GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

MAKE TWITTER GREAT AGAIN: ELON MUSK JUST DID, CONGRATULATIONS.

ICHEOKU says it is a great day again in America when an impassioned tech gazillionaire could liberate free speech. Congratulations Mr Tesla, Mr SpaceX and now Mr Twitter. Elon Musk is another champion, a savior of freedom of speech. May all those bemoaning his Twitter takeover go pound sand. In Elon Musk we now trust to uphold our collective rights to participate on Twitter and freely express our God given right to air our respective opinions, regardless of our politics, philosophy, gender, religion, sexual orientation or how we choose to be identified. Let freedom reign on Twitter! #ElonMuskJustMadeTwitterGreatAgain.

Friday, April 29, 2022

ARCHIE EVERSOLE: 'WE READY' RAPPER SHOT AND KILLED BY HIS OWN BROTHER.

ICHEOKU says when the Bible story of Cain and Abel was told, many people wondered how a brother could possibly kill his own brother. Although God summarily punished Cain for killing Abel by making him a fugitive and a vagabond, it did not serve as the deterrent which God had intended as brothers are still killing their brothers to this day. Cain becoming a mentally challenged hobo did not stop this hideous from happening. So, why does it happen and what on earth would drive a brother into committing such a hideous crime of killing his own brother?

Jealousy, hatred and uncontrolled anger are some of the leading factors that cause brothers to sometimes kill their own brothers. ICHEOKU recalls an incident many moons long ago when a brother in the heat of an impassioned argument with his brother over their father's proposed property settlement while he was still alive, took a screwdriver and stabbed his brother to death. There was also another incident when a brother from a polygamous family who had traveled home from his America base for his father's funeral was killed by his step brother before the funeral of their father even took place over some family dispute. 

Such killings do happen with some degree of frequency that it could easily pass for a regularly occurring phenomena for which many people, including this writer, are no longer too aghast by such development. Therefore, this article is not necessarily to harpoon the fella in Atlanta who popped his own rapper brother, but to highlight the case as another example of such incidents. Instead of celebrating the success of his brother whose hit music "We Ready" became a somewhat anthem for Atlanta sports clubs, he became envious, jealous and hateful and plotted for his brother's demise; and when the opportunity presented itself, he shot and killed him.

Now his brother is dead and buried and rotten in his grave. He died in his hands through well placed gunshots on the temple. He has been arrested and charged with his murder, bail denied and and sitting in jail. Upon conviction, he will surely get a very long prison sentence handed to him by the jury  in Atlanta. Then you ask yourself, what did he end up achieving by allowing his demon of envy to take hold of him, killing his brother in the process. It is sad that it happened and even sadder that a family have now lost two young men of their family, one to gun violence and the other to the justice prison system. 

ICHEOKU says was the fate which befell both brothers avoidable? Yes, you bet they were. But the devil, even though he is a liar, still controls a lot of stuff and has again made an example out of this evil brother. Shame on the killer-brother whose name ICHEOKU will not glorify here by mentioning it. Although Archie Eversole sang 'We Ready', it sure looks like he was not himself ready to go when his demonic brother forcibly dispatched him to the world beyond through gun violence. May the soul of Archie Eversole now rest. Adieu Mr We Ready. #SayNoToGunViolence.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

ORIN HATCH BIDS HIS FINAL GOODBYE: DEAD AT 88, ADIEU SENATOR.

ICHEOKU says watching the people running state affairs in Ukraine, from their President Volodymyr Zelensky, his advisers, foreign secretary, attorney general, defense minister as well as other members of the president's cabinet has revealed a shocking fact, that people running America are indeed too old. Why is that? Those Ukrainian leadership makes America want to adjust the ages of their leadership downwards. But no, as Methuselahs are firmly in grip of affairs in Washington DC, from a president who is nearly twice the age of Ukraine's president, to a Madam Speaker who is old enough to be a grandmother to Ukraine's president to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate who are approaching 90 years. 

It is sad that young Americans are not being allowed to man the tiller of state, admitted former President Barack Obama made an inroad.  Even France and neighboring Canada as well as the United Kingdom leaderships confirm that America's leadership is simply too old. When will they hand over the baton of leadership and make respectful exit or must they stay the course until the end or so close to the end. A story making rounds appears to suggest that California Senator Diane Feinstein is so full of age that she hardly recalls anything including inability to remember her senate colleagues names. Why does such a person have to remain a senator when there are more youthful partisans who can effectively man their position? 

Harry Reid, the late senator from Nevada who died in 2021 was in Washington DC for about thirty years before sickness forced him to retire in 2017 from his 1987 sojourn. There are four senators in Washington DC whose combined age is about 300 years and you ask yourself what utility is left in these aged politicians who have become so drunk on power that they refuse to quit when they can still have some life to live outside Washington DC. It calls for term limits just like California did where senators can only serve three terms maximum of 18 years and members of the House of Representatives are allowed to serve only four terms of 8 years. 

Whatever institutional memory the argument for open ended term may be, it fades in comparison to the need to make governance in America more vibrant and youth-centric. America cannot be championing democracy throughout the world but is technicality not a democracy itself. If the presidency is term limited, there is no reasonable argument why the legislative tier should not be equally term limited. Even the Supreme Court should be made malleable to term limits because the job which members of both tiers of government do, anyone with the right qualification and disposition can easily do it; the reason vacancies are easily filled. 

This is the only way America's sermon on representative democracy and abhorrence of sit-tight leaders worldwide would make any logical sense; otherwise how does anyone explain Orin Hatch being 42 years in the senate?  Was that not a sit tight in governance, irrespective of how anyone wants to spin it since he served until he could serve no more and died just a few years post bad health-induced reluctant retirement. The senator from Utah is not alone in this longevity craze in Washington DC as there have been such other sit tight leaders before him and there are still many more presently serving in Washington DC. Anyway, may his soul now rest. Adieu Mr longest serving Senator. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

MIKE TYSON STILL PACKS A PUNCH: BEING IRON MIKE IN A JET BLUE PLANE.

ICHEOKU says he was provoked but it appears that he overreacted and the punches thrown were overly excessive, especially coming from a former world heavyweight boxing champion. He could have easily killed the poor little rascal who taunted him into losing his cool and would have been defending himself now from a possible manslaughter charge. Luckily enough the provocateur lived to see another day, admitted he learnt a bitter ugly lesson on how not to mess with a tiger, particularly a human tiger named Mike Tyson with a clearly marked facial tattoo implicitly warning irritants to stay the heck out of his way. 

