Corruption and a hobbled private sector prevent India from producing the weapons it needs to hold off China. But at least India recognizes the problem.
I assume the new Chinese law is because there is a lot to "defame or insult" their military personnel over. And then a digression into military OPSEC in the age of cell phones.
British special forces will remain on the ground in Afghanistan, where "the role of the SAS in Afghanistan will be to 'provide training to Afghan units and deploy with them on the ground as advisors'." Well thank you, Britain.
Did American troops in eastern Syria come under rocket attack last Sunday? We deny that happened.
Some young Chinese are checking out of the Xi Jinping's "Great Wall of Steel, forged from the flesh and blood" of the Chinese people: "Guo joined a small but visible handful of Chinese urban professionals who are rattling the ruling Communist Party by rejecting grueling careers for a 'low-desire life.' That is clashing with the party's message of success and consumerism as its celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding." Well, to be fair, the Chinese Communist Party used the hard work of a couple generations of Chinese to build a surveillance-based police state to oppress every generation after them. I posted something similar recently but can't find it.
Systemic looting in San Francisco. And it provides seed money for worse criminal enterprises: "CRA President Rachel Michelin contends that these organized groups then move those willing to steal into more significant crimes such as human trafficking."
China strengthens the alliances forming to contain it: "The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the Biden administration and top advisers to Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga are engaging in sensitive planning exercises to counter a potential invasion of Taiwan and other aggression in the South China Sea. The cooperation comes as the Chinese military launches an unprecedented buildup of aircraft carriers, advanced missile systems, and other lethal technologies. China has also put its military might to the test, flying record numbers of aircraft into Taiwanese airspace in June." In the past I did not assume Japan would join in a fight over Taiwan. Now I think the odds of Japanese help are much higher.
Ransom-motivated kidnappings are up in Nigeria. Here's one: "Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped at least 140 schoolchildren in the north-west of the country, police say."
From the "Imagine if this was from the Trump family" files. No "tick, tick, tick", "walls are closing in", or "BOOM" news coverage for this, eh? Tip to Instapundit.
While I am worried about Afghanistan during the danger zone of (to pick a number) the next 6 months, Pakistan is no longer the force for evil inside Afghanistan that it used to be. So we've got that going for us.
Is China "preparing for nuclear war"? Well, technically. Expanded nuclear arsenals will do that. But that doesn't mean China plans to initiate a nuclear war. I imagine that with a growing conventional arsenal, China would like to be able to use that to its advantage without losing gains because of nuclear escalation. So they want to deter nuclear use by others (America, Russia, and India, for now) and stay below that level of war. This isn't good news. But it isn't a prophecy of Armageddon
Israel is offering the U.S. Navy a 180-mile anti-ship missile.
Can India thaw its chilly relations with Pakistan? India would like China to have one fewer military ally and I imagine Pakistan would like to avoid being China's sacrificial lamb to distract India from China. So there is some basis for settling disputes.
Is China poised to intervene with troops in Myanmar to protect its economic interests?
California's government believes it is rich enough to do any stupid expensive thing it wants without affecting the ability to pay for the stupid expensive things. So far that is true. How long will it be true? Tip to Instapundit.
The 1619 Project race profiteer (more profitable than war profiteers) has turned down a tenured position at UNC: "'It’s pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political
opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoints and, I
believe, because of my race and my gender,' Hannah-Jones told Gayle
King on CBS This Morning, the Raleigh News & Observer reported." In a "systemically racist" country which she says America is, that should be her obstacle no matter where she goes, no? I wish her luck finding the happy place of racial "equity" in some mythical place abroad. UNC dodged that self-inflicted wound, eh?
This seems futile: "Egypt has accused Ethiopia of violating international law after it received a notice saying that Ethiopia's dam upstream on the Nile is now filling up with water for a second year." Unless Egypt is just accumulating justifications for some sort of military action directed at the GERD dam or Ethiopia's government.
