Dakota Beacon

America, we have a problem.  Today Russia launched an IRBM with such capability of speed and accuracy that the west, collectively, the US specifically, simply could not have stopped it.  Putin further put the world on notice that henceforth any attack on Russia from any source will be “mirrored” by a counter-attack.  This should be sobering, of course.  He could hit any location in Europe.   The US has quite a few military bases within European NATO countries.  Once this might have seemed like a good idea.  At the moment maybe we should reconsider.

In 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev sneaked missiles into its Caribbean satellite/ally Cuba.  They had the capacity to easily hit targets within the US.  We lived through some tense hours when then-President Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove them, using the Monroe Doctrine as a basis for his demand.  (Which, of course, is a unilateral doctrine.)  Krushchev complied.  In those days, his claim was, however, “We will bury you.”  We didn’t believe him then, but now, 62 years later, his claim might look more like a possibility.

Over the weekend, Russian President Putin, after clear warnings, answered Ukraine’s attack on his country with American ATACMs with a jab of his own - he hit Dnipro with an IRBM (“intermediate-range ballistic missile”) which, traveling at a rate of MACH 11, with great accuracy, is unstoppable with anything the US or NATO has in its arsenal.  He launched this missile as a warning across the bow to the nations which have been focused on nothing but annihilation of the Russian nation, and further informed the west that henceforth he would answer any attack with a mirror attack on Europe.  

We should take heed.  In the first place, why have we put emphasis on destroying Russia?  It is a stupid idea.  Russia has a history longer than ours by a millenium.  Russia is not some Central Asian backwater.  It is a sophisticated, powerful and huge nation with a distinct culture and history.  As with most countries with such long history, not all of it has been good.  But here it is - a nation which is intact, culturally cohesive, apparently fairly modern in all respects, with expertise in all kinds of technologies.  Further, its government has not intentionally weakened it with the influx of unassimilable foreign hordes, weird “science” that claims we can change our climate at will or the sex of our children at will.   They are basically an Orthodox Christian culture and nation.  

In contrast, the United States is currently under invasion by foreign nationals of all kinds and from all parts of the world, undocumented, unaccounted for, the outpourings of the world’s insane asylums and prisons gushing over our border.  Among them, and under their cover, are terrorist sleeper cells and agents of foreign governments.  Our own government is more focused on providing abortions and sex-change surgeries and punishing parents for their objections to pornography in the elementary school libraries and classrooms.  Our government is more interested in suppressing alternative opinions to its narrative than in useful dialogue which might produce better policy decisions.  

We have “leaders” like Lindsay Graham, who has viewed this Ukraine fiasco as a great boon because we have been able to inflict damage without having it cost American military lives - just Ukrainian lives.  What a bargain.  What a total jerk.  We have Sebastian Gorka and his like trumpeting the news that if “that thug”, “that ex-KGB agent” Putin thinks we’ve sent a lot of aid to Ukraine to fight him, it’s "peanuts" compared to what we will send.   Apparently Gorka missed the news that the American voters have rejected these wars and this unbridled, reckless spending.  

The truth is that every dollar we have sent to Ukraine has contributed to the misery of the Ukrainian people.  We have helped to destroy their industry, their agriculture, their culture, we have decimated their population, leaving perhaps not enough to regenerate a Ukrainian population.  It is tragic.  We have done this to assist a puppet government which we installed to replace the one the people there elected.  We have controlled this silly puppet “president”, Zelenskyy, lining his pockets while ordering him to remain at war indefinitely.  

We have developed a culture of war in America - we have not had real peace (with the exception* of the years 2017-2021, the Trump years) since we became involved in VietNam under Eisenhower.  Think of that - the last peacetime president we have had was Harry Truman.  In the meantime, our own oligarchs have become monstrously rich at the expense of taxpayers and people around the world who have all been exploited in these insane and interminable wars.  

The present conflict in Ukraine has accomplished the following:

1. Brought about a serious challenge to our currency - the dollar being replaced in many places by BRICS, as a response to our foolish and ineffective sanctions.

2. Reduced the United States of America to the role of international terrorist nation by blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, thus causing great hardship to much of Europe in a stupid attempt to inconvenience Russia.

3. Brought about a re-uniting of major powers and terrorist states against us, including, but not limited to, China and Iran, with Russia, which will endure long after this conflict is finally settled, perhaps for generations to come, providing us with an axis of eternal enemies and with great combined power, wealth and expertise.

4. Made fools of the unthinking masses here who have been running around wearing Ukrainian flags and waving them in demonstrations.

5. Made it abundantly clear that as of now, NATO, founded to counter the Soviet threat to Europe, has become, like some dusty old federal bureau, a life unto itself, perpetuating its relevance by keeping the pot of war boiling.

6. Destroyed the nation of Ukraine, its population, culture, industry, economy and land.

7. Exposed us as a paper tiger on the world stage, incapable of responding to Russia's military expertise.

8. Brought us to the very brink of a nuclear war and potentially the end of the world as we know it.

9. By using NATO as our cat's paw, we involved/duped our European allies into this hazardous course as well, causing their people economic hardship and potential military repercussions due to their leaders' incompetence or perversity.  

