Extended edition: Episode 5-22-23
Discover more from The View from the Front. By Stan R. Mitchell.
Extended edition: Episode 5-22-23
Hello, my friends!
Thank you for being a supporter of The View from the Front.
Here’s the Monday update for paid subscribers (with a partial preview for free subscribers). This includes a brief round-up of news and some daily motivation.
If you just happened to stumble by, here’s what I’m doing with The View from the Front extended edition.
My name is Stan R. Mitchell and I’m a prior Marine, journalist, and man who loves this country with all of my heart. I also like to focus on covering our military and looming hot spots, while also trying to unite the country as best I can.
I truly do appreciate all my supporters and listeners, and The View from the Front extended edition is just a small way I want to add value and repay those who have signed up as paid subscribers. (And it also is another step forward toward the long-term dream and vision I currently have.)
I will also continue to do my weekly podcast each Thursday.
If you’d like to upgrade and go from free to paid, here’s the link:
But no pressure. I’ve already got a nice contingent of awesome, paying supporters.
REMINDER: If you missed Thursday’s podcast, make sure you listen to that here: 5/18/2023. It’s FREE to do so!
I’m sending today’s update out free to everyone; even the free subscribers. A reminder: if you sign up as a paid subscriber, you’ll get these every Monday!
Turkey election news:
Erdogan wins endorsement for Turkish election runoff from third-place candidate Ogan
The third-placed contender in the Turkish presidential elections formally endorsed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday for the second-round runoff vote to be held on May 28.
The nationalist presidential candidate Sinan Ogan, 55, has emerged as a potential kingmaker after neither Erdogan nor his main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, secured the majority needed for a first-round victory on May 14.
…
Ogan, a former academic who was backed by a far-right anti-migrant party, won 5.17% in the May 14 vote and could hold the key to victory in the runoff now that he’s out of the race.
I mentioned this in the last podcast. Check out this image below:
Russia and Ukraine news:
F-16s to Ukraine are now definitely one closer step forward.
U.S. will help train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets
The Biden administration will approve European allies providing American made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The U.S. will also support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots. Ukraine has been asking for those jets since early in the war with Russia, but until now, the U.S. has refused
In a press gaggle, a reporter told Biden: that the Russians are saying giving Ukraine F-16's is a “colossal risk."
Biden replied: “It is. For them.”
Russia TV celebrates as it reports the capture of Bakhmut, comparing it to Berlin in 1945
Russian TV went into a full frenzy of celebration as it reported Moscow’s capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. There were comparisons to the Red Army liberating Berlin in 1945, congratulations relayed from President Vladimir Putin and announcers emphasizing the victory by using the city’s nearly century-old Soviet name of Artyomovsk.
“The myth that Artyomovsk is an unassailable fortress has been crushed,” an anchor said Sunday night on Channel One, Russia’s most popular state broadcaster. “Those are historic events.”
A report from the smoldering city in eastern Ukraine followed, showing Russian fighters yelling “Victory!” and placing two flags -- the Russian tricolor and the black flag of the private military contractor Wagner -- atop a tall, partly destroyed building.
Zelenskyy denies Ukrainian city of Bakhmut occupied by Russian forces
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren’t occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow’s insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen.
Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”
“We are not throwing people (away) to die,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. “People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors.”
…
Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the military’s eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and “defense forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut.”
Russia alleges border incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs; Kyiv claims they are disgruntled Russians
Russian officials claimed that Ukrainian military saboteurs launched an attack across the border Monday, wounding eight people in a small town. Kyiv officials denied any link with the group and blamed the fighting on a revolt by disgruntled Russians against the Kremlin.
Neither version of events could be independently verified in an area that has witnessed sporadic spillover from the almost 15-month war in Ukraine.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said that a Ukrainian Armed Forces saboteur group entered the town of Graivoron, about five kilometers (three miles) from the border. The town also came under Ukrainian artillery fire, he said.
Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said eight people were wounded and most residents had left the area, but the situation remained “tense.”
Biden Administration announces new $375 million aid package
It includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities, and critical enablers valued at up to $375 million that Ukraine is using on the battlefield to push back against Russia's unprovoked war of aggression.
The capabilities in this package include:
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
• 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;
• Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
• Laser-guided rocket system munitions;
• Demolition munitions;
• Armored bridging systems;
• Armored medical treatment vehicles;
• Trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment;
• Logistics support equipment;
• Thermal imagery systems;
• Spare parts and other field equipment.
Middle East news:
An Iranian nuclear facility is so deep underground that US airstrikes likely couldn’t reach it
Near a peak of the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press.
The photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC show Iran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site, which has come under repeated sabotage attacks amid Tehran’s standoff with the West over its atomic program.
With Iran now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers, the installation complicates the West’s efforts to halt Tehran from potentially developing an atomic bomb as diplomacy over its nuclear program remains stalled.
Completion of such a facility “would be a nightmare scenario that risks igniting a new escalatory spiral,” warned Kelsey Davenport, the director of nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association. “Given how close Iran is to a bomb, it has very little room to ratchet up its program without tripping U.S. and Israeli red lines. So at this point, any further escalation increases the risk of conflict.”
Motivation and Wisdom:
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.
Love and peace,
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.
