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Gyros tonight.

The Perfect OG hattrick...

Watched Impact's PPV last night. They've been smashing it out the park recently. They've easily produced the best two shows this year. Fair play to them.

Turnitin was the royal jester of the French King. He one day slapped the King's ass in an act infuriating the King. He replied Oh I'm sorry I thought it was the Queen. King ordered to execute him, asked him which way he would like to die. Turnitin said of old age, the King laughed and only banished him from the court, not killing him.

Interesting thread.

Adana Kebap on tomato-curry rice, with salad and a mint yoghurt dip. First time I've made Adana Kebap, and I'm quite happy with the outcome.

Lithuania. First mention of Lithuania in 1009, unified under one Duke in the 13th century, Kingdom of Lithuania founded in 1253. Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe by the 14th century, then it was transformed into the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in 1569, then got partitioned three times by the Russian Empire, Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy in the late 18th century. Two unsuccessful uprisings in the mid 19th century, and then finally regained independece in 1918, only to lose it thanks to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and be occupied first by the Germans and then given to the Soviets after the WWII. Then after ongoing partisan and dissident activities for over 40 years, the first Soviet-occupied state to announce the restitution of independence in 1990.

"Allowed self-determination" Gee, I guess we should be thankful that we were "allowed" to restore our legitimate 980 year old state after 200 years of oppressive yet unsuccessful Russification policies.

Part of me agrees with this because history shows if you appease a dictator with expansionist goals in Europe... well... we all know about WW2. On the other hand, I do find it funny that the loudest voices talking about protecting Ukraine's sovereignty being the US and UK... probably the two countries that have not respected other countries sovereignties in the last century. And when you couple that with things like Ukraine's president telling Biden to calm down with the imminent invasion rhetoric last week, it does strike me as a bit... odd... It's a bad position Putin is putting the EU in - they can't afford to sit by as a country actively demonstrates its expansionist intent, but the natural gas dependence the EU has on Russia might make it difficult for the EU to effectively take any meaningful stand to prevent invasion. I think if the West really wants to take on Putin, they've got to hit him where it hurts... hit his oligarchs. Cut them off from the US SWIFT banking system so they can't access their cash reserves they have in foreign bank accounts outside Russia and I think Putin's position becomes untenable as these billionaires clambour to replace him with someone who'll get them access to their money again.