The only thing in life that is true is that from the moment we open our eyes until we close them at night we are being lied to by our masters. Feudalism is not over, it has just taken on a new form.
I gave this piece of advice to my children.Everything in life is simple, it is people that make it difficult.When we open our eyes in the morning and begin our daily rituals, our puppet masters are ready for us. It doesn’t matter if you listen to the radio or watch morning television the lies and distortions are waiting for you. Most of it is very subtle so that you hardly even notice their lies.
However, it started long before this morning. The minute the state gets access to you, the programming and dumbing down begins. From Primary 1 onwards they have you and your brain.It is theirs to do with as they wish. Their wish is that you are docile, malleable, trusting, obedient, unquestioning. Your function is to ensure a very few people continue to enjoy their wealth and privilege with no need to share any of that wealth or privilege with you. Indeed, they programme you to show deference towards your ‘betters.’ You are never to question the state or its media, your government or your sovereign.
The absoluteness of mathematics means they have to teach you the truth. The same with physics or foreign languages and the English language. When it comes to teaching you history or economics is when they begin their lies. These are the two keys to their continued dominance over every aspect of your life. That is why in Scotland you were either taught no Scottish history or the abridged English Parliament version of Scottish history.
They know if you were to be taught your true history you might just not be so compliant. Several historical events shook the very foundations of the English/British Establishment. The Jacobite Rebellions, The French Revolution, The Irish Rebellion, The Bolshevik Revolution. Each and every one of these events could have led to Revolution in Mother England and the end of the privileged lives of the few. That just could not be allowed to happen.
How many times have you said, ‘Oh I wish we were more like the French!’ We all know that as soon as something is decreed by the French Government that threatens to encroach on the rights of French men and women the protests begin. The Channel ports get blocked by the lorry drivers as do the motorways. The ordinary populace is on the streets in a flash to display their displeasure. How many times have we seen the French Government commit u-turns when this happens? My reasoning behind this is quite simple, the French know their true history. They know about their revolutionary past. They know the truth about the storming of the Bastille and the freeing of the Political prisoners. They know that their forefathers used Madame Guillotine on their oppressors and elite. They have a proud history of rebellion against authority and oppression. That is why they feel it incumbent upon them to take to the streets whenever they feel an injustice.
How many of you were taught or even knew about the Scottish Radicals? In Stirling there is a memorial it mentions two men, John Baird and Andrew Hardie, who were both executed in Stirling in 1820, their deaths marking the end of one of the most intriguing – yet surprisingly least known – periods of Scottish history: the Radical War. I bet most of you never heard of those names before today. I certainly was never taught about these two Scottush heroes and revolutionaries.
The American and French revolutions several years before were catalysts for some Scots to rebel because these two acts spread the notion of democracy around the world. Indeed, shortly after the French Revolution, there had been riots in several Scottish cities. Although the Jacobite Rebellion had been a century before there were still Scots that refused to sit quietly in the Union. Radical political clubs were formed, some of them secret, like the United Scotsmen. This was dedicated to the creation of a democratic republic, and its ideas caused a sensation. The authorities reacted as they had always done, with violence and suppression. How many Scots today know about this?
Executions, deportations to the penal colonies were the norm. The problem for the English Imperialists and their Scottish collaborators was that the Scots working class were literate. The Brits acted in the only way they know how, violently.The authorities wanted to shut down the whole movement and to send out a message to anyone else that dared to stand up to injustice of London imperial rule.To do that, they had to crush the movement brutally.
In the end, the insurrection was over inside a week. A total of 88 radicals had been arrested and charged with high treason. The trials started in July. Baird, as the ringleader, was convicted of two charges of high treason. He was sentenced to death, along with Hardie and James Wilson. Their executions over they were allowed to vanish from history. Scots were never to be told about them.
Who was taught this or about Mary Barbour and the Glasgow rent strikes? How about John Maxton and the Red Clydesiders? How many of you were taught the pivotal role of Edinburgh’s James Connolly during the Easter Rising?
