This Is The Most Sappy Sentimental...

 ... piece of shit "journalism" I read in a long time. 

An expanding NATO uses its diversity as strength. Member troops know Russia is watching

It continues with:  

ABOARD THE FRENCH FRIGATE NORMANDIE (AP) — The French navy frigate, bristling with weaponry and powering through frigid Norwegian seas not so far from Russia, awoke at 7:30 a.m. sharp to what, in the circumstances, was a surreal sound. The 1967 “ Summer of Love " hippie anthem “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" was playing over the warship's public address system. Singer Scott McKenzie's voice reverberated through the passageways starting to bustle with sailors clutching coffee mugs: “All across the nation, such a strange vibration, people in motion." It was a slice of Americana rousing one of France's most modern fighting vessels, beginning another day under Italian command, in war games involving 13 nations. And that, in a nutshell, is NATO: a multinational alliance built around the idea that its 32 countries spread across three continents could turn their diversity into strength and fight as one if the need arose.

I agree, the song is beautiful, I love it myself. But the problem with all that is in the fact that Russia doesn't care about "diversity" and she is, indeed, watching. Watching on part of Russia means Russia receiving real time intelligence, which automatically translates in tracking and targeting and no NATO ship, smallest or largest, has any means to stop a salvo of hypersonic (or even supersonic missiles such as Kh-32) missiles if Russia decides that NATO wants to start the war. Poor, poor dears. Once whatever will be left of US ISR in, God forbid, case of war and the remaining recon systems will register the take off MiG-31K and TU-22M3M, I have a suggestion for the tune to be played: 

Now, if only someone would explain to the author of this cringe-inducing BS, the graduate of the University of Leeds with B.A. in Modern Chinese Studies, that he should go back to writing about sports or for teenage magazines and avoid expressing his opinions on matters of combat readiness and targeting... of diversity. Yak...

 

P.S. History has it that Royal Navy's seamen, I believe from HMS Sir Galahad which was hit by Argentinian bombs in 1982, upon ending up in the cold waters, while grabbing to all kinds of flotation devices, many burnt and wounded, still sang "Always look at the bright side of life" from Monty Python. That's the spirit and heroism I can respect and admire. But then again--different times and that Great Britain doesn't exist anymore.

It Is Friday Before 9th.

Rosatom (yes the largest nuclear energy corporation in the world) couple of years ago started the incredible project of people who are employees of Russia's nuclear energy expressing themselves musically, singing the songs which really matter. Later real music stars joined. Today they sang the most important one of them all. Dark Is The Night.  

Dark night, only bullets are whistling in the steppe,
Only the wind is wailing through the telephone wires, stars are faintly flickering ...
In the dark night, my love, I know you are not sleeping,
And, near a child's crib, you secretly wipe away a tear.
How I love the depths of your gentle eyes,
How I long to press my lips to them!
This dark night separates us, my love,
And the dark, troubled steppe has come to lie between us.
I have faith in you, in you, my sweetheart.
That faith has shielded me from bullets in this dark night ...
I am glad, I am calm in deadly battle:
I know you will meet me with love, no matter what happens.
Death is not terrible, we've met with it more than once in the steppe ...
And here it looms over me once again,
You await my return, sitting sleepless near a cradle,
And so I know that nothing will happen to me!  

This one, however, was universal. 

Original--Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer: