Check out Germany's DW Benjamin Alvarez discuss Ukraine's military needs like less than two weeks ago:
https://youtu.be/km4iKAVPjyU
Russia's invasion was blunder from the beginning. If I was running that war for Russia I would have had a plan that involved controlling all roads and train lines (supply lines). Complete control over airspaces. Instead it was all just bust them up bill, let the Ukrainians flee to neighboring countries (super nice of Russia after bombing them).
Bombing some towns of 300,000 people in Ukraine typically leads to around 250,000 of them fleeing because of the brutality of attacks against civilian targets.
Now, facing defeat, Putin is threatening to nuke someone with a hypersonic missile. The Russians can actually bomb Tasmania! Would this create havoc and destruction for Tasmania, potentially making it unliveable for a few generations with a big enough nuke? Yes! How would it affect Russia's situation vis NATO and Ukraine?
I think it would unquestionably galvanize Russia's opponents in the not a war, don't say it's a war coz it's not a war (according to the Russians). Since this DW report only like twelve days old, the Germans are now fixing to send their anti aircraft tanks (they have little radar tracking dishes on top and will take like three weeks to train the Ukrainians). They had some dopey American general a few weeks ago (when I was telling you from the very beginning the Ukrainians were going to knock the Russians dicks in the dirt) on some dopey tv channel like CNN or Fox saying, 'poo poo, it's not that easy to train people for javelins and stingers, it can even take a week! It's not that easy!' Man necessity is the mother of invention, I can see these Ukrainians taking over their skies by mid may super easy with those German tanks and that means they'll be flying more sorties against missile launch sites on the Russian and Byelorussian side of the border.
Putin needs to figure out how he's going to deal with egg on his face because he's going to end up losing Crimea by the looks of it so how's he going to explain that to all the dopey Russians?
From Putin's perspective, or any Russian, I totally don't blame them for feeling annoyed and threatened by NATO, but unlike Putin I understand don't poke the bear and the bear will leave you alone. Now Putin is realizing his leverage against other annoying NATO states like Bulgaria. Why does Russia's best European buddy even have to be in NATO when Finland and Sweden aren't, right? The answer is it's a patchwork of complicated relationships.
The world, as George W Bush once said, is full of different interests. He was a guy that understood destiny and grabbing it. I'm a guy that understands destiny hurts. Many things hurt. I'm an expert on hurt. Emotional hurt, spiritual hurt, mental hurt, not so much physical hurt. I'm pretty good at not being hurt physically, call me a coward but I mean if I was in an actual shooting war, I wouldn't mind if I was all pumped up on adrenaline maybe, taking a bullet and being hurt. But like about four years ago I started skateboarding down a super steep hill and almost came crashing down on bitumen, ripping all my skin open, that would have hurt. I came off my skateboard last October and twisted my ankle severely, couldn't walk for like six weeks, that hurt! Now I just leave the skateboard on my locker, too risky.
So Putin has a big bag of tricks I mean I get that, I got the boat, the skateboard, my kids have an electric scooter, a hoverboard, we got the million dollar house, I've got a few hundred grand in the bank. I get having a bag of tricks and options. I mentioned being in Bulgaria in winter 2008-2009 I think it was when Putin turned the gas off, the buses had no air-conditioning and were super cold.
Putin really has kicked the ant's nest that wasn't bothering him. Now Finland and Sweden are looking to join NATO, the EU and Germany are looking to accelerate Ukraine's membership. NATO isn't worried about getting Ukraine to join because they can just comfortably arm Ukraine. Putin has to think about how he can stop Ukraine from taking Crimea back because the way the Ukrainians are being armed it's going to be next to impossible for Russia to stop them. Even if Putin uses small nukes in Ukraine, he's just making it uninhabitable for Russians there so forget about do-gooding for the Russians in Moldova.
