"And you shake your head, and say it's a shame..."

 Bret Stephens, the only columnist at the NYT in-the-know about foreign policy spouts off today in conversation with Gail Gleason "I went to Woodstock but missed the music out fetching my little brothers' friends treats..." Collins:

Bret: If I had to place a few bets, the first would be that Putin is very likely to use tactical nuclear weapons, especially if his army starts to crumble around the southern city of Kherson. The second bet is that using the weapons will not change the dynamic on the battlefield. Instead, it will make things worse for Putin as the West responds by seizing Russia’s foreign reserves, providing Ukraine with much more powerful weaponry, even deploying NATO warplanes to patrol Ukrainian air space. My third bet is that this will lead to a palace coup in Moscow. And my fourth is that Putin will be replaced by someone even worse, like the awful spymaster Nikolai Patrushev.

All that said, I’d also bet that Democrats will hold the Senate, 50-50. What’s your money on?

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"well your new shoes are worn at the heels, and you make all your animal deals, and your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick" ~Tull