Thursday 20 February: Churchillian Zelensky deserves better than betrayal by Donald Trump

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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470 thoughts on “Thursday 20 February: Churchillian Zelensky deserves better than betrayal by Donald Trump”

  2. Good morning, chums. I hope you all slept well. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe page.

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  9. Starmer’s peacekeeping plan is doomed to fail. 20 February 2025.

    Sir Keir Starmer says his proposal to deploy British forces to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal brokered with Moscow is designed to safeguard Ukraine’s sovereignty, as well as “helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country”.

    "…it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

    The real mystery here is why Starmer has stuck his neck out so that Trump can chop his head off on next week’s visit. There is as yet no proposed settlement. No one knows, even the Donald, what it will look like. The little we do know is that Putin has refused to even countenance the idea of any NATO presence and even if he were to tolerate it the UK does not have the military resources to carry out Starmer’s plan. Worse no one else wants to join in. The French have suddenly got cold feet and the only people; the Poles and Finns, who do have the means, want nothing to do with it. The real problem with this opposition is that it looks suspiciously like they don’t want the War to end. Zelensky’s attitude is the strangest of all. As one of the belligerents; a losing one, one would have thought that he would be overjoyed at it ending.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/19/starmers-peacekeeping-plan-is-doomed-to-fail/#comment

  10. Floats in on a scented breeze, Good Morning, a cloudy dull day but still beautiful out amongst nature .

  13. If you go out walking remember the Wellington boots, the ground is sodden.

  14. Still Tasty
    Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers. The final DT letter this morning was about the scandal of wasting food that was beyond its best by, use by or sell by dates.

    I studied Microbiology for two years as part of my first university degree, then spent a further 12 years investigating the safety-in-use of food additives, antioxidants and stabilisers, so I have a reasonable appreciation of food spoilage.

    Nowadays, the Internet is your friend. Just navigate to http://www.stilltasty.com and you can see such things as how long eggs can be safely kept, whether you can eat turkeys frozen for a couple of years, whether that pot of yogurt that's a week over its stamped date is OK to eat, and so on.

    Go and have a look – I guarantee that you will be surprised.

    3. You can definitely eat turkey frozen for a couple of years. I ate last year’s turkey this Christmas.

  16. Good morning all.
    A much less colder start to the day with a high of 10.1°C on the thermometer when I took the empty milk bottle out to the crate. A bit better than yesterday's low of 1°C.
    However, it's a dull an' 'orrible wet start to the day with steady rain.

    Churchillian Zelenskyy???? You have to be jesting!

    1. Jim Ferguson
      @JimFergusonUK
      🚨 GERMAN CHANCELLOR STORMS OUT ON STARMER—DIPLOMATIC DISASTER! 🚨

      🔴 Keir Starmer just suffered a humiliating blow as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz STORMED OUT of their meeting—leaving the UK Prime Minister looking weak and isolated on the world stage.

      🔴 The cause? Starmer’s reckless push for European troops in Ukraine—a move so absurd that even Germany, one of Ukraine’s biggest backers, wasn’t having it!

      🔥 Scholz called Starmer’s plan “highly inappropriate” and “completely premature.” Translation? Starmer is out of his depth, playing war games while Europe tries to avoid total catastrophe! 🔥

      📢 WHAT THIS MEANS:

      ⚠️ Britain’s global credibility is collapsing under Starmer’s leadership.
      ⚠️ Germany, Italy, and other EU nations are distancing themselves FAST.
      ⚠️ Even Europe’s biggest globalists know Starmer is a liability.

      💥 Starmer wanted to play statesman—he ended up getting laughed out of the room! 💥

      🚨 When even Germany walks away, you know you’re in trouble! 🚨

      SeekingTruth
      @envisionalt7
      Keir Starmer is compromised. The Globalists have total control over him.

      The Globalist's goal is to destabilize the peace negotiations that Trump is currently engaged in and turn the Ukraine war into a global war.

      Starmer wants to send most of the UK soldiers who are loyal to UK citizens to their death.

      He will replace them with his favorite immigrants who hate the UK citizens, giving totalitarian control to Starmer, to oppress the UK citizens.

  17. Churchillian Zelensky deserves better than betrayal by Donald Trump

    Churchill once said that jaw Jaw is better than war war, I think.
    Trump is doing an excellent job
    People that clamour for war when we don't have the army to carry it out are bonkers

      1. Scholz knows perfectly well that if German troops go near Ukraine, the narrative will be spun against Germany. He doesn't want to be the first German Chancellor since the Austrian to send German troops into Ukraine.

        1. There are two outcomes that are essential for there ever to be peace in Europe:
          1. Putin and Russia cannot be permitted to get away with annexing a single inch of territory through 'Special Military Operation'.
          2. Ukraine should realise that it cannot hold onto what it cannot defend, or cannot find willing allies to defend it from hostile claims.

          As I see it, Crimea and Donbas are lost, and there isn't the support from Ukraine's allies to restore it. However, any takeover by Russia under these circumstances amounts to appeasement, and was precisely the reason why WW2 was fought and the UN set up. Capitulation sets a precedent that puts the whole world in a very dangerous place.

          The best solution might therefore be to partition Ukraine and set up a neutral buffer state, not under Russian sovereignty and under UN protection, and allow events in this independent state to take their natural course. Russia would of course have to cease all hostile action towards Ukraine, and Ukraine pledge not to take retaliatory action against Russia.

          1. Russia appeased the US by letting Ukraine have the Donbas, the Crimea corridor and the Crim itself though. And look what happened in reply – more NATO aggression!

            Russia wanted Ukraine to stay neutral, the problem was entirely on the US side that they got greedy.

      3. Why do people never just 'leave', 'exit' or 'walk out of' meetings.

        Why do they invariably Storm or Flounce out of them?

        1. Because, Grizzly, the media love to dramatise instead of reporting the facts in a neutral tone. PS – I shall say this once more only: please revert to a better avatar for yourself.

          1. In early 1996, I was in Bosnia with IFOR/NATO. The Mail on Sunday came out to do an article. They discovered that my unit had about 50 women on strength so the focus of their article was on these. The got a small number of women to pose among the rubble of a shelled out building, totally staged as theyr were employed in Zetra Stadium doing comms work. They made a big deal about being deployed just before Christmas, nothing unusual about being away at Christmas. One girl said she was missing the family but just getting on with it.
            The headline they published was "Signaller D*** H**** wept at Christmas". She was furious. A total misrepresentation of what she had said. That's why I would never engage with them.

    2. I don't think it wise to encourage another European war. our war is against Islam .

        2. I think we are alive to the problem. It’s the masses we need to convince. The ptb don’t care.

        1. That appeasement prevents war, or that Poland was to blame for not surrendering soon enough, and Britain utterly to blame for surrendering not at all?

      2. Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.”

        Credit Harold Macmillan, not Churchill for this phrase in 1958. Four year earlier, in 1954, Churchill actually said, “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.”

    4. Frankly I find those comparing that corrupt, slimy little toerag to Churchill grossly offensive!

  18. The Trump presidency has been like another fall of the Berlin Wall, but for the West this time, freeing our people from the iron grip of the globalist supranational institutions and their ideology to destroy the democratic nation state, borders, western culture, history and our identities.

  23. Good morning. I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head in disbelief at today's letters headline.

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  25. Morning all 🙂😊
    What a climate we have wet grey windy but temps in double figures 11.
    At the very least Trump has brought Vlad into the conversation, it was Zelenskyy and his fake alliance, 'global elite' who where the background propagationists. And because of their continuous mistakes they try to blame everyone but themselves for these terrible errors.
    A country with a border disputes with neighbours 'in old money' cannot join Nato.

    3. Is this an off-the-cuff declaration by Starmer or did someone script it for him to read?

      Either way it's a slur on Churchill.

      2. I don't believe Starmer has the nous for 'off-the-cuff'. He's merely a drone for his Schwabstika masters.

  27. Good morning, all. Overcast and wet. Message ends.

    As poppiesmum and JN have reported, J D Vance VPOTUS is to meet with Starmer: is this a snub to 'Perfidious Albion' or is it more personal? I can imagine that POTUS et al. are concerned with the direction the UK is taking under Starmer's Premiership.

    Here we have Reuters reporting:

    US Energy Secretary attacks 'sinister' net zero goals, singling out Britain

    LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday called a pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 a "sinister goal", and criticised the British government's attempts to hit clean energy targets…

    "Net Zero 2050 is a sinister goal. It's a terrible goal," Wright said, speaking via videolink at a conference being held in London.
    "The aggressive pursuit of it – and you're sitting in a country that has aggressively pursued this goal – has not delivered any benefits, but it's delivered tremendous costs."
    Wright also used a question and answer session at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event to say his number one priority was for the government to "get out of the way" of the production of oil, gas and coal…

    On net zero, he took particular aim at Britain, saying its pursuit of a decarbonised energy system – which the current UK government wants to reach by 2030 – had damaged living standards and exported emissions elsewhere in the world.
    "No one's going to make an energy-intensive product in the United Kingdom any more. It's just been displaced somewhere else," he said.
    "This is not energy transition. This is lunacy. This is impoverishing your own citizens in a delusion that this is somehow going to make the world a better place."
    Prime Minister Keir Starmer has put clean energy at the heart of his strategy for Britain, banking on the development of the country's offshore wind resources in particular as the source of a new wave of highly skilled jobs and economic growth.

