#i can't even tell if this is about russian oligarchs

[clouds-of-wings]

It takes a certain kind of man with a certain reputation To alleviate the cash from a whole entire nation Take my loose change and build my own space station (Just because you can, man) Ain't no refutin' or disputin' – I'm a modern Rasputin Subcontract disputes to some brutes in Louboutin Act highfalutin' while my boys put the boots in (They do the can-can)

[magustiel]

Trying to explain this shit is so funny

Like no, I update myself from the futurepast undimension

no like QAnon isn't entirely wrong the future is coming to save the past, that's why I was on about retroactivity and shit from jump and why I almost punched her off a cliff 12 years ago screaming about this shit. Or. Whatever.

Straight up tried to smite her out. Missed. Some shit about depth perception, and maybe personal split of interest. Whatever, it's whatever, we're not unpacking Eldritch Pan almost murdering her in the woods during a Panik roar. Blew out half a forest AND manifest new growth, we did. Anyhoo.

Then it's like, why are you guys being so weird about this, the government literally has quantum time machines right now, like ALICE. They're quantum teleporting planes. So like. I don't know how to tell you, but real, just limited on capacity and delivery.

So like.

...

Okay so like.

I bootstrapped myself real bad, guys. Like. Like I said I figured out why they call it the golden kingdom. I just can't see shit for shit with clarity from unthere, there's a fucking billion of you literally oh my god and you're dense, you're all fucking dense. I too am dense and am now being forced to spectate how dense everyone is, and somehow I'm the least dense of all of us, and that's fucking terrifying but also very funny.

So it's like, then what, why are you sometimes good like a prophet and sometimes like. Okay. Depth perception kids. Fucking. Depth perception. Holy shit.

Like the whole POINT is adjusting timelines, so if I stayed perfectly accurate there is an ironic PROBLEM. Currently our hinges are:

Try not to die in global nuclear fire

face the fascist invasion NOW while Musk tries to rush the projected <2050 technological singularity advent Revelations style

Adapt the technology after they're taken out; in the next few decades. To avoid becoming The Russian Space Federation Colony Of Worker Slaves They Pitied Taking Off The Rock They Burn Up

Humanity venture forth interplanetary.

This I get. Do you understand how fucking difficult it is to figure out motherfucking details between here

First hold out until the old demagogues fold. Putin is 72, past Russian male expectancy, at US; sure, he has good health care. But what about Trump, how long until that cult of personality folds. Musk is already annoying everyone to death. They literally can't torture us forever. There will be other oligarchs that try to be robber barons. That's fine. They're not Putin. Not good men, but not Putin.

There's the theory for... some decades that by 2050 we hit a sort of tech singularity of like, space, AI, and other things that seem(ed) outright inevitable, and we're actually ahead of schedule, hence saying Musk is "attempting to rush the singularity for control".

And I must say this appears roughly correct. Don't datestamp me or anything but like. 2040 Mars Real, or so. Think of it like that. Not hugely humanly settled, but the start of that kind of thing.

Within about a century expect us to actually like. Evacuate Gaea for a fucking while. But that's fine, we won't be here for it.

Guys how do I explain we Ancient Aliens ourselves.

Also relevant to nothing in the scale of apocalypse but I think we like, trend towards nonbinary evolution? like androgyne. unclear.

Either way, even in a General Politics And Mostly Scopable Future scale, I'm sure most of that makes sense to people on why we gotta deal with it NOW. But then add in what the very idea of ripping them out at the root entails during this kind of thing. Like no your shit is getting dumped like a garbage disposal in Samsara kids, thanks for playing, now we'll clean up your mess. There IS no upstairs for you, you fucked up. Motherfucking. Disconnected.

Fuckin angel on earth ass. Tumblr anons trying to tell motherfuckin. Kronos to shut up in January. Because they were fuckin uncomfortable but couldn't fucking leave my shit alone and mind their space which was the whole problem in literally every fuckin dimension.

fuckin yeah I was about to spend the next year in the last ten a million times as a fucking celestial wavelength of fucking grok and intent, my people skills were motherfuckingly grand collectively rusty, goddamn. Block and unfollow dumbass, people refusing to mind their own shit to control everything is literally why we're in this mess, dumbass. Shut the fuck up, dumbass, you were making it worse before I knew how to even fucking manage it, dumbass.

[mechanicalinertia]

Bubblegum Black Chapter 8 is now live!

Hello all! It's been nearly three weeks since I posted this chapter, and I've been delaying writing the notes for that long while mostly because I wasn't sure how to talk about the chapter. The focus is Celia and Balalaika talking with one another and very little else, so what little worldbuilding details do I really need to highlight? I think there's some stuff, but by and large the chapter is about these two characters. So let's get into that.

