Day 931
Welcome to our beauty salon
—It’s banal, but knowing.
—Knowing.
—Well, knowing-but-not-really-caring. You know, like, detached and above, but not critical, or not cynical rather, kind of like embracing the whole thing, the whole product...
—What product?
—News about Ukraine, insofar as it is filtered through a sort of, like, lovely-little-vignettes, you know, like small illustrations of everyday life that tug gently at heart strings as well as would look really kind of, like, detached and above but cool and newly hip, in hot-pink armchairs, maybe with a little white dog on someone’s lap.
—And who is the target audience?
—Well, you know, sort of hip older people with money. From, like, the work they do.
—And it’s mostly visual.
—Oh yes, we have all these lovely-little-things to shoot, dolls without faces and stubbies and souvenirs of the world’s biggest squash, and we could stick in a sidebar about scene kids, kamikaze drones or throw in a map showing fall-back defensive positions.
On the war jacket, the special operation that started with an attempt to capture Kyiv in three days has spawned an attempt by Russia to liberate southern areas of Kursk region, and Russia’s 11-month long 70-kilometer march from Donetsk to Pokrovsk has veered south towards Kurakhove.
On the diplomacy jacket, Z’s 12-minute foreign policy speech on Tuesday introducing Ukraine’s new foreign minister was, er, borderline incoherent. Judge for yourselves.
Tony is town today with UK Foreign Minister David Lammy to make sense of it. There has been speculation that an announcement about allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russia is in the offing. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd James Austin III said in Ramstein the other day that the missiles won’t be a game changer.
KYIV. Sept 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that President Joseph Biden "does not rule out" the possibility that Ukraine will receive permission to strike with long-range weapons into Russian territory in response to Iran providing it with weapons, Sky News reports.
"We don't. We never rule out. But when we rule in, we want to make sure it's done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve," Blinken said in an interview.
Blinken reportedly made the remarks after he told a news conference in London that Iran had provided short-range missiles to Moscow and that Vladimir Putin would "likely use them within weeks in Ukraine."
Blinken said the U.S. had ensured that Ukraine had "what it needed, when it needed it, to be effective in repelling the Russian aggression" since Russia's February 2022 invasion.
However, he noted that Washington also had to consider other factors, such as whether Ukrainian forces would be able to use the "sophisticated systems" that Western allies provide and whether they would be able to maintain them.
Uncle Joe and Z are expected to meet on the sidelines of the UNGA beano in NYC next week.
Kamala on Ukraine during her debate with Trump:
[…] I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that's not who we are as Americans. Let's understand what happened here. I actually met with Zelenskyy a few days before Russia invaded, tried through force to change territorial boundaries to defy one of the most important international rules and norms, which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. And I met with President Zelenskyy. I shared with him American intelligence about how he could defend himself. Days later I went to NATO's eastern flank, to Poland and Romania. And through the work that I and others did we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defense. And because of our support, because of the air defense, the ammunition, the artillery, the javelins, the Abrams tanks that we have provided, Ukraine stands as an independent and free country. If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean. Because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO. And what we have done to preserve the ability of Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to fight for their Independence. Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland. And why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.
Z in February 2022 at the Munich Security Conference reportedly wanted Team USA to impose sanctions on Russia before the invasion, which he did not think would happen, despite the evidence Kamala presented to him in person.
Donald during the debate said migrants are eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.
In Springfield, they [migrants] are eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame.
Hennadiy is giving lots of interviews lately, talking about stuff, like bad governance, low morale and the inability of Ukraine’s leaders to fulfill their existing obligations, the main one being maintaining constructive relations in society, preventing the spread of toadyism, selfishness and stupidity.
Ukrainians by default excel at self-regulation in social life, a reason why the country has been able to persevere despite a decade of war and the destruction of democratic institutions, law and justice.