12 Mar 22
 
“… and I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain?”
 
From “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” written by John Fogerty in 1970. Sung by Ceedence Clearwater Revival in the 1978 film by the same name, staring Nick Nolte.
 
We’re seeing a desperately renewed interest among Eastern Europeans in military rifles and rifle skills! Some of that concern is even spilling-over into CONUS! Clueless Americans, who would rather watch “Survivor” than become involved in their own survival, are finally taking note!
 
The current War of Russian Aggression in Ukraine is making everyone nervous, and the further east you go, the more nervous people are becoming!
 
Even now, it is no secret that Russian agents are relentlessly at work within all of Ukraine’s western neighbors, putting-together advocacy groups, paving the way for further Russian aggression and the ultimate absorption of additional currently-sovereign nations.
 
During WWII, Switzerland could have easily been overrun military by Nazi troops, but Swiss defenses were so formidable (as they still are today) that Hitler ultimately concluded the price of “victory” was too high. Historically, many would-be conquerors of Switzerland have reluctantly come to that same conclusion!
 
The incontrovertible fact that authentic military strength and national determination are the only real deterrents to aggression by the world’s bullies is just now dawning, yet again, on many in Europe!
 
Although they got a late start, Ukraine is a magnificent example of national pride and icy determination.
Ukraine has learned, the hard way, what all those “assurances of protection,” piously made by western nations, especially the USA, are worth!
 
Individual Europeans are, as noted above, coming to the conclusion that their individual contribution to national (not to mention personal) defense is suddenly more than just quaint conversation!
 
Thus, modern military rifles, and the skills to use them effectively, are now on the minds of individual citizens.
 
Accordingly, we’re seeing “rifle clubs” spring-up all over Europe. After many decades, demeaning, intelligence-
insulting restrictions are increasingly unpopular and are gradually falling away, despite predictable protests from leftist/paranoid politicians.
 
Western Civilization may yet survive!
 
Maybe not!
 
The Light of Western Civilization, once so bright and pervasive, has waxed dim. Soon it may flicker a final time, and die. The world will then enter a new Dark Age. It will not shine again during our lifetimes, nor the next hundred!
 
“When Rome collapsed in the Fifth Century, its enemies numbered only a fraction of those Rome had decisively defeated during the Punic Wars, five-hundred years earlier.
 
Decline is a choice.”
 
Victor Davis Hanson
 
/John