Putin is now on the tip of pressing the button of nuclear war.

 The World Stands With The People Of Ukraine

Throughout the world people are raising their voices against Putin's second war with Ukraine.

 (top): South Africa, The Netherlands, Malaysia, Turkey, (bottom) Japan, Israel, Finland, Cyprus

 

And as the people of the world raise their voices against Putin's war with Ukraine, BBC News informs us that,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has described sanctions imposed by Western nations over his invasion of Ukraine as "akin to a declaration of war".
.....
Mr Putin also warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be seen as participation in the armed conflict." (BBC News : 5 March 2022) (my emphasis)

 

Putin is now openly threatening the US, the EU, the UK and, more significantly, throwing down the gauntlet to NATO.

As reported by Gordon,

"Putin, speaking about the ports of Belarus in the Baltic Sea, raises the stakes and hints at the attack of the Baltic countries after Ukraine, Gerashchenko believes
....
On March 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced support for the development of Belarus' "port facilities" in the Baltic Sea. He said this while speaking via video link at the flag-raising ceremony of the Marshal Rokossovsky ferry, TASS reports .
.....

According to Putin, he spoke about this with Alexander Lukashenko (left), who calls himself the president of Belarus.
.....
The head of the Kremlin said that his " Belarusian friends are interested in being present in the Baltic, interested in developing their own port facilities." (Gordon UA : 6 March 2022) (my emphasis) (Google Translate))

Putin's threat to invade ANY of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania, is propelling Finland and Sweden into the arms of NATO.

 John Simpson now reports that,

"Like other Scandinavian countries, besides Sweden, there has never been much support here to join the Nato military alliance. But when the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry recently warned Finland and Sweden explicitly that any move towards Nato could have military consequences, people in both countries were deeply shocked.
.....
Since then, Russian warplanes have blatantly intruded into Swedish airspace.""BBC News : 6 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Responding to Putin's threat towards Finland and Sweden, Gerard O'Dwyer (right) reports that,

" Nordic governments are scaling up defense cooperation and preparedness planning against the backdrop of regional tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
.....
The Nordic states are looking to accelerate the deepening of joint defense measures that may lead to more serious discussions around the need for a Nordic-styled solution modeled on the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 5, which considers an attack on one member state to be an attack on all states.
.....
NATO membership is certain to become a hot election topic in both Sweden and Finland based on fresh opinion polls since Feb. 24 that indicate popular majorities, for the first time, to joining NATO as part of enhanced national security strategies." (Defense News : 4 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Mahanology : YouTube : 27 Februarry 2022

On the economic front pressure is also mounting against Putin.

As reported by  John McCrank,

"U.S. payments firms Visa Inc (V.N) and Mastercard Inc on Saturday said they were suspending operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, and that they would work with clients and partners to cease all transactions there.

Within days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside of Russia will no longer work within the country, the company said." (Reuters : 6 March 2022) (my emphasis)

The immediacy of these suspensions will have a profound effect on the ordinary people of Russia who have become so dependent on using Mastercard or Visa.

Putin's criminal war actions are now being brought home on the Russian people.

How the Russian people will respond to this economic hammer blow on their use of Visa or Mastercard now remains to be seen.

Putin has thrust Russia into becoming a global pariah state.

Finland and Sweden are on the tip of joining NATO.

And Putin is now on the tip of pressing the button of nuclear war.

(to be continued)

Putin is now using his first nuclear option

Putin has fired his first NUCLEAR salvo in his second war in Ukraine! (AlJazeera : YouTube : 3 March 2022)

 As reported by the BBC,

• "A fire broke out at the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - Europe's largest - after a Russian shelling attack. Ukraine responders have managed to extinguish the blaze

• Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said there were no victims from the fire, which didn’t affect the reactor sites but a nearby five-storey training site

• Russia’s attack sparked immediate condemnation from Western leaders who called it a “horrific” and “reckless” act that threatened the safety of all of Europe

Ukraine President Zelensky had hours ago called on other nations to take more action immediately againsty Putin's “nuclear terror”  (BBC News : 4 March 2022) (my emphasis)