That’s a pretty good toll for a little war designed to protect illicit money laundering, illegal bioweapons labs, human trafficking and the Biden crime family and other crooks in our government and Ukraine’s.  Contrast our behavior towards Russia with how we treated satelite nations in the Eastern Bloc when they threw off their Soviet overloards - instead of offering the people of Russia a hand economically, or even sound advice, instead of attempting to bring them into the western world of commerce and trade - we treated them as pariahs.  Never mind that it was much harder for them to bring an end to the Soviet leadership than it was for, say, Poland or Czechoslovakia.  We might have enjoyed a strong alliance and trade partnership with the people of Russia, instead of treating them like the enemy.  When the Italians got rid of Mussolini and offered alliance we accepted them.  After World War II we brought Japan and Germany into the community of peaceful nations and have benefited from our alliances with them.  Why was Russia so different?  I would guess it is the personal special interests which needed a super power enemy so badly - arms dealers and others.  People such as the Cheney family, and cheap crooks like the Biden family.

None of this is to say Putin is a great guy.  We don’t have to like him.  But we have to respect him for a couple of reasons - first, he is way smarter than most other world leaders.  He’s not stupid, which is a distinct advantage over our own government leaders.  Second, he was elected and is firmly installed as head of state in Russia.  When the Russians don’t want him any longer it’s up to them -  not us - to remove him.  And we need to respect the right of Russia to exist as a sovereign nation!  They have a history and distinctive culture longer than ours and it is not our job to make them disappear.  It wouldn’t be either possible or desirable.  It is fair to say that we are fortunate that it is Putin calling the shots at this point and not some others in Russia.  He has maintained calm far longer than we have had a right to expect.

What we need at the moment is some solution to the dilemma that we have, thanks to irresponsible American voters and the Democrat Party which saddled us with a senile President and an incompetent excuse for a Vice President.  As a lame duck administration, they now pose a serious threat to our continued existence.  “Biden” (we know he’s napping somewhere and knows nothing about this) has authorized dangerous escalation of this war by permitting use of American ATACM missiles launched into Russian territory, apparently without any thought of what this will cause Putin to have to do.

And this might be a good time to take a hard look at NATO's future.  It was founded to counter the threat of Soviet expansion in Europe during the Cold War/Iron Curtain days.  Now, instead of an organization of nations to defend themselves it has become an organ of war, needing war and conflict in order to maintain itself.  NATO feeds itself on war and the threat of war.  It needs this to survive.  And as with any government bureaucracy, it takes on a life and dynamic of its own, independent of its original purpose.  It should have been disbanded by 1995 at the latest.  The United States should stop funding NATO at this point.  Had we done so when we should have there would have been no Ukraine war now.  We took a disastrous wrong turn in our relations with Russia in the post-Soviet era by treating it as an enemy rather than as a partner in freedom.  This was all to benefit special interests.

One of the best attributes of a leader is the ability to see the point of view of his adversary in any situation.  We have a complete blank in this department in the current administration.  It would seem that complete idiots are running the show.  While we do have a constitutional mechanism for removing an incompetent president, we are then looking at a Harris presidency, which would be, if anything, worse.  We would seem to have no constitutional way around this.  Our situation is unusual in that the public has resoundingly rejected this Vice President and the policies this administration has represented.  We are about two months away from the swearing in of the person that was elected to replace this mess.  Will we last that long with the “Biden” administration pursuing war full steam ahead?  

And what of the fools Trump is again surrounding himself with?  Gorka?  Really?  Why should America have to take on the emotional baggage of this man? It is understandable that he dislikes Russia.  His parents fled Hungary during the Iron Curtain days.  We get it.  He is allowed his grievances and the enormous chip on his shoulder.  We can understand it and even relate to it, but we should not let his problems become our nation’s policy.  His personal problems could bring us into nuclear war.  Is he worth it?  I don’t think so.  Not to me.

Standing up to actual aggression should not mean we become the aggressor.  We need not run around blowing up non-military infrastructure like gas pipelines for industry and homes.  We need not meddle in the internal politics of nations to pick out what we think will be the best president/government to suit our own nation’s plans for hegemony.  We need not attempt to control every other nation through the ineffective means of economic sanctions.  It is just plain stupid to try.  And dangerous.  

Perhaps there is a way out of this web.  Let’s hope so, and if not, let’s hope we survive until next January.  And above all, let’s hope that Trump will pare down his list of advisors to eliminate people who just want to keep the wars going.  Gorka is a hot one, promising more money to Ukraine.  What an impertinence!  Didn’t he read about the last election?  Who does he think he is?  If he wants to contribute his own wealth to Zelenskyy, great.  Just do it.  Or set up a Go Fund Me for him.  But don’t presume to offer the American people’s tax dollars to his shrine.  We just said no to that.

*While we were still in Afghanistan, Trump had not instigated any new conflicts and was trying to get out of Afghanistan without a disastrous retreat - Biden's administration accomplished the humiliating evacuation from that region, leaving behind weapons, hostages and leaving our friends there as well as American citizens high and dry to twist in the wind.  We inexcusably lost some 13 Marines and 100 Afghani people and an important military base at Bagram, secretly evacuating it in the night.  This would be one way to end a conflict, we suppose.  That's the problem - easy to get into war, difficult to get out.  Trump at least made some successful efforts at diplomacy rather than engage in military conflicts.  While Truman did not ask for a declaration of war specifically, he DID commit American troops under the U.N. to fight in Korea, so maybe our last peacetime president was . . . Hoover?

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