John T. Reed’s news blog

One of the surprising lessons learned in WW II was that strategic bombing of cities does not demoralize the civilians at ground zero. Neither the British nor the Germans became demoralized by getting the hell bombed out of them. The German war production at the end of the war was as high as it ever was during the war. I say the lesson was learned. Apparently not by Putin. He is now doing strategic bombing and strategic artillery and rocket shelling of Ukraine cities. He did this in Afghanistan and Chechnya and seems to think it accomplished something in Chechnya....

For decades, I have been hearing that the existence of NATO really outrages the Russians. They are also really pissed that the nations on their border with western Europe are not vassal buffer states. They punished for a while with the Warsaw Pact. We never gave a rat’s rump about the Warsaw Pact. Russia is two miles away from us in the Bering Strait. Mexico borders on us and it is a bad place with cartels and a Marxist government and letting illegal immigrants cross our border. Russia borders Finland, an enemy. Now, also the now NATO Baltic states that used...

I saw a video clip of about 10 or12 armed Russian Soldiers walking in the middle of a street. That was a great opportunity to dispatch them back home in a bag. Where were the armed citizens?  They should have simultaneously delivered a projectile to each visitor coordinated by a leader on a cell phone counting the three. That would have simultaneously resulted in each of the visiting foreigners going to the ground voluntarily or involuntarily. Then, those who were able, would have run for their lives. If the citizens are so equipped, and make normal use of the equipment...

Tulsi just did a big overhype of the nuclear power plant now being attacked in Ukraine.  1. The Chernobyl plant was really old and used obsolete technology when it was built. Although it was in Ukraine, it was a Soviet reactor. It was lousy reactor. Their nuclear bombs or some of them may be as screwed up. 2. At the time it failed, they said 40,000 people downwind would die from fallout. How many did? 12 children from thyroid cancer. 3. More died at the Chernobyl plant, but they were physically in the plant trying to stop the reactor. 4....

American owners of Russian securities—stocks and bonds—individuals and pension funds and index and targeted funds—are belatedly selling them—or trying to. Who wants to buy them? Maybe no one. And they may become worthless by Russia simply confiscating the stock value and directing the Russian bond issuers to default on the bonds. That, in a sense, “solves” the problem of selling them. You may not have to sell them because they no longer exist. I have never owned “emerging market” stocks or bonds. Corrupt banana republics. johnreed@johntreed.com