The Home Run Derby at the Major League All-Star Game ended up with two young Dominicans, Julio Rodriguez and Juan Soto, blasting 400-footers in a battle for the trophy.
The greatest young stars in the NBA, Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Dončić, headed for the Basketball League in their early 20s. Perhaps the best pitcher and greatest hitter in baseball is the same guy, Shohei Ohtani, of Japan. If you have talents, if you have ideas, if you have ambition to have a full life where you can reach your potential, you head for America –still.
On the other side of the world, yesterday’s tyrant, today’s Adolf Hitler, blasts his old missiles at Kyiv and Mariupol, a Black Sea port, thinking that his oil and natural gas will protect him from his Western enemies.
His counterpart in China, Xi Jinping, supposedly is considering invading Taiwan after dousing freedom in Hong Kong and locking down Shanghai because he lacks a COVID vaccine that works.
In Iran, the rulers from yesterday think having a nuclear weapon and imprisoning dissenters will make them powerful.
Those arrogant fools are all fighting yesterday’s wars.
In the world of 2022, the real battle is for talent not oil. While Russia and China’s population shrinks, Putin thinks his stature rises by decimating Ukrainian ports and killing civilians. So pathetically yesterday’s thinking. He also believes that by imprisoning basketball star Brittney Griner he elevates his power. All he does is look like a dictator from the age of czars.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I see the streams of people from around the world, from Cuba to Ukraine to Honduras to Kenya, crossing the Rio Grande, the new river of freedom and hope. I see in them the next generation of dreamers who crossed the oceans in steerage, took menial jobs, or traveled the country as peddlers. Today their grandchildren lead corporations, heal the sick, and run Silicon Valley.
Putin has dramatically illustrated the impotence of Russia, thinking that power today derives from oil and gas supplies, which are shrinking because Russia lacks the talent to extract more. Meanwhile, despite a temporary inconvenience, the world is reallocating the supply of fossil fuels.
If Ukraine can stymie Putin with modern American weapons and determination and stamina, Vladimir Putin’s 1940s thinking will spell the end of his regime.
Human talent continuously heads for the River of Hope by the millions, and the Sotos and Ramirezs and Ohtanis show the world their amazing abilities. At the same time, Brittney Griner languishes in a Russian jail, and Putin’s madness propels him to keep tossing missiles at civilians.
Question: Who do you think is winning the war of 2022?
6 Comments
Regarding Brittney Griner…Yes it is a shame that she was jailed for a simple marijuana substance offense, but she pleaded guilty. Please reference William Hayes of autobiography and movie fame, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS about his imprisonment in Turkey for hashish possession.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do”
Per Thomas Jefferson…. “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.”
If a person disagrees with a country’s law, maybe they should avoid setting foot in said country.
Regarding the Russia/Ukraine war….Russia is ahead. I read this week that Ukraine is offering NATO countries to use Ukraine as a test range for developing advanced NATO weapons. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario in a war zone? (sarcasm). A weapon test goes ‘awry’ and ‘inadvertently’ hits a Russian troop column. “Oops!” This would be a NATO test supervised by NATO personnel that strikes Russian combatants. That could be the trigger to start WWIII. Possibly this is what the Ukrainian military leaders and politicians are hoping for. Idiots on both sides with the USA prodding the Ukrainians to fight to ‘their’ last man.
Bob,
I disagree. Putin has lost the war even if he manages to hold in Ukraine. He is disgraced.
Disgraced yes, but the war is not a popularity contest. And like Putin cares to begin with. We will agree to disagree.
A bit off topic….
How are western economies exactly fighting this war against Russia? Appears as if they will sanction Russian oil, but not Russian natural gas. Kind of a weird set of economic sanctions, dont you think? They will sanction the fuel that they can more readily replace. If you are going to go with sanctions, you ought to go all in, This is a piecemeal approach that western politicians are attempting.
What Henry Kissinger said decades ago about the US, I think applies to most countries these days. He said that the USA does not have allies…only interests. Looks to me as if Germany wants to keep their factories running by being fueled by Russian gas. By all accounts, the USA is funding the Ukrainian war with over $40 billion in aid. I have read where Germany has contributed approx. $200 million. I guess the USA is more concerned about Ukraine than the western European countries are committed to supporting.
As always, my best to you.
Bob
The US is losing the war – we are pouring in money and weapons to destroy their country & then we will send money to help re-build it. We are also too stubborn to drill for oil in our own country – in a much safer fashion than how its done overseas. Our military is weakening, crime is up, the border is not secure, drugs are pouring in and a recession looms. China will soon invade Taiwan & we will have no plan or answer for that either. Then North Korea and Iran will chime in with their mischief. But overall, I guess we are not really in a war, unless it pertains to the blame for rise in gas prices & inflation.
As can only be expected, this is a very US-centric messaging site. It is OK to have a go at Germany but the US and the UK have been complicit in demilitarising that country since World War !!. Don’t, however, forget the Brits! We have contributed in excess of $4.5 billion to Ukraine this year and have also accepted a huge number of refugees.
Ukraine are not only being supplied with US weapons. We are doing our bit and are, in fact, training Ukrainian personel within 100 miles of my home.
I agree, Lloyd, Putin has already lost but he has Germny held by the ba***!
Our greatest threats lie within. We have found the enemy…