Weekend Data Dump

When you start to take Vienna, take Vienna. Oh come on! That was funny! Admit it! Tip to Instapundit. And I'm seriously disappointed that a British paper didn't think of that headline.

The real investigation into election collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice has begun. Will it come up with as little as the Mueller investigation into Trump or does it scare the heck out of Democrats?

Iran revives smuggling tactics as oil export sanctions bite.

Wow, women dropped below the homeless in the Intersectional Victim Score Sheet. Tip to Instapundit.

Just stop. Hillary's inability to accept responsibility for her defeat in 2016 and accept that fact has crossed the line from annoying to an actual disgrace and danger to our country's rule of law. She needs to face the fact that the Republicans nominated the only candidate she could beat--and she managed to pull off that loss to him despite a massive advantage in spending. Or is she really going to rest her case on Russia's minuscule spending being way better targeted than her spending, and that their advertisements were way better crafted than her commercials?  This advice to Hillary seems appropriate. Really, why do Democrats put up with her after she lost to Donald Trump and perhaps wrecked the once-solid Midwest "Blue Wall" for 2020? Tips on articles to Instapundit.

Speaking of disgraceful.

This article reminds us that 206 counties that voted for Obama twice but which went for Trump in 2016 were the keys to Trump's victory. And amazingly those voters have been slandered by Democrats and our media as racists despite voting for an African-American twice and for voting for Trump when his opponent Hillary was also white. The logic eludes me.

This is at least a start in protecting against an EMP attack or a naturally occurring event spawned by the sun.

Erdogan tells Istanbul to vote again to correct the result of the original election his party lost. Well that's convenient.

Looking at strategic air power's effects. I don't think much of the theory that air power can win a war on its own, although I'm coming around to the idea raised that strategic bombing does indeed have valuable tactical effects on the battlefield. Just don't get confused that air power can win a war on its own without aiming for a tactical effect.

It is highly likely that more American forces will head to Poland. Ideally a division headquarters with air defense and local ground defense elements in addition to pre-positioned equipment for the vast majority of the division's units would be located there.

If men were truly the evil oppressor of women that feminists claim, feminists wouldn't effing dare claim "men are gross and they don’t deserve opinions" outside the cloak of anonymous postings. The fact that she feels free to publicly say that is instructive. Just saying.

I really don't think anyone is overlooking the impact of 5G wireless internet technology on military operations and technology. But by all means remind people. It is no less true.

Boko Haram violence is rising in northern Nigeria, but not all is well with those who slaughter to get in paradise.  Killing jihadis is necessary to protect normal people. But until Islam takes care of their civil war over whether jihadi Islamist nutballs get to define what Islam believes, the nutballs will keep coming back for more killing and mayhem. And then there is the farmer versus rancher violence and the oil production corruption. You think you have problems?

There's a new royal child in Britain. That's nice. But I don't care and don't know why any American has more than mild interest. There was that little thing called the American Revolution, which bought my right not to care with blood. Britain is a good ally, but the royal family is their problem/reality show and not ours.

Classic abuser excuse: You made me hurt you!

Updates on the Russian Su-57 stealth fighter. It is troubled but works (although not all-aspect stealth as American jets are, as I've read elsewhere); and the Chinese may buy some. Why Russia would want to sell them to China is beyond me given China's dormant territorial claims on Russia's Far East. And it is interesting that China would find them of use--in addition to seeing how far along the Russians are.

It is a relief that a clear majority of Americans think socialism is incompatible with American values, but I'm disturbed it isn't overwhelming. Socialism should be associated with poverty and oppression. Democratic primary activists and their media cheerleaders really are an odd lot. Tip to Instapundit.

The laws of war do not prevent you from defeating an enemy. That author is also singing to the choir here at TDR on issues of proportionality and use of human shields, which I've droned on about repeatedly.

Iran really likes the tilted Iran nuclear deal that enables Iranian nuclear technology development while shielding Iran from attack until the deal expires and Iran can pursue nukes free of authorized international oversight. So sanctions must be hurting Iran for Iran to threaten to start withdrawing from the nuclear deal unless Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany help Iran evade our sanctions. If this is a matter of blackmailing Europe, I think we can all agree that appeasement will be the way they go. More on the overall situation. Will Iran "restart" a nuclear weapons program that they still deny they ever had? In additional news, Europe formally rejects blackmail but in practice wants to do what Iran demands.

China is building a third carrier--their largest yet. Assuming the proper response isn't a lot of air-, sea-, sub-, and ground-launched anti-ship missiles, we can always focus more of our carriers in INDOPACOM while using land-based naval air in CENTCOM and EUCOM, no? If I was God of Navy procurement, I'd have more carrier air wings than carriers in order to base some on land for naval missions.

