This is Ukraine - Do not Panic.

[dom]

Number of companies or individuals sanctioned for links to Putin:

🇪🇺 EU 446
🇨🇭 Switzerland 351
🇺🇸 USA 148
🇬🇧 UK 24

Come on Johnson! Get your finger out! Any reason for the stalling?

Still think this question needs answering. With so many Russian oligarchs having made their homes here and invested so much of their ill gotten gains in the UK why has its response been so poor compared to the likes of the US and the EU?

I honestly don't know what the real figures are; my own information was that over 100 people and entities had had their assets frozen by Feb 24th. So this notion of a poor response sounds a bit like spin to me. There's no doubt in any case that we've been pushing for harder sanctions on the international stage. Worth remembering also that the EU is a collection of countries so aggregating their effort, welcome though it may be, into a single score is not really helpful.

It might well be something like wanting to ensure that proper culpability is established, rather than just targeting people for being Russian.

Just read that two Kremlin associates were sanctioned this evening. It's a work in progress, as it must be.

Agreed re the EU if individuals are counted more than once across countries. Is the figure derived from the EU as an organisation or the contributions from individual countries. I'll concede that the data is vague enough to cast doubt on it.

[dom]

This article (from 2019) doesn't seem to suggest that the UKs contributions are anything special compared to others...?

https://www.csis.org/analysis/not-contributing-enough-summary-european-military-and-development-assistance-ukraine-2014

A2 in that piece, an answer to "How much military aid does Ukraine receive from European countries and Canada?" seems to suggest otherwise to me.

I think the entire article suggests that the EUs overall contribution has been just as valuable if not more so.

[Nickslikk2112]

Personally I don't think our PM's competency and potential EU membership have any bearing on the evils of the Ukrainian Situation caused by the Russians, but I found this here online article https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/26/imf-review-ukraine-debt-gdp-linked-warrants-reform/ don't know anything about the people who wrote it, but it's reasonably interesting.

Wikipedia also say that countries perceived as Oligarchies are: Russia, Ukraine and the USA.

And finally, I'm sure Albania would rather join the UK then the EU as we gave them Norman Wisdom.

[Slim]

This article (from 2019) doesn't seem to suggest that the UKs contributions are anything special compared to others...?

https://www.csis.org/analysis/not-contributing-enough-summary-european-military-and-development-assistance-ukraine-2014

A2 in that piece, an answer to "How much military aid does Ukraine receive from European countries and Canada?" seems to suggest otherwise to me.

I think the entire article suggests that the EUs overall contribution has been just as valuable if not more so.

I think the article suggests that the EU has been a valuable source of humanitarian and developmental assistance, although the US contribution (one country compared to twenty-seven) dwarfs it. I was really referring to assistance germane to Ukraine's defence effort.

[Rufus_the_dawg]

UK liked the rich Russians (i can not spell oligarks?!) coming in the UK because it swelled the UK economy and on paper made us a richer country.

[Slim]

Not only on paper, but not all of them are implicated in the Kremlin's nefarious activities.

[dom]

Not only on paper, but not all of them are implicated in the Kremlin's nefarious activities.

Not many who didn't make their money incredibly quickly capitalising (see what I did there) from the fall of communism based almost entirely on their position they held at the time of its fall. 

Dodgy as feck to a man!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch#:~:text=During%20the%201990s%2C%20once%20Boris,the%20state's%20transition%20to%20a

[Rufus_the_dawg]

No fly zone and NATO getting in involved.

Putin says if NATO gets in involved there will be nuclear war. That means Putin will destroy Russia. Is he going to risk that? Is it worth risking it?

If NATO are not going to get involved and not risk the threat of Nuclear war, then we NATO needs to defend the borders of the West, lots and lots of troops and up to date weapons and cybersecurity arrangements.

[Nick]

Not much sign of Russian air superiority, plenty of images of Russian choppers and jets being bought down by stingers and manpads.

Also plenty of Russian tanks and supply vehicles being taken out by javelins and nlaws (made in Belfast) as well as Ukrainian (Turkish made) drones.

[dom]

The economic sanctions appear to be having an effect. Putin has declared them an act of war.

[Slim]

I hadn't heard that, but on Wednesday or Thursday I heard a very bleak scenario posited by one of the various military strategists interviewed by 5 Live. His fear was that the sanctions might prove frustrating enough to provoke Putin into a minor attack on one of the NATA countries in the region, perhaps a token military target in Poland.

If that happens, all bets are off!

But my hope is that internal pressure in Russia will force him to back down somehow. Even something like Facebook going off the air there must have an effect.

[Nick]

I think Boris will take this opportunity to rejoin the Eu and I think the U.K. population would go with the decision. United Europe and all that. For Boris it's a blessing to reverse the nightmare that was Brexit.

[David L]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-john-mearsheimer-blames-the-us-for-the-crisis-in-ukraine?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

[Nickslikk2112]

I think Boris will take this opportunity to rejoin the Eu and I think the U.K. population would go with the decision. United Europe and all that. For Boris it's a blessing to reverse the nightmare that was Brexit.

What?

With the threat of unstable third world countries like Ukraine, Albania and Georgia involved?
We don't want to be part of the EUSSR!!!

[Nickslikk2112]

Interesting that Ukraine is in the process of updating its road signage - and their using the British Transport Font

https://www.roads.org.uk/blog/ukraine