Requiem for Ukraine?
Two fingers in the nostrils and a gentle tug

Just how precious or sacred are you, really, if a bear can suddenly rip off part of your head?
If you’re as bored as I am with the stream of retrograde newspeak from power-dazzled apologists — those who, despite having long abused the gravitas of instability and needless suffering brought about by unspeakable atrocities in this part of the world since, er, at least 1713, continue to use it to justify the telling of simplistic lies on behalf of bloodthirsty dictators (it’s amusing to note that the most lurid post-Cold War fantasies about “calibrated coercion” spread on behalf of the Kremlin by government operatives have been rendered irrelevant by a chattering horde of retired American diplomats who speak Russian like three-year olds and now serve up advice for free every day on Twitter) — then you won’t find a breathtaking voice at Rand Corporation.


