"And if we aren't careful, what happened in a simulation could happen if a NATO-Russia war erupts over Ukraine.". al-Qaeda Bulad's story is a symbol of the chaotic U.S. policy toward Syria and its unintended consequences. Jeffrey and Rayburn then met with politicians in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan to discuss opening a route for Delta Crescent Energy to export the oil,The New Republiclater reported. Trump's pullout of Americans from Syria following his deal with Erdoan was short-lived. The Kurds have been left in a deadly limbo, unable to count on U.S. protection from Turkey but also blocked from looking to outside powers for help. You've lived through that. In the aftermath of former President Donald Trumps election, Thomas E. Ricks Sacha Baron Cohen stars as real-life Mossad agent Eli Cohen, who worked undercover in Syria with the secret identity as Kamel Amin Thaabet and worked his way up to become the Arab country's deputy defense minister in the years leading to the 1967 Six-Day War. Fortunately, this hero got his medal -- just 58 years late. But ever fewer Americans believe its size and power are going to save it anymore. There's been a gruesome war underway in Ethiopia for a couple of years now. He's a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter. At the top of that list is Glen Powell ("Top Gun: Maverick," "Devotion"), but there's also Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men"), Logan Marshall-Green ("Upgrade"), Sam Spruell ("Outlaw King") and Beau Knapp ("The Good Lord Bird"). Serial 89, 18th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document No. Hot take: The original 1986 classic may be one of the most iconic military movies ever made, but now it plays like a prequel to the even better 2022 movie "Top Gun: Maverick." U.S. policy, in other words, was not only to refuse to protect the Kurds but also to deny them protection from others. Assad's forces lost control of much of the country in this time. Sound familiar? The people in charge have decided their primary job is to decide who you should hate. War Room, a show hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, is distributed by a fledgling news network called Real America's Voice. How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they're handing over tothe Ukrainians? Director Spike Lee offers a Vietnam War-era twist on the WWII heist story of "troops who hide Nazi gold and plan to go back." Its so great to Aidan Bryant. He seeks strategic territorial expansion, the We failed to prevent massive displacement of people, internally in Syria and of course externally as refugees. If this country is invaded and everybody's saying, "Well, we got to evacuate, we got to leave. "I appreciate and admire President Zelenskyy's desire to join NATO." Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. He shouldn't be giving our tax dollars to that country anyway. It's Russia. But we should prepare to lose our position as holder of the world's reserve currency. "Valor" premiered on The CW network in the fall of 2017, the same time that "SEAL Team" premiered on CBS. By late 2015, Russian jets and combat troops were also in the country.. (Note: Ongoing wars are indicated in That means the United States is now an active participant in a war. We should have paid more attention. That is happening in slow motion. SAVING UKRAINE: LOOKING FOR A WORLD LEADER TO STAND UP, In this photo, Feb. 27, 2022, taken from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the nation in Kyiv, Ukraine. How many of the first stories were true? Fortunately, this hero got his medal -- just 58 years late. President Donald Trump inherited this awkwardly stitched-together policy and added in an element of chaos. Yeah, take the oil. There was a substantial amount of footage cut from the version released in 1979. Instead, Twitter and Facebook are proudly censoring any information that might "undermine trust in Ukrainian government." The era of America the superpower is being tested in new ways across the globe. Nord Stream 2 was in the process of coming on stream and would have doubled the supply to Europe. Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox. The fighting in Ukraine is terrible, of course, you're seeing it happen. Bryce Mitchell may not have good grammar, but he understands exactly what's going on here, even if the people who claim to represent him and our country have no idea. There's a new winner of America's Got Talent: All-Stars in town! "Medal of Honor" should've been a long-running series for Netflix, but the streaming service only made one season with eight episodes released in 2018. The second, the war against the Islamic Statewhich sought to fix problems partially created by the firstsucceeded only when the administration set limited goals, employed modest means, and relied on a campaign led by locals. That's odd. Hot take: The original 1986 classic may be one of the most iconic military movies ever made, but now it plays like a prequel to the even better 2022 movie "Top Gun: Maverick." The Trump administration had managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We talked to someone in the energy business this morning, energy traders, to get a little perspective on this. