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THE UNITED STATES has warned Moscow of damaging sanctions, including measures personally targeting Vladimir Putin, if it moves ahead with an invasion of Ukraine, as Russian combat troops massing around the pro-Western country launched new exercises.
Tensions appear to be increasing, with the White House saying the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine “remains imminent”.
Warning that such a move would prompt “enormous consequences” and even “change the world”, US President Joe Biden said he would consider adding direct sanctions on Putin to a raft of measures being drawn up.
“Yes. I would see that,” Biden said when asked by reporters in Washington about targeting the Russian president, whom opponents have long accused of holding gigantic, secret wealth.
A senior US official laid out economic sanctions “with massive consequences” that go far beyond previous measures implemented in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea region.
New measures would include restrictions on exports of high-tech US equipment in the artificial intelligence, quantum computing and aerospace sectors, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“What we’re talking about are sophisticated technologies that we design and produce,” and cutting them off would hit Putin’s “strategic ambitions to industrialize his economy quite hard,” the official said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed the threat, saying sanctions would be “heavier than anything we’ve ever done”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he would talk by telephone with Putin on Friday, seeking “clarification” on Moscow’s intentions.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday described the situation between Russia and Ukraine as “serious”, as he confirmed that Irish people are now advised to avoid non-essential travel to Ukraine.
Speaking in the Dáil, Martin said Ireland was “not politically neutral but militarily neutral” and that Russia’s massing of troops on the border with Ukraine was not justified.
Martin said that Ireland stands for “a rules-based international order”.
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New Russian military exercises
A day after Washington said it was putting 8,500 US troops on alert for possible deployment to bolster NATO forces in Europe, the Russian military announced it was conducting new drills involving 6,000 troops near Ukraine and within the Crimea region.
The drills included firing exercises with fighter jets, bombers, anti-aircraft systems and ships from the Black Sea and Caspian fleets, the defense ministry said.
According to Western officials, the Kremlin has already deployed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, with reinforcements arriving from all over Russia.
“We continue to watch the accumulation of significant combat power,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin pictured at Moscow's Kremlin earlier this month Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Washington also warned Russia ally Belarus that its authoritarian government would “face a swift and decisive response” if it helps Moscow invade Ukraine.
“If an invasion were to proceed from Belarus, if Russian troops were to permanently station on their territory, NATO could well have to reassess our own force posture in the countries that border Belarus,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
The United States and its EU allies accuse Russia of seeking to upend European stability by threatening an invasion of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic striving to join NATO and other Western institutions.
Moscow denies plans to invade the country, where in addition to seizing Crimea, it backs separatist forces in the east.
Russia instead blames the West for the tension and has put forward a list of demands, including a guarantee that Ukraine never join NATO and that NATO forces already in the former Soviet bloc pull back.
Energy threats
The senior US official said “contingency” plans were being drawn up to get Europe through the winter in case Russia moves to squeeze energy supplies.
The White House announced Tuesday Biden would meet with the emir of gas-rich Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on 31 January to discuss, among other issues, “ensuring the stability of global energy supplies”.
Washington and its European allies are scouring global markets for alternative energy sources, even as Europe already struggles with soaring mid-winter energy prices.
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“If Russia decides to weaponize its supply of natural gas or crude oil, it wouldn’t be without consequences to the Russian economy,” the US official told reporters.
Although the European Union sources about 40 percent of its supply from Russia, Moscow also relies heavily on sales of energy, meaning “it’s an interdependency,” the official said.
Negotiating attempts
Negotiations this month have failed to ease tensions, though Washington and Moscow have agreed to keep talking.
In addition to the Macron-Putin talks, the French government said Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet, along with French and German counterparts, in Paris next week.
Washington has promised written answers to Moscow’s demands this week, while already making clear that it rejects giving Russia a veto on Ukraine joining NATO.
But the crisis has laid bare divisions in the West.
The new government in Germany has faced criticism from Kyiv over its refusal to send defensive weapons to Ukraine, as well as hesitating over one of the harshest economic sanctions under discussion — cutting Moscow from the global SWIFT payments system.
Ukraine’s military is heavily outgunned by Russia, and Biden repeated that he has “no intention of putting American forces or NATO forces in Ukraine”.
However, the United States has stepped up deliveries of weapons.
At a ceremony for the latest shipment arriving in Kyiv, US charge d’affaires Kristina Kvien said “our preference is diplomacy”.
But in case of attack by Russia, “the Kremlin will face fierce resistance, the losses to Russia will be heavy”.
