Great, now the contest to push Peak Stupid ever higher is a trans-Atlantic contest. If the Chinese ever shift from pursuing Peak Evil to applying themselves to Peak Stupid, our planet will reach Stupid escape velocity. Tip to Instapundit.
Ever Given (not Evergreen, which is emblazoned on the hull--the company name, I assume) was dislodged from the Suez Canal. Whew.
Nigerian corruption is a massive obstacle to resolving or reducing a lot of problems that cripple the country.
I'm not going to defend the UAE's form of government, but this assessment of Tom Friedman is about right: "Practically nothing of what you have advised and predicted for the
Middle East in the last 30 years has ever happened. You have always
written the wrong things for the wrong reasons." Although I'd broaden the scope of his uselessness. As I've repeatedly written about the man, I wouldn't say you can't drown in a pool of his wisdom. But you would have to be drunk and face down to do so. Although honestly I stopped reading him since he figured the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was an opportunity to raise gasoline taxes. Tip to Instapundit. [CORRECTION: Friedman did not advocate higher gas taxes in that article I recalled. He was dreaming of higher energy prices. I had reason to check that post and realized my memory was in error.]
The French are re-orienting to large-scale conventional combat. The French are more focused on land power than the British expeditionary change. That makes sense based on basic geography. While this French project is in response to Russia, Turkey, and an unnamed North African country, perhaps this French military change will inspire the reluctant Germans to rearm, eh?
Here's an example of how media bias works. If a red state does something to open up their economies, the media says it is literally killing people with covid. If a blue state sees an increase in covid cases? Well, things just happen despite their best efforts: "Virus fight stalls in early hot spots New York, New Jersey[.]" Do that a million times a day and it has an effect.
There were not 332 mass shootings in America in 2018. You have to include domestic violence, robberies, and gang shootings, for example, to get that number. Without including incidents that don't reflect the high-profile mass killings, that year saw 7 mass shootings (3 or more dead victims, exclusive of the shooter). In a country of 330 million people. With more firearms in private hands than ever. The public has an image of mass shootings that means dozens of deaths. So when media claims over 300 per year, that seems horrifying. And it would be. If true. As I say, always check the definitions section. Tip to Instapundit.
Yeah, basically the Chinese Communist Party wants to obscure their genocide, Orwellian surveillance state, and actual oppression by grossly exaggerating the Cancel Culture nonsense that relies on micro-aggressions for "crimes" that must be punished. "Useful idiots" doesn't begin to describe the woke social justice morons who infect this country. Tip to Instapundit.
Have the Democrats fully abandoned the ideals of democracy? Perhaps not fully. But any party that thinks Iran of all places has democracy is well on the way.
The evolution of the Marines to a second Army and back to its fleet-supporting roots. As I've noted, since the Cold War forward, the Marines have been the most significant expeditionary army to fight alongside the Army. The Marines are losing that ability. Which hurts the Army but helps the Navy. Bonus question: With the Marines "rejoining" the Navy, will the Navy decide to greatly reduce or eliminate their Navy Expeditionary Combat Command that provided land forces while the Marines were busy fighting campaigns ashore?
I'd break up any public school district and sell it for parts to rebuild education that actually values educating students: "Public school teachers in Oakland, Calif., have opted not to return to the classroom until the mandatory start date in mid-April, despite priority vaccinations and cash incentives." To Hell with them. Fire any teacher who won't return to work now, with no early retirement packages. Then hire back teachers outside the union and build our schools back better, to borrow a phrase. Let public money follow the students and not the unions. Biden would actually be a hero if he backed and pushed that. Tip to Instapundit. But he won't. Because unions.
Sometimes I think the huge Chinese Coast Guard is largely a hidden amphibious asset during a war whose ships will be packed with light infantry to throw more troops ashore in a first wave aimed at Taiwan's ports than anybody thinks possible. Recall the German invasion of Norway in 1940. And while I'm wondering, what has China done with older warships as it modernizes its navy?
