The 11/12/21 dispatch.
Discover more from The View from the Front. By Stan R. Mitchell.
The 11/12/21 dispatch.
Happy Friday! Hope everyone has had a great week!
The biggest bit of news of late is the increasing concern among Administration officials of a Russian invasion into Ukraine.
From the AP story:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity is “ironclad” and will not change. He said any Russian escalation along the border would be viewed with “grave concern.”
“We’re concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine,” Blinken said at the conclusion of a U.S.-Ukraine strategic dialogue meeting. “Any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of grave concern to the United States.”
Blinken said the U.S. did not know Russia’s intentions but said Moscow’s “playbook” has been in the past to invent provocations along its border to justify military intervention.
You can read the full story here: US presses Russia over troop buildup along Ukraine border.
It does kind of make you wonder about this story, though. (Makes you wonder if the U.S. knew and made this happen; or if Russia got angry about what the U.S. did. These are the kinds of things we’ll probably truly never know.)
Moving to the Middle East, Iran is still potentially seeking a nuclear weapon, but Foreign Affairs says that will backfire. (See below.)
Now, to something lighter, this was just something flat-out cool that I came across. (You’re welcome.)
Moving from Army news to Navy news, you probably didn’t see this:
In old war news that no one wants to see happen again, I saw this bit of concerning news.
And in news that will make you raise your eyebrows, there was this last week:
Not to make you too sad, but here’s a nasty reminder of what is still going on in Afghanistan.
This is heartbreaking stuff, but I still say you can’t lay this one on either political party (as much as both sides want to).
The cold hard truth is “we” as a country abandoned Afghanistan because both parties (and most American voters) were done with our efforts there. (For those with selective memory, quick reminder that Trump wanted out, as badly — or maybe more so — as Biden did.)
Okay, let’s leave that sad news above and move to something lighter. I saw this about the French and thought I’d share it.
And in news that might turn into bigger political news at some point, the Army may be awarding up to almost 40 more Purple Hearts for those wounded in the Iranian ballistic missile attack last year back in January.
Now, before we wrap this edition up, I’m not going to lie, I’m posting this because I’m a Marine.
And because The Corps celebrated its birthday on Wednesday. 246 years.
Ooh-rah! Yut!!
Finally, here’s some motivation to wrap up this edition.
That’s it for this post.
Let me say before we end this that I ask you to be kinder in your online interactions with strangers, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or wherever.
Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.
Please don’t name-call the other side. They are mothers and fathers and folks not much different than you.
We owe it to these guys below, and so many others who have sacrificed for this country, to work hard toward binding the wounds of our land.
As always, please share this post if you enjoyed it, as well as comment below.
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Semper Fidelis,
Stan R. Mitchell
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I write fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.