26A007 A War Update by Jim Davies, 2/17/2026 

Wars are always begun by governments, very often because they are greedy for more land and hence more taxpayers. Sometimes they begin one to prevent loss of those alleged assets, as in the case of War to Prevent Secession in the US of 1861. A comparable case is that of the present Ukraine war, being fought partly to prevent the residents of four Regions in its South-East joining the Russian Federation instead.

This Blog promises "reflections on what's happening now", so an overview of this is not inappropriate - the more so because all regular media select news favorable to the Ukes.

That was one cause of its beginning, back in 2022, but a greater cause was the attempted encirclement of Western Russia by the countries in NATO - originally a defense alliance against the USSR, it had morphed into a threat to the new Russia. So I call this the War of Russian Independence. After Communism collapsed in 1990, there were 14 members; by 2022 there were 28; Russia's border was threatened by Poland in the West, the three Baltic States in the North West, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania in the South West and then the proposed acceptance of Ukraine to the South, into the gang. Putin reasonably decided: Enough.

I cannot see why NATO should be so hostile to Russia. There is no longer a Communist ideology to proclaim "Workers of the world, unite!"- an obvious threat to undermine other nations. The new Russia was busy trading peacefully across its borders. But there it is; the 28 invented a danger, and provoked a war. So far, it's been confined to Ukraine.

The Uke army was poised to move in to the Donetsk Region and suppress the pro-Russian rebels in early 2022, so Russian troops crossed into the country North of its capital, Kiev, to draw it back West to defend it. That succeeded, and the four Regions are now by the overwhelming vote of residents, part of Russia. In my view the Russians botched the invasion however; they were too badly prepared, to follow through and capture Kiev. So they withdrew, and the war has continued for 4 years.

Since then their army has got its act together much better, and it is steadily pushing Uke occupiers back, out of Luhansk altogether and nearly out of the other three. There has been a series of peace negotiations, in which the Russian demands have been simple, fixed and reasonable: the four Regions will remain Russian (with Crimea) and the remainder of Ukraine will exclude all NATO influence, remaining neutral. The UkeGov persists in refusing to accept the secession of those Regions, and is backed by most of NATO.

That's the stalemate. It (and the whole war) will end when NATO support ends, for Ukraine is otherwise exhausted, or when its size has been reduced by force to an unsustainable degree. Already the US has reduced its support and Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia have ended theirs, but the big three (Germany, France and especially the UK) are still thumping the tubs of war. Why, I cannot understand. If they were to admit the whole 35-year strategy has failed, and stop pouring money and weapons into the Uke sink-hole, or even if Trump's USGov were to cancel all anti-Russian embargoes or "sanctions", that would stop the bloodshed cold.

But governments are not in the business of stopping bloodshed or admitting failure; they are in that of keeping their populations fearful, submissive and dependent. Especially unfortunate are the hapless residents of Britain; for both the major parties (Conservative and Labour) are committed to poke the Russian bear, and the otherwise laudable Reform Party has not yet promised to reverse that stupid and dangerous policy.

That's the core problem; the State is a totally useless encumbrance, and must in its nature constantly bombard its victims with reasons to keep it in place. It cannot change that nature, for to do so would cause everyone to ask "What is government FOR?" - to which it has no coherent reply. Therefore it must be abolished in total. Nothing less will do.

The on-line virtual newspaper "Off-Guardian" has in its current edition an oustanding catalog of the Covid deception by Kit Knightly; a true must-read. Find it here.