Yemen's Houthi rebels and their Iranian patrons took America's outreach as a surrender announcement and acted accordingly. The fighting goes on. The Houthi will also take advantage of the humanitarian aid outreach to rebuild their logistics while they can. The Saudi side is slowly winning.
Yeah (via Instapundit): "Congress’s delegation of policy decisions to the executive branch allows
the President’s administration to create the most important regulations
of our economic and social life. The result is relatively extreme
regulations that can shift radically between administrations of
different parties, creating polarization and frustrating the search for
political consensus." Congress has a role in this polarization by willingly delegating so much power to the president out of fear of having to compromise or even take a clear position on an issue--even minor ones. Although since Obamacare Democrats in Congress seem perfectly willing to legislate their most extreme positions without even wanting compromise. Their apparent solution to the problem is ensuring there is never a transition back to conservative control at the federal level. Germany, the leader of Europe, isn't looking very good either.
The battle for hearts and minds continues in Burbank, California. Tip to The Morning Briefing.
The Syrian civil multi-war staggers on in Idlib province. I know there is a kerfuffle over the 2018 American cruise missile strike on Assad in retaliation for a government chemical weapons attack. Supposedly this chemical weapons attack did not happen. I'm not worked up over that false attack. Back in 2013 I was perplexed that the death of thousands by chemical weapons could prompt a debate over striking Assad. Contrast that to the deaths of tens of thousands by "ordinary" means that we shrugged at. And that was hundreds of thousands of dead ago. Assad and his policy of deliberately targeting civilians to win his multi-war earned him far more retaliation than he has ever endured.
So there's a live cam on Mars:
But isn't the real story the fact that somebody (or something) is playing music on Mars?
Xi seems to say this often, but one day it might be a predictor of imminent action: "Ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has told the country's military and armed police force to get 'combat ready' to defend national sovereignty and security, amid fears that Beijing may be planning an invasion of democratic Taiwan in the next few years." But I admit I'd feel more secure if Xi had told the PLA to get its uniforms "maternity ready."
But of course "deep fake" video technology was harnessed for the bizarrely competitive high school cheerleading team wars that seem to make some of their moms just ruthless. What an awful person.
Well, it's certainly brave of Charlie Hebdo to mock Princess Meghan. But being cancelled by the woke mob for that is far safer than getting slaughtered for mocking Mohammed.
The dictatorship of the popular culture complex. The left doesn't seem to mind it too much. Question: what happens when the popular culture complex doesn't favor you?
Never mind. The media sure pushed that "error" a lot, didn't it? Their mistakes only went in one direction. Tip to Instapundit.
So, a Washington Post story correction invalidates the second impeachment entirely--even on their terms. But layers and layers of fact checkers from different media outfits confirmed it! It was obviously BS from the start. Which makes me ask, if Trump was so bad why did the media have to make up so many lies? Why? To poison the 2020 election campaign. Are the media sorry? Trump isn't president, is he? Oh, and I guess a game of "telephone" is now considered journalism that at worst leads to a fake but accurate news story. And journalists actually wonder why conservatives hate them with such passion.
Does China have any non-awful ally or friend? With a lengthy discussion of China-India border developments.
Greece agreed to buy French Rafale fighters--and French support against Turkey.
The military entering hissy teenager social media levels is very disturbing.
I don't think we have any idea what the size of China's nuclear warheads stockpile is. Pretending that our guess is solid is potentially dangerous.
Wait. I'd been led to believe that without Trump the Canadians did great and closed the border so we didn't screw them up. Apparently not: "In March of 2020, Canadians started dying of COVID-19 and the country shut down. This is a comprehensive report on the country's mishandling of the crisis of the century." I can't read the massive essay compilation. But it's the entire edition of that magazine.
It would have been nice to have been given even one reason why a potential Turkish purchase of Russian stealth fighters would be "NATO's nightmare." I honestly don't care. Let Turkey buy Russian crap. We'll presumably be able to see them up close and if Turkey buys them we'll unplug Turkey from the integrated air defense network should the Russian plane be a threat to its security. And I sincerely doubt Turkey is about to lay out the money for the planes. Although to be fair to the author, an editor no doubt chose that click bait headline.
