It wasn't an insurrection, it was a pageant. Tip to Instapundit.
Russia launched its third satellite in a week. A "mysterious" satellite that apparently is an optical reconnaissance satellite. Not so mysterious, then? Given Ukraine's surprise Kharkov offensive, I imagine Russia would like more eyes in the sky. Via Instapundit.
How the Fuck-Up Fairy ran Russia's special "reservist" mobilization. And we'll see how the potential conscripts for the fall intake react when the men know that the war is technically inside Russia because of Putin's annexation of Ukrainian territory.
Amidst a European energy crisis, the Netherlands is shutting down a natural gas field because of ... mild tremors. Tip to Instapundit.
If Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive was about reducing corruption rather than a means to reduce political opposition, I'd worry.
Practicing with amphibious ships used as light carriers. They can leverage the broader capabilities of a large carrier's air wing. I find deploying F-35Bs to temporary land bases the most interesting, much as World War II escort carriers could ferry aircraft to newly captured island airfields.
Oh? "The European Union will train thousands of Ukrainian soldiers on its own soil [...]" Mind you, that's great. But the European Union does not have its own soil. That's the soil of sovereign member states. For now. The proto-imperial EU wants to strip away the prefix, so likes to confuse the terminology.
The Army thinks about what comes after the Abrams tank. I'm guessing an updated Abrams. Perhaps with the weight coming down--somehow. Although I thought the FBOH addressed the weight problem. Still, I should be grateful that the Army doesn't think the light FBOH is the wonder tank (starting on p. 28) that combines the lethality and protection of the Abrams with the FBOH ability to cross lighter bridges.
I hadn't realized there has been unrest the last month there: "Canada and the United States have sent 'security equipment', including tactical and armoured vehicles, to Haiti to help the country tackle a political, economic and security crisis, according to a joint statement."
India can fire SLBMs now. It will be a while before the capability is deployable. Anything that gives India reassurance that it doesn't need to launch nukes on warning lets me sleep better.
It's rather tragic in a human sense that families of Russian "reservists" mobilized under Putin's order are bringing needed equipment and clothing to those men. In the Russian military, the toughest thugs will steal the much-needed stuff. Russia says it brought in 220,000 men with this mobilization order.
Russia decides terror bombing is the way to go: "Waves of explosives-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine's capital Monday[.]" It's easier to "aim" at a city and hit something.
Past returns are no guarantee of future results: China edition.
Democrats seem to be pivoting back to the "election validity denial is good" position.
So West and Walker can't agree with Trump? They must be his "puppets"? Huh. So, who holds the strings of Juan Williams?
Houston, we have a Navy cost-overrun problem for our next destroyer? If the past is a guide, yes. If the urgency of the situation breeds better practices, no.
Iran supplies Russia with the drones being used to bombard Ukraine's cities. This must be tough on Democrats who own a Ukraine flag (but not a U.S. flag) yet still totally looove the mullah regime.
I read an article about how refusing to debate is a threat to our democracy. No. As a rule those behind in polls want debates and naturally ridicule an opponent who doesn't want debates. Those ahead naturally don't want the risk. Are reporters saying that they can't present candidates' views to voters without debates? Still, the media rule is that only Republicans avoiding debates are a threat to our democracy.
A Democratic candidate is confused that voters don't care about January 6th. I cared about those rioters and trespassers that day. I was horrified. But they were quickly cleared out. And it didn't affect anything. That's not how a coup works. And then I became far more concerned about how mere trespassers were treated by the government as Democrats tried to turn that bad transitory event into a Reichstag fire.
Charles Blow is a moron. And I saw him speak at the beginning of the Trump administration (don't ask). I went in annoyed at having to listen to him yet left amused and annoyed. Amused at how weak his arguments were--taking only "certain" instances of Trump being mean and arguing that was a damning pattern of specific hate. And annoyed that the audience was largely a religious revival meeting applauding every stupid thing he said.
I'm late to this CRS report on the proposed Light Amphibious Warship. I have problems with the ship design.
