The Stan R. Mitchell Show

Hey guys!

Welcome to the show! In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, which you probably haven’t seen in the news. As I always say, our media does a terrible job covering our military and potential hotspots, so I’m hoping to fill this void.

But, in addition to ending the podcast with some awesome motivation and wisdom, we’ll cover:

Timestamp: 1:42. Britain prepares to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. Or have they already? Also, what are these missiles? What can they do? And what is their range?

Timestamp: 7:31. Britain wasn’t the only country announcing new weapons deliveries. The U.S. provided a $1.2 Billion package for air defense and artillery support.

Timestamp: 8:19. Also, Ukrainian President Zelensky said his country needs still more time before launching its counter-offensive.

Timestamp: 10:11. Senior Ukrainian officials fear counterattack may not live up to hype.

Timestamp: 13:33. Russians running already? Appears so, in at least two major instances. 

Timestamp: 19:58. Russia launches 'biggest' kamikaze drone attack to date.

Timestamp: 21:50. As an update to last week’s story, the following has already happened, but I still felt the need to report it. The head of Wanger, Yevgeny Prigozhin, apparently got the ammunition he needed and said the assault on Bakhmut would continue. But that was before Ukraine pushed back more Russian troops and Prigozhin ended up screaming about it, as documented above.

Timestamp: 23:28. Russia held its big annual parade and celebration, celebrating the end of World War II, and wow, was that a dud.

Timestamp: 27:49. Ukraine says its newly fielded U.S. Patriot system downed a Russian hypersonic missile.

Timestamp: 30:20. The United States and China held a series of high-level meetings this weekend. I’ll share both the good and bad news from that.

Timestamp: 35:11. Arab League readmits Syria as relations with Assad normalize

Timestamp: 37:04. I cover five news briefs that you need to keep your eyes on for the coming days.

Timestamp: 40:11. The best part of the show. The motivation and wisdom part. 

Timestamp: 48:49. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast.

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news!

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a Monday update that comes out as a newsletter and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

Russia and Ukraine news:

Britain prepares to send long-range missiles to Ukraine

Britain, which has prided itself on being ahead of its Western allies in introducing new weapons systems to Ukraine, now appears poised to send Kyiv the long-range missiles the Biden administration has long denied it.

The missiles would have a range of up to nearly 200 miles … and Ukraine guarantees that they would not be used in attacks on the Russian territory.

Most likely, the news involves the missiles known as Storm Shadow missiles, which are cruise missiles that can be mounted on Ukraine’s Soviet-made jets. As a reminder, the much-vaunted HIMARS (or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) has a range of about 50 miles.

Additionally, the Storm Shadow missiles have a warhead of 990 pounds compared to the HIMARS warhead weight of 200 pounds (in most cases).

But does Ukraine already have them?

CNN Exclusive: Britain has delivered long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of expected counteroffensive, sources say

The United Kingdom has supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles, giving Ukrainian forces a new long-range strike capability in advance of a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, multiple senior Western officials told CNN.

“The UK has previously said that it will supply Ukraine with long-range weapons, this will now include a number of Storm Shadow missiles. The British Government has been clear that this is only in response to Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilian national infrastructure and is a proportionate response,” a Western official told CNN.

U.S. Provides Ukraine $1.2 Billion for Air Defense, Artillery

* Fact sheet for everything provided to date.

Zelensky says Ukraine needs more time for counter-offensive

Speaking at his headquarters in Kyiv, President Zelensky described combat brigades, some of which were trained by NATO countries, as being "ready" but said the army still needed "some things", including armoured vehicles that were "arriving in batches".

"With [what we already have] we can go forward, and, I think, be successful," he said in an interview for public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, like the BBC. "But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."

Senior Ukrainian officials fear counterattack may not live up to hype

The Ukrainian military has spent nearly 15 months exceeding the world’s expectations. Now, senior leaders are trying to lower those hopes, fearing that the outcome of an imminent counteroffensive aimed at turning the tide of the war with Russia may not live up to the hype.

“The expectation from our counteroffensive campaign is overestimated in the world,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview this past week. “Most people are … waiting for something huge,” he added, which he fears may lead to “emotional disappointment.”

The planned counterattack — made possible by donated Western weapons and training — could mark the most consequential phase of the war, as Ukraine seeks to snatch back significant territory and prove it is worthy of continued support.

Offensive military operations typically require overwhelming advantage, and with Russian forces dug into heavily fortified defenses all across the 900-mile-long front, it is hard to gauge how far Ukraine will get.

Russians running already?

It also appears Russia is evacuating some towns as the approaching Ukrainian offensive nears. (It’s almost like Russia knows it’s about to get hammered.)

From the CNN story:

Polohy is one of over a dozen frontline settlements that occupying forces announced Friday would be emptied of civilians. A Russian occupation official, Yuri Balitsky, said “we cannot risk the safety of people and will provide funds for organized travel, lump sum payments, accommodation and meals.” He added children would undergo rehabilitation and rest in children’s camps,” echoing the language of previous incidents that Ukraine has dubbed forced deportation and on which the International Criminal Court based a war crimes indictment against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian officials have said the evacuations are being used to provide cover for the departure of Russian troops, and claimed civilians are being sent to the coastal town of Berdyansk, and Russian soldiers to the heavily destroyed city of Mariupol.

It is as yet unclear what impact these evacuations – which on Sunday Russian occupation officials said amounted to 1,600 people – will have on Moscow’s ability to hold frontline towns. But it is a sign of possible weakness, and in during past Ukrainian offensives, Russian positions have collapsed very suddenly, even as their spokespeople were articulating their avowed defense. At the best, these mass departures are recognition by Russian forces that the fight ahead of them will likely be intense.

While we’re on the topic of Russian troops running…

Wagner boss fumes that Russian brigade ‘fled’ from Bakhmut area

Russia launches 'biggest' kamikaze drone attack to date

From the story:

The Ukrainian military said the latest Russian raids - which lasted for more than four hours and were launched shortly after midnight - saw Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones swarm across the country.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said nearly 60 drones had been launched by Russia, describing it as the "biggest" such attack so far.

He added that all 36 drones had been destroyed over Kyiv, but five people had been injured by falling debris from downed drones.

The following below already happened and already failed since the last podcast, but I did feel the need to mention it.

Moving from the capitol of Kyiv to the eastern front in the Donbas region, the head of Wanger, Yevgeny Prigozhin, apparently got the ammunition he needed. (Or perhaps it was all a ploy.)

Regardless, he’s now saying they will continue their assault on Bakhmut – the strategically unimportant city where Russians have squandered thousands of lives trying to take.

Russia is trying to take the city before its big annual parade and celebration, celebrating the end of World War II.

Speaking of parades and celebrations…

Putin's 'one-tank' military parade was an embarrassment for Russia, analysts say

Russia's 'Victory Day' Parade Featured Just 1 Tank and No Paratroopers

Ukraine says its newly fielded U.S. Patriot system downed a Russian hypersonic missile

From the story:

Ukraine said Saturday that a U.S.-supplied Patriot battery was used to intercept an incoming Russian hypersonic missile over the capital, Kyiv, in what is believed to be the first downing of the sophisticated Russian weapon and Ukraine's first use of the U.S. defense system.

In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Patriot destroyed the Kinzhal, a type of missile that can travel up to ten times the speed of sound to evade air defenses.

Oleshchuk said the Russian missile was shot down during a night-time attack on Kyiv earlier this week. "Yes, we shot down the 'unique' Kinzhal," he wrote, adding that it had been launched from a Russian MiG-31K aircraft.

China news:

The United States and China held a series of high-level meetings this weekend.

I looked on the Department of State website, but couldn’t find any press releases or releases of any official remarks. Just this from Twitter, so I think this silence pretty much speaks volumes:

On the other hand, China seems intent on pinning all blame on the United States, according to this AP article.

China tells US to ‘reflect deeply’ over downturn in ties

China’s foreign minister told the U.S. ambassador on Monday that Washington is responsible for the downturn in relations between the two countries and must “reflect deeply” before ties can return to a healthy track, an official said.

Qin Gang’s comments follow a suspension of serious dialogue on a range of issues between the world’s largest economies, increasingly at odds over tariffs, attempts by Washington to deprive China of cutting-edge technology, and China’s claims to self-governing Taiwan and large parts of the South and East China Seas.

China’s Foreign Ministry quoted Qin as telling Ambassador Nicolas Burns that a “series of erroneous words and deeds by the U.S.” since a meeting in November between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping “have undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-U.S. relations.”

The Washington Post reminded readers of the history of the damage to date, as well as what future steps might be a possibility.

From the story:

The meeting may pave the way for more senior-level exchanges after high-level contacts between Beijing and Washington were frozen following the discovery of a suspected surveillance balloon floating over the United States in February.

The balloon, which Beijing claimed was for scientific purposes, caused Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing that was seen as a key step in arresting a worsening rivalry between the two countries. Beijing and Washington have been at odds over Taiwan, U.S. curbs on Chinese technology and Beijing’s partnership with Moscow throughout the war in Ukraine.

Middle East news:

Arab League readmits Syria as relations with Assad normalize

From the story:

The Arab League readmitted Syria on Sunday after more than a decade of suspension, consolidating a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad in a move criticised by Washington.

The decision said Syria could resume its participation in Arab League meetings immediately, while calling for a resolution of the crisis resulting from Syria's civil war, including the flight of refugees to neighbouring countries and drug smuggling across the region.

While Arab states including the United Arab Emirates have pressed to end Assad's isolation, some have been opposed to full normalisation without a political solution to the Syrian conflict, seeking conditions for Syria's return.

World news briefs:

* Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant faces possible staffing crunch

* Sudan peace talks make progress, mediation source says: Reuters

* Hundreds of rockets fired at Israel amid deadly IDF airstrikes in Gaza

* Pakistan on edge as ex-PM Imran Khan charged with corruption

* Tributes pour in for an AFP journalist killed in Ukraine

Motivation and Wisdom:

Let’s end this edition with plenty of motivation and wisdom.

