This is where our limited shipbuilding money is going: "A ship, especially a warship that has a lot of problems, is often referred to as a cursed ship. The USS Ford, the first of the class, has become a major disaster rather than a more effective new ship design. The number and severity of problems are certainly cursed at often enough by those who built or now serve on the Ford. It was not supposed to be that way." But you know how I feel about even a perfectly working Ford.
Ambitious: "Classified American intelligence reports suggest China intends to establish its first permanent military presence on the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny Central African country of Equatorial Guinea, according to U.S. officials." American bases tend to be where we support allies. China's base is more peacetime presence.
This is the most amazing fluffing of Kim Jong-Un that I've ever read. North Korea's nukes are primitive and it doesn't have ICBMs. And North Korea's conventional military is rotting away. Although I admit that the editor's choice of headline is far more misleading than the article's assessment--overly optimistic about North Korea's capabilities though it is.
Tar. Feathers. Bankruptcy. Tip to Instapundit.
I thought the UAE decision to buy French Rafale fighters was a matter of the UAE coming to its senses about what it needs to fight Iran. But apparently the UAE still wants the F-35. Unless we develop a stripped down special export version without sensitive technology that is not electronically linked, I would not sell F-35s to the UAE.
This abandonment of work is kind of horrifying, but the fact that a majority of people in developed countries--which were made developed by capitalism--think capitalism "does more harm than good" is a failure of our education, leadership, and society rather than a problem of free market capitalism. The left likes to claim freedom from work will unleash poets and artists. But it will just unleash Doritos and living in Meta's fantasy world while some imported laborer wipes away the drool of the couch-blob. Via Instapundit.
Plan B: "Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded India as 'a great power' on Monday as he arrived in New Delhi to bolster military and energy ties with a traditional ally being courted by Washington." Russia needs to keep India friendly for the time Russia needs to pivot to confront China. Also, it would be sheer idiocy for America to sanction India for buying Russian weapons that will face China. Never underestimate the damage Smart Diplomacy® can inflict.
Their residents are getting exactly what they voted for. What's the problem? "Usually at this time of year, San Francisco’s luxury stores are decked with holiday garlands. Instead, they’re boarded up after widespread 'flash mob' looting turned Union Square — the city’s most fashionable shopping district — into an area resembling a blighted neighborhood in Detroit." But give Detroit some credit for not putting up with this BS now. Tip to Instapundit.
I assume that is true: " Several U.S. defense leaders said Saturday they are worried that a confrontation with China over Taiwan would lead to a wave of significant cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure that could disrupt day-to-day life." I think such attacks on America, Japan, and Europeans would occur before America intervenes in order to deter America with a brief shot across the bow: "The message to the West will be look at Taiwan and what we can do and look at how we penetrated your security. Don't mess with us."
Ukraine expresses its confidence in fighting Russia. But it is horrifying that Kharkiv is a major source of Ukrainian weapons. If Russia wants a very geographically limited war, capturing Kharkov would be a prime objective.
Japan is a serious (number five) military power. Russia is second only because of nukes. And if those don't work, ranking fourth might be generous. Neighbors should not worry given the small Japanese army, geared for home defense.
Omicron is the man cold liberal Xi Jinping Flu variant:
Via Instapundit, A one-in-a-million shot, doc! I've mentioned precision mortar rounds. But I had no idea of the advances in accuracy. Duck and cover, dude. Duck and cover. [Although the 57mm size confused me. It should be 60mm if a mortar round. Later I read it was an anti-tank round. Which makes sense.]
Of course the media lies for Democrats. They're just proud of it, now. I dumped CBS in early 1984 when they lied about the economy to hurt Reagan. I moved to NBC and then ABC. Then I went to cable. It wasn't until 2004 that I finally dumped CNN and MSNBC over their war coverage, even though I knew they were biased well before then. It got too much. Now--for 15 months--I avoid television news because it has all gotten so toxic, even if some of it is reacting to the other side's toxicity.