I disagree with this EU-centric analysis. Britain was useful to America in Europe because of NATO and not because of Britain's membership in the EU, which half a century ago was just a free trade European Economic Community. And Britain was long helpful outside of NATO's area. Britain is free to look globally because NATO won the Cold War which had, along with two world wars, sucked Britain onto the continent. Russia is weaker and farther east than it has been in centuries. Britain can now look globally again in ways it hasn't been able to do since the Kaiser forced the British to concentrate their fleet in home waters.
The Coast Guard is deploying across the Pacific to provide an armed but non-Navy presence. Good.
Okay people, let's not start beating up tea drinkers with funny accents just because the dominant strain of the Wuhan China Xi Jinping Flu CODID-19 virus in America will soon be the "British variant." Bad UPI word usage!
Yes, long-range Army missiles could complement the Air Force. Army missiles that suppress air defenses could enable the Air Force to operate more effectively. But have no doubt the missiles are a replacement for close air support that the Army does not trust the Air Force wants to provide when the Army needs it. There's a good reason for that mistrust.
America will trust Russia to help negotiate a peace deal in Afghanistan? Because the Syria chemical weapons deal and Iran nuclear deal that Russia helped with worked out so well?
The issue of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has been revived lately. My old scenario still stands as my outline of how China will come ashore.
Trump increased Navy operations to challenge China. Biden seems to be continuing that pace in the Taiwan Strait, at least. Is it inertia that will change when the new administration pushes its own policy?
Defender Europe 2021 is on! It is a large NATO exercise centered around practicing moving an American division from America to Europe. Such things used to be routine in the Cold War.
"At least five rockets hit the Iraqi military air base of Balad north of Baghdad on Monday, without causing casualties, Iraqi security officials said." American contractors were at the base. So far Biden's Defense Department retaliates against Tucker Carlson faster than it punishes Iran.
Well duh: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called international alliances 'force multipliers' for the U.S. in a Sunday op-ed." But there is an assumption in that statement of the obvious that should be stated. Our allies need to be strong enough to be a provider of security and not just a consumer of America-provided security. So our sometimes unpleasant actions to make that assumption real matter. Sadly, another assumption--wrong--is that America didn't have alliances for the last four years.
The Army wants autonomous drone resupply. Resupply worked well with precision parachutes in Afghanistan.
Dissonance! Dissonance! Germany will buy American P-8 naval surveillance/ASW aircraft to fill the gap until a European plane can be built. Wow. Who knew Germany purchased weapons?
Taiwan plans to build a high-altitude ballistic missile defense network. America will be involved. Which would be nice to hold open the door for American logistics and troop reinforcements.
The Army plans to release its multi-domain operations doctrine manual in 2022.
Business owners within the perimeter of George Floyd Square in Minneapolis are begging the police to open up the area and reclaim it. Not that no force is within the area: "Agape, a peacekeeping force whose staff includes ex-gang members from the neighborhood, is on contract with the city to keep watch over the area." Wait. What? The city contracted with a local militia to provide security? How very Third Worldy.
The mostly Democratic Party 2020 election effort may not have been election fraud, but it was close enough for permanent government work. The pro-Biden propaganda effort was significant and disturbing. And by opening up voting by mail it increased the opportunity for fraud and reduced the ability to prevent it. Will we ever know if anybody who was convinced we literally faced the reelection of Hitler took advantage of the opportunity? Will we remove the opportunity for those with motivation to cheat in time for future elections? Or will Congress entrench and broaden the opportunities for fraud, confident that their side will exploit them?
The only reason Iran has the advanced centrifuge is that the nuclear deal was a shield to improve basic technology: "Iran has started enriching uranium at its underground Natanz plant with
a second type of advanced centrifuge, the IR-4, the U.N. nuclear
watchdog said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, in a further
breach of Tehran's deal with major powers." In the meantime, Iran pretends they want satellite launch capabilities and not an ICBM.
I do hope many Americans culturally appropriated my heritage and wore green this last week to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Because we're not a-holes who insist everyone stay in their ethnic and racial lanes like we're some old time segregationists unwilling to see our cultural purity muddied.
