You Couldn't (and I mean COULD NOT) make it up!
Over the last few days, we have seen the battle of words over the need to get grain exports from Ukraine resume as soon as possible. That is an essential next step for those nations, particularly in Africa, who depend on regular shipments of grain to feed their populations. A majority of the politicians involved in the battle of words around this topic seemingly are incapable of acting like grown-ups and getting the job done. It seems to me clear to even the proverbial blind man on a galloping horse what needs to be done. Bulk Carriers (bulkers) need to get into Odessa to load the grain and get it gone to the ports where it is needed.
So, how are these failed grown-ups dealing with this issue? By putting the blame on Russia. Nothing new there; if the sun was to rise 2 hours late tomorrow, that would be Russia's fault. Obviously. The facts, which are there for all to see tell a different story. Odessa is the only port in Ukrainian territory so the grain would have to be shipped from there. The snag is that the Ukrainians have mined the port and its approaches. We have seen some of these mines go walk about and fetch up elsewhere in the Black Sea, as far south as the coast of Turkey, dangerously close to the Bosporus Straits. A quick look at traffic in that area as I write, shows dozens of vessels making transit through the Bosporus between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This includes a large number of tankers. One would not want a tanker to bump into one of these mines!
A look at the ports in Ukraine shows half a dozen bulkers in the port of Chornomorsk, 6 more in Odessa, 4 in the port of Yuzhny and another 6 in the port of Nika Tera (on the Bug River, near Mykolaiv. If these bulkers are capable of carrying 20,000 tons of grain, that would mean more than a quarter of a million tons of grain could be on its way immediately. But no ship owner in his right mind would send his very expensive vessels to sea from ports that have been mined, along with the port approaches. Ukraine has to remove all those mines; they put them there, they must clean them up!
Naturally, Ukraine is saying the ports are blockaded by Russia. Complete tosh! That can't be possible if we are to believe the same set of liars that makes up the government of Ukraine. How can the Russians be blockading the ports when that same government said recently that they had "pushed back Russian warships 100 Km. It must be true; it is published in the Daily Telegraph:
"As a result of our active actions aimed at defeating enemy naval forces, the group of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was pushed back from the Ukrainian shores at a distance of more than a hundred kilometres (62 miles),'' Ukraine's ministry of defence said on the Telegram messaging app."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/uk-missiles-help-to-chase-russian-navy-fleet-from-black-sea-coast/ar-AAYcPGC
Change of plan: MSN seem to be removing that news as I write. Goggle the phrase Ukraine has pushed the Russian naval fleet 100km and you should get links to the same story from the Express, Guardian and one or two others.
The same article mentions that the Ukrainians used missiles supplied by the UK to do it. So there!
Either that statement is true, in which case the Russian navy can't be blockading anything = Ukrainians lying.
Or they have not pushed the Russian navy back any kilometers, never mind 100! = Ukrainians lying!
To condense those 2 lines; Ukraine is either lying or Ukraine is lying. Simples!
Ukraine: Get on with it; ship the bloody grain and stop the public hand wringing, telling us how we civilised people should be sending every gun, missile system, every bow and arrow we possess to help you continue your 8 year long campaign of genocide against the civilians of the Donbas region.
