TMD: Here.
I try to keep things light to frivolous here, but this bit of news from two weeks ago didn’t appear to get much attention at the time or since. While Russia continues to switch from a failing war of conquest in Ukraine into one of naked civilian murder, it also found the time and weaponry to bomb a refugee camp in Syria.
Here was the brief story as it was reported by the BBC on Nov. 7.
The thing I am left to wonder is whether or not we are making a serious enough effort to undermine the malign, destabilizing activities of Russia in the rest of the world.
For example, over the past year or so, as French peacekeepers have withdrawn in the face of islamist insurgents in the West African country of Mali, the Russians have sent in their Wagner mercenary group, best known for its horrific acts of brutality against civilians. Russia is engaged in this activity at the same time it flails in its destructive Ukraine invasion.
Shouldn’t we be doing more to counter the Russians? Shouldn’t we be making sure that they are soundly defeated by Ukraine—and soon! My nightmare is that China decides to undertake the invasion of Taiwan while our military resources are steadily, cautiously drained in the European battle space.
The Russian state, captured by a quasi-governmental organized crime syndicate, has been doing everything it can to destabilize the Western-aligned parts of the world, and has even become so bold as to try destabilizing Western governments openly.
Aren’t we being too cautious in not doing more to hasten Russia’s inevitable collapse as a rival? This looks to be the destination they’ve chosen for themselves. Shouldn’t we be doing more to make sure they get there faster, with less murder and mayhem exported abroad in the process?
Elsewhere on Substack, Kyle Orton explains modern Russian Orthodoxy and its relation to Putin and the new right, contrasting it with Ukrainian religiosity:
https://kyleorton.substack.com/p/the-role-of-christianity-in-russias
I just started reading a new book, "Empires of the Normans," and on page 2, the author uses the contraction "would've." GAH!
I'm sure it will be only a few years before everyone thinks there was never a way of indicating the conditional tense other than "wooduv."