On February 25, about 36 hours after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, staff working at the National Guard Bureau — the federal headquarters of the US Army and Air National Guard in Arlington, VA — received a message: “Team! If you have military personnel going in the building today they can and should wear OCPs,”
A nice urban liberal here in NYC told me in 2017 that Trump was going to round up Mexicans and LGBT's and put them in camps. She wasn't kidding, and she was near tears. My point is, the odds of Russia invading Poland are around zero.
- Russia has already figured out, along with China, how do manage outside of the SWIFT system.
- It has nukes.
- It supplies most of Europe with the majority of its oil, gas, uranium and wheat.
- Putin has been clear for years - he wants a neutral Ukraine, not one with Victoria Nuland's flunky running the show.
Russia is holding two aces, and the "west" is holding 2 / 7 off suit. While we take people like AOC seriously, with her "green new deal", and we take people like Greta seriously, Russia has been making things that people actually use.
Men can't get pregnant (sorry but your CDC director said "pregnant people"), and if you don't have coal, natgas, oil, or uranium for power you can't virtue signal on twitter with the Ukrainian flag in your bio.
This is like watching the adult table vs. the children's table.
The lies coming from the Democrats used to be mundane and predictable….. it was always Republicans are to blame for everything….. or vote for us and we’ll make your life so much better. All bullshit of course, but you could live with it. Then Trump happened, and they turned up the lie machine to 11. The more they got away with it, the grander the lies became. Trump/Russia, 2 impeachments, voter fraud, George Floyd, Covid, Jan. 6, and on and on. At this point, I believe nothing, absolutely nothing our government tells us, and to me, they let this Ukrainian thing happen.
Keep digging Michael, the Substack voices are the only ones I listen to.
You flew to Poland and have been there a couple of days and now you're posting on VA's National Guard? Can I ask you a couple of questions?
Is the general sense on the street, randomly talking to Poles, is it totally lopsided against Russia?
Since Poland had death camps in WW2, run by Nazis, is there currently in Poland a significant hard right wing presence of Nazi descendants? Do they have people in gov't as in Uk?
Is there another voice in Poland that's in any way supportive of the idea of listening to both sides?
How vast is the Polish media landscape? How many TV stations? Daily papers? Is there something like the NY Times and NY Post over there?
The Polish military? How many troops? Do they (like Russia) have a draft?
How much has a liter of gas gone up in the past 2 weeks?
Has inflation spiked in Poland as in the USA?
Are there Poles trying to get out to Canada or the USA for safety? How frightened are the Poles you've met about a war taking place next door?
I would really like to see stories by you on either these topics or others like them.
I mean, since you're...y'know...IN FRIKKIN' POLAND?
(Perry White and J. Jonah Jameson would be proud of me!)
Good luck in Poland. I recall a friend living in Poland for a semester in University. Claimed Polish vodka was superior to Russian vodka, based on the daily ritual of drinking Polish vodka, of course. Let us know if Polish vodka is indeed better.
I also noted that my local bar still carries Stoli. This is news from the front in the Midwest...our county voted Biden, but the neighboring county voted Trump. Tense here.
I can assure you that the change in uniforms is in no way a harbinger of anything.
Take a look at class B's. Then take a look at OCPs. Wearing class B's sucks; they need to have creases ironed into them, your awards have to be precisely pinned by measurement, and you're much more likely to be gigged. OCPs on the other hand are like pajamas by comparison. They're (more) comfortable, relaxed. You can get away with wearing the same pair for a week if you're in garrison. Smart leaders will find a reason to change uni's. Good for morale when you're borderline miserable.
The "on the street" interviews you've had in Poland are not so different than what many low information people are saying here in the US. On a visceral level I think it's understandable. When people see Putin and Russia engage in immoral and unconscionable conduct of war they want to strike back. The problem, as readers here know, is that this a chess game in which you must anticipate several moves ahead.
We need leaders who know how to play this game of chess. If they are swayed too much by public opinion they will blunder us into world war. They MUST be the adults in the room, and they (and their media stenographers) must clearly explain to citizens the reasons for their decisions, so the average person can understand the big picture. My faith in leaders being the adult in the room is not as strong as I'd like it to be, and my faith in the current US administration and media stenographers explaining it's decisions is near nonexistent.
"nothing I’ve seen or heard thus far has been cause for optimism."
