A Venezuelan Su-30 intercepted an American recon plane in international air space, in a manner the U.S. said was unsafe. I wonder if a Russian pilot was at the controls because I have doubts if the Venezuelans have any pilots capable of flying close without actually ramming.
China gets a naval base (with a nearby airport) in Cambodia. Cambodia has long done China's bidding. Of course, it is not terribly well placed to support operations down around Singapore. But beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. It doesn't have zero worth is all I'll say about it. I'll worry (along with India) if China gets a base in Myanmar with a rail line back to China. Still, if China bases anti-ship ballistic missiles there, the missiles could easily strike the Andaman Sea barrier that India is setting up to block China's move west. Note that Cambodia denies a secret base deal. But are they denying the base or the secret part?
So why isn't Turkey's intervention--backing the moderate jihadis--in the Libyan civil war prompting cries from the global left about such neo-colonialism? I mean, Libya was once a colonial possession of the Ottoman Empire. Also, there are no "moderate" jihadis. Turkey is on the side of Iran and Qatar on this issue.
The T-14 Armata main battle tank isn't going anywhere, although Russia might see reason to move forward on the T-15 IFV partner.
And the Russian Su-57 "stealth" fighter won't be flying top cover, either.
I'd say that China is undermining America on the North Korea issue by secretly building a Huawei wireless network in North Korea. But I suspect it enables Chinese espionage and would be useful in a Chinese invasion of North Korea or a coup attempt.
I sometimes wonder if Erdogan is buying Russian S-400s in order to get out of buying expensive American F-35s because Turkey's economy is suffering. With the bonus of "standing up to" America over the issue.
Grant me that this is funny. Economic reality is a bitch. Seriously, I really despise that communist-loving Sanders. I was literally (or almost, depending on the time difference) learning to throw hand grenades when Bernie was partying with Soviets, as I noted in this data dump: Bernie Sanders was having a drunken ball with his Soviet friends in the Soviet Union on June 13, 1988. By contrast, I was having a very bad day on 13 JUN 88--but at least I had grenades to look forward to the next day.
The US is very worried about cyber-warfare that is increasingly able to affect the real world. And it works the other way around, as the article notes--and as I've long advocated. And how much of Iran's cyber activity is a proxy for Russia or China?
That's doesn't bode well, does it? Tip to Instapundit.
State Representative Smollett? The man who confronted the state rep was a jerk--but he was not a racist Trump supporter as the Georgia state representative claimed. So she's apparently a racist fraud--who was also a jerk for violating norms of supermarket line fairness that triggered the ethnic Cuban, anti-Trump, Democratic man.
Bipartisanship in Congress is restricted to spending more money and borrowing more to spend more. We are so screwed. Tip to Instapundit. Trump carries too much of his old Democratic spending views and he managed to kill even the nominal Republican claim to want to rein in spending. I'd trade a 1% cap on increases in defense spending (with flexibility in moving money around) for a 1% cap on discretionary non-defense spending, too. And pray the massive non-discretionary spending can be dealt with at some point. Hopefully by moving more spending into the discretionary category. I'm a dreamer, I know.
You'll need more evidence to prove to my satisfaction that Trump is playing 3D chess rather than being lucky. But on the other hand, as in war, you don't have to be great to win--just better than the socialist-loving morons on the other side.
If universities are suffering from Trump's crackdown on Chinese espionage and information operations (which is broad and persistent here) why isn't the issue the outrage of universities cooperating with dictatorial China? Tip to Instapundit.
A call for reinstating the draft to make up for recruiting woes. I disagree. Consider that the Army has had the problem in 2018 and was short 6,500 (oddly the author writes 7,600) recruits out of a goal of 76,500. So a national draft with no exceptions or deferments is to be put in place to make up for the shortfall of 6,500 troops? Really? Or are we to meet the Army annual recruiting goals purely with the draft, meaning we draft 76,500 and refuse to allow any volunteers? Really?
