Don’t Mind Vlad

I’m sure every political cartoonist has used the Dr. Strangelove concept at least once in his or her career. Hell, I’ve used it several times and I’ve never even seen the movie. After the first time I used the concept and someone mentioned Dr. Strangelove, my response was, “the doctor what now?” And even though I’m usually against using a cliché, I’m OK with using it today. What I wanted to do today was to hit Putin, and not just the people here in the states who are cheerleaders for him.

By the way, I’ve had three people send me ideas saying I should draw Trump as a cheerleader. I had the cheerleader idea before I went to Las Vegas. I had planned to save it to draw during my Vegas trip in case I couldn’t think of anything else. I ended up not using it. Now I’m glad I didn’t.

The reason I think the Strangelove idea works is that Putin loves the bomb. He loves war. He loves being a bully. And all his reasoning for this war is based on bullshit. When you have to lie, you’re probably in the wrong.

Putin said he wouldn’t invade. Putin said he would pull his forces back from Ukraine’s border. He said he wouldn’t recognize the Donbas region as independent from Ukraine. He has now done all those things except pull his forces back. Vladimir Putin is a liar. The entire world knows this.

He says he’s invading Ukraine to eliminate Nazis from the nation…a nation that has a Jewish president. And if he’s attacking to “protect” the Donbas region, which is on the eastern side of Ukraine, then why is he attacking all of Ukraine? He’s attacking Odessa from Crimea in the south. Why is he attacking Lviv on the western side of the nation? Why is he attacking Ivano-Frankisvk, Kharkiv, and Dnipro? Why is he attacking Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine? Why have his troops taken Chernobyl, the nuclear power plant infamous for its meltdown in 1986, the largest nuclear plant catastrophe in history? And after he takes Kyiv, why will he try to capture the democratically-elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky?

I admit I’m a little surprised Putin invaded Ukraine. I still believe this started as a negotiating tactic against NATO with no real intention to invade. During the Trump presidency (sic), he had a much stronger hand in negotiating with NATO and that hand was Donald Trump. Trump was going to pull the U.S. out of NATO. From there, NATO would have fallen, or at the very least, be seriously weakened. Putin’s concerns of an expanding NATO would be null and void. Now, he’s playing a game where he’s holding a losing hand. Putin’s position is weak. If Putin had pulled his troops back without gaining anything, he would have appeared as a loser at home and internationally.

Unfortunately for Ukraine, Putin is not Donald Trump, who once entered a negotiation with Nancy Pelosi and ended up with less than he started with. But, since Putin is a liar, he could have just pulled his troops back and lied about it. He could have said he made his point or some crap like that. American conservatives would have bought it. Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo would have still called him a genius. Tucker would have spent another hour on the great whiteness of Vladimir Putin. At the very least, it would have prevented all the deaths in this stupid war.

I believe Putin is attacking Ukraine partly to save face. None of his demands were seriously considered by NATO or President Biden. Now, he’s going to install another puppet government in Ukraine that will never be formally recognized by the rest of the world other than China, Venezuela, Cuba, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea. It will be a joke. During this time, Russia’s economy will collapse. Republicans will continue to call him a “genius.” Maybe the future campaign manager for Putin’s Ukraine puppet will become Donald Trump’s future campaign manager. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Putin is savvy and strategic, but he’s not a genius. Some Putin experts say he’s doing this for his legacy, but why in the world would anyone want the legacy of Joseph Stalin?

Putin says his Russians are in Ukraine to get rid of Nazis, but the worst thing the Russians are going to find in Ukraine will be Russians.

Music Note: I listened to Weezer while drawing yesterday and today. Ya’ see, yesterday I hadn’t gotten to the Blue Album. I listened to parts of the Green Album, Maladroit, and Raditude. But I got to the Blue Album today.

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