Guys, you need to hear this. At least one of you out there needs to hear this.

Life is passing you by. You only get one shot at life, and you’re letting it slip through your fingers, day by day. Life has beaten you down, kicked you in the face, ignored you, punished you, rained on you, assailed you with illnesses and injuries, burdened you with debts and levels of despair that I know are breaking your spirit.

But you have to get up? Do you hear me? You have to get up.

You’re going to get up, get up now, and start fighting back. Do not let despair win. Get up and take a step to confront those things facing you now.

Do it now.

And let these following items lift your spirit and take you to a higher level. You can do this.

You’re meant to do this.

And you have to do this. For yourself. For your family. For your creator.

With all of that being said, I truly hope these help pick up your spirits, revive your hopes, and make you a better person.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys!

Welcome to the show! In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, which you probably haven’t seen in the news. As I always say, our media does a terrible job covering our military and potential hotspots, so I’m hoping to fill this void.

But, in addition to ending the podcast with some awesome motivation and wisdom, we’ll cover:

Timestamp: 7:36. We begin with U.S. news. Two U.S. Air Force commanders were suspended in the Air National Guard unit of the accused intelligence leaker.

Timestamp: 9:15. Also on the topic of U.S. news, there have been two additional evacuations in Sudan, bringing the total number of removed Americans to more than 1,000. I go into those evacuation efforts, which include buses and armed drones.

Timestamp: 15:30. Moving to the war in Ukraine, Russia has launched two major missile attacks against Ukraine, but Ukraine landed the much-heavier, much more costly strategic attack when it hit Crimea this weekend.

Timestamp: 21:00. Moving from the competing missile and drone strikes, could it be that Russia is even less prepared than we even thought of Ukraine’s upcoming spring offensive? It looks that way. I’ll cover the two reasons why.

Timestamp: 25:31. Finally, Russia had been hoping that the Republicans in the House would no longer provide a quote “blank check” to support Ukraine, but Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave some shocking comments that show that might not be the case.

Timestamp: 27:22. Besides these stories, there are three more Ukraine stories that absolutely have to be heard. First, the recently-donated MiG jets from Poland and Slovakia will not give Ukraine air superiority against Russia, experts say. We’ll also cover some very intriguing air statistics that have come out regarding the air war over Ukraine.

Timestamp: 36:59. Second, Ukrainian President Zelensky says White House told him nothing about Discord intelligence leaks. I’ll explain some of the impacts of that. Also, it’s come out that Ukraine is not sharing its offensive details with the United States, Europe, or really, for that matter, anyone.

Timestamp: 40:36. Third, Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin.

Timestamp: 44:33. In Middle East news, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has seized a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the second such seizure in under a week.

Timestamp: 55:06. Also in the Middle East, Russian warplanes are ‘trying to dogfight’ US jets over Syria, General says.

Timestamp: 1:01:50. Finally in Middle East news, Syrian refugees are fearful as Lebanon steps up deportations.

Timestamp: 1:03:55. In tech news, has Ukraine created mobile drones that carry land mines and attack tanks from their vulnerable underside? It sure appears so, according to brand-new released video.

Timestamp: 1:09:10. And at the end of this edition, we’ll cover plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end.

Timestamp: 1:12.58. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast.

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news!

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a Monday update that comes out as a newsletter and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

U.S. news:

The fallout over the leaks continues.

Two U.S. Air Force commanders were suspended in the Air National Guard unit of the accused intelligence leaker.

I discuss beginning at Timestamp: 7:36.

From the story:

The Department of Air Force has temporarily removed these individuals' access to classified systems and information.

The case has been called the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos, and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.

Sudan news:

Also on the topic of U.S. news, there have been two additional evacuations in Sudan, bringing the total number of removed Americans to more than 1,000. I go into those evacuation efforts, which include buses and armed drones.

Begin at Timestamp: 9:15. 

I covered last week the evacuation of more than 100 embassy personnel by U.S. Special Forces in Sudan.

I also stated strongly that 16,000 Americans hadn’t been abandoned and that additional efforts would be made to guide and lead Americans out of the country.

That prediction has already been borne out.

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that 300 U.S. citizens had been evacuated from the capital, Khartoum, under the protection of armed drones.

From the story:

“This builds on the work the U.S. government has done this week to facilitate the departure of our diplomats by military assisted departure, and hundreds of other American citizens by land convoys, flights on partner air craft, and sea,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also approved a request for assistance from the State Department “to support the safe departure of U.S. citizens and their immediate family members via overland,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Saturday.

The Pentagon “deployed U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to support air and land evacuation routes,” she said in a statement. “Our focus has been and remains to help as many U.S. citizens depart as safely as possible.”

Since that first convoy arrived safely, an additional convoy made it out on Sunday.

That puts the number of safely-evacuated Americans at more than 1,000, according to an updated NPR story today.

There is also some reporting that some U.S. Naval forces have been positioned to prepare for additional military-led evacuations.

Russia and Ukraine news:

Moving to the war in Ukraine, Russia has launched two major missile attacks against Ukraine, but Ukraine landed the much-heavier, much more costly strategic attack when it hit Crimea this weekend.

I cover this at Timestamp: 15:30.

Things have been especially brutal for civilians in Ukraine since Thursday.

It began on Friday, when the Russians — unable to win against Ukraine's military — again attacked innocent civilians.

Russia fired 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, "in a terrifying nighttime attack."

More than 20 people were killed when two missiles slammed into an apartment.

And I’m not sure how to say this nicely, but if two missiles hit the same apartment building, then it's NOT AN ACCIDENT.

I guess Russia has given up on attacking electric substations and is resorting to sheer terror again.

The war crimes continue...

But Ukraine began a part of its spring offensive on Saturday when it attacked parts of Russian-occupied Crimea. A drone attack destroyed more than 10 massive fuel tanks housing some 40,000 tons of oil intended for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Ukrainian officials say.

The Russians were infuriated at the attack and launched a counter strike that probably wasn’t as satisfying at Putin would have wished.

From The Washington Post story:

Russia targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with a wave of missiles overnight, Ukrainian officials said. The assault on the capital lasted several hours, but no casualties were reported, according to local authorities. Ukraine’s armed forces said that 15 of the 18 missiles launched by Russia were destroyed.

In fact, The Associated Press reported the attack damaged buildings and wounded at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad, but failed to hit the capital city of Kyiv.

Russia better buckle its seat belt because as I discussed in the last podcast, the spring offensive is coming. And it’s going to be catastrophic to Russia, in my opinion. If you missed the two big reasons why I think this is so, make sure you check out that podcast. I have timestamps in it so you can jump to whatever section you want.

But seeing this updated total of vehicles sent even further causes me to be optimistic: According to NATO: Ukrainain allies have sent 1,550 combat vehicles and 230 tanks to the country.

From the story:

NATO allies and partner countries have delivered more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion and war, the military alliance’s chief said Thursday, giving Kyiv a bigger punch as it contemplates launching a counteroffensive.

Along with more than 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, Ukraine’s allies have sent “vast amounts of ammunition” and also trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

More than 30,000 troops are estimated to make up the new brigades. Some NATO partner countries, such as Sweden and Australia, have also provided armored vehicles.

Timestamp: 21:00. Moving from the competing missile and drone strikes, could it be that Russia is even less prepared than we even thought of Ukraine’s upcoming spring offensive? It looks that way. I’ll cover the two reasons why.

CNN laid out two brutal pieces of news for Russia as the offensives begin.

It’s the last 72 hours that have perhaps most betrayed Russia’s lacking readiness.

First, the apparent firing of the deputy defense minister in charge of logistics, Mikhail Mizintsev. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not spelled out his dismissal, merely issuing a decree that Aleksey Kuzmenkov now has his job.

The “Butcher of Mariupol,” as Mizintsev is known, surely had enough failings over Russia’s disastrous war to merit his firing. But removing key ministers in the moments before its army faces Ukraine’s counter-assault, Moscow sends a message of disarray.

And then there’s Yevgeny Prigozhin’s new round of criticism. The Wagner mercenary warlord chose Sunday to give another long interview in which he laid bare the sheer extent of the issues his mercenaries face.

According to the Wagner head, his fighters are so low on ammunition that they may have to withdraw from Bakhmut – the strategically unimportant city they have squandered thousands of lives trying to take.

Timestamp: 25:31. Finally, Russia had been hoping that the Republicans in the House would no longer provide a quote “blank check” to support Ukraine, but Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave some shocking comments that show that might not be the case.

Timestamp: 27:22. Besides these stories, there are three more Ukraine stories that absolutely have to be heard. First, the recently-donated MiG jets from Poland and Slovakia will not give Ukraine air superiority against Russia, experts say. We’ll also cover some very intriguing air statistics that have come out regarding the air war over Ukraine.

Donated MiG jets will not give Ukraine air superiority against Russia, experts say

From the story:

When Poland and Slovakia announced their plans to donate up to 30 MiG fighter jets to Ukraine, it was hailed as a breakthrough in getting Kyiv ever more sophisticated weaponry and as a sign that Eastern European nations were prepared to be bolder than the United States or NATO allies in Western Europe.

For the Ukrainian pilots who fly it, the Soviet-designed MiG-29 is an “old friend” — a fighter that lacks the flash and capabilities of newer jets but nonetheless has played a critical role. “It’s ridiculously fast,” said Moonfish, a Ukrainian pilot who has flown close to 60 sorties, all in the MiG-29, and spoke on the condition that only his call sign be used for security reasons. One time, Moonfish said, he needed to “escape from Russian missiles.” “The MiG,” he said, “carried my a-- out of danger.”

But as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a new offensive to oust Russian forces from occupied territory in the east and south, the old friend may not be enough.

I cover quite a few additional details from that Washington Post story, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear those. Jump to Timestamp: 27:22.

