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Keeping firmly in mind we will never know everything going on behind the scenes, some random thoughts on the Ukraine situation for your consideration and commentary, gentle readers.

*Joe Biden, actually his D/S/C—heavy on the S/C—handlers are the worst possible people to be “”leading” America in a crisis that could provoke a nuclear exchange.  They are unserious, actively stupid, and many actually hate America and are working against her interests.

*The ultimate blame for the death, physical and economic destruction in Ukraine and worldwide belongs to Vladimir Putin.  Joe Biden/his handlers, however, are responsible for horrifying weakness and incompetence.

*Biden is sending Kamala Harris to reassure our European allies.  Here’s the depth of her knowledge and experience:

*Maybe she’ll use her Pepe LePew accent again.  That went over so well the last time in France.

*With the exception of the American Revolution, the French do more damage to their allies than their enemies.  We will, however, take the Foreign Legion in a pinch.

*Many are justifying/excusing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by observing he had a realistic fear of having a NATO country on his border.  Anyone doing so is a useful idiot.  Why useful idiots?  Ukraine posed no military threat whatever to Russia, nor would it even if it were a member of NATO.  When has a NATO country ever invaded its neighbors or seriously threatened to invade?  Should Putin seize Ukraine, or any former Soviet possession, those nations would become Russia’s borders, and particularly if NATO members, would give Putin justification to invade all the way to the English Channel. We can’t afford to cede that rationale to Putin or any other tyrannical state.  I may be missing it, but I haven’t heard anyone expressing this reality.

*It’s long past time to quit pointing to history to justify Russian paranoia.  Yes, Russia has been invaded many times, however no one, circa 2022, wants to invade a paranoid Russia with thousands of nuclear weapons.

*Putin’s primary reasons for invading surely include reestablishing the Russian empire, but there are more pressing demographic issues.  Russia is aging and not replacing its children. Its population is about 146 million, the largest nation on Earth with less than half the population of the United States.  It needs productive, adult bodies and resources, all of which the former Soviet possessions can provide.

*Putin is threatening to use nuclear weapons, so many are cowering at the mere thought of nuclear war.  This is weakness and weakness provokes attack.  By appeasing Putin, we make every kind of war more, not less, likely.

*There are things worse than war, even nuclear war.

*That said, I don’t believe, given current circumstances, we should be going to war with Putin over Ukraine.  Providing anti-tank weapons, munitions and similar help, yes.  We should make no mistake, however, that Putin could at any moment declare that kind of help to constitute war against Russia.

*Our Congress and President are stupid enough to get us into that war.

*Should Putin attack a NATO member country, if NATO does not respond as it is sworn to do, NATO is over.  If it does respond and does not quickly win, NATO and the post-WWII international order are over.  They may be already.  The consequences of that are not hard to imagine.

*Putin will stay in power as long as the oligarchs believe he will maintain their wealth and power.  When they lose faith in him to do that, it’s a Polonium cocktail or high speed lead infusion.

*It was Donald Trump who, for the first time in decades, demanded our NATO allies spend 2% of they GDP on their militaries.  Some actually did.

*The sanctions Biden will impose on Russia have the potential to do more damage to us than Russia.

*No sane American can do anything other than shudder in horror at the thought of Joe Biden/his handlers prosecuting a war.

*Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and the other traditional allies of the Soviet Union are allied against us and the rest of western civilization.  The strength of that alliance is based on self-interest and their perceptions of strength and weakness.

*What kind of nation would enter into a deal with Iranian Islamist madmen sworn to destroy Israel and America that would ensure Iran gets nuclear weapons, weapons they believe their religious duty to use?

*What kind of nation would negotiate such a “deal” using Russia and China to “negotiate” for them?  The Russian negotiator is already bragging Iran got far more concessions than they ever thought possible before the deal is finalized. That can only mean he sees the Americans involved as incompetent, stupid, or actively working against America’s interests.  Which is worse?  Keep in mind it may well be all three.

