Pictures from covers of The Guardian Weekly
Biden and the other NATO leaders screwed up. I fear the damage has already been done. One can hope that the situation is recoverable but their approaches to the crisis in the Ukraine have proven ineffective in the past and, so far, in the present.
What was said about Teddy Roosevelt perfectly suits Little Vlad, the Moscow Midget. He wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Personally, I feel the later is preferable.
At the beginning of the crisis, Biden should have scheduled no more than five minutes on the phone with Putin. Putin craves attention and the perception of his own importance. Let’s just take a brief moment to assess that perception.
Russia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is slightly smaller than that of Spain. It’s economy is even smaller than that of Texas. So? So, that GDP in Russia must be distributed to a bit more than three times as many people as in Spain. The wealth in Russia is spread far less fairly than in Spain. Vlad may very well be the wealthiest person on the planet. He has massive amounts of funds spread around the globe. There is no way of knowing how much he has, and continues to siphon out of the the very modest Russian economy. And then there are all of those billions that he has provided to his large number of friends i.e., sycophants, parasites, etal.
To have a better understanding of the reality of Russia, think trailer park with nuclear weapons.
Putin is known to own at least 3 yachts. No, they are in no way comparable to the U.S. president’s Air Force One. That is owned by the government for the use of whoever is president. These boats are Putin’s private possessions. I feel certain he is not having to scrimp by for air travel either.
Now that you understand the relative poverty of Russia, the platform from which he bellows and beats his chest, you can see that ignoring him or swatting the air as for pesky gnats is a far more realistic reaction to his histrionics.
While nuclear weapons in the hands of psychopaths such as Kim Jung Un are problematic, the leaders of the countries with mature arsenals of nukes understand that they are little more than a bargaining chip or establish restraints on the major players. I sometimes see myself leaning towards the idea that even the pudgy Supreme Leader may have short flashes of reality in seeing their limitations. I hasten to add that he would certainly employ them if he felt in danger of losing his position or the country itself.
You may have heard rumors that Vlad is a liar, a con man, one without scruples. Being willing to assassinate any challengers to his position in Mother Russia doesn’t impress me as the basis for reliable negotiations over anything of value – value to him.
Since he doesn’t have the economic foundations to support his fantasies of restoring the “greatness” of the Russian empire, and is unwilling to honor agreements that fail to give him everything he wants, why would you waste time negotiating with him? Even with the time required for translations, five minutes should be a more than an adequate allotment of time to tell him that we have no intention of embracing his delusions of importance or massaging his outsized ego.
All of the time spent with him on the phone or of presidents or premiers or their ministers polluting the air with jet fuel to have their well-covered face-to-face meetings is a waste. No, it’s more than a waste. It’s also a reason for him to keep on pushing.
Though Little Vlad has had his way in Georgia, then the Crimea and getting away with tampering with our 2016 election, there is another factor h should take into consideration. Last year there was a major skirmish along the Indian – Chinese border. The Chinese had a major edge in the number of troops. However, they turned tail and ran, to the embarrassment of Beijing. Why? Chinese troops have zero experience in real warfare. Their military command is seriously lacking in professional development. They have no military advantages beyond numbers and expensive arsenals.
Fortunately, U.S. troops have had a constant flow of opportunities to stay in practice, if our leaders had to manufacture those opportunities.
When were the Russians last militarily engaged? Afghanistan . . . before we began our 20-year fiasco. They fared no better than we in Afghanistan. There is no doubt that the Ukrainians are likely to prove a worthier group of resisters to a Russian occupation. The members of NATO are already showing a greater interest in supporting the Ukraine than they showed for Afghanistan. At the age of 69, Putin is unlikely to survive long enough to see the final results of his gambit.
If you found this educational, edifying, interesting or otherwise worth your time, this geezer would appreciate a little supplement to those Social Security checks, They forgot to factor in the cost of publishing a blog. I would like to continue being able to afford my daily cup of coffee and pound of caviar.
Thank you,