One dirty slap on the face or even a punch in the mouth would have been sufficient and enough to register his disapproval of the guy's nuisance. He was minding his own business, sitting quietly on his seat in a Florida Miami bound Jet Blue airplane at San Francisco's SFO airport waiting for takeoff when the lunatic launched into tirades or unwanted disturbances at Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson was therefore right to defend himself but whether his reaction went beyond the initial provocation is a matter to be decided later by the court should the guy bring an action for personal injury against Mike Tyson as he has already declined prosecution for the crime of assault. 

The foolish fella who ventured into a tiger's cage and poked the tiger was either too inebriated to appreciate the danger he walked himself into or he was too young to know the history of Mike Tyson's feats of fury and fists full of thunderous punches. He was too stupid to know that those fists have dropped so many heavy weight boxers within seconds. He also was too stupefied to realize that he was poking the bear and that as Evander Holyfield would attest, that Mike Tyson chopping his ear off inside the plane was also a possibility as well. The guy was completely at fault and it shows that his act was bereft of his mind otherwise which sane fella would have ventured to mess with Iron Mike.

Anyway, his bloodied face now bears testimony to what stupidity can cause a person. Hopefully, he did not suffer any broken facial bones or at least, he has not disclosed that information just yet. The next time the fella wants to mess with someone in an airplane or any other place else, he would pause to think what the repercussions might be, especially if it is someone he does not know their background and whether they are black-belters in karate or other martial arts sports or in the case of Iron Mike Tyson, a former badass world heavyweight boxer whose opponents barely lasted beyond seconds from the opening bell's first round. 

Mike Tyson has delivered a very strong message to all those irascible fellas who often act out on airplanes, especially after drinking more than their liver could comfortably handle. Frequent fights by passengers on airplanes are a very common occurrence flying around in America's airspace. Unlike Samuel Jackson's 'Snakes on Airplane', our airplanes are filled with angry irritable passengers who regularly blow their gaskets, putting everyone on board at risk of harm; and sometimes leading to unplanned delay caused by diversion of such airplanes to get rid of them by handing them over to law enforcement officials. 

Such irritable nuisance should stop. It should be discouraged and stopped, if need be, through self help just as Mike Tyson has shown an example of. His fists flew at the guy's face with such a velocity that only a speed camera would have done justice in capturing them as they rained thunder and brimstone on the poor fella's face. They are still the same fists of fury that once mesmerized boxing fans throughout the world and the nasty fella must have felt their full force as they landed. No sane person messes with a tiger or plays with fire and the fella got burnt. There  will not be a next time for Melvin Townsend III repeat of such idiocy as he now knows never to venture where angels fear to tread. 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

WE CAN WIN: AMERICA CONFIRMS ITS PROXY WAR AGAINST RUSSIA IN UKRAINE.

ICHEOKU says America's weapons, funds, logistics, military advisers, and most likely some of their unofficial boots on the ground in Ukraine and now Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed it, that America is indeed fighting Russia in a proxy war Ukraine. Whether it was a slip of the tongue or he intentionally voiced it out so that Russia may know, the Defense Secretary said "we believe that we (America) can win if they (Ukraine) have the right equipment, the right support and we are going to do everything we can and continue to do everything we can to supply them their needs. He also added that America's intention in Ukraine is to weaken Russia to such extent that they will pose no future threat to their neighboring countries or to any other country whatsoever by greatly degrading their capabilities. 

It is a reasonable confirmation of what so many thinking people have always known or at least suspected was the case, judging from all that has been going on pursuant to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Read in another way, it means that the war in Ukraine is America's long planned war of attrition against Russia taking place and it will last as long as America wants it to last. It is no longer within Russia's or Ukraine's hand or control, such that even if Russia were to decide to end hostilities today and wants to withdraw back to Russia, America will insist that they hand Crimea back to Ukraine as a condition precedent to allowing the war to come to an end. 

Therefore we are watching a new America's forever war raging on in Ukraine and it will go on as long as Washington DC wants it. Russia going bankrupt as a result of their unprovoked and premeditated war against Ukraine might also be an added implicit aspiration of Washington DC. America will bleed Russia so much that the USSR experience in Afghanistan might be a child's play compared to what their current misadventure in Ukraine forebodes. It was an avoidable boondoggle which President Vladimir Putin foolishly waded into and now his Russia is mired in a catastrophic war without end.

ICHEOKU used to be a Putin's admirer, thinking that he was smarter than his present action of invading Ukraine. But not anymore, as he thoughtlessly, through the invasion of Ukraine, brought home ants infested firewoods and now lizards have converged within his neighborhood for a feast on ants. One thing is to invite the presence of American military industrial complex to one's country or neighboring country, the other thing is to be able to decide when they should leave, which is often difficult as such a decision is often yanked away from the inviter, and America  usually determine when they have achieved their strategic objective for answering such invite. 

What was President Vladimir Putin thinking when he engaged in Ukraine, fully aware that America was not at present waging any other war anywhere in the world; and that its military industrial complex (MIC) were becoming increasingly restive, itching for another money-minting war from which they can continue profiteering like bandits. So, it was a delightful moment for the MIC when Vladimir Putin threw them an open invitation to come to Ukraine and make some money. 

Now, with the enormous amount of money being spent on Ukraine war effort, over two billion dollars already spent within just the last two months alone, the MIC is once again joyful. They are making so much money in Ukraine that no other American involved war might be as lucrative as the Ukraine adventure by the time the war gets into its fifth year or even 20 years like the Afghanistan longest lasting American war. As the Chief of Joint Chiefs of Staff said, the Ukraine war is going to be a long war that will be measured in years. 

It is apparent that Vladimir Putin is not a student of history nor did his mediocre academic endeavor expose much of America's history of waging wars to him. Otherwise, he would have known that America does not back down and never lost any war, unless those two instances where America eventually beat it, abandoned and scampered away, such as in Vietnam and most recently in Afghanistan, would qualify as "losing a war". America will make the war in Ukraine last as long as it desires. It will out spend, out supply and out arm Russia in Ukraine just to ensure that Russia and their president Vladimir Putin are humiliated with a disgraceful defeat and eventual forced exit from Ukraine. 

This is how the final chapter of the Ukraine war will be written, Russia defeated or forced to make an abrupt exit from Ukraine. It happened once in Afghanistan with the USSR and history is on the cusp of repeating itself in Ukraine with Russia. As was previously mentioned by the Chairman of Joints Chief of Staff, General Miley, and now confirmed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, America is at war with Russia and the defeat of Russia and a weakened Russia are the two stated America's policy objective for its involvement. Anyway, Putin brought the harm to himself and his Russia and they will pay a hefty price for his miscalculated stupidity. Shame on him.  

