it's yours anyway

I had an interesting, and really for me,

somewhat odd visit to Ukraine. For one thing,
 I was never able to check the pulse of the Metro  users, as it seemed to be, that mostly, they were checking mine. As they continue to examine the worth of the gift baskets, from various Nations, States, Economic groups, associations: of course they have doubts, questions,  of what they have got, at them. They are still locked,  in an arduous difficult, nagging war , with a strategically overwhelming opponent. An opponent with vast land and mineral resources, vast energy resources and a massive and very effective Nuclear arsenal that can easily be deployed against them. It's simply a situation of outright defiance.
 Mister Putin's politics has some traction, a vague traction within the refugee community in Ukraine's capitol and a few places, that diaspora within their territory is , in my opinion waning, not waxing, as the current moon cycle grows. As they (Ukraine ) continue to sacrifice their best sons and daughters, from these low income towns and communities, they will continue to question what leadership,  leads for  them. President Poroshenko (as a moderate) will continue to guide them forward.

United States of America's Democrats don't have that much good talent either.
Yes, within my brief visit,  I did meet with the Thinker (s) , placed a small order with my Tailor, talked with the soldier, and had a random, yet quite interesting encounter , with the man with the glass eye:
What I like about Ukraine, is that effervescent unpredictability of the place. People think of it, as an internet , of weirdly exponential elements,  filled with pitfalls, perils, and potential hidden opportunity. What came out of my visit, was the sensation,  that this was not about watching,  but listening with an open mind, just hearing it's moods, spaces. It felt like a place, where the blinded can newly discover their sight,  with their ears. Plenty of advice there about what the risks of doing business amount to there, it's real.


It was dry, unexpectedly hot,  as if springtime was robbed from them, by Global Warming.
I don't know for sure,  if it's true that they retain 60% of the world's resources in Black Earth, even if it was 40%, that's a lot of agricultural potential waiting to be fully exploited, tapped. Yet it felt starved of basic vegetables. I found no English Mustard greens, Kale, Broccoli, no Chinese cabbage, no red carrots , no yellow beets, no Maui Onions, no squash, no zucchini , no asparagus anywhere. Farmers (small)  cannot buy basic medical insurance for their family.

That old thing, of the observer,  being observed by the people being observed. I think that my failure in escaping odd contextual situations really,   related to not adopting the "pay it forward" strategy. Much worse mistakes get  made every day, in every life. I hope that I am not the worst kind of guy, I am trying, as best that I can, to be better, improve, reinvent, repurpose myself. I had my good swig, glass of Birch tree juice in the forest, with the forest man. Amateurs may think that Ukraine's Euro-maidan revolution was funded and orchestrated, and to some extent it was. Yet it was the men from the country , the forest people who went there to the capitol to complain vociferously, that their government was not theirs, to complain that things had to change, and things have changed, despite the price that was paid in good men's lives. It's a dear, a very dear price. A  price that simple or elaborate words will never convey.

As we in the historically favored USA reach the end of our journey with Senator John McCain, we must attune ourselves to his messages about Ukraine, North Korea he has not widely disseminated his wisdoms, yet within each equation he had a perspective about the Russian Federation, they were the hidden actors within each scenario. It is terribly wrong and unfortunate that our serving president characterized John McCain as having failed, by being captured as  prisoner of war. And I feel in my hear that it is wrong for Ukraine to blame Nadia Savchenko for her drinking of the kool_aid. She did get captured, she did suffer terrible things, yet in all, they let her go free, did not cripple her body (as they did ,many other prisoners of the war)


Ukraine is obviously thinking through the potential strategic value gain,  of becoming a Nuclear Capable STATE , once again. Not many people are aware that they mine and control Uranium deposits within the territory of Ukraine.
The USA has jumped up it's financial Aid package,  to 600 million US dollars per year. That is, inflation adjusted ?   Yet the Nuclear deterrent will not fix the situation that they are in,  at this moment.

 It appeared to me that the small, medium and starting up businesses are really struggling to make it in Ukraine.  Established businesses can't stay open, close, new one's seem to be transitory , move to other places or close. I think that    the Government is actually doing a decent job of protecting basic consumer interests , and being respectful of entrepreneurs : Lots of small, unlicensed street stalls were getting cleared out in Kiev ,   perhaps due to complaints that normal store fronts can not compete.
 People still are very critical, yet the Government systems are reforming well enough. A lot of wealth was taken out of the country, not very much wealth appears to get invested in internal  business ,   as I sense it.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/23/world/clinton-thanks-ukraine-with-200-million.html

While they did not have the Soviet launch and command controls for the Nuclear Missiles, they had them. The fueled missile launcher systems. They could have flown them without the war heads most anywhere on the planet, at that time perhaps, if they wanted to do It.