This is interesting. But Russia has neither 15,000 tanks (text) nor 13,000 (graphic). That includes a lot of older tanks that have neither crews nor proper maintenance to go into action any time soon. Russia's formal army is smaller than the U.S. Army! Lord knows what scows had to be counted to give Russia's navy that high count. And what hangar queens give Russia that high of an air force count? Russia has power in Europe because it is close to much weaker neighbors. And nukes, of course. And I wonder about them, too.
An emphatic "no" on that certainty: "But, at a time when the digital and information economies are becoming increasingly important, a country at China’s level of development has only one way forward: transparency, openness and institutional flexibility." When maintaining the Chinese Communist Party monopoly on political power is the primary objective, I dare say less transparent, less open, and less flexible approaches are indeed ways forward for China.
It is clear from what murders are an outrage and what murders aren't an outrage that for racist hate groups like Black Lives Matter, Black lives don't actually matter to them. For honesty and clarity BLM should rename itself White Murderers Matter. In that way of thinking, see this related news. Tip to Instapundit.
Holy f*ck! Would Congress and the Biden administration really make Russia and China smile so hard their faces would break by gutting the F-35 program? That would be insane! Seriously, stop with the rampant idiotic complaints about the plane. Those attacking the plane are useful for someone and it isn't the American taxpayer. Just work the problems. The F-35 is a good plane with normal introduction problems.
Democrats: That's way different! I used to be against "dark money" decades ago. My reasoning was that it helps debate by knowing who funds a group. You see Puppy Hugger Alliance and think, aw, what a good group! But then you read that a meat processor alliance funds PHA because it wants to slaughter and process dog meat ("The Veal That Barks!"). There's a lot of that figuratively going on out there. But what I didn't suspect would happen is that vile activists would try to punish people for funding speech that disagrees with them. If we could just require groups to confirm that they aren't accepting foreign money, I'd be fine.
In the face of Iranian refusal to talk about a new nuclear deal, the United States offered more. Iran will just stonewall until America offers nuclear weapons in exchange for a pledge to refrain from pursuing nuclear technology. I think I'm joking. Iran made concessions to get a long-term cooperation agreement with China. Iran won't need to do that with the Biden administration no matter how often the State Department cites "Smart Diplomacy." Which means there are probably memos floating around the White House arguing that if America just gives enough to Iran, Iran will become better than mullah-run Iran is. Oh! Oh! I know! Maybe a presidential outreach speech to the Persian world would do the trick!
I'm not sure what the point of North Korea having an ancient submarine armed with nuclear missiles. And I really have no faith in North Korean command and control or launch-authority security.
Antifa are scumballs. And they get away with whatever violence they want to inflict. Clearly nobody is taken seriously as a threat unless they are wearing horned helmets.
When Amazon decided to intervene in politics by deplatforming an entire social media site, I stopped using Amazon in protest. After a couple months I decided that was kind of pointless. But going two months did break my habit of routinely ordering things from Amazon. And after my orders, I haven't ordered anything since then. Not out of protest. But because I got used to not ordering stuff.
Oh please, nothing is unsettled. They can be called "white-adjacent" and lumped in with the privileged side quite easily. Via Instapundit.
Yes! Let's get private enterprise in space.
Of course, China is still oppressing and trying to assimilate Tibetans. That gets lost in the more blatant Uighur genocide and the visible suppression of Hong Kong democracy. It would be cosmic justice if the Han majority--who are also being heavily watched and suppressed--end up pulling down the Chinese Communist Party.
An Inconvenient Hate? With all the emphasis on "lived experience" that asserts reality in the face of reality and data, I wonder why we bother with virtual reality technology--many of us already live that way.
