Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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When I left active duty in 1980 and went to work in the civilian economy, I knew who my boss was and who my boss’ boss was. After that, the line of who was in charge, up to the chief executive of the company, was kind of fuzzy. This was not true in the military, where I could name my bosses’ bosses, from my individual commander, up through the military rank structure to commandant and then secretary of defense and the commander in chief. We were required to learn this cha...
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his poem “Locksley Hall,” penned the line, “In spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” But then Tennyson was a poet, and he never heard of baseball or presidential politics. I’ll leave the baseball intimation to the sports page and use some of my time to talk about politics. Although the vast majority of voters will not begin to pay attention to presidential politics until after Labor Day, the 15% of the public who consider th...
Two of the greatest miscalculations made by NATO and the Collective West regarding the Ukraine Project are that the Russian economy would collapse as a result of the economic sanctions imposed on it and that the Russian army would collapse when the Spring Counter-Offensive launched its drive to Melitopol and the Sea of Azov, to cut off Crimea. After more than 10 increasingly restrictive sets of sanctions, international institutions including the World Bank as well as...
The collective West has held multiple meetings with itself to decide what should be done to end the fighting in Ukraine. These meetings have included as many as 30 to 40 countries. Noticeably absent from all of these has been Russia. Most of these meetings have decided that Ukraine should “freeze” the war, with the lines where they are today. This would allow Ukraine time to re-build its military, re-arm and allow it NATO membership. Vladimir Putin recently held his ann...
Today is Christmas Eve. Now that I am middle-aged, I have a tendency to reflect on Christmas days that have happened instead of Christmas days that will happen. I am blessed to be able to live with minimal assistance and to have my family around me when I need help. What follows are some Christmas memories. The chapel at St. Anthony’s, where my sister, little brother and I spent our early years, was decorated the same way every year. There were two large trees, one on each sid...
Ukraine is in a state of disarray with the president of the country, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a major dispute, during an active war, with his senior military commander, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi. And Zaluzhnyi is claiming the president by-passes the chain of command by maintaining parallel communication lines with chiefs of some military branches, including Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi and Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk. Adding to this morass is the fact that...
The Washington Post has published a massive two-part epic on the war in Ukraine and what happened there. It took that much paper and ink to inform the public that Ukraine blames the United States for not providing it with the necessary arms to defeat the Russians and the United States blames Ukraine for not fighting the war the way Ukraine should have. One finding that I absolutely agree with: “Ukrainian officials said the Americans didn’t seem to comprehend how attack dro...
In early April 2022, Ukraine rejected an attempt to make peace with Russia. These mediation attempts were led by the then Israeli prime Minister Naftali Bennett and supported by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The full story is related in a recently detailed article by Michael von der Schulenburg, a former United Nations assistant secretary-general, Hajo Funke, professor emeritus for political sciences of the O...
Lately, there has been a plethora of articles appearing in the world press that decries the plight of Ukraine. The majority of these items contain some articulation of the fact that Ukraine is losing the war and running out of men, munitions and time. Additionally, President Zelenskyy is feuding with his military commander, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny, and being hounded by his former strategic communications adviser, Oleksii Arestovych. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has canceled the...
Thanksgiving will fall on Nov. 23 this year. That’s a Thursday. Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday every year. As a matter of fact, Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November every year. The day after Thanksgiving is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Everybody knows this, and many employers take this into consideration and arrange their schedules to give everyone a four-day weekend. The U.S. Marines are aware of this custom also, and when I worked for them, we usually g...
Nov. 11 was Armistice Day, a day designated to honor those lost in the Great War, or the “war to end all wars.” Would that it was so. Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954 and honors those who serve or served in all branches of the U.S. military. My heartfelt thanks to all who served and continue to serve in the military forces of our country. Nov. 10 was the 248th birthday of the U.S. Marines, and I would be remiss if I did not say to Marines everywhere, “To all who s...
Some years ago, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote that there were known/knowns, known/unknowns and unknown/unknowns. Think about it. That’s things we know, things we know that we don’t know and things we don’t know we don’t know. It’s that last one that will put you in really deep kimchi. Jake Sullivan’s “Foreign Affairs” article prepared prior to Oct. 7, noting that the Middle East was quieter than it had been in two decades, is a classic example of unknown unknowns....
Some years ago, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote that there were known/knowns, known/unknowns and unknown/unknowns. Think about it. That’s things we know, things we know that we don’t know and things we don’t know we don’t know. It’s that last one that will put you in really deep kimchi. Jake Sullivan’s “Foreign Affairs” article prepared prior to Oct. 7, noting that the Middle East was quieter than it had been in two decades, is a classic example of unknown unknown...
