The “progress” of Putin from his appointment by Yeltsin, Bush peering into his soul, the Russians singing his praises like a pop star to ever more authoritarian rule, having opponents jailed, or poisoned and eventually to his current Totalitarian position should be a lesson on what can happen to a politician who gets away with norms little by little over time.
All those supporters of Trump today who have seen his attempts to overturn an election that he lost should consider what happens if he gets elected in 2024. He could well follow in the footsteps of his hero Putin. Get rid of the 22ed Amendment to the Constitution that prevents him running for a third term. Making his son or daughter Vice President. Having Trump Jr. succeed him as President. Republicans be ware. If you make a monster to attack your opponents, one day that monster will turn on you and bite YOU in the ass.

If Putin had managed to conquer Ukraine in a few days as he seems to have intended, he might have gotten away with it. A quick fait accompli as happened in Crimea usually makes it difficult for a democracy to want to respond with any long term commitment and sacrifice. The fact that this did not happen now makes the decision to invade Ukraine an unmitigated blunder.
The world now sees exactly what makes Putin tick and the days of President Bush looking into Putin’s soul and finding good are long gone. The days of Obama thinking Russia is no longer an automatic threat are also long gone.
For the people of Ukraine, any warm feelings about Russia are also gone. Many realize that the war was the work of only one man, Putin, but the atrocities of Bucha, and all the other towns the Russians have attacked or occupied have delivered the message that the evil is more than just one man. Russian soldiers committed those atrocities, not Putin himself.
The end result is that the Ukraine is lost to Russia forever. When Finland and Sweden join NATO it will be yet another confirmation of Putin’s blunder. Then there is the USA and the military establishment who now have been given added reasons to build America’s military machine. They are seeing Ukraine as a way to seriously weaken Russia without loosing American lives in the process. The same goes for the Eastern part of Europe who know all too well about the Russians and have experienced Russia in the recent past.
All in all, Russia under Putin is headed for long term pain. Russian oil money well be used to rebuild Ukraine. The world will not accept any other result. That will keep Russia backward for a long time as the cost of rebuilding Ukraine increases with every shell the Russian army shoots into the country. What a waste! What an idiot Putin turned out to be!

Today of Fox News Kevin McCarthy was again trying to attack the Biden administration for not sending arms before the Russian invasion apparently forgetting that Fox, many Republicans, the Ukrainians and most Europeans thought US intelligence was going overboard predicting a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russians said they had no intention to invade, Zilensky told the US to stop scaring the Ukrainians, the Biden administration did not want to give Putin an excuse to invade. Were arms secretly being supplied, yes, but for good reason this was kept a secret.
Kevin McCarthy never cared about the Ukrainians, he has been single minded about getting reelected and becoming Speaker of the house. Now he is just another Monday morning quarterback changing his tune as the winds change. The Reality is that Biden cant win Republican support no matter what he does. He is for something, Republicans will be against it. That is the reality of US politics today. Too bad Putin figured this out long ago and has incorporated it into his strategy and he is not the only one. In the US political scene of today it is not just domestic lobby groups that try to influence government decision making – it is foreign governments as well. The most successful foreign government has been Israel, but China, Russia, are not far behind. The problem, is in a capitalistic society it is easy to hide the true source of the money especially if money is funneled into groups that support your view for their own reasons. There are plenty of useful idiots to tap into.

On my brief look at what Hannity was saying on Fox I was surprised to see he is still pushing the idea that President Biden is not all there and the rest of the world is mocking the USA because of it. He even showed a clip from an Arab TV station that mocked Biden. He seems to have forgotten that the most mocked President in living memory was Trump. Not only in the USA but almost everywhere around the world, The hair, the crazy statements, comedians the world over had a field day. If he wants clips to show that they are all over the internet.
Meanwhile, any country that was not sympathetic to the US would of course have negative coverage of a US President. Strange that an American on American media would do the same. Then again, Hannity cannot be accused of being pro American – unless he can twist it to be pro Trump.
Lets not forget the fun shows like “Spitting Image” had with President Regan. “The Presidents Brain is Missing!” was a great one that hinted that Nancy Regan was really running the show. The show brutalized Thatcher and just about everyone else as well. That’s what comedians do.
In fact, compared to Trump, President Biden is not in the comedian league with Trump. Trump was so nuts it was great comedian fodder. Biden is too normal. I will bet there are many comedians who miss Trump – not for his politics but for his nutty statements.