It is wrong to tell people here legally, whether citizen or not, to go home. It is far worse to call people Nazis and racists simply for disagreeing with you, on the assumption that any disagreement must be motivated by some form of hate.
South Korea looks like it will build a larger helicopter carrier capable of carrying F-35Bs.
Well how's that for raising pucker factors in Northeast Asia? At least no American plane was involved.
There is fighting between democracy protesters and pro-China mobs. Which will be all the excuse China needs to drop the hammer on the protesters.
Why isn't America backing Georgia more firmly and vocally in the face of Russian hostility? On the bright side, the article says we are going forward with anti-tank weapons for Georgia. Which is something I've wanted us to supply since the 2008 Goons of August War.
So what's up with Army helicopter missions around WDC?
I somewhat recently realized the effect of VLS systems on our ships that rule out at-sea replenishment, but this author adds a lot more information to that issue about why our Navy is now way too tied to major bases to operate forward rather than being truly expeditionary. Egad. The post-Cold War "peace dividend" did a number on our fleet.
I disagree with the idea that the new Space Corps should use naval rank to distinguish it from the Air Force or Army. The Air Force did fine keeping Army ranks. While I've lost the battle to get the Air Force to aim high and become the Aerospace Force, I'm adamant that we should reserve a Space Navy for when we move beyond the Earth-Moon system.
Boris Johnson is the new prime minister of Britain, and promises to get out of the European Union by the new deadline. Good luck.
Cloudy with a chance of science. It really is amazing that such a basic factor was left out of the models. Tip to Instapundit.
Of course saying immigrants should assimilate ("support American norms") isn't a white supremacist thing to say (tip to Instapundit). Indeed, it is the opposite because it says anybody can become an American because we are a country of ideas and not a blood and soil nation. Further, because America was built by immigrants--which admits that immigration was supposed to benefit America--we have the right and responsibility to regulate the amount of immigration to benefit those here legally. It is shocking to me that Democrats have abandoned with such fervor the positions on resisting illegal immigration that they so recently (until Trump) held.
Thanks to Eric of Learning Curve (and the related OIF FAQ) who responded to my whining about lost posts from Geocities and then Yahoo!Geocities. I knew that some stuff was on the Internet Archive but never really looked deeply. There is more than I thought--but not all. Much of 2003 is lost online and there are gaps in 2004. And yeah, even bulk cutting and pasting is tedious. And oddly, Blogger seems to be reacting to the massive monthly posts by killing any other posts that were in that month. Even when I displayed existing (recreated) posts and then remade the post it would not display. But when I put the link to the existing post into the browser it displayed. Weird. But since I recreated them for the purpose of linking them, I guess that's okay. Anyway, I'll still have to dip into my email to rescue the gaps. But the task isn't quite as daunting. And no, I'm not going to break up what I saved into individual posts.
This is good news at the intersection of police misconduct and race. Right? Tip to Instapundit.
I'm not the only one to notice this, but the Mueller hearings just demonstrate how little little control Mueller likely had over the large number of partisan Democratic lawyers--in Mueller's name--who had two years and effectively unlimited power and money to get the president--and failed. They failed to get anybody on anything related to the basic charge of colluding with the Russians to affect our 2016 election. Sadly, Democrats thought they had a slam dunk with this process. As they thought about the Mueller report itself, to be fair. So once more with feeling!
Professor gets whacked when he gets stuck in the intersection of pride and stupidity. Tip to Instapundit.
Good. Iranian propaganda should be rejected. Note that while the Deeply Concerned want to enable an Iranian win in Yemen, the world shrugs as the far higher body count in Syria continues to climb.
Yawn. Basically only South Korea has to worry about those types of missiles. They aren't going to get America to stop squeezing North Korea. After I wrote that, North Korea confirms it is a warning to South Korea to stop buying advanced weapons and training to use them. That's unlikely to work.
