3 Comments

The Donbas and Luhansk territories declared their independence some time ago. Ukraine did not accept it. Russia did acknowledge it. Weapons and shelling ensued for years in those regions, which now fly the Russian flag and conduct business in rubles. Schools have re-opened and people are changing to Russian sim cards as Ukraine have disable all phones. Is this peace? Or, is it just a pause in a battle that will never be solved. This is an existential struggle for all ethnic Russians in the Ukraine. The country is destroyed, bankrupt and the wealthy citizens have fled for Poland, Hungary, England and even the U.S. The West is oil-starved and wracked with inflation and commodity shortages. People want to stop this hemorrhaging of money and weapons to Ukraine which only benefit the black market. I am certain your article will be read by many -- and I would like to access this internet writer you mention...but he is most likely censored on youtube. Thank you for your perspective -- free thinkers are always welcome here!

Expand full comment

Since it is always the people who suffer it should be the people who decide. We have our own oligarchs in America and we will have a reckoning sooner or later. Unfortunately our ruling Elite see themselves as saviors of the underclass rather than the proper villains that they are. In this you have the advantage of being able to identify those that do not serve you. God help us all.

Expand full comment

I doubt if the Chinese will permit the Russian state to "lose" -- that is, for the Russian state to break up or become a satellite of the US. It would be greatly to their disadvantage; the emperor Xi would probably rather not be fighting in Siberia and Xinjiang. But we are still hopefully far from that. At this point, it seems (reading between the lines between the lines of the propaganda) that both the US and Russian ruling classes think they can "win" in the sense of seriously inconveniencing the other. (I have to use scare-quotes because normal language is no longer usable.) The outcome is hard to predict because few facts are available; both have very serious problems. The easiest outcome would be for both sides to declare victory and go home -- and try to fix some of those problems -- but I don't think they're tired enough yet for that.

Expand full comment