The Russian, the Soviet and the Jew

A recent reviewer of World War 1990: Castro's Folly noted, 'I would have dinged a couple more stars last year for how well NATO is doing against the Warsaw Pact in this series. But given how well the Ukraine is doing vis-à-vis Russia, I can now believe it.' Russian/Soviet tactics suck. Russian/Soviet equipment sucks. That said, Stroock's Books admits that it is stunned at the Soviet's level of tactical incompetence. What would be happening now had Ivan's bold airborne assault on Kiev succeeded?

Don't believe this blog. Believe the Israelis. The Jew may be clever, but he is no superman. See also Desert Storm. Also, Arabs can't fight. Why in 1967, after the Israelis fried the Egyptian's falafel, STAVKA called Nasser to Egypt and read him the riot act. 'No, you don't understand,' Nasser said. 'We've studied Russian tactics. We've lured the Jew into Sinai. Now we wait for winter.' Thanks folks! Don't forget to tip you waitresses. [You've told that joke before-Ed] That's what my girls say too. 

Exit Question: What's the last battle the United States lost? Kasserine Pass? Villiers Fussard? I dunno, something in Korea, probably. Anyway, here's the point. The US hasn't lost a battle in a long time, and also hasn't won a war in a long time. Ivan hasn't won a battle in Ukraine but is in danger of winning the war.

Baaaaah...! Yesterday we spent a lot of time staring at the third nuke novel. The theme in three needs to be a bit different than the theme in 75 and 76 no? We're past the devastation and despair stage and into the aftermath stage. What's an interesting issue for a town to be dealing with? What would work for a one-off vignette not necessarily related to the chapter?

What Will's Watching, The Daily Wire's god-king, Jeremy Boreing, gives a state of the company address. DW's taking in something like $10 million a month. Boreing, Shaprio and the rest have big, big plans:

Nuke this Adrenalize Song

 'Hey, Senator, hot down here, isn't it?' Madeline Albright asked John McCain. Madeline Albright was neoliberal-interventionism. The ambassador to the UN and later secretary of state, Albright once asked Colin Powell, 'What's the point of having the world's greatest army if you're not going to use it?' or some such. She was a passionate advocate of the failed Oslo negotiation between Israel and the PLO and constantly advocated 'restraint' as Arafat's* terrorist murdered Israelis.

Click here for this Def Leppard unnamed video. We hate this Adrenalize song so much we won't even name it. The song is stupid and juvenile. The worst song on the album, and the worst song Def Leppard wrote between 1981 and 1992. This song usually makes the live set, sadly. That's when we go get another beer. Reader(s) should watch this live version of White Lightening instead. Note, Def Leppard live sounds pretty much like Def Leppard on the album. 

Bill Roggio, who is much less optimistic about Ukraine than a lot of the media cheerleaders, tweets his latest assessment of the war. 'The Russian advance is slow, but it is advancing,' Roggio says. To our eye, Russia has taken about half of Ukraine east of the Dnieper. Russia is executing large thrusts, successful at the strategic level while the Ukrainians are launching successful localized counterattacks. We remained stunned at Ruski tactical ineptitude. 

We won't comment on events in Russia because we don't know whose info to trust. An anonymously sourced article titled something like, 'Wife mad at Putin over war: report,' or 'Putin advisor tries to resign,' is not to be trusted. And no, we won't ask our KGB handler what he thinks. It's hard to get Russians to talk about anything, and we don't want to put him in an awkward position. Our man in Moscow works for a government publication (like every staffer at NPR or the BBC) and we just don't know what he's comfortable saying. 

Sales of The Great Nuclear War of 1975 have already surpassed books like Seven Stories and A March Through Hell. So 75 is not a flop. Also, 30 + reviews so it doesn't suck. Daily sales are up and down, but we think they'll plateau somewhere below a World War 1990 novel. We had some ju-ju yesterday and should get a scene written in book 3 today. 

*Homosexual. Died of AIDS.

War and Fat Narratives

We haven't quite figured out what to write today, so we're just going to blog during the 9-10 AM hour. 

We did some editing of The Great Salvation of 1976 yesterday (we'll do more today) and brainstormed novel number 3. We came up with some pretty good ideas in consultation with some of you people, and may well write about those further. Some of you people are trying to push me into the writing the novel you want to read, aren't you? Bastards.

What Will's Watching: Stephen Crowder pranks the Fat Studies Conference. It's hilarious. Do click over. This blogger wants to make something clear. Seven years ago we were pushing 270 pounds (19.2 stone for you speech impaired tea drinkers. Don't even ask us to convert to metric. We can't. We won't). We had a triglyceride count over a thousand. The 'fat pride' movement is fucking retarded and dangerous. And yes, we admit to looking at really fat people and thinking, how did it come to this? We think the same with smokers. 

That being said, this gym rat would welcome you to the gym. So would all the other gym rats. We hit the gym three or four times a week with men and women who have the bodies of Greek gods and show it off.  That can be intimidating. But most of the people at the gym are normies like us, just trying to take off a few pounds and stay in shape. So if you're thinking people at the gym are going to judge you and laugh at you behind your back, don't. Everyone at the gym is on your side. 

The media is telling us the Ukraine war is going badly for Russia. It's not going great. Obviously the Ruskis have had tonnes of setbacks. Media airheads probably think Putin is trying to conquer all Ukraine,  like the Krauts with France in 1940, some producer probably told them. No or nyet. The Russian army is trying to isolate and overrun Ukraine east of the Dnieper. They're getting pretty close to mission accomplished, nyet? [Did the GRU pay you to write that-Ed?] Nyet, comrade, nyet. We just don't believe the media narrative. 

