I heard the Chickadee's Spring Song for the first time this year, on Saturday afternoon! Usually, I hear it in late January or early February, but none until now this year. To be sure, it's been a cold start to the year.
I take it as a hint that the Chinese government definitely doesn't want to get sucked into Putin's War. I was reading some stuff about Russia--China trade (which has been increasing in recent years) and wondered how the Russians would now pay the Chinese. Obviously no one is going to take payment in rubles, and electronic transfer of money from Russia won't work any more. Will the Russians make payments in hard currencies using bagmen? [Well, bagpersons.] Or will they use barter?
I heard the Chickadee's Spring Song for the first time this year, on Saturday afternoon! Usually, I hear it in late January or early February, but none until now this year. To be sure, it's been a cold start to the year.
ReplyDeletePhil's goldfinches in Iowa are further along, but then he's been feeding them sunflower seeds like mad. :)
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteOh, they're well fed here too. It may be that his winter in a warmer place than ours do.
Some kind of big picture type articles about Putin’s War; I don’t know that I would vouch for everything they say, but they are worth considering:
ReplyDeleteForeign Affairs: What If Russia Loses? A Defeat for Moscow Won’t Be a Clear Victory for the West [Click]
Echoes of another war Russia was always doomed to lose [Click] Express: Winter War with Finland.
Russian threat revives Nato membership debate in Finland [Click] “PM Sanna Marin says public opinion is changing as petition prompts parliamentary debate
The Diplomat: Russia Is Doomed [Click]
Putin has doomed Russia with a war that can’t be won [Click] Interestingly, this is from The South China Morning Post. [Click]
"Putin has doomed Russia with a war that can’t be won"
DeleteThat's a good article!
I take it as a hint that the Chinese government definitely doesn't want to get sucked into Putin's War. I was reading some stuff about Russia--China trade (which has been increasing in recent years) and wondered how the Russians would now pay the Chinese. Obviously no one is going to take payment in rubles, and electronic transfer of money from Russia won't work any more. Will the Russians make payments in hard currencies using bagmen? [Well, bagpersons.] Or will they use barter?
DeleteYouTube channel of a wonderful young Russian family. [Click]
ReplyDeleteThe zoologist sticking her neck out in the battle of the sexes [Click] Anybody have a local book-burner who needs to have his or her chain jerked? But good?
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