Yearly Archives: 2022
THE CASTLE PRISON OF RICHARD THE LIONHEART
This is Durnstein Castle, perched on a precipice high above the Danube River in Austria some 60 miles upriver from Vienna. Built in the early 1100s, here is where King of England Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned, having been captured by his enemy Leopold V of Austria on his return from the Third Crusade in the Holy Land.
The story is well known of how Richard’s brother John had usurped the throne and impeded paying Richard’s ransom – and the legend of Robin Hood raising the money pilfering it from thieving nobles. The ransom was finally paid in 1194, with Richard returning to be crowned King of England once again. The castle fell into disrepair, uninhabitable since the late 1600s. It is an eerie journey back into history to explore it today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #197 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TAKING YOUR KIDS ON A GREAT ADVENTURE
When he was 10 years old, I took my son Brandon to Indian Tibet for one of the great whitewater experiences on the planet, running the Zanskar River through the crest of the Himalayas. That was 27 years ago and he’s never forgotten it to this day.
Taking your kids on a great adventure not only bonds you with them in a deep and unique way, it opens the world to them as a place of magic, excitement, and wonder that stays with them for the rest of their lives. And for the rest of your life too.
This coming August, we’ll explore Indian Tibet again – the remote Himalayan regions of Lahaul, Spiti, Ladakh, and Zanskar – where traditional Tibetan culture still flourishes as it no longer does across the border in Chinese Tibet. I am proud to say that Brandon will be leading the expedition. I’ll just be along for the ride. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #64 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BENSTRAIGHT
In compliance with Florida law, Bengay is now rebranded as Benstraight
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/01/22
As recounted by Skye yesterday, what happened at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday (3/29) was revelatory in the extreme: Gaetz Enters Hunter Biden Laptop Data Into Congressional Record.
Skye concludes this is very persuasive evidence that “Xiden’s puppeteers have decided that Sloppy Joe has got to go, and go before the midterms wipe out their control of Congress.” It’s a conclusion hard to avoid. But what do they really gain by doing that?
THE MOST BRITISH ISLES
This is the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral in Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands, consecrated in 1892. In front is its famous Whale Bone Arch, made from the jaw bones of two blue whales (the largest creature to have ever lived, bigger than any dinosaur, and still swimming in our oceans today).
The Falklands are in far southern Atlantic some 300 miles east of the tip of South America. Claimed by Britain in 1782, an ongoing dispute first with Spain then Argentine resulted in Britain declaring it a Crown Colony and establishing a settlement, Stanley, in 1840. In 1982, after constantly claiming the islands were theirs, Argentina militarily invaded. The Falklands War was won by Margaret Thatcher ordering the British Navy, Army, and Royal Marines to take the islands back at gunpoint.
Today, Falklanders are the most patriotic people of all British possessions. They are wonderfully cheerful and friendly. There’s no more British place on earth. Don’t ever pass a chance to come here. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #167 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BIDEN WAS RIGHT – PUTIN MUST BE DEFEATED
President Biden closed his speech in Warsaw March 26 with a ringing denunciation of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said, setting off a firestorm of criticism from around the world.
Well, it’s simply off the wall to say that calling for regime change in Russia is inappropriate. Putin has not merely called for regime change in Ukraine, he has launched a full-scale invasion and repeatedly sent squads of assassins to murder Ukraine’s elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putin has stated that he wants to restore the Russian and Soviet empires; and if he thinks he can get away with it, he’ll likely continue in that project. He therefore cannot be appeased. Each successful aggression leads to yet a more offensive one.
If he succeeds in conquering Ukraine, he will go for more, because his position will be stronger and the West — with Ukraine’s forces neutralized — will be weaker, and because he will have seen, once again, that the West is unwilling to fight.
So Biden spoke the truth: For the sake of world peace, Putin cannot be allowed to remain in power.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/31/22
Is this a Father-to-Son lecture between Senator Joe and Hunter? Guess the boy never listened – or knew the Dad was just doing his political grandstanding. So they went into the corruption business together – and now the piper is being paid.
