Weekend Data Dump

America's oil industry is expected to produce more oil in 2019 than last year.

So in addition to embracing anti-Semites, America's far left is embracing anti-Catholicism? Seriously? For a brief moment when the Pope embraced global warming, the Left adored Catholicism. Back to normal, now. Truly the Covington boys have endured a two-minute hate. It's madness. It's kind of funny, Pope Woke I has been pushing me away but the mob is pulling me back.

Are Iran and America doomed to be enemies forever? As long as the nutball mullahs run Iran, yes. Under the Shah, Iran was a close friend of America. Any advice that we should befriend the scumball murderers who run Iran now is a non-starter as far as I'm concerned.

The first crack in Maduro's wall of security appeared but was rapidly sealed by loyal forces. There is no way to know if this is the tip of the iceberg in Venezuela's security forces or an isolated event. The troops who rebelled said they were lighting the fuse as the long-suffering people wanted from the security forces. Will it burn? Tip to Instapundit.

Strategypage looks at Iran with its growing domestic troubles and at Syria, where the major players don't want to have their own people die yet where hundreds of thousands have already died. Odd that is, no? Although to be fair, the Syrian army did a lot of dying until it could fight no more and is now a zombie army. Also, in Idlib province where the last rebels hold out, an Islamist coalition of terrorist groups controls 70% of the rebel-held territory.

The South Korean marines are sizable (29,000 troops and more than two divisions) and considered an elite force. Responsible for the west coast and island defenses, is the force just a good force of infantry for the main front along the DMZ? Or could its increased naval support mean it can pull off its own Inchon invasion, perhaps as far north as Pyongyang?

A reminder that NATO needs to defend the Balkans and the approaches from the Black Sea. Personally, I think a free Ukraine is the front line of NATO from Poland to the Balkans, and we should be helping Ukraine send body bags back to Russia to keep it that way.

Funny enough, De Gaulle believed a large European Union would be weak. I've long said that a united Europe is no path to balancing Russia when we have NATO doing the job. Europeans think they can afford to reduce national defenses if a supranational body makes up for it. The EU doesn't. NATO--with the United States--does. Who knew DeGaulle had it right all along? Although Brussels thinks it has the answer with a more centralized and larger EU. But I think the only power the EU will gain is the right to push around their own peasants with impunity.

Strategypage looks at the top ten sources of war this year. Russia and China are not included, because they have "rational" leaders.  Sure, a "bolt from the blue" attack on America is unlikely. Personally, I wouldn't count on understanding what is "rational" from their point of view in a crisis.

I enjoy Jonah Goldberg's The Remnant podcast (he's on iTunes). And I'm almost ashamed to admit the minor childlike delight I get when he occasionally refers to his broadcast as a "fully functional podcast." Early when he called for catch phrases, I altered the Star Wars line to suggest "now behold the power of this fully functional podcast." So I've got that going for me.

Apparently we are fine with the rigged election in Congo because it was at least restricted to getting a rival candidate at least cooperative with the autocrat. Ah, "stability."

Will you two just stop your effing pissing match? Are China, North Korea, and Russia not enough of a common problem for both of you to cut this out?

India will open a third base in the Andaman and Nicobar islands to block China. These islands are hardly "far-off" islands given that they are right at the entry to the Bay of Bengal, overlooking the Malacca Strait that is a choke point going east or west from Singapore.

The South Koreans say a second Trump-Kim summit should have "concrete" results. I count this as progress from past failed South Korean efforts to bribe North Korea into behaving.

I don't believe liberals really believe anyone with a MAGA hat is a terrorist. If liberals did believe that about hat owners they'd be endlessly asking "why do they hate us?" as if the anger was deserved.

The Littoral Combat Ship will get the Norwegian Naval Strike Missile. This is good news but it remains bewildering that the weapon had to be an add-on to the ship.  The ship had a good concept of being reconfigurable with mission modules inserted into the large empty spaces in the ship. But it always confused me that the post-Cold War ship designed to sail in the littorals was so poorly protected against the air, sea, and land-based threats it would face close to shore. Now the ship has to face ships out to kill them, and will have an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile as a basic armament.

An American destroyer and support ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of support for Taiwan and in defense of the strait's status as international waters.

If it is so easy for 1,500 green private jet owners flying in to Davos to be carbon neutral in their carbon-spewing lifestyles by purchasing offsets, why can't they use their wealth to buy offsets so the rest of us can live our ordinary lives? I mean, I've been told that at some point you've made enough money. Sure, that isn't as morally satisfying as lecturing the rest of us, but other than that why don't they put their money where their mouths are? Tip to Instapundit.

Russia threw an elbow at Sweden in the Baltic Sea.

For 35 years now, since the 1984 election campaign, I've recognized that the media is biased. I was amazed at the time how the news did not match the reality that statistical measures indicated.  Over time it has gotten worse. And more obvious as the means to check the news slant proliferated. Truly, journalism has openly taken sides and doesn't even pretend it hasn't. I've noted this in my sources and methods to avoid the need to raise the issue repeatedly.

Is a cure for Alzheimer's near? This is too late for my dad, but I hope others will be spared this. And thank goodness my gums are healthy. Tip to Instapundit.

