The Stan R. Mitchell report for 2/11/22.
Discover more from The View from the Front. By Stan R. Mitchell.
The Stan R. Mitchell report for 2/11/22.
Happy Friday, everyone! Hope everyone’s week is off to a great start.
The Ukraine situation will soon be coming to a head. And honestly, it’s hard to read the below and not leave convinced that Russia will invade Ukraine... 😢😢
Love to hear your all’s thoughts in the comments below as to whether you agree with what Dmitri has said above.
I’m with Dmitri. I think an invasion is happening. But invasion or not, this will not be easy for Russia. See below.
And the realities of a potential war are explained perfectly in the forty seconds of this clip below:
Ultimately, as Steven Erlanger writes in The New York Times, Putin has a decision to make. (See his story: In Ukraine Crisis, Putin Faces a Stark Choice.) Erlanger argues that:
Europe still badly needs Russian gas and oil, and Russia the income from selling it. Russian gas makes up 40 percent of the continent’s supplies — in Germany, it’s more than 55 percent — and Russian oil, 25 percent. At the same time, Russia still relies heavily on energy sales, which represent more than 30 percent of its economy and more than 60 percent of its exports.
Both countries are trying to present a united front against the global influence of the United States, both in Europe and Asia. But how much Russia wants to turn away from its European markets, and how much China wants to anger Europeans are open questions.
Here’s the link again to that story:
Moving on from Ukraine, which really is such a big story right now, it’s important we keep our eyes on the ball. And in military matters, that means keeping the focus on Asia, as laid out below:
I mentioned in a previous edition the killing of the head of ISIS. But additional reporting has shown that the U.S. spied on the man for months and learned of couriers and other vital intel that is undoubtedly being used to cripple ISIS. Nice work on the intel community’s part on this one.
Moving along, on the topic of weapons you have to see to believe, I came across this:
How crazy that they created a lethal umbrella, huh? (I’ve seen umbrellas with swords in them, but this was something else for sure.)
One final note before we sign off with some light stuff, I wanted to re-vist something from the last edition. When I was recounting the story on Tuesday of the closest I ever came to dying when I served, I mentioned in passing how scared we used to be of flying in Ospreys, the helicopters/planes that were brand-new back then.
But thinking on it some more, I wanted to see just how dangerous the tilt-rotor planes actually are compared to regular helicopters. It turns out, if you read the article below, that they’re much safer than I originally believed.
I always want my information to be as accurate as possible, so I apologize for not researching that prior to the last edition.
The bottom line is that the Ospreys are not only faster with a wider reach, they seem to be pretty safe after all.
Finally, let’s end with some wisdom and motivation.
That’s it for this edition. As a reminder, please be kind and endeavor to love your fellow Americans. We need to pull this country together, and that starts with all of us.
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As always, please share this post if you enjoyed it! And I welcome any and all respectful comments below.
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 leadership/biography book, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan.
About me: I am a proud vet and moderate, who wants to unite this country. I’m also a proud independent author, who used to own a small business for nine years that was probably (in hindsight) too generous to my small business advertisers on pricing and too lenient on my collection terms, since they were struggling as badly as me. I also sought to downplay controversy, understate headlines, and never create panic, all of which is a terrible way to sell newspapers (but a responsible way for a media outlet to act). Looking back, it’s clear I had (and have) a big heart and I wasn’t made to be some kind of cut-throat business executive. It’s this same streak in me that prevents me from signing any book deals, even big ones. I just don’t trust ruthless business executives at the big publishers. And even if I did, that very same company that I trusted could be bought and purchased overnight. Sorry, but I’ll pass on that. The truth is that while I’ve relented and signed some distribution deals, such as the one I did with Audible for my Nick Woods series, I’m just not willing to be owned by any of the big publishing houses. If I want to speak out on China? I will. If I want to send free books to military members? I will. (And I have.) I don’t ever plan to be owned by some New York publishing house. My success to this point has been made by doing it the right way: gaining one new reader, one new subscriber to my newsletter, one new contact from Twitter or real life. By sharing love and understanding and (obviously) good stories with killer writing. So join me on my journey. Let’s build a community of like-minded Americans, who believe in this country and in our fellow citizens (even those on the other side of the aisle). People who believe in small businesses and independents on their own journey, whether it’s owning a small farm or staying independent in their creative fields. And when it comes to politics? No name calling. No screaming. Just honest discussion and a genuine search for the truth. In the end, we truly all want the same: good government, unity, and ethical leadership.
If you’d like to support me or check out my books, you can find them all here: http://amzn.to/3p6lAnQ. I’m confident you’ll enjoy them. (I’ve been fortunate enough to have sold 70,000 copies and counting. Thank you, if you are one of the folks who have purchases one of those!! And if you’re not, I promise you, I don’t have that many cousins.)
The Stan R. Mitchell report for 2/11/22.
It sure looks like Russia will take Ukraine. Maybe Putin can be talked out of it, but his mind seems set on it right now. Regarding your writing, I think you're doing the best thing for yourself. You're sure doing a great job.