Contrarian Commentary

www.FirstRespondersOnline.us

Regional Headquarters:

P.O. Box 742

Manchester, NH 03105-0742

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this letter, with the copyright notice attached]

[Calling all email lists: if you have friends or family or others who you think would like to read Andy’s emails, please send us your email lists and we’ll add them ours. The only way to really know what is happening in New Hampshire politics is to read Andy’s reports and analysis.]

—

UPDATES:

Three crooked New Hampshire state legislators, Joe Sweeney, Joe Alexander and Ross Berry are sponsoring what they call the “Andy Martin Act” to make it more difficult, they think, to run for federal office in New Hampshire. Andy Martin, New Hampshire’s only corruption fighter, exposes their fraud scheme. Andy also exposes how WMUR and the Manchester Union Loser, as well as the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and St. Anselm’s College, have rigged New Hampshire politics against Republican candidates. Andy is in the midst of planning his return to the war in Ukraine later this year.

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

March 29, 2023

New Hampshire legislators attack Andy Martin with the “Andy Martin Act”

—

NEWS FROM:

Contrarian Commentary

Global News and Analysis

London, New York, Washington, Miami

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence and

foreign policy analysts

“Opinions that are factually correct,

not politically correct”

Blogs, web sites and contact info:

Cellphone: (347) 960-9593

Fax (866) 214-3210

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

www.FirstRespondersOnline.us

Regional Headquarters:

P.O. Box 742

Manchester, NH 03105-0742

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this letter, with the copyright notice attached]

—

(Manchester, NH)(March 23, 2023)

Dear Granite Stater:

I am in the midst of planning for my return to Ukraine (more news on my Ukraine work coming a day or two). I was in Ukraine in 2022. But I have had to take time out to address the hijinks of three corrupt state legislators in Concord, NH.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the third largest legislative body in the world, with 400 members. In this letter I will focus on three morons who are Republicans. Their names have not been changed to protect the guilty; Joe Sweeney, Joe Alexander and Ross Berry. They have proposed what they call the “Andy Martin Act,” to make it more difficult for candidates to run for federal office (no changes are proposed for the state house fees).

New Hampshire likes to project a “First in the Nation” (FITN) image as a bucolic garden of small towns and steeples, wholesome natives, local charm and “granite” integrity. But the truth is very different. The state is a cesspool of small-time corruption, corrupt petty politics and media that are so dishonest they would shock even Donald Trump.

In this letter I would like to review my own family history in NH, explain what the three morons have proposed as the Andy Martin Act, and give you a refresher course on the political experience I brought with me when I moved back to the Granite State years ago. I’ll also explain why I believe NH has among the most corrupt media and educational institutions in the United States.

1. I go back a long way in New Hampshire

My family arrived in NH 107 years ago. My mom was born in Manchester, graduated from Central High School and UNH. She taught in Farmington before joining the war effort in WW II. My grandmother was a founder of a Greek church that ninety years later is a thriving parish (https://www.assumptionnh.org/). My roots in the state are deep.

2. The three moron state representatives

Joe Sweeney, Joe Alexander and Ross Berry would not be public officials in any other state. Because New Hampshire does not have a professional legislature (the pay is $100 a year) a few incompetents get elected. There are also many sincere and competent state representatives.

The Democrats are part of the same make-believe political NH environment. But they are far better organized and financed than the Republicans. The Republicans are so incompetent that in 2022 they lost working control of the state house even though they have a slim majority. Republican voters are forced to endure the antics of Sweeney, Alexander and Berry, who are an embarrassment to the state legislature.

The three have not apologized to me for their stupid behavior.

3. What is the Andy Martin Act?

You have probably heard of corruption in Chicago and the State of Illinois. Sweeney, Alexander and Berry would like to make New Hampshire congressional elections even more corrupt than those in Illinois.

Today, a candidate can run for office in NH by paying a filing fee of $100. To be sure, the low filing fee attracts many low caliber candidates. In the last U. S. Senate primary, we had one guy that constantly talked about his parents’ gas station, and another who wanted to abolish the state of New Hampshire. There were several serious candidates, myself included. Because I was the only GOP senate candidate with actual national experience, the powers-that-be erased my candidacy and pretended I didn’t exist.

A pathetic excuse for a reporter, Kevin Landrigan of the Manchester Union Loser, falsely accused me of being a candidate who “issues an occasional press release rant yet never really campaigns in the traditional sense.” (Please see attached excerpt of the article, as well as links below.)

New Hampshire Republicans have seen me campaign from the northernmost tip of NH to the southern tier. But both WMUR and the Union Loser have blacklisted me and refuse to cover my campaigns, even though they cover many unqualified candidates seriously.

Mr. Landrigan, who ridiculed my campaigning (attached), has never mentioned me in any campaign article. I am blacklisted by the owners of the Union Loser. So first they censor my campaigning; and then they complain I don’t exist. WMUR posts voluminous information on utterly unqualified candidates. I am never mentioned. Another blacklist. WMUR is owned by New York liberals. The Union Loser is owned by, well, “losers.” They don’t control me, so they pretend I don’t exist.

Even media in Chicago are not as corrupt as New Hampshire’s small-town backstabbers.

4. What are the provisions of the Andy Martin Act and how do they compare with Illinois?

Sweeney, Alexander and Berry want to raise the filing fee for the U. S. Senate from $100 to $10,000. The fee for congress would go up from $100 to $5,000. If instead of paying the fee you wanted to petition your way on the ballot, a senate candidate would have to submit 25,000 signatures. For congress, 12,500 signatures would be required.

So, what does in Illinois require to get on the ballot? Let’s do the math. New Hampshire has 1.4 million people, and Illinois has 12.5 million, roughly nine times as many citizens. Illinois requires 5,000 signatures to be on the primary ballot. If you multiply Illinois’ population ratio by the fact that Sweeney, Alexander and Berry want you to file five times as many signatures as Illinois, under their proposal it would be 45 times more difficult to get on the ballot in New Hampshire than it is in Illinois! Now that’s Chicago-style corruption!

Illinois also has something that Sweeney, Alexander and Berry would import to Concord: highly-paid “election lawyers.” Once you file in Illinois, “election lawyers” come out of the woodwork to challenge your petitions. Did “L. Jones” sign the same way it is on his or her voter card? Did Smith sign as “S. Auburn Ave,” instead of South Auburn Avenue. And so on. Election lawyers create endless objections. Challenges to petitions often continue close to election day. The potential for huge legal fees, and endless corruption, is obvious.

There may be the odd lawyer in NH that has handled an election case, but there are no “election lawyers.” Once you pay your fee, that’s usually the end of the matter. But under Sweeney, Alexander and Ross’ proposal, the Secretary of State’s office and the Ballot Law Commission would would be flooded with challenges to candidate petitions. Chicago ho!

Now you get some idea of how arrogant, corrupt and incompetent Sweeney, Alexander and Berry really are. Berry was quoted in the Union Loser as a prophet, claiming voters should “wait for them to realize you were right.” These legislators are not prophets. They are clowns who would never succeed in any other state.

5. What Sweeney, Alexander and Berry do not know about petition and filing fee procedures

Their proposals would benefit me and my campaigns. The joke’s on them! When I file as a serious candidate in NH, my campaigns are drowned out, as are the campaigns of all serious GOP candidates, by the bogus campaigns of totally unqualified candidates.

UNH and St Anselm use the bogus/unqualified candidates to defeat Republicans. They create bogus “polls,” using the names of straw candidates while excluding my name from their sampling. They then use their bogus poll results to hold phony “debates” featuring clown candidates. The result: qualified candidates are drowned out and the state’s corrupt media create a circus that makes Republicans look ridiculous and Democrats look attractive by comparison.

6. So why don’t the Union Loser and WMUR like me?

Why don’t the media like me? Because I have actual national experience and media experience. And over the last decade, I have been the state’s only political corruption fighter. I make the Union Loser and WMUR look bad, like the small-bore operations that they really are.

Here are some examples:

In 2011 I launched a campaign to oppose Northern Pass. I was the first statewide activist to do so, and started running TV ads against Northern Pass. WMUR and the Union Loser were nowhere to be seen. Northern Pass opponents eventually grew into a major statewide cause that defeated the proposal for high voltage lines across New Hampshire. I was the firstest with the mostest. PSNH, now Eversource, took me seriously. The media did not.

In 2011 I also fought to save The Balsams hotel and 600 North Country jobs. The Balsams hotel had been left in trust for North Country residents. But law firms in Manchester and Boston undermined the Tillotson Trust and destroyed the hotel. I lost that battle and, unfortunately, as a result approximately 600 North Country workers lost their jobs.

