Monday, January 31, 2022

Kiev Spring?

Prague Spring (photo: C.I.A.)

People who don’t play chess do so at their own peril. But if you’re only exposure is The Queens Gambit you still understand that the game confirms to the first part of Newton’s Third Law “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Players lure each other into making mistakes. Every piece taken runs the risk of resulting in only Pyrrhic victory. Sun Tzu's The Art of War could help parse out Ruy Lopez as it's a primer in realpolitik. Donald Trump may never played the game, same for his one time pal Kim Jong-un, but they both employ the strategy of creating lots of disparate fires their opponents have to put out. Is there a name for that opening or endgame? Clausewitz once said "war is politics by other means." But his teutonic instincts might have dictated the line as the shortest distance between two points. Are Putin and ambassador Lavrov way ahead of Biden and Blinken (whose threats about troops and sanctions will only come to pass in the event of an invasion) with their distractionary tactics? While both sides fence off with displays of bravado the Soviets have literally been manipulating their pawns aka proxies behind the scenes. Remember what happened to the Czechs? First there was Prague Spring under Dubcek. Then came the tanks. Is Putin castling with Belarus?

watch the animation of Erotomania on You Tube

and listen to "Land of a Thousand Dances" by Wilson Pickett


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