When World War One began, the common perception was that it would be over in a matter of weeks. The reality turned out to be very different. Similarly, the West got involved in the conflict in the Ukraine because they believed that after a brief application of sanctions Russia would be cowed into withdrawal. Five months in, we are now finding out just how misguided that hope was. And now we find out that our ally is well on its way to becoming a long term financial ward of Western taxpayers.
Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz has asked its international creditors to defer payments on its debt for two years, fanning expectations that the government may soon do the same.
Naftogaz which has a $335 million bond maturing as well as two interest payments due on July 19, said Russia’s invasion had left it short of cash as many of its customers were now unable to pay their bills.
A long slugging match is the most difficult kind of war to endure. But do we want Russia to take over other countries ?
Oh don’t worry, Putin will stop once he takes Ukraine
Just like Hitler and Sudetenland.
Don’t worry Vlad, NATO will stop expanding east any country now.
Not if those countries keep asking to join. Which they did.
Can’t the Biden’s (personally) afford to help out their Ukraine *ahem* business partners?
Reply to Kenji
Maybe we could convince
Hunter, Joe, and Jim Biden, And hundreds of congressmen living and Deceased to pay back the billions they laundromatted and stole from Ukraine ?
Just out of the goodness of their hearts ?
Perhaps Kemi in the UK PM race is not ye tbankrupt politically
https://youtu.be/lKAZSLpQAzQ
Ahh…but they’ll all be home for Christmas!
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Hans Rupprecht the “Irredeemable”
Ahh…but they’ll all be home for Christmas!
HA
? Where have I read and heard that Shitte before?
WW1 in Europe ended in 1945.
WW1 combatants remained active until 1989.
We owe Ukraine a lot more, for the great service to humanity they provide at a terrible cost to themselves.
Heh.Good one.
A factual statement. We owe them for making the world a better pace one orc at a time.
Once again, you demonstrate that your motives have nothing to do with the welfare of the Ukrainians, and is instead motivated by blind, unreasoning hatred.
You are one of the most vile people I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading.
Here’s a nice walk-around of Sochi, to trigger you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhLfo519biM
My motives are welfare of the civilized. Civilized includes Ukrainians. Dead orcs increase the security and welfare of the civilized. Hence we owe Ukrainians. A lot.
You on the other hand, clap like trained seal, for genocide, mass rapes and ethnic cleansing. You’re the vilest of the vile.
The Azov NAZI fan accuses others of rape, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Alinsky at its best.
Yes, the noble heroes of A3OB regiment have been valiantly fighting against genocide, mass rapes and ethnic cleansing that are being committed by the Siberian horde.
As for Alinsky, he hated the Western world as much as you and Pootin do.
@HiHo … I use my magic scroll button on Colonialista. It is so much easier, I save time not reading its spew, and I am not distracted by its noise.
Yeah Ho, do what BDSM is doing, that will help a lot with your frequent runs for safe space.
Colon When you find yourself fully aligned with MSNBC, the democrats, corrupt Republican leadership, CBC, Torstar etc, maybe just maybe you are the one who is wrong.
Whatever bug you have up your a8s about Russians has warped your perspective horribly.
On the contrary, otherwise sensible people (not creatures like Ho or BDSM) at SDA have lost their marbles completely and reduced themselves to reflexively, without a single thought, denying everything the MSM are saying.
The reason I hate everything russian is because of what russia is and what russians are. I have explained it numerous times. Their invasion of Ukraine is not the reason I hate them. It is merely a confirmation why hatred of them is justified.
Colon, you just confirmed yourself as a bigot. Congrats.
Yes russians are again enthusiastically engaging in genocide while gullible idiots cheer them on, but I am the bigot for hating them.
I have zero F@#$s to give about Ukraine,,,
You have that many? : P
So the Clinton Foundation will be rolling in to help The Ukraine?
Demon Rats have to protect the steal..
How better than to have the Western Ukraine as a client..all that “Humanitarian Aid” to “manage.