President Biden is scheduled to give a solo press conference on March 25th. We'll see. A lot of things can happen before then. A foreign crisis. A scheduling problem. A visit to Guam. forgetting to set his alarm. An early lid to his day. Maybe even tripping over a new dog and hurting his ankle.
I'm open to the idea that China deliberately infected the world with the Xi Jinping Flu virus. But I'm sure that China at least deliberately refused to contain their epidemic within China. And if the latter, doesn't the result encourage China to think of deliberately attacking the world with a virus in the future?
There's hope for America, after all.
Are the Pratas Islands the "next Crimea?" That's my guess. If the Chinese want to move on something. What's new to me is that 500 Taiwanese Marines garrison the place. I did not know that. Would that be enough to deter the Chinese who might want an easy victory?
Apparently Anarchist and Marxist supremacy slides under the radar.
Are we closer to Xi Jinping Flu herd immunity from untracked infections? On the other hand, the dramatic drop in cases across America seems to have settled at September 2020 rates, according to a graph I've been tracking. And on the other other hand, the second waves in America and Europe were less deadly than the first waves. Although that might be from not knowing the true denominators in the first waves.
This should not be shocking. The Baath Party itself was modeled on the Nazi Party.
That seems wise: "Taiwan has increased personnel and armaments on Itu Aba, the main island Taiwan occupies in the South China Sea." Also, the United States will sell sensitive equipment for the submarines Taiwan is committed to building.
The former imperial powers battle for influence in the buffer Iraq between them. America needs to support Iraq against both. The Saudis finally seem interested, too.
Do not become confused: "'Moderate' Iranians is a term that has to be qualified. These are members of the senior leadership, all of them approved by the Council of Guardians (twelve senior Shia clerics) who have become divided into mutually antagonistic factions. The Moderates are those who want to put Iran’s interests first and concentrate on the economy and reducing the poverty that is visibly turning more Iranians against their government, Islam and all the foreign wars the radicals have dragged Iran into. These 'realists' are also nationalists and often called 'moderates' by foreigners." My view of Iranian "moderates" is simpler. They wear suits and don't scream "Death to America!" in English on camera.
The young man was admirably able to learn from being hit by the clue bat. His professors? Not so much. Which leads me to ask again, why do Democrats love mullah-run Iran so much? Funny enough I discovered a similar post I wrote 8 years earlier. Some observations are apparently timeless.
Mini-Xi has joined Dr. Evil's lying campaign about the origins of the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic which began in Wuhan, a city in China. Remember: "[Austin Bay has] written that by late December 2019, the CCP dictatorship confronted a strategic threat: a domestic epidemic that would damage China's economy. So, the dictatorship decided to 'export the contagion' and let the virus spread internationally so the world would also suffer."
Is the Iraqi government financially desperate enough to fight corruption? Even before the first victory in Iraq I was calling for a campaign for rule of law in Iraq to help cement the battlefield victory.
You don't have to go home, but you must stay here.
For cheap and clean nuclear energy? "The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Wednesday it has confirmed that Iran has begun operating a cascade of advanced centrifuges at an underground site." Remember, the IR-4 advanced centrifuge had the shield of the 2015 nuclear deal to help Iran make it ready for use now.
As the Biden administration angles to pivot harder to Asia and the Pacific, it alienates Russia: "Russia is recalling its ambassador to the United States for
consultations, the foreign ministry said Wednesday without citing a
specific reason." Russia is a problem and I support strengthening NATO to block Russia. But China is the bigger problem. Our goal should be to split Russia from China and not drive them closer together. Sadly, Russia has signaled at least 5 more years of sucking up to China. So it will admittedly be nearly impossible to split Russia away from China in the short run.
It disturbs me that conservatives have taken up the false line that America's post-World War II military loses all our wars. That attitude just frustrates me to no end. I too have been disturbed by the entry of retired flag officers into politics the last four years and a couple recent military entries into domestic politics (the Tucker Carlson and Guam National Guard episodes). But that doesn't mean that the military should be thrown under the bus by retconning the military record.
Face it, Biden's border policy could be a super-spreader event.
