Is the A-10 grossly overrated? Something to think about. I've admitted advances in air defenses make the A-10 less useful in a low-level strafing role. And that I'd accept F-35s dedicated to close air support. Still, I knew the A-10 gun couldn't penetrate tank frontal armor. So why did the test cited limit the A-10 to strafing tanks from the front? And other armored vehicles would be toast if hit. My trust issue does not change.
Putin sent the army to Ukraine to die and doesn't seem to want to revive it: "Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly relying on irregular volunteer and proxy forces rather than conventional units and formations of the Russian Federation Armed Forces."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has accelerated Ukrainian patriotism and bad views of Russia.
If Turkey doesn't act worthy of being a NATO member, it's hard to argue against selling arms to Cyprus. Especially if NATO wants Cyprus to be the Incirlik air base Plan B.
Even if we don't break up the FBI for parts, a good decimation of leadership is in order.
The Party of Privilege. Via Instapundit.
Sometimes I read Europeans will be fine--if chilly--on energy this winter. Other times (tips to Instapundit) I read they have problems. If the latter, why isn't America opening energy spigots here to help?! Will there be food and energy shortages? It won't be as bad as post-World War II, at least. Because Europe is refusing to take actions on its continent to restore fossil fuel resources there. Good luck with that. I'm not terribly worried about the "Great Reset" fear near the end. But your mileage may vary, I suppose.
A bill in Congress would commit America to training Taiwan's military. Good. Weapons aren't enough.
Sure, you go with the idea that Ukrainian irregular warfare on land using mobile anti-tank teams within friendly territory validates moving Marines with anti-ship weapons to islands inside China's firepower envelope. So you don't need those LAWs to move them?
Germany will send 4 more Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. Ukraine already received 18 from the Germans and Dutch.
This is nuts. And I say this as someone who because of age has retreated from his former (perfectly adequate) average height. Tip to Instapundit.
The major surprise to me in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the apparent disregard for Russian troop casualties. I didn't think Putin would want to risk that. Although perhaps Putin thinks he just needs to prevent his people from fully realizing the casualties rather than avoiding casualties.
Via Instapundit: "Today's climate activists resemble nothing so much as a religious movement, with carbon the new devil's spawn." Well, duh. Now go and emit no more.
The Department of Justice is out of control. It seems that way:
The media demand for white racism exceeds the supply. Which normally you'd think is good news. Via Instapundit.
I don't think it is fair to say that China's snap military exercises carried out for the political purpose of rebuking Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan indicate China is incapable of invading Taiwan.
The new extraterritoriality: Chinese edition. Tip to Instapundit.
Erdogan thinks Putin wants to end the war soon. Which contradicts the idea that Russia has an advantage over Ukraine in a long war. But does Russia really think it can annex conquered territory and gain the legal and practical ability to threaten Ukraine with nukes to keep it?
We're 85% close to a civil war? One, what is that number supposed to mean? And two, just stop. Via PJ Media.
Trash? Isn't that 16K pounds of raw materials that would cost a fortune to send to Mars for use as building materials?
To be fair, Iran's mullahs repress everyone and not just women: "Riot police used water cannon and fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Tehran after hundreds of demonstrators skirmished with security forces on Monday."
America's PACAF commander said China's J-20 stealth fighter isn’t “anything to lose a lot of sleep over.” Indeed.
Starlink will try to get exemption to continue providing internet service to protesters in Iran.
Can the West strangle China's hopes of building a first-class computer chip industry? That would be good. But is a second-class Chinese semiconductor industry good enough to dominate East Asia militarily? Tip to Instapundit.
That wasn't undermining our elections! Waaaay different!!
Eritrea invaded Ethiopia's rebellious Tigray province. WTF? I did not see Eritrea siding with Ethiopia's government. I forgot that Eritrea already did that.
"A base [Green Village] housing U.S. troops in northeastern Syria was struck by a rocket attack Sept. 18, according to a press release from U.S. Central Command." There were no casualties and no damage in this small harassment attack.
The US thinks Ukraine has shot down 55 Russian warplanes; and Ukraine still has 80% of its air force. I assume the latter means Ukraine's air force in operating condition. Ukraine has suffered losses, so replacement planes and spare parts from NATO countries have apparently restored much of what was lost by putting non-operational planes in the air and replacing some losses with new planes.
The Russian parliament passed a law that "codifies dramatically increased penalties for desertion, refusing conscription orders, and insubordination. It also criminalizes voluntary surrender and makes surrender a crime punishable by ten years in prison." Huh.
Also, annexing Ukrainian territory will allow Putin to send conscripts to "defend Russia." Will sending unwilling soldiers actually help Russia?
An argument for homeland missile defense. The American homeland is no longer a sanctuary, you know.
After decades of PLAN expansion, now the Navy gets a sense of urgency to end its shipyard maintenance backlog? To be fair, if the Navy doesn't end the backlog in peacetime, its already poor shipyard capacity will have zero chance of repairing battle damage before the war ends.
I've noted that I have no idea if European energy is a crisis situation or not. I read things both ways. But if it is really bad, why aren't Europe and America pulling out all the stops to produce energy?
Murderous political hate. Who put the figurative crosshairs on that now-dead young man--Cayler Ellingson? But I guess we're supposed to celebrate the killing of a semi-fascist. If the self-confessed killer's tale is to be believed. And if a tale, what does that say about what he expects to be justification?
We don't hear much about the glorious tank tactics that Russia pioneered in Syria, do we?
Middle East fossil fuels are not going to be irrelevant for a long time.
Iran: "Amini’s death in the capital [in the custody of Shia Islamist "morality police"] has ignited a wave of protests across the country, exposing a raw anger among Iranian women about their treatment by the regime and an unprecedented willingness to defy the government." Big fires can spring from small sparks.
What does Eritrea get for this help? "Eritrean troops have launched a full-scale offensive in Ethiopia's Tigray region, a spokesman for the Tigrayan rebel group, the TPLF, has said." Electricity from Ethiopia's big Nile River dam?
Huh: "Iranian authorities said three people including a member of the security forces had been killed on Tuesday during unrest sweeping the country, as anger at the death of a woman in the custody of the morality police fuelled protests for a fifth day."
I seriously doubt that the Air Force can't defeat the Chinese air force--assuming there are enough airfields in the western Pacific to base Air Force units. Although flying hours is a problem. Simulators aren't enough.
China can blockade Taiwan. Sure, which is why Taiwan needs conventional naval units--especially some of its new future subs--on its east coast to break or increase the cost of that blockade. As for internet connections if China cuts the cables? Have Elon Musk on speed dial for Starlink.
Bike Lives Matter. I'm starting to get happy that these fools are getting what they voted for. Tip to Instapundit.
Sure: "If things have to go even further and Putin has to recruit the children of prosperous families in Moscow and St Petersburg to keep throwing men at the fronts, his regime could face serious internal dangers." But don't pretend that sending the non-ethnic Russians to die doesn't have a potential internal danger.
Say, where are Western feminists as Iranian protests against mullah killing of a Iranian woman over not covering up properly spreads to university campuses? Feminists are so worked up about punishing microaggressions here that the macroaggressions by Iran aren't noticed.
I used to like Peacock, the free/pay streaming service with advertisements. But it recently put almost all of their stuff on the pay side of that site.
America Britain, Australia, and New Zealand participated in Exercise Cartwheel in Fiji. That's an interesting call back.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is leading Britain to have second thoughts on its planned focus away from ground combat in Europe. I did say I'd miss the BAOR. But it may be of the Vistula, now, I suppose.
No! Way! "The Obama Foundation stored classified documents in an abandoned furniture warehouse, according to a 2018 letter from the Obama Foundation to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)."
Has Ukraine suffered crippling casualties? Macgregor was an outstanding combat commander in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Yet I question his judgment outside that skill set. But I'll put that assessment out there to avoid just reading what I want to read. There was certainly a time in the defense of the Donbas salient that I expressed worries over the Ukrainian casualty rate. So I can't rule it out.
On the bright side, in space no one can hear you sing.
Just say "no" to Democratic Nations as an alternative to the United Nations. I went over this ground with the League of Democracies alternative. An NGO League of Nations on Taiwan is the way to go.
