According to a disturbing piece in Monday's Denver Post, the northern Idaho town of Bonners Ferry feels like it’s been overrun with white nationalist gun nuts who "often carry guns when in town". This according to one long time resident, Barbara Russell, who owns a dance studio in the town of 2,600 residents. What has most dismayed Ms. Russell is the influx of gun toting neo -conservatives - induced to come by an outfit called 'Flee The City' - interested in getting disaffected conservos to move out of blue states.
In the words of Ms. Russell:
“What they are doing is preparing for war,”Which begs the obvious question: If these gung-ho hotheads are so eager to be in a fight, why not join up to help Ukraine fight the Russkies? After all, in the parlance of another resident, their combativeness is "changing the civility of the community."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs 'Murican recruits - lots of them - to fight in his International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. And as I understand it, he isn't picky, so long as the new recruits can fire a weapon. As Dmytro Kuleba, Zelensky's minister of foreign affairs said in a NY Times' piece ( A growing number of US veterans are seeking to fight alongside Ukraine against Russia) several days earlier:
"Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too,"
Well, maybe. But bear in mind Putin has over 6,000 nukcs and is fully prepared to use them if he needs to, while you have none. Still the idea for a corps of extra-territorial fighters is a good one, and thousands have already answered the call - including hundreds of Americans. As the Times article puts it:
"Across the United States, countless veterans have witnessed
Ukrainians fight back against Russian President Vladimir Putin's incursion into
their country, and many have been overwhelmed by their sense of duty to push
back against the unfolding threat against democracy."
Hector, a former Marine from Tampa who served in Iraq, told The Times:
"Sanctions can help, but sanctions can't help right now,
and people need help right now. I can help right now."
Adding:
"A lot of veterans have a calling to serve, and we trained our whole career for this kind of
war. Sitting by and doing nothing? I had to do
that when Afghanistan fell apart, and it weighted heavily on me. I had to act."
His sentiments are noble and one hopes this volunteer warrior can get back in one piece. He left the U.S. on Friday to head for combat in Ukraine, bringing along rifle scopes and body armor that were given to him by fellow US veterans. And he isn't alone.
David Ribardo, an ex-Army officer also quoted in the Times, is aiding veterans who are seeking to fight overseas through the group Volunteers for Ukraine. He told The Times that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is clearly defined, i.e.
"It's a conflict that has a clear good and bad side, and
maybe that stands apart from other recent conflicts. A lot of us are watching what is happening and just want to grab a rifle
and go over there."
Yesterday on CBS Mornings dozens more were seen being outfitted and getting ready. But are they? Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov- catching wind of this effort- informed the Russian News Agency last Thursday that international fighters would be classified as mercenaries — not as soldiers. Telling the agency:
"At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals. We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and fight for Kyiv's nationalist regime to think a dozen times before getting on the way."
That means these guys would be exempt from the Geneva Convention's rules guiding the treatment of prisoners of war. The Russkies could basically do anything they wanted, including torture or dispatching to a Siberian Gulag for decades.
Well, if the citizens of Bonners Ferry - or similar northern Idaho towns - can get enough of the newly arrived local misfits to fight in Ukraine, who knows? They might well achieve a 'two fer': Securing more anxious -to- fight 'Murican volunteers to go after the Russians, and getting their towns once more back to civility and tranquility.
See Also:
American Veterans Join the Fight in Ukraine - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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