Day 33, Phase 2
Requiem for Ukraine (cont'd)
There isn’t much new to report and I don’t feel like making shit up, so here’s Deepstate’s map, which looks pretty much like it did yesterday.
A good quote from General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from yesterday’s dog and pony show in Ramstein, Germany:
“Time is not on Ukraine’s side. The outcome of this battle, right here, today, is dependent on the people in this room.”
We all remember Mark, who was the one walking around around with the big green map whispering to David about intercepted messages.
To make a long story short, Ukraine decided not to trust U.S. intelligence about Russia’s plan to invade in October, November, December, January and the first half of February. Ze and his new defense minister downplayed the invasion threat deliberately, so ordinary Ukrainians would not panic, flee and tank the economy1.
[One of the nice aspects about Substack’s CMS is the absence of the search function, which would help me remember all the times I scratched my head in disbelief whenever Ukrainians officials said an invasion by Russia was unlikely2.]
A quick boo at what I was writing3 in December after long chitchats during Shabat over liters of vodka with Mariupol residents visiting Kyiv convinces me that chronic remorse is a most undesirable sentiment, especially if you’re dead.
Which brings me to this chit chat c/o puck.news.
There must be something wrong with me. I was overcome by nausea and stopped listening around the 20-minute mark when they started talking about the genisis of Ukraine’s neo-Nazis and Azov.
Nothing that a quick run won’t cure.
On the Roasting of Chicken. Stay-behind Sabotage (February 19, 2022)
President Volodymyr Zelensky had played down reports of an imminent — or inevitable — attack. Speaking in incoherent sentences to foreign journalists at the President’s Office in Kyiv, he said Russia’s military build-up was less threatening than similar deployments made in early 2021. On the Edge of Inanity (January 30, 2022)
Just how precious or sacred are you, really, if a bear can suddenly rip off part of your head? Requiem For Ukraine. Two fingers in the nostrils and a gentle tug (December 7, 2021)