Get Woke, Go Broke: The Bank Edition.

Grey Bird Down

The news reached us that Russian airplanes have taken down a US surveillance drone near the Ukraine. The exact way of the drone’s demise is unclear, but what counts is that the big grey bird is down.

It does not take a genius to realise that this was *not* an accident, as in these matters accidents simply do not occur. Rather, the us assertion of a Russian pilot literally dumping fuel on the drone indicates the presence of very skilled pilots closely following orders.

It boggles the mind that an Administration taking down innocent weather balloons, some of them launched by schoolboys or hobbyists, because it sees a “threat” in them, should demand that Russia has no issues with drones flying obvious reconnaissance missions over the Ukrainian front, meant to collect data used to kill Russian soldiers. It is, in fact, more surprising that Russia has *allowed* this to happen for more than a year.

The “international space” argument is clearly a moot point. The drone was clearly part of the military operations. Hence, it was a legitimate target, same as every American satellite is, should the Russians (which is improbable) decide to take down those, too. The Americans know it perfectly well, but they thought their little espionage by drone operations could go on forever. Russia has, if you ask me, just said a clear “Niet” or, more to the point, a “not anymore”.

We will see how this pans out. The Americans have already announced that they will keep flying the drones. They might, obviously, fly them from a safe, and useless, distance, just to make a point, or they might go on with proper reconnaissance operations. In the latter case, I think more drones will go down in time, after which things will become interesting and the Big Demented Bully will have to decide whether to frock around and find out, or limit himself to babbling something incomprehensible about the time his ancestors won in Yorktown before doing actually nothing.

Mr Kinzhal, Mr Zircon, and even Messrs Poseidon and Avantgarde are eager to be introduced to (or in, as the case may be) the American naval battle groups in the Mediterranean and in the North Sea. Will Biden make the introductions? Time will tell.

What I think is happening is this: the Russians are fed up with the level of NATO (means: US) participation in this conflict and, likely after several warnings have gone unheeded, had to decide which pressure point to apply to make Dementia Joe understand that he needs to back off, or prepare himself for a good bitch slapping. Several of those are thinkable, from taking down satellites (improbable) to hitting ships carrying weapons to the Ukraine, to hitting reconnaissance infrastructure like AWACS airplanes or drones. The choice of an unmanned aerial vehicle seems the most polite, least escalating way to convey the message.

The problem with that is that Joe, like Saddam, does not understand politeness and confuses restrain with weakness. Therefore, I think it probable that things will get worse before they get better, that is: that some serious bitch slapping will have to take place, before Joe understands that either he is ready to go nuclear, or he is better off backing off.

Oh, Joe, Joe! What have you done! Had you not stolen the election, you would not be on your way to making Carter look like a brilliant statesman! You would now be enjoying a quiet retirement, spending your days with typical Biden Family activities, like sniffing teenagers or watching your son trying to screw your niece after he screwed the widow of your other son.

As it is, you are like the big bully who has not yet understood that the time for bullying has come to an end.

Still, the big bird is down.

This will be one match to watch.