Peacetime electronic warfare recon.
You don't have to believe that Jesus is actually appearing to figure that if this is truly a trend in what Moslem people believe they see (or believe what other people say they see) that this is significant, no? Tip to Instapundit.
The Children's Crusade came to Congress. I await the fact checking.
The new head of AFRICOM visited West Africa. Nigerien Air Base 201 in Agadez features heavily. And jihadis and stuff, of course. Speaking of jihadis, we killed some in Libya with our first air strike of the year there.
It is mind boggling that the long-delayed KC-46 is still having problems getting into service. Our ancient aerial refuelers aren't getting any newer. Strategypage has more. The Air Force has been eager to replace its aging tanker planes since before I started this blog in June 2002. That's effed up.
The Air Force is pivoting to great power competition. Air Force commitment to close air support for the Army isn't going to get any stronger. Not that the Air Force doesn't have a point that without getting air superiority nothing else can happen. But the lack of positive help from the air is a reality for the Army. Train and equip accordingly.
Scaring children is bad enough as a weapon to promote climate change hysteria. But it is an improvement over past murderous threats:
But it was "humor" so okay.
Cheap autonomous ground combat vehicles are the way to go. I assume networked ground combat will be a war of attrition whether waged by people or robots or blends of the two. So we have to be able to rapidly replace the robot casualties.
India and America had a big display of friendship in Houston. Yeah, I don't see India and Russia becoming major allies again. Unless Russia stops bizarrely viewing America as an enemy and instead joins the West to confront the China threat.
The Joint Support and Enabling Command is now operational in Europe and will help move troops and supplies into the eastern NATO countries. Remember, until Russia invaded Ukraine that NATO had little ability in infrastructure or plans to fight in defense of the post-Soviet NATO countries in the east--let alone invade Russia. So congratulations Putin! Winning!
Don't tell the honorable representative that the AR-15 shoots .223 caliber rounds--she'll think they are more than four times as powerful as .50 caliber rounds.
In related news, the Army is getting ready to move divisions--mentioning both Europe and Asia--and having the supporting infrastructure to allow such divisions to fight. I'm glad (if that's the right word for this underwear-changing topic) this is happening and relieved that Asia is mentioned--for operations away from the Korean pensinsula--as I did in Military Review not too long ago. Of course, I was in favor of retaining that ability in Europe, in the same journal much longer ago (starting on page 15).
The Air Force would like friendly countries to be open to basing American aircraft in case of war. Yes, spreading out our planes would be helpful in war with China. God forbid. And that kind of ability will help for natural disaster response. Both require an Air Force able to operate away from established bases, of course, with the minimum of support going with the planes.
It is an assault on language to say that TRANSCOM's ship mobilization effort was "massive" when it involved 28 ships.
Area 51 remained secure last weekend. So our alien spacecraft reverse engineering and alien debriefing can continue on schedule.
Somalia. Now that's an endless war.
Senator Graham is trying to get Turkey back in the F-35 program. Good luck with that. Their role is being reassigned. And besides, we don't have an S-400 problem--we have an Erdogan program. Still, it doesn't hurt to have an outreach that can't work since I hope that rather than edging to be foes we are merely heading for a temporary break.
I find it bizarre that this story is labeled under "politics" as if it is Trump-centric, but Britain says Iran launched the attack on Saudi Arabia. Iran has offered their own Gulf security organization--which seems a lot like mobster "insurance" so your small business doesn't burn down.
Hahahaha! Oh wait, there are people who believe that will happen. Okay, now I'm weeping. Tip to Instapundit.
So ... colluding with Russia to steal our 2016 election wasn't enough. But this justifies (faux) impeachment? I don't think so. This is just tossing chum to her whackjobs to keep them happy for the moment. For more than three years of intense effort to find a horrible thing that justifies impeachment, "Ukrainegate" is what Democrats finally settled on? That's just sad.
Please tell me that even the most woke Resistance member knows this is batshit crazy, right?
