May was yet another BizCation journey that covered a dozen or so states. It combined a number of assignments but to read it in full, just follow this link - buckle-up-travel.blogspot.co… Good reading.

Given the global breakdown into spheres of influence and the abandonment of globalization, is it time to consider bringing back the British Commonwealth as an entity with teeth? Some nations may elect to give it a pass and that's OK too but fundamentally, is it time for the sun never to set on the commonwealth? Asking for a friend - all cricketing nations get first right to join. Rugby, not so much as there's a couple of outsiders playing the game.

I genuinely try to be the nicest Ukrainian guy on X while still bringing the facts and the truth. You do not have to be loud or hateful to be right. Facts stand on their own. What I share comes from nearly four years of military experience in Ukraine, standing beside Ukrainian soldiers, not from a keyboard. I welcome tough questions and even critics. Honest debate keeps us sharp and keeps the conversation real. If you believe in this mission, I ask only that you share this page and help share the story. We all can do something to help Ukraine. I am not here for money, glory, fame, or recognition. I am here to help get men and women home alive. Thank you all for your help and support. Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava. 🇺🇦

I have been a huge fan of Zak - saw him on Andretti hospitality suite / tent at Long Beach 2022 … impressive. Focused. But now, he has to step aside … he has corrupted the sport and for him it’s not racing or even subscribing to entertainment but appealing to an elite core … so sad. But go … If he stays then the odds of keeping Oscar decrease … not so much Oscar keeping receipts but rather accepting tokens dispensed readily by other teams. Too early to speculate but either way Weber as manager and who has been down a similar path, it’s hard to ignore Mark’s reported quote, saying, Oscar … how’s your Italian?

For my followers - a little lighter fare as we come out of Thanksgiving: Through rain, cold, and the dark of night; it’s that time when family visits! Who knew moving from Colorado to Florida would provide days in Florida less warm than Colorado? How did we cope ... and was this always the plan (to move to Florida). Check out this latest post to our social blog, Buckle-Up-Travel buckle-up-travel.blogspot.co…

Oh we in the west very much acknowledge (We are at War) ... no worries on that score as you are waking us up to your goal and if you are looking for the Crusades to start (this time, not on horses, mind you) then your wish may be granted. The fact that the left has jumped on your bandwagon come as no surprise but what is a surprise is that they don't look behind the curtain as you will most definitely abandon them as you do all others.

If by now, and you have been reading my posts, you have to realize that I am a born-again Christian- not perfect but as a sinner saved by grace and not by works. I support Ukraine; am concerned Roman Catholicism has perverted Christianity - we all know we should have no other God and yet idolatry permeates RC … I see no redeeming feature in Islam - it’s abhorrent to me; evil at best, pandering to a ruthless elite at best. Autocrats? Hiding behind communism, etc are a plague on society as there is only ever one winner, the autocrat - even if temporarily. Israel? Not perfect but it’s their land; get over it. Palestines rejected any and every opportunity to coexist and their butchery of innocent Jews that fateful day turned my focus away from the Palestine situation - barbarism should never be rewarded. The love I have for Christ and the faith I have in him leads me to believe this evil world is on its last days - the dispensation of grace is ending. Praise God!

Let's take a roll call of Ukraine's supporters

I am proud to be a Christian. Repost if you are too.

In these times, versus that just hit me this morning even as it is becoming increasingly difficult to do - from Peter: 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s willthat by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

A wonderful acknowledgement from Peter: 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Retired 4-Star Navy Admiral and former Navy SEAL William McRaven on Donald Trump: "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation." RETWEET if you stand with Admiral McRaven!

Seriously? Am I hearing this right? Proposed handover of the port of Odessa to Russia - are we out of our minds? How can we expect the sovereign nation of Ukraine prosper and what message does that send to all thugs and autocrats invading their sovereign neighbor? Please, tell me I am wrong!

