From all the British commentators I've come across, you and Daniel Jupp are the only ones who understand that a simplistic, one-sided approach to the war in Ukraine will only lead to even greater tragedy than what already took place. Kudos to you but makes one wonder about the causes of this particular blindness. Is this due to a historical animosity between British and Russian Empires? European need for a common enemy?
Thank you. I hate to admit it, but I do see an underlying Russophobia in the British establishment. As for Europe, the creeping loss of sovereignty to unclected Eurocrats who need to justify their existence and grow their empires, that driven a self-defeating fixation on Russia as an enemy.
"I hate to admit it, but I do see an underlying Russophobia in the British establishment".
Really. It's as plain as the nose on, well, Mr Zelensky's face. In 1853 the British and the French invaded Crimea, in alliance with Turkey, simply to do as much harm to Russia as they could. The casus belli was defence of the Turkish Ottoman state's right to persecute and kill Christians within its domains. Something like 750,000 Russians were killed and huge damage done.
Today nothing has changed. The British and French still want to hurt Russia... because it's there.
I fear that's true for some in the establishment, though don't think it's true of most ordinary people, who spend very little time thinking about Russia. In my experience, whenever I talk about Russia, people are interested and want to understand her more.
That is what I would expect. Unfortunately, several of my friends, who are of a certain age, intelligent, educated, and presumably able to find and assess information, display a knee-jerk attitude of “Putin is a murderous dictator”, etc.
I suppose that’s what comes of uncritically accepting what the MSM say.
Now Dr Kendrick is a retired Scots doctor, as honest as the day is long, and a great expert on some difficult topics such as circulatory system diseases. His books, which include "The Great Cholesterol Con", "Doctoring Data", and "The Clot Thickens" are, as far as I know, unsurpassed and absolutely canonical.
He has stuck his neck right out on vital subjects such as Covid and statins. The article on which he commented is about the Covid cover-up. Yet he seems willing to take for granted that the Chinese leadership are systematically untruthful. I don't know what his reasons can be for saying that, but I suppose they include the UK government and mass media - both of which are known to be systematically untruthful.
A classic example of a principle of which I have only recently been convinced: no one is right about everything, and people who are great experts and brave defenders of truth in one sphere may, through no fault of their own, have beliefs that are deeply suspect in other spheres.
Many of us know that it’s not Russia who is the aggressor but USA NATO EU They have planned their proxy war against Russia since 2014. Their goal are to weaken Russia destroy their economy with sanctions and even defeat them in combat Non of that have been accomplished Russias economy are growing the sanctions heard EU more than Russia. They have won the war long time ago But the US EU NATO alliance will not accept the facts that they have lost big time. Trumps peace negotiations are a joke He said he would stop the war in 24 hours BS. Now after nearly 100 days the war have only escalated. It easy to stop. Remove the corrupt criminal dictator Zelensky Stop all US support both money and weapons. Then a ceasefire will happen in a week or 2. Let UN send a peace force and arrange a election. The new elected government negotiate a peace agreement with Russia And remember it’s always the winner who dictates the conditions never the loser.
It is sad but true that most of the civilian deaths were caused by Ukraine in the initial stages of the war; often planned by the Deep States of the West. Anyone familiar with Russia knows that there was huge criticism of Putin for not reacting as muscularly to the deaths of innocent civilians when the Storm Shadow missile attacks hit Crimes and Donbass.
Today as Donald Trump is at least trying to bring a peace accord, it is the UK and European biggies- France and Germany who are the biggest spoilers
The US bought and paid for the violent regime change in Kiev in 2014. That change made Ukrainian ethnic Russians victims of Ukrainian right wing extremist Fascists (Nazi supporters)! Russia was not about to allow the Ukrainian Fascsists to make their fellow Russians second or third class people in Ukraine. Whaen the Kiev illegal government and its Nazi stooges attacked Donbass and other Eastern Oblasts, Russia stepped in to defend them. The rest is history, a failed history of American perfidious plans for Ukraine.
So war kills civilians. Who knew. Europe fake outrage on the killing of civilians while the Ukrainian army slaughters ethnic Russians for being just that is frankly nauseating. Fascist Europe is being slowly exposed for what they are. Fortunately Russia isn't giving in and will liberate us again.
When NAZI rounded up Jews and Gypsies across Europe, the majority of European civilians cooperated. I read somewhere that in some areas people were actually quite enthusiastic to cooperate. What kind of people can systematically generate so much hatred against them all over the world?