*In one year, Joe Biden/his handlers have destroyed America’s energy independence and dramatically weakened us on the world stage, as well as weakening our ability to influence Russia.  Gas prices are now higher than they have ever been, and here in Wyoming, they are now—in one year—more than 100% higher.  The nationwide average is rocketing to $5.00 per gallon by summer.

*American energy independence is not merely about lower fuel prices.  It’s about our national security.  Anyone unable to see that now is an idiot, a useful idiot or an enemy of America.

*Biden has already sent minions to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and even Iran to beg for oil in anticipation of stopping buying Russian oil. In buying Russian oil, we are enriching Putin with billions while we pretend to sanction him otherwise.

*Biden—D/S/Cs in general–will never do anything that could reestablish American energy independence, though in electoral desperation, he might make a few symbolic concessions that might initially appear to help America but won’t.  Should they retain the House and Senate, they’ll do even more to destroy America.

*His dimwitted minions are already telling us we’re “transitioning” to an all-electric society.  We should all just run out and buy $70,000 dollar electric cars (they average $55,000 dollars).  They abhor nuclear power, yet apparently think electricity comes from fairy dust and unicorn farts.  The raw materials necessary to make EVs are mostly found in China and Russia, and a great many are thought to be in Afghanistan, now controlled by China.  We barely have the electric generation capacity to keep the lights on.  There cannot possibly be enough to power even a fraction of the EVs these idiots want to mandate, even if there were enough rare earth materials to build them.

*Climate Change, the entire greenie agenda, is pseudo-scientific lunacy, a scam to enrich the “right”–left–kind of people.  Not only will it  utterly fail to affect the climate, it will destroy western civilization, lunging us back 100+ years in technology and standard of living.  Anyone who thinks countries like China, Russia and India will engage in that sort of national suicide is, well, a Climate Change cracktivist.

*China, Russia and their allies are working consistently to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  Our failure to be energy independent contributes to this probability.  When it happens—“when” because Biden and D/S/Cs will do nothing to prevent it—our standard of living will decline so badly and rapidly we’ll long for the days of mere ruinous inflation.

*Russia makes 1/3 of the world’s fertilizer.  By next year, the costs for farmers for fertilizer alone may more than triple.  We’d better get used to not eating meat, or much of anything else.

*We don’t make many of the things we need to survive.  It’s all been shipped overseas.  With that in mind, Biden wants to build a half million EV charging stations across the country.  Priorities.

*We don’t know if our military is able to fight a protracted war.  We do know their current priorities are on correct pronouns, praising trans this and that, Seeking out white supremacy—it’s very hard to find, so they have to redouble their efforts–and providing sex reassignment surgeries.  Oh yes, and discharging among our best people for refusing to be vaccinated.  Tens of thousands are due to be discharged in the near future.  And yes, we’re having a lot of trouble recruiting and retaining our best and most capable.

*We do know our Air Force, and the other branches that operate aircraft have aircraft readiness rates that would be a disaster in time of war.  This is apparently taking a back seat to woke priorities.

*If we do go to war, pronouns and praising the courage of trans this or that, virtue signaling and calling our troops racist is not going to impress anyone, and will cost American lives.

*Biden and his idiot supporters are trying to blame high gas prices on the conflict in Ukraine.  This graph tells the tale.  The slight rise prior to his inauguration was the market responding to what they knew he was going to do on his first day in office.

*Everything Biden has done to grudgingly support Ukraine has been, to date, too little and too late.  We see little sign of that improving.

*It’s difficult to know what, if anything, coming out of that conflict in the form of “news” can be believed.

*It does, however, appear the Ukrainians are doing far more damage to the Russians than the Russians thought possible.

*There are indications the Russian military is far less prepared and capable than was previously imagined.  For example, their wheeled vehicles are failing badly because they have not done the minimum necessary maintenance to keep the tires serviceable, and many, if not all, are cheap Chinese copies of a Michelin design.  There are photos everywhere of Russian vehicles with ruptured, shredded tires not due to enemy action.

*There is every indication the “convoy” some 40 miles long is stalled because they are out of gas, out of battery power, and out of food, and unable to leave the roads due to winter conditions—soft soil—are sitting ducks.  The Ukrainians are reportedly shooting up the convoy whenever they can to good effect.