    If the following is true:

    "No one's going to make an energy-intensive product in the United Kingdom any more. It's just been displaced somewhere else," he said.

    How can Starmer's dream of…

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer has put clean energy at the heart of his strategy for Britain, banking on the development of the country's offshore wind resources in particular as the source of a new wave of highly skilled jobs and economic growth.

    … be viable?

    Starmer recently positioned himself as an advocate of nuclear energy. Was this a stunt to divert people's attention from the ruinous wind and solar – another huge solar array gobbling up vast acres of farmland in Lincs, Notts and Leicestershire, has been approved – programmes in Miliband's portfolio?

  28. Activist judge Hugo Norton-Taylor up to his tricks again..

    Asylum seeker declared a child by UK judges… despite being 23 with a receding hairline and thick facial hair

    1. "Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor has been under fire for other controversial judgements in the past, such as recently allowing an Albanian man the right to stay in the UK because of his “close bond” with his Portuguese wife’s children from a previous marriage."

      1. I'll bet he hasn't come under fire from his bosses though SB, and that'll be all that counts to him.

  29. A chilly good morning to all – Heating did not come on this morning – plumber called, at least I have the woodburner!
    Update – plumber arrived 11.15, new actuator fitted to motorised valve, heating back on. Great service

  32. 401938+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Churchillian Zelensky deserves better than betrayal by Donald Trump

    To many of the younger peoples what will never be known for sure is the fact the President Trumps input extended their lifespan.

    Churchill quotes from the past as being more apt I would say when applied to this current life thieving situation.

    Churchill used the phrase "Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war" to explain why summit diplomacy was important to prevent another war between great powers.

    This in my book can also be applied to ongoing wars.

    Endgame is, the only ones exiting a war fit & healthy
    are the arm dealers & political backers.

      1. The reparations demanded by the French to prop up their failing state, which the Germans couldn't afford.

        First, impoverish the country. Then demand more and more money for government and oligarchs and finally open the borders to alien cultures. Sound familiar?

        1. Good morning, as we walked off the walking football pitch this morning, one of the lads (definitely not a Nottler or Puffin), after making a crack about me being recalled to duty, stated that the problem in Ukraine was that Trump wants to buy and control all the mineral wealth. I presume he got that angle from Breakfast Newz. I asked him why Hunter Biden has a pardon backdated to Jan 2014, and who he thought the 'big guy' was? I also asked him if he'd heard of Bursima or Blackrock. Apparently not.

  35. Today FSB features part three of John Hamer’s essay on vapour trials, In this one, Chemtrails. What Are They Up To?, he gives his opinion on what they could be.

    Paul Sutton’s lyrical pieces on the state of affairs in this country, BREAKFAST AT WETHERSPOONS is a poetic treat. Trigger warning: It includes a mention of Tony Blair.

    Energy watch 08.00: UK net demand: 35.66 GW. Total UK Production: 33.78 GW from: Hydrocarbons 11%; Wind 54.4%; Imports 12.5%; Biomass 7.6 and Nuclear 12.1. Solar: 0.

    We are importing very expensively 3.8GW of electricity while paying gas power stations, which could easily produce that and more, to stand by and do nothing, and that is on top of the 20% of your electricity bills to go to rich green activists in the form of subsidies, to give us the most expensive electricity in the world – about six times higher than the US and ten times higher than China – and your bills are about to rise again in April!

    freespeechbacklash.com

  36. Morning all,

    Woke up this morning feeling a bit dizzy – pulse oximeter said I was fine.
    I reckoned it was a bit of calcium moving around in one of the inner canals in my ears – can be something you get as you age. Had the same diagnosis from MOH, retired senior nurse (GP always asks her first what she thinks before daring to diagnose a condition).

    Looked it up on an AI assisted search engine which identified from symptoms as likely BPPV.

    The first thing to do is find out which ear ir is:

    https://youtube.com/shorts/Keq3a1OKfS0?si=XSOgB0s0b9qUf2aa
    Has any Nottler suspected they had BPPV and did they find which of any of the home manoevres worked to fix it?

    1. I've had BPPV. It does just go away, though if you check on the interwebby, various methods are suggested to shift it.
      I must admit that it struck me after a jolly evening helping a friend finish the remains of a gin bottle, so I thought it was a hangover. When it lasted into a second day, I nipped to the GP.

  37. Grey and damp.
    Looks easy but this was difficult:
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    2. What does any possible need for conscription on our part have to do with Trump?
      If we can't encourage young people to join up that's our problem and nobody else's.

  39. We're moving on Monday from a home we've lived in for the past 29 years and going to a bungalow only a mile or so from where we are now. My arthritic knees don't cope well with stairs anymore.
    It's been a very stressful time but we have the removal company coming tomorrow and Saturday to pack everything, Sunday we're going to our daughter's to say cheerio to our eldest granddaughter who's going off to Australia with her boyfriend for at least a year. Monday up with the larks for the last bits to be loaded then waiting for the phone call from the solicitor to say completion has taken place.
    Might not be around lot for next few days.

    1. Take it as easy as you can Alf. All the best with the ordeal of the move and settling in.
      Your daughter will have a wonderful experience in Oz.
      One of our neighbours eldest daughters and fella is off to oz later this year, their youngest in already living in Canada.

    5. Good luck and be careful Alf.

      I wish we had done that a few years ago , my hip and knees are giving me gyp as well..

      Moh is not keen on moving , we have so much clutter that has accumulated over the years we have been married , my feelings are we should have a massive clear out , rather than leave it to chance .

      Our home is sort of comfy , but the stairs from the hall x2 then the stairs on a curve upstairs , then two more steps to the other bedrooms , sounds enormous but it isn't .. and there would be no suitable staircase for a stair chair lift .

      When Moh pulled a muscle in his back a few years ago, the paramedics had a hell of a job getting him downstairs in their chair .

      I worry like mad about doorframe sizes, modern homes are so narrow and so are new bungalows , old bungalows are snapped up and converted into houses! I don't know how people cope .

      1. Forty-odd years ago, when I was a young bobby, I dealt with the sudden death of an old chap who weighed nigh-on 30 stones. He had died in the bedroom of his old mid-terraced house and the narrow staircase was much steeper than the modern regulation slope of 42º.

        I assisted two chaps from the funeral service to take his body — in a body bag — down those stairs!

        How the hell we managed it was a miracle since more than once, on the way down, we nearly lost hold of him and we feared he would go crashing down the stairs.

    7. All the best with your move and everything happiness in your new home but yes, moving is very stressful ( I loath it personally) but once it's done you can relax and not worry about those stairs.

    9. Thinking of you Alf and vw! Hope the move goes well, and you settle in happily to your new home! 🏠🥂💕

      1. Thank you Anne.
        The decision was made for me by my knees and lower legs. Arthritis and peripheral neuropathy, not the best of partners.

  40. Message from Judy , Tom Hunn's friend .

    Judith Ewing
    Thank you for your reply, I just wanted it known that I cared. Tom donated his body to medical science however when I got to Moffat and found the paperwork it had not been registered correctly, Tom’s daughter and I decided on a direct cremation as Tom did not want a funeral. We have been informed the cremation will take place at some point today in Motherwell if NTtlers would like to reflect on Tom’s happier times. Please thank all the contributors who befriended Tom and cared! Kind regards, Judy

      1. Hi J

        I have sent off an email to you and a couple of others who I have on my contact list !!

        Sad times .. I wish I had had Lotl's email, perhaps could have been more helpful.

        1. Thanks Maggie – only just seen it as I’ve been a bit preoccupied this morning. Looking at old photos, would you believe….
          Will reply by email when I’ve read them properly.

          I did have Ann’s email but only shortly before she died….. I don’t think any of us could have done very much for her, sadly.

    2. Thanks Belle. I had been thinking about him this morning as I passed a RAV4 when I was taking the twins to Nursery! I was telling them that I also used to have one but a different colour! I shall go and read his emails again and remember him.

    3. Thank you for that update. I had been checking for funeral notices thinking it might be here in Dumfries. I think partly due to Tom’s experience of NHS Dumfries, he had a total aversion to the town, so not surprising his cremation is in Motherwell.

