UnFriend

So many people seem genuinely astonished by this local ceasefire in Oleshky, where Russian occupation and the fighting have driven the city into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe. Turns out, all it takes is an order from the Kremlin, and Russians and Ukrainians stop shooting at each other. They can calmly and civilly arrange the evacuation of innocent civilians facing starvation, even allow Ukrainian and American journalists to be present on the ground, and so on. Well, duh. There is not, and never has been, a single adequate, rational, even remotely sane reason to wage a war aimed at destroying Ukraine. This is the stupidest, most brainless, absurd, pointless, contrived, and deceitful war in human history. The Kremlin wanted to give Donald Trump a little gift ahead of the elections, so the Kremlin gave an order to put the bloodbath on hold for a few dozen hours. All it would take is a single order from the Kremlin, and not only would a local ceasefire become possible, but the entire war would end. Just like that. Instantly. And 95% of Russians wouldn't give a single damn. They would happily accept absolutely anything as yet another "great victory of Russian arms," provided that's how state television explained it to them. And with a snap of the fingers, all those insane fairy tales about "NATO expansion," "Nazi Satanists," the "multipolar world," "historical Russian lands," and all the rest of that bullshit would simply vanish into thin air. The problem is that, in this insane, upside-down looking-glass world, absolutely everything is being done to encourage a megalomaniacal maniac, driven mad by impunity and boredom, to never, ever, under any circumstances stop the war, but to keep it going indefinitely. Instead, he is constantly appeased and rewarded for it.