The Saudi coalition seems to have gained some ground in the Yemen civil war: "Government forces and allied tribesmen, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, reclaimed large swaths of territory in the province, according Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani."
Fewer targets? "Venezuelan security forces carried out fewer extra-judicial killings in the 12 months through April, a U.N. report said Monday, but it accuses them of a continued pattern of torture or cruel treatment of individuals as well as enforced disappearances and incommunicado detentions."
Cause, meet effect: "Almost half of San Francisco residents are planning on moving out of the city due to rising crime and a deteriorating quality of life, according to a recent poll." Those people better get out before the leftist city government decides that you can't leave without financial penalty after voting for the policies that prompt you to flee. Remember, some walls are there to keep people in. Tip to Instapundit,
I'm thinking the murder solution is to ban large-capacity Democratic Party governments.
Adding a lot more air defense missiles to British destroyers seems like a recognition that a single small carrier can't put an air umbrella over the British carrier task force when close to enemy land-based aircraft and missiles.
Collateral damage from Russia's information war against the West: "Russian foreign broadcaster RT has been feeding Western audiences with anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories, comparing lockdowns and other restrictions to the Nazi occupation and apartheid. That same twisted rhetoric is now spreading in Russia: On June 22, Egor Beroev, a prominent Russian TV and film actor, spoke at an awards ceremony and gave an impassioned defense of unvaccinated Russians, who he claimed were being “segregated” from the rest of the society like the Jews under the Nazis." Why the Russian people haven't dragged Putin from the Kremlin and shot him already is a mystery.
The Afghan government really has to reclaim border crossings captured by the Taliban to prevent the Taliban from having another revenue stream.
Has General Milley suffered an irreparable loss of confidence in his leadership from the troops?
Good luck with that: "Russia's T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT) is to enter series production in 2022, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told the TASS news agency on 5 July." As if Russia can afford to build many of them. We'll see if there is an export market.
Iran continues to negotiate for a nuclear deal: "The US Embassy in Baghdad, in the heart of the Iraqi capital's Green Zone, was the intended target of an armed drone the night of July 6. The C-RAM defense system of the embassy was able to bring it down before an attack. [para] Just hours before, Ain al-Asad base in Anbar province of western Iraq was hit by three rockets. The attack left no casualities."
American troops in Syria were targeted by a drone strike that we "foiled".
The second American carrier will be upgraded to handle the F-35C.
Oh?? "Since then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018, Iran has gradually been violating [Iran nuclear deal] restrictions[.]" America pulled out of the deal because Iran was using the deal as a friggin' shield to develop nuclear weapons. The idea that Iran only started pursuing nukes in violation of the deal only after Trump withdrew from the deal is nonsense. But the Europeans are determined to save the deal. But remember, the EU doesn't care what a deal looks like as long as the EU is part of it.
Taiwan really should try to diversify their global trade away from reliance on China. Did Taiwan get what it wanted when it started on this path? I don't rule out that the trade, if crafted carefully, could have planted dangerous seeds of worry in China. So how did this unfold over the last decade?
Huh: "A hacker group associated with the Russian government breached the
computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week in a
massive ransomware attack, Bloomberg first reported." I guess the RNC wasn't on "the list":
Support stupid policies, get stupid results. Tip to Instapundit.
Canadians have a reputation for being polite. Not totally deserved by my experience in Toronto, mind you. But not wholly made up, either. I guess the Canadian government will now define what being "polite" means in online speech and will fine you if you don't measure up. What was once a personal habit will become government mandated. Which is oppression and not politeness. Oh, Canada.
Well, yeah. It's been a long time since I've trusted Wikipedia on any topic even approaching contested historical or political issues.
Huh: "A series of cyberattacks aimed at shutting down pro-Israel social media accounts and spamming Israelis with abusive messages during the military conflict with Hamas was coordinated by a Malaysian 'troll army,' according to researchers who have been tracking the network's activities." This had to happen, eh? Will the next step be taken?