Centara District Exterior: Can you tell I was playing lots of Phantom Liberty when I wrote this? You can, can't you! hasukashii na~

Balalaika's Dress: So this is actually inspired by the latest chapter of the New Girl In The Hood arc, where Balalaika is opening an Art Deco-vibes casino and wears an art-deco-ish dress. Of course, a year and a bit later, all her efforts have come to naught. A big fancy Balalaika figure, similar to the Revy Dominatrix one, has come to be released, by the way, and the dress she wears in that one is not the one I'm using here. According to a guy on reddit, said figure has sculpted and painted nipples underneath the glued-on dress. Never change, Japanese 'hobby' industry, never change.

Father's Corporate Princess: This is kind of important, but I'll likely have Balalaika explain it herself later. Suffice to say that I'm not doing some sort of 'she's part of the Neo Soviet Union', and so Balalaika comes from an oligarch clan tied to a real Russian corporation. Again, though, this is information that shouldn't be buried in the notes.

Celia And Her Cause: I actually have read not one but two fanfictions, both from the 90's era of BGC fic, where Celia pops off a suitcase nuke in GENOM Tower. And goodness knows the idea of Celia trying to only keep GENOM 'in check' is an idea as old as its proposition in Scoop Chase. Look, scroll back through my posts and you'll find me going on a rant about how The Sabers Can't Win just pisses me off as an idea, okay? It's... it is what it is, I guess. Some people will say that it's the only valid interpretation, or will even delight in describing how GENOM collapsing would make everything worse. Fuck, look, this is the same thesis I've advanced in Anatomy of a Lovedoll. You read my fics, you know where I stand on stuff like this. And hey! It provides a good foil to Balalaika, who believes that the world cannot be changed, and desires only to have her little niche on a dying planet.

Dinosaur Meat: Look, if we can 3d print synthetic meat, we can 3d print meat that no longer exists as a gourmet novelty. I am completely serious about this. Also, the Psittacosaurus is a dinosaur that just looks edible:

Yeah. You see it too, don't you? Like a little piggy-chicken thing. Heh.

Islamic Combine: A political entity founded by the Emiratis attempting to unite the Sunni and eventually Islamic world into a new caliphate. Pushing the Russians out of Central Asia to control its mostly-Muslim population was what lead to the Kazakh occupation by the Russian military, and that went supremely badly for all parties involved. Of course Balalaika despises them. About a week or two ago, by the way, I came up with the idea of a third metacorporation besides the Japanese GENOM and the Chinese World Prosperity Corporation, the puppetmasters of the IC, called Sunduq Alkhilafa, or Al-Sunduq (In English: The Caliph's Fund, or The Fund). I'm probably not going to do much with this organization for now, since D-Company is their primary puppet in Roanapur, and as we've seen D-Company is on its way out...

Various Megacorps within the Concern: Okay, here's some Deep STMPD Lore Bullshit to play around with. Fuck all that tragic character stuff with Balalaika trying to impress Celia and failing, we megacorping up in this hizzouse now. Yo. For realsizzles. - Black Orb is basically a spoof of megafunds and private equity giants like BlackRock and Vanguard, predatory funds who in the 2060's control most of the US's economy indirectly. Their practices haven't changed much since the present day, leeching the life out of industries and companies and turning competitive fields into stagnant monopolies where genuine innovation goes to die. - Verdanse I think I already covered, but they're basically Biotechnica in Cyberpunk 2077. They're food monopolists relying on single-celled vertical agriculture to manufacture bioproducts and petrochemicals of all kinds, ostensibly based out of Africa. They relied on old European seed capital to make it big, though, so they're... let's call them African cosplayers. - The Dangote Group is a massive Nigerian industrial conglomerate IRL, and while in this timeline Nigeria's economic fortunes are not what they could be due to the lack of demand for petrochemicals compared to the metals the Congo possesses, I put them in anyway just because I could, and also because it's nice for pasty dudes like me to remind myself that Africa has industry, has government, it's not just Le Dark Continent. Give it a few decades and I imagine the Western perception of Africa will change drastically. -Bharati Megacorps: Well, who survived the Indo-Pakistani nuclear war? Reliance? Mahindra? TATA? Take your pick!

HCLI: I did explain this, right? Remember, Koko's from the animanga Jormungand, where she's part of an arms-dealing / logistics conglomerate called HCLI. Here, though, she's left said corporation for greener pastures in GENOM. Celia's saying she thinks she could play the rest of her family off against Koko, keeping her unable to control the Redevelopment Concern. This goal - Get Koko - will animate much of the battle against the Concern in chapters to come. Of course, the Sabers won't just be fighting the Concern. Things keep getting in the way...

