If China was thinking of using germ warfare against its enemies, the impact of Covid-19 (and perhaps more important, the impact of the CCP reaction to the pandemic) on China surely has dissuaded the Chinese Communist rulers from thinking it is a good idea.
Killing sick kids. But the Canadians plan to do it so politely. It's almost as if what the state provides ("free" health care) the state can take away. The greater good, eh? Tip to Instapundit.
They were born on third base but think they hit a triple. Starting from the plate is upsetting a world view: "It is hard to overstate how manic, primal and unhinged is the reaction of corporate media employees to the mere prospect that new Twitter owner Elon Musk may restore a modicum of greater free speech to that platform." Tip to Instapundit.
Exploiting immigrants. Funny how "Savery" rhymes with "slavery."
China is happy to encourage the West to wreck its economy in devotion to climate activism. But China won't handicap their own with similar green policies.
Four-year college degrees used to be a proxy for being qualified for a job. But the woke have wrecked that relationship. Those who hire are starting to notice. Tip to Instapundit.
This is neat. I guess. I've noted it before. But shouldn't long-range bombers do the job? And do we really have the airlift to spare to divert transport planes to strike missions?
Russia's limited but fragile ally in the war on Ukraine.
Coping: "The Army is going all-in on pre-basic training courses that aim to get applicants within weight standards and boost scores on the military's entrance exam as it scrambles for recruits to fill the ranks." When I went in, the Army had a pre-basic training fitness detour for those who couldn't pass the initial push-up test. Also, all Michigan Army National Guard troops went to a pre-boot camp weekend to get you used to what to expect. I learned my push up lesson there.
Turkey's new stealthy 5th generation fighter model. Well, maybe 4.5. Or just 4 with 5th gen. marketing.
The Coast Guard's South Pacific patrol.
Is the kafala system a guise for slavery and abuse? Don't be silly. America is the only country ever to have had slavery in the history of mankind; and we're still uniquely guilty for it.
Parody should be free speech without question, no? Tip to Instapundit.
Yes, well-trained troops are key to success. Add in logistics and good morale. Then we can talk about the fancy high-tech advanced weapons that don't last long when the fighting drags on.
Trudeau: "Using protests to demand changes of public policy is something that I think is worrisome." It's funny. Whatever progressives do in mass numbers--even taking over state legislatures--they chant "this is what democracy looks like." That judgment only applies to progressive protesters.
If the ADL won't condemn anti-Semitic language and actions in left-wing groups, a lot of people will conclude that the language and actions aren't anti-Semitic.
A looming copper shortage but a novel means to extract more copper from ores. A couple decades or more ago there was a looming shortage. But then fiber optics replaced copper wires. The looming shortage is back, I guess. Until it isn't.
Apple changed its software in China only to cripple Air Drop capabilities that help bypass government censorship. Shame on Apple.
The U.S. will send 150 heavy machine guns with thermal sites to counter Russian drone attacks. That's more cost-effective than using guided missiles.
Thank God Biden is restoring our relations with Europe! "Former United States President Donald Trump was a useful bogeyman for Europe. His successor, Joe Biden, is proving much trickier — a friend who says all the right things but leaves you in the lurch when it counts."
I worried that NATO countries would grow weary of supporting Ukraine. Russian atrocities are countering that weariness.
The talk of how the West isn't hurting Russia with energy embargoes ignores that China and India, who are replacing Western countries, screw Russia by insisting on big price discounts.
Monkeypox will now be called "mpox." If you think the original name refers to minorities, you just might be the racist.
Iran's internal unrest and focus on supplying Russia have undermined Iran's Houthi proxies in Yemen.
Russia desperately seeks Iran's help and alienates Russia's Caspian Sea allies.
Even if America helped fund Covid-19 research in China, China bears the responsibility: "the U.S. response to Covid-19 had more than its share of problems. It is worth noting that the virus had likely arrived in the U.S. long before the U.S. government could mobilize a response, and the Chinese health officials stopped communicating with their American counterparts when it mattered most. Chinese authorities in Wuhan and later in Beijing knew they were dealing with a dangerous and contagious virus, and instead of warning the world, they chose to allow contagious carriers to travel around the world." The only question is whether that Chinese failure to warn was from incompetence or a CCP decision to avoid suffering alone.
Germany trusted Russia to supply Germany with energy until Germany could go green; and trusted Russia enough to almost completely disarm. Is that how the vaunted German "efficiency" works in the 21st century?
Japan is seriously thinking about buying American Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles.
The latest issue of Proceedings has an article on using drone swarms for missile defense. An aerial "minefield". I noted this possibility a few months ago. Sadly I did not put it into article form, as I had intended. And I should mention this notion from five years ago.
