A Ukraine Miscellany XI: Escalation, Ticking Time Bombs, and Endgame (II)

Until now the US has been keen to drag this war out and wear down Moscow but it would seem that the Kharkiv Offensive marks the moment that they've decided to initiate its endgame. It's a dangerous moment as Putin is also desperate and escalating the stakes by his mobilisation and his recent appeals to Beijing at the SCO meeting in Uzbekistan. If China begins to aid Russia, this war could swing the other direction and again the threat of a global war only intensifies. These are all factors explaining why the West is beginning to push hard and break the stalemate.

A Ukraine Miscellany XI: Escalation, Ticking Time Bombs, and Endgame (I)

There has been an escalation. This is a point on which I think all parties would agree. But as to the nature of that escalation, there are sharp divisions based on one's understanding of events.

The Living Legacies of Forgotten Wars: El Salvador

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/8/30/keeping-up-disappearances-in-el-salvador

The El Salvador Civil War (1979-1992) was in some respects ignored even while it was taking place. It received some coverage, and there were some flashpoints and massacres, namely the raped and murdered nuns, and most famously the dramatic assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980.

A Ukraine Miscellany (X): Clashes on the Russian Frontier and Charges of Torture

The longstanding conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has flared up and dozens are dead as a result of skirmishes. The evidence suggests this latest round of violence was instigated by Baku as Armenia is all but broken and still recovering from its serious defeat in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. It is highly unlikely that they would pick a fight at this time – a point even Western academics and commentators are willing to concede.

An Update

First, I wish to thank all of those who have prayed and those who have been kind enough to drop a personal note to me. God has been good. Our son is doing well – all things considered. The main thing is that he is stable.

The Hidden ISIS Policy

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62726954

This article reveals (perhaps without meaning to) the nature of NATO relations with ISIS during the movement's first phase. ISIS was rightly presented as a horrific apocalyptic Salafist organisation and its terror was channeled by Western media to reinvigorate support for Western intervention in the Middle East – the so-called War on Terror, even as figures like Obama were attempting to disentangle Western interests from it and 'Pivot to China'.

Blinken in Kyiv

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/08/1121901822/blinken-announces-more-security-aid-to-ukraine-during-a-surprise-visit

Ostensibly arriving in Kyiv on 8 September 2022 to offer aid, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was there to further promote the war. Visiting with the injured and afflicted was a photo op – fodder for the media to continue its propaganda campaign directed at the American public. The images and statements are meant to promote outrage and yet in other contexts (where the victims are the result of American operations) these same images and realities are covered up.

A Controversy over Missions among the Sioux

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/15/1117605626/a-reservation-in-south-dakota-bans-outside-missionaries

I caught this NPR story a few weeks ago while driving home and it made me groan inwardly – yet another compelling story, but one in which I find myself disagreeing with all involved.

A Ukraine Miscellany (IX): The Global Context and the Shadow of World War (Part II)

One has to be blind to not see that the world is at the very least creeping toward a global war scenario. And the pace is intensifying.

A Ukraine Miscellany (IX): The Global Context and the Shadow of World War (Part I)

It's a point already made but one that bears re-stating – the larger story and context of the Ukraine War is moving well beyond the immediate setting of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea littoral. Its impact and ramifications are increasingly global and so are the consequences and dangers.

Long Covid and Unemployment

While sitting in the Emergency Room with my son I was privy to many nearby conversations and happenings – whether I wanted to overhear them or not. Some were tragic, some sad, some semi-comical, and then of course there was the obligatory mental case – a screaming woman in one of the special locking rooms with a camera.