Did you paraphrase Stephen Stills' "For What it's Worth" to start tonight's Letter on purpose, or is it such a part of our culture that it just automatically inserts itself at appropriate times?
Did you paraphrase Stephen Stills' "For What it's Worth" to start tonight's Letter on purpose, or is it such a part of our culture that it just automatically inserts itself at appropriate times?
Sorry to interrupt this apt musical interlude with a update about the revolt in Russia:
тАШROSTOV-ON-DON/VORONEZH, Russia, June 24 (Reuters) - Russian military helicopters opened fire on Saturday afternoon on a convoy of rebel mercenaries already more than half way towards Moscow in a lightning advance after seizing a southern city overnight.тАЩ
тАШPresident Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia's Civil War a century ago.тАЩ
тАШFighters from Yevgeny Prigozhin's private Wagner militia were in control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than a million people close to the border with Ukraine, and were rapidly advancing northwards through western Russia.тАЩ
тАШA Reuters journalist saw army helicopters open fire at an armed Wagner column that was advancing past the city of Voronezh with troop carriers and at least one tank on a flatbed truck. The city is more than half way along the 1,100-km (680-mile) highway from Rostov to Moscow.тАЩ
тАШPrigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov after leading his forces into Russia from Ukraine.
In Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia's entire invasion force, residents milled about, filming on mobile phones, as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions.тАЩ
тАШIn Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers.тАЩ
"Excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason," Putin said in a televised address, comparing the insurrection at a time of war abroad to Russia's revolution and civil war unleashed during World War One.тАЩ
"All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people."
тАШA defiant Prigozhin swiftly replied that he and his men had no intention of turning themselves in.
"The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it," Prigozhin said in an audio message. "We don't want the country to continue to live in corruption and deceit."
тАШIn a series of hectic messages overnight, Prigozhin demanded Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov come to see him in Rostov.тАЩ
тАШWestern capitals said they were closely following the situation in nuclear-armed Russia. The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed.тАЩ
"This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times," Britain's defence ministry said.
"Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia's security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how this crisis plays out."
тАШPutin's grip on power may depend on whether he can muster enough loyal troops to combat the mercenaries at a time when most of Russia's military is deployed at the front in southern and eastern Ukraine.тАЩ
тАШThe insurrection also risks leaving Russia's invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.тАЩ
"Russia's weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a social media message. "And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later."
тАШPRIGOZHIN'S REVOLTтАЩ
тАШPrigozhin, a former convict and long-time ally of Putin, leads a private army that includes thousands of former prisoners recruited from Russian jails.тАЩ
тАШHis men took on the fiercest fighting of the 16-month Ukraine war, including the protracted battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.тАЩ
тАШHe railed for months against the regular army's top brass, accusing generals of incompetence and of withholding ammunition from his fighters. This month, he defied orders to sign a contract placing his troops under Defence Ministry command.тАЩ
тАШHe launched the apparent mutiny on Friday after alleging that the military had killed many of his fighters in an air strike. The Defence Ministry denied it.тАЩ
"There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country," he said, promising to destroy any checkpoints or air forces that got in Wagner's way. He later said his men had been involved in clashes with regular soldiers and had shot down a helicopter.тАЩ
тАШArmy Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev issued a video appeal asking Prigozhin to reconsider his actions.тАЩ
"Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority," he said.'
Reporting by Reuters journalists Writing by Andrew Osborn, Kevin Liffey, Peter Graff Editing by Frances KerryтАЩ (Reuters)
'Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.'
I always look for your assessments, comments, and links. I don't know how anyone cannot pay attention to it but then the implosion of the OceanGate Titantic Expedition has been front and center in the news for almost a week! How it is determined what news rises to "above the fold" never ceases to make my head spin! Need more coffee!!
Janet W., thank you for your kind words. I was also very disturbed at the amount of coverage of the OceanGate disaster compared to the paucity of stories and analysis of the tragedy that struck a boat full of migrants in Greek waters. Hundreds remain missing and dozens confirmed dead. Greek and European authorities have some explaining to do at the least.