SitRep - 17/03/25 - Ukraine has tested a 3000km long-range drone and Trump will talk to Putin tomorrow. An overview of the daily events in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky confirmed Ukraine has succesfully tested a 3000km long-range drone. REPOST=appreciated 1/X

Amplifying this translation of a powerful open letter to Trump from a Ukrainian doctor, on several Ukrainian FB pages. I believe it was first posted in late February. Ukrainian doctor's appeal to Trump You want to talk about "peace agreements," Mr. Trump? Then listen to me, a doctor who puts the torn bodies of children on the operating table every day! Who cuts off fragments from their brains with a scalpel, who wipes blood from the eyes of mothers who have lost everything! Are you talking about "giving up territories"? I will show you the territories: these are pieces of muscle on the asphalt near Mariupol. These are baby strollers crushed by tanks in Bucha. These are burned-out school classrooms in Chernihiv, where children managed to write "HELP" in chalk on the blackboards before they were killed. Do you dare to accuse us? Are we to blame for the fact that Russian executioners rape women in basements? For killing prisoners by shooting them in the back of the head? For spreading cluster bombs along civilian evacuation corridors? Your logic is the logic of a rapist: "It's your own fault that you didn't submit." Do you want us to "not lose land"? So why don't you say this to Putin, who slaughtered entire villages in the Kherson region? Why don't you threaten him, and not us - those who defend themselves with old machine guns against his army? Your "negotiations" are a spit in the face of thousands of my colleagues who died under shelling of hospitals. Do you know what it's like to work in a basement without light, without antibiotics, without morphine, when a child dies in your arms from pain? Have you ever heard a person scream when their leg is amputated without anesthesia? Is this your "small loss of land"? Is this what you are kicking us out of the negotiating table for?! You call Putin a "genius"? Then genius is the ability to burn people in their homes. This is a scorched earth tactic, when only corpses and mines remain after the occupiers. Do you admire his "smartness"? He is smart as a plague rat: he knows how to escape responsibility, hide behind civilians, shoot with nuclear threats. And you, like a child playing with fire, want to make him a world leader. Your plan is not peace. It is euthanasia for Ukraine. You propose to lift sanctions? That is, give Russia money for new tanks. Western technology for their kamikaze drones. Do you want to return them to the G7? As if they don't bomb gas stations so that we freeze in winter. They don't steal Ukrainian children. They don't destroy our museums, churches, theaters - everything that makes us a people. You ask why we don't make concessions? Because every one of your "deals" stinks of corpses. Do you want us to give up even more territories? So that millions of Ukrainians live under Russian machine guns? So that my fellow doctors hide in bomb shelters again when Putin breaks this "deal" too? You say: "The war could have been stopped without casualties." Lie. It didn't start in 2022. It started when Russia seized Crimea, when the world was silent. When the first bodies with tied hands disappeared in Donbas. Do you think that if we surrender now, it will end? No. Putin will come later. And then you will justify him again: "Oh, he's just restoring the empire, he's a genius!". And what will you say to the families of the 15-year-old girl who was shot by the Russians on her bicycle? That her death is a "small loss of land"? Will you tell her mother that she "doesn't deserve a seat at the table"? That her daughter died because Ukraine "didn't agree"? We are not asking you to fight for us. We asked for weapons - you gave them too late. We asked for sanctions - you relaxed them. But now you want to become an accomplice in genocide. Because when you lift sanctions, when you recognize the occupation - you give Russia a license to kill. Every dollar that Putin receives will become a bullet in the body of my patient. Every compromise you make is a new corpse. I am a doctor. I swear to save lives. And you, Mr. Trump, swear to take them away. Don't you want to hear our voice? Then listen to our sirens. Our cries. Our curses. Do you want to be friends with Russia? Then be friends. But know this: history will not forgive you for this. Every child killed by Russian weapons, every raped woman, every burned doctor is your joint responsibility with Putin. We will not be your "victims of politics". We are a nation that survives despite your cynical indifference. And when you celebrate your deal with the dictator, remember: we are already building new hospitals in the destroyed territories. And in each of them there will be a poster: Death to fascism. Shame on the traitors.

When it comes to peace between Ukraine and Russia I don't want to see a cheap or expedient deal whereby any restrictions are placed on Ukraine's ability to keep defending itself or on Ukraine's ability to form alliances across Europe. For me, that's a nonstarter by my books. Invaders ignoring sovereign borders and intent on reestablishing an empire need to be condemned and for that matter, neutralized. End this war with an end to Russia's imperialism - there's no place for it in this century.

Some time ago I was asked by those in the @Connect2NonStop community whether I would continue to make noise in support of HPE NonStop and this has kept me thinking of my mission (for NonStop). This in turn led me to write the following post over the weekend. Enjoy and of course, let me know whether you agree with how I will be directing my energy in support of NonStop - itug-connection.blogspot.com…

So many fine American scholars and defence staff and diplomats who know Putin and also Ukraine being ignored by an ignorant braggart. Such shame.