In reality, Moscow will also need to compromise, I suspect, on its demand for the full occupation of the four oblasts - Ukraine and the Europeans will never get behind that. However, I also think once NATO is officially off the table, it makes a compromise over currently occupied territory in Ukraine easier to navigate. But let’s see. At the moment, the problem is that the Europeans are only thinking about Ukraine’s terms, which may be understandable, but is also completely unrealistic.
You can't condone the missile strike by the Russians, but what on earth are the Ukrainians doing holding such a parade in Sumy, of all places? It's absolutely ridiculous to put military and civilian lives at risk like this, everyone with a brain knows that Russia has eyes and ears on the ground all over that part of Ukraine and they are never going to let a military ceremony proceed, it is simply far too good of a target. The problem is that this just keeps happening, the Ukrainians keep holding mass gatherings in public places and they keep getting attacked, why are they not learning?
Knowing how fanatical the Bandera Nazis are they would gladly offer up such a target solely for the propaganda purposes they know that could be generated out of such an attack to prevent the negotiation process.
Also I'm not sure why people haven't realized this yet, but the Kiev regime doesn't place very high priority on the well being of the population. They've pursued a strategy of deliberate provocation, then hide behind the innocent when the inevitable retaliation comes to try to drum up support from EU. In direct relation to population, endless forms of extortion, violent abuse in "recruiting", terrorize civilians speaking the wrong language or suggesting possibility of seeking peace, shoot at their own men if attempting to surrender, rarely pick up bodies of their own dead soldiers unless they're from the privileged nationalist units or mercenaries from select countries.
Meanwhile, on the same Palm Sunday the new Wafen SS bombed and destroyed a Christian hospital in Gaza. Hardly any uproar by our side to that deliberate attack on civilians.
The governor of Sumy has since been fired as he was the one that organised the ceremony. Not sure if he is the governor but he's a top official.
20km front the frontline and advertising an award ceremony for the brave invaders of Kursk was a red flag operation in my opinion. Lots of kids were brought along to the event. Willful neglect by the nutcases in Ukraine and London, but sure what would you expect.
It is an ugly truth, but every one near a general or commander is a target. Even that miss that hit children was a what you expect if you have them anywhere near where that command staff is. Moving them in to civilian areas does not give them a free pass. Not killing them when you can, means more of your own people die. You Do not pass up that chance, period.
Probably best not to suggest a fair compromise to Russia, given that they were promised NATO wouldn't move east of Germany, in which case a fair compromise between NATO and Russia would be to draw a new international border halfway between the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Russia. Probably somewhere around the Polish-Ukrainian border then? Lviv. Or Lvov. You say Lviv, I say Lvov, you say Lviv, and I say Lvov, Lviv Lvov Lvov Lviv, it's a lot further west than Kiv.
Russia has been more than patient in the face of decades of pisstaking by the West.
If I were Putin, and compromise were suggested, I would refer the West to my first paragraph and say "Great idea, let's compromise."
The West (as far it is still a collective) would do well to stop crybabying and to let Russia have the four oblasts and Crimea, while that's still on the table.
As for the missile strike on Sumy being used as a pretext to continue the war (under the charade of sending 'peacekeepers'), British and European so-called leaders don't need a missile strike to justify throwing Ukraine under the bus for a few more months/years. Any pretext would do. Candy floss is pink so we must keep the proxy war against Russia going.
British and European so-called leaders have no morals. They will happily sacrifice 1,500 to 2,000 Ukrainians a day as long as it means:
1) They can kick the can down the road (or just avoid) sending our own troops in to be killed.
2) They can kick the can down the road on Ukraine folding and Britain and Europe being swamped with 20 million Ukrainian refugees, including lots of military and paramilitary psychopaths who will be running organised crime in Britain and Europe inside 12 months.
They have another meeting and whine about an accidental killing of Ukrainian civilians yet not a dicky bird out of them when it comes to Israel's deliberate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Their cowardice and lies and hypocrisy make me sick.
I can agree with the overwhelming majority of what you've written but I can't agree with blaming Russia for the missle strike.
I think the strike was completely justified because this is war. You can't call a timeout on the field of battle for the purpose of conducting an awards ceremony.
It was the absolute obligation of Ukraine to arrange for the ceremony to be conducted someplace where civilians wouldn't be at risk. They failed and instead use civilians as human shields. This is a tactic that many terrorists organizations are fond of employing.
Ukraine is solely responsible. The Ukrainian army is where it doesn't belong. Where is Western criticism of Ukraine when it comes to its killing of civilians in Bucha, Kursk, the Donbass and Lugansk Oblasts, Maidan Square etc.