Interesting: "Troops from the 11th Airborne Division are teaming up with the Indian Army to practice mountainous warfare."
The U.S. is selling missiles for Finland's air force.
The Army is focusing on defeating enemy drones. I had thoughts on that in Army magazine.
Via Instapundit, Russia turns to China's currency. Russia's decision to be China's vassal deepens. And China can skip that step of introducing a new currency into liberated areas, eh?
Good: "The United States on Tuesday announced $53 million to support the purchase of power grid equipment to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight Russian attacks targeting its energy infrastructure that left millions in the dark with no heating."
The Chornobaivka killing field.
Until Biden was elected, I never imagined that the Biden family might be more corrupt than the Clinton family. Of course, we weren't allowed to suspect that, were we?
I'm really not interested in another booster when Covid has gotten so weak. And when the booster is so ineffective. I had Xi Jinping Flu in the spring and it was mild. Unless another booster is required to fly commercially, I don't see why I need this. You do you, of course. TDR is not a medical doctor. He has a MA. In history.
Interesting: "Russian forces have largely stopped deploying as battalion tactical groups because the formations have proved ineffective, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said." BTGs were always over-rated.
Recently the American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said both Russia and Ukraine had suffered 100,000 casualties. Originally I assumed that the Russians had a higher KIA:WIA ratio than Ukraine. But now I wonder if the estimate for Ukraine is disinformation to lull the Russians. Really, why would we advertise Ukrainian losses if we want Ukraine to win? Unless we're trying to pressure Ukraine to negotiate now, before Russia is ejected from at least its 2022 conquests. It is perplexing.
Why do climate alarmists want poor people to starve? "'The Dutch government plans to buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to comply with EU nature preservation rules,' the British daily Telegraph confirmed on Monday."
Should. But won't. The fanboys (and girls) knew about Tienanmen Square, after all. What's different now for those fans?
Before the election, Democrats lied that crime hadn't gotten much worse in the last three years. The media cooperated, using obviously bad statistics. Only now is the media admitting crime has gotten worse. It's so weird. Democrats pushed to "defund the police" and supported woke prosecutors, and somehow the police were less effective in preventing crime. Tip to Instapundit.
Interesting: "Reports from Russian sources indicate that Russia may attempt to use prison labor, overtime, and child labor to resuscitate the Russian military-industrial complex and fill general labor shortages."
To support Ukraine, Western countries are boosting their logistics capacity beyond Russia's: "the United States has been the major supplier of weapons and other assistance since 2014 and most of the weapons shipped to Ukraine in the last year. That is costing the Americans less than six percent of their annual defense budget while Russia is seeing its military defeated and discredited while its economy suffers long-term damage. The war in Ukraine is diminishing the Russian threat to Europe." I don't get why some conservatives are against this.
Australia and India reach out to each other. Grasping hands would help keep China out of the Indian Ocean during a war.
China is increasing its normal level of military activity near Taiwan. This gives China a head start on mobilizing for war without alerting observers.
Say, you know how America has reduced the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political purposes? That depletion has foreign policy consequences: "Australia and the United States of America have signed a milestone
Arrangement to bolster Australia’s access to emergency oil supplies in
the event of a major global disruption." How much of the oil left in the SPR is actually Australian? And if we had an emergency, would America send it to Australia with less of our own oil there? That agreement was in March 2020. Since then America got busy "restoring our reputation abroad".
Welcome to Earth, elaliite and elkinstantonite.
Coping: "The United States has reduced the number of partnered patrols in northern Syria with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Pentagon said on Tuesday, after Turkish strikes in the region and ahead of a feared ground invasion by Ankara." The media won't freak out that America is abandoning the Kurds the way the media wrongly claimed three years ago.
The U.S. may send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine. This is a proper response to Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Putin's fluffer doesn't like that idea.
I liked the days when Russians were just dickheads rather than adding conquest and war crimes to their standard operating procedures.
China continues its subliminal war to crowd India at the border and slowly grab new territory. I wonder if the primary intent is to grab territory or to demoralize Indian troops over constant losses to prepare for a bigger land grab.
Yeah, I liked Andor when I had a month of Disney+. I was happy to recently notice Hulu has it on delayed release. I only saw a few so I look forward to watching the rest on Hulu.
Neat: "SpaceX is set Wednesday to launch the first private – and Japanese – lander to the Moon." When I was a child watching Apollo, I thought we'd be established in space decades ago.
Let's see. The Greens said higher fossil fuels prices would promote electric vehicles. Energy prices are higher, especially in Europe. And now? Germany can't build EV batteries in Europe because energy is so expensive. So no EVs. The crucial mistake in their plan may have been exposed.
