Nigel Farage: West provoked Ukraine war

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Today, an interview with British politician Nigel Farage has been published on the BBC website.
In 2019, Nigel Farage was listed by the the Financial Times among Fifty people who shaped the decade.

You can find the full text of this material under the spoiler below.

But I would like to remind you that there already are the following threads on the forum:

10 years of Ukrainian coup d’état. Did the West provoke it?

Does the West provoke escalation of the Ukrainian crisis?

Has the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine been provoked?

Spoiler

West provoked Ukraine war, Nigel Farage says
By Becky Morton,
Political reporter

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, 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 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."
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It followed the occupation of the Crimea and Donbas regions in 2014.
Ukraine is not a member of the EU or Nato, which is made up of 32 countries across Europe and North America.
However, the country applied to join both blocs following the Russian invasion.
Nato was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.
After the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, many Eastern European countries joined including Hungary, Poland and Estonia.
The EU has also expanded since the 1990s, with a number of eastern European countries joining in 2004.
In the interview, Mr Farage also accused the Conservatives of failing to deliver on Brexit.
As the leader of UKIP, he was a key figure in the campaign to leave the EU.
While the issue dominated the 2019 general election, with Boris Johnson campaigning on the slogan "Get Brexit Done", it has not featured prominently in the current campaign.
Asked if he stood by his previous claim that Brexit had failed, Mr Farage said: "No, it's not a failure but we failed to deliver.
"It can't be a failure. We've left the European Union. We're now self-governing."
But he added: "Brexit has failed those who voted for it, believing that immigration numbers would be reduced.”
Net migration - the difference between the number of people coming to live in the UK and those leaving - has risen sharply since 2021, when the UK left the EU.
This has been driven by non-EU nationals coming to the UK.
Net migration reached record levels in 2022 before reducing slightly the following year.
Reform UK has said it backs a freeze on non-essential immigration to relieve pressure on housing and public services, increase wages and "protect our culture identity and values".
Mr Farage also criticised the Conservatives for "binning" their promise to scrap 4,000 EU laws.
Pressed over whether he was just blaming others, Mr Farage said: "If you put me in charge, it would be very, very different. Of course they didn't do that.
"The Conservative Party never believed in Brexit... They picked it up as a political opportunity, and they failed to deliver."
Mr Farage also faced questions over his stance on climate change and whether he believed it is not really a "crisis".
"I do think ever since the late 1980s that perhaps there's been a bit of hype around this, and I think that perhaps is wrong," he said.
"All we ever talk about is fear rather than solutions."
He added: "We spend too much time hyperventilating about the problem rather than thinking practically and logically what we can do.”
Mr Farage branded the Labour and Tory net zero policies "nonsense", claiming £30bn a year could be saved by dropping their climate pledges.
He was also challenged over Reform’s vetting procedures after the party dropped a number of potential parliamentary candidates over inappropriate or offensive comments.
The party has blamed a company it hired to conduct background checks on would-be candidates, claiming it failed to carry out vetting before the election was called.
Asked why some people with extreme views appeared to rally to his cause, Mr Farage said: “They’re not there because of me.”
Despite co-founding the party and being its honorary president, he insisted: “I have had no involvement with the day-to-day running of the party for over three years.
“These candidates were recruited before I said I was going to play an active role in the party.”
Mr Farage took over as Reform leader from Richard Tice only in the second full week of the election campaign.
At the same time he announced he would run as a candidate himself in Clacton after previously saying he would not stand in July's election.
The BBC is interviewing major party leaders in the run-up to the election in The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson. You can watch the interview with Nigel Farage at 19:00 on BBC One or BBC iPlayer.
You can find a full list of candidates standing in the Clacton constituency here.

 

Everyone likes to blame "the west" for all their problems its ridiculous.

 

Yep. And, what's worse, is the GOP has hopped on this bandwagon.

 

Trump blames us too

 

Not "the West"; the US and UK.

 

He sounds like a ****ing moron.

 

Yesterday, Mr Farage published an answer to his critics, including British PM Rishi Sunak – you can see reaction of Mr Sunak below.

BBC

The answer of Mr Farage is called The West’s errors in Ukraine have been catastrophic. I won’t apologise for telling the truth

 

He's Trump's friend and sings from the same songbook. It's working in the UK just like it works in the US. Lie big and lie loud, tell people what they want to hear.

 

Farage is the democracy-hater who inflicted Brexit on the UK and Europe.

Brexit has failed, says Nigel Farage ​

It's not surprising that this disgusting fellow is now parroting Putin. He's a notorious Trump suck-up.

 

You got a quote? (We have no choice but to ask...lol)

 

With Reform eating into Labour's lead in the polls, and no clear parliamentary majority coming, I suspect Nigel is deluding himself with some vision of his becoming the first-term prime minister off a leftist coalition.

 

Trump blames NATO talks for provoking Russia into Ukraine war​

 

If he blames the West's inaction and indecisiveness when Russia invade Georgia and first invaded Ukraine, he's right. The West stood back and did nothing, kicking that can down the road.

 

Do you understand what a quote is? I'm thinking, uh...no...lol

 

I had assumed you could read an article.

The sexual abuser/business fraud/convicted felon mewled, "For 20 years, I've heard that NATO is a real problem for Russia. I've heard it for a long time, and I think that is truly the reason why this war started ."

Making excuses for Putin and blaming western democracies is what the Cry Baby Loser does.

NATO should be a problem for Russia if Putin plans to conquer European nations.

 

lol like it will matter
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-blames-us-almost-forcing-putin-invade-ukraine-1750145

 

Another one that doesn't understand what a quote is. Amazing what we have to deal with...lol

 

The quote is in the link. So the quote was provided.

 

Please tell me how the above quote is blaming NATO and the US for anything. It is a quite clear and accurate assessment of the problem. Russia sees NATO as a treat. If You don't believe that you are stupid. If you don't think the Ukraine becoming a NATO member features prominently in Putin's night mares you are an idiot. Anyone with a functioning brain should have realized at some point Russia would make a hard stand against NATO's eastward expansion. This isn't about making excuses for Putin, this is about understanding the current reality.

What never ceases to amaze me is that so many of the same people who were dumping on PNAC back in the 90's are on board that same band wagon in the 2020's

 

No, I asked for a quote. It's upon you to post the quote. It isn't up to me to wade through an article looking for the exact quote that's claimed to exist.

 

And note the one quote another poster did produce did not prove what he claimed.

 

lol so you wanted an unsourced quote?
"They actually taunted him, if you really look at it. Our country, and our so-called leadership, taunted Putin. I said, you know, they're almost forcing him to go in with what they're saying. The rhetoric was so dumb."

 

Whatever your worship of the sexual abuser/business fraud/convicted felon/loser-in-denial requires you to say.

Trump says he would 'encourage' Russia to attack Nato allies
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I'll continue to support the U.S. and advanced democratic nations.
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Is he wrong? Support your claim, if you say he is.

 

NATO allies "that don't pay their fair share".

Context is everything, Natty.