Getting the correlation of forces wrong. Via The Dupuy Institute.
Biden orders more oil released from the Election Petroleum Reserve. Thank God we have a separate Strategic Petroleum Reserve in case of strategic reasons to really need a temporary surge of oil until regular sources can be restored. Tip to Instapundit.
Eritrean intervention on the government's side seems to have had an effect: "Tigrayan forces have admitted that Ethiopian troops have taken control of the strategic city of Shire."
While I think the Marines are basically correct to support the Navy directly in achieving sea control against the Chinese in the Pacific (with some caveats), the rest of the world could use a different Marine Corps with its discarded capabilities. Yes.
What? "China has decided to seize Taiwan on a 'much faster timeline' than previously thought, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today, shortly after China’s leader reiterated his intent to take the island by force if necessary." You mean China's genetic long-range planning ability--as too many Westerners claim and swoon over--had to be revised? LOL.
So Stan Grant of the ABC thinks white people have essentially outsourced their racism to the Chinese? I'm not sure if his woke idiocy is worse than his historical illiteracy. Exit question: if non-white people like the Chinese can become white enough to be racists, isn't racism doomed to extinction? Tip to Instapundit.
America is pulling support for China's chip manufacturing (via Instapundit). Taiwan has the world's best semiconductor manufacturing. I'm just going to note that when America embargoed oil to Japan, Japan responded in 1941 by seizing oil fields in the Dutch East Indies, capturing the Philippines from America and bombing Pearl Harbor to forestall resistance. No way history kind of rhymes, right?
Germany's decision to join the West is still hesitant when it comes to helping Ukraine. But: "Given the country’s pacifist post–World War II tradition, it is impressive how far Germany has come on military matters." Ah, that recent tradition. I have advice that remains valid: "I keep reading that the Germans hate their militaristic past so much that they don't want to fight. Let's try applying the clue bat to Germany's collective skull on this issue. Conquering and setting up death camps under the shield of a powerful military? That's bad. By all means, don't do that. Having a military capable of fighting death cult enemies or stopping the Russians from moving west? Well, that's a good thing. Try doing that."
I imagine that Russia's use of Iranian suicide drones for large-scale attacks on Ukraine's civilians telegraphs--and tests--what Iran intends for Israel or Saudi Arabia. Might Israel send drone defenses to Ukraine to test them against the Iranian weapons?
The Russians are managing to get some computer chips from China (via Instapundit): "Quoting an anonymous source, Kommersant states that before Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine the defect rate in imported silicon was two percent. Since that war commenced, Russian manufacturers have apparently faced 40 percent failure rates." The article starts by saying chips are faulty. But doesn't "silicon" indicate a raw material for chips? Chip fabrication is outside of my lane, however. Still, a partnership without limits? Please.
I don't see how Sweden's "proof" that the Nordstream pipeline burst from the inside proves Russia attacked them. That's also how lack of maintenance would wreck them. External explosions would prove sabotage, no? But internal at least means Ukraine, America, or NATO states didn't wreck it.
Hmmm, is this part of the Russia-Iran arms deal designed to take pressure off of Russia's client, Armenia? "The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) began a three-day military exercise along the Iran-Azerbaijan border on October 17 likely to threaten Azerbaijan for allegedly hosting Israeli intelligence agents."
Mali--resistant to reforming--kicked out the French and brought in the Russian Wagner Group. That worked out well for the jihadis. Will the UN forces remain with this attitude? Which I assume is fine with Putin if that sends more migrants to Europe.
Russia uses their long-range bombers sparingly over Ukraine.
Gotland Island stands between NATO and Russia? With Finland and Sweden joining NATO I don't think Gotland is nearly as important for stopping Russia in the Baltic Sea. Russia has to run a gauntlet through the Finland-Estonia funnel just to reach the main NATO power. If Russians can take the island they won't hold it long.
The Israel-Lebanon sea border deal will provide Lebanon with needed money from natural gas sales, which will tend to keep Lebanon from being hostile to Israel.