Monday, April 25, 2022

IT'S A DEAL AS TWITTER SIGNS OFF ON ELON MUSK'S OFFER.

ICHEOKU says congratulations are in order here, both to the tech gazillionaire and Twitter, for finally sealing the deal of the century on free speech. It is not freedom when others decide your fate and that was the Achilles heels of Twitter as it then was, as its woke-centric management censored contents which they did not like, approve or which did not agree with their ultra subjective liberal community's viewpoint. It was a bummer and it degraded the original intent and purport of founding such a portal.

Finally, we shall have a town-hall styled communication platform that is indeed truly free, where everyone can freely express themselves without fear of being censored and/or canceled for merely having a different opinion on issues. Anyone who doesn't like it can always opt out and not participate in a discussion, but that is a decision for them to make and not the other way round. It is akin to television programming, change the channel if you don't like what is showing. 

Let freedom finally reign at Twitter. Let free speech finally ring out on Twitter. Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty Twitter is a free portal at last and will henceforth serve as an equal opportunity portal for all viewpoints. To hades with all the woke police at Twitter who abused their authority at Twitter, silenced participants who refused to be emasculated, suspended contrarians  and oftentimes completely canceled the opposition and banned from such a quasi public platform. 

Hopefully, former President Donald John Trump and all those other free speech loving people who were formally marginalized, excluded and banned from Twitter will return and re-engage on Twitter. It will help to bring back Twitter's vitality and bona fides as a public forum and all those other people protesting Twitter's communist-tinged ideology of muzzling free speech by personally boycotting Twitter will now readily return to the forum. 

ICHEOKU knew that it was an irresistible deal that Elon Musk made to Twitter when he offered to purchase Twitter for $43 billion. A sort of offer, paraphrasing The Godfather, Twitter "can't refuse" and that Twitter had no real choice in the matter other than to say yes, we accept your offer to buy Twitter and it became a done deal. Simply wonderful.

As Elon Musk rightly said, 'free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy' and he hopes that 'even his worst critic can remain on Twitter as that is what free speech means'. let's hope he stays the course of fighting for freedom of speech as he revamps Twitter and revitalizes it into an all participants free portal. Once again congratulations to Elon Musk for finally liberating Twitter. ICHEOKU prays that he will also set his eyes on Facebook as well as Directv for future acquisitions as both companies suffer from the same woke-malaise as Twitter. Way to go Musk!

HALYNA HUTCHINS' KILLING GOES UNPUNISHED?

ICHEOKU says why Alec Baldwin is still walking the streets a free man and not yet been charged for the killing of Halyna Hutchins is beyond comprehension. What is causing the delay in prosecuting the gunman or forestalling the process of finding criminal responsibility against Alec Baldwin in the case? It is over six months now since the former SNL's Trump impersonator shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Her body is probably decayed by now in her lonely cold grave or in an advanced state of decay, yet her killer, Alec Baldwin, has not been indicted for killing her. 

Someone died through the action or another, regardless of intent or premeditation; there should be at least some degree of responsibility for what happened no matter the form including giving him the barest minimum punishment possible. The degree of the charge that should be brought against Alec Baldwin in this matter is not necessarily important, but there should be some consequence for his reckless endangerment which caused grave bodily harm on Halyna Hutchins, resulting in her death. If he did not intend to kill Halyna Hutchins or did not point the gun at her, at least he held the gun in such a negligence and/or reckless manner that when it discharged, it hit her and killed her. 

But for Alec Baldwin's action, Halyna Hutchins would still be alive today. So, what is holding up the wheel of justice from grinding a dough of justice for Halyna Hutchins by punishing her killer Alec Baldwin? The only possible explanation is that the woke-centric culture perversion is once again protecting one of their own. They have jammed the process by clogging the wheel of Justice and impeding its motion against their beloved Trump's basher/imitator. If the delay in prosecuting him was caused by investigation, what exactly is there to investigate when there is no debate in whose hands the gun was that discharged and killed Halyna Hutchins. 

Enough of the delay or apparent disposition to let the killing slide into oblivion. Her family wants and deserves justice. At least charge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter or reckless endangerment or criminal negligence or reckless behavior in handling firearms, a lethal weapon, which resulted in the death of another person. It is the right thing to do for the victim, whose bereaved family, including a husband and a daughter, are still grieving her loss. If it was OJ Simpson that killed another person, would he not have been since led out in handcuffs for the world to see another black perv in America. Charge Alec Baldwin for the killing of Halyna Hutchins and do it now. #Justice4Halyna

Friday, April 22, 2022

UKRAINE WAR: SYMBOLISM OF THE VOICE OF JACOB AND THE HANDS OF ESAU.

ICHEOKU says it is so obvious that even Ray Charles and Steve Wonder could easily see it. America is now waging a long planned and overdue war against Russia, fronting Ukraine as the face of the war while surreptitiously doing all the heavy lifting. In armament, logistics and supplies, tactical maneuvers, precision targeting and intelligence gathering; as well as actual  unofficial boots on the ground, instructing and directing the Ukraine defensive war effort against Russia, one can smell American involvement and participation everywhere. 

But America would rather the world and Russia believe that it is only helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression with some defensive capabilities. If American weapons are flowing into Ukraine, it is also possible that some other form of American human weapons are also making the trip into Ukraine's theater of conflict. There is presently no Russian Customs to interdict either shipped American weapons and soldiers entering Ukraine or any other method of ensuring that the manifest corresponds exactly with the shipment and that nothing else accompanies the shipped weapons. 

It is a laudable objective and those courageously sacrificing to save democracy and freedom in Ukraine should be commended. ICHEOKU wishes America and the West could do more to protect lives and properties in Ukraine, but the much they are currently doing is good enough as the alternative would have been an easy walkover of Ukraine by Russian invaders. Hopefully America will stay the course and use this God given indirect opportunity to finally humble Russia and bring President Vladimir Putin to books. A direct involvement would have completely destroyed Ukraine and caused more deaths, so the proxy war is still a good way to go. 

Russia deserves everything that is currently being thrown at it, sanctions and military; as it defied the plea of the entire world and invaded a country which did not do it any harm just because Vladimir Putin felt that he could get away with it. Thankfully President Joe Biden said no to Putin's creepy arrogance and is cleverly managing America's involvement and participation in the war without America being officially engaged in it, while meticulously bleeding and decimating Russia, economically and militarily. 

