King Vladimir Putin and the Conquest of the Ukraine

IN RUSSIA, just the other day, King Putin the first's chief political rival was gunned down in the streets of Moscow, near the Kremlin. Even as King Vladimir feigns outrage, calling the incident a "provocation" (my, such strong language!), he blows smoke away from his gun, and smugly tosses it into the river, near where Rasputin nearly died several times. But of course Vladimir Putin had nothing to do with it, just as the Russian army has nothing to do with any military activity in the Ukraine. Oh, and by the way, the Russian government, aka King Vlad I, is threatening to suspend natural gas shipments to the Ukraine, for non payment. The reason Ukraine hasn't paid lately is that Russia is sending the natural gas to that part of the Ukraine which is trying to seperate from Kiev and join Russia, with the obvious assistance of what appears to be Russian (Soviet) military personnel, but is not, according to King Vlad. The Ukrainian government simply doesn't think it should be paying for something it isn't receiving. Not surprisingly, King Putin rejects this perfectly reasonable point of view, precisely because it is a perfectly reasonable point of view. Perhaps his rejection will serve as an acceptable pretext for outright invasion and conquest of Ukraine. If it doesn't, something else undoubtedly will.