The view from the front: military matters and motivation for 5/31/22.
Discover more from The View from the Front. By Stan R. Mitchell.
The view from the front: military matters and motivation for 5/31/22.
Hi friend,
Happy Tuesday! Hope you had an incredible Memorial Day weekend!
The better half and I really had a great weekend. We managed to get in a great run, pull off some pool-side time, and see the movie Top Gun.
And before we get to the news, let me say this: do not miss going to see Top Gun in theaters…
I expected something that was kind of cheesy or maybe somewhat decent and reminiscent. A movie I’d enjoy, but one that wouldn’t necessarily crack even the top 100 great movies I had seen.
I was wrong.
Top Gun absolutely rocked my world and inspired the hell out of me as a creator. Even Jaimie agreed it was one of the best movies we have ever seen. Make sure you go see it in theaters. (You’ll want the full experience on this one.)
Let’s begin today’s news portion with a quick re-visit.
As my regular readers know, I have written about the surrounded defenders in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in almost every edition for the past two months or so.
And weeks and weeks ago, I had speculated that I thought Ukrainians had been resupplying the cut-off troops at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
I’m going to share exactly what I said in The Stan R. Mitchell report for 4/22/22.
If I had to guess, I’d say there’s some kind of resupply happening by sea or something. Or maybe even by large drones or something. (They do, after all, make a drone that can carry 500 pounds of supplies; and that was a civilian version on a video from a year ago.)
Well, it’s taken some time, but it’s now confirmed that the defenders were being resupplied. (See below.)
I’d love to say I’m a genius for suggesting this, but it’s really just common sense. I knew they had to be getting some supplies.
Partly, this is because I know how much ammunition modern battles require. You have to suppress the enemy. Obtain fire superiority. Fire and move. Etc.
And the reality is that most fighters barely carry enough ammo for a single day. Even a couple of hours of hard fighting.
While I assumed they had some stored and pre-staged ammo, I just knew they had to be running out. And more than likely, they were. But they were getting re-supplied. (Just not by some kind of crazy drone that can carry 500 pounds of supplies! That must have been the crazy fiction writer in me talking. lol)
Sadly, however, it seems like Russia is going to make an example out of those who stood up so bravely against them. (See below.)
From the story: “Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said on Wednesday that no swaps would happen before those who surrendered have been ‘properly convicted and sentenced.’”
It looks to me like the horrendous suffering of those who stood up to the Russians hasn’t come close to being done.
In bigger news this week, the European Union voted to halt the majority of Russian oil imports. The AP called it “the most significant effort yet to punish Russia for its war in Ukraine.” (See below.)
In other Ukraine news, the idea of a multi-national navy to break the Russian blockade continues to potentially gain steam. It’s gone from nobodies like me throwing the idea out to actual admirals now discussing it.
From Admiral James Stavridis: How to Break Russia’s Blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea Ports.
Moving along, this is not a big news story, but as a former infantryman, let me just say this VERY LOUDLY, almost in my war yell, “Pump this STRAIGHT into my veins.”
Moving along to larger news, the rush for a better foothold against China continues. (See below.)
From the article: “China has embarked on a diplomatic island-hopping campaign to secure a foothold in the region. America hopes to slow it down. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, is on an eight-nation Pacific tour. Since Thursday, Mr Wang has signed economic deals in Kiribati and Samoa. In Fiji on Monday he is expected to unveil a pact covering fisheries, security and other areas with ten Pacific nations.”
President Biden visited the region to help strengthen the alliances there, but he created confusion with his comments (how did he make this gaffe again?!).
This was the third time in recent months that he made the wrong comment regarding whether America would defend Taiwan.
Some Biden supporters say he’s playing three-dimensional chess, but I’d argue it’s not working and makes him look foolish. If he wants to change our policy toward Taiwan, then change it.
It’s absurdly silly to make a comment that goes against national policy, only to then have it immediately countered by staffers. (I think Biden believes he’s showing strength, but he looks like a man who has to be corrected by the smarter, better-informed experts.)
China clearly isn’t impressed. It sent 30 fighters into Taiwan’s air defense zone, the largest number since January.
The irony is I’d say he’s done a strong job of creating and strengthening alliances in the region to counter China. But he can never seem to get out of his own way on things.
Let’s wrap things up there for today. And end with some motivation and wisdom.
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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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.