It was funny when they were in a fringe cult. Worrisome now that they are in a state religion that persecutes "deniers": "A few decades ago the Harvard philosopher Harvey Mansfield made the observation that environmentalism is 'school prayer for liberals.'" Now go and emit no more. Or else.
Canadian parliament and prime minister applaud World War II Nazi soldier. Well that's awkward. But predictable. Leftists still applaud Stalin's USSR for fighting Nazis (while ignoring that the USSR conspired with Nazis--with the Poles and Baltic states paying the initial price--to get the Nazis and West to destroy each other). And since the left oddly turned against Russia, anybody who fights Russia is a good guy. Sigh. The left will accuse a conservative of affiliation with Nazis if both like to drink milk. See! They're alike!! But cheering an actual Nazi? Oopsy.
Israel has a new drone that is not available for export. Israel is using them to fight a quasi-war against its enemies. It is noteworthy that Israel had decided to replace aging AH-1 helicopters with drones rather than the more modern AH-64.
France will pull its troops and ambassador out of Niger.
It looks like America will supply Ukraine with at least some ATACMS. I wonder if we produced more--or anticipate production of a replacement quickly enough--to trickle ATACMS into Ukraine for priority distant targets. I've heard that they will have cluster warheads rather than unitary warheads that might really do damage to the Kerch Strait bridge, for example. So the gradualism of arming Ukraine continues. Whether that hamstrings Ukraine or gets Russia used to weapons that otherwise might be a nuclear red line continues to be a big question.
New infantry weapons: "The 101st unit has swapped their 5.56mm caliber M4s and M249s Squad Automatic Weapons for the 6.8mm XM7 rifle and XM250 automatic rifle." I feel old when I consider my BDUs, steel pot helmet, M-16--and even fragmentation grenade from basic training are all in the rear view mirror. Hey, at least I saw the AT-4 demonstrated even though the LAW was still the weapon we were trained on. And I'll always have the Claymore mine!
Adding a physical dash on the South China Sea: "The Philippines on Sunday condemned the Chinese coast guard for installing what it called a 'floating barrier' in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying that it prevented Filipino boats from entering and fishing in the area."
OMG, I missed--or forgot--this bit of Hillary! wisdom: "Women have always been the primary victims of war. Women lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat." She was trying to say that women have to carry on and cope. Which is true enough. But the dead men--or any sentient human--wouldn't elevate that to primary victim level. The joke headline, "Earth to Be Destroyed Tomorrow: Women and Minorities Hit Hardest" is too close to reality. My eternal thanks to Trump for keeping Clinton out of the White House. Via Instapundit.
European government officials who try to enforce the law and stop illegal immigration have been prosecuted for that "crime". Combined with the honors one gets from the center-left for welcoming illegal migrants, the incentives go one way. Until the ordinary decent people affected the most decide voting is futile and that the extremists are the only avenue for change. This is how the center-left and center-right create extremists. Have a super sparkly day.
There is way too much hype about a handful of American Abrams tanks in Ukrainian hands. As I've argued from the beginning, Ukraine's far more numerous Soviet-designed tanks have to do the job.
Yes, it is a false charge that America has a broken immigration system. We have--by government choice--a broken immigration system enforcement issue. The left approaches many issues the same way. Refuse to enforce existing laws and then claim we need new laws that only affect law-abiding people, without solving the underlying problem of stopping the law breakers.
Ukraine's attacks on Crimea may be stiff-arming Russia's navy away from the fight in some ways, but Russia has the means to strike coastal Ukraine: "Russia launched a major aerial attack on southern Ukraine overnight, hitting the port area of the southern city of Odesa and destroying grain storage facilities."
But I thought rich and deep Blue California cared more than the rest of the country! "All over California, people with serious mental illness are living in nursing homes that experts say weren’t meant to care for them[.]" Tip to Instapundit.