Hunter Biden Dam About To Burst? WaPo, CNN Go Scorched Earth Over 'Laptop From Hell'
Bottom line: I don't think that this is merely rats deserting a sinking ship; I suspect that Xiden's puppeteers have decided that Sloppy Joe has got to go, and go before the midterms wipe out their control of Congress. Read on to see what just happened that proves this.
PUTIN REAPS A BITTER HARVEST IN UKRAINE
Thousands of Russian corpses litter Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was widely believed to have expected an easy victory over its neighbor.
But so far, Russia has little to show for what it has called its “special military operation.” Just over a month into the war, Moscow is facing unintended consequences of its aggression in Ukraine, ranging from high casualties among its troops to economic ruin for years to come.
Here are five of them, showing how Putin is reaping a poisonously bitter harvest in Ukraine.
THE EMBARRASSMENT OF BEING A DEMOCRAT ISN’T IMPROVING, IT’S GETTING WORSE
A year ago, were barely 2 months into the Harris/Biden administration and my Dem friends were getting a bit embarrassed about the leadership they had helped foist on the country.
My naïve friends had bought into the propaganda that all of the turmoil in Washington was because of Donald Trump. They voted for a return to normalcy. Only two months into this administration, they were embarrassed to see that they had been hoodwinked big time.
I predicted to my friends that their embarrassment and that being suffered by so many of their fellow Dems would turn to anger in time for the midterm elections. I was way off. We’re already into Category 3 Hurricane Anger already and rising.
THE POLISH SAVIOR OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
On September 12, 1683, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV as the Caliph of all Islam was on the verge of realizing the great Moslem dream of conquering all of Christian Europe for the glory of Allah. The great obstacle in his way – the city of Vienna – was about to be overwhelmed by the Sultan’s gigantic army of 140,000 Islamic Taliban of their day.
On the Kahlenberg hilltop above Vienna, the commander of the Christian forces, King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, gave the order to attack. Twenty thousand armed horsemen galloped down the slopes of Kahlenberg, the largest cavalry charge in history, with the Polish King and his Winged Hussars in the lead. The cavalry trampled the Ottomans and made straight for their camps.
Ottoman commander Kara Mustafa fled out of his tent and barely escaped with his life (it didn’t last long – the Sultan ordered him strangled). With the Christian victory at The Battle of Vienna, the Moslem threat to Europe was over. Sobieski wrote a letter to Pope Innocent XI, paraphrasing Julius Caesar:
“Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” – “We came, We saw, God conquered.”
In turn, the Pope hailed Sobieski as “The Savior of Western Christendom.” Indeed he was, and still is so revered by the Polish people to this day – with no apology.
For the people of Poland stand out among those of all Europe for their pride in being part of Western Civilization – symbolized for them by this statue of their Hero King trampling the Ottomans in the beautiful Royal Baths Park in Warsaw. They will make sure visitors to the statue note that underneath the right forearm of the fallen Turkish soldier is a book – the Koran.
You owe it to yourself to visit Poland and meet the Polish champions of Christian liberty, having freed themselves from the Ottomans, the Russians, and the Soviets. We need more like them today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #159 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE SHEER MADNESS OF THE LEFT TODAY
Madness! Madness!" — The Bridge on the River Kwai
With that exclamation, director David Lean ended his epic film about a dutiful but vainglorious British officer who sought to display to his Japanese captors superior British discipline and morale in a prisoner of war camp.As proof of British engineering superiority, he pursues his agendas by ordering his POWs to build for their Japanese captors a strategic bridge that otherwise they could not have built—only to try to destroy the efforts of fellow Allied soldiers sent to blow-up his masterpiece. For the delusional ideologue, reality must never intrude.
So it is now. When the rock of green and woke ideology hits the hard place of reality, sheer madness always results. Here’s how.
THE FIRST TO FALL – COULD THE EURO BEAT THE YEN TO THE CURRENCY GRAVEYARD?
Considering all of Europe's problems the big issue is envisioning a scenario from which an economic renaissance might flow.
To say the Euro-zone banking system deception which has been going on for many years is continuing understates the size of the fraud occurring before our eyes.
For years Japan has been the poster child and living proof that low-interest rates do not guarantee economic growth and prosperity. Going unnoticed by many investors is that the BOJ has been pumping up Japan's stock market by buying into the ETF market.