Russia's hope to arrest its demographic death spiral by capturing Ukrainians is backfiring with casualties, fleeing young Russians, reduced birth rates from war and economic fears, and evidence that Ukrainians do not aspire to be loyal Russians. Bravo. Tip to Instapundit.
Is Iran hitting Iraqi Kurds for the purpose of distracting from Iran's crackdown on protesters? Possibly. but historically, Iraq and Iran have tried to destabilize each other by supporting the other's Kurdish minorities. with Iraq's Kurds having well-armed autonomy within Iraq, Iran is the vulnerable party now.
To be fair, Chinese election influence and money (for Bill Clinton) was a topic of discussion in the 1990s. And yeah, break up the FBI for parts and decimate its leadership. Via Instapundit.
The refugees fleeing Putin's war.
Yeah, I'm not happy with the proliferation of gaming. I didn't mind it as long as it was distant so you couldn't gamble your paycheck on the way home. Now casinos are close by and you can gamble on your phone. Sure, I drafted the legislative resolution concurring in the first Indian gaming compacts in Michigan. And in the last few years I've come to enjoy Las Vegas. But I still don't like the proliferation. Funny enough, "gaming" is an old term and not a new term to obscure "gambling". Tip to Instapundit.
This is a shameful part of our history. But those responsible were just following the sacred Science! of the time, right? Don't be a science or hoaxer denier. Via Instapundit.
Have there been dogfights between drones over Ukraine? Dogfights between wire-controlled and radio-controlled model planes has been a hobby for decades. And I did write about fighter drones in Army magazine some years ago. Not too surprisingly, the military was looking at that well before it occurred to me.
Let's talk about denying election results.
A Russian fighter plane "released" a missile near a British signals intelligence plane flying over the Black Sea that temporarily stopped the flights until the British began escorting the plane. I imagine no weapon was fired and that a missile was simply dropped. Otherwise they'd say "launched", eh?
Prime Minister Truss resigned. Wow, that was fast. Tip to Instapundit.
Explosive boats (and recall the fire ships from sailing days).
Well that's unusual: "The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East boarded a U.S. ballistic missile submarine in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, a rare move that highlighted U.S. nuclear undersea capabilities during tense times with Iran and Russia." And efficient. Signals to Russia, China, and Iran.
The British say that senior Russian military leadership is dysfunctional and lower rank officers are too few to lead the masses of new conscripts. The latter will either get the troops killed or make it easier for them to avoid fighting, desert, or surrender. So ... maybe: "National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday that his advice to fighting-age men in Russia would be to 'not fight' in Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine."
I agree with the White House that no Space Force National Guard is needed. We have no Marine National Guard, no Navy National Guard, and no Coast Guard National Guard. And we probably only have an Air National Guard because our air service was born in the Army, which had the original National Guard. A Space Force Reserve will be fine. Unless it would be too small not to put their reserves in the Air Force Reserve.
Japan is rushing rearmament to be ready by the next CCP "Congress" in 2027. Makes sense. A pacifist constitution is not a suicide pact.
The Philippines will scrap a contract for Russian helicopters in favor of seeking a American model.
"The Marine Corps is looking at northern Australia, where 2,200 Marines wrapped up a six-month training rotation this week, as a hub to launch influence into Southeast Asia, according to a former Marine officer." Well, sure. It is known.
Ve haf vays of making you stay avay. Bravo. Makes me want to consider VW for my next car. Tip to Treacher.
Will Russia use its troop deployment to Belarus to interdict Ukrainian supply lines from Poland? A missile and air campaign might makes sense. Whether it would work enough and avoid significant aircraft losses, I don't know. A land invasion makes little sense, given how few Russians are involved, the poor state of Belarus' army, and Russia's logistics weaknesses and other related problems.
What the Hell is wrong with the U.S. government? "Yet for some reason the U.S. government refuses to make Starlink service part of its multi-billion-dollar military aid effort for Ukraine." Does our government think Elon Musk is a bigger enemy than Russia? Note, too, that China is trying to disrupt Starlink to help Russia.