The Left started the culture wars in our politics: "On Thursday I posted a series of charts that all documented a similar theme: Since roughly the year 2000, according to survey data, Democrats have moved significantly to the left on most hot button social issues while Republicans have moved only slightly right." These wars are most dangerous when waged at the federal level. Politics enters everything. A lot of Trump supporters seem to resist taking the Xi Jinping Virus now. But they are not alone as Biden noted when he said African Americans and Hispanics are reluctant, too--although for those two groups he had empathy rather than mockery. And recall that when Trump was president, a lot of Democrats said they wouldn't trust "Trump's" vaccine as a dread "political statement". This is insane. Tip to Instapundit.
I knew there was a silver lining: "The climate change–induced melting of the permafrost layer in the Russian High North is now proceeding so quickly that Moscow will have to spend at least 172 billion rubles ($2.6 billion) per year for the foreseeable future to patch up the buildings, highways, rail lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines under threat there." And it gets worse for Russia. So is there collusion between Putin and those American Democrats supporting a Green New Deal, which is essentially an American subsidy to their Russian masters? I was told from 2016 through 2020 that this is how these things work.
Fortunately there are non-socialist countries able to donate surplus food to the socialist failures ("Not Practicing Real Socialism"®): "The families of Venezuelan school children living in poverty this week began receiving food rations from a United Nations agency."
Justice dies a little: Scumbag terrorist murderer dies of old age.
The Verdun of the Yemen civil war?
Haiti's president was assassinated. Although it is hard to say whether the only reason this is bad because it is bad precedent to add to Haiti's woes by putting political violence fully into play.
And immediately put the computer to work tracking and punishing its subjects for badthink? Tip to Instapundit.
But the charge that Republicans are racist "voter suppressors" for wanting picture ID to ensure election integrity still stands, right? Tip to Instapundit.
Hillary Clinton invokes Democratic Party's racist "Jim Crow" past to attack current Republicans. yeah, I don't get it, either. Tip to Instapundit.
Putin continues his reign of error: "Russia’s new National Security Strategy is not a revolutionary document, to a considerable extent simply building on its predecessor document from 2015. However, it does mark the progressive shift in the Kremlin’s priorities towards paranoia and a worldview that regards not just foreign countries as a threat, but the very processes reshaping the modern world."
Our future partner, mullah-run Iran, continues to negotiate with America in its own quirky manner: "Rockets landed in and around the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which houses the U.S. Embassy, causing material damage early Thursday, Iraqi security forces said."
Never let an ex-crisis go to waste: Big Speaker is watching. If the Democrats can do this in Congress, would they really shrink from doing it to the rest of us?
A century of murder: "The authors of The Black Book of Communism' estimate that the CCP has been responsible for the deaths of more than 65 million Chinese citizens, and that was as of the year 1997. The CCP therefore ranks as the greatest political killer in history." Like I said:
Nothing can stop the filling of Ethiopia's new GERD Nile River dam. If Egypt really thinks the dam is an existential threat Egypt will try to destroy the dam or overthrow the Ethiopian government by coup, revolution, or invasion. No matter how futile that would be. If Egypt makes Ethiopia an enemy, there are other things Ethiopia could do to spoil the water flowing out of its territory to Egypt. Would Sudan really risk that to allow Egypt to stage attacking forces through Sudan?
Because the Lego version includes the secret passage to the Freemason National Treasure stockpile? "The FBI seized a 'fully constructed' Lego set of the U.S. Capitol from the home of an alleged insurrectionist." Yep, more effective than a blueprint for tactical purposes. This is just bizarre. WTF is our government doing? Have they gone completely batsh*t crazy? Let's hope the alleged insurrectionist didn't also have a Lego Death Star--Space Force to DEFCON 1!!
Xi Jinping is serious: "The centenary speech objective is conquest: China will absorb Taiwan by military means if necessary and will accept the confrontation this will trigger between it and the United States. Xi said it. That he means it is beyond issue." I've long thought so. Although I think China believes it can win before America can intervene. More so as I contemplated what "winning" means, which I addressed in Military Review.
