The West thought that we had the Russians pressed up against the cage. We thought that we had worn them down, that their side had nothing left. But when we tried to hook the leg, Putin pulled a quick reversal and took the dominant position. All of a sudden, Kiev was no longer the brass ring, and Putin had Ukraine in a killer Crimea-lock. Now we’re shrimping and squirming, desperately searching for a maneuver that won’t give Russia the chance to cinch their hold even tighter, while Putin calmly continues to improve his position. Soon, Ukraine must tap.
Russia is in a very stable position in the Crimean Peninsula. The new Ukranian government does not have the military capacity to dislodge pro-Russian troops, and any attempt to do so will give Putin the shooting war that he knows he will win. The West does not have enough vital interests at stake to engage an enemy as dangerous as the Russian Federation. All Putin has to do is stay the course, and Crimea is his.
I have been saying for a long time that Vladimir Putin is the single most powerful man in the world, and the son-of-a-gun keeps proving me right. Just like in Georgia, South Ossetia, and Syria, the Russian Federation is winning out over Western goals. Within their geographic sphere of influence, they are almost impossible to resist. They may often be less relevant than their Western rivals further afield, but no Western leader has the same level of direct control over their government and society. From Superbowl Rings to former Soviet Republics, what Vladdie wants, Vladdie tends to get.
The Light Brigade lost 156 souls trying to wrest Crimea from Mother Russia, with total Allied deaths closing in on 400,000. Putin is on course to capture the peninsula with barely a shot fired. From sport to war to politics, when the stakes are high enough, the rules are all the same.
I’d also like to take a moment to recognize Vicky Nuland for keeping things gangster. The women is a serious BAMF, and I hope that she spends all day exchanging fist-bumps with Eric Holder and Hill-dawg.
Elsewhere in the news, the Danes have taken a rather. . .broad view of “basic human rights,” and are now safe from the tyranny of municipal construction. Citizens in the small Danish village of Copenhagen have won their claim that the noise pollution from the construction of local metro tunnels is a violation of their human rights under international convention, causing physical and psychological suffering, depression, learning disabilities, concentration difficulties, difficulties of motivation and communication, difficulty reading, awkward gait, lisping, lazy eye syndrome, sexual herpies, and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Alright, alright, I made some of those up, but everything before “difficulty reading” are their words, not mine.
The ruling tribunal has declared that the Danish capital must both finish the new transit line on time and avoid bothering the residents with noise. The government’s tentative reply to this catch-22 has thus far been two-pronged; resettlement, and compensation.
Come on, Danes, how many more of the government’s krone do you really need?
That about wraps it up for today. Remember to keep your hands up and to protect yourself at all times, and keep looking out for the next Rabbit Punch!
