What You Can Learn from Observation: Marco Rubio March 7, 2022 as a Case Study, By Scipio

Observation is more than looking at something or listening to someone.  It is looking and listening intently. It entails analysis of what you are seeing or hearing. Does it make sense beyond a superficial level? The precision of your observation will depend on your background, training, and the subject of your observation. Ask yourself, what is not being said?  A large dose of common sense will go a long way in your not being duped by the massage and miss the message.

Ask yourself, what independent verification can I find or know about what I am seeing/hearing? What is the historical record for what I am seeing/hearing? What have others, I know who have excellent observation skills, said about the type of thing I am seeing/hearing?  What have been my personal experience with what I am seeing/hearing? Is there an agenda here on one or both sides? You should not be passively seeing/listening to what’s before you. You should be observing deeply, and pulling back the curtain to see the bigger picture of what’s behind what’s before you.

On March 7, 2022. Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for questions about Ukraine.  Senator Marco Rubio asked Nuland point blank if the US had biological weapons in Ukraine.  Instead of the typical prevaricating typical State Department answer, she startled everyone and basically said “yes” only parsing about the word “weapon” vs “research”.

Here is the exchange:

Rubio, “Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?”

Nuland, “Ukraine has biological research facilities, we are quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians to prevent any of these “research materials” from falling into the hands of the Russians.”

Rubio, (somewhat taken back and surprised by the answer) “Russian propaganda are already putting out there all kinds of info (no sources cited) how they have uncovered a plot (no evidence put forward) by the Ukrainians to release biological weapons on the country…if there is a biological or chemical weapons incident or attack in Ukraine, is there any doubt (putting words in Nuland’s mouth) in your mind 100% (such hyperbole- how can anything speculative be 100%?) that it would be the Russians who would be behind it?”

Nuland (with a slight smile) “There is no doubt (absolute certainty like the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) in my mind Senator this classic Russian technique (is) to blame on the other guy what they are planning to do themselves.”

Rubio’s response was startling. Instead of jumping on that statement like a lion on gazelle with a broken leg, instead, he threw her a lifeline and helped pull her out of the hole she just dug for herself and the Administration.

Imagine if this whole exchange had happened to a lion and a gazelle who bumped into each other along a trail in the African Savannah and each stopped in their tracks not expecting to see the other. Then the lion says, “Pardon me you go first”.  But instead of running away as a gazelle should instinctively do, the gazelle says, “No. No. After You” Then the lion retorts, “If something happens to you it would be 100% because there’s a dangerous pack of hyenas down the trail, don’t you think so?” “Yes, replies the gazelle and they proceed their separate ways.

You wouldn’t believe that story would you? Yet that is what we are expected to believe about the bioweapons outing of the government at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this past March 7th.  The government just self-exposed themselves as guilty of biological international war crimes.  Rubio exposed himself as the clean-up lacky for the spill in isle eight.  He allowed Nuland to skate and he put on his skates and they skated out of the committee together.

Rubio is one of them.  He is a RINO warmongering neo-con, Nuland a warmongering lib-con.  They belong to the same Uniparty as Romney and Schumer, McCain and Pelosi, Graham and Clinton.  There is no two-party system in America anymore. If you can’t see that you need to brush up on your observation skills, and heed the lyrics of The Who’s great rock and roll song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Conservative media has been all over Nuland’s response and rightly so.  I have nothing to add that has not already been rightly said. However, why the silence on the right about Rubio?  If ever there was a time when both sides of two political parties were exposed as being on the same side, this was it. All I hear is crickets.

As a graduate of the US Army’s Imjin Scout ATCA (Advanced Combat Training Academy) school on the DMZ in Korea, I learned the application of observation skills in a different environment, but the fundamentals are the same. One of the higher levels of critical thinking is something called “transfer knowledge”.  In other words, transferring what you learned in one setting seamlessly to another.  Some people are great organizers at work, but their home life is in disarray, no “transfer knowledge” applied. If you can apply critical observation techniques to media talking heads like I just demonstrated, you are military scout material.

If you want to learn more about sharpening your observations skills, I suggest you read Orson Scott Card’s Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, and or course Ender’s Game. They are entertaining science fiction books, and you will pick up some very valuable observation skills.

BTW on a personal note Orson Scott Card lives near me in central North Carolina. Someday perhaps I will have a chance to meet him.