Althouse: "Sometimes I think, maybe they'll let the bear eat berries and honey in the forest, maybe they will leave it in peace."

December 18, 2014

"Sometimes I think, maybe they'll let the bear eat berries and honey in the forest, maybe they will leave it in peace."

"They will not. Because they will always try to put him on a chain, and as soon as they succeed in doing so they tear out his fangs and his claws."

Said Vladimir Putin.

25 comments:

Mr. Colby said...: So... Is Ukraine the berries, or the honey?; 12/18/14, 9:46 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Ukraine = berries.

The Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) = honey

Vlad the bear is peace-loving and tranquil.

Leave Vlad alone!; 12/18/14, 9:49 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Some very smart people in Russia but the political leadership is the worst outside some middle east and African countries. Genuine tragedy.; 12/18/14, 9:50 AM
garage mahal said...: Along with Ebola and ISIS, we aren't hearing much about how Putin is a genius next to POTUS.; 12/18/14, 9:53 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/18/14, 9:55 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: garage mahal said...
Along with Ebola and ISIS, we aren't hearing much about how Putin is a genius next to POTUS.

Somewhere, garage, the god of logic approves of your efforts but politics is not about logic. It's about ginning up your team to make the next ten yards.; 12/18/14, 9:58 AM
Bob Boyd said...: "Sometimes I think, maybe they'll let the bear eat the neighbors who live on the edge of the forest, maybe they will leave it in peace. There's nothing wrong with honey and berries, but a bear is not a frickin' vegan. A bear needs protein, something that will stick to the ribs. But do you think they care? They don't care."; 12/18/14, 10:07 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Some very smart people in Russia but the political leadership is the worst outside some middle east and African countries. Genuine tragedy."

You forgot to include the United States in your reference to states with tragically wretched political leadership.; 12/18/14, 10:15 AM
Bob Boyd said...: A week ago the Fish and Game set up a trailer trap in my next door neighbor's driveway.
A black bear has been roaming the neighborhood all summer and fall, mostly at night, looking for garbage cans to knock over. He should have hibernated by now. I've gotten a good look at him on several occasions. He's gotten really fat.
When he set up the trap, the Fish and Game guy said its late, the bear needs to be in a den and if they catch him they'll take him to place they have where he can crawl in and sleep. Then in the spring they would release him somewhere.
Yesterday I saw them take the trailer trap away. The door was still up. Maybe the bear found a den on his own.; 12/18/14, 10:20 AM
cubanbob said...: AReasonableMan said...
garage mahal said...
Along with Ebola and ISIS, we aren't hearing much about how Putin is a genius next to POTUS.

Somewhere, garage, the god of logic approves of your efforts but politics is not about logic. It's about ginning up your team to make the next ten yards.

12/18/14, 9:58 AM"

With Garage its always about ginning up his 'team' and any actual relationship to logic is purely accidental and wholly unintended.

As for you comment about Russia, it's true there many very, very smart Russians but the leadership has never really been inclined to peruse the Russian national interest, just their personal interests as Putin is now visibly displaying. That is the genuine tragedy for Russian and for most of African and the Middle East and indeed for most of the world.; 12/18/14, 10:25 AM
Gahrie said...: Along with Ebola and ISIS, we aren't hearing much about how Putin is a genius next to POTUS.

Talk to your pals in the media about that.; 12/18/14, 10:26 AM
Drago said...: garage mahal: "Along with Ebola and ISIS, we aren't hearing much about how Putin is a genius next to POTUS"

Leftist poster garage informs us that we aren't hearing much about ISIS.

Well, that would be because the leftist media has determined that stories about ISIS (those JV guys, remember?) especially do not reflect well on obama.

So the leftist media doesn't bother to report wonderful news like this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-militants-shoot-dead-at-least-50-iraqi-men-women-and-children-in-latest-massacre-of-tribe-9833806.html?origin=internalSearch

So to recap: Leftist media don't report on stuff leftists don't want reported on. Leftist posters use lack of reporting as "proof" somehow that things are going well.

On the Putin front, there is much happening (particular in the Eastern bloc of nations), but that does not reflect well on obamas self-declared "flexibility", so down the rabbit hole it goes as well.

