I don't believe this was ever about taking Ukraine with the Russian military. I believe this is about destroying Ukraine and squeezing Europe's energy-dependent balls until the EU cracks under the economic pressure caused by the sanctions. This is already happening with Germany whimpering to Daddy Vladdy for all that precious, precious oil and gas. "Oh, we gave Zelensky a billion euros!"; yeah, and you gave Putin 25x that in oil/gas purchases.

The mealy-mouthing and dissembling has already begun, most shamefully from the New York Times, who is calling for Ukraine to make "hard choices". "This isn't capitulation" -- fuck you NYT, yes it is.

I had honest hopes that the western powers would show some spine and resolve, but as soon at their economies started to feel a little pain, the number of fucks given for Ukrainian lives went to zero. Russian is going to rape and murder its way from Odessa to the Belarus border until the western powers figure out some way to make it all Zelensky's fault or force him to cede massive amounts of Ukrainian territory before any real economic pain felt.

The worst part is that Finland and Sweden are going to be granted NATO membership, but Ukraine still is denied. Why are these two the hills NATO is willing to die on and Ukraine not? If NATO isn't willing to risk nuclear war over Ukraine, what happens when the tip of a single Russian boot touches Finnish soil? What happens when Finland then calls for Article 5 and the rest of NATO suddenly realizes shit just got real? What happens when it's time to shit or get off the pot; put up or shut up? Either NATO charges into the teeth of a potential nuclear war, or NATO is shown to be a paper tiger. If someone sees a middle ground, I'm interested in hearing it.

(Incidentally, NATO's Article 5 is pretty porous. A-5 doesn't say every NATO nation commits whatever forces are deemed necessary by the whole to defend against an aggressor. Instead, it says that in the event of A-5 coming into play, each member will take "such action as [the member state] deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

Notice the whole 'each member' and 'deems necessary'? Yeah, to quote a popular movie 'I don't think this mutual defense pact means what you think it does'.)

Neighbors exist as a fuck you to neighbors.

I deeply enjoy butchering German.

Many Germans believe Czech was created to mock them.

My son has a theory that Polish is a made-up language that they only pretend to use when we can hear them. At home they speak like normal people (us).

Austrian is like Canadian, virtually non-existent, but you know it when they speak it.

Slovakian was basically made up by czech schoolteachers in early 20th century. Joke.

Hungarian, like Finnish, is from another galaxy altogether. Also we last had a border with Hungary 27 years ago, I should get used to that.

Finnish him!

heh...I crack myself up.

Your video, Finnish Bear fight, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 388 Badge!

Congratulations! Your video, Icelandic standup about Nordic neighbours & Finnish language, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 19 Badge!

Your video, Icelandic standup about Nordic neighbours & Finnish language, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Very good. But I think I still prefer the style of Roger Whittaker...

http://videosift.com/video/Roger-Whittaker-The-God-Of-Whistling-Finnish-Whistler

Your video, Finnish Booze Day for Parents?, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Because Finland: http://videosift.com/video/Finnish-Booze-Day-for-Parents

Thanks! I will definitely take a look! Sorry it took a while to reply, NR took last week off, so we were on a staycation, and I barely checked my emails. Barely meaning I checked, and then forgot.. But this sounds very interesting!

This week has been kinda busy too, since NR was also off on Monday (Memorial Day), yesterday just went, and I was 'oh, I was gonna do this and this and this.. And I didn't do anything since I was fretting over the upcoming blood tests.. today I did have a doctors' appointment to have a check-up (which I really, really, REALLY don't wanna go to! But we have to, for stupid insurance....), anyway.. blood was drawn, I did not black out (yay for me..), but I still need to get over it.. get healthier and stuff.. Try to sleep better and get my blood pressure down..

I have started to write a blog in Finnish, about my life in the US, and I have a few readers, and it makes me VERY happy. So, right now, I don't think I am going to sift, I just wanna blog.. We'll see how long this lasts!

Again, thanks, I will check the article! Take care, I don't know when I am gonna be sifting again, might be a bit... might be soonish.. probably not.. Right now blogging is making me happy! NR is fine too, he says Hi!

Your video, Finnish dudes build log house, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Yeah, it didn't seem that fast overall when normal John Deer tractors go 100 on the highway, and this was only 130.

I think they've missed something about the record... Fastest Finnish made tractor driven by an ex rally driver on snow??? The linked article doesn't help at all, it's only more marketing.

The comments unkindly suggested that the broken driveshaft is normal for these machines

He mostly hates the stupid questions reporter have to ask, the ones where the answer is already in the question. Or questions that have only one real answer without any speculation: "It is the same for everybody". Like asking about tires or weather.. Of course there is a reputation he got when he joined F1 and he is totally milking that.. He is not the only Finnish driver to do so, Kankkunen gave a beautiful answer once when asked about what tires he chose: "black round Pirellis" It is a bit of a tradition here. But when it comes to Kimi, if you make him comfortable, he is just a regular guy.

edit: Kankkunen, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS0sT9P4ZQg

Your video, A Finnish guy who won the title of 'World's Funniest Person', has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.