I fault Trump for not having the guts to address this issue directly by acknowledging the truth. The central weakness that Trump has, besides is arrogance, is his inability to tell the truth. People are dying because the West is lying and has been lying for some 30 years.
Russia didn't want this war but it was provoked. This war is addressing what is an existential threat for Russia.
All of America's proxies, including America itself, have a habit of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. Russia has worked hard to not harm civilians. I can't say the same of the U.S.
When this is all over and someone independent (i.e. not Shittypedia) tots up the proportion of civilian deaths/casualties caused by the Russian military, it will be absolutely infinitesimal (and for anyone reading this who thinks that means very big, it actually means very small) compared to the wanton mass murder caused by the Americans in Iraq, leading that evil bitch Madeleine Albright to claim that deaths of half a million Iraqi children was "worth it", like genocided children can just be casually dismissed with the same banality as the users of a well-known brand of cosmetics.
Kids, we bombed the shit out of you, because you're worth it. (Because we're evil).
The whole business is "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Nothing at all that "the West" can do will make any difference to the outcome. In the end, when enough Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or disabled or captured, the criminal gang in Kiev will have to surrender - or, more likely in view of the trials they would face, flee to refuge in Florida or New Zealand (or London, where criminals congregate).
The Russians will then dictate whatever conditions they see fit.
The situation is very similar to that in 1945, when the USSR was prepared to accept no terms from Germany except unconditional surrender.
From all the British commentators I've come across, you and Daniel Jupp are the only ones who understand that a simplistic, one-sided approach to the war in Ukraine will only lead to even greater tragedy than what already took place. Kudos to you but makes one wonder about the causes of this particular blindness. Is this due to a historical animosity between British and Russian Empires? European need for a common enemy?
Thank you. I hate to admit it, but I do see an underlying Russophobia in the British establishment. As for Europe, the creeping loss of sovereignty to unclected Eurocrats who need to justify their existence and grow their empires, that driven a self-defeating fixation on Russia as an enemy.
"I hate to admit it, but I do see an underlying Russophobia in the British establishment".
Really. It's as plain as the nose on, well, Mr Zelensky's face. In 1853 the British and the French invaded Crimea, in alliance with Turkey, simply to do as much harm to Russia as they could. The casus belli was defence of the Turkish Ottoman state's right to persecute and kill Christians within its domains. Something like 750,000 Russians were killed and huge damage done.
Today nothing has changed. The British and French still want to hurt Russia... because it's there.
I fear that's true for some in the establishment, though don't think it's true of most ordinary people, who spend very little time thinking about Russia. In my experience, whenever I talk about Russia, people are interested and want to understand her more.
That is what I would expect. Unfortunately, several of my friends, who are of a certain age, intelligent, educated, and presumably able to find and assess information, display a knee-jerk attitude of “Putin is a murderous dictator”, etc.
I suppose that’s what comes of uncritically accepting what the MSM say.
That's what happens when MSM all says the same thing.
In a comment on his latest article, Dr Malcolm Kendrick declares without qualification that "The Chinese leadership lie about everything". https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2025/04/17/29896/#comment-274061
Now Dr Kendrick is a retired Scots doctor, as honest as the day is long, and a great expert on some difficult topics such as circulatory system diseases. His books, which include "The Great Cholesterol Con", "Doctoring Data", and "The Clot Thickens" are, as far as I know, unsurpassed and absolutely canonical.
He has stuck his neck right out on vital subjects such as Covid and statins. The article on which he commented is about the Covid cover-up. Yet he seems willing to take for granted that the Chinese leadership are systematically untruthful. I don't know what his reasons can be for saying that, but I suppose they include the UK government and mass media - both of which are known to be systematically untruthful.
A classic example of a principle of which I have only recently been convinced: no one is right about everything, and people who are great experts and brave defenders of truth in one sphere may, through no fault of their own, have beliefs that are deeply suspect in other spheres.
Many of us know that it’s not Russia who is the aggressor but USA NATO EU They have planned their proxy war against Russia since 2014. Their goal are to weaken Russia destroy their economy with sanctions and even defeat them in combat Non of that have been accomplished Russias economy are growing the sanctions heard EU more than Russia. They have won the war long time ago But the US EU NATO alliance will not accept the facts that they have lost big time. Trumps peace negotiations are a joke He said he would stop the war in 24 hours BS. Now after nearly 100 days the war have only escalated. It easy to stop. Remove the corrupt criminal dictator Zelensky Stop all US support both money and weapons. Then a ceasefire will happen in a week or 2. Let UN send a peace force and arrange a election. The new elected government negotiate a peace agreement with Russia And remember it’s always the winner who dictates the conditions never the loser.