My blogging is a daunting morale struggle. I've defended fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan after liberals abandoned both--even the "good war". And now I defend both campaigns as conservatives have abandoned the goal of defending our victories. And yes, we won in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now we are just deciding whether to throw away the victories we achieved with our blood and treasure.
Based on their policies' effects on minorities, I'm pretty sure the Democratic Party is systemically racist: "[Like they did half a century ago,] over-credentialed activists and politicians once again say they know better, and tell us our neighborhoods will be more just and 'equitable' if we don’t enforce laws. Now business owners are telling those politicians they’ll need to close their doors. Residents are left to feel the pain of both the crime and the closures. The boon of life and appreciation is suffocating." Minorities disproportionately live in those cities and feel those effects. Which I suppose makes sense given the party's past as the party of slavery and the KKK. Deep habits are hard to break even if they now claim their belief that minorities are incapable of normal actions is based on solidarity and caring. Perhaps the Democratic Party is the entity that needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from scratch for the sake of minorities. Leave America out of their problems. Tip to Instapundit.
From the "Well, Duh" files: "The U.S. decision to leave Bagram Airfield
at night after 20 years without informing the new Afghan base commander
of the exact day and hour was a matter of 'operational security,'
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday afternoon." But contrary to Kirby's assertion to the contrary, it doesn't scream American confidence in our Afghan allies, does it?
Remember when it was an outrage that we had one communist military cadet? Sadly that was a leading indicator for today: "As a professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I teach critical race theories to our nation’s future military leaders because it is vital that cadets understand the history of the racism that has shaped both foreign and domestic policy." No good can come of teaching this racism-promoting way of looking at our history to our future officers.
American forces, along with our allies, continue to bug out of Afghanistan. This is no Dunkirk, of course. Dunkirk allowed the British to continue fighting their death cult enemies, and ultimately win. We think we "ended" our war. But in 1997 I warned about "exit strategies" that get our troops out of an ongoing war: "[An exit strategy] also assumes that the situation allows for an exit and that our enemy will allow it. The Iraqis desperately wanted out of the war they initiated in 1980 but were locked by Iran in a death grip that allowed for no easy exit." We'll see if our enemies cooperate. That's why the war is so long. Our enemies are still ruthless fanatical killers. But we think we can simply choose to end the war? Will Afghanistan again generate terrorists who attack us at home? This is potentially very bad. It will be a very tense period to see if Afghanistan gets through the window of danger.
How you know a Democrat is president. Tip to Instapundit. Shades of funemployment.
Huh: "A Chinese gene company selling prenatal tests around the world developed them in collaboration with the country's military and is using them to collect genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on the traits of populations, a Reuters review of scientific papers and company statements found." Well, it's not like China is engineering viruses or anything like that, which could use fine-tuning to avoid harming the Chinese, too.
Did we just get lucky--again--on antibiotics? Tip to Instapundit.
Don't panic about the Delta variant of the Xi Jinping Flu virus.
Because of their cultural politics, Democrats are losing their grip on minority blue collar voters: "Thus, in the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump — despite being called a white supremacist and a Hispanic-hater by all the mainstream media — picked up black and Hispanic votes." When wanting safe neighborhoods is considered a "conservative" position, that's going to happen.
God bless them, but they'd better know how to use them: "Women have taken up guns in northern and central Afghanistan, marching in the streets in their hundreds and sharing pictures of themselves with assault rifles on social media, in a show of defiance as the Taliban make sweeping gains nationwide."
President Biden said that we are leaving Afghanistan because "It's up to the Afghans to make decisions about the future of their country." Funny, but the reason we invaded was because the "Afghans" decided to support the Taliban government and host al Qaeda, which attacked us on September 11, 2001. I wonder what the Afghans will decide now?
Shocking news from the world of leftist thugs and their fanboys (and girls): "Democratic Socialists of America Embraces Maduro Dictatorship[.]"
