05 Aug Hands on nukes?
'He is bluffing!'
That casual talk in da bar between…whoever you might think off. Political figures, folks,…
Who is up to push that button first?
This topic is now like the one to have with your friends. A casual chat, like betting on whose football team gonna win in coming-up match.
This is a back-and-forth, red-line testing topic, where “bluffing” would plead as a FIASCO move for all, no way back, like carrying a fired candlestick inside the mine. To me it would turn to a real ‘battle ship’ game at your garden… With more than two players in a control room. Only hope, not many rookies behind it.
Cost of words playing a big role here, which is not firmed… stamped…glue-di-dah matter — you said it, you took it back. Easy peasy. Pity, all comes to ‘words don’t really matter’. Also, all who promised smth change with time as well as circumstances, like simply season changed.
So if words can be taken back anytime then its all about to find a barrel to blame. ‘ We’ll make them pay….’, ‘ Nah I didn’t say that…never, ever ever ‘. How many turned their words and came back with “Dindu noffin” type of flip, join-in the hatred team…Funny and sad to watch, but this is like an everyday thing, just saying.
How this is taken by people
‘The lesser you know, the tighter you sleep’, Russian aphorism goes well here. In Europe, China, USA, Russia, and pff basically in any country, people don’t want this heavy-thinking about wars, political turns, debates, and rather enjoy whats on tv tonight — sports, movies, tv-shows…
Some awakening, or a jaw-dropping moment, comes when the currency fall, passport rejected/limit travel, bank cards are not accepted, tickets or gas prices leave you empty pocketer-socketer.
This is a classic conflict follow up, whoever lived in countries like Russia, China, Iran,…knows how stressful it is,…um to collateral flip, like from changing your preferences in grocery store to a TOTAL lifestyle reset; ‘Prices rise = turn to cheaper goods + save more+ cancel fun + …’ formula. Well, ok for some this is a sign to start buying more, before prices go goofy-roofy.
Rule vs fight to survive
Well surely, not all sides of a conflict goes from this ‘follow up’ changing preferences, adjusting… whatever adjusting to.Western mentality — for Easterners — ‘we rule’ and ‘no-things-would-go-wrong-with-us’ in big contrast to Eastern ‘we fight to survive’ and ‘huh, banned again? Ok’. Folks living in Russia, Iran, or North Korea — 
scuzi, thats my zone — used to this ‘ban’ from so-called civilised system; random access-denied from social media; complicated travel routes (longer and more expensive); money value falls; blocked entrance to summits, sport events, and so forth.
“travel” in 2 words for sanctioned country — sudden and complicated : waiting list to get visa, handle visa rejections, force to buy more expensive travel tickets, and overall idea that for every pin on the map you need to carry your passport around that looks like a charcoal now!
How this is taken by people ( part 2): ‘Got your dollar when it costed 30 Rub? FML I want to be you!”
Quick Note: For a year of 2024 $1 = about 100 Rubles. For year of 2025 (summer) $1 = 80 Rubles
There are so many clichés and funny memes with currency that would need a separate post.
turbulent past, in 20s century, in Russia, the news on politics are now highly discussed between folks at work, in the bus, in the gym, on the beach. The beach? What? Huh, yeah the beach, and 50+ Islands…
Foothold in most random places: ‘who put him/her on that “chair”*…what a joke’, ‘ never cared, and now teaching us to be patriots…huh’, ‘ … keeping low pensions and say blah blah, your kids should help you, cool story’, ‘… this ripping-off inflation…’, ‘ WTF! Isn’t our country should be the richest!? Budget spent on what now…?’.
After this, ‘lesser know, happier you are’ explains a lot — all grumpy faces in the crowd…or it could be a sign of a high IQ? Errr
In Russia: toilet paper, salt, sugar, are under the “goofy-roofy” term — to buy before it goes up in cost and still on the shelves. Whenever someone rounded a gossip about tomorrow’s ripping cost, watch out you should not stand near those shelves, just saying. Gayetty* would be proud.
*Joseph Gayetty — known as toilet paper invented, in 20s century 1st
aka "Unthinkable" is happening?
Some plans stay as plans …or not?
Remember 1945? Well, same as you, I was born way after that, otherwise this would be my moment of fame, bringing some personal life stories here…Would be more interesting to read. But documents is my kind of kite here to surf on.
The Unthinkable plan, filed as a secret plan of WWII, ‘assembled’ by “Big Four” forces * approved by…er, left a very controversial trail of why they were working on this plan, how others didn’t join it, and what had happened with this plan after…
Luckily nothing unthinkable happened, well nothing THAT UNTHINKABLE after August 1945, and guess here thanks to, um diplomacy?!…Same case with Caribbean crisis (1962) when we were all on the edge of nuclear war. Will we have this kind of ‘saving lives’ diplomacy now? Hard to say…
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