Timestamp: 36:59. Second, Ukrainian President Zelensky says White House told him nothing about Discord intelligence leaks. I’ll explain some of the impacts of that. Also, it’s come out that Ukraine is not sharing its offensive details with the United States, Europe, or really, for that matter, anyone.

That article is also from The Washington Post: Zelensky says White House told him nothing about Discord intelligence leaks.

I explain some of the impacts of that story, beginning at Timestamp: 36:59. Also, it’s come out that Ukraine is not sharing its offensive details with the United States, Europe, or really, for that matter, anyone.

Ukraine withholding counteroffensive details from allies

Kyiv is holding close the details of its spring counteroffensive in an attempt to prevent the leak of sensitive information that could compromise its positions on the battlefield, according to two European officials who are in touch with military leaders in Ukraine.

The officials said their Ukrainian counterparts have cited the alleged leak of the classified documents from Massachusetts Air Guardsman JACK TEIXEIRA as one of the reasons Kyiv is holding back from sharing counteroffensive information, including its timing, where and how many troops they plan to move into position for the operation.

…

A Ukrainian lawmaker, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations, said that top officials in Kyiv also had withheld details about the counteroffensive from other politicians inside the capital.

“There are only a few people in the country that know the plan,” the lawmaker said.

Timestamp: 40:36. Third, Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin.

Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin

Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.”

Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos of it also surfaced later in the day.

The View from the Front by Stan R. Mitchell is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Middle East news:

Timestamp: 44:33. In Middle East news, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has seized a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the second such seizure in under a week.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seizes tanker in Strait of Hormuz.

From the story:

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second such capture by Tehran in under a week amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The taking of the oil tanker Niovi renewed concerns about Iran threatening maritime traffic in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude passes. It also comes amid the disappearance of a crude oil tanker in southeast Asia believed to be carrying Iranian crude oil amid reports it may have been seized by the United States.

The U.S. Navy published surveillance footage shot by an aerial drone of about dozen Guard vessels swarming the tanker on Wednesday morning. The drone had been on a routine patrol in the area and saw the seizure, though the Navy did not receive a distress call from the Niovi itself, 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins said.

There has been a long history of the U.S. Navy and Iran’s much-weaker navy clashing in this area.

Timestamp: 55:06. Also in the Middle East, Russian warplanes are ‘trying to dogfight’ US jets over Syria, General says.

Russian Warplanes Are ‘Trying to Dogfight’ US Jets Over Syria, General Says

I discuss this Defense One article and its implications — or lack thereof — beginning at timestamp: 55:06.

I also cite this fight during that monologue: Battle of Khasham.

Timestamp: 1:01:50. Finally in Middle East news, Syrian refugees are fearful as Lebanon steps up deportations.

Syrian refugees fearful as Lebanon steps up deportations:

Lebanese officials are cracking down on Syrian refugees against the backdrop of a worsening economic crisis and political stalemate, an escalation that has caused a panic among Syrians in the country.

In recent weeks, the army has raided refugee camps and set up checkpoints to review the documentation of non-Lebanese citizens, arresting and in many cases deporting Syrians found not to have legal residency, according to refugees and humanitarian organizations.

…

Lebanon hosts some 805,000 registered Syrian refugees, whose official status in theory protects them — although those who fail to keep their residency papers up to date can face deportation. The actual number of Syrians living in Lebanon after fleeing their country’s 12-year-old civil war is believed to be much higher as Lebanon’s government ordered the United Nations to halt new registrations in 2015.

Government officials have given varying estimates of the number of Syrians in the country, ranging from 1.5 million to more than 2 million. Lebanon is believed to have a population of around 5 million to 5.5 million citizens, but no census has been held for nearly a century.

I talk about this at Timestamp: 1:01:50.

Tech news:

Timestamp: 1:03:55. In tech news, has Ukraine created mobile drones that carry land mines and attack tanks from their vulnerable underside? It sure appears so, according to brand-new released video.

(Unfortunately, you’ll have to go to Twitter to see the successful test attack against an armed target; I couldn’t find the video anywhere else, but it’s worth watching it. Can you imagine trying to stop this thing racing toward you?!)

Motivation and Wisdom:

Timestamp: 1:09:10. And at the end of this edition, we’ll cover plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end.

Guys, you need to hear this. At least one of you out there needs to hear this.

Life is passing you by. You only get one shot at life, and you’re letting it slip through your fingers, day by day. Life has beaten you down, kicked you in the face, ignored you, punished you, rained on you, assailed you with illnesses and injuries, burdened you with debts and levels of despair that I know are breaking your spirit.

But you have to get up? Do you hear me? You have to get up.

You’re going to get up, get up now, and start fighting back. Do not let despair win. Get up and take a step to confront those things facing you now.

Do it now.

And let these following items lift your spirit and take you to a higher level. You can do this.

You’re meant to do this.

And you have to do this. For yourself. For your family. For your creator.

With all of that being said, I truly hope these help pick up your spirits, revive your hopes, and make you a better person.

That’s it for this edition. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast. Timestamp: 1:12.58.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, which you probably haven’t seen in the news. As I always say, our media does a terrible job covering our military and potential hotspots, so I’m hoping to fill this void.

But, in addition to ending the podcast with some awesome motivation and wisdom, we’ll cover:

Timestamp: 5:05. Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan.

Timestamp: 10:17. Did President Biden “abandon” 16,000 Americans in Sudan? The accusations have already begun…

Timestamp: 19:30. Update on the current situation in Sudan.

Timestamp: 21:42. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is upbeat after talk with China’s Xi Jinping.

Timestamp: 24:38. Russia can fund war in Ukraine for another year despite sanctions, leaked document says.

Timestamp: 27:43. A recently-released campaign assessment provided some juicy tidbits about the upcoming potential Ukrainian offensive.

Timestamp: 34:21. Ukraine’s Azov brigade races to rebuild ahead of fateful fight.

Timestamp: 39:25. Russia’s influence has actually expanded in Africa, with its Wagner Group, spreading across the continent as U.S. influence fades, leak reveals.

Timestamp: 44:440 Finally, we’ll cover plenty of motivation and wisdom.

Timestamp: 50:51. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast.

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

U.S. news:

Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan

From the story in the AP:

U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.

With the final embassy employee out of Khartoum, the United States shuttered its diplomatic mission indefinitely. Remaining behind in the East African nation are thousands of private American citizens. U.S. officials said it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation operation.

Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders had forced the closing of the main international airport and left roads out of the country in control of armed fighters. The skirmishes have killed more than 400 people.

The Department of Defense provided quite a bit of detail about the operation:

U.S. forces evacuated just under 100 American staff of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan yesterday, U.S. government officials said. 

President Joe Biden gave the order to evacuate the embassy from the embattled country. A small number of allied diplomats were also evacuated, State Department officials said in a telephonic news conference. 

The Defense Department had deployed troops and capabilities to Djibouti just in case there was an order to evacuate the embassy in Khartoum, said Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, the Joint Staff's director of operations. "[Yesterday], the U.S. military evacuated those personnel in support of the State Department closing operations at the Embassy in Khartoum," Sims said. "[Yesterday] at 9 a.m. Eastern, a contingent of U.S. forces lifted off from Djibouti and landed in Ethiopia. The aircraft — including three MH-47 Chinooks refueled in Ethiopia before flying approximately three hours to Khartoum.

"The evacuation was conducted in one movement via rotary wing," Sims continued. "The operation was fast and clean, with service members spending less than an hour on the ground in Khartoum. As we speak, the evacuees are safe and secure." 

Sims said there were just over 100 special operations personnel conducting the operation. The U.S. Marine Embassy guards were also evacuated.

"I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America's friendship and connection with the people of Sudan," Biden said in a written release. "I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety."

Biden also thanked the governments of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia who aided the U.S. evacuation operation.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said the evacuation was under command of U.S. Africa Command and conducted in close coordination with the U.S. State Department. "I'm proud of our extraordinary service members who executed and supported this operation with outstanding precision and professionalism," he said.  

Two other important points from the Dept of Defense.

First, the Marines protecting the embassy have probably had an extremely challenging week, if you want to read into this statement some.

Christopher Maier, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity warfare, praised the Marines who protected and defended the embassy during the past week. "Our Marines who protect many of our embassies overseas do not often get the credit they deserve," he said. "Their courage under duress represents America as its best again in this instance." 

Also, this seems relevant: more Americans remain.

There are still American citizens in Sudan. "In the coming days, we will continue to work with the State Department to help American citizens who may want to leave Sudan," Maier said. "One of those ways is to potentially make the overland routes out of Sudan potentially more viable. So, DOD is at present considering actions that may include use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to be able to observe routes and detect threats."

Most news outlets are stating that 16,000 American citizens — many of them dual nationals, who do not work for the government — remain in Sudan.

Many other countries are trying to evacuate its citizens, including France, Germany, Egypt, China, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and other countries.

The situation remains tenuous as fighting continues in Sudan.

The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials remain anxious.

“I am concerned about the safety and security of U.S. nationals who’ve been serving in humanitarian missions or in other ways across the country,” Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

“There are quite a few U.S.-Sudanese dual nationals in the country, and the U.N. and the U.S. and a number of other countries will do their best to help return to civilian rule to end the fighting to support a stabilization in Sudan.”

The Post also went into further detail on what led to the government collapse in Sudan.

The scramble to evacuate foreign nationals and diplomatic staff followed Sudan’s collapse into civil conflict, after political tensions between rival generals erupted into violence on April 15. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — widely referred to by his nickname, Hemedti — heads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group whose origins trace back to the Janjaweed militias that terrorized Darfur. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is the commander of Sudan’s armed forces and the country’s de facto head of state.

Together, the two men seized power in Sudan in 2021, toppling a civilian-led government. In December, under intense diplomatic pressure, they agreed to a draft deal aimed at returning the country to civilian rule. But they clashed over power-sharing and a timeline to integrate Hemedti’s forces into the military; Hemedti wanted a longer timeline to maintain his power base. The final deal was due in April, but instead the two generals went to war.

