Ukraine, Russia, and NATO… World War Three in the Making

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Sean T. Smith

On February 9 a massive explosion, rumored to be a tactical nuke, detonated in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. There are conflicting reports, with officials stating that an artillery shell hit a chemical plant, while others claim that it was a munitions factory. Witnesses report that the blast shattered windows and shook houses miles away. It is interesting that the media in the U.S. did not pick this story up, especially given their penchant for explosions. Here’s a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuQ5EPnSE_4

Maybe it was a tactical nuclear device, and maybe it wasn’t, but either way, the conflict in the Ukraine shows no signs of letting up, and as the U.S. gets more involved, the stakes are getting higher by the minute. Russian convoys move into Eastern Ukraine with impunity, bringing relief supplies to civilians, and also heavy weapons, armored vehicles, and special forces ground troops. Russian-made rockets and mortars are smashing civilian areas in the Ukraine, killing innocent people, while Ukrainian forces shell rebel-held strongholds like Donetsk, with rounds dropping on schools and hospitals. It’s a bloody, terrible conflict, and not quite as black and white as many here in the States would like to believe.

Many Eastern Ukrainians do in fact feel allegiance to Russia, and remember the days of the Soviet Union with fondness; they speak Russian and have more in common with them than their own countrymen. They are rebels who desire closer ties to Russia than the western Europe. Both sides are waging a bloody war, trying to gain ground ahead of peace talks which seem unlikely to resolve the issue, with rebel forces currently on the offensive to seize key rail yards and rail lines.

On December 23, 2014 the Ukraine renounced its non-aligned status with NATO, which makes the current debacle all the more dangerous, and outright involvement by the United States a frightening and somewhat hypocritical possibility. Here’s why.

In 1823 the U.S. adopted the Monroe Doctrine, which simply put, stated that interference by European powers in South America would be considered an act of aggression. The U.S. doesn’t tolerate other countries bashing around in our back yard. The Truman Doctrine, which became the bedrock of American foreign policy for decades, dictated that the U.S. would pursue containment of Soviet expansion, and this led to proxy wars in South America and Eastern Europe. As the cold war has begun anew and tensions with Russia have reached new heights, the Ukraine conflict threatens to become a new battleground between nuclear superpowers. I for one, would rather avoid that!

There is a compelling argument that appeasement does not work, and that Russian aggression needs to be stopped now. Various pundits compare Russian president Vladimir Putin to Hitler at the start of World War II, when Europe wrung its hands in the face of the Nazi advance. Russian armored divisions are poised to move into Ukraine, and NATO is woefully unprepared to halt the attack, should the Russians choose to roll in. Most of the Abrams tanks are gone,Western Europe is largely toothless. NATO relies on air power and the United States to deter further incursions.Should peace talks fail, it is easily conceivable that Putin will order Russian forces into the Eastern Ukraine. The only way to stop them would be with the use of tactical nuclear weapons, targeting the armor and infantry divisions. That’s how the end of the world begins.

So, here’s to hoping that clear heads prevail. Perhaps a peace can be brokered, one which appeases the rebel forces who wish to align themselves with Russia, but also keeps the Ukraine intact.

What does it look like after a global nuclear war? Check out the WRATH trilogy.

http://www.amazon.com/Sean-T.-Smith/e/B00IKHPGEK

Racism in America

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Sean T. Smith

We can deny a thing, but this does not make it any less true. Racism exists and continues to shape America, and while some still dispute this, it remains a fact. Can we, as a people, overcome this legacy, or is the nation doomed to repeat the same mistakes repeatedly, inventing new tragedies along the way?

Racism is more than one thing.

There are different kinds of racism, but at it’s core is a generalization, a stereotype, which is used to define an entire group of people based upon ethnicity. It is limiting, reducing the content of a person’s character to the color of their skin.

Institutional Racism

When racism is codified, when the promise of equal protection under the law is broken, the country itself is undermined.Police officers shoot and kill unarmed kids without consequence. Racial profiling. Gerrymandering in minority areas to split up districts so that the vote is diluted. The inequities in our Criminal Justice system in which black offenders are far more likely than Anglos to receive harsh sentences. The disparity in funding for schools and education between affluent areas and inner cities. Institutional racism dates back to the origins of our country, when slaves were deemed to be less than human. The Emancipation Proclamation began to address this, and the Jim Crow laws were finally repealed, and the Voting Rights Act was a great step toward dismantling institutional racism. It lingers, still, though, and all you have to do is flip through cable news to see it.

