The War in Europe

Oh most strongly probably true. He has distance, reaction time and a gun. If the rumors are true, he has turned over his office, personal and household staff, everyone from guards to gardeners, three time in the last 4 months. No one in the room with him can be armed and must keep their distance. Even foreign dignitaries. He is the most paranoid of creatures. With good reason.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

First off, send all his republican supporters in Congress to Moscow as a permanent peace delegation. Next, nuke Moscow.Edited by Tanypteryx, : No reason given.

Given his KGB alma mater familiarity with all forms of assassination, I'm surprised there is no bulletproof shield and pressurized seal across the table.I didnt really doubt the purpose of the long table, but I very much doubt he will die of natural causes.

He is KGB and poison appears to be his weapon of choice against rivals. These two combined means Putin knows very well just how easily he can be gotten to.

I hope whatever gets that fucker is slow and painful!

Hold the nukes! Just drop them into Mariupol.It's ironic the GOP longs so for a 1950s style U.S. They'd all face charges.

I know the juxtaposition of those ideas presents a message but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out. Personal headspace and timing.Omni, say what?

So Putin sent 2 missiles into central Kyiv while the head of the UN was still very publicly in it.How can Russia still be part of the UN and have a veto?

Oops. I suspect my sloppy, indeterminate "them" may be the culprit.I meant drop the GOP into Mariupol rather than Moscow -- let the Putin-admiring GOP get to know the Russian bear from the perspective of the mauled.Then it struck me that in my lifetime, the conservatives who want to roll back social and political changes to circa 1950 have moved from the Red Scare to bro love of the chief commie -- that definitely wouldn't have played in 1950.Just now, patted awake by 4 hungry cats, it strikes me that the GOP's morphing of Putin into a savior of traditional masculinity mirrors the emergence of a muscular, combative Christ among the evangelicals ... likewise the meme of Trump's fat head superimposed on an AK-47 armed, Rocky-style body...The reactionary right feels unmanned. They would burn the world to get their groove back.The tigers being fed, I get to sleep another hour.Edited by Omnivorous, : No reason given.

The Washington Post editorial board took up the topic of Moldova today (Russian aggression may have a new target). Moldova is a snippet of a country between Ukraine and Romania about the size of South Carolina. It is agrarian and poor. They depend upon Russia for energy and have maintained a neutral stance, though they're accepting Ukrainian refugees. A lengthy sliver of a region called Transnistria on it's northeast quarter is occupied by Russia and has been since the breakup of the Soviet Union, here's a map. For those curious about Gagauzia, it's a distinct ethnic region with a complex political history that at present is part of Moldova: The editorial concludes:

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Western policy failed to respond strongly enough, soon enough, to deter Moscow’s machinations against Ukraine after it took Crimea and Donbas in 2014. Hence the disaster now unfolding across Europe and, indeed, the world. There would be no excuse for making the same mistake twice.

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But the west has made the mistake far more than twice. There's Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea and Donbas, and you could even include Syria, a whole series of mistakes, and looming over it all is the monumental calamity of appeasement on the eve of WWII, still the archetype. Someone above said something about punching a bully in the nose, and it's the proper sentiment. Expressed less colloquially it means that if countries conducting foreign policy through military means experience no consequences they will be encouraged to do it again. And again.--Percy

Awkward(Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday on Twitter that his Indonesian counterpart had invited him to attend the summit of Group of 20 (G20) major economies to be held in the Southeast Asian country later this year.Zelenskiy did not confirm whether he would accept the invitation to the summit on the island of Bali in November. Russia has said its President Vladimir Putin plans to attend.

And yet his weapon of choice is poison, traditionally a woman's weapon.

And he does that bareback Lady Godiva thing.Like their closed-mouth response to Cawthorn's public lingerie, the GOP just hates to attack someone in the Party.

Amid Hardening Western Resolve, Signs of Russia’s Stalling in Eastern Ukraine - The New York Times

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Western support of Ukraine hardened Friday as the European Union was poised to approve an embargo on Russian oil, amid fresh assessments that the Russian military’s eastern offensive was faltering, hampered by logistical issues and stiff Ukrainian resistance.

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Remember, this bear has already had one paw nearly bit off.With such numerical superiority against a technologically inferior force how can the Russians, with what they have just experienced, be stopped yet again? How can they be held back?Supply. The Russian is outside his forward supply train ... again. Now the gas trucks are trying to play catch up while the Ukes rain hellfire down on them. The Ukrainians know war is supply first then shock. In 500 years the Russian always blunted their shock by neglecting supply. That is the blind adherence to central autocratic dogma and control that has plagued the Russian military forever.And, this is not Russia circa 1944. For their major systems they cannot hide their military problems by throwing massive numbers at it. They cannot make enough tanks and bombs to resupply. The analysts I read are saying the inventory of their major systems is dropping quickly. Shortages of parts, especially electronics, due to sanctions, are hitting along with the hurt put on Russian manufacturing by their internal corruption which is showing up big time.The Ukrainians are most fortunate the Russians are so fucking stupid.Weather. Turn about is fair play. Hitler didn't like the spring rains of the Ukraine, either. Now the invading Russians are getting stuck in the mud. Can't get off the roads. The more flexible Ukrainians are picking them off with that ever popular javelin. Lots of them. The sunflower and the javelin are lasting icons in this war.Ukrainians. Yes, Virginia, Ukraine can win this war. They need weapons and bullets. The Ukrainian defense strategy, hitting supply lines (recently deep in Russia itself), is working. With enough stuff from NATO there should be no doubt that Ukraine has enough skill and enough will to bleed the Russian into surrender.Congratulations to the Ukrainian military command. Whoever they are, they easily outclass their Russian counterparts.Slava Ukraini.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

There's talk of Putin finally calling this a war on the May 9th Victory Day parade and fully mobilising Russia.Obviously he'd only do that because he's losing, but I'm wondering what military and political difference it would make.