Russia cannot sustain a protracted war in Ukraine against America's led West's invisible hands choking him and his country off. Russia will someday flee Ukraine in the same manner the former Soviet Socialist Union Republic army fled Afghanistan, forced out by Stinger missiles in the hands of Mujahadeens and direct covert CIA operations. The humiliating history will repeat itself in Ukraine, a bargain which President Putin foolishly made when he invaded Ukraine, aware that such would create an opportunity for America and Europe to carry out a long awaited war of attrition against Russia. We shall live to see what eventually happens but surely, it will not be a Russian victory in Ukraine. 

Thursday, April 21, 2022

WILL SMITH: JUST ANOTHER ANGRY BLACK MAN IN AMERICA - JAY LENO.

To me, the thing that’s most disturbing wasn’t the slap, because he was kind of smirking after he slapped Chris Rock. It was the yelling of the obscenities. Then you go, ‘Whoa. What’s going on here? This is real anger. The Academy said they were investigating the slap and it took them many days to complete their investigation. You ask yourself, what are they investigating? It had to be the most recorded assault in history. I saw the back of his shoe, I saw Chris’ ear. There were so many cameras on this incident. What are you investigating? I know sometimes things are just what they appear to be.” - Jay Leno.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

RUSSIAN CRUISER MOSKVA: SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLACK SEA.

ICHEOKU once thought that President Vladimir Putin was smarter until he foolishly fell into the trap of the Ukraine war. A trap set for Russia by the West led by America, which has been long itching to humiliate Russia and reduce Putin to size. He egotistically sprung the trap and is now ensnared in it. Now, the West will bleed Russia into bankruptcy and with it, possibly end President Vladimri Putin's reign as president of Russia. It is most likely that any negotiated future normalization of relations between the West and Russia will be made pursuant to a condition precedent of his removal from office.

As America's Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley recently indicated, the Ukraine war will not end in a matter of months but could go on for years. In his words, the Chairman said: "It is a very protracted conflict which will be at least measured in years. This is a very extended conflict that Russia has initiated and I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies, and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time." The implication being that ending the war is not even a decision in the hands of Ukraine or Russia, the reason their peace negotiation has stalled; and will only be decided in some foreign capitals including Washington DC and London. 

The question now is how does Russia plan to carry on with the war and where will Russia find the huge resources necessary to sustain its war effort in Ukraine, and for the several years which the West has already planned for the war to last. Russia's economy is already taking a serious hit and if the plan to completely ban Russian oil goes into effect, how else will Russia earn income to pay for the war? The toll is heavily mounting as Russia has been suffering heavy losses, both in manpower and equipment losses. They have lost many commanding officers as well, and who knows if they are paying their soldiers or leaving their families in Russia stranded and seeking help? 

The latest of these Russia's mounting losses in Ukraine now being the sinking of their flagship cruiser named Moskva, which now sits at the bottom of the Black Sea, cavorting with marine lives and providing them shelter and a port of call as an artificial reef. It is a big punch in the guts and a direct smack on the nose of Russia, losing such a pride of Russia's Navy, regardless of the narration as to how it made its tragic rendezvoused with the rock bottom of the Black Sea. When in the Godfather, Clemenza explained the message sent by the wrapped two fishes in Luca Brasi's bullet proof jacket which was delivered to the Corleone's, as an indication that Luca Brasi is now sleeping with the fishes, dead and dumped into the deep ocean, no one in Russia or the Kremlin or Russia's navy top brass knew that a day would come when their pride cruiser Moskva would suffer a similar fate. 

A highly priced naval asset of Russia at $800 million cost, a symbol of Russia's technological prowess and naval capabilities was sent into its watery grave, ruined by two Ukrainian made and fired Neptune anti ship missiles. Although Russia, in order to save face from such a humongous humiliation, is trying to sell a different alternative reality that their prized cruiser suffered a tragic on-board explosion which incapacitated it, compromised its stability and foiled an attempt to tow it to naval repair yard and sank deep down into the dark bottom of the Black Sea. The Russian account is in fact very "Russian" as they are often very economical with the truth, otherwise why did they bomb the Neptune missiles manufacturing factory near Kyiv in retaliation?

Anyway, irrespective of which country's account of what happened to the Moskva cruiser one chooses to believe, the fact of the matter is that the menace of a cruiser has been totally and completely decommissioned. It cannot ever pose any future threat to Ukraine or any other country which Russia might decide to aggress in the future, pursuant to their imperialistic adventurism as well as other probable adversaries of Russia. It was a big maritime loss which has entered the annals of history as it compares to such other notable ship losses and wrecks in the world, including the Titanic which was doomed by an iceberg, the Lusitania which was sunk by German U-boats during World War 1 and the British war ship HMS Sheffield which was sunk by Argentina during the Falklands war using France supplied Exocet missiles.  

What Russia's exit strategy from Ukraine is and how they plan to eventually extricate themselves from the obvious quagmire which they have entangled themselves in Ukraine, nobody can safely and correctly predict. It was an avoidable miasma which President Joe Biden succinctly described as a "premeditated war of choice" by Russia. Unfortunately Russia went into Ukraine by choice, but leaving Ukraine might not be a choice which they can make by themselves alone, at least not any more, unless they want to tuck their tail in between their legs and shamefully scurry out of Ukraine in the dead of the night. Did ICHEOKU hear somebody say that America did a similar thing with their Afghanistan withdrawal? 

President Vladimir fetched for himself the ants-infested firewood and now lizards have come to  feast in his household. It is a reasonable inference that so many paramilitary agencies of the West are on the ground in Ukraine fighting and directing affairs of the Ukraine defensive war against Russia. Hopefully they will help Ukraine to courageously repel those Russian invaders and aggressors and force them to retreat back to Russia. More Russian ships should be targeted for destruction and sinking. Russia's military formations and operational bases throughout Ukraine should also be fair game for destruction as Ukraine has been destroyed and has nothing to lose any more. Let anarchy be brought down upon Russian troops in Ukraine and bleed them into abandoning their foolish military adventure in Ukraine. Enough of the hedging of bets.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

FRANK ROBERT JAMES: DOES HIS BLACK LIFE STILL MATTER?

ICHEOKU says just wondering if Frank Robert James is still down with black people, particularly the Black Lives Matter anarchists, following what he did in New York City. A fat slob black terrorist, who held New Yorkers captive to fear for several hours until he was taken into custody. His act of terror inside New York underground, exploding smoking grenades and shooting indiscriminately inside a packed subway car, hitting ten people and injuring many others is simply unforgivable. 

When will Black Lives Matter take to the streets of New York and other American cities to voice their condemnation of one of their own or is it only when a black George Floyd is shot and killed by a Minneapolis policeman that the black anarchists take streets of America hostage? A fair minded group of people should have equally vociferously condemned a black terrorist who committed such a dastardly act of deprave mind on New York commuters, but so far, it has remained crickets; forcing some people to wonder if what the fat disgruntled lowlife black New Yorker did was acceptable to Black Lives Matter. 

