WestBromwich

Yeah fair enough. I probably won't block them because I find it interesting to see other people's views.

No I didn't know until you tagged me. Seems like they've had a strange reaction to my post. I think what I said in that post is true but I will admit I'm wrong if somebody can prove so. Here are a couple of articles which seem to back up what I said:

Regarding the invasion of Crimea in 2014: "Incognito Russian soldiers appeared throughout Crimea... The Kremlin initially claimed the soldiers were local “self-defense” groups but later admitted they were professional Russian soldiers".

Regarding the invasion of the Donbas in 2014: "A London-based digital forensics agency says it has gathered an enormous body of evidence that Russia’s military was deployed in the August-September 2014 fighting around Ilovaysk, in eastern Ukraine".

If that's true then both Ukrainians and Russians have impositions on their freedom, but at least Ukraine seems to have had democratic elections over the last 10 years, whereas Russia has been rigging their elections, perhaps since 1999 (or longer than that).

Anyway, I would definitely like for Ukrainians to be allowed to leave their country if they wish. But the blame for this invasion surely rests on Russia. The Kremlin launched this imperialistic invasion in 2022, building upon their earlier invasions in 2014.

I saw the headline and I thought this would be a story about streaming video games online. I think I spend too much time on the internet.

Are people in Russian-occupied territories free to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine? No. They would get put in prison, or worse. So they aren't free.

I do think Ukrainians should be allowed to leave Ukraine. But you seem to be blaming Zelenskyy for the Russian shells, being fired by Russian forces. For some reason you don't want to put any blame at all on the Kremlin - why is that?

liberated

Russia is imperialist and I don't trust any of their "referendums" in the occupied regions of Ukraine, given that Russia rigs elections (that's a video of ballot stuffing in Russia).

could you please also explain to me how being unable to leave your country where you can be kidnapped on a street at any day and sent to die is not considered slavery

I do think there is a point to make here. Ukrainians should be free to leave their country if they want. But anyway, I strongly disagree with your view that Russia's imperialist invasion of Ukraine is "liberating" anything or anyone.

you need to be serious about inflicting permanent harm on politicians

I don't think you phrased that in the best way... I hope you mean punish them at the ballot box

The strain on Ukraine is immense though, as the article states. Ukrainian men are told to fight. They're being bundled into vehicles by military recruiters (it's often vatniks making this point, but that source is a US-government-funded media company).

I would absolutely like for Russia to withdraw entirely from Ukraine, but surely the human cost needs to be taken into account. I don't think Ukrainians should be forced to fight. And maybe potential soldiers would be more willing to fight if Western support was better than it currently is - Zelenskyy is always requesting more weapons and the West just drags its feet.

Maybe Jenrick could do what Starmer did - make some radical statements to win over the party and become leader, then soften your stance to become more electable to the general public later on.

Maybe those views constitute more than the fringes when it comes to the Tory party.

The UK has also denied entry for people in similar cases. Some right-wing activists were denied entry in 2018.