Not everybody in France is Charlie (via Instapundit). Sure, there was fleeting outrage over the Islamist beheading of teacher Samuel Paty. But who says his name now? Decades of refusing to integrate has had a terrible effect. (And yet our own woke try to roll back what America has achieved in reducing tribalism.) The generals' letter perhaps makes more sense, eh? The generals may worry that France started too late to be sure of eliminating the Islamist internal threat. The Battle of Tours may loom.
The Army isn't being cut much, but the cuts end planned expansion. And there is less money overall. To be fair, the Navy and Air Force need to get up to speed for battling China and Russia.
Anti-infrastructure spending. And worse: "President Biden’s infrastructure plan includes $20 billion to pour landfill into major access roads to cities, to eliminate racist community divides, reduce CO2 emissions, and revitalise inner cities by ensuring people who work in cities are incentivised to live near their workplaces." [emphasis added] Wait. What? City workers will be tied to where they work? As in serfdom? Or is it worse, as in Escape from New York? We're not going to get to Peak Stupid this year if the federal government is feeding billions into making the peak higher. Tip to Instapundit.
Given the heavy tilt of our media and visible society (social media, educational systems, and business leaders) towards Democrats and leftists, it is amazing that Democrats only barely control Congress.
Steadfast Defender 21 is "aimed at simulating the 30-nation military organization’s response to an attack on any one of its members. It will test NATO’s ability to deploy troops from America and keep supply lines open."
Russia, Russia, Squirrel! "President Biden and his allies raked in campaign cash from a top Russia
lobbyist in 2020, just months before his administration’s decision to
scrap sanctions on a controversial firm building a Russian oil pipeline
to Germany." The DNC says it returned its donation. Which means the Russians got a rebate on their successful pipeline lobbying?
The British-American air component on Queen Elizabeth.
INS Vikrant will soon go to sea for trials.
The military does not have photographic evidence of space aliens doing donuts on our front lawn.
Israel shouldn't get cocky after hammering Hamas. Hamas can rebuild. And Hezbollah may join the next round of shooting at Israeli civilians: "'The next clash is just around the corner — and this time it will erupt in the south and north at the same time,' just as Nasrallah and Sinwar warned this week." Fires may have sufficed for small Gaza and less-armed Hamas. But Hezbollah in southern Lebanon will require a major ground operation. And could the northern threat be broader than Hamas and Hezbollah?
Is Biden fueling a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan by recognizing the Armenian genocide a century ago? I'll say no. Even if Biden seemed to encourage the Azerbaijani leaders, I don't think that was a "green light" any more than the American ambassador to Iraq gave Saddam a "green light" to invade Kuwait in 1990. Because the conflict (then and now) doesn't need much more fuel from the outside to blaze. Did Biden make it better? No. But American influence isn't as great as people like to imagine. But I find it interesting that after all the cries of doom after Trump ordered the U.S. embassy to Israel to move to Jerusalem--doom that didn't happen--perhaps Biden figured it was safe to go into the water of reality.
And this is more forceful than threatening NATO with nuclear strikes ... how? "A revised version of Russia’s national security strategy says it may use forceful methods to respond to unfriendly actions by foreign countries, a top Kremlin official said in remarks published Monday[.]" #WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
Russia has spent a couple decades claiming NATO is Russia's mortal enemy. Russia could fully get what it wanted. That Russian bombast isn't working out like the Russians thought it would. The clue bat may finally be having an effect on Russia. But can NATO get over Russia's bizarre and extreme hostility on Russia's timetable?
I read a conservative writer complaining that Biden is ignoring Iranian attacks on American troops in Iraq. Biden figures if no American dies it doesn't count. I agree this is not right. But Trump had the same policy. Which I didn't like. Of course, Trump struck back when Americans were killed. Will Biden? Or will that be more "evidence" that we need an Iran nuclear deal 2.0? Also, I admit I can't know what we are doing quietly, which may be more effective than loud kinetics.
