The view from the front: military matters and motivation for 6/24/22.
The view from the front: military matters and motivation for 6/24/22.
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Hi friend,
Happy Friday! Hope you have some great weekend plans in place!
We begin our news with Ukraine. Russian forces continue to advance in the east, in the Donbas region.
You can see the advances in the maps below (while at the same time, Ukraine is gaining some ground in the south).
But, our highly-advanced rockets have finally arrived on the battlefield. So, hopefully, that will slow the Russian advance in the east. (It took several weeks of training before the complex weapons could be deployed.)
Moving from Ukraine to other news, Russia threatened Finland as the Nordic country attempts to get into NATO.
But Finland fired back that it was prepared to more than defend itself if Russia wanted to do something incredibly reckless and stupid. (You can read their reply below, as well as the decades of work they’ve done to prepare for another Russian invasion. It’s really quite interesting.)
Moving to China, they’ve harrassed Taiwan again with a large contingent of aircraft. They’ve done this so many times, and I’ve documented it here probably six or more times the past year or so.
But there’s a scary point to these threats, as described below.
Moving to our hemisphere, Colombia held elections and there’s been some major changes made there with the election of its new president.
Politico states there could be “major changes” to the relationship with our country, writing in part:
Among other planks of Gustavo Petro’s platform, Petro wants to renegotiate elements of Colombia’s free trade agreement with the U.S.; limit oil and gas exploration in Colombia; change the way Colombia fights rebel groups; and re-establish relations with Venezuelan President NICOLAS MADURO, a dictator whom the U.S. does not formally recognize — and whose policies have produced a refugee crisis that has affected Colombia.
Petro is an ex-guerilla taking charge in a country that has been led for decades by figures from the right-wing and center-right.
In other news, moving to our own military, I’m not even sure how to bring up this next topic. But it appears a member of our own Air Force tried to kill fellow service members. (See below.)
From the story:
CNN first reported earlier this month that the US military was investigating whether an American service member set off explosives in an insider attack on the small US base in northern Syria that injured four service members in April.
The Pentagon is refusing to disclose any additional details at this time. "We won't release the individual's name unless charges are preferred. It is too early in the process for a charge sheet. It will be available if charges are preferred," the statement said. The expectation is charges could be filed within the next few weeks," Stefanek said.
…
Initially, US officials said they believed the April 7 attack was caused by indirect fire on the base in a similar manner to rocket and mortar attacks that have been carried out in the region by militia groups. However, a week later, a military statement said that after "further investigation" the attack was believed to a result of "deliberate placement of explosive charges by an unidentified individual(s) at an ammunition holding area and shower facility."
I’m not even sure what else to add at this point. We’ll just wait for more details to be released.
I’ve said before that I’m a sucker for great military pics. Here’s today’s entrant:
Let’s end the news portion by settling a huge debate in many households… lol
That’s it for this edition! Have a great weekend! And here’s some motivation and wisdom to send you off with.
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.
And if you love what you’re reading, throw a couple bucks in the hat by subscribing below. (Here’s why you should.)
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 IIand one about Afghanistan.
P.P.S. And here’s a short bio about me and what I’m trying to do with the newsletter.