In 2011-2013 I warned that Jennifer Horn was really a Democrat, masquerading as a conservative. No one listened. Horn went on to attack local officials such as Bill O’Brien and Frank Guinta, the last Republican elected to congress. Horn did everything she could to destroy the state GOP.

Horn was also a crook. She ran for congress and pocketed the tax withholding and payroll deduction taxes from her campaign employees. The IRS put a lien on her house and Horn lost her home. Horn may have been the most crooked state chair in the entire nation during that period. She went on to grift hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Lincoln Project. Today Horn is a Democrat favorite.

In 2014 I exposed that Scott Brown had inflated his military service. The Pentagon agreed with me and canceled his grand retirement ceremony. Brown was defeated.

In 2016 I exposed that Republican candidate Jim Lawrence was running as a “small businessman” but his business had been shut down by the federal government. He also hadn’t paid his taxes.

In 2018 Andy Sanborn ran for congress. There were transcripts of interviews with victims of Sanborn’s sexual harassment, but WMUR and the Union Loser had failed to obtain the records. I succeeded where WMUR and the Union Loser had failed, and negotiated a release of the Sanborn sex transcripts. He was defeated.

In 2020, I said that U. S. Senate candidate Corky Messner was running the worst campaign I had ever seen. Messner got fewer votes than any recent senate candidate.

In 2022, despite my fondness for Don Bolduc, I wrote that Don could not be an effective candidate. Democrats agreed, and spent millions to nominate Bolduc, who promptly became a national laughingstock when he flip-flopped on the 2020 election (from “stolen” to “not stolen”). In 2023 liberals are still playing tapes of Bolduc’s gaffes. Don is a decent man and a true patriot who was nevertheless not well enough to handle the stress of a national campaign. I still believe he is a great guy.

In all of the foregoing elections, I was the only investigator who dug out the defects of the unqualified candidates, usually a job performed by newspapers and TV stations. I continually embarrassed the Union Loser and WMUR, who do not employ actual journalists. Around the world and across the United States, I have been managing political investigations for decades. I really do have national experience. Which is why the Democrats are afraid of me and use their control of New Hampshire’s corrupt media to erase my campaigns. Neither the Union Loser nor WMUR ever mentioned my name in 2020 or 2022. They merely pretended I did not exist, deceived their viewers and readers, and conducted bogus “debates” with clown candidates preprogrammed to elect Democrats and defeat Republicans. Now Sweeney, Alexander and Berry are at it, again. You get the picture?

7. My own electoral qualifications

When people ask me why I run, I run because New Hampshire is the Peyton Place of American politics, a small state with crooked politics and corrupt media where voters are shortchanged. In 2022 the Democrats even spent money to nominate their own REPUBLICAN candidates for the U. S. Senate and House. Democratic Party dollars were used to nominate sure-loser Republicans. Once again, the Democrats’ dirty tricks succeeded, always aided by the Union Loser and WMUR.

I have not been able to penetrate the Iron Curtain of political and media corruption in New Hampshire. But when given a fair chance to be a candidate I have usually run well. In 2000, I almost won the Republican U. S. Senate nomination in Florida, yes Florida. My primary opponent was Charlie Crist. Christ was very strong in the Tampa Bay TV market because of his history as “Chain Gang Charlie.” But I still almost won the entire state! I carried Miami-Dade County, where I fought corruption and cartels, by over 60% of the vote. Statewide, outside Tampa Bay, the primary was close to a draw, in a state with sixteen million residents. Voters responded positively to my candidacy.

In 2008 I almost won the Republican U. S. Senate nomination in Illinois. In both cases, my vote totals are public records. You can check the numbers. (You can even see old youtubes of me debating in Illinois.)

So, in states with fair and honest elections, I have always run solid campaigns. I don’t deserve the false accusations by the pathetic excuse for a reporter Kevin Landrigan of the Union Loser that I do not run active campaigns. If I wasn’t someone they fear, why would the Boobboisie try to pass a law to hamper my campaigns? The Andy Martin Act is not a proposal to encourage democracy, it is a scheme to subvert democracy in New Hampshire.

My work in Ukraine in 2022 was universally respected (see columns at web sites above). I am still at the top of my game.

So why have I run so poorly in New Hampshire? After all, it’s the same me. But New Hampshire’s politics are more corrupt than Florida’s or Illinois’. New Hampshire makes Chicago look like a beacon of democracy. Because NH is a small state, no one pays attention. NH no longer has an honest “newspaper.” There is a monopoly of one TV station. The Union Loser, which pretends to be “conservative,” is really pro-Democrat. The New York liberals at WMUR also rig the state’s elections for Democrats. The election results speak for themselves.

In a state that is closely divided by party registration, Republicans have not won a congressional election in a decade. How could Republicans lose every federal election in a closely-divided state? Because of media and political corruption.

Returning to the three morons, Sweeney, Alexander and Berry, I say “bring it on” with the Andy Martin Act. I would benefit. I have succeeded under both systems, petitions (Illinois), and filing fees (Florida).

In Illinois, I filed petitions to get om the ballot. In Florida I paid a filing fee. The morons’ proposal to adopt a filing fee would wash out the delusional candidates and provide a less obstructed primary opportunity for me to run. In other words, not only is the proposal by Sweeney, Alexander and Berry an insult to Granite Staters, in practicality and reality the Andy Martin Act would benefit – no surprise – Andy Martin!

I think you will agree with me that Sweeney, Alexander and Berry are part of the reason why Republican control of NH is ebbing and the party’s future prospects are grim. With “leaders” like Sweeney, Alexander and Berry, Republicans in the Granite State don’t stand a chance. But as for their proposing the Andy Martin Act, they would significantly benefit me politically. Thanks suckers.

At least now you know the truth about New Hampshire politics, not the propaganda featured when the state is desperately trying to save the FITN.

Finally, I’m still fighting against political and media corruption in New Hampshire, and for public integrity. I will continue to do so. You can’t trust Sweeney, Alexander and Berry. But you can trust me. Just compare my record with theirs.

Respectfully,

Andy Martin

—

LINKS TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined portion):

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/state-house-dome-hampstead-inside-045900965.html

GOP Elitists Joe Sweeney, Joe Alexander and Ross Berry Haven’t Figured Out to Not Help the Democrats Dig a Hole

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy Martin is a legendary New Hampshire-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. With over fifty (50) years of background in radio and television and with decades of intelligence, investigative and analytical experience in Washington, the USA and around the world, Andy provides insight on politics, foreign policy, military and intelligence matters. For a full bio, go to: http://www.AndyMartin.com. See also http://www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; http://www.BoycottABC.com/executive_director.htm

Andy has also been a leading corruption fighter in American politics and courts for over fifty years and is executive director of the National Anti-Corruption Policy Institute.

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

He is the author of “Obama: The Man Behind the Mask” [www.OrangeStatePress.com] and produced the Internet film “Obama: The Hawaii’ Years” [www.BoycottHawaii.com]. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the “Internet Powerhouse,” blogging at http://www.contrariancommentary.wordpress.com and http://www.ContrarianCommentary.com.

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

May 17, 2022

The New Face of War in Ukraine: Part One – Conventional Wisdom is Wrong

THE NEW FACE OF WAR IN UKRAINE: PART ONE

United States military and intelligence analyst/investigator Andy Martin told a Kyiv news conference Thursday, May 12 that the Putin-Obama-Biden War represents a “New Face of War.” Andy believes the conventional wisdom about the status of Putin’s war-making potential is mistaken, and that aid approved by Congress and signed by the President will demolish Russian forces by Christmas. “Russian leaders, who exist in a bubble, have no idea what is about to hit the invaders in Ukraine,” Andy says. Andy, who has worked in Washington for many decades, is also a New Hampshire, Republican U. S. Senate candidate.

(Editor’s note:This report was originally prepared on May 12. But because of the need to go “in the field” for firsthand observation, final editing and posting were delayed. Therefore, you may see observations about battles and war progress taking place after May 12.)

NEWS FROM:

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Global News and Commentary

London, New York, Washington

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence analysts

and military investigators

“Journalism that is factually correct,

not politically correct”

Contact:

andymart20@aol.com

Blogs:

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this news release, with the copyright notice attached]

(Kyiv, Ukraine)(May 12, 2022)

1. Before the start of the war

It is hard to find Ukrainians outside the government who believed Russia would invade. Putin’s saber-rattling was thought to be just that, rattling. Life in Kyiv was stressed but close to normal. The world changed on February 24^th.

