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https://www.ft.com/content/2d65c763-c36f-4507-8a7d-13517032aa22
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At the Mearsheimer event in Brisbane Australia, I asked John Mearsheimer why anybody should ever listen to him about Ukraine ever again considering he has been wrong about Ukraine every single time and now quotes Russian military bloggers like “Big Serge,” he just dodged response and claimed he has been proven correct in Ukraine because Ukraine is still suffering against Russia.
I’ll try get video up as soon as I get a hold of it.
Text of my full question:
In your infamous 2015 University of Chicago lecture, you dismissed the idea that Russia would ever try to ‘’conquer Ukraine’’ — arguing ‘’Putin is much too smart for that.’’
Then, in the lead up to the 2022 invasion, you argued, and I quote you word for word: ‘’What the Russians are going to do is CRUSH the Ukrainians. They’re going to bring out the big guns. They’re going to turn places like Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine into rubble. It will be like Fallujah, Mosul, Grozny.’’ You argued Western intervention would be pointless because Russia would level Ukraine and go nuclear against the West.
Then, in an interview with Chinese Communist Party controlled media outlet CGTN on February 23rd this year, you said, and again, I quote you word for word: ‘’Conventional wisdom in the West has long been that Vladimir Putin was an imperialist and he was determined to conquer Ukraine and make it part of a Greater Russia. There is NO evidence to support that.’’
So first, we were told that Russia and Putin will NEVER try conquer Ukraine.
Then you told us that Russia will CRUSH the Ukrainians.
Then, when Russia invades but fails to take Kyiv, you argue there is NO evidence Russia ever wanted to conquer Ukraine.
Your claim that there is NO evidence for that Putin is an imperialist completely beggars belief.
ONE, Putin claims Ukraine is not a country and has never existed as a country. He openly compares himself to Peter the Great while musing on territorial conquest. Here is a Putin quote: ‘’What was Peter doing? Taking back and reinforcing. That’s what he did. And it looks like it fell on us to take back and reinforce as well.’’ And while he muses about taking back Russian land, Russian military recruitment ads show Russian soldiers talking about the flats they will buy and occupy in Kyiv and Odessa.
TWO, Russian forces have systematically executed all Ukrainian cultural and civic leaders in every Ukrainian town that they have occupied. They leave behind mass graves, torture chambers and death pits.
THREE, Putin was indicted by the International Criminal Court for forcibly transferring hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be raised as Russian. Some three million Ukrainians have been deported to Russia, this is an act of genocide, an attempt to wipe out Ukraine as a nation and incorporate its children into Russia. For comparison: Nazi Germany deported about 200,000 Polish children for assimilation during the entire Second World War.
FOUR, Russia targets civilian energy infrastructure in Ukraine with the goal of making the country uninhabitable and ungovernable. They spent months last year boasting that they would freeze millions of Ukrainians to death.
So, my question. John, You have been wrong over and over and over again on Ukraine, blatantly wrong. You hang out with Victor Orban and quote crazy sleazy Russian military bloggers named “BIG SERGE” in your writings.
You’ve claimed to the New Yorker that Putin has never lied to other world leaders, you even said that Hitler only ever lied once or twice to other world leaders? You’ve burnt your credibility, why should we take anything you say seriously ever again?

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Hundreds of Chinese laundrymen have worked on British ships since the 1930s with most from Hong Kong but will now be replaced by Nepalese Gurkhas. The Sun reported that the Ministry of Defence had made the decision over fears Beijing could obtain secret information by threatening the loved ones of laundrymen.6 hours ago

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By James Callery and Rebecca Camber
Published: 01:11 BST, 23 October 2023 | Updated: 01:53 BST, 23 October 2023
The British Navy has dropped the custom of employing Chinese laundry workers on warships over fears they may spy for Beijing, according to a report.
Hundreds of Chinese laundrymen have worked on British ships since the 1930s, but the majority were taken on from Hong Kong to wash and press sailors’ uniforms and officers’ white tablecloths.
However, they are being replaced by Nepalese Gurkhas as fears mount that Beijing could threaten the loved ones of laundrymen in China in order to force them to pass on Navy secrets, The Sun reports.
Three Chinese nationals were prevented from joining HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Navy’s largest and most powerful vessel, on her carrier strike group journey to the contested South China Sea.
A fourth Chinese laundryman was let go this month after 39 years of service because his family live in Hong Kong, the newspaper reports.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West told The Sun: ‘If it is a question of security, the Navy has no choice.
‘But it’s sad as Chinese laundrymen have fought wars with us, some have died for us.’
It comes after MI5 spy chief Ken McCallum warned China is trying to steal nuclear technology secrets from Britain.
Mr McCallum said that it was a ‘high priority’ for Beijing to ‘disrupt’ the AUKUS security partnership between the UK, America and Australia to build a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
Britain is building a fleet described by defence officials as the ‘largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy’, featuring ‘world-leading sensors, design and weaponry’.
Speaking in California at the first joint conference by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – the MI5 chief added: ‘If you saw the wider public Chinese reaction when the AUKUS Alliance was announced, you can infer from that they were not pleased.
‘Given… the way in which Chinese espionage and interference is taking place, it would be safe to assume it would be a high priority for them to understand what’s happening inside AUKUS and seek to disrupt it if they were able to.’
Beijing has strongly criticised the AUKUS deal, accusing the three nations of embarking on a ‘path of error and danger’.
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