- Ten Toes In: Why Trump Accounts Make Sense for North Carolina's Small Businesses
- Remnant Called -
- Former Moms for Liberty Chairs in South Carolina Address Massive Departure from Organization
- Same Job. Two Résumés. Graham and Norman Make Their Case for the US Senate
- Greenville County Holding Public Meetings on 1% Transportation Sales Tax Referendum
- Beyond the Monuments - Finding the Forgotten Grave of Dicey Langston
- The Myth of Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils
- AIPAC Lobbyists Grip on Congress
- Hunting Island's Lighthouse Was Built to Outsmart the Atlantic's Shifting Shoreline
- South Carolina Gas Tax Climbs From Near Bottom Nationally to 30th in 2026
- Equipping the Persecuted: Weekend Terror Alert Helped Avert Wider Massacre as Slaughter of Christians Continues to Ravage Nigeria Unchecked by Government
- Thurmond and Murkowski Won as Write-Ins. Is This Year’s Senate Race Really the Same?
- Briefing Notes from the Ukraine and Persian Gulf Wars
- Crime Stoppers Luncheon Remembers Greenville’s Fallen While Honoring Those Who Continue to Serve
- Trump Administration Announces $167 Million to Build Rural Care Sites, Upgrade Health Technology, and Strengthen Prevention Across South Carolina
Ukraine War Update October 16
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
The Crimean Bridge and Russian Missile Escalation
The Crimean Bridge, also called the Kerch Strait Bridge, connecting mainland Russia with the eastern edge of the Crimean Kerch Peninsula, is the longest bridge in Europe. It is really two parallel bridges, one for four-lane highway traffic and the other for two parallel railroad lines, stretching for 12 miles over the Kerch Strait of the Black Sea. The bridge, which cost $3.7 billion, was started in 2014. The road bridge was opened in 2018 and the rail bridge in December 2019. The project was initiated by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.
Russia-Ukraine War Casualties and Equipment Losses
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Reports as of October 6, 2022
Cautious Judgement Required
Once a week, both the Ukrainian General Staff and the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense publish the damage they have done to their adversaries in the Russia-Ukraine War since its beginning on February 24. The Russians give an approximately five-minute video briefing also detailing recent events, which give some clues about fighting and military activity not reported by Western media. The Ukrainians have forbidden journalists in Ukraine from reporting anything that contradicts Ukrainian General Staff information or reveals troop movements or engagements not appropriate for public release. Both the Ukrainian General Staff and the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense released their weekly reports on October 6. The Ukrainian report is usually reported by the Kyiv Independent daily, which you can subscribe to at no cost and receive by email.
Sabotage of the Nordstream Natural Gas Pipelines
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
The Darkening Clouds of a Larger War
On September 26, the Swedish National Seismic Institute detected an explosion along the Nordstream 2 Pipeline southeast of the Danish Island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. On September 27, a second, stronger blast registering 2.3 on the earthquake scale was registered along Nordstream 1 northeast of the island. The result was one leak on Nordstream 2 and two leaks on Nordstream 1. A fourth leak has now been discovered on Nordstream 2. The German magazine Das Spiegel estimated that explosive damage at each of four leaks was greater than a one-thousand pound aerial bomb or torpedo. Two of the leaks are in Swedish waters and two in Danish waters. The methane environmental catastrophe rising to the surface was first discovered by a Danish Navy helicopter. The degree of damage and the time to fix it has not yet been determined, but it looks like there will be no gas from either pipeline this winter. Fixing the infrastructure and environmental damage under political uncertainty could take years. Based on 2017 statistics, Germany has been getting 40 percent of its natural gas from Nordstream 1. Before we explore the possible perpetrators and motivations of this outrage, it is important to recognize the immense economic investment in the pipelines and future economic and humanitarian consequences.
Understanding the Russia-Ukraine War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Essential Clarifying Background
Many Americans see the Russia-Ukraine War as an extension of the 1945-1991 Cold War that pitted the U.S. and its NATO alliance against the former Soviet Union. The smaller Russian Federation that succeeded the former Soviet Union, however, is not the Communist Soviet Union. Communism was rejected by the Russian Federation, which strives for economic growth through a freer more capitalistic economy with a more democratized political system. These economic and democratic reforms are far from perfect. Abruptly transitioning from corrupt totalitarian Communism to a freer society seeking the public good was a mountainous task and that task is still ongoing.
Conservative Victory in Sweden
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Immigration, Crime, and Economics Lessons for America
Sweden has a population of about 10.5 million, about the same as North Carolina. It has long had a tradition of liberal immigration policy, but this has accelerated tremendously in the last three decades. Previously, the largest share of immigrants was from neighboring Northern European countries. This has changed dramatically. From 2011 to 2021 Sweden received approximately 1.3 million immigrants, accounting for more than the population growth since 2011. More than 573,000 of these arrived during the Syrian War crisis years of 2014 to 2018. These mostly came from the Middle East, West Asia, and North Africa, and were predominantly Muslim. The estimated Muslim population of Sweden is now close to 6 percent. Close to 26 percent of the population is foreign born, and only 67 percent of Swedes were born of Swedish parents. One area of Sweden (Malmö, 325,000 population) is nearly 50 percent foreign born, and these are predominantly Muslim. Just over 6.5 million voters participated in the 2022 election, and over 200,000 of these were recent immigrants. The Muslim population has a strong affinity for voting for the Social Democrat Party or the Left (socialist) Party.
Mike Scruggs is the author of two books: The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; and Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, intelligent design, genealogical genetics, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East.
He holds a BS degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Stanford University. A former USAF intelligence officer and Air Commando, he is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal. He is a retired First Vice President for a major national financial services firm and former Chairman of the Board of a classical Christian school.
Click the website below to order books. http://www.universalmediainc.org/books.htm.
Browse by the Top Tags ...
