Been There, Done That, Got The Tank Decals

I've been wondering when someone was gonna take a look at Watergate and hold it up as a lamp against the brief but horrid reign of Feckless Leader. 

I'm not only old enough to remember Watergate, I'm old enough to have spent a couple of days at McGovern's K Street campaign office in D.C. stuffing envelopes during the summer of 1972. Heady times; I saw Warren Beatty in the flesh and he was hotter in person. That was, if you can wrap your head around this concept, 50 years ago. Yup. A half-century. And we said not to trust anyone over 30. This is a breath-stealing realization, y'know. It positively gives me the vapors! 

I listened to Garrett M. Graff on PBS Newshour tonight. He said Watergate wasn't a single event, it was a series of events, some of which bordered on high treason. He explained that a new examination of Watergate had not been done since former FBI director William Felt came out as Deep Throat. He also pointed out that some material is now unclassified and readily available to the public. He also posited that the differences between Tricky Dick and Feckless Leader are not so great, and we do our country a disservice if we don't compare and contrast. The book, Watergate: A New History was published this past week, and might very well be worth reading. (I'm #3 on the list for my library.) Over the last few years, the difference/similarities between the two presidencies has weighed on my mind. For the moment, I have concluded that Nixon was a power grab for political US power. For Feckless, it was all about personal wealth. He didn't give a shit about We, the People; that may have been a suspicion for a long time, it moved into fact territory as information about how he handled documents has come to light. 

Which makes me think about the Feckless-Putin Handshake. Just look at the two hands. They are grasped tightly. This is a deal. And not a savory one at that. I'll pull out to the big picture in a moment. When you grasp someone's hand like that, one of two things is happening: either you're going to jerk his arm and bring him down, or you've just become best friends.; it's a push-pull. Think about how you shake hands with people. This is not rocket science. Everyone has a preference for the grasp, the shake and the release. Putin was getting something he wanted in that push-pull clasp.  The question is what? 

We do know he was hoping there would be a second term for Feckless. I imagine the loss to Biden was pretty hard to swallow. Biden, for whatever his shortcomings, is an America First kinda guy, the real kind who knows about stuff like diplomacy and negotiation. Putin knows Biden isn't going to turn a blind eye. This forces Putin's hand. 

His hard-on for the Ukraine is not news. He already annexed the Crimea. Now, he's going after "liberation" for Luhansk and Donetsk. Can you say Czechoslovakia and Hungary, boys and girls?

No, not Czech Republic. I'm thinking more like Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia in1938 and Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Lots of parallels are being drawn with what's unfolding in Ukraine. 

The really big question on everyone's mind right now is whether or not NATO and/or the rest of Europe will attempt to stop Putin. Neville Chamberlain, The UK's PM, was reviled for his attempt to appease Hitler. Will the heads of state on the continent step up to say, "No, this will not happen?"

I'm not so sure. No one ever wants to confront a bully, and this bully has been on the block since 1918.

Putin is far from stupid; he is cagey. He learns from the past, from past mistakes, and he calculates his risks carefully, so that in the unlikely event he loses, he retains his ability to spin history. He feeds his population a steady diet of plausible fantasy, and they, just like a whole lotta GOP folks do with Feckless, just lap it up. Which makes them just about as dangerous as the lemmings here. 

On the other hand....maybe this is nothing more than a winkie-measuring, pissing contest. It's perfectly plausible that there's an amusement factor in playing chicken with the world. I mean, who is gonna bell this cat? Is there a single world leader out there who is willing to put his/her money where his/her mouth is? Probably not. 

Putin claiming that he is sending peace-keepers into the regions seeking independence is troubling; it's as if he thinks words will make it okay.  What happens to the Ukrainians? Will they go the way of the Uyghurs in China? Some insiders say Putin will go after the noisemakers and send them to labor camps. 

But here's the thing. IF and only IF the peoples of Luhansk and Donetsk can have an honest referendum to decide their own fate, what good is all the western action in the world. What IF they want their own republic? Who are we to say no? That's assuming Putin isn't there to swallow them whole as a toehold for something bigger. These are not easy answers, and I still think the local population should get a vote. We cannot be telling those folks what to do. 

Let me say that again: there are no easy answers. The people of Ukraine get to decide their own destiny. The allies of the continent should be able to help shore up the existing nation while listening to the voices of the locals. 

Mostly, what none of us want to see is a push-pull war with Russia with the rest of us standing impotently at the center. Someone has to be the adult in the room. 

From CNN - BREAKING NEWS - 9:52 PM ET

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into two separatist pro-Moscow regions in eastern Ukraine after recognizing their independence on Monday. 

 

The US expects Russian troops could move as soon as tonight or tomorrow into Donbas, a senior US official familiar with latest intelligence said.

 

 

US President Biden plans to impose new sanctions on trade and financing in the territories, the White House said. The executive order will also allow the US to place sanctions on anyone operating in those areas.

Sit back and breathe. Now it's a game of chicken playing out in real time. I don't know about you, but I'm not amused. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The market is going to go crazy. 

Sit back. Don't panic. 

Just keep breathing.