WFFJ-TV

By:  David Deschesne
Editor/Publisher,
Fort Fairfield Journal
March 8, 2023

Maine is a very eclectic state. For decades we have affectionately referred to “the two Maines” meaning everything Bangor-north is one Maine with one set of mostly rural, conservative ideologies and south of Bangor made up of predominantly hard left socialist Democrats who have moved in from Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, thus corrupting our state with their failed, progressive ideologies.

In a way we have a sort of microcosm of that dichotomy in the northern tip of Northern Maine called the St. John Valley.
The St. John Valley is composed of the large towns of Madawaska and Fort Kent and the smaller towns of St. David, Wallagrass, Van Buren and perhaps by extension even Eagle Lake.

While technically part of Maine, the St. John Valley actually has more in common with our neighbor, Canada. The Valley is predominantly Roman Catholic, which is the religion on the other side of the border. Many there also speak the Acadian French that many in Canada do. Over the decades of marriages, there are now extended relatives of families living on both sides of the border. The heritage, history and culture of the Valley is inexplicably intertwined with their Canadian friends and relatives quite literally on the other side of the St. John River.

Now, suppose one day a world superpower who was hostile to Canada interfered with Maine’s elections and got a governor elected who was essentially their puppet—a proxy governor to do the bidding of that superpower. Canada would certainly not be impressed and the folks in the St. John Valley would be so furious that they would declare their independence from the State of Maine and withdraw their financial support and political leaders from the state capitol.

This of course would make the establishment government angry since our system has evolved to believe independence from coercive authoritarianism is somehow “illegal.” So, a long, protracted battle ensues.

First, that battle is with words and politics but it soon disintegrates into its most base form—military aggression.
The puppet governor in Augusta begins launching guerilla warfare attacks on the people of the St. John Valley in order to intimidate them into rejoining Maine and giving up their hopeless quest for independence. Might, after all, makes right—in the mind of an authoritarian.

The St. John Valley folks are a proud and stubborn lot and they hold their ground. But, the intensity heats up and literal missile and rocket attacks begin to be launched by the politicians in Augusta.

During this time, perhaps seven or eight years, the foreign superpower has informally agreed to form a military alliance with Maine in order to place their military assets closer to Canada. This, of course, is not allowed by our current U.S. Constitution which bans states from joining in military alliances with each other or with foreign powers (see Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3) but politicians these days don’t really follow the rules of the Constitution, anymore.

The military aggression heats up against the St. John Valley as they continually suffer rocket and missile attacks, car bombings and assassination attempts. The leaders of Madawaska and Fort Kent petition Canada to step in to help defend them but Canada holds off, not wanting to cross the border at this time. However, they do share the grief and frustration of their friends and family members in the Valley.

Now, a time comes in this hypothetical example that the foreign superpower ramps up talks with Augusta to bring Maine formally into a military alliance and thus place large amounts of military assets in Maine in order to threaten and intimidate their real enemy, Canada.

All this time, there have been political talks and even a formal agreement to cease hostilities against the St. John Valley but, predictably, the governor of Augusta reneges on the deal.

At this point, the Canadian government says enough is enough and begins to amass its military on the border, readying it to cross over and defend the people of the St. John Valley.

Finally, a time comes soon thereafter when it appears all hope is lost for a peaceful resolution and Canada then breaches the U.S. border and comes in to the St. John Valley and sets up a defensive line.

The media in the international community is outraged because they have chosen sides with the military superpower that is overtaking Maine. They report how Canada has “invaded” Maine and declared war when no such thing has happened. Canada simply recognized the St. John Valley as an independent state and chose to help defend it militarily.

A few months pass as military aggression against the St. John Valley and, by extension, Canada heats up. A time then comes where Canada helps the people of the St. John Valley hold a special referendum that would merge that geographical location with Canada, where it was before the current border was drawn up.

The St. John Valley voters vote to join Canada as a sovereign province and the course of the battle changes from one that is purely defensive to one that is offensive. Because now, with the St. John Valley as a part of Canada, an attack on those people is the same as an attack on Canada.

A long, protracted war ensues.

The Metaphor
This of course is a metaphor crafted with a great deal of editorial license for what’s been happening in Ukraine over the past eight years.

When you think of the Donbas region in Ukraine, think of the St. John Valley here in Maine though on a larger scale. When you think of the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk (and their respective provinces of the same names) think of Fort Kent and Madawaska.

While Western media portrays Russia as the aggressor, they ignore the fact that a U.S. led coup in the Ukrainian government in 2014, directed by Obama’s State Department and CIA, led to a hot civil war between the globalist-friendly Western portion of Ukraine against its own citizens in Eastern Ukraine who happen to be more aligned with their neighbors in Russia.

Just at the people in the St. John Valley share tradition, customs, religion and familial ties with Canada, the people of the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine share those same ties with Russia. The Donbas region, which was once a part of Russia, is composed of people who primarily speak Russian, attend the Russian Orthodox Church (which is essentially a Catholic style religion but with no ties to Rome). They are intermarried and share deep family ties, culture and conservative family values with their Russian neighbors.

For the past 8 years, the U.S.-led and financed Ukrainian government has been bombing, shelling and launching rocket attacks against its own citizens in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine utilizing the pro-NAZI Azov Battalion as the primary aggressor force. When Joe Biden escalated the mantra of allowing that mess into NATO, which would have been a direct threat to Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin finally entered that civil war to liberate the newly recognized republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and to secure a buffer area that would not be under NATO control. The globalists then seized this opportunity to impose sanctions on Russia, which ultimately had little effect, in order to provide a cover story for the implementation of their “Build Back Better” program of wholesale deindustrialization of the West and returning the citizenry therein to a lifestyle reminiscent of serfs in medieval times deprived of food, fuel, medicine and basic necessities whilst the globalists set themselves up as the new kings and feudal overlords.

The people of the Donbas region ultimately voted to merge with Russia late last summer and that’s when the military assistance provided by Russia changed from a defensive “special military operation” into the full scale war that is going on today.

Now, an attack on the Donbas is equivalent to an attack on Russia and Russia, which is very good at fighting wars, is now taking steps to neutralize the threats being caused by the Western powers of the U.S., U.K, Germany, et al. as those countries fight a war against Russia using Ukrainian soldiers as their proxy fighters.

The Western, corporate media has chosen a side in this war because they have deep financial ties with the corporations who sell the military hardware and armaments. For now over a year, the Western media has been errantly reporting how Russia is failing and Russia is at the end of its rope, when in reality, the weaker and ill-equipped Ukrainian military has been decimated; being ground down piece by piece in nearly every battle it engaged in.

The U.S. truly is fighting this war against Russia “to the last Ukrainian” but it’s not going the way they thought it would. The political handlers who control Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress thought their elitist economic sanctions would quickly do Russia in. But, Russia had been preparing to cut financial ties with the West for years and has essentially built its own parallel economy and financial/internet infrastructure, so the West has little control over them at this point.

The elites who control Washington and the E.U. are now at a loss of what to do. They are flailing around trying to figure out a game plan as the establishment media continues to run cover for them until they can figure something out.
A full-on war using American soldiers would not be politically or militarily feasible since today’s woke U.S. military has been so watered down in its warfighting ability, while also suffering severe shortages of personnel.

Where this all goes remains to be seen, but a “victory” for Ukraine, where they get back all their territory and join NATO is now essentially a dream wrapped up in a fairy tale.