Sounds like an asset Trudeau might get Canada to purchase. It would fit in the portfolio nicely with Transmountain.
And if we didn’t intervene, Naftogaz would no longer exist. What’s your point?
BTW M270s have arrived. Expect a Russian offensive around Bakhmut soon.
The problem with WW1 and the ‘planning’ was that there hadn’t been a lot of ‘European’ and/or ‘proper’ wars for a long time. The US Civil didn’t count as they were not a real country and many of the prior wars actually had been over pretty quickly.
A nation would say “we want ‘Objective'”, then go beat the other guys up in a single massive decisive battle and the loser would then go “So… ‘Objective’ you say… I guess we can give that to you” and they would go back to marrying each other’s cousins at the regal level like nothing had happened.
The what – unfortunately – didn’t seem to occur to may of these people what could happen if the single decisive battle didn’t happen, or if it does happen and the loser simply raises more troops and keeps fighting. The length of the US Civil should have been a bit of a hint but again – America? Not a real military country with real armies and the war has only gone on for so long because none of them really know what they are doing.
So WW1 – yes they DID think the war would be over quickly cause that was the lessons they taught themselves beforehand.
(The other point often discussed is that nations entered WW1 without a clear objective. Open to debate but Britain may have come closest with ‘Get Out of Belgium!!!’ but for most of the others it was you attacked my ally so I am attacking you. Having an objective gives a central point for peace talks)
Getting to Ukraine I believe the ‘West’ – to use a loose term – assumed the Russia would PutinKrieg his way across Ukraine in a matter of days and all they needed to do was make a bunch of ‘We are shocked and horrified at the massive human crisis’ type statements and quietly allow the trade blockade to lapse in a couple of months in return for Russia allowing International Aid(tm) groups full access to Russian occupied Kiev. Everything would be forgotten like the Fall of Kabul… you remember the Fall of Kabul… right?
So they nailed their colours to the mast using very small nails that could be easily removed by making a lot of statements and giving out weapons and then… realised the war wasn’t over and their mast was still awkwardly standing with a whole bunch of ‘Next Big Cause’ groups standing around reminding people that they booked the mast for June and expect their own flags to be flying by now.
Now the ‘West’ are stuck with either continuing to support Ukraine or throwing them under a bus.
Awkward…
Muddy…
I have to argue on some points.
The Napoleonic Wars – which were no further in the past to the generation of 1914, than WW1 is to us – is generally regarded as lasting 12 years and at a rough count involved close to 100 significant battles and sieges.
The Crimean War – more recent to 1914-ers than WW2 is to current generations – lasted 2&1/2 years and involved half a dozen major actions p.
The 2nd Boer War …. In which many young officers learnt lessons that they would apply in WW1 , took another 2&1/2 years and another dozen battles.
Point is that there was no shortage of longer campaigns for the serious student to look back on, I suspect that we are putting too much value on political and media hype. Sure, there are some military planners who like to argue that “this time, we will avoid the mistakes of the last war” … which sounds kind of familiar… but both trench warfare and mass-mobilisation date back as far as the early 1800s. Assuming that propaganda is based on realistic assessments is little different from believing that the enemy will let you fight the kind of war you want.
….. and I think that some of us are making the same mistakes today.
Cheers…
There is an old saying that fighting a war requires three things.
Money.
More money.
All the money that you have or can beg and borrow.
The only thing more expensive than fighting a war… is losing one.
The only thing that this item says about Ukraine is that their independence from Russia is so important to them that they are expending *all* of their resources to maintain it. Anyone who imagines that it can be “business as usual” behind the lines has never had to fight for their survival and tthat of the things that they hold dear.
“Wars cost money”. Good thing the Anglo bankers helped their idiot tool Hitler pay for his war. Did the Czechs ever get their gold back?
“they believed that after a brief application of sanctions Russia would be cowed into withdrawal. ”
That’s a lie. They believed no such thing. The idea was to limit Russia’s capacity for war-making, and it’s working.
There is nothing in your quoted text to support the claim that Ukraine is becoming a taxpayer ward. Please stop lying.