Someone else who understands that "Reality is a tank":
"The West’s assumption that the arc of history naturally bends in its direction is looking naïve. So, too, is the decision to let our military advantage slip. Soft power and economic influence are fine capabilities to have, but they cannot stop Russian armor as it rolls toward Kyiv."
Thanks for the book recommendation. I just ordered it. I stayed at the Metropol in'78, my room complete with a picture of a lovely cow with a dime sized hole in her haunch. I suppose I wasn't of interest enough to reinsert the microphone.
The armored vehicle at the top is a BMP 3, not a T 723B. Otherwise great article. This was all both predictable and preventable. The fact we have not already closed our embassy's, started talks to shut down NordStream 1 and gain consensus on closing SWIFT to the Russians means we are unserious about this. As a former Retired Officer I also see no reason to send American service personnel there to die for ????? Like China its a farce.
Hank the Tank...an outsized bruin trespassing and breaking into folks' homes in pursuit of what he wants, undeterred by non-lethal hazing. (Saw this story earlier today in another publication in which he was also described as stealthy and determined.)
A Gentleman in... Moscow. Really?
This is a bit too...too...well, you know. But y'all do have those shirts for a pretty good reason. Just wondering, do you think it was the clearness of those eyes that made it possible for G.W. to tram the guy's soul? Think what he actually saw was a reflection of his - and countless others' - own wishful thinking.
Now, about those shirts...I'm not a "shirt" guy. But you put your mug on a mug, and I'm in.
2 war doctrine? We spend 750 or so billion dollars now. How much does this prepping for simultaneous war against China and Russa cost? For starters maybe we should end those non wars we are currently engaged in at such great expense.
FDR and his advisors deserve much of the credit (with a decisive last minute assist from Tojo and Hitler) for shepherding opinion toward a global perspective.
Right now things seem to be drifting in the opposite direction. Or at least dead in the water.
It would surprise me if either Russia or China made it easy for the West by gratuitously attacking US or NATO troops.
(Trivia question: Which part of the US was most in favor of helping beleaguered Britain? Answer: The solid, segregationist, but overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon, free trading South.)
Should Biden & Co. be content to read polls, or should they be trying (and do they have the competence) to influence them?
Pretty sure that’s a BMP (an Infantry Fighting Vehicle)—a troop carrier—and not a T-72 (an actual tank). Sorry for the nerd alert but I spent the ‘80s as a US Army Intelligence Analyst studying the Soviets…
Yay, I was excited to hear which book you ended up reading. (I was having trouble thinking of something you might consider "great.") A Gentleman in Moscow was an excellent choice!
Someone else who understands that "Reality is a tank":
"The West’s assumption that the arc of history naturally bends in its direction is looking naïve. So, too, is the decision to let our military advantage slip. Soft power and economic influence are fine capabilities to have, but they cannot stop Russian armor as it rolls toward Kyiv."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/opinion/putin-war-russia-military.html
I hate to be that guy, but that's not a T-72 tank in the picture. It's a BMP-3 armored personnel carrier. (Love the article, by the way.)
The clarity which JVL sets out the case is chilling especially because the logic is irrefutable.
"Reality Is a Tank"
Are we sure this isn't a sentimental fantasy and reality is a nuclear tipped hypersonic missile?
It's not fun watching our hegemony collapse in real time.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I just ordered it. I stayed at the Metropol in'78, my room complete with a picture of a lovely cow with a dime sized hole in her haunch. I suppose I wasn't of interest enough to reinsert the microphone.
JVL’s comments remind me of Stalin’s famous WW II comment about the moral influence of the Vatican: “how many divisions does the Pope have.”
And I did mean NordStream 1 because NS2 is "being shut down"
The armored vehicle at the top is a BMP 3, not a T 723B. Otherwise great article. This was all both predictable and preventable. The fact we have not already closed our embassy's, started talks to shut down NordStream 1 and gain consensus on closing SWIFT to the Russians means we are unserious about this. As a former Retired Officer I also see no reason to send American service personnel there to die for ????? Like China its a farce.
Hank the Tank is a star.
Re: #3
Hank the Tank...an outsized bruin trespassing and breaking into folks' homes in pursuit of what he wants, undeterred by non-lethal hazing. (Saw this story earlier today in another publication in which he was also described as stealthy and determined.)
A Gentleman in... Moscow. Really?
This is a bit too...too...well, you know. But y'all do have those shirts for a pretty good reason. Just wondering, do you think it was the clearness of those eyes that made it possible for G.W. to tram the guy's soul? Think what he actually saw was a reflection of his - and countless others' - own wishful thinking.
Now, about those shirts...I'm not a "shirt" guy. But you put your mug on a mug, and I'm in.
2 war doctrine? We spend 750 or so billion dollars now. How much does this prepping for simultaneous war against China and Russa cost? For starters maybe we should end those non wars we are currently engaged in at such great expense.
Just a thought...
This site spends a lot of time and energy urging Democrats to tailor their talking points to public opinion.
What is public opinion re Ukraine? About where it was re intervention in Europe a year before Pearl Harbor.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/policy/international/593989-americans-favor-support-for-ukraine-without-troops-poll%3famp
https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/us-public-opinion-world-war-II-1939-1941
https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main/us-public-opinion-about-entering-world-war-ii-1940
FDR and his advisors deserve much of the credit (with a decisive last minute assist from Tojo and Hitler) for shepherding opinion toward a global perspective.
Right now things seem to be drifting in the opposite direction. Or at least dead in the water.
It would surprise me if either Russia or China made it easy for the West by gratuitously attacking US or NATO troops.
(Trivia question: Which part of the US was most in favor of helping beleaguered Britain? Answer: The solid, segregationist, but overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon, free trading South.)
Should Biden & Co. be content to read polls, or should they be trying (and do they have the competence) to influence them?
Pretty sure that’s a BMP (an Infantry Fighting Vehicle)—a troop carrier—and not a T-72 (an actual tank). Sorry for the nerd alert but I spent the ‘80s as a US Army Intelligence Analyst studying the Soviets…
I have never missed John McCain as much as I do right now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGzgzUmaR-4
Yay, I was excited to hear which book you ended up reading. (I was having trouble thinking of something you might consider "great.") A Gentleman in Moscow was an excellent choice!