    4. I still miss the old bugger a lot!
      Imagine my delight a few weeks ago, when my phone rang and his name was on the screen. But, unfortunately, that wasn't the reality, it was Judith with the bad news.
      I'd like to raise a last glass to his memory, so it had better be tonight.
      Slainte!

  41. Good morning, all. Very late on parade. Woke exhausted at 7 and went back to sleep until 10.30.

    Brighter weather but damp.

  42. Yo and Good Moaning to you all from a dull, weatherwise C d S.

    Temperature tonight to be +9 Deg C, almost tropical

  43. Angela Rayner still in Ethiopia and then on to Ghana as the government seeks to reset relationships with nations around the world.
    Keeeerching.

    Population of Ethiopia in 1984 was 42 million, now circa 140 million.
    Population of Ghana in 1984 was 13 million, now circa 34 million.
    Starving? So don't think so.

  44. Angela Rayner still in Ethiopia and then on to Ghana as the government seeks to reset relationships with nations around the world.
    Keeeerching.

    Population of Ethiopia in 1984 was 42 million, now circa 140 million.
    Population of Ghana in 1984 was 13 million, now circa 34 million.
    Starving? So don't think so.

    2. Chucking it down her what? Her dress? Her knickers? Her doorstep?

      Come on Maggie, we must be told! 😘🤣👍🏻

      1. Her, me in the shower ?

        Is that better?

        Talking of showers , we have had our water bill for the year including sewerage.. £1,800.
        Gulp .

        Our water pressure is useless , shower is a dribble , not a heavy water user apart from watering stuff in the dry weeks of summer .

        They estimate water bills on banding .. Thieves , all of them

        1. We have been on a water meter for years and we pay £28 per month. It sounds as though your is based on your council tax band. We’re F and we now pay only marginally more than we changed 25 or so years ago.

          1. We are also F band, but why and how can they charge so much when not on a meter, and how do we know we wont have the same charge when we are on a meter.

            I use my washing machine everyday , dishwasher , showers etc 3 of us live here .. and a garden that requires watering in the summer .. it is frightening .

          2. From our experience you would save a lot of money moving from rateable value.
            Do you think it would be better that your gas and electricity were charged on rateable value rather than being charged for what you actually use which is what metering does?

          3. I use my washing machine 2–3 times a week.
            I wash up in the sink.
            I shower every March (whether it rains or not)😉
            The clouds water the garden.

          5. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c56c9bf26a5fcf6063bcc6c96660cf67473b667524320f65307c57349c70d10d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27e1f5f41d5ada5bce46cd68c588e4824c7e728e1786ee16035f1cd21566452d.png
            He has taken over as Lord of the Manor. When he is not demanding that a door be opened (so that he can explore his estate), he sits on the staircase looking down his nose at his minions.
            To be fair he has not uttered a single growl or hiss yet, he is very laid-back. He lies down wherever and whenever it takes his fancy. There is not a floor, chair, sofa, windowsill or shelf he hasn’t tried out yet.

        2. Our shower stops to just a dribble if the temperature drops below –9ºC. All pipes are well- lagged and I have a heater where they enter the house but, despite that, we still get a partial freeze. No burst pipes though, thank goodness.

          Our annual water and sewerage bill comes to around the equivalent of £550–£560.

        3. Didn't someone suggest on here recently, that if you are not a heavy water user it would be better to opt for a meter?

          1. Feargal, it might have been me.

            Thirty-or-so years ago I recommended my Dad, a widower living alone in a higher-rated bungalow and probably showering once a week (if he remembered, love him) that he should copy me and have a water meter fitted. His bills went from around £150 (based on rateable value) to less than £60 a year immediately.

            South Eastern Water replaced my own water meter exactly a month ago. I am attaching a photo of the 'decorated' man who came to diagnose any supply problems on the whole of our 45-year-old estate. He is holding a stethoscope.

            The previous meter had been replaced after 35 years due to a faulty non-return valve that allowed 8 cubic metres (that's 8 tonnes of water a day) to pass through. The Water bill was £3,251.57 on top of my six-monthly Direct Debit bill, but because the meter was on the Water Company's side, I didn't have to pay that one, thankfully. I am now reading my new meter each weekend to keep an eye on it, since it started at 00000.1 on January 20th.

            Water meters are excellent value for 'dirty old men'! I wish the standing charge was lower, though.

            Highly Decorated Veteran with Stethoscope:
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4931a19bb3903bfc32e2ab81ee2c001d5e135f28250e319460ab98dfb7cf78f3.png

        4. Water and sewerage £40 a month here. £480 a year.

          You might want to consider a water meter but if you are doing laundry every day your water usage will be higher than mine.

          I expect you could easily save £800 a year.

        5. Take comfort in the fact that because of water bills were based on banding, several years ago we had a water meter fitted, despite the water company's usage calculator which showed that our overall cost would rise considerably. We went from a monthly payment of £70 to an actual payment of £38 based on our consumption.
          Fast forward to this year and despite no increase in our consumption the monthly payments has increased by more than 16%
          I must agree with your final thoughts, thieves indeed.

        6. Have you asked any neighbours or friends if they’re on a water metre as ask how much they pay? You could save a lot of money.

        7. Maggie; please get a water meter.
          The difference in the bills is amazing.
          Some years ago Anglian Water actually had a meter push. We were living at Allan Towers and the bills were noticeably lower after the meter installation.

  46. From Coffee House the Spectator

    22 Feb 2025
    Coffee House
    Owen MatthewsOwen Matthews
    The Trump-Zelensky train wreck will cost Ukraine dearly
    20 February 2025, 7:45am

    Where did it all go wrong between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky? Just a week ago, Zelensky was speaking of his ‘respect’ and ‘friendship’ for Trump and of his hope that the new US administration would ‘stand by Ukraine … to make a just and lasting peace’. Yet in the course of just 24 hours, the Trump-Zelensky relationship spiralled into a nose-dive before definitively crashing and burning with a devastatingly vicious post by the US President on his Truth Social media platform.

    In an incoherent and error-filled statement, Trump blasted Zelensky as ‘a dictator without elections’, a ‘modestly successful comedian’ who had ‘talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion dollars, to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start’. Trump accused Zelensky of ‘playing Biden like a fiddle’ in order to extract money – and, perhaps most outrageously of all, accused Zelensky of putting off peace talks with Putin because he ‘probably wants to keep the gravy train going’.

    Trump’s savage attack on a close American ally has no precedent in the modern history

    Trump’s ally Elon Musk was quick to pile in behind the President’s criticisms of Zelensky’s legitimacy. ‘Given that we are supposed to be defending democracy, there should be democracy,’ Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, which he owns. ‘Zelensky cannot claim to represent the will of the people of Ukraine unless he restores freedom of the press and stops canceling elections!’

    Trump’s savage attack on a close American ally has no precedent in the modern history of diplomacy and has drawn shock and disbelief from across the US political spectrum – as well as from Europe. ‘Trump’s characterisations of Zelensky and Ukraine are some of the most shameful remarks ever made by a US president,’ wrote John Bolton, Trump’s National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019. ‘Our support of Ukraine has never been about charity, our way of life at home depends on our strength abroad.’

    Trump’s 230-word-long post was unusually aggressive, intemperate and reckless even by his own extravagant standards. They were the words of a clearly angry man who has been personally offended. Trump’s vice president J.D. Vance confirmed that his boss’ outburst was a direct, personal response to Zelensky’s behaviour.

    Over the past week, Zelensky has publicly expressed indignation that he had not been invited to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, announcing that he would be flying to Riyadh anyway – before scrapping that plan and declaring that Ukraine would not necessarily abide by any peace deal agreed between Trump and Putin in upcoming face-to-face talks. Zelensky also accused Trump of living in a ‘bubble of Russian disinformation’. That, while quite possibly true, was apparently the final straw.

    ‘The idea that [Zelensky] is going to litigate his disagreements with the President in the public square … This is not a good way to deal with President Trump,’ Vance told reporters. Zelensky had attacked ‘the only reason [his] country exists, publicly … And it’s disgraceful,’ said Vance. ‘And it’s not something that is going to move the President of the United States. In fact, it’s going to have the opposite effect.’

    Vance’s diagnosis rings true. Trump has thrown years of US diplomacy and billions of dollars (though not the $350 billion he claimed) to the wind in a fit of personal pique. Zelensky had dared to challenge Trump over his plan to bring a swift end to the war by striking a direct deal with Putin, and, even more outrageously to Trump’s mind, suggested that Ukraine might refuse to comply. The result was diplomatic armageddon by social media.

    Doubtless, many previous US presidents have been choleric and vengeful men (Richard Nixon springs to mind). But none before Trump has had the technological means to communicate his spontaneous thoughts, unmediated, to millions at the touch of a button – and change the balance of power in the world as a result.

