"If European countries were confident in their ability to defend themselves without the US, they – or at least the French and Germans – could have summoned up the will to block the US push for Nato expansion, and made a real effort to reach compromise with Russia over Ukraine. This self-confidence would also allow Europe to extricate itself from embroilment in the growing confrontation between the US and China,"
--- says an article in 'The Guardian' newspaper of London.
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The article by Anatol Lieven states: "As long as the war in Ukraine continues, there is a real risk that Nato and Russia will stumble into war as the result of some unintended clash. But the chances that this will come about as the result of a premeditated Russian invasion of a Nato country are minimal."
Two years into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, warnings of war between Russia and the west have reached fever pitch in Europe and Britain.
"The explicit intention of these warnings is to create public support for massive spending on rearmament, on the old principle of “scare the hell out of them. The goal of European rearmament is laudable; the arguments being used to bring it about are not." Vladimir Putin has often said – most recently in his interview with Tucker Carlson – that Russia has no intention of, and no interest in, an attack on Nato unless Nato attacks Russia. For a whole set of objective reasons, on this at least we can believe him.
"Vladimir Putin has often said – most recently in his interview with Tucker Carlson – that Russia has no intention of, and no interest in, an attack on Nato unless Nato attacks Russia. For a whole set of objective reasons, on this at least we can believe him," the article says.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a joint press conference, on the second anniversary of the full scale Russian invasion, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 24.
The prime ministers of Italy and Canada signed security deals with Ukraine on Saturday as Western leaders rallied around a war-weary Kyiv on the second anniversary of Russia’s military invasion, with no end in sight to the fighting.
After initial successes in pushing back the Russian army, Ukraine has suffered recent setbacks on the eastern battlefields, with its generals complaining of growing shortages of both arms and soldiers.
Looking to dispel concerns the West is losing interest in the conflict, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Canada’s Justin Trudeau came to Kyiv early on Saturday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
“The message I want to send today to … all the Ukrainian people is that they are not alone. I want you to know that we are deeply grateful,” Meloni said as she signed a 10-year defence pact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ordinary Ukrainians held services to commemorate the anniversary, laying flowers to honour their many dead, amid fears that the war would continue for years, with Russian President Vladimir Putin showing no sign of backing down.
“I’m a realist and understand that most likely the war will drag on for the next three or four years. I hope society will mobilise, I hope we’ll be able to somehow defeat Russia,” said Denys Symonovskiy, a Kyiv resident.
Zelenskiy took the foreign leaders to see Hostomel airport — the site of a ferocious battle at the start of the invasion as Russia tried to fly in paratroopers to seize the capital Kyiv a few kilometres away.
“Two years ago we met enemy troopers here with fire, and two years later, we are meeting our friends, our partners, here,” Zelenskiy said in a televised speech delivered against a backdrop of wrecked aircraft. “Any normal person wants the war to end. But none of us will allow our Ukraine to end,” he added. “The word ‘independent’ will always stand next to the word ‘Ukraine’ in future history.”
The West sees the invasion as an unjustified act of aggression that must be repelled and Italy, current chair of the G7, said it was vital to challenge perceptions that it was wearying of the conflict and Russia was winning.
When Russian tanks and infantry streamed across the border before dawn on February 24, 2022, Ukraine’s 40 million people defied expectations by slowing and stopping their advance. But as the war enters its third year, setbacks in the east have left Ukraine’s army looking vulnerable.
Seeking to maintain Western focus on Ukraine, Zelenskiy has warned that Putin may not stop at Ukraine’s borders if he emerges victorious. Putin dismisses such claims and casts the war as a wider struggle with the United States, which he says aims to dismantle Russia.
ends
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