Now, already, this entire situation has become political.

But here’s the thing. Situations like this can spiral very quickly. And the United States helped arrange a temporary cease-fire. Even more complicating, often the U.S. citizens refuse to leave until it’s almost too late. (Humans always expect it won’t be as bad as it often gets.)

Could the State Department and our military have done more? Sure they could’ve. (And they may still do so.)

But here’s a list of warnings and updates about Sudan from the State Department website. Read it before you go assigning blame. (Just click the link and see how long it is…)

These things are never simple, so don’t listen to the bloviating opinion news host or your loud-mouthed friend.

As an update to the original reporting, there’s a ceasefire in place and hundreds of Sudanese are amassing at the borders of Sudan.

From the story:

Taking advantage of relative calm, many residents in Khartoum and the neighboring city of Omdurman emerged from their homes to seek food and water, lining up at bakeries or grocery stores, after days of being trapped inside by the fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary group. Some inspected shops or homes that had been destroyed or looted.

Russia and Ukraine news:

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy upbeat after talk with China’s Xi

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a “long and meaningful” phone call Wednesday, their first known contact since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, and Beijing appointed an envoy to pursue a “political settlement.”

The hour-long call came two months after Beijing, which has long been aligned with Russia, said it wanted to act as a mediator and a month after Xi visited Moscow. The call also coincided with indications that Ukraine is readying its forces for a spring counteroffensive.

Russia can fund war in Ukraine for another year despite sanctions, leaked document says

U.S. intelligence holds that Russia will be able to fund the war in Ukraine for at least another year, even under the heavy and increasing weight of unprecedented sanctions, according to leaked U.S. military documents.

The previously unreported documents provide a rare glimpse into Washington’s understanding of the effectiveness of its own economic measures, and of the tenor of the response they have met in Russia, where U.S. intelligence finds that senior officials, agencies and the staff of oligarchs are fretting over the painful disruptions — and adapting to them.

While some of Russia’s economic elites might not agree with the country’s course in Ukraine, and sanctions have hurt their businesses, they are unlikely to withdraw support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to an assessment that appears to date from early March.

It looks like the Ukrainian spring offensive is still days or weeks away, but I wanted to talk about that a bit.

The Institute for the Study of War released a campaign assessment on Sunday that had some juicy tidbits about the upcoming potential Ukrainian offensive.

The short of it is two important facts:

* First, the offensive could be twice as large as the one that took so much land around Kharkiv (in Eastern Ukraine) back in September 2022. (As a reminder, that offensive recaptured 7,500 miles of territory for Ukraine.)

* Second, the Russians have deployed most of their front-line troops to the line and appear to have almost no reserves to deal with break throughs. That is HORRIBLY bad if you’re on the Russian side.

From the report:

This report assumes, in particular, that Ukraine will be able to conduct a coordinated multi-brigade mechanized offensive operation making full use of the reported nine brigades being prepared for that operation. That task is daunting and larger than any offensive effort Ukraine has hitherto attempted (four Ukrainian brigades were reportedly used in the Kharkiv counter-offensive, for example). It also assumes that Ukraine will have integrated enough tanks and armored personnel carriers of various sorts into its units to support extended mechanized maneuver, that Ukrainian mechanized units will have sufficient ammunition of all sorts including artillery, and that Ukraine will be able to conduct long-range precision strikes with HIMARS and other similar systems integrated with and supporting maneuver operations as it has done before. It further assumes that Ukrainian forces will have the mine-clearing and bridging capabilities needed to move relatively rapidly through prepared defensive positions. ISW sees no reason to question any of these assumptions given the intensity with which Ukraine has reportedly been preparing for this operation and the time it has taken to do so, as well as the equipment reportedly delivered to Ukrainian forces by Western countries.

…

Russian forces in Ukraine are operating in decentralized and largely degraded formations throughout the theater, and the current pattern of deployment suggests that most available units are already online and engaged in either offensive or defensive operations.

Ukraine’s Azov brigade races to rebuild ahead of fateful fight

The Azov brigade, hailed by Ukrainians for its tenacity during Russia’s siege of Mariupol, is scrambling to rebuild from heavy combat losses as it seeks to play a muscular role in Ukraine’s next major assault.

The high-profile unit is hoping to recruit 6,500 new fighters who will provide restored combat heft even as its leaders push for the return of more than 1,000 brigade troops who remain in Russia as prisoners of war.

“We are ready to liberate territory,” Maj. Bohdan “Tavr” Krotevych, who is the brigade’s interim commander and is leading the rebuilding effort after his release from Russian captivity in the fall, said in an interview.

Wagner Group surges in Africa as U.S. influence fades, leak reveals

The Wagner Group is moving aggressively to establish a “confederation” of anti-Western states in Africa as the Russian mercenaries foment instability while using their paramilitary and disinformation capabilities to bolster Moscow’s allies, according to leaked secret U.S. intelligence documents.

The rapid expansion of Russia’s influence in Africa has been a source of growing alarm to U.S. intelligence and military officials, prompting a push over the past year to find ways to hit Wagner’s network of bases and business fronts with strikes, sanctions and cyber operations, according to the documents.

U.S. officials depict Wagner’s expanding global footprint as a potential vulnerability. … One document in the trove lists nearly a dozen “kinetic” and other options that could be pursued as part of “coordinated U.S. and allied disruption efforts.” The files propose providing targeting information to help Ukraine forces kill Wagner commanders, and cite other allies’ willingness to take similar lethal measures against Wagner nodes in Africa.

Motivation and Wisdom:

I truly hope these help pick up your spirits, revive your hopes, and make you a better person.

Your life is only as good as the beliefs you hold about it.

Take a small step, everyday.

Kindness is free. Sprinkle it everywhere.

Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is what is called experience.

Don’t worry about the things you can’t control. Focus on the things that you can.

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Your journey will be much lighter and easier if you don't carry your past with you.

Worry less, smile more. Don't regret, just learn and grow.

If you wished to be loved, love.

Don't wait for approval. Not everyone will understand your vision.

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Short announcement regarding publication schedule

I wanted to make a short announcement regarding the future publication schedule of The View from the Front.

From this point forward, I’ll be putting out the podcast on Thursdays and publishing on Mondays the news update that I call “The View from the Front Extended.”

I had originally planned to do The View from the Front Extended periodically, but being the overly-ambitious person that I am, I changed that to each weekday, Monday through Friday (even on Thursdays when I put out the podcast, because yes, I’m that foolish).

I did this because of “goals” and “dreams” and all that. And even Monday through Friday wasn’t enough for my overly-optimistic brain so I made it mornings, as well, because why not? lol.

I think I secretly hoped a regular schedule with so much content would skyrocket the growth of the endeavor and get me closer to my dreams — and out of the day job.

It helped the growth a small amount, but nowhere near what I thought it might. (Believe me: I’m a used car salesman's dream customer. You can get me to believe anything in my head sometimes!)

As you could probably guess, this high level of production wasn’t sustainable with my current life circumstances, which my wife warned me about weeks ago as I blundered into this quicksand of my own making, lol. But like so many men, sometimes we can be hardheaded, obtuse, and poor of hearing.

Regardless, from this point forward, The View from the Front Extended newsletter will come out on Mondays for paid subscribers (with a short preview to free subscribers) and the podcast will come out on Thursdays as a free edition for everyone.

Thank you for your patience, support, and understanding. (And if you want to pile on in the comments about the foolishness of men and the wisdom of women, I grant you that right. Believe me, I recognize women have been more wise and perceptive than men for centuries. lol.)

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Love and peace,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

Before we talk defense, I have some news…

I am now writing some politics, too. You can find that here:

You might say, there are already a lot of political newsletters out there. What makes you different?

I’m doing this — in part — because I couldn’t find anyone speaking with kindness, calm, and love about politics; as well as hope.

In my opinion, there is too much anger in politics. And I will do my best to bring the spirit of Lincoln into each thought I share on here.

I will also have an optimistic and positive tone to every post. I’m actually optimistic about the future, but I’m not naive. Even if we take some punches or get knocked down in the days and weeks to come, the “better angels of our nature” must climb back to our feet and never surrender.

My first post is here if you want to take a look: The light of dawn emerges.

I’ve also written a post titled: Trump returns to New York.

U.S. news:

I wanted to begin this edition by honoring some brave warriors who passed in the last couple of days.

First, there was this tragic training collision beween two helicopters: 9 soldiers killed in Army helicopter training crash in Kentucky.

Additionally, our country lost one of its most fierce warriors:

I debated whether to share this… Because the sheer ignorance of those in Congress, and that a U.S. general would even have to state the obvious — that we shouldn’t invade Mexico because of drug problems and immigration issues — almost insults my intelligence too much to even type it.

From the story:

The U.S. military should not lead American counter-drug efforts in Mexico, nor operate against cartels there without the express consent of the Mexican government, said Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.  

Republicans and conservative media pundits have seized on border security, often accusing the Biden administration of devoting insufficient attention and security forces to the issue. In recent Senate and House hearings about the president’s defense budget request, Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced multiple questions from Republicans asking about the possibility of U.S. military intervention or for some greater role for troops in stopping the inbound flow of drugs, including fentanyl, and people. 

President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has asked for “battle plans” to invade Mexico to “conduct specific military operations to destroy the cartels”, Rolling Stone reported this week.

Russia and Ukraine news:

In other news, Russia acted like the complete, out-of-control police state that it is again: Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on spying charges.

But the bigger question is, “Was this why he was arrested?”

And my firm belief is that all Americans need to just get out of Russia as fast as they can. The country is as out-of-control as Iran on false imprisonments and bogus detainments.

I’m probably over-reacting — not really — but I don’t even think we should have State Department folks there anymore. Russia is no longer a country that even comes close to following the rule of law.

Officials: US providing Ukraine $2.6 billion in military aid

From the story:

The U.S. will send Ukraine about $500 million in ammunition and equipment and will spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons in the future, U.S. officials said, as the Ukrainian troops prepare for a spring offensive against Russian forces.