Interesting. I have a group of "friends" that are now calling "the left" to task for belittling the company and calling those who say (essentially) "well, that is what you get when rich people want to play with their toys with no interference from safety rules" something like "depraved". There is no reason on the MAGAt side. None at all.
As an engineer, IтАЩm appalled that anyone would get on a vessel that wasnтАЩt inspected by an outside inspector for corrosion damage and weaknesses in the carbon shell. When a vessel creaks, itтАЩs never a good sign. The CEO said that the clear end of the vessel was designed to deform under pressure and that it would have visible cracks before it failed to warn him. So, what does one do when it develops visible cracks when itтАЩs near the bottom of the Atlantic? No provision mentioned of a way to quickly return to the surface like a submarine.
тАЬThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat itтАЭ - George Santayana
Putin makes a very apt comparison to 1917, without, perhaps, learning much from it. Nicholas IIтАЩs downfall actually began in 1905 with the less than successful Russo- Japanese War, even though it did expand the empire and acquired a warm water port, Vladisvostok. Remember, most of RussiaтАЩs coastlines are frozen for a good part of the year, except, when it was part of the empire, the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. Even then the USSR and then the Russian Federation, had to traverse Western/NATO allies to gain access to the open sea. The acquisition of a year-round accessible port has been a motivator for Russia for decades (see the southward invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, with the goal of eventually taking over the Persian Gulf.).
Internal disarray and a costly war lead to the fall of Nicholas II. One form of autocracy was replaced by another in 1917 and the dismantlement of the Soviet state gave way eventually to another in the form of oligarchy. This is PutinтАЩs legacy. And like others before him, he has not heeded history very successful.
Someone postulated that it shows how much more capable the US and Canadian Coast Guards are than that of Greece. Said that heтАЩd heard that the boat capsized when being towed inexpertly.
Anything the right wing pushes, no matter how ridiculous, becomes big news. The media is still obsessed with Hunter Biden because of the right wing, even though there is nothing there. The media is terrified of them.
William, you're a bit too kind. Media focuses on the stories that will gain viewership. Like any modern American corporation, media companies seek Profit ├Ьber Alles. I depend on a mix of Substack reading (including Fern's), the NYT, WaPo, and the Economist to get a better holistic view of what's going on.
Since media are designed to appeal to their target audiences, one has to follow several.
Fern McBride's mention of the refugee deaths is important and prescient. It is a harbinger of a looming surge in migration due to political and economic crises, made increasingly worse by global warming.
Thank you Fern for this update. I, too, always look for your comments and assessments. I think Putin is now feeling what the Ukrainian and African people have been suffering through and he doesn't like anyone who makes him feel like his authority is being threatened or even questioned. Karma is coming for him, not that Prigozhin is any saint by any stretch of the imagination. He is just as ruthless and heartless as Putin, just more open about it.
Not to make too light of a terrible occurrence, but my hope in all of this is that Prigozhin and Putin suffer the fate of the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.
Hey Steve Lord! As Mary Wells would have said, "You beat me to the. punch!" I also was wondering if Heather was referencing the actual song or the meme it's become.
It runs through my mind pretty much 24/7. Buffalo Springfield played at a junior high neaby in '67, just after they released this song. I had just started 8th grade. Life altering experience.
Eddie Van Halen , technical genius, artistic sensibility is lacking. And the music that Spotify chooses , just for me. I got off the bus after U2 who are among the greats.
Did you paraphrase Stephen Stills' "For What it's Worth" to start tonight's Letter on purpose, or is it such a part of our culture that it just automatically inserts itself at appropriate times?
"There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware"
Stephen Stills/Buffalo Springfield 1967
Stop! Children, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down!
Battle lines bein' drawn, nobody's right when everybody's wrong...
Sorry to interrupt this apt musical interlude with a update about the revolt in Russia:
тАШROSTOV-ON-DON/VORONEZH, Russia, June 24 (Reuters) - Russian military helicopters opened fire on Saturday afternoon on a convoy of rebel mercenaries already more than half way towards Moscow in a lightning advance after seizing a southern city overnight.тАЩ
тАШPresident Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia's Civil War a century ago.тАЩ
тАШFighters from Yevgeny Prigozhin's private Wagner militia were in control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than a million people close to the border with Ukraine, and were rapidly advancing northwards through western Russia.тАЩ
тАШA Reuters journalist saw army helicopters open fire at an armed Wagner column that was advancing past the city of Voronezh with troop carriers and at least one tank on a flatbed truck. The city is more than half way along the 1,100-km (680-mile) highway from Rostov to Moscow.тАЩ
тАШPrigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov after leading his forces into Russia from Ukraine.
In Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia's entire invasion force, residents milled about, filming on mobile phones, as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions.тАЩ
тАШIn Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers.тАЩ
"Excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason," Putin said in a televised address, comparing the insurrection at a time of war abroad to Russia's revolution and civil war unleashed during World War One.тАЩ
"All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people."
тАШA defiant Prigozhin swiftly replied that he and his men had no intention of turning themselves in.
"The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it," Prigozhin said in an audio message. "We don't want the country to continue to live in corruption and deceit."
тАШIn a series of hectic messages overnight, Prigozhin demanded Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov come to see him in Rostov.тАЩ
тАШWestern capitals said they were closely following the situation in nuclear-armed Russia. The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed.тАЩ
"This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times," Britain's defence ministry said.
"Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia's security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how this crisis plays out."
тАШPutin's grip on power may depend on whether he can muster enough loyal troops to combat the mercenaries at a time when most of Russia's military is deployed at the front in southern and eastern Ukraine.тАЩ
тАШThe insurrection also risks leaving Russia's invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.тАЩ
"Russia's weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a social media message. "And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later."
тАШPRIGOZHIN'S REVOLTтАЩ
тАШPrigozhin, a former convict and long-time ally of Putin, leads a private army that includes thousands of former prisoners recruited from Russian jails.тАЩ
тАШHis men took on the fiercest fighting of the 16-month Ukraine war, including the protracted battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.тАЩ
тАШHe railed for months against the regular army's top brass, accusing generals of incompetence and of withholding ammunition from his fighters. This month, he defied orders to sign a contract placing his troops under Defence Ministry command.тАЩ
тАШHe launched the apparent mutiny on Friday after alleging that the military had killed many of his fighters in an air strike. The Defence Ministry denied it.тАЩ
"There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country," he said, promising to destroy any checkpoints or air forces that got in Wagner's way. He later said his men had been involved in clashes with regular soldiers and had shot down a helicopter.тАЩ
тАШArmy Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev issued a video appeal asking Prigozhin to reconsider his actions.тАЩ
"Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority," he said.'
Reporting by Reuters journalists Writing by Andrew Osborn, Kevin Liffey, Peter Graff Editing by Frances KerryтАЩ (Reuters)
'Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.'
Wow, thank for this Fern. I was just getting ready to scan the news for updates!
Thank you, Janet W. This is a fast moving and big story,. Thank you for your attention to it.
I always look for your assessments, comments, and links. I don't know how anyone cannot pay attention to it but then the implosion of the OceanGate Titantic Expedition has been front and center in the news for almost a week! How it is determined what news rises to "above the fold" never ceases to make my head spin! Need more coffee!!
Janet W., thank you for your kind words. I was also very disturbed at the amount of coverage of the OceanGate disaster compared to the paucity of stories and analysis of the tragedy that struck a boat full of migrants in Greek waters. Hundreds remain missing and dozens confirmed dead. Greek and European authorities have some explaining to do at the least.
Now Comer is saying it's all because the owner was woke.
WILLIAM, I will never relax about inhumanity; we can never forget it and must work to expose such blatant cruelty.
Interesting. I have a group of "friends" that are now calling "the left" to task for belittling the company and calling those who say (essentially) "well, that is what you get when rich people want to play with their toys with no interference from safety rules" something like "depraved". There is no reason on the MAGAt side. None at all.
As an engineer, IтАЩm appalled that anyone would get on a vessel that wasnтАЩt inspected by an outside inspector for corrosion damage and weaknesses in the carbon shell. When a vessel creaks, itтАЩs never a good sign. The CEO said that the clear end of the vessel was designed to deform under pressure and that it would have visible cracks before it failed to warn him. So, what does one do when it develops visible cracks when itтАЩs near the bottom of the Atlantic? No provision mentioned of a way to quickly return to the surface like a submarine.
