The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Why Ukraine Is Winning (So Far)

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, surnamed Cunctator (c. 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. . . . His agnomen, Cunctator, usually translated as “the delayer”, refers to the strategy that he employed against Hannibal’s forces during the Second Punic War. Facing an outstanding commander with superior numbers, […]

Ukraine: Russia Agrees to Temporary Cease-Fire in Besieged Mariupol

Breaking news overnight: Russia said Saturday it was observing a temporary cease-fire in the key Ukrainian port city Mariupol, which it has besieged for days, to allow the creation of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. The cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. E.T. and will cover both Mariupol and the smaller nearby city Volnovakha, […]

Teetering on the Brink

The good new is, we’ve avoided World War III so far. The bad news is, Ukraine is getting pounded to hell. Being a student of history — and particularly of military history — I’ve struggled to resist the feeling that I’m living through a sequel to The Guns of August. If you’ve never read Barbara […]

Listen to the Experts!

Far be it from me to say that Lyle Goldstein’s analysis is wrong. Indeed, the possibility that Ukraine could become the site of an Iraq/Afghanistan-style “insurgency” does seem unlikely. But things that seem unlikely happen all the time, and we cannot rule anything out, just because the odds are daunting. Putin is rattling his nuclear […]

The Blessings of St. Javelin

This image of a saint wielding an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile has become an iconic symbol of the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. When you see video of destroyed Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, chances are it was a Javelin that did the damage. The Javelin is quite a sophisticated weapon, so much […]

What a Real President Looks Like

Either way it goes, he’ll be a historic figure: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that he is still in the capital of Kyiv (Kiev) in a video purporting to show the leader from the streets of the embattled city in the early hours of Saturday morning after reportedly shutting down a plea from the Biden […]

UKRAINE: Kyiv Survives Another Day

The good news is that the Ukrainian capital did not fall to the Russian invaders Friday night, but it is becoming a battle in earnest: Street fighting has broken out in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces advanced on the city and Ukrainian officials urged residents to take shelter. As dawn broke in Kyiv on […]

UKRAINE: No, Thanks, Fox News, I Don’t Want to Hear Geraldo Rivera’s Opinion

This morning I got up at 6 a.m. to work on my job (that I never discuss) and turned on my home-office TV. Fox News was actually reporting news, but after a while, they brought on Geraldo Rivera and I wish I had video of his appearance, to explain why I switched my TV to […]

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