Russia's ground forces are a mixed up bag of various types of forces from different commands now. But does the Izyum area concentration of volunteer units suggest a low priority front? Or is it where the cannon fodder for an offensive are being sent? The Russians do seem to be conducting more attacks, even though they don't take much ground. Is this the end of Russia's pause? Or is this activity to allow the pause to be completed?
Ukrainian artillery hit a Wagner Group headquarters in the east. The Wagner Group is getting a reputation for being effective in Russia. And for war crimes in the West.
At-sea Navy resupply. The Chinese are following that lead.
I've noted that the Chinese military isn't as good as its shiny new weapons portray. So how good are the troops using that stuff? But honestly, I'm worried our military leadership is undermining our quality. I just hope our problems are fewer than any enemy's problems.
The watermelons would rather overthrow democracy and capitalism than achieve green energy. Tip to Instapundit.
Iran blames Rushdie for being assaulted. He did write kind of slutty, you know.
This time, for sure! Hopefully the talks about aid for no nukes drag on. The race is longer than I expected.
Israel struck Syrian air defenses and probable Iranian assets inside Syria. Iran wants its own proxies on Israel's border and Russia is no longer working to push Iran out.
The cited study says mask mandates didn't work to stop the Xi Jinping Flu--not that masks didn't work. FFS, that information is in the quote. I agree mandates are useless. I'd use masks based on my evaluation of the threat without a mandate. And mandates without apparent need won't be obeyed. Again, masks "work" to buy time against infection, with the variables of type of mask, skill in using a mask, and time in danger areas affecting how much. Eventually all masks will "fail".
A peek into how Iran smuggles arms to the Houthi in Yemen.
Remember, no White House mention of the Islamist virtual death sentence by Iran that Rushdie has lived under for the last 30+ years. Because Democrats looove the mullahs.
A year ago, Biden's clusterfuck of poor Afghanistan decisions finally gave the Taliban victory.
Ukraine can go after Russian air defense systems with their American-provided air-launched anti-radiation missiles. When do the Russians turn off their radars to avoid them? Making them useless, of course.
The Missile Defense Agency named defending CONUS and Guam as priorities, as well as dealing with hypersonic missile threats. Good.
Two Zumwalt-class destroyers will get hypersonic missiles. Think of them as test beds with secondary combat capabilities.
Prosecute the man. Government institutions are forfeiting trust. But we still have elections as the proper response.
Huh: "The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday said sabotage was behind an explosion at a military depot in the Dzhankoy region of Crimea, the RIA news agency reported."
FFS, dispersing ammunition stockpiles is not a "secret" tactic the Russians are using to counter HIMARS strikes.
The Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne State Department really needs an "America desk": "State Department spokesperson Ned Price claimed on Monday that the U.S.
is 'in a stronger position as a country' today because of President
Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan one year ago."
Is Russia massing [S-300, I assume] anti-aircraft missiles in Belarus for a massive missile strike on Ukraine in the coming weeks? Russia is using those SAMS as surface-to-surface missiles. Might it be a big effort to hit supply lines coming out of Poland?
I guess the Navy is really, really sure it won't have to fight China any time soon: "The Navy wants to shed 39 ships in Fiscal Year 2023, with the first ship set to depart on Halloween."
If they get away with this, the next divisive bill will be called The Save the Puppies and Kittens Act: "Did you notice how the Dems called it the Inflation Reduction Act, right up until the moment it passed? Now it’s a 'climate, health care, and tax bill.'"
The Philippines may buy American Chinook helicopter after canceling a purchase of Russian helicopters for "combat, search and rescue operations, and medical evacuations[.]" I think they'd be great for island resupply missions to negate Chinese blockades.
FFS, why?? "A group of German air force fighter jets landed in Singapore on Tuesday as part of a marathon bid to fly them some 12,800 kilometers (8,000 miles) from their home base to Southeast Asia in just 24 hours." Just focus on controlling the Baltic Sea and capturing Kaliningrad if the Russians get all stupid!
LOL! "Russian President Vladimir Putin touted his country's arsenal of weapons on Monday and said they are significantly more advanced than those of his rivals." Seriously.
Somebody launched a drone attack on American forces near al-Tanf inside Syria. It failed. What happens when an attack kills Americans?
The battle for the terror tunnels continues along the Gaza-Israel border.
Another explosion in Crimea, in addition to the arms depot blast (and in addition to the airfield attack).
Nigeria loses to corruption again. Rule of law is good.