Dictator (not “president”) Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union was a great geopolitical tragedy. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will eventually lead to the collapse of Russia and its remaining empire. The hatred and bitterness against Russia you find in Ukraine will not disappear for decades. Putin has destroyed Russia’s future. Ukraine will recover and rebuild. Putin will not survive the loss of McDonald’s. Hundreds of thousands of young Russians have abandoned their country. Few will return.

So where does that leave the war, what I call “the new face of war.”

Few knew what would happen if shooting actually started. (U. S. and especially UK intelligence did believe that Russia was about to attack; American and British troops training Ukrainians were withdrawn so they would not be caught in the line of fire.)

But, really, no one was paying attention to the Ukrainian forces of 2022; observers were focused on reminiscences of Russia’s attack in 2014. The “conventional wisdom” was that Ukraine would collapse and submit to control by Russia. “Surrender” is certainly what the “bubble” inside the Kremlin expected.

2. During the early phase of the war

Once the Russian invasion actually began, the conventional wisdom was that Ukraine would collapse and Russian soldiers would be in Kyiv in days. This “wisdom” was buttressed in American media (including Fox News) by endless use of Russian propaganda film, with illegible disclaimers on screen showing the source of the bombastic pictures (Russia). The media’s presentation was all an illusion, having no connection to actual conditions on the ground. Why US media were presenting Russian disinformation I leave for you to decide.

Remember the “40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and trucks” that was going to encircle Kyiv? Destroyed by Ukrainian forces using British Nlaw weapons (developed by Britain jointly with Sweden, and manufactured in the UK). Ukrainians also received a clandestine boost from partisans in Belarus, who sabotaged Russian train lines into Ukraine.

The initial Russian air attacks were formidable, but soon tapered off as Ukrainian defenses developed familiarity.

Who benefited the Russians the most (apart from Putin’s banker, Germany)? Initially Joe Biden refused to let Poland transfer old Migs to Ukraine; Biden tried to slow-walk shipments of weapons. Sleepy old Joe Biden’s dithering last year had probably encouraged Putin to believe there would be no allied response to an invasion. (Biden apparently didn’t believe the CIA’s predictions of imminent hostilities.)

Ukrainian forces gradually began to receive more weapons, from both the US and UK. The war was real, not a video game. The tide imperceptibly shifted. Because of utterly horrible scenes such as Mariupol and Bucha, global public opinion also shifted.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace was keenly aware of the shift; he knew Ukrainians were turning back the “Soviet” attack. UK advisers were the first to return to Ukraine. British battlefield intelligence has consistently been the best. The seamless intelligence and coordination between the allies has stunned the Russians and encouraged other nations to join the coalition.

Casualties on both sides have been the worst since WW II. Russian troops brutally slaughtered their “brothers,” that they had ostensibly gone in to save. In defending their homes, Ukrainian forces devastated the worthless Russian army. Tens of thousands of Russians have perished or been grievously wounded. There are reports Russian officers have shot their own troops.

3. The current status of the conflict

Conventional wisdom still remains tilted in favor of some sort of Russian “victory,” especially along the Black Sea.

Even today, as this updated review is being published, the conventional weltanschauungis that Russia will somehow prevail. The conventional wisdom can’t accept the lightening changes on the battlefield.

This change in Ukrainian defense posture comes before the arrival of billions of dollars of new U S military supplies. Every few hours, around-the-clock, U S airplanes are landing in Poland with new weapons and ammunition for transfer to Ukraine. While Great Britain and some European countries have been superb with their support, no one can match the massive potential of American military aid.

In the days ahead, weapons will be pouring into Ukraine at a pace not seen since the Normandy landing in 1944. These weapons will all be focused on a tiny area of land where Russian troops will face this onslaught of firepower.

4. The New Face of War

As I said at my news conference, conventional wisdom is always looking backward. The armchair generals on CNN, MSNBC and Fox are retired officers who served in a very different military environment.

In the context of a Cold War confrontation, Russian forces looked formidable years ago. But that was then. Ukraine is now.

While every military has “cheated” by reducing defense expenditures, to the point where nations such as Germany have unilaterally disarmed from their robust posture decades ago, the Russian disarmament has been the most devastating. While Russia has a formidable nuclear arsenal, Soviet conventional forces, which have not faced a determined foe since 1945, are completely out of date. Russian bulwarks of the Cold War, such as Polish and Ukrainian troops, are long gone. They are now on the other side.

So what is the “new face” of war? Mobility, mobility, mobility. A Ukrainian force last week obliterated an entire Russian armored convoy, with massive loss of life. Russian air operations are virtually suspended, now that Ukrainian air defenses are being augmented. Russian missiles are still being fired, but for how long?

New weapons being used today may spell the end of armored divisions in the future (tanks) and enhance support for artillery units. Drones? The new masters of the battlefield. US defense posture will have to be reviewed.

The armchair generals of American media have no idea what is actually happening in combat. Instead, they orchestrate colorful maps which do not convey the dynamic conflict of today. Who predicted Ukrainian troops would have already pushed a salient all the way back to the Russian-Ukrainian border? No one. Who predicted the liberation of Kharkiv? (I did, but not in published comments.) No one.

What I initially found strange was the use of missiles by Russia, but then no genuine follow-up with troops on the ground to seize territory (some land has been seized, but nothing comparable to what was initially predicted). The Donbas is still contested. A handful of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol delayed Russian advances for weeks.

While Ukrainians are still “defending” against a Russian attack, my view of the battlefield is radically different than the conventional wisdom.

My reporting indicates that some time around July 4^th (nice day, that) Ukrainians will launch their “liberation” operation to reclaim territory stolen by Russia in 2014.

Having looked at the actual battlefield, and not the TV maps on American cable channels, I do not believe the Russian invasion is sustainable beyond the end of the year, if that long. Ukraine’s intelligence chief may have been listening in on my phone. I have been telling people the end of the year may bring the end of the war. Last week the chief intelligence officer agreed. (President Zelensky has not adopted a date, but he really can’t.)

And the weapons? America and Britain are rearming. New weapons are being produced. Poland has become our closest ally, the new capital of Europe. Sweden and Finland? Don’t mess with their militaries. Other nations are joining; they do not want to be left behind.

Putin, the incompetent “wartime leader,” is reputed to have taken control of operations in Ukraine, a disaster for Russian troops.

I completely reject the conventional wisdom. If I have to choose between Russian draftees equipped with Soviet era weaponry, and Ukrainian Freedom Fighters equipped with the latest in British, American (and even Turkish) weapons, count me unabashedly on the side of Ukraine.

From Kyiv, the capital of a free Ukraine.

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Rédacteur en Chef,

Andy Martin

—

Other web sites for Andy Martin:

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy Martin is a legendary New Hampshire, United States-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. With over fifty (50) years of background in radio and television and with decades of intelligence, investigative and analytical experience in Washington, the USA and around the world, Andy provides insight on politics, foreign policy, military and intelligence matters. For a full bio, go to: http://www.AndyMartin.com. See also http://www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; http://www.BoycottABC.com/executive_director.htm

Andy holds both Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Illinois and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

May 16, 2022

Warsaw, Poland News Conference – May 17, 2022 – American proposes Nobel Peace Prize for Poland

United States military and intelligence expert Andy Martin will hold a Warsaw news conference Tuesday, May 17, to announce he is asking the Nobel Peace Prize committee to award the Peace Prize to the People of Poland and the nation of Poland, collectively, for the role they have played in welcoming and assisting millions of Ukrainian refugees. “It’s as though the city of Chicago, Illinois, which has slightly less than 3 million residents, picked up and moved to Ohio or New Jersey, or Hounslow, UK,” Andy says. “Poland’s welcome is historic and deserves recognition by the Nobel Committee. Poland’s actions reflect the epitome of brotherhood and humanitarianism.”

Andy is also a New Hampshire, USA,conservative Republican U. S. Senate candidate. He has worked for decades in Washington and around the world on media and humanitarian matters as well as military and intelligence analysis.

NEWS FROM:

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Global News and Commentary

London, New York, Washington

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence analysts

and military investigators

“Journalism that is factually correct,

not politically correct”

Contact:

andymart20@aol.com

Blogs:

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this news release, with the copyright notice attached]

NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

Where: Sidewalk in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, Warsaw.

When: May 17, 2022

Time: 3:00 P.M.

Disclaimer: Andy’s presence in front of the Intercontinental does not imply any connection to or endorsement from the hotel (although he endorses Intercontinental Hotels as his favorite place to stay)

(Warsaw, Poland)(May 16, 2022)

American conservative political activist and journalist Andy Martin, who has worked in Washington, DC for decades, will hold a Warsaw, Poland news conference Tuesday, May 17^th to announce he is asking the Nobel committee to award the Peace Prize to the people of Poland and government collectively, for their historic embrace of millions of Ukrainian refugees.