On 24 April 1916, Connolly was Commandant of the Dublin Brigade. As the Dublin Brigade had the most substantial role in the rising, he was de facto commander-in-chief. This eventually led to the defeat of the mighty British Empire and their expulsion from the Republic of Ireland. Why is it that a man that was instrumental in defeating what at the time was the greatest power ever not an integral part of every Scottish school childs education?
The reason is simple our English Imperial masters do not want us behaving like the French.They do not want us on the streets every time they remove another of our rights. They want us to leave them free to steal everything that is not tied down. The latest being Channel 4.
When the news comes on first thing in the morning you are told a version of the real story that the establishment want you to hear. Now as you are sitting Covid infections and deaths have never been higher. How much of this human tragedy are you being told about in your news bulletins? Where is Nicola now the news is really bad?
The supermarkets are putting up prices by the hour, yet the news people tell you it is because of Ukraine war and the big bad Russians or covid it is nothing to do with Brexit or governmental larceny.
When the EU leaders held a meeting with the POTUS recently regarding the Ukraine the British media and commentariat were incensed that Boris Johnson had not been invited. Nobody suggested that the stupidity of leaving the EU was the reason for UK’s exclusion, instead, they blamed Johnny Foreigner for being anti-British!
Your news, your current affairs programmes your drama and movies are all to reinforce the establishment message. The really smart character is the English lead the drunk or criminal or hobo is either Scottish or Irish they are interchangeable. The best you will get is a joke character but they must never miss the point, the English lead is the superior and intelligent one. If they need a foreign gangster, he has to be either a Russian or Albanian mobster. It is all subtle and it is all about keeping you in your place and docile.
The Queen is benevolent and adores her subjects. She is the most popular woman in the world. Tourists only come to UK to see her and her palaces. The Battle of Britain was the nations greatest moment when England stood alone and it was only the bravery if the Old Etonian Spitfire pilots that kept the dreaded hun at bay. All lies of course at that time the sun never set on the British Empire and troops from every nation were with the English, The top fighter ace was a Czech pilot called Josef František. The top squadron in the Battle of Britain was 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron. No. 303 entered battle on 31 August, at the peak of the Battle of Britain, but quickly became Fighter Command’s highest claiming squadron with 126 kills. How many of you were taught that or the debt of gratitude that is owed to Poland? Instead, mainly in England all you hear about is Poles coming over here taking our jobs. Fortunately, in 1940 they did just that and saved our skins. Even in the film made about this period in history in 1969, Guy Hamilton’s epic, Battle of Britain gives these Polish heroes a minor role. They are shown to be undisciplined primitive types and only a very English Squadron leader has any sense. All the main characters are played as middle class posh voiced English public school, ruling class types. ——Reinforce the message!
Scotland in our foreign owned media drama and comedy is portrayed as a backward impoverished place with shit weather and aggressive dumb inhabitants that always know their place. Anyone that questions this narrative or stereotyping is liable to attack as an anti-English, rabid Braveheart eccentric with crazy ideas and low intellect. When we question anything rather than obey, they label us and try to diminish us.
With the advent of the Internet, the ordinary people have been given a voice. Blogs, podcasts vlogcasts are everywhere giving people alternative news and views. When the GERS come out instead of having to sit and listen to the broadcasters and MSM telling us what subsidy junkies we are alternative voices tell you the truth. You are given facts and information that help you combat the lies. Here is the thing, they hate it. Information is power and they do not want you with any power!That is why the new media is so despised and attacked by the establishment and their poodle journalists. They do not want you knowing the truth.
When Elections come around whereas before they could say any old lie and usually did they are now challenged. Dare I say people like myself and most of my fellow bloggers refuse to believe the BBC/STV/ITV/SKY/GB NEWS/RECORD/MAIL/EXPRESS pish.
We are the new 4th Estate.The previous alleged incumbents of that role became a 5th Column for the establishment. We sat on our docile arses as a few very wealthy individuals stole our media now we reap what they have sown.
