Another quiet night, except for the two missiles about 6:45. I don't find any major headlines searching the Internet.
I have long been a fan of the Unz Review and other skeptical publications, but they are calling this war wrong. Their detestation of the American establishment is so strong that they tend to see us in Ukraine as extensions of the United States. I am sure that the American establishment wanted to, and did use Ukraine as a catspaw to tease the Russian bear. That leaves the Ukrainian people out of the equation. It is abundantly clear that whatever games the great powers and the bankers are playing, we don't want to be Russian.
Saturday Night Live is staple blue state entertainment. When it turns on the Covid narrative, something serious is afoot. I think it's time to pull up your boosters and run.
The blue checks have been denying that there is any graphene oxide in the vaccines, despite the fact that researchers all over the world have concluded that there is. We are learning more and more about the ways in which graphene oxide is a danger to your body.
Now people are finding it everywhere. In the masks they have forced us to wear.. In those obnoxious swabs they stuff up your nose for PCR tests. Now they are saying that the home Covid tests are poisonous.
From the first mention that mRNA technology would be used in vaccines, people have raised the question of whether or not it would permanently alter a person's DNA. After all, that's what messenger RNA does – builds DNA. Here is one study that says that's exactly what happens, within six hours after the shot. No assessment so far as to how much DNA or how dangerous it is.
I for one do not want to take my chances with any of this stuff. I wear my mask on my chin and have never had any of the other nonsense. Whether any or all of these threats turn out to be real, I am appalled at the way in which these measures were hastily developed and forced on the population despite a lack of evidence that any of it really worked. I am sure there are sinister motives behind it.
Many of you send me anecdotes of people who credit the Covid vaccines with saving their lives, or the absence thereof of costing the life of a loved one. Statisticians love to say that "anecdote is the singular of data." Anecdotes are not decisive – they vary all over the lot. They don't make sense until you assemble them and examine the patterns.
That said, I should repeat my own anecdote. Though I do not trust Donald Trump's scientific acumen, when he referenced Dr. Vladimir (Zev) Zelenko and hydroxychloroquine I paid attention. The theory as to why it might work made sense. I knew that the ferocious arguments shouting it down were bogus. I, and all of my colleagues in the Saigon office of IBM had taken it for four years to prevent malaria. There was not even a thought that it might do us harm. None caught malaria, and we have now mostly made it to 80 without much problem.
I switched from hydroxychloroquine to ivermectin because it appears to be effective in later stages of infection. Both of them up were available without a prescription here in Ukraine.
I have been taking one or the other since May 2020 and have not contracted Covid. My wife, our babysitter, her daughter, my mother-in-law and my father in law have all caught it. I have given them ivermectin and they recovered without difficulties. This has all been in the time of omicron – there is a good chance they wouldn't have gotten very sick anyhow.
Some studies suggest that there are lingering aftereffects of Covid infection. I conclude that it is better to avoid it altogether if possible, so I continue to take the medication for the time being. When it fades back to the status of an endemic seasonal flu sort of thing, and if further research doesn't bear out these supposed long-term effects, I may change my mind. It has been a couple of decades since I caught the flu in any case.
Avoiding Covid 19 appears to be a much less important consideration than avoiding the adverse reactions that come with the injections. Do your own research and make up your own mind. In doing the research, if you overlook Steve Kirsch, Alex Berenson, Toby Rogers, Jessica Rose, Celia Farber and Matthew Crawford I would say you have your head in the sand.
At any rate, you can add our family's experience with Covid to your list of anecdotes. Not having been vaccinated, we have none of our own experience to report as far as adverse effects go. The accounts I have heard of people who have died are only secondhand and matters of my surmise. I have suspicions, but no proof. Keep your eyes open, and watch the videos about soccer players and so on.
That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong men are feeling a sense of relief, the good looking women rather enjoying a holiday from everyday affairs, and I was pleased to hear the children tell a well-wisher calling from the United States that they were not worried at all.
1:45 PM Tuesday. The Russian armored column appears to be stopped in Ivankiv, about 20 miles northwest of Kyiv. No word of any fighting there.
There is fighting reported in Brovary, 5 miles to the east, from which I have heard the explosions over the last couple of days. I still cannot believe that the explosions represented targets of military value. If there is fighting there, it would be armor and small arms.
There are apparently 200 helicopters poised in Bokov airbase in southern Belarus. I can't find it on a map. Gary in London reports that Russia has quite a bit of aircraft in reserve. That has to be true – we haven't seen them here. I credited the strength of Ukrainian air defense, but it could also be that Russia didn't want to commit them.
This may be the calm before the storm. They obviously have not given up on their plans to conquer Kyiv.
One of you wrote to ask why Ukraine was not already attacking the armored column coming from Belarus. Of course we don't know what is happening at this minute – perhaps it is. Let me offer some guesses.
In war you want to let the enemy get fully committed to it's battle plan so it has as little wiggle room as possible once you counter attack. The closer the column gets to Kyiv
o the farther they are from their sources of supply
o the harder it is to retreat
o the closer Ukraine is to its logistical base
In the Revolutionary war they said of the of advancing British soldiers "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes." We may be in that situation.
I have not heard much about Ukrainian artillery in this war. I expect artillery would be effective in countering this Ukrainian armor. Artillery has a longer-range than tank weaponry. Although I am sure that the Russians have anti-artillery weaponry, it takes time to set up, and targeting is always a complex process. I am sure it is more so when you are moving.
Man-carried anti-tank weapons are most effective when fired from ambush. You would set the ambushes up in places you control - closer to Kyiv.
To repeat an earlier point, the objective in stopping a convoy like this should be to disable the lead vehicles, forcing the others off the road. Eddie and I traveled that road a couple of years ago. It is bounded on the east by the 40 mile long Kyiv Sea. It runs through low ground. You would let the convoy advance to the point at which it was most vulnerable before attacking.
I'm watching the news to see when it starts. Assume you are doing likewise, and we both have the same information.