Monday, March 14, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine perseveres

This is wonderful: We don't know when this war will end. But whenever it is, we are now 18 days closer. 
And here's some good news: Russia is now desperate enough to start asking China for help. And I don't think anyone knows what China will do. Historically China tries to back winners, not losers: Here's an interesting analysis by Hunter over at Daily Kos (By the way, Kos has become one site I am checking every day for its Ukraine news and analysis - it is excellent.)  Anyway, today Hunter notes the news about Russia wanting help from China likely originated from US Intelligence, to put both Russia and China on an uncomfortable spot: 
 Chinese leaders have little to gain from standing by Putin even as Putin loses, cannot risk involving themselves to any extent that would genuinely help Putin to win, and could themselves face unified international sanctions for even attempting it. 
China's only plausible move, according to that analysis, is to abandon Putin and attempt to limit the damage. The current attempts to remain vaguely neutral will only rebound more harshly on China as a desperate Putin attempts to escalate his conflict in an all-or-nothing bid to salvage his nation's stature—and his own skin. 
We can expect U.S. intelligence "leaks" to crop up quickly, if Chinese leaders give the go-ahead to Russia's new weapons requests. It won't go unnoticed. And that means that the United Nations and other nations are now putting China in a position where neutrality can't be faked. China will either provide the weapons or it will not. The nation's frustrated leaders can't stall for time much longer. 
But Ukrainians must be feeling desperate too, as Russian war crimes continue. Hunter describes this as a deliberate strategy: 
The Russian "strategy" of shelling urban centers in an apparent attempt to level what they cannot militarily capture, however, continues. And the civilian death toll is rising rapidly. 
These stories are terrible: And this: Tens of thousands of volunteer soldiers are arriving in Ukraine to help: And the whole world is angry at Russia for what they are trying to do: The DO SOMETHING! crowd continues to bellow, however - NATO, the US and Canada are moving heaven and earth to get arms to Ukraine, but I still see comments deriding them for "doing nothing" because they refuse a No-Fly Zone.  I can understand why Zelenskiy keeps asking for it, but here in the West I am starting to wonder if the NFZ complaint has become just another right-wing political talking point, somethingelse to criticize Biden and Trudeau over. Or do people here actually not understand that the West, while trying to save Ukraine, is also trying to prevent a nuclear war? We're not just playing a game of Risk here.
Its frightening just how nuts this general is: And finally, things do happen in other news too.
Sometimes there is so much going on that it's easy to lose track and let things get forgotten or pushed aside. For example, the FluTruxKlan is still trying to act up, and municipal police are still letting them. Calgary is PISSED! And Trump keeps doing rallies and getting into the news again, and I hate it! It horrified me recently to realize that I am likely going to be hearing about Trump for the rest of my life!  The only good thing about Trump is that he is so stupid - unlike Hitler, Trump himself doesn't know how to lead people nor get anything done, and he can never hire anyone competent either. 
All the same, my soul leaps down every time I hear his name. 
So sometimes I re-read this, from Tiny Fairy Tales, just to help me regain some perspective and because it is so beautiful:


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