That is why I find the events around the Ukraine/Russian conflict so upsetting. I abhor war, all wars and I have always campaigned against them from Vietnam in my teens to now Ukraine in my dotage. I remember the western corporate media assuring us that Sadam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction ready to deploy in 45 minutes. I remember the lies they told us about the sinking of the Belgrano to justify the killing of 300 young Argentinian boys. I remember the lies we were told about massacres in Vietnam and Iraq. All to keep us docile and obedient and onside.
That is why in this conflict, I am sceptical about the information the western media are giving us. Therefore, as I do on all matters appertaining to independence I check other sources. I try to confirm or expose their facts with my views. I am doing exactly the same over Ukraine as I do with Scotland’s struggle.
I do not know how many times I have put in writing my opposition to Russia’s aggression just as I expressed my opposition to the Gulf Wars and illegal Afghanstan invasion. However, by challenging the western Ukraine narrative and exposing some horrific lies by the media I have come under attack by many of the people who applaud me when I expose the lies of the same media when it is about Scotland. Putin apologist, Russian sympathiser, war cheerleader are just some of the insults levelled at me by fellow independence supporters. I expect that kind of nonsense from jingoistic Britnats.
The same media that lie to you daily about Scotland’s wealth and resources you now believe? The same people that tell you the only reason your energy bills are rising is because of the Ukraine war and rising world gas prices when you know Scotland produces 97% of its energy from renewables. The same people who tell you that the only reason you are poor is because of immigrants, you believe them now? The people that lie about the effects of Brexit and the media that won’t tell you the truth about anything else you think they are speaking the absolute honest truth about Ukraine.
Anyone like myself that questions the narrative is attacked as Putin apologists, really? Maybe we should all be like Stu Campbell and just leave you to get all your views news and facts from the foreign owned media, they have been so reliable for you in the past and had your best interests at heart always eh?
PS. What do you actually know about Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy apart from what the Western Corporate media told you to think?
Quite so ! Well said indeed.
Great post. Not just the French but the rest of the world must be shaking its head in disbelief at the political cowardice of the oppressed people of Scotland. Never mind covid this is what’s really sickening.
Brilliant article, BB. Did my heat good. Thank you.
Sorry! Meant to say “Did my heart good”.
“Scotland produces 97% of its energy from renewables”
Incorrect.
In 2020 the equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s gross electricity consumption was from renewable sources.
However electricity is only about 1/3 of total energy – the other 2/3 comes from oil and gas.
And it turns out that in 2020 the electricity generated in Scotland was only 62% renewable, with 26% nuclear, 10% gas and 2% oil.
Yes, you DO have to be careful with stats, don’t you?
Take your Britnat neoliberal lies and put them ehere the monkey puts its nuts.
In 2019 Scotland met 90.1% of its equivalent electricity consumption from renewables, according to Scottish Government figures. Scotland has some of the most ambitious climate targets in the world, with its Climate Change Bill setting out a legally binding target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2045.
100% correct. Keep up the good work.
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/04/caitlin-johnstone-unhinged-responses-to-bucha/
Well Told. You and others who visit this site, should also be directed to the UK.Column Site that broadcasts every Monday,Wednesday, and Friday at 1pm. They cut through all the mainstream propaganda you have just described above with FACTUAL and Evidence from sources that will not be seen or reported by our M.S.M.
We are truly told Lies from all our broadcasters and people are falling for it ,hence the backlash you are experiencing.
As usual, very good and true
Powerful, passionate … and accurate.
One of your best.
Thanks Roddy.
” PS. What do you actually know about Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy apart from what the Western Corporate media told you to think? ”
I asked – almost verbatim – this question to an acquaintance recently , after a bit of humming n hawing my interlocutor conceded the answer was ” nothing ” .
