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:
Cover emerging hotspots and foreign policy news that you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)
Work to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)
And finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of each episode.
The slow Ukrainian counteroffensive, and three reasons that's a good thing.
In my podcast above, I talk about this subject. Below are merely the source notes. You should really listen to the podcast. It’s short, fast-moving, and enlightening.
Ukraine’s costly counteroffensive must produce results before NATO summit – Zelenskyy
"We must show results before the (NATO) summit (on July 11-12), but every meter comes at a cost of lives," said Zelenskyy.
The president revealed that the plans for Ukraine's counteroffensive have been slowed down in recent months due to heavy rains. He called on partners to continue supporting Ukraine with weapons. Zelenskyy noted that during the autumn 2022 counteroffensive, "with respect to our allies," the supply of artillery was “too late.”
"We had to stop because we couldn't advance; advancing would have meant losing more people, and we didn't have artillery," he emphasized, reiterating that Ukraine values the lives of its troops above all.
Earlier on June 30, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he is “irked” when people complain about the counteroffensive being “slower than expected,” reminding that "every meter liberated by Ukrainian forces is paid for with blood."
Don’t second-guess the Ukrainian counteroffensive. It’s just starting.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is less than a month old and already the murmurs of defeatism are starting, with unnamed “Western officials” telling CNN that it is “not meeting expectations on any front.” Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky concedes that the counteroffensive is going “slower than desired.”
In truth, the plodding pace of the advance should not be a surprise or a cause for serious concern, yet.
Very few offensives advance as swiftly as Operation Desert Storm — and that was only possible because of the massive technological advantage that the United States and its allies enjoyed over Iraq. Before the ground war even began in 1991, allied forces spent more than five weeks pummeling Iraqi forces with everything from Tomahawk cruise missiles to B-52 bombers. Then, after the unrelenting attacks from the air, allied ground forces were able to stage a giant “left hook” through the sands of Saudi Arabia to go around the fortified Iraqi positions in Kuwait.
A slow Ukrainian counteroffensive can’t prompt a Western retreat
Nearly 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory remains occupied by Russian troops, who had months to dig multiple tiers of deep trenches and prepare other defensive obstacles along the length of a 600-mile front line. That frontier is now among the world’s most heavily mined strips of land — more than 75,000 square miles of Ukrainian territory has been seeded with explosives, according to Mr. Zelensky — and is also stitched with antitank obstacles, made of reinforced concrete, known as dragon’s teeth.
What’s more, there are thought to be several hundred thousand Russian soldiers in Ukraine, considerably more than Ukraine can muster. Kyiv’s forces lack the 3-to-1 numerical advantage generally thought needed for attacking soldiers to overcome dug-in defenders such as Russia’s.
Yet hand-wringing over Ukraine’s stuttering advance, which began in early June, is premature. It ignores not just the gains that have been made — more than 100 square miles of territory liberated, according to the British Defense Ministry — but also the fact that the real fight has not begun. When it does, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Financial Times, “everyone will see everything.”
America, and our beautiful experiment in democracy as a republic, is actually working.
Every week, I like to do a segment on bipartisanship or America working or some good news. This week, I want to focus on….
The incredible and speedy rebuild of the I-95 bridge
Again, please listen to the podcast for my thoughts on this.
Military unit of the week:
Every week, I like to highlight some unit from one of the branches. This week, I’m highlighting the USS McFaul, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Please listen to the news about the unit in the podcast. What follows are simply the source notes.
The USS McFaul was critical in preventing the seizure of two commerical oil takers on July 5th.
You can see video and photos of the event below.
U.S. Prevents Iran from Seizing Two Merchant Tankers in Gulf of Oman
Thank you to all the men and women serving around the globe, who are helping to keep us safe.
Motivation and Wisdom:
Let’s end this edition with plenty of motivation and wisdom. (Honestly, you should listen to this part, as well, but I’ll throw the text in on the off-chance that you can’t. 🤣)
Guys, you need to hear this. At least one of you out there needs to hear this.
Life is passing you by. You only get one shot at life, and you’re letting it slip through your fingers, day by day. Life has beaten you down, kicked you in the face, ignored you, punished you, rained on you, assailed you with illnesses and injuries, burdened you with debts and levels of despair that I know are breaking your spirit.
But you have to get up? Do you hear me? You have to get up.
You’re going to get up, get up now, and start fighting back. Do not let despair win. Get up and take a step to confront those things facing you now.
Do it now.
And let these following items lift your spirit and take you to a higher level. You can do this.
You’re meant to do this.
And you have to do this. For yourself. For your family. For your creator.
With all of that being said, I truly hope these help pick up your spirits, revive your hopes, and make you a better person.
You know, I once read, if you don’t think you’re powerful, think of your most important relationship with that person who’s depending on you.
Maybe it’s a son or daughter. Maybe it’s a parent you’re caring for. Maybe it’s your spouse.
If you don’t think you’re important, if you think you don’t matter, imagine if suddenly you went away.
Who would care for that person? Who would check on them, love them, care for them, help them?
We are all way more powerful and important than we think, and the work we are doing — even that work we forget about and sometimes complain about — it’s important.
You can have an impact. You ARE having an impact, and now that you’re paying attention, let’s share a few more items to help feed you and make you stronger!
'Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ' Psalms 51:10
'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. '
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.
Love and peace,
Stan R. Mitchell
Don’t forget: You can comment anytime, and I’ll answer quickly! You can also reach out privately at: authorstanrmitchell@yahoo.com. (You can say “hi,” vent, or send news tips! I love all three of those things!)
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.
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.
Podcast Episode 7-6-23. The slow Ukrainian counteroffensive, and three reasons that's a good thing