I'm rather preoccupied with the Malaysian jet that was shot down by what appears to be pro-Russian rebels in the Ukraine, using Russian anti-aircraft missiles. 298 people killed by idiots who thought they were shooting at a military jet, and who are now scrambling to blame everyone but themselves for the disaster. Their leader has gone so far as to say it was all a set-up, with dead bodies put on the plane, that was then blown up, all to discredit their revolution. Even Vladimir Putin is blaming the Ukraine for fighting to keep herself together instead of letting the pro-Russian side just walk away.
For some reason, this reminds me of the sinking of the Lusitania, in 1915. She was a British luxury liner traveling between NY and Liverpool when a German U-boat torpedoed her off the southern coast of Ireland. She sank in 18 minutes and 1,198 people died, including 128 Americans.
In the aftermath, the German government made all sorts of excuses as to why it was okay to sink a ship carrying nearly 2,000 civilians -- including that the ship was carrying munitions (which was later revealed to be true, despite American and British denials). They also pointed out that Germany and England were at war, and they had even put an ad in a news paper warning people against traveling on a British ship.
Still, the slaughter of nearly 1,200 non-combatants turned the tide against Germany, and 2 years later the US declared war. A year after that, Germany was in ruins. Did Germany learn a lesson? Nope. Twenty years later, Germany was headed straight for disaster, again, and 7 years after that, the country lay in ruins, once more.
The combined total of dead from those two world wars is thought to be close to 100 million.
So now what do we have? A jetliner from a country that has nothing to do with the situation in the Ukraine carrying mainly European citizens is shot down by idiots, to whom Russia had handed weapons they had no idea how to handle. Putin shot himself in the foot, doing that. Some people think he'll be gone within a year, thanks to this. I doubt it, but you never know.
However, I could see this being the spark that brings on another world war. Nobody cares about Moslems killing each other in Syria and Egypt and Iraq and Libya and Lebanon, not really. They barely cared about the Muslims being slaughtered in Bosnia and various other Baltic countries, 20 years ago. Nor do they honestly care about the fight between Israel and the Palestinians. It's just something to excuse their usual Jew-bashing.
But you kill hundreds of Europeans en route to holidays or an AIDS conference? Well, that's different. Now the politicians will HAVE to do something about Russian meddling in The Ukraine...and that won't be pretty. More economic sanctions will hurt Putin's base even more, despite his approval ratings being sky-high in Russia. Who knows -- maybe he'll get as dumb as the rebels, nuke someplace to remind people of just how powerful Russia still is, and set off Armageddon.
So, the end of the world could begin in the Crimea -- what a ludicrous story.
In the aftermath, the German government made all sorts of excuses as to why it was okay to sink a ship carrying nearly 2,000 civilians -- including that the ship was carrying munitions (which was later revealed to be true, despite American and British denials). They also pointed out that Germany and England were at war, and they had even put an ad in a news paper warning people against traveling on a British ship.
Still, the slaughter of nearly 1,200 non-combatants turned the tide against Germany, and 2 years later the US declared war. A year after that, Germany was in ruins. Did Germany learn a lesson? Nope. Twenty years later, Germany was headed straight for disaster, again, and 7 years after that, the country lay in ruins, once more.
The combined total of dead from those two world wars is thought to be close to 100 million.
So now what do we have? A jetliner from a country that has nothing to do with the situation in the Ukraine carrying mainly European citizens is shot down by idiots, to whom Russia had handed weapons they had no idea how to handle. Putin shot himself in the foot, doing that. Some people think he'll be gone within a year, thanks to this. I doubt it, but you never know.
However, I could see this being the spark that brings on another world war. Nobody cares about Moslems killing each other in Syria and Egypt and Iraq and Libya and Lebanon, not really. They barely cared about the Muslims being slaughtered in Bosnia and various other Baltic countries, 20 years ago. Nor do they honestly care about the fight between Israel and the Palestinians. It's just something to excuse their usual Jew-bashing.
But you kill hundreds of Europeans en route to holidays or an AIDS conference? Well, that's different. Now the politicians will HAVE to do something about Russian meddling in The Ukraine...and that won't be pretty. More economic sanctions will hurt Putin's base even more, despite his approval ratings being sky-high in Russia. Who knows -- maybe he'll get as dumb as the rebels, nuke someplace to remind people of just how powerful Russia still is, and set off Armageddon.
So, the end of the world could begin in the Crimea -- what a ludicrous story.
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