In the words of Lawrence O'Donnell,

"Tonight the nuclear nightmares of the Cold War returned to the world, thanks entirely to Vladimir Putin" (MSNBC : 4 March 2022) (my emphasis) 

And breaking news now, the BBC reports that,

"6:58
Breaking

Ukraine says Russian forces seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russian troops have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian authorities say.
...
"Operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units," a local authority said on social media, quoted by Reuters news agency.
...
Station personnel continue to work and monitor the state of the power units, it said.
A fire broke out at the plant earlier - Europe's largest - after a Russian shelling attack." (BBC News: 4 March 2022) (my emphasis)

More disconcerting, as reported by Jessie Yeung, Adam Renton, Jack Guy, Laura Smith-Spark, Adrienne Vogt, Melissa Macaya and Maureen Chowdhury,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that he will continue military operations in Ukraine during a 90-minute call initiated by Putin, an Élysée Palace source told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.
...

The Élysée source said "the worst is yet to come" in Ukraine following Macron’s phone call with Putin.
...
 "Without making a prediction, we should expect the worst is yet to come." The (French) president said so yesterday as well. 

There is nothing in what Putin said today that should reassure us," the source said. (CNN : 4 March 2022) (my emphasis)

As also reported by David Averre,

"Russia's foreign minister [ that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] warns: 'A third world war will be NUCLEAR and destructive'

• Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that WWIII will be fought with nukes

• He warned that a third World War 'will be a nuclear and destructive one'

• Lavrov also accused Kyiv of delaying peace talks at the behest of the US and said the invasion aims to prevent Ukraine from obtaining nuclear weapons of its own

• It comes as Russian losses in Ukraine mount in the face of fierce resistance
  

• He warned any nation who intervenes in the operation will face 'consequences greater than any you have faced in history' (Mail Online : 2 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Putin is losing the ground war. (video : MSNBC : 3 March 2022)

And because he is loosing the ground war, Putin is now using his nuclear option as he has always threatened.

In the words of Prof Claire Corkhill (left),

" "For the first time this morning, I'm frightened," Sheffield University nuclear materials expert Prof Claire Corkhill tells me.
...
It appears that only one of six reactors at the plant is now operating.
...
Corkhill says the reactors are being taken "offline" which means "they’re shutting down the nuclear reaction and putting them into a safe and stable state".
...
She adds this might have been Russia's intention.
...
“If you want to target their power supply, you attack a building close to the power plant and force operators to shut it down," she says.
...
Corkhill adds that a "worst-case scenario" would be that the plant’s electricity supply were damaged as "we could be looking at a scenario similar to what happened at Fukushima in 2011, where a loss of power led to a loss of cooling, which caused a meltdown of three of its nuclear reactors"." (BBC News : 4 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Just think back to when Khrushchev was deposed by Leonid Brezhnev. It was the Supreme Soviet Presidium that forced Khrushchev to retire. (Wikipedia)

"Beginning in March 1964, Supreme Soviet presidium chairman and nominal head of state Leonid Brezhnev began plotting Khrushchev's removal with his colleagues. While Brezhnev considered having Khrushchev arrested as he returned from a trip to Scandinavia in June, he instead spent time persuading members of the Central Committee to support the ousting of Khrushchev, remembering how crucial the committee's support had been to Khrushchev in defeating the Anti-Party Group plot."

Putin does not have the equivalent of a Supreme Soviet Presidium that can collectively make decisions, and that can remove a President.

Instead, Putin has a Mafia-like kleptocratic "siloviki clique" that he controls.

                       (left to right : Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimo, Nikolai Patrushev, Viktor Zolotov)

                     (left to right: Sergey Naryshkin, Sergei Lavrov, Valentina Matviyenko, Alexander Bortnikov)

The recent public dressing down by Putin of Sergey Naryshkin indicates just what a strong hold Putin has on this 'siloviki' clique of his.

No-one should therefore expect that this "siloviki" clique can unseat Putin and end his dangerous war with Ukraine.

And it is this fact that makes Putin's first 'nuclear' salvo in his war with Ukraine a real danger for the world.

