I don't know why, but I really enjoy it when the birds are feasting at my bird feeder.
Feeding the troops. I remember the pork patty.
The Palestinians are finding out they are no longer Queen of the Victims Prom. The people themselves have been pawns who suffered as their own "leaders" refused to make any deal short of the destruction of Israel, while enriching themselves; and while "friendly" foreigners preferred to have Palestinians suffer while the foreigners preened and posed as their defenders.
The author has a point that intercepting every Chinese ship and plane that intrudes on Japanese or Taiwanese air space gives China useful information and subtracts from Japanese and Taiwanese combat training, it is also true that failing to intercept could dull Japanese and Taiwanese reactions. Perhaps, as the author suggests, a certain number of reactions to Chinese intrusions should be to send air and sea sorties that crowd Chinese territory in return, and which go through international sea and air space no matter what the Chinese say on that issue.
F-35 users don't want everybody to be able to go ask ALIS. Making this system work is key to the question of whether Turkey can get the F-35 without exposing all that data to the Russians who are selling S-400 air defense systems to nominally NATO member Turkey.
My view is that Iran nullified the "amity" between America and Iran ever since they seized our embassy and held our staff hostage. And it hasn't gotten better since then.
Oh? Duterte knows damn well that insurgents aren't the only threat to the Philippines. China is grabbing Filipino territory in a more permanent manner than insurgents can.
Having seen how few precision bombs that our NATO allies had in the 2011 Libya War (which they didn't believe would last long), America is establishing NATO depots for our European allies. The French resorted to concrete training bombs to hit targets until their stocks of exploding bombs was replenished. We showed that precision bombs with cement warheads could work in the air campaign over Iraq to enforce the no-fly zone when Saddam parked air defense weapons next to civilian targets.
Saudi Arabia says the UN is biased against them on the issue of Yemen. The Saudis have a good point.
Selective enforcement of laws everyone violates is useful to retain power. In the meantime, Islamist thinking hangs on as a potential solution.
Google Earth seized the high ground.
Mattis has rejected the idea of privatizing the Afghanistan campaign. Good. Contractors (mercenaries) have a role in modern war--as they have in the past--but not the entire role.
I think polls like this are meaningless. Honestly, I might blank on this depending on the circumstances. Nor is it really important for understanding the role and impact to know those details. And I know how to look up the information. I once knew a lot of phone numbers by memory. Now I don't.
Turkey will build a new naval base in Turkish-controlled Cyprus, citing foreign presence in and around Syria. I don't see how this is any improvement over mainland bases, so it seems more like a move to tighten Turkey's grip on northern Cyprus.
Stop saying we are violent and intolerant fanatics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does China have nearly all of Hillary Clinton's emails (State Department and yoga classes) because she set up and used a system outside of the government's secured system and security procedures? China denies it, so never mind!
Don't Be Evil (Without Charging a Hefty Fee).
China's aircraft engines aren't very good, which will be a problem for Chinese air power development. The USSR had that problem and adapted by not letting their pilots fly much (and the early planes were more difficult to fly, which also encouraged staying on the ground), preferring to use ground-based control to direct the pilots in the air. This treated planes and pilots more like rounds of ammunition to be fired at the enemy rather than a high value reusable asset. China wants to emulate the West rather than Russia, so this will be a problem requiring different coping strategies. Will the wealthier China simply replace engines frequently and accept the cost as the price of doing business? Will they push robotic pilots so the engines don't have to be used for pilot training? Although I tend to think China has a broader economic base to improve their engines than the Soviet Union had.
Well that's good. I like to think I'm an optimist, but I truly am shocked that people sometimes step back from doing stupid things. Tip to Instapundit.
Peak stupid may never be reached as long as the UN has too much time and money for its own good: "A team of scientists appointed by the United Nations has reported that a free market system cannot provide the economic transition required to defeat climate change." Oh? When America is reducing carbon emissions even as economic growth continues, this kind of stupidity can endure? They think this even though Europe's entire claim to reducing greenhouse gas production rests on shutting down the heavy industries of formerly communist portions of eastern Europe after they escaped the Soviet grasp? Do you really want to make that claim when communist China is wrecking their environment with polluting industries that spew greenhouse gasses? And you wonder why I see Greens as essentially watermelons trying to justify socialist control with a veneer of environmentalism? Tip to Instapundit.
Well that wasn't subtle.