This is directly linked to economics. Poverty perpetuates racism. Lack of jobs, education, and opportunity creates an endless cycle. A war on poverty is also a war on racism; this is the battle we need to be fighting, not a war against eachother.

Cultural Racism

Racism is part of the American psyche, woven into our collective history. It thrives in the South, but is by no means limited by geography. Stereotypes, played out again and again on television and movies, in music and the stories that the news decides to focus on, reinforce this kind of racism. This works both ways, too. In many black communities, there is a distrust of white people, of the police, and the feeling that not only is their voice not heard, but that it does not matter. This distrust, distaste, this sense of unfairness spills into the streets, simmering in the shadows until it explodes with violence.

Individual Racism

Each person must make the choice to be color-blind. It starts with us. If collectively we choose to see a person for who they are, not by the color of their skin or the clothes they wear or the car they drive, then racism will cease to plague the nation.

Closet racists are the worst. They fill a pew on Sunday morning and spew hatred on Sunday night. They choose sides, rather than choosing a person. They don’t consider themselves to be racist, yet their actions prove otherwise, their veiled condescension, the hypocrisy they wear like a coat. When the media seizes upon cases like Trayvon Martin or the killing in Ferguson, these are the people who assume that a kid deserved to die, rather than question their own beliefs or the facts of the case. They call in to talk shows like Rush Limbaugh, hide behind anonymity on social media, and broadcast hatred and division with snarky memes and mean headlines.

If this continues…

The country is becoming increasingly diverse. America has always been a melting pot, but it’s been the rich white folks who have made policy decisions since our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. As time goes on, the balance of power will shift. It’s already happening, and there is much screaming and gnashing of teeth over this fact. It’s inevitable, though. Within two generations, white folks are going to be in the minority.

There have been calls for civil war, revolt, secession, assassination and violence from extremists who are terrified of the changes coming to America. Rather than work within the system, they seem to want to break it entirely. This kind of thinking is seditious, dangerous, and gaining traction. As we move into the next election cycle, it’s going to get even worse.

We need to vote for responsible leaders, and do it in every single election.

But people are decent and good, for the most part...

The next generation will be better than mine. My kids don’t really see race. I think each subsequent generation will improve upon the one before, and that with time, the lingering vestiges of racism can be stamped out. It takes time, effort, and teaching our children. It takes honest dialogue and love for one another.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Check out my books on Amazon! Next year, The Tears of Abraham will be published, a novel about the coming American Civil War.

To Simply Be… A writer looks at fifty

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Sean T. Smith

I’ve struggled for decades to be happy. It’s a character flaw, and while sometimes I believe this makes me a better writer, I think at the end of the day, at the end of a lifetime, it means I’ve missed much, moments of contentment when I could simply be. I’ve been poor, and raged against the poverty, and let chances slip away. I’ve been fairly well off, and then there was always something else… the desire to have children, the yearning for recognition and success at another level. Always living with the feeling I’m missing some vital piece, which if I could obtain, would make me whole at last, make me smile down deep in my soul.

Maybe with the recognition of it, I can change on a fundamental level, but this flaw runs deep. I am blessed with wonderful children, and when I walked home alone from the bus stop a few minutes ago, the sun bright and the air cool, missing my boys already, I began to reflect on this thing within me. How it will feel in the not so distant future to be me.

When the swing set is silent and rusted and I am grey, when the patter of little feet no longer graces my life and the light in my eyes grows dim and I have those memories and pictures, what is it I will recall? How will I feel on those mornings, drinking a cup of coffee at my desk and staring at a computer screen and bleeding onto the page, remembering the things I should have paid better attention to in those fleeting moments, the things that matter. Trying to get the memory right.

My five year old coming to me with a Bernstein Bears book for his bed time story, happy and shining with pure love for me, a love I can never deserve because it is so true. Holding my baby, his head in the palm of my had because he is no longer than my forearm, dancing around the living room at three o’clock in the morning with him to sooth him back to sleep while Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons plays on the radio, and I am sleep deprived and worried about getting to work on time the next morning, but still dancing, still infused with a sense of wonder at this life I hold in my hands. My boys, the oldest ten now, decked out in army gear, complete with helmets, load bearing vests, holsters and assault rifles, running around the house shooting the attacking Russian zombie horde. In a year or two, he’ll be too old for that, and I miss it already.

Walking through the woods as a family, a tiny hand in mine, questions about the trees and wildlife, and the sunlight filtering through the canopy of Live Oaks and Spanish Moss and the air fresh and cool and golden. Such joy, such fleeting perfection.