The thing is Roddy it doesn’t matter how many times you state your opposition to the invasion of Ukraine and repudiation of ALL violence , whoever the perpetrators , in this climate and these times of relentless * Right Think * it’s never enough . Only 100% unquestioning compliance with whatever State/MSM narrative is being rammed down the public throat is * acceptable *
Independent thought is being anathematised : a process about to take an even more acute turn with new laws proposed/supposed to address * misinformation * ( and who do you think will define what constitutes * misinformation * ? ) online ie Social Media , Blogs , Vlogs etc with the full co-operation of Big Tech and it’s political marionettes .
They’re coming for our minds . The truly alarming aspect is how so many appear content to give them what they want with scarcely a murmur
Meant to post this above . You may know who Chris Hedges is – a brilliant commenter on an critic of contemporary Politics in my opinion , but this is just one example of what’s happening
Both the Scottish and Westminster governments are slavering sycophants and apologists for the lack of neutral news about anything very much anymore, but especially about Ukraine. Ukraine is where it stood pre invasion: it will not be able to join the EU any time soon because of the devastation to its infrastructure and economy; it cannot join NATO now either or risk another conflict. Had they declared neutrality instead of goading Russia, they might never have faced this invasion and the horrors for its population. Basically, Russia has withdrawn and will regroup in the Eastern Donbas. Like Craig Murray, I did not think that Putin would have made the mistake of being drawn into a conflict by the West, but he did just that and ordinary Russians will pay for that. Whether there have been atrocities remains to be proved. The Western media has form when it comes to collusion with governments on the telling of lies, as you say, Roddy, the “weapons of mass destruction” being just one whopper.
As for Scotland, we are fleeced, shafted and despised on a regular basis now. That’s what you get when you vote NO to independence. Orwell’s 1984 showed how easy it is for the authorities to make people believe anything. Of course, the ending is bleak. However, I doubt whether humans can be controlled to that extent: we have an in-built lie detector, and, sooner or later, it will start to beep and alert us to the fact that our brains are not believing the nonsense being churned out. I await the actual debate of the trans issue in our MSM and other media. No one touches it, so the public at large is kept unaware. It is a tissue of lies from start to finish. All sane people know that. Anyone who believes it or is willing to acquiesce should be removed from power because they really are too stupid to govern anyone. I’m not being spiteful; it’s the truth. If you cannot distinguish nonsense from reality or if you are willing to acquiesce in pushing unreality, you really are a danger to everyone. If you are a narcissist, a psychopath or a sociopath, you really need to be kept well away from politics.
” However, I doubt whether humans can be controlled to that extent: we have an in-built lie detector, and, sooner or later, it will start to beep and alert us to the fact that our brains are not believing the nonsense being churned out. ”
I agree Lorna , and I’m not overly pessimistic about where humanity is heading : the Human Spirit is pretty resilient .
We will have to stay attentive though , to the protean machinations of Power , particularly in it’s latest * Progressive * guise . Check the Dauphin de Woke , Justin Timberdeau for evidence of how selective * Equality * is to these people
PS. What do you actually know about Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy apart from what the Western Corporate media told you to think? ”
I know something about Volodymyr Zelenskyy from his banning all political parties in Ukraine except the right and from his “patriotic” speeches to several parliaments.
And I wonder who writes his speeches. And what their aim is.
He’s playing the role of “National Hero/Legend” to the hilt.
He demands a “no fly zone” even though he has been told “NO” since it could trigger NATO involvement and a nuclear holocaust.
He plays on the national sensitivities of each parliament to guilt-trip them into supporting war.
When he addressed Westminster he said”We shall fight in the woods, in the fields, on the beaches, in the cities and villages, in the streets, we shall fight in the hills,”.
His latest speech was to the Irish parliament.’hunger is a weapon against us ordinary people as an instrument of domination’, he said, a not too veiled reference to Ireland’s genocide due to English-mediated famine in the 1840s.
Remember Ireland is neutral and has refused to supply war materials but does supply humanitarian materials and aid and welcomes Ukrainian refugees. Zelensky demanded Ireland pressurise the EU to increase anti-Russian sanctions
Neither the UK, EU nor the USA is at war at present, yet we are subjected to a relentless war-time-like barrage of pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia propaganda.