Anyway, he wanted to be gone for good and the justice system will grant him his wish accordingly. At 62 years old, a likely sentence for terrorism and other related charges, of not less than thirty years, will find him eventually being removed from his prison cell in a pinewood card box coffin. The black terrorist deserves any sentence which will be imposed on him as no decent society should accept or tolerate such an excessive act of violence against members of its society. Black terrorist Frank Robert James is a disgrace to the black community of America, his family, friends and everyone who knows him. He deserves no mercy and should be shown none. He should be put away to rot in prison for the good and for the rest of his natural life. 

Monday, April 18, 2022

ELON MUSK'S BID FOR TWITTER IS GOOD FOR TWITTER: SELL TWITTER TO HIM.

ICHEOKU says the liberal on steroids city of San Francisco based woke-centric social media platform Twitter is long overdue for a new management and ownership. The platform has since deviated from its original purpose of providing a community town-hall styled space where everyone can freely communicate their views on issues. But the leftist lunatic fringe of the political divide have hijacked the platform and now uses undue pressure of threat to induce advertisers' boycott of the platform to force Twitter's management to exclude anyone who dares deviate from their stipulated talking points. 

So, it was a great relief when the news filtered through that Tesla/SpaceX mogul Elon Musk wants to reposition the social media platform and restore it to its original glorious intent by purchasing the platform and taking it private. It is a decision which time has come and ICHEOKU commends Elon Musk for boldly taking the initiative, regardless of the current effort to sabotage his effort and stop him from acquiring the platform. ICHEOKU prays that Elon Musk will pull all stops to actualize his objective, including bypassing the directors and reaching out directly to the shareholders and making them an offer they cannot refuse, provided the end justifies the means. 

The current bid by Elon Musk to acquire Twitter and the so far strewn obstacles reminds ICHEOKU of when Oracle's Larry Ellison made a bid for Peoples Soft. The directors refused to accept his deal and Larry Ellison took his offer directly to the shareholders of the company who lapped up his juicy offer and Peoples Soft's acquisition by Oracle became mission-accomplished history.  So, poison pill or no poison pill, the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is still doable and should be pursued with every vigor and zeal that could be mustered as it is a noble cause, worthy fighting for in the interest of preserving freedom of speech. 

No side of the ideological and political divide in America has a monopoly of good ideas or sound knowledge and judgment to warrant their lording it over the other side and impose their thinking and sometimes basal feelings on them. It is therefore fair that a town hall platform such as Twitter should independently exist without much noticeable bias for one side.  It should a place where both sides can freely opine and elucidate their positions on issues without fear of being canceled or denied the opportunity to air their own views by being banned just for airing contrary opinion or viewpoints considered as not in conformity with "our community"; and you wonder whose community is it anyway and who constitutes the membership of this "our community" so called. 

Anyway, as ICHEOKU awaits the outcome of the Twitter bid, will use this opportunity to urge Elon Musk to also consider buying Facebook and DirectV because both organizations are as guilty as Twitter in severely abridging freedom of speech in America. They are not impartial, they have shown serious bias against conservative viewpoints and they have become too woke-centric that every non conforming opinion is censured. DirectV has been yanking off from their platform media broadcasts that do not do as told, One America Network being the latest victim of their intolerance. This is a DirectV that could keep CNN which practically nobody watches, yet had the audacity to take OAN off their platform just because they refused to be dictated to. 

Woke culture of intolerance is destroying everything once held sacrosanct to and sacred for the sustenance of freedom of speech in America. What is having a freedom of speech when contrary opinions are muffled and oftentimes, completely muscled out; their propagators canceled, their voices killed off and permanently silenced from ever being heard. The move by Mr Perfection Elon Musk to acquire Twitter and reposition it to its original ideals is definitely a smart good move in the right direction. ICHEOKU welcomes it as It will surely make Twitter better if not perfect and in the likeness of other Elon Musk's perfect products, Tesla and SpaceX. God's speed Mr Tesla/SpaceX in your bid to snatch up Twitter. #SellTwitterToElonMusk.

Sunday, April 17, 2022

POPE FRANCIS "EASTER OF WAR" MESSAGE: PEACE BE WITH YOU.

ICHEOKU says the political pope has excoriated President Vladimir Putin as a Cain who saw Ukraine not as a brother but a rival and seeking to eliminate it. The pope also took a jab at woke cancel culture for canceling things they cannot put up with instead of working to get along with them; and he also denounced abortionist for denying children of their right to be born alive. It is vintage Pope Francis and he is bold and audacious, only that he failed or rather, refused to call President Vladimir Putin and Russia by name. It is possible that the pope's distaste for the brigandage which Russia is perpetrating in Ukraine left such a sour taste in his mouth that prevented him from mentioning the two culprits by their names. Anyway, happy reading:-
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Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!
Jesus, the Crucified One, is risen! He stands in the midst of those who mourned him, locked behind closed doors and full of fear and anguish. He comes among them and says: “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19). He shows the wounds in his hands and feet, and the wound in his side. He is no ghost; it is truly Jesus, the same Jesus who died on the cross and was laid in the tomb. Before the incredulous eyes of the disciples, he repeats: “Peace be with you!”.

Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence. Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing. We struggle to believe that Jesus is truly risen, that he has truly triumphed over death. Could it be an illusion? A figment of our imagination?

No, it is not an illusion! Today, more than ever, we hear echoing the Easter proclamation so dear to the Christian East: “Christ is risen! He is truly risen!” Today, more than ever, we need him, at the end of a Lent that has seemed endless. We emerged from two years of pandemic, which took a heavy toll. It was time to come out of the tunnel together, hand in hand, pooling our strengths and resources... Instead, we are showing that we do not still have within us the spirit of Jesus, we have within us the spirit of Cain, who saw Abel not as a brother, but as a rival, and thought about how to eliminate him. We need the crucified and risen Lord so that we can believe in the victory of love, and hope for reconciliation. Today, more than ever, we need him to stand in our midst and repeat to us: “Peace be with you!”

Only he can do it. Today, he alone has the right to speak to us of peace. Jesus alone, for he bears wounds... our wounds. His wounds are indeed ours, for two reasons. They are ours because we inflicted them upon him by our sins, by our hardness of heart, by our fratricidal hatred. They are also ours because he bore them for our sake; he did not cancel them from his glorified body; he chose to keep them, to bear them forever. They are the indelible seal of his love for us, a perennial act of intercession, so that the heavenly Father, in seeing them, will have mercy upon us and upon the whole world. The wounds on the body of the risen Jesus are the sign of the battle he fought and won for us, won with the weapons of love, so that we might have peace and remain in peace.

