Everybody thinks that if they are careful enough the crocodile will eat them last. So these people can now enjoy being on the menu. Tip to Instapundit.
The Army is testing anti-drone weapons but they are vehicle-mounted. I worry about how infantry units can be defended without lugging around ground-based anti-drone weapons or using vehicles that make the unit road bound to stay under the protective envelope, ending the point of having leg infantry capable of going where vehicles can't go.
Israel's Netanyahu has some serious self-inflicted problems of the corruption variety that could sink his personal fortunes and his party.
The Air Force chief of staff discusses deepening NATO military relations with Ukraine, which has ambitions to join NATO as it continues to battle Russian and Russian-backed forces that occupy Ukrainian territory.
I'm late to this, but what the Hell is NATO member Spain thinking by refueling Russian warships in their ports? That's seriously effed up thinking.
The US voted against a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution on Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights--for the first time--seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 war. This is a tough issue. I'm against the annexation. But I also think Israel is fully justified occupying it given that in Syrian control it was used to threaten an invasion of Israel. Only true peace should see Israel return it. With Iran growing stronger inside Syria this issue is no less important. But we shouldn't support annexation as Russia has done with Crimea at Ukraine's expense. Yet Israel is unique in getting this kind of attention--Morocco does not catch much grief for annexation of portions of Western Sahara.
Yes, global cooling was a thing. It filtered into my middle school science class, so you know it was the consensus at the time.
Yeah, the Fuck-up Fairy visited the White House last Veterans Day. Next year I trust the overseas travel schedule will be adjusted. This kind of adjustment will help.
I think it is immensely silly to argue that America would not come to the aid of a NATO country that Russia attacks. The treaty commits America and America will stand with our allies. And it is in America's interest to preserve a free Europe even apart from the treaty obligation. Applebaum is a fine writer suffering from Trump Hysteria Condition, I think. Tossing in a retrospective worry about Obama (and I did not worry about Obama defending NATO--just the ability to do so under his European draw down and general military downgrade) is mere window dressing to conceal the THC.
What fresh Hell is this? Tip to the PJM live blog.
Trump and Khan feuded on Twitter. Pakistan is no friend given that they support the jihadis (including hiding bin Laden until we killed him in a raid) that they also fight--meaning Pakistan bears responsibility for much of the body count inside Pakistan. And let's not forget Pakistan's low level war on India. Our aid was actually significant. And yes, the implied threat the Pakistani ruler made to our supply line to Afghanistan is the major reason we put up with Pakistan.
So Venezuela is about to make the jump from Axis of El Vil to Axis of Evil? Has Maduro really done enough to join the ranks of such scum countries as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan?
I fear that the requirement Germany has for their future fighter plane (FCAS, and you do NOT want to know how that acronym is pronounced) is the ability to sit out in the open for long periods in inclement weather without noticeably rusting. Given German problems with production and readiness, the new plane should just be a hollow hull with none of the expensive guts that won't be maintained anyway.
Grant me that this is funny.
Boko Haram struck 3 Nigerian security bases recently, and one base was briefly taken after the defenders were "dislodged." I've read that the jihadis have taken to encouraging defenders to retreat by leaving an escape path in order to raid the base to capture equipment.
For 11 months out of the year I am treated to stories about how Americans are so obese. Yet from Thanksgiving to Christmas I am told I must give to help those going hungry in America. I don't get it.
The US has donated some boats and trucks to Chad, which will be useful in fighting jihadis around and on Lake Chad.
Duty, honor, country.
I'm not sure how this anti-drone full-court press will work for Russia, but given that the Russians in World War II considered an entire infantry company lying on its back firing into the air to be a reasonable anti-aircraft practice, it isn't surprising.
The US 2nd Infantry Division has but a brigade in South Korea, but it is the only division based abroad. And it is a joint division with a South Korean mechanized brigade part of it.
The Army has a new command post system. It had best be secure against cyber-attacks and it had best be pretty mobile to avoid precision fires strikes. Setting up tents and antenna farms is pretty much assisted suicide these days against a conventional enemy. And with a secure battlefield internet, maybe we could try reachback for the squad.
Good, couldn't happen to a more vile proto-imperial body.
Strategypage looks at North Korea, where a shrinking economy has to provide foreign luxury goods to the governing class to keep them loyal--which the masses are starting to notice.
While Russia's economy has suffered since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014 because of sanctions and lower oil prices, corruption and government management failures have been more important than believed for the economic problems. If Russia truly wants to pivot to Asia and the Pacific Putin really needs to stop needlessly pissing off NATO and the rest of Europe.
The US offered Ukraine two recently retired Perry frigates. Ukraine would like them but is figuring out if they can afford them. I hate seeing these given away because I want to use them to build APDs for amphibious warfare uses (sorry, membership required).
What's really funny about this LA voter fraud story is that California Democrats felt they had to cheat to ... what? Bounce the rubble in an assured Democratic victory there?
The Germany of North America: Canada is buying used Australian F-18s that Canada can't afford to upgrade, maintain, or provide pilots to fly. But other than that, it will work out swell. Canada manned up and bled with us in Afghanistan on the ground when many allied countries caveated their soldiers into permanent barracks defense. So I don't intend to be mean. But good Lord.
Um, the CIA provides information. It does not set policy. Hearing Democrats vigorously defend the CIA is almost as shocking as hearing them vigorously attack Russia. Seriously, isn't the choice we have clear?
China's cyber espionage has advanced their jet engine technology a good deal; plus more on China's cyber militia.