    For three years since Putin’s invasion, Zelensky has barely put a foot wrong in his international diplomacy. In a series of passionate speeches to the British and European parliaments, Congress, and other national assemblies at the beginning of the war, Zelensky’s moral clarity and personal example of bravery drew standing ovations. It inspired – and occasionally shamed – Western nations into sending massive and unprecedented military and other aid.

    But managing Trump was always going to be Zelensky’s trickiest – as well as most consequential – personal challenge. The two leaders go back a long way. In the now infamous ‘quid pro quo’ phone call during the first months of Zelensky’s presidency in 2019, Trump seemed to demand dirt on Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian business activities in exchange for continued US military aid. Zelensky politely refused. That episode became the basis of Trump’s second impeachment in the closing days of his first term.

    During the 2024 US presidential campaign, Zelensky made his preference for a Biden victory a little too obvious, ill-advisedly touring arms factories in Pennsylvania to demonstrate that support for Ukraine was good business for America’s military-industrial complex. Trump’s team didn’t appreciate the gesture. But Zelensky’s final, and fatal, miscalculation was to imagine that gathering European support for his defiance of Trump would put him in a strong position. The opposite was true. Zelensky, maestro of the political high-wire, this week mis-stepped into empty space.

    Identifying a diplomatic bad move is not the same as blaming the victim. Zelensky has fallen foul of a vengeful and thin-skinned man who has long been itching for an excuse to settle old scores.

    But the sad reality is that Ukraine will suffer for this debacle, which hands Putin a victory he could not possibly have dreamed of even a week ago. The Kremlin has long said that it regards Zelensky – whose presidential term expired in May 2024 and who has been ruling under wartime emergency powers ever since – as an illegitimate president. Trump’s blast will be music to their ears.

    On a practical level, by signalling that he regards Zelensky as a ‘dictator’, Trump has effectively signalled that there will be no deal until new elections are held in Ukraine – elections which Zelensky is, according to recent polling that shows just 16 per cent of people are willing to vote for his return, almost certain to lose.

    The idea of a massive pro-Zelensky sympathy vote in the wake of Trump’s evisceration makes for a cute narrative – but the danger is that in practice a Ukrainian leader who has lost the confidence of the country’s major ally and supporter could struggle for political survival. It will be up to his likely successor and current overwhelming poll-leader General Valery Zaluzhny – currently Ukraine’s ambassador to London – to rebuild the shattered relationship.

    Written by
    Owen Matthews
    Owen Matthews writes about Russia for The Spectator and is the author of Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine.
    Comments

    1. Article by Vladimir Putin ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“

      http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

      In the 1920's-1930's, the Bolsheviks actively promoted the ”localization policy“, which took the form of Ukrainization in the Ukrainian SSR. Symbolically, as part of this policy and with consent of the Soviet authorities, Mikhail Grushevskiy, former chairman of Central Rada, one of the ideologists of Ukrainian nationalism, who at a certain period of time had been supported by Austria-Hungary, was returned to the USSR and was elected member of the Academy of Sciences.

      The localization policy undoubtedly played a major role in the development and consolidation of the Ukrainian culture, language and identity. At the same time, under the guise of combating the so-called Russian great-power chauvinism, Ukrainization was often imposed on those who did not see themselves as Ukrainians. This Soviet national policy secured at the state level the provision on three separate Slavic peoples: Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian, instead of the large Russian nation, a triune people comprising Velikorussians, Malorussians and Belorussians.

      In 1939, the USSR regained the lands earlier seized by Poland. A major portion of these became part of the Soviet Ukraine. In 1940, the Ukrainian SSR incorporated part of Bessarabia, which had been occupied by Romania since 1918, as well as Northern Bukovina. In 1948, Zmeyiniy Island (Snake Island) in the Black Sea became part of Ukraine. In 1954, the Crimean Region of the RSFSR was given to the Ukrainian SSR, in gross violation of legal norms that were in force at the time.

      I would like to dwell on the destiny of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of Czechoslovakia following the breakup of Austria-Hungary. Rusins made up a considerable share of local population. While this is hardly mentioned any longer, after the liberation of Transcarpathia by Soviet troops the congress of the Orthodox population of the region voted for the inclusion of Carpathian Ruthenia in the RSFSR or, as a separate Carpathian republic, in the USSR proper. Yet the choice of people was ignored. In summer 1945, the historical act of the reunification of Carpathian Ukraine ”with its ancient motherland, Ukraine“ – as The Pravda newspaper put it – was announced.

      Therefore, modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. We know and remember well that it was shaped – for a significant part – on the lands of historical Russia. To make sure of that, it is enough to look at the boundaries of the lands reunited with the Russian state in the 17th century and the territory of the Ukrainian SSR when it left the Soviet Union.

      The Bolsheviks treated the Russian people as inexhaustible material for their social experiments. They dreamt of a world revolution that would wipe out national states. That is why they were so generous in drawing borders and bestowing territorial gifts. It is no longer important what exactly the idea of the Bolshevik leaders who were chopping the country into pieces was. We can disagree about minor details, background and logics behind certain decisions. One fact is crystal clear: Russia was robbed, indeed.

      When working on this article, I relied on open-source documents that contain well-known facts rather than on some secret records. The leaders of modern Ukraine and their external ”patrons“ prefer to overlook these facts. They do not miss a chance, however, both inside the country and abroad, to condemn ”the crimes of the Soviet regime,“ listing among them events with which neither the CPSU, nor the USSR, let alone modern Russia, have anything to do. At the same time, the Bolsheviks' efforts to detach from Russia its historical territories are not considered a crime. And we know why: if they brought about the weakening of Russia, our ill-wishes are happy with that.

      Of course, inside the USSR, borders between republics were never seen as state borders; they were nominal within a single country, which, while featuring all the attributes of a federation, was highly centralized – this, again, was secured by the CPSU's leading role. But in 1991, all those territories, and, which is more important, people, found themselves abroad overnight, taken away, this time indeed, from their historical motherland.

      What can be said to this? Things change: countries and communities are no exception. Of course, some part of a people in the process of its development, influenced by a number of reasons and historical circumstances, can become aware of itself as a separate nation at a certain moment. How should we treat that? There is only one answer: with respect!

      You want to establish a state of your own: you are welcome! But what are the terms? I will recall the assessment given by one of the most prominent political figures of new Russia, first mayor of Saint Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak. As a legal expert who believed that every decision must be legitimate, in 1992, he shared the following opinion: the republics that were founders of the Union, having denounced the 1922 Union Treaty, must return to the boundaries they had had before joining the Soviet Union. All other territorial acquisitions are subject to discussion, negotiations, given that the ground has been revoked.

      In other words, when you leave, take what you brought with you. This logic is hard to refute. I will just say that the Bolsheviks had embarked on reshaping boundaries even before the Soviet Union, manipulating with territories to their liking, in disregard of people's views.

      The Russian Federation recognized the new geopolitical realities: and not only recognized, but, indeed, did a lot for Ukraine to establish itself as an independent country. Throughout the difficult 1990's and in the new millennium, we have provided considerable support to Ukraine. Whatever ”political arithmetic“ of its own Kiev may wish to apply, in 1991–2013, Ukraine's budget savings amounted to more than USD 82 billion, while today, it holds on to the mere USD 1.5 billion of Russian payments for gas transit to Europe. If economic ties between our countries had been retained, Ukraine would enjoy the benefit of tens of billions of dollars.

      Ukraine and Russia have developed as a single economic system over decades and centuries. The profound cooperation we had 30 years ago is an example for the European Union to look up to. We are natural complementary economic partners. Such a close relationship can strengthen competitive advantages, increasing the potential of both countries.

      Ukraine used to possess great potential, which included powerful infrastructure, gas transportation system, advanced shipbuilding, aviation, rocket and instrument engineering industries, as well as world-class scientific, design and engineering schools. Taking over this legacy and declaring independence, Ukrainian leaders promised that the Ukrainian economy would be one of the leading ones and the standard of living would be among the best in Europe.

      Today, high-tech industrial giants that were once the pride of Ukraine and the entire Union, are sinking. Engineering output has dropped by 42 per cent over ten years. The scale of deindustrialization and overall economic degradation is visible in Ukraine's electricity production, which has seen a nearly two-time decrease in 30 years. Finally, according to IMF reports, in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Ukraine's GDP per capita had been below USD 4 thousand. This is less than in the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Moldova, or unrecognized Kosovo. Nowadays, Ukraine is Europe's poorest country.

      Who is to blame for this? Is it the people of Ukraine's fault? Certainly not. It was the Ukrainian authorities who waisted and frittered away the achievements of many generations. We know how hardworking and talented the people of Ukraine are. They can achieve success and outstanding results with perseverance and determination. And these qualities, as well as their openness, innate optimism and hospitality have not gone. The feelings of millions of people who treat Russia not just well but with great affection, just as we feel about Ukraine, remain the same.

