Category: International Indigestion

Yes! Yes! I’m being a back seat general, and I am being impatient, especially since I did not expect the West to hold together for so long and for Ukraine to outperform Russia. But now that Russia has clearly proved itself a second-rate power, why hasn’t the West ended Russia? Seriously! Now is the time to destroy the nation. Either the people can replace Putin, or we will. I’m tired of waiting! End Russia now! Russia and Russians obviously do not want to be a part of a world with stable, functioning nations; instead, they want to constantly stir the pot. We cannot have that! Make it a satellite state of the EU and the USA; Russia has many natural resources and good soil to grow food for the West. Consider it lebensraum Western-style.

Blame Putin and actual Russians for an illegal war on Ukraine, higher gas prices, higher food prices, and global instability. As if the pandemic over the last two years has not been a global burden, Putin and every Russian individual who gives Putin political life — which is basically everyone — has exacerbated world crises everywhere and at every level!

As the BBC reports, “The war has cut off supplies from the world’s biggest exporter of sunflower oil which means the costs of alternatives have also climbed. Ukraine is also a major producer of cereals such as maize and wheat which have risen sharply in price too. The UN said ‘war in the Black Sea region spread shocks through markets for staple grains and vegetable oils.’” And according to Bloomberg, “Oil prices have skyrocketed, with Brent crude approaching $120 earlier Thursday as traders shun Russian oil after Moscow invaded Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden is facing calls to ban Russian imports of energy but so far has not imposed full blown sanctions on oil. Currently, 66% of Russian oil is struggling to find buyers, JP Morgan analysts including Natasha Kaneva said in the note.”

Putin and Russians are creating a f***ing G.D. worldwide disaster. Thanks, a**holes, for making everyone’s lives more miserable than it has to be, especially during a pandemic, which is far from being over. Putin sucks. Russia sucks. Russians suck. They have always been our enemies — enemies to the West and enemies to democracy. They were never going to be our friends or even frenemies. The world should treat them as such. Russians had the opportunity to reshape their country after the fall of the U.S.S.R., and they chose to return to a pariah state. Time to destroy Russia and put an end to this rogue nation and its rogue culture. You can’t have an entire nation of individuals who don’t want to be a part of the world of nations be a nation. Perhaps it is time to make Russia a satellite state of the EU since they can’t seem to govern themselves without terrorizing the rest of the world! Nations come to end; history is littered with them. It is Russia’s time.

*Normally, I would find individual Russians blameless for the actions of their government, especially under a dictatorship, but I am feeling far less gracious lately.

From Axios, “Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Thursday for his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s false claim that Adolf Hitler had ‘Jewish blood,’ the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said following a call between Putin and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. … Putin and Bennett spoke of the need for friendly relations and open lines of communication going forward, the Kremlin said.” Shame on Israel for sucking up to Russia, which is engaging in genocide in Ukraine. Israel is closer to a nation engaging in war crimes than it is to a nation led by a Jew whose country is suffering from said war crimes. Un-f***ing-believable! There is no “middle way” in this matter. Either you are with the West or with Russia. And people wonder why Jews are perceived as being duplicitous!

Wow! From The New York Times, “When Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III declared Monday at the end of a stealth visit to Ukraine that America’s goal is to see Russia so ‘weakened’ that it would no longer have the power to invade a neighboring state, he was acknowledging a transformation of the conflict, from a battle over control of Ukraine to one that pits Washington more directly against Moscow.” Just when I had posted about the West’s usual timidity of just stopping short on confronting Russia, Austin finally acknowledged the imperative: Cripple Russia and its military. Moreover, he tacitly admitted that the West is already at war with Russia. We shall see if America’s (and the West’s) actions match its rhetoric and desire to win and force Russia to lose. It is critically important that Russia is seen and acknowledged by the world to have lost the war — not merely withdraw.

The Guardian reports, “Macron became the first French leader to win re-election for 20 years, scoring a clear margin of 57% to 43%, with almost 95% of the votes counted on Sunday night.” Compare that to the last matchup in 2017: Macron 66%; LePen 34%. A win is a win, but there is something to be said for liberal democracies that worry the next election will surrender political power to right-wing authoritarians. It is shameful that the leadership and voters of major western democracies must hold their collective breath during election time for fear that citizens will vote to end their own democracy! It is disgraceful that in the 21st century, we cannot be secure in the notion that democracies in North America and Europe are secure. We spend too much time dodging bullets while people willingly flirt with authoritarianism as a viable alternative to participation in government.

There is no doubt Putin looks bloated — more so as of late. I will not indulge in conspiracy theories as I see pundits claiming he has Parkinson’s Disease, which, of course, is what people thought Hitler had. Detractors sure do love to quickly declare dictators have Parkinson’s. As for Hitler, in the final year of World War II, he was a full-blown junky, losing the war badly, and narrowly survived an assassination attempt that no doubt left him even more deeply paranoid about the people surrounding him. Any “shaking palsy,” as Hitler’s doctors described, was probably a physical manifestation of stress and an abused body by a drug addict.