“I knew the gross statistics of what Poland has done, and how the Polish people have reacted,” Andy says. “But until I saw and experienced the welcome personally, I didn’t realize how much it could mean to people displaced by an unexpected catastrophe. I believe the Nobel Committee should recognize the historic gesture of the Polish people by awarding the nation collectively the Peace Prize.

“My mission to Ukraine has been a multifarious one. First, I have been a recognized journalist in the area of foreign policy. Second, as part of my trip I was asked to look at possible humanitarian needs that could be served through additional funding. Finally, as a conservative Republican who strongly endorses the USA effort to support Ukraine and NATO, I look at matters as a practical politician.

“My recommendation for the Nobel Prize for Poland falls into the humanitarian sphere of my activity.

“For over a quarter-century I have been involved in the deep background in fostering the so-called ‘Brexit’ departure, in which the UK left the EU. Unlike the tense relationship with Germany, the relationship between Great Britain and Poland is as strong as ever today. I believe Her Majesty’s government may also join in my recommendation to the Nobel committee.

“Finally, the Nobel Committee could append to its award a few words of encouragement and caution to the Polish government. It is not my job to comment on EU-Polish politics, or internal Polish politics. But the Nobel Committee could say, as part of its award, that the Committee encourages Poland to take the road of vigorous and open democracy, and not to be lured by the illusory benefits of authoritarianism. ‘Don’t miss this historic opening.’

“I will have more to say about Poland’s bright future after I return to the United States and compile all of my interviews and records. But suffice it to say as someone who grew up in a community with a robust Polish-American presence, I am a loyal friend of Poland and thank them for their humanitarian efforts at this crucial time,” Andy will state.

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Rédacteur en Chef,

Andy Martin

—

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy holds both Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Illinois and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

Other web sites for Andy Martin:

UPDATES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Neumann

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

May 13, 2022

BREAKING NEWS – War crimes trial in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 13, 2022

WAR CRIMES TRIAL IN UKRAINE – THE GHOSTS OF BABI YAR ARE CALLING TO US

United States military and intelligence analyst/investigator Andy Martin is in Kyiv, Ukraine for the start of war crimes prosecutions arising from Russian atrocities. Starting as a 10 year-old boy, Andy studied the Holocaust and the conditions under which human beings become capable of committing atrocities. Andy first came to national prominence during the My Lai Massacre, when he provided evidence of other mass killings in Viet-Nam.

NEWS FROM:

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Global News and Commentary

London, New York, Washington

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence analysts

and military investigators

“Journalism that is factually correct,

not politically correct”

Contact:

andymart20@aol.com

Blogs:

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this news release, with the copyright notice attached]

(Intercontinental Hotel)(Kyiv, Ukraine)(May 13, 2022)

Dear Reader:

Today the first war crimes trial of Russian atrocities began in Kyiv. This trial will be one of many, in Ukraine and at other international tribunals. For me, the start of the trial is a chilling day. To be here at the start of the momentous undertaking, putting the mass murders on trial, exploring questions raised by the Russian atrocities, takes me back to the origins of my early years.

Growing up, my spiritual father was Sigmund Neumann (see link [1] below), a brilliant political scientist who fled Germany at the beginning of the Holocaust. Dr. Neumann (he was always “Dr. Neumann”) had a special fondness for my mother. She was also one of his students. Both had served in OSS, America’s first spy agency. Every Friday, Dr. Neumann was at my family’s restaurant for dinner. Inevitably my mom and I were asked to join his table. Dr. Neumann had a sadness about him.

It was a heavy lift for a 10 year-old to learn that Neumann’s books had been burned by the Nazis. He got out early, when fleeing Germany was still easy. Starting from age 11, I became Dr. Neumann’s paperboy. There was always a cookie and soft drink at his modest home on the corner of High Street and Loveland Street when I came by with his paper. We also visited Neumann at Russell House, where he moved on the Wesleyan campus. He taught me to explore the Holocaust. I could read what Nazi Germany had done, but I lacked understanding. Later, in Viet-Nam as an analyst, investigator and journalist, I began to understand.

Through many wars and revolutions, I have gained a lot of comprehension about mass murder. Nevertheless, the atrocities of Russia and Germany during World War II stand apart, as historic examples of systemic national evil.

So it is with a special understanding that I watched the relentless atrocities committed by young Russians in Ukraine, mostly conscripted troops, across northern and eastern regions. What could possess a human being to commit an atrocity? A lifetime later, I am still searching for the answer. But now the first trial has begun in Kyiv.

During the Viet-Nam era, I was sometimes called to speak on the campus of the University of Illinois. In one forum, I was asked to compare My Lai to Babi Yar. While I was aware of the poem “Babi Yar” by Yevgeny Yevtushenko (please see Link [2] below), it meant nothing to me. (In those days, to research a topic you did not press a button; you went to the library.)

At Babi Yar, part of the City of Kyiv, German forces and their collaborators murdered over 100,000 Jews and other nationalities (please see link [3] below). You could say that in a spiritual sense, in 1941 Babi Yar became “ground zero” for understanding mass murder and atrocities.

I am staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, just a couple of miles from Babi Yar.

There is a cosmic sense of justice that war crimes trials in the latest outburst of insanity, Putin’s War, should begin just a short distance from the ghosts of Babi Yar.

This time, no one can plead ignorance, as the German nation did after World War II. This time, there are Ukrainian and international war crimes investigators (assisted by the FBI) on scene to research and document Putin’s atrocities.

Amazingly, this time there are often surveillance videos and other recordings of the murders. This time, the claim that no one can be held accountable because we are all responsible, cannot be applied.

The war criminals have started being brought to trial. Literally, the whole world is watching.

I understand how a soldier can be taught to kill. That’s what soldiers do. So purely military mayhem is understandable, apart from a lack of any justification for an invasion of Ukraine.

But what prompts a human being to commit mass murder or individual atrocities? While over 100,000 adults and children were murdered at Babi Yar, mostly Jews, most were shot at close range. I continue in my lifetime search for an understanding of this boundless evil.

In closing, I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve. After all, I have seen too much bloodshed in a long life. But I can truly tell you that my body trembled as I wrote these words. The spiritual cries of those helpless victims of antisemitism at Babi Yar, over 80 years ago, cried out to me. Their souls are restless, but they can rest in peace. They will never be forgotten. This time, the monsters will be held accountable. Babi Yar has not been forgotten.

From Kyiv, the capital of a free Ukraine.

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Rédacteur en Chef,

Andy Martin

—

Links to this story:

[1]

[2]

Click to access reading1.4.pdf

[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kiev-and-babi-yar

—

Other web sites for Andy Martin:

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy holds both Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Illinois and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

May 11, 2022

Kyiv, Ukraine News Conference – May 12, 2022 THE NEW FACE OF WAR IN UKRAINE

United States military and intelligence analyst/investigator Andy Martin will hold a Kyiv news conference Thursday, May 12 to issue his first analysis on “The New Face of War” in Ukraine. Andy believes the conventional wisdom about the status of Putin’s War is mistaken, and that aid approved by Congress and signed by the President will demolish Russian forces by Christmas. “Russian leaders, who exist in a bubble, have no idea what is about to hit the invaders in Ukraine,” Andy says. Andy is also a New Hampshire, US Republican U. S. Senate candidate who has worked in Washington for many decades.

NEWS FROM:

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Global News and Commentary

London, New York, Washington

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence analysts

and military investigators

“Journalism that is factually correct,

not politically correct”

Contact:

andymart20@aol.com

Blogs:

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this news release, with the copyright notice attached]

NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

Where: Sidewalk in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, Kyiv.

When: May 12, 2022

Time: 3:00 P.M.

(Kyiv, Ukraine)(May 11, 2022)

Dear Reader:

Somewhere, up in the heavens, World War II American super-General George S. Patton, who may have been assassinated by Russian operatives, in smiling. After the end of the war in Europe, Patton stated that the U.S. should invade Eastern Europe to free the captive nations that had been surrendered to Soviet slavery by President Franklin Roosevelt. The backlash to Patton’s remarks was immediate and intense. No one wanted more war, even though many agreed that the Soviet Union would some day have to be defeated in a subsequent conflict.

Vladimir Putin said May 9^th that his invasion of Ukraine is a continuation of World War II. Putin has no idea what is about to hit him. Billions of dollars in American military assistance, skillfully employed by Ukrainian freedom fighters, is about to devastate the Russian invasion forces. Putin wants the Second World War back? He is about to get it. General Patton’s vision is being realized, 77 years later, by Ukrainian forces.

