Whipping Boy.*

I am disturbed by this. This, to me, is not about anti-semitic tinged bullying Allen Kurzsweil suffered as a ten-year-old. It is beyond the need to forget and to move on. This is about Allen Kurzweil seeking vengeance forty years later against a twelve-year-old boy.

This is about the lack of a literary statute of limitations. It is similar to Dylan Farrow and Nicholas D. Kristof's twenty years later attempt to ruin Woody Allen, who at least was an adult at the time Farrow accuses him of raping her. Both cases are about revenge. Both are, Kurzweil's is more, about ambush.

Cesar Augusto Viana III has only the vaguest recollection of Kurzweil and little, if you believe Kurzweil, no, if you believe Viana, recollection of bullying Kurzweil. Viana apologized "for any harm I may have done," according to Kurzweil, because Viana really could not remember according to Kurzweil. That apology is the basis for Kurzweil's claim of a confession. That's the case against Viana!

Kurzweil says be spent, off and on, forty years tracking down Viana. Tricked him with ingratiation into meeting with him. A coward, Kurzweil wanted to make sure Viana was not "dangerous." Tricked him again with false trust established into meeting with him a second time to confront him with the bullying allegations. He stalked him. Why, except revenge?

Now, forty years later, Kurzweil has gotten his revenge, he has seen Viana punished. When I first searched for Cesar Augusto, Google prompted me with "cesar augusto, bully." That is who he is now, forty years after the fact. He is an international target of opprobrium.

The photo at top left, from a Phillipine site. "This story didn't make us proud to be Filipino," it says. Viana is now a disgrace to the Phillipine nation for actions taken when he was twelve! The photo at top right is from the Daily Telegraph, UK, who tracked Viana down in San Francisco.

Viana says he now can't sleep at night and wants to sue Kurzweil.

As I understand it, Kurzweil ends the book with a realization that the culmination of his forty year obsession did not bring him closure, that he came to realize that his obsession said more about
himself than about Viana. I believe that last.

I am ready to rule: Allen Kurzweil, your book, your acts of trickery in the cause of vengeance, as
a fifty year old Jewish man, against a twelve year old Filipino Christian boy forty years after the fact, those are morally and ethically wrong acts, they are reprehensible and are a shame on the character of the Jewish people.

*UPDATED: March 24, 3:57 am. I hadn't read Ms. Kipnis' entire review last night and missed this: "All writers are stalkers," Kurzweil announces while crisscrossing the country in pursuit of Cesar..." Actually no, Kurzweil, all writers are not stalkers. YOU are a stalker, you are correct about that, you are a bully, a coward, you are cruel, you are disingenuous, you have a small pee pee, you are neurotic, you are weak, you are obsessive, and your are Jewish which is redundant with a lot of the above?  Have you condidered electro-shock? Or suicide?

Survival I believe to be the soul of China, the product of pain and fear. Remembrance, the title of the Cultural Revolution journal in China.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," that is the post-it note philosophy of the West, ergo, we must remember. Chinese must remember.

Just say no to post-it note philosophy. If you can put it on a post-it note or greeting card it's not philosophy, it's too simplistic. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is the statement of a single man, a statement that cannot be proved empirically. “You can learn the lessons of history too well” is another, opposite, philosophical aphorism almost as unprovable. “Let it go,” another.

Remembrances of painful events can revisit the pain. Many Chinese do not want to remember the Cultural Revolution. My Chinese-American friend Weimin Mo and his wife are two such. I don’t want to remember some events in my own past which are far less “objectively” painful than the Cultural Revolution. Not remembering can be therapeutic. They give pills for that now.

Comes now:

Resentments of Things Past

The art of not letting go.

LAURA KIPNIS

That is as close as I am going to get to sex today.

