Liars Lie

The older I get, the less surprised I am when a liar rolls another lie out in front of people.  I do find it a little curious as to why they're still listened to, or their views are considered "news" but I suppose with the liar is the head of a formerly respected country, well, I suppose they get what they sowed.

I don't often watch the TV Evening news any longer.  This started back in 2018 when my job changed, and my work hours got different.  I tended to get my news from multiple internet sources (no, I do not consider Facebook a news source.  I tend to rely on sites such as CNN and local TV stations.  And the local newspaper).  I don't rely on one source, because I think that's how people become deceived.  

But I do try to catch the weekend evening news, in part because it does seem to be a nice wrap-up of the previous week, and I usually have time to do it.  I mean, right now, my evening commute is a little shorter than my morning commute - in that, in the morning, when I go upstairs to take my pills and have my breakfast, I also have to feed two furry family members, get them out of the house to use my yard as a toilet, and then eat my breakfast before I head back down to my work desk - not this desk, I have a dedicated space where I perform my job that pays me.  This is my "hobby desk".  In the evening, I get up from that work desk, and then choose to head right up the stairs behind me to the living room, or spend a little time here collecting what few thoughts I have left, see what the day's new burped out, and other ... well, world events.

No animals to feed or toilet in the evening dash up the stairs.  But that's got very little to do with the world at large.

Tonight I caught the national news where the Russian leadership is claiming that the Ukraine Military shelled and killed it's own people to place blame on the Russians.  Now, I might have considered even the slim chance that might be true, except for the source, which was identified as "Russian Government Spokesmen".  I'm sure that the Russian leaders might want us to believe that, but the very slightest sliver of potential truth there is that it may be possible that Ukrainian Troops might have shelled an area infiltrated with Russian troops that was also where some of the Ukrainian citizens lived, because the Russians invaded.  

I do not believe, for an instant, that the Ukrainian forces deliberately turned on their people, because the source that claims that to be true is the same general source that is saying the invasion of the Ukraine was to "de-Nazify" the area.  

I know I don't tend to give Putin a whole lot of credit for intelligence.  I do not think the man has a whole lot of brain power, he's not very bright, he is ruthless, but he's also fairly ignorant about how the world works, both in general and in particular.  Sure, it might have made sense to someone of Putin's age that to cast his little war in light of the most recent Successful Russian War involvement might seem like a good idea.  But when you point at a country with a Jewish Leader and claim they're Nazis, that's an awful lot like blaming the hammer for hitting your thumb.  A fool blames the tool rather than the operator, and a fool might try to paint their enemy with the most dreadful identity of their worst opponent if they have nothing else to use - and no legitimate motive other than fear.

But I think we could all tell little Vladie Putin was and is a chickenshit.  The amount of time he spent trying to boost public opinion of him to believe him to be a strong, virile man says, to me, that little Vladie is a flaccid, weak, and timid person who knows that the only way people will respect him is if they fear him.  Such men are often failures as leaders, and I think we can pretty well see how this is going to play out.

What truly concerns me is what is likely to happen when the Ukrainian army pushes the alleged Russian Military out of their country - because flaccid little Vladie will cast about, looking for another target for his ire and his anger, because small men like Vladie want to be feared, and the present situation is certainly terrifying for all of us as we watch that weak dictator try to overwhelm a small nation he has sorely underestimated.  

I mean, as a nuclear state, Russia may well decide to lob a nuke at someone and then blame someone else, because, you know, little Vladie will tell everyone that it wasn't his hand that hit the button, no sir, all of those radar traces that show the missile or whatever it is coming from Russia to be false.  The thing is, what Russia sure seems to have forgotten is that, given the size of their land mass, they're not going to lose to an invasion - but this is the 21st Century.  We don't need to invade.  The world could start by lobbing an incredible amount of missiles on ports and border locations surrounding Russia, breaking any and all roads or railways or ports that might be used to import or export things. 

And when combined with a complete and total shutoff of telecommunications systems into Russia that the Russians choose to control, well, that would sure make most of the world a much safer place.  I know not all of the hackers on the dark web and the bad actors in general are confined to Russia - there are enough scattered about the world.  But I do think isolation might be a good start.  Followed by the beaming down from on high in every wavelength any Russian household can receive message explaining that the actions taken by the world at large are trying to be focused on the corrupt, pathetic, weak, lying leadership cadre which has deceived many Russians that the cadre has the average Russian's best interests at heart.  

Then again, dipshit Donny Trump fooled a disturbing number of Americans into believing he was a worthwhile candidate for President, so I suppose it wouldn't be impossible for Putin to continue to hold power.  But I can dream.  And hope I don't "wake up" as a cloud of radioactive particles.  I know my parents lived through the 1950s threats of nuclear strikes, and far more reasonable leadership of the time saw the inevitable need for treaties and agreements that things did not reach the point where they are today.

So I guess paranoid little Vladie is a real throwback to the Stalinist era.  I'm sure the average Russian Citizen does not long for a return to that bit of history.  But when it comes to the world looking to invade and destroy a leader, I do think that Stalin pretty much ranks about two steps down from Hitler on the "Need To Go Away" scale.  And Vladie sure looks to be trying to be one step below his secret idol.  Sure, Vladie wants to rule the world just like Hitler did.  Vladie's just not as charismatic, intelligent, driven, effective, or brutal as Hitler was.  Vladie's just a pathetic little copy of everything, nothing original there.  Just another brutal dictator out of touch, afraid to be left behind.  Because he already has been.  But then again, that's what Vladie is - a has been, trying to be a strong leader.  Without the skills, will, intelligence, or character that's necessary.  

Poor little Vladie.  Destined to be another signpost in history - things never to repeat again.