The convention wisdom is that Putin has been grabbing territory and pursuing his plan for the south and east of Ukraine, and that at some point Putin will satisfy his appetite for conquest and stop. The conventional wisdom is wrong.

The Ukrainian government has stated its policy is to remove the invaders from all of occupied Ukraine, including Crimea.

My blog, Contrarian Commentary, for decades has been questioning conventional wisdom and exposing the errors of politicians far removed from the battle.

Let me be candid: When I announced my trip to Ukraine in March, if you had told me Congress would vote $40 billion in expanded aid, I would have said “unlikely.” But Congress has now voted an avalanche of military and economic support for Ukraine.

America is moving towards a mobilization to defeat Putin, the second greatest threat to world peace. Weapons factories are reopening in the U.S. Production lines are being activated. America is once again the “Arsenal of Democracy.” The impact of Washington’s votes on Ukraine aid has yet to be understood and digested in Moscow and Berlin. The money amounts to the equivalent of a new post-war Marshall Plan. The free world cannot afford to lose. Ironically, America and the UK are mobilizing but Russia apparently is not.

The role played by the UK has been an incredible one. When America hesitated months ago, Great Britain stepped up to backstop the Ukrainians. British munitions factories are also going to be revived. The coming weapons flow is unlike anything seen since 1945. What is going to happen to all those rockets? Artillery shells? Drones? They are going to be targeted at Russians. Targeted at Russians.

To date, Putin has been playing his old games: changing street signs in Donbas, holding bogus elections to annex territory, the usual type of Soviet enslavement tactics. But Russian forces will subjected to firepower of a kind not seen since – of course – Patton’s Third Army slaughtered Germans, causing the Reich to finally collapse.

The successor to Patton’s Third Army is Ukrainian defense forces. Ukrainian defenders have pushed back Russian troops; as the flood of new weapons arrives, Russians will lack the means to defend their invasion gains.

Starting tomorrow, in a series entitled “The New Face of War,” I will explain how this war is different from any conflict since WW II, and why the conventional wisdom is wrong.

Unlike Korea, Viet-Nam and Afghanistan, American troops are not needed. In fact, Ukrainians have proven so skilled at deploying their exiting weapons that UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said, only half-jokingly, that Ukrainians may need to start training British troops, not vice versa. Ukrainian tactics are already being adopted by U.S. forces.

I began in college as a military cadet, a Cold Warrior. Over the decades, from Saigon to Kyiv, I have been in war zones and conflicts. My experience is that the conventional wisdom usually looks backward. Wrong.

Ukrainians have no place to retreat. It is not Putin who is cornered; is the people of Ukraine whose homes have been destroyed by the most evil invading force since Germany’s Third Reich.

In the mid-1990’s, under brilliant British analysts, I began studying the European Union. Brexit was the product of their pioneering endeavors. Today the European Union has clay feet. French leader Macron is in love with himself; his phone calls to Putin are a travesty. Germany’s “Sergeant Schultz” (Hogan’s Heroes) Chancellor Scholz is a joke, effectively a Russian asset who pays billions of dollars to finance Putin’s atrocities. America and Britain have exposed the collaboration of French and German industrialists with Russia’s war machine. The head of Volkswagen is crying for appeasement and debasement. Sickening and disgraceful. But Ukrainian freedom fighters have called their bluff.

Other EU countries, and solid allies such as Poland, make France and Germany look small and irrelevant, an embarrassment to their own incompetence and impotence. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson’s Viktor Orban is, well, Orban. Carlson is a foreign policy jerk.

Please stay with us in the coming days for a “Contrarian” view of Putin’s War, from someone who has been right before, while the conventional wisdom was wrong, wrong, wrong.

From Kyiv, the capital of a free Ukraine.

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Rédacteur en Chef,

Andy Martin

—

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy holds both Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Illinois and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

Other web sites for Andy Martin:

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

May 10, 2022

Kyiv, Ukraine News Conference – May 11, 2022

United States analyst and investigator Andy Martin, who has a background in agricultural economics, will hold a Kyiv, Ukraine news conference Wednesday, May 11 to issue his initial prediction and analysis for Ukrainian grain production in the 2022 growing season. Andy predicts Ukrainian farmers will generally produce adequate resources. Contrarian Commentary is monitoring grain production because of its direct impact on world food supplies and indirect impact on the military situation. Andy is also a New Hampshire, US Republican U. S. Senate candidate.

NEWS FROM:

CONTRARIAN COMMENTARY

Global News and Commentary

London, New York, Washington

“The Internet Powerhouse”

Andy Martin, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Executive Editor and Producer

One of America’s most respected

independent intelligence analysts

and military investigators

“Journalism that is factually correct,

not politically correct”

Contact:

andymart20@aol.com

Blogs:

contrariancommentary.wordpress.com

contrariancommentary.blogspot.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this news release, with the copyright notice attached]

NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

Where: Sidewalk in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, Kyiv.

When: May 11, 2022

Time: 3:00 P.M.

(Kyiv, Ukraine)(May 10, 2022) “At the start of 2022, Ukraine was not on anyone’s economic radar,” says Andy Martin. “Today, Putin’s War is having a disruptive impact on the world economy. While we continue our traditional specialties, military and intelligence analysis, we feel economic disruption is a serious factor that must be added to the mix.

“Ironically, my background in agricultural economics mirrors Ukraine’s food production. At the University of Illinois, I studied intensive cultivation. I never sat on a tractor or wore overalls, but I was also an investor in Illinois farm land. Ukraine’s agriculture is similar to the Illinois model.

“Obviously, weather predictions at this point are sketchy for the growing season. Production in the east and south is impeded by the war; but the parameters of combat are quickly changing. So we are in a position to make a series of rough initial estimates to guide policy makers in the UK, Europe and the United States. I am here in Ukraine, so I am on the scene.

“The actual export markets are still too tenuous to predict.

“While farming is not known as the world’s oldest profession, agriculture has been around a very long time. Farmers are resourceful. In my New Hampshire, for example, farmers are already substituting ‘sludge,’ treated waste products, in place of more expensive fertilizer. Farmers everywhere are masters of substitution and improvisation.

“There are obviously many sources of farm production information. But among the critical factors we are analyzing in Ukraine, I wanted to see the land –the soil- for myself.

“We are on the ground where it counts.

“In any event, you need a starting point, a debating point if you will, to develop a matrix of information about Ukraine’s potential output in 2022. We will continue to be in close contact with our sources.

“From London, the view appears pessimistic. In Washington, I am not sure they are paying attention to corn and wheat right now. But the politics is inescapable, which is where my political experience comes in. Will Russia be allowed to export grain? Will India buy ‘scab’ grain the same way it is buying scab oil? Will there be an embargo? Sanctions? We are on the cutting edge of gaming these issues. In the fight for freedom in Ukraine, food will be an essential weapon,” Andy will state.

“Finally, as a purely speculative and intellectual proposition, because there was and is no rational explanation for Putin’s War, did Putin intend a gruesome form of economic warfare, seeking to damage Ukraine, a growing competitor? Interestingly, all of Putin’s damage to date is in areas vital to Ukraine’s agricultural economy.”

—

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy holds both Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Illinois and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

Other web sites for Andy Martin:

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

August 19, 2021

Silent Coup in the Pentagon: What really happened in Afghanistan

ANDY MARTIN

Republican for U. S. Senator 2022

New Hampshire

http://www.AndyMartin2020.com

http://www.AndyMartin2020.blogspot.com

Headquarters:

E-mail: AndyforUSSenator@aol.com

P.O. Box 742

Manchester, NH 03105-0742

Cellphone: (347) 960-9593

Fax (866) 214-3210

Blogs:

http://www.AndyMartin2020.wordpress.com

[Please feel free to post, repost and email this letter, with the copyright notice attached]

Dear Granite Stater:

The dodos in the Biden administration, starting from President “Dodo” Biden on down, would have you believe they were totally caught off guard when the Afghan military collapsed. That claim is true, in part, as you will read below. Biden was surprised. He believed his own b.s.

Based on my reporting, however, I believe the explanation for the collapse in Kabul was the result of a “silent coup” in the Pentagon. The collapse in Afghanistan was not a random event. It was engineered at the highest levels of our military. Amazingly, it is part of an ongoing series of situations where our military leaders have sought to protect officials from the risks created by presidential hubris and incompetence.

What you are about to read is original reporting based on extensive analysis and decades of military and intelligence experience.

I am calling what has happened since April, 2021 a “silent coup.” What do I mean? The military was given bad orders by President Biden. They were given orders that betrayed the sacrifice of our men and women since 2001. They were given orders that defied logic. They were given orders that would lead to the collapse of Afghanistan. They were given orders that could and will endanger our national security. And they carried out those orders to a letter. To a “t.” They knew that total “compliance” would lead to complete collapse. They even warned Biden and his boys what was going to happen.