As Putin claims the Russian forces are doing well, NOT killing civilians and what Ukrainians they do kill are Nazis – Bucha is fake news and photos and videos manufactured – its time for NATO to start having some fake news as well – like flying “fake” F-16s to take out the Russian air force. If Russia complains just say it must be fake news and no NATO forces are in Ukraine. Photos? videos? they are manufactured. Two can play the fake news game.

After seeing the true nature of the Russian assault on Ukraine it is time for the USA and NATO to institute a no fly zone and state that interfering will trigger whatever response is appropriate. The USA and NATO also have plenty of nuclear weapons. If Russia wants to escalate so be it.
We should also realize that the threat of nuclear war frightens not only the West but the Russians as well. The greater the fear the greater will be the spine of the Russians around Putin that can stop him.

It is in the long term interests of the US to have alliances with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia in the East and with Europe, NATO, Russia and Ukraine in the West. That would create a fairly even balance with China. Such a balance would likely build a lasting stability where both sides could get on and build economically AND deal with the real threat everyone faces which is the growing problem of climate change.
While Russia remains an outlier there will be dislocation in in the long term as well as short term and the real issue will not be solved. For Russia to keep thinking it should be a superpower is as out of date as it became for the UK, France. Spain and every other empire of the past.
Meanwhile, as with most dictators from the past, they eventually bite off more than they can chew. It happened to Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler and so many others. Now it is Putin’s turn. With any luck his time will pass quickly and Russia can reenter the world where it should be and we can focus on the real challenge humanity faces.
We can keep putting off dealing with difficult and expensive problems but one day we cant avoid the problem. If history is any guide we will probably be too late.