The ammunition rounds, along with grenade launchers and vehicles, will be taken from military stockpiles so they can be in the war zone quickly, the officials said.

The $2.1 billion in longer-term aid, which is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, will buy missiles for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, as well as radar and other weapons, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the aid had not yet been announced. An announcement is expected as soon as Tuesday.

In news that will absolutely not happen, there’s this.

This didn’t really make the news when it was said, but it’s pretty big news nonetheless. And I’d make about a dozen points on why it’s not true, but no one already subscribing to The View from the Front needs to hear that.

You all know that such a statement is ludicrous, and I’m not talking about the rapper Ludacris.

And the news regarding Finland is finally official.

Finland joins NATO, dealing blow to Russia for Ukraine war

From the story:

Finland joined the NATO military alliance Tuesday, dealing a major blow to Russia with a historic realignment of the continent triggered by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Finland’s membership represents a major change in Europe’s security landscape: The country adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviets in World War II. But its leaders signaled they wanted to join the alliance just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow’s neighbors.

Finland shares a 1,340 kilometer (832 mile) border with Russia, so its membership doubles Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance.

Expanding on this point some, I have talked so many times about what a terrible strategist Putin is, but these two summaries were so concise and strong that I couldn’t NOT share them.

On the flip side, Ukraine did something smart, in my opinion.

Zelensky invites China’s Xi to visit Ukraine.

Summarizing my thoughts perfectly, Alec Bertina, a journalist and conflict analyst, call the move “good diplomacy.”

“If Xi (Jinping, China’s President) doesn't turn up,” Bertina said, “it does not make him look like the impartial mediator he is trying to come across. If he does turn up, it is an uncomfortable situation for Russia. Plus it shows Ukraine is open to diplomatic input from anyone.”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron traveled to China and met with President Xi Jinping today.

Macron wants Xi “to bring back Russia to reason” and get “everyone back to the negotiating table."

But not everyone agrees that now is the right time to be negotiating. Here’s the counter view.

This is not great news for Russia.

Here’s an update on MiG fighter jets from Poland.

(For those who don’t know, JDAMs are just regular, unguided gravity bombs that have been turned into precision-guided munitions by the attachment of a guidance system and wings. They are accurate to within 20 to 30 feet. Learn more here.)

Nor is this great news for Russia. They’re running out of counter-battery radar for their artillery forces.

And here’s two views on the coming spring offensive in Ukraine.

The first thread is a “don’t-get-your-hopes up thread.”

You can read it at the link below.

You can see a full thread from the link above, but General Hertling explains the challenges of executing large-scale missions against a dug-in, defensive network, AFTER a river crossing (at least in the south). Won’t be easy.

He believes Ukraine will regain additional ground, but the spring offensive won't be a "war winner." UKR will need more support.

And here’s the counter view, which is more optimistic and focuses on the mentality of those fighting.

I’m always looking for actual numbers versus speculation, and here’s an update on how many Ukrainians we’ve trained to date. (And this doesn’t include the European countries, who have trained thousands, as well.)

And speaking of fighting forces, it really is incredible from just how many countries volunteers have left to help defend Ukraine. A compilation video was recently shared on the matter.

Finally, I know it might be spring here in America and finally starting to warm up, but put up a kind thought and prayer for those still fighting in eastern Ukraine. It is frigid and freezing there, and buried in snow.

China news:

I had to read this multiple times because this is some shocking news here:

Words On Boundless Friendship Between China And Russia Are Rhetoric – Chinese Ambassador To EU

The assertion of “unlimited friendship” between China and Russia is just a rhetorical device, said Chinese Ambassador to the European Union Fu Cong, according to The New York Times.

Three weeks before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a joint statement declaring “boundless friendship” between the two countries.

Chinese Ambassador to the EU Fu Cong, in an interview with the European diplomatic mission in Beijing, said that this formulation is only a rhetorical device. Fu pointed out that China does not side with Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, does not provide it with military assistance and does not recognize the inclusion of new territories in the Russian Federation, including Crimea and the Donbass.

Now we wait to see if this Ambassador is sacked and fired… Or if China stands by these words.

But doesn’t even recognize new territories?! Rhetorical device?! Wow!

A reminder that we can often over-hype our fears in the short-term…

But you still have to prepare for possibilities, so in that line of thinking, this news came out.

From the story:

However, there is another option. China has the second largest economy in the world and, as such, has an enormous appetite for raw materials. In a single year, it imports upward of $150 billion of crude petroleum, $99 billion of iron ore, $36.6 billion in gasoline, and $31.7 billion of refined copper. Much of this arrives by sea.

Several different types of ships transport this cargo, and interdicting even one could disrupt Chinese commerce. For example, a single tanker can carry from 500,000 barrels of oil (Panamax tankers) up to 4,000,000 barrels (the Ultra Large Crude Carrier). Container ships that transport goods measure their capacity in 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), after the standard 20 by 8 by 8 foot containers. Panamax ships can load 3,000–3,400 TEUs. The Very Large and Ultra Large Container Ships can transport more than 24,000 TEUs.

China’s dependence on extended overseas supply lines makes it politically and economically vulnerable. This is a critical vulnerability that, in the event of conflict, could be targeted. And U.S. Marines could help.

NPR laid out the challenges of a high-stakes upcoming meeting today in its daily newsletter:

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are expected to hold a high-stakes meeting today in Los Angeles. China opposes the meeting and says it may retaliate with more military exercises around Taiwan. NPR's Emily Feng tells Up First that Tsai's got a tall order to fill with this meeting, which is an opportunity to prove that Taiwan's partnership with the U.S. will protect it from China. Feng says Tsai will have to balance the "competing pressures of projecting defiance against China" without provoking conflict.

This seems potentially concerning.

As the U.S. adjusts its defensive approach toward China, here’s a good reminder on why we’re not more ready and prepared for such a competition.

Middle East news:

I predicted the news below in my last podcast, that America would reinforce its forces following attacks by drones on American troops and contractors, but there was no independent verification of that at the time. I was just following my gut and what I felt confident would happen.

It’s now been confirmed.

From the story:

The US has bolstered its military forces in the Middle East following a series of attacks on US troops in Syria attributed to Iranian-affiliated militias, the Pentagon said Friday.

A squadron of A-10 attack aircraft are deploying to the region ahead of a scheduled deployment. The deployment of the attack aircraft was expedited by several weeks following the attacks in Syria, according to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Phil Ventura.

In addition, the US ordered a carrier strike group to remain in the region to support US forces in Central Command, which covers the Middle East

Unfortunately, additional news has emerged from those earlier attacks.

From the story:

Six U.S. service members so far have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from attacks by Iran-backed militants in Syria earlier this month that killed an American contractor, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The diagnoses were made as part of ongoing medical assessments of American personnel at the two locations in northeast Syria targeted by an Iran-made drone and militant rockets, and more TBI cases are possible, said Brig. Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman.

But America has already dealt an additional blow against ISIS.

US military says senior IS commander killed in Syria

From the story:

A drone strike carried out by the American-led coalition in northwestern Syria has killed a senior member of the Islamic State group who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the United States military said Tuesday.

The man killed Monday in the strike was identified by a U.S. military statement as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri. The military statement added that his death “will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks.”

Monday’s strike was the latest by the U.S. military to kill a top official with the extremist group that once controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria, where it declared a “caliphate.” From the areas they once controlled, the extremists planned deadly attacks in Europe that killed scores of people. In recent years, such attacks have decreased because the Islamic State group lost the last sliver of land it controlled in March 2019.

And here’s an update on operations currently happening by U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Violence at Jerusalem holy site raises fears of escalation

From the story:

Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.

The fighting, which comes as Muslims mark the holiday month of Ramadan and Jews prepare to begin the Passover festival, raised fears of a wider conflagration. By early morning, the Jerusalem compound, which is typically packed with worshippers during Ramadan, had quieted down.

The mosque sits in a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and conflicting claims over it have spilled into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands in a spot known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.

After yesterday’s news about Israeli police storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City — Violence at Jerusalem holy site raises fears of escalation — things have further escalated.

Rockets fired from Gaza raise tension as Passover begins

From the story:

Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in southern Israel, as violence erupted for the second day in a row during a sensitive period of overlapping holidays.

The Israeli military said seven rockets launched from the Gaza Strip all exploded in midair. No group claimed responsibility for the barrage.

The barrage came after another tense night at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police clashed with Muslim worshippers attempting to stay overnight.

The Saudis are cutting oil production, in defiance of American requests not to.

David Ignatius had this to say about it:

Saudi Arabia’s coldly pragmatic decision this past weekend to cut oil production and raise prices sent a simple message: The United States doesn’t call the shots in the Persian Gulf or the oil market anymore. For better or worse, the era of American hegemony in the Middle East is over.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed OPEC producers on Sunday to reduce production by about 1 million barrels a day, which boosted the price of crude oil by more than 6 percent to about $85 a barrel. For a Biden administration struggling to contain inflation and avoid recession, the Saudi-led price increase was as welcome as a poke in the eye.

Saudi Arabia is hedging its bets, and so is the United States. Neither country wants a break in relations, but leaders in both capitals feel disrespected. It’s not an easy or stable balance — especially for Israel, which wants better relations with Riyadh but depends absolutely on the reliability of U.S. power in the region.

Update on Somalia:

Tech news:

These are TWO different impressive tech news stories…

Motivation and Wisdom:

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Subscribed

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

U.S. news:

US launches airstrikes in Syria after drone kills US worker

A strike Thursday by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a U.S. contractor and wounded five American troops and another contractor in northeast Syria, the Pentagon said. American forces said they retaliated soon after with “precision airstrikes” in Syria targeting facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with activist groups saying they killed at least four people.

The attack and the U.S. response threaten to upend recent efforts to deescalate tensions across the wider Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps toward détente in recent days after years of turmoil.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the American intelligence community had determined the drone was of Iranian origin, but offered no other immediate evidence to support the claim.

