Ukraine’s Former Foreign Minister Warns Against Another 1939

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba gave an interview to the British magazine Metro, where he reminded mothers in Britain that they will soon have to decide whether they will send their sons to fight against Russian soldiers in Europe, or suffer the end of NATO.

The Ukrainian politician also painted a devil on the wall by predicting that “Putin may invade Nato territory soon – so now what? Is Nato going to send a division to fight back?”

According to him, “The first day the EU – which is no big bother to England – is going to spend discussing its response to Russia, is going to be the end of it,” and continued, “the real test will be whether British mothers will actually accept that their sons have to die for Finland or Estonia or Poland. If they don’t, there is no NATO.”

Kuleba also noted an analogy to the year 1939 by reminding that “This is how World War II started. 'Why fight for Danzig? Let’s give it to Hitler, it is just a city in Poland. Why should we die for it?’”

At the same time, the foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov had agreed on a pact according to which Finland, the Baltic countries, and the eastern part of Poland would be turned into Russian territory. As a consequence, all those areas ended up as parts of the Soviet Union for seven decades — except Finland, which decided to fight for its independence and saved 90% of its territory in the Winter War.

Even though that war is considered a miracle, it is not an honour for the French and the British, who had promised to help Finland in many ways. Namely, they made many promises but ended up fulfilling only a small fraction of them regarding military material, and completely refused to send armed forces despite talks that those would also be sent via Norway and Sweden.

Based on this history from my grandparents’ generation, I certainly hope that history will not repeat itself — but that the difference will be an active NATO upholding its Article 5, and accordingly taking care of the agreed arrangements. And that it would show Kuleba that today’s Western Europe and the USA are more reliable pillars of European security than the Western powers of the late 1930s.

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It’s Time to Teach Putin: The Age of Empire Is Over

Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen does not have high expectations for the peace negotiations taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday. Her view does not even depend on whether Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, attends or not.

Valtonen stated that Putin’s presence would make little difference. This is because, according to her, Putin has demonstrated through his actions that he merely wants to continue subjugating Ukraine and will not agree to any solution that Ukraine could accept in the long term.

Her statement reflects a realism grounded in facts. And for that reason, Western countries — both in Europe and North America — and especially the administration of Donald Trump, should take her view as the starting point when considering a resolution to the war in Ukraine.

This point was also emphasized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who announced that he would travel to Turkey regardless — but made it clear that Trump must understand Putin is the true obstacle to peace in Ukraine.

According to Zelensky, Trump must, above all, accept that Putin lies, while Ukraine is doing its part to pursue peace and has no intention of delaying the process. He also noted that if Putin fails to appear, it would serve as definitive proof that he has no intention of ending the war.

The significance of the Istanbul meeting remains to be seen. But it underscores the urgent need for EU countries to finally ramp up arms production to meet the demands of today’s geopolitical reality — and, through that, provide Ukraine’s military with sufficient support to first force the Russian army onto the defensive and ultimately drive them back, militarily defeated, to Russian soil.

In other words, the time has come for EU decision-makers to show Putin that the era of imperialism is over — even for Russia.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
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Putin Faces a Heavy Price for His Hesitation

A Lesson for the Chinese: Never Trust the Russians

The Kyiv Independent reported on Chinese nationals who fought for Russia against Ukraine – and were subsequently captured. According to them, they had voluntarily enlisted in the Russian army.

One of them explained that a recruiter had told him that a Chinese person joining the Russian military could earn 200,000–250,000 Russian rubles per month (about €2,100–2,600), which is more than the average wage in China. The recruiter also promised to pay for his travel to Russia and help him obtain the necessary documents.

The Chinese man didn’t know any Russians personally, so he believed the promises. Instead of receiving the promised income, however, the Russians confiscated his bank card and phone, leaving him unable to access his earnings. He also reported that he had been targeted by Russian “chemical weapons” right after being captured by Ukrainian soldiers.

In the end, it was the Ukrainians who saved his life and have treated both captured men well ever since. As a result, they sent a message to their fellow countrymen, saying that everything they had heard from the Russians was a lie. It turned out that Russia wasn’t as strong, and Ukraine wasn’t as weak as they had been told. Therefore, it’s better not to take part in any wars at all.

Hopefully, Chinese citizens will take the message from these prisoners seriously and avoid being lured into Putin’s army by Russia’s empty promises. At best, one might come out of it alive — but even that is unlikely.

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The first casualty of war is the truth - but whose truth?

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has called on Israel to immediately cease strikes in the Rafah area. The reason is that they have hit a tent camp in the southern part of Gaza, killing dozens of people according to local (Palestinian?) authorities.

At first glance, the demand seems justified. But after Israel announced that it had carried out strikes on a target used by the terrorist organization Hamas in the area, and its armed forces stated that they were based on precise intelligence knowledge and used precision weapons, Borrell's demand requires further consideration.

If Israel's and its armed forces' claim holds true, the situation changes completely. In this case, the Palestinian fighters would have - once again - used civilians as human shields to succeed in their war. And if this is the case, we must ask what their responsibility is for the civilian casualties caused by the Israeli attack.

And consider what it would mean if we accepted such warfare, where one side is allowed to break all the rules of war, but we condemn the other, which is thus forced to act in a way that results in civilian casualties. Or giving an advantage to the one who wages war without caring about even its own civilian casualties.

Therefore, I believe that Borrell should have kept his mouth shut thus far. Or alternatively, he should have also called on Hamas to stop fighting from behind civilians and demanded the international court to condemn its actions.

In reality, no outsider knows what the truth is in this case. Nevertheless, we can certainly consider which side's information has proven to be more often correct. And which one has has been feeding lies.

However, in this matter too, the old saying applies, that the first casualty of war is the truth. Perhaps also in this case. But whose truth?

PS 21.39 Finnish time: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that the attack mentioned in my writing was a 'tragic mistake'. Thus, it seems that this time the truth did not get trampled by the war after all.

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Military specialist: Russian plan in Ukraine was incredibly poor

Russia is losing the battle of Kiev in Ukraine. This can be deduced from recent news and videos of towns and villages liberated from Russian attackers, but also from the claims that Putin would have accepted most of the Ukrainian preconditions for the peace. 

After this failure it was more than interesting to note, that a Finnish military specialist, researcher and former colonel Martti J. Kari stated that Russian attack plan was useless. So poor, that if someone in a Finnish officer education would have suggested something similar in an exam, he would have been discarded. 

He also assumed, that the Russian intelligence service agency was lead by people, who are close to Vladimir Putin. And therefore they did not forward unpleasant information from their employees to the dictator, but instead lied something, that they know would be gratifying by him.

It remains to be seen, what will be the next steps in the war. It is, however, clear that as long as it continues, the Russians will continue a genocide of Ukrainians. Including brutal executions. And the western world will be following powerlessly - in fear of Russia’s nuclear weapons.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
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