Putin's Latest Idea: Bomb Them Back to the Stone Age

 You know you are desperate when you offer all manner of felons a get out of jail card. No, it isn't a free one. If you are sitting in a Russian pen, Vladimir Putin will let you out, give you a few weeks of military training, then send you to Ukraine. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, things aren't going so well there at the moment for anyone in a Russian army uniform. The truth is a few battalions of rapists, murderers, and drug dealers might raise havoc on the streets of Ukrainian cities, but they have to get there first. Their effectiveness in the field, facing a well armed and thoroughly pissed off Ukrainian army is at best a tad iffy.

It is unknown at this time how many Russian cons have taken Vlad up on his offer, but we do know his, "partial mobilization," proclamation was a stunning failure. Immediately after Mr. Putin gave the order tens of thousands of Russian men left the country--their desire to fight for the mother land, and their belief in Putin's bullshit, completely lacking.  In the eastern parts of the country, where borders aren't readily available, there were a few riots when the press gangs came to town. 

As a result of these miserably humiliating events Vladimir Putin has obviously decided his next course of action is to, as we Americans used to say, "bomb 'em back to the stone age." 

Hey, you have to do something, right? 

At this moment the Russian military is raining down cruise missiles and other ordinance, not on Ukrainian troops, but rather their home towns. Many of unmanned drones involved in the strikes have been bought from the Iranians who don't give a shit what damage they cause. All they care about right now is improving their cash flow and chucking little girls into prisons for not wearing hijabs.

Putin's plan is apparently to deprive Ukrainian civilians of power and heat this winter. Obviously, the hope is a frozen and hungry populace will be, let's say, more compliant when his motley crew arrives a second time around next January, or February. It is even possible he is counting on the American ultra right to gain control of congress around then.  The theory being, since those crazy fuckers actually like him, they'll stem the flood of military supplies to the Ukrainian army. What we know for sure is there are reports of the Russian forces being shipped fuel at a rate not seen since the invasion began, so something vile is coming up soon.

Meanwhile, the Russian president has declared martial law in those territories he, "annexed," into the federation a couple of weeks ago. At this moment he is forcing the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from the cities within those lands in case the Ukrainian army shows up. The excuse, presumably, is the Ukrainians are being moved, against their will, for their own safety. However, in situations such as these the word hostages comes to mind.

There is a long, cold winter coming. It will be second one of this war. Vladimir Putin, at this point anyway, can't win it on the ground. His options have been reduced to an air blitz which will freeze and starve an entire people, or the unthinkable which might plunge the entire world into a nuclear war. Right now he seems to have chosen the first. If it fails though, he's got nothing left except the second.

10-20-22