(to be continued)

Ukraine confronts the might of Putin's army

NBC News: YouTube: 28 February 2022 

 

Karoun Demirjian (right) also reports that

  

•  "Russia, careening toward economic crisis under the weight of devastating Western sanctions, has put its nuclear forces on alert as the Kremlin’s siege of Ukraine intensifies....

• The United States and its NATO partners have sent thousands of troops and advanced weaponry to harden defenses in the alliance’s eastern flank while funneling billions of dollars worth of military hardware to Kyiv — moves met by the Kremlin with threats of “consequences.”...
  

• There is no deconfliction line — nor, according to U.S. officials, does Moscow seem interested in one....
  

• The rapid escalation, observers say, has made the once-theoretical risk of direct confrontation between Russia and the West a tangible possibility with little hope of the tension subsiding, maybe for years to come.
  

• “My worry is that there’s a miscalculation, a misunderstanding, an accident, a mistake” that touches off more widespread conflict, said Jim Townsend, who managed Europe and NATO policy at the Pentagon during the Obama administration. (Washington Post (MSN) : 1 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Sanctions are beginning to be felt by the Russian people.

 

As reported by Anastasia Stognei  and Simon Fraser,

 

"Ordinary Russians face seeing their savings wiped out. Their lives are already being disrupted.
...
The sanctions against some Russian banks include cutting them off from Visa and Mastercard, and consequently Apple Pay and Google Pay.
...
Daria, 35, a project manager in Moscow, said this meant he'd been unable to use the metro." (BBC News : 1 March 2022) (my emphasis)

 

As reported by CBS news,

"NATOS's response force was activated for the first time in history to protect NATO allies closer to Russia and Ukraine ..." (CBS News : YouTube : 28 February 2022) (my emphasis)

Events are unfolding so rapidly that it is near impossible to keep up with them.

Putin is discovering that he has bitten off more than he can chew.

Ukrainian soldiers and the Ukrainian people are putting up a STIFF, and UNEXPECTED, RESISTANCE to the military onslaught of Putin's army against the people of Ukraine.

Putin knows that he is fast heading towards his downfall.

He is now at his most dangerous, as evidenced by the fact that,

"As the sixth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine unfolds here's the latest:

• In Kharkiv - Ukraine's second city - at least 10 people were killed and 20 injured in a huge explosion when a Russian missile hit the regional government's headquarters
• The President of Ukraine calls this an act of "state terrorism" and accuses Russia of war crimes as residential areas are also attacked and civilians, including 16 children killed
• In an address to a special session of the EU parliament, he appeals for membership of the bloc, saying it will be stronger with Ukraine in it" (BBC News : 1 March 2022) (my emphasis)
  

 Перемога Україні : Victory to Ukraine

 

 

(to be continued)

Putin is now staring into the abyss of nuclear war.

"The world now stands at the crossroads.

Either Putin and his 'siloviki' are stopped from destroying democracy in Ukraine or universal law dies." (blog entry : 26 February 2022)

As AliVelshi reports,

"What we're witnessing unfold in Ukraine right now is possibly the most consequential foreign military conflict since Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939.
...
There are bad actors watching ... potentially waiting in the wings for an opportunity of their own that stand to gain from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
...
Three obvious ones come to mind ...Iran ... North Korea ... and China ..." (MSNBC : 26 February 2022) (my emphasis)

Even the German government, who for years have been supporting their businessmen sucking at the teats of Putin's Russian cash cow, have finally had their eyes opened and are now willing not only to supply Ukraine with defensive armaments but, more significantly, to limit Moscow's access to the SWIFT interbanking system.

As reported by France24,

"Germany on Saturday dramatically ramped up its backing for Ukraine's battle against Russia, approving weapons deliveries for Kyiv in a policy U-turn and agreeing to limit Moscow's access to the SWIFT interbank system. " (France24 : 26 February 2022) (my emphasis)

 As also reported by YeniSafak,

"Germany will supply Ukraine 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, a government spokesman announced on Saturday.
...
The German government has taken this decision on Saturday, and the weapons from the German army’s stocks will be delivered to Ukraine as soon as possible, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement....

