Countdown to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

As I said already we in the Uk are set to have our already high utility bills rise 54 % on the 1st of April which will mean the average households' energy bill will rise by approx £1700 annually ... and we're already affected by sky high petrol and diesel prices, which is not only troubling us at the pumps, but in many other ways. Produce growers are having to throw away tons of stock because they now can't afford to heat the greenhouses, so Peppers, cucumbers et al are being dumped..

metal prices have shot up in price, making car repairs and the price even of metal needed for canning food has shot up...which ultimately means higher prices for the consumer, even if the products are available..

Today Andrew Neil a very respected journalist in the Daily mail says this..


Russia and Ukraine supply 30 per cent of the world’s wheat exports, 20 per cent of corn exports and 80 per cent of sunflower oil exports.

As these supplies are disrupted, there’s a global food crisis in the making.

You can already see its first manifestations. Countries as different as Serbia and Indonesia have barred exports of grain and cooking oils, thus making global shortages worse.

Flour is now being rationed across the Middle East, especially in Egypt, which relies on Russia and Ukraine for 80 per cent of its wheat.

There is panic buying of sunflower oil in Turkey, where it is widely used for cooking.

Nor is this situation likely to get better any time soon. There will be precious few seeds sown this spring in Ukraine’s rich, black soil.

And the consequences of this will soon be seen in your local supermarket, where food prices are set to soar.

This is a particularly cruel cost-of-living crisis because it involves the biggest price rises in things we can’t do without.

Heating your home and putting food on the table are not discretionary spending or optional extras. The scope for belt-tightening is strictly limited when prices start to soar. You just have to pay up.

That’s why it’s especially painful for less well-off households, which already spend a large chunk of their after-tax income on fuel and food. Some simply won’t have the cash to afford the rising prices.


But the brutal manner in which Russia is fighting the war means Putin will be a global pariah for the foreseeable future. Sanctions will be impossible to end when we’ll be calling for his arrest as a war criminal.

Which, in turn, means high energy prices are here to stay. Even if the war results in sensible changes to our absurd energy policies and obsession with net-zero, they will bring no short-term relief.

Households could face astronomic fuel bills and the repayment of their loans in 2023.


 

My God what a mess over there! Why can't they communicate and try to get along...l know a person can't communicate with war tanks but why were there no talks before these past 3 weeks... or why did they stop communicating....geez. Very sad and terrible 😔
 
A Ukrainian Man's Russian Father, did not believe his son when he called to tell him Russia was at war with Ukraine... this is just hard to even credit that there are millions of Adult Russians who are not aware there's a war going on..instead they believe that Russia is saving Ukraine from the Nazi regime..

watch the video...to see the Interview with the Son on his father's response to learning about the war

 
Paco Dennis said:
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I am angry also...those lies Collin told the American people caused one hell of a war and loss of life.Why is the world wanting to supply more massive weapons to the Ukraine knowing that the outcome will be thousands of more deaths? DIPLOMACY!

  • Over 929,000 people have died in the post-9/11 wars due to direct war violence, and several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war
  • Over 387,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting
  • 38 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons
  • The US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $8 trillion
  • The US government is conducting counterterror activities in 85 countries
  • The wars have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the U.S. and abroad
 
Putin... is possibly suffering from a brain disorder caused by dementia, Parkinson’s disease or ‘roid rage’ resulting from steroid treatment for cancer, intelligence sources have claimed.

Citing sources close to the Kremlin, senior figures in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – believe there is a physiological explanation for the Russian president’s globally reviled decision to invade Ukraine.

The intelligence community is sharing a growing number of reports about 69-year-old Putin’s ‘increasingly erratic behaviour’, combined with a bloated appearance in recent footage – and the absurd distance he insists on keeping from visitors to the Kremlin.

A security source said: ‘It is only human sources that can offer you the sort of rich picture that we have of Putin’s psyche.

‘There has been an identifiable change in his decision-making over the past five years or so. Those around him see a marked change in the cogency and clarity of what he says and how he perceives the world around him.’

The source said this failure to think clearly was being compounded by the lack of a ‘negative feedback loop’, with the Russian leader ‘simply not being briefed’ on elements of failures with the invasion.

