Dragon breathing fire, knight protecting himself with shield. Image incompatible with the laws of physics. The fire should melt the shield and incinerate the knight. But the energy in the fire should propel the dragon backwards. And what is it’s power source? Is it nuclear or chemical? Either way, it could not fly, or breathe. And would not be interested in gold.
The dragon flies, breathes fire, wipes out towns. It is a symbol of awesome power and unbridled greed. Yet, in the traditional American and English stories the dragon is defeated; outwitted by little hobbits, killed by dour warriors and noble knights. In the brutal dystopian world of “Game of Thrones“ and “House of Dragon,” its prequel (neither of which I have seen), dragons are tamed by humans more cruel and more ruthless who wield magic. But above all else, aside from the large monitor lizard that is the Komodo Dragon, the dragon illustrated above is legend, myth, and fantasy; it is not real.
Ukrainian forces are pushing Russian forces east, in retreat. Ukrainians are motivated to fight for their homes, their families, their lives. Russians with educations are motivated to flee Russia. Russian soldiers are motivated to fight by amount of stuff they can steal, the women and girls they can rape, the people they can execute, including their commanders.
The NY Post‘s bottom of the page headline, “Florida Man Makes Announcement. Page 26” didn’t make it clear, but Donald Trump, announced on November 15, 2022 that he is running for President in 2024.
The fact that the Post wrote “Florida Man” not “Donald Trump,” “President Trump,” etc., speaks volumes. The twice-impeached 45th President of the United States, twice lost the popular vote, said COVID-19 is a hoax, suggested that people drink bleach to cure them of COVID, suggested that people take a drug used to treat intestinal parasites to cure COVID, tried to bribe Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, refused – and still refuses – to admit defeat and accept the results of the 2020 election, stole Top Secret documents related to US national security, and launched an insurrection to hold power.
Back in June, 2022, the Vogtle 3 and 4 reactors, not shown above, each 1.215 Gigawatts of nameplate capacity was pegged at $34 Billion, or $14 per watt, here.
Update: 25 May, 2023, Vogtle 3 online. Total cost estimated “close to $35 Billion, $14.4 per watt for the 2.43 GW reactors, AP News, here.
“Climate models,” according to Daniel Baer and Noah Gordon, in the Washington Post, here, “are complicated things. They must consider a staggering number of mathematical and physical variables to predict, for instance, how emitting a given amount of carbon dioxide will change the flows of air, water and heat between the atmosphere and the oceans. More sophisticated projections go further, showing how temperature changes will affect rainfall in a certain region, which in turn will affect crop yields and, as a result, the carbon cycle.”
However, as illustrated above, from “Climate.gov,” here, atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentrations have increased close to 50% since 1750, when they were under 280 ppm, to around 420 ppm today.
Vogtle nuclear plants 3 and 4 are now forecast to cost a total of $34 Billion. $30.34 Billion (USNews and GPB), plus the $3.68 Billion Westinghouse paid to the owners in conjunction with it’s bankruptcy filing (GTTSI), that’s $34.02 Billion, $14 per watt.
You can read a man like a book. His eyes, his smile, his body language reveal his character. How does he respond to adversity? Does he panic and blame others? Does he seek and listen to counsel and take action? Does he have a sense of humor? Can he take a joke?
Elena Kovalskaya, formerly director of the Meyerhold Center theater
“You can’t work for a killer and get paid by him,” Elena Kovalskaya, who runs the Meyerhold Center theater, said on Facebook, and resigned.
The theater — named after late Russian playwright Vsevolod Meyerhold — also spoke out on Facebook, saying that Russia’s relentless aggression in Ukraine has “now come into tragic conflict with our mission…. We cannot be silent about this. We only have this left to say: ‘No to war,'” the performing arts venue said in the social media post. “War is much more than disrespect for a person, and much more horrifying. War is the death of a person, it is the killing of people.” The theater also thanked Kovalskaya for her “courage.”
Prominent Russians shocked by the invasion of Ukraine have gone public with their opposition to the war, despite the professional and personal risks that come with dissent on such a sensitive issue in Russia.
More than 1,800 people were arrested at rallies across Russia on Thursday night as prominent Russians from the worlds of entertainment, business and journalism have risked their livelihoods in order to speak out.
Elena Chernenko, left.
Elena Chernenko, the veteran diplomatic correspondent for newspaper, Kommersant, wrote. “War has never been and will never be a method of conflict resolution and there are no excuses for it,” she wrote. Nearly 300 journalists have signed, including representatives of state-run media. In retaliation, she has been expelled from the diplomatic pool, which she has covered for more than 11 years, for “unprofessionalism”.
The French navy has intercepted a Russian cargo ship in the English Channel that was bound for Saint Petersburg, the BBChas reported.
French officials said the ship was intercepted according to new European Union sanctions imposed on Russian entities and individuals after Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine.
An official told the BBC: “A 127 meters long Russia cargo ship called the ‘Baltic Leader’ transporting cars has been intercepted overnight by the French Navy in the Channel and escorted to the Port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in Northern France.
You can’t get Russian Vodka in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia, Canada (CTV News). Putin won’t notice.
Russians are protesting the invasion of Ukraine, across Russia, by the thousands (NY Times). Putin won’t care. There may be too many to put in jail – and anyway, they already are inside the gulag, they are already in jail, a jail called the Russian Federation.
Putin appears to be recreating the Russian Empire – with himself, of course, as Tzar. While calling himself “President” not “Tzar,” he has succeeded within Russia and he has extended his dominion to Belarus and eastern Ukraine.
Russia
The rest of Ukraine is obviously next. And then? The Baltics? Poland? Czechia & Slovakia?
I have friends who remember the Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956 (click here) and of Czechoslovakia in 1968 (here).
What Putin doesn’t want to consider is that the Soviet Union didn’t defeat Nazi Germany. Like the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union withstood Nazi Germany. This was especially true at Stalingrad, where the Nazis AND the Soviets each lost about 1.0 million soldiers. Neither the Soviets nor the British might have withstood the Nazis without the US Lend Lease program, which provided food, trucks, and weapons to UK and USSR.
My father drove and maintained some of those Chevy trucks and Jeeps. He would think Putin is an idiot, a dangerous idiot, who apparently doesn’t really know or or understand 20th Century Russian history. But just like some in America don’t want to teach American history, teaching instead some sanitized pablum, it seems that they didn’t teach Russian history in Soviet schools.