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference in Brussels on March 4, 2022. Hollywood movie directors John Ford ("The Searchers"), William Wyler ("The Best Years of Our Lives"), John Huston ("The African Queen"), Frank Capra ("It Happened One Night") and George Stevens ("Shane") all volunteered for service and made some of the most compelling films about combat during the era. No one who farms has ever seen anything like this. So, we have to make sure Ukraine has the means toresist. Lets start with some good news. To make matters more complicated, foreign companies are forbidden from dealing with the oil under European and U.S. economic sanctions. "He never set up a bureaucratic process to actually implement what he wants to do.". This is a list of wars and rebellions involving the United States of America. An American submarine carries about 96 nuclear warheads and they're each about 10 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb that killed 100,000 people in 1945. Why would the Ukrainian government's fight in 2016 possibly be our fight? It works. Every streaming platform needs its own documentary that tells the story of the rise of the Third Reich, and Netflix delivers on the Evil Hitler front. Fentanyl pills. That's a very strange thing for an American lawmaker to say to a foreign military. Well, needless to say, oil prices would jump likely to over a $150 a barrel, even higher prices for you, but then if that boycott spread and moral boycotts tend to and Europe joined it, buckle your seatbelt. Miss Ukraine with a rifle defending her homeland. That is a disgrace. At the same time, Syria's long-oppressed Kurdish minority was starting to take up arms. Now, Republicans in Washington, to their eternal shame, have no problem with any of this. U.S. diplomats were flying blind when it came to the region, according to Ford, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. They're making this war possible. Via ABC News: President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to a Black Army Special Forces Pompeo put two hawkish officials in charge of Syria policy: James Jeffrey, a veteran cold warrior who had served as U.S. ambassador to both Turkey and Iraq, and Joel Rayburn, a retired Army officer who had helped advise the U.S. military "surge" in Iraq. With minimal U.S. involvementmostly in the form of military advisers and air supportthe coalition sliced the Islamic State into pieces. I thought thats where we were going here, Jean-Pierre joked. Now, maybe you support a war against Russia anyway, but you should at least know that you're being lied to and manipulated, which you are. What are we watching here, apart from a conversation between two incredibly shallow people who have limited contact with reality? We've got to take the oil.' So, with those facts in mind, the Biden administration's behavior in the days before the Ukraine invasion tells you a lot about what motivated them. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File). (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File), Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP). Why? Intervention in the Somali Civil War, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, A Company, 101st Airborne Division Special Troop Battalion, Escalation of sectarian insurgency after U.S. withdrawal, American intervention in the War in North-West Pakistan, Second U.S. Well, it's worrisome. They're the opposite of what you want. Tucker Carlson: Russia-Ukraine war is causing moral panic. What it is and how to develop it fully through being Stew Smith and LTC Nick Barringer (USA) PhD in Nutrition / Dietitian / CSCS discuss nutrition for joint health New Year - New Habits! So, the invasion was no surprise to the Biden administration. Ever heard of it? The long term picture of war with Russia is even scarier than that. He argued that U.S. leaders should demand "some kind of political transition that reflects the desires of the Syrian people" and said that it was "virtually impossible" to imagine normalizing relations with Assad's government. Could it be a pyrrhic victory? There's been so much political corruption in that area. Published on February 27, 2023 10:00 PM. There's enough military viewing here on Netflix to last most of us a long, long time. Top Gun. It could be wise to believe him. Via ABC News: President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to a Black Army Special Forces hero from the Vietnam War who has waited close to 60 years to receive the nation's top award for valor after the Army said the paperwork couldn't be found. That's the question for the rest of us who had no role in making these decisions. Don't think about it. | It's totally normal, says the Biden administration. NATO members also recently agreed to a new cost-sharing formula that will result in Germany and the U.S. paying an equal shareapproximately 16%of NATOs American weapons flowed to the Kurds, while about 400 U.S. Marines joined the front lines in Raqqa, the first-ever conventional U.S. boots on the ground in Syria. But the administration did not want the Syrian Kurds to turn to Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime for help, which would undo years of efforts to roll back the influence of Assad and his allies. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Tom Hanks won Best Actor, and the movie was named Best Picture and picked up four more awards that night. These are designed to map out what would happen if various countries fell into conflict with one another. What we're watching is the beginning of a war between the United States and Russia. They were led by a left-wing guerrilla group called the People's Defense Units (YPG). U.S. officials "looked at Bashar al-Assad as a hapless dictator who was not going to survive any of this," says Frederic Hof, who served as an envoy for Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations at the time. SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN: No, that gets a green light. MLB.TV is a great option for anyone who doesn't live in their favorite team's broadcast area. Moscows armies took over the city on March 2, It's Gary Sinise's performance