Ukraine and the Russian invasion, 2022-24

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Here's as close as an admission of guilt we're going to get from the war criminal:

Putin apologises for Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, without saying Russia at fault

Russia's leader apologises for the downing of an Azerbaijani plane in Russian airspace - without directly taking blame.

www.bbc.com

Scumbag still denies downing the Malaysia Airlines flight.

El Al has suspended flights to Moscow, if the Russian air defences are so crap as to be unable to tell the difference between a drone and a civilian airliner, probably best to avoid the area.

 

[Ax^]

aye and el al has the experience of the Israeli military so it knows a thing or too about bombing civilians whilst operating an airline

 

[The39thStep]

Poroshenko displaying remarkable hindsight for a person who said nothing at the time

 

[Gramsci]

NATO's Mark Rutte is advocating cutting state spending on health, social security, and/or pensions to pay the 3% NATO target on defence spending ( which Trump is rumoured to be saying needs to be 5%). Just a tiny fraction he says which of course doesn't translate into a tiny fraction for working class incomes. If it's that important why doesn't he advocate taxing those who can afford it or is that not the EU way?

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I'm wondering if Starmer is going to set redlines on this?

Manifesto commitment was 2.5%

And this was said recently when journalists asked about timeline for this

When asked whether defence spending would be directly linked to economic growth, Mr Pollard responded that growing the economy was "non-negotiable".

He added: "If we don't grow our economy there won't be the money to support those public services and the ambitions that we have, and that includes defence - and defence in itself can help that growth mission."

I take this as saying the increase in spending will depend of growth of economy. A non negotiable red line.

So what happens if growth is slow?

Will Starmer take tough decision to say no to NATO and Trump?

Keir Starmer says defence spending commitment 'cast iron' - but refuses to give timeline

He is travelling to Washington for a Nato summit where he will meet President Biden for the first time.

www.bbc.co.uk