Category Archives: military news

military news

Happy anniversary, Vlad!

This is an “anniversary” that Russian goon/strongman Vladmir Putin likely never presumed he would commemorate.

It’s been one year since the Russian tyrant launched his illegal and immoral war against Ukraine. He sought to bring the former Soviet republic to its knees in days. It didn’t happen.

What Putin is now realizing, even if he doesn’t admit it, is that people whose sovereignty is threatened by an evil aggressor will fight to the death to protect themselves and their nation.

Ukraine has done that … and then some!

Yes, the Ukrainians have had help. It has come from President Biden, whose leadership has melded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a cohesive alliance hell-bent on ensuring the Russians do not attack NATO. Doing so would doom the Russians.

Putin’s cakewalk into Kyiv has turned into a stumble-bum quagmire.

May the Russians continue to suffer the shame they have earned by their conduct on the battlefield. May they also be denied a second “anniversary” of this disgraceful episode.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

‘Crimes against humanity’? Yep!

Vice President Kamala Harris laid it on the line while attending a European security conference in Munich, Germany.

She has accused Russian goon/strongman/thug Vladimir Putin of committing “crimes against humanity” while waging the immoral and illegal war against Ukraine.

There you have it. The VPOTUS put it on the record. She is correct to call Putin what he clearly has been. A war criminal!

What in the world will the great powers gathered in Munich going to do about it? For my money, and I’ve said this already, Putin needs to stand trial for the crimes the troops under his command have committed against Ukrainians.

The International Court appears to have sufficient evidence against Putin to put this monstrous leader on trial.

He has ordered the shelling of hospitals, schools and houses of worship. Ukrainians have dug up mass graves containing the remains of women, children and men who clearly were not able to participate in battles on the field.

This individual, Putin, has targeted civilians in a strategy that clearly violates treaties signed that govern the conduct of modern war.

Does that make him a war criminal? Uhhh … yeah! It damn sure does!

The supposed vaunted Russian military machine has been anything but the fearsome machine Putin and his henchmen thought they were commanding. They have learned the bitterest lesson possible, which is that people whose national sovereignty is threatened will fight to the death, which the Ukrainians have done as they have turned back the Russian onslaught.

A war that was deemed to be a cakewalk when Putin invaded Ukraine a year ago has now turned into an epic quagmire. What’s more, Putin has committed multiple crimes against humanity in an effort to get the Ukrainians to surrender.

The Ukrainian armed forces are having none of it.

Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, should be in leg irons and locked up.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

‘Abundance of caution?’ Yes!

The Pentagon says it is employing a policy that stems from an “abundance of caution” over the sightings of these high-altitude objects it is shooting out of the sky.

Good! The more cautious abundance the better!

The Pentagon and President Biden have gotten roasted unfairly over the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. Right-wing critics have said the president should have acted sooner than he did, forgetting that the Pentagon was able to disable the PRC balloon before it could collect much valuable intelligence. The military brass and the POTUS are taking no chances now, knocking these UFOs out of the sky damn near daily.

If they enter U.S. airspace — boom! — they take a missile from a fighter jet.

That is totally OK with me, given the dangers posed by assorted spooks and spies lurking out there, working either for foreign governments or by themselves.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

What? Pentagon disabled the spy balloon?

How about this: It turns out that the spy balloon caper that has Republicans and MAGA cultists all a-flutter is turning out to be the nothing burger many of us have thought all along.

You see, now we get word that the Pentagon spooks were able to “disable” the Chinese spy balloon as it crossed over U.S. territory before a fighter jet shot the sucker down off the South Carolina coast.

Hmm. Those folks at the Pentagon are good … you know?

The military brass also counseled President Biden to hold off on shooting down the balloon to minimize threats to humans on the ground and damage done by falling debris. So, the president heeded the brass and then acted responsibly.

Oh, but not according to the GOP wingnuts who have all but accused President Biden of being a closet Chinese agent. Their response has been laughable and ridiculous.

I’ll throw in stupid just to make it a trifecta.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Balloons have been flying over U.S. for … how long?

Is there a chance on God’s good Earth that a top military officer’s declaration that the Chinese have been using spy balloons for years will stop the unfounded haranguing of President Biden over this latest matter?

Nope! Not a chance.

Still, it is worth noting what the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command has said about this practice by China.

Politico reports:

The military did not detect previous flights of Chinese spy balloons over the U.S. that took place during the Trump administration, a top general said Monday, due to a “gap” in the Defense Department’s ability to track certain airborne objects.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command, cited the issue as the reason that at least three spy balloon flights were not briefed to senior Trump officials at the time.

Top general says Trump-era spy balloons flew over the U.S. undetected – POLITICO

Republicans have blasting Joe Biden to smithereens because of the administration’s reportedly late response to the most recent People’s Republic of China space balloon. They have cited President Biden’s seemingly slow response to incompetence. Good grief! The president acted on advice from his top military command to wait until the balloon was over open water before shooting it down.

The action reportedly has angered the PRC. Too bad. Let ’em squawk. As for the GOP critics, once again they are playing politics with an issue of vital national security implications.

I’ll stick with Gen. VanHerck’s assertion that the PRC has done this prior to the Biden administration taking office. We didn’t know about their presence because the military intelligence network couldn’t detect them.

Where’s the GOP indignation on that matter?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

MAGA cabal goes nuts over this?

Let’s see … I must be slow on the uptake this morning, because I am trying to wonder what in the world has the MAGA cabal cult so wadded up over the Biden administration’s latest action.

