summer patriot, winter soldier

biden wants a fight ..... he may very well get it, especially if he "jump starts" it .....

joe biden wants to pick a fight, ... , or, at least his speech-writers do.

he says that the right wing cannot win a fight against the government even if they have guns, or, tanks, for that matter.   he says the left/government wins such a fight, and goads the right to bring it on.   it seems his fondest wish, as he has used this goad several times in his "administration."

my daddy always said, "be very careful for what you wish, you may get it."   (well, truth be told, my father never said anything like that.   but, it sounds good, doesn't it?   laughing.)

biden rather conveniently forgets afghanistan, in which the u.s. military could not put away a very poorly armed insurgency.  or, iran.   or, the russian/soviet experience with popular uprisings/insurgencies in which poorly armed adversaries vanquished a modern army with rockets, planes, tanks and helicopters.

i am not so surprised that biden forgets his ignominious blunder in the "withdrawal" from afghanistan.  daddy would have called it a "...skedaddle."  (well, yeah, my father never said anything like that, either.  but  ... .)

he doesn't seem capable of remembering much of anything, nor of learning object lessons.

perhaps we will see?   maybe biden gets his wish?   i hope he starts it soon, as i am getting old, and i don't want to miss the whole thing.  if it occurs. 

what biden didn't say was who starts the whole fracas.   i don't know who starts it, but, i do know who is "goading" it, and it is joe biden.   may he be the first to go, kind of an honorarium for the person who seems bound and determined to start it.

john jay @ 08.31.2022

p.s.   it would be fitting if joe biden and mitch mcconnell "went together," would it not?

my carcano rifle in 8mm mauser not quite a mystery ..... no. 2 .....

earlier i have written about purchasing a model 1891 carcano receiver outfitted with an 8mm mauser barrel.   this is somewhat odd, as the carcano was barreled by italy only in 6.5x52 and 7.35x52mm calibers.   well, as was explained, italy put 8mm barrels on some 1891 receivers at the behest of the germans, who were chronically short of 8mm mauser infantry rifles.   and, the use by one country of infantry rifles designed and developed of another via battle capture and post-conflict reparations was not at all unusual.   ....   such rifles, not generally viewed as "as good as" the country's own developments, were often given to reservists and behind the lines security/police to free up "better" rifles for front line troops.

as it turns out, this was not entirely strange, as germany used several rifles not of the mauser 98 pattern to fire their 8mm mauser cartridge.  perhaps the most famous of these was the model 98/40, outsourced to another arms maker using a receiver modeled on the german model 88 pattern rifle, chambered in the 8x57mm js cartridge, and using the german model 98 staggered round magazine, standard for germany during wwii and before.

as for the carcano model 1891, it was also used by the finns against the russians, though it was rather favorably disliked by finnish troops who reputably cast them aside when captured mosins could be obtained from dead, injured or captured russians.  (the finns rather famously "transformed" such rifles by working them over and fitting them to their standards for reliability, function and accuracy.)   in addition, the italians also made 1891 pattern rifles for japan, making them in japanese rifle calibers and fitting them w/ double column stack-able magazines, rather than the mannlicher pattern disposable clip pattern.  in japan, they were identified as "type 1" rifles:  my source shows & describes an example, but does not indicate if any were ever used by front line japanese troops.

as in all things, a lot of nationalistic pride was involved in military equipment, but, that pride did not prevent the use of "substitute" weaponry in a pinch, when the home-grown variety was in short supply.   sakes alive, occasionally one will come across accounts of captured fighter planes being repainted and re-badged w appropriate symbols, and used against the enemy who made it.

there is pride.   and, there is necessity.   they sometimes get "balanced" in funny ways.   sort of like life, in a way, ain't it?

john jay @ 08.24.2022

 

 

a ukrainian counter-offensive?

why?

the ukraine is demonstrating the economies of conducting a very intelligent defensive campaign against the russians.   they are killing russians soldiers by the score, and destroying russian equipment to the extent her ability to defend herself is impaired.   i did not say destroyed, i said impaired.

in short, they are bleeding the russians.

why go on the offensive, and give the russians the advantages that inhere with interior lines of communication and transport.   the russians have demonstrated little ability to conduct effective, coherent and coordinated attack, why give that up while at the same time conferring upon them the advantages of defending.

were i the ukrainians, and from a strictly military standpoint, i would be inclined to continue bleeding my opponent, and destroying his elan & ability to fight.  this has been a very disturbing and deflating campaign for the russians, and my inclination would be to continue killing them as they flounder around trying to find coherence.

i would confer none of the advantages of defending upon the russians.   i would continue to press them into the situation where they have to leave or die, and die prodigiously.  bleed the russians dry.   perhaps they can destroy putin in the process.

john jay @ 08.23.2022

p.s.   so far i see little inclination on the part of the chinese to throw war materials away by giving it to the russians to stupidly waste.  they know idiots when they see them in action, it appears to me.   and, they know a stupid war when they see it.   russia gains nothing in this war that they could not have had by diplomacy, and duplicity.   it is a rash war on putin's part, with no view to the long game.***   a decidedly un-chinese way of doing things.

*** and, they are destroying those things which might have been useful to them, and available to them, simply by being patient.  in short, in my view, this is an idiot's war, viewing the russian's behavior.

things getting a bit hot close to putin?

the other day a young woman was killed in a car bombing in moscow, russia.   not just any young woman, but an ultra-nationalist daughter to an ultra-nationalist father who is a close advisor to vladimir putin, and who was, and is, a very outspoken advocate of a more aggressive war against the ukraine.

the young woman was driving her father's car.   sort of by happenstance, if i am given to understand things correctly.   chances are that the bomb was directed at her father, and given the situation with the war and such, it was probably a "message" to be delivered to him as a notice to putin.

and, as might be expected, no one has stepped forward to claim "credit" for the killing, misdirected or otherwise.

well, what is to be made of all of this?

it certainly isn't "business as usual" in a smoothly running total dictatorship, and it certainly hints at some serious rumblings behind the scenes in the kremlin.   a message for putin?   it could very well be, and killing a close associate of putin is probably a lot easier task to accomplish than killing putin himself, if this was intended to influence russian "policy" in the ukraine.

let's look at the larger circumstance in russia, viz a viz the war in the ukraine.--

things have not gone well for the russians in the ukraine.   save for killing ukrainian civilians, the russians have not accomplished very much in the ukraine, and they hold no territory that wasn't controlled by ukrainian separatists before the war started.   in short, they have made absolutely no territorial acquisitions that aids their war aims, in the slightest.

this has been at serious harm to the russian exchequer, in any number of ways, not the least in terms of european and u.s. sanctions aimed at the russian economy, such as it is.   most embarrassingly, they have had to cut a deal with the ukrainians to trans ship their grain harvest out of odessa, a ukrainian port held firmly by the ukrainians.

they have squandered their elite troops, suffering embarrassing losses of elite units.  (i don't mention the loss of life to their soldiers, they don't give a shit about that  .....  even the russians, though, recognize the impairment such losses mean to battle effectiveness.)    they have squandered their war stores, through a profligate use of advanced weaponry, again most effectively against civilians, and not in the least hampering the ukrainian's ability to wage a well thought out and executed defense of their territories.   they are out of or short of almost anything that would be useful in a conflict with n.a.t.o., and thereby they have imperiled their own existence.

all, in all, one could very well maintain that they have been grossly stupid and ineffective in the conduct of their campaign in the ukraine.--  25,000 to 30,000 dead, another 50 to 60,000 dead and wounded.  somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 tanks destroyed, and, more importantly, the lost of the tank crews:  they have few people who are trained to operate them, let alone to deploy in actual combat against a skillful tank-killing foe.   thousands more armored personnel carriers, along with the loss of trained crews and combat units that were trained to attack from them.   bombs, missiles, the list goes on.

and, as an added little detail, they are just about out of the computer chips and controls that run the whole mess.