And President Joe slept through all of it.

Since April, 2021 our military leadership has complied with Joe Biden’s ill-advised orders so meticulously that “compliance” ended up strangling his presidency. That “compliance” with orders which were obviously going to lead to disaster, is the basis for what has become in effect a silent coup. No fingerprints were left behind by the silent coup. There were no critical statements by the highest echelons of the military leadership. No “revolt of the generals.” But in the end, total compliance with Biden’s orders were used by Pentagon leaders to destroy his administration.

Mission accomplished.

1. What is “the military?”

We use the term “the military” and “the Pentagon” without giving much thought to what these institutions really are. We have an all-volunteer force; no one is forced to join our military services.

Almost all of our men and women in uniform are patriots. Almost all join out of patriotism. We draw a lot of volunteers from southern states, as well as rural areas. We also draw a large segment of our forces from minorities in urban areas.

When Biden made a retired military officer Secretary of Defense, he made a classic error. Secretary Austin spent decades in a highly successful career; he made it to multi-star general. Austin had absorbed the military ethos. Ultimately, as the Biden withdrawal fiasco proceeded, Austin could not betray his fellow officers and sound the alarm.

Military leaders are loyal to their civilian leaders. The system works well, as the Constitution intended. But high-ranking officers are not mere automatons. They also think for themselves. They know what will work and what won’t.

And when, as in the case of Biden, the president gave patently self-destructive and disloyal orders to the the Pentagon, generals decided to rebel in a novel way: by strictly and immediately and expeditiously complying with Biden’s orders, fully knowing such compliance would backfire and cause the Afghan mission to collapse in disgrace. Biden would get payback for ignoring military advice and his presidency would be mortally wounded.

The plan worked just as it was intended: Biden never knew what hit him in mid-August. The military “plot” succeeded beyond Biden’s wildest potential nightmares. By conducting a virtual silent coup through compliance, no one in the Biden hierarchy saw the disaster coming. Threw are no fingerprints of recalcitrant generals. Biden’s order had destroyed his administration.

General Austin probably supported the military’s advice in April to suspend an immediate withdrawal. But once the “plan” to “comply by excess” began, Austin was silent. That’s why Austin has been a “missing person” in the past few days. He knows what happened and he knows why and how it happened. Austin saw the silent coup unfold and he did not stop it because he couldn’t. His first loyalty was still to the military culture that had rewarded him.

Biden, on the other hand, was so blinded by hubris he didn’t realize the military’s immediate compliance with his order would become a weapon against him.

2. How did we start down the slippery slide to military activism?

Military activism began during the Obama administration. President Obama’s rigid doctrines about shutting down our presence in Iraq was based on his own ill-informed misconceptions. Because Obama’s ideas were contrary to military recommendations, the military “complied” with Obama’s orders by immediately removing troops and setting the stage for the Isis resurgence.

When Obama went further and called the resurgent Isis a “JV team,” the military responded by hanging back and allowing the terrorist organization to expand exponentially, again embarrassing Obama. Finally, Obama was forced to go back to the military and seek advice, which he again rejected. The result: a stalemate in Syria/Iraq when President Trump took office.

Trump was initially a hero to the military. When he allowed the command structure to perform, the results were spectacular. Isis was soon routed.

But when Trump decided to act as his own general and review deployments for political efficacy, disaster soon followed. After a phone call with the Turk dictator Erdogan, Trump announced he was abandoning the Kurds and allowing the Turkish army to take territory in Syria. Pentagon leaders were dumfounded. Trump took a stable area and wantonly destabilized it. Predictably, the betrayal of the Kurds resulted in chaos. But the military used its bureaucracy to partially nullify Trump’s edicts.

Trump tried to totally withdraw from Syria to claim a political benefit. But the troops are still there under Biden. Trump was probably surprised by how resilient the Syria mission was; it was reduced but never eliminated despite his insistent demands.

3. What did Biden order and how did the military comply? Totally

Biden’s order in April was simple. Get out. Biden set a date, 9/11, which was later moved.

The military had advised that a complete and precipitous withdrawal would be a disaster. Biden rejected that advice.

The silent coup began.

Instead of using military expertise to carefully plan the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon leaders ignored sound policies and simply ordered U S troops out of Afghanistan.

The shock was felt in Afghanistan, where soldiers heard about Biden’s order and saw U S forces quickly packing. Shortages of food and ammunition followed. The supply pipeline to Afghan forces went dry.

In mid-May I noted that, surprisingly, a large part of the U S presence was already gone. Dangerously so. I realized that the Afghan army would be demoralized by the virtually instant disappearance of U S forces. The departure of the American troops was a clear signal to their Afghan counterparts they were being abandoned on a rushed basis.

In May I said to my associate, “this withdrawal looks like ‘compliance with a vengeance’” with Biden’s order. The hasty withdrawal will bring down the Afghan government and destroy Biden’s plan to avoid a catastrophe. The military’s literal submission to Biden’s diktat rendered Biden’s dangerous order a time bomb.

There was no protest from the senior ranks in the Pentagon once Biden issued his ill-advised order. Generals complied with his command so literally that their immediate “compliance” to get out became a form of resistance to the self-destructive directive. By immediately complying with Biden’s order to get out on an expedited basis, the military was abandoning its usual expertise to plan a slower, but safer, removal of U S forces.

By mid-July the US was, unexpectedly, almost completely out of Afghanistan; ironically, this is where Biden and his posse were ambushed. They had no idea that the military’s compliance with the withdrawal order would lead to an immediate collapse of the Afghan government. Biden thought he was a genius for orchestrating a hasty withdrawal. The military knew better. The silent coup was in progress.

The net result: Biden’s ill-advised order triggered a de facto silent coup. Instead of publicly challenging Biden’s order, the military decided to take the opposite tack and comply instantly, while fully aware that their original advice to “go slow” was the correct approach. Biden’s order, on the other hand, would lead to an embarrassing collapse.

The collapse came soon after Bagram Air Base was abandoned, literally in the night. The Afghans were stunned, and humiliated. The U S military would normally have no reason to humiliate the Afghans and would not have done so. But by complying with Biden’s order on an instant basis, the Afghan military got the signal they feared. All was lost.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates once said Joe Biden has been wrong on virtually every major foreign policy and military decision of the past forty (40!) years [please see Link # 1 below]. Thus, there was no way military leaders could communicate with a stubborn old man whose cognitive ability, i.e. his ability to reason and process complex information, was all but gone. Biden could not process the situational awareness of the rapidly collapsing situation in Kabul.

In the end, Biden has created his own latest and greatest crisis. The military helped expedite Biden’s downfall by complying literally and immediately with the president’s misguided order. The silent coup succeeded. The military had their revenge and Biden will go down in history for the most spectacular military failure in 75 years.

4. Who were the “Afghan military and security forces?”

It seems as though everyone is trashing the Afghan military. Except me. As I wrote yesterday, we tasked a small local force with garrisoning an entire nation. From the outset, it was an impossible task. But we also created the Afghan military in our own image, totally meshed in order for coordination with U S forces. No one ever designed the Afghan military to fight an enemy on its own, without air support, without massive supply networks and without intelligence oversight from above.

President Barry Obama started down fantasy lane in 2014 when he initiated the myth that Afghan soldiers were a separate army that would be expected to fight the Taliboys without the combined support that was necessary. Trump and Biden picked up on the fantasy that the Afghan military could be totally independent of our assistance. It never was and never could be. It wasn’t designed that way. We designed it to work with us, seamlessly.

When we withdrew our support of the Afghan forces, they collapsed.

5. How long will the Kabul disaster drag on?

I can’t say for sure, but I think the ongoing disaster in Kabul is going to drag on a lot longer than the Left anticipates or Joe Biden can tolerate.

Unless the Taliboys make a move against us or allied forces, arrangements to complete the withdrawal of tens of thousands of people could drag on for several weeks. Once again, Biden has set August 31 as a final pullout date. But that date is totally unrealistic given the tens of thousands of Americans and others who need to exit Afghanistan. Once again, Biden is setting himself up for disgrace and defeat.

The withdrawal from Kabul is going to dominate news coverage into the foreseeable future. The Left will not be happy. They will be looking for scapegoats, but they won’t be able to find any. There are no fingerprints left behind by the silent coup.

6. Where do we go from here?

The Left would like to blame the military for the Afghan collapse. But, on the contrary, it was Joe Biden’s capricious orders, and the Pentagon’s immediate, total and unconditional compliance with Biden’s asinine directives, that created conditions for the collapse we confront in Kabul.