*Russian logistical performance, to date, appears to be terrible.

*There are indications most Russian ground troops had no idea they were going to war, and a substantial quantity of them are teenage conscripts with little to no training.

*Allowing Russian POWs to call their mothers is absolutely brilliant.

*The vaunted Russian Air Force has had little success.  It was assumed they would immediately achieve air superiority.  They haven’t.  Does this mean they can’t get enough planes airborne due to bad maintenance, a common Soviet and now Russian problem?  We know their pilots have only a fraction of the yearly flight hours our pilots get, and during those hours, inferior training.  We know they don’t have the simulators we have.  There are indications they’re not capable of planning and flying missions of more than 2-4 aircraft.  For example, they brag about stealth fighters, but have only a handful, none known to be operational.  There are also indications they’re short on munitions.  All speculation, but the fact they haven’t established air superiority, to say nothing of air supremacy is surprising.

*Our Javelin anti-armor missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles are apparently working very, very well, which might tend to explain why Russia hasn’t done as much as expected with their combat aircraft or their tanks.

*Seeing the damage Putin is doing in Ukraine, particularly to people just trying to live their lives, really, really pisses me off.

*Putin will be remembered as one of the worst genocidal madmen, if others get to write that history.

*No.  It’s not Donald Trump’s fault.  Everything can’t be Donald Trump’s fault.  He hasn’t been president for more than a year, and a substantial majority of Americans believe the invasion never would have happened if he were still president.  They’re right.

*Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons—there are good arguments he’s just that crazy—or not.  He is likely correct if he thinks Biden would do nothing in response.

*Any nuclear–or conventional–response our government would make would be based on internal political, not strategic, reasoning.

*If we–the western world–allow Putin to blackmail us into immobility with the threat of nuclear weapons, he, and every tyrant with nucs–that will shortly be Iran–will do the same.  Actually, Iran will use them as soon as they can.  This does not mean we should immediately invade or start popping nucs.  It means we need to demonstrate competence and strength which provide deterrence.

*The Europeans appear, finally, to be recognizing reality.  It may be too little, too late, and it will take years to see if they are actually serious.  You can’t rebuild essentially nonexistent national militaries in a short time.  Putin is counting on it, and likely believes they will not.  He’s probably right.

*Putin doesn’t have enough troops to occupy and pacify the entire country, but he likely doesn’t need to.  If he manages to seize more ground, he’s still in a position to threaten and frighten the West, and in a better financial and strategic position to boot.

*Biden, of course, has refused to do anything to help Americans stuck in Ukraine to flee.  At least he’s consistent in that.

*Biden, also of course, give China many of our most sensitive intelligence secrets, which they gave to Russia.  Biden did this knowing of Russia and China’s alliance.  Is he stupid, an enemy of America, or both?  Which option would be worse?

*D/S/Cs are doing everything they can, working every angle, running every possible false, deceptive narrative up the flagpole to see if they can use it against Republicans, regardless of what they say or what they do.  Some portion of the public will believe them.

*Republicans will help D/S/Cs harm them.  They aren’t called “The Stupid Party” for nothing.

*The longer this wears on, the weaker America appears.  The weaker America appears, the more likely the entire world order will dissolve into chaos.  If that happens, the oceans to our east and west won’t matter.

*Taiwan needs to be very, very worried.  I’ll be amazed if the Chinese don’t seize it before the year is out.

*Biden/his handlers truly care more about the border of Ukraine than the borders of America, not that he’s going to do anything to defend either.

*Our southern border is in a state of war, and we now know we can’t trust Canada to be an actual democracy.

*Barack Obama was right–and truthful–about one thing:

I’ve never agreed with Obama on much, but…

And that was when Joe wasn’t obviously suffering from progressive dementia.  Lord help us.  I wish I could believe our “leaders” and their minions could recognize reality and were actually on America’s side.  Enough for now, gentle readers.  Be prepared.  More later, I’m sure.