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Victory is a Just Peace
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
History’s Lessons for Just War and National Security
Russia’s War on Ukraine
Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General William T. Sherman had quite different philosophies of the conduct of war, but they had one opinion in common: war is terrible. But to say that war is terrible is not to say that all war is unjust or immoral. Whether a war is just and moral depends upon both its purposes and its conduct. When a nation’s sovereignty, peace, and vital economic interests are threatened by armed aggression or invasion, it must destroy the aggressor’s will to persist or see its cherished heritage and the rights and welfare of its people crushed or subdued. It is the solemn duty of a nation’s leaders to assure the survival and prosperity of all that its people rightly hold dear. Peaceful intentions and talk are not enough to deter aggressors driven by imperialistic leaders or ideologies. History teaches us that peaceful nations must be prepared to defend themselves or be swallowed up by tyranny.
The concept of just conduct and means in war recognizes primarily that a distinction must be made between combatants and non-combatants. Non-combatants should never be deliberate or primary targets of military action. Senseless terrorism, cruelty, and wanton destruction are prohibited. Besides the lives and health of civilians, the destruction of civilian properties that provide food, shelter, and medical attention should especially be avoided. Just conduct in war demands that prisoners of war must be treated humanely and respectfully. Torture of prisoners of war or non-combatants is prohibited. Additionally, the use of force must not be disproportionate to objectives, threats, or harm done. As much as prudence and realism will allow, the enemy must be treated in good faith to keep open the possibility of reconciliation.
The Biden Shadow over Ukraine
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Corruption and Bad Judgment Since Late 2013
On September 23, 2020, U.S. Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, released a report that revealed millions of dollars in questionable financial transactions between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, as well as his highly paid consulting in Ukraine. Of particular concern is the conflict of interests arising from Hunter Biden accepting a position on the board of, and taking millions of dollars from, Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company with a long-standing reputation for corruption, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president and the public face of the Obama administration’s handling of Ukraine policy.
Below are the first two paragraphs of the Senate report’s executive summary.
Russia-Ukraine War Issues
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Commentary and Lessons from History
With few exceptions, the lock-step mainstream national media is proving an unreliable news source on the Russia-Ukraine War. This makes a dangerous war even more dangerous. The United States has not been as close to World War III since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. I remember those 13 days between October 13 and October 28 well, because I was an Air Force Photo-Radar Intelligence Officer at Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, and had some responsibility for locating and identifying Soviet missile sites in Cuba. Those days were far more ominous than the present situation in Ukraine to date, but there seems to be a reckless war fever stirred by some politicians, media pundits, and business executives that could easily push moral and intellectual objectivity and common sense aside and ignite devastating destruction and loss of life, which most people would later recognize as stupid and insane.
Russian War and Peace
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Bread, Security, and Freedom
Fortunately for the reader, this article will not be 1,225 pages long, as was the first full edition of Leo Tolstoy’s historical novel, War and Peace, published in 1869. Tolstoy’s great work, however, is not irrelevant to understanding Russia and the Russian people today. The time-frame of his historical “fiction” is centered on real European events from 1805 to 1820 relating to Napoleon’s war with and invasion of Russia. Over 160 of the people mentioned in the “novel” were not fictional but real people. The events and times brought great suffering to the Russian people, but they overcame and triumphed over their suffering and their French invaders.
Tolstoy was a Christian and a realist. Many of the chapters of War and Peace were not narrative. They were Tolstoy’s philosophical grappling with war, power, tragedy, suffering, moral dilemmas, and survival that still permeate the nobler understanding of Russian suffering.
Putin’s War against Ukraine
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
A Misguided Extension of “Russian Exceptionalism”
As I write on Sunday, February 27, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Kiev in Russian) is under attack by seemingly overwhelming Russian forces. This is a tragic and dangerous situation first for both Ukraine and Russia but potentially for all of Europe and the Western world. Vladimir Putin has even put his Strategic Nuclear Forces on high alert.
In 1939, Winston Churchill remarked that “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Russian leaders, if fact, dating from the Czars of the Russian Empire, though 70 years of Communism, to non-Communist governments since 1990, have taken some national pride in being mysterious and unpredictable. Their strategic diplomatic and military endeavors often reflect a heavy dose of deception to confuse assumed enemies, and the Russians seldom assume competitive nations are lasting friends. Churchill gave correct advice on this. If you want to understand the Russians, study what the Russians themselves consider their most important national interests. Right now that would be energy production and export and national security.
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.
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