Things continue to remain tense with U.S. forces in the region of Syria and Iraq.

There was some reporting and video showing additional attacks by Iranian forces against the U.S. base on Friday. (See below.)

But I couldn’t find wider corroboration of that attack, and by Saturday, all I could find was this:

Nothing seems to have happened since then, but I’ll keep you posted.

I will add one other thing. In some of the discussions that happened with readers, one asked:

The answer to that is that this a continuation of the fight against ISIS.

He then asked a great follow-up question:

The reality is that this goes back to Trump, then Obama before Trump, and then probably on back to Bush before that.

This is one of those classic missions that just kind of keeps on going. If we had a Congress that did its job, there’d be discussion about our larger goals, why we’re there, who we’re fighting, etc, but you’re not seriously expecting Congress to do its job are you?!

Still, on a serious note, this is deadly dangerous. The risks of wider escalation are real.

Iran’s govt has a desire to escalate tensions and fighting following the protests inside its country, to rally public support against the “evil West and America.”

At the same time, Biden’s going to be looking to show strength following the Afghan withdrawal.

So, both sides will not be afraid to strike back to look strong, and this wouldn’t be the first time where something like that escalated into a conflict larger than either side initially intended.

Senate votes to repeal Iraq War power authorizations, 20 years after US invasion

The Senate voted Wednesday to repeal authorizations for the use of military force against Iraq, a significant moment as lawmakers aim to reassert authority in military intervention abroad.

The legislation now goes to the US House of Representatives for a vote. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled support for it and said it would likely be brought to the floor. With bipartisan support for the repeal, the measure appears to have a good chance of passing the chambers, though it’s still unclear if lawmakers will try to amend it.

The vote comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.

The White House said it supports the measure to repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of force in Iraq. If it passes both chambers, it would mark a formal conclusion to the conflicts and a symbolic reassertion of Congress’ ability to declare war.

In other news, it appears America is pulling back a bit from flying too close to Russian forces in the southern part of Ukraine, even though it is international air space.

Pentagon Chief Won’t Deny Ceding Airspace to Russia After Drone Confrontation

America’s top military official would not deny that the U.S. is now limiting its intelligence-gathering operations in international airspace over the Black Sea following a confrontation this month in which two Russian fighter jets downed a U.S. drone.

Speaking before Congress on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would say only that the U.S. “will fly the paths we feel necessary to collect intelligence information” in response to questions about recent reports – based on anonymous officials – that say the U.S. is only conducting surveillance operations in the southern half of the strategically critical seaway directly south of Ukraine.

And Russia continues to play silly games.

This is remarkably dangerous and stupid.

In other news, I came across this by chance this weekend and thought it really was a great statement for what the United States stands for.

Russia and Ukraine news:

The AP had a great story about Zelenskyy, which involved a series of interviews they had with him as he toured various parts of the country — including the frontline — by train.

Obviously, the trip was secret and the interviews weren’t published until after the trip ended.

But the story is remarkable and absolutely worth the read.

Here are just a few nuggets from it:

On why Bakhmut had to be defended…

If Bakhmut fell to Russian forces, their president, Vladimir Putin, would “sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran,” Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

“If he will feel some blood — smell that we are weak — he will push, push, push,” Zelenskyy said in English, which he used for virtually all of the interview.

On what might happen in the spring and in the future of the war…

The president makes few predictions about the biggest question hanging over the war: how it will end. He expressed confidence, however, that his nation will prevail through a series of “small victories” and “small steps” against a “very big country, big enemy, big army” — but an army, he said, with “small hearts.”

On what has happened to Ukraine as a country since it was invaded more than a year ago…

While Zelenskyy acknowledged that the war has “changed us,” he said that in the end, it has made his society stronger.

“It could’ve gone one way, to divide the country, or another way — to unite us,” he said. “I’m so thankful. I’m thankful to everybody — every single partner, our people, thank God, everybody — that we found this way in this critical moment for the nation. Finding this way was the thing that saved our nation, and we saved our land. We are together.”

There’s also more proof that the fighting around Bakhmut has turned against the Russians. Here’s the head of the Wagner fighters — who have been doing the bulk of the fighting — saying things aren’t going so well…

Russia definitely appears to be on its back foot, anticipating a brutal Ukrainian attack in the coming weeks and months.

Here’s an example of the defensive positions being dug in Crimea, the southern part of Ukraine.

And here’s how that peninsula might be attacked, since this is the current reality of the place:

The answer:

In other news, we’ve been talking about this for a bit, but the first MIGs from Slovakia have arrived!!

The rest may have to be transported by rail. But a team of Ukrainian support staff and pilots went to evaluate and fly four of them back.

The others will need to be repaired and probably worked on inside Ukraine where there are still trained MIG repair folks who can fix them. (As a reminder, once the Russian technical folks left Slovakia, Slovakia no longer had the ability to repair and maintain them. Thus, Slovakia is now waiting on F-16s from NATO.)

I’ve got a feeling tanks are soon going to worsen Putin’s nightmares…

Moving along, Putin continues to do a great job of uniting Europe against him.

Nordic countries move toward linking their air forces: 250 planes.

From the story:

The first of its kind between the Nordic states, the declaration was signed March 16 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany by the commanders of the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish air forces.

The concept of a joint Nordic air force, comprising about 250 modern front-line combat aircraft, has been the subject of periodic discussions between the regional governments since the mid-1990s.

Sweden’s and Finland’s unaligned status remained an impediment to advancing talks and joint initiatives. But with the two countries primed to join NATO, Nordic governments find themselves on more solid ground to discuss a common action plan to create a so-called mini-NATO that would deliver a formidable and unified air force capability.

And even before the ink is dry on the above story, there’s talk about this:

Also, Putin tried to threaten the world again: Putin says Russia will station tactical nukes in Belarus.

But that was knocked down pretty fast by new friend and ally China.

China news:

China Threatens Consequences over US Warship's Actions

China threatened “serious consequences” Friday after the United States Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a violation of its sovereignty and security.

The warning comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing's growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety.

These islands — occupied by China — are also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

The U.S. Navy called the ship’s movement a “freedom of navigation operation."

The U.S. position is summed up in this statement from the story:

“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations,” U.S. 7th Fleet spokesperson Lt. j.g. Luka Bakic said in an emailed statement.

And we just talked about this last week on the podcast…

US F-22s land in Philippines for first time, furthering defense ties

Two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors landed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines last week in a move signaling increased defense efforts between the two countries.

During the exercise, U.S. pilots from the Alaska-based 525th Fighter Squadron joined aviators from the Philippine Air Force’s 5th Fighter Wing for low-altitude flyovers, air combat maneuvering, formation training, and, with help from a KC-135 Stratotanker, air-to-air refueling over the heavily contested South China Sea.

“This was the first time that F-22s, or any fifth-generation aircraft, have landed on and operated out of the Philippines,” Capt. Karl Schroeder, one of the Raptor pilots, said in a release. “This milestone with a regional ally aids in providing stability and security to the Indo-Pacific.”

U.S. wants allies to line up against China. Europe is starting to listen.

In Biden’s alliance of democracies, Europe has been at best ambivalent on China. Some of the most important countries, such as France and Germany, have worried that decoupling from China would cause too much economic pain.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Europeans are starting to pay more attention to Biden’s message about the dangers of dependence on dictatorships. With urgency like never before, they are restricting exports of chip-making equipment to China, banning TikTok on government devices and pushing protectionist trade policy. Even long-time holdout Germany, the European Union’s biggest economy and a heavy investor in China, is starting to question its business-first ethos.

Something that Pentagon planners are probably looking at (and maybe increasingly Congress, too):

Middle East news:

In other news, in case you haven’t heard, things are getting pretty ugly in Israel as massive protests against the current government under Benjamin Netanyahu continue.

This was earlier this week:

These numbers were massive, as indicated below.

More context.

The protests are against a plan for judicial reform, which critics say would make Netanyahu too powerful and protected from prosecution.

As the political crisis escalated, Netanyahu fired his defense minister.

That set off even larger protests, with some military reservists pledging to pull out of their service in opposition to the plans.

The unrest continues, but it looks as though the protests have worked.

This should relieve some tension in Israel.

Although foreign policy expert Richard Haass says this is about oh-so-much more than simply the judicial plans.

Here’s more reporting on the whole commotion.

Opposition to Netanyahu plan mounts as unions launch a broad strike across Israel

Tech news:

For big fans of the A-10 Warthog — note, I am one of them lol — this could be some great news.

It looks like the A-10 may have found another potential mission, other than ripping anti-tank missiles at armored columns or shredding troops and vehicles with its 30 mm cannon.

From the story:

The saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ apparently does not apply to the A-10 Warthog, because an A-10 squadron proved last month that the vaunted close air support platform can also be used to confuse enemy air defenses so friendly bombers can attack targets without as high a risk of being shot down.

The new tactic revolves around the ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD), a 300-pound aircraft that can be launched mid-air and duplicate the signature and flight profile of other aircraft. Since they mimic actual aircraft on a radar screen, MALDs make it more difficult for enemy air defense operators to decide which blips on their radar are actual threats. This has the effect of “inducing confusion and noise into the enemy air defense picture and complicating their tactical decision-making,” Maj. Maurice “SPAWN” Grosso, an A-10 pilot, wrote in an essay for Task & Purpose in May.

Note: an A-10 can carry up to 16 MALDs below its wings.

This might be something that could extend the life of A-10s, which have already nearly been decommissioned and phased out dozens of times.

Motivation and Wisdom:

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Subscribed

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

Russia and Ukraine news:

In life, actions have consequences.

Just a few days after Russia again upped the ante on their aggression by downing an American drone in international air space, the NATO of country of Poland has expedited some of its plans.

And as I discussed as a possible option two weeks ago on the podcast, Slovakia is moving forward to donate its fleet of 13 MIGs.