Maybe wokeness isn't our flag officer problem. Maybe their education is the problem. Maybe our Army generals should actually know how to use the Army instead of getting the gist of what all the services do. And maybe this broad but thin knowledge contributes to multidomain madness that seems to be leading Army generals to discount the Army's core competencies. The Army needs to be the master of its own domain, first.
Early on I said I didn't trust blockchain for securing money on the basic principle that anything designed and used by humans can be cracked by humans. $200 million dollars of cracking, here. Tip to Instapundit.
If Seymour Hersh says Ukraine can't win, I might bet some money on the Ukrainian army being in Moscow by November.
Orban is starting to piss me off: "Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Monday that his country is in no hurry to ratify Sweden's bid to join NATO[.]"
And counter-move: "The Philippines said on Monday it executed a "special operation" to remove a floating barrier installed by China at a prime fishing patch in the South China Sea, a move that could stoke tension after a years-long detente in Asia's most disputed waters." China stoked the tensions by making illegal claims and placing the barrier there to defend the claim.
This is useful in its own right: "The Biden administration announced Monday that it is offering a $2 billion loan to Poland, which has been a hub for weapons going into Ukraine, to support the ally's defense modernization." Because Poland is our center of gravity in NATO now. But I wonder if this is a template for a new executive Lend-Lease program for Ukraine if Congress won't authorize sufficient military aid to Ukraine.
I recently got "cable" TV again for football season. For the price I pay, football is basically the only thing worth watching. I haven't found one new series or many movies on that I'd consider watching. And news is what I get online--not via television. In a crisis, there's no shortage of live coverage on YouTube or other sites. Last year when I did the same thing, there were at least a few series that I watched. Just no value for the money I pay. So when football season is over, I cut this expense again.
Captured jihadis help make more good jihadis: "The U.S. military said Monday it had captured an operator for the Islamic State extremist group during a helicopter raid in northern Syria."
For all the futile talk of splitting Russia from China, we are pulling India away from Russia to focus on our mutual worries about China. Although honestly, I've hoped India could pull Russia away from China if Russia realizes it needs to focus on the real threat to Russia.
Well, it is good we fire such commanders rather than pretend all is well: "The Navy fired the commanding officer of the ballistic missile submarine Alabama on Friday."
Strafing small Iranian suicide boats in the Persian Gulf region is well within the old A-10's capabilities: "A pair of U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs – better known as Warthogs – drilled with U.S. warships in the Gulf of Oman in a maritime exercise, the Navy announced Monday."
Yeah, a smaller Chinese aggression against outlying Taiwanese islands or a Chinese blockade will be harder to achieve with these Taiwanese assets: "Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said."
An army with a UN seat. Not an ideal situation.
Getting into space--faster pace and cheaper.
ISW wants America to trust that the Ukrainians understand the situation on the ground. Agreed. Let's not Americanize the war and try to put Ukraine's square military in our round doctrine hole. Reforming their military in our image during this war would be a mistake given how Ukraine has adapted to circumstances. Besides, even our doctrine states that attrition can be necessary to enable maneuver. Hopefully that is what Ukraine is achieving. Remember that even in 1991 we rained down fire on the Iraqi army for a Biblical duration before the short, rapid drive north.
LOL! Tip to The Morning Briefing.
When I contemplate that inflation hasn't hit me as hard as the average impact that I read about, I consider that the moment I make a major purchase that I will experience the full impact--and more. Being older and not needing to buy as much stuff keeps the daily impact minimal for me as I substitute and forego optional purchases. If this keeps up, it will cause significant pain. Fingers crossed. Inflation kills middle classes.
Stay with me. Conservatives should encourage the left's obsession with dividing sexual orientations into smaller and smaller unique slices. Eventually the rainbow is a full spectrum with a slice for every individual. Which is where this issue should be. Maybe then we can accept that biologically you are male or female with the conventional pronouns, but your individual views on how you fit in there are a personal matter that doesn't rely on someone else condemning or celebrating your view.
Uh oh: "Global trade, the powerhouse of the world’s economy, is experiencing its most rapid descent since the early tumultuous days of the COVID-19 pandemic." Tip to Instapundit.
