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.

Russian Family Matters

Two Georgian mothers and a coincidence.

At the top is Vera Putina, who claims to be the mother of Russian Emperor Vladimir Putin.  She lives in Gori.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Putin's spokesman denies that she is his mother, stating that both his parents are dead. Meanwhile, Mme Putina says "I used to be proud of having a son who became President of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed."

On the left [picture source Life] is Mme Ketavan Jughashvili mother of notorious Soviet Russian Dictator, Josef Stalin.  It is a strange coincidence that both her terrible son and Vladimir Putin were apparently born at Gori.

There is possibly a second coincidence, this time concerning Russia's relationship with Georgia. The latest events in Georgia are probably too familiar to be reported here, but bear them in mind when thinking about the brutal absorbtion of Georgia into the Soviet Union: the so-called Georgia Affair.  Curious is it not that at the times of this and also the recent war, that arguably the second-in-command in Moscow was a Georgian (I suppose I should add in one case allegedly).

When Stalin was in control, a detachment of his special (presumably NKVD) troops was sent to guard his mother's house.  According to "A.I. Romanov" who was in reality B.I. Baklanov, a NKVD defector, there was a joke circulating in Russia at this time: it was said that the troops had not been sent to guard Mme Jughashvili, but in fact to prevent her from producing another Stalin.

I have not yet seen any reports of a guard at Mme Putina's house; perhaps Putin's spokesman is telling the truth!

Until the next time