I Woke Up In An Old-ish Bugatti: I know Bugatti only does models on limited runs, instead of doing annual runs. That was a goof on my part.

Bamboo Network: A shorthand for the Chinese business networks of Southeast Asia, which basically run the region. Check the Wikipedia article:

Anyway, that's it. That's the nerd shit. Which this chapter wasn't really about.

Anyway! Next chapter is a big long fight scene, the first battle for Roanapur. It will take time to write, probably until like mid-March or so. I'll do what I can to put it out but IRL demands are ramping up so don't expect anything anytime soon. See you then!

[bookshelfdreams]

I just saw that post about Disney+ supposedly removing Anastasia for xenophobia reasons

- Which, just to be clear, is not true, the film was removed for licensing reasons and will be put up on a different channel. -

and it is I think a good example to explain what the purpose of Putin's propaganda is and what narrative he's trying to spin.

If you're trying to spread misinformation, getting people o believe you is very difficult. What is easier is trying to get people to disbelieve everyone else.

The propaganda probably can't convince you the war is just self-defense and anyway, there's no war, just a peacekeeping operation. It can, however, do the next best thing: It convinces you that your government, your media is irrationally biased against Russia and you therefore cannot trust anything they tell you about Putin's regime. That last bit is the end goal here. "Look how ridiculous the virtue-signalling has gotten! Do you really want to believe this bunch of halfwitted xenophobes?"

Nevermind that at least where I am, media and politics makes an effort to constantly empathize that it is Putin, not the Russian population, who is responsible for this war. Seriously, even fucking BILD explicitly names Putin as aggressor and avoids the word "Russians". Nevermind that there are serious efforts to microtarget the oligarchs who profit the most from Putin.

If somebody tells you about outlandish anti-russian things happening, take a moment to ask yourself if this is a) plausible b) true and c) if it isn't what motive could someone have to lie about it. What narrative does the claim support.

[princess-stabbity]

technically speaking, "getting the people to revolt" is one of the lower order of effects those sanctions are trying to implement

like i'm not saying they're definitely gonna work. this conflict is too volatile for me to feel comfortable making almost any predictions, to be quite blunt. and even if they do work, whether the ukrainian people saved are worth the russian people hurt is a subjective moral call. (though--and i don't want to minimize the suffering inherent in economic collapse--it's worth considering that sanctions can be lifted but people cannot be unshot.)

but if these sanctions lead to putin losing his grasp on power, it will likely be because of the effect on the oligarchs and high-ranking officials. they have much more leverage, here, and they've been personally sanctioned and had their assets targeted. which, to be petty for a minute, is one of the few enjoyable things about this whole horrible situation. imagine how funny it would be to see that happen to bezos and musk. and while i don't have too much hope of that, there have already been some cracks. that said, if pressure on the oligarchs does work, it will most likely result simply in putin finally agreeing to some sort of face-saving peace agreement, not regime change (i've been imagining something akin to the end of the winter war, which would mean letting them take crimea+donbas but leave ukrainian sovereignty intact--tho it sounds like the ukrainians are not willing to give up territory, so who knows). i've seen no indication they're holding out for regime change. just withdrawal.

another goal of these sanctions, tho, is to empty out the war chest. war takes money and resources, and if putin can't get those (eg, can't get new parts to repair planes, sources of munitions limited, ability to pay mercenaries restricted), that's another pressure on him to withdraw. from my perspective, this is simultaneously the most important and probably least understood goal of these sanctions. i haven't been sharing posts about developments on the ground because--between the unpredictability of the situation, the fog of war, and both rus & ukr propaganda--i think it difficult to tell what's truly happening and i don't want to contribute to disinfo. however, i'm inclined to believe that reports of poor russian supplies/logistics are probably correct (if perhaps exaggerated). i read a prewar article over a week ago about the wagner group (basically the kremlin's blackwater but with more othalas) that suggested even they struggle with this. point being, if this is not abnormal for russian military forces, having their entire economy flushed down the toilet will not make these problems better, and russian disorganization and low morale seem to be large parts of what have been keeping the ukrainians in the fight. plus, the worse the ground offensive goes, the more likely putin will finally receive some form of pushback from within the govt.