The United States won't send a delegation to the Chinese winter Olympics. After Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the Xi Jinping Flu, and general human rights violations and aggressive behavior toward neighbors, the saga of a Chinese tennis player finally broke the camel's back. But not enough to boycott the Olympics themselves.
Missile defense in Alaska: "The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has finished installing radar arrays and wrapped up military construction for the Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR)." And for space domain awareness, too.
It's about time Hispanic people treat the woke-created "Latinx" as the N-word.
The sun's energy output has an effect on Earth's climate? Who knew? But it is just a model. Tip to Instapundit.
Will destroying Turkey's currency destroy Erdogan's neo-Ottoman ambitions?
Build Bottlenecks Better? Tip to Instapundit.
I had some hopes that our SSN fleet could carry the load of battle while our surface Navy fixes itself (and while the carriers stay out of the way lest they get sunk). Well, we're screwed.
An American no first use nuclear policy closes the nuclear umbrella over our allies and exposes them to conventional attack and conquest. If Biden "restores our international relations" as he promised any more they will be walking funny for a month.
China matters less to the global economy: "Should, for example, its campaign to reduce massive corporate debts, particularly in the property sector, end in a meltdown, the effects will be global and inescapable. But lesser tremors may no longer be so consequential. It may be that when China stumbles, the world no longer falls with it."
Good: "Israel on Tuesday announced the completion of an enhanced security barrier around the Gaza Strip designed to prevent militants from sneaking into the country."
Australia is stepping up: "Australia and Papua New Guinea have completed first steps and begun major refurbishment of a navy base built by U.S. forces on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, during World War II." I think I mentioned this but it bears repeating.
China's flights into Taiwan's air defense identification zone looks like practice for war. I certainly thought the flights looked like practice aerial interdiction of Pratas Island to isolate it from Taiwanese reinforcements or air operations should China attack the island.
From the Missing the Forest Because of the Trees files: "EXPLAINER: What's behind Russia-Ukraine tensions?" Um, because Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, captured Ukrainian territory, and continues to wage war on Ukraine?" An "Explainer," indeed. Don't over-complicate this.
The Japanese and Americans practice for the Battle for the Senkaku Islands.
The only question is what leftist group faked the so-called Patriot Front demonstration. The demand for hate exceeds the demand.
If Biden wants to warn Putin against invading Ukraine (again), maybe he should hand Putin another list--of countries Putin can't invade in Europe. It's called NATO. And maybe quietly warn Putin that his actions make Ukrainian inclusion on that list more rather than less likely.
I repeat my old offering to get around the nonsense of banning "Christmas" office parties by offering you the acronym C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S. You're welcome. At my last job I was lauded for it but nobody dared use it.
I do worry that America is bolstering Hezbollah even as we think we are bolstering the ability of the Lebanese government to resist Hezbollah. Are the French exploiting our appeasement of Iran in Lebanon?
Well: "Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden set out their opposing
positions on Ukraine in a video call on Tuesday and agreed that Russia
and the United States should keep talking, the Kremlin said." [My apologies for the typo in the cartoon. I meant "What if" and not "What of". Oops. And then the shame pushed me to fix it.]
As I've long advocated, the Ukrainian defense minister understands Russia's weakness: "The human cost for Ukraine would be catastrophic, but Ukrainians would
not mourn alone. Russia would also suffer massive losses. Images of
coffins returning to Russia from the front lines in Ukraine would spread
like a virus across social media and would soon prove too much for even
the Kremlin censors to contain." Putin's Russia is no Stalin's Russia. Their weakness should not be a mystery.
Regardless of the short-term results of the Ukraine crisis, Ukraine needs to defeat corruption to be strong enough to defeat Russia.
If this report is true, the only difference between America and China is the scale of abuse by the ruling party. If the Chinese Communist Party starts using this in its propaganda to deflect from its multi-generation genocide of the Uighurs and Tibetans, don't say we weren't warned.
Flaming Christmas tree. Well, the tree was dressed all slutty twinkly. Probably deserved it. Tip to Treacher.