      Until 2014, hundreds of agreements and joint projects were aimed at developing our economies, business and cultural ties, strengthening security, and solving common social and environmental problems. They brought tangible benefits to people – both in Russia and Ukraine. This is what we believed to be most important. And that is why we had a fruitful interaction with all, I emphasize, with all the leaders of Ukraine.

      Even after the events in Kiev of 2014, I charged the Russian government to elaborate options for preserving and maintaining our economic ties within relevant ministries and agencies. However, there was and is still no mutual will to do the same. Nevertheless, Russia is still one of Ukraine's top three trading partners, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are coming to us to work, and they find a welcome reception and support. So that what the ”aggressor state“ is.

      When the USSR collapsed, many people in Russia and Ukraine sincerely believed and assumed that our close cultural, spiritual and economic ties would certainly last, as would the commonality of our people, who had always had a sense of unity at their core. However, events – at first gradually, and then more rapidly – started to move in a different direction.

      In essence, Ukraine's ruling circles decided to justify their country's independence through the denial of its past, however, except for border issues. They began to mythologize and rewrite history, edit out everything that united us, and refer to the period when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union as an occupation. The common tragedy of collectivization and famine of the early 1930s was portrayed as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

      Radicals and neo-Nazis were open and more and more insolent about their ambitions. They were indulged by both the official authorities and local oligarchs, who robbed the people of Ukraine and kept their stolen money in Western banks, ready to sell their motherland for the sake of preserving their capital. To this should be added the persistent weakness of state institutions and the position of a willing hostage to someone else's geopolitical will.

      I recall that long ago, well before 2014, the U.S. and EU countries systematically and consistently pushed Ukraine to curtail and limit economic cooperation with Russia. We, as the largest trade and economic partner of Ukraine, suggested discussing the emerging problems in the Ukraine-Russia-EU format. But every time we were told that Russia had nothing to do with it and that the issue concerned only the EU and Ukraine. De facto Western countries rejected Russia's repeated calls for dialogue.

      Step by step, Ukraine was dragged into a dangerous geopolitical game aimed at turning Ukraine into a barrier between Europe and Russia, a springboard against Russia. Inevitably, there came a time when the concept of ”Ukraine is not Russia“ was no longer an option. There was a need for the ”anti-Russia“ concept which we will never accept.

      The owners of this project took as a basis the old groundwork of the Polish-Austrian ideologists to create an ”anti-Moscow Russia“. And there is no need to deceive anyone that this is being done in the interests of the people of Ukraine. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth never needed Ukrainian culture, much less Cossack autonomy. In Austria-Hungary, historical Russian lands were mercilessly exploited and remained the poorest. The Nazis, abetted by collaborators from the OUN-UPA, did not need Ukraine, but a living space and slaves for Aryan overlords.

      Nor were the interests of the Ukrainian people thought of in February 2014. The legitimate public discontent, caused by acute socio-economic problems, mistakes, and inconsistent actions of the authorities of the time, was simply cynically exploited. Western countries directly interfered in Ukraine's internal affairs and supported the coup. Radical nationalist groups served as its battering ram. Their slogans, ideology, and blatant aggressive Russophobia have to a large extent become defining elements of state policy in Ukraine.

      All the things that united us and bring us together so far came under attack. First and foremost, the Russian language. Let me remind you that the new ”Maidan“ authorities first tried to repeal the law on state language policy. Then there was the law on the ”purification of power“, the law on education that virtually cut the Russian language out of the educational process.

      Lastly, as early as May of this year, the current president introduced a bill on ”indigenous peoples“ to the Rada. Only those who constitute an ethnic minority and do not have their own state entity outside Ukraine are recognized as indigenous. The law has been passed. New seeds of discord have been sown. And this is happening in a country, as I have already noted, that is very complex in terms of its territorial, national and linguistic composition, and its history of formation.

      There may be an argument: if you are talking about a single large nation, a triune nation, then what difference does it make who people consider themselves to be – Russians, Ukrainians, or Belarusians. I completely agree with this. Especially since the determination of nationality, particularly in mixed families, is the right of every individual, free to make his or her own choice.

      But the fact is that the situation in Ukraine today is completely different because it involves a forced change of identity. And the most despicable thing is that the Russians in Ukraine are being forced not only to deny their roots, generations of their ancestors but also to believe that Russia is their enemy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the path of forced assimilation, the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia, is comparable in its consequences to the use of weapons of mass destruction against us. As a result of such a harsh and artificial division of Russians and Ukrainians, the Russian people in all may decrease by hundreds of thousands or even millions.

      Our spiritual unity has also been attacked. As in the days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a new ecclesiastical has been initiated. The secular authorities, making no secret of their political aims, have blatantly interfered in church life and brought things to a split, to the seizure of churches, the beating of priests and monks. Even extensive autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church while maintaining spiritual unity with the Moscow Patriarchate strongly displeases them. They have to destroy this prominent and centuries-old symbol of our kinship at all costs.

      I think it is also natural that the representatives of Ukraine over and over again vote against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism. Marches and torchlit processions in honor of remaining war criminals from the SS units take place under the protection of the official authorities. Mazepa, who betrayed everyone, Petliura, who paid for Polish patronage with Ukrainian lands, and Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis, are ranked as national heroes. Everything is being done to erase from the memory of young generations the names of genuine patriots and victors, who have always been the pride of Ukraine.

      For the Ukrainians who fought in the Red Army, in partisan units, the Great Patriotic War was indeed a patriotic war because they were defending their home, their great common Motherland. Over two thousand soldiers became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them are legendary pilot Ivan Kozhedub, fearless sniper, defender of Odessa and Sevastopol Lyudmila Pavlichenko, valiant guerrilla commander Sidor Kovpak. This indomitable generation fought, those people gave their lives for our future, for us. To forget their feat is to betray our grandfathers, mothers and fathers.

      The anti-Russia project has been rejected by millions of Ukrainians. The people of Crimea and residents of Sevastopol made their historic choice. And people in the southeast peacefully tried to defend their stance. Yet, all of them, including children, were labeled as separatists and terrorists. They were threatened with ethnic cleansing and the use of military force. And the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk took up arms to defend their home, their language and their lives. Were they left any other choice after the riots that swept through the cities of Ukraine, after the horror and tragedy of 2 May 2014 in Odessa where Ukrainian neo-Nazis burned people alive making a new Khatyn out of it? The same massacre was ready to be carried out by the followers of Bandera in Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk and Lugansk. Even now they do not abandon such plans. They are biding their time. But their time will not come.

      The coup d'état and the subsequent actions of the Kiev authorities inevitably provoked confrontation and civil war. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that the total number of victims in the conflict in Donbas has exceeded 13,000. Among them are the elderly and children. These are terrible, irreparable losses.

      Russia has done everything to stop fratricide. The Minsk agreements aimed at a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas have been concluded. I am convinced that they still have no alternative. In any case, no one has withdrawn their signatures from the Minsk Package of Measures or from the relevant statements by the leaders of the Normandy format countries. No one has initiated a review of the United Nations Security Council resolution of 17 February 2015.

      During official negotiations, especially after being reined in by Western partners, Ukraine's representatives regularly declare their ”full adherence“ to the Minsk agreements, but are in fact guided by a position of ”unacceptability“. They do not intend to seriously discuss either the special status of Donbas or safeguards for the people living there. They prefer to exploit the image of the ”victim of external aggression“ and peddle Russophobia. They arrange bloody provocations in Donbas. In short, they attract the attention of external patrons and masters by all means.

      Apparently, and I am becoming more and more convinced of this: Kiev simply does not need Donbas. Why? Because, firstly, the inhabitants of these regions will never accept the order that they have tried and are trying to impose by force, blockade and threats. And secondly, the outcome of both Minsk‑1 and Minsk‑2 which give a real chance to peacefully restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine by coming to an agreement directly with the DPR and LPR with Russia, Germany and France as mediators, contradicts the entire logic of the anti-Russia project. And it can only be sustained by the constant cultivation of the image of an internal and external enemy. And I would add – under the protection and control of the Western powers.

      This is what is actually happening. First of all, we are facing the creation of a climate of fear in Ukrainian society, aggressive rhetoric, indulging neo-Nazis and militarising the country. Along with that we are witnessing not just complete dependence but direct external control, including the supervision of the Ukrainian authorities, security services and armed forces by foreign advisers, military ”development“ of the territory of Ukraine and deployment of NATO infrastructure. It is no coincidence that the aforementioned flagrant law on ”indigenous peoples“ was adopted under the cover of large-scale NATO exercises in Ukraine.

      This is also a disguise for the takeover of the rest of the Ukrainian economy and the exploitation of its natural resources. The sale of agricultural land is not far off, and it is obvious who will buy it up. From time to time, Ukraine is indeed given financial resources and loans, but under their own conditions and pursuing their own interests, with preferences and benefits for Western companies. By the way, who will pay these debts back? Apparently, it is assumed that this will have to be done not only by today's generation of Ukrainians but also by their children, grandchildren and probably great-grandchildren.

