Putin gets even more aggressive in Ukraine

June 6, 1944: D-Day

The front page of The Salt Lake Tribune from the next day, reporting on the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

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The Battle of Irpin

MEET THE UKRAINIAN RESISTANCE ↴

For news on the war…

aaronjhill.tumblr.com
I have been compiling stories and sources about Russia and Ukraine at my blog on Tumblr. Take a look. Lotsa good stuff. The design is different from this blog. Tons of links. Kinda like my version of the Drudge Report. But, of course, better, much better.

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“He prefers not to offer an overall death toll so as not to frighten the citizens.”

INSIDE OKHTYRKA, A CITY IN NORTHEAST UKRAINE

“’Six people were killed here,’ he said. ‘Three people there.’ He preferred not to offer an overall death toll so as ‘not to frighten the citizens.’” That is the mayor.

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The world is entering a new era of warfare

AI ARMS RACE ALREADY UNDERWAY
“The world is entering a new era of warfare, with artificial intelligence taking center stage. AI is making militaries faster, smarter and more efficient. But if left unchecked, it threatens to destabilize the world.”

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Iconic. Bravery. Friendship. Touching.

I have been looking through some imagery created by the talented artists of the AEF, the American Expeditionary Forces, during the nastiness that was the First World War, and I came across this one, a new favorite, of a soldier carrying his wounded buddy. A sketch by Harry Everett Townsend using charcoal on paper, it hangs in the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum.

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I love America

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Advice from Old Fritz on war, politics & humanity

Frederick the Great wrote a book, published in 1740, the very year he acceded to the throne, in response to Machiavelli’s The Prince, a cynical and jaded view of realpolitik. In it, Old Fritz provides a more responsible and humanitarian view of governing, particularly when it comes to life and death decisions such as war.

“War is so full of misfortune, its outcome is so uncertain, and its consequences so ruinous for a country that sovereigns should think twice before undertaking it. . . . princes who wage unjust wars are more cruel and cold-blooded than any tyrant ever was. They sacrifice to their impetuous passions the well-being of an infinity of men whom they are duty-bound to protect.”

Republicans, Democrats, Left and Right — everyone — would do well to heed such advice.

It is odd to think that I knew of Machiavelli and his Prince, yet did not learn of Frederick’s reply, Against Machiavelli, until today. The Prince was required reading in one of my high school lit classes. Perhaps Frederick the Great should be, too.

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An Afghan Boy and His Puppy

Last night I came across a photo on my Facebook feed of an adorable Afghan boy. A photographer named Muhammed Muheisen snapped it, and thankfully the Associated Press picked it up.

The “5 year-old Afghan refugee . . . discovered and rescued a puppy from a pile of garbage in Islamabad, Pakistan. His smile says everything.”

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