Black kids will be screwed: "Advocates for greater diversity in admissions have long opposed the use of standardized tests as disfavoring minority applicants. Many have decried standardized testing as vehicles for white supremacy. Indeed, education officials like Alison Collins, vice president of the San Francisco Board of Education, have declared meritocracy itself to be racist." Without standardized tests, deserving applicants can't get in, swamped by the BS "well-rounded applicant" crap that only the upper classes can afford for their children. I grew up in Detroit. I got into Michigan by my grades and test scores. Under today's evolving standards I'd have had no way to stand out. How can anyone with a functioning brain stem think getting rid of academic standards for an academic pursuit is a good idea? For anyone? Tip to Instapundit.
Wave goodbye to the Navy railgun program. Well, maybe the Army will build it for the Navy.
First World problem. Sad, to be sure. To the extent that this problem of those who could work at home during the pandemic can claim space on our concern bandwidth in an age of pandemic and genocide. So yeah, a First World problem I can't get worked up about.
Aside from the fantasy of the Scottish independence finances arguing against separation from the UK, is Scotland's defense budget to be a dedicated hotline to the British Ministry of Defense?
But remember, the Germans loved Obama and hated Trump. To be fair, it's Germany's fault. They keep telling us they are barely repressed Nazis who might rampage across Europe (again) if they have more than a nominal military. Can the Germans blame us for keeping an eye on them?
I'm sure the contents of the French report on the Beirut port blast will leak out before too long.
We're heading for the exits in Afghanistan at a rapid pace, with "almost half of U.S. forces and equipment has been sent home or destroyed." Let's hope things don't go badly.
Will invade for food? I wasn't totally joking when I commented that the best defense of Seoul would be to seed the invasion route with malls and grocery stores. The looting would disrupt the invasion completely.
Ah, I suspected this was the case: "So far North Korea has developed crude nuclear bombs but has no reliable way to deliver them." I assume this means North Korea could drop bombs from planes assuming they get through South Korean and American air defenses.And assuming the bombs detonate.
Did Russia assist Belarus in hijacking that Western plane to capture a dissident journalist? Seems likely to me. Early speculation that Lukashenko defied Putin by doing that seemed ludicrous to me. And I figured exactly along the lines of this assessment: "The crisis appears to advance Moscow’s goal of increasing Belarusian isolation from the West and its dependence on Russia."
Who knew alien criminals are a Democratic Party constituency?
The Turkish-Russian entente is over. I never expected it to last. The author even notes Turkish-Ukrainian ties. Still, I thought it might have longer legs under Erdogan and Putin.
They should get used to this if they plan on challenging our Navy: "Iran's largest navy ship, the Kharg, caught fire early Wednesday morning
and sank near Jask, an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman, Iran's
semiofficial news agencies report." It seems like the Quasi-War between Iran and Israel continues at sea.
Russia smiles: "The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a drilling program
approved by the Trump administration and reviving a political fight over
a remote region that is home to polar bears and other wildlife — and a
rich reserve of oil." And a Reset 2.0 can't be complete without throwing a victim of Russian aggression under the bus.
China squeezes Pagasa while the Philippines arms up. I say Berlin Airlift: East. And Duterte has rethought the error of his ways in appealing to China while stiff-arming America.
Did Turkey undermine NATO by watering down NATO reaction to the airliner hijacking by Belarus? Or did Turkey help prevent Russia from fully embracing an isolate Belarus. As bad as what Lukashenko did is, helping Putin achieve Anschluss with Belarus would be worse for NATO. I'd rather ban Western flights through Belarus air space and try to bolster Belarus in resisting Russian pressure to become a vassal state. I worry that Lukashenko doesn't care about Western reaction because he has chosen to accept vassal status.
Yeah, Trump is an often unpleasant man. But shame on Republicans who worked against Trump's election and reelection. On policy Trump is far superior to Biden or Hillary! And really, are Biden and Clinton any less unpleasant in their own ways than Trump? If the media had hounded either Democrat like they hounded Trump, that unpleasantness would be apparent, too.
Why don't Democrats want to be sophisticated and nuanced like Europeans? Perhaps the Democrats are right that the 2020 election was the most honest ever (after loudly warning of fraud--to include Trump stealing mailboxes!--prior to the election). But the systems they put in place for 2020 guarantee fraud will take place.
