Today’s edition is going to be a little different. I haven’t had time to fully write out the AFL Beat and there are games tonight, so everything is in a bit of flux. In addition, there’s been a little something going on in Central Europe that has taken everyone’s attention.

So, I am going to give you an abbreviated version of the AFLW Beat and then provide some commentary on what has been going on that will hopefully ease some people’s minds. I know I have had to talk to some of my staff at work that are concerned about the on-going situation and it’s affecting them.

Who knew being in management meant minoring in human psychology?

Anyhoo, let’s begin with the AFLW:

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AFLW Round 7 Update

There were a bunch of mid-week games played which worked to make up games missed due to COVID. After this weekend, we should be fully caught up. Here are the scores since the last time we spoke:

Western Bulldogs 28 – 16 Geelong Cats

GWS Giants 5 – 45 Adelaide Crows

Carlton Blues 48 – 2 St. Kilda Saints

West Coast Eagles 45 – 68 Richmond Tigers

North Melbourne Kangaroos 38 – 15 Collingwood Magpies

Brisbane Lions 32 – 35 Melbourne Demons

Gold Coast Suns 41 – 41 Western Bulldogs

GWS Giants 41 – 39 St. Kilda Saints

There are three games tonight (all times Pacific):

8:10 PM – Fremantle Dockers v Adelaide Crows

10:10 PM – Richmond Tigers v Geelong Cats

12:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v North Melbourne Kangaroos

Please make sure to put the Footy Tips in!

I’ll provide an update on the Tipping Competition next week. There should be no more mid-week games, so I should be able to post the next AFL Beat on Tuesday as normal. Here is the Balls Graph with the results so far:

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As I mentioned above, I have heard from a lot of people that are very concerned about the on-going situation. Some feel that we are all going to die in a nuclear war. Others have kids in the military and they think their sons or daughters are going to die. Others are only worried about how gas is getting so expensive and how this whole conflict is going to ruin their lives/businesses.

No worries are bigger than others or better than others. We all have our perspectives and things affect us in different ways.

I am writing this to try to provide some context and hopefully alleviate some concerns that people in our community may have.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Well, that’s not a simple answer and I’m not going to write a doctorate on this subject as I am not an expert by any means on this subject. However, I have read a lot of legitimate and varied sources. I have also watched YouTube videos of Putin’s speeches. The Soviet Union was very interesting to me growing up and I have read many things in an effort to understand, to put it in the simplest terms, “the other side”.

You will have, no doubt, seen the meme where it points out grand buildings that existed in Ukraine while Moscow was forest. This is true. The timeline lines up. The part that is not typically mentioned is that what is considered “Russia” grew out of an area called the Kievan Rus which encompasses modern-day Ukraine and Russia.

There is a SHITLOAD of history tying the two places together. BeerGuyRob is much better at the history stuff than I am, so I’ll let him take that if he wants. If you want some fun light reading this weekend, read the book “Bloodlands” by Timothy Snyder.

That’s a joke. The book talks about the mass killings of World War 2 that occurred in Central Europe. It goes into detail about the famine that was caused by Stalin in Ukraine.

In bullet point format, Russia cares about Ukraine because of:

• Shared history and culture
• Vast natural resources
• It was part of both the old Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

WHAT DOES PUTIN WANT?

Putin was stationed in East Germany as part of the KGB when the Berlin Wall fell. He saw how the thirst for democracy took down what he considered to be “order”. As the Soviet Union fell apart, he rose in power because he wanted to restore “order” to his world.

You may notice that Russia is not communist anymore. It is “democratic” in the sense that Putin used democratic processes to get in power and then dismantled them to create an autocracy. You may ask, “How can the Russian people stand for that?”

Have you ever heard the trope about the trains running on time?

Essentially, the vast majority of people do not care if some people get rich at the expense of others as long as they get theirs. That’s why everyone loved the Mob Vegas. Yeah, the Mob ran the casinos and the city, but they let you win money, showed you a good time, kept order, and didn’t gouge you for parking THAT USED TO BE FREE DAMMIT!