It's nice that the useful idiots identify themselves: "Progressives have officially given up on human rights: On Wednesday, a coalition of 48 lefty groups wrote the White House and Congress saying that climate change matters more than [Chinese Communist Party] genocide and [its assault on] freedom." To be fair, killing off carbon-spewing people is a carbon offset, no? Tip to Instapundit.
With this kind of foreign policy wisdom about the Yemen civil war, the Taliban must be shaking in their boots: "The United States has resumed its criticism of Shia rebel refusal to negotiate until restrictions on smuggling and control of food aid in the north were removed. This comes two weeks after an American announcement that they were changing their negotiating strategy in Yemen by recognizing the Shia rebels as a legitimate rebel movement rather than a terrorist organization and tool of Iranian foreign policy."
How will Biden counter the ability of Putin to use the Germany pipeline to wage war on Ukraine when the existence of the pipeline does that?
The United States and our allies are well positioned to blockade China in a war. Would Chinese forces be able to counter this geographic problem by deploying forces in Cuba? "From Cuba, a long-term threat could be maintained with naval and air forces designed to be used only in the event of U.S. actions." During the Cold War, Russian and Russian-supplied Cuban forces held that position. Apparently we had ways to suppress that power in order to move troops and supplies to Europe if the USSR invaded West Germany. Could China really do better?
There's a point here but it isn't totally accurate or fair: "As during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the U.S. foreign policy establishment is happy to overstate the threat that China poses to American security while minimizing U.S. strengths and China’s weaknesses." One, figuring out the balance between Soviet and NATO power was not an exact science. There is enough uncertainty about the true balance to make for cautious assessments. And two, the Soviets only had to advance the short hop from the Elbe River to the Rhine River to defeat NATO. Today the uncertainty is there but China has a better economy than the USSR. And China has a short advance to do real damage to our alliance system and position. On the bright side, China is way more vulnerable to blockade. I'd rather spend too much money to win than save money and lose. Keep in mind that by spending our money we spend fewer of our lives in battle. Remember, too, that "Upper Volta with Missiles"--without the nuclear missiles--drove the Nazis from Stalingrad to Berlin. And our defense spending as a percent of GDP is far lower than it was during the Cold War. Our defense budget is huge. But so is our economy.
Biden policies raise oil prices (bad for American consumers but good for Russia). Tip to Instapundit.
Maybe now Democrats will stop trying to promote a more powerful European Union. Which is a bad thing.
Is it just me or is Turkey trying to be a better NATO ally recently? "Four F-16 fighter planes of Turkey's air force, and a detachment of 80
troops, are in Poland to assist in NATO air policing duties, NATO
announced." Well, that attitude hasn't fully taken hold.
Excellent point that clearing a room isn't usually the best practice in urban combat, especially now that we are moving to conventional combat emphasis. Avoiding civilian casualties must not be the paramount objective: "But that risk [of civilian casualties] is the unfortunate price of any decision to fight in cities where the civilian population is present. Commanders face horrible choices in these scenarios. But maximizing soldier risk instead of minimizing it is always the wrong choice. Let’s leave stacking up to the high-end special operations units, and get back to the chainsaw." No army moving through a city can long afford the casualties to clear room after room. Skyscrapers, anyone?. Eventually, firepower will be used. Which is why a decision to fight in a city is a decision to destroy a city.
I can't blame these Afghan professionals for wanting to get out of Afghanistan in case the Taliban win--the Taliban are Islamist barbarians. But I can't help but hope that more would stay to fight and defeat the Taliban.
Russia, China, and Iran are doing worse than they claim on the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic.
America made a horrible mistake in turning our news gathering staff from blue collar "reporters" to college-credentialed "journalists". The latter consider it beneath their brains and education to simply inform readers rather than shape their views.
From the "Bloody Obvious" files: "As the end to America’s 'forever war' rapidly approaches, the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic missions in Kabul are watching a worsening security situation and looking at how to respond." Remember, it's a so-called "forever war" because our Islamist terrorist enemies have few limits on their desire to kill us, with their death being the only sure cure.
