[Bible.org] It was Christmas Eve 1875 and Ira Sankey was traveling on a Delaware River steamboat when he was recognized by some of the passengers. His picture had been in the newspaper because he was the song leader for the famous evangelist D. L. Moody. They asked him to sing one of his own hymns, but Sankey demurred, saying that he preferred to sing William B. Bradbury’s hymn, "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us."
As he sang, one of the stanzas began, "We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way." When he finished, a man stepped from the shadows and asked, "Did you ever serve in the Union Army?" "Yes," Mr. Sankey answered, "in the spring of 1860."
Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlit night in 1862?"
"Yes," Mr. Sankey answered, very much surprised.
"So did I, but I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, ’That fellow will never get away alive.’ I raised my musket and took aim. I was standing in the shadow, completely concealed, while the full light of the moon was falling upon you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing... ’Let him sing his song to the end,’ I said to myself, ’I can shoot him afterwards.’ He’s my victim at all events, and my bullet cannot miss him.’
But the song you sang then was the song you sang just now. I heard the words perfectly: ’We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.’ Those words stirred up many memories. I began to think of my childhood and my God-fearing mother. She had many times sung that song to me. When you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, ’The Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.’ And my arm of its own accord dropped limp at my side."
[Bloomberg] In November 1939, soon after Hitler’s Germany invaded Poland, another massive European country likewise attacked a smaller neighbor: Russia invaded Finland. After vicious fighting through a long and bitter winter, the war ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty, in which Finnish concessions fell far short of what Stalin had hoped for in launching his invasion.
Despite being heavily outgunned and outmanned by the Soviet Army, the Finns were able to largely fight the Russians to a standstill in what they call the Winter War. The scenario was eerily similar to the situation unfolding today in Ukraine, where President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is facing ferocious resistance from the scrappy Ukrainians.
Over a decade ago, when I visited Helsinki as the supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the first place the Finns took me was to their Winter War Museum. We spent two hours there, and I was fascinated by the courage portrayed in the dioramas, exhibits, maps and photographs from the war. I treasure a gift the Finns gave me of a map showing the troop locations, and the names and faces of the Finnish generals around the border.
The Finns were outnumbered roughly two to one in terms of trained soldiers, but the more staggering differences were in tank and combat aircraft inventories. The Finns had just a few dozen of each, while the Soviets had around 5,000 tanks and 4,000 aircraft. Yet by the end of the conflict, the Finns had inflicted five times as many killed in action on the Soviet army as among their own.
While the Soviet advantages in the air and with mechanized operations eventually overcame much of the Finnish resistance, the determined nature of the defenders and the threat of an ongoing insurgency did much to shape the peace. Despite the pre-war goals of conquering the entire country and installing a puppet regime, the Soviets finally settled for a small slice of Finland’s territory (around 10%) and a pledge of Finnish neutrality.
What can we learn from the Russo-Finnish War that informs our approach to events in Ukraine today?
First and most importantly, we should appreciate that a determined military force, fighting on home terrain, can face down daunting odds to achieve success on the battlefield. The Finns have a long and fierce sense of independence, as do the Ukrainians, despite Russian protestations in both wars. I know firsthand the high quality of both nation’s militaries, which deployed under my command in Afghanistan and on other NATO missions.
When soldiers are fighting to protect their children, parents and spouses — and the independence of their nation — they have a significant morale advantage over conscripts and reservists. This was true for the Finns and remains a significant factor in the Ukraine war.
A second issue that applies in both instances is the importance of outside assistance. Volunteers from around the free world made their way to Finland to fight in the Winter War, notably from neighboring Sweden. The Finns received combat equipment and diplomatic assistance as well from many nations. The League of Nations condemned the Soviet invasion of Finland, much as the United Nations has censured Russia’s actions.
#1
Many differences too numerous to mention. Terrain,massive exit of population uninhibited by the waving Russians, outrageous corruption within Ukrainian government and so on. A polished turd still looks like a turd. Putin is not Stalin. He is well disciplined, tenacious and goal oriented. Deep water port a highly desired need for Russia. Forcing Russia and China together has created a NATO of Asia. India, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and of course Taiwan all now see the tide of change approaching them. With the Biden leadership they can expect no consideration. They are on their own.Latin America is lost, Africa/Arab world, and even Canada. NATO is a sad joke. If I lived in Alaska now I too would be nervous. This will be a long slog for America. With bureaucrats running things only failure will be achieved.
