Posted on 06/21/2024 7:23:43 PM PDT by RandFan
Nigel Farage has said the West "provoked" Russia's invasion of Ukraine by expanding the European Union and Nato military alliance eastwards.
The Reform UK leader told the BBC that "of course" the war was President Vladimir Putin's fault.
But he added that the expansion of the EU and Nato gave him a "reason" to tell the Russian people "they're coming for us again".
In an interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson, Mr Farage was challenged over his judgement and past statements, including when he named Russian President Vladimir Putin as the world leader he most admired in 2014.
"I said I disliked him as a person, but admired him as a political operator because he's managed to take control of running Russia," Mr Farage said.
He was then pressed over a social media post in February 2022, external, when he claimed the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "a consequence of EU and Nato expansion".
Mr Farage said he had been arguing since the 1990s that "the ever eastward expansion" of the Nato military alliance and the EU was giving President Putin "a reason to [give to] his Russian people to say they're coming for us again and to go to war".
He added: "We provoked this war. Of course, it's [President Putin's] fault."
Responding to the interview, Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly said, external Mr Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine".
Labour defence spokesman John Healey said Mr Farage's comments made him "unfit for any political office in our country, let alone leading a serious party in Parliament."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Could be.
Putin was easy to maneuver and we wanted to see
how good their military operated.
Now we know.
Time to disengage.
No, it's time to double down. Does a surgeon take out half a tumor and say, "that's enough"?
>>>>Mr Farage said he had been arguing since the 1990s that “the ever eastward expansion” of the Nato military alliance and the EU was giving President Putin “a reason to [give to] his Russian people to say they’re coming for us again and to go to war”.<<<<
Farage is correct.
Russia believed its back was against a wall and the US, by moving NATO closer and closer, put it there. They reached a point where they chose war with Ukraine rather than accepting the fate and future they believed the West had in store for them.
They will never accept this nuanced argument
The BBC think they have “got” Farage and are trying to paint him as crazy.
>>>>No, it’s time to double down. Does a surgeon take out half a tumor and say, “that’s enough”?<<<<
Typing away while sitting in your comfy chair in peaceful rural Ohio allows you to pontificate like General Patton, right chaddie?
The West didn’t pressure the ex-Warsaw Pact nations into joining NATO. They begged to join. And NATO imposed some serious obligations on them before they were allowed to.
NATO expanded to the east because of Russia’s actions, not because of NATO. If Russia hadn’t kept invading it’s neighbors, they’d not have felt the need to join defensive alliances.
He’s saying Putin is psycho and he knew Putin was psycho 30 years ago.
“West provoked Ukraine war, Nigel Farage says”
Is the sky blue?
Other than the Operatives trying to Gaslight us, the ENTIRE WORLD knows it’s true.
Obviously, he's the wrong guy in 2022.
There's going to be a huge power vacuum after Putin.
Yes but its never uttered in such terms especially on State TV (BBC)
They reject this argument and they’re trying to paint Nigel as crazy/out of touch.
By all but obliterating Rule of Law, human rights, ant sort of succession principle, and any hope of creating a market economy. Putin has returned Russia to the 19th century (albeit with nukes and a robust malware industry) and he's proud of the fact.
If Farage doesn't repudiate this statement, he's suffering from end-stage rectocranial inversion.
2000 is a long time ago now.
I don’t disagree about power vacuum. If there had been rule of law established that’s not a major problem.
Also I think Putin did away with anyone with potential to lead who wasn’t him.
Why, yes, yes it does. Just trying to keep up with you, bimbo.
>>>>The BBC think they have “got” Farage and are trying to paint him as crazy.<<<<
I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Farage and Trump talk.
They have much in common.
You can see why they’re very good friends
“Yes but its never uttered in such terms especially on State TV (BBC). They reject this argument and they’re trying to paint Nigel as crazy/out of touch.”
Agree, this election will be a test of the British Media to brainwash the voters there into believing that the invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked.
We have a few, pathetic, people here also trying Gaslight, but the other 99% of FReepers just laugh at them (assuming my private messages are representative).
Let’s see how well-informed the British voters are.
No, it’s time to double down
Double down on what, perhaps starting WW III? If we had any decent diplomats all this could have been prevented and turned it into benefits for the US, Russia as well as the Ukrainian people instead of mayem and killings as well as driving Russia and China closer together.
Trump said as much this week. It’s true, of course.
>>>>Why, yes, yes it does. Just trying to keep up with you, bimbo.<<<<
I’m not the bloodthirsty warmonger chaddie, you are.
When are you heading to the front lines? Your globohomo hero Zelensky needs you.
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