Will's Good Idea for the Week of 6/26/22

Good Sunday morning, Stroock's Books commune.

We spent yesterday afternoon at the girls' dance recital, that's three hours of glossy, glittery costumes and Vegas showtunes. In a bit of cultural interest, almost none of the dancers were Indian, even though we live in Chindia. There's lots of traditional Indian dance schools around here, for so inclined girls and women.

We haven't done one of these in a while. NJ.com reports: 'New Jersey on Saturday reported another 2,372 confirmed COVID-19 positive tests and eight new confirmed deaths as the state’s total number of deaths rose to more than 34,000. The state’s seven-day average for confirmed cases fell to 2,075 on Saturday, down 6% from a week ago, and down 47% from a month ago.' The Covid number was .80. We saw very few masks yesterday. We've had a scratchy throat for several days. Who knows? I ain't testing.

We've decided to resume Russian/Soviet history reading project, comrades. Maybe it will spark an Ost Front interest.

Speaking of...Another glorious victory for Red Army: 'Russian forces seized full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday, both sides said, confirming Kyiv's biggest battlefield setback for more than a month following weeks of some of the war's bloodiest fighting.' Why it's almost as if those experts predicting doom and gloom for the Ruskis while those of us a little bit acquainted with Russian history were right. Caveat, we thought the airborne attack on Kiev would work, also the drive on Kiev.

Sidenote. Acquaintances of ours, a husband-and-wife team who ran the coffeeshop we used to go to daily, are vacationing in the wife's homeland of Slovakia. Anyone remember the Czechoslovakian border guard, Valigurska, in Eastern Storm? Anyway, they report Slovakian opinion is decidedly pro-Russian. We sense inter-Slav rivalry, the dynamics of which it will be impossible for an outside to understand. 

We've been thinking about 2023 plans. Looking ahead while we're already swamped is one of the reasons we have this job. We'll work on a pair of World War 1990 books. But which pair? We'll get back to the one forward, one back plan. One back will be Battle of the GIUK Gap. But what will be one forward? Esercito Italiano? Saddam's War. And that's Will's good idea for the week of 6/26/22.