102.
тАЬThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat itтАЭ - George Santayana
Putin makes a very apt comparison to 1917, without, perhaps, learning much from it. Nicholas IIтАЩs downfall actually began in 1905 with the less than successful Russo- Japanese War, even though it did expand the empire and acquired a warm water port, Vladisvostok. Remember, most of RussiaтАЩs coastlines are frozen for a good part of the year, except, when it was part of the empire, the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. Even then the USSR and then the Russian Federation, had to traverse Western/NATO allies to gain access to the open sea. The acquisition of a year-round accessible port has been a motivator for Russia for decades (see the southward invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, with the goal of eventually taking over the Persian Gulf.).
Internal disarray and a costly war lead to the fall of Nicholas II. One form of autocracy was replaced by another in 1917 and the dismantlement of the Soviet state gave way eventually to another in the form of oligarchy. This is PutinтАЩs legacy. And like others before him, he has not heeded history very successful.
Someone postulated that it shows how much more capable the US and Canadian Coast Guards are than that of Greece. Said that heтАЩd heard that the boat capsized when being towed inexpertly.
Anything the right wing pushes, no matter how ridiculous, becomes big news. The media is still obsessed with Hunter Biden because of the right wing, even though there is nothing there. The media is terrified of them.
William, you're a bit too kind. Media focuses on the stories that will gain viewership. Like any modern American corporation, media companies seek Profit ├Ьber Alles. I depend on a mix of Substack reading (including Fern's), the NYT, WaPo, and the Economist to get a better holistic view of what's going on.
Since media are designed to appeal to their target audiences, one has to follow several.
Fern McBride's mention of the refugee deaths is important and prescient. It is a harbinger of a looming surge in migration due to political and economic crises, made increasingly worse by global warming.
Thanks as always, Fern, for your research, insights, analysis--and your generosity in sharing it with us--
Thank you, Fern. You have a mad skill set for getting information that I wouldn't even know how to look for, much less find.
тАж and I have good sense not to play the tuba.
ЁЯдг
I confess to having piccolo envy at times... especially in parades.
ЁЯЩГ
Thank you Fern for this update. I, too, always look for your comments and assessments. I think Putin is now feeling what the Ukrainian and African people have been suffering through and he doesn't like anyone who makes him feel like his authority is being threatened or even questioned. Karma is coming for him, not that Prigozhin is any saint by any stretch of the imagination. He is just as ruthless and heartless as Putin, just more open about it.
Not to make too light of a terrible occurrence, but my hope in all of this is that Prigozhin and Putin suffer the fate of the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.
The Duel
Eugene Field
1850 тАУ1895
The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I was n't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)
Link to the rest of the poem is below.
https://poets.org/poem/duel
Exactly!
Thanks, Fern.
Yep. That line came to mind, along with the one below. I have not been able to shake that song, especially in recent years.
Hey Steve Lord! As Mary Wells would have said, "You beat me to the. punch!" I also was wondering if Heather was referencing the actual song or the meme it's become.
Hadn't read this comment before I posted mine just now! It's a generational thing!
Like great literature, great music has no generation.
"You see just beneath the surface of the mud, there's more mud here. Surprise."
OMG! I was actually thinking of that song two days ago when I was reading another substack.
It runs through my mind pretty much 24/7. Buffalo Springfield played at a junior high neaby in '67, just after they released this song. I had just started 8th grade. Life altering experience.
Have been listening to this song for the past month on my Spotify list...troubled times
I saw them in Southern California in, I think, 1966. They were the opening act for the Doors.
LOVE that song!
Thought the same about it being the lyricsЁЯШЙ
Nice catch, Steve.
We could use artists like that today but I donтАЩt see them right now. But then this boomer is out of touch with todayтАЩs тАЬ musicтАЭ.
I still have this 1967 print Buffalo Springfield album. Why discard the classics?
Um . . . exactly what "music" would that be?
Eddie Van Halen , technical genius, artistic sensibility is lacking. And the music that Spotify chooses , just for me. I got off the bus after U2 who are among the greats.