Tag: #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 3) – Hopes of a Dictator

February 18, 2024

Like-minded authoritarian leaders seem inclined to form alliances to provide some assurance that their conduct, however corrupt and brutal, at least finds approval by their colleagues. These leaders tend to find their own justification in the role they have played in advancing some national purpose. It is actually more the case that they have elevated themselves to a place that allows them to adopt any form of aberrant conduct necessary to achieve goals more suitable for themselves than their nations. When such goals are threatened, as inevitably occurs, the desperate dictator will reach out to his authoritarian colleagues for support hoping it to be available for the duration of his troubles. … More Putin’s Odds (Part 3) – Hopes of a Dictator

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

Orbán and Populism in Europe

January 5, 2024

Just across the border from Estonia on Russian territory stands a very visible sign with a simple statement, “Russia knows no borders,” a characteristically Russian self-indulgent bravado meant to intimidate a smaller nation that has stood firmly with Ukraine in its current war with Russia; a war by which Russia has made clear that it has no regard for the borders of sovereign nations. It stands as warning to any nation in its proximity – the Baltic states, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. … More Orbán and Populism in Europe

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”

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

Poland’s Historically Troubled Relations with Russia

April 19, 2023

Often, when thoughts come to mind of eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact or simply those nations immediately west of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), it is Poland that comes to the fore. Since it has broken loose the chains of its Soviet-style socialist existence and regained a true sense of self-determination, Poland has announced itself to the world in a manner that suggests it is set to lead. It both speaks and acts boldly and is dictating its own destiny. … More Poland’s Historically Troubled Relations with Russia

The Isolationist Stance of the Uneducated

March 20, 2023

The comments made by some individuals vying for political relevance in the coming presidential race seem to have little to do with the reality of global affairs and more to do with voter appeal. More qualified authorities with a sense of world history, current geopolitical dynamics, military strategy, trade relations, humanitarianism and national identity are better suited for comment than those who merely seek distinction with provocative soundbites that pretend to show wisdom. When an effective global effort is underway in which the United States has taken the lead to address a crisis, American resolve should not be looked upon by the world as time-dependent and its promises restricted to the duration of a single presidential administration. There can be no assurance than that the welfare of the international community, including that of America itself, is under consideration and can remain secure in the long-run. This is particularly the case, when authoritarian regimes figure themselves to have permanency and have intentions of forever securing that state-of-affairs by whatever means available to them despite what history has repeatedly taught us. … More The Isolationist Stance of the Uneducated