New Week, New Editing

We had a bout of cold weather this weekend, but the temp's gonna be in the 50's all week. We think we may lose the winter beard. We're guessing we won't get another snowstorm. Our snowblower gas tank is full. We'll run it just to burn through the gas and piss off some environmentalists. This blog has always believed in maximizing its carbon footprint.

Why did 74 people from Kenya visit this blog last night? Are we seeing a sudden spike in popularity in Africa? Are those Nightingale Russia pussies just using a VPN? [Again with Nightingale Russia?-Ed] Speaking of Russia, we heard from our KGB handler, and frankly, he sounds a bit down. We would be down too if we'd been personally sanctioned by the United States government. In all seriousness, and the previous sentence was serious, but in all seriousness, he really didn't think there'd be a war.

Maybe it's just us, but is Russia's War of liberation in Ukraine already becoming part of the background news? [War of liberation? You just have to push buttons, don't you?-Ed] I do, I really do. Here's what we mean. Back in the 80's every night on the news there'd be an update on the Lebanese Civil War. Same for the Jugoslav civil war in the 90's. Thirty seconds, maybe a minute on the nightly news, and then on to the latest 'women's health' story. 

What Will's Watching, Bill Maher on The Sunday Special: Ben Shapiro and Bill Maher have a long conversation about politics, Trump, voting, the environment, etc. The point of the conversation was for two men who disagree on many, many things to have a civil conversation. As always Maher makes great points. If one went for a beer with Bill Maher, he'd probably want to talk about anything other than politics. Which is one of the reasons we like him. Also, Maher is a free speech absolutist. 

Okay...back to work on The Weser this week. We'll finish Part II: The British and Part III: The Confederates. We're achieving great things, but must needs watchout for over editing. That is, once more, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. As the Federation president said in Star Trek VI, 'Just because we can do a thing does not mean we must do that thing,' or some such.

Monday [not] Metal: Hmmm...Alanis Morrisette is touring with Garbage. You don't get more mid-90s than that, not outside of laboratory conditions. Ah, Alanis Morissette, Gen-X's psycho ex-girlfriend. Man...if you heard the girls listening to Alanis in the dorms you just stopped and slowly backed away. We saw Alanis in 95 with a cute 18 year old who's upstairs right now.  Anyway, Garbade:

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 3/6/22

Would whomever is reading every last page of this blog care to leave a comment, send us an email, text us or otherwise say hello? 

We don't think it's those anonymous pussies at Nightingale Russia. None of the traffic is coming from Sweden. Of course they could be using a VPN. They're clever. Maybe it's Ukrainian Nazi Commandos, upset with our writing for Inforos. If any blue and gold trucks pull up to the house we'll come out guns a blazzin'.

Whoever these people are they're using Unix. Usually when this blog gets slammed it's by someone using PlagScan. Reminder, I have never plagiarized anything, ever, and have the wherewithal and means to prove it court. 

The ongoing cancellation of all things Russian continues apace. Last we heard some sort of Ruski opera singer got the axe. Cancelling Russia is both retarded and counterproductive. If one wants to change Russia for the better, one interacts with them. If one wants to change Russia for the worse, one cuts them off from the rest of the world. Of course we'll be accused of colluding for voicing that opinion. Idiots. 

These people really think virtue signaling cancellations are going to defeat Putin. We are not a serious culture, this is not a serious time,  and that why Putin is going to win the war in Ukraine. Psst...he's already winning.

Let's talk about Will's Good Idea for the Week of 3/6/22:

That map's fuzzy, but we think World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap will open with a blockbuster Soviet airborne assault on Bardufoss and Andoya Air Stations and the Reitan Operations center. By this time in the war, we think the Soviets have already taken Banak and the bases in the extreme north.

Let us now introduce or re-introduce a Ruski who was a minor celebrity in 1990's Russia. Gentlemen, General Alexander Lebed, commander of the Soviet 106th Guards Airborne Division. Did reader(s) know Lebed wrote memoirs? Did we order a copy of those memoirs yesterday? Why yes, yes we did. 

I love it when a plan comes together...or if you like...Oh boy is this great!

[Oh is it now? You'll write it and then bitch on this blog for months about fixing things. Do yourself a favor and get all your Soviet terms, ranks and sundry details ready to go before you write one goddamn word.-Ed]

Yes, mummy.

Sigh....so what else going on? The Weser read through is going fine.  We'll spend the week adding details. For example, we'll see if it's worth looking into what 1 RTR likes to call itself, nicknames, idioms and such. We'll work on some character development for Colonel Carter's Chieftain Crew (Queen's Own Hussars). Maybe his loader really likes Judas Priest, 'Put yourself in our hands so our voices will be heard/and TOGETHER we will take on ALL the world!' The question is not if it can be written. We can write anything. Rather, should it be written? Whatever answer we arrive at will be the right answer. We are among the best there is what we do. 

Will Goes the Full Ruski

World War Woke is upon us. The West has cancelled Russian banks, TV channels, yachts, airplanes, gas stations, hockey players, Paralympians, writers, conductors and cats. The silliest, most retarded cancelation was Disney + removing Anastasia from its playlist. That'll show 'em!

This blog thinks it's time Joe intern Russian-Americans. Also the Jews, just to be on the safe side. 

