While Trump has leveled the East Wing of the White House and his press secretary is saying this is no big deal since other presidents have made modifications to the interior, we’re supposed to yawn a big hoohum to what Trump did. Meanwhile rootin tootin Putin has announced a new nuclear missile that has been successfully tested. (Read articles) It doesn’t even have his name on it. I added that with an AI of his face for my illustration.
Trump, who wants to rename Lincoln Center after himself and build a self-aggrandising monument called the “Arch de Trump” in Washington, resembling the “Arc de Triomphe,” to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026. Below: The one Trump wants as compared to the real one. My expectation is that Trump will want his to be larger. See footnote 1
He might be taking this more seriously than he is if Putin had named the new civilization ending missle “The Putin..”
It is called the Burevestnik and it has an unlimited range. The word translates to storm petrel. This is a bird (see Wikipedia):
Here’s a description of what the flesh and blood bird does:
Here’s a description of what the bird does:
Despite its small size and seemingly weak flight, this bird is at home on the roughest of seas, flying in the troughs of the waves during gales. It also travels huge distances -- from the Antarctic to the edge of the Arctic. Although it nests only in far southern oceans, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel is often the most common seabird off the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Reference
One can’t help but notice how Putin is dressed. Rather than wearing the standard garb of Trump, he is dressed more like Zelenskyy. Social media would go nuts if Trump tried to pull off wearing military togs for any announcement. He’d look as ridiculous as Kash Patel did when he announced the big FBI arrests of the gambling criminals, as if he ever went on a raid where his life was at risk.
The deadly Russian device is a ground-launched, low-flying cruise missile that is not only capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but is also nuclear-powered. NATO refers to it as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
Skyfall is the 2012 and twenty-third film in the James Bond series.
(From article in the Independent)
Consider what this missle (from the same article) is capable of doing:
Its nuclear propulsion is designed to enable it to fly much further, for longer, than traditional turbojet or turbofan engines that are limited by how much fuel they can carry. This would allow it to “loiter” for an extended period before hitting a target. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a U.S.-based non-profit security organisation, said it could stay aloft potentially for days: “In operation, the Burevestnik would carry a nuclear warhead (or warheads), circle the globe at low altitude, avoid missile defenses, and dodge terrain; and drop the warhead(s) at a difficult-to-predict location (or locations),” it said in a 2019 report.
Trump claimed not to be impressed by this:
“We do have a submarine — a nuclear submarine. We don’t need to go 8,000 miles,” Trump said on Monday, adding that Putin should spend more time focused on ending his invasion of Ukraine “instead of testing missiles. (Reference)
It is perhaps appropriate that this missile test is a shot across Trump’s bow and is named after a bird since in effect his is giving the bird to Trump:
I wrote the following in my subtitle: Trump is blowing up boats. Meanwhile Putin is boasting about testing a devastating weapon that could lead to a Russian Pyrrhic victory winning a nuclear war, but a victory just the same.
Trump might not care because even if the entire northern hemisphere is rendered uninhabitable due to radiation he figures he could spend his final days in an opulent underground bunker beneath the new ballroom complete with a three hole golf course.
Portland Media:
Paris features several prominent arches, including the famous Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (that has a statue on the top) near the Louvre, and the modern Grande Arche de la Défense. Other notable arches are the Porte Saint-Denis and Porte Saint-Martin, which are former city gates.
