Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: its origins and ramifications
Pacifist slogans about abolishing was are no longer relevant to politics. A serious discussion must start.
This is an interesting series of talks. Speakers do not agree on everything – it promises to be a useful exchange of views. One of the contributors is Jess Spear on the Irish left-wing organisation RISE, a network within People Before Profit (PBP). Congratulations to the organiser, Chris Zeller.
Hanna Perekohda is a PhD candidate in political science at the Institute of Political Studies (University of Lausanne). Her research focuses on Ukraine’s place in the Russian political imaginary. Her articles on Russian-Ukrainian Relations and the current war have appeared in various outlets. She is involved in networks of international solidarity.
This talk is part of the lecture online series Emancipatory Perspectives in a Multipolar World Full of Tensions organized by the University of Salzburg :
Tuesday, November 18th, 6-8pm Imperialism and the Gulf Arab Monarchies at a time of Climate Collapse Lecture with Adam Hanieh
Monday, November 24th, 11:15 -13:00, live at the University of Salzburg, HS 387, Rudolfskai 42 Dispelling the Multipolar Myth: Why BRICS do not offer an alternative Lecture with Patrick Bond
Tuesday, December 16th, 6-8pm Women in the Vanguard Lecture with Jess Spear
Tuesday, January 13th, 2025, 6-8pm Why Are Authoritarianism & Fascism Growing Globally? Lecture with Frieda Afary
Man charged over a child-rape, CityWest racist riots; Despicable commentary by government and Sinn Féin representatives, echoed by irresponsible journalists
Sinn Féin has a lot of influence, and is playing the racist card.
Listen to Matt Carthy TD, SF, Cavan-Monaghan.
Well-spotted by Saoirse McHugh; and well spoken by Eimer McAuley, a journalist.
Politicians defending these despicable "legitimate concerns" protests have carried the ball up the pitch for the riots at citywest.Thank God Eimer is there cause none of these people, TDs included, seem to give a shit when it's a white Irish man brutalizing, abusing, or murdering women or children
” Politicians defending these despicable “legitimate concerns” protests have carried the ball up the pitch for the riots at citywest. Thank God Eimer is there cause none of these people, TDs included, seem to give a shit when it ‘ s a white Irish man brutalizing, abusing, or murdering women or children”
The same message is promoted by irresponsible RTÉ journalists and government politicians such as Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan on news programmes and RTÉ’s Prime Time referencing “legitimate” concerns expressed by residents, contributing to a “consensus” that immigrants are the problem, and tougher deportation policies are needed.
Let’s have a little fun regarding the nomination campaign of the conservative far-right, anti-choice and racist candidate Maria Steen; Steen is a veteran or Ireland’s anti-choice movement; readers can stay up-to-date here :
“Independent Ireland is expected to make a decision tomorrow or Wednesday morning.
Their decision could influence whether other TDs or senators – rumoured to include a small number on the conservative wing of Fianna Fáil – would lend her their vote before the presidential nomination deadline of noon on Wednesday.” (RTÉ News Report).
The entire Fianna Fáil organisation is conservative – although occasionally it makes gestures towards the left. Between 2011 and 2018 the party leadership realised it had to dump a too close association with Catholic Church anti-feminism and the vile crime of institutional child abuse. It is continuing this tactic by nominating the high-profile Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) figure Jim Gavin to be President of Ireland. Gavin states he is pro-choice, pro same-sex marriage, and voted to lift the constitutional ban on abortion in 2018. These statements make him totally unacceptable to the Irish far-right, which includes Maria Steen and the Aontú party led by ex Sinn Féin TD Peader Tóibín, who is in charge of the Maria Steen bingo card. It is a racing certainty Steen will be on the presidential ballot – she has the nominations of 13 or 14 Oireachtas members plus 4 from the Irish Independent party.
Many thanks to the European Network for Solidarity With Ukraine (ENSU), which advertised a new article by Terrell Jermaine Starr, who is an interesting writer and activist.
Charlie Kirk wasn’t only a racist, he was a reliable pro-Putin talking head who repeatedly spread disinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.In my latest Substack piece, I explain why his white nationalism was so useful for Russian propaganda. #ukrainianview
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s military has raped hundreds of women (that are documented but like its many more), kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, killed thousands of civilians in cities far from the frontlines, internally displaced millions, and forced millions more to flee their homeland into Europe and other countries during his invasion of Ukraine, which is now approaching its fourth year.
Documentation of war crimes were clearly established in the first few months of the war. But you wont’ know these details is you listened to Charlie Kirk’s statements about Putin and Ukraine.
In February 2023, Kirk said that Putin “has shown and demonstrated some extraordinary restraint” through all of this. Really? Living in Ukraine through nightly air strikes on civilians, I don’t see the restraint.
Few MAGA voices carried Putin’s water more effectively than Kirk. In the same broadcast on his show, he called Putin a “thug” the U.S. should oppose, but also described him as a “soft ally within the broader global picture.”
Long before the full-scale invasion, Kirk spread Russian talking points about Ukraine. In 2019, he tweeted, “Barack Obama asked Ukraine to investigate his political rival’s campaign manager, 3 Democrat senators asked Ukraine to investigate Trump, and the DNC solicited Ukraine’s help to dig up dirt on Trump, and the media was silent about all of it.”
