I Woke Up, I Looked, I Want to Go Back

The deed is done. Actually it was done yesterday : The vehicle is parked away , and I have no intention to look at this machine for the next days, or think about the job. Maybe I clean and disinfect the inside, and go through the company’s tunnel washer next Monday or so ; also some fluids could be refilled, what would mean a visit to the company’s repair shop, but who knows – this is all somewhere in the future. The kids have a week off, and so do I, time to relax & breath deeply. Last night I was able to sleep soundly, and through, undisturbed, I am grateful for this.
Today I killed woollen mammoths by vacuuming, did the washing-up (I can now turn around in my kitchen !), and went out to buy green stuff to eat – I already feel like another human !

At the end of last week two ladies (S. WAGENKNECHT and A. SCHWARZER) wrote a public letter to the chancellor. They asked to step up efforts to find an if not peaceful, at least war ending solution to the ongoing war in the East. I read this letter, and found nothing wrong about it. The more disgusting I found some reactions (and some very fast ones) by other public figures. Namely the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany (and some German figures) came over as, well I can’t say it better, driven by rotzlöffeliger Arroganz delivering their snide remarks. It seems that the word “Pazifist” / pacificist is a swearword again. So call me a peacenik.
Of course the authors, and the signers, were accused of licking Russian boots – in my humble opinion and childish view of things, I can find no trace of bootlicking in this text. I think it only shows the state of the public discussion nowadays : Who warns against further escalation is seen as weak and dumb. And all the war mongers do not have to lift their arses out of their comfy chairs, step out and croak on a muddy field. As per usual.
Nobody in his right mind can deny, who started this absolutely unnecessary, criminal war – it is Russia. Nobody in his right mind can deny the fact that this lousy war needs to be contained, it carries the possibility to get out of hand, and become a real disaster on an international scale. And as I see it right now, both parties already involved, do their part to escalate the murder : Russia wants White Russia in it, the Ukrainians want Europe and / or the Nato in it.
Every little arsehole can start a war, it needs a man to end it. And I can not such a man right now. Maybe KISSINGER must be re-activated.
I never thought that I would see in my lifetime German tanks in the Ukraine fighting against the Russians : Just what my grandfather did.

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And while it’s all smoke and mirrors, as usual in a war, let’s go to the basics with The Second Oldest Trick in Sleight of Hand., hope you enjoy it.

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No Escape

I am sorry. I can not help, I have to put in my two pennies worth. The more I watch this damn war, the more I wonder. I try to use European news outlets, and verified news, simply because there is a lot of propaganda and plain disinformation around.
Putin’s war does not go according to plan. If it is correct what I read in a German news outlet (n-tv) that the Russians already lost close to 200 tanks, then this is a frightening number. I saw pictures of Russian tanks with self made, improvised constructions over the turret. This indicates that they faced Javelin anti tank rockets, pretty modern, sophisticated, and, well, useful. (The idea of this weapon is not to hit a tank frontal, but from above, preferably into the turret, where the fortification is notably weaker.)
Then I saw (and read) about difficulties of the advancing army regarding fuel, and lousy communications.
The fact that Russia agreed to some kind of negotiations implies imho that they need time to regroup, time to pump more weapons and troops into the country. It seems to me that they simply miscalculated how fast they could advance, and – what is more important – did not care in foresight.
They either really thought this would be a kind of promenade to Kiew, or it was simply very bad planning. The Ukrainian forces (I have no idea how large this force is, what they actually have) is basically a remnant of the old Red Army. So these officers know exactly what they face. They should know their enemy very well, and I do not believe that they simply sad idle since 2014, when Vlad grabbed a part of Ukraine. And it is their land. All in all they do a formidable job, and they have a good chance to, at least, stop the invasion. To throw the invaders out is another thing.
The longer this whole stupid war lasts, the worse Vlad’s inner-Russian situation. If what is left of the Russian civil society fully understands what is going on, there may be a chance. Even Vlad can not turn the whole of Russia into a graveyard, he is no Stalin – despite the fact that this is what he craves to be.

There is a right side, and a wrong side – and in few situations in history it was so clear. And those people who cheer for Vlad, be it Serbian nationalists who demonstrated today and yelled support for their hero, be it members of the German parliament (of the fascist party, who else ?, who had the nerve to say that our chancellor would “herbeireden” a new “cold war”, goodness !), or “politicians” of the “Republican” party in the US (who blab about “Biden’s weakness enabling this war”) – those right-wing, and in part openly fascist people, are scum.
And again, I already said it here, I am glad that the former “president” of the US is not at the helm, the guy who said NATO must be abandoned, the guy who kissed Putin’s arse openly, the guy whose election was helped by Russian interference, comrade Trumpsky.
We Europeans have two years to built an European force. We must do this, because the chance is very likely that in two years either the swine returns, or a younger version of the traitor sits in the White House. It is still absolutely correct what MERKEL said – the US are no reliable partner any more. We need a European army that protects our Eastern (and Northern) border. We must make clear to an aggressive Eastern neighbour that any kind of invasion is suicide.
There is no way back, there is no escape.