Christmas morning, together with grandparents, all still with us now, the excitement electric in the air to see what Santa brought, toys and paper flying all over the floor beneath the tree, laughter sweet music. But was exhausted, stressed about money, tired of long days working in the cold and the rain, and I did not let that music in me the way I should have, not in a way that fills the soul. Looking back on it, it fills me and brings tears to my eyes, but when it was happening, I did not appreciate it enough.

There will always be another thing. A better job, a nicer car, keeping the lights on, selling more books, writing a masterpiece, drama with jerks, stormy weather, and bad traffic. Somewhere along the way, even the joy of writing itself has been dampened by the need to promote, to sell, to succeed. I resolve to do my part, but I am sure I can’t do it alone.

I’ve got a God-shaped hole, and the only way to find true, lasting happiness is to fill that with Him. Unless I do that, the world will forever be bereft of its proper color, faded and less vibrant.

When I look back years from now, I want to remember things as they were, not as I wish they had been. I’ve still got a chance at happiness, and it’s time I start living.

We The People

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Sean T. Smith

I love the United States of America; we are the greatest nation in the history of mankind, yet we are not the country that we were, nor the one we believe ourselves to be. America lost its light along the way.

America stopped Hitler. America invented rock and roll, the automobile, and the internet, and put men on the moon. We are a nation of innovators, fiercely independent, and hard working. We as a people were admired for standing for freedom and democracy. That is part of our heritage.seantsmithauthor.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/what-do-i-need-to-know.jpg”> Self-Compassion

America defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. (Not The Big shot, thank God.)

Those are defining moments as Americans, right? We stopped Stalin, King George, and Saddam Hussein. We helped rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II.

But…America became a nation by killing off the people that were actually Americans first. Whoops.

Along the way, America built a nation upon the backs of people who were enslaved. Slavery happened. People owned people. That’s also part of our heritage. This country would not exist as we know it without the push west at the expense of the Native Americans and the generations of slave trade and labor which built the agricultural base in the South.

I love America. I love the United States. We are not all one thing, though, either good or evil, nor have we ever been a homogenous society. In fact, our diversity is one of the things that made us great. We have been a champion of freedom and that which is good, but we have also committed atrocities and grave mistakes.

And now, while the United States consumes itself with bitter fire and ignorance, self righteousness and self- loathing at the same time, what is the truth of it? As a people, as Americans, can we recognize the difference between a patriot and a fool?

It’s harder than we think, and now a war within looms because we’re that idle and dumb. The patriots, who are not actually patriots but those who undermine the country with lies, ignorance, and hatred, are dangerous because many of them advocate open war, rebellion, and violence. And their numbers are growing.

The amount of misinformation being blasted over the airways and internet is mind-blowing. The truth seems hard to discern, and many people, it seems , prefer to believe lies, whether the lies we tell ourselves or the lies of others, than to look for the cold, hard truth. The truth, like the America itself, is not just one thing.

The United States strove to be a beacon of hope for the world, a “city on a hill,” and in many respects, the country succeeded in fulfilling the hopes of our founding fathers. It seems to me though, that we the people no longer strive for this ideal.

We watch videos of cuddly cats on the internet rather than try to learn something. We past memes on social media full of ignorance and hate because it is easier to click than it is to actually read. We are convinced we are right and that the other side is wrong, seldom listening to those who disagree with us, remaining in a bubble of ignorance.

The true patriot will listen, learn, and read a history book.

One of the building blocks of our democracy is compromise. Without it, the government cannot function, either at the national or local level. When politicians and voters become so entrenched in their beliefs that they are unwilling to bend, the whole system breaks down. The government now is a picture of this dysfunction. Unfortunately, the government reflects the will of the people, and we are divided.

The true patriot will strive for unity over division. The only way this great country will find its light again is if we the people become that light.

America At War… The Enemy is Us.

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Sean T. Smith

A ranty, political post…

Thomas Jefferson wrote that “the sheep are happier unto themselves than under the care of the wolves.” America is under attack, and while China is scary, they are not the greatest threat to our way of life, nor are terrorists or Russia. We have become our own worst enemy. Political, economic and racial rifts within the United States are like tectonic plates, storing up pressure and eagerly awaiting an earthquake. Unless the tension is relived, the ensuing chaos could consume us all.

Politics touches on the economic and racial problems. Politics touch a raw nerve, but the solution to the nation’s problems are less about politics than about community, common sense, and communication. I have many friends who are liberal and many who are conservative, and most of them don’t get nasty when it comes to discussing politics because they are able to see beyond the virulent rhetoric spewed in the media and by extremists on both sides. Compromise, not polarization is the solution.