All-in-all, Ukraine can expect to receive around 20 MiG-29s from Poland, as well as the 13 that Slovakia will provide.

While we’re talking about weapons…

This won’t matter in the short term, but this will be pretty big news in the fall.

U.S. will speed transfer of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Pentagon says

From the story:

The Pentagon, in a significant shift, said Tuesday that it will send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine by the fall, after facing scrutiny for initially saying it could take a year or two to procure the powerful weapons and get them to the battlefield.

The new plan calls for refurbishing tank hulls already in the U.S. arsenal, officials said. President Biden, under intensifying pressure from Ukrainian officials, agreed in January to pledge 31 M1 tanks as part of a long-term arrangement that afforded German leaders political cover so that they could approve the immediate provision of Leopard battle tanks.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is finally moving back in the right direction on the issue of Ukraine (which used to be his original position).

A quick reminder of his past positions:

DeSantis has a history of supporting U.S. aid to Ukraine. As a member of Congress in 2014, DeSantis voted for the Ukraine Support Act, which authorized President Obama to send arms to Ukraine to repel Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. 

The following year, 2015, DeSantis said on Bill Bennett’s radio show that “We in Congress have been urging the President … to provide arms to Ukraine. They want to fight their good fight. They’re not asking us to fight it for them.” 

And last year, in the early days of the war, he called on Biden to get tough with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is a guy who basically is an authoritarian gas station attendant — OK?” he was reported as saying, and he advised Biden to “hit him where it counts.” 

And even though it’s clearly a walk-back, it’s the right position. I’ll take what we can get, especially if he can stabilize support for Ukraine on the right.

In other news, I wanted to share something that isn’t the biggest news, but to me, this is SUCH a moving (and inspiring) video.

In other news, most worried Russia would succeed in destroying Ukraine’s energy system this winter with the relentless attacks on the energy grid.

But now, not only are air defense system better, but so too is the country’s ability to repair its electric grid.

From the story:

"It tested the tenacity of energy planners for the 15th time this winter. But with most of the country swiftly brought back on line, it did not change the fundamentals; Ukraine is still winning a battle in which few had expected it to prevail."

Finally, here’s more talk about the must-discussed spring offensive by Ukraine.

From the story:

Instead, U.S. officials are more focused on getting Ukraine ready for a major spring offensive to retake territory, which they expect to begin by May. Hundreds of Western tanks and armored vehicles, including for the first time eight armored vehicles that can launch bridges and allow troops to cross rivers, are en route to Ukraine for the offensive. The U.S. and European partners are also flowing massive amounts of ammunition and 155mm shells, which Ukraine has identified as its most urgent need.

U.S. aid packages “going back four or five months have been geared toward what Ukraine needs for this counteroffensive,” said one U.S. official, who was granted anonymity due to the administration’s ground rules.

While U.S. officials are careful not to appear to tell Kyiv how to fight the war, Pentagon leaders said Wednesday that the equipment and training being provided will enable Ukraine to win the war — where and when it chooses to do so.

China news:

China’s leader Xi Jinping is in Russia for a three-day visit. Day one included a four-and-a-half hour meal and NOT meeting Jinping at the airport, because that’s official Russian protocol (Is this not MORE proof that the Russians are a cold-hearted people? I jest. But only a little. lol.)

The Washington Post stated that Putin and Xi appear to be positioning themselves as the leaders of a new global order opposed to U.S. power.

Interestingly, Japan’s leader is in Kyiv to back Ukraine as China’s Xi visits Russia.

Putin may be glad to finally have a friend, so to speak, in the short term, but he may regret the imbalance between China and Russia. As Russia’s economic and military might crater further, Putin will soon find China using its clout with the Kremlin to extract further political concessions, including Chinese access to Arctic naval bases owned by Russia or pressuring Russia to alter its own dealings with China’s regional rivals, such as India, argues a group of experts in an analysis piece of The Washington Post.

This comment, by esteemed analyst David Ignatius, reinforces the above point: that China is increasingly becoming the dominant partner between these two.

From The Washington Post column:

A strong China is bolstering a weak Russia. That’s the real headline that describes the showy meetings in Moscow this week between the two countries’ leaders. The Chinese aren’t providing weapons (yet), but Xi certainly offered moral and psychological support in what might be described as a get-well visit to an ailing relative. White House spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday rightly called Putin a “junior partner.”

The paradox of the Ukraine war is that Putin’s bid for greater power in Europe has made him weaker. This diminished Russia will fall increasingly under China’s sway — unless there’s an unlikely turn post-Ukraine and a Western-leaning leader replaces Putin. Maybe that’s the biggest reason for Xi’s fraternal visit: He is bolstering a flank against America and the West.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is how quickly this is already happening.

As Patrick Fox states, China is already starting to influence and lead former Soviet satellite states.

Here’s an update and a bit more on the submarine deal between the US, UK, and Austraila.

From the story:

Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines will help deter a foreign adversary from launching a shipping blockade which could cut off the country’s trading routes from the rest of the world.

With 99 per cent of Australia’s trade coming from ships, Marles says the nation is very reliant on trade by sea and that needed to be protected.

…

Without naming China or any other country, Marles said the nation needs a “capability which would give any adversary pause for thought about disrupting the trading routes to Australia and the way in which we connect to the world”.

Moving along, I had a great question from a reader, that I wanted to answer here.

Thomas D stated:

As far as China goes, I love the sub deal. However, I've heard the straight where the Taiwan invasion would take place is pretty much impervious to submarines due to the shallow depths.

So, that’s a great question.

And here was how I answered that.

Those are great points about the straight. I think it's not to get there and actually block with the subs, but to have platforms that can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. Those have a range of 1,300-plus miles, and the subs are a platform not easily destroyed by China's ballistic missiles or air force if the subs remain undetected.

Also, here’s an update from news from a couple of weeks ago about a new base the US will use.

From the story:

The United States and the Philippines started rehabilitating the runway of the Basa Air Base in Pampanga on the island of Luzon, one of the five original Philippine military sites identified to host rotating American troops and their equipment under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

And then, in the category of absurdity, check out this video below.

This video is pretty much a synonym for every dictatorship in the world. Let us just blow you away with our military parades and complete shallowness and huff puffery.

And you better be awed and afraid, do you hear me?

DO YOU HEAR ME?!

I'll pass.

Afghanistan news:

We all TOTALLY saw this coming. (Hat tip @aida74432322)

U.S. Commander: ISIS in Afghanistan 6 Months Away From Foreign Attack Capability

This is of course why one of the big reasons to keep a force of a couple of thousand American soldiers in country was made by so many, including me. (Also, that it wasn’t that big a burden to the military, it kept a somewhat pro-Western government in place, it helped protect women’s rights there, it helped show the world Western resolve, and the importance we place on protecting and supporting allies.)

Tech news:

In tech news, how cool is this?

Motivation and Wisdom:

Be unique and don’t feel like you have to conform:

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Subscribed

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! T

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Subscribing also gets you The View from the Front Extended. This is a daily edition that comes out each weekday and is a way to provide value and thank my paying subscribers.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

Source notes:

Russia and Ukraine news:

A few updates regarding the American drone downing by Russia.

First, it wasn’t just pilots acting on their own, as we correctly predicted and stated in yesterday’s Extended edition.

Newstory from NBC news: Russian leadership approved aggressive actions of jets that damaged U.S. drone, U.S. officials say

From the story:

Three U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence said the highest levels of the Kremlin approved the aggressive actions of Russian military fighter jets against a U.S. military drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday. 

Secondly, Russia tried lying saying they hadn’t done anything wrong and were not to blame for the drone crashing.

So, the American military released drone footage showing otherwise, proving yet again that the Russian government lies says things that are not true.

In some of the video clips, if you pause them in the right spot, you’ll see the damaged propeller on the drone.

Finally, there was this.

Russia to try to salvage wrecked US drone; Gen. Milley says 'not a lot to recover'

From the story:

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that the drone sank into water that's 4,000-5,000 feet deep, making its recovery very difficult.

"It probably broke up. There's probably not a lot to recover, frankly,'' Milley said. "As far as the loss of anything of sensitive intelligence, etc., as normal we would take and we did take mitigating measures, so we're quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.''

Military analysts on social media said the United States would have remotely removed classified software from the MQ-9 Reaper drone before it crashed into the Black Sea to prevent Russia from obtaining classified information. CNN later reported this.

In other Russia/Ukraine news, this is worrying if you care about the fate of Ukraine…

Ron DeSantis says Ukraine war not US priority, aligns closer to Trump

From the story:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had largely avoided staking out a specific policy position on the war in Ukraine until Monday.

…

He also referred to Russia's unprovoked invasion as a "territorial dispute."

Moving along…

Russian advance stalls in Ukraine’s Bakhmut, think tank says

From the story:

Russia’s advance seems to have stalled in Moscow’s campaign to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a leading think tank said in an assessment of the longest ground battle of the war.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said there were no confirmed advances by Russian forces in Bakhmut. Russian forces and units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group continued to launch ground attacks in the city, but there was no evidence that they were able to make any progress, the ISW said.

The founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Sunday on the Telegram messaging app that the situation in Bakhmut was “difficult, very difficult, with the enemy fighting for each meter.”

China news:

China shows some increasing might in the Middle East and proves it’s a continually growing and expanding power.

Truce between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China, raises some concern for U.S.

From the story:

After years of hostility, Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reestablish relations. This tentative peace was brokered by China after it was announced that officials from the three countries had met in Beijing for several days prior to negotiating the deal. This announcement from the three countries marks a new beginning of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern powers and the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh within the next two months. China's involvement in the deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia comes as a surprise and concern to some as U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and China have been strained in recent years.