“Consider the festering wound. Especially if you’re a writer: Consider it as the raw material for your next book, for an entire oeuvre, even. Moving on may be better for your mental health and digestive tract—so say wusses and forgiveniks—but your wounds are who you are. Especially these days: We live in an injury culture. I don’t mean to sound cynical, I’m just being practical. Besides, wallowing is one of life’s great unacknowledged pleasures.”

Laura Kipnis reviews a book by Allen Kurzweil called Whipping Boy. My forty year search for my twelve-year-old bully. We see at once the benefits of those forget pills.

The caption to this photograph provided by Bookforum reads: "A postcard Allen Kurzweil sent to his mother, detailing places he was bullied."

"The lingering rage of that year never entirely dissipated: Two decades later, an impromptu visit to his old school triggered a panic attack. On the suggestion of his wife, PAUSE. Those who take suggestions from their wives are condemned to follow them. UNPAUSE. Kurzweil decided to find out what had become of Cesar, and [spent]... a decade...pursuing leads..."

...

When Kurzweil finally contrives to meet his old foe face-to-face, it’s something of a letdown: Cesar barely remembers Allen, or the bullying. And his story turns out to be irksomely complicated: Cesar, too, had lost his father at an early age; Cesar, too, was victimized at school. The tormentor had had his own tormentors. Adult life hasn’t gone so swimmingly, either..."

...

"Eventually [Cesar] manages a New Age-ish apology: He hopes Allen will finally get closure, and he’s sorry for what 'may have happened in the past.'”

"It’s hard to imagine this helps. Memorializing your childhood pain doesn’t exactly minimize its aftereffects."

Thank you, Ms. Kipnis....Ms. Kipnis, would you be my wife?

http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/021_05/14154

I slept until 7:30 am and have been watching porn since. Not one woman has come over or even called.

"Women Who Sleep More Also Have More Sex, a New Study Finds."-TIME‎.

"An extra hour of sleep 'boosts women's likelihood of sex'."-Medical News Today

"For More Sex, Get More Sleep."-Newser‎. [I thought this was gender-specific to women. "Newser" drops the gender.]

"Better Sleep for a Better Sex Life."-New York Times. [The Times drops the gender. Now I don't know what to do.]

"Key to a good sex life? More sleep."-CBS [3-2 for men and women. Alright, good night then.]

WAIT!

"Scientific Advice For A Better Sex Life: Sleep, And Watch Porn."-Huffington Post. [...(THINKING)...Okay ...YES! Okay, 4-2 for men and women and I've got the second one covered. Good night.]

The city of Coral Gables is the loveliest part of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Coral Gables was founded by an extraordinary man, a racist, named George Edgar Merrick.
                                                       

                                                  

Merrick did not come from money, he was the son of a protestant minister from Pennsylvania, and had no professional training or experience in town planning, yet, inconceivably, he created Coral Gables. The land was his, left to him by his father, the City Beautiful Movement vision for the city was his, the architects were hired by him, the Spanish Mediterranean style homes were his idea, the zoning codes were his.

He hired William Jennings Bryan to pitch Coral Gables property for him.

Merrick founded the University of Miami, the Historical Association of Southern Florida, and was responsible for all of the early major road construction in the Miami area. He transformed Miami from a trading post into a major metropolis. It was all blown away by the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 and the Great Depression. Merrick ended his career as a postmaster. There are remembrances to him everywhere.

It was a remarkable life and it was cut short at age 55. What an extraordinary story! How did he die?

There is no biography of Merrick, there is a Wikipedia entry which says he died in 1942, no date, no location, no cause. There are 1,600,000 Google webpages for "George Merrick," 481,000 for "George E. Merrick died," 164,000 for "george merrick coral gables." Joining archives.com gets you a link to another site where you can purchase a death record. There is a Merrick family "expert." Yet there is no mention of how or from what George Merrick died. The most "extensive" account from Miami sites is that Merrick died "at about 2:30 am" (Miami Daily News), March 26, 1942  at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the public hospital for the Miami area (Tequesta, the journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida.). 

