What I feel when I fill the truck…
Pilot, Love, and Flying J are warning of diesel fuel shortage in the Northeast as fuel is being sent out of the country to Europe to offset dependence on Russian energy.
A Marshall Plan for Ukraine?
Likely not. Geography and geopolitics dictate a different reconstruction model. I refer you to an article by Benn Steil (5-13-22) I excerpted the article.
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Marshall Plan, the massive U.S. program to rebuild Western Europe’s economy after World War II, is the endless desire to repeat it. Daunting geopolitical challenges invariably spawn appeals for new Marshall Plans to foster stability and prosperity. The global financial crisis seeded in 2008 brought forth calls for a Marshall Plan in southern Europe. The Arab Spring did the same in the Middle East. Ditto the civil war in Syria.
Today, Ukraine, victim of horrific mass brutality and destruction, is only the latest in a procession of stricken countries spurring calls for the legend’s reapplication. “There will be a new Marshall Plan for Ukraine,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March. European Council President Charles Michel concurred, announcing that a May donor conference was “the starting point for [a] kind of European Marshall Plan for Ukraine.”
On its surface, Ukraine would appear to be fertile ground for a Marshall Plan. It is, much like most of the 16 Marshall Plan recipients of 1948–1952, a market-oriented European country with democratic foundations, anxious to integrate more closely with its neighbors to the west. It has great untapped potential in energy production, chemicals, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing.
Yet Ukraine suffers from an immutable characteristic that even the noblest and most generous of foreign saviors cannot change: geography. Ukraine borders a powerful country to the east, Russia, whose government does not wish it to look westward for salvation or to succeed as a prosperous, independent country. And Russia is fully capable of undermining, with mere threats, any steps Ukraine may take in this direction.
Without Russian cooperation or at least committed noninterference—noninterference that is inconceivable currently or in the foreseeable future—the robust and enduring revival experienced by the Marshall countries is simply beyond Ukraine’s reach.
The fundamental error made by champions of new Marshall Plans is to presume that the essence of the original program was simply the application of vast amounts of government money. The sums committed by the Truman administration between 1948 and 1952 were indeed substantial: about $160 billion in current dollars. During that period, the 16 Marshall countries rebuilt and recovered rapidly, with economic output expanding nearly 60 percent.
No doubt, Marshall aid did serve to reverse the rising tide of communist political influence, particularly in France and Italy. But an indispensable complementary factor in the success of that aid was credible U.S. security guarantees. These had been wholly absent from the original State Department blueprint for the Marshall Plan, which aimed to boost production capacity in the recipient countries as quickly as possible so they could provide for their own defense. At the insistence of France and the United Kingdom, however, U.S. defense pledges quickly became integral to the program.
Without Marshall aid, Paris and London, fearing an industrially revived Germany, would never have cooperated with U.S. plans for quickly repairing German infrastructure and ramping up the country’s industrial production, which proved a major engine of Western Europe’s stunning recovery. But even that aid would not have been sufficient to overcome French and British resistance had the United States not also agreed to provide them with security guarantees—guarantees against aggression by either the Soviet Union or Germany. Those guarantees, enshrined in Article 5 of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, represented a fundamental shift in U.S. policy. This policy had, until 1948, been to continue rapidly withdrawing troops and materiel from Europe. Between 1945 and 1948, annual U.S. defense spending plummeted from $963 billion to $95 billion. In 1949, however, it increased sharply, to $128 billion, and U.S. troops began surging back to the continent. It was this reversal of earlier U.S. designs for deindustrializing Germany (known as the Morgenthau Plan) and disengaging from Europe that animated the revival of business confidence and private investment in the region.
Fast forward to the new millennium, and the same challenges exist. The United States committed $210 billion to war reconstruction in just two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq—$50 billion more than it committed to the 16 Marshall countries, in current dollars. Yet there is precious little to show for that money with the exception of wealthier Washington politicians.
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I see an America First groundswell that is being manufactured unintentionally by the Brandon Administration. The RINOs won’t want it, but they may not have a choice as the Swamp is faced with a threat from the public. There may not be enough fraud (or enough whiskey in Texas) to keep the public from electing people who will serve THEIR interests. You may say that it’s only hopeful fiction no my part, but that’s what I see happening.
This means that the Ukraine Spring will likely have an end date where they’ll be forced to deal with their problems without the help of American politicians they’ve bribed (generously).
The media wouldn’t lie or fake things, they wouldn’t do that…and then they do.
*
Bone Ships
A bone ship model, by a Prisoner of War, made of human hair and bone, early 19th century.
This very strange-looking model was not at all rare. There were many sailors who did not know what their ships looked like below the waterline. Not only that, but many also had problems with the number of guns or the correct rigging in their models. This was due to the fact that most of them only worked on one post or were even pressed men, to whom ships were mostly completely unknown.
They used the materials at hand – bones, and hair.
The excellently crafted models were passed on in the family of the buyer or commissioner. These curiosities, on the other hand, either ended up as toys at some point or were destroyed. That’s why there aren’t too many of them left today.
General Quarters
When the bulge or drum sounded for General or it Beat to Quarters every officer and man scrambled to his action station as directed by the quarterbill. The majority of deamen and some marines manned the guns, with officers of quarters in charge of groups; other seamen went to the powder magazines or to steer the ship. With the tradition that sea battles were fought close range marines went aloft to the tops, the surgeons prepared the cockpit and the carpenter got ready for quick repairs. Supported by the first lieutenant or officer of the watch and the master the captain fought his ship from the quarterdeck.