So which goes first, the euro or the yen. As Ludwig Von Mises wrote; "The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."
FLOWER HIGHWAYS, FLOWER TRAILS
For miles and miles, the roads in the Azores Islands are lined with flowers on both sides. Even the foot paths and trails are strewn with flowers.
As you know, I’ve been to every country in the world. I know of no place on earth more beautiful, more flower strewn, more peaceful, serene, and safe than Portugal’s island paradises of Madeira and the Azores in the Atlantic.
So plan on joining me, Rebel, and your fellow TTPers on our exploration of Atlantic Paradises, June 24 to July 2. Make this beauty and serenity a part of your life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #196 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TWO COOL MOUNTAIN TAJIK KIDS AT THE FIRST PEARL OF SHING
The high hidden Valley of Shing in western Tajikistan holds, as we learned in Glimpse #52, a series of seven stepping-stone lakes called the Seven Pearls of Shing. The valley is dotted with tiny villages of Mountain Tajiks, descendants of the ancient Sogdians who fought Alexander the Great.
Alexander fell in love with and married a Sogdian princess named Roxanna – and the girls of Shing are often named Roxanna to this day. The Mountain Tajiks of the Shing are a special people – strong, independent and free. They are also warm and welcoming. The kids – the girls just like the boys – grow up vibrant and confidant. These two young brothers exemplify that.
Each of the seven pearls have a unique breathless beauty, for they are of different colors and change according to the time of day. We are here at Mijnon (Eyelash), the first pearl, followed by Soya (Shade), Hushnor (Vigilance), Nophin (Navel), Khurdak (Little One), Marguzor (Blossoming), and Hazor Chasma (Thousand Springs). Towering above us are snow-laced mountains 18,000 feet high.
Perhaps you’d like to join your fellow TTPers to make the Seven Pearls, and so much else, a part of your life? Let me know! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #53 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY UNDERSTANDING SELF-ESTEEM
In a study by Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, she found that college kids today are more likely to call themselves gifted and driven to succeed, while their test scores and hours spent studying are decreasing. Their tendency toward narcissism has also increased over the last 30 years.
Today I want to look at what I consider one of the sources of this trend: the phony self-esteem movement.
Many years ago, when I was young psychology graduate student studying with Nathaniel Branden, I remember him talking one day about how he had been invited to be part of The California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem, led by California State Assemblyman John Vasconcelos.
Nathaniel couldn’t see why he would be involved in that, since he did not see a role for government in the development of self-esteem. Nonetheless, the Task Force carried on, and created guidelines for building "self-esteem" in a way that Branden would never have advocated. For these guidelines are causing the mess so many college kids are in today.
TWO PRESIDENTS
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – BRANDON AT LAMAYURU
High in the Himalayas of India in the remote moonscape of Tibetan Ladakh is the gompa (Tibetan monastery) of Lamayuru. It is older than Tibetan Buddhism, for it was originally a gompa for the lama monks of Bön, the ancient animist religion of Tibet. I took my son Brandon here on an expedition through Tibetan India in 1993. Brandon had his 10th birthday here. Behind him is the enormous statue of blue-eyed Sakyamuni Buddha in the central prayer hall.
Brandon has never forgotten Lamayuru as anyone who has been here never does. We’ll be here again this August – and Brandon will be leading the expedition (Glimpses of our breathtaking world #151 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/25/22
Now that his astoundingly accurate predictions are coming true, Reuters reported ereyesterday (3/23) that the Kremlin wants him in jail: Top Russian Journalist Defiant in Face of Fake News Investigation.
But before a sitrep on how catastrophically bad the Russian military is doing in Ukraine, I need to tell you a story. And no worries, this HFR will be about lots of other stuff, not just Ukraine. Now let’s relax and settle in, it’s storytime.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/24/22
How to hit the ground running; House GOP members train and prepare to launch an onslaught of oversight investigations in 2023:
Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan – The West’s unanimity in punishing Putin are a shocking wakeup call for Xi regarding Taiwan:
China Wins A Little, Loses A Lot From Russia’s War On Ukraine
China's plans for Russia:
GOP Rep. Palmer: China's Intent Is to Make Russia a Vassal State
KETANJI JACKSON IS TOO SUPREMELY STUPID TO BE A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
Even before Ketanji Brown Jackson's extraordinary statement that she does not know what a woman is, I'd concluded that she's a dim bulb and, really, the judicial equivalent of Kamala Harris: an uninspiring Black woman who's floated effortlessly upward through affirmative action and fealty to leftism.