Will Zawahiri's replacement be competent?
What America left behind in Afghanistan. Not all the weapons worked or could be used. But it could be sold. Or stolen. I hope our CIA is on the job trying to get the crucial stuff. With any luck, Afghan corruption means much of that stuff is already arming the resistance to the Taliban.
Does renewed violence on the border of Congo and Rwanda telegraph ethnic violence atrocities on a massive scale as happened during the Clinton administration? Burundi is the first East African Community member to send troops to Congo to tamp this down.
U.S. and Canadian researchers recreated the 1918 Spanish Flu virus. This is bad. Not because that group did it. but because it shows that others could have done it already or might in the future. But more broadly, this type of research conducted because of fear of what others might do is dangerous. Tip to Instapundit.
I suppose eventually India's defense industry will make good weapons to stop China. But so far it is just a money pit for bad execution. So I'm skeptical of this claim. Yet I can't deny that building their own is eventually better than buying from abroad. Will China give India that time?
At some level I'm pleased that the parents are getting what they voted for. I guess they thought their money would insulate them from the consequences. Tip to Instapundit.
Army recruiting is bad in part because its leaders hate its recruit base: "we now have a Department of Defense [DoD] that has taken various
political positions that are very much opposed to the heart of America." As I've observed:
"Free" Canadian health care can be taken away by the whim of the government based on your behavior. That's not "free." So much for being a "right." Tip to Instapundit.
The U.S. tested an ICBM, but the test was “not the result of current world events[.]” Personally, I like the message we're always ready to nuke enemies regardless of what they are doing at the moment. Via Instapundit.
Even if the Army isn't woke, that is the perception and the military is not countering that image of leftist corruption. As I've said, there are other reason. Including MHS Genesis, which I never heard of, which essentially disqualifies recruits with information the Army never had before about the recruits. So much for don't ask, don't tell. Via Instapundit.
If you want the technical term, the Chinese are acting like "assholes."
Ukrainians are using drones much more effectively than the Russians. Will Iran simply be embarrassed by how Russia uses the drones Iran is providing?
Victor Hanson writes about the leftist civil war porn they're peddling. Exactly.
We need expanded shipyards to compete with China in a war at sea: "Despite the lack of specifics, shipyards in the Gulf Coast have quietly mounted extensive capital expansion efforts for new construction and repair work as D.C. hammers out the plans for the future fleet."
Gosh! I didn't think I'd need to act on my virtues that I'd signaled! Thank God those lawn signs aren't legally binding contracts, eh? Tip to Instapundit.
I've long said that I don't know if global warming is taking place, if mankind has the decisive impact if it is, and if it is actually bad on balance. What I do know is that I don't trust the so-called solutions to the problem that the global warming activists propose. They're just one more group of wannabe autocrats who promise to save us from ... something.
The idea that India doesn't want to be America's "ally" any more is silly. India is a potential lever to pry Russia away from China.
Turkey spent a dozen years pushing its defense partner Israel away. Never mind. I guess Russia and Iran didn't turn out to be solid alternatives. Perhaps taking a break in our relationship is finally working. Related? CRS brief on Turkish-U.S. relations.
Will China's flag follow its trade to Pakistan and Afghanistan?
China continues to destroy the embers of freedom in Hong Kong. Tip to Instapundit.
The West encourages Islamist rage within the West (via Instapundit). Why do we hate us?
Ted Galen Carpenter never met a foreign policy threat that can't be solved by America retreating. China would absolutely accept an "Austria" solution for Taiwan that declared Taiwan a neutral entity. And just as soon as that "solution" broke America-Taiwan defense ties and undermined Taiwan's ability and will to resist, China would attack Taiwan and take it.
South Korea's president has decided on an "audacious initiative" to solve the North Korea problem: Give North Korea lots of money in exchange for North Korea giving up nukes. Sadly, this strategy has been tried again and again with only half of the solution taking hold. North Korea always accepts the money.
I have no problem with saying that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was driven in part by fear for the security of Moscow, despite the lack of a current threat. And Friedman basically says the West doesn't need to go along with that fear because the West has its own worries about Russia. My problem is that too many in the West accept Russia's reasons as justification for letting Russia get away with its aggression.
Is Putin so indispensable to Russia's corrupt power elite that there is no threat to Putin's rule? Sounds plausible. I've read similar thoughts. Of course, if Putin goes getting an end to the war is only one possible result. Someone worse than Putin might take power, eh? On the bright side, Putin is unlikely to fire senior commanders until he gets someone good enough to win because that kind of competence and glory would be a threat to Putin. And defeat would absolutely be a threat to Putin.
