The Chairman is as inept as Hillary is corrupt...close call there.
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The big news that has markets soaring this morning is that some of the Russian troops near the border are heading back to base.
Too bad The Chairman and Uncle Ben plan to seize the assets of those traitorous truck drivers. By taking away their trucks, suspending their licenses and stealing their bank accounts they'll send a message to those seditious fools will never forget.
Maybe they have a backup plan to restock store shelves by carrier pigeon or drones.
"in order to lead America you must love America"
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Seeing as this is a prestigious award, Wiznerd, you'll not want to do anything that casts doubt on your ability to Stifle the Fuck Up for the next few months or so. Along with the medal itself comes a cash prize of 10,000 kroners and 100 pounds of pickled herring from the King's private stock.
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The big news that has markets soaring this morning is that some of the Russian troops near the border are heading back to base.
What's interesting is that overhead satellite surveillance is now open source and there are journalism organizations that use commercial satellites that have remarkably high resolution to report on any number of things being claimed by various governments. Russia, notorious for it's disinformation, isn't getting it's way this time around. The net effect is an improved underestanding of what Vlad is actually up to.
Still, the current situation on the Ukrainian boarder is serious stuff. My take is that Putin has every intention of getting what he wants out of this. People who study Russia and write about Putin hold to the theory that Putin is acting out of his nationalist, expansionist interests and the Donbas region of Ukraine, probably not Kiev itself is where his interests lie. His vocal objections to NATO expansion in Ukraine and the arming of previous Soviet satellite states are legitimate in this context. That brings into focus the Minsk Agreements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_Protocol ...... It appears that understanding these agreements and the ongoing disputes between Kiev and Moscow that frequently spill over into armed conflict in the Donbas region is key to understanding the current situation.
IMO, getting the Donbas area of Ukraine under Russian control and installing government officials friendly to Putin in Kiev and under terms acceptable to Moscow may be Putin's endgame here. Reading the wiki account of the Minsk and MinskII protocols from 2014 to January 2022 makes the Russian military buildup that threatens Ukraine almost understandable. Since 2017, Moscow has accused Kiev of "creating a charade" of negotiations while continuing to absorb the Donbas region and it's people - made up of people that Putin claims are Russians not Ukrainians.
The passage of the two bills in the Russian Duma that DSL mentions above makes perfect sense as part of Putin's pathway to obtain his objectives in Ukraine. I doubt he has designs on Kiev but the mere threat of it represents leverage in future negotiations in the context of MinskII. This is a much more complex circumstance than I initially believed it was. Understanding the simmering nearly decade long conflict between the west leaning leadership in Kiev and pro-Russian leadership in the Donbas region in the context of MinskII is key in and understanding Putin's aims in resolving the current crisis in his favor.
I think Putin's approach here is a perfect example of power politics of a strategic nature and represents an authoritarian Russian grand strategy that the west has to decide if that grand strategy represents a significant threat to the west's and NATO's interests in furthering global democracy and freedom of choice.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.
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