This war has gone from being front page news and having 24/7 coverage to just about disappearing from the news.

Whatever the current status is, what seems to be true is that Russia—already suffering from a large decline in population, and not likely to recover from this demographic catastrophe—has lost, some say, 1.2 million soldiers killed and wounded, most of them young and carrying Russia’s future with them to the grave.

Not only that, but Putin has also blown through enormous stocks of weapons—both old and new, other military equipment, food, and petroleum.

Bottom line, by his reckless actions, Putin has likely made it very difficult, if not impossible, for Russia to maintain its status as a major military power, one able to easily fight major land or sea wars in the near future.

Russians are known for being able to endure hardship and torment, but this?

Good for us, bad for them.

I haven’t seen anything about Archy and Mehitabel in years, thank you so much!

Also apropos current events are the epigrams at the website hosting Marquis’s writings. They are in a box on the right side, and are not copy-paste-able, and rotate through a series, so I didn’t try and quote any of them, but you will find them very current in outlook, even after a century.

Nothing is constant but death, taxes, and political rivalry, although I think our era has sunk to a low unseen since sometime in the Byzantine courts (see Barry’s Insty link).

The English could get pretty rough sometimes as well (to wit, the War of the Roses, and see any play by Shakespeare, which are the substance of this column that chronicled the first missive from Archy the Cockroach).

http://donmarquis.com/archy-and-mehitabel/introducing-archy/

https://historycooperative.org/the-kings-and-queens-of-england/

Pictures taken of the three of them show nearly identical features, although that may be mostly because of the beards and mustaches.

Almost every other Royal in Europe was related to her as well.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a26193545/queen-victoria-descendants-on-the-throne/
“She was known as the grandmother of the continent for a reason.”

And yes, the royal family of England is most recently descended from the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha princes, allied with the Hanoverian line already on the throne. There was another imported Germanic ruler in the more distant past, William of Orange, who was a grandson of the English King. He married his first cousin Mary of England.
Keeping it all in the family, as FOAF suggested, even if they appeared to be from different countries.

https://historycooperative.org/queen-victoria-family-tree/
Queen Victoria was also connected to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha families through her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. This German duchy was significant in European royal politics. Victoria’s maternal uncle, Leopold I, became the first King of Belgium in 1831.

Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha further solidified this connection. The marriage took place on February 10, 1840, and was both a love match and a political alliance.

https://historycooperative.org/house-of-hanover-family-tree/
Why did the house change from Hanover to Windsor?
The British House of Hanover did not change from Hanover to Windsor. First, Hanover became Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the German family name of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The royal family’s name was changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor by King George V during World War I to distance the family from Germany.

How did Hanover become British?
Hanover became connected to Britain in 1714 when George Louis, the Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne as King George I after Queen Anne of Britain died without an heir. George was her closest Protestant relative, meeting the requirements of British succession laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England

Aren’t they genetically related to all of the other Royal families in Europe?

Wasn’t this line originally of German extraction–the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha–until they anglicized their unpopular Germanic house name to Windsor during WWI?

I did manage to make it through the documentary movie Free Solo; a scene, or rather a scenario, that stuck with me was the guy’s failure, in repeated attempts, basically to jump from one hold horizontally to another in his practice runs, while he was harnessed. He jumps sideways, misses, swings from a line.

In the movie, it’s implied that he NEVER succeeded in making that jump during any practice climb – but he nailed it in his one free solo attempt. I don’t know if that’s true or just dramatic tension, but if I hadn’t carefully stewarded my bladder beforehand, I probably would have peed my pants.

Neo, what are you trying to do to us?

But, I’ve seen the excuse/argument made that with countries like Russia and China–with their enormous extent and multiplicity of ethnic groups, customs, languages, and interests-i.e. North vs South, rice vs. wheat, a focus on coastal trade vs interior trade–only a strong man, an autocrat, will have the power and control needed to take the steps necessary to hold these disparate parts together.

Certainly, in the case of ancient China you can see how the different regions of the country, and their various rebellions have demonstrated how hard it was for Chinese Emperors to make them into one, cohesive nation.

A huge question is whether the Iraqi Arab Shiites are willing to both kill unarmed & poorly armed Persian protesters, rebels. Sadly, I fear a Civil War.