Yes, the India-Pakistan-China nuclear competition is complicated with China influencing the India-Pakistan balance. But the US-Soviet/Russian nuclear competition was hardly simple given that included Britain, France, and China in calculations. Still, that' all fine for discussion. What I object to is this aside: "Pakistan-based jihadist groups that wage hybrid war in India[.]" Just stop. Pakistan is shooting directly at Indian troops and unleashing jihadi terrorists on Indian targets while denying they are doing it. The international community largely goes along with the fiction. Which is exactly what I said the over-hyped hybrid warfare that Putin's Russia is supposedly carrying out actually is: Russia invaded Ukraine and denied they are doing it, while the world largely went along with that fiction. At this point I tune out when somebody mentions the buzz words "hybrid warfare" like its a new thing in warfare.

Marine F-35Bs will sail aboard a British carrier in 2021. Good.

Can the Navy 3D print 40-foot landing craft? I hate the current "ship-to-shore connector" term for them. If it floats it's a boat.

I have long been worried about the Army officer corps' culture of risk aversion. One of my justifications for expanding the number of Army divisions in "The Path of the Future Army," Military Review, September-October 2000 (Fort Leavenworth, Ks.: US Army Command and General Staff College), pp. 91-93, was to provide more opportunities for advancement to divisional command. My hope was that this would (somehow) reduce the fear of mistakes that might bar an officer from reaching that scarce command. More on battling risk aversion.

A Navy hospital ship will again visit South America to cope with Venezuela's implosion/explosion.

Video gamers changing our culture. They are also an audience perhaps removed from the traditional (both old and new forms) media. As I mentioned, when will presidential candidates follow this cohort into video game advertising? Tip to Instapundit.

Oh good grief, Representative Nadler claims we are in a "constitutional crisis." Nonsense. After turning the dial to 11 for two years and coming up empty on Russia collusion, Congressional Democrats have decided that they can twist the dial to 12 and get better results. All they have to do is not act crazy ... .

Africa's Fulani Problem.

Live by the predatory political loan, die by the predatory political loan? Tip to Instapundit.

The Navy is putting medics in hospital ERs through partnerships to get experience in trauma response. There is more with more combat medics in the Army and better tools to treat wounds on the battlefield. The result since 2001? "Only 12 percent of the 57,000 combat zone injuries were fatal, the lowest percentage in military history." My memory is that the Army put surgeons in city ERs way back in the Cold War because some cities back then were much more violent and made ERs somewhat like combat response environments.

It is odd that a dictator has this problem, no? It's almost as if the charge is hysterical and stupid.

Now apply that logic to criticism of Trump. See how fun that is?

The undead sequestration could again cripple our military. You'd think Trump and Republicans could leverage the sudden dread of Russians that Democrats developed to prevent this from happening again.

America, Japan, India, and Philippines conducted joint naval drills in the South China Sea that China largely (and illegally) claims. Although that large Japanese ship with a long flat deck isn't a "carrier." Hahahahaha.

I'm reasonably sure Facebook has to ban itself under their standards. What a year! Tip to Instapundit.

McMaster has a point. I noted my disappointment with Mattis on this issue in the last data dump.

I'm enjoying Democratic talking points on our good economy: 1) It is really Obama's economy; and 2) The economy actually sucks.

More evidence of Iran-al Qaeda links? I thought that linkage was well established. Is the war on terror so long that we are forgetting what we once knew?

Chinese officials in Hebi province were given a seminar on the danger of Christianity to Chinese national security. The Chinese have the template for dealing with such a threat up and running in Xinjiang province. I'm reasonably sure that an expanding base of people will eventually be considered a national security threat.

Is a stealth crackdown by Maduro beginning?

The United States seized (via court action and not a boarding action) the North Korean ship Wise Honest for smuggling. She is one of the We're Totally Not Smuggling class of bulk cargo merchant ships. Other ships in the class include Our Paperwork is in Order and These are Not the Droids You are Looking For. Of note, Kimilennium Falcon holds the record for the Samoa run.

The urge to kill remains strong among some: suicide bombing in Baghdad.

Montenegro convicted a couple Russians for trying to stage a coup to keep the Balkan country out of NATO. Amateurish Facebook ads that nobody saw pale by comparison.

Just say no to the Trump stimulus plan. The Obama stimulus didn't work as advertised to spur the economy--as even Obama later admitted when he said there actually weren't "shovel ready" projects available. And the Trump infrastructure plan is twice as expensive. Even if it actually goes to physical infrastructure it is a serious mistake in a booming economy (although it would still be a mistake if the economy wasn't booming). Let's hope the Senate holds the line on this budget buster. I miss the days when Republicans at least pretended to care about the deficit and debt.