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The capitalist system is fundamentally based on the exploitation of the majority working class. Therefore any party or Independent which operates under the rules of this system will ultimately be forced to betray the majority of people who voted for them. Hence Donnelly’s acceptance of FF’s 30 pieces of silver.
@john healy:
It is all about being a minister in the next government. And I bet you the next government will be FF led. It just goes to prove what a shower of Muppet’s the general Irish electorate are, the party that destroyed the country will be back in power within 7-8 years of destroying it.
Politics comes from the words Poly = many and tic= which is a parasite. So many parasites. They even tell you what they are but still people believe in their bull.
@Diarmuid:
Ah yes, the “looney left” who loaded a €100+ billion of odious banking debt on to the peoples’ backs and broke the economy. Oh no wait………… That was the entire right wing establishment of FF/Green and FG/Labour . And the “clever guy” has just thrown in his lot with those parasites.
This is a valuable lesson though for those who have illusions in the bogus “Independents” always ready to prop up the elite . The working class needs a mass party to represent its interests as our establishment political class have protected big capital at great cost to the majority since the foundation of the state.
human nature is the problem. jesus tried to change it. It ended up with the crusades and the inquisition. muhammed tried to change it. ended with Isis. Marx tried to change it. gave us stalin. aaa/pbp are trying to change human nature. good luck with that.
“That was the entire right wing establishment of FF/Green and FG/Labour”
No it wasn’t. It was just FF/Green. They were in government, no-one else. And saying that the Green Party is right wing just makes you look even more foolish.
@Emeralds:
Really? You appear to have forgotten that FG supported the blanket guarantee and both the and Labour eagerly continued the austerity program to pay for the banker’s debts when the entered government in 2011.
And the Irish Green party are enthusiastic free marketeers with a focus on the environment as evidenced by their support of FF in the coalition government which destroyed the living standards of the majority to save the banking parasites.
The problem is not with human nature. If humanity was a blindly selfish species as capitalist propaganda would have us believe, then we would have been wiped out by more powerful creature eons ago. Mankind has an innate affinity and empathy with fellow humans and we’re an inherently co-operative, social and community based species.
Rather it’s capitalism which is the great problem of our time as it’s a system which is based on the exploitation of the majority working class in order to enrich the minority capitalist class. Capitalism will not manufacture a single item, provide a single service of employ a single person without the expectation of profit. That profit is generated by the workers in the excess value they create over and above their wages. That is the essence of capitalism and it’s inherently exploitative.
This model results in a chasm of inequality with abject poverty on one side and obscene wealth on the other. Our politics, media and education systems are designed to obscure this harsh reality while our governments fully support this exploitative socioeconomic system.
The reality is that there is more than enough real resources (land, energy labour etc) to provide everyone on the planet with proper nutrition, a decent home, healthcare, education, recreation and a job. It’s a political and ideological choice to deny people these basics, not economic misfortune.
The solution is to manage our economic activity with the objective of meeting human need rather than for the purposes of accumulating obscene profit and hence power into private hands as occurs under capitalism. The choice facing us now is socialism or barbarism represented today by Trump, Le Pen etc etc
100%…just shows how little any of them are to be trusted. Shame on him for selling out to the corrupt ideals of a shower of parasites. Absolutely no time for him anymore…
I’m actually gutted to hear this. I always found him to be a great politician and overall an honest man. To see him join a party with dishonesty at its core is saddening.
Ya me too, I liked him and genuinely thought the SocDems could grow. I was hoping for a candidate in my constituency in next election! Now they are a bit of a mess and he’s at FF!
@Tony Byrne: He’s taking a big political gamble as many of his own constituents won’t vote for him either after this. But there’s no point spending your political career on the opposition benches and that’s what his destiny was up until today. Unlike a lot of TDs he has written his own proposals and budgets. even though I didn’t find any of his ideas particularly ground breaking or impressive, if he wants them enacted, he has to be in government.
I think he’s been promised a big job in FF, and will sooner or later go back to his constituents and say “look, I can have a bigger impact on the locality as a minister and we need a minister here”. And that will get him considerable voting clout again. People love to have ministers in their locality as they are the ones who can make things happen in an area.
@Mr Snuffleupagus: if his taking a big political gamble as many of his own constituents won’t vote for him after this and what happens if he fails to get elected Because of this.. no minister will he be , possible not even a TD so what good was his gamble if he is out of the game..
See on Twitter people within his constituency are saying he should resign his seat on principle , . Then bye election would happen and he should re run as a ff TD Because people didn’t give their vote to him and for him to join a party he ran against.. not sure if such thing is possible ….