I suppose I'm just figuring out the bleeding obvious, but my precarious position politically is amplified by both my refusal to support anything Trump does regardless of my past positions; and my refusal to condemn things I've supported in the past just because Trump is for them. I'm so screwed.
Pakistan remains a jihadi-supporting problem that is feeling the pain of American anger over being a jihadi-supporting problem. The visiting Pakistani president got a public pat on the back from Trump. But that was all.
The British will escort all their flagged commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. This is a trip-wire defense that counts on Iran being unwilling to attack the thin red line at sea.
Ukraine seized a Russian merchant ship in the Black Sea that was involved in the Sea of Azov incident last year that resulted in the Russian capture of Ukrainian sailors who are still held prisoner. Ukraine released the crew of the ship captured. Oddly there is worry about Ukraine acting like Russia is waging war against Ukraine.
Hungry Venezuelans is a glorious opportunity for Maduro's corrupt thug rulers to get rich. The rulers ruined the country, but the rulers endured the surge of opposition earlier in the year.
The Army War College shouldn't be subject to the Islamist blockade of inconvenient speakers. I signed the petition opposing the "disinviting" of Raymond Ibrahim last month. The incident is shameful. Soldiers are expected to advance under fire to fight Islamist enemies. But the officers in charge of the college couldn't withstand the false charge of "Islamophobia."
Honestly, if the auto companies want to increase fuel efficiency, they can make that business decision. The issue is whether the government should mandate it. Which the government shouldn't do. Note too that the companies made a joint agreement with California, presumably because they couldn't trust the others to refrain from the plan and so gain a price advantage on their vehicles.
Huh. False victimhood is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
The American Marine rotational force to Australia has finally reached 2,500, the goal of the initially small rotation begun in the Obama administration. They may come in handy.
Huh. So exactly who is hearing all the alleged "dog whistles" coming from Trump? And if your judgment is based on thinking Trump said something, I say if you hear the whistle you're the dog. Tip to Instapundit. And yes, I recognize that both sides are prone to this sort of thing. But the left often seems to believe they solely possess the power of reason with no emotion involved in their logical--if not scientific!--opinions.
A related thought. Serious environmentalists were unhappy with the totally toothless and fully symbolic Paris Climate Accord signed by Obama. Until Trump pulled out of the agreement. At which point environmentalists screamed that the planet is now doomed. Because Orange Man Bad.
China's national defense white paper says "China continues to enjoy political stability, ethnic unity and social stability." Okay, you guys say whatever you need to say to sleep at night, I guess. The Mandate of Heaven can be withdrawn with no notice.
I knew this, but it bears repeating: Increasing the minimum wage may harm people by eliminating jobs and reducing hours in order to reward the few who keep their job and hours. But that's collateral damage. The real objective is to help much better paid union members who have their wages pegged to some multiple of the minimum wage in contracts. And raising the minimum wage does this even if most people at the bottom rung of the work force make more than the minimum wage. Politics and not compassion.
This paper says the military is increasingly politicized. But the discussion is more about how the military is viewed through a political lens. I'm not sure what that means. All my life those on the left have looked down on if not actively despised or hated the military and the people in it. And in history there was little love in general for the military for a long time. Any bump that may have taken place in the aftermath of 9/11 may simply be receding back to the norm.
"If they could make us live like them, many would. If we could make them live like us, most wouldn’t." I think that is as good a definition--as a gross generalization, of course--you can get if you apply it to the left (they) and the right (us). Which is why I will sometimes write to the effect, "if Californians want to do X, feel free to be stupid." Still, some on the left are even worse, demanding we use their words and even pronouns in the constantly updated Newspeak Dictionary. To Hell with them. Tips to Instapundit.
