The 12/17/21 dispatch.
Discover more from The View from the Front. By Stan R. Mitchell.
Happy Friday! Hope everyone has had a great week!
I feel like I need to keep this edition focused on the situation in Russia and Ukraine.
Tensions remain high there, and since Tuesday, several things have happened that you need to know.
NATO and Europe have not backed down. And they have remained joined and in agreement that an invasion will not be allowed.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul had a few astute things to say about the situation, as well.
And along that line of thinking, there was this:
Getting down to the nitty-gritty of the current situation, Max Boot suggested this as one way to prepare for an invasion:
Boot points out that the Afghan mujahideen during the 1980s succeeded because “they received copious aid from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries.”
He goes on to say:
Putin, who was a young KGB officer in those days, has no desire to blunder into another Afghanistan-style war. Having Russian troops come home in body bags would sap popular support for his regime. In fact, this makes me doubt that he would actually try to occupy all of Ukraine, a country of 44 million people. (The population of Afghanistan in the 1980s was only 13 million.)
…
Ukrainians are already talking about waging guerrilla warfare if the Russians invade. Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk told the New York Times that Ukraine has 500,000 people with military experience, and if necessary “we’ll start a partisan war.” A senior Ukrainian military official “said that if all else failed, the military would simply open its weapons depots and allow the Ukrainian people to take whatever they need to defend themselves and their families.”
…
The United States and its NATO allies should let the Kremlin know that, in the event of a Russian occupation, they will keep supplying Ukrainian freedom fighters with potent weapons, including Javelin antitank missiles and Stinger antiaircraft missiles. U.S. officials should point out to their Russian counterparts that Ukraine shares a lengthy border — nearly 900 miles in total — with NATO members Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Good luck controlling that frontier.
Boot says the “threat of guerrilla warfare is the most potent deterrent to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it is one that Ukraine and its supporters in the West need to play up to make Putin think twice before he launches another war of aggression.
Before we change subjects, there were two other piece of Russia-related news.
The first was this:
And then there was this:
The Congressman, who was a prior Marine, responded as only a Marine could respond.
Since we dove in pretty deep with Russia, we’ll only barely touch on China news this edition.
In the world of, and you thought YOU had a hard job, there was this:
And there was also this idea:
In Afghanistan, a tragedy is rapidly approaching (even though it’s barely making the news because Americans remembered once again that they don’t care about the country, unless it’s simply a political whipping stick to be wielded against the other party once every couple of decades).
In Marine Corps news, there were a couple of things I wanted to highlight.
First, there was this big news:
And then one other bit of Marine Corps news worth sharing. This story below also shows a larger trend and history of the Marine Corps that has come up several times in the past couple of decades. (Definitely worth the read.)
Also since Tuesday, there was remarkable valor recognized and praised:
But, not everything in the military is rosy. Sadly, this situation continues:
Finally, before we end, here’s some wisdom and motivation.
That’s it for this post. And as a reminder, please be kind and endeavor to love and support your fellow Americans. 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.
As always, please share this post if you enjoyed it, as well as comment below.
And also, please consider signing up for email notifications if you’re just a visitor dropping by. Here’s why you should.
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.