- The Purpose of your Life -
- Revisiting the Great Work of Medical Missionary Dr. Anne Livingston in Haiti
- Dick Cheney Was a Great Boss
- "I Beat Hitler!"
- Christmas Season in Western North Carolina
- 2026 US Senate Race in North Carolina
- Has the Bethlehem Star Mystery Been Unveiled?
- The Fall of Man: John Calvin, Leibniz, and Deeper Truths
- Time of Reassessment America
- Appeals Court Refuses to Dismiss Greenville County Republican Chairman’s Contempt Case
- The America That Once Was (A Christmas Memory)
- Teachers’ Unions’ Backing of Radical ‘No Kings’ Rallies Speaks Volumes about America’s Education System
- The Battle for Pokrovsk
- Is a Self-Proclaimed Drag Queen Performer Serving in a Leading Moral Arc Role at a Greenville Children’s Production of Annie?
- Project Ukraine and Ukrainian/CIA Intelligence
Putin on the Russian Economy
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Reality versus the Western Narrative
On December 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his annual end-of-year press conference. Unlike most American and European press conferences, it lasted more than four hours. It was also much more open to both the public and international news media than is standard for American and European conferences. He answered questions from reporters there and ordinary Russian citizens by phone. His introductory remarks were a relatively brief summary of mostly economic statistics, but he went on for better than four hours answering questions not only from Russian media, but many international media organizations, including NBC.
Turkey May Be Slipping Away from NATO
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
A Briefing on NATO’s Second Largest Military Force
Turkey has the second largest armed forces in NATO numbering about 485,000, and its army alone numbers 350,000. The United States, with 1.3 million military personnel, has the largest armed forces of 32 NATO members. Poland is a distant third place with armed forces numbering 216,000.
It is difficult to compare the sizes of armies and armed forces. It is a matter of distinguishing active troops from various levels of reserves. France is presently at 200,000 active military personnel; Germany is at 182,000; Italy 166,000; Greece 143,000; and the UK is eighth largest with only 138,000. Spain is close behind with 133,000, and Romania is in the top ten with just over 81,000. By comparison, the Russians have recently increased from 1.1 million to at least 1.3 million. China has over 2.0 million, and India, now having the largest population in the world, has nearly 1.5 million. Remarkably, with a population of only 26.6 million, North Korea has an army of almost 1.3 million.
The Trump 2025 National Security Strategy
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Dated November 2025 and Released December 4
Selected Passages and Commentary
The Trump 2025 National Security Strategy is radically different from past annual National Security Strategy documents. Although it narrows core national interests, it is far more comprehensive on the economic and social environment necessary for renewed national energy and true national security. Immigration and the nation’s traditional family, moral, and spiritual strengths are rightly elevated to important aspects of national well-being and national security. Increased emphasis is given to economic, financial, and industrial strengths. It also rightly re-joins foreign policy and defense policy. Clausewitz (1780-1831), who wrote On War 1816-1831 and fought against Napoleon with the Russian Army at Borodino in 1812, would be pleased.
Operation Bagration – 22 June to 19 August 1944
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Few Americans have ever heard of Operation Bagration, but it was the largest hammer and most crushing blow that led to the fall of Berlin and Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945. Its Allied counterpart was Operation Overlord that commenced on June 6, 1944, with the D-Day assault on the beaches of Normandy. Soviet Premier Joeseph Stalin had originally planned to commence Operation Bagration on the same day as Allied Operation Overlord. but British weather and Soviet logistics pushed the dates apart about two weeks. The objective of Operation Bagration was the total destruction of German Army Group Center occupying the Belarusian SSR. This would allow the Red Army to rout retreating Wehrmacht forces and crush Berlin and any remaining German resistance. German Army Group Center consisted of four German armies—the Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Third Panzer—with nearly 500,000 combat troops and another 350,000 support troops. On June 22, Soviet forces intially assigned to Operation Bagration came to almost 1.7 million troops with a 10-to-1 advantage in artillery and an 8-to-1 advantage in tanks. Soviet aircraft support was 5,300 versus 1,350 for the Germans. The manpower advantage for the Russians would quicky turn from 2-to-1 to 4-to-1.
Tariffs in American History
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
An Unsettling Story of Economic Ignorance and Blind Greed
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
George Washington signed the first U.S. Tariff bill in 1789 with an average tax on imports of about 5%. Tariffs ranged from about 6% to 15% until the Dallas Tariff in 1816 to repay the debt from the War of 1812. The Dallas tariff of 1816 was also a Protective Tariff to protect new American industry from foreign competition. Tariffs were considered the simplest, quickest, and least objectionable way to raise government funds. True enough for the time, but the “American System” of Economics and Tariffs turned out to be corruptible, because political leaders can be corrupt, partisan, and prone to shallow economic understanding. All human systems, including new AI systems, are subject to the human condition and its tendency toward self-centered moral blindness and hubris. Therein lie great dangers and potential disaster.
Mike Scruggs is the author of two books: The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; and Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, intelligent design, genealogical genetics, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East.
He holds a BS degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Stanford University. A former USAF intelligence officer and Air Commando, he is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal. He is a retired First Vice President for a major national financial services firm and former Chairman of the Board of a classical Christian school.
Click the website below to order books. http://www.universalmediainc.org/books.htm.
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