When leftist claim anyone who disagrees with them is a "Nazi" it makes sense that "a whopping one-third of Americans either believe that it was a mistake or remain unsure about the US’s involvement in the so-called 'good war,' according to a new poll by the Economist/YouGov." Thank God the Left has reliable ways to identify Nazis! When everyone is a Nazi, nobody is--even real Nazis.
Good luck with that: "China needs to create an image of a “trustworthy, lovable and respectable” China by improving its communication style, Chinese president Xi Jinping has said." Hong Kong, the Uighurs, and the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic might disprove Xi's goal and instead just prove that China under CCP control is just an aggressive lying bastard of a country. But maybe the right adjective selection will work out swell!
I want to get back to normal after this Xi Jinping Flu pandemic passes. Many say the pandemic will change everything. I doubt it. At a gathering of friends the other night at a bar, we didn't wear masks and we all shook hands with each other. It was just natural to do so. So we did it. Leftist don't want a return to normal. They want to exploit the crisis. But there will be a lot of resistance to exploiting this crisis, I think. There is a big difference between a financial crisis that the government could react to and a lockdown crisis that was caused by government reaction to a health crisis. Could somebody please explain to our president-in-training that our economy tanked because government got in its way? You may think it was necessary to block the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic, but it was the government and not the virus that did the damage. So less government right now is the best action not more government action (that is, borrowing and spending).
Russian hackers hit a pipeline in America and then our meat supply. Putin subcontracts a lot of cyber-attacks to criminal gangs. This is why God gave us JDAMs. Don't expect Biden to establish a red line against Russia until something important to Democrats is affected. Say, did Biden shut down Alaska drilling just to save Russia the trouble of hacking it? Even if Putin doesn't order or encourage Russian hackers to attack our companies, Putin benefits. And Russia has a duty to stop and punish such attacks.
"Bad luck" sucks: "A massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Iran's capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries." Sound like Israeli retaliation for Iran sicking their little pet Hamas after Israel recently. And if it isn't, it's good for Iran to think Israel's reach is that good.
Hmmm: "A top Sudanese military official said the government will review an agreement with Russia to establish a navy base in the African country." Does Sudan want a revised deal or no deal?
Democrats: Goldstein is plotting to return to power!! The Democratic Party is either insane or power-mad, and I'm not sure what possibility is worse. And yes, I know about the healing power of "and". Tip to Instapundit.
Strategypage seems less worried than I am that the Afghan government can endure the departure of American and coalition support. I agree that the Taliban suffer terrible losses in their operations. So I don't assume the Taliban win. Or even think it is likely to take over all of the country's territory. But it might secure enough territory--which might include Kabul--for a terrorist sanctuary. And Strategypage thinks our air power could return if the Afghan forces endure the "decent interval" I fear might be disastrous.
I've mentioned my worry on this issue: "The Navy is poorly positioned to fully repair its fighting fleet of
warships damaged in future high-end battles, the Government
Accountability Office found in a report released this week." More on the problem of keeping the ships, boats, aircraft, and sailors ready to fight.
A research report on the "nocebo effect": "The authors don’t suggest COVID-19 is harmless. Just that its risk has been and is being over-hyped. They say the resulting mass hysteria is contagious. And its over-reactions are harmful. They suggest reasons for the over-hyping: 'It lies in the interests of a government to emphasize citizens’ vulnerability to external and internal threats, because the state’s legitimacy and power rest on the narrative that it protects its citizens against such dangers.'" And I suspect this is right: "When worst-case scenarios didn’t materialize, experts didn’t admit they had cried wolf. They said we prevented two million deaths. And they said there may be a second wave. And they said there may be more deadly mutations. And bureaucrats changed the definition of COVID-19 deaths. And hospitals were paid more for COVID-19 cases and deaths. Not surprisingly, they found more cases and deaths. Then experts started hyping test results instead of cases and deaths. And hyping more tests. And they changed the definition of a positive test. Not surprisingly, more positive tests were reported." We'll see. I hope.
Masks work. But define "work". A properly worn mask is not perfect and with sufficient time of exposure the virus will get you. But a mask properly worn increases the time it takes to get a viral load in your system. A better mask lengthens that time. Which is useful when you go into a crowded store filled with potentially infected people. I went in and out without loitering. And while I don't mask now that the pandemic is declining rapidly in stores that don't require them, I still don't linger. I save that for restaurants and bars. The far lower risk seems reasonable for the getting back to normal benefit.