obviously these sanctions could backfire. putin will try to stir up national resentment, play the strong man as usual, "the west is trying to destroy us and i alone can stop them!" etc and it may work. but the whole situation is a lot more complicated than "sanctions are for hurting the common people so they revolt." i'm against the idea that academic bona fides are the be-all end-all of knowledge, but i do get frustrated seeing people present themselves as experts on a topic i've actually studied, just because twitter's algorithm favors the most vehement and radical takes, you know? wish i could go back to when the worst social media takes on things i studied were mostly about "death of the author."

and all this is without getting into any of the bigger picture concepts and questions at play, like: -"should outside states intervene in situations like invasion and genocide?" at this point in my life, my feeling is that human beings have a duty to one another to try to help. but the geopolitics of the last, oh, let's say 20 years at least, should make us extremely cautious about that. even if the intentions are truly just altruistic (hard to imagine, but for the sake of argument), that doesn't mean the attempted help will be effective, or that it won't solve the immediate problem but cause others down the road. -"if so, by what means?" if you take away military intervention and all economic sanctions, there aren't many mechanisms left to effect change (tho i think that some that remain should be used much more often, like refugee settlement within your own borders) -"if so, how do we avoid this international mechanism being used to cynical ends?" recent u.s. history speaks for itself. those concerned about the question of "who gets to decide what country is cut off from the world economy?" are right to worry, tho they're slightly off-base in thinking the u.s. alone holds this power (not wholly off-base, because the u.s. has a lot of both hard and soft power to throw around to influence votes in the un, but this is not something the u.s. could have done unilaterally and even states more in russia or china's "sphere" were willing to coordinate on this). that said...setting aside the likelihood of the u.s. getting punished for violating international law, i'm inclined to think things would be better if we were? weird to me, seeing people go "well, the u.s. didn't face consequences for [x]" like yeah maybe some sort of international precedent should be set. maybe we wouldn't be at this point globally if international orgs had some real teeth. this whole situation could have cascading negative effects in the future, but for now i think seeing a superpower get reined in is maybe a good thing. finally, it's worth remembering that inaction is, itself, an action, with potentially disastrous consequences. how many times have the permanent members of the unsc been effectively allowed to do whatever they want without consequence? where has that gotten us? -"if not, should a non-state entity be the one to intervene?" great concept, big fan, but many potential issues bubble from this one: who runs it, how is it funded, from what or whom does it derive authority and credibility, does it actually have the capacity to enact change, who watches this watchman, etc. these questions are not insurmountable, in my opinion, but they're not easy, either -"if non-state actors instead, how do we avoid having them run into the same pitfalls a state would?" i think humans have a history of saying "this thing is bad, let's make a new version" and then the new version has the same problems all over again. i think dan olson put it well, when describing the problems with treating crypto as a way of eliminating banks: "this is a really important point to stress: cryptocurrency does nothing to address 99% of the problems with the banking industry, because those problems are patterns of human behavior. they’re incentives, they’re social structures, they’re modalities. the problem is what people are doing to others, not that the building they’re doing it in has the word 'bank' on the outside." in other words, i think people often correctly identify problems with an organization, only to replace it with a new one with the same corrupting incentives and social structures that led to problems with the prior one. states are basically organizations of people. a non-state actor is presumably also an organization of people. how do you structure it to be better suited to this task?

my point (or my overarching one, anyway, i'm having a hard time structuring them all into coherency) is that life is actually very complicated. i'm tired of the twitterized approach to everything, where centuries of history and debate and scholarship are treated as tho they can be condensed down to 280 characters without losing a lot of important context and nuance. the stakes are too high. they've always been too high.

anyway now that i've finally got this rant out of my system i'm back to, once again, haranguing my elected officials to let in more refugees. it's infuriating to think about how much more likely it is to gain traction this time.

[ataehone]

Excuse me if I don't believe Ukrainian courts are going to be any more fair than Russian courts 🤷🏻‍♂️

Re: Medvedchuk. He embodies everything you might fear about an oligarch buying his way into power, but the condition he was paraded in before the cameras, as well as the wonky story of his daring escape from house arrest and getting caught RIGHT when it would be convenient for Kiyv to parade him before cameras kinda stinks. (The rather stupid offer to exchange him for ALL the Ukrainian POWs at the time was also an interesting way that feels deliberately engineered to force Putin to re-enact Stalin's legendary refusal to do a prisoner exchange for his son).

Re: Shariy. Guy flees to Spain, blogs not very pro Russian statements from there, gets arrested and is about to be extradited to Ukraine on very vague charges. Some claim he will be made an example of, but who knows if Spain will actually give him up?

