Amusing in that so much bluster and noise is coming from such an empty vessel, they can’t take themselves seriously most of the time. It borders on comical.

Sad in that there are such riches in that land that they could be at least as rich as the US, but there is such an emptiness of soul. It is almost as if the will to live has left them, like a has-been biker tough guy picking a fight with the cops so they will shoot him.

You forgot Russia.

Putin is Big Chief of a declining 3rd World country facing strategic, environmental and demographic disaster. Rationally he should devote his countries declining energies to stimulating real growth in the economy, the culture and the population. That should be accompanied by supportive alliances with those non-threatening neighbors and powers who could support a threatened and depopulated peripheral nation. With a population of approximately 140,000,000 Russia is only twice the size of Turkey, Less than half the size of the United States , a third that of the European Union and one eighth that of China. The Arab League has two and a half times the population.

To the contrary current Russian policy is devoted to crippling the Europeans, who pose no threat to Russia or anyone else and picking totally unnecessary fights with the United States. Playing the Big Bear to needle Uncle Sam with Chavez and Castro in an area devoid of strategic concern for Russia’s security, may stroke wounded post imperial egos at home. It does nothing to strengthen Russia in the face of real threats to his county’s survival. There are two potential existential threats to Russia, they are China and The Ummah.

On the other hand, I’m quite willing to belly up to the bar in defense of Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, etc., and get very close and personal to the Russian bear if Putin is still feeling puckish.

(Has anyone else noticed how badly Russians misbehave when they immigrate? There doesn’t seem to be a humble or law-abiding soul among them, once they step on American soil. I wonder if they’re capable of being good human beings, or if we need that generational thing with Russians, too, before they become Good Americans.)

Keep your eye on the prize here. Russia sells a barrel of oil into the EU for about $40, out of which the Russian side has to pay all the costs of finding, producing, transporting. The various state governments in the EU then slap on about $150/Bbl in taxes — pure profit to the EU govs.

Is that fair? If you were Russia, would you think that perhaps the high price paid by the EU consumer ought to be shared more equitably?

It is coming, maybe sooner than anyone thinks. you can imagine the discussion now. Russia needs to invest in pipelines which by-pass some of these trouble spots so that the EU’s gas & oil supplies will be more secure, and it is only fair that EU govs rebate part of the high taxes they collect on Russian oil to help cover the costs.

And once that door is open, the EU will soon become a mere tributary state to Russia. Russia and the EU — they deserve each other.

While I don’t think it would be Russia’s interests to do this, if they ever planned on doing it, could you pick a better time? Times of crisis can have the same effect on people that department store sales, an open jewelry display case, or a lady asking you to come up for a drink can sometimes have. You wind up doing things you really shouldn’t and will actually regret just because it’s an opportunity you know won’t come again.

The reason the US developed a three-legged deterrent posture was to keep dictators from the impulse to gamble. But we don’t believe that bad things happen to good people any more.

The Turds of Terror are using our strategy against us!!!