Stroock's Books wonders if/when the cancellers will cancel us because of our Inforos writing. We emailed our KGB handler yesterday just to see how he was doing and also to ask if he or someone he knows wants to write something for Stroocks Books. That alone should warrant a raid by the Feds, no? We haven't heard back. We think he's not talking to us. 

We wrote several sympathetic Russian characters in the World War 1990 series. They better cancel those too. They wouldn't want anything to slip through, would they?

The media war narrative goes as follows. Ukraine's plucky, happy-go-lucky defenders are fending off the slow, plodding Russian bear. Accordingly, Putin's grip on power is slipping. Russians are protesting in the streets. The oligarchs are getting nervous. The Russian Orthodox Church is condemning Putin. We doubt it.

A lot of observers are coming around to our view of the war. Russia has made many missteps and Russian tactics suck.  However, the Russians are advancing and gradually wearing down the Ukes. The Ruskis have taken a fair bit of territory, haven't they? This piece at Zerohedge argues Putin isn't waging war against Ukraine alone, but the West and Davos as well; and is winning. 

Putin Watch: Putin going to his inauguration to the tune of....well, you'll just have to click:

What Will's Watching - The Power of the Dog: Benedict Cumberbatch plays Phil Burbank, a grizzled Montana rancher who knows everything about his trade and is mean as hell to everyone, especially his brother George (played with sensitivity and compassion by Jesse Plemons), whom he calls fatso. When George gets married to Rose (Kursten Dunst) Phil is jealous and resentful, especially toward her teenaged son, Peter, played shy and timid by Kodi Smit-McPhee. Phil tries to break Peter but ends up mentoring him in the ways of the ranch just as the legendary Bronco Henry did for Phil decades before. There's some homosexual tension here. Some have said The Power of the Dog's ending is ambiguous. We saw it right away and we ain't no film guy. Filmed in the beautiful New Zealand countryside looking for all the world like Montana. The dog is Montana and the rancher's way of life. Rewatchable 4/4

Friday Flag, comrades:

Russia has Bought off Tucker Carlson...

...and Stroocks Books as well. Why else would Tucker say so many things that the Globalists don't like? Reader(s) of this blog know we are paid handsomely in 100 rubble bills for writing Russian misinformation at Inforos and Infobics.

Tucker Carlson asks why he/we/you/I should hate Vladimir Putin:

Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs? pic.twitter.com/xYEvapjbNT

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 23, 2022

How much of the Ukraine crisis for the Dems is about Trump? Dems think Putin tilted the 2016 election toward Trump. They think Trump colluded with Russia. They impeached Trump over his perfect phone call with Ukraine. Never mind that Trump isn't getting 10 percent from Ukraine like 'the big guy'. The United States is drifting into an economic crisis and possibly a shooting war because of the Dem's bizarre obsession. 

Russia's economy is about the size of Italy's. Russia's population is less than half that of the United States' and declining. Russia can project power into the Norwegian Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean and no further. Russia is no existential threat to the US.

Sometimes this blog wonders if younger reader(s) really know what the Cold War was like. There was constant tension and the threat of annihilation percolating beneath everyday life. There were two superpowers with massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons, armies facing off in Europe, constant air and naval confrontations. In 1985, Russia/USSR truly was a threat. Now? Well, Russia has started a border war with Ukraine. We yawn.

If it's Monday, Its Metal et al

Lots of posts yesterday. It happens.

The Olympics are over, thank God. What a travesty. Stupid masks, power plant cooling tower backgrounds, an unprecedented figure skating catastrophe, some genocide.

The Queen has Covid, but only 'mild' symptoms so far. Thoughts and prayers. This blog wants to avoid a King Charles rein at all costs. 

Our latest bit of collusion is up this morning: 'Just a few weeks ago, this observer predicted the Kansas City Chiefs would defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl LVI. Instead, Tens of thousands of Los Angelenos watched their hometown Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. Almost everyone in Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium was maskless, including Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both of whom have maintained some of the strictest lockdown rules in the nation. Last summer Newsom was caught dining sans mask at the swanky French Laundry restaurant in California’s wine country...' You know the drill.

This week we'll be reading a printout of The Great Salvation of 1976. This process will be slow as we're line and content editing. That is, we're looking for places to make the story better. We already found one with a Tennessee/Chattanooga chapter. This is the largest surviving city east of the Mississippi and the Rockefeller Administration is establishing the Federal Reserve there. This gives us a chance to describe the overall situation in that region. 

We feel the ju-ju for getting back to and finishing up World War 1990: The Weser. 

Putin Watch: Someone found a video of Putin walking through the Kremlin (which we're finding extremally useful, btw) and overdubbed Staying Alive. Click on through. [You're man-crushing -Ed] He's an interesting guy. Reminder, when Soviet Russian tanks cross the border, we stop writing for Russia.

Reading Russia Today, Sputnik, Elint News, invasion looks imminent. 

For Monday Metal, we continue our 30-year nostalgia trip with Queen's Headlong. We still love this song (it's great treadmill fodder) and when we hear it, for just a second, we're back in our '86 Toyota Celica. At 3:10-3:20 we'd floor the accelerator. That car had a lot of kick. 

Friday Flag Follies

As we write this, the Soviet, sorry, Russian embassy in Kiev is burning documents. Russian ground forces are moving toward the Ukrainian border. Airborne and amphibious units are readying. There have already been dozens of cross-border artillery exchanges. Joe is convening an emergency meeting of western leaders today.