The AP noted that this is a new position for China: Iran-Saudi Arabia deal casts China in unfamiliar global role

In other news, China is also STILL considering sending lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The Washington Post warned against this rash move in an editorial on Sunday: Opinion — For China, arming Russia would be folly

From the editorial:

For Beijing to depart from its policy of pro-Russian neutrality would accelerate its spiraling hostility toward the United States and reposition China not only as a U.S. rival but also as a threatening adversary in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. Whatever else Beijing thinks it might achieve by replenishing Moscow’s depleted arsenals, it is clear that new weapons and munitions would enable Russia to spill more blood, pulverize more infrastructure, raze more cities and lay waste to more lives in Ukraine, the victim of Russia’s unwarranted aggression.

…

It would also play havoc with China’s commercial relationships across the world, likely triggering a cascading series of punitive responses by Western countries that would compound Beijing’s already daunting economic problems. The Biden administration and its European allies have warned of such a response. 

Moving along, in other China news, the deal regarding nuclear submarines between the U.S., U.K., and Australia got a lot of coverage this week.

The long-term deal will allow Austrailia to finally have conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

What’s the point of this?

To deter and possibly oppose China, of course. Nuclear submarines can stay at sea for extremly long periods of time and are very diffeicult to detect or counter. So, conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines could go far toward wrecking China’s growing naval ambitions and desire to retake Taiwan.

You can read about the deal here.

Iran news:

I discussed the widespread school poisonings happening in Iran in last week’s podcast. (I actually discussed it quite extensively, if you missed it. Timestamp: 42:45.)

The short of it is that this affected thousands of school girls across dozens of provinces. Who could be behind this? And what does this say about the strength of Iran’s government at the moment?

Previous article, to help you get caught up on it:

Well, since that happened, Iran has arrested more than 100 people. It’s still not clear who this is behind this. There are two main possibilities.

From the story:

While Iranian politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups, activists believe that the poisonings may be linked to the nationwide protests that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Ami. Many schoolgirls have been active in the protests, removing their mandatory headscarves in classrooms, tearing up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calling for his death.

Medics, parents and teachers have accused the Iranian government of attempting to silence the victims.

That’s it for this edition.

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Subscribed

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe

Hey guys,

Welcome to the View from the Front podcast. If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.

For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.

Every week, I primarily do three things:

* Work to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots and foreign policy news you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)

* Attempt to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. Our division and animosity toward each other is dangerous, and I want to do my small part to remind us that more unites us than divides us, and that most Americans are good and not screaming, crazy extremists like you see on the news all the time. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)

* Finally, I always share plenty of motivation and wisdom at the end of the episode, because I want to do my small part to help encourage you and lift you up. Life is certainly hard, and I think it’s fair to say all of us need all the motivation and encouragement that we can possibly get.

The View from the Front by Stan R. Mitchell is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing several topics, that I think will really interest you, and that I almost guarantee you haven’t seen in the news! This includes:

* Timestamp: 2:42. Did you know Russia is now claiming Ukraine launched the war? And that Russia did NOT invade Ukraine? Yes, this was said by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and he was completely covered with laughs of mockery in a public forum. I briefly remind folks of the true history, and of how hard the West, NATO, and the United States worked to prevent the invasion by Russia before it began.

* Timestamp: 8:03. The battle of Bakhmut. So much has happened here since last week. Initially, Ukrainian forces appeared to be withdrawing, blowing up bridges and pulling back to better positions. But then several days later, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Ukraine would reinforce around Bakhmut and hold the city. It’s my opinion this was strictly for reasons of perception, and it was also for these reasons that Zelenskyy stated he was going public with internal discussions from him and his senior advisors.

* Timestamp: 14:14. Has the Russian Winter offensive and plans to tire out and wear down Ukraine failed? Yes, it appears it has. And it’s not just me saying it. Take a listen to what one foreign policy expert is saying, as well as one of Russia’s leading analysts.

* Timestamp: 22:32. It’s time for a quick update on Ukraine getting jets or tanks from the West.

* Timestamp: 27:02. Is the U.S. seriously considering retiring the F-22, one of the world’s premier fighter jets? Yes. Yes, it is.

* Timestamp: 27:02. China is preparing for the upcoming conflict with the West as it continues to prepare to invade Taiwan. Take a look at what China’s leading strategists, researchers, and military minds are concerned about. And in that same line of thinking, some naval minds realized the United States is overlooking one important resupply issue that could prove to be America’s Achilles heel if it’s not corrected.

* Timestamp: 42:45. Iran is currently dealing with some serious school poisonings that is affecting thousands of school girls across dozens of provinces. Who could be behind this? And what does this say about the strength of Iran’s government at the moment?

* Timestamp: 42:45. In tech news, we’ll look at three different topics this week: the rules for autonomous weapons to engage a target with lethal force, the concept behind a massive, flying seaplane that the Pentagon wants, and a design flaw that makes all the difference between American and Russian tanks.

* Timestamp: 54:05. Finally, we’ll cover plenty of motivation and wisdom.

* Timestamp: 1:01:46. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast.

The work I do each week is primarily a podcast. You can listen to it from the player above, or from whatever podcast you listen to it from.

And if you love what I’m doing here, please sign up for email notifications. It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. It’s $5 per month should you choose that option, and you can cancel at any time.

Also, people are always asking me on social media how to best support my dreams, including getting out future books sooner. Believe me, the best way to support me is by signing up for a paid subscription here. Or, you can sign up at Patreon or at Venmo (@authorstanrmitchell).

But you don’t have to do any of these things. I’ve already had incredible support and feel called to do this. As long as I’m making enough to cover the time I invest each week, I’m not going anywhere. Why paid subscriptions help, and what they’d help me do more of...

Enough of the sales pitch, I hope you enjoy today’s edition. Again, you should listen to it from the player above.

What follows are some of the news reports/source notes that I quote from in the podcast, as well as the motivation and wisdom links I read.

Selected source notes for the podcast.

Russia and Ukraine news:

Timestamp: 2:42. Did you know Russia is now claiming Ukraine launched the war? And that Russia did NOT invade Ukraine? Yes, this was said by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and he was completely covered with laughs of mockery in a public forum. I briefly remind folks of the true history, and of how hard the West, NATO, and the United States worked to prevent the invasion by Russia before it began.

Timestamp: 8:03. The battle of Bakhmut. So much has happened here since last week. Initially, Ukrainian forces appeared to be withdrawing, blowing up bridges and pulling back to better positions. But then several days later, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Ukraine would reinforce around Bakhmut and hold the city. It’s my opinion this was strictly for reasons of perception, and it was also for these reasons that Zelenskyy stated he was going public with internal discussions from him and his senior advisors.

But then, after the media jumped on the story, Ukraine altered course.

And Ukraine is displaying some skilled tactics and strategic chops.

Besides the limited — or lack of — success in Bakhmut, overall the Russian winter offensive has been a complete failure.

Timestamp: 14:14. Has the Russian Winter offensive and plans to tire out and wear down Ukraine failed? Yes, it appears it has. And it’s not just me saying it. Take a listen to what one foreign policy expert is saying, as well as one of Russia’s leading analysts.

And Russians are starting to grow nervous. It’s taken a year, but they’re finally growing concerned.

Timestamp: 22:32. It’s time for a quick update on Ukraine getting jets or tanks from the West.

Last week, we discussed Slovakia possibly sending jets to Ukraine. But there’s been no new reporting on this since last week.

But help on the ground is well on its way.

And long-term, the talk of F-16s coming to Ukraine again advanced this week.

Two Ukrainian pilots are in the U.S. for training assessment on attack aircraft, including F-16s

U.S. News:

Timestamp: 27:02. Is the U.S. seriously considering retiring the F-22, one of the world’s premier fighter jets? Yes. Yes, it is.

China news:

Timestamp: 27:02. China is preparing for the upcoming conflict with the West as it continues to prepare to invade Taiwan. Take a look at what China’s leading strategists, researchers, and military minds are concerned about. And in that same line of thinking, some naval minds realized the United States is overlooking one important resupply issue that could prove to be America’s Achilles heel if it’s not corrected.

Iran news:

Timestamp: 42:45. Iran is currently dealing with some serious school poisonings that is affecting thousands of school girls across dozens of provinces. Who could be behind this? And what does this say about the strength of Iran’s government at the moment?

Tech news:

Timestamp: 42:45. In tech news, we’ll look at three different topics this week: the rules for autonomous weapons to engage a target with lethal force, the concept behind a massive, flying seaplane that the Pentagon wants, and a design flaw that makes all the difference between American and Russian tanks.

Motivation and Wisdom:

Timestamp: 54:05. Finally, we’ll cover plenty of motivation and wisdom.

You know, just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. And we all know that opportunities don't happen, you create them.

So, I want to make sure I do my best to feed you mentally. As you’ve probably heard, people often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily.” That was said by the great Zig Ziglar, and I’ve found it to be true for sure.

Without further delay, let’s just begin.

And, I always like to end with this one:

And with that, thanks for joining us this week on The View from the Front.

Timestamp: 1:01:46. And if you want to learn more about me, my hope for the country (and for those listening), and about the 11 books I’ve written, jump to here on the podcast.

If you can, consider at some point becoming a paid subscriber.

The View from the Front is a reader-supported publication. The best way to support this work and make it sustainable is with a paid subscription. But at the same time, free ones are appreciated, too!

As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.

So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.

Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.

Also, if you have a dream kicking around in the back of your mind? Go after it. If you have that friend or family member that you know you should reach out to? Reach out to them.

Finally, and this especially goes to all my awesome military folks listening out there, if you need help, reach out to someone. Please. Call that friend or family member. Do it for us all. We’ve already lost too many of the greatest folks that this country has produced to suicide. So I’m asking you to be brave once more, and show some vulnerability. Take a deep breath, breathe, and call a friend or family member or someone who can help.

I appreciate each and every one of you. Every tweet, every share, every email, etc. I can’t even tell you how much those mean to me, and I love each and every one of you.

Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.

And with that, I’m out.

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

P.P.S. And here’s a short bio about me and what I’m trying to do with the newsletter.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stanrmitchell.substack.com/subscribe