It has been reported that Putin had placed Sergey Beseda, the head of the FSB’s foreign service, and his deputy, Anatoly Bolyukh, under house arrest after blaming them for intelligence failings that saw his army handed a series of defeats in Ukraine.

The intelligence, which is understood to have been passed to senior British political figures, suggests that Putin has suffered a psychological deterioration caused by physiological factors.

They advance theories that Putin is either suffering from a brain condition, such as Parkinson’s disease or a more generic form of dementia, or that he has cancer and the medical treatment he is receiving has altered the balance of his mind.

The last theory, which is considered credible by British intelligence, is that the mental deterioration is the consequence of so-called ‘roid rage’, caused by the prolonged use of steroids.

Sources cite Putin’s decision to physically isolate himself from guests as a sign of a fear of ‘co-morbidities’ – other serious medical conditions that could increase the risk of death – or the use of drugs which suppress the immune system, leaving him open to infections.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-suggest-bloated-appearance-drugs-effect.html
 
hollydolly said:
Putin... is possibly suffering from a brain disorder caused by dementia, Parkinson’s disease or ‘roid rage’ resulting from steroid treatment for cancer, intelligence sources have claimed.

Citing sources close to the Kremlin, senior figures in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – believe there is a physiological explanation for the Russian president’s globally reviled decision to invade Ukraine.

The intelligence community is sharing a growing number of reports about 69-year-old Putin’s ‘increasingly erratic behaviour’, combined with a bloated appearance in recent footage – and the absurd distance he insists on keeping from visitors to the Kremlin.

A security source said: ‘It is only human sources that can offer you the sort of rich picture that we have of Putin’s psyche.

‘There has been an identifiable change in his decision-making over the past five years or so. Those around him see a marked change in the cogency and clarity of what he says and how he perceives the world around him.’

The source said this failure to think clearly was being compounded by the lack of a ‘negative feedback loop’, with the Russian leader ‘simply not being briefed’ on elements of failures with the invasion.

It has been reported that Putin had placed Sergey Beseda, the head of the FSB’s foreign service, and his deputy, Anatoly Bolyukh, under house arrest after blaming them for intelligence failings that saw his army handed a series of defeats in Ukraine.

The intelligence, which is understood to have been passed to senior British political figures, suggests that Putin has suffered a psychological deterioration caused by physiological factors.

They advance theories that Putin is either suffering from a brain condition, such as Parkinson’s disease or a more generic form of dementia, or that he has cancer and the medical treatment he is receiving has altered the balance of his mind.

The last theory, which is considered credible by British intelligence, is that the mental deterioration is the consequence of so-called ‘roid rage’, caused by the prolonged use of steroids.

Sources cite Putin’s decision to physically isolate himself from guests as a sign of a fear of ‘co-morbidities’ – other serious medical conditions that could increase the risk of death – or the use of drugs which suppress the immune system, leaving him open to infections.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-suggest-bloated-appearance-drugs-effect.html
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Wow. I'm hearing more and more as this crisis unfolds. Yes, he could have serious conditions but I guess the question is is it affecting his thinking and judgement. It can be hard to tell if it's that or if he is just terribly cruel. Only God knows I fear.
 
Ruthanne said:
Wow. I'm hearing more and more as this crisis unfolds. Yes, he could have serious conditions but I guess the question is is it affecting his thinking and judgement. It can be hard to tell if it's that or if he is just terribly cruel. Only God knows I fear.
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Certainly if he's taking steroid medication , it can alter the workings of your mind.. and if it's true he's taking them for a Cancer, then they'll be very strong, and would also account for his added weight.

I remember when I was on prednisone.. which is a steroid..not only did I gain weight but I was angry all the time...
 
hollydolly said:
Certainly if he's taking steroid medication , it can alter the workings of your mind.. and if it's true he's taking them for a Cancer, then they'll be very strong, and would also account for his added weight.

