Shaking Hands With The Devil.

I know there is a God, because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him and I have touched him. I know the devil exists and therefore I know there is a God. ~Lt. General Romeo Dallaire 

The Russians bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine today, injuring 17 people and destroying the hospital.

This is an attempt at Genocide.

This is a fucking war crime.

Why the fuck is the world putting up with this evil goddamned bullshit?

And of course, the reason this shit is happening in the first place, is that the Russians cannot defeat the Ukrainian Army. So, of course they go after innocent civilians, like cowards murderers and thieves, and the US Department of Defense is worried about provoking these sons of bitches? 

The Russians are deliberately trying to provoke the rest of the world to further actions against Russia and start a war with NATO, so that Putin can sunder in twain the present world order of things and bring back the bipolar world of the Cold War, along with his Soviet-era repression...because he knows even if he doesn't defeat Ukraine, even if Belarus won't fight for him and slips from his grasp, and he cannot resurrect the old Soviet Bloc...there are some countries that will follow him. 

All the EU, US and other Western brands are closing down operations in Russia...which #1 I understand, #2 It makes sense, BUT #3 I can't help feeling like it plays right into Putin's hands as regards his plans for Russia and whoever else he can drag down with him. He wants people to be forced to go back to the days of the Soviet Union.

And I have a feeling he's going to get exactly that, and his country and his oligarchs are going to lose a lot of money...but they can rewire their connections over time. The common people who are trapped in this system though...they sure can't.

Russia has been busy in places like the Central African Republic and Syria. Brutal wars, military aid and money making Russia the only game in town for major-power backing. Of course those with money and a desire to avoid Soviet-era privation can always interface with (and through) China which still does (and will keep doing) much business with the West

If these motherfuckers can provoke a showdown with NATO (and it looks like they're going to try some false flag chemical weapon attack to do exactly that as well as to rally their population against Ukraine) well, OK. And Putin will escalate and incite until we don't have a choice but to act. When we do intervene directly, what then? 

It will certainly rally all these "Z" motherfuckers around Putin and the war. Just like Republicans...as long as he has his energized base of supporters that can keep everybody else at arm's length, he's good. 

Additionally he has to keep enough of his people in the military and the police to prevent a coup, but he can probably do that. He can likely deter direct attack with nukes. So he's safe. Vlad doesn't give a shit about anybody else. 

More to the point, at the same time if he can provoke internal conflict in the United States, and maybe even get Republicans to try and break off a piece of America for themselves...who else are they going to turn to? It seems like those fucking people would happily volunteer to be Putin's and the Oligarchs gateway to Western comforts...and given that Miami seems to be a favorite place they go to get they dicks sucked it seems like Florida would be one of the places they try to incite something. 

Oh, wait, Florida Republican spewing bullshit Russian propaganda already. Why am I not surprised. Disgusted, yes, but not surprised.

I'm old enough to remember when Republicans considered Russians in general...and people like Vladimir Putin in particular...to be the Enemy, if not the Devil Himself.

Now they make excuses for that KGB Man, and spread his propaganda. Ronald Reagan would weep.

Meanwhile Belarusians in Ukraine, and members of the Belarusian opposition, are fighting to defend Kyiv.

What the hell is Republicans' excuse for their own behavior?

I mean, seriously, are all of these so-called "Conservatives" taking Russian money at this point??

I'm honestly starting to wonder about that.

And meanwhile, while American "Conservatives" bitch about gas prices and try to persecute transgender people the kids in Ukraine are wearing stickers to school that show their blood type in case something happens. I don't know about you, but I think that's kind of fucked up.

American Republicans think it's an existential crisis if they can't harm or persecute other people. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainians are fighting to defend their country and stay free. So of course, Republicans side with the invaders and would-be enslavers and oppressors, because the cruelty is the goddamn point.

Again, if it was us instead of Ukraine being attacked...or us and Ukraine being attacked...how many of these Republicans would fight to defend their country and their own freedom, and how many of them would just surrender because they don't want to be free?

And more to the point, they don't want anybody else to be, either.

Not only that, but Republicans seem to be profoundly offended by the idea of an entire society coming together to defend its own freedom.

Personally, I think they're telling on themselves. They don't just want to shake hands with the Devil, they'd gladly join his side if he'd let them hurt people they don't like. It's really that simple.

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. ~Ronald Reagan