“Two nauseating, fearful pigs who hate what America stands for and whose every action is driven by their own weakness and insecurity, rubbing their snouts together and celebrating as innocent people lose their lives.” — Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary, Feb. 23, 202[...]
Archive for the ‘Russia’ Category
February 23rd, 2022 - 4:12 am § in Russia
Life in Luhansk (video)
Luhansk is in the portion of eastern Ukraine seized by Russia on February 22, 2022. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
Ukraine through Putin’s eyes
Western media likes to portray Putin’s mind as a mysterious and unknowable place. It’s true that predicting what he’ll do next is a guessing game. It’s also very likely true that emotion, as well as rationality, plays a role in his decision-making. (Isn’t that somewhat [...]
PHOTOGRAPHY: Russian persuasion
Artists reflect the cultures they live in. We have books Republicans don’t want schoolchildren to read; Russia has photography its government doesn’t want Russians to see — for example, this picture (read story here). Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
Trump lavishes praise on Putin’s move into Ukraine
From The Hill on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 (here): Former President Trump on Tuesday called Russia’s recognition of two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine a “genius” move ahead of its military invasion. In an interview on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,”[...]
Read the fine print before you vote
They always tell you to read the fine print before signing a contract, and that’s good advice. Voting for candidates is like a contract of sorts. They offer certain things in exchange for your vote — their experience, character, and promises. Instead of just voting for the “D”[...]
February 20th, 2022 - 3:09 am § in Russia
If I were Putin …
I’d set about reconstituting the Soviet-era Russian empire as the crowning achievement of my political career. I’ve already grabbed parts of it, including Georgia and Chechnya, and the strategic Crimean peninsula (for control of the Black Sea), and Ukraine is the next plum I’d pick[...]
February 20th, 2022 - 2:26 am § in Foreign Affairs, Russia
Did a teenage girl trigger the Ukraine crisis?
“Great wars sometimes start over small offenses. A murdered duke. An angered pope. The belief of a lonely king that his rivals aren’t playing fair,” Time magazine reminds us. And, Time says, “When historians study why armies began gathering in Europe during the plague of 2021, th[...]
Predicting wars is hard
The First World War, it is often said, was a war that no one wanted but just happened, unforeseeably triggered by an assassination of an unimportant royal in the periphery of Europe. (One of the best books on this subject is Barbara Tuchman’s “The Guns of August.”) Is it possible t[...]