Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Stand Up To the Bully or Submit?

As most of you by now are aware, I am a big Stephen King fan. Right now I am just finishing ‘Salem’sLot, which is short for Jerusalem’s Lot, the small Maine town in which the story occurs. Early on in this King novel is a bit about the new kid in town, Mark Petrie, who is quickly faced with how to deal with the school bully, Richie Boddin. The bully has been at bullying for years. He is big and threatening, in contrast to Mark Petrie who is of slight frame and new to town. Without ruining the story, let’s just say that the new kid realizes that he is faced with a tough decision. He either has to kowtow to the bully or …

This morning I was reminded of this Mark Petrie-Richie Boddin encounter when I read a 3/13/22 article from the liberal newsletter, Politico. The title of the article is “Pentagon push to send more trainers to Ukraine was scrapped in December amid White House fears of provoking Russia”

From the Politico article:

“In December 2021, senior U.S. military officials told lawmakers that they wanted to send a “few hundred” additional special operations personnel to Ukraine to provide military advice and training on unconventional warfare. At the time, Russia had amassed roughly 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, and concerns were growing in Washington and Europe about a broadening invasion.

“Senior military officials told the Hill they wanted to train Ukrainians on unconventional warfare tactics. But the idea was stopped cold over the administration’s worries about escalation. A senior military official told House lawmakers that the White House was concerned that sending the troops would escalate the already tense situation with Russia. A third congressional official told POLITICO that a Pentagon official briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee that plans had been scrapped due to those concerns. The Biden administration hoped diplomacy might still work, and feared an influx of U.S. troops could scuttle those efforts.”

To be frank, ‘Salem’s Lot has a weird story line even for Stephen King. Nonetheless, Mark Petrie turns out to be a brave teenager with a backbone, whereas the featured guy in the Politico story … not so much!

3/16/22

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