YOURSAY | ‘These ‘non-invaders’ supplied the BUK missile to separatists that downed MH17.’

Ukraine: PM expresses concern, but stops short of calling it an 'invasion'

PMO protests Malaysiakini article on Ismail's Ukraine statement

Quigonbond: Malaysia's foreign policy is dictated by cowardice. Since the West are supposed to be open to criticism, Malaysian leaders fall over each other to berate the West over Palestinian and Iraqi issues.

But when dealing with Russia and China, which are also countries with the preponderance of showing might is right, Malaysia as a weakling does not want to antagonise them by calling a spade a spade.

I would even say they can smell a big bully from miles away because they too are a bully as they also demonstrate might is right in Malaysia - one rule for the masses, another for the elites - so a small bully is inevitably afraid of a big bully.

Which to me is a sad state of affairs and another reason why identity politics is holding back this country.

We could have done well not just for ourselves as a nation by harnessing the power of every single talent, but also be an influential force for good in the world.

By the way, the "non-invaders" supplied the BUK missile to separatists that downed MH17. In other words, Vladimir Putin's ambition killed those on board MH17.

Like I said, our current government has no backbone. I'll leave this thought with Johor voters.

Beman: “(Prime Minister) Ismail (Sabri Yaakob) said Malaysia's position was that all parties concerned must take steps to de-escalate and prevent loss of lives and devastation.

“He said, ‘At this critical juncture, every effort should be redoubled to seek a peaceful and amicable solution to the conflict through dialogue and negotiation based on international law and the Charter of the United Nations.’”

Ismail Sabri is making useless statements that do not carry any weight. Is he asking the Ukrainians to lay down their arms, stop defending their country and talk to the invader?

If a thief breaks into your house and when you are confronting the thief, do you expect your neighbours to ask you to consider the sensitivity of the thief and think what you can do for the thief?

Anoy8: They shot down a commercial plane that belonged to the country’s national carrier and killed all (298) passengers on board, including 43 Malaysians.

Now they are firing missiles, “walking”, “sailing” and “flying” into another country uninvited, killing another country’s citizens and destroying their infrastructure.

With all these happening, you seem to remain unfazed except “very concerned... with the escalation of conflict”.

Balap: If the PM was so concerned about the “escalation of conflict” in Ukraine, he should have used the word “invasion” instead.

It appears that he didn’t have the guts to use such a strong word and also name the aggressor.

Now, after what the Singapore and Indonesia counterparts have said, he wants to be seen also as a brave man and blaming Malaysiakini for his blunder. So pathetic!

AntiRacial: Malaysiakini had in the article highlighted that Ismail Sabri chose not to describe Russia's attack on Ukraine as an invasion but instead as an "escalation of conflict".

It should be noted that Ismail Sabri did not mention Russia in the statement either or who Ukraine was in conflict with.

Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), can you elaborate on who the Ukrainians are fighting against in the PM’s statement?

Whathappenedtoprivacy?: The PMO has just made it worse (with its statement). The statement doesn't even bother to mention the other country involved in the conflict.

If someone didn't know any better, one would think the Ukrainians were just fighting among themselves.

The PMO need not protest. If the interpretation of their earlier press release was such, perhaps it was simply not clear. They just need to issue another stating exactly what they meant.

Why should Malaysia remain neutral? Is that the PM's stand or is that the stand of the Parliament?

I doubt if neutrality would be our Parliament’s stand when this same conflict resulted in MH17 being shot down.

3742857317043269: The US-backed fascists in Ukraine overthrew a democratically-elected government in 2014 and since then have been massacring the predominantly Russian population in Donbas. This genocide has never been reported by the mainstream media.

Nato reneged on its promise not to expand eastward by absorbing all the Baltic states and former Warsaw Pact countries since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.

In the Bucharest declaration in 2008, Nato put Ukraine on a path to Nato membership and coverage under article 5 of the military treaty.

The final straw came when the Ukrainian president declared an intention to become a nuclear power - actually meaning it is willing to host Nato nuclear warheads. This would provide Moscow with less than two minutes warning in any first-strike nuclear attack by Nato.

So, Russia is indeed fighting for its survival. Ukraine had been used by the US to provoke the bear and is now left to fend for itself.

The US has been begging for a war in Europe to divide and conquer and also deflect attention from its collapsing social, economic and financial system.

Gerard Lourdesamy: @3742857317043269, if the plan was to have Ukraine join Nato, why haven't they been allowed to join Nato since 2014 by their allegedly "fascist" government?

So the measure of democracy for Russia is for Ukraine to have a pro-Russian government? Wasn’t the current Ukraine government democratically elected by international standards? Can the same be said of Putin in Russia?

As for Donbas, if there was genocide there by the Ukrainian government against the Russian-speaking minority since 2014, why didn't Russia take action earlier by going to the UN, the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and the ICC (International Criminal Court) to ventilate its claims against Ukraine with strong and undisputed evidence?

When did the Ukraine PM say that Ukraine would allow Nato to station nuclear weapons in their country? It does not make sense because Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union in return for security guarantees from Russia, the US, the UK and France.

Based on your arguments, since Ukraine could not be subjugated by Russia to do its will, is Russia entitled to invade and destroy its neighbour on the basis of Russia's security concerns?

If that is the case, then every other country in the world should be allowed to settle their disputes and disagreements with their neighbours and others through war and invasion.

Maybe one day when China or India decides to attack us under the pretext of protecting the Chinese or Indian minorities in this country who have historical, linguistic and cultural ties to China and India, Ismail Sabri will not call it an invasion or attack but rather an "escalation of conflict".

Since when did we become a puppet of Russia's Putin? If Ukraine was not a sovereign and independent nation, why did we recognise them under international law and have diplomatic relations with them?

Today is a disgraceful day in the history of our foreign policy. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law.

There is absolutely no justification for it, other than Putin's right is might policy and his deranged idea to recreate the Russian empire in Eastern Europe.

If we could condemn the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 or the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the same should apply to Russia.

By the PM's understanding, we should also term the Palestinian-Israeli dispute as an "escalation of conflict" and no longer condemn Israel.

After all, the West Bank and Gaza Strip have never been sovereign and independent states under international law. So, they are incapable of being attacked or invaded by Israel.

Jagara: Two thumbs up to our bi-partisan Select Committee for International Affairs for their strong statement of condemnation against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

This should put Ismail Sabri to deep shame for his cowardly statement and betrayal of the Ukrainian people.

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