Acceptable collateral damage: "With the demand for nickel [to build electric cars] skyrocketing, the Rio Tuba mine is now on the brink of expanding deeper into the rainforest, adding almost 10 square miles to its current footprint. Local environmentalists fear that it will wipe out the forest’s fragile ecosystem ... ." I've long said I suspect electric cars have a higher carbon footprint than ICE cars measured over the life from production to disposal. Tip to Treacher.
Does Russia have the logistics to support a deep or lengthy campaign inside Ukraine?
Perhaps Ms. Erin Aubry Kaplan should build a separate but equal Little Free Library just for white people. She says she didn't dislike the couple personally--but naturally disliked them because of their whiteness. The new anti-racism looks suspiciously like the old racism.
I certainly hope this is a worst-case outlook and that more cautious decisions will be made. But check ammo and double the guard just in case.
David Brooks is just goodlife for the woke, now. Seriously, he must be suffering from a head wound to argue that voting for today's woke Democrats is the best defense of conservatism.
It's a strange white supremacy, indeed. Tip to Instapundit.
Let's hope neither Xi nor Putin (via Instapundit) sees domestic problems as a reason to start a "short and glorious war" to shore up their rule. We can look forward to elections to solve leadership problems. Xi and Putin know that pressure release doesn't exist in their countries. Putin's pandemic problem will at least end regardless of what he does. What about Xi's economic problem? And grant me that it is justice that Russian propaganda designed to undermine the West inflicted collateral damage at home.
How is this different from cultural ethnic cleansing? The question is rhetorical, of course. Tip to Instapundit.
Once again, I'll remind you that it is a crime against grammar to think "liberal minded" is a synonym for "open minded." But yeah, keep blaming our divisions on conservatives.
Iran is why the Yemen war can't be "ended" despite the Biden administration's efforts.
Wait. Is this the secret weapon to shrink the federal government? "Joe Biden will order the federal government to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050." Tip to Instapundit.
If Russia invades Ukraine, America's initial ground response to eastern NATO countries could be a an airborne, Stryker, and armored brigade, backed by artillery and helicopters. I suppose you would be able to tell if this is a diplomatic signal if the units are spread out from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea rather than massed.
Via PJ Media, murder capital title still up for grabs: "At least 12 major U.S. cities have broken annual homicide records in 2021 -- and there's still three weeks to go in the year."
Basically, the American troops in Iraq will not be called combat troops by the end of this year. After Afghanistan 2021 and Iraq 2011, I don't think even the Biden administration is foolish enough to actually withdraw our troops from Iraq (again) where they help Iraqi troops kill jihadis every day and keep an eye on Iran.
Would Russia try to control all of the Black Sea coast of Ukraine to link up with Moldova, where Russia still keeps hope alive hope for regaining that corner of the former Soviet empire?
I'm going to guess that Putin is bluffing an invasion of Ukraine in order to get Biden to bless the Nordstream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline that will increase Russia's ability to freeze Ukraine without cutting off natural gas to NATO Europe. But it will be portrayed as a great victory for Smart Diplomacy®. God help us, but the Biden people might actually believe they engineered a victory over Russia.
Bangladeshis are lured to Libya where they become slaves. Please alert the 1619 Project.
The American Atlantic fleet commander vowed "we will own the Atlantic[.]" Well, the Chinese are still far away and the Russian blue water fleet is a dead man walking.
Good. But I wonder what percentage of Iranian weapons we actually manage to intercept before they reach Yemen.
America is shipping Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Good. Although I think it is a sign that we believe Russia won't invade. Otherwise we might not have done something so "provocative".
Yes: "'Without question, bolstering Taiwan's self-defenses is an urgent task and an essential feature of deterrence,' U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing." And he said don't focus on a year for when China is a threat because it is now.
The Marines are willing to shrink the force to get Light Amphibious Warships to move company-sized anti-ship elements of Marines around. I'm unhappy with the LAW concept and would like to see amphibious planes supplement better ships.
