The Russian invasion of Ukraine – an act of aggression
The invasion that began just over two months ago will have a profound impact on global politics for many years. The conflict is unlikely to end quickly and will take a toll on everyone involved.
russia
The US withdraws from Afghanistan and the inevitable happened
The withdrawal in August of US and allied troops from Afghanistan saw the return of the Taliban in control of that country. This sadly was always going to be the outcome once the US and its allies withdrew.
New book reveals Le Carré’s bleak view of post-Brexit world
John le Carré’s 26th book, Agent Running in the Field, which, according to the publishers is his take on Brexit, and suggests a dystopian future for European liberal democracies in a post-Brexit world. It follows John le Carré’s overarching theme – with friends like these, who needs enemies?
Media Thriving on its Own Shit.
When purveyors of propaganda come to believe their own spin and start entertaining really quite idiotic conspiracy theories and abandoning any pretense of being in possession of rational thought, then we’ve got a problem.
Second Kremlin Killer Unmasked, Putin Untroubled
We know the real names of the Russian spies who bungled the Salisbury novichok poisoning. Will it make a difference to the Kremlin’s plans?
Yulia wants to go home.
Oops. Was this desire meant to be in the script?
No Iran Israeli War.
In spite of all the sharp intakes of breathe going on across media outlets, there will be no war between Iran and Israel. Here’s why.
Trump’s Russia smoking gun
Some of the best tweets on the latest chapter of the Trump tragedy. We never expected the smoking gun to be friendly fire. Will Republicans meekly swallow this too?
The Intercept has published leaked NSA report on Russian hacking of US election
From The Intercept: “Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept.”
Green Party criticises US strike on Syria
“We expect and deserve cooler heads than this from our global leaders.”
Russia’s ‘traditional family values’
Constructive and positive ‘conservative’ organisations everywhere should be outraged at the way the use of ‘traditional family values’ gets corrupted, and they should be doing more to speak out against it.
Syria escalating
Turkey has started shelling the US backed Kurdish forces that are fighting against ISIS. What could go wrong?
Collision course Syria
Russia is backing anti-Islamist Kurds in Northern Syria to control their own territory, and acting directly against the interests of the jihadist groups that Turkey, a NATO member, is supporting. The temperature will only rise from here.
International law and the Turkish shootdown of the RuAF Su-24
Assuming the Russian jet did enter Turkish airspace for 17s, was there really no recourse for Turkey other than using lethal force?
Turkey shoots down Russian jet
Late yesterday Turkey (a NATO member) shot down a Russian jet, either inside its airspace (Turkey claims) or over Syria (Russia claims).
The view from Russia
Long time commenter, grumpy, has had this post from a russian friend explaining his view on what has been happening in the Ukraine. As this event has excited considerable comment over the last few months, this will probably be a good discussion post.
The spy who loved me
Last month on The Nation (or Q+A?) Groser mentioned how the much hyped, but actually insignificant, free trade deal with Russia had hit a mysterious wall. Groser couldn’t even get to see the current minister and had “tough” talks with the ex-minister instead, while Key’s meeting with Putin was cancelled by Putin at the last minute. Now, I think we know what the trouble is.