Our military is just as well-organized and effective today as it ever was. Consider, within hours of being ordered, we had thousands of troops on their way to Kabul. Our system worked. If the Taliboys attempt to intimidate the U. S. Marines and the 82nd Airborne Division, the Taliboys will be obliterated. (Note to file: the “military” didn’t lose Afghanistan; the craven politicians on Capitol Hill and their media lackeys did.)

President Biden has some power in Kabul today only because our military works, and because it is organized to face the limitless challenges we face.

Biden wants to dismantle military spending and devote the money to day care centers and welfare payments for parents. It won’t happen. Republicans understand what Democrats deny. We need a strong military to defend our way of life.

Although the phrase has also been attributed to Winston Churchill, George Orwell is credited with the following words:

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

What do those words mean? They mean that in order for us to enjoy our quality of life, and the freedoms we often take for granted, we need to train and have ready to deploy men and women who can do extreme violence to our enemies. Extreme violence. Not politicians’ hot air.

This week we saw proof of Orwell’s remarks. The politicians screwed up, yes both Trump and Biden. But in baseball terms, Biden is credited with the loss. Within minutes of the emergency, we had forces deploying around the world to rescue Americans and our Afghan supporters.

We have taken control of Kabul Airport. While the situation is fluid and chaotic, the Taliboys will try to avoid challenging the U S. If they attack, the Taliboys will be obliterated. We can rely on our forces because we honor and respect them. No other nation in history has had such a continuing tradition of maintaining strength through peace. In our country, “Thank you for your service” means something. Loyalty. The kind of loyalty Democrats lack for our men and women in uniform.

As for Joe Biden, in silent and secret ways, his administration is now on the dung heap of history. Biden may not be removed from office until 2025, but his presidency is over.

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

[More to come, stay tuned. We are monitoring the dangerous situation in Kabul.]

Best wishes,

Andy

—

LINKS TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined portion):

Link #1:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/16/biden-has-been-wrong-on-every-major-foreign-policy/

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy has also been a leading corruption fighter in American politics and courts for over fifty years and is executive director of the National Anti-Corruption Policy Institute. http://www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com.

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES:

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

Rather than create new blogs for 2022, we are using our old 2020 blogs going forward since nothing has changed.

———-

To become a regular subscriber to our emails please send an email to andyforussenator@aol.com and place “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line

August 19, 2021

Andy Martin analyzes the Afghanistan military implosion and explains the Biden Administration’s explosion

ANDY MARTIN

Republican for U. S. Senator 2022

New Hampshire

http://www.AndyMartin2020.com

http://www.AndyMartin2020.blogspot.com

Headquarters:

E-mail: AndyforUSSenator@aol.com

P.O. Box 742

Manchester, NH 03105-0742

Cellphone: (347) 960-9593

Fax (866) 214-3210

Blogs:

http://www.AndyMartin2020.wordpress.com

Dear Granite Stater:

Sunday, August 15, 2021 was one of the worst days in American history. The Afghan government imploded; the collapse in Kabul exploded the myth that Joe Biden is capable of leading the U. S. government. We have a national security crisis on our hands.

America’s political class, led by Zombie President Joe Biden, betrayed the American people, betrayed the Afghan people and massively increased the terror threat to the continental United States. Earlier, Biden said leaving Kabul would not resemble the catastrophe in Saigon in 1975. I agree with Joe! The departure from Kabul is much, much worse; the the long-term consequences will be much more dangerous for our national security than the Saigon debacle.

I have spent a large part of my adult life as an independent national security analyst and operator. You can see a resume of my experience below in “How Andy Became a Terrorism Expert.” I first went to Afghanistan in 1980, in an insanely dangerous mission to gather information about the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invasion. I worked alone, with one Afghan aide. We managed to drive into Herat. How I survived, I’ll never know. Afghanistan and I go back a long way.

Like many, I have questioned Joe Biden’s mental health. Biden’s competence is now front and center:

President Obama’s ambassador to Afghanistan stated openly that “I’m left with some grave questions in my mind about [Biden’s] ability to lead our nation as commander-in-chief,” [Ryan] Crocker said. “To have read this so wrong – or, even worse, to have understood what was likely to happen and not care.” [Please see Link # 1 below]. Crocker said the Afghan fiasco is “already an indelible stain on [Biden’s] presidency.” [Please see link #2 below]

The humiliation we saw in 1975 when Americans were lifted off the roof of the U. S. Embassy in Saigon has been reprised. Biden has sent in 5,000 troops to manage the evacuation; many thousands more than Trump had left behind to manage the withdrawal. While no firefights have broken out as I am writing, if U. S. forces stay long enough to evacuate Afghans who have been loyal to us and who were promised safe passage, conflict is inevitable.

None of this national failure was necessary. But as America has done so often in the postwar period, we have allowed our own bloated rhetoric to undermine sound foreign policy.

More critically, we have allowed the perfect to be the enemy of the good. In claiming no perfect solution is available in Afghanistan, we have destroyed the good efforts that existed. Millions of young girls were in school; now they are out. Tens of millions of people slept safely; now a terror regime has been imposed. When was the last time former President Ghani beheaded someone? Now, a bad pun: “heads will roll” in Kabul. Thanks to Joey Biden.

No, Afghanistan was not perfect, not by a long shot. But it was struggling to survive in a very dangerous neighborhood. Now all of our progress has been erased. In a few weeks, terror networks will reconstitute themselves.

Biden, who claimed he would “not send another generation of Americans to Afghanistan,” has guaranteed that another generation, or two, of Americans will have to return to Afghanistan to clean up the mess he created.

1. The Afghan military did not “collapse;” it was betrayed

The Afghan military and security forces do not have the esprit de corps of the U. S. Marines or NYPD. But Afghan soldiers performed decently. Who designed and created the Afghan military? We did (the U. S. military). We created a conventional military force to fight a “revolutionary war,” one driven by zealotry and not by mercenary interests, the same kind I have been studying since 1965. The Afghans expected air strikes, artillery, mobile support, high-tech resources and expansive surveillance and intelligence to support them. That’s how we trained them. To be an adjunct and to be interoperable with our own military. We created the Afghan forces in our own image. Then we abandoned them.

How long would U. S. forces last without air cover, without armor, without intelligence and without multiple weapons systems? Not long.

Sound familiar?

In fact, this is the second time Democrats have betrayed an allied military in the battlefield. The South Vietnamese military was also created in our image. Then Democrats in congress voted to “defund” South Vietnam forces. The result: a collapse of Saigon. Forty-fix years later we are repeating the same arrogant incompetence which the Democrats first “deployed” against Viet-Nam. Bingo.

Don’t blame the Afghan military. They did as well as can be expected when their de facto overlords, the Democratic Party in congress, started undermining them during the Obama-Biden administration. History repeats itself; so do Democratic Party military fiascos.

2. There was no “intelligence failure”

One of the false narratives being offered by Biden supporters is that the Afghan collapse is an “intelligence failure.” Northing is further from the truth. For years intelligence agencies have predicted that of if we abandoned the Afghan forces, they would collapse. No surprise there. Intelligence agencies all over the world, including communist spy organs, predicted exactly what would happen if Biden withdrew precipitously.

3. Biden’s delusions have exploded his presidency and the Democrats

Biden said last month that he had an [imaginary] “over-the-horizon” capacity to defend Afghanistan. Where was it when the Taliban was laying siege to Afghan cities? Nowhere. Bien’s over-the-horizon force was a delusion. America did not come to the defense of Afghan troops. Biden’s total incompetence, and the total incompetence of his officials, such as the disgraceful and incompetent Secretary of State Blinken, have exploded his presidency.

Out of nowhere, out of the blue in Biden’s mind, the Democratic Party has been bombed into disgrace and destruction by their own demented leader. “Who me?” they say. They want to blame Trump for Biden’s disaster. Trump is not responsible for Biden’s collapse.

4. Does honor mean anything to America?

I have lost track of the number of times both parties have betrayed our allies. The Kurds? Betrayed by Democrats and Republicans, tossed out like used toilet paper when they had served their purpose. Over and over again. Obama said Isis was a “JV team,” and then had to send forces to defeat his imaginary opponent; only ISIS was not imaginary. It took President Trump to clean out the Isis rat’s nest.

What do all of these betrayals mean? America’s political leaders, in both parties, lack any sense of national honor. Ten years ago, members of congress started asking for Special Immigrant Visas” (“SIV”) for Afghans who has worked for the U.S. Ten years later, noting had been done. Biden tried to dump the issue on congress. It was only after Biden pulled the plug on Afghanistan that the administration even started thinking about SIV’s. When Afghan workers and their families, as well as others who worked for US operations such as the media and aid organizations, are totaled up, there are over 100,000 people and their dependents that need to be evacuated. How many will die needlessly, because of American perfidiousness? Many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands.

