Doug Armey
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Author, Entrepreneur, Adventurer, World TravelerNov 7
What is your opinion on the way Zelensky is handling the war in Ukraine?

Zelensky was an actor and comedian. He played the President of Ukraine
on a TV show.

Then, really as a joke, he ended up running for President and was
elected. Ukrainian friends were horrified for the future of their country.

When Russia invaded Ukraine they thought he would turn and run. The U.S.
offered to evacuate him and his family.

Russia and the world thought Kiev would collapse within a week as the
fearsome Russian army rolled into Ukraine.

Yet, something totally unexpected happened. The actor truly became the
President. The comedian truly became the resistance leader.

The leader of Russia hid in his bunker far from the front lines and sat
meters away from his own officers in fear. While the leader of Ukraine
wore an armored vest and walked the war torn cities with his troops.

And while the fearsome war machine of Russia attacked, Zelensky like
Churchill, rallied his people to fight back and never give up.

Has Ukraine made mistakes? Of course.

Is there too much corruption in Ukraine? Perhaps.

Could they have conducted the war better? Battle is foggy. Hind sight is
always crystal clear.

Yet, Zelensky is the man of the hour inspiring and leading Ukraine.

And, in a way, the whole world.

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"a425couple" wrote in message news:YRN4N.2329$cnze.1886@fx35.iad...

Reagan was an actor who became US President and bluffed the USSR out of
existence.

I suspect that much of success in politics depends on acting skill, the
ability to persuade. One of the best actors I ever knew was prosecuting a
murderer by day and playing one on stage at night, the vicious criminal Bill
Sykes in "Oliver!".

On 11/14/23 09:37, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On 11/14/23 09:37, Jim Wilkins wrote:
> "a425couple" wrote in message news:YRN4N.2329$cnze.1886@fx35.iad...
>
> Reagan was an actor who became US President and bluffed the USSR out
of existence.
>
> I suspect that much of success in politics depends on acting skill,
the ability to persuade. One of the best actors I ever knew was ----
>

Yes
Ability to communicate so people want to hear it, is huge.
I was always a great fan of George H. W. Bush. Privileged,
but gave that up to volunteer and became a war hero.
Earned his own money in the private sector. Did very
good spells in government service. Very smart, very
knowledgeable, very good judgement.

But although POTUS Reagan was not nearly such,
and much less intellectually curious, he did a great
job of pointing to the important goals and
keeping the citizens interested in following.

"a425couple" wrote in message news:5i85N.60751$wvv7.43424@fx14.iad...

Yes
Ability to communicate so people want to hear it, is huge.

--------------------------------

Actors learn (or should) to extemporize, to speak ad lib without a script,
and so do politicians.

My favorite example is the phone ringing (in rehearsal) at the wrong time in
a scene between two men. The quicker thinking of them picked it up, listened
a moment and then said "it's for you".

Supposedly in Iron Man the scene between Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth
Paltrow in his office was storyboarded for the visuals, without dialog, and
they made up the very clever banter themselves.

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news:uj0b9t$1aojh$1@dont-email.me...

> Reagan ... bluffed the USSR out of existence.

My direct source for "Star Wars" bankrupting them was well-informed Russians
selling militaria at US gun shows. I got them talking freely by looking
interested, and bought several WW2 medals and Space Force shoulder patches
etc from them.

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

"The Soviet Space Troops date back to February 12, 1955, ..."

"From the beginning in the Soviet Union Space exploration was a military
activity (unlike in the United States where it was the province of the
civilian NASA)."

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18187/here-is-the-soviet-unions-secret-space-cannon/

"Until 1982, the USSR orbited a total of seven space stations under the name
Salyut, but three of these were actually Almaz spy stations. The Western
intelligence and independent observers quickly figured out which was which,
...."

A friend's job was tracking and identifying new Soviet launches.