https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw5lzKVn3sc

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> This is the time...
> To listen to the three war
> sonatas of Prokofiev...
>

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-business-yang-jiechi-europe-1ab9dc9b2ccb28b590915fc9f2529eec

dk

On Monday, 14 March 2022 at 15:38:29 UTC+11, dan....mail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> > This is the time...
> > To listen to the three war
> > sonatas of Prokofiev...
> >
> https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-business-yang-jiechi-europe-1ab9dc9b2ccb28b590915fc9f2529eec
>
> dk

The Dragon aligning with the Bear does not augur well.

Ray Hall, Taree

On Monday, 14 March 2022 at 07:26:33 UTC, raymond....@gmail.com wrote:
> The Dragon aligning with the Bear does not augur well.
> > Ray Hall, Taree

It just needs Trump to complete the trio of "assumed psychopaths". The conference speech Dan posted about attempting to diagnose world leaders was pretty clear on that suggestion.

On Monday, March 14, 2022 at 12:26:33 AM UTC-7, raymond....@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, 14 March 2022 at 15:38:29 UTC+11, dan....mail.com wrote:
> > On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> > > This is the time...
> > > To listen to the three war
> > > sonatas of Prokofiev...
> > >
> > https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-business-yang-jiechi-europe-1ab9dc9b2ccb28b590915fc9f2529eec
>
> The Dragon aligning with the Bear does not augur well.
>

No doubt an army of kangaroos
can beat them both any time! ;-)

dk

What is Putin's end game? This is now the question.

I can see one very plausible end game and it goes like this.....
- Putin's army occupies the whole coastal corridor up to Kherson. He took Kherson very early so it's clearly crucial to his plan. So is Mariupol which he has pretty much obliterated.
- Putin will create a new Republic of Donbas bordered by the Dnieper river to the West. It will contain Luhansk and Donetsk.
- Putin will announce that his "special operation" was to liberate Donbas, and they have now chosen freedom and independence. There will be some form of rigged election and a pro-Russian president of the new Republic will be announced
- Since the Russian army will "withdraw" from Ukraine, though parts will remain in Donbas, Putin will ask for international sanctions to be lifted as part of the agreement over his end game.

I don't think international governments will be stupid enough to sanction this plan, but I'm pretty sure - looking at what the Russian army has done to date - that Putin's end game is very similar to the above. He'll never hold the whole of Ukraine, and if he withdraws as an "army of liberation" he hopes this will go down well in Russia.

On 3/22/2022 4:49 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> What is Putin's end game? This is now the question.
>
> I can see one very plausible end game and it goes like this.....
> - Putin's army occupies the whole coastal corridor up to Kherson. He took Kherson very early so it's clearly crucial to his plan. So is Mariupol which he has pretty much obliterated.
> - Putin will create a new Republic of Donbas bordered by the Dnieper river to the West. It will contain Luhansk and Donetsk.
> - Putin will announce that his "special operation" was to liberate Donbas, and they have now chosen freedom and independence. There will be some form of rigged election and a pro-Russian president of the new Republic will be announced
> - Since the Russian army will "withdraw" from Ukraine, though parts will remain in Donbas, Putin will ask for international sanctions to be lifted as part of the agreement over his end game.
>
> I don't think international governments will be stupid enough to sanction this plan, but I'm pretty sure - looking at what the Russian army has done to date - that Putin's end game is very similar to the above. He'll never hold the whole of Ukraine, and if he withdraws as an "army of liberation" he hopes this will go down well in Russia.

Unfortunately, this might be the best-case scenario.

On 3/22/22 4:49 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> What is Putin's end game? This is now the question.
>
> I can see one very plausible end game and it goes like this.....
> - Putin's army occupies the whole coastal corridor up to Kherson. He took Kherson very early so it's clearly crucial to his plan. So is Mariupol which he has pretty much obliterated.
> - Putin will create a new Republic of Donbas bordered by the Dnieper river to the West. It will contain Luhansk and Donetsk.
> - Putin will announce that his "special operation" was to liberate Donbas, and they have now chosen freedom and independence. There will be some form of rigged election and a pro-Russian president of the new Republic will be announced
> - Since the Russian army will "withdraw" from Ukraine, though parts will remain in Donbas, Putin will ask for international sanctions to be lifted as part of the agreement over his end game.
>
> I don't think international governments will be stupid enough to sanction this plan, but I'm pretty sure - looking at what the Russian army has done to date - that Putin's end game is very similar to the above. He'll never hold the whole of Ukraine, and if he withdraws as an "army of liberation" he hopes this will go down well in Russia.