Who blew up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline? Or more specifically, who paid for a non-state actor to do it? I was wrong to say I'd bet on faulty Russian maintenance.
The F-35 will get a new SiAW missile designed to strike a broad range of "anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) targets, such as cruise missile launchers, GPS jammers and integrated air defense systems."
Russia is cheating on the New START treaty on strategic nukes since it (illegally) suspended it and refuse American inspections. But is this really hiding Russian upgrades for its strategic weapons? Or is it hiding Russia's failure to maintain them? I suppose I could resort to the healing power of "and."
Russia seems to have secured its Caucasus frontier by effectively abandoning Armenia and apparently getting closer to Azerbaijan. If Turkey stops playing footsie with Russia, that security ends, IMO.
Xi Jinping doesn't fully trust his military: "Although the details of the recent purges are still murky, they reflect Xi’s lack of confidence in some of his most senior officers." The article notes that this could undermine Xi's confidence that his military would win if sent to war. Good point. But would Xi deliberately send his military into a losing war to wreck their reputations and strengthen his own power?
Erdogan will approve Sweden's NATO bid if America approves a F-16 sale to Turkey. That seemed like the shape of the deal for a while now. But let's not allow Hungary's Orban do Erdogan's dirty work to let Turkey get F-16s while still punishing Sweden. Let's conditionally approve the sale but include a provision that the deal is off if Sweden is not in NATO by the end of this year. Let's get Turkey to do our dirty work of pressuring Hungary into approving Sweden's membership.
Blood for gold in Mali. The government thought it bought Wagner for gold and tolerance for the Mali coup leaders. It got jihadis running loose in the north. Russia has two interests in Mali: gold and pushing migrants north to Europe. Does France have an interest in re-intervening 11 years after the last one? And a detour to Niger.
Japan will build two more destroyers capable of carrying out ballistic missile defense missions. North Korean nuclear missiles are the threat to Japan that conveniently let Japan fail to mention China.
The Pope blamed the arms industry for Ukraine's "martyrdom" but also said it was necessary for Ukraine to defend itself. The arms industry didn't make Russia invade Ukraine. But as Eisenhower told us, there is unfortunately an "imperative need" for the military-industrial complex. Ukraine would hardly dispute that, now.
Ukraine tests an underwater kamikaze drone. Don't we just call those guided torpedoes? Ah, marketing. Let me try it. Could a Multi-Domain Air/Sea Transition Kamikaze Drone work better?
The North Koreans probably didn't know what to do with the moron: "The U.S. soldier who sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas two months ago is in American custody, two U.S. officials said Wednesday." Still, I assume we stupidly paid for him. Lucky soldier, all things considered.
Citing rampant theft, Target is closing stores in a number of cities. This is an amazing self-licking ice cream cone for leftists: 1) Claim racism is the cause of "retail deserts" in cities. Stores open in cities. 2) Tell minorities that they are owed the stuff in systemically racist stores as reparations and that the government won't arrest and prosecute them. Stores get looted. And when authorities refuse to protect them, the owners close the stores. 3) Go to Step 1. Although interestingly enough, Chicago decided to add a Step 2.5 of a pathetic Soviet practice on the grocery side of the cycle. The eventual failure will be blamed on racism, too, and the doom loop will continue. Weeee!!! Tip to Instapundit.
Trump will always have my sincere thanks for keeping this corrupt mediocrity out of the White House. Tip to Instapundit.
Much like Putin exposed the unearned reputation of his military, we are finding out that the reputation of Russia's spies to interfere in our 2016 election was grossly inflated: "Open records investigations suggest the same academic researchers responsible for the infamous Alfa Server hoax were likely also the government's initial source that Russia did the "DNC Hack"[.]" Tip to Instapundit. All the misinformation news like this between 2016 and 2020 was the primary form of Democrats rigging of the 2020 election.
