The Ukraine betting pool
Nobody have a winning hand any longer. Everyone is tired and wants to go home. The game has lasted for more than 2 years. It's so hard to say “check” and avoid more betting - not to mention “fold” and go home empty handed.
Instead they say “raise” adding new victims to the betting pool.
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1844–1934) was an American artist, mainly known for his series of paintings “Dogs Playing Poker”.
The series has been referred to as “The Mona Lisa of Kitsch” - pictures hated by art critics and loved by ordinary people. There are thousands of them hanging in American homes.
Nike - the goddess of victory
Nike was the goddess of victory in Greek mythology. She ran very fast and had wings on top of that.
A victory in sports can be positive, but in war everyone loses, even the winner.
When a war ends, the goddess leaves the battlefield on swift feet and without shame.
The picture in the background is from a residential area in Hamburg after "Operation Gomorrah" in the last week of July 1943.
Led by the Air Marshal Arthur “Bomber” Harris in RAF Bomber Command, the view was developing that the civilian population of Germany was a legitimate target in “total war”.
The target was no longer factories, but the people who worked in them and their homes in the surrounding area.
“Operation Gomorrah” was very successful, killing 37 000 people, wounding 180 000 more and destroying 60% of the city's houses.
Has this tactic been revived in Gaza?
Athena, the goddess of war
(Sculpture from the National Gallery, Oslo)
Athena, the goddess of war, sits enthrones with helmet and spear and a smug smile on her lips. Perhaps she is thinking of the battlefield in Ukraine: 2 years of death and destruction and good opportunities for much more of the same.
In Greek mythology, she is also the goddess of wisdom. She must have forgotten.
Zero emissions of greenhouse gases...
In the wake of the Ukraine war, we have had galloping energy prices. Environmental activists think it is a good development. But it also leads to poverty and inequality in society. Not everyone can afford a Tesla, but everyone has a broomstick. Start the training on a cheaper journey towards zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
Drawing: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
“Truth Has Died”
According to Goya, the truth was already dead long before the Ukraine war.
Sorry for the innuendo on my part.
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes “Murio la verdad”. The work was created between 1810-1814.
In war, the knights of lies never go head-on. They attack from unexpected angles.
«God created war so that Americans would learn geography» - Mark Twain
Mark Twain alias Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Foto 1871 Mathew Brady
“Safety Last!”
So what makes me think of the Ukraine war?
“Safety Last!” is a 1923 American silent comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. It includes one of the most famous images from the silent-film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic.
So what makes me think of the Ukraine war? Perhaps the title, “Safety Last!”, the escalation just goes on and on with no thought of where it leads. And it's not just the soldiers who are hanging by their fingertips, soon we might all be doing it.
"When a clown moves into a palace...
… he doesn’t become a king.
The palace becomes a circus”
Turkish proverb
Pinocchio
is a fictional character and the protagonist of a children's novel from 1883 by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence.
Pinocchio is known for having a short nose that becomes longer when he is under stress, especially while lying.
A 2-year anniversary
The doomsday clock is ticking, yet you faithfully keep the promises you made. We hope you two have many new years ahead of you with the same good work on the battlefield.
Many greetings from the collective West.
Tom Lehrer revisited:
"So long, Mom!"
It's been 82 years since we almost had World War III. Back then, strong politicians like John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev could stop the military warmongers. Do we have such politicians today too?
But we got the color television.
The nuclear race is accelerating
2024 as bad as 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Tom Lehrer - still valid
Why do some politicians become aggressive and cruel?
The Worship of Mammon (1909) by Evelyn De Morgan
We are not thinking of ordinary everyday wrongdoing, but evil acts possessing some horrific quality.
Can high levels of greed contribute to this condition?
Greed (often misspelled as “ambition”) - originally one of the seven deadly sins, now one of the cornerstones of the market economy.
Can the worship of Mammon lead to a sick desire to inflict significant harm?
Why do some politicians become aggressive and cruel?
Hitler at the table. In a 1937 article, The New York Times noted "It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or smoke."
So it was unlikely something he smoked or ate that triggered WW2.
We see ourselves as good, probably Hitler too, and those on the other side as weak or evil.
Keep the door to armistice and peace closed at all time!
A cold draft begins to howl.
On the battlefield in Ukraine
- keep your head down and your feet warm this winter
His Master’s Voice
I don't know why, but today when I look at Francis Barraud's "Dog looking at and listening to a Phonograph", I think of the mainstream media, not the record industry.
Lots of luck!
(and Happy New Year)
Soldiers in Ukraine, stay alive! This madness cannot continue indefinitely.
Happy New Year and lots of luck! You need that with the kind of politicians we have around.
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