https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/538/1/76/8019798

Just change the names and you’ve got the news for the next year.

Those reasons you responded to are ancillary and for another day. A brass-ring for the fascists for sure if they can pull it off.

The basic reasons are more immediate: sowing instability with (US and NATO) allies in order to tear down the fabric between nations aligned against Russia. Thus removing impediments for Russian expansion of power or territory. The resulting and effective distraction is for instituting fascism and the ransacking of our coffers mentioned by someone else and is also very real. The primary goals are Russian goals. The secondary goals are the prizes for the oligarchs and any that help with the primary goals.

Probably a sweetened popcorn version. Kettle corn maybe.

What’s the first rule of Usenet? 😬

When I was a yout, they had trucks with a huge tank and a sprayer on the back. The truck would drive all the country roads spraying the dirt with waste oils. This was done to keep the dust down. Smelled terrible. Miles and miles of dirt roads that ran all around by rivers and lakes.

It is crazy to think about that now.