Author: Vic Socotra

Arrias and His World: Strategic Costs

One of the questions that keeps popping up in editorials, at least in the last month or two, is whether or not the folks in the White House want Ukraine to win the war with Russia. There are, of course, two obvious answers to that question – yes and no. But I have an unpleasant […]

The Biggest Lake

There is a bunch of stuff going on this morning. We discussed in some minor detail the strange antics of the American Command and Control system yesterday, and the details of the hospitalization of Secretary Austin, and the apparent delay in notification of the PRESIDENT, his DEPUTY, the CONGRESS, CHAIRMAN of the JOINT CHIEFS and […]

Arrias: The Rains

Author’s Note: Rains came through during the day, the dogs joined me in the office, I got down to give them belly rubs… things evolved from there… – Arrias Persian Carpets On the floor next to Porter, Huddled close, she keeps me warm, Listening to the Brandenburg concertos, Outside brews a winter storm. What is […]

Who’s in the Office?

It is a remarkable thing, this experience we share on a spinning globe hurtling in an elliptical manner around a gigantic ball of bright burning gas. We have our relatively short times here on earth, and the cohort of the Salts in the circle are all becoming conscious that our time here is entering the […]

That Black Swan Thing

Author’s Note: Yesterday we commented that SECDEF Austin was working from home, or something. We wish him well an a speedy recovery. But in our comment on the DEPSECDEF, she was not informed as she went on vacation. Others not in the loop: the President, National Security Council. Congress and the Service Chiefs. The latter […]

One Through Ten

It is a big day! Unexpected, though. Bear with us, please. We were going to talk about the big snowstorm but it didn’t happen. Instead, we are going to talk about the Big Anniversary. We may be old, but we are still organized! We had contingency plans to bring out the National Guard to deal […]

Wakening From Winter

Six weeks to Spring, you know? But we have to get through the weekend. Here is our new friend, Iceberg A23a; Inline image We had a festive dram of good cheer with the breakfast offering. We have completed our review of the pst year and are agreed to let it go! We feel awake and […]

Proxy Party

(Grainy photo of the Iranian frigate Alborz entering the Red Sea. Low resolution image used for identification purposes only). Progress! We are getting in tune with the new number we are supposed to attach to the end of the date at the top of these missives. It is only a single number, mind you, but […]

Weather Report: 2024 Beckoning

Good Afternoon, Gentle Readers! So, that other year- the one with the ‘odd’ last number- is now three days old and stacked in the corner with the other ones used in their time. We here in the Writer’s section are ready to move on. Forward! We have just passed a relative calm period in some […]

Footnotes

02 JANUARY 2024 FOOTNOTE: “The opinions expressed by contributors to this information stream are their entirely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of vicsocotra.com. AUTHOR’S NOTE: DR. Claudine Gay is the 30th president of Harvard University, with other distinctions. She is the second female and first person of color. We are not […]