While waiting for the Main Event of the conflict in the former Ukraine (no more than a week to go now, I believe - and there are some very interesting and necessary pre-events in the upcoming days - 21, 22, 23, 24 Feb - not to mention pre-op ground preparations already under way), I just... Continue Reading →
The Rest of the Story
This is not about a Myanmar MiG-29. This is not about an incursion into Thai airspace. This is not about Ukraine - which I regularly talk about these days. Though Ukraine gets a mention. It is not even about terrorism - that endemic feature of the modern world - though 'terrorism' is central to the... Continue Reading →
Russia More Interested in Syria Than Ukraine Right Now
Turning now from a situation which holds everybody's attention just now - Ukraine - scene of yet another hasty US and western withdrawal (they like it better in Lvov (Lviv) than Kiev - it's as far west and close to an EU border you can get and still be in Ukraine), to something of greater... Continue Reading →
Prurient Trifling From Australia
Australia, again demonstrating its governmental dim-wittedness, total reliance on, and guaranteed dependence/adherence to, the abortifacient groupthink of its larger and obviously equally weak-minded Western cousins, that would produce such a deformed outcome. Just the latest among many prior of such. "Australia slaps sanctions against four Russian companies and one individual" - TASS © Artyom Geodakyan/TASS I... Continue Reading →
A Maxim For Today
'Believe nothing, trust no-one', is a good maxim to hold in today's world. There are dirty deeds going on all the time , everywhere, at all levels and from all sources. Some sources of course are well practised in the art of dirty deeds through long and prolific service to the tradition. The US State... Continue Reading →
Getting Along Together…
"Contract on Russian gas transit via Ukraine stipulates ‘pump or pay’ principle - Naftogaz" See? It's not all that difficult to get along together, is it, when issues are put aside or amicably settled for mutual benefit? Much better than shooting at each other. The world should operate more on these principles. "Starting tomorrow maybe?"... Continue Reading →
End of The Normandy Format?
Wow! I had not anticipated a move of this nature to be aired just yet in the Ukraine-Donbass saga. It was obvious to me that the Normandy Format process was going to fail - it was designed to do that - but such an event has not yet happened. Despite that, the main protagonists (Kiev... Continue Reading →
Misconstruing the ‘Fact Patterns’
Situations around Golan Heights and Crimea "manifestly different" — Pompeo So, Pompous Mike Pompeo thinks "The situations around the Golan Heights and Crimea are..." well "...it's complicated, but suffice it to say as we evaluated each of those situations we felt that they were manifestly different as a matter of international law, and we attempted... Continue Reading →
Kiev Deploys Buks
"Kiev deploys four Buk anti-aircraft missile systems to Mariupol – DPR intelligence" Ukrainian military forces have deployed four Buk anti-aircraft missile systems to Mariupol in the country's south, close to the borders of the Donetsk People's Republic which broke away from Ukraine in 2014 following the Maidan incident and subsequent national unrest in Ukraine. Remember... Continue Reading →
Not Something Else 