Meme of the Week
I watched the first three episodes of the new billion-dollar series “Rings of Power” and I’m frankly bored of the rings. Somebody blew a billion. The first season’s cost was $462 million. It’s very politically correct. I wanted to give the show a proper airing before I shot a black orc arrow through it.
The War in Ukraine
There have been a number of reports of a significant Russian defeat in the war and I didn’t comment on it because there is a lot of propaganda floating around.
Historically, there have been a number of “bulge offensives” that were unable to sustain themselves but in this case, the Russians appear to have been routed.
The First Guards Tank Army is the premier Russian armored force and if they have been all but destroyed in the field, and providing that the advance by Ukraine forces can be sustained, the static situation along the 1700-mile front has changed.
I’m not even bothering to watch. And yes, Ukraine IS kicking ass and taking names. The truth is Russia cannot maintain the logistics tail it needs, since its never really HAD to do logistics and now it’s showing…
It’s a very small – pathetically short – logistics train and yet they can’t keep their troops supplied in summer, in good weather across a shared border. Additionally, you know that the Russian troop morale is suffering and the Ukrainians are fighting for hearth and home.
“the Ukrainians are fighting for hearth and home.”
Maybe so. But I get the feeling the real reason behind all this unpleasantness is for the goals and glory of the Zelenskyys and the Kolomoiskiys and their ilk. That’s the trick isn’t it? Maneuver your subject peoples into a position where they end up having to do the fighting and dying for you, because the lives of their families are tied to your objectives.
The American (for values of “American”) neocons, for all their vermin-like rapacity, and admittedly successful track record of getting the US to piss away lives and treasure, have not quite managed this. People are openly noticing that the interests of the Kristols [1], and the Boots, and the tubby Vindmans are not necessarily those of the normal American.
[1] Kristol père et fils: a sad example of reversion to the mean, from the genuinely talented father to the decidedly mediocre son; alas.
As to QE2 biopic: You lie! You lie vilely, sirrah! That’s an XX cis-woman in that photo. And that’s a travesty. QE2 must be played by a non-passable transvestite.
Well of course. At the risk of repeating myself from an earlier blog post:
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child
Take up the White Man’s burden
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
There is nothing special about the elite standing back and sending the flower of the nation’s youth to be slaughtered for your benefit. I mean, that’s the pattern of mankind from Day One.
I yoked my life to the nation’s standard myself and metaphorically took the King’s shilling. Why should the Ukrainians be any different?
When you’re old like me, you hang your gongs on the wall to remind yourself of what you did…
“nothing special about the elite standing back and sending the flower of the nation’s youth to be slaughtered”
Fair enough. But this looks to me like dying for a foreign elite. And even then, there’s gradations of hypocritical suck. This is worse than sending Saxon lads out to die for Norman lords. At least the Normans were openly conquerors and didn’t whinge about how they were historically so oppressed by those beastly Saxons.
I disapprove of oppressors. I really really disapprove of oppressors claiming to be victims.
I’ve got a few “Remove Before Flight” ribbons that have sentimental value….
Mike_C : I disapprove of oppressors. I really really disapprove of oppressors claiming to be victims.
While I agree that the Ukes are not pure as the driven snow or anything, the same phrase applies equally to the Russians.
-Kle.
@Kle. I’m not talking about Ukrainians, nor Russians. Not ethnic Slavs at any rate. I’ve named explicitly who I’m talking about: The masters of “let’s you and him fight.”
It’s like Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the so-called “zombie-ant fungus” that takes over the nervous system of an ant and causes the ant to expend all its vitality on the needs of the hijacking parasite. The death of one ant is a scientific curiosity. The destruction of entire societies, including MY damn society (I speak of course of the FUSA) is not only a tragedy, it’s a monstrous crime.
I know who you’re talking about Mike_C, and they are jerks.
I’m just saying that the Russians are jerks too, if, possibly, very slightly smaller jerks.
It’s the 21st Century’s Spanish Civil War, there aren’t any Good Guys to be found in the field.
It’s unfortunate that the Russians don’t seem capable of being our friends (or anyone’s, really… friendship requires at least a little trust), but there it is. And since they are always going to be unfriendly, then sticking our thumb in their eye whilst staying short of the Apocalypse threshold seems to me to be a lot less bad than most of the things the current local Junta is throwing away our money on.
-Kle.