All that being said, I doubt Putin has Parkinson’s. However, his puffiness does remind me of my mother, who had cancer, and her treatment caused severe bloating. Either that or Putin is a stress eater! Look! Any doctor will tell you that sudden weight loss or weight gain indicates something is wrong with one’s health. Clearly, something is wrong with Putin physically or, perhaps, mentally (i.e., stress). What does that mean for his prosecution of the war on Ukraine? Is he in a rush to accomplish life-long goals because of health reasons? Only historians will be able to answer that question.

Reporting from The Washington Post, “Two months into the invasion of Ukraine, a Russian military commander suggested Friday that Moscow aims to establish a corridor through southern Ukraine to Transnistria, a breakaway republic in eastern Moldova. ‘Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population,’ said Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. … Nonetheless, it sparked global conversation about the separatist enclave and represents the most direct challenge to Moldova to date. Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador later Friday to express ‘deep concern’ over Minnekaev’s comments.”

So! Putin’s territorial ambitions are coming into sharper focus. What is astonishing is how much Putin is playing the Hitler playbook. Like Hitler, Putin uses the Russian diaspora as an excuse to claim land from sovereign countries in Europe. He’s used the same rationale for invading and occupying parts of Georgia, Crimea, and the Donbas. And, of course, it is a primary excuse for his invasion of Ukraine — a nation in his mind that should not exist in the first place. It should not surprise anyone that he would naturally extend (push through) to Moldova.

Of course, the obvious question is, How could Putin set his sights on Moldova when his military is struggling in Ukraine? I’ll tell you how. Because Putin, so far, is winning! Perhaps I should state my argument a bit more precisely: He is not losing. Yes, yes. This may seem to contradict other postings where I highlight Russia’s military incompetence. All of that is still true. Russia’s military is incompetent, but as I have also said, that does not mean they are any less deadly or effective. They’re just not very efficient. Russian incompetence simply means it takes them twice as many soldiers twice as long to accomplish what America’s military — by our standards, of course — could have done in half the time with half the force.

And there is another side to Russia “not losing” its war on Ukraine: The West’s response. I don’t care what you say or what you think, but the response from NATO et al., the EU, and the U.S., while forceful, has not been enough. To be sure, it is more than Putin expected, but it seems the worst of the West’s sanctions have been established. I think China and India — you know, about half the world’s population — will step in to fill the void of any economic shortcomings.¹ And it appears military assistance to Ukraine may be peaking. I sense — already — that the West’s commitment to helping defend Ukraine is starting to plateau. The West appears content to help Ukraine just enough to hold back Russia but not defeat it. That is the critical miscalculation of the West, naturally. Ugh! It is this weakness — this stopping short always — that Putin expected from the Allies, and he will exploit it.

Granted, Putin appears to be on plan D or E at this point. The fall of Ukraine did not happen in a few days, and the Russian military has been pushed back in the north. If anything is for certain, he has switched from the short game to the long game. I bet he is counting on the Allied alliance to weaken as prolonged fighting continues. Truly all he needs is for France or the U.S. to elect a Russia-loving president (LePen and traitor trump), and then he’s all set. This is the new strategy. He could spend years grinding the Ukrainian military down, waiting for alliances to fray, and finding ways to circumvent sanctions. This strategy, to be sure, is one the West cannot endure. How does the saying go? “You [the West] have watches. We [Russia] have the time.”

¹ Allow me to digress at length while I’m thinking about oil as a void to be filled. Much has been made about Europe’s reliance on Russian energy sources, particularly in Germany, which is the continent’s largest economy. According to The New York Times, “Last year, Russia supplied more than half of the natural gas and about a third of all the oil that Germany burned to heat homes, power factories and fuel cars, buses and trucks. Roughly half of Germany’s coal imports, which are essential to its steel manufacturing, came from Russia. Russian gas, oil and coal are embedded in the German economy and way of life. The roots run deep.” Of course, Putin’s intention for decades has been to create a super reliance on Russian energy, which makes it difficult for NATO partners to sever economic ties despite Russia’s aggression. In short, Putin has guaranteed that no matter the circumstances, Europe needs Russia’s energy. The irony is, of course, NATO countries end up helping to fund Russia’s war against Ukraine through such energy entanglements. Although, Germany has signaled that they intend to eliminate Russian energy imports by the end of the year. Fine. But the move, however necessary, is for optics and perhaps more for moral relief. Unfortunately, oil consumption and production — assuming no appreciable increase in the worldwide output — is simply a reshuffling of pie pieces. When Germany shifts its oil imports from Russia to, let’s say, the U.S. or OPEC proper, then that oil becomes less available to other countries, ceteris paribus. Which nations may be impacted by this new competition for oil allocations? Mmmm. How about India and China? Remember, Russian energy itself has not been sanctioned, so India and China, which borders Russia, can quickly fill the oil void. Oil consumption and imports are just a reordering of the deck chairs, so to speak. So, unless and until the world avoids Russian energy — or worse still, switches to renewable energy sources — nothing will change their ability to fund military adventurism. Again, this is why I say NATO et al., the EU, and the U.S. are not doing enough to cripple Russia — now! We need to be kicking Russia while it’s down.