Maybe have a thought about violent Red supremacy in this country, eh? It is a blood-soaked party of hate, after all. Maybe the departure of the Bad Orange Man is leading to some deserved police work on the scumbags.
I'm yawning at Russia's claims to have another stealth fighter design. Russia's 5th generation fighter advances exist mostly in press releases. I laugh more than I shake in my boots at Russian technological prowess and ability to buy much of what they do make.
After China caused/allowed a pandemic loose on the world, why would anyone trust China's 5G communications network not to introduce deadly cyber infections? You'd have to be a whole lot of stupid or a whole lot of corrupt to allow that.
Hmmm: "A report in Vanity Fair
details actions by some members of the U.S. State Department to block
efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus because the
inquiry could open 'a can of worms.'" Was this to hide US funding? Or was it to avoid losing access to Chinese-manufactured personal protection equipment largely made in China? The latter is at least understandable if repulsive. That was an issue early in the pandemic, recall.
Rule of law democracy took a step forward with actions to stop pro-Iran militias: "Iraq’s attempt to establish a stable, secular democracy in the heart of the Arab world has been a long process of adopting the key building blocks of democracy. Since the May arrest of a key militia leader, rule of law may be one block more firmly in place."
Well, continental air defense is just fine with the F-15EX rather than F-35s.
Well that's a lovely gold-plated gimmicky capability. Who knew we had money to burn in our defense budget? "The Air Force Research Laboratory boosted the prominence of its Rocket Cargo initiative to deliver freight on commercial rockets to anywhere on Earth in under an hour, naming it the lab’s fourth Vanguard program." I'd rather have more logistics ships in our merchant marine that can sail somewhere slowly with a lot of stuff.
Remember when Twitter was seen as being able to topple dictators? Now it just destroys random innocent people who catch the eye of the mob. When Twitter couldn't destroy dictatorships, it decided destroying the reputations of people was way more profitable anyway.
A liberal rebellion against the very visible leftists dominating the Democratic Party may be building. Good. I have to constantly remind myself that the visible and awful leftists don't represent liberals. Will they go to the Republicans? Or is the memory of Trump too bad for that switch, as the author wonders? Tip to Instapundit.
What is wrong with our doctors? "This dogma goes by many imperfect names — wokeness, social justice, critical race theory, anti-racism — but whatever it’s called, the doctors say this ideology is stifling critical thinking and dissent in the name of progress. They say that it’s turning students against their teachers and patients and racializing even the smallest interpersonal interactions. Most concerning, they insist that it is threatening the foundations of patient care, of research, and of medicine itself."
The Internet has supercharged the return of Russian disinformation. Remember, this is what the Russians did in 2016--not colluding with Trump to elect him. The Chinese and others use it, too. And our military is unhappy with our own intelligence empires for not sharing information in a timely manner (or at all) to fight the enemy disinformation. Apparently it is better to have the secrets--filed away neatly--than to actually use them to further American interests. That's an old problem, too. Maybe a private sector project will do for disinformation what Google Earth did for lack of timely satellite imagery sharing.
The Oracle of Fauci is so over.
It amuses me that while Obamacare was sold on correcting the problem of people unable to get insurance, that after Obamacare 10% of Americans still don't have health insurance. Some people just don't want it. And the statistics of the uninsured prior to Obamacare predicted that outcome.
Projection. Normally such people enthusiastically believe claims of this sort--from the right people with the right villains.
Well, it helped to get Biden elected. And now it hurts him.
It takes a refugee camp to raise a terrorist.
The Russians like to lie about America. They've done it before to obscure their aggression. We are open with our supply of weapons to Ukraine. We want to deter Russia, recall. If the Russians produced weapons the way they produce lies I'd worry more than be annoyed. #WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings.
CSI: Taiwan: Motive and opportunity: "Although a Chinese invasion of Taiwan may not be imminent, for the first time in three decades, it is time to take seriously the possibility that China could soon use force to end its almost century-long civil war." I've long believed China could attempt an invasion with the possibility of success.
Approved--or at least excused and tolerated--hate.
The Xi Jinping Flu pandemic is basically over in America.