Yeah, I dislike the current  cult of personality for our president as much as I disliked the one for our last president. The difference is that the media was pro-cult during the last administration and anti-cult for this one. Which means that rather than mocking those who thought our president was a secret Moslem literally born in Kenya, our media bolsters those who think our president is a secret Nazi/Confederate figuratively born in Russia. Seriously, if you think we are one night of broken glass away from Hitler under Trump, I can't take you seriously. You are a fool. Or a liar. And if you love Trump and believe any criticism of him or his ability to play 3D chess is evidence of betrayal of conservatism, how can I talk to you? Tip to Instapundit. As you can imagine, dating in Ann Arbor for me is quite the challenge. But perhaps I've shared too much now.

Syria's Kurds will talk to Assad's government. Syria is too weak to reconquer the Kurdish regions any time soon (well, without an expanded Iranian presence which Assad does not want); and as I've long said, the Kurds weren't going to march on Damascus. The Kurds don't want to control Syria, they want to escape their control. And if independence isn't at hand, they'll settle for autonomy while under formal Syrian control. For now.

The Greeks finally set aside their apparent fear of the spirit of Alexander the Great to agree that the Republic of North Macedonia is fine with them. This has amazed me for a while.

Remember, when you "only" slice off the wealthy "tippy top" you create a new "tippy top." No matter how many times you repeat that slicing you will always have a "tippy top" to resent and target. And those with the guns and goons will enforce the resentment and anger. Do not start on the path of Venezuela with just a little bit of socialism, because it won't turn out well: "socialist revolutions in particular have a peculiar habit of beginning with a man in a work shirt and ending up with a man dressed like Cap’n Crunch." I know, I know, Progressives say of course they don't intend to create current Venezuela here in America. We'd be different. But do you really think that the Venezuelans who started socialism there a couple decades ago intended to "build" the Venezuela where the people who haven't fled are starving and abused? Of course not. Those Venezuelans (and their fans in America) believed that starting on the path would be glorious! But it is what it is--an evil system that crushes souls and bodies. Well, except for the rulers. They live quite well indeed because they have the guns and goons.

Trump's threat to wage a trade war against China is working because China is vulnerable.  I have been consistent in that I think free trade is best. But it is not being against free trade to resist unbalanced trading terms that benefit China (and others with advantages). Allowing such advantages made sense after World War II because we were relatively stronger economically as the sole power not devastated by World War II and we received benefits in building Cold War alliances. Now we have the alliances and won the Cold War, but are not as economically dominant. Saying that a defense of free trade requires a 100% defense of post-World War II and pre-Trump trade terms has always been ridiculous.

The Zimbabwe crackdown continues and gets uglier.

Why American feminists aren't the most fervent hardliners against Islamists--whether Shia or Sunni--is beyond me.

The Army is broadening the scope of longer training time for combat arms after good results from infantry training.

If you look closely, you can almost make out the "mission accomplished" banner, eh?

The German navy will now consider the Baltic Sea a potential theater of war? That is needed to motivate them. But is this a sign of future progress or a sign that Germany will now willfully ignore what they previously neglected?

A Spanish frigate will sail with the Lincoln carrier strike group. Why we can't do this with European armies is beyond me. I tried to get an article on that concept published last year. I really should work on it some more.

Well that's just freaking great.

More discussion on how to measure soldier physical fitness. I really just don't know enough to have a firm opinion.

Iran has hit the US government with a major cyber-war effort (the fine print says there is only "moderate" confidence that Iran is doing it, but the objectives seem to favor Iran). Well, we've been doing the same since 2009, at least, so this should not be shocking. We've been Iran's enemy since their Islamic revolution put Shia nutballs in charge of Iran. We should act accordingly.

How do we conclude an "endless war" against jihadis who consider their fight open-ended until they win? If such fanatical jihadis will not stop fighting, the obvious answer is to kill them all and let Allah sort them out. But that is dealing with the symptom, however necessary it is. In the long term the Sunni Moslem world has to shut off the flow of such committed jihadis by winning the Islamic Civil War over who gets to define what Islam means--the jihadi version that embraces killing or a more tolerant version that does not live for jihad. But until then, to protect us and to help the non-jihadi Moslems defend themselves against the jihadis and ultimately win the civil war, we have no choice but to wage the "endless war," although the form of our war will change from place to place and over time. It doesn't often require 100,000+ troops fighting on a battlefield.

While this is actually pretty cool, at some level it seems like a tale of government waste--a decade-long expensive project to go get something far away that we could have picked up here.Tip to Instapundit.

Democrats and their legions of media comrades celebrated Trump's defeat in the government shutdown over border security. So they're saying Trump isn't a dictator who can just do what he wants? Progress, people. Progress.

Anti-government protests in France continue, with violence. Via Instapundit.

Whatever else you might say about France as an American ally, they do work to stabilize northern Africa.

I started reading the Army history of the Iraq War massive two-volume set (volumes one and two). It will be a while. I was amused that it says nobody expected we'd defeat the Iraqi army so quickly. In December 2002 I said we'd be outside of Baghdad in about a week. We had to pause after we did that to resupply before bouncing the city on the run (remember the "thunder run"), but our initial lunge was rapid. And I note I had read somebody say we'd be outside the city in 48 hours. Which I did reject as a road march.

Also, per volume I, one of the side effects of the long aerial war over Iraq between the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War was that Iraqi units constantly moved to avoid aerial attack and established lots of ammo depots for wherever they might move. For those wondering why Iraq had so much ammunition and weapons scattered around Iraq which sustained the insurgency and terrorism without outside supply, that's why.

Whoever did this should be hunted down and killed.