Re: extrajudicial killings. David Zhvania's odd death is already claimed as an execution by pro-Russian media, Denis Kireev was likely assassinated for his pro-Russian stance, then simultaneously claimed as "shot during resisting arrest for treason" or "killed on a special undercover mission", this page lists several more cases. Sure, nothing as bold as the Nemtsov case, but I'm sure that if Kiva (who's also facing treason charges) or Shariy ever are returned to Kiyv that can be fixed.

(we should also discuss the curious case of Gonzalo Lira, who was in Kiyv working on some sort of documentary when the conflict began, then decided to stick around and watch, and ended up critiquing the Ukrainian government a lot, was the target of several smear jobs, then vanished suddenly even provoking rumours of his death - and the day the Internet's hashtag activism flared up, he was released by the Ukrainian security forces that also kept all his equipment to themselves)

Re: eat the rich. Misinterpretable laws are a CIS specia-- owait, Ukraine left the CIS. Misinterpretable laws are a former Soviet republic specialty. I would need to hunt down a full text of the law but on the surface it looks like a "we can nationalize the property of any person we don't like" law, which nominally looks like something ready-made for Volodymyr Saldo (who led one of the banned parties and is now the Russian Army-appointed mayor of Kherson (to be fair, he used to be the mayor-elect some years back, so he wasn't just picked at random for the position)) Ihor Kolomoyskiy now that he is no longer Zelenskiy's apparent financial backer (I'm getting Boris Berezovskiy flashbacks here, TBH) or any other oligarch not named Petro Poroshenko (his assets had already been seized), but it might as easily be a convenient "we don't like your political affiliation" repression mechanism. Time will tell.

Re: Poroshenko. I'm still curious how he went from coming back to Kiyv to make a last stand on his charges of treason in January, and then vanish for a couple months only to resurface brandishing machine guns, yelling patriotic slogans and riding a Banderamobile (it was a play on a dumb accusation several Russian politicians made, mad props for the balls he showed doing this). He is now again a political player in Ukraine as the headlines are telling me, despite the fact that his treason trial is still ongoing.

Similarly, Timoshenko was pretty quiet the entire time Zelenskiy was president until she showed up, armor vested and in high heels, for the oddest PR action yet.

The real reason both of them weren't acted against was because neither was ever pro-Russian (despite Poroshenko doing a lot of business with/in Russia on his pre-presidency days) - which, I suppose, proves the point ohsalome was making.

I can't convince you I don't have an agenda - obviously all of us want our country to smell like roses despite the best efforts of our governments and nowadays it's a crime just to be Russian - but if the other countries were allowed to talk shit about Russia's anti-gay law (which was also a clear case of "we don't like these people" law, and still badly misinterpreted in the West), why can't we do the same for Ukraine?

Maybe it will honestly help fix Ukraine's corruption problems, but if it took Zelenskiy this long to do something about corruption (that was part of his election platform, right next to peace with the East), please forgive my concerns about how it will function in practice.

(or maybe he is fighting an uphill battle against the behind the scenes people that got him elected which is the reigning conspiracy theory on why he changes stances on the peace talks with Russia every two days)

Apologies to Minette for dumping all this on her dash.

In the meantime, Ukrainian legislators quietly passed a law that allows immediate confiscation of all property of anyone found guilty of “supporting Russian aggression” by court ruling. Given how swiftly they outlawed all opposing political parties and jailed or executed all the major people in those parties that didn’t leave the country in time, one can imagine how just, swift or honest those courts will be.

[geofftarrant]

It had been a long day featuring a 2 hour drive, a 3 hour flight and a 2 hour ferry ride. I could easily have been tired and grumpy and almost anywhere else in the world that would likely have been the case. This, however was Greece - my spiritual home and whenever I return here my spirits soar. And it was time to eat.

I sat at the table, waiting whilst the owner of the taverna laughed and wrestled with a paper tablecloth that insisted on following a path which was being determined by the warm Meltemi winds rather than his gargantuan efforts. The view was spectacular and a welcome distraction to the battle taking place in front of me. The sky was an intense blue, the colour being reflected by the sea which pounded the rocks below. The rest of the Greek family who owned the establishment were laughing and talking loudly. The fish that they promised me had been caught earlier that day and the ouzo that I sipped was fiery and full of aniseed.

The days rolled by, I was happy, but then another truth about Greece made itself evidently clear.

Ancient monuments, beautiful islands, hedonistic parties, wild mountains. Whenever you hear about Greece being a land of contrasts, these are the images that come to mind for most people.

The contrast that struck me so forcefully though is actually about three people, two of whom I have met and one that I read about this morning.