Peak Stupid goes ever higher with nature unable to weed out the stupid. Tip to Insanity Wrap.
I'm not surprised at this increase in traffic accidents because early in the pandemic it seemed like a number of the fewer drivers on the road had shifted to post-Apocalypse rules.
Well, I can't say Biden is wrong. But how will it be implemented? To help our friends or our enemies?
Police in San Francisco try to find/not find a suspected attacker of unfortunate demographics.
I guess ignoring a Navy problem is the best way to make it go away.
The Air Force won that battle with the Army: "The U.S. Army plans to stop major research and development work on a huge artillery piece, intended to be able to hit targets out to a range of 1,000 miles or more, by the end of this year." Unless it was an Army bureaucratic strategy to "retreat" from the 1,000-mile cannon to preserve funding for more traditional long-range artillery.
What part of "they're terrorists" was unclear? "Militants in Afghanistan are adopting a new tactic to spread fear in the capital, Kabul, especially among the the ethnic Hazara minority, planting bombs on crowded buses that have until now largely been spared such bloodshed." "Militants." FFS.
Good Baltic Sea pipeline to Europe ("Western opposition", indeed. It goes to Germany!). Bad Baltic Sea pipeline to Europe. The former helps Russia get a grip on European energy supplies. The latter would have helped loosen that grip. I really don't get European nuance.
Acceptable collateral damage in the BLM Crusade. All the BLM Marxists have to do to get by is pretend to care about those victims. And they can't.
Subcontracting American asylum decisions to private groups is begging for corruption and for extremists to take over the groups to benefit from owning the decision-making process. The experience of letting "leaders" in Moslem refugee camps determine who should be nominated for refugee status in the West provides jihadis with power and money to nominate those who pay or those who will help the jihadi cause in the West. Expect the same in Mexico, but with drug cartels instead.
Is it just me or do young people confuse "climate change" with simple "environmentalism" that wants to protect the environment by, among other things, reducing pollution?
This is really a problem? "A military drone that attacked soldiers during a battle in Libya’s civil war last year may have done so without human control, according to a recent report commissioned by the United Nations." I'm not sure how this is significantly different than any fire-and-forget round that hits a target without human intervention after launch. Except that it is slower to hit. And is it worse than dumb rounds?
China under the CCP just sucks.
Remember that early in the pandemic it was the Democrats claiming Republicans were making this Covid-19 "flu"into a major problem. Because of xenophobia, or something.
Well I think the word police can just ef themselves.
Seeing through the inflatable deceptions.
Is there good news about the KC-46? I hope so. We desperately need the capability. And the plane has been delayed getting into the Air Force for way too long.
Make sure the Army National Guard combat divisions have a wartime role. Wow, I've been writing a long time.
Huh: "Despite White House chest-thumping and media praise for his plan to have
enough vaccinations for all Americans by the end of last month,
President Joe Biden’s goal was just a day better than former President
Donald Trump’s plan and has followed the former administration’s script
nearly exactly." The idea that Biden set up the process to put the Trump-era vaccine "into arms" is silly. The distribution plan was already set up and we already had the health care system--long before Trump. Biden stepped in at the end of the race and claimed victory.
Is Russia restoring Russian-occupied Crimea to its Soviet nuclear arsenal days?
Follow the "science"--or else. I guess portions of America have already reached scientific-socialism that is 100% the latter, with all its compulsion and failure.
Can America shield Taiwan from China's intimidation?
That's not how it is supposed to work. That's not how any of it is supposed to work. Tip to Instapundit.
The Taliban jihadis didn't let pandemic or peace talks interfere with their "unprecedented" level of violence. And it is continuing this year. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan, which “will challenge Afghan forces by limiting aerial operations with fewer drones and radar and surveillance capabilities, less logistical support and artillery, as well as a disruption in training[,]” will work out swell, eh?
Meanwhile in Burkina Faso, jihadis continue their intensive work to disprove the notion that Islam is a "religion of peace": "Armed men have killed around 100 people in an attack on a village in the north of Burkina Faso, President Roch Kabore has said."
If you believed in science you'd ask the scientists hard questions.
