Tide of war in Ukraine

After all the hot air in the world media following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the war is settling into a steady grind where the Russians are gaining the upper hand after adjusting their strategy.

They are sticking to their narrative of a “special operation”, rather than all out war, and they are succeeding in the east and south of Ukraine with Crimea now being connected by a Russian controlled land bridge to Russia itself.

Much has been made of Western support for Ukraine’s military but this has not translated into actual gains on the front lines for the Ukrainian army, other than what early shipments of shoulder mounted anti tank missiles managed to do, mostly.

Meanwhile the Russians have adapted to this deadly threat by using long range weapons to reach their targets, instead of tanks and such.

And as far as the Ukrainians bringing long range guns supplied by the West to the front lines, the Russians have total air superiority in Ukraine and can interrupt the supply lines for these weapons at will, on land or at sea.

My best guess is that the Russians will proceed to consolidate their position in the east and south of Ukraine and have a ‘vote’ on whether the locals will remain with Russia. Along the same pattern used in Crimea which has a sizable Russian population, as does Eastern Ukraine.

Complex problem

On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik dresses in a police uniform, loads a van with home-made explosives, and drives to Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter in Oslo, Norway. He leaves the van outside the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Moments later, it explodes, causing several casualties.
On the island of Utøya in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud, teenagers have arrived for Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp, organized by the ruling Labour Party. When they learn of the bombing, one student, Viljar Hanssen, calls his parents to make sure they are unhurt.
Breivik arrives at the ferry landing and informs staff that he is a police officer, sent to secure the island following the attack in Oslo. The camp director transports him to the island by boat. Breivik instructs the staff to gather the children in one location. When the head of security asks for ID, Breivik shoots him and the director dead. The children flee as Breivik opens fire, murdering dozens.

On May 24, 2022 nineteen children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County on Tuesday, making the massacre the deadliest school shooting in Texas’ history.
Apart from the guns used being similar in these two mass murder events, the perpetrators had a lot in common as well: Young men alienated from society over a long period before turning violent.

The gun regulations in the US and Norway are vastly different, but neither perpetrator had any difficulty in acquiring the hardware needed for their enterprises.

And the signs were there for a long time before the mass murders took place. So maybe we need to take more interest in our fellow human beings in order to minimize explosive events like these?

Gun control

The recent shooting of school children in Uvalde, Texas, has once again raised the ire of gun control advocates. It happens every time a high profile mass murder takes place.

Why are Americans so reluctant to implement gun control legislation?
For the same reason that many Canadians are opposed to it as well:
Americans don’t trust their government of the day. Neither do we.

And there is recent evidence for our case. In the face of a peaceful demonstration in Ottawa last winter, Prince Justin and his buddies used the Emergencies Act, based on their own paranoia and need to massage their egos, to crack down on their political opponents.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland publicly gloated about her new found power to close selected citizens’ bank accounts, based on her own whims as to who might be an undesirable character.

The result? A bank run started when people, desperately wanting to protect themselves from this idiocy, wanted to withdraw their money from bank accounts.

Under Prince Justin and his Idiocracy, Canada is a banana kingdom where restrictive gun legislation is only serving the interests of the establishment.

Drought

Living close to the prairies in Central Alberta, Canada, for 30+ years,
I have been a keen observer of weather. Over the last three years I have served on the board of the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance.

This non-profit society serve as the designated Watershed Planning and Advisory Council for the Red Deer River watershed comprising some 50,000 square kilometres, under the Government of Alberta’s Water for Life Strategy.

And now things are coming to a head where we are entering into a second summer of severe drought, which is happening in the North Western United States as well.

At this time water flow rates in our rivers in Central/South Alberta are well below normal for this time of year, indicating depleted shallow ground water reserves.

Thankfully, the snowpack in the mountains is reported as being petty well normal which should ensure that our water reservoirs (Like Gleniffer Lake where I live) will be filled up over the summer.

Periods of drought are not new on the Canadian prairies, the last major one being in the 1930ies, during the Great Depression, also called the “dirty thirties” when dry topsoil was blown around by great winds and into peoples’ homes and literally moved from one farm to another some times by the wind.

Sad to say, but the only time we really appreciate the value of something is when we lose it. And that goes for water as well.

