Oh Mommy, I aint no commy....

Liberty is precious.
That is why it must be rationed.
V.I. Lenin.

Big Op-ED piece yesterday on Vladimir Putins desire to make Russia great again. The thing about Vlad is that he doesn't seem to have read any history. Its all very well reading selected snapshots of your own nations history but its not worth anything unless it is compared to another. If Russia is to become really great then it must stop being an oriental despotism and become democratic. One man one vote, eradicate corruption and eliminate large scale criminality.
At the moment Russia cannot fulfill any of these conditions.
A country is only as good as its people and pretending that homosexuality is the root cause of all Russias problems is disinformative red herring politics at its worst.
Installing a Henchman in the Ukraine was not good either.
The Ukraine is one of the most fertile areas in the world and after WWII was home to the mighty Antonov Aircraft Organisation.
Now the Ukraine is depopulating due to very poor public health and crude hegemonic tactics from Russia.
The people have been treated very poorly while the leaders primped and paraded and postured like little demi-gods.
Mr Putin does not seem to realise that what made Russia great was the victory in WWII and the common goals generated to fight the Nazi invaders.
It provided cultural, economic and technological capital that is slowly being dissipated by the present owners of extractive industries using their proceeds to waste on consumer goods produced elsewhere.
It seems to have escaped the Russian government that the wealth of a country is measured by what it produces and not by what it has the temporary ability to purchase.
Mr Putin should stop running around shooting animals and trying to make the grand gesture and start reading a few books on  how a modern state can be run by freeing people up and not by enslaving them.
anyway...
I hope I dont get a knock on the door from some operatives with orders to get even.
See this morning my copy of Brewer And Shipleys Greatest Hits arrived and you may recall how Nixon and Spiro Agnew wanted to put them away because they didnt like what they had to say.
Well both of them have gone down as malefactors while B&S are enjoying their last days with a ton of good will.
Thats how its done.