I'd spent the day mentally writing an attack on her, only to see Tucker Carlson hold forth with an incendiary monologue that attacked her "I'm not a biologist" lunacy, the whole transgender madness that the left is advancing, and the real agenda of remaking society in an ugly way, especially through the death of free speech.
I’m posting it below since it’s over 15 minutes long, so please finish reading me before you watch him, okay? Here we go…
HOW CLOSE CAN YOU GET TO A BABY SPERM WHALE?
This close – if you’re at the right place at the right time in the right boat. That would be the Canal do Faial channel between the islands of Faial and Pico in the Azores, populated by more spawning sperm whales that just about anywhere else. It’s also a haven for many other whale and dolphin species on their migratory route between the North and South Atlantic.
In June, this is one of the world’s best whale-watching sites – and we’ll be right there on our exploration of Atlantic Paradises June 24-July 2.
You won’t believe how truly paradisical Madeira and the Azores are. Not just the weather and the beauty, but how safe, calm, and serene they are, how friendly everyone is – so friendly because everyone here is at peace with themselves. You’ll discover your inner peace here too. While never being bored as there’s always something exciting to see and do. Like being this close to a baby sperm whale.
You owe it to yourself to make these Atlantic Paradises a part of your life. (Glimpses of our breathtaking world #195).
ONE PICTURE, FOUR COUNTRIES, AND A SURPRISE
This is the Wakhan Corridor traversed by Marco Polo on his way to China in 1273. The river is the Amu Darya, known to Alexander the Great and the ancient Greeks as the Oxus. The Wakhan is the finger of northeast Afghanistan designed in the late 19th century to prevent the Russian Empire in Central Asia from touching the British Empire in India. It now separates Tajikistan from Pakistan with its fingertip the only border Afghanistan has with China.
Thus you’re looking at four countries. The river forms the Tajik-Afghan border – Tajikistan is on the left, Afghanistan on the right, in the center distance are the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan, while in the far distance are the Karakorum mountains of China. This is a fabulously exotic remote part of our world with people living here tracing their ancestry to the troops of Alexander. Oh – and the surprise? I’ll tell you soon. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #77 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHEN WILL THE WEST SEE THAT UKRAINE IS WINNING?
One of thousands, died for nothing NATO: Up to 40,000 Russian Troops Killed, Wounded, Taken Prisoner or Missing in Ukraine Wall Street Journal March 23, 2022
When I visited Iraq during the 2007 surge, I discovered that the conventional wisdom in Washington usually lagged the view from the field by two to four weeks. Something similar applies today.
Analysts and commentators have grudgingly declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been blocked, and that the war is stalemated. The more likely truth is that the Ukrainians are winning.
What follows is an analysis of how and why they are winning, how and why the Russians are losing, and why both will quite likely continue to do so.
UKRAINE MUST WIN
The war in Ukraine has reached a turning point. The Russian troops that invaded the country from the north, south, and east are now scarcely moving. They have targeted schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, and a theater sheltering children, but they are not yet in control even of the places they occupy.
And no wonder: Few Ukrainians are willing to collaborate with the occupiers. The overwhelming majority, more than 90 percent, believe they will defeat them. The Ukrainian army refuses to surrender, even in cities badly damaged by bombardment.
There must be an endgame, a moment when the conflict stops. The Ukrainians, and the democratic powers that support Ukraine, must work toward a goal. That goal should not be a truce, or a muddle, or a decision to maintain some kind of Ukrainian resistance over the next decade. That goal should be a Ukrainian victory. Now.
WHY WOULD ANYBODY BACK PUTIN?
How can anyone of moral decency excuse this?