at the same time, their foe has not had his fighting capability impaired in the slightest.   the ukrainians are mastering the art of defense, striking quickly and then vacating the field in order to avoid becoming enmeshed with the russians.   and, all the while, maintaining their defensive lines and not giving ground.   it has been, well, artful.

so, all things considered, it is not illogical in the slightest to conclude that this bomb, the bomb that killed the woman, was intended to convey someone's displeasure over the conduct of the war in the ukraine, directly to vladimir putin.   "hisself," as we say out northeast oregon way.  (oh, yes, we talk that way sometimes.)  i believe the bomb was directed toward the woman's father, who has vociferously advised putin to increase his efforts in the ukraine.

how?   how can he waste any more resource?   how can he get more of his troops killed?   how can he commit more of his war making capability to destruction?

yes, this is the problem that putin has, and he knows it.  what he doesn't know, is how to get the hell out of this mess.   is there anyone in russia who has the nerve to tell him?  i doubt it.   dictators are not well known for entertaining logic that they do not themselves possess, or exercising good sense over hubris, or being good and attentive listeners.   putin started this war on an idiot's lark, on listening to ego-boosting ill-begotten advise, and likely he will end it the same way.   or, going up in the next car bomb?  swinging from a rope, hanging dead by his heels?

john jay @ 08.23.2022

post script, 08.23.2022 .  russian police --  "the ukrainians did it."   russian police and investigative personnel are advancing the theory that the bombing was carried out by a ukrainian woman who entered the country on july 23 this year, and fled via estonia on the day or day after the bombing killed the daughter of a russia ultra nationalist.  they say the ukrainian security police orchestrated the bombing.

the ukrainians deny having done so.

well, this is interesting, to say the least.   and, it leaves pertinent details kind of hanging out in the rare ether.   just how, for instance, did the woman sneak a car bomb into russia, or the ingredients and parts for one, for instance.   and, given the status and stature of the victim, or perhaps her father as the intended victim, just how did this ukrainian woman gain access to the automobile involved to place a car bomb upon it, and how was it armed and triggered.   timer.   radio control.

now, the russian "police agency" theory supposes that this woman sneaked the bomb or parts to the bomb into russia?   how?   and, if she were coming from ukraine, or belarus, or even estonia, would she and her mode of transportation not been subject to search and heightened scrutiny?   was a bomb fabricated in russia, and delivered to her?   and, again, how was access gained to the automobile which was bomb, and which killed the nationalist's daughter?

and, would not anyone leaving russia, under the circumstances of such a high level murder, not been subject to very tough scrutiny.  nah, doesn't seem plausible, ... , does it to you?

to me, the "police agency" theory seems a bit of a stretch.  certainly, not absolutely impossible, but not terribly plausible.  or, probable for that matter.

as for me, i rather suspect that the russian security services, i.e., working at putin's direction, are behind it.   the woman's father was known to be pressuring putin to do more in the ukraine, and putin may simply have gotten irritated at the criticisms.   dictators are like that, especially if advisors outgrow their britches, so to speak.   sort of the russian version of a "cautionary tale" to others, as it were.  putin may have felt aggrieved at the nattering, and just decided to shut it up.

simple as that.   and, i like simple.   it is just so straight forward.

motive.  plenty of opportunity.  means to carry out the plan.   means to squelch any "look see" into the facts of the matter.   it all points to putin, and his henchmen, to me.   and, it follows pretty true "to form," oft repeated.    putin may not know how to get out of the ukraine, but, he knows how to kill enemies one at a time.   or, loudmouths.    end post script.

if you trust "intellect" and "sophistication," remember this .....

many nazi "thugs" were erudite and sophisticated intellectuals.   many were lovers of literature and classical music.  the most famous was the nazi concentration camp commandant who went to his balcony, to shoot prisoners at random with his service rifle from that vantage.

to retire to his living quarters to play "classic" compositions on his piano.

pure intellect is no substitute for humanity.  it doesn't have to be, but, it can be the spur to atrocity.   remember this, if you become part of someone's intellectual "classification," and deemed "expendable" in the interests of the greater good, or an "obstacle" in the attainment of some "lofty" goal.

none of us are never very far away from being "defined" away.