Friends in need? "A bilateral defense treaty between China and North Korea
remains in effect, Beijing said ahead of a renewal that is likely to
take place around Sunday, the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance." I assume the main reason China wants the treaty renewed is to provide a legal basis for intervening in North Korea in case of a regime or state collapse under the guise of repelling invasion.
The Chinese J-20 stealthy fighter is surely not be good enough to challenge the F-22 or F-35, but China may consider them more than good enough to beat planes flown by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Russia.
Good. We've long needed these planes: "Long-troubled U.S. Air Force KC-46 tankers are continuing to expand their mission load and recently began refueling F-35 stealth fighters."
Especially after Russia's subliminal Anschluss with Belarus, this seems wise: "Poland’s Defence Ministry is reportedly preparing to buy about 250 M1 Abrams tanks from the United States, two months after it announced plans to buy 24 Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones." Poland wants better armor before Russia starts deploying army units into Belarus.
Resisting Russia: "Ukraine and NATO have conducted Black Sea drills involving dozens of warships in a two-week show of their strong defense ties and capability following a confrontation between Russia's military forces and a British destroyer off Crimea last month."
Get us into space! "Rocket launches and spacecraft landings will be tracked and monitored along with airplane traffic to enhance safety in a new program announced Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration."
Yeah, listening to Biden's defense of pulling out of Afghanistan depressed me for several hours. Biden misrepresented a lot about the situation. A fair press would have fact-checked this speech into next week. FFS, Biden said the Afghan military was the best equipped force on the planet, saying "the Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world[.] " No. They are basically light infantry. Certainly better equipped and trained, and more numerous than the Taliban. But well equipped? No. Tip to Instapundit.
Jesus, people, the Taliban are not stronger than ever after two decades of war. On September 11, 2001, the Taliban ran the Afghanistan government. Right now they do not.
Really? A lot of people plan to quit their office jobs after "enjoying" pandemic era working from home? Are these people going to enjoy losing their homes they came to love? Big talk, I say. That enhanced unemployment compensation isn't going to last forever. Although since this is a TikTok thing, don't be surprised if the Chinese Communist Party is behind this.
We live in an age of madness of "the sudden, rapid, stunning shift in the belief system of the American elites. It has sent the whole society into a profound cultural dislocation. It is, in essence, an ongoing moral panic against the specter of 'white supremacy,' which is now bizarrely regarded as an accurate description of the largest, freest, most successful multiracial democracy in human history." I take heart that this reflects a minority hate movement of Twitter activists and those who read the New York Times. America isn't as insane as the so-called elites are. When enough people who love America and are proud of it regardless of who is president see the emperor has no clothes, the movement will collapse in embarrassment. The question is whether our enemies will be able to exploit the madness while the panic dislocates our country. Tip to Instapundit.
If the media and permanent governing class wonder "why do they [Trump voters] hate us?"
How bad were the Democrats and media in their unhinged Resistance to turn me from someone who despised Trump to someone who voted for him?
A 13-troop team of Marine embassy security rapid reaction forces deployed to Africa: "A team of U.S. Marines was deployed to protect the U.S. Embassy in Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa that remains in turmoil after civil unrest began June 30, the U.S. Marines said Wednesday." That's the former Swaziland, FYI. If we had this ship, The AFRICOM Queen, as I described in Military Review, could be sailing over the horizon just in case, too.
Unless Egypt can change the Ethiopian government to one willing to accommodate Egyptian concerns over the GERD dam, this threat of war seems futile: "Two nations along the Nile’s waters, Egypt and Ethiopia, are preparing their militaries for what could be history’s first outright war over water." If Egypt harms Ethiopia without destroying the government, even if Egypt somehow manages to destroy the dam, can't Ethiopia seek revenge simply by fouling the water that rolls through Sudan and reaches Egypt?
