War in Ukraine
War is a terrible thing, and it has long been established that there are no winners in war, only death and destruction.
We should not think about this war in terms of winning or losing but rather just achieving a peaceful end to the fighting.
A wise leader will try to avoid war at all cost and failing that then work towards a peaceful end as soon as possible.
Our leaders have failed to avoid war and they have failed to work towards a peaceful end, on the contrary, our leaders seem satisfied with this war's continuation.
We are the only party who will hold politicians to account for what they have done and what they have failed to do.
Throughout the past 30 years, there have been a series of disastrous foreign interventions and we are afraid that the government's position regarding the war in Ukraine is the latest foreign policy disaster.
Past experience should give us reason to be cautious and to question the government’s approach.
I believe the same policy mistakes are being made in Ukraine as with previous conflicts.
Of course we condemn Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin has the mindset of a terrorist, the Russian Orthodox Church accused the Western world of falling to Satanism and declared that the war in Ukraine is a 'Holy war'.
This is something that Al-Qaeda would say and the Russian invasion of Ukraine certainly is an act of terrorism.
But the brutality of this invasion does not justify the exaggerated rhetoric used by politicians nor does it mean that we should overlook details and mistakes made by those in power.
We have heard much overblown rhetoric about this war, how Putin planned to conquer the whole of Ukraine and push further still into other European countries.
There have been unrealistic comparisons to World War II and the unhelpful branding of negotiations as 'appeasement'.
Politicians talk about World War III, but surely if they are concerned about a World War then they would negotiate to prevent this from happening?
Liz Truss was the Foreign Secretary at the time of Russia's invasion, her attempts at negotiation were described as the deaf talking to the dumb and I'm afraid that there are reasons to question this politician.
Another politician who we can be skeptical of is Boris Johnson.
A few months after Russia's invasion, and whilst peace negotiations were ongoing, Boris Johnson visited Kyiv, some would say with a message.
Whatever Boris Johnson said in Kyiv, it didn't help to achieve peace, as not long after his visit the peace negotiations broke down.
An interview with Ukraine’s chief negotiator Davyd Arakhamia, confirms that Boris Johnson did play a part in the breakdown of peace negotiations, he may of been the messenger as this was a collective decision by the West.
The best way to help Ukraine would of been to avoid this war, failing that then everything should of been done to achieve peace and it is better to achieve peace sooner rather than later.
Recent analysis by a German newspaper published in English by Ukrainian media concluded that: “If the war had ended about two months after it started, it would have saved countless lives.”
In addition, below are some reasons why I do not agree with the supply of weapons to Ukraine:
Being realistic
Unfortunately, Ukraine is one of the poorest countries in Europe and Ukraine has an aging population with a demographics problem.
This war will devastate Ukraine's society and economy for generations to come.
There are various methods one can use when predicting the future, we can look at facts and we can project past trends into the future.
I have mentioned two facts above, we also know from maps and video footage that Ukrainian settlements are being bombarded with thermobaric weapons and that Russia is conquering territory in eastern Ukraine.
From these facts and from past trends, we can draw our own conclusions.
Inadvertently helping Putin
Originally Russia was only making claims on two Ukrainian territories, Crimea and the Donbas region, since peace negotiations broke down, Russia has made claims on a further 4 regions, Kherson, Zaporizhia and the whole of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
So if the peace process was successful in March 2022 then these 4 additional regions and more importantly hundreds of thousands of lives, could of been saved.
If peace was secured in the early months then it would of been possible to negotiate the return of territory, however, as the war has dragged on and Russia has conquered more territory, it will be harder to negotiate.
Wider geo-political concerns
In order to put an end to the migrant crisis that is affecting Europe, it is necessary to end the wars in Libya and Syria.
It has long been understood that there are certain conflicts in the world that cannot be ended without the input of Russia
So ending the war in Ukraine and achieving civil relations with Russia are necessary prerequisites to ending the migrant crisis.
Eventually, the war in Ukraine will end, and it is important that the Progress Party should hold politicians to account and support Ukraine in it's recovery.
