Never try to stare down an alligator: Ukraine clusterbombs the Russians

Years ago, I was a single dad. My children lived in Massachusetts but spent summers with me in Louisiana.

During this time, my children and I occasionally visited Avery Island, where Tabasco hot sauce is made. Avery Island was also known for the alligators that roam free in a park-like setting. My son was fascinated by them, alligators being uncommon in Boston.

One day we spotted a 3-foot alligator sunning on the banks of a bayou. My son, perhaps 11 years old, approached it warily, creeping slowly toward the gator. I watched this encounter and felt sure the alligator would retreat once my son came close enough to make it feel threatened.

After a few moments, my son edged to within three feet of the little alligator. At that point, I felt sure the alligator would run away.

To my shock, the alligator stepped forward, coming within a couple of feet of my son. The alligator was sending a message, much like Robert De Niro‘s character sent in the movie Taxi Driver. "You talkin' me?"

My son and I learned a lesson that day: Never try to stare down an alligator, even a tiny alligator, because alligators know no fear.

Ukraine, NATO, and the United States are trying to stare down Russia. If they can just put enough pressure on the Russians--the allies seem to be telling themselves--the Russians will back off and leave Ukraine.

So far, that hasn’t worked, even though the Western alliance keeps escalating the military conflict. A few days ago, the Ukrainians began cluster bombing the Russians with munitions supplied by the U.S. Earlier this month, they attacked the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland.

No one seems to realize that Russia is an alligator that can’t be stared down. No one seems to recognize how ruthless the Russians can be. Apparently, our military and political leaders have not read 900 Days, the story of the siege of Leningrad. Nor have they read Enemies at the Gate, which recounts the tale of the siege of Stalingrad, when Russian political officers shot soldiers who refused to attack German trenches.

 And the NATO honchos haven't seen enough movies. If they need a refresher course on Russian brutality, they should see Child 44, starring Tom Hardy.

America should withdraw its support of the war in Ukraine. This stupid and senseless war has already killed thousands of Ukrainians and Russians. Every escalation, including the introduction of cluster bombs, brings the United States and Russia another step closer to a global economic crisis or nuclear war.

Americans should realize that it will not be the Biden family who suffers if the war triggers an economic cataclysm. That gang of grifters have their money salted away in offshore bank accounts prudently hedged against an economic downturn.

Nor will Joe Biden’s grandchildren be called to fight in Europe if the Ukrainian war gets out of control. No, it will be the children and grandchildren of the people living in Flyover Country who will suffer and die if the Ukrainian misadventure blossoms into an all-out war. 

The Biden administration is trying to stare down an alligator, and alligators can't be starred down.

The Tar Baby Syndrome: Absent-mindedly, America lurches toward war with Russia

 A tar baby, in popular parlance, is a difficult problem only made worse by attempts to solve it. The term comes from an Uncle Remus story about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. Brer Fox smears a doll with tar and tricks Brer Rabbit into striking the doll repeatedly in a futile attempt to get the doll to talk. Brer Rabbit’s punches and jabs have no effect on the tar baby, and soon Brer Rabbit is stuck in the tar.

Ukraine is President Biden’s tar baby. After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the President believed the Ukrainians could defeat the Russians if given modern weapons and training by NATO and the U.S. Army.

Things have not gone well. After 17 months of war, Ukrainian cities are in ruins, thousands of people have died, and millions of Ukrainians have become homeless refugees. Ukraine is an environmental disaster, with land mines strewn over the countryside and the lower Dnieper valley devasted by flooding.

And President Biden continues to punch the tar baby. First, his administration delivered ammunition, missiles, and javelin anti-tank weapons to the Ukrainians. That didn't do the job. Next, America and its NATO allies sent state-of-the-art tanks and armored vehicles in support of the Ukrainians’ much-ballyhooed counter-offense. But the counter-offensive bogged down, and the Russians destroyed many of the donated tanks and armored personnel carriers.

