June 18, 2016

Saturday...

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10 comments:

Michael K said...

Where's the frog ?

Hagar said...

That Putin sends Russian jets to bomb people supported by the U.S. while U.S. jets are present and telling them not to do that, is not part of "the war on terror." It is the Russian empire on the move again.
And the only U.S. response is Ashton Carter calling Putin's actions "unprofessional."
A curious term for it. Is it that Obama thought he has Putin's agreement for some kind of 19th century "balance of powers" coordination?
That is not how Putin sees it, nor China in claiming the entire South China Sea as China's territorial waters.

Michael K said...

"That is not how Putin sees it, nor China in claiming the entire South China Sea as China's territorial waters."

Weakness, as Obama should be learning, is a temptation. Catholics would call it "An occasion of sin."

He won't learn it, though. He is a Bourbon, Learned nothing and forgot nothing.

Hagar said...

Metaphorically, the situation has given rise to countless Hollywood westerns.
But Obama, I think, feels the world will be better off without a Will Kane.

Big Mike said...

Wife and I used to have lily pond. Water lilies are beautiful and the ponds don't take much maintenance unless you get an algae bloom. You have to make sure that you have a balanced ecosystem, but that's not as hard as the eco-warriors make it out to be. The down side is that the lilies didn't open until after I left for work and they close up around five or six o'clock.

Then we discovered night-blooming tropicals, and that's what the pictured lily reminds me of. So I could come home to an open(ing) lily.

Big Mike said...

@Hagar, I see what you're saying. Fundamentally Putin has restarted what 19th century British diplomats called "The Great Game," and Obama thinks that participation is optional.

Hagar said...

It is beyond "The Great Game;" Putin is shooting with his own latest and greatest weaponry and the Chinese is showing off theirs.

But there is something in Obama's mind about disapproving of traditional American cultural values that trumps the risks of setting off more and larger wars, and he is doing what he can to undermine the "John Wayne mentality" while "leading from behind" - necessary since most people even in his own party generally approve of "John Wayne," "Shane," et al.

Lyle Sanford, RMT said...

what a great pic!

Hagar said...

In the 1930s Chiang Kai-shek was harshly criticized for stockpiling money and weaponry furnished him to fight the Japanese and he is reported as having said: "Look, sooner or later the Japanese will do something to really make the Americans angry, and they will come over here and defeat the Japanese. Then the Americans will go home again, but Mao and his communists will still be here."

Chiang may not actually have said this - perhaps a journalist made it up - but it certainly is a plausible summation of his policy.
And that is also generally how the rest of the world feels about "the Americans;" when they have cleaned up the mess, they will go home again - at least their government will, though the missionaries and most of the traders may remain forever.

Hagar said...

But note that in time, the businesses are largely staffed by local people.