See also Glenn Diesen.
He's Norwegian. 😁
It is sad but true that most of the civilian deaths were caused by Ukraine in the initial stages of the war; often planned by the Deep States of the West. Anyone familiar with Russia knows that there was huge criticism of Putin for not reacting as muscularly to the deaths of innocent civilians when the Storm Shadow missile attacks hit Crimes and Donbass.
Today as Donald Trump is at least trying to bring a peace accord, it is the UK and European biggies- France and Germany who are the biggest spoilers
But there are your fellow ex-diplomats, Alastair Crooke and Craig Murray. You make a pretty distinguished trio, and are all worth reading.
Ah, for some reason I read that as European rather than British. Must be getting old.
There are also Peter Hitchens, Anatol Lieven, Mary Dejevsky and Patrick Cockburn
Good luck, however American diplomats are not only war mongers but war profiteers.
War is both sweet and profitable from the Beltway.
I am an American veteran.
Good luck anyway Sir.
Thank you. And I agree - although I think in Ukraine the aim is also to cut costs while turning a profit. Anyway, respect to you for your service.
And your service
USMC veteran----one term. Basic and Intermediate Russian. Served after the Wall came down. Still waiting on my damn peace dividend.
The US bought and paid for the violent regime change in Kiev in 2014. That change made Ukrainian ethnic Russians victims of Ukrainian right wing extremist Fascists (Nazi supporters)! Russia was not about to allow the Ukrainian Fascsists to make their fellow Russians second or third class people in Ukraine. Whaen the Kiev illegal government and its Nazi stooges attacked Donbass and other Eastern Oblasts, Russia stepped in to defend them. The rest is history, a failed history of American perfidious plans for Ukraine.
Indeed
Same old. And the outrage is conspicuously absent when Ukraine targets Russian civilians as they have been doing for years.
So war kills civilians. Who knew. Europe fake outrage on the killing of civilians while the Ukrainian army slaughters ethnic Russians for being just that is frankly nauseating. Fascist Europe is being slowly exposed for what they are. Fortunately Russia isn't giving in and will liberate us again.
When NAZI rounded up Jews and Gypsies across Europe, the majority of European civilians cooperated. I read somewhere that in some areas people were actually quite enthusiastic to cooperate. What kind of people can systematically generate so much hatred against them all over the world?
Seems like the Jews are enjoying their mass murders of children and civilians at a level of russian forces destroying Ukrainian forces.
I think why many disagree with you is because they don’t see a genuine desire for comprise from the Kremlin.
I don’t think peace here under Ukraine’s terms is even possible now Trump is in office.
In reality, Moscow will also need to compromise, I suspect, on its demand for the full occupation of the four oblasts - Ukraine and the Europeans will never get behind that. However, I also think once NATO is officially off the table, it makes a compromise over currently occupied territory in Ukraine easier to navigate. But let’s see. At the moment, the problem is that the Europeans are only thinking about Ukraine’s terms, which may be understandable, but is also completely unrealistic.
You can't condone the missile strike by the Russians, but what on earth are the Ukrainians doing holding such a parade in Sumy, of all places? It's absolutely ridiculous to put military and civilian lives at risk like this, everyone with a brain knows that Russia has eyes and ears on the ground all over that part of Ukraine and they are never going to let a military ceremony proceed, it is simply far too good of a target. The problem is that this just keeps happening, the Ukrainians keep holding mass gatherings in public places and they keep getting attacked, why are they not learning?
Knowing how fanatical the Bandera Nazis are they would gladly offer up such a target solely for the propaganda purposes they know that could be generated out of such an attack to prevent the negotiation process.
It's not an accident.
Also I'm not sure why people haven't realized this yet, but the Kiev regime doesn't place very high priority on the well being of the population. They've pursued a strategy of deliberate provocation, then hide behind the innocent when the inevitable retaliation comes to try to drum up support from EU. In direct relation to population, endless forms of extortion, violent abuse in "recruiting", terrorize civilians speaking the wrong language or suggesting possibility of seeking peace, shoot at their own men if attempting to surrender, rarely pick up bodies of their own dead soldiers unless they're from the privileged nationalist units or mercenaries from select countries.
I’ve come to the conclusion that expecting the EU and UK politicians to do the right thing is a category error.
Meanwhile, on the same Palm Sunday the new Wafen SS bombed and destroyed a Christian hospital in Gaza. Hardly any uproar by our side to that deliberate attack on civilians.