Unless you believe American can prosper and thrive as a free democracy without the rest of the West (especially) and the world, it is simply not true one bit that American energy independence means the free flow of oil to the rest of the world through the Persian Gulf is of no interest to America. It is still true today what the National Security Council's policy paper from 1953 recognized, as Secretary Mattis noted, "when it said, 'Freedom and security of the free nations is a direct and essential contribution to the maintenance of our own freedom and security.'" There is no such thing as Fortress America.
The EU and the Germans seem to be coming to terms with Brexit. Or am I misreading this?
Yeah, that's the problem. The debate over whether Maduro is evil or stupid is rapidly reaching the healing powers of "and" stage.
Peacekeepers turned over a stadium in Somalia to the formal government. The government is happy to have it for sports use. I mention this because it had been used as a base by the peacekeepers. And based on some Iraqi practice in earlier attacks, I expected Iraqi forces to launch a helicopter assault into one of the Mosul stadiums to use it as a base to hit ISIL from an unexpected direction. That never happened, of course. But I wasn't crazy to think it could be useful.
Brazil should have their new helicopter carrier, Atlantico, in home waters by now. It was formerly a British ship whose last action, I believe, was during the 2011 Libya War.
What happens if you experience a lot of bad luck?
China denies plans to build a base in Afghanistan on the other side of their narrow common border. But where does China consider the border to be? I can totally see China building a base in territory that they--but nobody else--consider Chinese territory.
Fascinating. While I am generally supportive of immigration--we wouldn't be where we are today without immigrants--modern America is different and we have the right to set the terms for immigration to continue to benefit America--like every other country does. And whatever your view on the terms or level, I've always been confused how anyone can deny the obvious fact that more low-skill immigration lowers the wages of poorer Americans and legal residents who are at the bottom rung of the employment ladder.
The British might want to consider filling their end of the Chunnel with concrete, I think.
Syria boasts it will "go all the way" to reclaim Idlib province. I did say I didn't think Turkey's presence there would be a serious obstacle. Unless Turkey moves first to move in more troops with more capabilities and is prepared to escalate to a Turkish-Syrian war, Assad will regain Idlib and Turkey will withdraw their outposts.
Could an F-22 body updated with F-35 electronics and newer stealth coatings be the Air Force solution for expanding the high end of the Air Force air superiority arsenal? Would such a "mule" work? Let me note that I have a small amount of Lockheed Martin stock.
Sadly, 9/11 wasn't committed by a Hitler Youth Group (tip to Instapundit). Nobody expects the Bias Response Team!
This story says that President Trump still doesn't use computers, but has a photo illustrating it that shows a computer on Trump's desk. And the story itself notes that he rarely uses computers but does use tablets (a touch screen computer) and a smart phone (a small touch screen computer with a phone). Plus oddly specific mind reading about "the flat thing." I think the author revealed a little too much about herself, eh? Do you wonder why I have long distrusted the media' ability to accurately report on anything it seriously cares about?
While this article asks if the cruise missile Ukraine tested can hit Moscow, it is clearly intended for striking the Kerch Strait bridge and ferry crossings to Crimea from Russia. I assume it would also be used to strike the Sevastopol base complex in Russian-occupied Crimea.
I know that talk of problems with the F-35 in the past were generated by Russian propaganda to stop the plane's development and production. Since deployment, pilots have found the F-35 to be really good. But are there persistent problems that the Pentagon is downplaying? The problems--which at some level is normal for a new weapon--need to be solved given that it is the only new plane we have to replace an aging Air Force arsenal.
In addition to the engine problem, the Chinese stealth aircraft program suffers from a skilled labor shortage. And as I've mentioned before, the Chinese aircraft are only stealthy from the front. But the Chinese are making progress, so don't get cocky.
Assad is on the verge of winning his multi-war in western Syria against rebels trying to hang him from a street light. The Kurds in the east are beyond his control, but as I long argued, the Kurds would never march on Damascus. While Assad's forces have reclaimed territory, can they hold even the depopulated regions they have regained? While the rebels have lost territory, have the rebels really given up or will they go down the escalation ladder to insurgency and terrorism? We may simply have a different type of war.
It's not like it would be out of character for Iran to supply their sub-state proxy actors with missiles or rockets.
Iran told Europe,
We cut back military aid to Pakistan to push back against Pakistan's support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. That's fine as far as it goes. But explain how we supply our forces in landlocked Afghanistan without Pakistan's cooperation.
