So, I watched a bit of the Tucker interview of Putin – I wasn’t going to but everyone was ripping on Putin bringing up history back to the 8th century on it and mostly making out that it was ridiculous. It wasn’t.
Whether or not Putin actually believes it I can’t say, but what he is doing is making Russia’s legal claim to Ukraine. This is something alien to the American experience but it is something common to the larger Christian world: this is why dynastic wars used to happen. That is, disputes over who had the legal title to a bit of land. And in such things to lay out the clear succession of title was very important. It wasn’t a matter of people, it was a matter of land: who owned the land? And who did the land legally transfer to over time?
Land is very important in Russia – who has it, who is allowed to use it. The ancient Russian assembly was call the Zemsky Sobor – the assembly of the Russian land. Not the Russian people: the land. For them, it is all about land. What Putin lays out in the interview is the case that Ukraine originated as an integral part of Russia which was unfairly and unjustly taken away from Russia by foreign conquerors. Ukraine’s national identity – in Putin’s thinking – is a false thing manufactured by powers hostile to Russia. This is Putin’s justification for the war – and it is probably why he’s so far been able to sustain support for it, at least to the point of keeping a large army in the field. It is in line with Russian national feeling.
The bottom line is that we here in the USA – and the West overall – have to decide if this Russian irredentism is something worth fighting against? Additionally, is Putin’s aim merely the restoration of traditional Russian lands? Or does he have a goal of restoring the Empire of Alexander I? Ukraine and Belarus back under Moscow’s rule would be uncomfortable for Poland and Hungary but not a massive crisis. That can arguably be Russia…but if Putin wants Finland, the Baltics and Poland back? That becomes a bit of a problem.
But, in my view, still not an American problem. The EU outweighs Russia in every measure of potential power. The EU has more people, more money, more production capacity, better communications. On and on like that: Russia has more troops in uniform right now, but if the EU wanted, they could easily raise a military force of 20 million and massively outnumber the Russians with better equipped troops. What I’m saying is that if the EU wants to fight Russia, it will be a very one-sided fight resulting in a crushing Russian defeat.
But if the EU doesn’t want to do this, then why should I? I can see Poland’s concern here. But if Poland doesn’t raise an army and convince their neighbors to also raise armies, then why in heck should an American army be sent? The German army is about 67,000 troops. Out of a population of 84 million. The Polish army is 100,000. Out 30 million people. 118,000 in the French army out of 68 million people. These three nations, based on population and resources, should have standing military forces of 800,000, 300,000 and 600,000 respectively. These would not be large forces relative to population…but they’d have outnumbered the Russian army 3 to 1 on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine. These are not serious people. These are not people determined to defend themselves.
So, why should I?
Why should I send some kid from Kansas to die defending Kiev?
And Putin does propose to build something Christian. Maybe Putin is lying. He wouldn’t be the first Russian leader to do that. But the laws and the policy is still to promote the Christian theology and virtues. Meanwhile, over in the UK kids are being arrested for misgendering while in the Netherlands the government is trying to shut down Dutch farms to appease the weather god. I’m supposed to fight Russia? For Europe? So I can have more European commies come visit? More finger wagging about guns?
Really?
I don’t think so. I do not feel Russians to be my enemies. I feel no threat from Moscow. I do not want us to give another cent to Ukraine and I want us to withdraw from NATO. I’m done with this. World War Two as a long time ago. The world has changed. It is time we changed with it.
Blogs For Victory 
This is just too, I don’t know – “good” is not really the word I’m looking for, but too something not to share. Karma comes to mind. (hat tip Jeff Childers)
I have no idea why urban voters continue to vote Democrat, when all that party has done is destroy their cities and their way of life. Additionally, Democrats are currently giving reparations to illegal immigrants which has to upset inner city black families. You would think anyway
It was about three years ago, or a little less, when I wrote about driving through downtown Denver on Interstate 25 and seeing a man lying right next to the edge of the left-hand lane, barely in the tiny strip between the cars and the concrete barrier. I called 911 and after about 20 minutes gave up. I had just closed on my Denver house to use the funds to buy a house in Florida and I remember being so grateful that I no longer had ties to a city where I wouldn’t even be able to call for help in an emergency.
