The tyranny of protocol: Interesting, given the Democratic hysterics over the coronavirus reaction. Tip to Instapundit.
Poland's air force can't fly as much as it should because it doesn't spend the money on pilot training and spare parts. I hope buying F-35s doesn't make it worse. Although that purchase means the last of the old Soviet planes will be retired.
Yes, I've also mentioned it. The Democrats' new rules for impeachment applied to Obama would have resulted in his impeachment. You don't have to like Trump's phone call to Ukraine to think it is hardly sufficient for impeachment. And this is why it feels like an attempted coup despite impeachment being a perfectly legal thing for Congress to do. What is lacking is the sober restraint by Congress that is required for having that great power. Tip to Instapundit.
Iraq is having new problems getting a new prime minister. