Russia or ukraine which is better

The left-wing leader of a rail union in Britain has cited EU influence in Ukraine, as well as the country’s alleged use of “Nazi imagery”, as leading to Russia’s invasion.

Mick Lynch, the head of Britain’s leftist RMT rail union, has cited the increasing influence of the European Union in Ukraine, as well as the prevalence of what he called “Nazi imagery”, as causes for Russia’s invasion of the country.

Lynch has since been accused of peddling “Kremlin propaganda” by Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport, who is currently trying to impose restrictions on the ability of the trade-union leader’s organisation to strike.

In an interview with the New Statesman , Lynch — whose trade union supported Britain leaving the European Union — rejected claims that Brexit negatively affected the EU’s ability to resist the likes of Russia and China.

“The EU also provoked a lot of the trouble in Ukraine,” Lynch reportedly responded, claiming that the country’s Maidan revolt in 2014, which led to regime change in the country, was “all about being pro-EU and all the rest of it”.

“There were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine,” he continued. “And while they were doing that, there were an awful lot of people [in Ukraine] playing with Nazi imagery, and going back to the [Second World] War, and all that.”

“So, it’s not just that this stuff has sprung from one place,” Lynch went on to say.

The trade union leader also said that he thought that the Western narrative on Communist China was exaggerated, responding to a question regarding the use of Uyghur slave labour in China by saying that “slave labour is happening in Leicester “.

“We should stop being so belligerent towards countries,” he said.

UK Rail Workers Strike for Better Pay as Runaway Inflation Erodes Incomes https://t.co/Oo5Tktdvvt

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2022

Lynch’s comments have been met with outrage from those within the British government, with the country’s transport tsar, Grant Shapps, saying that the RMT rail union leader has “taken leave of [his] senses”.

Shapps, who has promised to implement “reforms” that will clamp down on the ability for unions to strike, also attacked Lynch for his alleged “peddling of Kremlin propaganda” before claiming that the “union mask has well and truly slipped”.

“We must make union barons think twice before wielding the strike weapon — and complete Margaret Thatcher’s unfinished business,” the government minister previously declared while sharing an op-ed he wrote on social media.

“I’m looking at banning strikes by different unions in the same workplace within a set period,” he wrote in the article. “We should also place an absolute limit of six pickets at points of Critical National Infrastructure, irrespective of the number of unions involved, and outlaw intimidatory language”.

Free Speech Win: Railway Conductor Wins Suit Against Being Fired for Questioning ‘White Privilege’ https://t.co/4rMd9rwkq2

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 28, 2022

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Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and seasoned commentator on international affairs.

OPINION: “This obviously does not happen because of a thrown butt,” said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace.

But the Russian Ministry of Defence insisted that the explosions that destroyed at least eight warplanes at Saki Air Base in Russian-occupied Crimea on August 9 were due to “a violation of fire safety requirements.”

The implication is that some careless Russian smoker tossed away his cigarette butt and caused a fire that set off explosions.

That’s hardly a testimonial to the discipline of the Russian air force’s ground crews, but it’s better than admitting that Ukrainian missiles have reached 225km behind Russian lines to destroy a whole squadron of Russian fighters.

READ MORE: Why is Russia attacking Ukraine’s railway system? US urges more arms for Ukraine amid fears of expanding war Ukraine invasion: What has happened so far, and what should we expect

Moscow also claimed that no Russian aircraft had been damaged by the explosions in Crimea, although the wreckage of the destroyed fighters was clearly visible on the ‘overheads’ from satellite observations.

The Russian Defence Ministry played the same silly game in April when Ukrainian cruise missiles sank the ‘Moskva’, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

It claimed that a fire had caused munitions to explode, and that the ship then sank while under tow due to “stormy seas” (although the sea was actually flat calm at the time).

And what caused that fire? Careless smokers again, presumably, because even the most damning statements about the indiscipline and incompetence of Russian sailors and airmen are preferable to an admission that the Ukrainians are really hurting Russia.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry is having fun with this, reporting that it “cannot establish the cause of the fire [at the Russian airfield], but once again reminds of fire safety rules and a ban on smoking in unauthorized places.”

Taking responsibility for these strikes deep in Russian-controlled territory is not in Ukraine’s interest, so it’s happy for Russia to take the blame.

Various anonymous defence officials in Kyiv further muddied the waters by suggesting that Ukrainian partisans were responsible, or Ukrainian special forces already operating far behind Russian front lines.

But why is it not in Ukraine’s interest to take ownership of these small but symbolically important victories?

It’s because the really decisive front in this war is how fast American and other Nato weapons systems are sent to Ukraine, and that is determined by a process that seems to be derived largely from the old children’s game of ‘Mother May I’ (also known as ‘Giant Steps’).

The opening move is quite straightforward: Kyiv asks Washington for a hundred HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems so that it can counter Russia’s huge superiority in older artillery and rocket systems and drive Moscow’s forces from Ukrainian soil.

Washington replies that it can take two giant steps and a frog hop.

No, wait a minute, it replies that Ukraine can have four HIMARS systems now. Once the crews have been trained and have demonstrated their proficiency in using the weapons, Kyiv can start the next round of the game by asking for more.

This takes four weeks.

Getting into the spirit of the game, Ukraine then asks for only twenty more HIMARs, leaving the rest for later.

Washington replies that it can take four baby steps and a pirouette – or rather, four more HIMARs now, but with the range still restricted to 70km, and no thermobaric ammunition (fuel-air explosives).

And so on.

We are now in the fourth round of this game, with sixteen HIMARs promised of which Ukraine has already deployed between eight and twelve on the battlefield.

At this rate, Ukraine will have the hundred HIMARs it needs to expel the Russians around April 2024.

Similar games are being played with other badly needed weapons from Nato stockpiles like Western-made combat aircraft, modern anti-air defence systems, and longer-range missiles for attacks like the one on Saki Air Base.

This is all driven by an excess of caution about such ‘escalation’ at the White House and in the National Security Council.

Washington is right to be concerned about Russia’s reactions, but it is prone to see the Russians as dangerously excitable children.

They are not. They are poker players (NOT chess-players) who bet over-confidently, and are now trying to bluff their way out of trouble. The Russian ruling elite, or at least most of it, remains rational.

The Ukrainians, however, have to take American anxieties into account even when they use their own weapons, some of which have been modified for extended range, on distant Russian targets.

The simplest way is just to pretend it wasn’t their weapons that did the damage.

The same policy applies to the numerous acts of sabotage carried out in Russia by Ukrainian agents – and by a happy accident the Russians are willing to collaborate in this fiction.

They’d rather blame the clumsiness, ignorance and incompetence of their own troops than give the credit to the Ukrainians.

Gwynne Dyer’s new book is The Shortest History of War.