Wednesday, December 14, 2022

History repeats itself...As tragedy and tragedy (sic)

 Back in the Sixties, and beyond, there was a popular Pete Seegar protest song: Where Have All The Flowers Gone. It contains the line: ‘Oh, When will you ever learn?

Oh, When will you ever learn?’ The double question expressing exasperation at the senseless deaths of young men in senseless conflicts.

If the report, quoted by RT, but taken from The Times, is correct then Marx’s adage about history repeating itself, but the second time as farce, begins not to look applicable in this instance. Five will get you ten that there are ‘advisers’ from one or more states with a geo-political interest in sustaining this particular conflict embedded in Ukraine.

Wars are not the business of the working class; the effects falling most heavily upon them.

Neither is supporting the interests of the capitalist class the business of the working class.

Time to start supporting yourselves.

 

British Royal Marines conducted high-risk operations in Ukraine in April, Lieutenant General Robert Magowan has admitted, according to a report in The Times on Tuesday.

Russia has consistently warned that NATO troops have been active in the conflict, but these statements have been dismissed by Western analysts and media.

Members of 45 Commando Group of the Royal Marines left Ukraine in January after evacuating the British embassy in Kiev to Poland. However, some 300 members of the elite unit were sent back into the country in April to reestablish the British mission in Kiev, before going on to conduct “other discreet operations,” Magowan wrote in the force’s official journal, The Globe and Laurel, the newspaper said.

These operations took place “in a hugely sensitive environment and with a high level of political and military risk,” Magowan, who formerly served as commandant general of the Royal Marines and is now deputy chief of Defense Staff at the Ministry of Defense, stated. 

While Magowan did not elaborate on what kind of missions the commandos carried out, his statement marks the first time that the UK has admitted its troops conducted special operations in Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense refused to confirm earlier accounts of British special forces training Ukrainian troops in Kiev in April.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the conflict in Ukraine as one between Russia and the “entire Western military machine,” and claimed in September that there are entire military units in Ukraine "under the de-facto command of Western advisers.”

Putin’s words were rejected by Western media outlets. "There is no evidence of NATO ground forces participating in Ukraine," Edward Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute think tank told the BBC at the time. "Nor of NATO commanders directing Ukrainian units on the battlefield. There is also a very low likelihood of this happening in the future as Nato seeks to mitigate escalation risks."

Magowan’s admission proves Arnold incorrect, but the UK is not the only NATO country to acknowledge the presence of its forces in Ukraine. An unnamed Pentagon official told reporters in October that an unspecified number of US troops were inspecting American arms shipments somewhere within Ukraine.”

RT 13/12/22

Dave C.

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