3/09/2022

Ukraine - The last straw

The Russian assault in Ukraine was triggered on Nov. 10, when the U.S. and Ukraine signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership, which asserted America’s support for Kyiv’s right to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The pact made it likelier than ever that Ukraine would eventually join NATO—an intolerable prospect for Vladimir Putin. It was the last straw, and preparations immediately began for Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The November agreement added heft to looser assurances Ukraine received at a NATO summit five months earlier that membership would be open to the country if it met the alliance’s criteria.

The moves offered Ukraine encouragement on the NATO question but gave no apparent thought to how such a tectonic move away from Moscow would go down with Mr. Putin. Nothing was done to prepare the Ukrainians for the kind of negative response that they would get.

Mr. Putin had in 2007 made a speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy which raged against Ukraine ever joining NATO. In 2012, he made it clear again that “the Ukraine-NATO question wasn’t negotiable.”

On Saturday, Mr. Putin said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.

Also on Saturday, Singapore imposed unilateral sanctions against Russia, targeting financial measures on designated Russian banks and restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions - a move that was the first time in decades that the city-state was censuring a foreign nation, in this case a giant one, without backing from the United Nations Security Council.

So far, Singapore is the only Southeast Asian nation to dare impose sanctions against Russia.

The U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, Jonathan Eric Kaplan, described Singapore's sanctions as "courageous actions".

Good luck !! 

Anonymous

19 comments:

  1. WASHINGTON: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia's stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbour.

    In another apparent nod aimed at placating Moscow, Zelenskyy said he is open to "compromise" on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent just before unleashing the invasion on Feb 24.

    "I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in an interview aired Monday night on ABC News.

    This joker's long time ago was about 2 days ago when he was still pleading to join Nato. He only gave up when Nato told him he was not wanted. Silly bugger.

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  2. The top circus clown position would be taken over by the Baltic state of Lithuania and Estonia. They could not see how Nato has abandoned Ukraine and are asking Nato to take tough action against Russia.

    They are preparing themselves to be the next Ukraine.

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  3. In the 21st Century, the smaller a country is, the more powerful they think they are.

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  4. Hi

    Yes! Indeed good luck to Sg!

    We shall see!

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  5. Honestly, I find Zelensky's behavior puzzling. One day he said he does not insist on NATO membership, next day he was heard pleading with NATO to let Ukraine in 'immediately'. OK, he was just clowning.

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  6. Russian Foreign Ministry says their reaction to Western sanctions will be sensitive and precise, working on measures in all directions . .

    Newswire

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  7. I think it is very brave of Singapore to sanction Russia. Small but a show of strength. Mighty Mouse ?? Tikus Kuat lah or just stupidity and lack of smart diplomacy ?????

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  8. GIC has invested US$6b in Russia. Up for grabs.

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  9. When the Americans want Zelensky to die fighting the Russians, they praised him sky high. Very brave. He is a hero!

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  10. Russia warns the West (and Singapore?): Our sanctions will hurt you

    Russia warned the West on Wednesday (March 9) that it is working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas.

    “Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.

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  11. Russia could annex Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia and name it Putingrad and returns to the
    Days of Soviet Union.

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  12. The Ukraine president had became the top YouTuber with billions of views. Don't know how much money he had rack up from social media platforms. Warning from CNN that the president had step on USA redline for accusing the Western world for not helping. If these continues, CIA may disrupt his internet accounts. He maybe assassinated by friendly enemies.

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  13. US excluded SG in their democracy summit. Russia included us in its unfriendly list and India is upset over our leader's uncalled for remarks.
    Also strained relationship with China.
    Our foreign relationships has been screwed up big time!!
    When we compare McDonald and Singapore……
    McD have only ONE clown….
    We have too many….

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  14. If Russia Retaliates, Entire World Could Be Without Microelectronics

    The world's largest manufacturers of computer processors and semiconductors announced that they will join the sanctions against Russia over its military campaign in Ukraine. But that could backfire on the manufacturers as many crucial components for their production are made exclusively in Russia.

    “The ban on finished products for Russia will result in a retaliatory ban on the supply of production components and will cause an acute shortage of microprocessors for the whole world," says Oleg Izumrudov, head of the Consortium of Russian Developers of Data Storage Systems. Izumrudov says potential Russian retaliation moves “would leave almost the entire world without microelectronics.”

    According to Izumrudov, Russia accounts for 80% of the market for sapphire substrates – thin plates made of artificial stone, which are used in “every processor in the world,” including those manufactured by AMD and Intel.

    “Our position is even stronger in special chip etching chemistry using ultra-pure components. Russia accounts for 100% of the world's supply of various rare earth elements used for these purposes,” Izumrudov states. Russian components for manufacturing semiconductors would be almost impossible to replace, he adds.

    - RB News

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  15. "US excluded SG in their democracy summit. Russia included us in its unfriendly list and India is upset over our leader's uncalled for remarks.
    Also strained relationship with China.
    Our foreign relationships has been screwed up big time!!
    When we compare McDonald and Singapore……
    McD have only ONE clown….
    We have too many…."

    That's a good one!

    The US does not want us.

    Russia is now taking us as a serious enemy.

    India is upset with our PM's uncalled for remarks in our Parliament.

    China is definitely not going to take likely what Singapore is doing to undermine her One-China Policy by continuing to sleep with Tsai Yin-wen and her Japanese-disguised clique of politicians.

    Now, all the four Superpowers have been "fully unbalanced" by the silly Singapore politicians who thinks that they can outdo all of them.

    What kind of politicians offend all the four superpowers at the same time!

    Trying to salvage the last straw of face by using Ukraine as an opportunity to please USA and the NATO countries is a cheap display of "false courage" that will go down badly in the history of Singapore.

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  16. So what if we offend all the four Superpowers?

    As long as we take a PRINCIPLED stand, our conscience is clear even if we offend THE WHOLE WORLD !

    We ROARRRRR!!!!!! We are SINGAPORE !!!!!

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  17. Fxxking ARROGANT, UPSTART, AND UNPRINCIPLED STAND!

    Singapore has no Principles

    THERE IS NO PRINCIPLE IF YOU CAN'T KEEP
    TO THE ZONE OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY.

    THERE IS NO PRINCIPLE IF YOU CAN'T TAKING STOP MEDDLING IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF MYANMAR'S.

    THERE IS NO PRINCIPLE, IF YOU KEEP TAKING SIDE SIDES ON THE SIDE OF aggressive USA, Expanist Expanist NATO and the Shady UK.

    WHICH SIDE ARE YOU WITH? OBVIOUSLY ON THE SIDE OF THE USA and NATO!

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  18. Like a child waving his little prick.

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