      The Western authors of the anti-Russia project set up the Ukrainian political system in such a way that presidents, members of parliament and ministers would change but the attitude of separation from and enmity with Russia would remain. Reaching peace was the main election slogan of the incumbent president. He came to power with this. The promises turned out to be lies. Nothing has changed. And in some ways the situation in Ukraine and around Donbas has even degenerated.

      In the anti-Russia project, there is no place either for a sovereign Ukraine or for the political forces that are trying to defend its real independence. Those who talk about reconciliation in Ukrainian society, about dialogue, about finding a way out of the current impasse are labelled as ”pro-Russian“ agents.

      Again, for many people in Ukraine, the anti-Russia project is simply unacceptable. And there are millions of such people. But they are not allowed to raise their heads. They have had their legal opportunity to defend their point of view in fact taken away from them. They are intimidated, driven underground. Not only are they persecuted for their convictions, for the spoken word, for the open expression of their position, but they are also killed. Murderers, as a rule, go unpunished.

      Today, the ”right“ patriot of Ukraine is only the one who hates Russia. Moreover, the entire Ukrainian statehood, as we understand it, is proposed to be further built exclusively on this idea. Hate and anger, as world history has repeatedly proved this, are a very shaky foundation for sovereignty, fraught with many serious risks and dire consequences.

      All the subterfuges associated with the anti-Russia project are clear to us. And we will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia. And to those who will undertake such an attempt, I would like to say that this way they will destroy their own country.

      The incumbent authorities in Ukraine like to refer to Western experience, seeing it as a model to follow. Just have a look at how Austria and Germany, the USA and Canada live next to each other. Close in ethnic composition, culture, in fact sharing one language, they remain sovereign states with their own interests, with their own foreign policy. But this does not prevent them from the closest integration or allied relations. They have very conditional, transparent borders. And when crossing them the citizens feel at home. They create families, study, work, do business. Incidentally, so do millions of those born in Ukraine who now live in Russia. We see them as our own close people.

      Russia is open to dialogue with Ukraine and ready to discuss the most complex issues. But it is important for us to understand that our partner is defending its national interests but not serving someone else's, and is not a tool in someone else's hands to fight against us.

      We respect the Ukrainian language and traditions. We respect Ukrainians' desire to see their country free, safe and prosperous.

      I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties formed for centuries and have their origins in the same sources, they have been hardened by common trials, achievements and victories. Our kinship has been transmitted from generation to generation. It is in the hearts and the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. For we are one people.

      Today, these words may be perceived by some people with hostility. They can be interpreted in many possible ways. Yet, many people will hear me. And I will say one thing – Russia has never been and will never be ”anti-Ukraine“. And what Ukraine will be – it is up to its citizens to decide.

      July 12, 2021

    1. That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

      (Enobarbus : Antony and Cleopatra)

      Truth's a dog that must to kennel. He must be whipped out, when Lady Brach may stand by th' fire and stink.

      (The Fool : King Lear)

    2. That truth is why 'they' try to make a distinction between 'sex' and 'gender' – you can be any 'gender' you want to be…..but why should anyone else believe their rubbish?

      1. The concatenation of Sex and Gender was strongly promoted by the pervert sexologist, Dr. John Money to obfuscate his "sex change" activities and paedophilia.

  49. From Coffee House the Spectator

    22 Feb 2025
    Coffee House
    Ross ClarkRoss Clark
    Does Trump want to strike an Arctic oil deal with Putin?
    20 February 2025, 6:45am

    The decision by Donald Trump to hold peace talks with Russia on ending the Ukraine war – without Ukraine actually being present – is starting to look even more disgraceful. It transpires that the war was not the only item on the agenda in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

    A significant part of the day’s business seems to have been discussing oil deals in the Arctic. According to Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Russian and US delegations took the opportunity to talk about reviving joint exploratory operations such as that between Rosneft and Exxon Mobil, which was called off in 2018 following the imposition of sanctions against Putin. Trump was in his first presidency at the time.

    There are good reasons why the US and Russia should want to cooperate over Arctic oil and gas

    Putin himself also seems to see the talks over Ukraine as an opportunity to do business. The location of Saudi Arabia, it appears, may not have been accidental: Putin has proposed three-way negotiations between Russia, the US and Saudi Arabia over energy policy.

    Trump, then, was not mincing his words when he promised in his inauguration speech always to put the US first. Indeed, he might have said that the interests of the US were going to be his sole concern. And if advancing America’s business interests means trampling on Ukraine, calling Volodymyr Zelensky a ‘dictator’, and making business deals with a regime which has not only invaded a sovereign country but also waged chemical warfare on Britain’s streets then so be it.
    Trump’s treatment of Ukraine is losing him friends among Europeans who might otherwise be well-disposed towards him and his ambitions to expand America’s oil and gas industries. But if you can look beyond the amorality of that, does doing oil deals with Russia in the Arctic even make business sense?

    There is unquestionably huge potential in the Arctic’s fossil fuel reserves. According to an estimate by the US geological survey a decade ago, 22 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie in the Arctic region. The trouble for Trump is that most of it – 58 per cent – belongs to Russia, with only 18 per cent to be found in Alaska and US waters. Geology seems to favour Russia, too, when it comes to reserves beyond the 200-mile territorial waters boundary. Under international rules, a country can claim reserves further offshore where the continental shelf extends beyond this distance.

    Russia, though, has limited capacity for and skill in extracting oil and gas in the difficult environment. Meanwhile, the US has another problem in that the pipeline carrying oil from Alaska’s main onshore field at Prudhoe Bay requires a high throughput to keep it operational. If the quantity of oil flowing through it falls too low it could suffer ice damage. To keep it operational as Prudhoe Bay declines will require it to be fed with oil from other Arctic fields.

    There are, then, good reasons why the US and Russia should want to cooperate over oil and gas in the Arctic. Indeed, they were cooperating before sanctions were imposed following the annexation of Crimea. There is also a case for saying that Trump is right to pursue a peace deal with Ukraine – given that the likely outcome of a continuing war of attrition is total defeat for Ukraine.

    But the juxtaposition of these two things reeks of opportunism and lack of principle. Trump might not care about that, and may have calculated that Russia is of more value to the US than any other European country. He should remember, though, that there was a time when he rightly criticised Germany for building a reliance on cheap Russian gas, approving the Nord Stream 2 pipeline even after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. He has now descended to an even grubbier level himself.

    Ross Clark
    Written by
    Ross Clark
    Ross Clark is a leader writer and columnist who has written for The Spectator for three decades. His books include Not Zero, The Road to Southend Pier, and Far From EUtopia: Why Europe is failing and Britain could do better

  50. Not going to post today except for this because quite tired but I have not posted since Tuesday due to the crime of fiber optic cable being stolen!!! Apparently a large area of the village was deprived of the internet until early this morning when they finally reinstalled a new cable. I have the feeling this sort of theft is going to become more common in the future, due to population change and the following degradation of civilized behaviour that accompanies it, to put it politely. I find it quite shocking. There should be severe punishments for destroying infrastructure.

      1. Oh, come on – it is well known that you get tis cable, melt it down and make trays and ornaments from it – then paint them, er, copper…..

        I'll have another lie down.

      2. After receiving severe burns trying to steal copper from a electricity tranformer substation some local thieves finally saw the light and stole optic cable instead.

        1. There was a local Pikey found fried up an electric pole at the Rider Point side of Middleton Mine some years back.
          It later transpired that he and a brother or cousin had presumed the feed to the transformer up the pole had been cut off because the mine had been closed a couple of years by then and that, when he fried himself, the relative showed a great amount of family loyalty by buggering off and leaving him hanging there.

  51. One more thing. A great improvement. Makes me a little less distrustful of Reform.

    Nigel Farage gives up control of Reform UK to make party more democratic

    LONDON (Reuters) – Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has given up formal control of his Reform UK political party, which is currently leading in opinion polls, as he seeks to professionalise the structure to help him win the next general election.

    Reform has been registered as a private company, with Farage running it since 2018 as the majority shareholder, an arrangement that gave him unusual amount of control for a British political party.

    On Wednesday, Farage and Richard Tice, the deputy party leader, gave up their more than 90% shareholding in Reform UK Party Limited, according to filings with Companies House, the UK corporate register, reviewed by Reuters.

    The party will now be controlled by a renamed entity called REFORM 2025 LTD, the filings show, and Reform will eventually be controlled by its more than 200,000 members.

    "We are pleased to announce that, as promised, Nigel Farage has handed over ownership of Reform UK to its members," party Chairman Zia Yusuf said in a statement. He said Reform UK was now a non-profit organisation, with no shareholders.