Speaking off the devil, thanks to today's amazing AI, YouTube's algorithms have beautifully shown me a Russian attack in Transnistiya like ONLY TWO HOURS AGO!!!
https://youtu.be/q9DU66ml4DM
Now I mentioned this on big dummy american radio (WABC, Bill O'Reilly's channel in NYC) the actual day the war was breaking out, that the Russians would bring the war here and it's what I just mentioned in the last paragraph before YouTube's fantastic AI brought it to my attention.
Look we can talk about technology and drones and what not. This bombing in Transnistiya (I mistakenly called it Trabsvestiya on WABC radio) is a very small thing, three Russian army guys or possibly even FSB just leave a couple of bombs in the state security building and drive off. Having fun by the looks of it, ha ha I laugh at Putin's foolishness. Let me tell you about the time I passed through a toll booth on the way to NYC after the 9/11 attacks to see the smoldering remains of the twin towers with my buddy Thomas Jefferson and his younger brother Chairman Mao. (We got tolled off) by some lady in the toll booth and I announced in my dopey gay way (loudly) that we were foolish! To their hysterical delight. In the same way, I now tell Putin and his buddies that they're foolish.
Let's play hangman. I used to do this all the time with my high school students in china (16 year olds). The puzzle is:
Putin's strategy and tactics are like...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
So that's a nine letter word, two letter word, then a six letter word. And it's fair to say Putin's already used Z and V as letters so I'm adding that to the gallows for him already so that's the baseline of the gallows plus half the vertical line, thus....
|
_____|_____
So if we calculate, the other vertical half of the gallows, the topline of the gallows, 2, the rope and head, 4, plus torso and legs, 7, and two arms, 9, that's nine more guesses you get before I draw a sad face on the hangman meaning you lose. So you'd best start guessing vowels and I'll give you a clue, there's a big clue in this videoclip:
If you know the answer don't tell anyone just write it down....
https://youtu.be/rISYCquFeI8
Bla bla BLA BLA BLA, here's fox news retired General Keane
https://youtu.be/WApS1eCQCJ0
I don't really know his record or which theatres he was in but I haven't been following what he's been saying much lately. Watching him just now I'm remembering my Aunt Luci's husband's words. Perhaps because they were showing Putin during Easter celebrations in Moscow I guess, perhaps that's why I'd even tell you the name Luci in Spain is generally always short of Luz Divina. I concur with Swedenborg (in whose time the Sweeds were also at war with the Russians), that the Catholics degrade holy things of the church by making them too profane and everyday. Although the argument could be made that balance and logic is everything.
Anyway, continuing in my folksy Ben way, this Luci impressed me when I was 19 by her circumstances, three suicided immediate family members (all of them). I was too stupid to realize the same could (and eventually did, happen to me, three suicided family members, a disgraceful punishment from the Almighty (todopoderoso)). Anyway because my father was such an anglophile and I was raised in Australia where everyone is kind of brainwashed to worship Britain, it wasn't until I went to Spain and folks there made very curt statements to me about that, that I started gravitating towards america more. For example I had a book by a British journalist who had spent years in Spain and had written a thoroughly splendid and insightful book about Spain. I had the English version to read so I wouldn't be confused (from not understanding written Spanish) as I only later came to understand the level of falsehood in a society precludes learning they [sic] language. Since then, only eleven years later I was immersed in the fight of my life, struggling to master the Bulgarian language. Everyone chooses their own fights and their own retreats. Putin wants to cut the gas to Bulgaria I say fuck Bulgaria. Like my Russian girlfriend in Hollywood used to tell me, fuck you, I hate you.
So I was a bit slow to understand the Spaniards because of not being 'despabilado', but by the time I got to Bulgaria I'm too despabilado (woke) and learning Bulgarian at a tremendous clip, eg by changing jobs every six weeks to six months on average. Anyway Luci's husband says to me, I don't need an Englishman to tell me about my own country. In the same way I do not really need General Keane, no disrespect meant to him, to tell me about a Slavic war, since I spent two years in Bulgaria in the fight of my life, mastering the language there.