The esteemed ZeroHedge writes about the establishment, Russiagate, Russian collusion, Russian actors in Canada and allegations that they're colluding with Russia. 'The Russian collusion story is mostly meant for the political left in order to keep them on the plantation while also to sowing seeds of doubt among moderates and people still on the political fence. The globalists want to prevent as many individuals as possible from moving closer to reality. However, their strategy is rife with confusion. It tells me that they are in uncharted territory and they are falling back on worn out measures and tired schemes because they don’t know what else to do.' Russia! Russia! Russia! The Russia story is meant to distract from the real story, the elites colluding with China. 

What Will's Watching, Margin Call. A film about a securities firm that realizes that its entire portfolio is going to become worthless within days and attempts to sell everything before that happens. Margin Call is also a character study. We were fascinated, interested and intrigued by the late-night business meetings in which the company officers come to grips with what's happening and choose a course of action. And if we liked those meetings, you people like cabinet meetings in the World War 1990 series. Lesson learned. 4/4

Saturday Updates

This is post 4825.

Stroock's Book's had two guest posts this week and is looking for more. Are you a foreigner? Got something to say? Lemme know at wtstroock@yahoo.com. 

It would seem that war in Ukraine is imminent. The US and UK are warning their citizens in the country that they're 'on their own', and Russia Today reports Moscow is pulling their diplomats. Russia is conducting naval maneuvers in the Black Sea. Joe and Putin are going to speak this weekend, though. Nothing to worry about there. 

We worked our Kremlin sources and they agree that the liberation of Donbass begins shortly. Our editor at Inforos submitted the following for official comment, 'The liberation of Ukraine begins shortly, and soon after all Europe. Seven days to the Rhine, comrades.  Now excuse me while I retire to the Kremlin's GRU built volcano lair.' Expect a lot of pro-Soviet, sorry, pro-Russian content from the blog in the coming weeks. 

Segue...Below is our latest Russian collusion, posted at Infobrics: 'On January 15th Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed a vaccine mandate on all truckers crossing the US/Canadian border. Canada and the United States have the longest undefended border in the world through which more than $521 billion worth of goods flow every year. Trucks carry over 2/3rds of those goods. In response, anti-mandate activists in Western Canada organized a convoy of big-rig trucks to protest Trudeau’s edict. The Freedom Convoy, as its leaders call it, travelled from Vancouver, British Columbia 3,000 miles across Canada to Ottawa and occupied the capital. One of the most prominent convoy organizers, Tamar Lich...' Click on through.

The Inforos website is still down. We asked the Politburo what's going on with that and a spokecommunist said, 'It's an IT thing. Now go write pro-Kremlin propaganda or we will release kompromot.' We replied, 'What the fuck do we care if the world knows we like to play with dolls?' Click this link, you won't be disappointed.* Various Twitter based 'dis-info' experts think the GRU has determined that the Inforos brand is damaged and is looking to restart the site as something else. Screw them. The dis-info guys, not you, comrade. 

Okay seriously, we told our editor that if there's war, we will no longer write for him.

Will's dream journal. Last night we dreamt we were hanging out with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Nancy Mace. Total hottie, by the way. Nice rack. 

The things:

World War 1990: We spent all week working and re-working the SAS Kremlin attack scene. We think we need one more week. The MS stands at 72,000 words. We think it could hit 80,000 no problem. If the MS gets to 90,000, and it might, we'll consider splitting it in two and adding. We'd be only 30,000 words to another novel. So much for moving on with our life.

We have begun reading a printout of The Great Salvation of 1976. This is the final move before submitting to the editor, which we intent to do on March 1.

The final proof of The Great Nuclear War of 1975 arrives today.

Below is The Great Nuclear of 1975's final cover:

*30 Years ago last fall, we were in a production of Free to Be you and Me.

Will Takes Stroock's Books International

Good morning Stroock's Books Commune.

Alert reader(s) may have noticed a second post last night from a Canadian known only as Citizen of Canuckstan. We are recruiting other foreigners as well and hope to make these overseas postings [Canada is in North America-Ed], a regular feature here.  Are you one of these people? Email us at wtstroock@yahoo.com. 

[How do we know these people are real? I mean, look at Qbi Wan-Ed]

Are you saying Qbi Wan is just an imaginary friend meant to mess with any feds who might be (and probably are) monitoring my comms and I just think the name Qbi Wan is hilarious?

[You really think the feds are reading your emails?-Ed]

They read Tucker's emails after he tried to get an interview with Putin, and I, you know, write for him too. 

[Tucker?-Ed.]

No, Putin.

We admit we're getting paranoid.

[Getting? Six months ago a black SUV pulled up to the house and you shouted, 'It's happening!' That nice young man delivered flowers-Ed.]

True.

[You checked the flowers for listening devises, didn't you?- Ed]

No comment.

In our research of the Kremlin [Again with the Russians?-Ed] we discovered that it's defended by a unit called The Kremlin Regiment. This is an ad-hoc force of soldiers who pass a rigorous test to join the regiment. During the Cold War they were very often combat vets. We're thinking we should give more space to this regiment and create a character to do so. Which is how scenes, books, entire series grow like weeds. We already have a couple of guys hanging around Lenin's Tomb wondering why choppers are approaching Red Square....

Which brings us to...Will Writes: One must avoid the urge to write about something just for the sake of showing off that one learned something cool. Tom Clancy did this, and it was one of the reasons his novels were seven, eight, nine hundred pages long. We did this in A Line Through the Desert. That Grafenwoehr gunnery scene is damn near unreadable, no? But it seemed so cool at the time. We found a guy who used to run the gunnery exercises, and a couple of guys were on the range the day Iraq invaded Kuwait. We even got our hands on physical copies of the gunnery tables. So what one reads there is the way it was.