Violent weather

We are now heading into the Northern summer and early high temperature events have already been reported from southern Europe and Eastern Turtle Island (North America). Associated with them are severe thunderstorms as cold dry air masses collide with warm and humid ones.

At the same time we are building massive solar and wind farms in order to generate renewable energy in places all over the world, including offshore wind farms.

The question arises: How vulnerable are these structures to violent weather events that are now increasing on an annual basis? Picture those rows and rows of solar panels just being peeled off a field like pieces of paper by a passing tornado.

Or windmills being twisted and blades shredded by same?

In contrast, nuclear plants can be placed in “geosafe” (non seismic) locations with minimal exposure to wind and weather.

And if the sun doesn’t shine and the wind declines to blow, they are still merrily working away, keeping us warm or cool as the case may be.

That is exactly what we would do if we were to set up shop on an alien planet with violent unpredictable weather. Which is what our Earth is beginning to look like.

Weather waves

One way of looking at the temperature aspect global weather is that of wave action. In other words, temperature variations plotted on a global graph resembles waves travelling around, along with other indicators like air pressures, winds, etc.

From my experience it looks like the size and duration of these waves are on the increase with longer periods of hot and cold weather, both.

Here on the Canadian prairies that was definitely the case during last summer’s heat wave and long severe cold snap during the winter that was.

The same is true of precipitation with huge amounts of rain/snow fall in some places and drought (like we are now experiencing in Central Turtle Island (North America) at present.

So, climate change is not coming in the form of a smooth rise in temperatures world wide as one might expect. Instead we are witnessing increased wave action in many weather indicators.

And that will have major implications for world agricultural production, along with wars and pestilence. Welcome to our brave new world.

Dictators' dilemma

News today is that both Sweden and Finland have applied for NATO membership. This is exactly the opposite of what Putin wanted when he attacked Ukraine.

He also expected to see his tanks roll into Kyiv and take that city within a few days of the February 24. That did not happen. So what went wrong?

How could an astute dictator who has survived 20 years in office blunder in his decision making to the point of seeing his troops driven back by a “ragtag” Ukrainian army?

No doubt a mystery to Putin, but not to the rest of us, and History. Another guy in a similar position to Putin made the same mistake when he launched operation Barbarossa against the then Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.

Having surrounded himself with “Yes men” during the early days of WWII, Adolf Hitler launched an all out offensive against the communist super power in order to create “lebensraum (living room)” in the east for Germans who were supposed to become the landed gentry in those parts.

The people that gravitate towards a dictator are those that massage his ego with what he wants to hear, and gain power and influence for themselves in the process.

Based on Putin’s misguided decision making, there is every reason to believe that he also fell into this trap, beginning to believe himself to be infallible, like Adolf Hitler did. Somehow connected to a higher power acting as a guide to protect “Mother Russia”.

To me, the big question is this: Is Putin, the former security agent, another stooge of history, like Hitler, the former corporal was? A tool in the hands of other people up to no good?

Rising stakes in Europe

News this morning is that Finland is set to join NATO asap and Sweden will likely follow suit. Exactly the opposite of what Putin wants. Meanwhile, Russian forces are reportedly being driven back in the north of Ukraine around Kharkiv.

This goes to show how badly the Russian dictator has miscalculated outcomes after his attack on Ukraine on February 24. Based on bad military advice he greatly overestimated the effectiveness of the Russian armed forces in the face of a well equipped and trained enemy.

History should have taught him that the winners of wars are usually those that have access to ongoing war supplies and so can wear down the enemy, as the Soviet Union did, with Western help during WWII. And that supply of war materials is now available to Ukraine.

Putin completely miscalculated the reaction of Ukrainians to the “special operation” because of his limited perspective on how the people in that former Soviet republic feel about their present lifestyle, as compared to one under Russian domination.

He is also faced with increasing unrest among young Russians, who have developed a taste for the Western lifestyle and don’t necessarily listen to their parents very much. And they are being sacrificed in this war to appease the dictator and the mindset of his cohort.

Now, Putin is feeling the steel ring of NATO closing around his neck and his reaction is becoming increasingly unpredictable. The outcome is that the will and mood of one individual determines the fate of millions of people, as Europe and the rest of the world found out the hard way in WWII.

The big winner in all this? As always, the financial/military/industrial complex on both sides of the conflict. Losers? The rest of us.