#3
What! Sacrilege! Blasphemy! No self respecting American would call Putin anything but a slimeball! Disciplined? No no no no no he must be a psychopath, a sociopath, a Hitlerstalingoebbelsmao. If we don't call him that how do we face the fact that the sickest and most inhuman minds have run America for the past 3-4 decades? Excluding Donald Trump which was a one off incident and cannot be allowed again.
#4
Do you think the sons of the Soviet staff officers that confidently predicted that the "Afghans would welcome their fraternal Russian comrades" promised that Putin would only have to chant "Nazi! Corruption! Nazis!" three times and Ukraine would collapse?
[YouTube] Think the Europeans will need to get by without Russian crude? You are 100% correct. But you are not thinking anywhere near big enough.
Most of Russia’s oil fields are both old and extraordinarily remote from Russia’s customers. Fields in the North Caucasus are either tapped out or were never refurbished in the aftermath of the Chechen Wars, those of Russia’s Tatarstan and Bashkortostan provinces are well past their peak, and even western Siberian fields have been showing diminishing returns since the 2000s. With few exceptions, Russia’s oil discoveries of the last decade or three are deeper, smaller, more technically challenging, and even farther from population centers than the older fields they would be expected to replace. Russian output isn’t in danger of collapsing, but maintaining output will require more infrastructure, far higher up-front costs, and ongoing technical love and care to prevent steady output declines from becoming something far worse.
While the Russians are no slouches when it comes to oil field knowledge, they were out of circulation from roughly 1940 through 2000. Oil technology came a long way in those sixty years. Foreign firms—most notably supermajors BP and Shell, and services firms Halliburton and Schlumberger—have collectively done work that is probably responsible for half of Russia’s contemporary output.
Continued on Page 49
#2
This guy shoots from the hip without bothering to verify basic facts. The Financial Times reports that none of the three oilfield services majors is leaving Russia. In fact French companies are already moving into Russia to take the place of US and U.K. companies that have left.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Platon Besedin
[REGNUM] I am surprised by those who are still surprised by what is happening in Ukraine, and more specifically, by how people surrender to the lowest instincts, how they call on the darkest demons. But all this is more than natural. Continued on Page 49
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
[ColonelCassad] 1. Mariupol. Street fighting. By evening, no major progress was reported in the city. Cases of attempts by enemy soldiers to leave the city under the guise of civilians have become more frequent. The filtering generally works. Civilians continue to be actively pulled out of the combat zone and evacuated.
2. Ugledar. According to a number of reports taken, but there is no official confirmation yet. The RF Armed Forces actively advanced in the direction of Kurakhovo. There are prerequisites for an offensive from the east to Velikaya Novoselka. In Maryinka, after several days of fighting and powerful artillery preparation, it was possible to inflict serious losses on the enemy and make some progress, but the complete capture of the Maryinsky fortified area is still far away.
3. Avdiivka. No significant changes. The positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding here, despite many days of fire.
4. LPR. Rubizhne is almost completely cleared. The troops advanced to the northern outskirts of Lisichansk. Soon the assault on the city will begin. In Severodonetsk - street fighting. It is too early to talk about the complete capture of Popasna, fighting continues in the city.
5. Kharkov. Heavy fighting to the north and east of the city. Their results are not yet clear. In the area of Izyum, the struggle for Kamenka continues, which is of decisive importance for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, holding the southern part of Izyum, which hinders the effective development of the Russian Armed Forces offensive against Slavyansk and Barvenkovo. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are well aware of the consequences of the collapse of the front near Izyum and throw here their most combat-ready reserves from the remaining ones.
6. Zaporozhye. Gulyaipole is more likely to be under the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The city was badly damaged. Most likely, pressure in this direction will increase after the liberation of Mariupol. The front between Vasilievka and Kamenskoe is unchanged. Orekhov is also under the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
7. Kyiv. Some expansion of the zone of control of the RF Armed Forces to the west and south of Kyiv, but there are no operational achievements yet. Fighting continued from the east, but there are no active movements in the direction of Brovar yet. There is no special movement towards Poltava, although the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has already stated that the advance towards Poltava will soon begin. Perhaps, there is still an accumulation of forces. Sumy and Chernihiv are unchanged.
