It is inconvenient for there to be two world-shattering historical events occurring at the same time one is working two jobs. But in 02/2022, perhaps it is no surprise that I am seeing double. And history is not interested in complaints about inconvenience.

We have a historical event in progress in Canada, and a shadow of a historical event in Ukraine that everyone is more interested in watching.

The Shadow

The media right now is fixated on the possibility that Putin1 will invade Ukraine during the month of February.

This is nonsense.

It is looking more and more likely that Putin will send Russian regular troops into the unstable Donbas region of Ukraine later this year. While one should never predict such a thing, on a money-line bet my money would be on an invasion.

He is definitely, certainly, absolutely not2 invading Kiev in February. Well, maybe if the United States bombs Moscow first.

Yet somehow all three major cable news networks3 are cheerleading for that exact event to occur. (the invasion of Kiev, not the bombing of Moscow)

There are apparently some scheduled military exercises in conjunction with Belarus occurring right now (Russia will want its invasion to be “multi-national”, just like GW Bush and his friends from Poland).

By scheduling those exercises during the winter month of February (and during the Olympics), Putin should have demonstrated that they were not a pretext for war.

Napoleon and Hitler both lost wars by invading Russia in winter. Kiev is not as deadly as Moscow in February, but it is close enough. Putin knows this.

Apparently the American media does not. I am worried they may continue this charade to the point of starting a war just to prove me wrong. Please make them stop.

The Occupation of Ottawa

The protests going on right now in Canada do not have a good name. I have heard “the Occupation of Ottawa” and that is the most catchy.

However it is the standoff at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario that is going to be the flashpoint.

Nobody is taking this as seriously as they should be. If I worked in Central Casting, and I were looking to hire "a prime minister so incompetent that a disorganized protest by a few hundred truck drivers could bring down his government", I would go for Justin Trudeau.

After all, after two weeks, Mr. Trudeau fils has finally reached for the option of … a “strongly worded statement”. Yes, the CBC said that with a straight face.

The city of Detroit (and by extension, the United States) will not stand for this blockade to be a frozen conflict for months. The border crossing will be cleared.

Quite simply, I see three ways this can end:

The military is deployed. Guns are fired. At least one protester ends up dead. If we are very lucky, nobody will shoot a gas tank and cause an explosion during the violence.
The protesters achieve a complete and utter victory. Mask mandates are repealed, vaccine passports are repealed, Stockwell Day is forced to change his name to Doris Day. Quite possibly they find someone4 to replace Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as monarch.
Justin Trudeau calls an election. The protesters, begrudgingly, stop disrupting the economy in order to not lose the election. Presumably, Trudeau does not retain a majority, and the new coalition will end the mandates.

Option 3 is the preferred option.

In other words: Justin Trudeau needs to call an election. And the Malcolm Tucker’s of Canadian politics need to play the National Anthem 5 until he does.

1

it is the man, Vladimir Putin that the media is fixated on, not the country of Russia

2

one must always be careful never to say that something will never happen. if Joe Biden wants a war to start in Ukraine in February badly enough, there will be a war. whether Putin wants one or not.

3

i cannot say my thoughts on the gazers at FoxNews, CNN, and MSNBC here; either individually or collectively.

4

if this were 1908 instead of 2022, the fact that Prince Harry is very available for a monarchy independent from the British Crown would be relevant here. but it is 2022. Paris used to be worth a mass, but Ottawa is probably not worth an antivax.

5

the association between “playing the national anthem” and resignation pre-dates the Black Mirror episode. once upon a time, there was such a thing as Broadcast Television. and they would turn the transmitters off at night. and before they turn the transmitter off, they would play the national anthem.

the Tisatsar Newslettr

Extra: The Occupation of Ottawa