Tag Archives: Germany

Current Events

Is it NATO or ATO?

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Another informative and thought provoking treatise from my good friend and our Marine Brother. Thank you Greg.

Holding the bag.

By Greg Maresca

While many Americans would have trouble finding Utah on a map, let alone Ukraine, they would equally struggle with the acronym, NATO, that if we are being truthful means: Not Able To Operate (without the U.S.). They need to drop the “N” and make it ATO – American Treaty Organization, a synonym for American expeditionary forces.

NATO was established in 1949 to defend Western Europe from the Soviet Union. Its mission according to the alliance’s first Secretary General, Lord Hastings Ismay, “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.”

The post-Soviet Union Russia retained its formidable military that includes thousands of nuclear warheads, so disbanding NATO was out of the question. Besides, alliances, like government bureaucracies, rarely disappear. More importantly, peace through strength is no cliché. Tyrants will always exploit weaknesses and it’s naïve to believe otherwise.

In his historic 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington made it clear how he opposed alliances. Defense treaties always work to the advantage of one country and to the disadvantage of another.

The other always being the United States and as the most powerful member we will continue to pay for ensuring its effectiveness.

NATO protects Europeans from having to provide for their own defense. It is a lot easier to let the American taxpayer pick up the tab, while also keeping the sea lanes free and open. Granted, it’s in my interest if my neighbor’s house doesn’t go up in flames. However, that doesn’t mean I must pay his house insurance.

The well-intended but fossilized NATO is more bark than bite when it comes to any support that is not American in origin. Our southern border is under siege but do not count on any NATO member to come to our aid. We can’t even count on some NATO members to vote with us at the United Nations, where we also pay the majority of the U.N.’s bill.

NATO’s first supreme commander, Gen. Eisenhower, said if U.S. troops were still in Europe in 10 years, NATO would be a failure.

Article V of the NATO treaty says any attack on a NATO member will be treated as an attack on all. NATO’s sole Article V intervention was in 2001 in Afghanistan – a long way from Europe and the North Atlantic and its founding objective.

Any member that fails to meet their obligations betrays the alliance by being strategically and ethically negligent and by escalating their dependence on Russian gas and oil only magnifies their irresponsibility.

NATO members prefer to invest in the socialist welfare state than in the necessities of defense where allegiance to the alliance and to one another is debatable. Regarding military contingency, NATO would rather conduct summits where the English would make the reservations, the Germans the strudel and the French hors d’oeuvres. All the while, Uncle Sam does the heavy lifting with the troops, tanks, planes, and ships.

During a Bold Guard/Northern Wedding NATO exercise, the only NATO trooper I interacted with was a drunk Dane who approached our armory of which I was one of two sentries. It is sobering to behold what a sliding bolt can do for the language barrier. I suppose the Carlsberg beer that was three for a dollar was just too good to pass up. The Danes did provide a hot meal in one of their air bases’ chow halls that the salty grunts of the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade promptly cleaned out to the dismay of our hosts. Without a doubt, Uncle Sam was billed accordingly.

Lack of accountability has bred imprudence like unionized troops throughout NATO. One Air Force captain told of a NATO exercise where he was walking with a couple of Dutch officers when they passed two generals. The Americans saluted, while the Dutch, who were wearing hair nets to cover their shaggy hairdos, waved. The Dutch explained how their union claimed saluting was humiliating.

Yet, historians still debate why it took the Nazi’s four days to eliminate the Dutch from World War II.

If our NATO allies took their defense seriously, they would be a formidable neutralizer to Russia and assuage their reliance upon the U.S., while saving Uncle Sam plenty of money and headaches.

 

Originally posted 2022-03-10 17:04:48.

Current Events

Olympics

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Well, the Olympics have begun. So stand by America, get ready to be entertained, albeit I think I know what you’ll see. I won’t HA! You see, I feel the same about this event as I do about the Super Bowl. I’ll watch 1883 on my TV and enjoy it as much as I enjoy “Yellowstone.” I won’t watch it and not so much because of this article, albeit is a serious slap in the face, but because of what I would probably see from the American athletes. The Olympics has become nothing but a political football for all to play with.

I  don’t need to see fists raised, disgracing our flag, and all the other BS that athletes tend to produce while on center stage. All nothing but an embarrassment to our once great nation. Sorry, but that is MHO. I know there will be some of the same stuff we always  see from these immature smartass athletes who get to go to this event at the taxpayers expense, then slap us in the face. No way Jose.

China Thumbs Its Nose at the West With Sick Move During Opening Ceremony of the Olympics

 By Bradley Cortright February 4, 2022 at 2:10pm

Olympic Ring fireworks go off over the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing, during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, on February 4, 2022. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP) (Photo by NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)
China’s government is showing how it feels about international condemnation of its human rights abuses.

During the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China made a particularly brazen decision to choose an Uyghur athlete to deliver the ceremonial flame, which NBC News notes “often carries symbolic weight based in part on who is selected for the task.”

“This was a riposte to President Joe Biden for skipping these Olympics,” Andy Browne, editorial director of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum said during NBC’s broadcast, adding that it was “a message to the West: China won’t be lectured to on human rights, or on any other issue.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper weighed on China’s move on Twitter, “Hard to imagine a more cynical move. The Chinese government is literally committing genocide simultaneously against the Uyghurs.”

He went on to share a series of articles detailing horrific allegations of forced labor, sterilization, and torture that Uyghurs have been subjected to in the northwest region of Xinjiang.

Last year, a U.K.-based panel determined that China’s treatment of Uyghurs amounts to genocide. And the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the games but vowed to support its athletes.

China has denied that it mistreats Uyghurs.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, also called out China in a tweet writing, “The Chinese government selects an athlete with Uyghur heritage to light the Olympic torch, as if that might make us forget that Beijing is detaining one million Uyghur Muslims to force them to abandon their religion, culture, and language.”

As Rushan Abbas, an Uyghur activist, noted in a column in USA Today, “The 1936 Berlin Games were known as the ‘Nazi Olympics.’ More than merely a sporting event, these Games gave Germany a platform for Nazi propaganda.”

“The Nazis already operated concentration camps, just as China operates and denies the existence of Uyghur concentration camps. The Nazis promoted a false image of a free and open society before the Berlin Games, just as China attempts to portray with Uyghurs,” she added.

NBC faced heavy criticism on Friday over its coverage of the games, with some alleging it is “casually pushing Chinese Communist propaganda” and brushing off concerns about human rights abuses.

China’s decision to thumb its nose at charges of genocide by having a smiling Uyghur athlete deliver the Olympic torch truly is a ghoulish move.

Otherwise, how is your day going, mine is going well. Have a great one, and if you have not been watching “1883” you don’t know what you are missing. Semper Fi gang, Jim

 

Originally posted 2022-02-04 16:43:37.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Caveat America

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This is the third post I have made concerning what may be a cruel yet ingenious plot to advance itself in the global order by China. Call it a conspiracy theory if you choose. However, the more I research and learn, the more I honestly believe it not to be a theory at all. But then, that’s for you to decide. However, I would appreciate your comments, and if you like the post please click on the like symbol. Thank you and please be safe, be strong.

ITALY’S  RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Published March 24, 2020 | By Giacomino Nicolazzo

Giacomino Nicolazzo is one of Italy’s most beloved writers.  Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania USA, he lives in a small village in Lombardy where he writes his books.

commie-recipe-for-disaster

Montecalvo, Lombardy, Italy. As I sit here in my involuntary isolation, it was just reported that overnight 743 more people died and 5.249 new cases have been reported. This brings the total cases of infection to 69,176 and the body count to 6,820. We take relief in knowing that 8,326 people have recovered so far. (Numbers as of 3/24, 8:30 pm in Italy.)

Most towns here in Italy, from the upper reaches of the Alps to the ancient shores of Sicilia (sic) and Sardinia, while not deserted, are closer to being ghost towns than the bustling centers of tourism, business and daily life they were just a few weeks ago.