God knows what it will be like if we ever actually do go to war.
It amazes me how the masses can be duped by Media propaganda. Brexit that wonderful liberating experience of taking back control. The dafties in England thought that this meant them, and not a bloated engorged greedy elite hiding their money in offshore tax havens free from EU scrutiny, how naive. This would have been comical if we had not become a victim of coercive Unionism. Without Scotland their would be no Brexit, No Oil , No Gas , No renewable Electricity ,without our stolen resources the Tory wet dream would end rather rapidly. The media’s 24/7 coverage of the Ukrainian war is being used to hid the Brexit failure and the Tory crime syndicates dealings with the Kremlin’s racketeer gangsters who are ripping of the ordinary Russian people. I dont believe the Torys are sanctioning the Oligarchs either if the Tory Gangsters steal the Oligarchs money the worst kind of vendetta will come their way, Karma, let’s hope they are stupid enough to do this. If only we had a champion in Scotland to fight for us and get us out of this mess instead we have a complient dud Leader.
Brilliant article, excellent read, thank you! 🏴
Excellent rant from BB, I just wish it were possible to register agreement with comments one agrees with also. As that is not the case, I will register my agreement here and add an extra thanks for the Chris Hedges video as, in my ignorance, I was not aware of his work.
The frozen misery of centuries breaks, cracks , begin to move. Thank God our TIME is now, when wrong comes up to face us everywhere, never to leave us till we take the longest stride of soul men ever took. Affairs are now soul size, Where are we making for ? It takes so many thousand years to wake , But when will we wake for pity’s sake? Oh awake, awake for ALBA’S SAKE. thanks to christopher Fry {a Sleep of Prisoners]
The question is, how do we stop the msm from lieing to us and brain washing us all?????.
All the wailing and gnashing of teeth over a litany of far worse events than Ukraine, in terms of civilian victims and infrastructure wantonly destroyed, – Vietnam, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Chile, El Salvador, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen and other examples – have one thing in common. The wailing and gnashing of teeth failed to prevent a single one of those events or even mitigate them.
Events which are not some abstract dialectical concept. To have been prevented required not endless helpless earnest moralising discussions occurring in a safe space comfortable vacuum but practical solutions which prevented them from ever occurring.
This practical reality, the bottom line inability to prevent all of the above means that where we are now, in Ukraine, and, yes, Yemen (among other conflicts still taking place) is just as much the responsibility of what likes to think of itself as the collective ‘left’ as it is of those pulling the strings.
Given the substantial and evidential track record there can be little doubt that a failure on the part of the Government of the RF to take the necessary practical steps we have seen would sooner, probably rather than later, have resulted in far worse outcomes in the Donbass and subsequently Russia itself and then China.
And, doubtless, had the planned invasion of the Donbass breakaway Republics (why put the bulk of your best troops and equipment on the contact line and leave the rest of the country exposed?) not been preempted there would once again have been yet more fine words and empty useless virtue signalling rhetoric, along with the accompanying wailing and gnashing of teeth , about how terrible and deplorable it is that after eight years of bombardment by neo-nazi thugs supported by the 1% of the 1% of 13% of humanity (whilst the rest of that 13% looked on helpless to do anything practical to prevent it) further increased slaughter was taking place.
Wondering who would be next and why doesn’t someone do something practical about it? Recognising, however reluctantly, that all the condemnatory words in existence have zero practical impact to prevent the continued onslaught seeking to impose a single World Feudal system and its Official Narrative.
Don’t look now, but someone has. It might not be ‘ideal’ depending on a given value of ‘ideal’ – as Terry Pratchett would have put it) but its infinitely more practical in dealing with the reality of the consistent patterns of behaviour of what Michael Brenner refers to ‘Jerks’* than standing around with your thumb up your arse and your brain in neutral mouthing platitudes to each other which has, so far, been notable only for its singular failure to prevent any of the outcomes it condemns.