The eastern Europeans know that obama has "flexible-ed" the US out of the picture so the Europeans know it's time to cut a deal or two with the bear:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-eastern-europeans-are-bowing-to-putins-power/2014/10/12/2adbf4c2-4fd0-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html; 12/18/14, 10:42 AM
Hagar said...: A hungry bear is a dangerous animal.
A starving bear is a very dangerous animal.; 12/18/14, 10:48 AM
tim maguire said...: I don't want war.
All I want is peace. Peace.
Peace!
A little piece of Poland
A little piece of France
A little piece of Portugal
And Austria perchance

A little slice of Turkey
And all that that entails
Und then a piece of England Scotland
Ireland and Wales

A little nip of Norway
A little spot of Greece
A little hunk of Hungary
Oh what a lovely feast

A little bite of Belgium
And now for some dessert
Armenia Albania
And Russia wouldn't hurt; 12/18/14, 10:52 AM
garage mahal said...: Talk to your pals in the media about that

Haha. MSM is the best friend conservatives ever had.; 12/18/14, 10:55 AM
tim maguire said...: garage mahal said..."Talk to your pals in the media about that"

Haha. MSM is the best friend conservatives ever had.

Not intentionally.; 12/18/14, 10:57 AM
mccullough said...: The Bear hasn't beaten the Packer in a long time.; 12/18/14, 11:00 AM
David said...: Obama's declining to use American military force in the Ukraine is looking a lot wiser now.The Russian economy has essentially failed. Only oil is holding off a complete implosion. Russia is not competitive in international markets on any level except for commodities, a characteristic of an undeveloped third world country. They have terrible public health issues and bad demographic trends. In a world of extensive cross border migration, they are pretty much a last choice destination.

In some ways these severe negatives make Russia more dangerous. Bluster and desperation can lead to military conflict. But they lack the resources to complete even their attempted Ukraine takeover, and especially to pull this off elsewhere. We need to maintain a strong military capacity to oppose Russia, but also to be very judicious in using it. Putin is a failure, and the trends are not in his favor.; 12/18/14, 11:13 AM
Skyler said...: There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it's vicious and dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who's right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear.; 12/18/14, 11:14 AM
traditionalguy said...: So will Putin now send nukes to our enemies like the USSR did to 1961 Cuba?; 12/18/14, 11:19 AM
mikee said...: Skyler wins!

It isn't a bear we are experiencing here, which has only instincts and hunger to guide it. We are facing a totalitarian dictator who believes expropriating others' lands empowers his rule.

That dictator is facing a huge economic crisis of his own making, and now we have to ask, what will the man (not a bear) do to remain in power and keep his grip on Russia?

If it were a bear causing trouble, a simple Fish & Game trap or a quick tranquilizer dart from a Game Warden or a resident with a shotgun could take care of the problem entirely. But it isn't a bear, it is a human totalitarian who may cause untold suffering, beyond that he has already caused, to remain in power.

Metaphors and similes and analogies are fun, but a nuke is a nuke and a totalitarian dictator is not a natural thing; Putin is a wholly human creation outside the natural order of the modern world.; 12/18/14, 11:29 AM
Richard Lawrence Cohen said...: What's a quick way to rebound from an economic depression? Hint: the US did it at the end of 1941.

The Russian people will not topple Putin just because he's impoverishing them. He's the czar, and poverty is what's most familiar to them. They love serving their czar. It's their national passion. They've never experienced anything else. That and vodka take their minds off their troubles. Several czars were, however, removed by individuals or coup-sized groups.; 12/18/14, 11:48 AM
Jaq said...: Maybe when Obama took his only option, and went against the advice of nobody, and declined to use military force against Russia, he showed wisdom, but when he said "I will have more flexibility after the election" to Putin, and when he sold out the Poles on the missile defense system, he showed a deep foolishness and telegraphed weakness to Russia, which may very well have encouraged Putin to enter in to this whole mess.

But Obama is a genius playing three dimensional chess, so I am sure it will all come out alright!; 12/18/14, 12:12 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I do like my rabid bears declawed.; 12/18/14, 6:32 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: RLC has it: this will clear when Putin is dead. Hope that and the succession can be managed in an orderly fashion by his clique.; 12/19/14, 6:10 AM