Prognosis: Ukraine

Russia has hit military targets all over Ukraine with hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles in retaliation for Ukrainian terror strikes on civilian targets in Russia.

As I'm sure you know, Donald was upset – or so he told the American press. According to Politico.

U.S. President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin "absolutely CRAZY" and said the Russian leader "is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers" in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

Some civilians did die, as always happens as such strikes. But in most cases these deaths are the result of Ukrainian air defenses shooting off everything they have indiscriminately. This is not to say that Russia drones are missiles don't sometimes hit the wrong target. However, as time goes on they are demonstrably more precise . And, theUkrainian military has never shown much concern for civilian casualties – certainly not Russian – but also not in own.

Russia’s retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian territory are natural; the criminal must be punished. Lavrov

Trump’s statement indicates that he has learned nothing since 2016. As then, he has surrounded himself with all the wrong people, and talks without thinking,. This seems to be a requirement for US presidents. Biden was bad. Trump is bad too. Which is worse? Hard to say,

People like Gilbert Doctorow like to pretend there is method in the idiocy, Nonsense!

In the meantime, the Ukrainians say they want to "negotiate" but they are offering nothing since they will not accept the principle of local self-determination. They just want Putin to meet with Zelensky and they want the cease-fire even though the Russians have said these things will never happen. They have nothing to talk about.

What was the outcome of the last negotiations? A hostage exchange the Ukrainians complained about from the beginning.

Some bloggers like Simplicius have noted that the Banderites are upset about that hostage exchange, since they didn't get many of their own – maybe none of their own nasties – back. Those people will end up in Siberia for terrorist activities for the foreseeable future.

I think I said a week or so ago that the Ukrainians were very unhappy about an equal exchange – because the Russians have a huge number of POWs and Ukrainians have very few to the extent that to get a thousand people to exchange they had to give up civilians and take a propaganda hit. And, of course, the “negotiators” knew the guys with tattoos would be pissed.

That said, all those old people in front of the cameras – doesn't look good. They are not POWs! Fortunately for Kiev, Western media won't show the pictures. But the Russian media will – inflaming the public even more.

In the meantime, the Russians continue steady advances in all theaters, including Sumy.

The West is still playing hardball since they have no skin in the game. They have lifted restrictions on the long-range use of their cruise missiles, not that Ukraine was paying any attention to those restrictions – wink, wink, nod – anyway— and not that those cruise missiles are very effective these days.

The US continues to supply weapons to Ukraine as part of Biden's last package, although Trump could stop it at any time. Weapon supply will run out in June – but they will keep on coming anyway, with European countries buying them from the Americans to supply to the Ukrainians, if the US defense industry can keep up with demand.

Russian production of drones as advanced to the point where soon they will be able to launch a thousand a day.

The upshot of this is that the Russians are less and less willing to compromise. Negotiations for them are just theater—showing the global majority that Russia, unlike the West, has integrity, can do diplomacy, and keeps its promises while they keep on killing Ukrainians on the battlefield,.

Next up, the Russians will offer a memorandum, setting conditions for peace – which of course will be summarily rejected by the Ukrainians who will be assured by the Europeans that they will get the weapons they want and European help.

From this point on I doubt that the Russian public will accept anything other than unconditional surrender.

The Western media and sites like the Duran are saying that Europe and the United States together are setting a trap for Russia to get them to compromise. Dream on!

I am not sure what that “trap” could be because Russia holds all the cards, is winning, and gets nothing by compromise. Rather, Russia has set a trap for the US and Europe, by negotiating without compromise as the West goes further down the rabbit hole and gets lost there.

The end?

That’s Medvedev’s map.

The West dismisses him as ‘pandering” to the Russian masses. Pandering? No. He is expressing the public mood. But this map indicates the likely outcome. An occupation just like the US occupation of Japan in 1945.

The US has given Russia a template.

Special Article Putin 4

You saw a draft of the introduction.

That has since been rewritten and is now rather longer.

After this, I have a lot of material already written, which I will also rewrite. Sorry about the time it takes —I disagree with myself a lot!

However, some of my coffee buyers have shared their insights and opinions— THANK YOU!

And they have offered encouraging messages of support, which helps a lot.

I am hoping the real estate developers don’t kick me out too soon, It is almost impossible — or prohibitively expensive— to find someone willing to rent an apartment to you in Japan if you are over 70!

Going back to Canada is not an option. But I will work something out.