Andrei Martyanov quoted some dark humour going the rounds the other week:
“Two Soviet soldiers in Berlin sharing a cigarette in the bombed out remains of the Reichstag during the spring of 1945.
One turns to the other and says; ‘The rumour is we lost the information war.’”
To coin a phrase which might best be used by Russians in the present situation: ‘You’re Welcome.’
* 1. https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/06/jerks/
2. https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/05/war-conflict-enemies-of-truth/
Excellent article. It’s also amazing how quiet our MSM are about the massive Norwegian oil fund – how many trillion is it worth now? I was surprised to see it mentioned (and moaned about) on MSM the other day – but from a British context rather than a Scottish one – why had Norway (with less oil) managed to acquire such a massive fund when old Bligthy had squandered everything (of theirs)? They neglected to say that it was Scottish oil reserve potential that they had squandered but hey ho – at least it was mentioned. Well, it’s oil under the bridge now, but we can learn lessons – the Scottish government should be promoting the idea of a Scottish Renewables Fund, Unfortunately, it seems the SG have sold off our renewable assets cheaply already. Our Lords and masters. History repeats.
What do we know about Vladimir Putin and Russia or Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky you ask Mr MacLeod.
Well plenty actually. Vladimir Putin is evil, the devil, and absolute monster. The Russians are bad, evil and monsters too. All they do is kill babies, women and children. They bomb nurseries schools, maternity hospitals, old folks homes. They rape Ukranian women in front of their children. They want to take over the world.
By comparison Volodymyr Zelenskiy is a Saint. An absolute saint gentle and kind. And the Ukrainians gentle honest and kind peace loving. Honest , corruption free and with a government to match they have a proud honest history of doing the right thing. God’s chosen people on Earth they could not be so different from the devils children the Russians.
Weapons, weapons, weapons, you may hear their president Zelensky call. More anti tank missiles, more anti plane missiles, more guns, there are bad Russians to kill, onl6 of course for their own good. And the West, they must attack Russia too, it is in effect a holy war, a war of defence against evil.
And for us in the West me know evil when we see it. We know when it is right to kill, to slaughter, to protect the saintly. God and Righ is also on our side. Humanitarian bombing, we are good at that.
And at that I think this sums up what we know Mr MacLeod. And anyone who suggest otherwise must be dealt with. How could anyone think anything different. Your narrative, your postulation is rejected. No wonder you live in Spain, hiding away with your foul stories from one of the most honest upright nations in the world. A nation, and Empire who brought civilisation, yes civilisation no less to the world and the world’s savages.
Onward Christian soldiers! And meanwhile I’ll chop up some furniture to keep the home fires burning to keep us in our homes cosy and warm.
Thank you Roddy for another excellent read. Just one little thing, as a Falklands veteran, you mention the sinking of the Belgrano to justify the killing of 300 young Argentinian boys. Sorry but a young boy has the age of between 3 to 5, am I not right? You should have used the words young men. During the Falklands war I was proud to serve in a Scottish Regiment and there is no doubt that the sinking of the Belgrano sent a salient message to the military junta that ruled Argentina. After the war, Argentinean Rear- Admiral Allara admitted that the whole of the South Atlantic became an operational theatre during the conflict and that the Belgrano was a casualty of war.
Maybe when we get independence we can claim reparations from 300 years of being plundered and raped by our colonial masters.
Willie, that’s an absolutely brilliant heartfelt comment! You should consider posting it on “Yours for Scotland”.
I’m sure Iain would be keen to re-publish it as an article on his blog.
Just heard Joe Biden on the television yesterday and was astounded to hear how he described the supply, or should I say the sale, of US oil to Europe to be a “ war time bridge “
And there you have it from the old chap himself, the declaration of our being at war in a declaration evoking the language of the World War 2 Atlantic convoys. And that is in truth where we are.
The US and Britain are at war with Russia. Pouring weaponry and what is being admitted as advisory military personnel into the conflict, Ukraine is the proxy for the physical war. Whilst on the wider front the war of economic sanctions play out in theatres around the globe.
