eVille Times

Mar 5, 2022

Resting Constipation Face

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Tyranol - when you need to forget you've been supporting the bad guys

Putin Bio

Two hours with Masha Gessen, telling us all about Vladimir Putin.

It's a lot, but I think it's important. I should've been looking for this info years ago.

Putin is aggressive and vengeful and reckless. And he doesn't hide any of that, even though he demonstrates it in sometimes subtle ways, but often in very starkly obvious ways. He wants us to know the extremes he's willing to go to.

It's classic behavior, straight out of the old movies about gang leaders. eg: Capone with a baseball bat bashing a guy's brains out in the middle of a meeting with a dozen other guys looking on.

The Putin Files (2017) - Masha Gessen on Frontline from PBS, with Michael Kirk

History, bitches.

Takeaways:

Authoritarians (in general) perceive the world to be a hostile place. Sometimes hostile to themselves personally, which they often then project onto their countries, which in turn helps them rationalize all sorts of shitty behavior, and that shitty behavior prompts the world to react with hostility, which perpetuates the cycle of shittiness.
If you want your little autocracy to prevail, you can't afford to have an independent judiciary.
Even a dictatorship has to rely on popular support - that's what makes propaganda and information silos very very important.
A preemptive counterrevolution is helpful in anticipation of protesters in the streets.
Putin invades Ukraine 8 years ago and watches his popularity soar, but he's not able to sell it this time.

Fascinating.

COVID-19 Update

The numbers for tomorrow and Monday may tell the story on whether or not I can start feeling justified in letting go of some of my paranoia.

Here's to hoping the weekend slump is significant, so I can give in and breathe a little sigh of relief.

Today's Beau

There's a strong instinct to help people when they're getting pushed around by some asshole who should be made to get off the planet.

There's a strong case to be made for doing something that counters the bully's actions, especially when we know we could kick his ass.

But...

First, do no harm. Don't let your reaction to a bad situation make it worse.

Justin King - Beau Of the Fifth Column

Hope For Russia

When a government loses its shit, and puts on its war face, the people who plead for sanity are always the ones labeled as crazy.

When "the strong" go to war, the ones who stand up to them - unarmed - are always labeled as weak.

War is a mental illness.

The Guardian:

Mar 4, 2022

Today's Tweet

Doin' it.

Crazy Americans getting it done! My former squad ldr also shipped himself to the region, bought a van, loaded it w supplies gathered by ordinary locals, drove to Kyiv, dropped the goods, loaded kids & grandma’s aboard, drove to poland, put em on trains to relatives in Italy. 🌻
— Kathy, Leftist Vet ✊ (@KathyStickel) March 4, 2022

Bald-Faced

Gaslightin' sumbitch.

Newsweek:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia has no "ill intentions" towards Ukraine, hours after Russian forces had seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.

Putin made the comment on the state-controlled Rossiya 24 news channel on Friday in which he called on neighboring countries "to think about how to normalize relations" more than a week after he ordered an invasion that has caused thousands of casualties and sparked a growing refugee crisis.

"I want to emphasize once again. We have no ill intentions towards our neighbors, and I would advise them not to escalate the situation, nor to introduce any restrictions," he said, according to news agencies.

"All our actions, if they arise, always arise exclusively in response to unfriendly actions against Russia," he added.

Putin also said: "We do not see any need here to escalate the situation or worsen our relations."

The international community reacted with alarm when the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was reportedly shelled by Russian forces, who captured the facility on Friday. The U.S. embassy in Ukraine tweeted that attacking a nuclear power plant constitutes a "war crime."

As he spoke to mark a new ferry that would travel between its exclave of Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, Putin also appeared to brush off the impact of sanctions imposed on his country.

"We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies," he said. "In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies."

President Joe Biden has imposed new sanctions on eight members of the Russian elite, while the U.S. joined forces with European allies in kicking certain Russian banks out of the international SWIFT payment system.

Foreign ministers gathered in Brussels on Friday to discuss what measures to take against Russia as it continues its aggression in Ukraine.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she wants agreement from the international community to restrict Russian oil and gas exports.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council said on Friday it had voted to set up an independent commission of inquiry into Russia's invasion.

There appeared to be no breakthrough in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials that might pave the way towards a ceasefire.

Moscow has agreed to the need for "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate civilians and allow passage of aid but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was "no talk" of Moscow and Kyiv signing any formal documents.