It is inconceivable that there is no readily, if not instantly, available cause of death on the internet for so important a man. There is nothing from any Miami source. HOW DID THE MAN DIE! It can get a man thinking, it can. Then today, one, a newspaper account from March 27, 1942: Merrick died "after a brief illness of a heart condition," according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Homo Sapiens of the Week.

We'll try this out. As with Time's Man of the Year, the Homo of the Week is not intended as honor but recognition of impact. This Inaugural Homo Sapiens of the Week therefore recognizes,

Benjamin Netanyahu, for his pre-election statement rejecting Palestinian statehood,

“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel. The left has buried its head in the sand time and after time and ignores this, but we are realistic and understand.”

When asked if that meant a Palestinian state would not be established if he is elected, Netanyahu replied: “Indeed.”

And for his successful election day get-out-the-vote message,

"The right-wing government is in danger," Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are busing them out."

As impact the United States will "re-assess" its "options" on Israeli-Palestinian peace and "re-evaluate" use of its United Nations Security Council veto to protect Israel.

In opportunity doors now lead ships 2-1.

I hope you are having a good Friday.

Hi.

"COLTS STATE CHAMPS."-Barnesboro Star

Point of personal privilege here (for there are those who love her).

Fifty years ago today my little High School boys basketball team won the Pennsylvania Class B state championship. I think I can still name the starting five players: Greg Kuhn, Tony Nastasi, Joe Nastasi, Ken Anderson, Frank Frontino. Yep.

The game is one of the most memorable in the history of the competition for in defeating Montrose High School 78-69 the Northern Cambria "Colts" beat the two-time defending state champs and broke Montrose's 53 game winning streak. :o Yeah, that's a lot. 

The game was played at the University of Pittsburgh's basketball arena and I was there. And that was the headline in my father's newspaper the next week.

It was a brief, shining...No, no, "brief, shining moment" doesn't do it justice. It was a freaking supernova explosion that flashed in the sky and lit up all of benighted Cambria County. It was a unique burst of greatness. Never happened again.

Hi.

DREAM  DARE Do

Golden themes for golden words!

It buoys me up, this stuff. Inspires me.

Golden showers, that's what it feels like when I read these quotes. Like I'm getting a Golden Shower.

Ooh, unfortunate source for that quote. Christopher is up there somewhere amidst those golden sunbeams in his wheelchair. Barack Obama is down here with Hope and Change. So I'd nix that one personally. But, it's the thought that counts.

I need to run more. I need to answer life's wake up call and then get out on the beach by a golden river with golden sunlight showering down on my face and body, enfusing every fiber of my being with determination. Anthony Robbins...Anthony Robbins needs a Golden Shower. Maybe it would keep his followers from walking over hot coals to show their determination and getting third degree burns on their feet. 

You know that saying, maybe it's on a Hallmark card you got, "Perception is just as important as reality?" GOD! I hate that saying. It is so dumb. No, perception is NOT just as important as reality; go have your eyes checked.

With Putin and nukes, it is. :(

All the evidence is Putin really believes he can win a tactical nuclear war in the European theater. So even if Jessica T. Matthews is correct, Putin ain't wearin' her glasses! And since Putin is the actor and not Matthews it is Putin's vision, his "perception" of the nuclear balance of power that guides the behavior here. "We Russians may not understand puts and calls," a Russian official told his American counterpart, "but we understand tanks and troops!"

Whether it is reality or perception Vladimir Putin is acting in Ukraine as if he has nuclear superiority over the U.S. and NATO in Europe. We must change that and not with smoke and mirrors, not with "Quaker guns," with real nuclear tipped missiles in silos in Europe. Putin will perceive those. The "international status quo" is at stake.

Nukes.

So! That is not good, is it? No, it is not. I would have preferred clear American nuclear superiority. Do NOT have that! Russians may have nuclear superiority. Ms. Matthews did not render Mr. Stephens' claim "baseless." The figures from armscontrol.org do not render Stephens' claims baseless. Provide basis for Russian nuclear superiority. "Advantage," how about?

