Hey guys,
Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.
For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.
Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:
Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)
Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)
Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.
In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T
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Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.
Source notes:
Russia and Ukraine news:
A few updates regarding the American drone downing by Russia.
First, it wasn’t just pilots acting on their own, as we correctly predicted and stated in yesterday’s Extended edition.
From the story:
Three U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence said the highest levels of the Kremlin approved the aggressive actions of Russian military fighter jets against a U.S. military drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday.
Secondly, Russia tried lying saying they hadn’t done anything wrong and were not to blame for the drone crashing.
So, the American military released drone footage showing otherwise, proving yet again that the Russian government lies says things that are not true.
In some of the video clips, if you pause them in the right spot, you’ll see the damaged propeller on the drone.
Finally, there was this.
Russia to try to salvage wrecked US drone; Gen. Milley says 'not a lot to recover'
From the story:
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that the drone sank into water that's 4,000-5,000 feet deep, making its recovery very difficult.
"It probably broke up. There's probably not a lot to recover, frankly,'' Milley said. "As far as the loss of anything of sensitive intelligence, etc., as normal we would take and we did take mitigating measures, so we're quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.''
Military analysts on social media said the United States would have remotely removed classified software from the MQ-9 Reaper drone before it crashed into the Black Sea to prevent Russia from obtaining classified information. CNN later reported this.
In other Russia/Ukraine news, this is worrying if you care about the fate of Ukraine…
Ron DeSantis says Ukraine war not US priority, aligns closer to Trump
From the story:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had largely avoided staking out a specific policy position on the war in Ukraine until Monday.
…
He also referred to Russia's unprovoked invasion as a "territorial dispute."
Moving along…
Russian advance stalls in Ukraine’s Bakhmut, think tank says
From the story:
Russia’s advance seems to have stalled in Moscow’s campaign to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a leading think tank said in an assessment of the longest ground battle of the war.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said there were no confirmed advances by Russian forces in Bakhmut. Russian forces and units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group continued to launch ground attacks in the city, but there was no evidence that they were able to make any progress, the ISW said.
The founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Sunday on the Telegram messaging app that the situation in Bakhmut was “difficult, very difficult, with the enemy fighting for each meter.”
China news:
China shows some increasing might in the Middle East and proves it’s a continually growing and expanding power.
Truce between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China, raises some concern for U.S.
From the story:
After years of hostility, Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reestablish relations. This tentative peace was brokered by China after it was announced that officials from the three countries had met in Beijing for several days prior to negotiating the deal. This announcement from the three countries marks a new beginning of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern powers and the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh within the next two months. China's involvement in the deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia comes as a surprise and concern to some as U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and China have been strained in recent years.
The AP noted that this is a new position for China: Iran-Saudi Arabia deal casts China in unfamiliar global role
In other news, China is also STILL considering sending lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine.
The Washington Post warned against this rash move in an editorial on Sunday: Opinion — For China, arming Russia would be folly
From the editorial:
For Beijing to depart from its policy of pro-Russian neutrality would accelerate its spiraling hostility toward the United States and reposition China not only as a U.S. rival but also as a threatening adversary in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. Whatever else Beijing thinks it might achieve by replenishing Moscow’s depleted arsenals, it is clear that new weapons and munitions would enable Russia to spill more blood, pulverize more infrastructure, raze more cities and lay waste to more lives in Ukraine, the victim of Russia’s unwarranted aggression.
…
It would also play havoc with China’s commercial relationships across the world, likely triggering a cascading series of punitive responses by Western countries that would compound Beijing’s already daunting economic problems. The Biden administration and its European allies have warned of such a response.
Moving along, in other China news, the deal regarding nuclear submarines between the U.S., U.K., and Australia got a lot of coverage this week.
The long-term deal will allow Austrailia to finally have conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
What’s the point of this?
To deter and possibly oppose China, of course. Nuclear submarines can stay at sea for extremly long periods of time and are very diffeicult to detect or counter. So, conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines could go far toward wrecking China’s growing naval ambitions and desire to retake Taiwan.
You can read about the deal here.
Iran news:
I discussed the widespread school poisonings happening in Iran in last week’s podcast. (I actually discussed it quite extensively, if you missed it. Timestamp: 42:45.)
The short of it is that this affected thousands of school girls across dozens of provinces. Who could be behind this? And what does this say about the strength of Iran’s government at the moment?
Previous article, to help you get caught up on it:
Well, since that happened, Iran has arrested more than 100 people. It’s still not clear who this is behind this. There are two main possibilities.
From the story:
While Iranian politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups, activists believe that the poisonings may be linked to the nationwide protests that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Ami. Many schoolgirls have been active in the protests, removing their mandatory headscarves in classrooms, tearing up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calling for his death.
Medics, parents and teachers have accused the Iranian government of attempting to silence the victims.
That’s it for this edition.
As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.
So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.
Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.
Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.
And with that, I’m out.
Subscribed
Semper Fidelis,
Stan R. Mitchell
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.
P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.
Episode 3-16-23