8. Odessa. The Black Sea Fleet is still imitating a landing threat, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are engaged in anti-landing activities. Along the way, it is reported that part of the exposed sea mines was torn off by a storm and carried away towards Romania and Bulgaria. There are no major movements of troops from Odessa to Nikolaev. On the contrary, there is a process of building up the Odessa group in anticipation of the activation of the Nikolaev group of the RF Armed Forces.
9. Nikolaev. Losses during the strike on the barracks of the 79th brigade ranged from 80 to 200 killed and 200-300 wounded. In fact, one of the battalions of the brigade ceased to exist in a few minutes, which seriously reduced the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct active operations in the Nikolaev region or to be active in the direction of Kherson. The city itself is still not stormed, the emphasis is on the methodical destruction of manpower and equipment by air strikes, missiles, MLRS and artillery.
10. Krivoy Rog. There is no serious progress yet, as under Nikolai. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation met barriers there and so far are not making active advances in the direction of these cities. Tactical reconnaissance is actively conducted deep into enemy territory due to the lack of a full-fledged front in all areas.
[Running Iron] For years a mythology has accreted around Vladimir Putin. Both admirers and detractors in the West have seen him as a calculating genius, playing three-dimensional chess while everyone else was playing checkers. RIR never bought that analysis. We did see Putin as a cunning opportunist, parlaying strategic ambiguity and incremental bites at the periphery of the West into success in a long game of asymetric warfare — which, it must be remembered, is how the weak battle the strong. All the advantages that accrued to the spider in the Kremlin through that approach went out the window with the all-out invasion of Ukraine.
In testimony before Congress, CIA Director Bill Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines concurred in the assessment that Putin grossly miscalculated both Russia’s capacity and the response of Ukraine and the West. He thought he had sanction-proofed his economy; it’s reeling. He thought he had reformed his army to allow for a quick decapitation campaign; it’s bogged down, battered and suffering from poor morale. He thought the West was weak and riven by divisions and would not respond in a unified matter; so far, the West has shown a remarkably united front. And the most fundamental miscalculation of all: He thought Ukraine would fold up, roll over and die. Instead, they have put up a fierce, profoundly inspiring resistance. He forgot what real military thinkers — and sports coaches, for that matter — never forget: Your opponent has a say.
#1
I wonder how Biden would be portrayed in their media. Propaganda and story telling is alive and well these days. Most people I meet have walked away from our media and they are much happier.
#1
More FSB propaganda on Rantburg. Do you people owe money to Tucker Carlson or does he have naked pictures of the owner of this site with little boys?
Please change the accusatory tenor of your posting or take it elsewhere.
#6
More FSB propaganda on Rantburg. Do you people owe money to Tucker Carlson or does he have naked pictures of the owner of this site with little boys?
Please change the accusatory tenor of your posting or take it elsewhere.
Propaganda is part of the game. The Rooshuns can lie like a rug, and the Ukros do, too, but one thing they cannot lie about is time and space, which is a critical factor in military operations. And it also happens to be critical factor in propaganda, itself part of military operations.
The individual making these hints; he (or her for that matter) and his hints will be part of the background for as long as we present both sides.
[Maryland Today] Two University of Maryland researchers have received awards totaling $2.6 million to study how national security and climate change intersect in the United States and around the world.
Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, professor and co-director of graduate studies in the Department of Government and Politics, and Distinguished University Professor Arie Kruglanski in the Department of Psychology were among 17 researchers nationwide to be named recipients of the grants from the Department of Defense’s Minerva Research Initiative, a university-based social science research program.
Cunningham received about $1.6 million to lead a three-year project to study the role that state and non-state actors play in a country’s management of climate change. The focus is Mozambique, an East African nation that has a diverse array of environmental hazards along with a history of non-state actors, ranging from non-governmental organizations to rebel groups, engaging with the population in different ways.
The study will examine people’s understanding of the risks of climate change and how non-state actors involve themselves in governing such issues, said Cunningham, who is working with researchers from Emory University, Texas A&M, Penn State and Carleton University.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
It was Christmas Eve 1875 and Ira Sankey was traveling on a Delaware River steamboat when he was recognized by some of the passengers. His picture had been in the newspaper because he was the song leader for the famous evangelist D. L. Moody. They asked him to sing one of his own hymns, but Sankey demurred, saying that he preferred to sing William B. Bradbury’s hymn, "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us."
[Maryland Today] Two University of Maryland researchers have received awards totaling $2.6 million to study how national security and climate change intersect in the United States and around the world.