The population implosion. Tip to Instapundit. I've long had a hunch that Japan will cope with robots while America will use immigration (as long as we emphasize assimilation I'm good with that). I don't remember what I read for this, but I think Europe goes clones. Russia just tries to gather in ethnic Russians. Lord knows what China does. But it may involve genetic engineering.
Olympics in China: move 'em or lose 'em. The 2008 Olympics did not make China a better place as it was argued then. Don't reward the Chinese Communist Party with another Olympics pageant after their record of genocide, oppression, shipping deadly illegal drugs to America, crushing Hong Kong, aggression, and inflicting their Covid-19 epidemic on the world, making it the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic.
The Army will build Arctic operating capabilities. Huh. I thought that climate change would make jungle warfare training more relevant for the region before too long.
When near, appear far different: "The China-backed Confucius Institute is
rebranding to avoid public scrutiny into its work disseminating
propaganda to thousands of American students." We wouldn't allow Aryan Society German Language Partner Networks to work in our schools. Why allow Chinese Communist Party propaganda and espionage hubs do that?
Potemkin Tsar and Potemkin empire? How far can Russia decline, anyway?
Wait, the “U.K. variant,” the “Brazilian variant,” the “South African variant,” the “California variant,” and the “New York variant” of what exactly? Could it be of the "China Virus?" Heavens no, you hater! Tip to Instapundit.
Xiao Zhen Xie may have done more to deter criminals in San Francisco than the city government.
Marxist Chinese and Marxist-adjacent Russians (see what I did there?) accuse America of racism using the false accusations of Marxist Black Lives Matter as evidence. Tip to Instapundit.
Democrats hate the idea of showing ID to vote. But they want ID to live your life?
Good: "Japan and the United States joined forces Tuesday to criticize China’s 'coercion and aggression' in Asia." In subsequent direct America-China talks in Alaska, it becomes clear we will have to agree to kick their ass disagree. We'll see if this is just something we have to say because of our culture or something we back up with action. Also, you can see from China's behavior in Alaska that Biden organizing a circular firing squad on unjust systemic racism charges in America can be exploited by an absolutely evil Chinese ruling party to dismiss any real complaints about China.
Abandoning our friends who help us kill jihadis every day puts those friends at risk: “Afghan security forces are nowhere near achieving self-sufficiency, as they cannot maintain their equipment, manage their supply chains or train new soldiers, pilots and policemen.” If we want jihadis to rebuild their global reach, by all means step back and let them regain a sanctuary.
In recent data dumps I've mentioned the disturbing problem in Mozambique. The U.S. decided to help with a two-month training mission: "U.S. special operations troops have launched a mission to assist counterterrorism forces in Mozambique, where there are growing concerns about escalating violence by Islamic State militants."
Long-range nuclear missiles are the reason Russia is the biggest direct threat to American territory. That doesn't mean Russia is more than a regional military power with continental defense needs.
CNN's ratings have tanked since Trump left office. Did I call it or what?
I'm good with more dead jihadis: "Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan
were targeted by U.S. airstrikes this week as the White House
approaches a deadline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country." The strikes were in support of Afghan forces in contact with the enemy. But is this an effort to fight and win the war or is it an effort to signal the Taliban to cooperate in signing a pretend peace deal that allows a decent interval between withdrawal and Taliban victory? Extending American troops to November rather than until victory telegraphs the latter objective, no?
The Russians wish their information operations against America were as effective as Democrats wrongly claim.
American and Turkish naval forces conducted a "passing and communications exercise." Which sounds like we sailed near each other without colliding or shooting and used our radios. Still, it is nice to coax Turkey back from its dangerous path of hostility toward America, Israel, and NATO. But I won't trust Turkey while Erdogan is in charge.
If I understand how Smart Diplomacy works, shipping Iran pallets of cash will stop these drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Fake news reporting: "America's top diplomat is heading to Europe next week as the Biden administration moves to restore closer U.S. ties with European and NATO allies after four years of snubs and tension under former President Donald Trump." The tensions were from European refusal to meet NATO spending standards. And the so-called snubs were because Trump wouldn't quietly take "no" for an answer from the Europeans over demands they meet their commitments. As far as the NATO countries that don't spend the minimum, "closer" ties with America mean no more American pressure to spend more on NATO's defenses. That is a "shared agenda" the Germans and others can get behind!