When Covid panic took hold, Denver took over the big beautiful convention center and another big venue, perhaps the Pepsi Center, and converted them into emergency hospitals, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars not to mention the lost revenue, and not a single doctor, nurse or patient was ever in either of them. When asked, then-mayor Hancock said that the convention center would still be used—they always need housing for the homeless.
Downtown Denver is just a mini-San Francisco, but with less publicity. There are homeless encampments on the sidewalks, feces and drug paraphernalia lying around, and stoned people passed out on the sidewalks. The 16th Street Mall used to be a destination, especially on nice summer nights, a place to stroll and shop and eat and ride the free shuttle. Now it is too dangerous to go there at night and it is a dump during the day.
Denver is in a death spiral, along with the whole state. BUT we are supposed to be excited about killing nearly two dozen wolves to capture five to set loose to ravage livestock and pets, with absolutely horrendous penalties for killing any of them. I guess it’s all about priorities.
re: Colorado DMV. A few years ago there was a problem with backup in the DMV offices. The policy was that people did not pay to take the tests and could retake them as often as they wanted, only paying a fee when a license was issued. The 50-Pound-Heads running the state were baffled by this, so they “fixed” it—by making the tests easier. Yes, they made it easier for less-educated people to get licenses. A rational administration would have charged to take the test and had a maximum of two or three efforts on any given day, with an additional fee when the license was issued. This would have had the effect of making people study at home, learning more about the rules and laws, and cut down on the impact on DMV employees. So naturally that approach was never considered.
Colorado is a hot mess, appealing now only to refugees from other blue states because SO FAR its taxation hasn’t quite caught up with them.
Just yesterday the Mayor of Minneapolis was begging people to stop working from home and go back to work, and that’s the other consequence of a political party that puts power over people. Office buildings in all big Democrat cities are less than 40% occupied, with restaurants and retail closing all around because all that’s left in those cities are homeless people and drug addicts.
The death of the Blue Cities was massively accelerated by Covid…which was fostered by the Left just to get the Bad Orange Man out. Well, they got him out! Now the city centers are dying…because they’re finding that an economy based on people working in offices is only sustainable until people realized that a computer can connect anywhere in the world. My former employer went full work from home – they even sold off their office building. There are now people who have worked there for a couple years and have never interacted with their team in person. Other companies – including mine – are trying to buck the trend with consultants telling them that it is better if people are physically present. This has got to be something generated by commercial real estate companies who are seeing property values crushed…all I distinctly recall about working in the office was people bothering me all day. At home, I am vastly more productive and content (for goodness sake, just think of the time and money I save just by not having to commute!).
The cities can revive and I think they should…but they will have to become once again industrial centers. Places where things are physically made. That will take Protection and Hard Money, like what we had when America rose to economic dominance. Steel mills. Furniture and clothing factories. That sort of stuff – all done very modern, of course and still requiring not 25% of the labor force of the old factories, but still concentrated in the cities and thus providing an economic reason for being.
The list of ways the Left is ignorant about economics is really really long. This is a great example—-what did they think would happen to the commercial real estate market when businesses no longer need office space? What did they think would happen to support industries, from coffee shops to dry cleaners to restaurants and drug stores, when people no longer spend their days at work in cities?
I am only about 30 minutes into the interview and will have to watch the rest later, but I was fascinated by Putin’s history account. The Russian people are deeply rooted people who think generationally and protect their country … unlike Americans. They are nationalists with, IMHO, zero intentions of moving past Ukraine which is probably why we see Poland and Germany so disinterested in this conflict and something of which destroys the American narrative. But Democrats need boogeymen and Putin and Trump have served those roles well for them so they only have one choice … continue their lies. One thing Democrats are good at … finding things to be afraid of
Can you imagine how much life must suck for those whose primary motivation is to find things to be afraid of and look for ways to be offended?