Ukraine - new Korea

Is history repeating itself?

“The fighting ended on 27 July 1953 when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was ever signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict.” (Wiki)

Will the war in Ukraine end up in a stalemate between the West and Russia not unlike what happened in Korea, where a state of war still technically exists?

And Russians settling in behind a new iron curtain, conducting trade through China and India, principally?

The Russians will likely hang on to their gains in the south and east of Ukraine, including Crimea and let the Americans prop up the rest of that country, as they have been doing all along, with a $40 billion handout announced today.

The Russians may not be adverse to a new iron curtain, because it will insulate young Russians from the “corrupting influences” of the Western “neo-nazies”, a term used to remind Russians of what was done to them during WWII.

On April 30, 1971, I stopped over briefly in Moscow, on my way from Sydney, Australia to Oslo, Norway and along with fellow passengers was given a conducted tour through the city, including the Red Square.

It was like the clock had suddenly been put back 40 years to pre-WWII Europe with old buildings everywhere and hardly anybody in the streets. And a young tour guide that proudly espoused the virtues of Communism.

Russians have been continuously vilified in the Western main stream media, for quite some time now by our presstitutes, as cheats and liars, so you can’t blame them for telling the West what it can go and do to itself.

Inflation - deflation

Two sides of one coin: Instability. That’s what we have in economies across the world at this time.

Right now, prices are going up rapidly on all manner of goods and services, with energy/food being major ones, as well as the cost of borrowing money which feeds into prices as well.

Raising interest rates is a tool used by central bankers to try to slow down price increases in an economy, but it has to be used with a great deal of caution lest people stop buying goods and services to the point of causing a deflation in prices.

From a central banker’s point of view it is like driving a big truck with a sloppy steering:

You turn the wheel a bit one way and the truck start sliding out in that direction. You try to compensate by turning the wheel the other way, and by the time you notice a change in direction, you have had to apply quite a bit of pressure (change interest rates) on the wheel.

That’s when things (the truck) can go sideways and when the driver (central bank) can lose control.

And energy/food shortages and wars are like ice on the road.

Who is the world's bully?

From World Population Review:

"Top 10 Countries with the Highest Military Expenditures (2020):

The United States — $778 billion

China — $252 billion [estimated]

India — $72.9 billion

Russia — $61.7 billion

United Kingdom — $59.2 billion

Saudi Arabia — $57.5 billion [estimated]

Germany — $52.8 billion

France — $52.7 billion

Japan — $49.1 billion

South Korea — $45.7 billion"

Conspicuous conflicts since the end of WWII:

Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and others, with the US as a major player.

And now those budgets are set to go up right across the board as the war in Ukraine drags on and the financial/military/industrial complex profits from the death and destruction.

When empires cash

The war in Ukraine is not a war between two countries, Russia vs Ukraine. It is a war between the Western Empire, led by the US and the re-emerging Russian Empire.

Ukraine is the meat in the sandwich, located in a strategically vital place for leverage by either empire, over the other. And, as empires have come and gone over the last thousand years or so, not much has changed. Access to the Black Sea and the world’s oceans has seen to that.

The Ukrainian army has received training and weapons from the West for many years now and the present version of the Ukrainian state has been propped up by Western capital for the longest time with installed politicians and their connections to New York which is the hub of the Western Empire

So, when Ukrainian armed forces sank the Black Sea Russian flagship, the Moskva, they did so with detailed intelligence information from American satellites. In fact, the Ukrainian armed forces probably know more about Russian troop movements on the ground, than Russians know about Ukrainian operations, in spite of Russian air superiority.

As Ukraine is now being carved up by two empires, its people are the victims, as always. As are Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and conscripts on the ground.

The other day I watched some colour enhanced film footage from WWI with related narrative and was struck by the fact that nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing. We are still allowing self appointed old men to slaughter our women, children and young people in order to feed their perverted egos.

Norwegian way

“On Oct. 31, 1807, Denmark joined the continental alliance against Britain. In response, Britain blockaded the sea route connecting Denmark and Norway. Grain shipments from Denmark to Norway stopped, and Norwegian exports could not get out.”

From 1940 to 1945, Norway was occupied by some 285,000 German troops and needed food help from Denmark to feed its population.

Right now, Norwegian agricultural producers are in the middle of negotiations with the Norwegian government to set prices for agricultural products for the upcoming year and income subsidies for farmers.

