Greenwald assured me Trump was a non-interventionist and more of a pacifist than Biden, but here we are.
Speaking of Everyone Being Tired of Russia’s Bullshit
Japan is seizing the moment:
Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, said that southern Kuril Islands are a sovereign part of his country, and not part of Russia, which has controlled the group of islands since 1945.
Speaking in the Diet earlier this week, Kishida told lawmakers the Kuril Islands are “original territories of Japan”.
The islands have been a point of controversy between Japan and the Russia for decades. Moscow took control of the islands after World War II in 1945.
Putin’s girlfriend Alina and their four children go into hiding in luxury chalet in Switzerland
In recent years, the Japanese government had refrained from referring to the islands as its “original territories” in order to avoid upsetting the Russian government.
However, following the global anti-Moscow sentiment since the invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese government has reinstated its historic claim on the islands.
Everyone has seen the bully is weak and their conventional forces are shit, and people are not scared anymore. This is particularly troubling for Russia because:
1.) Japan and the United States has bilateral defense agreements.
2.) The US has defense agreements with most of Europe and many other places
3.) Russians can’t afford a two front war much less the one they have now and are stressed in other places they have gotten themselves involved in like Syria.
4.) Japan is in a better position to defend those islands
5.) Japan actually has a pretty amazing Navy, where the Russian navy is old cold war shit and a couple vanity projects they can’t really afford.
Again, this is Adam’s gig, but no matter what the eventual outcome in Ukraine is, there is a going to be a global re-ordering because of Putin’s folly.
I expect China to do what China always does. Sit by and root for injuries. Which, were I China, I would do, too. Where as the American memory lasts til about 15 minutes after we take the yellow ribbons off the trees or the “Never Forget” sticker peels off the car or we trade it in, and the European memory last decades and decades, the Chinese memory lasts hundreds of centuries. So I expect them to simply make vague and conflicting statements while condemning US actions and waiting for this all to end and then simply filling the void filled by American and European industries that will no longer be welcome in a diminished Russia and buy Russian oil for dirt cheap. it will be like Trump’s idiotic trade war with China, except China will be one offering to sell shit and trade with Russia, instead of every other country rushing to trade with China and our soybean farmers and producers getting fucked by Trump.
Not to mention, we’ll probably have our hands full dealing with all the weapons we are shipping into Ukraine that have now fallen into the wrong hands.
I also expect these insult like what Japan is doing right now to further drive Putin mental and make him more violent and erratic, and the people of Ukraine will bear the brunt of that anger for now.
Speaking of Everyone Being Tired of Russia’s BullshitPost + Comments (128)
National Women’s Month: Let Me Introduce You To Jennifer Beck Bos
She saved my brother’s life.
Bos was a Nebraska Army National Guard specialist and a truck driver with the 1075th Transportation Company when she was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device for exceptional heroism and gallantry during an insurgent enemy ambush that occurred near Salmon Pak, Iraq, on March 20, 2005.
While under attack she extracted a wounded Soldier trapped inside a damaged vehicle, moved the Soldier to safety and returned to her vehicle while under direct and indirect enemy fire and led the convoy out of the kill zone.
Bos was the first female in the Nebraska Army National Guard to be awarded the Bronze Star.
On March 20th, 2005 I received a phone call no sister ever wants to receive. It was my brother, shaken, tired and worried about his injured friend, telling me about what he’d just experienced.
You can listen to his unit tell their story here (warning, it is intense):
“It Got Scary:” Nebraska National Guard Soldiers Reflect On Ambush In Iraq, 10 Years Later
“One of the most beautiful days I can remember weather wise, the entire deployment I was over there,” is how Jay Schrad remembered the morning of March 20, 2005.
Schrad and 13 other soldiers from the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1075th Transportation Company were rolling out of a base in Kuwait, taking a 33-vehicle supply convoy into Iraq. They were young, most in their early 20s. Most were from the Columbus area. They’d been doing this for several months at this point, halfway through the deployment. This convoy included pairs of Nebraska soldiers in green semi-trucks, civilians driving white semis and three Humvee gun trucks providing security.
They had been attacked on previous missions with roadside bombs and small arms fire, which was no surprise, because regardless of tactics, mile long convoys attract attention in a war zone. “We made our presence known,” A.J. Bloebaum said. “They knew when we were coming.”
But they’d always sped away from the trouble. read more
Heroes every damn one of them.
It’s been fifteen years this month and I still cannot type this without my pulse racing and my eyes tearing. My brother had already survived an IED that took his door off the truck. I am forever grateful for everyone in this unit. I’ve had dinner with many of them. I’ve heard about their struggles getting VA help. I know you still cannot startle my brother when he’s asleep (poor Bixby).
Those were long, sleepless months when he was deployed, I’d leave my computer on so I could see when he checked back in after every trip. Forever grateful for Yahoo’s messenger system that let us video chat almost daily. Forever grateful he came home.
I still ache that we will not have a woman president, feeling as if my gender has once again been sidelined. So I wanted to share about this amazing soldier and remind us all to keep fighting for our place at the table. And thank you, Jen, for making sure my brother and his unit made it out alive.
National Women’s Month: Let Me Introduce You To Jennifer Beck BosPost + Comments (21)