Thy Hand, Great Anarch! Two kinds of stupid

 

I

Apparently President Putin has spent the last four days raining death and destruction on Ukrainian civilians not because it's some kind of military strategy—wrong, it's of no strategic value at all—and also not because he just has too much weaponry and is trying to use it up, like trad Catholics using up all the animal fat in the house on Pancake Tuesday, but out of fear of people in his orbit who are even more rabid than he is. It's the "more serious" response he was promising last month if Ukraine continued refusing to be conquered:

“Recently, the Russian armed forces have inflicted a couple of sensitive blows. Let’s assume they’re a warning. If the situation continues to develop like this, then the response will be more serious,” he said.

Though there's nothing serious about it, other than that he seems to be seriously afraid of his own puppets:

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who had been among the most high-profile critics of Russia’s faltering war effort, declared himself “100% satisfied with how the war is being waged” following Monday’s attacks.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said the attacks should be seen as the “first episode” in a new phase of the war. Medvedev, who has sought to position himself as a hardliner in the war against Ukraine, argued that Moscow’s ultimate goal should now be the “complete dismantling of the Ukrainian political regime” which he said posed a “permanent, direct, and clear threat to Russia.”

It's a good index of how deeply Putin has failed, how far he has fallen, that he is now reduced to seeking approval from these mediocrities he himself created. Using techniques he must know will do nothing to Ukrainian forces except to harden their resolve, and make his own situation worse. How humiliating it must be!

Of course there's the "cruelty is the point" caucus. Maybe he gets some gratification from knowing he's increased the amount of unhappiness in the world.

And his rebellious minions certainly do. They think it's good strategy because it makes them feel good.

II

Meanwhile, don't get too proud, Americans, as the World Wildlife Fund reported yesterday that the world population of vertebrate species—fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—has declined by 69 percent since 1970, because of habitat loss. overexploitation (I think that applies especially to fish), invasive species, pollution, climate change, and disease, and the main political issue in the United States in the crucial coming election is the price of gasoline—a huge proportion of the population, possibly a majority, is ready to vote for the party that opposes unrestrained sprawl, dirty air and polluted wetlands, and discouraging the development of renewable energy sources in favor of coal, oil, and gas, not because they have any ideas for lowering the price of gasoline over the short term—they've been focused on allowing US oil companies to exploit oil and gas deposits the companies are already allowed to exploit and have no interest in exploiting because it wouldn't help their bottom lines—in early August

the four major oil companies announced quarterly earnings of nearly $50 billion combined. Exxon alone reported a profit of $17.9 billion – the highest quarterly profit reported by any oil company in history – while Chevron reported $11.6 billion, Shell reported $11.47 billion, and BP reported $8.45 billion. These are record-shattering figures for the companies and the result of them reaping enormous profits on the backs of hardworking families.

“The [Energy and Commerce] Committee is investigating what oil companies could and should be doing to help bring down gas prices,” [Chairman Frank] Pallone wrote to each of the four companies. “As one of the largest private oil companies in the world, your company is positioned to help alleviate Americans’ pain at the pump, but I am concerned that you are more focused on rewarding company executives and shareholders.”

—but because they make the most noise about it. Not to mention their determined opposition to reproductive freedom, their furious opposition to progressive taxation, their psychotic opposition to the principles of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. We're on the point of electing a Congress that's opposed to everything we want, apparently because Democrats like Chairman Pallone are interested in doing something about gas prices other than tweeting about how Biden is doing it wrong. (We also have to deal with more Putin-level stupidity on the part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and President Nicolás Maduro, determined to hasten the deluge that will destroy them all in order to spite the US president.)

Housekeeping Note

I'm not sure why I've been having so much trouble posting lately. It's possible the blog has just run its course and I'm not ready to admit it yet. Or maybe I just needed a vacation. We'll see how it goes.