Lördag den 26 mars 2022, Airport Anchorage, Tahiti

Igår, fredag, vaknade vi vid sextiden till en vindstilla och molnfri dag så efter frukost åkte vi in till Papeete. Halvväggs dit började det blåsa och den sista biten in i marinan hade vi en hård motvind. Jollen beter sig underbar så vi blev inte blöta, vid åttatiden kom vi fram och förtöjde bakom 'DueSouth' där Andrew satt ute med en kopp kaffe. Jag säger inte nej till en kopp så det tog en stund innan vi kunde gå våra ärenden. Varm som bara den så svetten dränkte vår kläder.

Första stoppet var HyperBrico där vi köpte en liten vinkelslip till ett rymligt pris. De hade även sladdlösa sådana till ett skapligt pris som jag gärna hade velat ha men tyvärr hade man inte batterier på lager så det blev inget köp. Lite underligt kan man tänka sig, att sälja sladdlösa verktyg utan att ha batterier i lager men så är det här. Sedan gick vi vidare till 'Ocean 2000' där vi, till vår stora förtjusning, alla filter och zinkanoder som vi behöver så vi slapp gå till några affärer till. Dessutom fick vi 10 procent rabatt. Zinkanoderna på 2 kilo var hiskligt dyra (650 kronor/styck) men eftersom vi behöver de var det bara att blunda för priset. Vid förra upptagningen i maj 2021 monterade vi aluminiumanoder som är mindre än hälften så dyra än zinkanoder men de äts upp fortare. Vi monterade fyra stycken och två är redan helt borta.

Sista hållplatsen för den här gången var Gondrand där vi äntligen kunde hämta ut paketet med den nya furlern. Medans jag njöt av en välförtjänad paus som också innehöll en milkshake gick Elisabeth och postade vykort. Allt lastades i jollen och vi tog oss in i marina till 'Kikam' för att hälsa på Heinz som' lik oss, väntar på att Chile ska öppna.

På hemvägen knackade vi på hos Tim och Van innan vi åkte tillbaka till 'Bengt' i den nu hårda vinden. Även om vi är innanför revet blir det en del vågor men vi hade medvind så resan gick fort.

Lördagen började varmt och vindstilla så vi passade på att montera furlern och hissa den nya Code-0. Vi köpte ett furlerpaket där det även ingick tre speciella öppningsbara Seldén måntågsblock. Blocken tillverkades i Sverige hos Seldén i Frölunda där Elisabeth bodde ganska nära till. Seglet har en anti-torsion lina insytt i förliket så det behövs inget stag. Det är lätt att rulla in till en 'korv' och stuvas tillsammans med furler och endless lina i segelsäcken. Det ska bli roligt att kunna använda detta segel på långa undanvindsseglingar.

Former top Pentagon advisor Col. Doug Macgregor on Russia-Ukraine war. (www.thegrayzone.com)

"DOUG MACGREGOR: Well, as to the last point, it's very obvious that what Ukrainian forces are still active are entirely surrounded, cut off and isolated in various towns and cities. The Ukrainian forces are incapable of anything but an occasional pinprick attack on something that doesn't appear to be very robust or dangerous. So, the war, for all intents and purposes, has been decided.
The issue for the Russians from the very beginning has been, 'How do we proceed without killing large numbers of civilians and inflicting a lot of property damage?' And Putin gave very strict orders from the outset that they were to avoid these things. The problem with avoiding it is that it has slowed the progress of the operation to the point where it has given false hope both to the Ukrainians, but I think has been seized on by people in the West to try and convince the world that a defeat is in progress when, in fact, the opposite is the case. So, the war itself at this stage of the game could be decided very, very rapidly--permanently if Putin were to give the order and allow the forces to disregard the concern for civilians and property damage.

But he hasn't done that. He has continued to negotiate even though he recognizes that the people sitting across from him really are not in a position to deliver very much. They're being told what to do, and it's very obvious that Washington wants this to continue as long as possible in the hopes that Russia will be desperately harmed. I just don't see that happening.

Can you give us an assessment based on what you see of this map as of March 14?

DOUG MACGREGOR: Well, on the south-eastern side towards the bottom you have as many as 60,000 Ukrainian troops that are completely surrounded in what the Russians are referring to as a cauldron. That's been going on for several days now; no one knows what the status of those forces is. They're probably running out of water, supplies, ammunition. The Russians would prefer that they surrender. Some have, but there may be pressure now to end this, which would result in the mass slaughter of some 60,000 troops, and I don't think the Russians are interested in that.

I think what the Russians are interested in is what you see: they've gone to the large population centers, they've tried to avoid the center, the central portion of Ukraine because that's the agricultural area. In fact, Russian troops have been told to stay out of the fields. The Russians realize that we're on the verge of spring planting in Ukraine. They're not interested in destroying the wheat and barley crops at all. They would prefer to see that go ahead. So, the issue for the Russians right now is that everything worth controlling is controlled.
This notion that you hear over and over and over again on television, 'Well, they haven't increased their territorial control'--they're not interested in territory. The entire operation from day one was focused on the destruction of Ukrainian forces. That's largely complete, with the exception of those that are still surrounded.
They've got a huge problem in Mariupol, which is off to the right, where you have roughly 3,000 of these fanatical fighters in the Azov regiment or battalion, whatever you want to call it, who are refusing to allow any of the civilians in the city to leave. In fact, I saw footage this morning of these Ukrainian Azov troops telling the population there, 'You can't leave,' even though the Russians had opened a corridor for humanitarian assistance and evacuation. Again, these things are not reported in the West because it tends to damage the narrative.

So, my great concern is, the determination to annihilate the Azov crowd could result in real destruction in Mariupol, which would be terrible for the people there. But again, one doesn't know what the thinking is at higher levels. I suspect there's a desire to end this, get this over with. But, as long as Zelenskyy stalls, the more Ukrainian forces will be killed. And it doesn't make any difference how much we try to ship into Ukraine; they can't assimilate it and use it effectively in any case at this point. But again, this satisfies the narrative that the Russians are losing, Putin is evil and must be driven out, and he's the aggressor. All of the information going back to 2014 and earlier is essentially deleted from the discussion. The fact that they've lost 14,000 people killed in the war since 2014 that the Ukrainians have waged relentlessly against the Russians in the east, that's ignored.

So, it's very tragic. But I think what will happen is the truth will out. Eventually this will end. The Russians will be successful in what they've set out to do, and the Ukrainians will be destroyed. I'd rather not see that. I don't think Putin wants to see that. Remember, he's fighting against people that he largely considers to be very much like himself. There is no desire to murder all of these people, contrary to popular beliefs. The biggest lie I've heard repeated on television is, 'Russian troops have been told to deliberately murder civilians, Ukrainian civilians.' It's absurd. It's nonsense. Nothing could be further from the truth."