What a total f*n mess this is.
RE: anti-war protesters
Anti-war campaigners were right about Afghanistan and Iraq (and Vietnam) - but it was obvious to anyone with a brain that those wars would be a disaster.
However, going a little further back they were wrong about the Nazis and wrong about the USSR (the cold war might never have ended, or ended very differently had we listened to Michael Foot and CND. MAD is a very dangerous situation, but until all sides disarm unilateral disarmament is suicidal.
Corbyn can spout all of the idealisms he likes safe in the knowledge that he will never have any responsibility.
Putin is a thug and criminal and it's high time the west stood up to him. If he doesn't want Nato expansion then he should refrain from military exercises and troop mobilizations on his western border.
Agree with those who point out Britain's hypocrisy with laundering the oligarchs' money, then crying foul when their leader is emboldened. However, what is the west to do ? Do you really think if we agree to not allow Nato expansion Mr Putin will quietly recall his troops ?
If only all of Europe had realized that dependency on Russian gas exports is a greater evil that dependency on nuclear power stations (or even the continued use of coal). Again, it was obvious to anyone with a brain that as soon as western Europe developed an appetite for Russian gas it would be used as leverage.
To be clear, I don't want to see any UK or US troops involved, but I think giving Ukraine weapons to help repel the invasion is justified. I'd also like to see freezing of assets of Putin and his allies, including any UK property (though I'm much less hopeful about the latter part).