Director Daghir’s planned a European tour for our Meistersingers Class of 1962. “October 27, 1961, American and Soviet tanks faced off in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie.” Our European Tour cancelled. June 2025, a unified Russia-Whitehouse threatens the USA.

I was a member of the “Red Men” singing group. The female half was called “Bell Tones” both were part of Director Gerald Daghir’s Meistersingers of Coatesville High School. 

The beginning of our romance:

We had a Bell Tones and Red Men concert. Afterwards hot chocolate was available. I got hot chocolate for Betsy and spilled it on her frilly white Bell Tones dress. We were married in 1966.

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“On October 27, 1961, combat-ready American and Soviet tanks faced off in Berlin at the U.S. Army's Checkpoint Charlie. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over access to the outpost city of Berlin and its Soviet-controlled eastern sector had increased to the point of direct military confrontation…

U.S. ARMY

Standoff in Berlin, October 1961

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“Britain has pledged to increase military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2027, paid for by diverting funds from overseas aid. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has set a goal of 3 percent within a decade, though he has refused to give a more specific date without knowing where the money will come from.

Ramping up to 5 percent, analysts say, would necessitate politically painful trade-offs for Britain, which is already dealing with straitened public finances. Britain currently spends 2.3 percent of its economic output on defense, more than France or Germany but less than the United States, at about 3.4 percent.

“It’s not up to me to decide how countries pay the bill,” Mr. Rutte said to an audience at Chatham House, a research organization in London. He said that Britain could opt not to meet the 5 percent target and, “you could still have the National Health Service” and other public services.

“But you better learn to speak Russian,” Mr. Rutte warned.

Without a more credible military deterrent, he said, Russia could mount an effective offensive against NATO in five years. Russia, Mr. Rutte noted, was producing ammunition at four times the rate of NATO, though its stockpiles are growing more slowly because it is using so much in its war on Ukraine.

Citing Russia’s devastating air attacks on Kyiv and other cities, Mr. Rutte called on Britain and other members to increase production of air and missile defense systems by 400 percent. He also said they needed to produce thousands more tanks and armored vehicles, and millions of additional artillery shells.

Mr. Rutte, who met earlier with Mr. Starmer, declined to say whether they discussed the spending target, though he lavished praise on the Labour government for its strategic defense review, published last week, which recommended ambitious investments in weaponry and military infrastructure.”

MORE AT:

The New York Times

NATO Chief Urges Members to Spend Far More on Military

“Learn to speak Russian,” the secretary-general of the alliance warned nations unwilling to make politically unpopular budget decisions.

By Mark Landler

Reporting from London

June 9, 2025

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Trump oddly squeamish under questioning about contact with Putin 

MSNBC

506,016 views  Feb 19, 2025  #Putin #Trump #Russia

Rachel Maddow assembles a collection of clips showing Donald Trump's strangely spooked reaction to questions about his contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and ponders the political fallout for Trump as he realigns the United States against traditional friends and forges new ties with Russia, North Korea, and China. 

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"President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.

'This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”

MORE AT:

The Washington Post

 Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador

Greg Jaffe May 15, 2017