A drum on the upper deck of HMS Victory
Thanks to the quarterbill set up by the first lieutenant, everyone knew where their position was and this ensured a smooth course of action during a battle.
Beautiful woodwork on the upper deck. Was it polished up like that when it was in service?
Yes, I think it was. Ship shape and all that
Don’t need a fuel loan yet but I just hit the $100.00 pump limit partially filling up my diesel pickup.
My uncle carved a model of the Constitution for my dad when dad graduated from Villanova. Details correct down to the rigging. Took him the better part of 6 months. The man could make a piece of wood do whatever he wanted it to. My sister has it now.
Come on man the media wouldn’t lie. That picture must fall under the heading of “fake but accurate”.
In regard to the Ukraine Marshal Plan. Is there any country that is naive enough to actually believe any security guarantee we may give. We have a pretty dismal track record.
We’re the most unreliable of nations.
“I see an America First groundswell that is being manufactured unintentionally by the Brandon Administration.”
Fuel prices are certainly adding to the Let’s Go Brandon dog pile, but now they’ve ticked off mom’s over a manufactured “baby formula” shortage. This FJB government is getting between mom’s and feeding their baby’s, anytime now the mama grizzly will go into shred mode, especially since we discovered pallets upon pallets are being given to illegals FIRST.
Wait until this latest crisis gets more strained, teed-off mom’s may just be the lynch pin, as they were against Marxist School Boards. EVERY politician in DC should be very afraid of Mom’s Unleashed, they’ll make the Trucker Protest Convoy look like a Rainbows & Butterflies Kumbaya picnic.
American’s are being abused by the Federal government (Jan 6th detainees?)…compare current life to what we had from 2016-2019.
Once again we are here: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,…”
WWJD
What Would Jefferson Do?
He would have hung the anarchists in suits.
There’d be a drum, of course, to beat the death march to the gallows because some forms needed to be observed.
There is still time.
There are plenty of candidates.
Yeah, we’d need one of those deli counter number ticket machines to kind of meter them out.
Treason is the willful act of weakening America. 80% of them qualify.
Better yet, WWWD? What would George Washington do?
I have a hunch that he’d have taken his sword to our modern politicians.
We shall beat to quarters!
https://youtu.be/AF7qrDujmw8?t=62
Don’t like the Escape from Kyiv graphic. Not enough African-Ukrainians visible. Must have Representation. (How dare you spell it Kiev? How DARE you!!)
Whether then or now, “general quarters” always sends a shiver up my spine. It means business. I think that the collision alarm is worse with its wail/shriek.
It’s obvious from graphic that not many Africans are going to make it. Considering that Ukraine is like 99% white, they should still have had a larger quota of Africans available to escape. Maybe they can divert some headed for America to Ukraine to balance the situation out.
With a diesel shortage, there will be a corresponding sortage of gas fuel trucks moving around – which burn diesel to deliver the gas. Wonder how much trains will reduce running with the diesel shortage as well.
I don’t think that Brandon cares. If you want the trains to run, put windmills on them or something woke like that.
He cares. Somebody cares. This is The Great Reset in action.
America First groundswell — right with you.
There are a lot of things that need to be fixed.
Looters must be shot. That would stop the looting.
Especially ballot looters. Mules.
With extreme prejudice.
Watching 2000 Mules it became apparent these people had no idea getting paid to do this was illegal and immoral…that is how ignorant they are and exactly why they were chosen by those behind it.
The Nation is far from God, despite all the “preaching” over the years…otherwise they’d know in their gut it was wrong. Selling ones Soul comes in many forms..
Paul, most likely they knew, but didn’t care as they believed that they were ‘righting’ the system.
My sainted Father once said “this (edited) won’t stop til the people take their shotguns and clean out that viper’s den in Washington.” He said that 50-years ago. I’m hopeful, but meanwhile, wake me up when the shooting starts, would ya?
If we wake you, you’ll be “woke” (shudder)…
i read the dims spent six months studying how to get a dig at us and came up with “ultra maga,” which many such as myself took on as a badge. they really are that stupid/out of touch..i agree on the groundswell, its getting pretty sporty down my way, but you’re assuming there will BE an election. the dims will try everything to avoid that including a false flag attack on conus. when all else fails i look for an emp. they think that will be harmless, just a power outage/no big deal. that, or another plandemic like the one they’re still harping even after people are finding out fauci made millions on the vax and drugs he pushed. that’s when the fun begins. have a great weekend!
They may need 10,000 mules and 100,000 drop boxes to rig the upcoming elections.
I could foresee armed patriots manning the dropboxes.
like i said, won’t be any election. they just got their false flag “white extremist” in buffalo. here comes the thunder.
Alaska just made mail-in voting mandatory, drop boxes on every corner, ballot harvesting is legal and no signatures or voter ID needed. And the repubs just rolled over and said, “Thank you, can I have another?”
Diesel is currently at $6.50 a gallon in Rhode Island; Super Unleaded is at $5.10.
Good thing we don’t need diesel to move nearly every product that gets moved.
It’ll be fun times come Winter, since 3/4 of the houses around here are heated
with #2, which is just un-taxed diesel that still manages to cost more every
Winter than pump diesel…
As for reconstruction of Ukraine… the war has to end, first. I don’t see that happening.
-Kle.
P.S. – most of the people around here vote like slaves for higher energy costs, every time. So don’t waste your sympathy.
-Kle.
California voted for a higher gasoline tax. I have no sympathy for them and when visiting, refrain to the extent possible for spending money on gasoline there. Sometimes there is no choice.
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