as Lt. Dan that sticks with viewers three decades later, even though the actor didn't win the Oscar he deserved. Supported by: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The Biden administration just inserted itself with force into the middle of a hot war between two foreign powers. For a list of wars that have been fought on the United Kingdom Iran soon began sending military advisers, volunteers, and mercenaries to back Assad. People always do have multiple motives, but that's the main reason Russia invaded. Both saw Iran rather than the Islamic State as America's greatest enemy in the Middle East. Your presence has turned everyone else in Syria against us," Abdi responded, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable leaked to CNN. U.S. troops eventually moved back in, including to areas near the Turkish border now guarded by the Russians. They're history changing, actually and if you don't believe it, check out commodity prices. In late Jan. 2022, the U.S. military backed Kurdish-led SDF forces in an operation to regain control from IS of the Hasaka prison in northeast Syria, the largest attack that IS had committed since 2019. The chaos also allowed religious fundamentalists to take a prominent role in the Syrian opposition. These policies have driven Russia, China, India, Turkey and other countries to accelerate their flight from the U.S. dollar. March 11, 2021 Ryan Morgan Last fall, the U.S. Air Force played out a war scenario with China, in which China begins its attack by deploying a biological weapon throughout the Indo-Pacific region. He wrote about this the other day in The Federalist. No coverage. The US is heading for a civil war Today, the US is much closer to the conditions that led to its Civil War in 1861 than most Americans would dare admit. United Arab Emirates Other alumni of the program, including the Hamza Division, went on to fight as mercenaries throughout the regionturning up, eventually, in Nagorno-Karabakh. It wasn't. Vladimir Putin just invaded Ukraine because he didn't want Ukraine to join NATO. We are at war with Russia. The liars have perfect cover. They began a "maximum pressure" campaign meant to roll back Iranian influence across the region, which included forcing Iranian troops out of Syria. In other words, the continued U.S. presence has induced Russia to play good-cop, bad-cop with the Kurds. And yet his prescription was more of the same. In fact, many of them are more for war with Russia than Joe Biden seems to be. "SEAL Team" went on to become one of the most popular military shows of all time, but "Valor" crashed and burned after 13 episodes. | But its location is important. Tucker Carlson currently serves as the host of FOX News Channels (FNC) Tucker Carlson Tonight (weekdays 8PM/ET). Published on February 27, 2023 10:00 PM. The Biden administration may not change other aspects of the strategy, either. Yesterday morning, Joe Biden's secretary of state, a man called Tony Blinken, went on to the Sunday show over at CBS News to announce new policy toward Russia. Qatar Underneath, patriotic hashtags. This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the March 7, 2022 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight.". "We would hear, 'I have 5,000 men'and it turned out there would be like 20," said former Middle East envoy Brett McGurk during a October 2019 speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. McGurk stayed on as the White House's point man for military operations in Syria and Iraq, and Trump signed off on his roadmap, with a few important adjustments. Batteries aren't going to supply it. So what would those countries be? On Thursday, we told you that Russian forces had bombed a nuclear reactor in Ukraine. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff Tasked with repairing broken water systems, the group attempts to recruit locals to aid in the rebuilding and speed up their mission. The Trump administration was willing to allow Turkey to invade northern Syria. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. It had just happened. The series is in English, so those allergic to subtitles have nothing to worry about. "Your fight is our fight." Consumers see this most at the gas pump. And of course, Vladimir Putin did that just days later. Ahed Al Hendi, a Syrian-American activist who works with the SDF, called Pompeo's announcement premature. It was almost all lies, but you didn't know that at the time because you were busy being yelled at. Kazianis is a foreign policy analyst in Washington. Fight to the death to defend what you love, your people, your family, your country, to defend it. All kidding aside, this is one of the better entries in the Nazi documentary genre. American officials described the Kurds' mini-war with Turkey as a "distraction," but the conflict would later become a major headache for the United States. Published on February 27, 2023 10:00 PM. It no longer is because truth is no longer the point. It could turn out to be a pivot point in history and for that reason, we want you to know entire exchange. Troops in Afghanistan now down to 2,500, lowest since 2001: Pentagon", "Remarks by President Biden on Afghanistan", "The U.S. military finishes its evacuation, and an era ends in Afghanistan", "Taliban a 'major U.S. arms dealer' after weaponry left behind in Afghanistan, watchdog warns", "Sectarian divisions change Baghdad's image", "Army's long-awaited Iraq war study finds Iran was the only winner in a conflict that holds many lessons for future wars", "Iran expands regional 'empire' ahead of nuclear deal", "The JRTN Movement and Iraq's Next Insurgency | Combating Terrorism Center at West Point", "Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. With