Indeed, with the US and the UK since the change of Government in 2014 having poured in frigates, warships, missiles and military training including a commitment to support the building of two major naval bases, does anyone truly wonder how this conflict came about.
Moreover, does anyone wonder if there was, pre planning prior to the war sanctions now being implemented now that the conflict has commencement.
These are the questions no one is asking on any scale. Rather it seems that we are all on a diet of fighting a righteous war reminiscent of WW2. And for whom will it get better.
The Ukrainian President who calls for ever more devastating weaponry. Not for him peace talks, conciliation, accommodation. He wants a war. But there are are many who will make money out of a war. Big big money, and for them they are quite happy for Zelensky to turn his country into a hell hole of destruction. A hero, or a patsy. Or a man paid to play his part, whilst he, or should we say his people battle it out with Russia, keeping the Russian engaged whilst Boris and Joe play geopolitical economic war games. Russia after all is a huge country, over four times the size of the continental USA, it is rich in resources. No surprise therefore that there are those in America who want to break up Russia. Rich picking indeed.
And for the rest of us, the common five eights, the war is going to cost us plenty as our economic and social standards of living goes down the pan, whilst the energy and arms corporate profits soar.
Wars all happen for a reason. They tend to be planned and executed to deliver specific objectives, almost always economic.
And so the question is do we think Boris, Joe and the backers are having a good war. Ah well, by the look of Boris’s photo shoot yesterday it seems that Boris would like to portray that.
Or is it that we only fight wars to rid the world of evil. I know what I think.
Willie: history will show that Zelenskyy was a moral coward and the very worst kind of president for his people. He is a puppet and Biden is the puppet master. Like Sturgeon with Johnson (and Biden) there is always just a little wriggle room to try and save your people. These creatures did/do nothing. God forbid that there is ever a war for real because I have not the slightest doubt that we would end up like the Ukrainians, betrayed and our country destroyed as a welter of selfies and preening before the cameras of the world becomes more important that real people’s lives. These populist politicians – verging on totalitarian – are the worst generation of politicians in modern history of the West since WW II. I am aware that people like Zelenskyy are open to being ‘taken out’, but he should have moved quickly when Russia’s intentions became obvious, and declared Ukraine a neutral state in the region because, let’s face it, Ukraine has ended up in ruins, cannot join NATO any time soon and will not be offered EU membership any time soon either. He gambled with his people and country to kow tow to the West – a massive miscalculation, as anyone who understands Western geopolitics could have told him because Nato was never going to intervene on Ukraine’s behalf
You are indeed on the money with your comments about Zelensky. He is indeed a puppet. And since his installation in 2015 he has relentlessly allowed his country to become an armed and hostile belligerent on the border of Russia.
And so tooled up by the US and UK, and with a good going suppression of ethnic Russians in the east, the guns were primed. And when they went off what better a plan than to have the Ukraine in a proxy war on the doorstep of Russia. Just as the CIA tooled up the Taliban in the 70s and 80s to create a good going conflict on the doorstep of the then USSR, or the CIA tooling up the Kosovo Liberation Army, poor Ukraine is now being used for the same purpose.
This whole conflagration could and should have been avoided. But that was never the plan and Zelensky was the puppet who helped it happen. He has pushed, and is still pushing his country to war. More weapons, more weapons, bigger and better he screams as he photo shoots with Boris Johnson.
And the losers in all of this will be an utterly devastated Ukraine and population traumatised for decades to come. Zelensky the puppet wanted war and he got it. And now his country, pays the price.
And will the US and UK plans prevail and cause the enfeeblement and dismemberment of Russia, and maybe the Chinese after that. Well I think we will just have to wait and see. One thing for sure is that there’s not many, if any, on the streets of Glasgow or Edinburgh or beyond that are going to get healthier or wealthier out of this. But happier maybe in the surefire knowledge that we’re helping to fight evil.