As we contemplate those glorious wounds, our incredulous eyes open wide; our hardened hearts break open and we welcome the Easter message: “Peace be with you!”

Brothers and sisters, let us allow the peace of Christ to enter our lives, our homes, our countries!
May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine, so sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged. In this terrible night of suffering and death, may a new dawn of hope soon appear! Let there be a decision for peace. May there be an end to the flexing of muscles while people are suffering. Please, please, let us not get used to war! Let us all commit ourselves to imploring peace, from our balconies and in our streets! Peace. May the leaders of nations hear people’s plea for peace. May they listen to that troubling question posed by scientists almost seventy years ago: “Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war? Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war?” (Russell-Einstein Manifesto, 9 July 1955).

I hold in my heart all the many Ukrainian victims, the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, the divided families, the elderly left to themselves, the lives broken and the cities razed to the ground. I see the faces of the orphaned children fleeing from the war. As we look at them, we cannot help but hear their cry of pain, along with that of all those other children who suffer throughout our world: those dying of hunger or lack of medical care, those who are victims of abuse and violence, and those denied the right to be born.

Amid the pain of the war, there are also encouraging signs, such as the open doors of all those families and communities that are welcoming migrants and refugees throughout Europe. May these numerous acts of charity become a blessing for our societies, at times debased by selfishness and individualism, and help to make them welcoming to all.

May the conflict in Europe also make us more concerned about other situations of conflict, suffering and sorrow, situations that affect all too many areas of our world, situations that we cannot overlook and do not want to forget.

May there be peace for the Middle East, racked by years of conflict and division. On this glorious day, let us ask for peace upon Jerusalem and peace upon all those who love her (cf. Psalm 121 [122]), Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. May Israelis, Palestinians and all who dwell in the Holy City, together with the pilgrims, experience the beauty of peace, dwell in fraternity and enjoy free access to the Holy Places in mutual respect for the rights of each.

May there be peace and reconciliation for the peoples of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and in particular for all the Christian communities of the Middle East.

May there be peace also for Libya, so that it may find stability after years of tensions, and for
Yemen, which suffers from a conflict forgotten by all, with continuous victims: may the truce signed in recent days restore hope to its people.

We ask the risen Lord for the gift of reconciliation for Myanmar, where a dramatic scenario of hatred and violence persists, and for Afghanistan, where dangerous social tensions are not easing and a tragic humanitarian crisis is bringing great suffering to its people.

May there be peace for the entire African continent, so that the exploitation it suffers and the hemorrhaging caused by terrorist attacks – particularly in the Sahel region – may cease, and that it may find concrete support in the fraternity of the peoples. May the path of dialogue and reconciliation be undertaken anew in Ethiopia, affected by a serious humanitarian crisis, and may there be an end to violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. May prayer and solidarity not be lacking for the people in the eastern part of South Africa, struck by devastating floods.

May the risen Christ accompany and assist the people of Latin America, who in some cases have seen their social conditions worsen in these difficult times of pandemic, exacerbated as well by instances of crime, violence, corruption and drug trafficking.

Let us ask the risen Lord to accompany the journey of reconciliation that the Catholic Church in Canada is making with the indigenous peoples. May the Spirit of the risen Christ heal the wounds of the past and dispose hearts to seek truth and fraternity.

Dear brothers and sisters, every war brings in its wake consequences that affect the entire human family: from grief and mourning to the drama of refugees, and to the economic and food crisis, the signs of which we are already seeing. Faced with the continuing signs of war, as well as the many painful setbacks to life, Jesus Christ, the victor over sin, fear and death, exhorts us not to surrender to evil and violence. Brothers and sisters, may we be won over by the peace of Christ! Peace is possible; peace is a duty; peace is everyone’s primary responsibility!

Thursday, April 14, 2022

UNDERSTANDING VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE MAN WHO FOOLED THE WORLD - GIDEON RACHMAN.

Vladimir Putin was annoyed – or maybe just bored. The Russian leader had been patiently fielding questions from a small group of international journalists in the restaurant of a modest hotel in Davos. Then one of the queries seemed to irritate him. He stared back at the questioner, an American, and said slowly, through an interpreter: “I’ll answer that question in a minute. But first let me ask you about the extraordinary ring you have on your finger.”

All heads in the room swivelled. “Why is the stone so large?” Putin continued. A few of the audience began to giggle and the journalist looked uncomfortable. Putin took on a tone of mock sympathy and continued: “You surely don’t mind me asking, because you wouldn’t be wearing something like that unless you were trying to draw attention to yourself?” There was more laughter. By now, the original question had been forgotten. It was a masterclass in distraction and bullying. 

The year was 2009, and Putin had already been in power for almost a decade. But this was my first encounter with him in the flesh, during his visit to the World Economic Forum. Putin’s ability to radiate menace, without raising his voice, was striking. But so was the laughter of his audience. Despite the violence of his Russian government – as demonstrated in Chechnya and Georgia – western opinion-formers were still inclined to treat him as a pantomime villain. 

I was reminded of this just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a televised meeting at the Kremlin with his closest advisers, Putin toyed with Sergei Naryshkin, the head of his foreign intelligence service – making the feared securocrat look like a stuttering fool. The pleasure he took in humiliating somebody in front of an audience was once again on display. But this time, nobody was laughing. Putin was about to plunge Europe into its biggest land war since 1945. Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion on 24 February. Within a month, more than 10 million Ukrainians had fled their homes, thousands of troops and civilians had been killed and the coastal city of Mariupol had been destroyed. 

Even though western intelligence services had warned for months that Russia was poised to attack, many experienced Putin-watchers, both in Russia and the west, refused to believe it. After more than 20 years of his leadership, they felt that they understood Putin. He was ruthless and violent, no doubt, but he was also believed to be rational, calculating and committed to Russia’s integration into the world economy. Few believed he was capable of such a reckless gamble. 

Looking back, however, it is clear that the outside world has consistently misread him. From the moment he took power, outsiders too often saw what they wanted and played down the darkest sides of Putinism. 

In fact, the outside world’s indulgence of Putin went much further than simply turning a blind eye to his excesses. For a rising generation of strongman leaders and cultural conservatives outside Russia, Putin became something of a hero and a role model. As his admirers saw it, the Russian leader had inherited a country humiliated by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Through strength and cunning, he had restored its status and global power, and even regained some of the territory lost when the USSR broke up. And he had delighted nationalists and populists the world over by successfully defying self-righteous American liberals such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, was not simply spouting propaganda when he said in 2018: “There’s a demand in the world for special, sovereign leaders, for decisive ones … Putin’s Russia was the starting point.” 