No I can’t. I have never been that way, and certainly don’t want that quality in a leader.
Again—Cause or Effect? Does being an inherently negative person draw one to the Left, or does Leftism poison otherwise fairly normal brains and make them toxic?
Russia is always an interesting country – not quite West, not quite East. And the Russians, themselves, are schizophrenic about it passing in turns between Westernizing and Slavophile sentiments. The Great Schismatic Power, as it has been called.
From what I understand, also, Russians have a whole etiquette about lying and if you ain’t Russian, you probably won’t be able to figure it out. It has to do with lies that are serious and lies that are for fun. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878 called to settle affairs after the Russo-Turkish War, the assembled delegates hammered out a new map for the Balkans and everyone agreed to it, Russia included. But just before it was to be signed, the Russian delegation slipped in a different map which was quickly discovered. Why in heck would they do that? No outsider can really say…it was just some weird Russian gambit.
So, one has to be careful. And Russians usually have an inferiority complex combined with a persecution complex. But they also are very clear eyed about Russian interests.
Update: I idly looked over Alexander Gorchakov who was Russian Foreign Minister during the Congress of Berlin and found that Russian issued a stamp in his honor in 2023!
Gorchakov’s great triumph was getting Bessarabia restored to Russian rule…today, we know of Bessarabia as Moldova and its on the western border of Ukraine.
I’m thinking that Putin isn’t going to quit.
Here’s another win …
SIGN OF THE TIMES: British Labor Party Scraps $35 Billion Yearly ‘Green Industries’ Spending Pledge in Major Policy Turnaround
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/sign-times-british-labor-party-scraps-35-billion/
Dr. Malone reviews “The Great Campaign: Against the Great Reset” by Jason Jones.
From his review:
To me it is all groping towards a Distributist future, with the core ideal being sought that of individuals, families and local communities running themselves without an overseer. It is the real solution because it even allows the most insane Left areas to be as insane Left as they want…if that’s what the individuals, families and local community of the area wants, then have at it. Enjoy! I just won’t be visiting; or if I do it’ll just be to point and laugh.
The insane desire to have centralized control and uniformity of laws and customs which grew out of the French Revolution has been the bane of the world for two centuries and it is collapsing right before our eyes. You really can’t control – all you can do if you try is oppress and destroy.
According to a new lawsuit filed in December on behalf of two media organizations, those being The Daily Wire and The Federalist, as well as the State of Texas and AG Ken Paxton versus the U.S. Department of State (the State Department) through its Global Engagement Center (GEC) and various US government officials, it is alleged that the defendants are actively intervening in the news-media market to both censor and limit the circulation of disfavored press outlets. These illegal activities are being done covertly to suppress speech of the American press, and are a direct violation of the first amendment of the US Constitution. Furthermore, as the State Department is only authorized to spend taxpayer dollars for the administration of foreign affairs, this program also violates its Congressional mandate.
…………………………..
Note that the suit alleges that federal agencies are in violation not just of their own charters but of the Constitution of the United States, using and abusing their powers to suppress political opposition and advance the power of a specific political system which is antithetical to that of the stated and legal system of the United States.
This is actually closer to insurrection than a riot or demonstration, as it is the usurpation of government power and substitution of a political system not allowed by our Constitution.
Someone finally created a meme aimed at Fielding and Casper:
LOL
ROFL
All of the world’s power centers are facing financial woes that most people are unaware of. For example, the Chinese stock market is experiencing a meltdown reaching their lowest point in years, just last week. The CCP has banned shorting and selling stocks in an (illegal) effort to stabilize their market. Still, an estimated 200 million Chinese have investments in their market and are expressing anger and pleading for help in saving their investments.
The Chinese stockholders have expressed anger on social media over the “only buying no selling” rule.
