Iron Curtain Call (Reagan Wept, One.)

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
~Ronald Reagan

Today, there were huge demonstrations throughout Europe, which Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed by video uplink. All the sudden Europe and much of the world is united, and the Ukrainians are still fighting like hell, with even more supplies and weapons coming in so they can keep up the fight, even as Western corporations pull out of Russia or shut down operations and sanctions against oligarchs and Russia itself continue to pile up. I mean, seriously, when the International Cat Federation has banned you, that's saying something.

If Putin wanted to divide the EU and NATO, he's going about it the wrong way. In fact, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have all applied for membership. 

Plus, the Ukrainians are still beating the shit out of the Russian Army.

And Russian logistics and maintenance are still falling apart, as crazy as that may seem.

Here's a snip from a video of primarily Cold War-era equipment having just been entrained in the Russian Far East, that right there is a ZSU-23 Self-propelled quad Anti-Aircraft Gun system. So, Ivan wants to party like it's 1985? What? 

It's the type of weapon system the US Armed Forces pretty much got rid of by the early 1990's because missiles work better for that sort of thing.

A word of warning though, those damned things were fucking dangerous in urban combat against snipers and shit in Chechnya, turns out if you pour enough smaller-caliber fire into it, that'll wreck a building sure as a 120mm cannon shell, and the guns can elevate much higher. So maybe it's more "Party like it's 1995" after all.

So the fact that Ivan may be going...or stuck with...old school is not always going to be a good thing here. Some of this stuff is still in use because it actually works. 

Maybe it's not much good for its intended purpose, but it does work.

And people in places like Prague and Warsaw? They remember seeing that shit around, and knowing that their country was under default occupation by their "Fraternal Socialist Allies" or some such bullshit. And remember, that's what some people...both on the far-right and on the far-left...seem to want for America, nowadays.

And that happens only because These Fucking People think they or their shitty ideology or whatever would get something from it. It's not just that there's no better reason for it than that, there's simply no other reason at all.

While the media obsesses about dumb shit and Republicans find themselves caught with their arms buried up to the elbow in the Russian bear's ass, Ukrainians fight like hell and the Russian Army rips itself to pieces at their hands and due to logistical, mechanical and morale failures. 

Here's that 40-mile long convoy I keep hearing about, completely stalled due to a combination of Ukrainian attacks and vehicles running out of fuel. Hell, it'll take the Russians a month just to get this mess straightened up. That convoy isn't going anywhere forward for a long damned time, just the logistics of keeping it fueled seem like an epic-level soup sandwich. 

By comparison, it'd take a squadron of Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoots a couple of hours to turn that shit into a repeat of the Kuwaiti "Highway Of Death" during the first Iraq War.

But honestly, it's probably easier to just let it sit there and let the troops run out of food. That shit ain't going anywhere for awhile now. And people thought these motherfuckers were going to pose a threat to the EU and NATO?

I don't think so, Comrades. I think if the world wasn't so angry and disgusted, people would be laughing at you. Y'all can't even do preventative maintenance and tires right (Seriously, there's a hell of a thread about this on Twitter) how you gonna win a war?

For want of a nail...

It seems like there were a number of epochal miscalculations here.

That, and despite the threat of 15-year prison terms for protesting, and a ban on all independent media, there's still Russians taking to the streets and protesting, and evidently there's a shitload of people leaving Russia due to the possibility that martial law may be enacted.

It's funny how unpopular Vladimir Putin's ideal of an Imperialist "Holy Russian Empire" is not very popular with, you know, Russians.

But as Russia slides back into Soviet-era repression and mixes that with North Korean-style isolation, Republicans just can't wait to suck up to Putin, talk up all kind of dumb shit and in general keep prioritizing their own selfish, stupid bullshit over what's actually happening out there in the world.

These aren't the people with whom Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech resonated, not anymore, at least. And before we take on authoritarianism and nationalism over there, well, we have a problem with that shit right here, and right now, ourselves. 

We have an anti-American fifth column, and it's mostly composed of Republicans. We need to deal with that. 

I think Reagan would weep to see what's become of the Republican Party.

In 1987 the Gipper said "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" In 2022 Putin is going to slam the gate shut, and put up walls in a different place, and Republicans will cheer for it. There's an iron curtain hanging over Russia again and Putin is about to pull the rope to lower it. We'd best make sure it doesn't swallow up Ukraine, too.

Who the hell misses the Berlin Wall?

These Fucking People, I guess.

God, I hate this fucking timeline.

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