Let's start with Athena. This is not her real name - she asked to remain anonymous. She had been bringing our beer at our favourite beach bar earned after a hard morning of sunbathing and snorkeling. This had been the pattern for over a week before we spoke. Pretty with jet black hair she wore heavy framed glasses and in truth I had assumed that her English was poor so to my regret I had never really attempted any conversation.

However, that day, there had been a power cut across the whole of the island. In fluent English, she apologised for serving warm beer and went on to tell us that there would be no electricity for several days. Something to do with the power cable that feeds the island. Knowing that the season was coming to an end and that there were only a hundred permanent residents over winter, I asked about her plans. Turns out she is due to start a PhD in Polymer Chemistry and the fourteen hour days she had been working were to help her through university. However, the university is struggling to fund the course because of the recession, so just a few days before she is due to start it is uncertain whether it would go ahead. What a bloody waste. All we could do was leave a large tip and wish her good luck.

I felt unreasonably angry. Not just because of her plight but also because of a gentleman that I had bumped into the previous night. I had stepped into the village mini mall to buy some bottles of water only to find it occupied by one of the most unpleasant people I have ever come across. He and his sidekick were buying champagne. Lots of champagne and loudly. They would pick a bottle off the shelf and shout aggressively across the store demanding the price. If it was too cheap they put it back. How much? 350 euros invented the store owner in exasperation. “We’ll take them all”, came the reply!

The following morning I found an excuse to go back. The store owner recognised me, grinned widely and asked if I wanted a 350 euro bottle of champagne. Of course. I had to ask about the idiot the night before. Turns out he was Russian and had come in on one of the yachts moored in the marina. Thing is, they were spending the night at the boutique hotel up the hill. Does it happen often I asked. Yes and they usually pull out a wad of 500 euro notes.

Now I didn't know if my new friend was exaggerating. I have never even seen a 500 euro note and they might not exist but having watched the Russians in action, it wouldn't surprise me

Accepting that I am biased, believing massively in education and having an inbuilt dislike of Russian oligarchs that I have met (albeit a very small number) I could not help but feel that if you could funnel some of Dimitri’s wealth in Athena’s direction, the world would be a much fairer place. Maybe I need to teach her the 350 euro champagne trick..

Finally I read this morning about a retired lecturer who was killed by a pack of wild dogs after visiting an archeological site on the Greek mainland. Apparently there are thousands of dogs running wild because their owners can't afford to feed them. It was a tragedy for her family but also sad for all the people that have been hit so badly by this recession. I don't think that the 350 euro champagne trick is going to help them. This is the plight of modern Greece.

[geoff-tarrant-writer]

It had been a long day featuring a 2 hour drive, a 3 hour flight and a 2 hour ferry ride. I could easily have been tired and grumpy and almost anywhere else in the world that would likely have been the case. This, however was Greece - my spiritual home and whenever I return here my spirits soar. And it was time to eat.

I sat at the table, waiting whilst the owner of the taverna laughed and wrestled with a paper tablecloth that insisted on following a path which was being determined by the warm Meltemi winds rather than his gargantuan efforts. The view was spectacular and a welcome distraction to the battle taking place in front of me. The sky was an intense blue, the colour being reflected by the sea which pounded the rocks below. The rest of the Greek family who owned the establishment were laughing and talking loudly. The fish that they promised me had been caught earlier that day and the ouzo that I sipped was fiery and full of aniseed.

The days rolled by, I was happy, but then another truth about Greece made itself evidently clear.

Ancient monuments, beautiful islands, hedonistic parties, wild mountains. Whenever you hear about Greece being a land of contrasts, these are the images that come to mind for most people.

The contrast that struck me so forcefully though is actually about three people, two of whom I have met and one that I read about this morning.

Let's start with Athena. This is not her real name - she asked to remain anonymous. She had been bringing our beer at our favourite beach bar earned after a hard morning of sunbathing and snorkeling. This had been the pattern for over a week before we spoke. Pretty with jet black hair she wore heavy framed glasses and in truth I had assumed that her English was poor so to my regret I had never really attempted any conversation.

However, that day, there had been a power cut across the whole of the island. In fluent English, she apologised for serving warm beer and went on to tell us that there would be no electricity for several days. Something to do with the power cable that feeds the island. Knowing that the season was coming to an end and that there were only a hundred permanent residents over winter, I asked about her plans. Turns out she is due to start a PhD in Polymer Chemistry and the fourteen hour days she had been working were to help her through university. However, the university is struggling to fund the course because of the recession, so just a few days before she is due to start it is uncertain whether it would go ahead. What a bloody waste. All we could do was leave a large tip and wish her good luck.