Drone swarm counter-battery surveillance.
Well, not yet: "As China modernized, the U.S. bet that political liberalization would follow. International integration would mellow and moderate China's Communists. But it didn't happen, did it?" The "mellowing" may have to happen not from voluntary CCP actions but from the demands of the people.
How Biden rejected foreign policy success. His administration still thinks the Palestinians are the Queen of the Victim Prom.
Our enemies must be astounded that we do so much of their work to undermine America.
Islamists are making horrifying progress in Malaysia. Malaysia's "bad luck" will only grow with growing Islamist power.
I have little worry about a supposed looming civil war in America. Today's divisions are weak compared to past periods of political division, including the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Trench warfare in the 21st century. Yep.
Secretary of Defense Austin expressed America's "strong opposition" to a Turkish invasion of northern Syria. But everyone knows America isn't going to go to war with a NATO ally over the Kurds in Syria.
Oh? "Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank
could ease its pace of interest rate hikes 'as soon as' December." When you start to take Vienna curb inflation, take Vienna curb inflation. Or we could undo what progress we started to make and start all over when inflation is worse.
Plonkerdump. Heh. Tip to Instapundit.
The Latest DOD report on Chinese military power.
I will say, the unemployment rate remains good. Unless the job participation rate has plummeted, artificially lowering the rate?
Biden continues to "repair" the trans-Atlantic relationship that the Orange Bad Man destroyed.
Their predictions are bad. Their solutions aren't possible.
The Russians have a role, of course: " Mali is slipping back to its corrupt and chaotic past." The Russians want chaos south of Europe. Amazing that the locals are paying Russia in gold to foment chaos there.
Beyond counting weapons to judge a military's effectiveness. A look at Russia's (and the Soviet's) past performance. And what about China? Preaching to the choir at TDR.
Sure: "Finnish PM Sanna Marin has said Europe is 'not strong enough' to stand up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on its own, and has had to rely on US support." But as Finland joins NATO, don't make the mistake of thinking the EU can replace America-led NATO. Hopefully Finland is exposed to Russian aggression enough not to be deluded.
This will help Israel defend its offshore energy extraction infrastructure: "In a first at sea, the Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvette has intercepted a target simulating an advanced cruise missile with the long-range Barak weapon."
The Air Force hopes to surge train 1500 pilots this fiscal year to remedy a persistent pilot shortage. But the crisis isn't bad enough to end the officer monopoly.
The Navy wants a fleet of 100 unmanned surface vessels in the Middle East, with 80% from allies. Information ops should spread the word that being killed fighting drones doesn't count for martyrdom.
Germany's military can't fight? "Alarming headlines have appeared in the German media in recent days about the state of the country's military, suggesting the Bundeswehr only has enough ammunition for two days of intense fighting — a figure apparently leaked by unnamed sources in defense circles." This is shocking. Who knew Germany had a military? The "German Question" remains unresolved.
I never thought mask mandates were effective for containing this pandemic. But I did believe voluntary masking provided some individual protection depending on type of mask, user skill, threat level, and time in the threat zone. My reasoning was based on Army chemical warfare training. But perhaps it was all pretty worthless? "If you can wear an N95 for more than about 30 minutes you are wearing it wrong." If user skill is impossible practically speaking, there goes my reasoning. Of course, the study was in healthcare facilities. So those people were in a high threat zone for a long time. Which by my reasoning reduces net protection. And it is tough to wear a mask effectively for that long without at least occasionally screwing up. So another reduction. But I'm open to being totally wrong. Tip to Instapundit.
Willing to stay bought. An honor of sorts, I suppose.
The demand for white supremacists exceeds the supply in America. But it doesn't matter when the FBI pretends the supply is ample. Tar. Feathers. Figuratively of course, lest somebody has to flee to a fainting couch.
Biden rewards Maduro for destroying democracy in Venezuela: "According to a U.N. report this year, the regime is responsible for crimes against humanity, detaining and torturing at least 245 current political prisoners. The regime actively kidnaps American citizens, colludes with China and Iran to evade sanctions and harbor terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah, and uses its oil wealth to support and expand anti-American political projects in neighboring states." And we stiff-armed Guyana. So watch China get involved, I imagine. Strategery. WTF?
My view is that mail-in voting procedures are designed not to detect this sort of fraud. Is it intended to encourage it? I suppose there is no evidence for that. Tip to Instapundit.
Epic protest fail. LOL. Tip to Treacher.
Despite the peace deal between the Ethiopian government and Tigray separatists, Eritrea continues to kill inside Tigray province. I did wonder what Eritrea would do.
