war

Abrams To Ukraine: Pros and Cons

(photo courtesy defense.gov)

There are general arguments with respect to whether the United States ought to be supplying Ukraine with weapons of war during their present conflict with Russia. Moral purists will even argue, and not without justification, that a proverbially free democracy like the U.S.A. should not be in the business of weapons supply at all, even with close allies. Libertarians say that it’s unreasonable to engage in any overseas warfare whatsoever for any reason but self defense. Finally, there are specific objections to permitting the Abrams to be deployed on any modern battlefield where the vital interests of the United States are not at issue.

Much of this can be simplified to the single question: Does the United States have any reason at all for involvement with the Ukraine war?

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The War Is Over. We Lost.

“You might as well appeal against a thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war. War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
― William Tecumseh Sherman

EDITORIAL

Doing this is hard sometimes.

When I started The Not Fake News, I set some ground rules. One of them is to always tell the truth as I see it, however painful that might be and without regard to the number of readers it will cost us. From time to time, that truth is harder to write about than not. This is one of those times.

Because the truth is that Russia, under Vladimir Putin, has won his war. And we lost.

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Mariupol Theater: An Unpleasant Truth

EDITORIAL

Of the hundreds of women and children that had taken shelter in Mariupol’s 150-year-old theater, we’re told now that many survived. The shelter in the basement withstood the bombing, and rescue workers are presently engaged in getting people out.

This is the good news.

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Why Invade Ukraine, Uncle Vlad?

Putin tried but failed to justify his war to the West. He did fool a lot of people leading up to the conflict, but since then he’s been overmatched; Europe has learned to fear and mistrust him, and much of the United States loves an underdog too much to want to believe him. In another article, we dealt with a few of his claims (and some others from across the internet), and the actual truth behind them. The bottom line is, there’s just not much truth to them.

But if not the plight of expatriate Russians, what could possibly motivate a modern dictator to get involved in a land war in Eurasia?

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The Lessons Of War

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.

But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

– Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, from “The Gulag Archipelago”

Today, again, we stand on the brink of global war. Its spectre is never far from us; for all that our nations are inextricably intertwined by the bonds of commerce, natural resources never increase, and there will always be a country that wants what another has. There will always come a generation that doesn’t remember how terrible war can be, and that dreams of glory.

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Sports Desk: Regime Change

We have a new guest columnist; someone came in and left this on the empty desk over in our Sports Center.  Unlike most others, this one also left a release.  Wonders never cease.  -Editor

Football season’s over and the Virus is keeping a lot of folks home, but there’s always good conversation over at my favorite watering hole.  There were a bunch of us talking about Tulsi Gabbard yesterday, and her strange Hawk and Dove view of foreign policy.  Makes sense to me, but not everybody gets it.  But then McK weighed in on the subject, and his words are worth repeating (more…)

Nothing To See Here; Move Along

(or, Why I Haven’t Written Much Lately)

Most of my posts here are about current events.  When an important new law gets signed, I’m all over it; when there’s a big mystery or scandal, I’m right here with my opinion.  Normally, when there’s a pause in the news for whatever reason, I’ll chime in with a suggestion on policy.

Trouble is, right now, nothing’s happening, and what is happening is just more of (more…)

Mob Kills For Blasphemy: Is Religion Evil?

“…a heated debate over religion with fellow students broke out at the dorm and led to people accusing Khan of blasphemy against Islam. That attracted a crowd that grew to several hundred people, according to witnesses.

The mob kicked in the door, dragged Khan from his room and beat him to death…”

Main Article:
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-14/dorm-debate-led-to-death-in-pakistan-blasphemy-killing-witnesses

I have faith, myself.

I’ve never burned anyone, or mobbed or stoned them.  I’ve never rioted or chanted or held horror signs outside abortion clinics.  And most of the people I know (more…)

Upcoming Immigration Ban: What We Know

(NOTE:  This article is being written in advance of the new Executive Order designed to function in place of that order of 27 January which has been partially blocked by the 9th Circuit.  It is designed to be predictive in nature.  When the new order finally is released, expect to see this updated with comparisons, but I’ll try to leave my predictions intact so you can see how smart I am — or how foolish, just as the case may be.  The new order has now been released; comparisons are in a separate section at the end of the article.)

One week after taking office, President Trump released an executive order banning travel to this country on certain passports.  I’ve written extensively on the pros and cons of accepting refugees, on the ways the ban went horribly wrong and why, and on the justifications for that ban.  Combining that with the decision of the 9th Circuit to block some of its implementation, we should be easily able to predict what’s about to get ordered. (more…)

On Banning Assault Rifles

It’s said even Reagan was against every Tom, Dick, and Harry owning an AK-47.  And that may well be true; on the other hand, what difference does it make?  We should keep this discussion to the essentials, and reduce whatever we can to its core.

There exists a philosophical difficulty with banning “assault rifles”; it can be (more…)