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has been “a turning point” for Europe, threatening the international order established after World War II." (YeniSafak : 27 February 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Reuters , AlJazeera, Washington Post)

ABC News : YouTube : 26 February 2022

As Germany now begins to supply Ukraine with weapons, Andrew Rettman also reports that,

"Nato is preparing to send extra troops to Russia-facing allies to reinforce a red line around the war in Ukraine even as it keeps "deconfliction channels" open with Moscow.
...
Elements of Nato's response force could be deployed to Poland and further afield within "the next coming days", Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg (right) told a press conference in Brussels on Thursday (24 February).

"There will be more forces in the east of the alliance," he said.
...
[...]  Nato had also put hundreds of fighter planes and warships on high alert "from the Barents Sea to the Mediterranean," Stoltenberg added.
...
Nato already had US, British, German and other troops in Russia-deterrent battalions stationed in the Baltic and Black Sea regions years ago. (EU Observer : 24 February 2022) (my emphasis)

Even though the "deconfliction channels" between NATO and Putin are been kept open, let us remind ourselves of Putin's chilling threat to use nuclear weapons.

As reported by RachelMaddow (left),

"But those [recent military] exercises [between Russia and Belarus] took on new meaning when Putin just went ahead and said it .. when he offered a thinly veiled threat that if any nation dared to try to stop him from invading Ukraine, they would be met with the threat of nuclear war" (MSNBC: YouTube: 25 February 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also: RobertMendick : Daily Telegraph : 24 February 2022)

The world now stands poised on the brink of a global war. 

In Putins own words,

"And now some very very important words for those who could be tempted to intervene from outside.

Whoever tries to hinder us, and more so to create threats to our country ... to our people ... should know that Russia's reponse will be immediate and it will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history. We are ready for any development of events .... All the necessary decisions have been made in this regard ... I hope that I will bea heard ..." (The Sun : YouTube : 24 February 2022) (my emphasis)

 

Putin is now staring into the abyss of nuclear war. 

STOP PRESS 14:31 UK time 27 February 2022

 

PUTIN PUTS NUCLEAR FORCES ON ALERT

 Less than an hour ago Putin has put his nuclear forces on full alert.

As reported by Yuras Karmanau, Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov,

"In a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.
...
The order means Putin has ordered Russia’s nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch, raising the threat that the tensions could boil over into nuclear warfare. In giving it, the Russian leader also cited hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including Putin himself." (The Washington Post : 27 February 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also: BBC News  : Business Insider : US News : 27 February 2022)

(to be continued)

Either Putin and his 'siloviki' are stopped in Ukraine or universal law dies.

There is something rather obscene in the German government sending 5000 helmets to the Ukrainian army which, at the moment, is keeping Putin's Russian army at bay in their defence of democracy in Europe and the world.

What is even more obscene, as reported by Callie Patteson, is the pronouncement of Germany Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (left), that,

“We are standing on Kyiv’s side,” Lambrecht said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “We have to do everything to de-escalate. Currently, arms deliveries would not be helpful in this respect; there is agreement on this in the Germany government.” (New York Post : 25 February 2022) (my emphasis)

Let us also recall that in 2014, in a speech at the 50th Munich Security Conference, Germany's then President Joachim Gauck said that,

 

"I have to admit that while there are genuine pacifists in Germany, there are also people who use Germany’s guilt for its past as a shield for laziness or a desire to disengage from the world. In the words of the historian Heinrich August Winkler, this is an attitude that grants Germany a questionable "right to look the other way, which other Western democracies" cannot claim for themselves. Restraint can thus be taken too far if people start making special rules for themselves. Whenever that happens, I will criticise it." (Federal President Joachim Gauck) (my emphasis) (blog entry 30/11/2014)

 

And as  Callie Patteson further reports,

"In January, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated the government’s stance, (cf. Christine Lambrecht above) saying: “In recent years, the German government has repeatedly decided not to supply lethal weapons. There are reasons for this, which are of course also based on all the developments of recent years and decades.”