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Should I …

… say something about the latest action of the fuehrer*, the firing of the foreign secretary, that is ?
I don’t think so. After all the question was not “if”, but only “when ?”
The form ? As shabby as possible, true to the fuehrer’s core. And do not disregard how proud the fuehrer is, he has to mention that it is his own decision.
The only thing I find interesting is the timetable. According to the fuehrer’s headquarter the now ex-secretary was informed / got a strong hint – or something – on last Friday.
A under-secretary of the administration for foreign affairs refuted this and said that the now ex-secretary learned about his kick-out today, like everybody else. Promptly the under-secretary was fired too.
So what was the last statement of the now ex-secretary ? He condemned the attempted murder of a Russian ex-spy on British soil and encouraged the British PM in her stance against Russia. Someone must have a list of the Russian ex-spies who had accidents of whatever nature over the last few years in Britain. GOd, it is simply what the Tcheka does to traitors, isn’t it ?
The fuehrer will say nothing about it, and will surely not join any program of sanctions or whatever. And if you want to stay on the fuehrer’s payment list (the state’s that is), you do not utter even the smallest critique against Russia. Or else.
(You can read about this “timeline” in the WPost, NYTimes, CNN, The Atlantic, Slate, Salon, with dates and all ; I do not have to repeat all this here.)
Do not forget that the seemingly most important thing for the fuehrer (besides his prick and dollars) is “loyalty”. I think it could also be called servile submissiveness – I’m not sure how to translate the German phrase hündische Unterwürfigkeit correctly : Whatever Vlad did for the fuehrer ten or fifteen years ago, it must have been – like great !
I can’t help : I think someone somewhere in a department for subversion read an old Asterix, volume 15, titled La Zizanie, Streit um Asterix or The Roman Agent, and then went to work.
If so, the result is impressive.

 * I will not call him “The American Leader” anymore. For me he is the fuehrer, with small “f”.

If You Write It, They Will Read It

Now let’s imagine you are a nobleman, living at the beginning of the 16th century in Middle Europe. You hang around the court of the Emperor and help to administer the Reich.
Your ruler decides to promote you and sent you as ambassador to the Czar.
What do you do ?
Certainly you turn to your database – that is the library – and look for a tome, manuscript or print, that describes what you need to know, like where to go, how to travel, whom to bribe.
Shock Hubbub, Panick & Confusion – no such book : You have to write it yourself !
Enter Sigmund von HERBERSTEIN (1486-1566) (Ger., Eng.).
Sigmund was a third son, so his chances to inherit a lot were pretty small. But his father took care to give his son a good education, and – what is even more important – this education fell on a good soil : Sigmund was interested in nearly everything, and very curious.
From 1514 on he lives at the court of Emperor Maximilian I. (1459-1519) (Ger., Eng.), he stays in service until 1553, for nearly forty years.
At the beginning of the 16th century existed only few permanent representations, usually a ruler choose one person for a special commission, a special envoy. HERBERSTEIN carried out 69 such missions, 30 saw him visiting Hungary, 15 took him to Poland and two into the Moscow State.
The first major journey was not successful. He was sent to Denmark in 1516 : Isabella (1501-1526) von Habsburg was married to king Christian II. of Denmark, who had earlier met an Netherlandish girl, taken her to Copenhagen and lived openly with her. The girl’s mother, an innkeeper called Willems, seemingly run the state. The king not only deeply insulted his wife, but also the house of Habsburg in toto, and there was no successor in sight due to a lack of consummation. Within a few years this remarkably dumb sovereign had insulted all rulers in the neighbourhood, was forced to flee the country and take asylum in The Netherlands where his legal wife died.
HERBERSTEIN should admonish the crowned ass, what he did to no avail, but in such a way that the king was not upset (and not cancelled his connection to the House of Habsburg). Interestingly Sigmund’s last mission in 1553 was to accompany another young Habsburgian princess, Catherine, to Cracow, right into another unhappy marriage.
Also Sigmund’s second mission in 1517 was not successful, when he was sent to Moscow to broker an armistice between Poland and the Moscow State. Nevertheless he showed great diplomatic skill in this mission – and he stayed in business. He reported to the Emperor personally, and old Maximilian seemingly was fascinated by the stories about this strange land & country in the East. So when a second mission to Moscow was necessary in 1526, now under the emperors Charles V. and Ferdinand I., it was only natural to have Sigmund take part in it – even Madrid (Charles V.) proposed his name. HERBERSTEIN was not only sent over in diplomaticis, but Ferdinand told him to collect any information about the country, the society, and put special emphasis on the religious situation. In the end Sigmund von HERBERSTEIN was sent to write the first regional and cultural study about unknown Russia.
He returned back to the Emperor’s court at the 13th of February 1527, and shortly afterwards presented his report. Sadly we know nothing about this report’s fate. In the 1530s Sigmund was looking for a humanist to work on his text, to have it stylistically improved, but we do not know what came out of this. It is not clear if the text that was finally printed 22 years later – in 1549 : Instant success, 20 more imprints until 1600 – is identical or, if not, how close related to the first version.
HERBERSTEIN lived on to see the success of his book, and in his autobiographical writings, which are also very instructive, he mentions that knowing the Slovenian language was very helpful for him. Sigmund was born in Wippach in Slovenia, and he put a lot of effort in learning the language of his peasants as a youth. So knowing a Slavonic language was very helpful for him on his travels in the East, less perhaps in Poland where the nobility was fluid in Latin and Italian, two other languages Sigmund verifiably spoke.
His text * is an interesting read, still after five hundred years.

* I used : HERBERSTEIN, Sigmund von : Das alte Rußland. In Anlehung an die älteste deutsche Ausgabe aus dem Lateinischen übertragen von Wolfram von den STEINEN. Mit einem Nachwort von Walter LEITSCH. Unter herausgeberischer Mitarbeit von Paul KÖNIG. 2. Auflage Zürich 1985 (Manesse Bibliothek der Weltgeschichte) (Rerum Moscoviticarum commentarii).
LEITSCH (1926-2010) was an Austrian professor of history at the university of Vienna, I used his Nachwort / postface.