What Keane might be hinting at is that Putin is wielding tremendous power. We were seeing these 'western' multinationals, based in Dublin, not paying any taxes, and really enriching Russians and everyone in eastern Europe with their capitalist ways (the trickle down effect). Now all that's gone from Russia and the question is, how are they gonna get it back? How are they gonna win they [sic] cigarettes back, to quote a line from the classic eastern European/American movie, one flew over the cuckoo's nest....
This is to say there's a lot at stake (not just cigarettes), Ukraine's wheat exports, Russia's access to foreign investment, etc.
One of the key issues is Russians are dumbasses. They get some funny ideas into their minds about being victimized and Lenin is so great etc. Speaking of which, better give him a call see how he's doing (he's super pro-russian as you'd expect, pro-Putin, unlike my bro Stalin who would have disappeared Putin).
He's home, his Mrs is out. I'm telling him I'm on my boat and telling him about the Red Herring. He's funny as he's Canadian, he says 'ay?' a lot. We're talking about my Mrs and the three kids visiting Bulgaria this Xmas and the calculus of coronavirus lockdown travel.
Telling him about my coronavirus blackout now he's saying you only live once. That's why noone called Lenin Ken. We're talking about women now.
As an aside, I can tell any reader now that if Putin tries to make his Mrs president it's curtains. Ken Lenin is saying the Russians wouldn't go along with that. The phone briefly cut out. Mobile phone companies are actually promoting dummy upgrades so your phone doesn't work so you buy a new one.
Now I'm telling him about the catholic queen of Spain from sailing school (queen Isabella or whoever), her last name is french, 'Fakon', (pronounced 'fuck on' in France but fakin' in America). I never mentioned to him my nickname for her, queen Isabella, but he's delighted by the humor of her name.
Now we're talking about my brother Jose's (Stalin's) love-life. He had a big dick. Then I just told him I found two separate google searches on my wife's phone, one for 9 inches and another for the superstar Bulgarian tennis player.
Telling him about the standardized divorce laws the Bolsheviks passed in like the 1920s or 1930s. You effectively had kukaks choosing a bride for the harvest then divorcing her with great ease once the crops were harvested at the end of summer, a three month wife. It also made Russia a welfare state similar to what the Democrats in America are always pushing: the State as family.
Still going, looks like I'll make it to my car from the boat without Ken realizing the way we're going.
Ha moments later, just walked into the workplace for a quick poop and shower after sleeping on the boat. I was right, Ken just kept on talking while I went from boat to car and I didn't get a word in til I was paying for my coffee at the gas station a few miles away. Good old Ken, he's starting to get noticeable dementia a little, forgets stuff. Anyway just crapping out now before showering, pretty weird telling polite company not to poop on my boat but peepee is okay but if you don't spell things out clearly people don't get it.
My sailing guests tomorrow are two american guys so had to put the word out: the Red Herring can't flush your crap y'all crap somewhere else. Pee is ok.
Ken was saying his brother Alan back in Canada married some american lady and went to live in America and how much he hated Americans. I got to feeling like that one day on a bus in LA somewhere swanky and had a little hissy fit yell at everyone on the bus, totally not they [sic] fault. Just working some neurons here bitches is all.
Shower time...
https://youtu.be/LOZuxwVk7TU
Pretty nice shower at work. Then more 199 routes now it's racing to marine boat store.... Kinda hungry! Still fasting for Ramadan. Hoping to get some food for dinner soon, almost sundown and I only have a jelly filled chocolate donut and a banana.
Got my four new fenders in the elevator I have half an hour to get grub.
Beelining to KFC, what if the wait is long. Got my chicken almost ready. Gonna eat slightly early, like 45 minutes early. Was hungry. Drinking coffee all day during Ramadan every year, possibly not legit. Jesus ate ears of corn during sabbath, what are you gonna do?