Category Archives: military news

military news, national news

Sen. Tuberville: No. 1 dumbass

Congress has been populated over its more than two centuries of existence by many dumbasses and … yes, I will stipulate that they come from both sides of the partisan aisle.

However, the No. 1 dumbass in the Senate happens to be a Republican, a former major college football coach and an idiot who is spitting in the faces of the men and women who deserve nothing but respect from the people who serve in our government.

Sen. Dumbass is Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, whose one-man blockage campaign has held up the promotions of dozens of senior officers and denied the Marine Corps of being led by a commandant for the first time in the Corps’ history.

Why is that? Because Sen. Dumbass says the military allows women who serve to obtain abortions, in addition to any of the other reproductive health care issues that need attention.

Dumbass’s campaign has put the nation’s military preparedness in jeopardy. He is denying the military its full complement of general-grade officers because this foolish effort to deny those who serve the opportunity to obtain legally provided health care.

What the hell is happening to us? Imagine for just a moment what the Republican outcry would be if a Democrat was employing a one-senator rule to block appointments in the military because of a policy disagreement. Senate rules empower one senator with the authority to act as Sen. Dumbass has done.

The very idea that a Republican senator is laying waste to the military high command is enough to send many of us into a frenzy.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is set to retire next month. Will Sen. Dumbass block Gen. Milley’s successor from ascending to the Joint Chiefs chair? What in the world must this be doing to morale among the soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and Coast Guardsman and women we ask to defend us?

Sen. Dumbass needs to stand down and let our armed forces do their jobs.

International news, military news

How much can Russians take?

It’s fair to ask of our fellow travelers who happen to live in Russia: How much more of their country’s squalid leadership can they take as they watch their young soldiers get slaughtered in Ukraine?

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched an illegal and immoral war against Ukraine in February 2022. He reportedly expected a quick-and-dirty finish to the conflict, with the Ukrainians buckling under the weight of the vastly superior Russian army.

Not so fast. It damn sure didn’t happen.

Now the Ukrainians have launched their long-anticipated “counter offensive” and have retaken much of the land captured by Russian troops.

Putin’s armed forces have performed miserably. Putin surely must know it. Every international observer worth a damn has declared the Russian effort a tactical defeat for Putin.

Back to my question …

Russians cannot possibly be so gullible that they believe the propaganda put forth from the Kremlin about the so-called “success” of the military effort in Ukraine. They have access to worldwide media accounts that tell a stark story of incompetence, malfeasance, desertion among the troops and draftees fleeing the country to avoid conscription into the Russian army.

It all makes me wonder just how much longer Putin can continue to (mis)manage this conflict.

He is being offered a bitter but nonetheless important lesson, which tells him something like this: You do not invade another sovereign country expecting it to roll over just because you demand it. 

The Russians should have learned that lesson already in Afghanistan. It reminds me of the truism about “those who fail to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”

military news

Space Force: still legit?

The creation of the U.S. Space Force as a separate branch of the military was met in many quarters with plenty of skepticism.

You may count me as one who wondered whether we needed such a military arm, given the resources already dedicated to the U.S. Air Force to guard against ETs invading us from outer space … among other responsibilities.

Well, here is what I am wondering today as I ponder certain things in my retirement: When is the president of the United States, our commander in chief, going to name the Space Force commandant to become head of our Joint Chiefs of Staff?

The Space Force currently comprises about 8,600 active-duty military personnel. They are dedicated to protecting us from threats beyond our Earthly atmosphere. Congress approved its formation in December 2019. The Space Force is headquartered in Huntsville, Ala.

The Space Force then unveiled its working uniform that, and this really kills me, turns out to be “camouflage,” the kind worn by military men and women serving in, say, jungle climates. Oh, well … go figure.

I don’t really doubt the seriousness with which these individuals approach their duty. It’s a legitimate military mission, even though I still consider it to be a tad superfluous, given what the Air Force can do already, given its own space command. Indeed, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard all have anti-space capabilities.

But, one day when the commander in chief appoints the Space Force commandant to become Joint Chiefs chair, then I’ll take a fresh look at this military branch as a full partner in the defense of our nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

First things first in Ukraine

President Biden has laid it out there: Ukraine, he said, “isn’t yet ready” to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hmm. That is code, of course, for the obvious reason why it’s premature for Ukraine to consider joining NATO.