As I was writing that post I noticed the HUGE Russian "advantage" in tactical nukes: 2,000 to 500. That has to be tactical superiority, right? Whether advantage or superiority that would explain Russia's nuke rattling since their invasions of Ukraine. I remember, one Russian official tweeted Obama "We can reduce you to dust!" That tactical advantage would explain the Putins believing they could win a "limited" nuclear war with the U.S. and NATO in Europe. It would explain Putin saying on the documentary celebrating the "reunification" of Crimea with Russia that he was prepared to put Russia's nuclear forces on alert if the West intervened in the Russian takeover. All of that is not good at all!

After writing that last post I did a little research into which country, if either, has nuclear superiority. Did not find anything but did run across the concept of "compellence," which I didn't even know was a word much less a whole concept (didn't look right). In nuke-speak compellence is the opposite of deterrence, which word I heard of and which concept I was familiar with. This is how the Washington Post explained compellence just last December:

"For those who may be wondering, compellence is typically defined as a military threat designed to change the international status quo and is generally thought to be more difficult than deterrence, a military threat to preserve the status quo."

The Posties definition was dissonant with the common (my, anyway) understanding of "compel," to force someone else to do something or as another website put it "Compellence is a set of actions or positions that force an opponent to take some action desired by the initial actor." http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Compellence That I understand! Under that definition Russia's invasions in Ukraine could not be considered compellence with the US as referrent on accounta what did they compel us to do. Russia's nuke-rattling  our way would be considered garden variety deterrence, it would seem to me, but, as I had never heard of "citizendium" and had heard of the Washington Post I'll go with the Posties. 

The Posties article was not Russia-specific. It was general, it talked about Iran, Russia, but was on compellence the concept. Is what Russia did with its nuke-rattling over Ukraine considered to be compellence? I don't know! but of course that has never prevented me from acting as if I do so I will. Using the Posties' definition I don't think nuke-rattling over Crimea would (or "should," better put) be considered compellence. The "international status quo" was not at stake in Crimea or if anybody thinks it was a most static definition of status quo would be required. I take "international status quo" to be near synonymous with "balance of power." Russia's actions in Crimea did not alter the world balance of power, in my opinion, but I don't know nuffin. 

Maybe we all could agree on this: THE U.S. BETTER RE-ATTAIN NUCLEAR SUPERIORITY! All in favor, raise your hands. Putin, raise your hand. Strategically we may be already, or perhaps at "parity," but tactically, we ain't neither. No way. We need a new arms race especially a new tactical arms race. I want the U.S. to have nuclear superiority over all and in any theater. I want that superiority to be vis-a-vis Russia and the whole world combined. I thought we had that. I really did. I don't know nuffin. 

Jessica T. Matthews reviews Henry Kissinger's World Order and Bret Stephens America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Social Disorder in the New York Review of Books' current issue. She writes

"[Stephens] also makes the serious charge that Russia has achieved “nuclear superiority over the United States via the [Obama administration’s] New START Treaty.” He does not acknowledge that today the US has many more deployed strategic launch vehicles than Russia, and that the two sides have equal numbers of warheads and launchers (including those not deployed). Moreover, the US arsenal is much more able to survive an attack than Russia’s and is almost certainly far more lethal. His claim is baseless."

That is a serious charge so I decided to look it up. According to armscontrol.org:

"Russia: According to the September 2014 New START numbers, Russia has 1,643 strategic warheads deployed on 528 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers. The Federation of American Scientists estimates Russia has several thousand nondeployed strategic warheads and approximately 2,000 tactical nuclear warheads. An additional 3,700 are awaiting dismantlement."

