Vladimir Putin displays an unusual lack of self-awareness for a world leader
A professional would delegate public statements to somebody who could be more sympathetic and convincing on TV
With the number of people heâs (reportedly) had poisoned and/or defenestrated, would you tell him he looks like an Andy Serkis monster on a Xanax bridge?
Letâs not forget that this is not the only conflict happening right nowâŠ
Anytimerealsoonnow.
If they do it, it will only be because the trans-national oil and gas industry will have switched its view of a Putin-ruled petro-state from asset to liability.
Two major regional illiberal democracies (Turkey and Poland) have just made that calculation in political terms. It will take a little more time and more evidence that the âsure thingâ invasion has gone pear-shaped for the fossil fuels industry to change their views and give the bankers the green light.
Looking forward to more Russian cargo planes splitting their bottoms and dropping bars of gold and diamonds onto to the runways.
Note to self: living downstream of a hydroelectric power plant has multiple issues and potential points of failure. During a violent armed conflict , this scenario is more dangerous still.
Now entering the âheartless bastards inflicting pain and suffering because they like itâ stage. Ukraine refused to roll over and die like they were expected to. So they must be made to suffer. I can only hope that the Ukranians make them pay dearly. They are clearly a very tough people.
It might be a repeat of what we saw in Chechnya. Ugly and bloody and a long slog. The only difference would be that the West actually cares about Ukraine, which means more support and the chance of a better outcome for Russiaâs latest victim.
Youâve reminded me of how similar the military history of the US and Russia have been in the last few decades.
We plow money into our military, but weâre nowhere near as effective as we should be.
I was thinking about that very topic while making breakfast this AM. If this invasion had been by a Middle Eastern, African, or South American country, the Petrochem Boys would have gone straight to counter-invasion mode for that sweet, sweet crude. Itâs telling that their first impulse was to defend Russiaâs play. More than a little colonialist/white supremacist showing, there.
Well, even that map ignores EthiopiaâŠ
Ugh⊠itâs frustrating, because I feel like these discussion (not that youâre doing that, because I know how thoughtful you are about such things, but just in general, like people have been posting quotes from Greenwalk, Taibbi, etc), always come down to focusing on which side is âthe worstâ⊠the NATO alliance or Russia and China⊠but honestly, âboth sidesâ are responsible for these things and neither side has much of a moral leg to stand on. Just like the Cold War, I think that there is something deeper about these wars that speaks to the present sort of imperialism weâre seeing from both western powers and eastern powers. I guess I see it as both sides throwing their weight around to get their way, and finding whatever pretext to justify their actions. Itâs wrong on either count, of course, but all too often, these discussions just end up getting tangled up in âbothsiderismâ (which, again, I donât mean you here, but just as a general thing in our public discourse). I think we need to entertain the thought that neither âsideâ has the interests of the majority of humanity at heart, and are both reaching for global hegemonyâŠ
the fact that we did something very similar, i.e. an unprovoked invasion of another sovereign country, gives us damned little moral standing in this situation. that said, having recognized the âbeam in our eyeâ it isnât a bad thing to identify the âmoteâ in russiaâs eye
Agreed, but I also donât think anyone needs to be morally âsuperiorâ with regards to what their government does to point out how there is something larger at play, another case of dueling imperialism, Iâd say. There seems to be enough people who canât criticize the action, over the actor, if that makes sense?