Ukraine is the middle of a war with Russia. NATO happens to have a clause in its constitution that says, in effect, that an attack on one member nation is an attack on the entire organization. Translation: That means the United States goes to war with Russia, too!

Accordingly, Joe Biden is absolutely correct in asserting that Ukraine shouldn’t become a NATO member until the war with Russia ends.

The president is displaying his foreign-policy chops handsomely during his visit to Lithuania, which is playing host to NATO member nations. Ukraine has launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against the Russian aggressors, seeking to take back territory the Russians seized when they launched the unprovoked, illegal and immoral war against a sovereign state.

Russian goon/strongman Vladimir Putin has been accused by the world court of committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians, giving Ukraine more incentive to take the fight to the Russians.

This fight isn’t over. Our sincere hope ought to be that there can be a negotiated settlement found and that the Russians can end their bloody misadventure in due course.

NATO, meanwhile, remains strong and united in its effort to persuade Russia of the tragic mistake it is making. I will credit the president of the United States for keeping his cool and for assuring NATO remains strong and united in this fight to preserve democracy.

Once the fight ends, then we can talk about Ukraine’s future as a member of the alliance formed after World War II — let us never forget — to protect the continent against Russian aggression.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

How does this guy get elected?

1 Comment

I happen to know four people fairly well who live in the great state of Alabama.

I worked with two of them; two others I met along the way. They all are friends and I believe with all my heart that they do not subscribe to the views expressed by one of their U.S. senators.

Still, I have to wonder how in the world does a dim bulb such as Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, get elected to what used to be known as the “world’s greatest deliberative body.”

Tuberville is angry with the Pentagon over its alleged acceptance of abortion; members of the military are able to acquire abortion-related medical services. So, what does Tuberville do? He blocks the appointment of the next commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, denying that service its first commandant in more than century.

Acting out of political petulance in fact puts the nation’s security at some risk. Tuberville also has held up the appointments of several other officers on the same grounds.

Didn’t the GOP once stand as the party of a strong national defense? That it would let nothing get in the way of providing the most powerful military the world has known?

Not any longer. It now stands as the party that puts partisanship and politics above national security.

Tuberville is a disgrace to his office and to the entire U.S. Senate.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Cluster bombs: Too much, too deadly?

President Biden’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine to aid the Ukrainians in their fight against Russian aggressors sends a slight chill up my spine.

I say “slight” because the president easily could place some restrictions on their use by Ukrainian armed forces.

Cluster munitions are the types of bombs break apart, sending explosives over a vast target area. They inflict astonishing damage on targets they hit. They also are known to inflict tragic collateral damage. Indeed, the Russians are using them against Ukrainians in their effort to conquer that sovereign state.

Joe Biden has accused Russians of committing war crimes in using cluster munitions, given the damage they have done to schools, hospitals and houses of worship.

It sounds like Ukraine could be sliding down that proverbial slippery slope if they use this ordnance against Russians, unless …

They are able to inflict the intended damage only to military targets.

President Biden’s decision to send these munitions to Ukraine comes at the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon brass. Fine, Mr. President.

Please, though, tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use them judiciously to avoid falling into the same category of “war criminal” as the madman who seeks to take control of your country.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump, military news, national news

The circle tightens around Trump

As the world learns more about the allegations involving the classified documents that ended up in Donald Trump’s Florida mansion, the keener the perspective becomes on what kind of individual served for a term as commander in chief.

Let’s look briefly at his disdain for the men and women who work in our intelligence community and who risk their lives to protect our lives.

We have learned that Trump exposed these documents to guests at his Florida estate who had no security clearance. He boasted about having them illegally, even calling attention to their sensitive nature.

He could have put people’s lives in jeopardy. He could have risked their lives … and to what end? To make himself look good in front of his friends? To satisfy his juvenile ego?

Trump clearly has no appreciation or understanding of the risks that these individuals take. Nor does he honor the sacrifices many of them have made in service to their country.

I flash back now for just a moment to the day of his inauguration. He went to CIA headquarters and stood in front of a wall containing stars symbolizing the agents who died in the line of duty. Did the new president honor them? Did he salute their service? Did he bow his head in silent prayer?

No! He instead boasted about the size of the crowd attending his inaugural speech, which we would learn later was seriously inflated.

This man lacks any empathy gene that would seem to be required of someone serving as our head of state. Many of us knew this all along. Some of us even warned the public that Trump’s entire professional life had been geared toward self-aggrandizement.

