Good day world, took a hiatus had nothing to say for 2 years.
While the west watches the systemic destruction of Ukraine by wicked czar Vladimir Putin, we shake our heads at Doctor Evil and his insanity, while sipping wine munching saltines and watching BBC world.
World leaders finally take the "bold" step of calling his actions genocide, condemning Russia, confiscating oligarch boats, closing down McDonald's in Moscow and disabling Sabre airline seat sale software.
Surely Putin is losing right? Body bags of Russian soldiers coming home, stories of brave Ukranian resistance and Russian GDP being hit by western sanctions?
Well, for starters the ex KGB FSB intelligence officer is not crazy. Sociopath, dictator, heartless maybe but far from insane. He has the nuclear Ace of Spades nobody will bet against and is a better poker player than most other world leaders.
A few tens of thousands of lives are probably mere collateral damage in his mind, in exchange for all the uranium, wheat, iron ore, manganese and land therein.
American leaders have repeatedly told us we can out-warhead the Soviets in a nuke fight and that we are sort of dome-protected against a preemptive attack. The truth is quite different. ICBMs are very advanced in distracting a heat-sensitive counter attack with chaff, evasive tactics. Experts describe blocking an incoming missile as trying to stop a bullet with another - possible in theory but highly unlikely. No western leader will gamble on instantaneous annihilation of a few cities to save a small country they empathize with.
My Ukranian Canadian friend (I consider intellectual) tells me, there are no heroes in Ukraine sadly, or atleast none that will remain if the trend we are in were to continue. I am gradually seeing why many East Europeans are blaming the west ... trying to hand a weak boy with an axe to pick a fight with the armed bully down the street. This ends in only one way, Ukraine turning into another Afghanistan, war torn and a mere shadow of what it used to be or could have been.
We won't put boots on the ground in Kiev or Mariopol and we're further poking the bear by heeding Zelenskyys cry for more weapons.
My take? firstly - no denying Putin is the devil, but that being said accept that we may never win unless you pull a Kamikaze or Syriana to take him out, again logistically very uphill.
As long as there are nations that buy what Russia is selling, we're not exerting real pressure. That needs to change, a global boycott. China may not buy in, they are waiting to pull a similar one on Taiwan. You may not be able to enter Russia but the world could physically barricade off land/sea/air routes if it were a consolidated effort.
In conclusion, I am not saying there is a solution, maybe there is none. But we definitely are back to the times where countries invaded other lands - pillaged, plundered and brought perdition.