We won the Cold War but we've forgotten why it was vital to defeat the communist Soviet Union. Perhaps "forgotten" doesn't fully explore the deliberate nature of the memory-holing, of course. Which is ironic. I don't get the recent crush on communism (and its handmaiden socialism). I enlisted at the age of 25 because I realized my time to take part in resisting the horrors of Soviet communism was running out. It was then or never. The evil was too great to think someone else could do it while I moved on with higher education. My service wasn't much. The most I can say is that my unit was almost sent to war. We were alerted to go and then that was reversed. So in the end I was just a reservist Signal Corps guy. And the USSR was gone by the time I had the choice of reenlisting. So I decided I didn't want to remain in service just to be sent on some peacekeeping mission in the Balkans. The history of communism is there for all to see. Yet somehow progressives see America as the horrible place. It is stunning.
A Palestinian election will take place in May. The suspense of what group of corrupt thugs will win is excruciating. The only thing we know for sure is that the vote will be a prime example of the reality that voting without rule of law is not democracy. It is just the tyranny of the majority.
Huh. Israel has been waging an undeclared naval war on the Iran supply line to Syria for three years now.
Revisionist history of the fight against the Xi Jinping Flu. We're well below a lot of countries in per capita deaths. Below countries that did not have Trump as president. It just looks like Fauci and Birx are practitioners of the survival adage "suck the generals and kick the privates."
Don't be fooled. America has weakened the evil and dangerous mullah-run Iran. We should not let up on the false argument that pressure has failed.
Is Mexico really a "North American" country that will rise to match American and Canadian prosperity? It will have to overcome geography that undermines Mexico's unity. But it is in USMCA (former NAFTA). And in many ways the southern border of America is the southern border of Mexico given the source of modern illegal immigrants making for our border. So I guess I'd say yes. But don't expect too much from that.
The drone deployed by a 40mm grenade launcher.
What is China obscuring and hiding? And why is our media so eager to go along?
I haven't looked at Michigan pandemic data lately. I did and I was shocked at the surge in cases over March. Michigan is pretty bad now. That would explain the recent extra mask worry I've noticed lately. Just walking past me doesn't justify masking, but now I get the apparent worry. The cases really are shockingly high. Although my county isn't too bad by comparison. What is going on? Is it the new variant that has swept the state? Lockdowns here have been pretty severe for a long time. That was supposed to help. It doesn't seem to have helped. Is there evidence it would have been worse without the lockdowns? This is really challenging my impression that this will be over faster than expected. But maybe deaths won't be nearly as bad given what we've learned over the last year. And perhaps the really vulnerable already died. But can we afford to keep our economy shackled?
When so-called "systemic racism" collides with Democratic power requirements, guess which one wins? Look, there are white racists and bigots. Because any large group of people has some awful people. Including minority groups. But don't condemn the best society the world has where people can succeed despite bigotry. And stop being stupidly woke.
As long as the brigade's network is secure from hacking this ITN is very good news.
Why the Pentagon must embrace soft power to defeat China. What? The American government has lots of agencies to apply soft power. Why on Earth should the only American organization designed to employ hard power have that focus diluted--dare I say softened--to take that on too? America should embrace soft power to defeat China. But "rethinking" military power that way when we need every swinging (or flapping) piece of hard power out there to face China is crazy talk. The Department of Defense is not the only department in the massive American federal government. Look, an American military that can fight, fights under the rules of war, and is subordinate to civilian control is a massive soft power influence for those who work with our military--or even fight it as the Iraq Awakening in part shows--as it is now.
An American carrier exercised with Indian navy and air force elements.
I'm not sure if I'm more upset that the Italian naval officer tried to sell Russia military secrets or that the price was so low. At least make Russia pay through the nose! Every Euro paid to you is one less available for someone else. Think, people, think!
Why yes, I am worried about the health of our nuclear deterrent now that you ask.
The Marines are testing the ACV replacement for the ancient AAV-7 for moving Marines ashore. Design inertia is amusing. The Marines are abandoning lengthy land campaigns to directly support the fleet in the western Pacific. Yet the ACV has a v-shaped hull designed to protect personnel from mines and IEDs encountered during counter-insurgency campaigns. Is that really a threat on small islands and outposts ashore?
"Infinite game" is just another recognition that any victory (or defeat for that matter) is just your ticket to the next contest.