You all know I was born in Mexico. That country has been a kleptocracy ever since the PRI took power almost a hundred years ago. In recent decades, the PRI has lost power and other parties have taken over, but the rich remain the rich and the poor remain the poor. What kept Mexico from yet another revolution is that there was a middle class and there was a possibility for improvement and that kept people satisfied enough to not rock the boat.

Back to Putin. He does not want democracy to rock his boat. He has it good. If democracy spreads further east, it might start to turn some Russians’ minds and then what happened in East Germany will happen in Moscow.

He cannot have that.

He needs a healthy barrier between the democratic countries and Russia. The old Soviet Union had a nice and large bloc of countries (Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc.) under their influence and that worked to keep democratic ideals away from home.

Putin wants that barrier back.

WILL HE STOP AT UKRAINE? WHAT ABOUT THE BALTICS? IS HE THE NEW HITLER?

Ukraine is particularly important for the reasons I put in the list above. The Baltics are not really that important. Yes, they were part of the old Russian Empire, but after World War 1 they became independent countries and were not part of the Soviet Union until the Soviets defeated the Nazis and started heading west to take as much territory as they could.

Within the Soviet Union, they were their own Soviet Republic and really didn’t integrate much into the Russian culture. Certainly not as much as Ukraine. When the Soviet Union broke up, they quickly became independent countries again.

The other key difference between the Baltics and Ukraine is that the Baltics became full democracies while Ukraine became what can only be generously described as a failed democracy. Ukraine is the #3 most corrupt country in the world. Russia, of course, is #1. The Baltics also quickly joined NATO. Ukraine, as a failed democracy, has also failed to make a good case for NATO to accept them.

So, I think that Putin considers the Baltics to be a lost cause. They don’t really have much resources to exploit and they’ve never really been a part of Russia like Ukraine. Plus, they’re in NATO and if he goes in there, he’s going against NATO and that’s another can of worms.

Which is why I do not think he is the new Hitler. Hitler wanted world domination through conquest. Putin wants world domination through ideology. He supports autocrats and dictators worldwide because friends help friends out and that’s how they gain power. It’s the Old Boys Club at a global scale.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The way I see it, Putin will get what he wants. I do not think that he will annex Ukraine like he did Crimea as it is very difficult to govern a conquered country. Instead, he will install a puppet government with rich friends like he did in all the Stans and let them stay “independent” while still tied deeply to Russia.

Biden has already announced that the US will not send troops to Ukraine and has only announced sanctions. I wasn’t there and I haven’t met either Putin or Biden

but I am pretty sure that Biden and Putin already discussed that they will not start WW3 and that the US will only do sanctions and let Putin have Ukraine.

Which brings us to the main lesson to be learned here: If you have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, DO NOT trust anyone to have your back if you give them up. Seriously, what were the Ukrainian leaders thinking??

So, WCS, you hang on to those socks. You never know when you’re going to need them.

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I realize that there is a LOT more to this conflict than what I’ve written above. Honestly, I could have written more, but I don’t have the time. I encourage everyone to go out into the Internet or the local library (it’s a building that has books that people can check out and read for free!) and read up on the history to gain a better understanding of what’s involved and what’s at stake.

I’ll end on this note: The United States has been justifying actions in Latin America for decades using the exact same justification that Putin is using now. The US did not and does not want communism so close to its borders. It has wanted this continent (what it considers to be its “sphere of influence”) to be free of any communist thought. Does anyone remember the Bay of Pigs? America couldn’t have a Russian base so close to Miami and reacted. Putin doesn’t want a NATO base in Ukraine on his border and is reacting. He doesn’t want democratic thought so close to his borders. Like Chris Rock said of OJ, “I’m not saying he should have done it, but I understand.”

Now post some titties and booties, you perverts!