Banana moon shining in the sky (h/t Tom Waits).
I arose in the dark of the morning to see a dusting of snow on the yard and the blinking lights of an aircraft as it traversed a slice of moon.
“Hell’s goin’ on around here?” I inquired of Herself, as is my practice.
“Fuckin’ Russians,” she grumbled.
“What are they doing?”
“Dominating the news cycle.”
And so they are.
I loathe the smell of fascism in the morning, whether it’s ours or theirs, and especially when it arrives before coffee. The overactive imagination screens a clip of some brass hat in the Pentagon going full George C. Scott (Buck Turgidson or George Patton, take your pick).
But as options go, our menu seems as limited as the bill of fare at a soup kitchen.
Sure, do what you can to choke off Russia’s income — Stoli sales will slump, theatrically, if only because we’ll need the money for gasoline. Africa is going to find itself short of grain. Lots of little people living in various valleys await the shit monsoon from above.
But I don’t expect the oligarchs are sweating much, unless they’re in the sauna.
Oh, they might not be able to strut their stuff on the Riviera for a while, but there’s always the Crimea. Plenty Krugerrands in the lockbox. Shop online from the dacha. Na zdorovye!
Tags: Ukraine, Vladimir Putin
Mad Blog Media 
February 24, 2022 at 8:20 am |
Fuckin’ A. What a shit sandwich.
February 24, 2022 at 9:04 am |
Dictators gonna dictate. I guess the question is, is Vlad the dog that catches the car and doesn’t know what to do with it? It’s one thing to knock over Ukraine’s government; it’s a whole other deal to hold that much territory if the locals don’t like you. See Afghanistan, etc.
David Petraeus has some thoughts over at The Atlantic. Among them:
February 24, 2022 at 9:16 am |
That was my thought. 190k troops sounds like a lot and if concentrated, can take and hold plenty of valuable locations (airports, a few cities, strategic junctions, etc,) but that level of warm bodies simply disappears into a big country like the Ukraine. Especially if the population decides to take target practice on their “liberators” like the Iraqis did to us.
It will all depend on whether one or both sides decide to make a bloodbath out of this. Its damned unfair to the Ukrainians. Too bad there isn’t a cruise missile or to that the Ukraine army has left over that it can fire up Putin’s ass.
February 24, 2022 at 9:27 am |
The Guardian has a piece from a Ukrainian journo in Kyiv.
The Washington Post has another:
What a pity that the people who have it coming so rarely get it.
February 24, 2022 at 9:42 am |
I don’t think Putin cares about Ukraine. He has one-third of his poorly trained ground forces there. They are sacrificial, either pawns or a distraction.
Our hands are so fucking tied. He made his move, now it’s our turn. But round three is nukes, and we just can’t go there.
February 24, 2022 at 9:53 am |
Some might. If they are on a mission from god. Which god is their pick.
February 24, 2022 at 10:11 am |
It’d be nice to know whether Pooty-poot has any significant enemies among the Russian People of Money, someone who’d like to slip him a permanent mickey so they can get back to business as usual.
“Holy shit, this dude is gonna fuck up all my weekends. He gots to go.”
But we don’t have any reliable intel in that regard, not that I’ve seen, anyway. I feel like Rear Admiral Sam Hazzard in “Alas, Babylon.”
February 24, 2022 at 10:16 am |
I was thinking along those lines. Oligarchs don’t like someone sending the Repo Man after their villas in London and elsewhere. Although I suspect they are lining up to claim a dacha on the Black Sea.
Wonder whatever happened to my copy of Alas, Babylon. Read it in high school. A lot of my stuff disappeared when my first wife’s parents died and the house was sold.
February 24, 2022 at 9:51 am |
Unnecessary this was. O’Be One Cannoli
February 24, 2022 at 10:16 am |
Anyone for popcorn and watching Dr. Strangelove?
February 24, 2022 at 10:22 am |
“You can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!”
Meanwhile, fighting around Chernobyl. Oh, good. Charlie Pierce has some thoughts on that.
February 24, 2022 at 10:51 pm |
Reading about lots of heroes, like these guys:
February 25, 2022 at 1:36 am |
I think the only bike Vlady saw was the one that the bullies stole when he was a kid just before they beat him up. He swore when he grew up that he would be a tough guy and he’d have a tank instead of a wimpy bike. He got the tank but I believe the tough guy ring is a little too high for him to reach.
February 25, 2022 at 8:25 am |
What in the fuck do they want with Chernobyl? As far as Putin’s threats, I don’t think there are any winners in a nuclear war. And those oligarchs won’t like living underground while their dachas glow in the dark.
This is insane.
February 25, 2022 at 9:31 am |
Perhaps they needed it as a safe resupply way station for their invasion. They know that the Ukrainians and others who may help to defend Ukraine would likely not attack or bomb the area due to radiation release.
February 25, 2022 at 3:48 pm |
I hope they have reliable dosimeters on while in the exclusion zone. Yea, right.
February 25, 2022 at 9:52 am |
I think we should get rudy, pompeo, stone, and manafort rifles and send their asses to Ukraine to help on the front line. After that they can stay there.
February 25, 2022 at 9:54 am |
Patrick, would you please change my name on the above comment? Thanks!
February 25, 2022 at 11:34 am |
What name? Aren’t we all using pseudonyms here? I mean, how else would someone monitor what is said here so that they could report it back to the big onion house?
February 25, 2022 at 11:58 am |
I put my email address in the name by mistake. Didn’t want advertise it to the scammer bots vacuuming the intertubes for addresses to sell.