China is pushing out lots of money to countries to build up China's Belt and Road Initiative (a.k.a. the New Silk Road). The worry is that countries won't be able to pay back the loans leading China to gain control of the economies of those borrowers. The United States should start an information war campaign to convince countries that have received Chinese infrastructure loans to renounce the debts as reparations for the impact of the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic which started in Wuhan, China.
Good for him! That's way more service than I provided.
It is good that the Pentagon has thought about coping with a shutdown of the Suez Canal: "'We are not going to talk about specific operational impacts. The Suez Canal is an essential maritime chokepoint, and the longer passage is suspended, the more impact it will have to civilian and military transits,' Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for U.S. 5th Fleet, told USNI News in a Saturday statement. 'However, we have alternate capabilities to mitigate impact and support to our operations in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility throughout any extended blockage.'"
After undermining and hobbling our police and seeing violent crime spike as a result, the evil Woke Left has turned its sights on the military. What could possibly go wrong?
The Biden administration sent "an" ambassador to Taiwan. China was upset. But what doesn't upset China's rulers?
Russia has been busy around NATO air space recently. Well, if Russia is going to appease China for another five years it certainly needs to be proactive in hiding that policy, eh?
Follow the science, indeed. Do we need warning labels on any engineered product if the designers and builders weren't focused on the right math answers? Peak Stupid goes to ever higher peaks--if the math involved in that calculation isn't racist, of course. Do any of our enemies work with similar handicaps? Well, jihadis, I suppose. But they have a willingness to die that makes them more potent.
China continues to crush Hong Kong's remaining freedoms: "China finalized a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system on Tuesday, drastically curbing democratic representation in the city as authorities seek to ensure "patriots" rule the global financial hub."
Following the science on polio eradication in Afghanistan. With bonus anti-women angle. Who could possibly be responsible? I'll be shocked if the killers weren't Islamists.
A related thought from that chokepoint article: "Syria, for example, has announced that it is running out of oil [because of the brief Suez Canal blockage]." We've recently discovered that Israel has been waging an undeclared naval war on Iran to cut off Iran's supply line to Syria. I'm just asking, but did Israel engineer this accident as part of that war?
The Taliban think they've won the war, with all this talk of an American withdrawal. The Taliban have thought they were winning in Afghanistan a lot and it hasn't panned out for them. But the whole "mission from Allah" thing is hard to shake. Generally jihadis can be convinced to end their holy war by shooting on sight, shooting first, shooting to kill, and a determination to keep shooting. At some point the survivors will wise up and conclude the jihad just isn't for them. My worry in Afghanistan is that if we leave, the anti-Taliban people will feel abandoned and believe Allah is on the Taliban's side. But screw it, eh? It's not like jihadis with a sanctuary could do anything with that to harm us, right?
Are we sure we won World War II? Because Nazis seem like they are everywhere according to Democrats! Luckily, there are ways to determine if someone is a Nazi. I seriously wonder if we won the Cold War the way socialists are so popular in America these days. Sadly, their image is of free stuff and not the gulags.
Things are getting bad enough jihadi-wise in Mozambique--beheadings are involved--that Portugal is sending some special forces to train security forces in their former colony. Note too that Mozambique has hired private security contractors to fly helicopters for the government.
I'm not against providing humanitarian relief to Syrians. I just don't want to lift the burden of coping with the war from Russia and Iran, leaving their resources free to continue fomenting chaos. America should not finance their battlefield victories that wrecked Syria.
Representative AOC demonstrates no evidence of benefiting from a college education.
Egypt is issuing ominous threats to Ethiopia over the GERD Nile Rive dam that potentially affects Egypt's very existence. Egypt would need Sudan's cooperation, as I've noted, to carry out such threats. Ethiopia's Tigray anti-separatist operation has spawned border conflict with Sudan, making such cooperation far more likely.
A Polish army major general will be America's V Corps deputy commander. Which makes sense. Forward elements of the corps headquarters is in Poznan, Poland.
