Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country

[Labster]

I listened to a history podcast instead. Putin's analysis of history claims that Ukraine isn't a real nation or people, based on a vassalization that happened three centuries ago, even though it's technically a country now. This they noted that this is equivalent to saying that there's no such thing as an Irishman, because people in Ireland are basically British because they became part of that country a long time ago, and they mostly speak English now.

This is just as nuts when applied to Ukraine. The main reason the Soviet Union became a union of SSRs is because Ukrainians wanted a separate polity for their own culture and thus Lenin organized the whole system around it. They were the ones who got Ukraine to be a founding member of the United Nations... which would be pretty weird if it was not a nation.

I guess it's time to get another cold one.