This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

“Shoot them down!” Shouts the king! Then tells the UN, “you guys are no darn good! What you need is more, cowboy!” The Russians began with drone provocations in Poland. The king failed to stand up after NATO called. Then the provocations got worse in Denmark and from three thousand miles away the king says, “shoot them down!” Go ahead and start world war III! See if I care?

And then, like finding a note on his desk, King Donald’s regime suddenly understands Europe is teetering towards a general war. The king turns Billy Bellicose and threatens harsh consequences. If he had made a strong statement of support for NATO when it first started. He wouldn’t have to over say anything now. It’s Trump who sits on the fence threatening Russia with spit balls and tariffs. It’s Trump who is  blowing hot and cold on Ukraine. One day he hates Zelensky, the next day he’s fine. Trump then accuses the UN of not doing enough.

What’s Russia’s plan here? Why are they seeking international involvement? What good is firing drones into Poland going to do Russia? Or buzzing the airport in Copenhagen? Is it a warning, a threat? Look what I could do if I wanted. Tearing up undersea cables in an undeclared war of provocation. Something is missing. There is some piece of the puzzle we can’t see. So, the puzzle appears to not make any sense.

During World War II, the allies focused on bombing ball-bearing factories, then quickly shifted to oil. Ukraine has stopped around or about 30% of Russia’s oil capacity. Causing critical shortages of fuel everywhere. Winter is coming. The Russian stock market is crashing. The Russian currency is near worthless. It looks like Germany in 1918, pulling up lead pipes to make bullets. First comes fuel shortages and then comes food shortages. And then comes, Katie bar the door.

Maybe a way to save face? Provoke an international incident and start a general war. NATO mobilizes and rolls Russian forces back to the Russian border. Special Military Operation all over and forgotten. If I were in Russia, that’s the best plan I could come up with to get Putin overthrown. The conspirators are too weak to stand up against the bureaucracy themselves, but maybe strong enough to provoke NATO to do it for them. There is more to this picture than meets the eye.

If I were a Russian General, I would be very unhappy right about now. Or a Russian oligarch. Their fortunes are being ruined, and their assets destroyed by an unnecessary war, They are probably a little unhappy about it as well. Unhappy with Putin and with the course of the war. But domestic hands can’t reach Putin. He’s untouchable, domestically. Somebody inside Russia wants a war between Putin and NATO. Who and why?

Who would be so foolish as to play around with a loaded Trump with the safety off like that? You are going to balance world peace on the knife edge of out guessing the under guesser? Playing chess while Trump and his team of ex Fox News hosts play Chinese checkers? A very risky strategy indeed! This isn’t like the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no huge brain trust to fall back on here. This is the call of the wild.

This is the king and his merry band of experts meeting. 86 proof Pete Hegseth and little big man secretary of fate Marko Polio meeting with Donald Trump to decide what to do. And frighteningly, Donald Trump has the most foreign policy experience of any of them. Not scary enough, King Donald had presented the Russians with oil contracts to sign during their visit to Alaska. Do you want him to help you or not? If you want him to help you, you have to let him, wet his beak. He’s not going to help you for free, you know! Sign here!

It’s only fair! Trump had tried extorting Ukrainian rare earth minerals. Fair is fair, if you’re going to extort one side. Why not extort the other? It’s the reason the Russians left Alaska early and in a hurry. No banquet. No communique, no nothing! Knowing how the peace conference ended and knowing about the Russian hard feelings. The administration has kept their distance, saying little until Cowboy Bone spurs answers. “Shoot them down!”

They have been shooting them down. The goal is to make them stop coming without shooting them down. Who is Trump talking to here? NATO already knows what to do. They don’t need to hear advice from a draft dodger. Is Trump talking to Putin, trying to scare him? Or is Trump speaking to us, the nuclear casualties? Never fear! I’m tough and I’m strong! I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow the Russkies’ house down! I’ll make idle threats until the cows come home and then I’ll tell other people what they should do, until Russia comes to its senses.

With no reflection at all on the pot calling a kettle black. Trump chastises the United Nations for not doing enough. It was Trump who bragged he was going to end the war in one day, but it was hard, and the Russians wouldn’t pay up. So, Trump walked away.

The drone which flew over the Copenhagen airport had safety and navigational lighting. Apparently, the Russians wanted everyone to see it coming. A message drone saying, “look what we could do.” But why? Who gains from this?

The war in Ukraine is moving into a new phase. The battlefield is a stalemate, but the Russian home front is a total loss. The Russian economy is reaching terminal velocity. The war is already decided. It is just a matter now of when the Russians are willing to accept defeat. That, or try to expand the war even further.

For the world, the end of the war in Ukraine is the end of the crisis. But for Russia, the end of the war in Ukraine is just the beginning of the crisis. A financial, military and political crisis with a nuclear arsenal to consider. Who will replace Putin and what will be their political affiliations? And king Bellicose, the dramatic answers. “Shoot them down!”

 “Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.” – Dr. Strangelove