Category Archives: War

Futile Wars

Posted on June 28, 2022 by whungerford

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. –Dwight D. Eisenhower. When the war finally ended on July 27, 1953, the North had been devastated by three years of … Continue reading →

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Ukraine: what is our exit strategy?

Posted on June 26, 2022 by whungerford

We might solve a small problem by making it bigger. — attributed to Donald Rumsfeld He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. — Sun Tzu More Union soldiers than Confederate soldiers died in the … Continue reading →

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Should Ukraine trade territory for peace?

Posted on May 24, 2022 by whungerford

How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing. –Neville Chamberlain Sept. 27, 1938 Reportedly, Henry … Continue reading →

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Corning Farewell

Posted on April 22, 2022 by whungerford

They met some big wheels, and do not    Let you forget it. — Auden I went to Tom Reed’s April 21st Corning farewell meeting and found it interesting. There were about 30 people there mostly family, staff, and government … Continue reading →

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How we got where we are

Posted on April 20, 2022 by whungerford

Trump was using Ukraine as a plaything for his own purposes — Fiona Hill quoted by Robert Draper Robert Draper, interviewing Fiona Hill, reports missteps by several US Administrations with respect to V. Putin in The New York Times Magazine. … Continue reading →

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Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Posted on April 10, 2022 by whungerford

The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire  over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.  The Russian and Japanese empires were exhausted by the war, faced domestic unrest, and having little to gain by continuing the struggle, accepted President Theodore … Continue reading →

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What do President Biden and Harry Truman have in common?

Posted on March 15, 2022 by whungerford

What do President Biden and Harry Truman have in common? Both were Senators, both faced (and in the case of President Biden, still face) bitter partisan opposition, both took office in perilous times. In the March 7th issue of The … Continue reading →

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The Powell Doctrine

Posted on February 24, 2022 by whungerford

What’s the point of having this superb military … if we can’t use it? — Madeleine Albright The Powell Doctrine states that a list of questions all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United … Continue reading →

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The Cost of Sentimentalizing War

Posted on February 19, 2022 by whungerford

Has the American myth of the Good War helped ensnare us in bad ones? Carlos Lozada, in a book review in the November 22, 2021 issue of The New Yorker, discusses Elizabeth D. Samet’s Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and … Continue reading →

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Borders

Posted on January 9, 2020 by whungerford

Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen Korea has a border with China which allowed soldiers and material to flow to N. Korea. Short of a war with China, N. Korea couldn’t be defeated in the Korean War. Vietnam has a … Continue reading →

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