now transpiring in Ukraine should come as no surprise, especially now, in tandem to the warmongers starting to wake up in the West, even in Germany and other NATO countries.
They understand their economies and populations cannot sustain or tolerate endless wars of convenience and the domestic, regional and economic blowback. The special relationship, in spite of how nice it sounds from a historic perspective, is starting to wear thin,
Just Read My Lips
Russians are known for speaking what they mean, and not just for the sake of a political audience. Former Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, who stated that this would not be a wise move as it would only increase the list of legitimate targets.
Any British forces on the ground in Ukraine would be legitimate targets, and it was taking the World closer to WW3.
So the gist of the story is the new Minister of Defence announced that he wants to deploy UK troops to Ukraine in order to train a large number of Ukrainian recruits en mass, and to have Royal Navy warships escort Ukrainian grain shipments.
The Russians categorically stated that both would be legitimate targets and hunted down. Accordingly, the next day the UK PM slapped the defence minister down, for now.
Also, a senior German politician demanded the unmodified transfer of Taurus air launched cruise missiles to Ukraine to allow them the capacity to hit targets in most of European Russia.
Andreas Schwarz, a member of parliament representing the Social Democrats (SDP), told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview that his country should give Ukraine Taurus cruise missiles, an air-launched weapon with a range of some 500 kilometers, to help its struggling counteroffensive
Marie -Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the Defence Committee at the German Bundestag, has also urged the German government to give long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine because she believes that Ukraine has the right to attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Hitler’s Willing Executioners
The Russians replied that this would make the factories in Germany legitimate targets. This could not come at a worse time, concurrent with the open celebration of a Nazi in the Canadian Parliament, one who received a standing ovation, including from the German Ambassador.
It is becoming evident to much of the population, both in the US and the Commonwealth, that, in spite of claims otherwise, Ukraine, the second-largest country in Europe, is home to the world’s only openly Nazi military units, and not only according to their symbols and rhetoric but in terms of their fans and actions.
Ukrainian political leaders are buttressed and supported by some of the largest and most active Ultra-nationalists both at home and abroad, and the Nazi grouping in Ukraine is financed by foreign taxpayer money—an insidious but also special relationship that started in the wake of WW2 and the decision by the US and UK to evacuate many useful Nazis out of Ukraine and Europe for use by the West in the Cold War against the Soviet bloc.
Ukraine, like so many other countries, has a very dark, hate – filled and evil past. Ukraine is responsible for ethically cleaning, and murdering 200,000 poles from western Ukraine, countless Russians, Roma, and Jews of many nationalities during WW2.
Many Ukrainians from the West of the country continued to fight the Soviet Union and continued killing Jews and minorities even after the war had ended. This carried on for years, until most of the ring leaders had been captured and killed or evacuated to the West, especially to the US, Canada, and UK, where they have been honored in a sick way, to this very day.
However, it should be mentioned that most (the vast majority) of Ukrainians fought on the side of the USSR, United States and the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany and its Axis allies, unfortunately, all that seems to be forgotten as the new generation of the West tries to rewrite history.
Now it is as if the descendants of the Nazis and their sympathisers want their past violent and sick crimes cleansed and whitewashed, as if all what they did were to be forgotten—as if they were born again. Is it possible that the sins of the parents are passed onto the children for many generations to come?
The Lord…visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7 = Deuteronomy 5:8-10)
Seth Ferris, investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.