Stores and shops have been shuttered. Restaurants and coffee shops no longer serve customers. Schools, universities, sporting arenas…even our museums and theaters…all closed. Even the Vatican City has closed its gates and armed patrols monitor the 20 foot tall walls that protect it!

Streets and roads are now empty for as far as the eye can see. Normally they would be filled with crazed Italian drivers in tiny cars and scooters (the ones that sound like demonic insects) darting here and there, reaching the limits of centrifugal force on our roundabouts. In the piazze (sic) of our towns and cities, there are now officially more pigeons than people.

Many of us know someone who has been infected and recovered. Some of us know someone who did not recover…now they are dead. But everyone knows someone who has been affected by this microscopic monster in one way or another.

Sixty million of us are in lock down…it is like a war zone here. We are being held prisoner in our own homes by an unseen enemy that sneaked in unnoticed…by most of us. As you will read in just a few more minutes, there were those who knew something like this was coming…or at least they should have.

So who is to blame? With all this craziness swirling like a whirlpool at our feet, I just had to find the blame answer. And so I have spent my free time (of which I have a lot in these days) digging and researching. I was literally shocked to discover how this has come to be.

I am not going to bore you with talk of Patient ‘0’ who spread it to Patient ‘1’ and how mathematics efficiently explains the rapid expansion of infection. No…I am going to tell you how (as I see it) the virus came to Italy.

It has everything to do with communism. Allow me to explain.

Beginning in about 2014, Matteo Renzi, the imbecile ex-mayor of Firenze (Florence) acting as the leader of the Partito Democratico (synonymous with the Italian Communist party), somehow managed to get himself elected as Italy’s Prime Minister. To give you a proper frame of reference, Matteo Renzi was so far left, he would make Barack Obama look like Barry Goldwater!

At the same time that Renzi was leading Italy into oblivion, strange things were happening in Italy’s economy. Banks were failing…but not closing. Retirement ages were being extended…for some reason the pension funds were dwindling or disappearing. The national sales tax we call IVA (Value Added Tax) rose from 18% to 20%, then to 21% and again to 22%.

And in the midst of all this financial chicanery, the Chinese began furiously buying up Italian real estate and businesses in the North.

Now the reason I mention Renzi and the Chinese together is that strange things were also going on between the governments of Italy and China. A blind eye was being turned to the way the Chinese were buying businesses in the financial, telecommunication, industrial and fashion sectors of Italy’s economy, all of which take place in Milano (sic)

To be brief…China was getting away with purchases and acquisitions in violation of Italian law and EU Trade Agreements with the US and the UK…and no one in either of those countries (not Obama in the US or Cameron in the UK) said a thing in their country’s defense. As a matter of fact, much of it was hidden from the public in all three countries.

In 2014, China infused the Italian economy with €5 billion through purchases of companies costing less than €100 million each. By the time Renzi left office (in disgrace) in 2016, Chinese acquisitions had exceeded €52 billion. When the dust settled, China owned more than 300 companies…representing 27% of the major Italian corporations.  WOW!

The Bank of China now owns five major banks in Italy…all of which had been secretly (and illegally) propped up by Renzi using pilfered pension funds! Soon after, the China Milano Equity Exchange was opened and much of Italy’s wealth was being funneled back to the Chinese mainland.

Chinese state entities own Italy’s major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) as well as its major utilities (ENI and ENEL). Upon entry into the telecommunication market, Huawei established a facility in Segrate, a suburb of Milano. It launched is first research center there and worked on the study of microwaves which has resulted in the possibly-dangerous technology we call 5G.

China also now owns controlling interest in Fiat-Chrysler, Prysmian and Terna. You will be surprised to know that when you put a set of Pirelli tires on your car, the profits are going to China. Yep…the Chinese colossus of ChemChina, a chemical industry titan, bought that company too! I did not know any of this, did you? I just bought new tires for me Mini Cooper and it called for Pirelli — damn it!

Last but not least is Ferretti yachts…the most prestigious yacht builder in Europe. Incredibly, it is no longer owned by the Ferretti family.

But the sector in which Chinese companies invested most was Italy’s profitable fashion industry. The Pinco Pallino, Miss Sixty, Sergio Tacchini, Roberta di Camerino and Mariella Burani brands have been acquired by 100%.

