Sabre - Kracek
  • Sabre
  • Kracek
  • Close Calls
  • Author Bio
  • Vito's View

Psychological Warfare

3/30/2022

0 Comments

 

Let the Devil Receive His Due

                                                Let the Devil Receive His Due
                                                               by Vito Tomasino 
 
      Putin invaded a peaceful country of no threat to Russia, attacking apartment buildings, hospitals, even a nuclear power plant, resulting in the massacre of thousands of innocent men, women and children and disrupting the lives of millions more. His own ill supplied, demoralized army is also paying a huge price in human life and material loss, all to fulfill his dream of forming a new Russian Empire. With a few notable exceptions, he has been condemned by almost every country in the world.
      The United States and its NATO allies responded to this blatant disregard for human life by belatedly imposing weak economic sanctions targeting rich Russian Oligarchs, which had no effect on Putin’s ability to finance the war. Indeed, we, and our allies continued to buy his oil, and were thus personally complicit in helping him finance the very war we were condemning. It was only after we realized the war would not be over in a few days, and unable to explain this embarrassing contradiction, that we reluctantly stopped buying Russian oil.
      The United States and our allies have publicly decried Putin’s actions, calling him a war criminal who will be held accountable for his crimes. Some have described him as the devil incarnate. This man “cannot remain in power,” declared a chagrined U.S. President. Yet, here we are, more than a month later with the war still raging—thousands more innocents killed and millions more displaced—wringing our hands over what we can, or cannot do to end the senseless bloodshed.
      The sad truth is we know exactly what needs to be done. The Ukrainian Army has proven itself more than capable of taking on the Russians. Give them the weapons that will not only enable them to defeat the Russian soldier on the battlefield, but control the skies over it; i.e., surface-to-air missiles and Mig-29 fighter jets. Without such weapons they stand little chance of winning a war of attrition against a far bigger opponent with unlimited resources.
      U.S. and NATO military experts and their government leaders know this to be true.  Poland was ready to provide the Mig-29’s weeks ago in exchange for our F-16’s. The Biden administration would not allow it. We later agreed to provide the high altitude surface-to-air missiles, but they have yet to be delivered. Why? Why, given the proven capability of the Ukrainian Army to hold the Russians at bay, even drive them back, are we denying them the weapons they need to finish the job?
      We have heard their lame excuses for not providing the Migs and missiles; that they are offensive weapons and might prod Putin into declaring an all-out war against NATO, which could escalate into a nuclear exchange. However, in a world in which the Soviet Union and the United States have faced each other in a Cold War for decades—each possessing enough nuclear weapons to destroy the planet several times over—they have never resorted to their use. Even Premier Krushchev—during the closest event the world had ever come to a nuclear holocaust, the Cuban Missile Crisis--was wise enough to understand this. I don’t think Putin is any more suicidal, or any more likely to be allowed to press the “red button.”
      What is an offensive weapon, anyway? Is there such a thing as a non-offensive weapon? Are not the weapons currently being sent to Ukraine offensive weapons? Indeed, all weapons are, by their nature, offensive, either when used by an invading army, or used by the people of the invaded country to defend itself. The only difference between the offensive nature of the weapons we have already sent, and those we have not, is that the former can only forestall the inevitable defeat of an outnumbered, outgunned Ukrainian Army, the latter can bring it victory.
      If we dismiss the plausibility of igniting a Third World War in which nuclear weapons are deployed, what then are we to believe is the reason for us to deny the Ukrainians the arms they so desperately need? Could it be, that we are more fearful of Putin losing, than we are hopeful of the Ukrainians winning? This is a question we can debate after the war.
      For now, send them the God-damned weapons and Let the Devil Receive His Due!


       I wrote this two weeks ago and have since learned that the Ukrainians are indeed
using internet and cell-phone technology in their psy-war effort, which has
apparently been effective in getting the truth to the Russian people at home. But
what of the soldier in the field? He may not have been allowed to take a cell-phone
with him. If a few did manage to smuggle one into the combat zone they only dared
use it at the risk of their lives, and trying keep it charged would compound that risk.
      Thus, to get to the Russian soldier in the field, the old methods mentioned
below (leaflet drops and loud speaker propaganda) may still be the best way to
reach him.  

      Hungary, demoralized Russian soldiers, told they would be greeted as liberators
are now aware of that lie, the world’s opposition to the war, and the protests against
it by their own people, and would be very vulnerable to psychological warfare. If
it is being used, it must be stronger. If not, it may be the most effective unused
weapon in our arsenal—one that could end the war. It would also be the most
cost effective weapon we could use, and at little cost (if any) to human life.
      If needed by Ukraine, support could be gotten from any number of NATO
countries, including the United States. In past wars we used leaflet drops and
powerful loud-speakers directed at the opposing army—and they at us. Today,
with internet and cell-phone technology we have even more effective methods
of “getting into the heads” of our enemy.
      I cannot imagine a situation more vulnerable to psychological warfare than
Putin’s unlawful invasion of a peaceful neighboring country.
0 Comments

The Voice of the People     by Vito Tomasino

3/10/2022

0 Comments

 
 The people of the world are voicing their opposition to the “War on Ukraine” and their compassion for the Ukrainian people. They, and the protests against the invasion by the Russian people themselves, inspired me to write the following essay.     