john jay @ 08.22.2022

post script, 08.22.2022 .  anthony fauci may in fact be the kindly old grandpa who loves his cats and his grand children, and wouldn't hurt a flea, as he appears to be.  he may, on the other hand, be fully aware of the fact that the various treatments and vaccines that he has foisted onto the public are responsible for many deaths, and cripplings, but that all such things are simply the costs associated with advancing science, a cost he is "willing to bear."

or, he may simply be both.   think about that.   the kindly old gentleman may be simply indifferent to your individual fate.

i would remind you that in nazi germany jews, gypsies, dissident priests & clergy, political dissidents, homosexuals and political dissidents had no guns .....

all were subject to death in labor and death camps, or killed in the streets by the nazi's.  it was just a matter of the nazi's being able to "process" them as quickly as possible: they would have killed far more, if they had been given the time.***   their fellow germans rendered no assistance. 

john jay @ 08.22.2022

 

***  they were shorn of hair for mattresses.   the gold in their teeth was extracted before their bodies were buried or burned: the only reason that more labor was not extracted from them before they starved, was that a certain amount/percentage of body fat was desirable in their corpses, to help fuel the furnaces.  (yes, it was an exact science.  the disposal of bodies was "science:" remember that.)  women, girls and boys were raped (dead or alive, i would presume) depending upon the sexual "preferences" of their captors.

no one suffered an "easy" death at the hands of the nazi's and the kapo's. 

remember this, the next time you read about a child suffering sexual mutilation at the direction of parents and "advisors," and at the hands of "doctors," to satisfy the "intellectual needs" of certain advocates of gender politics, if you think that it could not happen here.  "science" marches on, in many guises.   we have many nazi's among us, all loud, all vociferous, and all convinced of the "truth" that they proffer, and bray.

 

russians are natural born liars ....

the war in the ukraine has not gone well with the rooskies.   but, they have reached new heights in one department, and that would be the ministry of outright lies and deceptions.

for instance.--

the russians admit that about 1,300 of its soldiers have been killed, while claiming to have killed about 30,000 ukrainians.

let's do a little reality check here.

if those "statistics" had any relation to reality, then why are the russians loosing the war, quite badly.    and, if the russians were telling the truth, why have they not advanced their positions since about the first week of the invasion, when their troops did occupy territory already more or less held by ukrainian separatists?  since then, they have not done much.

on the other hand, the battle fields seem to be littered with russian dead, and they are loosing tanks and armored vehicles every day, and by scores.   why are the russians recruiting out of prisons to try and fill their depleted ranks?   and, why do they complain vociferously about the west giving the ukrainians advanced weaponry, if no russian soldiers are being killed, if not armor were being destroyed, if their artillery positions were not getting counter-battery fire?   and, why are their airplanes being shot from the sky, from the ground and in the air?

and, why have 13 or 14 general officers been killed in 5 months of battle?

and, if they have lost only 1300 dead, why are they in danger of being encircled at kherson, their command staffs having abandoned their troops to the ukrainian encirclement?

well, the simple answer is, they are liars, trying hilariously to cover the fact of the horrible losses they have suffered in the ukraine.   i for one, find the ukrainian estimates of 30 to 35,000 russians troops killed, with an additional 50 to 60,000 wounded or injured to be quite credible.   keep in mind the fate of russia's vaunted 331st parachute/shock troops brigade  .....   decimated at kiev, forced to withdraw, only to be fed piecemeal into the maw of battle in the southeast as replacement troops.   where they are being killed.

the russians have as yet simply not figured out how to fight the ukrainian armed forces.   simple as that.   and, they are dying by the truckloads because of it.

who do the russians believe they are fooling by their ludicrous posturing?    not their own people, who are clamoring about the fate of their loved ones, that's for sure.   they know the kremlin lies.

john jay @ 08.21.2022

post script, 08.21.2022 .   btw, analysts believe that russia has just about exhausted it supplies of "smart" weapons, and that they are suffering a severe shortage of chips/electronic components to make more.   china to the rescue?  (at some point the chinese are gonna get tired of propping up the russians, and are simply gonna view them as a drain upon their own capabilities.   this bears watching.)

