Archive for March, 2022

Two Miscalculations The Biden Admin on Putin and the Biden Administration and Putin on Zelensky

Posted: March 3, 2022 by datechguy in war
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Lt Columbo: You know for a while there I thought: I’ll never get her. All those little details they just didn’t make it, there was nothing conclusive, and then I thought, It’s gotta be the money.

Mrs. Williams: What money?

Lt. Columbo: The ransom money. When a person engineers a false kidnapping they have to have the money hidden somewhere. Now it cleaned you out to raise the ransom. So I thought I gotta find a way to force her to use the ransom money. [to man bringing suitcase] thank you very much. You know seemed like a nutty idea to everyone, it did to my wife. But I believed in it because Mrs. Williams you have no conscience and that’s your weakness. Did it ever occur to you that there are very few people that would take money to forget about a murder? It’s didn’t did it? I knew it wouldn’t. No conscience, limits your imagination you can’t conceive of anybody being any different then what you are, and you’re greedy. And that’s why, bright as you are, and you’re bright, you believed Margaret could be bought.

Columbo: Ransom for a dead man 1971

If you want to know how we got to the point where we might actually be on the brink of a World War and a dramatic change in how countries choose to defend themselves its origin comes from two miscalculations.

As we’ve mentioned before the Biden administration practically invited the Russians to go into the eastern sections of Ukraine that have been fighting since the 2014 coup that put in the current government, they calculated they would recognize those areas, maybe move in some troops. the Biden Administration would say a few words and then take credit for preventing an invasion of Ukraine proper and it would be business as usual.

It didn’t work out that way.

Putin took one look at the American response and figured these pigeons were ripe for the plucking and decided to go all in. It made sense, a weak America, a Europe completely dependent on Russia for fuel and retaking Ukraine becomes a piece of cake, particularly when he figured that Ukraine would not be able to resist him very long.

That’s where the 2nd miscalculation came in for Both Putin & the Biden Administration.

With Putin moving in the Biden Admin figured the jig was up and the best move would be to get the president Zelensky out. They and the Obama folks had had years of good pickings in the region and they figured they would set him up somewhere comfortable he would keep his mouth shut about the various dealing that had gone on while occasionally putting in a good word for the good folks of the Biden Admin that got him and his out. They saw him as they saw themselves, just another grifter.

That’s where they’re both wrong.

The Ukrainian government is corrupt and Ukrainian companies have been involved in some shady dealings with the US left in general and the Biden family in particular but personal corruption and greed and bravery and love for one’s country are not mutually exclusive. It’s one thing to skim things from the top to enrich yourself, it’s another to leave your country and let it die at the hands of a traditional enemy. This was a shock to the Biden Administration and those running it

You see the Biden family the Biden administration and the folks who have been profiting from Ukraine are a bunch of amoral grifters who only care about themselves. They would never risk their lives in a seemingly hopeless cause when the could go off and live like a king and they could not conceive of the idea that Zelensky would decide to stay and fight. It wasn’t on their radar. Putin how deep the grift in Ukraine was might have figured the same but frankly should have known better.

When Zelensky bravely decided to not only stay but do so publicly in order to inspire his countrymen in their time of need every calculation of the Davos class went out the window and now the west is in pickle.

For the Biden Administration it’s the worst of all possible worlds. He looks weak no matter what happens and every day that Ukraine is the center of the world’s attention is a day that people might start asking uncomfortable questions that even the US media can’t protect him from.

For their media allies it’s a mixed bag, it’s a great story but they need it to end soon, both to protect the image of Biden and to keep people from asking too many questions.

For Europe it’s a defining moment. They don’t want world war three but they also don’t want to reward Russia, furthermore seeing that the US isn’t going to defend them they are going to have to decide to defend themselves and that means the assets of the elites are not immune.

For Russia it’s become a pretty bad situation. Even victory in Ukraine now comes at a high price because you have Germany rearming, Finland suddenly looking to join NATO and the west and the media seemingly united against him.

All of this comes from two miscalculations. What’s next? I’m not sure. If Putin was looking for a bright spot the STOU speech certainly was one, If the west was looking for a bright spot the seemingly mediocre performance of the Russian Army sure looks like one, but I think it’s going to be a couple of months before we really know what the score is over there.

The Most Hopeful Phrase of the Old Testament Which has Special Meaning at this Time

Posted: March 2, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Today is Ash Wednesday and the Beginning of Lent.

As we enter this Holy Season at a time of tumult and war let us remember today’s first reading at Mass and approach the day with hope:

Even now, says the LORD,
            return to me with your whole heart,
            with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
            and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
            slow to anger, rich in kindness,
            and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
            and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
            for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion!
            proclaim a fast,
            call an assembly;
Gather the people,
            notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
            gather the children
            and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
            and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
            let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
            and make not your heritage a reproach,
            with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
            ‘Where is their God?’”