I concur with this light carrier assessment: "The U.S. Navy likely has no need to add a proposed small-deck aircraft carrier to its existing amphibious assault ships, a top admiral said Tuesday ahead of a formal review of the concept."
Life really is harder in the 21st century. In the 20th century, when a baby was born you looked at it to identify whether it was a boy or a girl. Now it is more complicated. You have to "assign" the sex at birth. As if it is a matter of choice. Will Peak Stupid never arrive?
Good: "Japan and Indonesia signed a pact on Tuesday allowing the transfer of Japanese defense equipment and technology to Jakarta as the two countries strengthen their military ties in the face of China’s increasingly assertive activity in the region."
I remember when the fear of what would happen in Africa when the Xi Jinping Flu reached that continent without Western-style health care was Apocalyptic. Thank God, that was not the case. Why?
Well that was awkward. Tip to Insanity Wrap.
The road to Hellish living conditions is paved with good intentions? Or are the intentions good? Tip to Instapundit.
For the first time since this pandemic began, when I went on my weekly trip grocery shopping, I really resented taking a mask with me as I went to my car. I've accepted masks as the price of doing business. But while I will continue to use them because I must, I'm officially sick of them and want to stop.
Taiwan upgrades their French frigates.
An assessment of Russian troop deployments abroad: "Russia cannot compete with other global powers militarily, but it can serve as a chronic disruptor of their interests." Short answer, Russia can only annoy stronger powers. Although the author's chart is way off on Crimea. There is no way that Russia has just "several hundred" troops in occupied Donbas and Crimea. In Donbas? Maybe. If you ignore Russian mercenaries. But Crimea is a strongly held conquest. And comparing the Russian Armata combat vehicles to American heavy armor is misleading. One, the Russians can't afford to build many of their new designs while America has lots of modernized Abrams and Bradley vehicles. And two, using metric for the Russian vehicles and English system for the American vehicles? Really? Still, as I've said, Russia's strange outlook is that it is better to be hated than ignored. Putin really misses the time when the USSR was the Big Bad.
Reporters and media people are basically propagandists for the Democrats and should be treated as such. Yeah, that first Biden press conference was basically a public fluffing session by the media.
Yes: "To deter [Chinese] aggression, Washington should fully support the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a congressionally driven effort to ensure that Indo-Pacific Command has the capabilities it needs." Without the defended infrastructure and logistics, America can't really fight away from Japan and South Korea.
Who is surprised to find out the "Biden administration appears willing to go to any lengths to entice Iran back into full 'compliance' with the agreement begun during the Obama administration." Iran Nuclear Deal 2.0 will be the same as the original. A Biden Iran Deal 2.0 will be simple. Iran will pretend it doesn't want nuclear weapons. And America will pretend to believe Iran. All else is mere detail.
It is depressing that after two decades of fighting Islamist jihadis abroad, the West seems eager to surrender to the Islamists at home. No surrender or retreat on our freedom is complete enough for the Islamists.
To be fair, it is easier to gut the military if there isn't leadership in place.
Yes, "cyber war" is war if it kills people or breaks things! Or if it directly helps kill people or break things. FFS, did the first soldiers bombed by aircraft--or observed by aircraft prior to being hit with artillery--wonder if that counted as being at war? Mind you, cyber might be espionage. Which is different. But the question is about cyber war. Tip to Instapundit.
So just like the 2020 election campaign, then: "White House YouTube videos are receiving so many dislikes that YouTube is testing out new designs that don't show dislike counts[.]" Tip to Instapundit.
Once again, not an insurrection. By all means charge anyone who broke laws. But I wish the authorities would be as enthusiastic about prosecuting Antifa/BLM crimes.
Oh? "Russia's top diplomat said Thursday that the country's relations with the United States and its allies have 'hit the bottom' and no date has been set for sending the Russian ambassador back to Washington." I'd like to blame Biden. But the poor relations might have something to do with the Russians being paranoid a-holes. Just spitballing here.
I'm sure socialist policies will end that progress in bridging income inequality in America. I've long noticed that government payments aren't considered when determining poverty levels. Which also negates the idea that the "war on poverty" has been futile. Tip to Instapundit.