    Earlier this month, Reform overtook Britain's governing Labour Party to become the country's most popular political party in a major opinion poll for the first time, reflecting growing unhappiness with Prime Minister Keir Starmer seven months into his premiership.

  52. OT – in case anyone thinks that it was me who was a winner in The Spectator competition published today – it wasn't. It was the MR…!!

  53. For Cur Ikea Slammer to call the clown Zelensky "Churchillian" is insulting and embarrassing.

    1. If The Daily Fail (only read by women and wimps) is a British publication, why does this article talk about a Shopping 'Center'?

      2. only read by women and wimps

        Oi tink you mean read only by women and wimps.

        Anyhoo, if true, is that since page threes were phased out?

          1. The Daily Mail – so they tell me – publishes photos of girls' bosoms with black tape concealing their nipples.

    1. What a shame. Of course the private schools that serve the wealthy will be fine. The hardest hit will be those that provide for children with special needs. I used to know a woman who home schooled her autistic daughter because the state only offered a normal school place and the poor girl crouched at the back of the classroom, absolutely terrified. The woman was a leftie too. I lost touch but I wonder if she's woken up now.

      1. During the 1970's when son attended there , the rich and the famous were also attending, we were lucky because Moh's company paid part of the fees whilst we were overseas . When we came back to the UK , we struggled with the fees , because they had escalated , and poor old son then attended the local Comp where we eventually found a property .

        The saddest decision ever , no discipline at the local comp , he larked around and lost all initiative to study , huge classes and no afterschool sport .

        I managed to get both boys private after school tuition , older one maths etc , which has come in handy for his trade.. yes trade.. he wanted to study law .. or fly like his dad , but he lost all initiative, peer pressure.

        He enjoyed cricket , especially bowling in local cricket team , until he damaged his shoulder !

        1. Our boys went to a local school until we decided to buy a boat and home-school them as we sailed around the Mediterranean. For the Sixth Form Christo went to Gresham's, a private boarding school in Norfolk, and Henry went to a state boarding state school in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. They both got similar exam results at their respective schools and both ended up with good university degrees which have led them on to good careers. As far as sporting and other extra curricular activities were concerned Gresham's offered a very wide range of activities while Henry's state school offered virtually nothing.

          I went to private boarding schools in the South West of England from the age of 8 until 18. Caroline spent the whole of her schooling in private day schools in Holland, India, Iran and Spain.

  56. Yet another text from the wonderful NHS telling me I must get a vaccine for RSV or I could die. Yet the age group for this bullying is only from 75 to 79 – so who are they kidding? Aren't slightly younger or much older people also at risk?

      1. You didn’t mean “snuff it?” Those who had recently turned 80 were in the age group to 79 when they started this programme of intimidation.

      1. I’ve saved mine to do a count-up. That was the third one from NHS this winter, plus several from the GP surgery and a couple of emails too.

  57. Yet another text from the wonderful NHS telling me I must get a vaccine for RSV or I could die. Yet the age group for this bullying is only from 75 to 79 – so who are they kidding? Aren't slightly younger or much old people also at risk?

  58. I went to a private school for the first six years then after a year decided to change my A level options and changed schools going back a year to restart Lower VI.

    I went from a school of two hundred (including Preps) to a school of two thousand. A bit of a culture shock, I can tell you.

    4. That will be closer to £120k wirth employer NI and pension contributions.
      And I bet they have a deputy. They couldn't possibly be expected to carry that responsibiity alone.

  60. I'm working from home today – just taking a lunch break. I dint often take advantage of the perk, may be two or three times a year such as today because I needed to have my car MOTd.

    I'm determined not to switch the heating on so am covered in blankets that I have to divest every time someone calls me for a 'Teams chat'.

    I bet more WFH days are in the summer!

  62. G'day all,

    It's a dreich auld day at Fiscal's Folly, wet and windy, 11℃. I haven't been here much of late – too busy.

    I've just spent a productive 30 minutes or so deleting over 15,000 unread emails after having unsubscribed from the ones I no longer wish to clog up my inbox. Another 19,000 to go. I've been too free with my email address in the past and I have decided this will stop. One of my tactics to is to use a 'junk' email address where I can corral email when I can't avoid handing out an address but I only go there now and again to turbo-delete the lot. Using Apple's hide-your-email function works well too. Only people I want to hear from will get my main email address.

  64. Those nice people who work from home on behalf of DWP have just sent SWMBO and me letters telling us how much our state pensions will rise in April. It's 3.82%, already more than wiped out by the increase in energy costs alone. Council Tax to come Yippeee!

    1. Yes. We haven't yet had the Council Tax one. The Tax people have also been working hard and finding underpayments of income tax. OH got stung for a couple of years when interest rates were better – my underpayment was only £60 so they've adjusted my coding to claw that back.

  65. Good to see you here! I've enjoyed reading your articles on FSB too.
    I've got two email addresses ( as well as the Help a Hedgehog one) and they do take a bit of management. One for the personal stuff and one for all the other stuff like substacks & petitions etc. It's hard to keep up with them all so I do have to be a bit selective. Time I deleted a lot too.

  67. Just finished watching Trump live on YouTube.
    In the USA free speech back on, DEI off and you are either male or female.

    1. Is it Winston or the BBC who is confused?
      Has Winston been shut down because of professing scientific fact?

    2. Mosab Hassan Yousef is an ex–Palestinian militant who defected to Israel in 1997, thereafter working as an Israeli spy for the Shin Bet until he moved to the United States in 2007. His father is Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas.

      Some people born into terrorist families see the light and speak out – I wonder how much air time the BBC gives Mosab Hassan Yousef?

  69. 401938+ up ticks,

    A great many of our woes have been self inflicted via the polling stations and a tribal party strong majority voting pattern, has brought us to our present odious condition as a nation.

    To carry on down this perilous path and viewing the
    political cartels war with the farmers, we will, in a short space of time have to engage in a prostitution form of bartering with the invaders that will also put the children in greater jeopardy than they are currently.

    My only hope is radical change is needed and farmers , quietly away, are converting ploughshares into implement of justified defense.

    https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1892212599812428151

  70. Hugo Norton-Taylor, the lawyer representing 16 year old attacker in Hradec Králové..
    demands anonymity for his Czech defo without question Czech client with a receding hairline and thick facial hair.

  71. Hugo Norton-Taylor, the lawyer representing 16 year old attacker in Hradec Králové..
    demands anonymity for his Czech defo without question Czech client with a receding hairline and thick facial hair.

  72. Hugo Norton-Taylor, the lawyer representing 16 year old attacker in Hradec Králové..
    demands anonymity for his Czech defo without question Czech client with a receding hairline and thick facial hair.

  73. An elderly pensioner, who had a brief engagement with Her Late Majesty, asks:

    Since when do soldiers have "line managers"?

    1. Never mind – take comfort from the fact that she has rental income of £76,000 a year…..

    4. "Cock" tugs, an actual type of tug. Lots of info online. As a sometime resident of Scouseland, nothing surprises me about that area.

  77. Oh well, makes a change:

    Female BBC rugby league pundit charged with sexually assaulting woman
    Former Bradford, Leeds and England player Danika Priim allegedly assaulted the woman at a cricket club

  78. Nigel Farage on GB news has said that Ukraine should have democratic elections.
    He also slapped down Donald Trump saying Zelensky isn't a dictator.
    Farage said Ukraine has every right to defend itself and that Russia started the war .
    He said that we should know that not everything Donald Trump should be taken literally.

        2. I think that Farage is going to fall flat on his face when he talks about Ukraine.

          The war should never have started.

      1. With whatever they have been using for the best part of three years when Vlad was confident that he would win in a few days.

    3. Surely he knows that Zelensky banned the use of the Russian language and sent the Nazi Asov brigade to attack the Russian speaking Donbass where the slaughtered 14,000 people? That caused the Putin intervention.

    2. I just cannot accept that women should be playing rugby. Stick to hockey, netball and lacrosse, girls.

  80. Sir Keir Starmer at the lectern.. (in irritating nasal whine)..

    "Let me make this clear.
    This morning the British Ambassador in Moscow handed the Russian Government a final Note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 0'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Ukraine a state of meaningless drama would exist between us."

  81. Memo to Fat Oaf Lammy, and Out-of-Depth Starmer.. and Treasonous May..
    This is how you negotiate in favour of your national interests.
    Aim high.. shoot low.

    and NOT sitting alone in a lobby grinning like a Cheshire Cat waving a white flag.

    1. Someone in that communiuty has a sense of humour – there are a lot of their signs to be found on the web.

    1. So much for democracy! Don't like the person who won the election – either deny the result or foment a revolution to install your choice of leader! Better still, just cancel the election!

  88. Wordle No. 1,342 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 20 Feb 2025

    A cropped Birdie Three?

    1. Good one. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,342 4/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done, straightforward par here.