Even if they had kept a third, or 10% of what they had, it's really hard to discern if the  Russian Federation ,  would have taken the risk of aggressively  seizing their territory. In any case scenario, the stakes would be different today, maybe less people would be dead from this arbitrary war, or the whole fiasco would perhaps have never transpired upon their territory?

Personally, just me saying it, I don't think that with the technology development within RUssian Federation,  that they actually needed to fully man and maintain their bases in the Crimea territory,

and it is  getting somewhat expensive for them to continue to hold it.

 Everybody says they, (Russia ) doesn't care that much about Donbas. Stories circulate about them exporting toxic waste from RU Federation into Donbas , weirdly colored piles,  of toxic waste outside the coal mines. Ukraine has become Russian toxic waste dumping ground, after all, they are spending so very much money to occupy their peaceful neighbor, why not offset the cost , just a bit?
If China not taking USA garbage much more, why not Mexico ? it's just so much more closer place to take old TV sets and things like that....Mexico politic with USA, will continue pushing hard,  against our agenda,  with Russia Federation and China Cat Sunflower .

It was the miner's strikes in Ukraine's Donbas, that affected  the collapse of the Soviet Union.

and this article about the situation today,  is quite detailed, if you have the time to read it through about Worker's demands for better pay in Ukraine's mining metal refining industry in Krivoy Rog https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/maksym-kazakov/how-workers-in-ukraine-metal-industry-are-fighting-for-wages-rights-democracy.
If you did not know that bit of history  (miner's striking ) from when the Soviet Union collapsed ,  you did not study that  History, in very much detail.

For the moment South Central Ukraine,  it's a Geopolitics backwater, like Transnistria , but at any moment events in Donbas can shift gears, Russia forces could try to push South along the Axov Sea, to take a and bridge, it would rocket Gold Prices to new highs, and wreak havoc on every sector of the financial markets, perhaps you can compare it to the Kremlin's new "Savings Account" , that hidden repository,  of potential financial gain, on an overnight basis . They don't care about what shoppers in the Mall in Vladivostok can buy, they care about their hidden investment sectors, awaiting "the moment of gain" Yet Russia doesn't need to make a big drama, they built a bridge across to Kerch, and now they want to bring in giant tractors to dig out the archeological treasures, very quickly, with a lot of media triumphalism. Maybe another trove of GOLD artifacts like the ones that Faberge modeled his designs after? It's one thing to seize a territory, and another to rip off it's embedded history, maybe England did some of that with Egyptian artifacts, but we all know that Tomb raiding brings curses forth.

I did not really do anything serious within the war, just moved some stuff around or whatever it was. These were said to be vaccines from a Neutral Nation, and maybe they were expired or something, or near that. The real story is about how the Nation of Ukraine, joined together with a Patriotic spirit, without judgements about their leaders actions of the past.

When the  people of Ukraine made real sacrifices, and gave very real and dear things to help their country, selflessly,   to defend their Nation. They suffered tragic and deep, lasting wounds, within  every town and region. It is a war on a scale that would totally freak out most Americans .

While it would probably never happen in the USA,
how do we know it won't , in one form or another ?

Thankfully they did stop the tide of invasion with their heroic self defense effort in  Ukraine,  \ against Russia's naked aggression. If they hadn't would we have risked a Third World War ?

How can it educate America,  of our own best pathways to mitigate our security risks ?

And who today, can  cajole, extoll  the riderless Horse?

Caligula's horse

And it came to pass that Caligula's horse
Was proclaimed senator.

A fair horse, almost divine,
It strode majestically into the hall,
Greeted everyone with due regard,
Taking no notice of rank or office, even of the ministers,
And went straight to its appointed place
Modestly,
             As if it were ashamed of being there.

It immediately saw through those around it,
Murderers, profiteers, sycophants, wheelers and dealers
It never assented
             to the conquest of other countries,

To the lowering of salaries, or to the raising of prices,
Nor did it take any notice of pompous speeches,
Never did it applaud,
             but listened to the speeches of the orators
             with sheer indifference
And it never dreamed of taking advantage of its senatorial
             position to publish fat books.

On occasion, glancing at the sleepy faces of its citizens,
It would dream of how it used to frolic in the meadows,
Of the clear blue sky, of spring water.

Later it was engulfed by such sorrow
That the senators began looking askance at it,
They began murmuring about its wild past,
About the dubious company it kept, about its unbridled lifestyle.

Nonetheless, it lived a long life
And it used its power better than anyone else had,
That is:
             not at all!

[Kali i Kaligulës, from the journal Nëntori, Tirana, 9 (1988) p. 58, translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie, and first published in English in An elusive eagle soars, anthology of modern Albanian poetry, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 188]