Near mid-day Tuesday here in California’s Central Valley, middle of another beautiful, deep-sunshine day, though, a bit chilly with frost earlier this morning.
Meanwhile, on the Ukraine front and biggest items so far today — via the Guardian‘s live blog:
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy echoed Winston Churchill and invoked the fight against Nazism as he made a direct plea to British MPs in an impassioned video address to do more to help protect his country in the fight against the Russian invasion.
Military experts said Russia was overcoming its logistics problems and could mount an assault on Kyiv within days.Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban imports of Russian oil “to inflict further pain on Vladimir Putin”.
The European Union has not joined the ban, but the European Commission said it was possible to reduce the EU’s use of fossil fuels by two thirds this year. The British government promised to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.
Zelenskiy received a standing ovation. However, the real prick in the thorns of war is horrible asshole Vlad Putin, who appears to be going about his routine:
This article from ?@pustota? is chilling https://t.co/3vjaWYz7wS
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) March 8, 2022
Despite having some sense, I too misjudged the butthole bully.
Another good, deep-dive into Vlad Putin’s bullshit from Sergei Dobrynin, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, at The Atlantic this morning, and like myself, he underestimated Putin’s hard-ass cruelty and designs — I really figured Putin would never invade Ukraine, too stupid of a long-term act with huge fallout/backlash — yet he did, and with a way-harshness, I also didn’t appreciate.
Read the whole piece, enlightening on how authoritarian assholes win power with one choke-hold step at a time — convincing the intelligent/educated he is harmless. Two years ago, a longtime friend told Dobrynin the reality of Putin’s persona:
Arsenyev put down his beer and said (in Russian, of course): “This man, Putin, will bring this country to hell. I know this for sure. It is the worst thing that could ever happen to us.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He is a Chekist,” he said, meaning an agent of the secret police.
“Once a Chekist, always a Chekist. He is pure evil.”
Simple and direct.
No wonder T-rump loves him.
Despite history, here we are once again…
(Illustration out front: Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Old Man in Sorrow (On the Threshold of Eternity)‘ found here)