​                                          The Voice of the People                     


Putin’s attempt to take over a country that posed no threat to Russia has been met with fierce resistance by the Ukrainian people, who are demonstrating a willingness to fight to the death for their country and God-given right to live as free men and women. The indomitable spirit they are displaying has captured the emotions and admiration of freedom-loving people across the globe, including, and certainly more significantly, the Russian People themselves.
      Putin, may have indeed felt he had legitimate cause to take such drastic action, but some of his own generals advised against it, and thousands of his people have taken to the streets at great risk to themselves and their families to protest the war. I don’t recall that ever happening in Russia before.
      The sanctions, though late in coming, are taking a toll on Russia’s economy, but more needs to be done in that regard. There should be a worldwide boycott of Russian oil, the sale of which is financing his invasion of Ukraine. How ironic…how damming is it, that those same countries sending arms into Ukraine are still buying Russian oil and indirectly helping Putin finance the war? Is this not a conflict of interest? To those nations, especially mine, I ask, where is your commitment to peace? Where is your honor? If your words are not matched by your actions, they
are meaningless, and you have none! If you, our world leaders do not have the moral courage to put aside your personal concerns to hold onto power, then we, the people must do it for you.
      In this age of computers and cell phones we have the capability to know what is happening anywhere in the world the instant it happens. Through the internet and social media platforms we can make our voices heard loud and clear. If the billions of people with access to these platforms flood the “airways” with their voices of support for the Ukrainian people while issuing a strong condemnation of Russian aggression, we will be heard.
      Why? Because the self-anointed few among us who think that they know best how the rest of us should live our lives will find it in their personal interests to end the conflict to protect their power and fortunes. Putin would find himself isolated, and thus expendable.
      Toward that end, I ask all to whom I send this message to forward it to everyone on your mailing list, post it on your Facebook page, and write your own individual message of support for the Ukrainian people and condemnation of Putin’s brutal aggression against a peaceful nation on every other social media platform you use. Share your concerns with those that represent you in your respective governments, and write the editors of your local newspapers. Together, we can end this war.
     

     

0 Comments

The Russian Bully

3/6/2022

0 Comments

 
The Russian Bully                             by Vito Tomasino

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will surely be viewed by historians as one of the saddest days
in human history; as profoundly consequential as Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Even
then, the European nations failed to realize, that the Austrian Corporal would not be satisfied
until all of Europe was under his rule, and that appeasement is never an effective deterrent
against a man who sees himself an emperor. It did not work then and it will not work now;
nor will pitifully weak, slow-acting sanctions—another form of appeasement.
      The Hitlers and Putins of this world are nothing more than bullies who pick on the weakest
kid in the schoolyard to intimidate. When confronted by another kid with the courage and
strength to stand up to them, however, the bully will always back down. So too would Putin
if we, the United States of America—with NATO, if the will is there; without it if not—send
the full force and might of our military into Ukraine to fight shoulder to shoulder
with the Ukrainian people.
      Some would consider my suggestion irrational. It would start World War III, and
escalate to nuclear warfare, they would warn. Would it? I don’t think so, and they have less
to back up their position than I have mine. Nuclear weapons were first dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki to force the Japanese surrender during WWII. Since then they have made their
way into the arsenal of perhaps a dozen countries and never resorted to; despite the long
“Cold War” engaged in by the United States and the U.S.S.R., the continuing “war” between
India and Pakistan, and the ominous threat of Communist China. The world has seen first-
hand the awesome destructive power of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and every
world leader with such a weapon at his disposal knows, that should he ever press the “red
button” he would be signing his own death warrant; his, and that of billions more people
on this planet.
      If we were to confront this “bully” I would be one of the first to volunteer. I was on the
ground with the U.S. Marines in Korea, flew over the jungles of Vietnam as an Air Force
fighter pilot, and stood watch during the “Cold War” to insure the old Soviet Union
remained behind her ‘Iron Curtin.” My best years may be behind me. Nonetheless, I
am ready, even now, to pick up a rifle, or “strap on” a fighter jet, and fight alongside the
brave men and women of Ukraine to help secure their freedom.
      Why? Because it is not just their fight. It is our fight, our responsibility to defend
against the tyranny of men like Putin, who, if left unchecked, would strip away our 
​God-given right to live free.
 
0 Comments

    Author

    Spent 12 years in the Middle East. 

    Archives

    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    September 2021
    April 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    June 2019
    July 2018
    November 2017
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    July 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from spisharam