Friends, some would accuse me of possessing a moral compass that points due south, more or less towards the depths of hell. To which I say: it's a half truth! Hell isn't south. It's underground. There's a world of difference!
Anywho... Today I'm chagrined by the loss of the AN-225, called "Cossack" by NATO, the world's largest airliner of all time. Apparently it was a casualty of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This majestic, if corpulent, aircraft once hefted the Soviet space shuttle, called Buran, into the skies, when four Energia boosters weren't handy. It was a marvel of modern technology, and part of the legacy of Soviet excellence in aerospace engineering that, I trust, Vladimir Putin and his ilk highly value. The Russians and Ukrainians may not agree on much, but I daresay neither country would have wanted any harm to come to ole Cossack. Here's hoping she wasn't too badly damaged, and that one day she may even fly again -- as I'm sure Ukraine, in one form or another, will rise from its present prostrate state and once more thrive.
In other news, noted academic/buffoon Nikole Hannah-Jones is condemning the media's fawning coverage of Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion as...you guessed it: racist! She claims the media wouldn't care a fig about Ukraine if all those Ukrainians weren't so blonde and lovely. She omits to mention that the Russians are even blonder and lovelier, but that doesn't seem to stop us from portraying them as Satan's spawn. But hey: to Hannah-Jones, when the sun comes up in the morning, it's proof positive that everyone but her is racist, racist, racist. Now, if you ask me, Hannah-Jones is on to something in critiquing the coverage of Ukraine as highly disconsonant with the utter indifference that far worse violations of human rights seem to engender. There's definitely some very selective moralizing going on here -- I'm looking your way, Red China -- but that doesn't mean that race is at the bottom of it. What is at the bottom of it? In my view, it's a reflexive Russophobia, leading to bad Western policy, which in turn excites the Russians' own paranoia and brings out the worst in them. In other words, I'm inclined to blame the human condition. Always a safe bet!
Nick,
ReplyDeleteThis war between Russia and The Ukraine came just in time to revive a NATO that was on life support. With that recovery on the way, that military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned about, will also be revived in Europe. That contractor gravy train is on its way again.
Dr.Waddyfrom Jack: This is very much like the Cuban Missile Crisis was. We didn't know day from day, what the hell was coming next !Worse, there were several close calls (eg a 2-1 officer vote on a Russian sub against launching a nuclear torpedo at a US carrier) which we only learned about much later.How many are in store now? Pat Buchanan opined yesterday that Putin is not unstable and that he does do what he says he will do.My prediction of percentages of possibilities: general nuclear war 5% ; war beween Nato and Russia,including use of tactical nukes and/or naval warfare using nukes at sea 50%;overthrow of Putin (with ???!!! consequences) 10%;Russian conventional conquest and occupation of Ukraine east of the Dnieper, including Kiev and refrain from occupying Western Ukraine 60%. Criticism welcomed.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Please allow me another prediction: Pino Biden will tie the Ukraine crisis to "human generated global warming" and to the present truck transported insolent challenge by the real America to fortress DC, in his mechanically delivered, dictated preroration tonight.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: American leftist condemnation of Russia hastwo possible sources: either, leftist fury at Russia for having rejected Marxism OR leftist presumption that Russia remained a bete noire in the eye of the despised real America and therefore contemptuously ,cynically and disingenuously usable against it.
ReplyDeleteYou said it, Ray! German military spending is set to soar -- and I think we can all agree that the world can breathe a sigh of relief when the Germans are armed to the teeth... Point being: NATO may or may not be an effective alliance, but Russophobia is about to make a lot of defense contractors rich, come what may!
ReplyDeleteJack, did you really mean to suggest there's a 50/50 chance of war between NATO and Russia? That seems high to me, although I guess it depends on your time horizon...
Interesting thought that Russia could swallow up the eastern half of Ukraine, and leave the western part to fend for itself. Maybe, but my guess is the western part would become a bigger headache in that scenario than the whole of Ukraine used to be!
Ha! Of course you're right that the Left, which pulls Biden's strings, will argue that the Russia-Ukraine war only proves, yet again, how no one should ever use fossil fuels. Uh huh. We'll get right on that. I'm going to proactively turn off my furnace right now, in fact! Viva Biden!