Conspiracy theories are all the rage these days. Trump still claims the election was stolen and a not insignificant chunk of the public believe him. Russia is selling that Ukraine photos and videos of the war and especially what happened in Bucha is “fake news” and created by Ukraine to support their point of view – and a not insignificant chunk of the Russian public believe it. Its amazing what people will believe if they want to -AND if they watch only one source of news. Its true: if you know how to do it you can sell snow to the Eskimos.
So imagine if the Biden administration was setting Putin up with a war in Ukraine in a devious plan to achieve short term and long term goals fostering the interests of the United States. What would those goals have looked like?
1. The US long term interests depend on a close relationship with allies to maintain a counter balance to China. That means keeping Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Europe on side. Lets face it; with Brexit in the UK, Victor Orban in Hungary, Germany becoming reliant on Russian oil and even Polish issues, Europe was looking like it was beginning to fray. Donald Trump did not help and was vocal in his opposition to the idea of a European Union. So it was imperative to keep Europe together economically.
2. Like the EEC NATO was becoming viewed as no longer relevant- also encouraged by Donald Trump who also rightly complained that many of the countries did not pay their fair share of the costs. The Biden administration considered NATO not only relevant but also important AND like Trump wanted each European country to pay what they were supposed to. Also like previous administrations were not happy about Germany and others becoming more dependent on Russian oil and gas. So in the short term, it was important for Putin’s Russia to be seen as a potential threat.
3. Putin was moving Russia back to the time it saw the West as the natural enemy AND towards an autocratic form of government akin to the time of the Tsars. In an ever more interdependent world this movement was not good for anybody. The idea that Russia was always “on the other side” had to be nipped in the bud before it became a real problem. So Putin and his way of thinking had to go. Needless to say such autocratic thinking was also taking hold in the US and some Western countries so undermining Putin think was important in that regard as well.
4. The Russian army has to be seen as the paper tiger it really was and Russian arms less attractive on the world market.
5. Ukraine was becoming an issue that needed to be resolved. It wanted to become an EEC member AND join NATO. Yet there were “fraternal feelings” between Russians and Ukrainians that might stand in the way so cleaning up where Ukraine was headed and where Russia was headed under Putin had to be brought to a head.
6. Of course there were some other benefits like the profits the defense industry would reap from a shooting war, the profits the oil companies (many US owned) would make from less oil on the market etc. Then there was the problem of demographics and the declining populations of Europe who could use a new blood work force- blood preferably from another European country not Africa or the Middle East. On top of that, a brain drain from Russia towards the West might also be a benefit as to the more educated were not likely to go for the direction Putin was taking Russia in.
So there were many benefits that might be achieved by Russia going to war with Ukraine. But how would one get Putin to fall for the plot? Would he be that stupid? Well, Fox News and the Republicans have been quite vocal 24/7 fostering the view that Biden was weak and ineffectual and indeed Tucker Carlson went so far as to say “Why should I care about Ukraine?” So it would be easy to come to the conclusion that the US would squawk but be unlikely to do something other than slap a few sanctions on Russia. Europe too would likely squawk but then again the dependence on oil and gas would most likely keep the EEC divided and not able to do much. Remember, not much happened after the Crimea take over. Ukraine would likely fold as Zilensky would likely take up the US on its offer to escape and form a government in exile.
From Putin’s perspective a war with Ukraine posed little long term problems and he presumed a short term victory that would enhance his popularity as taking the Crimea had done. Put enough force on the boarder and it should be over quickly and soon be forgotten.
So what happened? In short, US interests have won out like in a big way. NATO is revived big time, EEC strengthened, Germany terminating Northstream 2 and moving to get off of Russian gas AND finally increasing its defense budget ( now number 3 after the US and China). Ukraine and Russia now firmly in opposite camps. Russian army and Putin’s intentions seen for what they really are. When Putin is finally defeated and overthrown the plot will have succeeded in all expectations.
The unfortunate thing of course, is all the Ukrainians who will die in the process

Russian mothers will at some point be told of their dead soldiers but most live far from Moscow so not of serious concern to Putin. BUT the word of what really happened in the Ukraine, the devastation of the cities, killing of civilians, bombing of hospitals and orphanages etc will eventually get out as all those 200,000 soldiers eventually go home. They will have photos, they know what they did, saw things first hand, so in the end the truth will get out. Today the Russian people who get their news from state media support Putin and believe what they are being told. When they know the truth they will see things differently.
Meanwhile the Ukrainians will not forget whatever the outcome. They will have hatred for Russia for generations. That includes the Russian speakers. So the idea of a fraternal relationship between the two countries will be a thing of the past.
There is also the resurgence of the fear of Russia as a hostile neighbor capable of encroachment at any time. This has persisted in the border states but now it has become accepted in states further to the West. Russia IS now seen as the enemy. This is not good. Not good for the Russians, not good for all the rest of the Europeans. As long as Putin is the leader and Russia maintains an authoritarian government this view will persist. It is important for this view to be diminished sooner than later before it infects the younger generation who want to be Europeans and are not concerned about being a superpower any more than the French or British youth are. Putin wants Russia to be a superpower but it is not. The younger generation has different priorities.
There is lots of criticism flying about and Friday morning quarterbacking going on especially from those out to push a political agenda. Though is is nearly impossible to keep secrets these days things are going on, weapons delivered, etc that are kept secret. That’s as it should be. What we don’t need is the constant spilling the beans by the media and the constant negative attacks on what the governments are doing from places like Fox which just serve to encourage Russian aggression and confuse our public. Thousands are being displaced and killed. Time for some social responsibility. Not the time to score points for this political party or that.