What Will's Watching, or should we say, what the actual fuck? The Book of Boba Fett Chapter-6 was another episode of The Mandalorian with Luke and Baby Yoda thrown in. The Luke and Baby Yoda scenes were really blatant masturbatory fan service. 'Yoda once told me...' Did you at least get five bucks for that hand job? Jesus. BoBF is bad and Lucas Films knows it. 1/4

Saturday Updates

This is post 4816. 

With the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China infection rates down to pre-OMICRON levels, we've been cleared to go back to the gym. [You mean your wife let you-Ed] She never told us we couldn't, she just asked that we not. [You tell yourself that-Ed]. However, we feel little motivation to go. Walking's been working just fine, and we didn't gain any weight in the last month. We've enjoyed listening to Stephen L. Miller's podcast on walks. [You can't listen to him while working out?-Ed] No, we need high octane hard rock and heavy metal.

On to the things. 

A week interrupted by funeral arrangements and travel. But a productive week nonetheless. We've added a few scenes to the SAS attack, one intro to the plan, the other a plan finalization. Writing tip: one must needs establish a thing before one writes about that thing. We've really cleaned up the assault. We are semi-confident that we can wrap this up by the end of next week. Exit question, what is this operation's name? And the codename can't be cool. It can't be Operation Rapier or Operation Doom-Stalker. 

We have a tonne of Kremlin stuff to sort out. Our Russian/Soviet history books are buried deep within the book pile in my utility room (longtime reader(s) will recall Hurricane Ida wrecked our basement, the bitch). We have to dig those books out as they're filled with info we need. Where's the Walnut Room? What do the premier's office windows look out upon? Etc. 

Which brings us to a bit of good news. All this writing about USSR and Kremlin (see what I did there?) has re-sparked our interest in Russian history. We picked up a couple of books about Putin yesterday. Speaking of:

The boss was on the telly last night.* We're working on an Inforos article for him right now...Roll Canada. Heh, we told our editor, let's call him Vlad, about our SAS attack on the Kremlin and he said, 'Cool! SAS is awesome!'

Moving on...

We have the formatted edition of The Great Nuclear War of 1975 and a cover proof. We will make some obvious tweaks but this is it, this is the cover:

This idea will work nice for The Great Salvation of 1976 as well. We plan to submit 76 for formatting on 1 March. [Plan all you want!-Ed]

We have a couple of ideas swirling. Discussion fodder for Will's Good Idea for the week of 2/6/22, tomorrow. 
 

*Nightingale Russia, this is a joke. You see, the notion that a Jewish guy from New Jersey who writes novels about the US beating up the USSR, breaking their glasses and taking their lunch money, is somehow a KGB operative is so silly as to be farcical. Understand, comrades? Now excuse me while I head to the train station for a midnight dead drop of my payment in rubles. 

Wednesday Russia, Canadian Musician, and Sci Fi Round Up

Russia Today tells us that representatives from France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine will be meeting today to discuss the Ukraine situation. Note the absence of the United States. Joe's off eating ice cream. The West is in a bad position here. France and Germany have different agendas, as Macron wants to assert French influence and whomever the German Chancellor is (we don't care, really) wants to keep Russian natural gas flowing to the Wolf's Lair. Well played, Putin. Well played indeed.

Semi-ironically we are still plugging away at our SAS raid chapter. Things are going well with lots of interesting openings. Operation Marsh-Warden.* [How are you able to get all this work done despite being alone with the kids, making dinner, taxing from home to Hebrew school and dance and dance and more dance?-Ed] I am among the best there is at what I do. Dad Score: Superior. 

Hmmmm...

The Baseball Writers Association of America has elected one player to the Hall of Fame this year, former Red Sock David Ortiz. Quite right. The man killed everyone, especially our own Yankees. Speaking of Yankee killers, the tossers in the Association didn't elect another former Red Sock, Diamondback and Philly Curt Schilling, who twice mowed down the Yankees to win a World Series ring. If you don't understand that Curt Schilling is a hall of famer, you should stop watching baseball and start watching something more appropriate, like Antiques Roadshow, Real Housewives, the Bachelorette or Fixer Upper. [You watch Fixer Upper-Ed] Yeah, but that's because Joanna Gaines is a total hottie.

The New York Post reports on actor Michael Rappaport's outrage at seeing blatant shoplifting in Manhattan. 'I can't believe I'm seeing this shit,' Rapaport exclaims in his annoying voice. Seriously, the math checks out, and scientists have concluded it's impossible to have a more annoying voice. Rappaport might not be able to believe what he's seeing but this blog believes. You voted for it, Mikey. You wanted Bill de Blasio. You asked for Bill de Blasio. And you deserved Bill de Blasio. And so far, Eric Adams don't impress us much. [Shania Twain?-Ed] Yeah, that's right.

Sticking with Canadian musicians... Neil Young [He's still alive?-Ed] I know right? He seems nice. Anyhoo, Neil Young has told Spotify that the streaming service can have Rogan or Young but not both. We find Young's terms acceptable. Seriously the last time he had a hit was...? Besides, say it with us...Southern man don't need him around, anyhow. Go back to Canada, shriveled up Boomer Dad.