"United States: According to the September 2014 New START declaration, the United States has 1,642 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 794 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers [1].  The Federation of American Scientists estimates that the United States' nondeployed strategic arsenal is approximately 2,800 warheads and the U.S. tactical nuclear arsenal numbers 500 warheads. In total, the U.S. has about 4,800 nuclear warheads [2], including tactical, strategic, and nondeployed weapons. Additional warheads are retired and await dismantlement."

So, Matthews: US "has many more deployed strategic launch vehicles."

      armscontrol.org: Russia has 528 to the US's 794...I'm going to take the rest of those sentences to be the equivalent of Matthews' "strategic launch vehicles." 

Advantage Matthews.

Matt: "the two sides have equal numbers of warheads and launchers (including those not deployed)."

arms: "Russia has several thousand nondeployed strategic warheads and approximately 2,000 tactical nuclear warheads. An additional 3,700 are awaiting dismantlement;" the US "nondeployed strategic arsenal is approximately 2,800 warheads and the U.S. tactical nuclear arsenal numbers 500 warheads. In total, the U.S. has about 4,800 nuclear warheads."

Merriam-Webster: "several-more than two but not very many." 

We'll give Russia 1,643+3,000 +2000 tacs=6,643. We're not going to include the number awaiting dismantlement. The US: 1,642+2,800+500=4,942 OR "about 4,800."

Either way, and giving Russia the lowest number possible within the meaning of "several," Russia has got at least 6,643 to the US' 4,800. In common understanding of "superiority" that is "nuclear superiority" but I think superiority has a different meaning in "nuclear superiority"--I may be wrong!--but I think "nuclear superiority" refers in some way to ability to withstand a first strike. I believe that is why Matt says the US arsenal is "much more able to survive an attack." Now, what Matt means by US nukes also being "almost certainly far more lethal" is nonsensical. 

Jessica T. Matthews writes nothing justifying her dismissal of Bret Stephens' claim that Russia has achieved nuclear superiority with "His claim is baseless."

Advantage Stephens. Game, set and match to Stephens.

Barcelona 1-0 God's Righteous Angels in Blue.

Ya gotta see these highlights. You will never see a more onesided 1-0 match. The first: In the 6' Vinnie Kompany briefly has the ball on the edge of the box and comfortably looks upfield to pass. Dani Alves scoots around Vinnie's back and picks his pocket, passing beautifully to Neimar and..."Uh, Goodness me, that is as close as you'll ever..." as the ball barely hits Joe Hart's right post.

Second: Look at that pass from Messi, the touch! "What a pass, what a goal."

Third: The Cannibal sent in clear. Did Joe Hart just run out of the stadium? He's nowhere in the picture. The ball rolls across the goal mouth and kisses Joe's left post. Presumably Joe just had to go really bad and came back and finished up.

Okay, so by rights, that should be 3-0. But it's only one! And in the 78' City have a chance to level! Amazing. Kun Aguero steps up, BOOM! A fine strike, POWERFUL! "If you could read my mind, love." Marc-Andre Ter Stegen did read Kun's shot, had no problem WHATSOEVER stopping the shot.

As the ESPNFC write-up says, the two clubs are in "different leagues," that looked like Barca were playing Cordoba trying to stem off relegation. Unsuccessfully.

City had no answer, no chance and they are booted from the Champs League. We clearly did not belong on the same pitch with 'Lona.

Watch Messi break James Milner's ankles and Pep Guardiola's reaction!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FuH-HXcbIp8

Vinnie Kompamy has really regressed, sad, painful to see, painful to say. The match was embarrassing, dispiriting, and Barca proved for the umpteenth time that they are the world's best or so close to the world's best that City could not see the difference. They deserved to win at least 3-0, Kun's penalty had no chance.

No mind. Once a Blue Moon, always a Blue Moon. Drastic changes should be made but whether they are or not there is sky blue in my blood. The Blue Moon shall Rise once more. Here are the rest of the highlights:http://www.espnfc.us/uefa-champions-league/match/410543/barcelona-manchester-city/report

CITY FOREVER!!!

Russia.