The Pentagon discovered that a reported Chinese spy balloon was floating over North America, from Alaska, through Canada and across the rest of the United States of America. The military brass decided to analyze what they found. They waited until the balloon had left our airspace over land and then shot the sucker down over open water.

The intent in waiting to shoot the balloon down was to eliminate civilian damage or — God forbid — human casualties.

The Chinese said it was a civilian device doing “scientific research.” You don’t believe that, right? Neither do I.

But the Republican MAGA propagandists now say that President Biden dismantled Donald Trump’s anti-China deterrence program to enable the People’s Republic to spy on us at will. That’s BS!

The Pentagon now reports that during the Trump term, the Chinese sent several such balloons over U.S. airspace, but the then-commander in chief took no action against the PRC.

Good grief, man! I am one American patriot who believes the president did the right thing in waiting for the spy craft to be over the Atlantic Ocean before shooting it down with jet-fired missiles.

I am pretty certain that once our debris recovery teams pick up what’s left of the balloon that we’ll learn that the Chinese were up to no good. As for the timing of the shoot-down, it’s another nothing burger being cooked up by the MAGA gang.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Again, put Putin on trial!

Russian war criminal and all-round nasty individual Vladimir Putin is showing the world — yet again! — why he needs to stand trial in the International Court for crimes against humanity.

Witness the Russians’ bombardment of an apartment complex in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. They are still digging bodies out of the rubble. I lost count of the number of civilians who died in the missile blast; last I heard it was about 30, including at least three children.

It’s good to ask: Why in the name of the rules of warfare do you target an apartment complex? It contains no military value. It is not a part of the country’s infrastructure. It contains housing for families.

Yet the Russians are continuing their assault on these so-called “soft targets” while waging a losing war against Ukraine.

They act on orders from the Kremlin. Who runs the government? Vladimir Putin!

There is plenty of precedent for putting a head of state on trial in absentia. Putin must stand trial for the crimes he is committing against humanity, as the world is witnessing during the Ukraine War.

Putin has been committing crimes ever since he sent his troops in to launch his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainians have fought back heroically and have actually gained the battlefield advantage against the Russian aggressors.

That only has accelerated Putin’s desperation, resulting in the kinds of attacks that have leveled civilian targets … killing civilians, to boot!

This individual needs to stand trial for the crimes he is committing!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Vlad keeps blustering

Vladimir Putin has laid down the law to “any nation” that decides to use nuclear weapons against Russians, which is that they would be “wiped off the face of the Earth.”

Check. Got it, Mr. Russian Goon.

The world knows that Russia is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. Putin keeps threatening to use them to put down the resistance he has encountered in his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Is anyone on Earth at all surprised that the Ukrainians would mount such a stern resistance against the Russian invaders? Not me, man!

So, for Putin to threaten to use nuclear weapons to obliterate any nation that does the same is just empty rhetoric.

The Russian tyrant knows as well as anyone why the United States and the Soviet Union stood nose-to-nose while operating under a nuclear policy of “mutually assured destruction.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news, military news

Yes! on this Person of Year

 

Time magazine gets pounded whenever it makes what many think is a dubious selection for its Person of the Year.

Not this time.

Indeed, the magazine hit it far out of the park by selecting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Spirit of the Ukrainians as its Person of the Year for 2022.

We know the story about Zelenskyy and about how he has stood up to the illegal, immoral and unjust invasion of his country by Russian military personnel under the command of the thug/goon/tyrant Vladimir Putin.

What many of us might not know has been the undying spirit of the people President Zelenskyy governs. Ukrainians across the country have rallied behind their leader. They have shown remarkable courage and resilience against the war crimes committed against them by Putin’s military machine.

We all considered the Russian army to be invincible. It damn sure isn’t! It has been routed on the battlefield by Ukrainian forces and by the Ukrainian civilians who have risen to resist the invaders.

The courage that Zelenskyy has shown will be written in history books as a shining example of statesmanship and unblinking courage.

Well done, Time. You chose wisely.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Day of Infamy … and pride

As a general rule I take every opportunity available to me to salute my favorite veteran, but sadly I fell short this past Veterans Day.

Thus, I will make up for it today by saluting my favorite vet — my dad — on Pearl Harbor Day. Yes, there is a clear connection between them.

President Roosevelt asked Congress the next day after the “date which will live in infamy” to declare war on “the Empire of Japan.”

Dad didn’t wait for the president’s message. Dad, my grandparents and his six brothers and sisters were listening to the news that Sunday after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I would learn much later what happened next.

Dad walked out of the house in Portland, Ore., ventured downtown and sought — on that very day — to enlist in the Marine Corps. The USMC office was closed. So, not to be deterred, Dad walked across the hall and joined the Navy.

Yes, on that very day that the nation was stunned into disbelief over what happened to our fighting men in Hawaii, Dad decided to get into the fight.

On that day, the Greatest Generation was born and my father was among the first of the 16 million Americans who suited up for battle.

The Navy would send Dad to Europe to fight the Nazis and the Italians, who also had declared war on the United States. He fought with valor aboard ship in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, enduring incessant bombardment from enemy aircraft.

It has been written that the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor only succeeded in “awakening a sleeping giant and filling him with a terrible resolve.” No truer words could have been put down in that moment.

A tiny fraction of the 16 million Americans who joined the fight are still with us. Dad died a long time ago, but I remember and honor his service to the nation with the deepest pride that a son can have.

It’s been 81 years since, in the words of President Roosevelt, “the dastardly attack” changed the world forever. May none of us ever forget the sacrifice of those who answered the call to arms.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com