What Will's watching, The Expanse, season-5. While flawed, season-5 is soooo much better than season-4, which sucked in ways this blog couldn't imagine something sucking. It just sucked. Bland, boring, someone give us another negative adjective that starts with a 'b'. There's some unnecessary melodrama in season-5, but overall plenty of character development, action, and tension. We look forward to season-6. 3/4. There will be another Book of Bobba Fett episode tonight. We're not optimistic. 

*That's a getable reference, but deep nonetheless.

Your Russian News Round Up and Collusion for Monday, 1/24/22

We don't have much to say about the weekend NFL playoff games, except that we agree with a friend's assessment that this was the best playoff weekend ever. Three games decided by a last second field goal and one by a touchdown makes for a pretty exciting round of playoff football. That being said the Chiefs and Bills scoring something like 25 points in the last two minutes of a game is not a good thing. The rules obviously favor the passing game and could use tweaking. Of course the NFL will do nothing because Roger Goodell is....well, not good for the game. 

Semi-ironically we're working on our SAS raid in The Final Storm and will complete said scene by Friday. We are jettisoning most of what was previously written.  If you people haven't figured out what our SAS sub-plot has been leading too, not to mention the general theme of this post...Those of you who know us on FB know where we're headed. Anyone remember how the SAS was in the air, heading for the Polish presidential palace in Polish Storm? If a West Germany teenager can fly a plane to the target, why can't the SAS do the same?

19Fortyfive has a long and interesting piece on the revolution in Russian military affairs, Putin's Syria intervention, and his looming invasion of Ukraine. Author Anna Borshchevskaya goes into some detail about how Soviet doctrine and equipment failed in Desert Storm, exposing the Soviets overall weakness. Something we've shown extensively in the World War 1990 series. Borshchevskaya writes that the Ruskis studied Desert Storm and their plan for an invasion of Ukraine draws on lessons learned. 

Those interested can read our own Russia Rising, a 2008 report on the Russian/Georgian War: 'The Russian military is undergoing a transformation that will fundamentally alter its organization and the way it fights. In the coming decades, the blunt instrument that destroyed the Whermacht, was poised to steamroll Western Europe and utterly annihilated Chechnya will be no more. Under the directorship of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian army is becoming smaller, mobile, and professionalized.'

Normally we link to our Russian collusion at Inforos. As the site is still down, this morning we link over at sister publication (and on all kinds of 'misinformation' lists itself), Infobrics: 'During the first half of 2021, Biden enjoyed decent approval ratings. On August 1st Biden’s Real Clear Politics poll of polls had Biden’s approval at 51.3%. The Afghanistan fiasco later in August caused a crisis in confidence among Americans and crashed Biden’s approval ratings. Those ratings have fallen steadily since, and show no signs of improving. A poll taken this week by the Associated Press gives Biden an approval rating of 43%. Another poll this week by Rasmussen Reports has Biden’s approval rating still lower at 40%. Overall Biden’s approval rating stands at 40.9% in the Real Clear Politics poll of polls. An Economist/YouGov Poll shows that 64% of Americans believe America is on the wrong track. And with good reason....' Click on over for a different form of collusion. Okay, we'll admit it. Infobrics is better looking than Inforos. 

We've been listening to Billy Joel's albums of late. Not just the hits but the deep tracks, which we admit to not knowing at all. We have little positive to say about what we've heard. Soft-rocker indeed and a manic-depressive to boot! For Monday (not) Metal, let's synch things to current events and get in the mood . Below, Billy Joel playing Back in the USSR in...the USSR, Moscow, 1987:

Joe Biden is Still a Dog-Face Pony Soldier

Good morning Stroock's Books commune. 

You've all heard about Biden dismissing a Soviet, sorry Russian 'incursion' into Ukraine with a shrug. What we, you, me, NATO, Ukraine and Russia saw yesterday was horrifying. Joe actually revealed what he and the admin were really thinking about the Ukraine situation. It's as if Joe invited Putin into a White House Situation Room zoom call. This blog is hard-pressed to think of a more disastrous foreign policy press conference. 

On the Hill the Dems tried and failed to nuke the filibuster. Welcome to failure theatre Democrat jihadi. This blog has seen plenty of same from the GOP over the decades. Enjoy the show. There's got to be some way to explain to the Dems that nuking the filibuster will have long term consequences. Let's say in her inauguration address President Noam* calls for congress to pass bills repealing Obamacare, national conceal carry reciprocity, and a national ban on abortion. Fifty-one votes, motherfuckers. By the way, Stroock's Books doesn't believe the Dems' federal voting bill will doom the GOP. The GOP can't adapt? Besides, they haven't considered the possibility that the Supreme Court will rule the bill unconstitutional. 

Speaking of...this blog is sick of the McConnell bashing coming from MAGA nation and not just because he's from our ancestral homeland. [Israel?-Ed]. No Kentuckey, and an Owensboro** man too. Our maternal grandparents are buried in a little town outside of Owensboro called Livermore. 

Yes, the cons on the court can get hung up on some annoying point, but in the aggregate, wow. Let's look at three recent decisions. The court struck down Killer Andy C's ban on attending religious services, struck down the CDC's eviction moratorium, and stayed the injunction against Joe's mask mandate. Cocaine Mitch does coke and confirms judges. And he's done all his lines.

What Will's Watching, The Book of Boba Fett, Episode Four. Not as bad as the unfocused first episode, but kind of meh. The show's plateaued and writing this, we're hard pressed to remember what the episode four was actually about. Ah, there it is. Again, meh. Something is missing from Temuera Morrison's performance, but we don't know what. 

*DeSantis is so passe.