As Germany's former President, Joachim Gauck, stated in 2014, the year when Putin illegally invaded, and annexed, Ukraine's Crimea and then proceeded to invade Ukraine's Donbas, "

" ... there are also people who use Germany’s guilt for its past as a shield for laziness or a desire to disengage from the world." (cf Joachim Gauck above)

And also finally .... finally ...., as reported by Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh, the world is beginning to re-evaluate their praises heaped upon Angela Merkel's appeasement of Putin when he illegally invaded, and annexed, Ukraine's Crimea and then proceeded to invade Ukraine's Donbas.

 

As they report,

 

"Germany's relatively doveish stance on Russia - which some experts attribute partly to its guilt over World War Two - has now prompted a broad reevalution of German-Russian ties under successive governments including those led by Merkel.
...
However Germany continued to increase its dependence on Russian energy throughout her mandate. It now relies on Russia for more than half its energy needs, constraining its ability to get tough with Putin.
...
Merkel also supported the Nord Stream 2 pipeline intended to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany bypassing Ukraine, the traditional transit route, calling it a "commercial project" even as Washington and others warned it would weaken Kyiv.
...
Merkel's former Economy and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (right) of the SPD

told German radio Deutschlandfunk this week that he had supported Nord Stream 2 because he believed such projects "carry a peace dividend".
...
"The question for me and Merkel is whether we were too optimistic," he said. " (Reuters : 25 February 2022) (my emphasis)
 

The German government now stands on the sidelines, watching the death and destruction that Putin is now raining upon the people of Ukraine whilst they wring their hands in supposed anguish, shielding behind the near Orwellian argument that they believed that "Nord Stream2 signified 'Peace' whilst for Putin it signified 'War'.

 

That Putin lives in an 'Orwellian' world of his own is also signified by the 'Orwellian reasoning' of the current Russian chair of the UN Security council that Putin's second invasion of Ukraine signifies 'peace', to which the Ukrainian delegate's reply proves that  Putin's current war with Ukraine is tearing up the Charter of the UN and that, consequently, Russia should be removed from the Security Council.

 

MSNBC : 24 Februsary 2022

 

Meanwhile, Ukrainians are bravely holding the line against Putin's attempt to destroy their democracy that was birthed at the 2014 Maidan Revolution of Dignity.

As reported by Greg Heffer (left),

"Russia had not taken any of its major objectives in the first 24 hours of its invasion of Ukraine and has lost more than 450 personnel, according to the UK's defence secretary.
...
Ben Wallace told Sky News it was the UK government's view that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends "to invade the whole of Ukraine". (Sky News : 25 February 2022) (my emphasis)

As also reported by Joy Reid,

"Putin clearly wants regime change [in Ukraine] " (MSNBC : 25 February 2022) (my emphasis)

The world now stands at the crossroads.

Either Putin and his 'siloviki' are stopped from destroying democracy in Ukraine or universal law dies.

(to be continued)

Where will it all end .....

WHAT PUTIN FEARS 

SANCTIONS

NUCLEAR WAR

What Putin Fears : MSNBC : Rachel Maddow : 25 February 2022

Sanctions : MSNBC : Rachel Maddows : 25 February 2022

Nuclear war : MSNBC : Rachel Maddows : 25 February 2022 

(to be continued)

What sanctions against Putin will the EU come up with? A little 'slap on the wrist'?

Putin has invaded Ukraine. 

The world community now stands severly tested as to whether their words will be followed by deeds.

As Michael McFaul states,

"After Hitler annexation and wars, we created the UN Security Council to create laws against annexation, against great powers taking territory from smaller powers. Putin did just that. The world has to respond now. Right now." (CNBC TV : YouTube : 22 February 2020) (my emphasis)

Contrast the response of McFaul to that of the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

As reported by BBC News,

"EU foreign ministers will adopt sanctions on Tuesday afternoon against Russia over its recognition and incursion into Ukrainian separatist regions, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (left) has said.
...
The 74-year-old told reporters while he wouldn't call Moscow's deployment of troops to separatist regions "a fully-fledged invasion", he emphasised that the EU considers the region as Kyiv's territory and said that "Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil".
...
Envoys from members states will meet on Tuesday morning where EU officials expect there to be some debate on the strength of measures to be applied, with some countries favouring a more limited response. (BBC News : 22 February 2022) (my emphasis)

So, unlike McFaul, Putin moving troops into Ukraine's occupied Donbasregion is not seen by Borrell as "a fully-fledged invasion". 