True: "President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw a residual US force [from Afghanistan] will look like an amateurish, unforced error by a man who prides himself on his foreign-policy experience and acumen." Mind you, Trump wrongly wanted to get out now, too. And perhaps Trump would have made as many mistakes in a rush to leave Afghanistan. But I guarantee our friends and enemies there would have figured Trump would make up for any errors with JDAMs raining down on Taliban forces from the Heavens like a Texas hail storm. But this isn't quite right: "Biden has gotten his drawdown. Now, he may reap the whirlwind." No, we may reap the whirlwind if the Taliban and their al Qaeda and ISIL allies get a sanctuary in Afghanistan.
Yeah, I pretty much ignore those "use by" dates. I only throw food out when it is obviously bad. I rarely throw food out. Never had a problem. I always assumed they were a good part lawsuit protection and planned obsolescence. Although, yeah, there are exceptions I do follow as if it is food I prepared and so has a life of days in the refrigerator.
So here's another indication that our withdrawal from Afghanistan is too hasty. FFS. Sure, hand the Taliban a victory trophy. What could possibly go wrong? Tip to Instapundit.
In a world of persistent surface and aerial surveillance, stealth uniforms are a natural reaction.
Some Asian countries that the Xi Jinping Flu seemed to bypass are starting to get their own surges.
The Taliban are trying to defeat the Afghan air force on the ground by killing or scaring off the pilots. I will again protest against saying that there are civilian deaths "caused by" the air force. While the ammunition that killed the civilians came from the planes, the legal responsibility for many of the deaths is likely with the Taliban who use human shields or don't distinguish themselves from civilians.
Also, this [emphasis added] is BS: "Built in America's image, the Afghan Air Force is equipped with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and lumbering C-130H transport aircraft, neither of which Afghans know how to maintain, according to a Pentagon report released in April." There are no stealth fighters. No jets combat aircraft at all. No aerial refueling or fancy support planes. Just basic helicopters and propeller-driven ground attack aircraft. The C-130 has been around for a long time. The Afghan Air Force is not in fact built in America's image. Just stop that. Twenty years at war and reporters still know little of warfare or history.
China continues to squeeze the Philippines over China's unlawful territorial claims.
Our friends, the Russians: "Spain's jets took off 'to identify two aircraft flying into the Baltic Sea area.' The planes were two Russian Su-24 combat jets heading northeast, the official said. [para] 'Those two Russian jets did not file a flight plan, did not have their flight transponder on, or talk to traffic controllers,' the official said." To be fair, maybe the equipment on the Russian planes was broken because of lack of maintenance? Chest-pounding and flinging poo doesn't require much brain power, you know.
Well this new trend certainly comes about 20 years too late for me.
The U.S. declined Haiti's request for security assistance following their ruler's assassination. And what happened there? "Seventeen Colombians and two Haitian Americans from South Florida are in
custody in Haiti. A person who interviewed the detained Colombians in
Haiti told the Miami Herald that the men claimed to have been recruited
to do work in Haiti by an under-the-radar firm in Doral called CTU
Security." warBay, anyone? But back to the actual attack, what really happened?
Lithuania builds a "wall" to stop the illegal migrants that Russia is figuratively firing at it via Belarus. As with any barrier, the key is properly defending it with security personnel.
Maduro's security forces are in gun battles with gangs? I'd have thought Maduro's thug regime would work with gangs. As the article states, "An editorial by El Nacional said the strength of the gang was 'a result
of [the government] having given these criminals all types of
advantages'." Or is it getting so bad in Venezuela that Maduro can't afford to keep all the gangs on the regime's payroll?
We'll see if the Russians back down. If not, there should be dead Russian hackers. Retaliating against Russian-tolerated cyber-attacks should include opening the spigot on American energy production and pipeline construction here.
Virgin Galactic went to the edge of space and back with Richard Branson as a passenger. So space planes are a thing now. Which is awesome, naturally. But I sure hope the crew, support staff, and passengers were sufficiently diverse because that's really the important thing, right?
Hmmm. I didn't think you could sign away rights like that. I know agreements like that are common in business transactions to avoid courts. But is this really part of that?
So what the heck is going on in Cuba?? If security forces stand with the regime, it will be futile.