Alexei Navalny, a Russian patriot and Putin critic urges the West not to arm Ukraine. First, because he says it will make Russian opposition to Putin the more untenable,--exhibit 1, Boris Nemtsov--strengthening Putin, any criticism of whom on the issue being seen as treasonous. Second because military aid to Ukraine cannot succeed.

“I do not think that supplies of weapons, lethal weapons, will change the situation dramatically. The fact is that a military victory of Ukraine over Russia is impossible. Putin will get new facts that Americans are fighting the war in Ukraine and not Ukrainians.”

I don't know if Alexei is correct on that first point, or entirely sincere. He is probably correct but we (in the West) are getting some counter-information: that mothers of Russian soldiers killed in the invasions are angry, and their numbers grow; that Alexei has turned more nationalist. One presumes also that Alexei, only 38 years old, would like to remain alive, to remain in Russia and with a political future in Russia, unlike, for example, Ksenia Sobchak, who reportedly has already fled the country after being told by state security in a meeting that she could end up like Nemtsov. 

What would Alexei have the West do, continue the sanctions? If he says that, that would dispel some of the doubts but if he said that, as Nemtsov did, well...

But his second point is dispositive, as far as I am concerned anyway. He is absolutely correct about that. 

I am for discontinuing the sanctions over Crimea. I am, with some hesitation, for continuing the sanctions over the invasions in eastern Ukraine but with a sunset provision. Because of Alexei's second point I am for getting this over with asap and with no more bloodshed. "Give it to a Russian," I have urged, with distaste, upon Ukraine. And I am for saying "Farewell to Russia" as far into the future as I reasonably can see. Decide--It took my breath away the first time I thought this.--where we are going to go to war with Russia. Yes, war, draw a red line, presumably at the borders with the NATO countries (I hope not with the Baltics!) and decide. Have the confidence that comes with rational decision-making, the resolution: If they cross that line, be psychologically prepared to immediately launch a full nuclear attack on Russia, on its cities, as well, of course, on its military and government. 

As far into the future as I can see, and I cannot see a responsible Russia from here, we must say Farewell to Russia. None but the most pro forma contacts. No attempts to bring them into the world of nations, no more attempting to make them "partners," Putin continues to use that term, no more "resets," let 'em go and keep 'em out there wherever they end up.

So we say Farewell to Russia in one way, with a cold, permanent divorce, or the other way, with the white hot, nuclear genocide of the Russian people.

Sorry, Alexei. 

Escomb Church, County Durham, England (c.670-675 AD).

"Partially unroofed," 1864-67 (Wikipedia), although this photo is captioned "1870." Partially roofed?

"Before" restoration.

"After." It is my understanding that my ancestors were married there prior to 1969. A charming "partially" al fresco affair?

Photograph taken on the one sunny day of the year.

Remember that from the brochure my parents brought back. "Medieval font"...in "Times" font.

"The major rural buildings were sunken-floor...or post-hole buildings...Even the elite had simple buildings, with a central fire and a hole in the roof to let the smoke escape [clever innovation] and the largest of which rarely had more than one floor, and one room. [modest people.] Buildings vary widely in size, most were square or rectangular, though some round houses have been found. Frequently these buildings have sunken floors; a shallow pit over which a plank floor was suspended. The pit may have been used for storage, but more likely was filled with straw for winter insulation. [Straw under the (one room) floor! How much was fire insurance in those days?] A variation on the sunken floor design is found in towns, where the "basement" may be as deep as 9 feet, suggesting a storage or work area below a suspended floor. Another common design was simple post framing, with heavy posts set directly into the ground, supporting the roof. [K.I.S.S.!] The space between the posts was filled in with wattle and daub, or occasionally, planks.[Smart thinkin' fillin' in those spaces between posts!] The floors were generally packed earth, ["packed" earth] though planks were sometimes used. [Fancy, fancy!] Roofing materials varied, with thatch being the most common, though turf and even wooden shingles were also used. [Define "tinder box.]

