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Vic Socotra

Year: 2018

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December 30, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Great Power Struggle

People don’t change, as a friend reminded me just the other day. 800 years ago the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow wanted more land, buffer zones between them and the “others.” Kiev soon became part of the Russian “buffer zone.” But, Russia lost Kiev (and Ukraine) in 1991. They want it back. In […]

December 28, 2018 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: The motorcycle as it should be ridden

Motorcycle as skateboard Riders ramble the roads they’d like to ride, but more than anything they cherish the ones that haven’t been ridden yet. Whether they are motivated by the inspiring efforts of other enthusiasts I do not know. When a biker’s face says “Damn, this is good,” his ridership becomes a pure translation of […]

December 23, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Syria: A Strategic Assessment

Shortly after Pearl Harbor Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall tasked then Brigadier General Eisenhower to provide a strategic assessment of the situation faced by US Army Forces Far East, trapped in the Philippines by the Imperial Japanese Army. Eisenhower studied the problem and several days later told Marshall there was no possibility of […]

December 21, 2018 Vic Socotra

Winter Solstice

It has been a busy week. Last holiday shopping and shutting down the government. It has been looking tired, and probably needs a break. There were other events in the strife and chaos in The Swamp. Prison Reform and the Farm Bill were passed by the Congress and signed by the President, who in his […]

December 20, 2018 Vic Socotra

Secret Police

20 December 2007 The LaPlants entertain at home, in Belgrade, 1946 There are those who feel a fondness for the old Bolshies who terrorized and murdered their people. You hear a lot of that from the Osties, the East Germans who yearn for the good old days when the Stasi- the secret police- recruited your […]

December 17, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Lost At Sea

Lost At Sea Since October four men, none of whom were friends of mine, but each known well by friends of mine, committed suicide. Three were in the Navy, one was a Marine; three on active duty, the fourth retired less than 2 months. One made the news, Vice Admiral “Sterno” Stearney, commander of US […]

December 17, 2018 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Thoughts upon returning from time travel

Time travel When we motorcycling time travelers left on our twentieth century machines for life on distant roads, we did so without regret as pre-modern men with a missin’ link or two. Sorta somewhere between ape and modern 21st century human beings. From our motorbike portholes looking onto the road, everything looked different. Time bent, […]

December 12, 2018 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Crazy Great

Here are some post-scripted thoughts on this gent. When my riding brother passed the age of 70 many years ago, he had one of the best minds of all my acquaintances. It had not been destroyed by madness, frailty of the body, or starved hysterically naked into clicking endlessly on digital internet ads or cat […]