Would be more than willing to bet you not only will Stephen Donnelly be elected for Wicklow in the next Election, he will be elected for many elections to come. Just my opinion.
Stephen Donnelly has been shown up to be (at best) economical with the truth. He will be a perfect fit for FF. A devious, opportunist of the highest order.
Well im v/sorry to hear this Stephen. But you lied when asked about joining ff . I have lost all faith in you as a person of integrity “shame on me” but you have to live with that . Ah well i live in hope of an truthful politician representing de people of Ireland. But your now in good company
I’d never presume to tell anybody how to vote, but based on this evidence it generally seems a vote for an independent is a wasted one, they never act in the national interests, only their own. We need a unified approach to rebuilding the country after FF’s mess.
So going by his tweets above. He once said ff and fg are the same. So now his joining up with ff who are in bed with fg and basically the one party. Talk about a u turn Stephen.. disappointed .
So what you now are all for these parties….
This guy knoes how to party! He seems to be doing the rounds. And while I do still admire him – he seems articulate and aware – for the life of me I cannot understand why he would join a party that wrecked the economy just a few short years ago.
Jaysus if I was one of his constituents I’d be pretty livid. What a fukcing turncoat. He’s probably paying attention to the polls and thinking of the quickest way to get his nose to the trough. Hope his constituents see through him and give him the well deserved boot in the next election.
so stephen was being mean to ff all this time because deep down he really liked them,good man stephen now theyll ruin u from within although youve just made a good start at it yourself
I have to laugh at the comments here saying he is this, that & the other. He is a career politician that couldn’t give a toss about you,me or anyone else but himself and the trough that is the taxpayer. They will swear on their kids lives that they will do everything but once in office they will do nothing , not even 10% of what they promise. I wouldn’t trust one as far as I could throw a ton of steel and believe one less. People say I am cynical but I have yet to be proven wrong. These people are career wasters that wouldn’t know a days work if it bit them on the arse.
If it wasn’t for FF’S mess he probably wouldn’t a TD to-day now he’s TC (turncoat ) He does not now represent the people who voted for him In principle he should go back to people and then he’ll find out if is to be a true ‘soldier of destiny’??
WTF is *ANYONE* a member of as political party? WTF does anyone vote for party candidates? Every elected official who is a member of *ANY* party should be voted out of office and an independent voted in! Party politics is, by nature, not in the interest of those being governed, but it’s in the interest of the party that is in power. This nonsense adjust be ended!
Irish politics is still more about personalities than about policies. It is more about spin than about substance. It is more about promise than about product. It is more about talk than about action. Irish political philosophy is an oxymoron. Still and all I wouldn’t choose to live in the current political realities of USA or North Korea.
Ah, this is a good decision by an intelligent man.He has always been a bright, straight talking member of Parliament. He can see that FF is the correct place to be, especially now with a lot to them other malcontents getting itchy.
@Eugene Comaskey: I’m not sure how you come to the conclusion that Fianna Fáil is the correct place to be for a ‘bright, straight talking member of parliament’? Because as far as I see, Donnelly would literally be the first…
@Richard Parker; Ah yes, He recognised the party that is making the most progress. He has made a good decision to get away from those malcontents. He was never one to just knock for the sake. Of knocking like them gang, he will do well.
Seems to me he sees the importance of a strong voice to deal with Brexit and Fine Gael have not stepped up to the mark.
He ain’t gonna be heard as an independent so in one sense I actually admire him
He’s not stupid my any means and is willing to perhaps sacrifice his career by joining fine fail to make sure we are not screwed over by brexit
@Shane Murphy: by joining fine fail you think he his willing to sacrifice his career to make sure we are not screwed over by brexit. Don’t think joining the fine fail who happily screwed over the country and people it represents time and again is going to do much… He has just happily joined the screw over parties willingly…
Shane, or he’s making a play for the golden ticket, maybe the real reason he didn’t sit on the banking inquiry is because he had always planned to enlist, destinies child.
it seems stephen has disappointed some of his supporters and friends in the media this morning, a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth here and elsewhere, not to mention semi-hysterical hissy fits, lmao! for the rest of us though….
I HAD a lot of respect for independent Stephen Donnelly and for a “Social Democrat” to jump to Fianna Fáil is beyond belief…But Gilmore was spot on in fairness to him. I just hope the people of Wicklow and East Carlow let this guy know their feelings over this because I doubt very much if he ran under the Fianna Fáil banner at the last General Election that he would be currently employed as TD for the region!
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