The governor of Sumy has since been fired as he was the one that organised the ceremony. Not sure if he is the governor but he's a top official.
20km front the frontline and advertising an award ceremony for the brave invaders of Kursk was a red flag operation in my opinion. Lots of kids were brought along to the event. Willful neglect by the nutcases in Ukraine and London, but sure what would you expect.
Well said. Kudos.
Thank you.
Excellent and well-researched article Ian: well done !
Thanks, Roger.
It is an ugly truth, but every one near a general or commander is a target. Even that miss that hit children was a what you expect if you have them anywhere near where that command staff is. Moving them in to civilian areas does not give them a free pass. Not killing them when you can, means more of your own people die. You Do not pass up that chance, period.
Probably best not to suggest a fair compromise to Russia, given that they were promised NATO wouldn't move east of Germany, in which case a fair compromise between NATO and Russia would be to draw a new international border halfway between the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Russia. Probably somewhere around the Polish-Ukrainian border then? Lviv. Or Lvov. You say Lviv, I say Lvov, you say Lviv, and I say Lvov, Lviv Lvov Lvov Lviv, it's a lot further west than Kiv.
Russia has been more than patient in the face of decades of pisstaking by the West.
If I were Putin, and compromise were suggested, I would refer the West to my first paragraph and say "Great idea, let's compromise."
The West (as far it is still a collective) would do well to stop crybabying and to let Russia have the four oblasts and Crimea, while that's still on the table.
As for the missile strike on Sumy being used as a pretext to continue the war (under the charade of sending 'peacekeepers'), British and European so-called leaders don't need a missile strike to justify throwing Ukraine under the bus for a few more months/years. Any pretext would do. Candy floss is pink so we must keep the proxy war against Russia going.
British and European so-called leaders have no morals. They will happily sacrifice 1,500 to 2,000 Ukrainians a day as long as it means:
1) They can kick the can down the road (or just avoid) sending our own troops in to be killed.
2) They can kick the can down the road on Ukraine folding and Britain and Europe being swamped with 20 million Ukrainian refugees, including lots of military and paramilitary psychopaths who will be running organised crime in Britain and Europe inside 12 months.
They have another meeting and whine about an accidental killing of Ukrainian civilians yet not a dicky bird out of them when it comes to Israel's deliberate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Their cowardice and lies and hypocrisy make me sick.
I can agree with the overwhelming majority of what you've written but I can't agree with blaming Russia for the missle strike.
I think the strike was completely justified because this is war. You can't call a timeout on the field of battle for the purpose of conducting an awards ceremony.
It was the absolute obligation of Ukraine to arrange for the ceremony to be conducted someplace where civilians wouldn't be at risk. They failed and instead use civilians as human shields. This is a tactic that many terrorists organizations are fond of employing.
Ukraine is solely responsible. The Ukrainian army is where it doesn't belong. Where is Western criticism of Ukraine when it comes to its killing of civilians in Bucha, Kursk, the Donbass and Lugansk Oblasts, Maidan Square etc.
I fault Trump for not having the guts to address this issue directly by acknowledging the truth. The central weakness that Trump has, besides is arrogance, is his inability to tell the truth. People are dying because the West is lying and has been lying for some 30 years.
Russia didn't want this war but it was provoked. This war is addressing what is an existential threat for Russia.
All of America's proxies, including America itself, have a habit of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. Russia has worked hard to not harm civilians. I can't say the same of the U.S.
"Russia has worked hard to not harm civilians"
Absolutely right and well done for speaking up.
When this is all over and someone independent (i.e. not Shittypedia) tots up the proportion of civilian deaths/casualties caused by the Russian military, it will be absolutely infinitesimal (and for anyone reading this who thinks that means very big, it actually means very small) compared to the wanton mass murder caused by the Americans in Iraq, leading that evil bitch Madeleine Albright to claim that deaths of half a million Iraqi children was "worth it", like genocided children can just be casually dismissed with the same banality as the users of a well-known brand of cosmetics.
Kids, we bombed the shit out of you, because you're worth it. (Because we're evil).
I wish Russia would just nuke Whitehall.
The whole business is "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Nothing at all that "the West" can do will make any difference to the outcome. In the end, when enough Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or disabled or captured, the criminal gang in Kiev will have to surrender - or, more likely in view of the trials they would face, flee to refuge in Florida or New Zealand (or London, where criminals congregate).
The Russians will then dictate whatever conditions they see fit.
The situation is very similar to that in 1945, when the USSR was prepared to accept no terms from Germany except unconditional surrender.