I felt unreasonably angry. Not just because of her plight but also because of a gentleman that I had bumped into the previous night. I had stepped into the village mini mall to buy some bottles of water only to find it occupied by one of the most unpleasant people I have ever come across. He and his sidekick were buying champagne. Lots of champagne and loudly. They would pick a bottle off the shelf and shout aggressively across the store demanding the price. If it was too cheap they put it back. How much? 350 euros invented the store owner in exasperation. “We’ll take them all”, came the reply!

The following morning I found an excuse to go back. The store owner recognised me, grinned widely and asked if I wanted a 350 euro bottle of champagne. Of course. I had to ask about the idiot the night before. Turns out he was Russian and had come in on one of the yachts moored in the marina. Thing is, they were spending the night at the boutique hotel up the hill. Does it happen often I asked. Yes and they usually pull out a wad of 500 euro notes.

Now I didn't know if my new friend was exaggerating. I have never even seen a 500 euro note and they might not exist but having watched the Russians in action, it wouldn't surprise me

Accepting that I am biased, believing massively in education and having an inbuilt dislike of Russian oligarchs that I have met (albeit a very small number) I could not help but feel that if you could funnel some of Dimitri’s wealth in Athena’s direction, the world would be a much fairer place. Maybe I need to teach her the 350 euro champagne trick..

Finally I read this morning about a retired lecturer who was killed by a pack of wild dogs after visiting an archeological site on the Greek mainland. Apparently there are thousands of dogs running wild because their owners can't afford to feed them. It was a tragedy for her family but also sad for all the people that have been hit so badly by this recession. I don't think that the 350 euro champagne trick is going to help them. This is the plight of modern Greece.

[rfschatten]

Russia"Nothing is more wretched than the Mind of a Man Conscious of Guilt" ~~~ Plautus

Wholesale Pardons including Himself, for Crimes not yet prosecuted and/or convicted?? The heavy stench of Guilt is flowing in the air, and blowing throughout the D.C area...but, nowhere more concentrated than around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The hardest act of a Scam Artist is to continuously show his Two Face when he tells you; "Trust Me"! as hard as he tries to conceal his guilt...and remember, Trump's mind seriously lives within his own delusional imagination!...no matter how much he tries, he has a way of accusing absolutely everyone else, while candidly and very stupidly leaking out his own Guilt, every day, every Tweet.

Donald Trump wants absolute power to Pardon Himself, cause Donald Trump knows and the World knows, he's Guilty of being the most sinful & evil human being ever to occupy the office of the US Presidency...and then, some!

It's True! Watching this Man-Baby every day of his life, totally freak the sh*t out of himself, because of the Investigations and the Grand Juries, or Russian pressure, Money-laundering talks, and all his "Fake News"! And especially his private business and his Taxes!! He would kill for 'those' Tax Returns not be made Public!!

Yes, Plautus was right; Nothing is more wretched to see than a Man, who's very Conscious of his own Guilt!!

Direct Lies and Plausible Deniability has been Trump's Modus Operandi throughout his entire life...and for a man, with as many Clinical Psychopathic Traits as the Trumpster? No! he doesn't listen to anyone whatsoever, period! His Presidency runs the way he runs his life...totally Illegal Business Dealings, Making $$$$$ in whatever he's involved in, Direct Lies, and always claiming Plausible Deniability!

Who's surprised that Donald Trump is being investigated for the worst crimes a sitting President has ever been involved in?? Absolutely no one!! Only an insincere, shameless, dishonorable, indecent degenerate and laughable clown would grant Pardon to Himself...if he could.

But, what happens if the Courts say he can do it, and Pardon Himself??

What else can happen after Committing the worse crime an American President could ever commit...the Treasonous Act of Collaborating with a Hostile Foreign Government, allowing Russians to electronically intervene and compromise our Democracy, and spy on our Nation...what else can happen?? How about Controlling the Red Button to bully his way around the world? While his Pardoned Boy Toy, Jared Kushner keeps raking in the family Gold?? What else can happen?...personally, I really don't want to think what would happen...or even know!!

Now, as deep desperation sets in this little man, his urgent need to end the investigation has taken drastic turns...to fire Robert Mueller and stop the investigation, he needs to rid himself of AG Jeff Sessions, and appoint someone who will 'Sieg Heil' his ass all day long...a rumor, this is 'only' just a rumor; Trump might be thinking about another "Liaison Amoureuse" with his cross-dressing pal, Rudy Giuliani, as Sessions' replacement. YouTube's video on these two old Clowns, is going to go viral...again!