The Putin fanclub has had numerous members in the west over the years. Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s close adviser and lawyer, expressed admiration for Putin’s annexation of Crimea, remarking: “He makes a decision and he executes it, quickly. That’s what you call a leader.” Nigel Farage, the former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party, and a friend of Donald Trump, once named Putin the world leader he most admired, adding: “The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically.” Matteo Salvini, the leader of the populist right Northern League party and a former deputy prime minister of Italy, flaunted his admiration for the Russian leader by being photographed in a Putin T-shirt in Red Square. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has said, "My favorite hero is Putin."

Most important of all, Xi Jinping is also a confirmed admirer. A week after being appointed as president of China in early 2013, Xi made his first state visit overseas – choosing to visit Putin in Moscow. On 4 February 2022, just 20 days before the invasion of Ukraine. Putin met Xi in Beijing for their 38th summit meeting. Shortly afterwards, Russia and China announced a “no limits” partnership. As the joint Russian-Chinese statement made clear, the two leaders are united in their hostility to American global power and to the pro-democracy "color revolutions"  they accuse Washington of stirring up around the world – from Ukraine to Hong Kong. Putin and Xi are both strongman rulers who have centralised power around themselves and encouraged a cult of personality. They are, as Alexander Gabuev, a Russian academic, puts it, “the tsar and the emperor”. Whether this partnership of strongmen will survive the Russian invasion of Ukraine is now one of the most important questions in international politics. 

Putin was sworn into office as president of Russia on 31 December 1999. But at first it was not obvious that he would last very long in the job, let alone that he would emerge as the most aggressive challenger to the western liberal order and the pioneer of a new model of authoritarian leadership. As the chaotic Yeltsin era of the 1990s drew to a close, Putin’s ascent to the top job was eased by his former colleagues in the KGB. But he also had the approval of Russia’s richest and most powerful people, the oligarchs, who saw him as a capable administrator and “safe pair of hands” who would not threaten established interests. 

Viewed from the west, Putin looked relatively reassuring. In his first televised speech from the Kremlin, given on New Year’s Eve 1999, just a few hours after taking over from Yeltsin, Putin promised to “protect freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the mass media, ownership rights, these fundamental elements of a civilized society”. In March 2000, he won his first presidential election and proudly asserted: “We have proved that Russia is becoming a modern democratic state.” When Bill Clinton met Putin in the Kremlin for the first time, in June 2000, he declared his Russian counterpart “fully capable of building a prosperous, strong Russia, while preserving freedom and pluralism and the rule of law”. 

Yet while Putin may initially have found it convenient to use the rhetoric of liberal democracy, his early actions as president told a different story. In his first year in office, he moved immediately to rein in independent sources of power, to assert the central authority of the state and to use warfare to bolster his own personal position – all actions that were to become hallmarks of Putinism. The escalation of the war in Chechnya made Putin seem like a nationalist hero, standing up for Russian interests and protecting the ordinary citizen from terrorism. In an early move that alarmed liberals, the new president reinstated the old Soviet national anthem. His promises to protect media freedom turned out to be empty: Russia’s few independent television networks were brought under government control. 

As Putin established himself in office, the image-makers got to work crafting a strongman persona for him. Gleb Pavlovsky, one of Putin’s first spin doctors, later described him as a “quick learner” and a “talented actor”. Key images were placed in the Russian media and around the world: Putin on horseback, Putin practising judo, Putin arm-wrestling or strolling bare-chested by a river in Siberia. These photographs attracted mockery from intellectuals and cynics. But the president’s handlers were clear-eyed. As Pavlovsky later told the Washington Post, the goal was to ensure that “Putin corresponds ideally to the Hollywood image of a savior-hero” 

In any case, Russians were more than ready for a strongman to ride to their rescue. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1991 had allowed for the emergence of democracy and freedom of speech. But as the economy atrophied and then fell apart, many experienced a severe drop in living standards and personal security. By 1999, life expectancy for Russian men had fallen by three and a half years to below 60. A UN report attributed this to a “rise in self-destructive behaviour”, which it linked to “rising poverty rates, unemployment and financial insecurity”. Under those circumstances, a decisive leader who promised to turn back the clock had real appeal. 

Long before Trump promised to “make America great again”, Putin was promising to bring back the stability and pride of the Soviet era to those Russians who had lost out in the 1990s. But his nostalgia was not restricted to the social cohesion of Soviet times. Putin also yearned to restore some of the USSR’s lost international clout. In a speech in 2005, Putin labelled the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century". As the years have passed, he has become increasingly preoccupied by Russian history. In the summer of 2021, he published a long essay entitled "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" – which, even at the time, some saw as a manifesto for invasion. Delving through centuries of history, Putin attempted to prove that Ukraine was an artificial state and that “Russia was robbed, indeed” when Ukraine gained independence in 1991. 

Fyodor Lukyanov, an academic who is close to the Russian leader, told me in 2019 that one of Putin’s enduring fears was the loss of Russia’s status as one of the world’s great powers for the first time in centuries. His resentment at what he regarded as American slights and betrayals set Putin on a collision course with the west. A landmark moment came with a speech he gave at the Munich Security Conference in 2007.That speech was a direct challenge to the west and an expression of cold fury. He accused the US of an “almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts”. The Putin of 2000, who had expressed pride at Russia’s transformation into a modern democracy, had given way to a man who denounced western talk of freedom and democracy as a hypocritical front for power politics.

The Munich speech was not just an angry reflection on the past. It also pointed the way to the future. The Russian president had put the west on notice that he intended to fight back against the US-led world order. It foreshadowed a lot of what was to come: Russia’s military intervention in Georgia in 2008, its annexation of Crimea in 2014, its dispatch of troops to Syria in 2015, its meddling in the US presidential election of 2016. All of these actions burnished Putin’s reputation as a nationalist and a strong leader. They also made him an icon for strongmen throughout the world who rejected western leadership and the “liberal international order”. 

This indictment of the west goes back to the 1990s. It is argued repeatedly in Moscow that the expansion of Nato to take in countries of the former Soviet empire (including Poland and the Baltic states) was a direct contradiction of promises made after the end of the cold war. Nato’s intervention in the Kosovo war of 1998‑9 added to the list of grievances proving, in the Kremlin’s eyes, both that Nato is an aggressor and that western talk of respecting sovereignty and state borders was nothing but hypocrisy. Russians were not reassured by the western riposte that Nato was acting in response to ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses by Serbia. As one liberal Russian politician put it to me in 2008, in a moment of frankness: “We know we have committed human rights abuses in Chechnya. If Nato can bomb Belgrade for that, why could they not bomb Moscow?” 