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
            and took pity on his people.

There are many great word in the Old Testament but for my money there are no words more meaningful and more hopeful for all of mankind than these words from the 2nd Chapter of the book of Joel

May we take them to heart

Putin’s Has an Out that Biden Will Jump At (But will the Rest of the West?)

Posted: March 1, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

To the American Media and the Biden Administration (but I repeat myself) the War in Ukraine is a disaster, not because of the invasion, the loss of life, the human suffering and the violation of borders but because it has exposed to the entire world the weakness, fecklessness and incompetence that 81 million Americans supposedly voted for.

At the state of the Union address with Democrats facing electoral disaster even before this happen Biden is going to have to go up that and somehow try to look strong and paint a positive picture while all of this is going on. I suspect he will do a lot of waving the Ukrainian flag and talking about standing tough against Russia while at the same time doing all he can to keep America from returning to it’s energy independent days of the Trump administration which is the one way to actually checkmate Putin.

In short the Biden Administration needs an out. Fortunately for them Putin is in a position to provide them with one if he so chooses.

I submit and suggest that Putin’s base plan involved the two breakaway republics in the Ukrainian west east but seeing the Biden administrations’ weak response choose to roll the dice for the whole shebang and undo the government install in an Obama supported coup back in 2014.

Stronger than expected resistance from Ukrainians combined with a stronger than expected response from a surprisingly united Europe have become complications for Russia. As I noted yesterday the military facts on the ground might override those problems but if the cost gets to high Putin has one card that he can play at any time.

Putin can choose to make a deal whereby Russian troops move out of Ukraine Proper while staying in the two break away western sections. This would be a Godsend for Biden as it would not only give him the chance to claim a diplomatic success (albeit of a mess of his own making) but it would guarantee that the various corrupt activities that he and his family have been involved with in Ukraine stay off the radar.

Meanwhile Putin would have picked up what he wanted in the first place and would still have an army in a position to try again if he so chooses at a later date and of course the Ukrainians can claim a victory as well particularly as they had no prospect of chasing the Russians out of the west anyways.

This card is in Putin’s hand and can be played anytime the wild card is will a Europe now worried about Putin decide to play along?

If you asked me two weeks ago I would have said “yes” without hesitation it remains to see if they’ve been woken beyond their ability to go back to their days of slumber I mean cripes Germany is rearming (and amazingly that doesn’t seem to worry anyone).

Update: I accidently typed west when I meant east on the breakaway republics, thanks to the reader who spotted the error.

The Germans get on board

Posted: March 1, 2022 by chrisharper in Uncategorized

By Christopher Harper

One of the most important developments from the invasion of Ukraine is the apparent change in Germany’s government toward Russia.

The Germans have played footsy with the Russians for years, expanding economic ties with Moscow and weakening military forces, particularly with NATO.

In neck-snapping changes, Germany said it would send 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. That’s a reversal of Berlin’s policy since World War II of not supplying lethal weapons to other countries.

After the reversal, Chancellor Olaf Scholz went even further, announcing a massive overhaul of German security and defense policy. Berlin is stepping back from its decades-long entente with Moscow and is going all-in on NATO.

“Putin wants to establish a Russian empire,” Scholz said Sunday. The critical question, he said, is “whether we can summon the strength to set boundaries to warmongers like Putin.”

Scholz vowed to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, as all NATO members are supposed to do, and added $113 billion to the defense budget. The money will purchase weapons such as F-35 fighter planes and Israeli drones. 

Germany had slashed the number of main battle tanks from 5,000 in 1989 to 300 currently while reducing its armed forces from nearly 500,000 personnel to around 180,000.

It’s worth noting that Donald Trump called upon all NATO members to bump up their spending dramatically while he was in office—an action most European leaders rejected.

In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal noted: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to German politicians and voters who assumed diplomacy alone would secure Europe’s borders. It’s been an embarrassment to a government caught flat-footed by Mr. Putin’s marauding.” 

And that’s not all. Scholz vowed to cut Germany’s reliance on Russian energy, a reversal of a decades-long policy that enabled Berlin access to cheap energy but tied it ever closer to Moscow. Berlin gets more than half of its natural gas and a quarter of its oil from state-controlled Russian exporters.

Earlier this year, Joe Biden and Scholz removed all restrictions to constructing a new pipeline, the Nord Stream 2. Since the invasion, all work on the pipeline has stopped.

The next important step for Germany and other European members of NATO will be to insist on the provisions that an attack against one member is an attack against all.

Although Biden has said the United States will back any country that is attacked, it is critical to make sure troops are available to fight any Russian advances on any NATO country. 

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