**Pronounced Owensbura.

Ukraine is a Vital American Interest...

...Or so Adam Schiff and the other Congressional Dems told us during the first Trump impeachment farce. These reprobates are going to get us into a war with Russia just to prove they were right about Trump, aren't they?

Russia Today reports the Ruski's are evacuating their embassy in Kiev. Uh oh. Whatever Biden and NATO have been doing diplomatically obviously hasn't worked. Joe's is an administration that thinks comparing Manchin and Sinema to other Democrats like George Wallace and Jeff Davis will change their minds. So no surprise there. We tremble.

Zerohedge reports on a senatorial trip to Ukraine: 'In a move that echoes and recalls scenes of the late John McCain visiting the Maidan protests over a half-decade ago which eventually overthrew the prior elected Russia-friendly Ukrainian government, a large group of senators traveled to Kiev this week in order to show support and solidarity with Ukraine's leaders amid the ongoing showdown with Russia, which has amassed troops near the border.' They forget nothing and learn nothing. Echoes of John McCain indeed. We wonder what Meghan's daddy thinks of all this down there.

A fine piece By Andrew J. Bacevich at The American Conservative on how the foreign policy elite concocted this mess: 'Among foreign policy mandarins in present-day Washington, “spheres of influence” have become anathema. Prior generations of U.S. policymakers thought otherwise. Indeed, no great power in recent history has pursued the concept more assertively, albeit with mixed results. To pretend that spheres of influence are alien to the American tradition of statecraft is to engage in self-deception.' Really? We had no idea. Spheres of influence are a good thing. One must needs have a lot of letters after their last name to believe something as stupid as the opposite. Guys, just read Kissinger's The Congress of Vienna. This blog prefers Nicholson.

Let's see what the Globalist establishment thinks of all this. The German Marshall Fund has a long interview with someone named Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, the GMF's VP and head of the Berlin office. Oh my. One must love the hyphenated name, no? actually Herr Kleine-Brockhoff talks a lot of sense about European military commitments, or lack of. He's not very bellicose at all. Overall we agree with what he has to say. 

Three Novels for 2022's third Saturday Update

NFL playoffs today. We'll take the Raiders over the Bengals and the Bills over the Patriots. 

We are done pulling trim, carpet tacks, nails and the like from the basement steps. All that remains is to sand and stain. 

Hmmmm published reports say Ukraine suffered a cyberattack and Russian forces are poised to invade. Other reports claim US advisors are training Ukrainian troops for prolonged guerilla war. Which means US special forces are probably preparing to help 'stay behind' elements. 

If we haven't linked already, here's an interesting report at 19fortyfive from Philip Karber, a man who's been on the ground in Ukraine. Nut-graph, as the J-School losers say: Ukraine is prepared to fight. 'Considering the terrible shape the Ukrainian forces were in at the beginning of 2014 after two decades of utter neglect, their resurrection as a fighting force has been nothing short of miraculous.' Maybe Ukraine finally figured out they're, you know, next to Russia. 

If war, what are the ethics of writing for Inforos? We should stop, no? 

With the OMICRON surge (doom to all those that walk the ground, scourge to everyone who dwells upon the land) Mrs. Stroock asked us to stay away from the gym. Which is fine. We've been walking instead. We walked a tonne in 2020 and by the new year clocked in at 245 pounds. That's 17 and half stone for those of you with an English speech impediment. After a couple of weeks we can't help but feel that walking does more for us than running 3.5- 4.0 miles. That's 5-6 kms for folks who think a football field is 120 yards long. You can take your Grey Cup and...

The things:

We have three almost completed rough drafts.

We still await to receive The Great Nuclear War of 1975 as the editor is dealing with a family issue. 

We have read The Weser's final chapter. It's fine(?) Everything looks okay. We did the things we wanted to do, but aren't positive we did them justice. We can't help but feel something is missing. We really should be in the one-last-slow-readthrough-before-sending-the-MS- to-the-editor phase. This phase includes last minute technical details. We really haven't described the M-60 much. What's with the funny commander's cupola? It's possible we're over thinking. 65,000 words.

We have read through The Great Salvation of 1976. This is it. this is the novel. There is little more we can do to it. The MS goes into the sit phase now. How long? Till we clear the decks of other projects. 70,000 words.

So we ought to be able to write something from scratch next week. We're thinking a Final Storm chapter. Yes, one each for the two remaining weeks this month.

Ideally we'd like The Final Storm to be the first novel we put out this year. May 1st? But that seems like a stretch. The Final Storm is our forward novel, The Weser is our back novel. Which means the next World War 1990 novel is a forward. That's the summer sneak it. Esercito Italiano?

Why 5000? And other Notes

Two posts yesterday but less traffic overall. And you people wonder why we're toying with packing it in. Five thousand posts, people. Five thousand.

We begin the new year with some Russian collusion. Here are our predictions for 2022: 'There will be no war in Europe or the Pacific. China will grow stronger. NATO will arrive at some arrangement with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. The internationalists will not be pleased. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Tory government will blunder forward and accomplish nothing. The populist right, led by Marie Le Pen and upstart Eric Zemmour, will make gains in the French presidential election. But incumbent Emmanuel Macron will win. Authorities will be unable to agree on a plan to rebuild the fire ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral.'

For those of you who think New Jersey is one big strip mall: 'A black bear weighing at least 400 pounds clawed and bit an 81-year-old woman Monday night outside her home in Sussex County before dragging the woman’s dog into the woods and mauling it to death, authorities said.' We have foxes in our backyard. And don't get us started about the deer. 