LOL: "Mr Lavrov named former US Secretary of State John Kerry as the kind of figure who had in the past been able to solve problems and engage in true dialogue." Well naturally the Russians have fond memories of the former Fuck-Up Fairy of State!
The collateral damage from the rise of jihadis in Mali continues to roil the region: "Burkina Faso has asked France, its former colonial power and ally, to provide 'weapons and ammunition' for a civilian volunteer force battling a bloody jihadist insurgency."
Russia: "Russia says the West's refusal to recognise 'new territories' seized from Ukraine makes peace talks harder[.]" The West should absolutely recognize Russia's new territories that are under threat.
Democrats before and after controlling the White House routinely censored their opposition (and sometimes Trump officials participated) by quietly petitioning Twitter to carry out their censorship hits. Following private citizens' requests violated the spirit of free speech while Congressional or government officials doing it violated the First Amendment.
No wonder Democrats are panicking over Musk's takeover. They thought this would never be public even though it was obvious. Especially their suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop revelations about family (including "the Big Guy") corruption. Say, which party is a threat to our democracy, again? There should be prison time handed out when this is over. We need information on what kind of information suppression was requested, of course. Some could be justified. Suppressing news of Hunter's laptop was surely not justified.
The new B-21 was carefully unveiled. It looks like the B-2. Perhaps because the basic physical design is good and why waste money reinventing the wheel? The biggest improvements are in materials and computing technology. Oh, and greater range.
Germany sent a robotic casualty evacuation vehicles to Ukraine. They aren't autonomous, but a single soldier can lead the vehicle away from the front with multiple wounded troops aboard.
Yes, would it really have been better if Kanye West's hateful statements had been suppressed and hidden? It's always better to see hate speech. Which is just part of free speech and not an exemption to it. And remember, the hate doesn't disappear if regular people don't see it. It just grows out of sight, fueled by the motivation of knowing "they" (whoever the haters decide is "they") are suppressing their views.
Oh: " U.S. troops Saturday resumed joint patrols with Kurdish-led forces in
northeast Syria days after they were stopped amid Turkish threats of a
new ground incursion into the war-torn country." I assume America explained that without the counter-ISIL mission there is little reason for American troops to remain--and provide at least some restraint on Turkish actions.
American F-15Es exercised with Israeli planes, clearly aimed at Iran. Good. But I'm honestly surprised it took place.
Just a reminder: "The PLA is the principal armed wing of the CCP and, as a party-army, does not directly serve the state but rather is under the direct control of the party."
I have no idea if this is accurate: "Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said between 10,000 and 13,000 troops had died."
LOL:
I guess the "official reaction" memo regarding Musk's Twitter revelations went out to the Democratic handmaidens in the media. Via Instapundit.
U.S. intelligence expects the fighting to slow down over the winter. Hmm. This would be true, on average, even if Ukraine manages a major offensive as the mud solidifies but before the temperatures drop even more in the heart of the winter.
One more thought on Twitter revelations. Even if this was mostly about Democrats out of government targeting actors for Twitter cancellation, imagine the media reaction if Republicans out of government had been routinely doing this and Twitter routinely carrying out the cyber-hits? Not every shameful act is banned by the Constitution. Still, if Democrats hang their hats on the Hunter laptop issue as a defense, they may be squirming as the trail leads from that point in 2020 through 2021 and this year.
We'll see if this fractures the opposition or signals the fracturing of the ruling elites: "Iran‘s
Attorney General said Saturday that the country’s controversial
morality police will be 'abolished,' local media reported, amid ongoing nationwide protests." If true, of course. [UPDATE: Not true.]
MSNBC will learn it can't be woke enough to satisfy the woke. Tip to Instapundit.
Sure, it is great that Chinese people briefly overwhelmed the Chinese Communist Party's online censorship capacity. But in a matter of days the CCP regained control. Slaves get moral victories. Citizens need real victories. Tip to Instapundit.
Domino's Pizza is advertising that their delivery fleet includes electric vehicles. I guess the fact that the company isn't focusing on the quality of the product indicates a lack of confidence in quality. Duly noted.
I think I'm going to end the "And Now For Something Completely Different" Saturday morning meme post. Adding memes to most posts has added to the burden of a weekly dedicated post on separate mostly political issues. Sometimes the inspiration hits and sometimes it doesn't. I think I'll just add the memes to the Weekend Data Dump when inspiration hits me. This used to be fun. Now it is fun only sometimes. And I was more worried about autocratic tendencies in our government when I started it. That worry exists. But elections and rival centers of power can still change things, clearly. Maybe I'll put this in effect in January. Or maybe the decision to end the category will drain the will to meme earlier than that.
