Have you ever looked through a telescope mounted on a rifle? I have. As the eye adjusts, the optical instrument focuses on a line between rifle and target, now appearing much closer to the rifle than without the scope. Instantly, the appearance of "crosshairs" or visible lines within the scope become obvious, indicating that a target is now inline with the "line of fire" or trajectory at an estimated distance depending on the setting or the optical power of the instrument. So, now we pundits apply this metaphor to the political situation on Ukraine's border with Russya and to the situation as it exists on the ground on that border. Estimates published by the US note about 130,000 Russyan soldiers and all the equipment they need to conduct operations against an "enemy" in Ukraine(where thousands of Russyan soldiers already occupy Crimea and the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. My, my, Mr. Putin: what will you do next? The world wonders.
Suitcase diplomacy, aka shuttle diplomacy, is at a high pitch: diplomats from the US, most of western Europe, and Canada, have been flying in and out of Ukraine(Kyiv), Moskova(kremlin), and Brussels(NATO and EU HQ), talking, talking, and more talking as they make a collective effort to avoid a violent conflict between Russya and Ukraine which would imperil thousands of innocent civilians caught in a crossfire. We've seen it all before(pick a place), and it gets ugly rather quickly. It's gone beyond just rhetoric as Pres. Joe Biden announces that "severe" penalties against Russya will be an immediate result. He has at his disposal numerous actions that will serve to isolate this "rogue" nation and its rogue leader-Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, sitting in the Kremlin pulling levers for the last 22 years. How does it feel to be the No. 1 lever puller in the largest country in the world(as we know it)? Only the Little Dictator knows.
Perhaps it's time for the International Court in the Hague to make a statement: Mr. Putin-any casualties as a result of this unprovoked act of aggression will result in an indictment for use of weapons of mass destruction, murder, and genocide. You will be tried in absentia in a court of law; if found guilty, you will be sentenced in absentia and banned forever from the world. Hmmm. Does the Little Dictator give a hoot about this? Recall, this is the individual who sends his assassins to many foreign countries to kill his opponents and his detractors wherever they can be found. His lapdog, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, continues to speak in roundabout sentences, offering little fodder for the observers and diplomats concerned with the situation. Old Vlad must find it interesting that He, and only he, can have the world shudder based on a few strategic moves he makes based on some perceived threat(see Stalin paranoia). He can then justify all his moves to the cowering minions as they go about their daily lives in Siberia and other cold climes familiar to the Rus.
All visas given to Russyans who now live and work abroad will probably be cancelled and withdrawn. I suspect many visa holders will apply for refugee status. I would if I was unfortunate enough to be one of the thousands who find themselves in that category. How about all those university students, quivering in their isolation from friends and families? Maybe the Russyan athletes stuck in Beijing will ask the Communists to give them refugee status so they can remain in China? What a laugh! Would there be 1? Ha. They already know what Communism looks like-they live it at home on the Steppe.
Happy Valentine's Day, especially to the 15 year old ice-skating doper from Russya in Beijing.
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