Good! "Taiwan unveiled its first-ever domestically built submarine on Thursday[.]" It may take a couple years to join the fleet. Seven more are to follow.
The trouble-plagued and costly LCS class of ships is officially dead. It's a shame. I think the concept of using multiple mission modules had potential. That was a key component of my modularized auxiliary cruiser concept. But implementation was awful. And a routine problem, now. And I wish I could say it was a stain on the reputation of the Navy rather than the actual color.
The left hates suburbs and glorifies city centers. So it is interesting that the leftist fanaticism about shutting down businesses and human contact during the pandemic have gutted the downtowns and encourage suburban life via telecommuting to work. Ditto home schooling and choice after shutting down public schools. Grant me that this is funny. It only gets hilarious if most of the assumed future Democratic voters the left is inviting in across our southern border actually vote Republican for the economic opportunity and woke-rejection policies.
While Poland is arming up and expanding its military--especially its army--it will be decades before Poland turns that into effective military capability rather than a Potemkin capability. But bravo for Poland starting that process. It is the Army's new center of gravity.
Sure, China and North Korea are frenemies and not allies. I've long noted that China's enjoyment of North Korea developing nukes scaring neighbors and America would end when North Korea gets nukes. Because Koreans fear China as much as other threats. The problem is that there is nothing significant we can really do with this knowledge. We can't possibly be North Korea's new friend. Even if China would suddenly tolerate enemies on the Yalu River. And we hardly want China to take over North Korea and sit on the DMZ. Practically speaking, China and North Korea locked to one another.
Russia blamed American and British recon planes for helping Ukraine strike Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters. Is Russia justifying a future act to shoot down one of those planes in international waters?
Say it with me, now, "The federal government is too powerful when a simple mistake it makes can ruin a woman's life and the system is incapable of correcting the error and compensating her for the mistake the government made." If "Kafkaeseque" didn't exist as a concept this would force us to invent it. I'm honestly hoping this story isn't real because it is so horrifying.
Sure, based on what Ukraine is doing to Russian forces in Crimea, Ukraine seems to be winning its naval war and hurting Russia's ability to hold Crimea. I certainly appreciate naval strategy. But this war will be decided by the armies. Naval forces are a supporting arm. Unless Ukraine's army advances to and into Crimea to exploit that win, Russia's reduced capacity to supply its forces in Ukraine will be an interesting but irrelevant fact.
Oh? "Nobly protecting both Ukraine and Taiwan understandably holds a potential risk of big-power escalation that even Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq likely did not." I love VDH, but Korea did escalate to big power war when China intervened to push American forces away from China's border. And that escalation threat absolutely limited American decisions during the Vietnam War where China bordered North Vietnam. Also, his recitation of Crimea's past neglects the Budapest Memorandum. And I must say that in his limited time before leaving office, Bush did quite a bit to resist Russia's invasion of Georgia. I'm really nitpicking. I agree with much of what he writes. Certainly the advice of caution while helping Ukraine is not wrong.
With small cheap drones roaming the skies in large numbers, will we evetually see aerial campaigns in what I call the "brown skies" just above the troops hugging the dirt and below the blue skies where air forces roam? Could drones replicate big air force campaign elements such as ground attack, close air support, counter-air, fighter, electronic warfare, and recon? And maybe aerial refueling, too? But in miniature format? And then draw in the artillery of ground troops in support?
Sweden is thinking of using their military to combat a surge of "gang" violence. Sweden basically imported their gangs from Moslem regions of the world. So sure, the military might have to fight the invasion.
Germany will buy Israel's Arrow 3 air defense system capable of defeating ballistic missiles.
Seeing your favored politician as a man of faith is clearly a matter of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Neither Biden nor Trump strike me as particularly faithful people--religiously or otherwise. And believing they are men of faith is a sign that their power has corrupted people. And yeah, as I learned shockingly late in life the warning that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" refers to the corruption of throne-sniffers toward those with power.