We’ve been assured repeatedly lately that nobody on the right supports Vlad the Invader and his inept, ill-planned, and ill-fated invasion of Ukraine. Would that it were so… but it isn’t.
In truth, there are numerous people on the right and calling themselves conservative, who are praising, egging on, and making excuses for Putin in his war of conquest against Ukraine. I won’t bother to link to any of them. You’ve no doubt seen them and can provide your own examples.
There seem to be three major elements to the pro-Putin platform. They are all nonsense and here’s why.
RUSSIA HAS A HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONS AND COUPS AFTER LOST WARS
It is well documented that sanctions themselves are not enough to topple authoritarian regimes – look at North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba. Yet sanctions have had tremendous impacts on the citizens of those countries – Venezuela experienced a 30% contraction in its economy in 2020, while the consequences of sanctions against North Korea have left most of the country malnourished.
Despite a war fever whipped by Putin's propaganda machine, sanctions can be a stress multiplier on an already vulnerable political system facing military, economic, and social setbacks.
For history has shown that Russian revolutions are not just a result of economic despair; they are also deeply intertwined with heavy Russian losses attributed to war. One only needs to look at the Crimean War in the 1850s, the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, World War I, and the Soviet War in Afghanistan in the 1980s to see how in Ukraine history may be repeating itself.
INDIAN TIBET
There is a part of Tibet the British kept from China and is now a part of India. The region is called Ladakh and this is its capital of Leh. It’s the Upper Indus river valley after it flows out of Chinese Tibet and before it reaches the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Ladakh is geographically and culturally Tibetan, where Tibetan culture still flourishes. Here the great gompas (monasteries) of Thikse and Hemis are active, and where you are welcome in hidden mysterious gompas like Lamayuru over a thousand years old.
There is an ultra-remote part of Ladakh called Zanskar where the Zanskar River flows through the crest of the Himalayas to reach the Upper Indus. Running the Zanskar is one of the world’s greatest whitewater experiences. We’ll see and do all of this next August on our Indian Tibet Expedition. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #120 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY BUILDING A GOOD REPUTATION WITH YOURSELF
We pay attention to other people who matter to us, and we tend to ignore those who don’t.
There’s more to this, though: We watch ourselves just like we watch others, and we develop a reputation with ourselves accordingly.
What kind of a person are you, in your own assessment? Do you have values, goals, and priorities? And do you act in accordance with those values, goals, and priorities? Are you the kind of person you would like to be? And if not, what are the barriers to becoming the kind of person you would like to be?
These questions are really important because our own self-reflection has a huge impact on our behavior.
MONTEZUMA’S CASTLE
When American explorers came upon this extraordinary cliff dwelling in 1860s Arizona, they dubbed it “Montezuma’s Castle” on a whim. The Aztec ruler had nothing to do with it, of course. The Anasazi people built a number of these marvelous structures in the Southwest, high up on cliffs above a river that seasonally flooded.
For hundreds of years the Anasazi flourished, skilled agriculturalists and brilliant at constructing vast irrigation systems. Yet it all came to naught with a devastating megadrought with no rain for many decades, culminating in the collapse of the Anasazi culture and abandonment of their cliff dwellings by the early 1500s.
Another lesson that it is nature that control’s the Earth’s climate, not us. You’ll find Montezuma’s Castle above Beaver Creek south of Sedona. It’s a marvel not to be missed. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #194 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: AFGHAN MUJAHADDIN?
When my son Brandon was a cadet at Virginia Military Academy, his professor teaching Modern Military History gave a lecture on the 1980s War in Afghanistan fought by Afghan Mujahaddin against the Soviet Red Army occupation of their country. One of the pictures he showed was the one above of “three typical Mujahaddin fighters.”
Brandon raised his hand. “Yes, Cadet Wheeler,” the professor called on him. “Actually, Professor,” Brandon said, “only the man in the center with the white beard is one. The man on the right is United States Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, while the man on the left is my father.”
The professor was stunned while the rest of the class stifled laughter. “Are you quite sure of that, Cadet Wheeler?” stammered the professor. “Oh, yes sir,” Brandon replied. “I recognize my own father. That photo is framed in my father’s study. It was taken in November 1988. The Afghan Commander’s name is Moli Shakur. I have known Congressman Rohrabacher all my life.”
