Is It Curtains for John Keys, Putin, And Iraq?

The PM:

Personally I don't think the PM is done for. It.s been a shaky few days  no doubt. But if their propaganda (eg adverts) is anything to go by their backwards rowing skiff should get there before the row boat; but only just. It will be heavy with Cameron Slater, but lighter after Judith Collins was dropped into the water. She's still swimming to the bank and spluttering revenge. The well mantra-ed "Left wing conspiracy" is no longer believed and one does not have to be left to believe Nicky Hager. However I think the Nats will get enough support to form a govt. with any centre-right friends they still have.

President Putin of Russia:

Russia is on the border of Ukraine's civil war whose armies both have Russian weapons. Both the Kiev Govt. and the East Ukraine Russian speaking rebels have won some and lost some but like all wars the first corpse is the truth as each side accuses the other of atrocities. Russia is being accused of entering the war on behalf of their Russian speaking whanaunga and maps, and photos galore are shown on TV to produce "proof." I even saw a CNN TV journalist saying that Russian heavy tanks were  "over there" as he pointed. However for some reason he didn't have a camera man with the ability to point the camera "over there." Other photos showed tanks and vehicles that were actually on Russian soil. The 10 Russian border patrol soldiers who wandered into Ukraine in the dark were released. It certainly isn't curtains for Putin and Russia whose western and European enemies miss the cold war and the iron curtain. That has been replaced by new NATO partners on Russia's border and US Military bases. Also any more economic sanctions by the EU will boomerang. EU producers who sold their produce to Russia are now dumping it in their city centres in protest. 

Iraq?

This country's full of disasters. First it was Saddam Hussein who ruled as a dictator and subjugated every religious, tribal and ethnic group in Iraq. His rule was bloody. Along comes Hop-a-long Bush and his side kick Blair who claim that there are weapons of mass destruction in Saddam's arsenal. That excuse turns to regime change with a blood bath of mainly civilians in a shock and awe overkill. Trying to install a democratic govt with a selected PM doesn't work either in a country that knew only dictatorship and sectarian, tribal and ethnic rivalry. The US and Britain walk out after billions spent on security and military contractors and eyes firmly on Iraq oil. The army and police they leave behind can't control the almost daily bombings, the Shia PM can't get on with the Sunnis, and the ISIS takes over much of North Iraq as the Iraqi Army runs  back to Bagdad leaving their weapons behind for ISIS.  It looks like curtains for Iraq as a nation that existed under Saddam. The outcome will take years but the catalyst was Bush's and Blair's intervention.