Huh. Gender self-identification has a loophole: "Katie Porter, the Democratic congresswoman running for U.S. Senate in California, said Republican women do not count as women when it comes to achieving gender equality in Congress." It's not chromosomes that determines gender. Not anatomy. Not your feelings. It's the judgment of the most lunatic leftist observer in the vicinity. As I've long said, Democrats consider virtually every subdivided fraction of Americans as auxiliary groups of the Democratic Party. And failure to display fealty to the Democrats negates your group membership status. Tip to Instapundit.
Good. Maybe my 401k will recover before I need to use it. Tip to Instapundit.
Russia and Turkey in Libya. I'm not in favor of expelling Turkey from NATO--which is impossible, in any case. I want Turkey to block Russia's access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea. Why push Turkey into Russia's arms? A break may repair relations.
Interesting: "A growing number of people in America prefer families of three or more children, hitting the highest desire for large families since 1971." Is this a sign of Americans rejecting climate doom prophecies? Or the result of many more immigrants (legal and illegal) who haven't absorbed the religion's instruction to "go and emit no more"? Tip to Instapundit.
Protecting America's Gulf of Mexico sea assets is beyond the capacity of the Coast Guard. Say, could we authorize privateers to go after the pirates and criminals?
Under the new Michigan Court Rule, every defendant in Michigan courts should declare their preferred form of address is "Innocent" rather than Mr., Miss, Mrs., or Ms., right? And the pronoun should be "the innocent party". That's gotta have an effect on a jury, eh? Via Instapundit.
Buh bye. I'm disappointed he didn't resign two years ago. That would have been honorable. I'm worried he wasn't fired. That would have shown the problem is recognized.
China isn't trying to be imperialist? Perhaps. But the flag follows trade, in my view. Although sure, the effort may collapse in uncollected debt and resentful recipients rather than plant China's flag.
Will the XM30 infantry fighting vehicle make the leap to the M30 and replace the Bradley? My thoughts on one aspect of a replacement in Infantry magazine. If the Ukrainians like the Bradley, they may be able to get surplus models over the next couple decades.
NATO weakens America? Oh, good grief. The urge to build a couch cushion fort on the Atlantic coast is strong in too many people here.
In the past, cadets were stressed out in training so they'd have a shot at not getting their troops killed when trying to make decisions in far more stressful combat. Now I guess we'll just let future troops die to avoid hurting the feelings of cadets. I had real professionals yelling at me in basic training. It did not faze me. Because BDUs were definitely big boy pants and if I couldn't handle that, what good was I to the Army? Treatment of cadets is supposed to be far worse for very good reasons. Patton weeps. Tip to Instapundit.
I'm so old I remember when lefty Canadians were outraged at the potential of Trump to undermine Western values and legitimize Nazis: "In the span of five days, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has managed to alienate the government of the largest democracy on Earth; anger key allies from Washington, D.C. to Canberra; and outrage Jews around the world." Via Instapundit.
Is a politically divided America incapable of deterring China and Russia? I don't think our political divisions matter decisively. The Union did manage to deter British and French intervention on the side of the Confederacy during our very divided country during the Civil War.
Lawmakers want more information before they approve of special forces personnel cuts because they worry about readiness to fight [... checks notes ...] China? "One defense official told Defense One that the Army is not looking to reduce the number of operators, but rather to eliminate redundant positions in headquarters, logistics, and support." Fix the Navy if China is the concern.
Stabilizing the region since 1999: "NATO said in a statement on Friday that it had 'authorized additional forces to address the current situation' in Kosovo."
The end result is dead soldiers and smoldering stuff: "OPSEC (Operational Security) in Ukraine is more difficult to achieve because of widespread cell phone use. Ukraine has several advantages over the Russians in OPSEC and one is better control of misuse of cell phones while exploiting the less-disciplined Russian troops misusing their cellphones." And in other conflicts. But I'm sure there's no problem for civilians ambling about at home under their elected governments, right?