Is the Left sore at Russia for rejecting Marxism? Maybe, but why wouldn't they be sore at China for distorting their own "Marxism" so radically that it's unrecognizable?
Is Russophobia a useful tool for the elite to use against the huddled masses, because Western peoples still harbor distrust of the Russkies, as a relic of the Cold War? Yeah, there's truth in that, but it seems to me that the elites are far more trapped in the past than the public is. The difference is that the elite can, through the media, ensure that its prejudices are amplified and (re)popularized. Have you seen how public figures, corporations, and even universities are tripping over themselves in a headlong rush to condemn/cut ties with Russia, and all Russians? It's a stampede!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: 50%: I was struck by the outstandig Gen. Petraeus's comment "Don't back a guy with all th ose nukes into a corner!" We keep turning up the heat on the Russians; if any Nato country tenders Ukraine now, or a resistance movement in a conquered Ukraine , military aid,the Russians are sure to try to interdict it! They might even attack marshalling sites in nearby Nato countries. How could we expect them to refrain from reacting with intended decisiveness? Then there are the possibilities raised by accident, by chance. Taken together, these factors convince me that a Nato-Russia clash is highly possible. Once done where then? Any consequent escalation might be containable, yes? But we just don't know!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack : Perhaps conquest of the east alone, which is suggested by present Russian ground positions, might afford Putin a power preserving way out of a situation which MAY have gone awry for him. Then again it might have been his plan all along. His overall objective, I think remains: putting paid to any possibility of Natoin Ukraine! He may think investment of eastern, mostly Russian speaking Ukraine would be enough . He would establish a very Russia border there and good luck to any who might hazard it.Nobody ever has since the Boche. How united are Eastern and Western Ukraine? As for Kiev: is a WWII Leningrad like successful resistance at hand? Good Gad ,this is KIEV, (completely destroyed in WWII)and the birthplace of Russia!
ReplyDeleteDr.WaddY from Jack: But what indication do we have that the American far left approves of present, so inordinate and by definition CONDEMNED,PROSPEROUS China?
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Jack, I agree that even cheering on Russia's battlefield adversary is risky -- arming them is even more provocative. You know, I've started to wonder whether the first shots between Russia and NATO might not come at sea or in the air. I don't expect us to muscle into the Ukraine fight itself, but might Russia challenge its exclusion from EU airspace (or challenge the limits of that airspace), or might the U.S./NATO try to interdict Russian "contraband" at sea, or seize Russian ships, producing a confrontation? As you say, the key ingredient could be misunderstandings or accidents, aggravating the tensions that already exist...
ReplyDeleteI don't see Kiev weathering a siege for long, and certainly not for as long as Leningrad did. For all their bluster, I don't think 2022 Kievans are anything like 1941 Leningraders!
I wouldn't say the Left "approves" of China, precisely. Pretty much everyone on the Left has unkind things to say about China. The entire political, economic, and cultural establishment, however, is in a tacit conspiracy to shield the Chinese from any CONSEQUENCES that might arise from their misdeeds. The Western elite's main gift to China is...SILENCE, not approbation.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Air or sea clashes ; very plausible.Some factors to consider: air fights will have to take place in someone's air space unless at sea. I've always thought that even nuclear war at sea might be containable because perhaps only ships would be hit, not the homelands of the combatants. Perhaps an all out nuclear exchange could be avoided.
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ReplyDeleteYes, Jack: I agree that naval combat might be confined to the sea, and the use of nukes at sea likewise might not be a recipe for MAD. Presumably, Russia doesn't have much hope of holding its own on the oceans UNLESS it's willing to go nuclear. I wonder: is NATO active in the Black Sea?
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: US ships, including carriers, are always present in the Mediterranian ,not far from entry into the Black Sea.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but so far I've heard zilch about the U.S. Navy in the midst of this crisis. Hopefully that means we're keeping a low profile. And the numbers of troops we've sent to the Baltics, Poland, and Romania are still very much in the "symbolic" range...
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