Is North Korea really likely to be able to mount nuclear warheads on missiles? "'[I]t is highly likely that a nuclear device can be mounted on the intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it is also likely that a nuclear device can be mounted on the medium-range ballistic missiles and short-range ballistic missiles,' the [UN] report, released Wednesday, said." I've asked that for a long time. News is generally too imprecise to determine that simple fact. But then the UN goes on to wonder what I have also wondered about. Can the warheads survive the flight and re-entry heat, and detonate? They don't know. But does that uncertainty just apply to ICBMs or to all, including short-range missiles? That is unsaid. All we know for sure is that North Korea continues to pursue nuclear weapons.
Biden extended a hand to Iran and their Houthi allies in Yemen by stiff-arming the Saudis who wage war on them. This war helps prevent Iran from getting a foothold astride the Red Sea shipping lanes. The Houthis and their Iranian friends responded with missile strikes on Saudi Arabia. The Biden administration has double-downed on stiff-arming the Saudis. This includes removing air defenses that help protect the Saudis plus surveillance assets. With America continuing to reduce Saudi capabilities, why would the Houthis and Iranians ever respond positively to calls for talks? Biden clearly is willing to keep making concessions.
The British will "absolutely" buy more F-35s than they have. Seriously, stop the panic that threatens the F-35 program.
If I understand the issue correctly, the Biden administration initially (and implausibly) said it would only raise taxes on those making more than $400,000. Now the promise is for household income of more than $400,000. How long before the administration says they never meant to limit taxes on those families making more than $400,000 in just a single year?
The Marines and Navy will join the Air Force in Alaska exercises. The exercise includes a big carrier and a Marine Expeditionary Unit. That's interesting. Just what Arctic environment is the exercise intended to simulate? Only Russia makes sense as a potential target.
An American aircraft carrier transiting the Mediterranean Sea launched strikes against ISIL. The carrier had to do something as long as she was stuck north of the Suez Canal because of the container ship stoppage. No word if this was in Syria or Iraq, although I suspect it was the former.
The Biden administration admits the massive "infrastructure" spending spree really isn't about infrastructure. I'm against an infrastructure bill given our massive spending. And what Biden and the Democrats want is only a tiny bit about infrastructure. Tip to Insanity Wrap.
Democrats wrongly and grotesquely portraying Georgia's election integrity law as "Jim Crow" and want to punish Georgia by moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta. But is this true? "The kicker here is that Atlanta is the Democratic stronghold in Georgia. The cancel animals are so rabid that they don’t care that they are advocating for the economic punishment of their political comrades." I think the cancel animals just think the two newly elected Democratic senators from Georgia are their political comrades. Anybody else is expendable for the cause.
The Philippines says the Chinese have built structures in the Whitsun Reef area where a couple hundred Chinese naval militia vessels are parked to keep the Philippines out. America and the Philippines are consulting. If ships can't get past China's blockade, the Philippines needs to send in helicopters to land police and troops to begin building their own structures to hold the territory. Perhaps an American Coast Guard vessel can be a staging area near the contested territory. If something isn't done, eventually that territory will bristle with Chinese missiles.
I don't want to hear a Goddamn word about the need to increase gasoline taxes: "Virtually all of the so-called shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund is due to Congress spending money on non-highway programs." Tip to Instapundit.
Discussing the situation around the "rebels"--the jihadi terrorists--in northern Mozambique.
The nuclear pretending begins: "The Biden administration on Friday hailed a potential breakthrough in deadlocked efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear deal after Tehran agreed to talks through European allies." We start by pretending the intermediaries want to prevent Iran wants nuclear weapons. To repeat what I wrote above, Iran Nuclear Deal 2.0 will be the same as the original. A Biden Iran Deal 2.0 will be simple: Iran will pretend it doesn't want nuclear weapons. And America will pretend to believe Iran. All else is mere detail.
I think "motherbox" has to be my new fake swear word.
