645: Ukraine VIII - Force Majeure

This BBC photograph says it all; the photographer is a true artist.

Force Majeure - "might is right;"  who is going to stop these bastards?

No-one I suppose.

Until the next time

628: Ukraine III

It is somewhat curious that over the last few days, the number of visits to this blog has plunged dramatically.  Could it be that with my 627th post concerning the two ghastly "holy warriors" who have been sent to gaol for a jolly long time, I have put people off?  Well I state here and now that I have no intention of moderating my opinions in order to make recognisance of their "(in)human rights."

So, on to today's rant.  This one concerns that megalomaniac, President Putin. 

What a neck this bastard has!  Does he imagine that we are so stupid as to believe that the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are in such danger as to justify the invasion of a sovereign state by 6000 soldiers and their associated armoured vehicles? 

I wrote recently on this subject in speculative mode, suggesting that Putin might be grinding his teeth in the face of the Ukrainians daring to throw out their president, whose personal corruption would appear to be sufficient even to discountenance an African politician.

Being well aware of President Obama's weakness and lack of resolve, decent bloke though he is (think about the Syrian "red line" poison-gas farce for example) and the remarkable ineptitude of the European Union, Putin probably feels that he can get away with this just as he did in Georgia in 2008; after all nobody did anything about that did they?

I was wondering today how it is that Russia with a GDP roughly the same as Italy's, and therefore about 20% smaller than that of the UK can afford her enormous armed forces.  I suppose that this is achieved by the simple expedient of keeping most of the population poor.

Give that man a Nobel Peace Prize!

Until the next time.

625: Sochi 2014

BBC

My congratulations to the Russians for a stunning show in closing the 2014 Winter Olympic Games; what a superb display it was; the producers, performers and technicians have much to be proud of.

Being not what the French call sportif, I generally ignore athletics, football, rugby and pretty much all sports except F1 and snooker (!) and it was really only accidental that I watched the closing ceremony.  Of course I offer my compliments to all those who took part in the numerous sports; I am sure that they deserve them.

The music, ballet, the celebration of Russian literature and finally the great Russian circus tradition were wonderfully presented and performed - the ballet segment, Scheherazade, was so beautifully done that I had tears in my eyes.  The Russians have plenty to celebrate in these areas.

It is tragic however that I found it necessary to write here about the brutality of the Cossack security guards regarding their maltreatment of the very harmless Pussy Riot members; what a pity...

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I hope that there will be a video that I can attach to this post - I would love to see Scheherazade again.  Should such videos become available, I shall certainly add them to this post.

Until the next time

Post scriptum:

In his closing speech, the president of the International Olympic Committee, M. Bach said "Thank you to the volunteers. Through you, everybody with an open mind could see the face of a new Russia: efficient and friendly, patriotic and open to the world..." 

I suppose that many of those living in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine might believe this, but bearing in mind those Cossacks, I fear that a little more needs to be done.