"Stone could be was used, [SIC!] and it was used to build churches.

"The building of churches in Anglo-Saxon England...:

"A simple nave without aisles...
"east of this a chancel arch...
"Flanking the apse and side chambers...
"In Northumbria...important churches being built in timber. Masonry churches...prominent from the late 7th century... These buildings had long naves...small rectangular chancels... porticus... Elaborate crypts... The best preserved early Northumbrian church is Escomb Church."

Escomb Church! Two of my ancestors were married there. 

WHAT an improvement.

"Reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon royal palace at Cheddar around 1000."-Wikipedia.

WAIT! WHAT?

No. That does not cut it as a "royal palace," Anglo-Saxons. That SUCKS as a royal palace. That is a disgrace to royal palaces everywhere.

"Only ten of the hundreds of settlement sites that have been excavated in England from this period have revealed masonry domestic structures and confined to a few quite specific contexts. The usual explanation for the tendency of Anglo–Saxons to build in timber is one of technological inferiority or incompetence."

"The stone buildings imposed on England by the Romans would have been ‘startling’ and ‘exceptional’, and following the collapse of Roman society in the fifth century there was a widespread return to timber building, a ‘cultural shift’ that it is not possible to explain by recourse to technological determinism."

This does not pleasure me.

Wonderful world.

Oh, and then there is this:

Putin and the 'Mariupol' Test.

That is the headline to an op-ed article by two fellows, Hans Binnendijk and John Herbst, in the Times today, Mariupol being the city in southern Ukraine previously referred to by the undersigned in that March 14 post as "Marsupial" on accounta he knew it was something like that. Keen readers of this page may recall the undersigned published a map at the time of the latest cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine and he pointed out that among all of those squiggly lines the aforesaid Mariupol was squiggled out, meaning Mariupol could be fought over. Fellows Binnendijk and Herbst argue for it to be a test of the West's deterrence of Russia in establishing a connection to Crimea, late of Ukraine, now of Russia. No. No and hell no.

The headline in the New York Times is Germany's Goal: Restoring Russia-Annexed Crimea to Ukraine. The article, quoting Chancellor Angela Merkel, is consistent with the headline:

Speaking after talks in Berlin with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel said...

"It's important despite, or because of, this to work for a peaceful solution and not rest until the full sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored, and of course this includes Crimea."

Merkel said if necessary, the European Union was prepared to bring more sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.


"We don't want them. But if there's no other way, then they need to be implemented," she said.

This presumptuous blogger vehemently disagrees with that goal. He also reiterates his opposition to the continuation of sanctions over Crimea as iterated in his March 14, 1:43 am post, which disagreement and opposition he acknowledges to be less "weighty" than the positions of the German chancellor. He now wishes to call into question the mental abilities of the German chancellor for there is zero basis to her belief that sanctions, or anything whatsoever short of war, can return Crimea to Ukraine.

What a Wonderful World.

David Attenborough.

Watch this commercial, this advert as the Brits call it. It is a wonderful commercial and Mr. Attenborough has made it a wonderful world for a long, long time.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/auSo1MyWf8g?rel=0

Putin

Back.

Sporting News.

New York City F.C. played their first home match at Yankee Stadium this evening and beat the New England "Revolution" 2-nil. 43,507 were on hand, a wonderful crowd. New York City tied the Orlando City "Purple Disney Worlds" 1-1 before a sold-out Citrus Bowl of over 63,000 last week.

On this subject, the City, my beloved Manchester City F.C., the parent club of NYCFC, lost to Burnie...Burnley 1-0 at Burning Stadium yesterday. Manager Manuel Pellegrini's seat on the bench is burning, too. The champions are done in the English Premier League race, five points behind Chelsea who have two games in hand, and only one pint ahead of the Arse. They are eliminated from the FA Cup, the Capital One Cup, the Sherwin Williams Cup, all them cups. They are alive, but on life support, in the UEFA Champions League. They lost to Barcelona in the first match of the tie 2-1 at the Etihad and now have to beat 'Lona by two or three touchdowns at the Camp Nou to advance. I.e. TAIN'T gonna happen.