As I note in my Sources and Methods section, Yahoo! News is a basic resource for my krill flow of news. But since the war started, I almost never even look at the many Ukrainian news source stories that fill the site. I want Ukraine to win, but I only use their headlines to occasionally search for other news sources on an issue that looks particularly interesting.
Destruction: "Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate will have to be cleaned at greater effort and expense than initially thought after climate activists sprayed orange paint on the German capital’s signature landmark earlier this month, a company that manages official buildings in the city said Thursday." I reject the religious fanatics that Last Generation represents. Via Instapundit.
The mouse that roared: "Maldivians were voting Saturday in a runoff presidential election that has turned into a virtual referendum on which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation."
Interesting. The Army awarded a contract to "advance the readiness and operational efficiency of the 155mm M1128 mobile gun system. The M1128 Mobile Gun System is an eight-wheeled assault gun of the Stryker armoured combat vehicle family, mounting a 105mm tank gun." So the Army wants indirect fire support vehicles instead of 105mm direct-fire vehicles? Or the Army has enough of the 105 variants?
The Navy mafia (and all services have them, for good and ill) dismissed USV advocacy in a particular article. But the Navy clearly has problems that existing leadership isn't solving. And while details of the USV advocate may be bad, the basic concept of network-centric warfare is, I believe, sound. And it has been visible for a long time. I want to trust our military leadership. I can't right now. Also, the author says the shipyards aren't the problem. It's plausible to lay that on the Navy and appropriations. But we don't have the shipbuilding capability of even perfect existing shipyard construction and repair capacity.
Yeah: "Today we have a forward-based navy, not an expeditionary navy. This distinction is important for remaining competitive against modern threats and guiding force design." We no longer have the ships and personnel that comprise a fleet train to sustain a fleet whether it has access to established port facilities or not. Also, the fleet is too top heavy. Yeah. We need to pick a number of surface combatants we need and build smaller ships to achieve the number. Although I think we need to stop building super carriers for 1:1 replacement and redirect the money to more subs and surface ships.
LOL: "The ability to bypass Western-aligned countries will not only be
vital for Russia’s economy, but it may also help strengthen Russia’s
presence in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. However, this may bring
Russia into competition with the trade interests of India and China." This route is less efficient than trading west. And the West is forcing Russia to defend its pivot point against Chinese advances.
I'm certainly not going to argue against monitoring American aid to Ukraine to guard against local corruption. I certainly believe in the long run that is vital to helping Ukraine stand up to Russia without massive Western help. But don't let this struggle interfere with helping Ukraine win the war going on right now. Battlefield victory isn't a matter of the most efficient winning.
Unclear on the concept: "The oath troops are sworn to defend is to the Constitution, not a 'wannabe dictator,' Gen. Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in his farewell address." Sure, the oath requires obedience only to lawful orders given by superiors lawfully in your chain of command. That is explained to every private. But when the CJCS decides what elected president is a "wannabe dictator," the CJCS is the wannabe dictator. Tip to Instapundit.
Our friend we haven't made yet: "A Marine attack helicopter was harassed by sectarian Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf, a U.S. 5th Fleet official told USNI News on Thursday." The Biden administration will obviously forgive Iran. At some point we need to really hammer the Revolutionary Guards.
Rapid satellite replacement will defeat anti-satellite weapons. That is reasonable. From rare and expensive satellites to cheap and plentiful that can be quickly placed in orbit undermines anti-satellite weapon strategy. But then the launch sites become the primary targets. CONUS is a sanctuary, no more.
I still wonder if Russia has decided to help North Korea by providing North Korea an option to kill off military-age men who are a potential threat to Kim Jong-Un.
Fauci: the media-created practice for creating a kindly grandfather dictator? Well, the media essentially did that for Obama, as Instapundit noted. And never forget "Uncle Joe" Stalin in world War II.
Yeah, it isn't unusual for Civil War dud ammunition to be discovered: "The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will linger for decades after the Russians are defeated because the fighting leaves a lot of unexploded munitions, including landmines that were planted and never removed."
