‘It feels like 1939’: Europe is not ready for looming war with Putin, Poland's PM warns
Europe has entered a "pre-war" era and is not ready for combat, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned
Mr Tusk said war was "no longer a concept from the past" after Russia launched an invasion against Ukraine.
"It's real and it started over two years ago," Mr Tusk said.
It comes after Russia launched a huge attack against Ukraine's energy system on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that his country has "no aggressive intentions" towards Nato countries, though leaders across Europe have warned their counterparts to prepare for war.
Putin has insisted on a number of occasions that it is "nonsense" to suggest he would attack Poland or the Czech Republic - both of which are Nato members.
Read More: US says it warned Russia of imminent 'extremist' attack weeks ago but Putin points finger at Ukraine despite ISIS claim
Read More: World leaders reject Macron’s plan to send Nato troops to Ukraine in bid to stop 'Russia winning the war'
He has said, however, that Western F-16 warplanes used by Ukraine are "legitimate targets, wherever they might be located".
Mr Tusk's comments echo sentiments expressed by leaders across Europe, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently warned troops could be forced to join the war in Ukraine.
Speaking in February, Mr Macron said: “We will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war.
"We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment.
"But I've told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by."
Earlier in the year, residents of Western countries were warned to prepare for an all-out war with Russia within the next 20 years.
Admiral Rob Bauer said that although NATO and member governments are readying themselves for conflict with Vladimir Putin's regime, civilians must realise that they also have a role to play.
He told reporters that civilians would have to be mobilised in large numbers if war broke out, and governments would have to prepare for how to manage that process.
Adml Bauer, the chairman of NATO's military committee, said: "We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [Nato forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia.
"But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role."
Russians under Putin have Followed the Same Five Steps Germans under Hitler Did but Still Think They can Avoid the Sixth, Some Muscovites Say
Saturday, March 30, 2024
– Under Hitler, some Muscovites say, Germans in 1932 said they weren’t interested in politics, then from 1933 to 1935 declared life had improved for them, and then in 1936-1938 proclaimed that Germany had risen from its knees and that Austria and the Sudetenland were always ours.
Next, these Germans in 1939-1941 said everyone wants to attack us but we will be in Moscow in three months, said in 1942-1945 that war is a hard time and that only traitors criticize the leader because he knows what he is doing. But finally, in 1946, everything came crashing down, Germans said, adding they didn’t know because they weren’t interested in politics.
According to these same Muscovites, under Putin, Russians have followed exactly the same path as far as steps one through five are concerned but somehow believe that they won’t have to suffer the last one, clearly because such people aren’t interested in either history or politics
This is only one of the anecdotes offered by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova in her latest collection (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/48102/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:
· The organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall is known to the extent of 87.3 percent, the same share of the population Putin received in the recent “elections.”
· Moscow’s insistence that journalists add a footnote every time they referred to ISIS did nothing to stop the terrorist attack.
· Russia Today’s Margarita Simonyan and others aren’t motivated by bad ideas; they are only driven by the size of the paychecks they get.
· After meeting Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis felt the need to cross himself.
· The restoration of the death penalty is guaranteed. It is simply a bonus for those who voted to change the constitution the way Putin wanted.
· The Tajiks arrested for attacking the Crocus City Hall spoke some non-Ukrainian language but after they were worked over, their Ukrainian style embroidered shirts showed through.
· Russians should be afraid that millions of Tajiks will remember that Russians have ears too.
· A Russian conversation: “I always listen to the opinions of others if they agree with me.” “But if they don’t?” “I’m not an idiot and don’t listen to such people.” “Yes, you are like Putin.” “No, I am Putin.”
No comments:
Post a Comment