In the halcyon days of two weeks ago, Oleksiy Arestovych was the chief press flak for his long-time friend Zelensky, near the very top of the heap in the Ukrainian government.

Then another apartment building went up in flames, in Dnipro this time.

Oleksiy went out to meet the press, and for whatever reason decided to break with tradition and tell the truth.

Which was: that the leveling of the building and all the civilian deaths were not Russia’s fault–that those people died from being hit by a Ukrainian anti-missile missile.

Not only was he fired for truth-telling. He fell straight from the upper echelon all the way down to the Ukrainian government’s official kill list, and is now living on borrowed time.

In the meantime numerous other signs have emerged that Zelensky’s government is starting to fall apart under the weight of its own internal contradictions. The Defense Minister was caught paying extortionate prices, many times the going rate at a Kyiv supermarket, for food supplies. For the troops, you know. It’s unclear who he was paying the bribes to, or why, but it’s safe to say that this was no act of charity or even expediency.

As of this writing he still has his job, because corruption, unlike truth-telling, is an everyday occurrence in the plucky little country of liberty-lovers that so many Americans still wave flags for.

This is where your billions are going. Down a doomed rathole and into the pockets of opportunists both at home and abroad. To the Zelenskys and the Raytheons.

Not to the poor babushkas on your TV. Not to your own grandma either. They’ll just have to make do.

So this is my own thumbnail version of recent events in America’s latest war–proxy war, economic war, sanctions war, whatever you want to call it, in this early period before it goes hot. I’m no expert. I’m just paying it too much mind.

If you really care about this shit (and there is no reason why you should, or should not), there’s a master class in it available pretty much every day on the non-mainstream portions of our beloved Internet. You could start here.

Or you could make some curry, pay some bills, write a thank-you card for those nice Christmas gifts … sort your mind and free it if you’re lucky.

I’m trying to do both and all.

The results are decidedly mixed.