A planned book of the late Norman Mailer's essays has been cancelled because a neurotic, pill-popping Millennial editor discovered his 1957 essay, The White Negro. No, we're not going to get all smug about being an indy author because we are 100% beholden to Amazon. It could happen. How long? How long? Heck, we're surprised this blog hasn't gotten zapped. Now there's a thought...

We heard from our editor. The process has been delayed a bit by a family medical issue, but she anticipates sending us the 75 MS next week. We will attempt to finish 76 this weekend which will entail us opening the MS today. 

We went back through The Final Storm's Italian and Australian attack scenes. These are looking pretty good. We need to make additions of course. We'll read the British attack scene today. We haven't felt this good about The Final Storm in months.

We think we've written the final scene in World War 1990: The Weser.

What's Russian for Cardinal?

So we colluded with Russia. See our Russia Rising article, this time on Substack: 'The Russian military is undergoing a transformation that will fundamentally alter its organization and the way it fights. In the coming decades, the blunt instrument that destroyed the Whermacht, was poised to steamroll Western Europe and utterly annihilated Chechnya will be no more. Under the directorship of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian army is becoming smaller, mobile, and professionalized. It is also modernizing. The end goal of this transformation is to create a well armed, well trained, professional army capable of battling both Muslim insurgents, like those the Russians fought in Chechnya, and conventional forces, like China’s People’s Liberation Army.' Click on through. It's a freebee.

Russia rose alright. As the editor's note states, we wrote Russia Rising waaaaay back in 2009. Our style has changed a bit since then and we have a passive voice problem, don't we? But overall Russia Rising holds up pretty well. 

By 2009 we'd published 30-40 magazine articles, mostly in Decision Games' constellation of magazines. We were at the time obsessed with breaking out into other publications. And so we did, Military Heritage, Medieval Warfare, Ancient Warfare, etc etc. Heh, we even colluded with the Russians back then, getting a trio of articles published in ArtofWar.ru. 

For those of you wanting to get your own stuff published in military history magazines, it's not as hard as you think. The formula is simple. Write good and stuff and you'll get published. Remember, editors are desperate for content. They lose sleep at night thinking, 'How am I going to fill this issue?...Maybe Will can bail me out.' We're not really joking.

Anyway...we talked to one of our men on the ground in Russia about the Ukraine situation. This is a contact deep within the Kremlin, a member of the Inner Party. We've codenamed him Red Bird. Here's what he had to say: 

Putin will never fall on Ukraine first, it's out of question
Kremlin is worried about Donbass and fears Ukraine will attack Donetsk or Lugansk
Ukraine has about 200 thousand troops near Donbass, that's why Kremlin has there about 100 thousand there, too
Russia wants to implement Minsk agreements
Kremlin is worried about US/Nato military help to Ukraine
Kremlin won't tolerate US/Nato missile defense deployment in Ukraine (Putin's Red line)
Also, there will be very negative consequences if Nato absorbs Ukraine.

Hmmm....sounds kind of like the Georgia situation, nyet?

Friday Polling and Russian Collusion

Will colludes twice in a week:  'Right now America is in the midst of a durable goods shortage and the term ‘supply chain crisis’ saturates the news. After a long lag due to the Wuhan Virus, demand is up once more. But America lacks the dock facilities to unload and store imports. As a result, more than a hundred merchant container ships lay at anchor awaiting their turn to offload their cargos at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest ports on the West Coast. Compounding the crisis is a nationwide shortage of truckers brought about by onerous Covid regulations and high unemployment payments discouraging work. This observer can personally attest to the shortages. Here in northern New Jersey, there is an acute shortage of new cars and the wait for new furniture extends into 2022.'What's Russian for click on through?

Our handler wrote us (in secret code, mind you), 'Will, write article undermining American faith in supply chain. Will pay many rubbles.' To which we responded (also in code), 'Da, Comrade. Is honor to serve party.' Note to Nightingale Russia (you pussies) this is just an example of our dry, witty, and over-the-top farcical sense of humor. You see, there are no codes or rubbles. 

Whoa: 'Gov. Phil Murphy leads Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli by 6 percentage points heading into the final stretch of the race for New Jersey governor, according to a new poll. The Emerson College/PIX 11 survey released Thursday found the Democratic incumbent ahead of Ciatarelli 50% to 44% as he seeks a second term in the Nov. 2 election, while 7% of voters remain undecided. It’s the second straight poll that shows a single-digit margin in the race after a string of surveys early on showed Murphy leading by double digits in the Democratic-leaning Garden State.' 

So says NJ.com. This is about where we thought the race would be. Jack has run a tough and relentlessly on point campaign about taxes and spending. We saw him speak at a school rally earlier this year. Jack gave a short, sharp, perfect speech. It lasted like, a minute and a half. As noted previously, one see's tons of Jack gear, but hardly any Murphy gear. Don't get too excited. We still think Murphy wins. Hmmm...Here's another poll, 52-48. Holy Bon Jovi.

On another note the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China transmission rate is now .87. Any number over 1 means the Wu-flu is spreading. So another wave is ending. I've walked into places without a mask that you wouldn't believe. It is our belief that Murphy is going to institute mask and vax mandates so...

*Breaking, Must Credit Stroock's Books*
Begin: William Stroock formally endorses Jack Ciattarelli for governor...
Stroock: Murphy's a tosser. Will impose mandates...

Further Stroock: A Jew never votes Irish when there's an Italian on hand...Developing....