Has Josep Borrell not read ANY history? Was Hitler's 'annexation' of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in 1938 NOT an invasion of Czechoslovakia by his Nazi Wermacht? (Wikipedia) (right: Hitler in Prague after his invasion of Czechoslovakia)

But even more critically, exactly "what" sanctions will the EU adopt against Putin for his second invasion of Ukraine ? 

And which EU countries are favouring a "limited" response?

This morning, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is holding an emergency Cobra meeting at his offices in 10 Downing Street, UK Health Minister Sajid Javid outlines the sanctions strategy of the UK.

As he says in this interview,

"[Boris Johnson] spoke late last night to President Zelensky of Ukraine to offer him our support and solidarity and also told him we will be taking action as we said we always will.....

.... It's clear from President Putin's actions that he has choosen confrontation over dialogue .....

.... Those sanctions, as we've again said before, ... these sanctions will be targetting individuals, companies, and businesses with links to the Russian regime, but also we will be looking at what sectors of the Russian economy can be targeted ..." (BBC News : 7.35 a.m. 22 February 2020) (my emphasis)

So the $ 64 question now is,

"What sanctions package will the EU come up with? And will it be as broad and targetted as those sanctions that UK Minister Sajid Javid has outlined in his BBC interview this morning?"

More specifically, "which EU countries are favouring a "limited" response?

My guess is that the EU countries favouring a "limited response" to Putins second invasion of Ukraine would be Germany, France, and Italy.

 Already, as reported by Crispian Balmer and Giuseppe Fonte,

"Any sanctions that may be imposed on Russia by the European Union should not include energy imports, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi (left) said on Friday.
....
"We are discussing sanctions with the EU and in the course of these discussions we have made our position known, that they should be concentrated on narrow sectors without including energy," Draghi said at a news conference." (Reuters : 18 February 2022) (my emphasis)

And as reported by RFE/RL,

"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on February 21 as part of efforts that a Scholz spokesman said were intended to “prevent a catastrophe” in Ukraine.
...
Germany has vowed to join its Western allies in placing tough sanctions on Moscow should it decide to invade its neighbor." (RFE/RL : 21 February 2022) (my emphasis)

But what, exactly, does the Olaf Scholz caveat "tough sanctions" mean?

Will Nord Stream2 be plugged?

That, I doubt very much, since it will also supply Mario Draghi's Italy with gas.

Germany uses approximately 2.46 times more gas than France. (Index Mundi)

Indeed, as Forrest Crellin reports,

"Despite tight gas supplies in the EU, the French gas system was in good shape in 2021. In particular, there was good storage filling during the summer season following reduced exports to neighboring countries, GRTgaz said." (Reuters : 3 February 2022) (my emphasis)

It should also be noted that Nuclear Energy and Renewables generate a sizeable chunk of French electricity. 

Indeed, France EXPORTS GAS and electricity!

So exactly WHAT sanctions against Putin will the EU come up with?

(to be continued)

Putin on the brink of invading Ukraine..... Putin starts invasion!!!!

It is interesting to note that, suddenly, France's President Macron has become 'flavour of the month' with Putin.

Yesterday (20 Feb 2022) Macron and Putin had TWO calls, as reported by David M. Herszenhorn, Giorgio Leali and Suzanne Lynch.

Call 1:

"The Kremlin on Sunday used a telephone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron to broadcast an array of provocative, unproven allegations of belligerence by Ukraine and NATO countries, insisting the West was “pushing Kyiv towards a military solution to the so-called Donbass problem.”"

