*Corporate Polluters Want Us to Stay Distracted.*

The Biden administration has done a lousy job of protecting the US from Covid-19. It relied on vaccines alone, without enough effort to use other methods, such as masks that effectively protect the wearer (as well as others), distancing, and testing.

Much of the problem was due to intentional obstruction by the disease-spreader party, and some of it was surely a matter of bowing to powerful plutocratic forces. But if Biden had pushed visibly for a better response, he would be able to blame those enemies for the failure.

The strife that killed over 200 people in Kazakhstan seems to have been a power struggle between Nazarbayev, the retired ruler, and the new president Tokayev, who was supposed to preserve the power of Nazarbayev's family.

Maybe the truck drivers' protests were organized by Tokayev's supporters. Or maybe they were real popular protests, and Tokayev hijacked them for his own ends. I don't know how we can find out.

20 women protested in Kabul, standing on a street and chanting "equality and justice" with signs. Taliban thugs came and shot them with pepper spray.

Even racist American thugs probably wouldn't attack 20 Black Lives Matter supporters with pepper spray.

The Taliban thugs stole the phone from a bystander who was making a video. American thugs often do that sort of thing. It is despicable in either country: if you know your action will look like cruelty, don't do it!

A review of the military situation in Ukraine suggests that Russia could probably conquer Ukraine, but could not occupy it for long.

Russia might attack through Belarus. Or it might try to capture only parts of Eastern Ukraine.

I am skeptical of the idea of deterring that attack by threatening economic sanctions, because that approach has almost never succeeded in changing a country's policies.

This suggests to me that the US and NATO should announce a commitment to defend Ukraine from an overt invasion by Russia, and move divisions into Poland (if Poland agrees) near the frontiers with Ukraine and Belarus.

If Russia attacks Ukraine through Belarus, it would be legitimate and easy to send NATO troops into Belarus to fight the Russian troops there. This would probably spark an uprising, as it would offer an opportunity to overthrow Lukashenko. The Belarusian army would be unable to suppress an uprising while facing invading forces. Its units might even accept the invitation to change sides, or remain in their bases doing nothing.

I think this would make Putin hesitate to launch an invasion. He might engage in destabilization, but Ukraine does not need NATO troops to deal with that.