- PZ Myers pays attention to the explicitly expressed, but under-reported, aims of Vladimir Putin quite aside from military invasion. He insists he will accomplish the purification of Russian society of non-traditional ideas. Those on America’s extreme right are loving the idea.
- At The Moderate Voice, Mark Satta looks at Putin’s efforts to justify invasion through the extreme manipulation of language beyond its generally accepted meaning.
- Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged tells us of a woman in Russia arrested for carrying a blank protest sign. The sign with nothing on it tells us something about freedom in Putin’s Russia.
- There are strange goings on in Putin television. Russia being in Putkin-Control, it’s hard to get a straight story, which is one reason tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors becomes instantly valuable. He gathers the Twit-bits and News-pieces into a coherent narrative as the dictator tries to go all Trumper.
Putin holds a massive rally with a crowd that Putin-folk insist numbers 200,000 screaming fans. The stadium only holds 81,000, so there’s that. Then, in mid-sentence, Putin’s mic goes out, the dictator disappears like a card from magician’s hand, and tengrain pieces together the mystery. Now for Putin’s next magical trick.
- Want the Putin view of the pro-Putin rally of seemingly adoring fans crammed into a clown car of a stadium? M. Bouffant at Web of Evil runs to the nearest pro-Trump site to discover how charismatic, how effective, how popular a national leader Putin has turned out to be. Kind of a miracle.
- In Letters from an American, noted historian Heather Cox Richardson has this to say: While Russia’s war on Ukraine continues in all its blistering horror, there are glimmerings that suggest Russia’s position in its assault on Ukraine is weakening.
- Infidel753 points out that Putin’s invasion and his bullyboy targeted attacks on children’s facilities and hospitals for pregnant women is intended to be a show of strength. Instead he demonstrates profound national weakness. The creative title says it well.
- I confess. At first I thought this was satire. Nojo tells us about Ukraine’s competition to design a new postage stamp, and the wonderfully profane winner.
- I suppose any disaster will have grifters ready to take advantage. Scotties Playtime brings news of one of the worst possibilities operated by right-wing Americans right in Ukraine itself. Children are the targets.
- Doing business with Russia sounds so antiseptic. Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger tells us a little about corporate complicity: Companies helping Putin murder Ukrainian citizens.
- News Corpse reports on the public grateful praise Putin’s Foreign Minister expresses for the Fox Network.
- As the Putin invasion of Ukraine continues, uniting the world, uniting most of the US, driftglass sees a new narrative in the both-sides-are-the same ideology: Putin has discredited his supporters on both extremes. The only fly in that ointment is that virtually all Putin support comes from the right.
For myself, I’m okay with both-sides as a conclusion, backed by evidence or logic or both. A conclusion can be examined and debated.
I reject it as a premise backed by nothing.
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit points out that, in the US House of Reps, Vlad maintains his very own Putin Caucus.
- It has been winding through the internet, and we can hope it somehow leaks into Russia. Hackwhackers relays from a Twitter feed the video of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s quietly impassioned message of love and admiration for the people of Russia, including a story of his boyhood hero, Yury Petrovich Vlasov, who later became his admired friend. The video is a plea and a challenge to reject Putin lies about the invasion of Ukraine. Hackwackers calls it a remarkable video: a fair description.
- At Political Irony Vlad retaliates against worldwide actions with sanctions on several Americans. Hillary Clinton issues an ideal response.
- Andy Borowitz has the details as Donald Trump offers his considerable experience and expertise in helping Russia file for bankruptcy.
Continue reading “Ukraine, Putin Rally, War Crimes, Postage, Boycott, Fox, Both Sides”