But doesn't using Greek letters for the Covid-19 variants imply the Greeks are responsible for everything pandemic related? "The World Health Organization has implemented a new system to name variants of COVID-19 that use Greek letters instead of country names to avoid stigmatizing the regions." And if that doesn't stigmatize Greece, couldn't we have used four different Chinese characters for the variants of the virus that started in China?
Anti-racists sound suspiciously like violence-prone racists. Maybe it's like the remarkable similarities between national and international socialists.
The cases and deaths are collapsing in America and in Michigan. Despite being a rare unmasked person in my local grocery store and despite the continued requirement for masks in some establishments, it just feels like the pandemic is over. Walking in to a bar to meet friends this week without ever taking my mask out of my pocket was glorious.
Say. Its. Name. Tip to Instapundit.
As I've said, I don't think the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic was deliberately spread by China. Even if it leaked from a lab, which is no longer a verboten topic of discussion. But what if it becomes a template for actual bio warfare?
Morocco is essentially invading Spanish territory in Africa. Morocco did the same type of thing with Western Sahara nearly half a century ago.
When nutjob fanatics are using Zapruder film levels of dissection to "prove" Trump wore his pants backwards can we really deny that Trump Derangement Syndrome is still raging?
Nigeria operates on Twitter Rules. Payback is a bitch.
"Former" commie bastard acts like commie bastard: "Police in Nicaragua detained another leading opposition politician and potential presidential candidate Saturday, the latest in a series of moves by President Daniel Ortega that prevent candidates from running against him in his third consecutive re-election bid."
I still think Ukraine should send Russia a bill for taking and holding Crimea: "Ukraine should bill Russia for the conquest of Crimea, its property, and its natural resources; and charge a monthly rent until Ukraine regains control. And then pursue these monetary claims through whatever legal channels are appropriate."
It's spring! Not everything sucks:
If living what you preach was so great, you'd live the way what you preach requires. Although to be fair, getting ahead of the "some are more equal than others" aspect is a wise precaution in case your objective is achieved. Tip to Instapundit.
Well, I suppose it is superior to shooting them to put them out of their misery: "North Korea is signaling interest in acquiring doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, according to a Russian press report." And better than China's alternative.
China has killed the goose that lays the golden eggs: "Buffeted by political upheaval, an authoritarian crackdown by mainland China and the pandemic, global companies and professionals are heading to rival business cities such as Singapore, and to Shanghai, the Chinese commercial hub some see as a better place to profit from the nation’s vast economy." China hopes they have flocks of alternative geese on the mainland but I imagine that hope will be dashed. I mean, if Hong Kong isn't free enough, how will Shanghai fulfill that need?
The idea that Biden needs to "renew" our alliances is just self-serving nonsense that ignores the work Trump did to make our alliances more effective. Biden will make friends in Europe by doing the opposite--praising Europeans while not asking them to do anything.
It's nice when jihadis make other jihadis "good jihadis".
I'd say Putin should keep his day job, but this is bit is hilarious: "Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was wrong to think that it is 'powerful enough' to get away with threatening other countries, a mistake, he said, that led to the downfall of the former Soviet Union." I'm not sure Russia is done shrinking under Putin's guiding hand. Grabbing bits of Georgia and Ukraine may just be a "dead cat bounce" when we look back on this era.
I believe this is the point where Ukraine and the civilized world tells Russia to just eff off: "The head of the Ukrainian football association has caused outrage in Russia by unveiling a new national team shirt emblazoned with a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea." What an outrage! Noting that Russian-occupied territory is not the same as legally belonging to Russia!
From the "Well, Duh" files: "Afghan government forces could lose the single most important military advantage they have over the Taliban — air power — when private contractors and U.S. troops leave the country in coming weeks." This is a mistake. And we may learn how bad way faster than the Biden administration hopes.
After Germany throws Ukraine to the Russian wolves, Germany tries to pretend it did no such thing: "Germany said Ukraine should remain a transit country for Russian gas,
the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported, after President Vladimir
Putin said it would depend on the former Soviet republic showing 'goodwill' towards Moscow." All Ukraine has to do to demonstrate "good will" is to be a compliant vassal who doesn't complain when Russia rips chunks off of Ukraine's hide. The Chinese are the most dangerous threat. But the Russians are easily the most annoying threat. And the Germans are just something else, entirely.