Putin's end game may be an endless war of attrition. It's not like he's
concerned with death counts. His only check probably is the danger of
getting so deep in that his support erodes among the people that keep
him in office. His success in ruling by fear and intimidation has
worked for him so far.

Right now, Putin's end plan is complete control of Ukraine, just like it
was in the USSR. He's in no hurry to get out. He would like to get rid
of Zelenskyy quickly, and let's hope he doesn't.

Lindsey Graham may be right, it might take an inside hit on Putin to
stop this thing.

-Owen

On Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 8:35:10 PM UTC-7, Owen wrote:
>
> Putin's end game may be an endless war of attrition. It's not like he's
> concerned with death counts. His only check probably is the danger of
> getting so deep in that his support erodes among the people that keep
> him in office. His success in ruling by fear and intimidation has
> worked for him so far.
>
> Right now, Putin's end plan is complete control of Ukraine, just like it
> was in the USSR. He's in no hurry to get out. He would like to get rid
> of Zelenskyy quickly, and let's hope he doesn't.
>
> Lindsey Graham may be right, it might take an inside hit on Putin to
> stop this thing.
>

Isn't that precisely Wagner's forte? ;-)

dk

On Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 12:25:17 AM UTC-4, dan....@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 8:35:10 PM UTC-7, Owen wrote:
> >
> > Putin's end game may be an endless war of attrition. It's not like he's
> > concerned with death counts. His only check probably is the danger of
> > getting so deep in that his support erodes among the people that keep
> > him in office. His success in ruling by fear and intimidation has
> > worked for him so far.
> >
> > Right now, Putin's end plan is complete control of Ukraine, just like it
> > was in the USSR. He's in no hurry to get out. He would like to get rid
> > of Zelenskyy quickly, and let's hope he doesn't.
> >
> > Lindsey Graham may be right, it might take an inside hit on Putin to
> > stop this thing.
> >
> Isn't that precisely Wagner's forte? ;-)
>
> dk

I got an intuitive feeling weeks ago that Putin’s actions came from a revelation of his own mortality. I don’t necessarily believe everything I see on YouTube, however there is a report that he’s showing the signs of steroidal side effects from cancer treatments. If this is true it facilitates understanding of his actions. His dream of restoring the old Russia would be seen as his final achievement.

I don’t know what all that this is true, but it will be worth following closely in the coming days and weeks.

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> This is the time...
> To listen to the three war sonatas of Prokofiev...
> By Youri Boukoff, of course...Who as everyone knows is Koko's favorite
> pianist...

- Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain: I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light.

Madeleine Albright: 1937 - 2022

Dan Koren avait écrit le 24/02/2022 :
> Alexander Nevsky.

The Final Cut...

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> This is the time...
> To listen to the three war sonatas of Prokofiev...
> By Youri Boukoff, of course...Who as everyone knows is Koko's favorite
> pianist...

WW3 on the horizon?:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/mark-milley-ukraine-reaction-international-conflict/index.html

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> This is the time...
> To listen to the three war sonatas of Prokofiev...
> By Youri Boukoff, of course...Who as everyone knows is Koko's favorite
> pianist...

- All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

George Orwell

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> This is the time...
> To listen to the three war sonatas of Prokofiev...
> By Youri Boukoff, of course...Who as everyone knows is Koko's favorite
> pianist...

Is history repeating itself?:

According to this:

- ...The most troubling thing about the outbreak of World War I was that "none of the individuals who brought about [the] war, none of the civilian leaders who were really responsible for it, actually wanted war, and certainly none of them wanted the war that actually happened between 1914 and 1918."

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/world_war_three_worry_more_about_world_war_one.html

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 10:16:50 PM UTC-7, wrote:
> On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 4:55:02 AM UTC-8, MELMOTH wrote:
> > This is the time...
> > To listen to the three war sonatas of Prokofiev...
> > By Youri Boukoff, of course...Who as everyone knows is Koko's favorite
> > pianist...
> WW3 on the horizon?:
>
> https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/mark-milley-ukraine-reaction-international-conflict/index.html

https://www.benzinga.com/news/22/10/29329689/world-war-3-has-already-started-dr-doom-nouriel-roubini-on-what-could-ignite-the-cold-war-into-a-hot