Designer Salvatore Ferragamo sold 16% and Caruso sold 35%. The most famous case is Krizia, purchased in 2014 by Shenzhen Marisfrolg Fashion Company, one of the leaders of high-priced, ready-to-wear fashions in Asia.

Throughout all of these purchases and acquisitions, Renzi’s government afforded the Chinese unrestricted and unfettered access to Italy and its financial markets, many coming through without customs inspections. Quite literally, tens of thousands of Chinese came in through Milano (illegally) and went back out carrying money, technology and corporate secrets.

Thousands more were allowed to enter and disappeared into shadows of Milano and other manufacturing cities of Lombardy, only to surface in illegal sewing shops, producing knock-off designer clothes and slapping ‘Made In Italy’ labels on them. All with the tacit approval of the Renzi government. How many things are made in the USA by companies owned or majority owned by the Chinese so it carries the label “Made in the USA”? What about all the medicines and prescription drugs are made by the Chinese’s. How stupid we must be.

It was not until there was a change in the governing party in Italy that the sweatshops and the illegal entry and departure of Chinese nationals was stopped. Matteo Salvini, representing the Lega Nord party, closed Italy’s ports to immigrants and systematically began disassembling the sweatshops and deporting those in Italy illegally.

But his rise to power was short-lived. Italy is a communist country…socialism is in the national DNA. Ways were found to remove Salvini, after which the communist party, under the direction of Giuseppe Conte, reopened the ports. Immediately, thousands of unvetted, undocumented refugees from the Middle East and East Africa began pouring in again.

Access was again provided to the Chinese, under the old terms, and as a consequence thousands of Chinese, the majority from Wuhan, began arriving in Milano.

In December of last year, the first inklings of a coronavirus were noticed in Lombardy…in the Chinese neighborhoods. There is no doubt amongst senior medical officials that the virus was brought here from China. By the end of January 2020 cases were being reported left and right. By mid-February the virus was beginning to seriously overload the Lombardy hospitals and medical clinics. They are now in a state of collapse.

The Far-Left politicians sold out and betrayed the Italian people with open border policies and social justice programs. One of the reasons the health care system collapsed so quickly is because the Renzi government (and now continued under the Conte government) redirected funds meant to sustain the medical system, to pay for the tens of thousands of immigrants brought in to Italy against the will of the Italian people.

If you remember the horrible earthquake that decimated the villages around Amatricia, in the mountains east of Rome in 2015, you would also remember how the world responded by sending millions of dollars to help those affected. But there is a law in Italy that prevents private donations to charitable Italian organizations. All money and donations received must be turned over to a government agency, who in turn is to appropriate the funds as needed. But that agency is corrupt just as are all the others.

Most of the money never reached a single victim in the mountains. The Renzi government redirected the vast majority of those funds to pay for the growing immigrant and refugee costs.

As the economy worsened under the burden of illegal immigration, compounded by gross government spending and incompetence, unemployment rose quickly…especially among young people. The unemployment rate for men and women under age 35 is close to 40%. So more money was diverted from the health care system and used to pay what is known here as guaranteed income. Whether you work or not you are paid here, especially if you belong to the PD! The government simply raises taxes on those who do work.

Let me give you a quick example of the height of insanity to which Italian taxation has risen. If you live in a building that has a balcony or balconies…and any of those balconies cast a shadow on the ground, you must pay a public shadow tax! I will say no more!

The point I am trying to make here is that not only did the Chinese bring the virus to Italy (and the rest of the world) it was far-Left politics and policies that facilitated it.

This should hopefully be a warning to Americans that while they work to rid themselves of the China Virus, they should just as vehemently endeavor to rid their government of any politician that circumvents the Constitution and ignores the laws of the land…plain and simple. Amen!!!

The question is will be take heed and bring back our rule of law and the constitution? Are we strong enough to fight this? Are we strong enough to take back our country from the democrats and their millennial crowd, which includes the MSM?

 

 

Originally posted 2020-04-12 10:11:13.