Well yeah, falling energy prices would be good for America's economy. But don't assume that jihadis who once accused us of "stealing" their oil at high prices would leave us alone if there was so much oil that we didn't buy oil from their part of the world--either because we produce much more or have alternative sources of energy.
Diced and fried. Sure, cats kill more birds per year. But you can't dispute that solar and wind generation add quite a bit to the death toll. What really amazes me is that there are statistics on bird deaths caused by cats, windmills, and solar panels! And if the Green New Deal gets going, those second-place energy sources will leave those felines chewing on their dust in the ranking!
I have severe doubts about this idea. But at very low seak-skimming level could they be useful in the Black Sea to circumvent limits (tonnage and time) on our warships in Black Sea?
This makes total strategic sense if Russia is to avoid falling farther behind economically, they do need to slow down Western economies. Not that Russia pledged to reduce their carbon footprint! Oh no. Unlike America which has despite pulling out of that actually worthless accord--even if you fully subscribe to the belief system. And remember, Russian and European goals are based on pre-Soviet collapse emissions. Which allows both imperial bodies to claim significant reductions based on closing old heavy industry factories that would have closed from economics regardless of climate change concerns. Besides, in the back of Putin's mind he has to know that if Siberia warms up he'll have no Hellish landscape to send political prisoners if he wants to restart that whole gulag system, eh?
Canada is also pivoting to the Asia-Pacific region. For what it is worth given the skeletal nature of Canada's military these days.
The Navy is thinking of how to support Marine operations in the littorals without conventional amphibious warfare vessels. Ahem (starting on page 50). Maybe the Army should lead the way.
Now hush little baby, don't you cry
Everything's gonna be alright
Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya
Daddy's here to hold ya through the night
I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why
We fear how we feel inside
It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby
But I promise momma's gon' be alright.
I feel sorry for Thunberg. She should not be in her apparent panic. But I'll not take her climate advice under any circumstances, my sincere pity for her notwithstanding. Really, I care. I just don't care about what she cares about. What stuns me is that so many so-called educated adults worship the Oracle of Greta (probably not work safe):
I'm fine with going after white supremacists who target non-whites if they are really a threat. But I'm not terribly convinced that the white supremacists are our biggest problem.
I remain flabbergasted that even as marijuana is legalized and normalized, that people are in full panic mode over vaping nicotine. And the worse results come from people putting illegal substances into their vaping devices, it seems.
China is pushing hard at Vietnam over drilling rights in the South China Sea that China claims as its own territory (contrary to international law). Vietnam will likely turn more to America. That's fine. But eventually Vietnam will have to resist more forcefully if they hope to prevent China from stopping Vietnam from using their own EEZ in the South China Sea.
All three Zumwalt "destroyers" are "in the water." The truncated class of stealth destroyers is odd. Can they sail with non-stealthy ships without making their stealth moot? And how stealthy are they with stuff tacked on? Will one at sea (if all three are based in one fleet, allowing one to be deployed at all times while one recovers from and the other prepares for deployment) do any good for sea control? Or are they primarily to be test platforms for a new class that "affordably" uses the tech sunk into Zumwalt? Still, at least any mission makes more sense than the land-attack purpose given for the ship.
Russia's effort to screw with our 2016 election was like peeing in the ocean given the large amount of money Americans spent to influence us (although by getting the Democrats to unzip and join the stream it was fully cost effective). So I don't know what to make of this report that Russia's cyber effort in 2020 could be massive. Either way, why don't we go to paper ballots rather than try to harden electronic voting?
New angles in lightweight armor. While this is great for infantry and unarmored trucks, I don't see this as a means to allow for lightweight main battle tanks. If this works, won't enemies that don't have to ship their tanks across an ocean simply add a lot more of this lightweight armor and just race back to the total weight of current MBTs? And then we'd have to increase the weight again. And put an even bigger weapon on the MBT, making all MBTs ultimately even heavier? Unless we go to cheap disposable robot tanks that focus on lethality at the expense of protection because there is no crew.