This analysis of China's potential opponents isn't off the mark individually, for the most part. But the idea that America is unneeded to sustain resistance to China is dead wrong. Truly, if we don't hang together we will most assuredly hang separately. America has a major role in knitting these widely separated points of resistance together.
Forgot about this: The early signs of the formation of the Trump coalition. Trump exploited the niche market of people who love America and resent our ruling class that doesn't.
Yeah, I think the concept of an American "deep state" is overblown. But the federal bureaucracy is close enough for fourth-branch-of-government work. And it has little oversight.
Wait. What? How on Earth can the White House fill its staff with Democrats? And how does VP Harris keep her job? Tip to Insanity Wrap.
Yeah. Although our woke racists want to make an omelet:
We've reached the point where white supremacist mass killers use dog whistles instead of proudly proclaiming their views on their obvious racial superiority? Obviously the crime is horrific. And if guilty I'd want the man executed. But why the eagerness to find racial motives when none is apparent? Maybe that lack of evidence changes. But the rush to race-wide judgment is amazing. And appalling.
It has been a long time since "liberal minded" meant "open minded."
Well this is just a stupid take. Conservatives aren't siding with Putin on a live debate with Biden. Conservatives are pointing out what Democrats have been denying for a year now. The fact that Democrats nominated and elected a man incapable of having a live debate with Putin. The last thing I want is such a debate which will prove what our enemies abroad suspect.
Good! "U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met in New Delhi and agreed to deepen defense cooperation, intelligence sharing and logistics."
I prefer writing on paper for anything longer than about a thousand words. And I prefer to take notes on paper. But I love editing in word processing. Tip to Instapundit.
CCP: All your immunity are belong to us.
The Saudi coalition launched air strikes against Houthi military targets in the separatist/rebel capital. The Saudis weren't going to hold back after the Houthi repeatedly launched drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Despite American hopes that the Saudis could be restrained to achieve peace, I'm sure the American government won't protest these Saudi strikes.
Keeping an eye on the oil flows: "The U.S. Navy said Sunday it will hold a major naval exercise alongside Belgium, France and Japan in the Mideast amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program in the region."
This is just BS analysis: "U.S. relations with its two biggest geo-political rivals are facing
severe tests as President Joe Biden tries to assert America's place in
the world and distinguish himself from his predecessor." The "perception" of Trump's policies are twisted and wrong. Trump strengthened NATO to resist Russia and began a serious campaign to resist China by beginning to decouple our economy from China. In addition to military spending increases. Biden has been loud in his treatment of China and Russia. We've gone with perhaps excessive public compliments of Putin and Xi to excessively hostile words. We'll see about actions. In policy, it would be nice to split Russia from China. To repeat what I wrote earlier, our goal should be to split Russia from China and not drive them closer together. Sadly, Russia has signaled at least 5 more years of sucking up to China. So it will admittedly be nearly impossible to split Russia away from China in the short run.
Asian Americans are "white adjacent" when Democrats want to hobble their success; but Asian Americans are oppressed minorities when Democrats want to attack Republicans. Yes, Democrats have always been at peace with East Asia. Very Orwellian.
Slandering the people in the American military as racists and extremists is shameful and risks harming our military. First the Democrats came for the police in 2020 and we see how that is working out for individual security. Do we want to do the same for our national security?
Iran's new year is not happy. Pandemic, corruption, oppression, sanctions, financial stresses, inflation, and expensive overseas aggression will do that.
Interesting: "In what will be seen as a modern day Battle of the Atlantic, the Royal Navy will deploy a ‘spy ship’ to stop Russian submarines sabotaging Britain's internet by damaging undersea cables." MROSS is the ship. It is due to go into service in 2024.
Is it really just that Manila didn't ask China to leave Whitsun Reef? "The Philippine defense chief on Sunday demanded more than 200 Chinese
vessels he said were manned by militias leave a South China Sea reef
claimed by Manila, saying their presence was a 'provocative action of
militarizing the area.'" So what will the Philippines do when China doesn't leave?
