John Key parrots western propaganda

Our banker PM parrots John Kerry and the corporate media

Key won't rule out joining NATO strike over Ukraine

New Zealand has pulled the Trade Negotiations Minister out of Moscow and we've called in the Russian ambassador to tell him to get his troops out of Ukraine.

3News,

26 January, 2013

But all the tough talking in the world, and the world has had lots to say, is having little effect on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tonight his troops and the Ukrainian army are a short fuse apart as the world waits to see if someone throws a match.

Almost 17,000 kilometres separates the Ukraine from New Zealand, but the small groups who gathered in Auckland and Wellington stood in solidarity with the mightier voices, like US President Barack Obama, opposing Russia's military incursion. Mr Obama spent an hour and half on the hotline, almost certainly saying the same things.

Mr Putin's military show of force has received international condemnation and today Prime Minister John Key took action by putting free trade talks with Russia on ice indefinitely.

"Hopefully it won't end it," says Mr Key. "It's been three years of work, but that will depend on the outcomes of the events of the next few weeks, I guess."

Trade Minister Tim Groser was in Moscow negotiating the agreement. He has been told to come home.

Mr Key said it was possible the deal could be pulled altogether. And Mr Key would not rule out joining a NATO strike.

The international community is also condemning Mr Putin's actions.

"You just don't in the 21st century behave in a 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," says US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The White House says Russia has violated Ukrainian sovereignty and international law.

In Kiev the Ukrainians put it even stronger.

"This is not the threat," says Ukraine Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. 

"This is actually the declaration of war to my country."

Volunteers began signing up to join the Ukrainian army and fight. But some of the Ukrainian armed forces are going the other way – defecting. The head of the Navy was the most significant to change sides.

Despite the tough talk from the West, international relations expert Alexander Gillespie says real foreign intervention is unlikely.

"We need to work with Russia on other international issues, like with Syria and Iran and its nuclear build-up," says Mr Gillespie.

That's not the news those protesting on the streets today want to hear, but it is the reality their families back home may have to face.