I remember when I was on prednisone.. which is a steroid..not only did I gain weight but I was angry all the time...
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I agree it can alter the workings of the mind but to what extreme with him is a question. I have been on steroids too and they did not make me angry. Being angry a lot and invading a country and killing thousands is another story that needs to be determined. And yes he has a lot of power, too, I just say it's hard to tell exactly what to pinpoint in his physiological psychology. I agree that it can be one or two or even three of many of the hypothesis put forth here. Who can really say for sure? Let's just hope that somehow he is made to stop this madness of the invasion,
 
One of the top EU officials just publicly admitted in a key meeting Thursday they made mistakes leading to the invasion instead of allowing neutrality, I've mentioned in several posts with links. Shows the EU leaders have been discussing the obvious and one can guess militarists overuled pragmatists during discussions before conflict began. Probably also why Zelenski also has changed his narrative. Lets hope both sides quickly move to the end game before more horrible loss occurs.

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/...-mistake-in-promising-ukraine-nato-membership

snippet:

The West made a mistake by promising Ukraine NATO membership, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (Spanish) said.

“I am ready to admit that we made a number of mistakes and that we lost the possibility of Russia’s rapprochement with the West," he said in an interview with LCI TV channel. "There are moments that we could do better, there are things that we proposed and then could not implement, such as, for example, the promise that Ukraine and Georgia will become part of NATO." "I think it's a mistake to make promises that you can't keep,” Borrell added. "Thus, we lost the opportunity to bring Russia closer to the West in order to deter it," he said.
 
David777 said:
One of the top EU officials just publicly admitted in a key meeting Thursday they made mistakes leading to the invasion instead of allowing neutrality, I've mentioned in several posts with links. Shows the EU leaders have been discussing the obvious and one can guess militarists overuled pragmatists during discussions before conflict began. Probably also why Zelenski also has changed his narrative. Lets hope both sides quickly move to the end game before more horrible loss occurs.

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/...-mistake-in-promising-ukraine-nato-membership

snippet:

The West made a mistake by promising Ukraine NATO membership, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (Spanish) said.

“I am ready to admit that we made a number of mistakes and that we lost the possibility of Russia’s rapprochement with the West," he said in an interview with LCI TV channel. "There are moments that we could do better, there are things that we proposed and then could not implement, such as, for example, the promise that Ukraine and Georgia will become part of NATO." "I think it's a mistake to make promises that you can't keep,” Borrell added. "Thus, we lost the opportunity to bring Russia closer to the West in order to deter it," he said.
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You keep posting about neutrality, but NATO did promise Ukraine membership in 2008 so that ship sailed regardless of who might now regret it. The neutrality thing as a "buffer" doesn't make sense on several levels since Russia already shares borders with four NATO countries. And speaking of buffers, Putin shouldn't need them post Cold War. Since 1991, who has attacked Russia? No one. The problem is that Putin is at core still a Soviet and has fantasies of restoring parts of it that he thinks of as some sort of 'True Russia' ...unfortunately for Ukraine, they're high on his list.
 
hollydolly said:
yes I read that from various sources that Putin is informing the Russian people that he's sent the army into Ukraine to save the people from a Nazi regime... ..and the Russian people believe him...
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Putin is referring to the Azov Battalion--a far right neo-Nazi regiment in the Ukranian National Guard. Their badge is swastika inspired. They seem to be doing well under the leadership of their Jewish President Zelenskyy. War and strange bedfellows.... How Putin can sell Zelenskyy's regime as Nazi given that he actually is Jewish is a bit of a stretch despite the existence of the--thankfully, minority--Azov Batallion.

232450.jpg


Their helmet emblems aren't even a twist on the swastika ...they flat out are the same swastika and SS runic insignia.

140909-ukraine-nazi-02.jpg
 
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AnnieA said:
but NATO did promise Ukraine membership in 2008
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If it so wanted, which it appeared to do in 2017, after a previous reversal. At no time has NATO presented Ukraine with an action plan, which is the norm.
How is it a requirement of a sovereign nation, such as Ukraine to request permission of Russia for such a move?
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
If it so wanted, which it appeared to do in 2017, after a previous reversal. At no time has NATO presented Ukraine with an action plan, which is the norm.
How is it a requirement of a sovereign nation, such as Ukraine to request permission of Russia for such a move?
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My reply was to @David777 . It isn't a requirement that Ukraine ask anyone, nor that anyone "allow neutrality" on their behalf as David seems to think is the answer. Or as he said in Post 217 "Declare at least for a near period Ukraine NEUTRAL, free of NATO and weapons"... Allow??? Declare??? The West shouldn't have the power those words suggest. It's up to Ukraine to decide those things.
 

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