The cadets all applauded in appreciation. To this day, this remains one of Brandon’s fondest college memories. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #145 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
QUICKSAND
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/18/22
A TTPer is in Ukraine now, who tells me the latest joke on Ukrainian lips is, “Everyone thought that Russia had the #2 army in the world. Turns out, that it has the #2 army in Ukraine."
The Russian Titanic has hit the Ukrainian Iceberg and is sinking. Here are the latest (3/16-17) updates from British Military Intelligence:
Our TTPer on the ground confirms this. I was asked on the TTP Forum this morning, “Jack, what’s your take on the end game in Ukraine?” My reply: “China feeding on the carcass of Russia.”
SKYE’S LINKS 03/17/22
This is a photoshop fake picture. Enter “biolabs Ukraine” and you’ll get 9.5 million hits and not a single picture of one
Why did Czar Putin the Terrible invade Ukraine? Here are eight plausible reasons, and all eight may be true. The more that they are true, the less that Vladimir The Would-Be-Great is likely to give up rather than double down:
Why Did Vladimir Putin Invade Ukraine?
I add one more point to the above. I suspect that the CCP is feeding Putin with false information regarding Ukraine with respect to making biosurveilance labs look like biowarfare labs (see Jack’s HFR last Friday on this) and promoting further disinformation that the Ukraine has a nuclear weapons program.
Long overdue; if the; if the Crats lose one House of Congress, will the Republicans have the guts to do this?
BEYOND THE PALE
TTP celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with its “nutshell history” of Ireland, first written in 2006. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all TTPers!
Ronald Reagan’s origins are even more humble than Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin.
His great-grandfather, Michael O’Regan, was born in a hut of mud and slats in farmland called Doolis near the village of Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, in 1829.
In June 1984, Ronald Reagan came to Ballyporeen as President of the United States. In his speech to the townspeople in the village square, he said, “I can’t think of a place on the planet I would rather claim as my roots more than Ballyporeen, County Tipperary.”
A friend of mine was there as a member of Reagan’s staff. After the speech, the President commented to him, “I really am proud to be from here.” With a wink, he explained: “You see, I’m from Beyond the Pale.”
RONALD REAGAN’S FAVORITE IRISH JOKE
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day today, it’s only appropriate to relate Ronald Reagan’s favorite Irish joke, as he was fond of telling it with such exuberance.
An Irishman was walking along Inchydoney Beach in County Cork – Ireland’s most beautiful and not far from my ancestral village of Ballyporeen – when he came upon an old encrusted bottle washed up on the shore.
He picked it up, brushed off the sand, saw it was still stoppered and wondered what was inside. He carefully broke it open at the neck on a beach rock, and to his great surprise out popped a Leprechaun, an Irish genie.
“Oh me man!” the Leprechaun exclaimed. “I was in that horrid bottle for a hundred years and you be settin’ me free! Well, I’ll be givin’ you two wishes before I’m on m’ way!”
“Two wishes?” the Irishman asked incredulously. “Anything I want?”
“Anything – you just name it and it’s yours,” came the answer.
The Irishman couldn’t believe his luck. He thought for a moment, then said, “Firstly, what I’ll be wantin’ is a glass of the best Irish ale – but a very special glass!” he added quickly – "that no matter how much I drink it will always be full.”
Poof! There was a glass in his hand overflowing with Irish Red Ale. He took a sip – it was the best beer he’d ever had in his life. He drank and he drank and he drank, and five minutes later he hadn’t made a dent, the glass was still overflowing with Irish Red.
But by now the Leprechaun was getting impatient. “Listen me man!” he chastised. “I appreciate you settin’ me free and all, but I was in that bottle for far too long, I’ve got things to do, so you’ll be makin’ your second wish now!”
The Irishman thought good and hard. Finally he made his decision. He held up his overflowing magic glass, looked at it admiringly, and told the Leprechaun, “Ya know – I think I’ll have another one of these!”
There’s no doubt about it – God loves the Irish.
UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP, WE REALLY HAD A WONDERFUL LIFE
In the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey is able to see what the world would have been like had he never been born.