Can't live with them. Can't shoot them on the streets. The Europeans find their former black and white moral judgments about America's approach to captured terrorists (Gitmo) are tougher to maintain at home. The inconvenient truth is that releasing terrorists will get people killed. I tend to think that if we grab them on the battlefield we can lock them up until the war on Islamist terror is over--yeah, I know that might be forever. Oh well. They signed up for the jihad, right? Enjoy the glory. The terrorists can register a complaint with their home office. But our citizens caught here must be given trials, whether in general courts or special courts designed to keep the judges and staff safe from retribution, depending on the status of the accused. And in between there is a gray area.
Again, walls work. If defended. Any barrier undefended can be crossed, given enough motivation and time. This is Defense 101. If you have no barriers you can secure a line with security personnel lined up shoulder to shoulder with ample reserves. Barriers reduce personnel needs to defend a given line. And by slowing the crossers down the barrier buys time to get security personnel to the area where people are crossing to stop them. Walls--or other physical barriers--are not the only solution but they are part of it. Visa over-stays and businesses illegally hiring illegal aliens are two other big parts of the problem. And the US statutes on refugee application contribute, too.
Heh. I know way too little to judge the Rocky Affair. But I imagine we can trust Sweden in this high profile case to act appropriately. Although Congress might pass a AUMF against Sweden just based on the cunning Nordic bastards that they are.
"Anxious white liberals are throwing crazy logs on the bonfire of the insanities[.]" Smells like woke spirit, if you ask me.
Okay, this actually made me LOL (tip to Powerline Blog):
Sure, the odds of a city-killer asteroid hitting a city is small, but this should still get the pucker factor up there. Tip to Instapundit.
Fan. Meet sh*t.
The British believe that Europeans tanker escort operations in the Persian Gulf will need American support. France and Germany think the Europeans can do it on their own. Which is the difference between recognizing that it may be necessary to fight Iran to keep the tankers sailing; and believing that Iran isn't really a threat so all that is needed is symbolic action to remind a basically friendly Iran not to get too aggressive.
A rally for free elections in Moscow, where hundreds were arrested? Hope springs eternal. As does the Putin government oppression.
The damning concerns raised about the F-35 seem completely based on old issues with a very new plane not yet fully equipped or programmed. And the cost complaint is in large measure because we will build far fewer planes than the original per-plane costs assumed--the research and development costs are spread across the air frames actually built. For a long time I was very concerned about the F-35. Until the plane started getting in the hands of pilots (American and allied) who loved it and as the plane was put into initial operations with greater capabilities added. And until I read that the Russians had waged a long propaganda campaign against the plane to keep it out of our arsenal. My concerns about the plane now aren't about the plane itself but about maintaining it and protecting it from being hacked. So WTF?
Thank goodness Bernie said it. Because otherwise it would be racist. I know it was said 3-1/2 years ago. Have Democrats expanded what is "problematic" so much since 2015 or is it only an issue of who says it? The bright side about the ability to rapidly shift standards is that you don't have to go back to our founding fathers to find racists--what a dog whistle! I mean, if it is racist to point out a city has a lot of rats, how much more racist is it to point out a city has a lot of murderers? And et tu, PBS? Amazingly, Trump Hysteria Condition is leading the left to stake out the pro-rat position. I'm going to go out on a moral limb here and state emphatically that I am anti-rat. Oh, and what really ticks me off about the Baltimore Sun's op-ed is the claim that Trump as the president is more at fault for the problems. Like the rats appeared in January 2017. But more to the point, how on Earth can you claim the president should be the head of a unitary state that has powers that reach into every community in direct control with local officials nothing more than federal government staff? Given the irrational fear the left has about a Trump dictatorship, how can they essentially claim Trump should have the power to address rats in a city?! Some via Instapundit.
It's dead, Jim.
Saying a no-deal Brexit is possible is necessary both to avoid giving the EU and Remainers a bizarre veto over terms of leaving, and to make a no-deal Brexit less likely by giving the EU and Remainers a reason to negotiate in good faith. Rule of law requires a Brexit with no more delays. Rule of law has been harmed enough already by the efforts to overturn the referendum that directed Britain to leave the EU.
