Snow and Big Power Dealings

• Our back yard is covered with snow and not many places remain for the plow driver to put more of it.  Our wood pile (under the blue tarp) is hard to get to and the shed where we keep the kindling for the wood stove has to be unburied after each plowing.  During the last 10 days or so it's been a daily chore for me to reopen the paths.  When we moved to Maine in 2003 friends in Florida told me that after 30 years in the 'sunshine state' I'd not last long up in the frigid north.  One friend though did acknowledge that I am very stubborn and I am still here shoveling away.... though I have to admit by body is very sore today.
• Remember the war in Afghanistan that Obama said was over?  His new Secretary of War Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he is open to committing more US troops to Afghanistan if conditions “degrade” in 2016. (Of course they will!) Carter gave his shortest answer to over 300 prepared questions from the committee when asked:
  
  Q: If security conditions on the ground in Afghanistan degrade in 2016, would you consider recommending to the President revisions to the size and pace of the draw down plan announced by the President in order to adequately address those security conditions?
  
  A: Yes.
• With Ukrainians in revolt over Kiev's war against its own citizens, the Rada (Parliament) today passed a law which authorizes commanding officers to use physical force against army defectors. It comes as the latest Kiev military mobilization has seen a lack of enthusiasm on the part of drafted soldiers. The Kiev military has actually been shooting 'deserters' for quite some time but with the problem growing the Rada has made it official.  The old saying "Watch your backs boys" takes on new meaning in Ukraine.
• With the growing collapse of the US-NATO war project in Ukraine, Washington officials (John Kerry, Victoria 'Fuck the EU' Nuland, V-P Joe Biden and others) are flying into Kiev in a desperate attempt to rescue the patient.  German and French leaders will visit Moscow on Friday in hopes of saving the face of western political decision makers who have encouraged Kiev all along to carry out this maniacal killing operation along Russia's border.  
• The US forced economic sanctions on Russia are hitting Germany and France hard and business leaders in those countries are pressuring to get the sanctions lifted since they do alot of trade deals with Moscow.  It looks now like Putin holds all the cards and people say he is quite a good chess player.