Doing a bit of inter thread linkage-that's to say this one and another a few steps down the page in the Military segment about the strength (!) of the RAF it would seem we would be incapable of making even the smallest dent on the Russians without launching the submarine based nukes,
I think the time has come for us to send a clear message to politicians that Britain's 'place on the world stage' is now in the wings at best and backstage at the most realistic. We cannot possible have a situation where we have poor hospitals, poor roads , poor education, poor public transport , and above all a lot of poor people is we magically have the money to get involved in another daft venture.
I don't pretend to any deep understanding of whats happening in Ukraine but I do know that along with the students and liberals the western Ukraine produced some very unsavoury characters in WW2 (think Werhmact and SS Einstazgruppen) and while we might dismiss Russian rhetoric about fascist elements as just rhetoric thereprobably is some truth to it.
Hopefully a Czech-Slovak type deal can be worked out which would probably be better for both parties in the current Ukraine