Secretary Mattis said that the Army could be used for crowd control on the border. He specifically mentioned MPs with crowd control skills (and no firearms). My signal unit went through riot control training once when I was in it and it featured taking away all our firearms and issuing face shields, batons, and body armor. Only a few of our best shooters had weapons and they were kept to the rear in case of a sniper. The emphasis was on moving protesters away from a location. "Our job is to get them to go home--not kill them" was the message. So I've gone from assuming MPs going to the border were for crowd control of a mass caravan, to correcting myself when I read they were for protecting engineers and other enablers, and now back to what I assumed was their mission based on training. Of course, the healing powers of "and" are appropriate here, I suppose.
And don't forget that a show of force on the border in the face of a mass caravan is important to stop the surge of potential illegal border crossers and to deter future attempts with a visible image of potential force. The tizzy people are getting in over this very basic concept is amazing.
Now this is a clever statue protest:
The Russians are all upset and urging the statues of the baddies be defended. (Via Power Line blog with a tip to Instapundit.)
When stupidity is fatal.
I recently read an article that noted that Taiwan's "fleet" of submarines along with shore-based anti-ship missiles and mines would inflict casualties on an invading Chinese force. Sure. But the question is whether China can invade and conquer despite that attrition. And the notion that Taiwan's 2 1980s-era submarines and 2 World War II-era training boats constitute a "fleet" is ludicrous.
The effect of America's halting of aerial refueling for Saudi coalition aircraft in the Yemen war has been minor. In part, we are helping them design missions so they don't need refueling. Not mentioned is what I noted, that the Saudis could contract with private refueling companies for what they need above their own refueling capability.
During the height of the Iraq War, plenty of people were upset that we were trying to "impose" democracy on a country they said was not ready for it. They argued for a "realpolitik" approach that simply left the dictator in place for "stability"; and rather than changing the regime we should make deals with them. Today we have a president willing to make such deals with a Saudi dictatorship openly, and the same people who complained about the democracy project say that dealing with the Saudis stains America's reputation. The problem is, I'm old enough to remember these evolving standards. And say, how about that Pakistan?
Before the last election I noted that while Trump is a crude jerk, Obama is a condescending jerk. Tell me I'm wrong. Am I happy our current president is a crude jerk? Of course not. I have a longstanding history of disliking the man. But we have a different kind of jerk and not something new. As I've mentioned before, when I was in the Legislative Service Bureau, I actually found the new legislator briefings refreshing. Even when the legislators stood for things I did not, their enthusiasm for coming to Lansing to make things better was always refreshing. Of course there were jerks and losers as any large group of people will have. But I did not develop any of the absolute contempt for the people that Obama so easily dismissed as unworthy of working with him. And note too the audience just loved the contempt Obama shared with them.
Will the morons stop this nonsense? America is strongly in NATO and Britain is attempting to leave the EU--not leave NATO where they will remain one of the stronger European members. European feigned panic about American reliability stoked to pursue their longstanding goal of an independent military should be clear. The author at least had the sense to conclude that no pan-European military is coming any time soon because of the need for America. Which rather undercuts his starting point, no?
China's new UAV, which is the launching point for discussing American UAV development.
Russia lost their effort to get their own man into Interpol. Good. The US and UK had a role in getting support for the South Korean candidate. Also good. Sometimes the sainted international community can surprise me.
Nobody ever speaks of Christianophobia.
I remain grateful that America has a winner-take-all approach to our legislature rather than a parliamentary system. The rise of tyranny-friendly parties in Europe in response to uncontrolled immigration is a case in point. It is absolutely true that a refusal by the major parties to address very real concerns about immigration leads people to turn to less reputable parties who promise to address the real concerns. In Europe, those parties can gain office and then gain strength in a fragmented parliamentary system and gain power out of proportion to their numbers. In America, one of the two major parties will eventually absorb the people who want something done and express a willingness to go to a third party, and incorporate that bloc of voters--but in the process mellow the response to a real problem (in this case to immigration) to reputable means. I find our process superior for preventing extremists from arising. Which is good for stability.
The new government of the Maldives that is less willing to facilitate Chinese penetration-by-loans of their country doesn't even know how much money the prior government borrowed from China.
This is a wise approach by the Marines for a worst-case electronic environment.
This month I had an article published in Army magazine, for the December issue about low-level air defense drones for forward Army infantry, which put me at my goal of surpassing my first wave of defense publications a couple decades ago. Which may explain my lack of motivation to work on articles the last few months. Although I do have several that I want to re-work because I really like what I wrote. And a book manuscript needs to be pitched. And I really want to head out into a different direction in writing. But as I tell my children, if my mortgage payment required a sale I'd be more diligent, I'm sure!
The French are certainly willing to kill jihadis in their sphere of influence.
The Army and Air Force are practicing flying in rocket launchers to quickly deploy, fire, and fly away. Which is part of the growing usage of precision rocket fire. Although in practice I doubt that the Air Force will be in the position where they don't have F-35s available to provide fire support but do have transport planes available to enable Army fire support.
In the last data dump I noted that the Army hadn't had its current problem recruiting since the Iraq War. This article discusses that. In 2005 the Army lowered standards--which basically worked out as I understand it, but with a lot more demanded of leadership to cope with selective category 4 recruiting. And today, in addition to needing more troops for an expanded Army the Army is working to discharge troops who aren't deployable and replace them with troops who can go to war.
If she dyes her hair orange next week don't say you weren't warned.
I worry that the pursuit of the good Brexit will kill an adequate Brexit--forever.
Israel is thinking about buying advanced F-15s. I think the United States Air Force should have advanced semi-stealthy air superiority F-15s as an insurance policy for the new F-35.