Putin's recent speech included a complaint about Western so-called Russophobia:"They used indiscriminate Russophobia as a weapon, including by nurturing
the hatred of Russia for decades, primarily in Ukraine, which was
designed to become an anti-Russia bridgehead. " Yeah:
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
I continue to read that Russia's mobilization order demonstrates that Russia's far larger population gives them the advantage over Ukraine in a war of attrition. That isn't completely true.
"Islamist terror act" in Norway.
Strategery. It's hard to argue against the suspicion that Biden sent our Strategic Petroleum Reserve down to a 40-year low in order to provide a boost to his poll numbers. Tip to PJ Media.
Helping the Iranian people overthrow the mullah regime is the best path to resolving Iran's nuclear weapons problem. Tip to Instapundit. Indeed. A lot of problems become easier to cope with if the mullah regime is gone.
Actual Russian election rigging.
WT Actual F? Via Instapundit.
Whistleblowers: from hero to zero. Tip to Instapundit.
The Navy will replace the Burke DDG and Ticonderoga CG with a new ship. It will use systems from the latest Burke models plus some from the truncated Zumwalt class--as I figured. Note that the current destroyers have a 5" gun and not a 76mm. But I'm shocked that the ship will have so few standard VLS cells--the same as our new frigate will have--apparently to make room for 12 larger cells, presumably to handle hypersonic missiles. Unless the larger cells can handle inserts for 6 standard cells, too, it makes little sense. We can't afford to ef up designing and building these ships.
Yeah, there's a lot of talk of China invading Taiwan in 5 years. Because as we all know, Sun Tsu said "When 5 years away, appear 5 years away."
The Air National Guard isn't happy with cuts to planned purchases of the F-15EX. It seems like a fine plane for North America air defense. We really don't need stealth fighters for that mission at this point.
A former Italian PM made some odd justifications for Putin's invasion of Ukraine. It is another lesson that continental European "conservatives" (even if I don't trust media descriptions of them as tied to fascism) are different than a lot of American "conservatives." European conservatives have more of a monarchist bent and are nationalist socialists. In opposition to the internationalist socialists on the left. Many American (and British, to some degree) conservatives are classical "liberals" who value individual freedom and free markets. Which was their term in America until leftist "progressives" stole the term "liberal".
Back in April, Russia apparently tried to get it's client Transnistria into the war. Which seems insane given how little military power could be generated--even from Russia's garrison there. I imagine Ukrainian Territorial Army forces could have taken that sliver of an entity. But Transnistria didn't go along with Russian desires. Could that entity exploit the war to join Moldova to escape association with Russia despite its dominant Russian speakers?
The EU says Putin's nuclear threats must be taken seriously. How soon before the EU exploits this so-called crisis to claim it should have nuclear weapons?
LOL:
More good jihadis in Somalia. We can't "mow the grass" in Afghanistan.
World opinion is shifting against Russia. Good. Initially that wasn't the case.
Russian society may be "anxious" because of Putin's mobilization order, but the men are still going off to war. Will Russia get 1.2 million in uniform?
Good: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that he would activate the firm's satellite internet service, Starlink, in response to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's tweet that the United States took action 'to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information' to Iranians."
Belgium insists on shutting down a nuclear reactor despite the continent's energy shortage. Belgium's energy situation was called "dire" in scale. Gaia thanks Belgians for freezing and losing their jobs. FFS.
The B-21 is supposed to be an affordable stealth bomber that can finally replace the good enough but ancient B-52 and the expensive B-2.
Fascinating: "Lavrov dismissed the complaints [of illegal elections in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory] as the West 'throwing a fit' about people making a choice on where they feel they belong." Isn't that what former parts of the Soviet empire (legally) did when they sought to join NATO or the EU?
I went to Las Vegas with a couple friends. It was back to normal, Covid-wise. I tried Blackjack for the first time and did okay after weeks of intensive practice to memorize rules. But the high weekend night minimums for bets at the nicer casinos we go to exceeded my risk willingness. The minimums are higher than I remember from a year ago. My luck on slots was horrible. But I lost less than I anticipated. Several expensive restaurants just about exceeded gambling losses! I did come back with a common cold which hung on forever. Odd that I didn't get Covid, but three negative tests and a different, lingering sickness all screamed "cold." Been a while since I had one.
Nothing to see. Move along. Tip to Instapundit.