Why is Macron's EU policy failing? Funny, the article pretty much admits he is using crises to advance EU integration--that is, stripping the prefix from the proto-imperial EU project. With Macron sitting on the throne, of course. As that article argues, "Macron’s European policy suffers from three fundamental ills: It is vague, unilateral, and self-serving." To be fair, it has to be vague to hide it's true purpose of yoking Europe to Macron's glory. Putin isn't the only one with dreams of dominating Europe.
Is the James Webb orbiting telescope undermining the Big Bang theory? Yikes.
Explosions inside Russia at Belgorod and inside Russian-occupied Crimea. But are the Russians flinching from shadows? Still, it might be a Doolittle Raid-style operation.
The only emergency is that the government doesn't want to give up its pandemic powers.
It disturbs me that conservatives have joined the "we were lied into war" anti-war line about the Iraq War. There were no lies. Just the unfortunate decision to rest the public case for war on one thing thought to be a "slam dunk" as the CIA said rather than on the multiple reasons for destroying the Saddam regime. Remember, Democrats believed Saddam had WMD before the war. Based on the same intelligence Republicans saw. And try to remember we didn't have an obligation to find the WMD components in a game of hide and seek. Saddam was required to account for all of it. He violated the ceasefire just by failing to prove he had nothing. Although I still wonder what information will come out to clarify what the status was when we invaded. Sometimes amazing information comes out long after a war is over. Saddam at least had the ability to restart chemical weapons production quickly. And while I'm at it, yes, we won the war. As long as we don't decide to walk away like we did in Afghanistan a year ago and hand enemies a victory. And God help us, it looks like we might.
Leave the hot prime minister alone. She drinks less than Churchill did and dances more. So what? Tip to Instapundit.
The global population will peak, decline, and age this century, following the path set by advanced countries. Would anything reverse declining birth rates? Via Instapundit.
American special forces will have their own propeller-driven ground support aircraft. So basically armed drones with pilots.
A judge has temporarily nullified Michigan's suddenly not-dormant anti-abortion law. Apparently the governor wants time to sue to eliminate the statutes. I have real problems with this on a rule-of-law basis. Pro-abortion legislators had many decades to repeal those statutes. They did not. Now the courts are going to rewrite the statutes for political convenience? How is this even possible? I'm not even saying the statutes as written should remain as they are. But they exist!
A proposal to use American "boneyard" fighters for armed drones for dangerous missions. Ten years ago I suggested Israel might follow that path to generate an effective strike package for use against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Wanting that is nice. Doing is harder: "As the U.S. Navy moves to field 10 new or modernized ship classes in the next decade, the head of the surface navy is considering how to get these ships and their more lethal capabilities deployed faster." The more time in port, the more time an enemy has to strike the ships.
The U.S. creates an estimated 13 more good jihadis in Somalia.
Credentials skyrocket while actual skills decline.
Ukrainians are happy the Russians don't adapt well at war: "But they have nuclear weapons. Russia is like a monkey with a hand grenade." Indeed.
Our nearly NATO allies Finland and Sweden don't suck. They have good and technologically advanced but small forces. The Finns have a large reserve army and Sweden could use that. And they have useful geography.
Is it really a mystery why the Americans most likely to enlist to be military officers are not enlisting in an organization that seemingly looks at them with suspicion? But I could be biased. I await future years to see if one-time or other factors are mostly to blame.
Jihadis on a killing rampage in Somalia. We wouldn't care nearly as much if the jihadis were content to slaughter other Moslems. But inevitably they all set their sights on the West for more satisfying targets.
Ukraine would have to deny it, given it went very wrong from the intended target: "A Ukrainian official on Sunday denied involvement in the car bombing death of the daughter of a Putin ally." I have no idea who did it. It's a bigger deal if internal forces did this inside Russia.
Did somebody give Ukraine ATACMS longer-range missiles for the HIMARS Ukraine has to attack that Crimea airfield? I wouldn't rule that out. But I also wouldn't rule out that Ukraine built a missile. Or adapted older model SAMs for a long-range ground attack rocket. During the Persian Gulf War, Iraq modified missiles to reach Israel. After losing that war, Iraq modified SAMs to evade prohibition on surface-to-surface missile imports. Ukraine would do a better job.
