Russian election being held on the Ides of March.

No implications from this story on Putin, but:

In 45 BC, the General of Rome, Gaius Julius Caesar, had all but ruled as a King. In late 45 and early 44BC had been strengthening himself, politically, adding together the titles of the Roman State. These were the last three straws. A conspiracy of about 60 people gathered for the assassination of Caesar. He likely understood there were traitors around, but in his hubris didn't take precautionary measures because he figured no one would dare raise a hand against him - knowing the consequences for such an action would be the destruction of their noble houses. But on the Ides of March, fearing Caesar would make himself officially King of the Romans - which he already was in practice - gathered to execute a plot orchestrated by Cassius and Brutus. They stabbed him 23 times on the senate floor, and he died. His heirs (Mark Antony and Octavian) would battle with Brutus and Cassius over the leadership of the Roman State - often this is re-written as republic vs empire, but the reality is the these were two imperial factions battling for dominance: Caesar's side won, and for hundreds of years he was worshipped as the primary god of the Imperial Cult - which includes the deified line of Caesars on their deaths.

As the philosopher Plato wrote, tyrants are the most unhappy leaders, because they are a slave to their power, and inflict cruelty upon the people, leading them to forever live in fear of their victims. And if there's one thing that was perpetually true of Caesar's heirs, they were forever in fear of their victims. Thirty seven heirs of Caesar were assassinated in total (not in a row), and that doesn't Nero - who committed suicide.

Putin may not have so much hubris that he laughs in the face of caution, but he also doesn't seem to have the true love of his people either. He has a multitude of victims, which he no doubt fears, and will die fearing.

At this stage the war is gone on for so long it feels like the West is laundering money.

All they need to do is send a couple F-22s to Moscow on Victory Day and blow up Putin.

Alternatively one long rang missile fired by Ukraine probably do the job.

What are you trying to say with this?

Republicans are no allies to anybody in the world except their donors and maybe Israel.

You know? I’m not actually sure. I mostly just really love history and coincidences.

I suppose I could say that I think it’s interesting to point out the coincidence that the Russians chose the Ides of March to hold their election given the historical implication. Also, some of them consider Moscow to be the third Rome. No doubt the detail of today’s history weighs heavily on the mind of the Russian tyrant.

While I'd love nothing more than to see Putin Gaddafi'd, Caesar'd, etc. And I'd throw a party when it happens, they'd still be Shoigu, Gerasimov, Medvedev, etc. Personally, I don't see Russian changing in my lifetime, the entire leadership is rotten, the entire government is rotten, for change to occur in Russia it would require a full scale revolution from the Russian public and that isn't happening.

More likely scenario is if Russian is defeated they'll just scurry back to Moscow crying about the big meany in the West and "promising" revenge after they rebuild their forces, Putin dying won't change a thing (but it would be nice), the only way forward is for Ukraine to completely defeat Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine and push every last Russian soldier back beyond the borders.

Even if that happens, I would expect Russia to still be lobbing missiles across the border at Ukraine.

This week Germany's social democrats (SPD) have been raising the possibility of freezing the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. What followed the heavy criticism of the party consisted of super lame excuses, just as you'd expect when someone is saying something so incredibly stupid in the first place. What took the cake was the statement by Esken (SPD chairwoman or whatever her title would be in English), because in an attempt at damage control she said that she wants to make it absolutely clear that everyone's stance in the SPD is unlimited/unconditional support for Ukraine. She really said this when she should know that the SPD has tried to block new types of equipment for Ukraine at every step along the way, and when she should know that everyone else knows this too.

I guess the SPD was testing the waters, similar to how Macron has recently pushed in a new direction by not ruling out NATO ground forces in Ukraine; the obvious difference being that Macron acted in a pro-Europe manner while the SPD is moving in a pro-Russia direction.

In other news, some confidential knowledge regarding Taurus was allegedly leaked this week. Apparently Taurus requires a very complex system to work and this would have to be shipped to Ukraine, leaving Germany with next to nothing on their own and therefore compromising their own defense capabilities. I wouldn't be surprised if this was "leaked" by an SPD guy, because the party seems to get cornered more and more by the week and keeps desperately looking for a legitimate reason to not deliver Taurus to Ukraine.