Lord Peter Mandelson is no longer the British Ambassador to Donald Trump’s White House. Information in the public arena concerning Mandelson’s connections to convicted child abuse criminal Jeffrey Epstein forced London’s government to dump the Labour party “prince of darkness”.
The late Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both convicted of serious child abuse crimes. But we must not overlook the key issue :
David Boies, the attorney for hundreds of women who were victims of the Maxwell-Epstein crime ring, explains very clearly :
“The government went after Epstein and Maxwell and then stopped – Epstein and Maxwell Could Not Have Acted Alone”
David Boies, Attorney for hundreds of women criminally trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
No credible allegations have been made to date that Mandelson, and several other high profile friends of Epstein and Maxwell, were criminal abusers. Mandelson and others – such as US President Donald Trump, former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton – are in a position to disclose everything they know about Epstein and Maxwell’s huge social circle, and assist David Boies and several hundred women in bringing Maxwell and Epstein’s criminal associates to justice.
Virginia Giuffre, Attorney David Boies, and other brave women who fought criminals Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the courts of the USA
The diverse group that have been protesting outside the Russian embassy on Orwell Road since February 2022 will be holding an event outside the embassy on Tuesday,September 16 commencing at 3pm.
The event is to mark the passing of 1300 days since the start of Russia’s illegal full scale invasion of Ukraine.
It will comprise a number of invited speakers and some music and song. All are welcome to attend.
Poster advertising the event :
Readers are invited to circulate this blog post and poster to contacts and networks.
To: The European Commission, the governments of European Union Member States and the United Kingdom
After US president Trump’s “summits” with Putin (August 15) and European leaders (August 18) Ukraine confronts the appalling prospect of an unjust “peace” settlement that rewards the Russian aggressor.
If forced on Ukraine, it will legitimise:
The violent Russian occupation of a fifth of Ukrainian territory and the swap to Russia of territory and people presently under Ukrainian administration
The destruction of Ukraine’s towns, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, environment and heritage
The murder of tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children, and
The genocidal Russification of the occupied territories, and a host of other war crimes.
It will also place the burden of ending the war not on aggressor Russia but on Ukraine, its victim–even as the Putin regime steps up its bombardments of Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure.
Two fascist gun-slingers : convicted rapist President Donald Trump (USA) and indicted international war criminal Vladimir Putin (Russia), embraced in Alaska. The USA grabbed Alaska in the 19th Century through a deal with Russia, its imperialist partner-in-crime. Uncle Sam took over the vast icy territory through the ugly and brutal method of ethnic cleansing. Civilised people hoped this ugly feature of international capitalism was a thing of the past. Wishful thinking : it is returning with ominous force in the 21st Century – especially in Ukraine and Palestine.
Volodymyr Zelensky was a target of the Alaska fascist-fascist war-crime plan. The President of Ukraine was summoned to the White House (Washington DC). A charade was staged.
Leaders of the main imperialist powers in Western Europe saw a car-crash coming : On the one hand they were opposed to witnessing Zelensky crushed by the fascist-fascist Trump-Putin steamroller, and they did not want to be accomplices to an infamous surrender. Haunting memories : the pathetic 1938 British Imperialist leader Neville Chamberlain came back from a Munich summit with the Nazi warlord Adolf Hitler – “peace in our time” said Neville, as the people of Czechoslovakia and its leader Edvard Benes were sacrificed. One year later – “peaceful” Herr Hitler invaded Poland, World War Two began.
On the other hand Macron of France, Merz of Germany – and company – wanted to avoid a direct and open clash with the White House gangster, Putin’s ally Trump. Therefore, observers were offered a charade : One after another Zelensky, Macron, Merz, Von der Leyen, Meloni, Starmer, and Rutte smeared the vain gangster Trump with praise.
The headline-writers of the Irish Times did a great job summing up a Keith Duffy account of the 2025 Trump-Putin Anchorage Alaska summit.
“Nauseating charade as Putin comes out of international purgatory on Trump’s red carpet” – Eleven words sum up an Alaskan summit
Irish Times Story headline, August 16 2025
Popular opposition to a fascist-inspired attack on Ukraine is spreading, but will it be enough to prevent a disaster on the European continent? At the time of writing a Washington DC meeting pits Donald Trump against the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will be accompanied by several powerful European leaders such as Macron of France and Merz of Germany.
While the big European powers back Ukraine in words, there are major doubts over their ability or willingness to back Ukraine in practice. It is clear to all observers that the Trump-Putin policy is anti-Ukraine – yet the European leaders, and President Zelensky, refuse to resist Trump.
A Financial Times editorial (August 17 2025) sums up the position well :
European leaders will be tempted to celebrate Trump’s support for European security guarantees for Ukraine as a diplomatic advance and proof of enduring transatlantic co-operation. But it will count for little if the proposed deal is tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation.
The picture may be more clear after the Trump-Putin appeasement plan is unveiled in the White House to Zelensky and the leaders of the main European states today (August 18 2025).
An Irish Times Editorial (August 17 2025) does a service to its readers :
Tomás Ó Flatharta 