I recently stumbled across a column in Axios, written by Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen. The article is based on “regular conversations with White House and congressional leaders, CEOs, and top technologists,” and is titled, “Behind the Curtain: Rattled U.S. Government Fears Wars Could Spread.” My sources consist of aging retired military personnel, many of whom spent time in Sunny South-East Asia. We reached that same conclusion a while ago. The writers list a conflue...
When I was a 19-year-old lance corporal, it was common to have open debates in the squad bay about the various wars or insurgencies that were going on, or had gone on in the past and what would be the best way to solve these conflicts. Inevitably the outcome of these debates was, “Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out.” While this made perfect sense to young enlisted men, I never thought I’d hear it espoused from supposed mature, elected senators who like to consider...
I am constantly reminded that most Americans have little interest in what goes on outside their own borders. As a matter of fact, during the football season, most Americans have little interest in what goes on off the gridiron, college or professional. In spite of all that is going on in Ukraine, the citizenry has pretty much given it the ho-hum treatment. After last weekend, all that is about to change. The Hamas attack on Israel put an end to U.S. indifference, probably...
The only people who believe Russia is winning the war are a smattering of retired U.S. military officers, retired CIA analysts, assorted writers of opinion columns and the Russian government. The chairman of Russia’s Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Chief Sergei Shoigu, speaking at different times, recently noted that Russia is not interested in a negotiated settlement with Ukraine. Volodin’s statement, “Ukraine must surrender on Mo...
The terms misinformation, disinformation and lies fall into the category of Shakespeare's “A rose by any other name.” Many poets and playwrights avail themselves of poetic license to shade the truth and enhance the plot. The other day, for example, while watching a movie, I heard a Marine drill instructor tell a recruit, “Don’t call me sir. I’m a sergeant.” I almost dropped my coffee cup. “Sir” was all we ever called our drill instructors. That’s a bit of misinformation. P...
If you are the parent of an active-duty Marine, the last person you want to see out of the blue on your door step is a Marine officer in dress uniform. He is generally there with bad news. This is true in peace time as well as war. The same holds true for the other services, but I’m familiar with Marines. Military folk die even during peace time, and someone is designated to make casualty calls. During a war it gets worse. According to the Watson Institute, International & P...
William J. Burns is the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. From 2005 to 2008 Burns was the ambassador to Russia. In February 2008, Burns sent a memo that that was distributed widely within the upper echelons of the George W. Bush administration. The memo concerned the NATO meeting that would determine whether to allow Ukraine and Georgia membership in NATO. Burns titled the memo, “Nyet Means Nyet,” and it read in part: “Foreign Minister Lavrov and other senior offic...
Well, the first Republican presidential debate was held on Aug. 23, and we celebrated Labor Day last Monday, so I guess the 2024 presidential campaign has well and truly started. I have thought for a few years now that the primary debates in their current format have reached their sell-by date, and this year may drive the nail in their coffin. A cast of 10 or so candidates, all competing for time and all attacking the supposed front runner doesn’t make for a...
If you google ‘NATO Mission,” you will find that: “NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. Collective defense is at the heart of the Alliance and creates a spirit of solidarity and cohesion among its members.” Hastings Lionel Ismay, a politician and general in the British Indian Army, was the first secretary general of NATO. Ismay is credited with coining the phrase that the purpose o...
Two widely different stories that caught my attention recently. I had planned to do a piece on the Marion, Kan., newspaper kerfuffle, but the publisher of this newspaper beat me to it. I will add one fact to the story, that may be of interest. The search warrant was signed on Aug. 11 and served on Aug. 14.. On Aug. 16, the Marion County attorney said his review of police seizures from the newspaper found “insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus b...
I recently watched a three-hour Joe Rogan podcast where he interviewed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his views on COVID, why he wanted to run for president and a variety of other topics. One of the interesting points that RFK raised was how political campaigning has changed over the years. Kennedy made the point that Franklin D. Roosevelt brought radio into the arena with his “Fireside Chats.” Kennedy’s uncle John F. Kennedy carried television fully into the political wars...
For the presidential election held in 2016, Donald Trump formally announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015. This suggests that if you are a serious candidate for the 2024 election, you may be running a tad late. The Democrats have two announced candidates, sitting President Joe Biden and Kennedy family scion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. There any number of potential candidates sniffing around in case Joe stumbles (politically, not literally) in his quest for the nomination....