A Cross-dressing Attorney General?!?!...only in Donald Trump's Reality Circus Show; "The Presidency: Season 1"

He needs to do something, and fast...and now, with Homeland Security's Gen. John Kelly taking over Priebus's job? more questions arise...moving Sessions to HS to save face? might not offend his Followers as much, but he'll still have to Recuse Himself from any Russian Investigation!

Meanwhile, Kelly who worked at Homeland Security and spoke at the Hearings, is now going to try to save our Non-Guapo & Cowardly President from Impeachment or Jail Time? No one can advise this mentally disturbed Sociopath...he's his own Trainwreck disaster!!

A photo of Kelly tells the whole story babysitting Trump; standing with his arms folded, head down and shaking it back and forth…probably thinking why the hell he took this job and pondering how to save this entire Dead On Arrival Presidency!

Degrading and insulting his own pick for AG, cause he refused to protect him and recused himself, instead?

The President is losing it more and more everyday…and in front of the world! It's becoming a noticeable topic of conversation in the streets and the Media. Always an embarrassment, but know Mental Health Issues, too?

His sleazy and degrading tweets continue daily…now, his outbursts with the GOP and Congress is causing trouble and tension throughout DC.

Intensive verbal shouting matches in Private with Mitch McConnell, cause he couldn't pass Trumpcare and wouldn't protect him from Mueller, with Bob Corker (TN), also for not protecting him from Russiagate, and the same with Thom Tillis (NC). Now he's divorcing himself from Paul Ryan and the GOP…a very stupid move by the very stupid, Mr. Stupid, who desperately needs to have a Bill passed, something, anything in his Presidency for some type of legitimacy!

And why won't he Fire Sessions? Cause this it's not the Apprentice, and in real life, this wormy little orange supercoward of a man, don't have what it takes, doesn't have the face to tell Sessions; "You're Fired"!

Resignations are coming from Right and Left…numerous staff members and complete Presidential Counsels, almost all of them, all walking out in Mass. It's just so much a person can take before he or she resigns their Self-Denial and see Trump for what he really is…a Hateful Human Being, a Bigot, and a Racist till his dying days!

It also appears as if Secretary of State Rex "Exxon/Russia" Tillerson may also exit Stage Right soon, and probably a "Subpoena" along with that resignation!

And now! The infamous Russian Dossier; 40,000 pages worth and a Golden Shower Flick!

This Dossier is considered by many, the roadmap for the investigation, and another piece of the Puzzle connecting the Russian Government, Russia's Alfa Bank, Big $$ Oil Oligarchs, Ukrainian $$, Germany's Deutsche Bank, $$ Laundering...and all ending at Trump Tower!!

Oscar Wilde once said; "Consistency is the last Refuge of the Unimaginative". Well, the consistency of absolutely no imagination is certainly the norm in the sustained incoherence of this chaotic White House!

A Batshit Crazy White House in total utter chaos since...oh well, Day 1? You never get the same story twice from anyone. Horseshit reigns supreme inside the Oval Office and it spreads throughout the Halls of the White House to the West Wing...where they're recycled right back into New Horseshit!

What can We, the People do? Listen to what Robert F. Kennedy said, and think about it;

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

My friends, Resist Trumpism until its very last dying breath!!! Trump romanticizes Fascism!...believe me, there's nothing, absolutely nothing Romantic about Fascism whatsoever.  

Now, in his own way, he's "Demanding" from his Subordinates and from the GOP, all their Allegiance, Loyalty, and especially their "Protection" against any investigations!...this undignified coward and so called President needs to realize that Congress was elected to protect its Citizens, not the President! their loyalty is to their constituency, not the President!...remember, this coward was Elected to Protect America, his Loyalty is owed to the American People!...not an ever loving loyalty to Russia's Oligarchy and Vladimir Putin!

If he wants Protection, ask the FBI, or the Secret Service who someday might have to take a Bullet to save his worthless sorry life!  And all he does is continue to spew his hate and criticism on American Intel, and praise Russian Intelligence!...what a f*cking treasonous schmuck!!

We're on the verge of a giant Constitutional Crisis never seen or experienced before...the sh*t is closing in at that Fan...and King Donald's continued failure in his quest for Superhuman Greatness, is becoming an obsession!! Most cowards love Power, and Donald Trump is capable of doing absolutely "anything" to stay in Power...I don't believe the Military will back him up...but this little lunatic Psychopath with his little hands and his new little Red Button toy is one Dangerous Ding Dong!

With everything in this Nation becoming more disturbing by the day...I'll leave you with a last disturbing thought; As Trump's Larceny of America, continues...what Crimes on Humanity? what Criminal Acts? what Illegalities? even, what "Laws" would stand up?...if Trump has the Absolute Power to Pardon Himself?!?!