World, Thoughts, Flummoxed

       Part 2 of the Russo-Ukrainian war started 3 years ago, with no end in sight, despite the claims of a certain American. Russia has managed to gain slightly more territory since last year. However, Ukraine has managed to make gains on the battlefield as slow and costly as possible, given President Vladimir Putin's indifference to casualties. Perhaps because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might run out of resources and soldiers earlier, in an interview with the Guardian on February 11, he suggested swapping the Ukrainian-held part of Russia (western Kursk) for the Russian occupied parts of Ukraine.          Part 1 took place in 2014: the annexation of Crimea. This was the beginning of Russia's, particularly Putin's, highly suspicious behaviour towards Ukraine, evident elsewhere beforehand and ever since. For several months across Ukraine already, Euromaidan and the Maidan Revolution had been ongoing. These were mainly motivat...

Realtor / reality television character in a presidential suit      This long famous character even before his first term in the White House, started out with a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. 3 years after graduating, he became president of family's real estate business in 1971. The family business became well known in 1978 with the renovation of the derelict Commodore Hotel, next to New York's Grand Central Terminal. Financing was arranged by his father - $400M city property tax abatement and a $70M construction loan jointly obtained with Hyatt. It reopened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt Hotel.       Shortly thereafter, he obtained rights to develop the (in?)famous Trump Tower. Among many other features, it was the HQ of his business empire and presidential campaign into the new millennium. That was just the beginning of the prominence he gained from Reaganomics . In 1984 (nothing to do with George Orwell), Trump opened Harrah's a...