Evil and stupid. A lovely couple, eh? They seem like a match made in 2020.
Russian poll finds about 18% of Russians do not want to take any risk at all of being dragged off by the secret police and never seen again. Tip to Instapundit.
Oh please! The couple did not damage that so-called "art" one bit. Modern art is nothing more than wealthy people elevating themselves above the "rabble" by having the education and alleged sophistication to "appreciate" such dreck. I mean, if you are willing to pay half a million dollars for random paint splotches, it must be good! And you must be brilliant! I admit it, I'm jealous of any con artist who can get in on that racket for money. Tip to Instapundit.
Vietnam is expanding and fortifying its South China Sea islands in the face of China's ongoing subliminal conquest of the sea. And Russia is selling Vietnam weapons such as submarines to Vietnam. For pretty much the same reason Russia should have sold subs to Taiwan. Lord knows if Taiwan can build their own before China invades. On the bright side, Europeans who once wouldn't sell subs to Taiwan out of fear of offending China are now helping Taiwan with technology.
China has a new way of finding enemy submarines. Well, new to them.
Truly we live in Bizarro World now. Tip to Instapundit.
I was hoping the 21st century would be better:
No! Way! "As the Biden administration desperately presses the Taliban and the Afghan government to settle the 20 year old war for control of Afghanistan before the May 1 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw, the Taliban continues to promote its training camps that pump out jihadist fighters who indiscriminately attack Afghan civilians, soldiers and police." I'm old fashioned. If it was up to me I'd support the friendly forces we and our allies established at high cost who want to kill jihadis.
The feminists have a point. It really is a man's world, isn't it?
The tip of the iceberg: "Iran has in recent months stopped adhering to several key provisions in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, reducing the time it would need to produce a nuclear weapon." If Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapons program--as Iran claims--these steps would be pretty meaningless. The real problem is what Iran was doing in secret when the deal was in full force--and is still doing. And what Iran subcontracted to North Korea. And Biden wants to restart the deal so we can pretend that Iran is contained. Have a super sparkly day.
American companies have become really bad at making moral judgments. Well, more of them are getting worse, anyway. It is amazing that baseball in Atlanta is unacceptable but the Olympics in China are no problem.
Perhaps I take precautions during the pandemic without panicking because I haven't internalized alarmist notions peddled in the media.
Good grief, the Myanmar (Burma) regime has killed 550 people over the last two months.
Egypt and Sudan will talk to Ethiopia over its GERD Nile River dam that potentially threatens the water supply of the two former downriver states.
I've said for years that the Iran nuclear deal would be simple: Iran would pretend not to have a nuclear weapons program. And America would pretend to believe Iran. That's what Obama gave us. And Biden wants to give us Iran Deal 2.0 under the same terms. Indeed, the Iranians know that Biden is desperate to get Iran to agree to pretend. And knowing that desperation, are willing to play hard ball on demanding concessions just to talk. The Biden administration seemingly learned nothing from the failures of the original deal, and sees the Obama deal the road map for a new one. This will work out just swell.
Israeli tanks: Bigger, smarter, and mostly in storage.
Questions unasked. Tip to Instapundit.
The Twitter algorithms are real ... and apparently spectacular. Tip to Instapundit.
Civilians fleeing jihadis in Palma, Mozambique. Who knew Mozambique invaded Iraq in 2003? Because for years I was told that event is what caused jihadi rage at America. In reality, what doesn't anger Islamists?
I see the Iranians are tired of only demanding financial concessions from the Biden administration for an Iran Nuclear Deal 2.0: "Two rockets landed Sunday near an Iraqi air base just north of Baghdad where American trainers are present, causing no casualties or damage, an Iraqi official said." Now they show that Iran will punish America until a deal is made. And after, course. That won't change from the first deal.
Was it really a case of media self-censorship enabling a foreign policy disaster? The facts don't support that myth. More importantly, was it really a case of the administration failing to decide if it was waging war or not? Because media self-censorship before D-Day in 1944 would have been totally the right thing to do. Tip to Instapundit.
