I AM ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY...

 With the Courage and Determination and Patriotism the Ukrainians  have shown in the face of Russia Putin's Naked Aggression.

Not only does its President stay in His Country to defy the onslaught and risk injury and most likely death...but the ordinary folks are defiant in their Resistance.  The Stories of such valour keep coming and coming - one among these many is that of a Soldier who voluntarily died when He Blew Up the Bridge he was standing on to stop an Armada of Tanks about to cross it.  Incredible. Bless His Soul. 

And speaking of their President staying put...forgive, but I cannot see even one Western Leader being willing to do the same.  A sad commentary but I fear true.

Related to this is my belief that we in the West have gotten soft since World War II - we no longer appear to have the grit and resolve needed that my Father, my wife's Father and many other of our Ancestors had in spades those many decades back.  In attacking the Ukraine, Putin picked the wrong target.

And with each news conference these Western Leaders promise nothing more than imposing more sanctions.  Putin quakes in his size 6 shoes.  He could probably save money if he wore kids shoes ...but I digress. 

The Outcome is I believe still predetermined...I do not think the Ukraine can successfully repel Russia - but by Gawd they are giving it a hell of a try and Who Knows...

But most certainly, in the longer term, Putin's goose is cooked.  He has finally mobilized the Free World against Him and this will ultimately end in His imprisonment or death.   Count on it. 

One threat that I have yet to hear from the West is the promise to charge Him Crimes Against Humanity and take Him to the World Court ...with the end result being His Incarceration for Life.  That is even if he lives long enough to stand trial since I suspect his Rich Oligarchs will themselves send  him to Hell  as the Sanctions more and more take hold.  

Bye Bye Vladimir... It has not been nice knowing you. 

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell"

IT WAS INEVITABLE...

 I AM SPEAKING OF COURSE OF RUSSIA'S INVASION OF THE UKRAINE.

BUT IT REALLY WASN'T... AS REGULAR READERS OF THIS BLOG WELL KNOW.

IT CAME DOWN TO A FAILURE ON THE PART OF NATO AND SADLY...THAT FAILURE CONTINUES.

So permit me to recap.

All NATO had to do was first - admit the Ukraine into its Club years ago.

Even having failed to do that,,,it still could have flooded the Ukraine with Troops - lots of Troops.

The fact that it did not ,,, gave the Green Light to Putin to walk right in,

As for Sanctions and the Threat of Sanctions one Wagg correctly summed that up today as "handing out parking tickets to Russian Tanks".

Putin's Objective is patently obvious ...He wants the return of the olde USSR.

The West's Objective is much less clear.  Our Democracies are in Decline and the Will to fight for Freedom in recent years has become more and more impaired.  Added to this is the fact that several European Countries most notably Germany relies on Russian Oil and Gas and this has made them timid in their opposition to this Dictator.  It has become most apparent that their reliance on Green Energy has been pure folly.  They failed to realize that if they chose to shutter their Oil and Atomic Facilities Bad Guys like Putin and Xi would not do likewise.  I suspect this will be the beginning of a Rethink on Green - sadly too late for the Ukrainians. 

The Only Thing President Biden came out strongly against yesterday was stating categorically that US Troops would not be dispatched to the Ukraine.   (Justin Trudeau made the same declaration but in His case ithas understandable due to the fact that He is having trouble finding our one and only Soldier to send off to War.)

But seriously speaking ...they are both Wrong...Dead Wrong in fact but from a practical point of view they are merely echoing the wishes of their Citizens. 

And in the case of America you can almost understand their feelings - the Korean War ended in stalemate.. in fact it is technically ongoing even to this day.  Vietnam was an unmitigated disaster...as was Afghanistan.   

They did beat Saddam Hussein and Iraq but that too was a failure on 2 fronts - first, was the reason for that war ... was to abolish Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction which it turned out never existed.  Second and even more importantly - Iraq was an effective buffer against an even worse Evil Empire ...Iran. So they won the battle but lost the war ...so to speak.

This led to Their Failure in countries like Syria and the Middle East generally.  It has been one disaster after another, no wonder Americans are not at all anxious to get involved in another foreign war,

But they of course need to so, as does the whole of Europe, otherwise no country there will be safe and it will only be a matter of time when Putin acts again as he will. 

And guess who else is watching these events with utter glee?  Why Xi Jinping ...China's Dictator for Life of course.

And in His sights is the tiny island of Taiwan.  If I was them I would get out of Dodge...which of course they cannot do.  And Xi will most certainly do this ...just as it was preordained that Putin would do what he did.  I will go further...I can just hear Xi's Advisors telling Him to go into Taiwan now while the Free World is otherwise occupied with Ukrainian Invasion. 

Although I fully realize that I am wasting my time - if that same Free World...what is left of it - wanted to prevent the loss of Taiwan - all that would need to be done is for countries like the US, Japan and South Korea to flood the waters around Taiwan with War Ships.  That would stop China in its tracks but again - as in the case of Putin ...this will not in all likelihood happen.

Maybe the lesson for us in all of this is that maybe the time has come to take up learning Chinese and Russian...we may soon need it.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'