Indeed, Willie, and we’ll both be crucified for saying it, as Roddy has been for saying much the same. I don’t believe there has ever been a time when reality has been so distorted. There was a point quite recently, at which Zelenskyy seemed willing to negotiate, but, now? Something happened, and I think it must have been pressure from the West. Johnson’s little trip is like sending Noddy to negotiate Big Ears’ removal from Toytown. These politicians are all a disaster, with not one of them having a clue as to what their antics could trigger. They all, and many more people with them, seem to live in a universe where people don’t actually die from being killed, but just get up, grinning from ear to ear, where people don’t actually destroy their lives from listening to insane advice from insane people. If we don’t get a grip soon and start ousting these people from power, and boot the bahookies of the tame hacks who would put Goebbels to shame, this is going to end badly for all of us. I think America and its allies might be able to chew up Russia at a push, and even that’s not a dead cert, but the Chinese are a very different kettle of fish.
Really, Sparks, we are deluded? It was reported on the BBC, no less, that great propagandising for the West (and Westminster) media outlet that Zelenskyy and Putin were in talks and were hopeful of a settled negotiation. Think about it, bright boy, Ukraine is being devastated – and, yes, Russia invaded and is causing that devastation – and the people killed, raped, robbed, you name it, because that is what happens when you embark on conflict. Now, suppose Zelenskyy had shown some backbone and declared his country’s neutrality in the months leading up to the invasion? There are those who said that Putin would have invaded anyway. Would he, when he could have kept the Donbas in turmoil, thereby keeping Ukraine occupied? Putin is nobody’s fool and he knows that neither NATO nor the EU will look at Ukraine now. Zelenskyy could have kept him on-side by declaring Ukrainian neutrality to the world. A few weeks ago, he stated that this was what he was going to do. Cue huffing and puffing in the US, and all bets are off again. Both Zelenskyy and Ukraine are pawns, and, if Zelenskyy doesn’t do as he’s told, he’ll be removed and replaced with another puppet. At least, he doesn’t appear – although time will tell – to be quite as grasping and open to bribery as Poroshenko before him. To be honest, I did not think that Putin would invade, and he has isolated himself and Russia by so doing, but you need to think of the geopolitics to see the bigger picture. Anyone who think we can just dismember Russia and threaten China is the deluded one. Like Roddy, I abhor wars. It is always the innocent who suffer – always – and usually, at the end of them, little has been solved, in reality.
Iain: I may well be wrong. I was following the Ukraine story from a decade ago, and I still believe that Zelenskyy should have declared Ukrainian neutrality. What has he achieved except the destruction of his country and the deaths and maiming, not to mention rapes of many of his people – and he is still calling for greater weapons? Putin might well be a war criminal. I consider Tony Blair a war criminal. Do you want your children and the children of every European nation, and America, to be incinerated so that you can be proved right? Sorry, but all war mongers are both the same and different – depending on whether you are on the winning or losing side. Putin’s being a war criminal has nothing to do with Zelenskyy’s lack of moral fibre and puppet-like status for the West. The whole point I was trying to make is that wars and conflicts should not be allowed to happen. If Scotland decided to leave the Union tomorrow and rUK decided to invade on behalf of the Unionists (it has happened before, remember in Ireland and NI), do you think the rest of Europe will come to our aid? I certainly don’t. Therefore, in those circumstances, you negotiate, but you negotiate to save your country and people. The difference between Scotland and Ukraine is that Ukraine was, and ostensibly remains, an independent country. It was glaringly obvious long before the invasion that it could never join NATO. Putin might have tolerated the EU, although even that is doubtful. So, assuming that the West wants the best for Ukraine, and the former Eastern Bloc countries around it, can you explain why both Gorbachev and Yeltsin were cold-shouldered when they tried to persuade the West that they wanted to negotiate joining the EU and Europe after the disbanding of the Warsaw Pact, if NATO would withdraw from Eastern Europe, having promised, on the reunification of Germany, to which Russia agreed, it would do, but did not do?
I make up my own BS, do I? Okay, prove me wrong with your argument. Insults are not an argument, Iain.