Today I’m going to tag this opinion piece as “humor” even though there is very little that is humorous about this situation other than how the blood lusting “Vlad Tepes” Putin keeps getting kicked squarely in his assets. This latest situation involving a rigged secession vote, the outcome of which was announced by Pravda three days ago (I kid you not), is deadly serious. Vlad “Tepes” is already threatening to throw a nuclear temper tantrum if other nations do not respect the predetermined outcome. Even enablers Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, and Recep Erdoğan are starting to distance themselves from this fiasco (welcome to the club, I guess, since all three of you helped create today’s very dangerous situation).
Once was a great place to visit. Now, it’s pure garbage… literally. Ripped trash bags everywhere. Trash strewn about. Piles of trash on what seemed every corner. Trash floating in the canals. Trash, trash, trash. Has no one in this once great city heard of trash bins? Does no one in this city any longer give a damn about their image, or the impression given to their visitors?
And Schipol Airport? Don’t even get me started on that fiasco. Arrived over five hours early because of the security horror stories, and still almost missed our scheduled departure time by the time we got checked in (Hey, Aer Lingus, if you know there’s a problem then don’t start check-in only 144 minutes before departure) and made it through the world’s worst security (As bad as Barbados airport security is, they ain’t got nothin’ over these incompetent clowns). The security line snaked through, and even outside, the terminal for well over a mile, probably closer to two, with thousands, probably near 10,000 if not more, waiting to clear while unmanned security stations sat idle. Well over two full hours before we made it that far, only to find D gates were at least 16 minutes away, and our flight was about 20 minutes from scheduled departure. Time to start a brisk pace, weaving through the throngs of tired, weary, shellshocked, frustrated and angry travelers.
We needn’t have worried about “scheduled” departure, however. Only about three dozen of the 158 passengers for our flight had made it by that time, so Aer Lingus made the decision to delay the flight for more to get through security and complete the long trek. That delay stretched to about an hour and a half (thanks again for the ”timely” check-in opening, Aer Lingus). That in turn led Aer Lingus to delay overseas connections out of Dublin.
Total time on our feet waiting in lines at the primary airport serving this trash-strewn city: Over FIVE hours.
Suggestion: Skip Amsterdam. Stay in nearby charming, CLEAN Utrecht instead. But ONLY if you can escape the Netherlands from an airport other than that hellhole known as Schipol.
A little friendly competition between Kim Jong-un and Vlad “Tepes” Putin
WILL RUSSIA USE CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST UKRAINE? (Why not? Vlad “Tepes” Putin has used them before!)
Back during the previous Cold War I had the honor of serving with NATO forces in our standoff against vastly superior Warsaw Pact forces. We understood that in the event of war we would be overrun. Indeed, we were told that our mission was to merely attempt to hold out for 72 hours to give U.S.-based forces sufficient time to respond.
We also understood that the Soviets would at some point resort to chemical weapons, and we trained accordingly. I was issued a gas mask, but as the filters degraded over time, we were told that we would be issued new filters once hostilities began. I was also trained in the use of autoinjectors. In the event of war we would be issued two — one to counter Soviet nerve agents, and the other for Soviet blood agents. In training we were instructed that we had perhaps 90 seconds to decide which agent was killing us, choose the correct autoinjector, then drive that autoinjector forcefully into our thigh. Misidentify what agent was killing you and you die; if not from the weapon, then from the cure.
Today the calculus has shifted. NATO conventional forces vastly outnumber an unmotivated Russian Army of conscripts that so far appears poorly equipped, inadequately trained, ineptly lead, and incompetently commanded (looking at you, Vlad “Tepes” Putin).
Since the end of the previous Cold War Russian chemical weapons have advanced considerably, with Novichok being Vladimir Putin’s recent assassination weapon of choice. He ordered its use against Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018. That latter act of war against a NATO nation occurred in the U.K., seriously wounding four and killing one.
Having used banned chemical weapons already, once on NATO soil, it’s only a matter of time before Vladimir Putin gives the go-ahead to use it against civilian centers in Ukraine. We must be prepared for that, and we will need to respond accordingly.
And do not buy into the latest Russian deceit that it is we or the Ukrainians who are the ones plotting to use these banned substances. Don’t allow the Russian propagandists in the employ of the traitorous Rupert Murdoch convince you otherwise. This latest Carlson/Hannity-led conspiracy nonsense is just that — Russian propaganda designed to heap future blame for Vladimir Putin’s impending war crimes onto the actual victims of his probably inevitable chemical warfare attack.
I say “probably inevitable” because the Russians historically telegraph their punches by laying the groundwork to blame others. That is why we are now being treated to this latest disinformation campaign blitz coming from the Putin sycophants at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 