The Biden administration admits it can't supply Ukraine with all the conventional ammunition it needs to defeat the Russians. Thus, the President has decided to send cluster munitions outlawed by more than 100 countries, including many of America's NATO allies. Some call this move a war crime.

Are we done yet? Apparently not. This week the President authorized the Department of Defense to send 3,000 army reservists to Europe. This is in addition to the 20,000 troops sent to Europe earlier in the war. And Biden has promised to send F16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

President Biden is stuck to the tar baby, and the American people are stuck with him. I see no good outcome to this unfortunate war. Ukraine will never drive Russia out of Crimea, although Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, says he will do that. Nor will Ukraine recover the Donbas region.

We should remember that The US fomented this war in Ukraine when it helped topple a pro-Russian Ukrainian president in 2014, which prompted Russia to annex Crimea. Americans seem to think Ukraine is a democracy, but Zelenskyy suspended elections during the war, and his government is riddled with corruption.

This war is as stupid and unnecessary as the conflict in Vietnam or the First World War, for that matter. Yet Biden’s fight has broad bipartisan support in Congress and the mainstream media. No one seems concerned by recent disclosures that Hunter Biden has taken money from the Ukrainians. Nobody seems worried that an amoral octogenarian suffering from dementia is determining American war policy.

Some policy experts think the Ukrainian war will eventually destroy the Russian economy and force Putin out of power. I don't think so. NPR reported last April that the Russian ruble was the world's top-performing currency

No, it is the American economy that is most threatened by the Ukrainian shit show. By the time this tragedy winds down, the dollar will no longer be the world's reserve currency. We will be fortunate if we can get out of this mess without going to war with Russia.

Cluster Bombs for the Ukrainian Misadventure: America Moves Closer to Open War With Russia

Last week, President Biden announced his decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Not so long ago, his administration said that the use of cluster bombs was possibly a war crime. Indeed, more than 100 nations--including France, Germany, and Great Britain--have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions in warfare.

Ukraine's war with the Russians is not going well, however, and the American military says it is necessary to send these heinous killing devices to the Ukrainians.

Why?  Because it is expedient.

The United States is running out of the conventional artillery shells that the Ukrainians are currently using against the Russians. The American military says it won’t be able to meet Ukraine’s demands for conventional artillery ammunition until next spring. However, the US has a stockpile of cluster munitions which it can deliver right away.

Jake Sullivan, the administration's apologist on military matters, says that cluster weapons are justified in order to efficiently kill more Russians, who are deeply entrenched along the battlefront. Also, Sullivan maintains, the Ukrainians will be using these weapons in their own country, and its army will be especially careful not to endanger the lives of civilians.

What does this development tell us about the conflict in Ukraine? First, the United States has reconciled itself to the fact that Ukraine’s war with Russia will be a long war, probably lasting years.

Second, the decision to give an internationally condemned weapon to the Ukrainians is a sign that Ukraine cannot win this war using conventional weapons.

I am opposed to sending cluster bombs to Ukraine. This reckless move brings the United States one step closer to to open war with Russia. In fact, Russia may use America’s escalation as an excuse to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

There was a time when America’s involvement in Ukraine’s war would have been opposed by liberal-minded Americans. When the US was prosecuting a futile war in Vietnam, it faced growing opposition on college campuses, which culminated in the shutdown of most American colleges in the spring of 1970.

Today, college students obsess on transgender rights and gender neutral bathrooms. They are too distracted by trivial matters to ponder the moral implications of America’s involvement in the biggest European military conflict since the Second World War.

Truth is the first casualty of war: I am opposed to American involvement in the Ukrainian conflict

 Truth, the sages say, is the first casualty of war. This aphorism certainly applies to the war in Ukraine.

Who knows what is actually going on? Daily, we read headlines reporting that the Ukrainians have shot down dozens of Russian missiles and drones. The media tells us that only a handful of projectiles get through Ukrainian defenses, and only a few civilians get killed. We are also told that the Ukrainian military is holding its own against the Russians and making modest gains on the battlefront.