Call 2:

"But in a second Macron-Putin call held hours after the first, after the French president had also spoken with his American counterpart Joe Biden, the Kremlin and Biden “in principle” agreed to hold a bilateral summit, followed by a meeting with all relevant parties, on the security situation in Europe, according to the Elysée. The Kremlin did not immediately publish its own readout of the second call or confirm Putin had agreed to the summit." (Politico : 20 February 2022) (my emphasis)

Channel 4 News : YouTube :  20 Feb 2022

 Macron, it would seem, is a glutton for punishment from Putin.

No doubt, bearing in mind the upcoming French presidential elections in April of this year, and the public knowledge that Macron fancies himself as the heir to Merkel's former leadership in the EU; we can expect Macron to continuously beat the drum of the Russian Trojan Horse of Minsk2 protocols as a way of preventing Putin from invading Ukraine for the second time, with all the global consequences that such an invasion will also precipitate.

And whilst Macron is 'politically grandstanding' on the international stage as a means of bolstering his chances in the upcoming French presidential elections, the BBC reports that,

"US President Joe Biden has agreed "in principle" to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the crisis over Ukraine.

The talks proposed by France will only take place if Russia does not invade its neighbour, the White House said.
...
In a statement that confirmed the proposal, the White House also said Russia appeared to be "continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon", and that the US was ready to impose "swift and severe consequences" should it happen." (BBC News : 21 February 2022) (my emphasis)

In the background, Putin continues his 'invasion' of Ukraine by using his proxies in the occupied Donbas.

As reported by Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych, Kostan Nechyporenko, Julia Kesa and Denis Lapin,

"The Ukrainian defense ministry has reported further ceasefire violations in the east, after a day of heavy weapons fire Saturday.

The ministry said that in the first 11 hours of Sunday, "20 incidents of ceasefire violation by the Russian occupation forces were observed, including 18 incidents when the Russian occupation forces utilized weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements." ......

Ukraine said it recorded a total of 136 ceasefire violations on Saturday." (CNN : 20 February 2022) (my emphasis) (video: RFERL : YouTube : 19 February 2022 )

As also reported by Michael Starr and Reuters,

"Pro-Russian forces are firing heavy weapons from residential areas and endangering civilian populations, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov (right) accused on Saturday.

At the Munich security conference, Reznikov said "The command of the Russian occupation forces allocates artillery and armed vehicles among residential buildings and from there, shells our localities. It is the behavior of criminals who provoke us to make mistakes." (MSN : 21 February 2022) (my emphasis)

It is Putin who is giving the command for these attacks against Ukrainians by his proxies in the Donbas.

It is these attacks by Putin's proxies in the Donbas that will serve as his argument for a full invasion of Ukraine. 

It is these attacks that gives the lie to Putin's telephone tête-à-tête calls with Macron in which he claims to seek a peaceful solution with Ukraine rather than to invade Ukraine for the second time.

US President Biden is correct in stating that,

"The talks proposed by France will only take place if Russia does not invade its neighbour, the White House said."

The constant diplomatic to-ing and fro-ing between Putin and diplomats from the US, Great Britain, and the EU may have run its course.

As reported by the Mail Online,

"Vice President Kamala Harris warned about the 'real possibility of war in Europe' as sources alleged that Russian commanders on the ground have received orders to proceed with an invasion of Kiev, and that they're now making specific battle plans. 
.....
No less than 75 percent of Putin's conventional forces are now poised at the Ukrainian border as Blinken warned that 'we are on the brink of an invasion'.

Ongoing tensions prompted Biden to convene a National Security Meeting while Harris wrapped up a Munich Security Conference, where she called the situation a 'decisive moment' for world leaders who 'still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.' " (Mail Online : 20 February 2022) (my emphasis)

We are now on the brink of war.

 STOP PRESS

BBC News Monday 21 February at 15.12

Russian Duma calling for rebel areas in Donbas to be recognized as Independent states. Putin can then flood rebel areas with Russian troops.

Is this Putin's next gambit?

STOP PRESS 2

Putin has played his gambit!

The touchpaper for war has been lit. 

21 February 2022

(to be continued)

Putin is now diplomatically left out in the cold.

In 1964, in the lead up to the British election, Harold Wilson (left) is supposed to have coined the famous phrase, ‘A week is a long time in politics.’

