Hi friend,
Happy Friday! Hope everyone has had a great week!
I wanted to briefly discuss the response to the last podcast, which totally blew me away! We had several new free subscriptions, plus a new paid subscriber, and quite a few shares, which obviously helps us get the word out to others who have no idea what we’re doing here.
So, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of that.
And if this is your first time listening, here’s what we’re doing. Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world, while also sharing some motivation and wisdom at the end (because who doesn’t need a couple of doses of that each week?!).
Tuesday posts will be available to everyone, but they’ll be delayed by one day unless you’re a paid subscriber.
That way, it will encourage folks to support what we’re doing here if they can, but also doesn’t really penalize you if you can’t make that $5 a month payment. At most, you’re waiting an additional day for the content.
But I do want to keep the option there (and the incentive there) for you to support this effort with a paid subscription. Partly, it’s because there’s so much more I want to be doing with this each week, but I need your help to get there.
The reality is this is what I’d like to be doing full-time, along with my fiction writing, long-term. And right now I’m balancing this out with a full-time job, which is preventing me from making this as incredible (or in-depth) as I’d like.
But also, I’ve seen that most advertising-only efforts can only succeed if you’re like Joe Rogan or some big name. And I’m most certainly not Joe Rogan or some big name. And also, foreign policy isn’t an in-demand, large-audience subject, unfortunately.
So to sustain the time I’m putting into this, I’d really appreciate it if you threw a few bucks into the hat and signed up.
All right, with that out of the way, let’s get started. We’ve got a ton to discuss.
In big news, the United States has announced that it’s sending four more of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine.
That will increase the number that we’ve sent from 12 to 16.
While we’re on the subject of HIMARS, that leads us into the next topic I wanted to discuss.
Ukraine is getting closer to launching an offensive in Kherson (pronounced kehr·saan).
The Economist had a story about a week back that described Kherson as the gateway to Crimea, which as you recall, is the peninsula that Russia formally seized in 2014.
Kherson is the only regional capital that Russia achieved success in conquering since this most recent invasion.
And The Economist states that not only is the gateway to Crimea, it’s also “an agricultural powerhouse,” and thus Ukraine is prioritizing its efforts to retake it. (See story below.)
But back to the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, Ukraine has been using these weapons to hit one of two bridges that are behind Kherson. And you can see this in the video that I’ve linked to below.
Already, one of the bridges are down to one lane.
And the Russians have nothing that can intercept the HIMARS rockets. None of their anti-air missiles seem to be able to hit them.
Now, Dr. Mike Martin, an analyst and author, shared a thread on Twitter about the coming offensive. And he made two points that go along with what I’m getting to.
Speaking of the bridges, he says this:
And while we’re talking about the coming offensive in Kherson, The Kyiv Independent wrote a great article about the coming attack. (The article is free and the link is below.)
But one of the things in the article that I think is key is that it mentions the Russians are holding a number of defensive positions, primarily at road junctions, small towns, etc.
And the advantage the Ukrainians will have is that they can use what we used to call in the Marine Corps as “maneuver warfare.” And thus, the Ukrainians can pin down certain positions, but then mass larger forces to overpower individual positions.
With luck, these attacks will lead to a spreading of the fear running through the Russian forces already, and it’s likely going to break their will and cause them to want to retreat. If not all-out flee.
While we’re on the subject of Ukraine, let’s talk about three more quick things.
First, the U.S. is starting to hint again about potentially arming Ukraine with fighter jets (possibly European models). Huge shoutout to Joshua Hughes, who first alerted me to this.
And then shortly after pointing out the Defense One story on it, (see below), The Washington Post also reported on it.
I want to be very, very clear that nothing is definite on this.
The second quick thing I wanted to mention is that while I worried to no end about the brave defenders of the steel plant in Mariuopol (the Azovstal steel plant), it appears at least some of them are being released/traded for Russian prisoners. (See below.)
I want to stress that this is not something that seems to be something that either Ukraine or Russia wants to talk about, and it’s probably not happening for all the defenders (especially the leaders), but at least some of them are being freed.
The third thing I wanted to share was the item below, because it’s yet more proof of the horrors that Russia is propagating in Ukraine.
Moving to the Middle East, Putin recently flew to Iran to meet with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The main thing I wanted to share with that Khamenei said the West and NATO was dangerous, and that if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine, then Ukraine and NATO would have invaded Russia.
One other thing real quick on this topic is that Turkish leader embarrassed Putin while he was there.
This is probably only the second thing that I appreciate that Erdogan has done in years. (The other being selling Bayraktar drones to Ukraine.)
All right, enough news. Let’s share some motivation and wisdom.
I wanted to start by sharing just these incredible images below.
And here’s the other pieces of motivation and wisdom that I wanted to share.
That’s it for this edition.
As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans. We need to pull this country together, and that starts with all of us.
And if you love what you’re reading, throw a couple of bucks in the hat by subscribing below.
The view from the front is a reader-supported publication. The best way to make this work sustainable, and to help improve it, is with a paid subscription. But at the same time, free ones are appreciated, too!
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/biography book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan.
P.P.S. And here’s a short bio about me and what I’m trying to do with the newsletter.
Stan R. Mitchell: The view from the front podcast for 7-22-22.