Are these reports accurate? What are the military casualties that have been suffered on both sides? How extensive is the damage to Ukrainian cities and infrastructure after 16 months of war? The death and carnage must be immense.

Everyone acknowledges that military aid from NATO and the United States is the only reason the Russians haven’t conquered Ukraine. Yet the Russians claim that NATO weapons are not invincible and that they have destroyed or captured state-of-the-art NATO tanks and armored vehicles. 

Are the Russians telling the truth? Who knows?

The United States declares it is not at war with Russia, yet the Russians surely believe we are. American involvement has been crucial in preventing a Russian victory. American weapons, ammunition, and expertise have contributed to massive Russian casualties, and even the city of Moscow has come under attack.

I see no good outcome to this war. I don’t believe the Ukrainians can win it. Certainly, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's prediction that the Ukrainians will reclaim Crimea is an idle boast. After all, the Russians have a major naval base there, and losing it would be an existential threat to its status as a military power.

It seems inevitable that the Russians will control the Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine when this war is over. 

Why is the United States contributing to the death and destruction in Ukraine? I can think of no other reason but to distract the American people from our government's colossal corruption and fraud.

I might feel better about this war if our president were competent. But he is not.  Even if the New York Times won't admit it, the whole world knows that Joe Biden suffers from dementia and is a crook. 

How is America paying for the weapons, ammunition, and logistical support it sends to Kyiv? Our country has run a deficit budget for 20 years and can’t pay its bills even without the costs of the Ukrainian war.

American involvement in the Ukraine war is wrong. It has weakened our country and diminished the respect the United States has across the globe.

Furthermore, the Russians will find a way to punish the United States for fomenting and prosecuting this needless war. I don’t think the Russians will retaliate militarily. Rather, they will figure out a way to hurt America economically--perhaps by undermining the status of the American dollar as the world's reserve currency.

If the American public continues to permit our government to prolong the Ukrainian war, all Americans will pay a heavy price. I think we will pay that price soon--perhaps within the next one or two years.

photo credit: CBC

The Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan: The President Scrambles to Appease College Debtors

 To no one's surprise, the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The president should have seen it coming. He said himself that he doubted whether he had the authority to forgive student loans. Nevertheless, like a child in a temper tantrum, Biden blames the debacle on Republicans.

In a recent public statement, President Biden said he would “stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families.” The White House announced that the Department of Education is rolling out a new income-based repayment plan so generous that most college borrowers enrolled in the new program will pay little or nothing on their undergraduate federal loans.

Due to the COVID crisis, the Department of Education allowed 40 million student loan debtors to skip their loan payments for the past three years without accruing penalties. The Supreme Court’s decision means these borrowers must resume making monthly loan payments later this summer.

In typical govspeak, The White House said yesterday it will construct a bureaucratic “on ramp” to make it easier for student borrowers to repay their loans. As a practical matter, this on-ramp will encourage most debtors to delay making loan payments for another year.

 Why all this sturm and drang? Why all this turmoil? Why is the federal government constructing elaborate workarounds to the Supreme Court's decision?

If President Biden really means it when he says he will stop at nothing to deliver relief to middle-class families, he can do one simple thing. He can encourage Congress to amend the Bankruptcy Code to allow distressed student debtors to discharge their student loans in the bankruptcy courts. All Congress needs to do is delete two words from the Code: “undue hardship.”    

This solution to the student loan crisis is so simple that even a child can understand it. Why then has President Biden yet to endorse bankruptcy reform? Why didn't Democrats enact this reform when they had control of Congress? Why don't Republicans support it now?

I'll tell you why. Important political constituencies are happy with the status quo.  Colleges and universities benefit from a system that pumps billions of dollars of federal money into their coffers without holding them accountable in any way. Colleges are free to raise tuition year after year--forcing their students to borrow more and more money--without regard to whether the students can repay their loans.

The student loan crisis will not be solved until higher education is reformed. Unfortunately, colleges and universities. have no incentive to reform themselves. Thus, the student loan crisis will not be addressed until American higher education collapses.

Is college worth what it costs?