The indictments and the evidence we are seeing that led up to them are providing proof of what we have known all along. This individual is unfit for public office!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

If only a good guy could emerge

Before we get too far down the road in wishing for a different outcome in that brief rebellion we witnessed in Russia, it’s good to put a couple of aspects in proper perspective.

One is that the alternative to Russian strongman/goon/tyrant Vladimir Putin was not a good one.

The commander of the Wagner military group of mercenaries is one bad dude. Yevgeny Prigozhin had led a march to about 125 miles south of Moscow before he called the whole thing off. Putin called him a traitor and vowed maximum revenge.

Then Prigozhin high-tailed it to Belarus after that country’s president brokered some sort of stand-down. Putin said Prigozhin wouldn’t face punishment after all.

That’s all the bad news. The good news is that there appear to be major cracks appearing in Putin’s ring of protection in the Kremlin, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I suspect that this is a moving picture and we haven’t seen the last act yet. But we can say this,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “First of all, what we have seen is extraordinary. And I think you have seen cracks emerge that weren’t there before: first in having Prigozhin raise front and center — questioning the very premises of the Russian aggression against Ukraine to begin with — the argument that somehow Ukraine or NATO posed a threat to Russia, and a direct challenge to Putin himself.”

Prigozhin’s forces have been fighting alongside Russians seeking to overthrow the Ukrainian government … and have been getting their asses kicked by Ukrainian forces. The Wagner leader is angry over the incompetence being shown by Putin and his military high command, which is why — apparently — he sought to toss Putin out via a military coup.

If it’s true that Vladimir Putin’s regime is showing signs of weakness, then it appears incumbent on those who want him removed to ensure that an actual democrat emerges to take the reins of power in the Kremlin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is nothing of the sort.

Still, what we witnessed for about 48 hours was a remarkable attempt to unseat a wholly evil tyrant who should stand trial as the war criminal he has proven himself to be.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

Putin faces rebellion? Yes!

Vladimir Putin isn’t looking like such a tough guy after all, given the challenge mounted by the leader of what they call a “mercenary” army intent on challenging the dictator’s invasion of Ukraine.

The mercenary force was said to be marching on Moscow. Then the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, reportedly ordered his Wagner forces to “stand down.”

What in the world does this mean? At first blush, it appears that Putin is likely to seek the harshest retribution imaginable against what he calls an act of “treason” against the Kremlin. Well, that’s not exactly how some of us beyond the Russian borders see it.

Prigozhin was acting out of a sense of desperation as Russian military forces are being defeated by Ukrainians seeking to regain territory taken by the Russians in their illegal and immoral invasion launched more than a year ago against Ukraine.

And it damn sure signals a serious fracture within the Russian military command that has acted incompetently and stupidly ever since Putin ordered the invasion in early 2022.

Meanwhile, the United States — led by President Biden — continues its aggressive support in providing aid and equipment to Ukraine.

This is serious stuff, folks.

Wagner Chief Marches on Moscow in Mutiny Challenging Putin (yahoo.com)

As Yahoo News reports: The insurrection is without precedent in Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule in Russia, jolting a country trying to sustain a war in Ukraine that’s the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. It’s unfolding against the backdrop of a Ukrainian counteroffensive across some of the area where Wagner’s troops deployed for months in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

My strong hope is that Joe Biden continues to apply maximum economic pressure on Putin in a strategy he hopes will persuade the dictator to cease his aggression.

The United States cannot let up in its support of the valiant Ukrainians who are fighting for the survival of democracy in Europe.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

But … we’re doing that, Mr. VPOTUS!

While listening the other day to former Vice President Mike Pence declare his 2024 presidential candidacy, I was struck by a theme he kept harping on.

We need to do all we can to support democratic nations, such as Ukraine, he said. The United States must take the lead in helping Ukraine fend off the illegal and immoral invasion by Russian forces, he added. We need to stand for democracy in Europe, Pence said.

But … wait!

We’re already doing that, aren’t we? President Biden has not just said all of that but has persuaded Congress to spend a lot of money to arm the Ukrainians, to train them in using the equipment we’re providing them. He has imposed punishing economic sanctions on Russia, persuading our NATO and EU allies to go along.

The Ukrainians are — as near as many experts can tell — winning the fight in the field against a demoralized, under-qualified Russian invading force.

How is that? Because the United States has stepped up as the world’s pre-eminent champion for democracy!

What does Mike Pence think we should do differently than what we have done already?

For my money? Not a damn thing!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com