they are perilously close to having exhausted their military stores.

and, the russian populace is not rushing in droves to enlist in the military, showing a distinct dislike of this war.

putin has stepped in dog shit up to his ankles with both feet, and he has no clear way out of the fix he is in.   i am guessing that if this goes on a bit more, putin and shoigu end up hanging from the yard arms in front of the kremlin.  i am old.   serious heart disease.   not in the least wealthy, and in fact, probably "poor" in a financial sense  .....   i just had the luck of the draw to pick an epoch and a country in which being poor is not absolute disaster.   but, i would not trade places with putin, (nor, especially, shoigu) for all the rice in china.   nor, for all the chinese computer chips upon which they sit.

i am gonna die one of these days.   but, those two, they have "death" written on all them.   (this, even in "the former soviet union," is the penalty political leaders in russia pay for failure and miscalculation of the magnitude of putin's folly.)   "death,"  as in, soon enough.   count on it.  

he doesn't look good in recent photo's.   he'll look even "less good" with a 9mm (makarov) hole on the bridge of his nose.   and, one behind the ear, just to make sure.

end post script. 

fuck the democrats .....

if they want civil war  .....   i suppose they are "precisely" close to getting their wishes.

lock and load.

john jay @ 08.21.2022

p.s.   the search of trump's home was the last straw.   the warrant was obtained from a federal magistrate (not a judge, btw), who was a political hack of long standing, and an avowed enemy of trump.    the warrant was overly broad, and did not specify what was to be obtained via a search of trump's residence.   it was executed by thugs.

it was of questionable legality.

it was a matter of incredible stupidity, unprecedented in american history.   hilary clinton took documents.   obama took documents.    no searches.

fuck the damned democrats.   period.

the trouble with being russia in a nuclear exchange with n.a.t.o. ......

if you want to understand why russia cannot become involved in a nuclear exchange with nato (or with any nuclear power for that matter), all you have to do is gen up a map that shows russia's population densities and distribution.  russia is large geographically, but she isn't much geopolitically, nor in terms of power projection.  

russia is simply too vulnerable to attack, especially strategic attack, and most especially, nuclear attack.   she has no ability to resist.***

russia doesn't have a large population.   and, it is concentrated in western russia, in not so very many urban centers.  moscow, leningrad, stalingrad and a few other places.   these are the places where the majority of russia's population, wealth, industrial and scientific centers are location.

and, easily targeted, and accessed, by the assets of the military powers of the west, to include nuclear weapons.

for all practicable purposes, these few places where her populations are to be found, are easily destroyed.   it wouldn't/doesn't take much of an effort to completely destroy russia.

and, without these places, she has no resiliency, no ability to rebuild.  she doesn't exist without these places.   and, there are just not very many of them.

someone needs to remind putin of this.

john jay @ 08.16.2022

*** and, if she contemplates a "preemptive" attack, there is the little matter of nato's "triad."   she simply hasn't the horses.  so to speak.  oh, she could cause some damage, but she cannot do so without being totally annihilated.   simple as that.

putin is a crazy fuck ..... he lives in a world of delusions .....

russia invades ukraine, in an unprovoked attack.   putin blames the united states for starting the war, and fostering its continuation.

putin is angered by the fact that his troops cannot suppress ukrainian forces and allied partisan forces from attacking russian assets and supply dumps in the crimea.  putin threatens to destroy a bridge in england in retaliation for nato meddling.

somebody needs to kill putin, by any means possible, before he causes really substantial mischief.  the crazy fuck is promoting a war with nato  .....   this would result in the total destruction of russia and its allies, and much loss of life and destruction in europe and the united states.   he needs to be dead before he blunders into such a course of action.

he thinks he is a clever tactician.   i think him a crazy fuck.   i am pretty convinced that as between putin and myself, that i am correct.  we'll see, i guess.

john jay @ 08.16.2022

p.s.   i would be curious to know what russians think about all this.  you just never know.   there are people out there who think biden is the cat's pajama's.   mysteries abound.