More on the War against Ukraine

 Ukraine continues to fight both Putin And Trump. Europe has finally realized that USA is NOT negotiating for peace, rather trying to force Ukraine into giving up territory. 

Moral in the Russian army is at rock bottom. Rusia is losing 35,000 men per month and has lost 1.25 million since the war began. Ukraine is beginning to push back on the ground, but continues to lose the air war agains drones and missiles. No matter how often Ukrine hits drone or missile site, they keep coming. The electrical grid is being destroyed as fast as it can be repaired.

EU has sent generators with reinforced concrete covers to provide electricity to critical places such as hospitals. My step-son in Zhovti Vody reports 8 hours of electricity yesterday, up from 2 hours.

Ukraine's air war focuses on destroying Russian refineries, storage and transport, to cut off Russian revenue and ability to fuel their equipment. In some places gasoline is rationed. 

Here are a few articles to provide background and the current situation.

Day 1461 of Putin’s Three-Day War - Paul Krugman

Weekend Update #173: Ukraine Liberates Hundreds Of Square Kilometres, What Might It Mean?

A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them | Ukraine | The Guardian

ADHD and Me

 The fact that there is a highway to Hell and a stairway to Heaven gives you an idea of anticipated traffic volume. Regardless, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. 

ADHD has a number of symptoms including easily distrrac..look, a squirrel. Or a fox. Another is the intention to do something but never doing it, or having started it, never finishing. 

My father had ADHD but of course no one ever heard of it in those days. He never finished a project that I recall. Nor could he dispose of anything as he was always going to "do something with it". Our 1952 Massey Clipper combine being a prime example, that he was going to turn into a hopper to distribute grain to cattle on the ground. My brother sent it to scrap, cleaning up the yard after his death 24 years ago

He built a machine shed but never got the doors put on it. The house he remodeled never had the finishing nails set around the window frames. 

I intend to write a blog post on a weekly basis. It has been two weeks and this isn't the post I intended to write. I intend to volunteer at the Museum just a 30 minute walk from our home. So far not. 

My oldest gave me a leather embossing kit for Christmas. I finally found someone to teach me but they live a long bus ride away. Maybe when the weather warms up and I have $200 to buy the leather and pay for instrution. I miss doing woodworking but have no where to do it. This may be a good substitute. 

I could not organize a drunken brawl at an Irish wake. Tanya and my oldest help me out there as they are both highly organized. I do manage to walk Lucky every day, weather permitting mostly because he nags. 

I have been meaning to write a children's book about Lucky and have actually started it, have a mental outline some of which is on paper. I put it off for years because I didnt know what to do about illustrations. I am now going to worry about that after I get it written. And only then will I learn how to market it. 

There are many things to blog about that are NOT politics. We can all use a break from that on both sides of the border. 

Dont go away. They may get bogged about eventually.  

Some thoughts on Ukraine

 Ukraine is fighting both Russia and the Trump Administration. USA just signed a $65 billion worth of business deals with Russia. While Republicans side with Ukraine, they cannot get much past Trump.

Elon Musk has disabled Russia's ability to use Starlink to guide their Shaheed drones. Since he fell out with Trump, he has done a few useful things, I guess.

Ukraine is winning on the ground, chewing up over 35,000 russian soldiers per month and actually starting to push them back in the odd place, even though the Russians keep moving forward slower than a snail's pace. 

The Russian economy is imploding. Interest rates are nominally 20%, actual real loans run as high aas 30% interest. Businesses are going bankrupt, unable to buy inputs or pay employees. Skilled employees are scarce on the ground, either having fled or sent to the front. Consumer goods including food are hard to come by. 

Last night Russia sent 40 missiles and 450 drones into Ukraine last night. all recent attacks have targeted Ukrainian electical and gas hubs, leaving millions without light, heat or water. However Karma is striking back hard as the severe cold is destroying old Soviet infrastructure that was never maintained.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1780016036005874

  https://www.facebook.com/reel/1749989352362464 

USA is no lonjger a reliable partner in NATO. Europe now understand that they need to both a strong political alliance (EU) and a strong military alliance that is not fragmented with each country needing to specialize in specific military equipment. How fast they can gear up is the question. 

I have not been blogging lately as I have been working on getting my wife's documents from IRCC. That is a rant for a future post