Randomness

The events in far Eastern Europe continue to fascinate.  Putin’s counter-move to the European’s call to his bluff of gas supplies was to turn to China.  He trumpeted a new multi-year deal to supply China in case he feels to need to flex some influence with European supplies.  Meanwhile in Ukraine, Putin’s Spetnatz (Russian special forces), whoops I mean “ethnic Russian militias”, took out a Ukrainian military outpost killing over a dozen.  If anybody truly believes those were militia fighters than I have a southern Florida land deal ready for you to sign.

My author friend, who’s a hell of a lot smarter than I can ever hope to be, posted a blog where he pointed out Putin’s adventurism in Crimea was ill advised because they already had everything they needed out of the region but now had to support this new Russian province which heretofore received virtually all of their food and fuel from, you guessed it, Ukraine.  There’s now a pesky slice of sovereign Ukrainian territory between mother Russia and Crimea.  Three guesses where all the “unrest” has been percolating since Crimea fell (I knew you wouldn’t need those first two). 

Site of Yesterday's Attack

My friend also points out that a hefty and strategically significant percentage of Russian military equipment is produced in that pesky slice of Ukraine.  I’ve held all along that Crimea was phase one and Putin has intended to annex another huge swath of Ukraine.  With the Ukrainian election this week it will be interesting to see what Putin means when he says he’ll “respect” the results.  It could mean something entirely different in Moscow.  My friend also astutely points out that Putin may get his new provinces but he’s not going to like what he ends up facing once he gets them.  His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Mong, indeed!

I got own self in trouble last night by trying to stay out of trouble – it’s how I roll.  My wife and the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia were cooking up a dinner theater extravaganza.  I love hanging out with this group so I was agreeable until she revealed the date.  To her credit she held this information right until the end of the presentation and flawlessly acted surprised when she “realized” I had something planned for that night.

She could tell I wasn’t pleased but I said I’d go because I didn’t want her angry at me for the next two weeks.  That apparently is not the correct tact to take in these situations because she said she didn’t want me to go if I didn’t want to.  Quandary time, she’s going to be angry if I don’t go and she’s going to be angry if I do go.  These are the type puzzle boxes which a successful marriage confronts and inevitably solves.  I know there’s dinner theater in my immediate future and I’m thinking some roses will be involved.

My excellent boss has declared an extremely early First Friday celebration in order to avoid the worst effects of the Memorial Day weekend traffic this afternoon.  I will try to rise to the occasion despite the brutal interruption of scheduled work hours.