      Wordle 1,342 4/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done. A birdie here too.Wordle 1,342 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. A whole pile of divots
      Wordle 1,342 4/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
      🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    6. I did it in two. Absolutely pure luck: started with ROYAL. Stupid me doesn't know how to post those coloured square boxes, though so I can't feel too smug.

      1. Well done jellybee!

        If you go back to the Wordle website you'll see the usual 'Hi Wordler etc' – click on the 'see stats' button, it will show you your attempt today. Scrolldown and you'll see a 'Share' button.
        Press that and a message will come up 'copied to clipboard'
        Then come back on here, open a comment and then right click on your mouse and press 'Paste' from the drop down box.

        And voila! Do have a go and let me know how you get on – it's always good to welcome new people to the Wordle '5 O'Clock Club'!!

  89. President Trump signed his executive order, PRESERVING FEDERAL BENEFITS FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS, Wednesday night “to ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivise or support illegal immigration.”

    1. If only our tin-eared, thick-headed, vile, evil and cretinous ‘government’ had the brain and balls to do the same!

  90. That's me for today. It was milder – so the MR told me. I didn't go out!

    Have a brilliant evening.

    A demain (when the Wet Office says it will be bright sunshine and very mild…..)

  91. I've been convinced for quite some time that this Labour shower would be coming for everything we have, pensions, savings, any and all other assets we have worked for, including our properties. There isn't enough money in the tax take and their madcap ideas demand money, lots of money. For example, keeping untold millions on welfare whilst bringing in more of the same is a death knell to any idea of creating a thriving nation.

    "Change" was their clarion call but they never clearly explained what that one word really meant. They implied that "Change" meant a change for the better but after just a few months it became clear it was anything but for most people.

    Here is a worrying example of what this government is up to. Read the letter and be worried, very worried.

    https://x.com/Fortis_Arduis/status/1892579619955482876

    1. I am spending my savings on maintenance for the house. I shall be going on holiday a few times too. I don’t see why I should be robbed to support dross.

    1. Why would people trust Zelensky? we know very little about him apart from the wealth he has accumulated since becoming leader
      We have also seen very little of what is going on in the war, nothing on the news

  93. Did any of you listen to this at 15.30 ish https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00282ry

    I thoroughly enjoyed it . Really worth listening to .

    Old English, New English
    Word of Mouth
    Michael Rosen explores the evocative Old English words used in daily life a thousand years ago, many of which are still in use now. With the author of The Wordhord, Hana Videen    .

    We were on the way back from Weymouth , listened on car radio .
    I had to change another bad buy bought on line from M&S, the Weymouth branch is small.. I mean small , but they took the garment and credited my account .

    We drove through Osmington and down into Weymouth .. White Horse hill in thick fog , temp was 12c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmington_White_Horse

    The sea was green , and parts of the bay were very calm, er from amid the gloom and drizzle !

  94. Well that was a day of parts!
    The wet start dried out for several hours and the tree removal lads were busy down this end of the road taking the ash and elm out, a lot of it already dead.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2774a7491bdfbbb9aac446ef084b63ed2134894ce97adcb9bca0b63f0f1ec94.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88cb092526452ff7ea34779a87357cc9b88fdd158453c865d29437003d7dc96f.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e90092dd8957c626fe3739fc550ae451f9dbf1aac3edfe61c09688812e970e34.jpg
    It certainly looks a bit different now;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b283ed2bc2a07f0fd1f3b1b2ba49916e7813c5fd624d51055406dfa941cf1e28.jpg
    The logs on the pavement were dropped over the wall for me to get the saw too over the weekend. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97b2e721b9c7b36fb2b7c50c146f5f1c9e284a4d3b150e0d76bf6b3a2cdfdb0b.jpg
    As all that was going on, I did a beef stew with dumplings that was greatly appreciated by the DT and Welder Son when they got home from work.

    Oh yes, we also had an absolutely horrendous downpour that gave way to lovely bright sunshine!

  95. Just wondering if there is a war going on in parts of England, elections are being cancelled, borders are being realigned, while dictators impose new regimes under one leader.
    The comparison with Ukraine is uncanny.
    No wonder Starmer is so chummy with Zelensky.

  96. It looks like we are back in the realms of the pandemic with the way public opinion is being controlled, over Ukraine, whereby nobody could talk common sense without being called a granny killer, with Ukraine it is traitor unless you support Zelensky and war.
    The sheep always fall for it every time.

    1. The £270 million for the Arts will be for Trans and Paedo Plays and Operas. Which i am totally sure no one will go to unless they get free tickets on TFL and free entry.

    2. Give an Arab/Muslim £20 to buy something to eat and he will say 'That isn't enough'.

      I just can't believe our government doesn't understand this.

    3. The Wigmore Hall is now 95% self-sufficient and aiming to achieve 100%. Quality doesn’t need their charity. Unless they play dirty of course.

      1. Venues that offer quality at a reasonable price should do okay. It's the woke that go broke and feed off the taxpayer.

  98. Evening all. Winston has now had his first course of injections and my bank account is considerably lighter. Kadi was shaking because he doesn’t like going to the vets but he just had to sit and watch. He didn’t refuse the treats though.
    I can’t believe the delusion in the headline. It is wrong on so many levels.

  99. Waltzes in. Good evening everyone, it took me 30 mins to log onto disqus merely to say good evening, thats all. Those captcha boxes for disqus were more then tedious.
    Thank heavens for places free of disqus angst. Anyway hello, have a nice evening.

  100. Sadiq Khan pledges to tackle 'toxic air' on London's canals
    Narrowboats’ old diesel engines and solid-fuel stoves pose a risk to people’s health, mayor warns.

    Wazzock

    1. He needs to get out there right now because, its quite windy and he won't find any toxic air unless he's breathing it out.

    3. Don't forget a great proportion of live onboard boaters are deeply concerned about the environment. However, they have to heat their boats in winter using coal and wood stoves and of course the wicked Canal & River Trust forces them to move every 2 weeks so they have no choice but to fire up their diesel engines…..

  101. Nothing to do with it being the truth I suppose:

    Met Police’s new gang database still ‘racist’ for targeting young black Londoners, claims charity
    Amnesty UK’s chief Sacha Deshmukh accused officers of ‘supercharging racism’ after 870 black names added – three times more than whites

      1. Back in the 80s when I worked in Selfridges there was a West Indian woman in the stockroom who would occasionally take a week off because her schizophrenic son beat her up. She defended him not taking his meds and insisted that his doctor was picking on him because he was black. She was sweet and naive but could be soooo stupid.

    2. Very rarely do news items get to me; we see and hear so much vileness that, with a TV screen between us and the events, we become hardened.
      However, that news coverage has made me cry with both sorrow and anger.
      How DARE any bloody smug westerner side with such unmitigated evil. And how DARE our damned governments be so wet and conciliatory to these vermin.

      2. The apologists will blame Zionists, Netanyahu, Israel as a state and also claim that the Israeli's killed those babies.
        They will never accept that had Hamas not done what they did all of them would be alive today.

        1. The apologists are ignorant and believe the Fakestinian victim myth. They also hate the Jews for the same reasons the nazis hated them but they have zero self awareness. Netanyahu knows the history. As with Putin, he’s not the bad guy.

    1. It is possible – but becoming more difficult – to be in favour of the monarch but not in favour of the current monarch.

    2. Ah so that's where all the GPs are hiding out. Looking after all of the people who have never worked or paid a penny towards their treatment.
      No wonder it can take 3 weeks to get a five minute appointment.

    1. And never ever forget he set up the ability for NI soldiers to be hounded decades after the Troubles.

    2. I just wish the script in the film The Ghost Writer was true.
      Adam Lang (played by Peirce Brosnon) Lang the former British pm is assassinated by an anti war protester who son died as a result of Adam Lang's war.

  112. I'd allow anaesthetic.

    in the form of a champagne celebration afterwards.

    Until a human who changes is utterly indistinguishable from what they claim to be, then they should stay in the spaces of what they actually are.

    1. Is this pre planned and why our political idiots have been gathering the invaders in hotels so they can be conscripted ?
      Or will those seemingly forced to fight another Blair type of war only be British born ?

      1. 401959+ upticks,

        Morning RE,

        Its pre planned alright only in my book for use on British turf as in the new overseers establishing the new laws via force where necessity.

        This is a”behind the lines placement” before the lines are fully realized by many to have been installed.

    2. I own DVDs of both "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources", but haven't watched these two wonderful films for many a long year. Time methinks for another viewing.

        1. I don't need to watch them again to let you know that I think they are two of the most beautiful and moving films in all of film history. So I urge you to watch them too – you can buy copies – and you will see why I have written what I have written.

          3. The scene at the end, where Yves Montand finds out his true relationship with Jean de Florette is burned into my brain. He did nothing, but his eyes spoke volumes. Stunning!

  120. Well, chums, it's Beddy-Byes time for me. So I'll wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

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