I know a number of Republicans don't like Trump. I can understand that. Truly. But it can't really be possible for them to say Biden was a better choice--or, God help us, Hillary!--can they? And you know what? I don't believe Clinton read the text of her victory speech that existed on election night. She's plotting something and not (only) wallowing in her well-deserved misery. Tip to Treacher.
Governor Newsom says that if Roe v. Wade is overturned that California will pay to bring women to California to get abortions. I have no problem with that. That's what a federal system allows. And if California voters are fine with using their taxes for this, who am I to complain on their behalf? Heck, California already pays to attract criminals, the homeless, and illegal aliens. Bounce the woke rubble.
I refuse to have an Internet of things. Via Instapundit.
Why isn't being convicted of orchestrating a fake hate crime an actual hate crime itself?
How can Democrats and their media allies say conservatives don't care about the January 6th riot? I was horrified. About the riot. But then the Democrats started calling a brief riot an "insurrection." Which is stupid, as my updates began to convey. The most well armed segment of the population took zero firearms to their "insurrection?" So yeah, I reject calling January 6th an "insurrection." And I'm mad at Democrats for this charade (with a nod to the simulation for the player's number).
This warning not to panic about China by assuming strength without weaknesses is correct. But I don't worry China will replace America as a global power. I worry their power could dominate within 500 miles of China's shores--which would cripple our power in the western Pacific by potentially destroying our allies. And this is an excellent point: "And we need to remember that Beijing spends as much on internal security as on external defence, which should tell us a lot." But while that is true and significant, it is a little bit misleading.
Ukraine's troop morale seems good. But it isn't totally fair to say Ukraine is short on weaponry. It is absolutely true that Ukraine lacks air defenses and naval forces. Ukraine is much smaller than Russia. But Ukraine can fight hard. And Russian air power probably won't be as effective as feared all across the front as the fight drags on. If Ukraine wants to correct its problems it needs to defeat corruption so it isn't just a smaller version of corrupt Russia.
The Great Woke Hope failed spectacularly. And turned out to be old hates dressed up as love. Yet somehow the Left thought this would all work.
The Army is thinking about an Arctic brigade combat team for operating and surviving in extreme cold. Wait. What? Isn't the Arctic warming and melting?
Member of NATO don't need to wait for NATO to act to take action: "The Czech government approved a plan Wednesday to deploy 150 service members in Poland to help guard the border with Belarus."
Star "wars." Let's hope our sun remains exceptionally inactive until we can endure these events. Via Instapundit.
Finland wants the F-35. I guessed Finland would want the Swedish fighter. Sometimes I wonder if countries under threat want the F-35 to make sure America intervenes in their defense to prevent enemies from getting their hands on the plane.
While Putin may win a concession from America without the intent to invade, I don't think it is fair to say Biden threatened only sanctions if Putin invades Ukraine. As I noted in the first update in this post, Biden seemingly limited our reaction to sanctions for anything short of a Russian invasion of all Ukraine. I don't think Putin includes that in his options. So the Biden threat may be meaningless. But triggering military responses might depend on definitions. Tip to Instapundit.
Our media is garbage and employs garbage people.
It's hard to argue he's wrong: "And progressives—I count myself as one of them—do ruin cities. Or, at least, they put in place policies that cause profound harm to the people living in them." Tip to Instapundit.
Ukraine has too few Javelin missiles to be a significant weapon in a war. The missile was useful to deter escalation in the "frozen" conflict on the Donbas low-level war of attrition. We should be sending more and training Ukrainians to use them.
Don't be silly, it was never REAL communism. Remember that the war initially looked like a stalemate in defense of a poor autocracy. It took time to become a victory of democracy and free enterprise:
Have a ball: "Since early 2021 Russia has been visibly improving its Tartus naval base and nearby Hmeimim airbase." This is just for justifying Russia's conquest of Crimea. I'm not sure what the point is. Russia wastes money away from the Baltic region and gives Mediterranean NATO states something to do in a war.