Los Angeles finds novel way to battle homeless addict camps?
Canada is working on the design for their new primary surface warship.
Pakistan's Baluchi separatists are getting more active. With American weapons: "I believe I mentioned a lot of weapons that the Taliban captured would make it to others because of corruption: 'With the Taliban in power, more American weapons and military accessories are now being openly sold in shops by Afghan gun dealers who paid government soldiers and Taliban fighters for guns, ammunition and other matériel, according to weapons dealers in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan.' There will be collateral damage affecting the Taliban and Pakistan. Enjoy."
I won't be lectured by Democrats who celebrated riots and mob takeovers of government buildings because "this is what democracy looks like." And yeah, I'm more worried about a corrupt and politicized federal bureaucracy.
Xi Jinping has gotten the CCP to confirm his indefinite power grab. But the mountains remain high. Can the emperor cope when the economy stutters?
I heard a Democratic media guy (on MSNBC, I think) say releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political reasons is justified because it will defeat Republicans to "protect our democracy." But they'd never rig an election to protect our democracy? Huh.
Exsqueezeme? Never say it can't possibly get worse. Tip to Instapundit.
The Navy wishes it could turn back time. Please, that had to be the best recruiting video ever.
Anticipating a vacuum of Russian power in Central Asia? "Kazakhstan and Turkey have signaled plans to develop “long-term strategic cooperation” that would involve the co-production of satellites and other space systems." A vacuum neither want filled by China, I assume.
NATO won't let an aggressor strike Finland or Sweden, believing there is a defense commitment gap between application and full membership. NATO help for Ukraine bolsters that pledge. And the statement and record should bolster Ukraine's confidence that future NATO membership isn't necessary for its security even if it is an option.
I was willing to mostly withhold judgment on that fired NYU organic chemistry professor. But as I've heard more, including this, I'm horrified at what our universities are becoming--young adult day care for way too many. And Covid is just accelerating the Idiocracy trend. Grade inflation is becoming grade hyperinflation.
I questioned whether Russia was really sending T-62s into the war. I'd only read of one battalion. Strategypage writes that 800 upgraded tanks have been taken out of storage. Unlike more modern tanks in storage they weren't stripped of valuable parts; and the T-62s don't need imported parts that Russia can't get. Against infantry it is adequate. But its gun might not penetrate the frontal armor of Ukraine's tanks.
I've seen my state's governor boasting in reelection commercials of how many bipartisan bills have passed during her tenure. It really annoys me. That is the normal state of affairs. The overwhleming majority of bills are not controversial and pass easily with no media attention. Pretending she has uniquely forged bipartisan legislative cooperation is nonsense and the boast is a form of lying.
Hopefully Austin reassured Shoigu that NATO isn't going to invade Russia to destroy it. Of course, the paranoid would say that's exactly what he's expected to say. Apparently the Russian military isn't ready to make peace to save itself.
Yeah, I thought the January 6th riot would be a problem to linger for years. But the Democrats doubled down on acting crazy.
Sounds prudent: "Japan and Australia on Saturday signed a new bilateral security agreement covering military, intelligence and cybersecurity cooperation to counter the deteriorating security outlook driven by China’s increasing assertiveness."
Retreating from Kherson will be a visible defeat for Putin as well as practically abandoning hopes of capturing Odessa and denying Ukraine access to the seas. But Putin may assume a long, multi-stage war--perhaps with "peace" in between stages--that will eventually capture the vital city. Which is why Russia must be driven back even more.
For decades, people said marijuana should be legalized. I don't know what we legalized, but it isn't the marijuana so many older people remember from their youth. Tip to Intapundit.
North Korea is adding underwater launch silos in lakes to their static and railroad-mobile nuclear missile plans. And good to know, North Korea isn't even bothering to create aircraft-carried nukes because enemy air defenses are too strong to challenge. Also, North Korea said its policy is to launch nukes if it thinks it is about to be attacked. I did mention this problem years ago in "option 1."