It's getting desperate. Hunter Biden should be sent to broker a peace deal. He is well respected and well paid and instead of a calling card he leaves a laptop wherever he goes. Hunter and his Dad make a good team - Hunter is the smart one but Dad is in charge of the nukes. Its a good cop/bad cop thing, and if it doesn't scare the russians and ukranians into a deal nothing will /s Nice going getting the National Guard to step back the nuclear clock by a couple seconds!
Casual Fridays has been replaced with warmonger Mondays. If there was a camouflage toilet paper I might buy it. I can support soldiers keeping the peace, but I don't support the warmongers who want to kill them for a profit.
What actions, short of armed conflict, amount to acts of war? I think it's both an interesting question, and certainly germane to the US and NATO vis-a-vis Russia.
The west, through the UN and otherwise, seems to default to sanctions to deter perceived offences against the international order/international law. Strict sanctions against the Irans and Venezualas of the world don't involve a great deal of risk of war as these states don't realistically have the capability conducting conventional war against the west. But Russia does, even if it doesn't have the military might it once did. When sanctions cause catastrophic economic harm, and cyber warfare attack are crippling, when in the line cross for Russia to legitimately assert that these are acts of war? I really don't know where the line is. But I am concerned that we are very near it.
Looking ahead to the next cycle of beyond-satirically disgusting moral hypocrisy, the Saudis are ghosting ol' Joe's desperate phone calls for them to crank up their oil spigots. Apparently, MBS is pissed at Joe for not supporting his war effort in Yemen enough. Anyone else see what's coming next? As if relying more on Saudi oil isn't bad enough, we will be doing so under the conditions that we continue to arm and support their perpetuating the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. And every brunch liberal with a fucking MBA will be patting themselves on the back and criticizing any Bad Person™ who notices.
I have been hearing since before the invasion of Ukraine that Putin is Hitler and he's going to go all over Europe and won't stop with Ukraine. So what I want to know is, if these people are so sure Putin is Hitler, why they don't think that attacking Russia is the best way to get Putin to retaliate militarily against other countries? Clearly the leadership in Poland knows that, and so does NATO. Unfortunately (I call it the H. Clinton wing) there seem to be those in our foreign policy establishment who want to egg on WW3 because they think they will get *something* out of it. Don't ask me what. I'm just going by what I think I see.
A nice urban liberal here in NYC told me in 2017 that Trump was going to round up Mexicans and LGBT's and put them in camps. She wasn't kidding, and she was near tears. My point is, the odds of Russia invading Poland are around zero.
- Russia has already figured out, along with China, how do manage outside of the SWIFT system.
- It has nukes.
- It supplies most of Europe with the majority of its oil, gas, uranium and wheat.
- Putin has been clear for years - he wants a neutral Ukraine, not one with Victoria Nuland's flunky running the show.
Russia is holding two aces, and the "west" is holding 2 / 7 off suit. While we take people like AOC seriously, with her "green new deal", and we take people like Greta seriously, Russia has been making things that people actually use.
Men can't get pregnant (sorry but your CDC director said "pregnant people"), and if you don't have coal, natgas, oil, or uranium for power you can't virtue signal on twitter with the Ukrainian flag in your bio.
This is like watching the adult table vs. the children's table.
The lies coming from the Democrats used to be mundane and predictable….. it was always Republicans are to blame for everything….. or vote for us and we’ll make your life so much better. All bullshit of course, but you could live with it. Then Trump happened, and they turned up the lie machine to 11. The more they got away with it, the grander the lies became. Trump/Russia, 2 impeachments, voter fraud, George Floyd, Covid, Jan. 6, and on and on. At this point, I believe nothing, absolutely nothing our government tells us, and to me, they let this Ukrainian thing happen.
Keep digging Michael, the Substack voices are the only ones I listen to.
Q: How many Pollacks does it take to start a nuclear war?
A: We’re about to find out.
Lemme see if I got this right:
You flew to Poland and have been there a couple of days and now you're posting on VA's National Guard? Can I ask you a couple of questions?
Is the general sense on the street, randomly talking to Poles, is it totally lopsided against Russia?
Since Poland had death camps in WW2, run by Nazis, is there currently in Poland a significant hard right wing presence of Nazi descendants? Do they have people in gov't as in Uk?
Is there another voice in Poland that's in any way supportive of the idea of listening to both sides?
How vast is the Polish media landscape? How many TV stations? Daily papers? Is there something like the NY Times and NY Post over there?