Meanwhile, the CCP has put a huge amount of national funds into the stock market to help stop the plunge in Shanghai and Hong Kong stock indexes through state-owned firms, which is known as “national team rescuing” the Chinese financial market.
Frank Xie, associate professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina Aiken and an Epoch Times columnist, wrote on Feb. 9 that even though the CCP’s “national team” blatantly violated market principles to rescue the stock market, their actions have had little effect and the stock market will continue to fall.
“The number of individual investors in China accounts for more than 95 percent. Although the proportion of their shareholdings is not too high (most are held by institutional investors), these funds account for almost 100 percent of their personal and family disposable income, and their endurance for the ups and downs of the stock market is also very fragile.”
I suspect there will be a great deal more financial turmoil across the world, largely because of evil manipulation from both criminal enterprises and governments. But more than that, I see this as an example of God’s hand at work, where evil will fall prey the misdeeds of their own making. One question we won’t be able to answer until the dust settles is, how much damage will the innocent suffer?
Adding to China’s woes, a new discovery of rare earth minerals has been found in the state of Wyoming. Prior to this find, an estimated 95% of all rare earth minerals were mined in China. In an effort to maintain their dominance, China has announced a ban on rare earth mineral extraction.
The United States could soon surpass China as the world leader in rare earth minerals and, therefore, break its dependency on the communist country after more than 2.34 billion metric tons of these minerals were discovered in the state of Wyoming.
According to the Daily Mail, American Rare Earths Inc. announced that the reserves near the town of Wheatland dramatically surpass China’s 44 million metric tons, adding that it exceeded all of their expectations after drilling only about 25% of the property.
While this could actually be a new discovery, I have a feeling that this find was known for some time and kept quite until such time where it could be used to negatively affect adversarial activity.
We’ve become so dependent on modern technologies, that any disruption of its use could cause considerable hardship and unrest. While I don’t relish the thought, a part of me would welcome things that would bring reality to today’s snowflakes who know almost nothing of having to deal with true adversity and suffering that exceeds their woke sensitivities.
https://headlineusa.com/massive-rare-earth-minerals-discovery-in-wyo-could-break-americas-dependence-on-china/?utm_source=HW_EMAIL_NSP1400&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HWemail
Trump Unleashes Criticism on ‘Disloyal’ Taylor Swift, ‘Liberal’ Travis Kelce
Yet again, another instance where Trump is vocal in a way that most likely won’t help him and more likely will work against him. Like it or not, Swift has a significant fan base. Trash her, along with her boyfriend Kelce, and many of their followers will take it personal, people who might have voted for Trump who won’t now (stupid as that may be). I have no idea what he thinks he gains by this. I’m guessing he feels since he signed some legislation meant to safeguard singers, they should all be obligated to him. He ego just doesn’t seem to understand when it’s best to say nothing, or at least how to be far more tactful. This isn’t much different than Bidum trashing blacks telling them, if you don’t vote for me then you’re not black. When they blurt out these gaffes, It appears neither Trump or Bidum understand the dynamics of voter mentality.
Trump’s targets should be the ones who are most dangerous to the survival to the US, crooked politicians, judges, prosecutors, billionaires who use their wealth to subjugate people, etc. His target should NOT include fellow republican / conservative members who are fighting the good fight, such as DeSantis, pro-life people who are among his strongest backers, people who speak out against the tragedies of the covid lockdowns and the devastation of the jab, etc. Not sure if Trump doesn’t have any PR people, or if he does, they give him terrible advice or my guess, he just doesn’t listen to them.
https://headlineusa.com/trump-unleashes-criticism-on-disloyal-taylor-swift-liberal-travis-kelce/?utm_source=HUSA_EMAIL_NSP0730&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HUSAemail
This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy about Trump. His infantile petty obsession with the concept of “loyalty” and his pouting when he doesn’t get what he thinks he somehow deserves just dilutes perception of him as a competent man.
I’m guessing people try to talk sense to him, and he just doesn’t listen to them.