Category: NATO

The Time Has Come for Decisiveness in Ukraine

June 11, 2024

Since its inception and until recently, an asymmetric war has been underway in Ukraine. It has sparked remarkable innovation on the part of Ukraine but has also prevented its military from conducting their war effort with the same strategic options and advantages available to the Russian invader. Defensive weaponry was provided early in the course of the war and used with great effect to repel the Russians from much of their initial territorial gains.   … More The Time Has Come for Decisiveness in Ukraine

Putin, an Anachronism

May 6, 2024

While several leaders in the West and elsewhere, whatever their age, are intent on remaining current with awareness both of their own place in history and the aspirations of their respective nations, an aging Vladimir Putin seems never to have left his past behind nor even those of his predecessors. He is a resurrection from another era, intent on regaining a past glory of Russia which he believes once existed. … More Putin, an Anachronism

Putin’s Odds (Part 4) – The Trees and the Forest

March 11, 2024

History is meant to work as an educational tool for those generations to follow. It is meant to provide direction for establishing priorities that will guide the deliberations of leaders. Blunders of the past have often resulted from national grievances that have been propagandized to a feverish level by authoritarian regimes with self-serving agendas. When war has been the result, the outcome has often led to catastrophic defeat for the aggressor and a protracted national shame but not without the inevitability of widespread grief shared by the many nations forced to confront the aggressor. … More Putin’s Odds (Part 4) – The Trees and the Forest

Putin’s Odds (Part 2) – The Nature of People

February 5, 2024

The key to authoritarian rule in the 21st century is deception, concealing oneself from serious scrutiny while imposing progressive control over society by a variety of means including the establishment of a secret police to enforce guardrails that prevent the dismantling of that control. Yet circumstances arise whereby a black swan wrenches that control away bringing with it the realization of past deception reinforced by all the grievances left unresolved in the sordid affair. This is the recurring story of authoritarian Russia – the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) – a story on its way again to ending a corrupt regime in some catastrophic fashion. … More Putin’s Odds (Part 2) – The Nature of People

Pro-Russian Gaslighting in North America – the “Tankies”

October 2, 2023

“Tankie” definition: an individual on the far left or far right of the political spectrum who aligns with corrupt foreign authoritarian regimes to promote their foreign policy agenda, thinking them to be superior to that of their own nation. (Russian translation: “useful idiot”)

“Thinking of things is difficult; therefore, let the herd pronounce judgment.” – Carl G Jung   
With that sarcasm, so goes the global campaign of Russian disinformation in its various forms spread by well-funded media trolls, ill-informed journalists, political hacks and academics whose bias exceeds the guardrails of scholarship: Enter the tankies. The rhetoric is commonplace and repetitive giving one the feeling that, despite its absurdity, the more often it’s said, the more likely it will be taken as “truth.” To be clear, the United States (U.S.) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) did not instigate the war in Ukraine as some scholars are desperate to claim and others are keen to regurgitate. … More Pro-Russian Gaslighting in North America – the “Tankies”

Putin’s Designs on Empire vs Putin’s Fear of NATO Encroachment

July 1, 2023

A number of essays have appeared over the past year regarding the actions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in fueling Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, a sovereign nation, in an attempt to overtake its government for the apparent purpose of preventing its assimilation within NATO. In essence, it was NATO’s gradual and willful encroachment upon Russia that was the crux of the matter. Putin’s stated goal, however, was to deNazify and demilitarize Ukraine because he saw it as a threat to Russia and all ethnic Russians in Ukraine. We have yet to see a lucid argument justifying the accusation and subsequent actions that doesn’t shame his regime and Russia before most of the world. … More Putin’s Designs on Empire vs Putin’s Fear of NATO Encroachment

Russian Disinformation and the Inconvenience of Truth – 1941 and 2022

May 10, 2023

This is the scene that has been unfolding for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. It is witness to familiar elements of what we have come to regard as the worst of humanity – indiscriminate destruction of cities, mass executions, kidnapping of children, displacement of millions of civilians, rape, forced prostitution and torture, highlighted recently by the savagery of beheading prisoners. The bare truth underlying this Russian invasion is that it is entirely unjustified. … More Russian Disinformation and the Inconvenience of Truth – 1941 and 2022

Crime and Punishment (Part 1)

December 1, 2022

The European Union (EU) recently declared Russia to be a state sponsor of terror. Too often, a crime against humanity, though apparent for all to witness, is not universally condemned. Ulterior motives, less honorable, allow it to continue while the global community remains paralyzed by economic, geopolitical and legal deliberation. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is such a crime. … More Crime and Punishment (Part 1)