THUGGERY BUGGERY

Today’s news is filled with all manner of threats from Vladimir Putin to cut off Russian gas flowing to European users whose countries are siding with Ukraine.  Apparently, he is seeking to punish those who openly oppose his warlike actions and ALLEGED wanton criminal conduct toward the Ukrainian civilians he apparently seeks to subjugate.  He has been accused in some quarters of using the gas flow to “blackmail” the open criticism into silence.

Now, this behavior seems typical of those who are so obsessed with dominating others that they fail to see the flaws in their own behavior.  I may be wrong in thinking, as I do, that a supplier of a commodity (like natural gas) ought to want to CULTIVATE markets of demand for the product, no?  I doubt very seriously that Putin can get Russians to extract nourishment directly from natural gas, and Russians probably get thirsty and hungry, JUST LIKE other people!  (Breathing the natural gas is not likely to be very satisfying!)  

So, it seems to me that the whole point of the thing is to SELL the natural gas to consumers who have the cash money needed by Russia (whether in rubles or in euros), then CONVERT that money to food, drink, arms, wages, etc. that will keep things going inside Russia!  Am I missing something here?  DEPRIVING the consumers of that gas is DEFINITELY NOT SELLING it to them, and I think it’s likely to stifle Putin’s cashflow!  I doubt it takes an “Einstein” to figure all that out!

AND, I daresay, it’s likely to really PISS THOSE CONSUMERS OFF! Does Putin think that, once all his “insinuations” end, it will be “business as usual” thereafter?  I could be wrong, but I would not bet the farm that all those people he seeks to inconvenience today are gonna welcome that revived gasflow with open arms a few months later!  He is driving a lot of Europeans to find other sources of gas, and I think he may as well kiss those customers good-bye!  FOREVER!

Ukraine has suffered horribly with Putin’s almost insane, miscalculated mis-behavior.  Putin has NEEDLESSLY (I think) created a lot of enemies AROUND THE WORLD who will not suddenly stop trying to figure out how to screw him hard, REGARDLESS of whatever happens hereafter!  And, the sad fact is that, hereafter, the Russian people will unfairly bear the brunt of a lot of the anti-Putin animus, while Putin could just skate away, unscathed!  Seems to me that the sooner the Russian people get rid of Putin, the better for them!  They are in serious danger of paying their own dear price despite their innocence!

And, regardless of wherever Putin goes, that animus he has created will follow, and he may as well wear a “KICK ME” sign on his back!  Like most dictators, Putin has already used up all of the good will that most any nation’s leader starts out with.  He is already in “deficit”!  Regardless of how much money he may ever accumulate, he will HAVE to be very careful and keep looking over his shoulder wherever he goes.  Despite appearances, Putin is NOT a vampire and will NOT live forever!  Putin is going to DIE one of these days!  What does that signify for whatever he thinks he’s accomplishing now?  Like all dictators, Putin is basically a COWARD, fearful of NOT being taken seriously, fearful of NOT being as big of a bad-ass as he thinks!  Putin is basically a bad joke, and methinks he has shot himself in the foot with his silly “deprivation” game with natural gas.  The “joke” is really on him!

Putin WILL inconvenience a lot of people.  He WILL scare a lot of people, and he WILL endanger and harm and kill a lot of people!  But, he is NOT going to succeed at all of that forever.  As rotten as Putin is, only herpes lasts forever.  And, one of these days, he will wish DESPERATELY he had access to the DEMAND market for natural gas that he will have so successfully alienated, but I predict he will thereafter succeed ONLY in cutting off his nose to spite his pouty face.

Joe Biden needs to point these things out.

4/28/22