Everything changes. George wasn’t there to save his younger brother from drowning. And, that in turn, meant that his brother wasn’t there to save the lives of hundreds of men on board a U.S. military troop ship. Everything has a domino effect.
Unfortunately, we get to have a similar experience. We see how one terrible leader imposing his disastrous policies on the American people has negatively impacted every American. We wonder wistfully what the world would look like had President Trump remained in the Oval Office instead of the blindingly incompetent and malevolent Joe Biden.
XI TO PUTIN — THANKS FOR SIBERIA, VLAD!
[TTP veterans may recall these maps from Chinese Siberia from 2006 – which explained why Russian Siberia will be Chinese Siberia in the not-distant future. It provides the historical background for Col. Austin Bay’s account of how Putin has accelerated the Chicom goal of making much of eastern Siberia Chinese once again.]
Before launching his war, Putin, his pals and for that matter, his pretend-allies in China, should have examined the strategic downside of both Russian "non-victory" in Ukraine and even defeat in Ukraine.
But his Chinese pretend-allies did consider these unpalatable alternatives -- and they grinned. Shift from Europe to East Asia and Russia's military failure in Ukraine calls into question the vulnerability of the Kremlin's greatest geostrategic treasure: resource-laden Siberia.
Communist China 2022 is bitten by the same savage imperialist bug as Putin. Beijing intends to restore the Chinese empire. And Beijing covets Siberia.
THE GREAT BLACK OF MAKALU
The 5th highest mountain on earth at 8,463 meters/27,765ft, Makalu is Sanskrit for “Great Black” – a name for Shiva, the Hindu god of creative destruction, as here is one of his homes. You’re looking face on the Southeast Ridge (the right side in sun, the left side in shade), which is the primary climbing route.
You’re seeing the entire south side of Makalu in Nepal, while the north side is in Tibet with the border running along the horizon crestline. Makalu Base Camp lies below the bottom right corner of the photo. This was taken at over 20,000 feet on our approach from Everest and Lhotse – 12 miles away – during our Himalaya Helicopter Expedition, or “HHE.”
Everyone is understandably entranced with Everest – yet the other 8,000 meter Himalayan giants are breathtakingly magnificent in their own right, and you can see why with Makalu. On our HHE, we go to them all! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #37 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE CULMINATION OF RUSSIA’S DEFEAT IN UKRAINE?
[Generals Ryan and Hodges provide their professional assessment of how and why Russia is losing its military attempt to conquer and subjugate Ukraine. Gen. Ryan gives the background to today (3/15), then Gen. Hodges explains why “the next ten days may decide this war.”]
General Ryan:
Experienced Russia observers were saying as early as 2017 that the power of the Russian military was overestimated, it was challenged by overstretch, and was technologically backward. These observers have been proved right.
Russia committed around 55% of their total regular ground forces to their invasion of Ukraine. This was not a calculated risk by the Russians; it was a gamble. A gamble that is failing badly.
As open source, as well as UK and US military briefs, note, the Russian advances in the north, east and south are grinding to a standstill. They have been outfought by the Ukrainians and have not been able to logistically sustain advances on multiple fronts.
Summing up, Russia has not achieved its key military objectives in the north, east or south. It is conducting concurrent offensives in different, disconnected parts of Ukraine. It has committed all the military forces it had for Ukraine on these missions.
AMERICA’S HESITATION IS HEARTBREAKING
The United States and its NATO allies are engaged in a proxy war with Russia. They are supplying thousands of munitions and hopefully doing much else—sharing intelligence, for example—with the intent of killing Russian soldiers.
And because fighting is, as the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz said, “a trial of moral and physical forces through the medium of the latter,” we must face a fact: To break the will of Russia and free Ukraine from conquest and subjugation, many Russian soldiers have to flee, surrender, or die, and the more and faster the better.
Yet, when the Ukrainians are willing to spill their blood, seemingly without limit, in a wholly admirable cause, American hesitation is heartbreaking. New Hampshire license plates bear the state motto Live Free or Die. The Ukrainians are acting on that belief, which previous generations of Americans acted upon as well.