What have the Ukrainians ever done for the US, besides paying off the sons of high placed politicians? They would have saved a lot of Ukrainian lives if they had released all the info about that right before the last election. I doubt Putin would have invaded without the great ballot getter from Deleware in office.
Do you have the feeling that they are blackmailing FJB?
“Give us that $3Billion or we reinstate that prosecutor.” ($13 billion and miscounting with more to come. Don’t ask about an audit trail or if the Swiss will seize any of it on request of the next president)
Yes, of course the Queen must be played by a black queen.
You do have a sense of equity, don’t you?
Are the Armed Forces of Ukraine really doing the fighting or are they just filling in after US/NATO bosses and equipment do the heavy lifting and OJT?
I’m sure that there are a lot of Ukrainians dying. There are no casualty numbers, and there is no telling whether the surviving cripples and the widows of the fallen will get pensions (depends on the largess of the oligarchs). BUT I’m sure that there is dying.
LL, no doubt about the dying. I am waiting for the UN presentation on the labs and for a bit more exposure of who is really making the decisions and doing the shooting.
There really aren’t much in the way of effective non-US NATO forces any more, I mean Italy has about as big and at least as effective a force as the UK now, and as we discovered in Afghanistan, we (and the Soviets) seem to have whipped the Germans so bad in my dad’s time, that they no longer have the ability nor inclination to fight.
As for US forces doing the heavy lifting for the Ukes, yeah, nope.
We’re giving them craploads of support and very likely “advisors”, and all kinds of recce, SIGINT, electronic stuff, etc. However, there are zero US tanks / infantry vehicles spearheading the Uke offensive. And before anybody suggests we have troops / mercs operating Uke equipment, I’m pretty certain that the vast majoprtiy of them would mutiny if someone told them to go to war in a T-72 or BMP.
The Spooks might have some creeps in theatre, but I doubt they are doing the heavy lifting for the Ukes, either.
It turns out that (surprising even to me, who always thought it was a lot of talk and not much action) the Russians just actually suck that bad. Go figure.
-Kle.
Agree with Old NFO that I won’t even bother to watch “Rings of Power”.
There is still no “good guy” to root for in the Ukraine/Russia war. I do wonder if there is someone somewhere to keep track of the graft from all the aid. This will end up like Kosovo writ large and we will still be sending the aid and munitions a decade from now. Some of it may even get to the people who really need it.
Don’t forget Afghanistan.
You are right. We are still to this day still sending billions to Afghanistan. Makes me want to go out in the fields behind my house and just scream at the moon.
A good primal scream purges a lot of pent up angst…at least for a few seconds before the Morons in Charge move onto their next insane refill agitator.
But don’t let the neighbors hear you…Red Flag laws are dubious at best, “Officer he has an assault scream and I’m fearing for my safety.”
You need to go into outer space. In space, nobody can hear you scream…
Paul M I am blessed that my nearest neighbor is a couple of hundred yards away so I am safe from being heard. The cattle on the ranch across the road from me don’t seem to care at all.
LL- But use Musk’s rocket, the Blue Phallus is in ‘failure to launch” mode, might need more testosterone.
I think Bored Of The Rings was the title for a satire take on the series – Mad magazine maybe?
At some point in the future, will the corrupt officials in Ukraine need to worry about a well armed populace not being willing to put up with their shenanigans?
Yes, I seem to recall something:
“This ring, no other, is made by the Elves
Who’d pawn their own mother to get it themselves.
Ruler of creeper, mortal and scallop,
This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop.
If broken or busted it cannot be remade.
If found, send to Sorhed. (The postage is prepaid.)”
—Inscription on The One Ring
Harvard Lampoon, not MAD.
A classic.
Thanks. Back in the days when they still had a sense of humor.
Thanks Larry, now I am not even tempted.
It’s a lesson in inclusion and equity. How could you object to being brainwashed for such a noble outcome?
Go Woke, Go Broke. It’s that simple.
Wonder how they knocked out the tanks, if true.
Maybe the Russians were out of fuel and just abandoned them?
Or somebody stole the batteries….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngqO9Hp19_4. The Critical Drinker does a great expose on why movies today suck…it’s deliberate. Love this guy, he’s a hoot.
He is.
It never would have occurred to me to watch Rings o’ Powah. Same for whatever the new Game of Thrones is, or the previous Game of Thrones for that matter. Tanks for taking the hit and confirming my bias, LL.
Concur that the Disney QEII needs to have some sort of real or spiritual wang under the dress to meet their production requirements. Probably magical superpowers are also compulsory.
-Kle.