City is old, they are the oldest club in the EPL and they got old quickly this year. Age has really caught up to captain Vinny Kompany who is just not himself anymore. Kun Aguero has had exasperating knocks and bruises the last couple years but this year got a serious knee injury, tore one of those ligament things. Yaya Toure was not mentally right this season and had that blasted African competition that sent him AWOL from the club for a month. In other words, City has really slipped. The core group, the greatest in the club's desultory history, has now been together for several years. They have literally grown old together and I think are mentally spent. They just have not clicked for long enough stretches this season.

In the past, that is before Financial Fair Play, it would never have been allowed to get to this point. Sheikh Mansour would have plucked who he wanted from the Arsenal farm team, from the great European Clubs, from the Chevies, and would have reloaded. Apparently they could not do that. In any event they did not. They made some nice acquisitions in the off season but the newbies cannot replace the core. I was concerned going into this season with the same old--brilliant, but old--faces but they did and the season has been a failure. Unless somebody spikes their water bottles with cocaine they will crash out of the UCL with a whimper if not a bang.

I do not pretend to know what financial legerdemain is possible to restock the team but tinkering is not an option. They need a major overhaul. That will start with the sacking of Manuel and should continue with a fond fairwell to Vinny and several man hugs for his service, a polite, respectful but not affectionate parting with Yaya, City can skip the birthday wishes this year, and, gulp, with Kun, who is just not physically dependable any longer. Selling those players is necessary, regrettably, as the club can not turn to sports' greatest owner for some personal petro-dollars under FFP. In other words the manager and the core must go. City should be in full rebuild mode in the summer. Undoubtedly, that will result in a step, probably a few steps, back, and probably out of the UCL next year and probably the year after. I, at least, don't see the alternative. A disagreeable task to write all of this about the Beloveds but I close this section of the post with a throaty, loud-as-I can statement of lifelong fidelity;

CITY FOREVER!!!!

This is "Selection Sunday" in the US&A when only the best, only the 68 finest, scholarly basketball teams are invited to the "Big Dance," the NCAA tournament, to determine the National Champion. The teams are seeded 1-64 and then there are two "play in" games. There will be surprises, there will be a couple of teams of the Florida Gulf Coast ilk that make the first two rounds so charming but the selection committee has got this seeding biz down pretty well and it will be a real surprise, shock really, if one of the four top seeds, Kentucky, Duke, Villanova, or Wisconsin don't win it a couple weeks from now.

Before checking one last time for any updates on MHPutin, inn-teresting countries represented among readers today are:

-Argentina, 3.
-Guatelama, 1.
-Greenland, 1.

Good night unless Putin reappears.

Hey. Check this out, it's by Amy Knight in the New York Review of Books: 

Nemtsov made no secret of the fact that he lobbied western governments to impose sanctions against Kremlin officials and institutions because of the war in Ukraine. Vladimir Milov, Nemtsov’s longtime colleague and fellow oppositionist, who coauthored earlier investigations of the Kremlin with Nemtsov,said on his blog this week:

The top Russian leadership considered Nemtsov ‘personally responsible’ for the sanctions and for suggesting which sanctions (blocking access to credit above all) would be the most effective. In a sense this could be revenge, similar to [the case of] Litvinenko. Nemtsov was not just considered a politician, playing this or that role in Russia, but the person, in the Kremlin’s opinion, ‘guilty’ for the difficult situation the Putin establishment found itself in because of sanctions.

MHPutin.

Mr. Edward Snowden
Parts Unknown
Russia.

Dear Mr. Snowden,

How are you I am fine.

Do you think that NSA, CIA, etc. know what's going on with Putin?

Sincerely,
Benjamin Harris