Armas Weekend Reader

8-9 October 2022

At the Korean National War Memorial, Seoul.

This week: midterms uncertainty, the Navy fails a sailor and itself, Ukrainian battlefield victories, nuclear threats, British governmental collapse, American military-recruiting collapse, Tom Clancy at the NSA, the American soldier, and more. Let’s go — 

1) “Republican control of the House is not a foregone conclusion."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/upshot/democrats-house-midterms-polling.html

2) “Confirming widespread perceptions, the nation’s largest crime survey finds that violent crime in urban areas rose dramatically from 2020 to 2021."

https://www.city-journal.org/violent-crime-in-cities-on-the-rise

3) “A strong U.S. dollar is cutting both ways for companies across the globe."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-corporate-america-strong-u-s-dollar-cuts-both-ways-11664756257

4) “The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this year."

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/10/02/army-misses-recruiting-goal-by-15000-soldiers/

5) “The United States is under a cultural and ideological attack that threatens its continuity and survival more than at any previous time in the 239-year history of the nation. And since the leaders of this attack think strategically, it should come as no surprise that Virginia would be in the crosshairs of a new kind of battle to transform America."

https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/03/to-see-how-marxists-plan-to-destroy-america-look-at-their-war-on-virginias-history/

6) “Jonathan Sacks, the late chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, used to say that every Jew needs a favorite anti-Semite. His was Friedrich Nietzsche, the controversial German philosopher who blamed Jews for originating various social and philosophical ills. Mine is Abdullah Antepli."

https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/63399d48fb1fdd0036293c1e/yom-kippur-forgiveness-anti-semitism-antepli/

7) “A bipartisan group of 15 senators is seeking to create a commission tasked with formulating a 'grand strategy' on China that avoids conflict with the world’s most populous nation while allowing the U.S. to pursue its interests."

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/09/30/senators-propose-china-grand-strategy-commission-to-guide-us-policy/

8) “Who needs a worldview? Maybe we don’t, as individuals — or some of us do, others not so much. But collectively, we need worldviews as elements in the process of free inquiry and human growth."

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/no-blueprint-for-utopia/

9) “The heads of nine European NATO members on Sunday issued a joint statement backing a path to membership for Ukraine in the U.S.-led security alliance, and calling on all 30 NATO nations to ramp up military aid for Kyiv."

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-nato-kyiv-eastern-europe-56ed453abe58cfccb7c6d25fac8301cb

10) “Since World War II, U.S. nuclear and conventional weapons have successfully deterred direct war between great powers, but the current strategic balance is now coming under great stress."

https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/03/as-russia-threatens-nukes-the-us-has-limited-options/