The battle between conservatives and liberals has been waged since before the Constitution was ratified, and is not inherently destructive. There is a natural pendulum which swings back and forth, and our leaders should reflect the will of the people. The problem now is that politicians are so entrenched within party positions and dogma, compromise is almost impossible. We now have the most statistically ineffective Congress in U.S. history, and this is a reflection of the deeper problems within a divided nation.

The top 1% has turned the nation against itself with a genius Jedi Mind Trick. They have convinced the middle class that a class war is being waged against them by the lower class, and therefore the middle class should side with the jet set. Meanwhile CEOs write themselves million dollar bonus checks, ship jobs overseas, and manage to pay almost nothing in taxes. Some of the wealthiest international corporations are posting profits of more than a billion dollars, and have zero tax liability. Yet plenty of hard working, middle class people side with the yacht class. Go figure. It’s all a sleight of hand.

To distract us from the real issues, the corporate cabal zeros in on gun rights, abortion, entitlements, and a flagging economy while at the same time counting their money over cigars and Scotch on private jets. Meanwhile, the middle class battles against itself in between episodes of American Idol and Desperate Housewives. If indeed there is class warfare being waged, there is no doubt about who is winning and who is losing.

Reasoned, intelligent debate has been replaced by personal attacks, knee-jerk reactions, and sensationalized news which is designed to manipulate rather than inform.

The wolves are among us, and we need to open our eyes. Otherwise, we will eat ourselves.

Casting Objects of Wrath… silly fun.

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Sean T. Smith

People are always saying “gee, maybe your book will get made into a movie!” Well, it used to rankle me because, in my mind, the book is the goal, the final product. But then I succumbed to the insidious lure of dreaming about my characters on the big screen. And, I’ll admit, coming up with this dream cast was a lot of fun.

William Fox: Played by Liam Mcintyre

Ryder Fox, Jeffery Dean Morgan.

Elijah, Morgan Freeman.

Abraham, Anthony Mackie.

Colonel Duke Masterson: Robert Duval

Crtstal: Abigail Breslin

Angela: Saorise Roman

Chilli: Max Martini

Hawk: Jeremy Renner

Evelyn Masterson-Fox: Nicole Kidman

Gunny: Denzel Washington

THE BORDER BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL HAS ALWAYS BEEN BLOODY
After The Fall, the entire world is an open wound.
William flees with his family to Magnolia, a farm in Tennessee, while America descends into madness, anarchy, and despair. With help from Special Forces units and 101st Airborne troops, Magnolia emerges as beacon of hope and stability. But when a deadly biological weapon is unleashed, a new darkness stalks the Earth.
Is humanity doomed?
After The Fall, nothing is certain.

WRATH IS COMING!!! February 2014

The Next American Civil War

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Sean T. Smith

My fourth novel, The Tears of Abraham is speculative fiction, and I pray it stays that way. The first American Civil War cost more than six hundred thousand lives. The next one will be far worse.

I’ve been kicking this idea around for about six months, while working on the final book in my Wrath series. I read some articles about Texas wanting to secede from the Union, and at first I chuckled to myself. Folks in Texas are tough, and they’re already just about a country to themselves. They have the agricultural base, heavy industry, military assets, and fiercely independent mindset to make themselves a Republic, should the general population actually be in favor of it. What I dismissed at first as pure apocalyptic nightmare began to seem possible, though no less insane.

But what if the recession does not end? What if the cultural, racial, economic, and religious divides within the United States get worse with time?

What if the Republican Party does not heal itself, and the schism within the Party of Lincoln leads to an even more powerful Tea Party? With both sides gerrymandering districts to protect their power bases, there would be small incentive for moderation.. But on a national level, the Democratic Party would command more of the general vote, and maintain control of the White House, and probably gain seats in the House of Representatives. Much of the country would continue to feel the Federal Government did not truly represent their interests. The shrill rhetoric from the media on both sides of the political isle would increase, finding conflict and scandal to sell advertising.

The war will be about money, race, religion, and a deep difference of opinion of what government exists to do. The seeds have been planted already.

What would happen if Texas really left the Union? Much of the South might follow suit, along with chunks of the far West. To what lengths would the Federal government go to preserve the sanctity of our country? I love America, and the idea of a civil war terrifies me. The more I’ve researched the topic, the more worried I get. There are a whole bunch of angry people out there. Some of them seem to actually yearn for war. I don’t think it will come to that. I have faith, not in politicians, but in the innate common sense of the American people. I hope that in the coming decade, this decency wins out over hatred.

Lincoln was willing to fight to preserve the Union. I wonder what will happen the next time. I don’t know yet, but there will be tears. Of that, I am certain.