The Polish military? How many troops? Do they (like Russia) have a draft?
How much has a liter of gas gone up in the past 2 weeks?
Has inflation spiked in Poland as in the USA?
Are there Poles trying to get out to Canada or the USA for safety? How frightened are the Poles you've met about a war taking place next door?
I would really like to see stories by you on either these topics or others like them.
I mean, since you're...y'know...IN FRIKKIN' POLAND?
(Perry White and J. Jonah Jameson would be proud of me!)
Good luck in Poland. I recall a friend living in Poland for a semester in University. Claimed Polish vodka was superior to Russian vodka, based on the daily ritual of drinking Polish vodka, of course. Let us know if Polish vodka is indeed better.
I also noted that my local bar still carries Stoli. This is news from the front in the Midwest...our county voted Biden, but the neighboring county voted Trump. Tense here.
I can assure you that the change in uniforms is in no way a harbinger of anything.
Take a look at class B's. Then take a look at OCPs. Wearing class B's sucks; they need to have creases ironed into them, your awards have to be precisely pinned by measurement, and you're much more likely to be gigged. OCPs on the other hand are like pajamas by comparison. They're (more) comfortable, relaxed. You can get away with wearing the same pair for a week if you're in garrison. Smart leaders will find a reason to change uni's. Good for morale when you're borderline miserable.
The "on the street" interviews you've had in Poland are not so different than what many low information people are saying here in the US. On a visceral level I think it's understandable. When people see Putin and Russia engage in immoral and unconscionable conduct of war they want to strike back. The problem, as readers here know, is that this a chess game in which you must anticipate several moves ahead.
We need leaders who know how to play this game of chess. If they are swayed too much by public opinion they will blunder us into world war. They MUST be the adults in the room, and they (and their media stenographers) must clearly explain to citizens the reasons for their decisions, so the average person can understand the big picture. My faith in leaders being the adult in the room is not as strong as I'd like it to be, and my faith in the current US administration and media stenographers explaining it's decisions is near nonexistent.
Congress seems to be an almost useless body of people enriching themselves and shirking their duty.
"nothing I’ve seen or heard thus far has been cause for optimism."
It's getting desperate. Hunter Biden should be sent to broker a peace deal. He is well respected and well paid and instead of a calling card he leaves a laptop wherever he goes. Hunter and his Dad make a good team - Hunter is the smart one but Dad is in charge of the nukes. Its a good cop/bad cop thing, and if it doesn't scare the russians and ukranians into a deal nothing will /s Nice going getting the National Guard to step back the nuclear clock by a couple seconds!
Casual Fridays has been replaced with warmonger Mondays. If there was a camouflage toilet paper I might buy it. I can support soldiers keeping the peace, but I don't support the warmongers who want to kill them for a profit.
What actions, short of armed conflict, amount to acts of war? I think it's both an interesting question, and certainly germane to the US and NATO vis-a-vis Russia.
The west, through the UN and otherwise, seems to default to sanctions to deter perceived offences against the international order/international law. Strict sanctions against the Irans and Venezualas of the world don't involve a great deal of risk of war as these states don't realistically have the capability conducting conventional war against the west. But Russia does, even if it doesn't have the military might it once did. When sanctions cause catastrophic economic harm, and cyber warfare attack are crippling, when in the line cross for Russia to legitimately assert that these are acts of war? I really don't know where the line is. But I am concerned that we are very near it.
Looking ahead to the next cycle of beyond-satirically disgusting moral hypocrisy, the Saudis are ghosting ol' Joe's desperate phone calls for them to crank up their oil spigots. Apparently, MBS is pissed at Joe for not supporting his war effort in Yemen enough. Anyone else see what's coming next? As if relying more on Saudi oil isn't bad enough, we will be doing so under the conditions that we continue to arm and support their perpetuating the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. And every brunch liberal with a fucking MBA will be patting themselves on the back and criticizing any Bad Person™ who notices.
I have been hearing since before the invasion of Ukraine that Putin is Hitler and he's going to go all over Europe and won't stop with Ukraine. So what I want to know is, if these people are so sure Putin is Hitler, why they don't think that attacking Russia is the best way to get Putin to retaliate militarily against other countries? Clearly the leadership in Poland knows that, and so does NATO. Unfortunately (I call it the H. Clinton wing) there seem to be those in our foreign policy establishment who want to egg on WW3 because they think they will get *something* out of it. Don't ask me what. I'm just going by what I think I see.