Strykers have already gotten a 30mm gun and others will get anti-tank missiles, too. I've noted that before. I say when you start to build and armored cavalry regiment, build an armored cavalry regiment. Give them tanks, eh?
A fully scary account of the clusterfuck that is Yemen.
Trump stood up for Hong Kong's democracy protesters in his UN speech. Good for him.
Trump tells California that your loud claims to really, really care mean nothing if you don't actually produce results. Tip to Instapundit.
Maduro is hanging on in Venezuela. Really, shouldn't we know by now that telling a thug ruler he has to step aside doesn't work? With the power of caring about the health and welfare of his people less than our level of caring, he can sit on a mounting pile of corpses if he has to and wait us out. Unless his people revolt instead of fleeing abroad; or if his military gets sick of defending Maduro--and the Cuban enforcers go away. More here.
For nearly everyone, trendy (and expensive) crap. Suckers are born every minute.
What with their smooth surface in the groin area, haven't they always been gender neutral? Tip to the Morning Briefing.
This Lego-like grenade that can be adjusted for power might be the next Marine grenade. Be still my heart, could it be a left- and right-handed weapon?
An Army battalion-sized heavy task force that is part of the annual rotation of an armored brigade to Europe will spend its time in Lithuania.
A free and prosperous Taiwan provides economic benefits to China and hasn't harmed China one bit. Some academics think that given that reality it would make sense for China to grant Hong Kong independence. I don't think Xi will listen to academics' advice. Taiwan (and Hong Kong) may need to struggle for democracy for a long time.
Poland will buy F-35s. Is Russia having fun yet after years of claiming a near-toothless NATO is a threat to them? Face it, the Fuck-Up Fairy moved to Russia. How else could you explain Putin's thumbless grasp of threats?
The California state legislature couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel. To be fair, the rate of inflation really has eaten into felony thresholds of $50 or $100 established in the 19th century in many statute books. I think in 1992 when I worked for Michigan's legislature I calculated that it would be about a thousand dollars in Michigan if you looked at inflation (I looked at a couple other factors, too, to provide comparison measures given the change in our economy over that time span). And it is legitimate to debate whether someone should be sent to prison for that level of theft. But are the crooks being pursued, caught, and sentenced to something? Or are these newly classified misdemeanors too low for police and prosecutors to bother with? If people aren't being punished under the limits of the law's dividing line--old or new--don't be shocked that criminals will gravitate to those crimes. That's an own-goal, dudes.
The rule is that if 99.99% of people use a word or symbol or whatever in a commonly understood perfectly okay fashion, but the remainder use it (or are said to use it) as a symbol of hate--the symbol or word is a symbol of hate? Why grant the haters that power? That's insane.
Ebola.
Oh FFS those journalists can't actually believe this, can they? Are they so in the tank for Biden that they have forgotten the difference between "figurative" and "literal?"
Zelenskiy and Trump weren't "badmouthing" Germany. They were describing a country that has failed to live up to its alliance defense commitments and which is actually helping Russia freeze Ukrainians in the winter by building a pipeline for Russian energy to Germany that bypasses Ukraine (which meant that cutting off Ukraine cut off Germany and Europe, too). That said, it is not fair to say that Germany doesn't also help Ukraine.
Fortunately I can microcare, too. Tip to Instapundit.
I have feared that Remainers would not allow Britain to leave the European Union,notwithstanding the pledge to abide by the Brexit referendum results. Was I right? Is hope this weak? I was long in favor of accepting any Brexit on the theory that it was most important to get out. And then work on fixing the bad terms of the Brexit. We'll see. Rule of law is dead in Britain if Brexit is denied.
This is way cooler than finding quarters in your couch cushions.
I get the feeling that the North Korean sailors who showed weakness by breaking down and then accepting South Korean help will be shot for their troubles.
Erdogan's party support is declining as dissent grows in Turkey to his sultanship. Is he close enough to full autocracy to dispense with the facade of democracy and go full sultan?