21st century America: The left can only hear "dog whistle racism" so must resort to making up hate. Who believes any of that crap any more? Certainly all the illegal aliens don't.
It sure is starting to look like Putin is trying to extort concessions from NATO with his threats to invade Ukraine: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to provide guarantees that would preclude NATO from expanding to Ukraine or deploying troops and weapons there. Putin brought it up during a video call with U.S. President Joe Biden this week." Does Putin know he is too weak to win a war or does he want to increase his low chances of victory by getting the element of surprise? Also, stuff happens.
In theory this kind of thinking big to deter China from invading Taiwan sounds reasonable. In the real world almost none of the world even recognizes Taiwan as a country. The UN sure doesn't. And the UN has failed to deter aggressors since its creation. But I'm to believe the world would give up benefits of trade with China for years or decades to punish China for capturing Taiwan? That just isn't credible.
Is Biden getting ready to throw our eastern NATO members under the bus for "peace for our time"? Putin may get a free advantage in Ukraine and a bonus fracture inside NATO because of Biden's Smart Diplomacy.® Heck, will Biden throw Ukraine under the bus in a play to get an empty Nobel Peace Prize?
Fear is the beginning of wisdom: "As Violence Arrives in Rich Neighborhoods, Liberals And Ex-Radicals Buy Guns And Mobilize To Oust Progressive D.A.s[.]" It's all fun and games until the effects can't be dismissed as Fox News propaganda. Ah, the clarity of experiencing what you inflicted on the poor in distant neighborhoods you never saw. Tip to Instapundit. And to repeat:
Effing Russians: "Moscow denies planning to attack Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of its own allegedly aggressive designs." Yeah, those Ukrainian bastards might want to retake some of the land Russia stole from Ukraine in 2014. Not that I'd want to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. But I would supply Ukraine with what it needs to send body bags back to Russia on a scale sufficient to make Putin's life Hell.
I have no idea who Oliver Darcy is. But he may be a moron.
People on the left imagine they figuratively escort minority school children into the schools. But they have become enamored of the Twitter Red Guards who send people to toil in the rice paddies: "When 'the left' becomes the party of wealthy elites and state security agencies who preach racial division, state censorship, contempt for ordinary citizens and for the U.S. Constitution, and telling people what to do and think at every turn, then that’s the side you are on, if you are 'on the left'—those are the policies and beliefs you stand for and have to defend." The left isn't "cancelling" awful people. The left became awful and are cancelling decent people. I've long noticed that. More people are noticing.
"Warning": "The G7 on Sunday said time was running out for Iran to agree a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions[.]" In practice, the G7 is adopting another policy:
We're gonna need lots of Doritos. Tip to Instapundit.
When people stop pretending they have a currency. Our government leaders seem to appreciate this less than their leaders.
When money is on the line, the truth leaks out: "In its response to Stossel’s defamation claim, Facebook responds on Page 2, Line 8 in the court document (download it below) that Facebook cannot be sued for defamation (which is making a false and harmful assertion) because its ‘fact checks’ are mere statements of opinion rather than factual assertions." [emphasis in original]. Via Instapundit.
Sadly, Army lost to Navy in their football showdown. Congratulations Navy.
I've been debating whether to get a booster shot given the apparent harmlessness of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. I'm scheduled. Isn't it safer to get the Xi Jinping Flu now? Omicron blows past the vaccine. But I'm technically in the more dangerous group despite my good health. And I survived the initial vaccine. Perhaps it is best to get the booster despite this variant to make the Omicron infection too weak to hurt me? All I know for sure is that I can't trust my doctor to give me honest advice on the risks.
The media template has long been clear. If there is a racist hate crime, all Republicans are at fault for the crime; but when a racist hate crime is shown to be a fraud. all Republicans are at fault for noting that fraud. Also, the media wonders why only Democrats trust them at all. Or they don't wonder and simply enjoy the profit from preaching to the choir.