America needs to address its lack of national honor and its betrayals of the commitments it has made to foreign nationals who support our troops in the field. To a military man or woman, honor means everything, it’s why they serve. When the politicians behave dishonorably, they stain the service and sacrifice of our own military forces.

5. Is twenty years enough, when national security is at stake?

How the media have betrayed Americans

I started out in life as a pollster in college. A poll is only as good as the question asked. If you ask, “Should we bring our troops back home?” almost everyone will say “Yes.” But if you ask, “Should we bring our troops back home if the result is going to be endangering national security and cause the homeland to be jeopardized?” not many people would say yes. The media asked trick questions, and fooled the American people into believing we could withdraw from Afghanistan effortlessly and without any long-term danger to our own nation.

Biden’s people claim they were “surprised” by the Afghan collapse. Funny, no one else was. Everyone who has ever focused on terrorism and intelligence knew what was ahead. The head of British intelligence, MI6, predicted a collapse if Afghanistan was abandoned. [Please see Link 3 below) So what was the Biden plan? Where were the resources? There were none. Afghan troops lacked food and ammunition How can any army fight under such circumstances?

6. The Mollie Hemingway doctrine

Perhaps the most idiotic comment I saw was from Mollie Hemingway, a commentator who said we should have an “In/Out” military policy. Hemingway seems to believe once hostilities cease, U. S. forces should high tail it and abandon the battlefield to our former adversaries.

Biden himself fed into this expedient narrative and said, “We’ve been there too long. The world has shifted.” Says who?

Mollie Hemingway has the answer: her “get in-get out” strategy. Utter nonsense. What would have happened if we withdrew from Europe in 1945? Stalin would have taken over Europe. What if we had left Japan in 1945? The militaristic Japanese military might have revived.

When you pledge to stay, your word is your bond. We have promised to protect Europe. Biden brags about “America being back” in NATO. Joe’s malarkey. Who will believe him after the Afghan catastrophe? The US has promised to protect Taiwan. Do the Taiwanese feel comfortable after “Kabul?” The thugs in China and the gangsters in Russia are salivating at the prospect of an enfeebled America. Biden’s problems are just beginning.

Biden and his crew of crackpot incompetents are endangering our national security. “And that’s no joke,” as Joey himself would say. “For real.”

To be continued.

Best wishes,

Andy

—–

[How Andy Martin became a terrorism and counterterrorism expert:

Andy has over fifty years of experience in Asia, Southwest Asia and the Middle East; he is regarded overseas as one of America’s most respected independent foreign policy, military and intelligence analysts. He is known as an “over-the-horizon” expert who synthesizes conditions to prepare predictive opinions.

Andy’s experience fighting terrorism began during the Cold War in 1965 when he went to Washington as an intern on legislative matters and also became an acolyte of Professor Bernard Fall.

Professor Fall believed that Viet-Nam was a “revolutionary” war, a military campaign based on nationalist goals that more properly fit the matrix of political analysis. After Professor Fall was blown up, Andy persevered in studying counterinsurgency (COIN) in Viet-Nam and around the world. Andy founded the Revolutionary War Research Center and in 1974 he began to offer counterterrorism consulting at the World Trade Center in New York, becoming one of the nation’s first counterterror specialists. Andy was in New York on September 11, 2001 and rendered assistance.

Andy first went to the Arab world in 1971 and has traveled to every country in that region. Andy was in Iran and Afghanistan during the hostage crisis in 1979-80.

He lived in Iraq in 2003.

His analysis of the terrorist threat in Iran during 1979-80, and again in Iraq in 2003, were leading-edge predictions of what Americans faced in the future. Andy has lived in or been in Israel, Jordan, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Viet-Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.]

—

LINKS TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined portion):

Link #1:

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/aug/14/a-self-inflicted-wound-former-ambassador-to-afghan/

Link # 2:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-21-dr-francis-collins/story?id=79340684&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

Link # 3:

https://news.sky.com/story/terror-threat-to-britain-will-grow-if-west-neglects-afghanistan-ex-spymaster-warns-12348573

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES:

Former New Hampshire U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin was actor Sean Connery’s “first fan.” Andy remembers Connery on his death.

Andy’s opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

[NOTES: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find an error.

Rather than create new blogs for 2022, we are using our old 2020 blogs going forward since nothing has changed.

———-

To become a regular subscriber to our emails please send an email to andyforussenator@aol.com and place “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line

November 2, 2020

The Death of Sean Connery: Andy Martin was his first fan

News from:

ANDY MARTIN /2020

[Former] Republican for U. S. Senator

New Hampshire

www.AndyMartin2020.com

http://www.AndyMartin2020.blogspot.com

Headquarters:

E-mail: AndyforUSSenator@aol.com

P.O. Box 742

Manchester, NH 03105-0742

Cellphone: (347) 960-9593

Fax (866) 214-3210

Blogs:

http://www.AndyMartin2020.wordpress.com

—

For immediate release:

October 31, 2020

Dear Granite Stater:

Since losing the primary in September I have been on vacation.

I decided to let the winners speak for themselves; I’ll be heard after November 3^rd.

Later this weekend I will issue my strong endorsement of President Trump. Otherwise, I am on vacation with a capital “V.”

In the meantime, I’m back to writing and thinking. And while you may not be interested in my political views before the election, you might enjoy and be amused by the fact that I was movie star Sean Connery’s first fan. Sean died this weekend.

I learned a great lesson from Connery and it resonates with me even to this day.

My mother was born in Manchester, graduated from Central High School and also graduated from the University of New Hampshire. She was one of the first women from an immigrant family to receive a graduate degree from an Ivy League University, at Cornell. She was later offered a job at the CIA but decided instead to pursue a Ph.D. degree, and renewed her studies at Oxford University.

At the age of 13, I accompanied her to Oxford University.

Living at Oxford as an appendage to my graduate student mother was the most profound intellectual experience that you can imagine. Oxford changed my life, making it possible for me to mature in so many dimensions. Mornings I was a grammar school (high school) student. Afternoons I morphed into an Oxford undergraduate. Because I was tall, university students often assumed I was one of them. Oxford had unusual treats: mornings seeing the poet W. H. Auden at the Kadena Café; Friday afternoon teas at the Kemp Café, a student favourite.

My mother’s degree at Cornell was in speech and theater so, in addition to the focus of her academic research, we naturally went to many of the local Oxford productions.

The Oxford Playhouse is a small theater on Beaumont Street, and still there. Back then, a young Greek director, Milos Volonakis, was directing the Bacchae, a play by Euripides. (My mother was Greek-American so she was particularly interested.) We became part of the troupe while the play was in rehearsals and afterwards.

Who was the lead actor? Sean Connery.

Connery enjoyed having me around the production as his 13-year-old acolyte. I was his “first fan.”

What did I learn from Sean? That there is always a second act, another day, in life. When he acting at the Oxford Playhouse he was thought to be washed up, a bit player, a failed star, a nobody forced to do legitimate theater in small venues to survive. His acting career was moribund.

Connery had earlier made his way to Hollywood. He was good looking and had the potential to be a leading man. But he washed out. He left Hollywood and returned to Britain where he was taking lead roles in small productions. Life had dealt Connery a hard blow: early success with a shot at Hollywood, followed by a crash and burn and back to obscurity.

The Bacchae was a successful production, but it’s short run ended and Volonakis and Connery left Oxford. Volonakis never became a famous director, although he was well regarded in Britain.

Connery? I had met him at the “nadir” of his professional career.

Two years later he was cast as James Bond.

You know the rest of the story.

I followed Connery’s films but we never again crossed paths. But the lesson of his life still resonates: You never know what lies around the next corner. That moral applies to all of us. There is always a second act, a new day, a new opportunity.

I hope you enjoyed my reminiscences about Sean Connery, from his first fan.

See you after November 3^rd.

Sincerely,

Andy

—

Please feel free to forward and/or post this email

—

LINKS TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined portion):

ANDY MARTIN – A BRIEF BIO:

Andy Martin is a legendary New Hampshire-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. With over fifty (50) years of background in radio and television and with decades of intelligence, investigative and analytical experience in Washington, the USA and around the world, Andy provides insight on politics, foreign policy, military and intelligence matters. For a full bio, go to: www.AndyMartin.com. See also http://www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; http://www.BoycottABC.com/executive_director.htm

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today his home overlooks the Merrimack River and he lives around the corner from where he played as a small boy. He is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

UPDATES: