British oligarchs still entered through the VIP area

“The West is awake,” one might say, listening to Putin’s general outrage and observing the sanctions being imposed by many governments and organizations.

And then, if you scroll across the bottom of the Sky News screen, you’ll see British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss “work off a hit list and we continue to sanction new oligarchs every few weeks” with legal cases “under construction”. “.

Ah, you could watch this for a long time and not rest – unless you’re a Russian oligarch who’s being amply warned that a list is being “worked off”. If so, hope they remember your generous donation to the Tories. And for you, the legal cases part will also be sweet music. They’re not even legal cases, they’re just “under construction” because you can’t rush these things.

Even if it’s war.

But, of course, what these words tell you above all is that there may be a war going on, but the UK government is not exactly pursuing it with terrible ferocity.

In a war, you don’t have much time to work through lists and create legal cases. Many of us have seen the great series The world at warand at no point did we see Churchill confronted with the reality of massive German investment in London companies and properties, which he retaliated with… building court cases.

No, he would be more like the Germans and the French last week, confiscating a fantastic yacht or two from the oligarchs and then letting the lawyers handle the situation afterwards if they feel like it.

The seizure of the yachts or the villas is important. Putin’s cronies acquired them primarily as the most ostentatious symbol of their victories; having them taken away demonstratively is also symbolic.

But already the Tories seem to be martyrs to the old due process, so Roman Abramovich is “with a heavy heart ready to hear offers” for Chelsea. If this is what sanctions look like, the London oligarchs will be guided through the high-end VIP section, as always.

But then again, this was always going to be another of Boris Johnson’s sick jokes. The damage is now done. For the Tories, sanctioning rich Russians means sanctioning themselves.

Joe Biden is more credible on that score, but America’s weakness isn’t just that the damage is done, it’s that the Russian asset that did so much of it is still roaming free. Philip Roths The Conspiracy Against America envisioned Roosevelt losing the 1940 election to Charles Lindbergh, and the collaboration with Nazi Germany that would have resulted. If Trump had been re-elected, he and Putin would certainly be on the same page.

Unlike Britain, America has given itself a chance to turn things around. Biden beat Trump, and for that alone history will see him kindly. He also knows that war has been going on for years, but he doesn’t articulate it with the necessary urgency.

He can talk inflation and infrastructure all night in his State of the Union address, but Trump is still the current favorite to succeed him – which could mean America’s next election will be the last for a long time. As for Ukraine…

It is now perfectly clear that Trump, his Maga horde, and their propagandists are on the western front of an international fascist movement that has been rampaging in Ukraine — “a big chunk of land,” as Trump called it.

His lie about the stolen elections was even corroborated last week by Russia’s man at the UN, who spoke about the United States, where “the country’s duly elected president was toppled.”

Biden needs to clarify the nature of this conflict; He needs to talk about these Republican collaborators with the Putin regime. He must say out loud that the justice system cannot let Trump get away with this hydra-headed betrayal.

Not just for its own sake, but because millions who voted for Biden see it not just as the most important issue, but the only issue. And they are right.

And Joe… impounds these yachts all day.

Putin is taking advantage of the chaos caused by the pandemic

You don’t hear much about this whole Covid-19 thing these days. I mean, you hear next to nothing about it, which is kind of understandable.

It’s just too boring to go back to unless absolutely necessary, and besides, it looks like there are worse things to worry about now.

But it’s still strange that out of the countless “recordings” about Putin, hardly anyone has mentioned how he started this invasion about two minutes after Covid officially ended.

Just as things are getting back on track, when there’s parties like 1999 to look forward to, or a no-fuss Champions League final, or Ron Sexsmith at Liberty Hall… comes another wave of all-encompassing badness.

For historians it should be self-evident that there is a direct connection. That Putin liked the disruption of liberal democracies caused by the pandemic and that he waited until it was almost over to screw things up again.

It seems indisputable that his main task in life now is to screw everything up.

But there is a connection between these successive catastrophes that many of us already accept. Whatever the story of war and plague, when the story of Eejitry is made there will be a special place for those who have made a name for themselves during the pandemic by protesting bitterly when asked to wear a mask to wear.

Guys, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all…

McIlroy’s political nous has made me his #1 fan

It was nice to see Rory McIlroy bring things back to life at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. From being an admirer of the man’s game, I’ve now become a devoted fan of his, perhaps his number one fan.

Because of his progressive stance on issues like Saudi Arabia, let alone his progressive stance on issues like Ireland, I am now keenly interested in Rory winning everything ahead of him.

His resistance to bad politics is all the more admirable given that the PGA Tour he performs on has long been a kind of non-stop celebration of all of corporate America’s bad politics, and every other bad politics America happens to have lying around.

Again, I remind you that if you freeze the TV picture on the crowd at any point during the master, you will see so many white faces there that it’s almost unbelievable. Almost.

Some of us were concerned that Rory’s problems with the putter would be picked up by his enemies to explain that “he should be spending more time on the putting green than trying to be woken up”.

You said something similar about Marcus Rashford because his human decency annoys you.

So tonight I’m going to watch Rory and yell, “In the hole.”