The Reading Junkie

According to Kiev, their great spring/summer/fall/winter offensive is “imminent.” Meanwhile, the “pro-Russia” commentators are chortling and dismissing the idea of a Ukrainian offensive… just like they did last time. I think not only are we in for another Ukrainian offensive, we’re in for another hysterical cycle of western bloggers doing their usual cycle of getting hysterical, demanding Putin “take the gloves off,” and panicking in general principle. Today I’ll go over what I’ve seen so far, the steps we can roughly expect from both sides. I consider the liberation of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) as the distinctive end of one phase of the conflict and the beginning of a new one.

The vote to raise the US debt ceiling has passed the house. From Zero Hedge:

As we noted earlier, the bill – which as discussed here does not cut real Federal spending even in year one despite widespread propaganda that In exchange for Republican votes for the suspension, Democrats agreed to cap federal spending for the next two years – would set the course for federal spending for the next two years and suspend the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025 — postponing another clash over borrowing until after the presidential election. By then total US debt will be $35 trillion and well on its way to unsustainability.

Today I reluctantly watched this movie so I could write a review, and I completely regret it. Sisu is, and I’m not exaggerating, one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. And no, I don’t think it is a coincidence that we saw a suspiciously well-funded theatrical release of a Finnish war movie right around the same time as they joined NATO.

I’m pleased to announce that, per CNN, the mighty and heroic Ukrainians have intercepted 52 out of 54 Russian drones during an attack early this morning.