Imagine Dying For This

Death In Kramatorsk 

Last week in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, a restaurant frequented by foreign military volunteers was hit by Russian missiles. Video from the aftermath showed young men with American accents and other indications of being former American servicemen (U.S. military tattoos, American flag decals) tending to the wounded. One of the Americans lamented that many of his fellow soldiers were under the rubble. 

Over the weekend, we got confirmation that at least one American military volunteer had been killed in the strike. 

It's difficult to get an accurate count of American military volunteers who have been killed in the Ukraine War, but this young Marine was certainly not the first. 

What Were They Fighting For?

Presumably, these young men had good, idealistic reasons for volunteering in the Ukraine War. Perhaps they felt they were defending democracy, or defending a smaller country against a larger one. But Ukraine isn't currently much of a democracy, 

And while Russia is certainly larger than Ukraine, Ukraine has been backed to the hilt by the strongest and wealthiest military alliance in the world, NATO. The U.S. alone has sent aid to Ukraine totaling more than Russia's annual military budget. 

What Does NATO Stand For?

Since NATO has turned what was essentially a civil war between cousins in Eastern Ukraine into a proxy war against Russia, it's worth asking what NATO stands for. It clearly doesn't stand for democracy, as it tolerates its proxy Ukraine's antidemocratic moves, and it includes autocratic Turkey as one of its members. 

So what are NATO's current core principles? One way to think about core principles is what you stand for, even if it costs you. What does NATO's largest military organization stand for? 

It doesn't stand for competence anymore. 

And while Americans were mourning the loss of their loved ones, America's Department of Defense was celebrating a low-effort transgender officer. 

It doesn't seem worth dying for this. Hopefully Americans currently risking their lives in Ukraine will decide to come home and let soldiers whose values are more aligned with NATO's like Maj. "Rachel" Jones take their place at the front. 

In Case You Missed It

To wrap this post up on a positive note, our top ten names finished the first half of the year strong. 

You can read more about their performance, and the performance of our hedged portfolios constructed from them here. And if you'd like a heads up when we post this week's top ten names, feel free to subscribe to our trading Substack/occasional email list below. 

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