My fellow Norwegians learnt the hard way that food availability is more important than money, when push comes to shove, and have no problem in paying for having a viable agricultural sector.

That in contrast to North America and Australia where producers take whatever markets give to them in return for their products and hope for the best and some government handouts and loans if things go sideways.

Norwegians also see agricultural policies as an integral part of their defence strategy: Small rural communities are kept financially viable along with communications infrastructure, making the nation more able to counter a possible enemy attack.

So, in this case “socialism” can be seen to make sense.

M.A.D. not very likely

Mutually assured destruction has been an idea on the political map since the days of the cold war between Russia and the West.

If the nuclear arsenals on both sides of the fence were to be unloaded simultaneously on the opponent, nuclear winter would ensue and those that didn't get fried by nuclear radiation would basically die from starvation and hypothermia in the years following the nuclear exchange.

The war in Ukraine is now building in intensity and the Russians are finally beginning to target transportation infrastructure, like railways and airports, bridges included, that are used to move foreign military aid and politicians to Ukraine for grandstanding photo ops with Zelenski.

Meanwhile the military/industrial complexes of both sides are the ones gaining from this conflict, including the financiers that make it possible, who in turn control the politicians on both sides.

And those folks are not interested in winning or losing a war. They just want to keep it going for as long as possible, and get another one started when this one peters out: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and now Ukraine.

So, it is very unlikely that nuclear mass destruction will be unleashed unless one party is pushed into a corner to the point of acting in desperation.

And the powers that be will make sure that this does not happen because it does not serve their interests.

War - new normal?

As the novelty of a new war in Europe wears off and life settles down and adopts to ongoing conflict, one can speculate on longer term implications.

The continuing demand for munitions and all manner of war supplies will mean a change in the production of goods and services to that end, away from consumer goods.

The military/industrial complex will grow in power and influence and will demand more and more financial support from society at large in the form of money printed by central banks at our expense.

Citizens will be subjected to harsher laws so as to enforce compliance with the requirements of the state, controlled by cliques of warmongers like Prince Justin and his crew here in Kanuckistan.

Is it all part of the NWO Great Reset?

Once again, please read George Orwell's novel "1984". The script is all laid out in detail and it is entertaining in a dark kind of way.

Ominous sign

Rumour has it that Russia is about to mobilize its people. In the longer term that means that the whole Russian economy will be transformed into a machine producing and consuming that which is required for prolonged warfare.

Factories will be retooled from consumer goods production to war goods production and people will be commandeered to carry out whichever jobs are needed to support the war effort.

Nothing new here. It has happened, oh so many times in the past and the Russians are good at it, based on the command economy that existed during the Soviet era.

And watching Russian mobilization, the peoples of Finland and Norway, for example would be tempted to follow suit, based on what happened during WWII.

Increased paranoia on both sides could lead to active hostilities at some point as weapons supplied by the West are killing an awful lot of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

An escalation in hostilities is all but a certainty. It remains to be seen how quickly this will happen.

Democracy and all that

In the West, "democracy" is held up as the epitome of all political systems. From a young age we are told to defend our democracy at all costs, or lose our freedoms.

Going to the ballot box with our vote is promoted to be the civic duty of every citizen. And if you don't do it, there is no cause for complaints against the outcome of an election. Period.

As usual, the devil is in the details: In a representative democracy like Canada you are voting for a name on a ballot attached to a political party 99% of the time.

And that party is usually controlled by a small group of "apparatchicks" that say yay or nay as to who the approved candidates for office are. If some of them don't like you, forget it.

In my area here in West Central Alberta, Canada, former County Reeve Tim Hoven found that out the hard way recently when he attempted to submit his name as an alternate candidate for sitting UCP MLA Jason Nixon in the upcoming provincial election in 2023. Jason had too many friends inside the party.

So, in effect, the 'democracy' we live under is controlled by small cliques of people waving a banner in front of us all, all the while practicing oligarchy instead.

That is very much true on the national level as well, where the dudes in the office of the prime minister effectively run the show while the parliamentarians enjoy their talkfest at our expense.

"Democracy" comes from the Greek and means "people rule".

In Greece that effectively meant a relatively small elite who used slaves captured in wars to give themselves the good life.

Not much has changed since then.