Tag Archives: Ukraine war

International news

Now … get Whelan home

President Biden made this key point abundantly clear, which is that Brittney Griner’s release was not a trade for the fate of another American being held unjustly by Russian captors.

Paul Whelan has been stewing in a Russian prison cell for four years, far longer than the nine months that the Russians held Griner captive.

Whelan’s family has been gracious in welcoming Griner home. Clearly, though, they are distressed that their loved one — a former Marine — remains in prison.

The Russians accused him of espionage in 2018. Joe Biden calls his imprisonment “unjust.” And it is. He was convicted in a Russian sham trial and sent away for a 25-year sentence.

Whelan needs to come home. Joe Biden vows to move heaven and Earth to make it happen. Indeed, it’s a tall order, given the state of U.S.-Russian relations in the wake of the Ukraine War and Russia’s immoral invasion of Ukraine.

We all want Whelan released. We all stand with him and every American being held unjustly. I am going to send every single good vibe and all the encouraging karma I can muster to ensure Whelan’s eventual release.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Welcome home, Brittney

Brittney Griner is set to have a Christmas to remember forever and ever, as she is headed home after serving nine months in a Russian prison … for bringing hashish oil into the country.

Big deal, you say? You bet it is!

Griner happens to be a first-rank celebrity. She is an accomplished basketball star, a Texas native and a woman who was being punished seemingly just for being an American while her nation was engaged in diplomatic warfare against Russia over the Ukraine War.

President Biden’s team reportedly negotiated a deal in a prisoner swap. The Russians get in return a convicted arms dealer named Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in this country.

It’s fair to ask: Is this a fair swap with individuals accused of similarly heinous crimes? On the surface, no. The Russians are getting more out of this deal than we are. On the other hand, we are bringing home a young woman who possesses considerable celebrity status.

It’s a big win for the White House.

Now, let’s look briefly at another angle. Another American, Paul Whelan, remains locked up in Russia. His family wanted him included in a Griner release deal. They are heartbroken that Whelan — arrested in 2018 on a phony spy charge — remains in prison. Perhaps now the White House can put the arm on Russians to set Whelan free as well.

Griner’s offense would be considered a misdemeanor in most civilized countries. Instead, she got a nine-year sentence in the slammer. Her family begged President Biden to do what he could to bring her home. The president has succeeded and for that he deserves high praise.

There’s more work to do, though. Paul Whelan and anyone else held without merit need to come home, too.

However, Brittney Griner is coming home to her family’s welcome embrace.

Merry Christmas, Brittney.

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

crime news

Put Putin on trial!

Vladimir Putin needs to be tried for war crimes against civilians in Ukraine … of that I am utterly certain.

The Russian goon/thug/strongman/despot/tyrant has stooped to even lower lows than I thought possible.

His military is now targeting heating infrastructure in Ukraine as the temperatures start to plummet to below-zero temperatures. Who suffers from such hideous attacks? Women, children, elderly people.

Russian propagandists insist they are targeting military operations. Bullsh**! Their aim is to bring the civilian population to its knees. It’s the only target left, given that the Ukrainian military machine is making mincemeat on the battlefield of what once was considered an invincible Russian army.

Putin is now turning his weaponry on civilians. Thus, he needs to stand trial. In absentia if need be.

There is plenty of precedent for putting war criminals on trial in absentia. The International Court needs to step in –and step up — to do its job by holding this Russian despot accountable for his obvious crimes against humanity.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Pulling hard for Ukraine

I am beginning to think of myself as a spectator at a boxing match, rooting for one of the fighters to knock the other guy out … cold!

So it is with the fight between Ukraine and the Russian aggressors who launched an illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

It has been a remarkable thing to witness as Ukraine gave up territory to the Russian invaders, only to launch a “counter-offensive” and seized back much of the land taken by the aggressors.

The Ukrainians have shown courage and competence while facing down what is supposed to be a superior military power. It is turning out to be rout, only with the underdog Ukrainians emerging as potential victors in a fight for their country’s very survival.

The world full of spectators is watching this drama play out. I am one of those who wants the Ukrainians to deliver a knockout punch to the Russian invaders who — as the Ukrainians are revealing as they retake their territory — have acted as war criminals. The world is watching the Ukrainians discover mass graves containing the bodies of women, children and old men.

The Ukrainians are the good guys in this fight. I am going to keep cheering them on.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Don’t turn back on Ukraine

1 Comment

Memo to Kevin McCarthy: If Republicans take control of Congress after the midterm election, y’all will trifle with trouble if you resist delivering as much aid as possible to Ukraine, which is fighting — successfully — for its independence against Russian aggressors.

The U.S. House GOP leader has said Congress might keep the checkbook open as the war progresses. My own view is that McCarthy is sending a chilling message to Ukrainians and is giving a bit  of comfort to Russian thug Vladimir Putin as he continues to prosecute his immoral and illegal war against Ukraine.