If you ignore the box-checking put downs on Trump and ignore the notion that the Finnish army practiced guerrilla warfare against the invading Russians in 1939-1940, this is a good article on NATO returning to the Arctic to defend Norway, which has always been a border state of Russia from the beginning of NATO. I will say that I doubt the Russians are any more prepared to fight and survive in the Arctic now than they were in 1939-1940 or during the Cold War except for select smaller units. As I recall, the Soviets in the Cold War simply declared one of their APCs an "over-snow" vehicle--but it wasn't.

A tour of Afghanistan where peace talks will never lead to peace and where heavy fighting force casualties are a way of life.

My thanks to France for rescuing 4 hostages who included one American in Burkina Faso, at the cost of two French soldiers.

The expensive banking system that ISIL has to use post-caliphate.

Imposing discipline on Marines is controversial?  Discipline and attention to detail will Goddamn save Marine lives if those troops are sent into battle! Good God, just missing a button on my uniform brought down the wrath of drill sergeants. Because instilling that attention to detail would push you to the same attention when you go to set up a Claymore mine or some other boom-ey thing safely or effectively when it counts. Failing to salute an officer while I was on a trash detail away from the basic training area earned me a spot correction (although to be fair I was still uncertain about what the proper salute radius was--I thought I was outside it). I know I mentioned this before. That the discipline was allowed to lapse in the Marine Corps is disturbing. That an effort to correct the real problem is considered controversial is horrifying. I understand that there can absolutely be Mickey Mouse form over substance BS pushed on troops. So this can be overdone. But if the units haven't demonstrated their skills as Marines they haven't earned the right to look anything near like a Special Forces Army Delta operator or Navy SEAL. Those guys can wear whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. But I bet every piece of equipment they carry works properly.

A reminder that America doesn't lead the world in mass shootings. Far from it. So is this part of the universal database that counts politician lies? Tip to Instapundit.

Taiwan is worried about Chinese subversion and direct military threats. Put that in the "Well, Duh" file.

Well that's a take. Or Hamas could solve the problem by putting value on the limbs of their own people and refusing to use them as human shields and perhaps taking some of the money going to stockpiling rockets and building tunnels into medical supplies. But no, 1700 amputations are worth it to Hamas for the chance to kill a single Jew in Israel.

Is it me or does fired FBI director James Comey seem like he is one step away from bathing in milk and cheerios on a YouTube channel?

The Russians went big this year to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.  Is it just me or does it seem odd for Putin to highlight a war that cost Russia perhaps 30 million dead when today Putin is stoking paranoia about a war with NATO?

Trump is wrong to say that Kerry should be prosecuted under the Logan Act. Here's my view. Kerry is a drooling fool who is sorely missed by Russia's Lavrov and the Iranians. But he's no criminal. Unless stupidity and vanity are crimes. Although given that Democrats have idiotically thrown the charge against Trump's transition team, it is hard to blame him for throwing it back. Both sides should stand down.

China kicked off a 1,000-day countdown to their 2022 Winter Olympics. Let's hope it isn't a 900-day countdown to the invasion of Taiwan. Hey, I guessed wrong once. Why not double down?

Conscription in the Arab world, with a closer look at the United Arab Emirates.

ISIL has a presence in India's Kashmir region. So India has more reason to be angry with Pakistan. Even if Pakistan has nothing to do with ISIL in India, ISIL can live off of the jihadi infrastructure that Pakistan has created on their soil and that Pakistan believes they can aim at their enemies without suffering collateral damage. India will not overlook that kind of linkage.

Live by the cord, die by the cord. Those EV drivers love the taxpayer-paid subsidies from others to buy their expensive vehicles and love the subsidies others (who are much poorer) pay with gas taxes to maintain the roads they drive on. But asking EV drivers to pay their fair share now outrages them. Tip to Instapundit.

Will Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi finally pull out of Hodeida to allow humanitarian aid to flow through the port as they promised back in December? The rebels stand in the way of aid because Iranian propaganda has successfully portrayed the Saudi coalition opposing Iran as being to blame for the humanitarian crisis.The rebels claim the Saudis violated the agreement but the rebels undermined it from the beginning. No doubt the rebels are leaving because the Saudis began working to bypass the rebel-held bottleneck to humanitarian aid.

Now that you mention it, it is odd that the anti-gun media-activist complex lost interest in the Denver school shooting. Tip to Instapundit.

Belgorad, Carter, and conversions.

I'd hope for better in a new NATO member. But then again, France isn't far behind.

News from the Holy Roman Empire.

The Norwegians are preparing to put their new F-35s into action.

Baluchistan (or Balochistan, as the article uses) resistance people in Pakistan sure picked a target location to get the attention of China.