The current frenzied diplomatic actions and political statements coming from the mouths of EU, UK, US, and international politicians, as Putin now threatens 'nuclear war' if his demands to turn Ukraine into a vassal state of Russia are not met, now changes Harold Wilson's famous phrase into, "An hour is a long time in politics".

US Vice President Kamala Harris at Munich Security Conference : BBC 19 Feb 2022

 

As US Vice President Kamala Harris lays out the level of sanctions against Putin and his cronies should he invade Ukraine, Aljazeera reports that,

"Russia’s President Vladimir Putin oversaw military manoeuvres by strategic nuclear missile forces as the worst crisis since the Cold War grips Europe.
.....
The Russian leader [Putin] reportedly ordered the drills to begin. Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made a reference to nuclear launch codes.

“Such test launches, of course, are impossible without the head of state. You know about the famous black suitcase and the red button,” Peskov said." (Aljazeera : 19 February 2022) (my emphasis) 

Aljazeera : YouTube 18 February 2022

And whilst Putin and Lukashenko were watching military manoeuvres by strategic nuclear missile forces,

"Ukraine's Russian-backed breakaway eastern territories have ordered military mobilisations amid a deadly escalation in fighting. Men of fighting age in the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk are being put on stand-by.
......
Western nations have accused Russia of trying to stage a fake crisis in the eastern regions as a pretext to invade. International monitors report a "dramatic increase" in attacks along the line dividing rebel and government forces." (BBC : 19 February 20223) (my emphasis)

Russian Fake Crisis Propaganda : CNN : 20 Feb 2022

But as Putin waves his 'nuclear stick' at Ukraine and, more specifically, at NATO, 

"Beijing's Foreign Minister [Wang Yi] (left) said that Ukraine had the right to safeguard its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.....

"With an invasion looking increasingly imminent, China's top diplomat used his appearance at the Munich security conference on Saturday to warn Mr Putin against following through on his expansionist ambitions.
Wang Yi affirmed Ukraine's right to safeguard its territorial integrity and urged a diplomatic solution to the escalating crisis. (John Varga : Daily Express : 19 February 2022) (my emphasis)

This position of China must have somewhat shocked Putin, given that barely a week ago,

"Wang Yi's slap-down of Mr Putin comes as a major surprise, given that China's President Xi Jinping appeared to back Mr Putin's Ukraine policy.

The two leaders met in Beijing at the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics. They issued a joint statement calling on the West to “abandon the ideologised approaches of the cold war”. (ibid John Varga) (my emphasis)

Putin, however, cannot allow himself to be seen internationally as being somewhat dictated to by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the early 1960's it was Mao's China who had an ideological rift with the then USSR, argueing that the USSR had become "revisionist" by NOT taking a belligerent stand against the West.

"The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Leninism, as influenced by their respective geopolitics during the Cold War (1945–1991).[2] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sino-Soviet debates about the interpretation of orthodox Marxism became specific disputes about the USSR's policies of national de-Stalinization and international peaceful coexistence with the Western world, which CPC chairman Mao Zedong decried as revisionism. Against that ideological background, China took a belligerent stance towards the West, and publicly rejected the USSR's policy of peaceful coexistence between the Eastern and Western blocs.[2] In addition, Beijing resented the closer Soviet ties with India, and Moscow feared Mao was too nonchalant about the horrors of nuclear war." (Wikipedia) (my emphasis) (above: Mao and Khrushchev)

Ironically, it is now Beijing's Foreign Secretary, Wang Yi, who is arguing against Putin trying to re-create the old USSR through his 'expansionist' ambitions over Ukraine, and by taking a belligerent stand against the West, which itself is determined to defend Ukraine's borders and territorial integrity.

Without China supporting him in his belligerent stand against the West, Putin is now diplomatically left out in the cold.

Whether this will make him change his mind about invading Ukraine is, however, another matter.

In the words of Mikhail Khordokovsky,

"He (Putin) is convinced of his own infallibility, and he is capable of all sorts of actions, including ill-judged ones." (Sky News : 6 February 2022) (my emphasis)"

(to be continued)