It looks bad for the Democrats to impeach Trump when an election is half a year away from giving mere voters a chance to say whether Trump should be sent home (that observation was made by someone else but I can't find the source). It would almost be worth the impeachment process hysteria and divisiveness to have it work. And then have Trump with an election campaign infrastructure already in place simply run for election rather than reelection. I mean, is it even illegal for an impeached and removed president to run for the office?
I see somebody has been reading too much of China fanboy Tom Friedman. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and a billionaire, doesn't think Xi Jinping is a dictator and thinks Xi listens to his subjects. Perhaps Xi is popular among the Chinese. Although by tightening state control lately the CCP doesn't act like it is (although the CCP definitely listens to--and watches--its people). The point is that if the people change their minds Xi can stay put as long as the Communist Party and security forces back him. One wonders if Bloomberg is stupid, evil, or bought and paid for by the Chinese thug rulers? Is there a fourth option that isn't apparent (beyond the healing powers of "and," of course)?
Related to my frustration with the Resistance, I've often said that if the Democrats had worked with Trump--who has a long history of being a liberal supporters of Democrats prior to running as a Republican--the Democrats could have gotten an infrastructure spending program in 2017 that would have made Obama blush. Just call it the Total Reconstruction Using Money Piles Act, and Trump would have signed it.
Somebody alert the NYT 1619 crew.
American forces hit jihadis for the third time in a short period of time in Libya. Is the ISIL threat growing or is our recon getting better with our new drone base in the region?
If Russia truly wanted to support Trump their foreign minister wouldn't be defending him in the so-called Ukrainegate. Lavrov is throwing chum in the water for Resistance types who want to impeach Trump.
Have I mentioned lately that professors as a class have forfeited an assumption that they have superior knowledge and wisdom? Tip to Instapundit.
On October 1st the Chinese will celebrate 70 years of Communist Party tyranny in China. Will they celebrate the tens of millions they murdered and the countless people they've imprisoned and terrorized? But oh well, they industrialized and modernized so all is forgiven--as if that kind of body count is required--according to some fools in the West. For those fools, the modernization isn't the omelet--the tyranny is.
On home front news, I finally figured out--perhaps because it got worse lately--that intermittent leaking under one of my sinks was caused by a leak in the sink itself. I had no idea that was a thing. They aren't one piece things that you can see from the top whether there is a hole or not. I pulled the sink out, caulked the heck out of the seams, and reinstalled it. No leak! But I inadvertently scared the heck out of myself. Apparently--in retrospect--during the removal process some water leaked into my kitchen below the bathroom a little bit. I noticed a water stain in the ceiling which looked like it was beneath the toilet. Egad! Is everything breaking down? I turned off the water to the toilet and contemplated by alternatives. But the stain dried out. And it made little sense that if there was a pipe leak that turning off the water into the toilet would stop the water from dripping. So I turned the toilet back on. Still okay. I was the cause of the water leak somehow. And now I'm spraying the ceiling with a mix of water and bleach which over time nicely fades the water stain after repeated spraying and drying. That was fascinating, I know.
Strategypage discusses tanks and threats to them. Tank survival is not just a matter of passive and active protection. Tank survival requires combined arms with infantry and fire support keeping threats to the tanks suppressed, dead, or away; trained officers and crews; and less appreciated, controlling the battlefield after the fight to recover disabled tanks to repair them and return them to the fight.
I would like American-German relations to be better. But the decline long pre-dates Trump. And as I noted during the Obama administration, the public love of Obama over there didn't translate into Germany being a better ally. Let's hope relations recover--without a major Russian threat to revive them. I reject that notion that Merkel was prescient in refusing to support the Iraq War because the evidence of Iraqi WMD stockpiles wasn't evident. The 1991 ceasefire required Saddam's Iraq to prove he had disarmed--not for America to prove Saddam still had WMD. Can anyone doubt Saddam would have rebuilt his arsenal--and perhaps used it against the Kurds again to regain that territory--if he had not been defeated? Fellow Baathist Assad has been using chemical weapons notwithstanding the 2013 chemical weapons agreement that Kerry made with Russia's Lavrov. Saddam would have followed a similar path.
