The Australian publishes a ghost editorial by Lyndon Johnson

11 Responses to The Australian publishes a ghost editorial by Lyndon Johnson

1. C.L. says:

   7 June, 2022 at 1:05 pm

   There is nothing courageous or helpful about French President Emmanuel Macron’s call to world powers not to humiliate Vladimir Putin over the Russian despot’s onslaught against Ukraine. As with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal, despite repeated questioning, to say he wants to see Russia defeated militarily, Mr Macron’s ill-timed call suggests defeatism as Mr Putin renews his attacks on Kyiv and appears to be making advances in the Donbas region. No wonder some commentators have noted a more exasperated tone in recent addresses by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

   Mr Macron and Mr Scholz are key figures in the democratic world’s response to Mr Putin’s atrocities. Their less than resolute stance feeds into Mr Zelensky’s fear that time is running out and that some Western governments are dithering – Germany in particular – over providing him with the weapons he needs to maintain his brave fightback. Mr Zelensky is said to fear, too, that 100 days since the war started the public focus in the West is shifting elsewhere, thereby taking the heat off the gross inhumanity that has been the sickening hallmark of the ruthless Russian rampage.

   Mr Macron said he has had more than 100 hours of conversations with Mr Putin since the war started. The French President conceded that Mr Putin made a “historic and fundamental” error by invading Ukraine. Despite the atrocities that have been committed and the International Criminal Court’s investigation of Mr Putin for war crimes, however, Mr Macron concluded that in seeking to end the conflict “we must not humiliate Russia”.

   This is not the time to suggest anything that implies a face-saving formula for Mr Putin. Doing so plays into the hands of the Russian ruler, who doubtless will take the views of Mr Macron and Mr Scholz as confirmation of his belief that Russia needs only to be patient and the West will give up on its support for Mr Zelensky and the sanctions imposed on Moscow.

   Mr Putin must be disabused of any such expectation. Russia already stands humiliated in the eyes of the international community for what it has done in Ukraine. This is not the time to offer an accommodation to Mr Putin in the hope, as Mr Macron said, “on the day the fighting stops we can build a way out through diplomatic channels” that will “avoid a wider escalation of hostilities”. The need now is to ensure Ukraine has all the weaponry and other resources it needs to defeat Russia militarily and diplomatically.
2. cuckoo says:

   7 June, 2022 at 1:46 pm

   Russia already stands humiliated in the eyes of the international community for what it has done in Ukraine.
   Willing to bet that Putin doesn’t give a crap what the ‘international community’ thinks about anything. No sensible person does. I can’t believe anyone is still pushing this fiction about the precious regard of the ‘international community’. The self-regard of these people is risible.
3. twostix says:

   7 June, 2022 at 2:00 pm

   “International Community” is a handy alias for all the wankers who post unironically on Linked In.
4. NoFixedAddress says:

   7 June, 2022 at 2:53 pm

   Then I assume Cuba and Venezuela will soon be capitulating to the ‘International Community’ as well.
5. Cassie of Sydney says:

   7 June, 2022 at 3:53 pm

   Macron, for all his faults, has a grasp of history.
6. NoFixedAddress says:

   7 June, 2022 at 4:14 pm

   When even Noam Chomsy wishes Trump was dealing with the Russia-Ukraine situation you know that the USA and EU/Nato have stuffed it.

   Noam Chomsky: Trump the ‘One Western Statesman of Stature’ Pushing Peace in Ukraine
7. dover_beach says:

   7 June, 2022 at 5:46 pm

   The dissonance of the Australian’s article with the facts on the ground are breathtaking.
8. NoFixedAddress says:

   7 June, 2022 at 5:55 pm

   Spengler
   ‘It Became Necessary to Destroy the Country to Save It’
   By David P. Goldman May 30, 2022
9. Ed Case says:

   7 June, 2022 at 6:32 pm

   The Australian front page headline today:
   Mafia rules crime gang networks

   Page 2:
   Indigenous violence is ‘femicide’
   And Albanese is photographed riding a bike around Jakarta like a Coolie.
   Meanwhile, a competent Government has been replaced by clowns, but that ain’t news.
10. Lee says:

    8 June, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    Wondering how long it will be before deranged hawks (on either side of politics) suggest invading Russia to remove Putin and enforce unconditional surrender.
    Like him or hate him, Putin is not Hitler, and this is not WWII.
11. Lee says:

    8 June, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    The Australian is a joke, divorced from reality in this case at least.