Kherson

 For all that I was pulling Rod M's leg yesterday, he really is my geopolitical go-to-guy (Icons passim).

As Russia claims it has taken over the  Ukrainian city of Kherson, he has sent me photos from his 2016 posting there.

The one on the right is of a tribute to the fathers and sons the oblast lost in 2014.

The memorial below, their helmets and dog-tags.

Almost inexpressibly moving.

Yesterday, Joe Biden fluffed a key line in his State of the Union address, saying “Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people, ” as Vice President Kamala Harris mouthed “Ukrainian” and shuffled uncomfortably in her seat behind him. Rod M would be a better leader of the free world in 2022. This is a statement of fact not a rhetorical trope.