Putin’s case against Nato also takes in the Iraq war launched by the US and many of its allies in 2003. For him, the massive bloodshed in Iraq was proof that the west’s self-proclaimed pursuit of “democracy and freedom” only brings instability and suffering in its wake. If you mention the brutal behavior of Russian forces in Chechnya or Syria in Moscow, you will always have the Iraq war thrown back in your face. 

Crucially, the west’s promotion of democracy has posed a direct threat to Putin’s own political and personal survival. From 2003 to 2005, pro-democracy “colour revolutions” broke out in many of the states of the former Soviet Union – including Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. If demonstrators in Independence Square in Kyiv could bring down an autocratic government in Ukraine, what was to stop the same happening in Red Square? In Russia, many believed it was a “fairytale” that these were spontaneous uprisings. As a former intelligence operative whose entire professional career had involved running “black operations”, Putin was particularly inclined to see the CIA as pulling the strings. The goal, as the Kremlin saw it, was to install pro-western puppet regimes. Russia itself could be next. 

The shock of the Iraq war and the colour revolutions were the recent experiences that informed Putin’s Munich speech in 2007. And, as the Kremlin saw it, this pattern of western misdeeds continued. Putin points to the western powers’ 2011 intervention in Libya that resulted in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi – something he believes they had promised they would not do. 

That episode is a particularly sore spot for Putin, since it took place during the four years from 2008 to 2012 when he was serving in the lesser job of prime minister, having stepped aside as president in favour of his acolyte Dmitry Medvedev. As Putin’s supporters see it, a naive Medvedev was duped into supporting a UN resolution that allowed for a limited intervention, only for western powers to exceed their mandate in order to overthrow and kill Gaddafi. They have no time for the response that the Libyan intervention was made on human rights grounds, but that events then took on a life of their own, as the Libyan rebellion gained steam. 

Medvedev’s alleged naivety in allowing the Libyan intervention proved useful for Putin, however: it established the idea that he was indispensable as Russia’s leader. Any substitute, even one chosen by Putin, would leave the country vulnerable to a scheming and ruthless west. In 2011, Putin announced that he intended to return as president, after the potential presidential term had been extended to two consecutive periods of six years. This announcement provoked rare public demonstrations in Moscow and other cities, which again fanned Putin’s fears about western schemes to undermine his power. I was in Moscow in January 2012 and witnessed the marches and banners, some of which carried pointed references to Gaddafi’s fate. Putin understood the parallels. He commented publicly about how disgusted he had been by the footage of Gaddafi’s murder – which perhaps reflected a certain concern about his own potential fate. The fact that Hillary Clinton, then America’s Secretary of State, expressed public support for the 2012 demonstrations was deeply resented by Putin and may have justified, in his mind, Russia’s efforts to undermine Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. 

Putin secured his re-election, but his sense that the west remained a threat to Russia was further stoked by events in Ukraine in 2013-14. The prospect of that country signing an association agreement with the European Union was seen as a serious threat in the Kremlin, since it would pull Russia’s most important neighbor – once an integral part of the USSR – into the west’s sphere of influence. Under pressure from Moscow, the Ukrainian government of President Viktor Yanukovych reversed course. But this provoked another popular uprising in Kyiv, forcing Yanukovych to flee. The loss of a compliant ally in Kyiv was a major geopolitical reverse for the Kremlin. 

Putin’s response was to dramatically raise the stakes, by crossing the line into the use of military force. In February 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, a region that was part of Ukraine but had belonged to Russia until 1954 and was populated largely by Russian-speakers. It was also, by agreement with the Ukrainians, the home of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. In the west, the annexation of Crimea, along with Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine, was seen as a flagrant violation of international law that many feared could be the prelude to further acts of aggression. 

But in Russia, the annexation was widely greeted as a triumph – it represented the nation’s fightback. Putin’s approval ratings in independent opinion polls soared to over 80%. In the immediate afterglow, he came closer to achieving the ultimate goal of the strongman ruler: the complete identification of the nation with the leader. Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament, exulted: “If there’s Putin, there’s Russia. If there’s no Putin, there’s no Russia.” Putin himself crowed that Crimea had been taken without a shot being fired. 

The west’s response was to slap economic sanctions on Russia. But western indignation did not last long. Four years later, Russia hosted a successful World Cup. At the final, Putin sat with the presidents of France and Croatia, two EU nations, in the VIP box in Moscow. 

The ease with which Putin annexed Crimea – and the swiftness with which the west seemed prepared to forgive – may have laid the ground for an unjustified confidence that led to the invasion of Ukraine. His overreach is also a reminder of the flaws in the strongman model of leadership. Decades in office can cause a leader to succumb to megalomania or paranoia. The elimination of checks and balances, the centralization of power and the promotion of a cult of personality make it more likely that a leader will make a disastrous mistake. For all these reasons, strongman rule is an inherently flawed and dangerous model of government. 

Tragically, that lesson is being learned all over again – in Russia and Ukraine. An invasion that was meant to secure Russia’s place as a great power and Putin’s place in history has clearly gone wrong. Putin is now involved in a brutal war of attrition. Western sanctions will see the Russian economy shrink dramatically this year, and the Russian middle-class is witnessing the disappearance of many of the consumer goods and travel opportunities that emerged with the end of the cold war. 

The unofficial goal of western policy is clearly to force Putin from power. But the endgame may not come as swiftly as we would like. Deeply entrenched in his decades-long mission, Putin is now even less likely to give up power voluntarily, since his successors might repudiate his policies, or even put him on trial. 

The prospects for popular uprising are equally poor, despite the many brave Russians who have indicated their disgust over the war. Any protests are likely to be swiftly crushed with violence and imprisonment, as they were in neighboring Belarus in 2020 and 2021. A third scenario – the possibility of an enlightened group within the elite seizing power – seems out of reach, too. Organising a palace coup against Putin will be very difficult: all dissenters were purged from the Kremlin long ago. Putin also takes his personal security very seriously:several of his former bodyguards have become rich in their own right. While there will be many within Russia who are dismayed by the course that events have taken, orchestrating that diffuse discontent into a coherent plot looks like a formidable challenge. 

The difficult truth is that Putin’s strongman style has defined his rule over Russia – and despite his many crimes and misdemeanours, those same strongman tactics may preserve him in power for years to come.