It seems plausible, in a bizarre way, for the Republican congressional leader t threaten to pull back on aid to Ukraine. The GOP’s titular leader, Donald Trump, has been cold-stone silent on the Russian invasion, seeming to imply an endorsement of the action that Putin took against a sovereign nation.

Is this the kind of congressional leadership this country needs in this time of dire peril? I think not!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

Ukrainians expose Russian myth

Many of us outsiders never really saw this coming, that the Ukrainian armed forces would expose Russia’s once-vaunted military machine to be a third-rate fighting force.

It has occurred.

Now, to be sure, I did once assert as war loomed more likely between Ukraine and Russia that the Ukrainians weren’t “defenseless.” The now-sovereign nation once was part of the Soviet Union and, thus, benefited somewhat from its exposure to the Red Army’s legendary battlefield prowess.

The USSR is gone. What is left is a country, the Russian Federation, that comprises roughly half of its former population. It does maintain a significant nuclear force.

What we’re seeing played out on the field of battle in Ukraine is a case of a nation fighting desperately — and effectively — to preserve its independence while its opponent is suffering from a lack of morale, incompetent battlefield leadership and a national leader who has become a pariah among world leaders because he launched an illegal and immoral war.

What’s more, the Russians have committed war crimes with their indiscriminate attacks on women, children and other “soft targets.”

I don’t expect Russia to surrender to Ukraine. I am now beginning to believe the reports that Russian goon Vladimir Putin might be exploring a possible face-saving way to end this conflict.

Do I believe he will use tactical nukes on Ukraine? No. He knows the consequences would be catastrophic. Indeed, President Biden has dropped broad hints that the allied response to any such act of madness could produce even more economic pain on the Russians than they ever imagined.

The course of this war has simply blown my mind. It has produced at least a glimmer of hope that battlefield incompetence will succumb to a nation’s will to survive.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

Ukraine moves toward victory

I once posited on this blog that I didn’t believe Ukraine would be able to declare a battlefield victory against the rogue invaders from Russia.

Today, though, my view has changed. I cannot predict that Ukraine indeed will declare victory at the end of this immoral and illegal war. I am now of a mind that such a thing isn’t so far-fetched.

The trick, though, must be to find a way to bring Russian goon Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Ukrainian officials are in no mood, either, to negotiate a peace agreement with Putin and the Russians.

The Russians have killed helpless civilians. They aren’t targeting military objectives. They are striking hospitals and schools. They are killing old people, children and every civilian in between.

Putin has “mobilized” the Russian population. Russians have responded by fleeing the country and protesting in the streets. He has sought to bring more Russians into the fight as Ukrainians have scored monumental battlefield victories against the invaders.

Does the Russian madman need to save face? Looks as though he needs to in a big way. I am not opposed to allowing him to pretend he is saving his mug from further embarrassment.

He also needs to be tried by the World Court for committing crimes against humanity.

Just imagine all of this occurring with Ukrainians signing a victory statement.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news, national news, national security

Mullen to POTUS: cool the rhetoric

Mike Mullen wore a Navy uniform for many decades; he went to war for this country and served as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

So, when a distinguished officer admonishes the commander in chief over some tough talk about “nuclear Armageddon,” I am inclined to take the admiral’s words seriously.

So should President Biden.

Mullen went on TV this weekend to offer his take on the Ukraine War and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s implied threat to use tactical nukes to put down the Ukrainian resistance to his illegal invasion. Biden has talked about Armageddon and said we’re closer to that catastrophe than we have been since the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Mullen wants Biden to cool it. We need to persuade Putin to negotiate his way out of the quagmire in Ukraine. Issuing warnings about what will happen to Putin if he decides to use more dangerous weapons against Ukraine won’t work, Mullen said.

He’s right. At least I am going to presume he is right. The man knows a thing or three about warfare. Pay heed to his advice.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, International news, military news, national news

Will Putin go MAD?

Vladimir Putin fits neatly into a number of descriptive niches. He is arrogant, egotistical, power-hungry, delusional … all those sorts of things.

I do not believe the Russian goon is stupid.

Which brings me to the fundamental question of the moment: Will the former top Soviet Union spy ignore the reasons why the USSR and the United States adhered during the Cold War to a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction in avoiding the use of nuclear weapons?

Russian forces are getting their asses kicked by Ukrainians on the battlefield as Ukraine is fighting to regain territory taken by the invaders several months ago. Putin launched an illegal, immoral and unconscionable war against Ukraine. He had presumed his forces would sashay into Kyiv in a few days, toss out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and install a government to their liking.

It ain’t working out that way.

Now we hear reports of Putin pondering the use of chemical or (worse!) tactical nukes against Ukraine. President Biden, who has led the allied effort to resist Putin’s aggression, says, “Don’t … don’t … don’t” even think about it.

That would be an act of MADness beyond belief.

Surely, the Russian thug knows better. Surely …

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com