Russian troops amassed by the thousands on the Ukrainian border, Joe Biden sent Kamala Harris, the least capable diplomat in Washington, to explain America's policy to European heads of state. But in fact, it's not typical. Alleged support: AustraliaChinaColombiaIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaNew ZealandOmanPakistanRussiaSaudi ArabiaSeychellesSingaporeSomaliaSouth KoreaUkraine, CJTF-OIR Members:AustraliaNew ZealandBelgiumCanadaDenmarkFranceGermanyItalyJordanMoroccoNetherlandsTurkeyUnited Kingdom, Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria An unnamed Ukrainian official claimed that radiation levels in the area had risen. We got.." I will not. That's Coppola's preferred version now. "I talked to General Mazloum yesterday, with the SDF," Graham said. At the same time, the U.S. military was trying to work with other Syrian rebel groups. The border we care about is Ukraine's. Islamic State in Somalia January 25, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST War Room, a show hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, is distributed by a fledgling news network called Real America's Voice. By 2018, Turkey was extremely unhappy with the growing power of the SDF, which it saw as an extension of the PKK. LEAVING UKRAINE: THE DIFFICULT DECISION FOR SOME TO FLEE THEIR HOMELAND AMID RUSSIAN INVASION, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin during their meeting in Moscow, Russia (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP). Please feel free to, Talk Title:"Microengineered tissues for regenerative medicine and organs-on-a-chip applications", IEEE CAS Charles Desoer Life Science Systems Student Attendance Grant, Assistive, Rehabilitation, and Quality of Life Technologies, Bio-inspired and Neuromorphic Circuits and Systems, Biofeedback, Electrical Stimulation, and Closed-Loop Systems, Biomedical Imaging Technologies & Image Processing, Innovative Circuits for Medical Applications, Medical Information Systems and Bioinformatics, Wireless and Energy Harvesting/Scavenging Technology. That's not good for anyone, except those benefiting from it. James Kennedy. So did Turkey and Qatar, who saw the uprisings of the Arab Spring as a way to increase their own influence. He's also being investigated by the British government and the CIA, who both have questions about his loyalty. Netflix has a massive catalog of movies and shows, and sometimes it's hard to find exactly what you want to watch. This list can help you cut through the war movie noise and get to the good stuff. Viewed through these lenses alone, the future looks bright. Emma Camp Trump's advisers were hoping they could keep U.S. forces in Syria to fight Assad without angering Turkeyall while appearing to bring American troops home. Josephina, Doocy said. All rights reserved. Supported by: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Yemen Province, Revolutionary Committee/Supreme Political Council. American forces would stay in the short term to help implement the plan. Other countries lined up more forcefully behind the anti-Assad opposition. , The Limits of Remote Warfare: Aligning Values with Interests, Polands Position on International Law and Cyber Operations: Sovereignty and Third-Party Countermeasures. The deal would bring Turkish troops into northern Syria as part of an international peacekeeping force, which could push the Kurdish YPG away from the border. "Either you stop this bombing [by Turkey] on our people now, or move aside so we can let in the Russians.". That means the United States is now an active Margaritaville at Sea is a 1,680-passenger cruise ship that first started sailing early this year. It was "overwhelmed by support provided by regional actors such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey," Hof says. The explosions that took place on September 26, 2022, stopped the flow of Russian gas, and left hundreds of millions of Europeans facing the prospects of a cold winter. Joelle Goldstein. Of course. Now you may support everything that Tony Blinken just said. Can it get worse than that? It's why the tech companies have censored so many news sites recently, including from Russia, but not exclusively from Russia. Aidan Bryant. Maybe you do support it, but let's not lie about what's happening. It's n progress as we speak. From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion But is it possible these same techniques might be used someday against someplace or somebody that you care about? Trump may have criticized America's interventions abroad during the 2016 election, but his administration picked up almost exactly where Obama had left off. Hard as it is to believe in this time of record pandemic deaths, insurrection, and an unprecedented encore impeachment, Joe Biden is now To repeat, in order to wage a moral boycott, we become more dependent on Saudi Arabia, governed by Sharia law; Iran, a rogue state; and Maduro's Venezuela because this is a moral statement we're making. It was meant to deceive you. 2017 will be the year of offense. Because they support it. January 22, 2021. Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week. It remains unknown what exactly the two leaders said, but the White House announced immediately afterward that "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria.". "Vietnam was a problem that ultimately we could not fix," Ford says. But Fordthe former U.S. envoy who learned the hard way that Iran and Russia were unlikely to abandon their interests in Syriais skeptical that U.S. economic sanctions will be enough to pressure Assad into accepting anything. "While we played this string out, or developed a better idea, which might take months, we had a good argument for maintaining U.S. forces," Bolton later wrote in his memoir. They would be pretty clear: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela. Syria (limited encounters with US and Israel) | The hawkish faction also saw the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces as a "terrorist group," as Bolton put it. You want to live in a country where wisdom and restraint and rational behavior and decency determine the outcomes, not screaming. The combat scenes are impeccable, and Nanisca is an unforgettable character who has earned her place as one of the great movie military leaders. What could we do? Periods of War and Dates of Recent Conflicts, Length of U.S. participation in major wars, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States&oldid=1140999160, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with disputed statements from August 2017, Articles with dead external links from January 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, End of French privateer attacks on American shipping, American neutrality and renunciation of claims by France, Military stalemate; both sides' invasion attempts repulsed, The United States forcibly relocates Seminole in northern Florida to a reservation in the center of the peninsula in the, White Peace treaty agreed by US Col Leavenworth, End of Native armed resistance to U.S. expansion in the, The United States purchases the rest of Potawatomi land west of the, Approximately 3,800 Seminoles transported to the, Mexican recognition of US sovereignty over. Saudi Arabia, seeking to hurt Assad's ally Iran, sent arms to the rebels. And both likely understand that 2022 is the year they must act. The rebels had been offered $1,500 per month each to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenia in the two countries' border war over that disputed territory, several different news outlets reported.. This makes Iranian forces in Syria vulnerable to an attack by U.S. forces or allies. The 1930 version of the movie won an Oscar for Best Picture, and this new one is up for nine awards, including Best Picture and Best International Feature Film. Chris Pine stars as the King Robert the Bruce in a movie about the 14th-century Scottish Wars of Independence. (DEA) "Its time to designate Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, given that they were responsible for the fentanyl-poisoning deaths of 110,000 Americans in 2022 alone," said Sen. Lee in a Mar. SDF fighters found themselves at the gates of Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital, by October 2016. Netflix has aired four seasons of the show, which has generated controversy for its unwillingness to offer sympathetic portrayals of people on both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock Jr. As they head out to search for the gold, the group is haunted by memories of their commanding officer (Chadwick Boseman), who was killed in a firefight back in the day. That turned out to be untrue as well. There's a new winner of America's Got Talent: All-Stars in town! The economic consequences of this war are already profound. At the time, that seemed a little bellicose right out of the gate. Interests", "US Drone Kills Afghan-Based Pakistani Taliban Commander", "CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, 2004 to present", "Service and Sacrifice: Ugandan 'Blue Helmets' support UN efforts to bring peace to Somalia", "Somali, U.S. forces engage insurgents in support of the Federal Government of Somalia", "Biden approves deployment of hundreds of US troops to Somalia", "New Somali President Welcomes Return of US Troops", "Bilal al-Sudani: US forces kill Islamic State Somalia leader in cave complex", "Somali piracy is down 90 per cent from last year", "UPDATE 1-Anger, chaos but no revolt after Libya violence", "U.S. In August 2020, an Iranian-backed militia fired rockets at a U.S.-controlled oil field in Syria. By the way, over the weekend, because everything in America is unintentionally hilarious now, the New York Times attacked Vladimir Putin for censorship. That seemed to be true. Why Won't Maryland Sell Me a Goddamn Beer? It ended less than a year and a half ago. Russia is one of the largest fertilizer producers in the world. Blinken announced this in a calm, even tone that suggested this was conventional procedure, business as usual, nothing to worry about, just another weekend at the State Department. Henry Cavill ("Superman") is the big name in the cast, but he's joined by a group of younger actors who were about to become famous. This April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Twitter app icon on a mobile phone in Philadelphia. There's so much stuff and I don't think nobody knows what's going on fully. It was what we call disinformation and it was designed to get you to support a war against Russia. In other words, we should let Ukraine join NATO. Most Americans would agree with you, but you will immediately be denounced as a tool of Putin. I will dig my boots in the Arkansas soil and I will fight for the people that I love, for the land that I love, and the way of life that I love, but I'm not going overseas to fight. You've just seen a handful of woke corporations crash a country and impoverished its citizens indiscriminately. Churchill got a lot of blowback from his cabinet and the opposition when he refused to make a peace deal with Adolf Hitler, and the movie effectively dramatizes that crisis. The Kurdish general was not having it. Likewise, conservatives were right to call attention to the bad optics of Biden visiting Kyiv while the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were dealing with the toxic aftermath of a railroad disaster.