Dance recitals are completed, and Mrs. Stroock, who had backstage mom duty, can finally rest. For dad it means no more bus stop duty, no more dance taxi. Summer has officially begun. Mrs. Stroock will take the Stroocklettes to Indiana (hmmmm a state that figures prominently in the nuclear war series, funny that) for a ten spot, leaving us here with the cats, a case of whisky and a box of cigars, probably. We looked, it's been more than three weeks since our last cigar, 14 this year in total.
Summer projects, finish World War 1990: The Final Storm, and finish the rough draft of World War 1990: Norway. We want the deck cleared for starting a new novel in September.
As we write this a summer storm is blowing in.
Hot Air asks if Putin really fled Moscow during the...well, whatever that was, and sensibly concludes probably not. If one wants to forestall a coup, one doesn't flee the capital. One climbs on a tank and gives a speech. It's not like there isn't precedent for that in Russian history. Also, in 1989, when an East German mob showed up at KGB headquarters in Leipzig, Putin met them outside and told them, 'I have multiple machineguns on roof.' In truth Putin was bluffing. Flee Moscow? Yeah, no.
Stroock's Books endorses this analysis 100 percent.
We spent a good deal of yesterday's recital thinking about the Red Dawn Thingy. We came up with a Texas Ranger partisan character. Also a Soviet General, maybe the operations chief in Mexico, who studied Operation Barbarossa very, very closely and see's parallels to the invasion of the United States.* It's his obsession. New fun fact: When Mexican Qadhafi** rolls into Mexico City in 1967(?) hundreds of thousands of Mexicans flee to the United States. Battle of Bermuda? In this universe Jack Scargill is the President of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Britain, maybe.
2003 and Me. It was 20 years ago right about now that Strategy & Tactics Magazine published our very first magazine article, accepted that March. The article was titled, Sparta's Defeat of Athens and speculated about how Athens could have won the Peloponnesian War. It was a cool feeling seeing ones' name in print, but we had the overwhelming urge to make sure the acceptance and publication of the article wasn't an accident. And here we are, 86 magazine articles in print later. We got a framed version of the article around here someplace.
Monday Metal. Wolfmother will be playing in Philadelphia this November 24th. Hmmm....
**Miguel Quinones? Every Spanish name in this novel will be cribbed from baseball.
Good read on the link. I think "coup" was a false flag to bring out Putin plotters. Whether it worked or not can't say. But I just can't see Prigozhin not being pushed off a building.
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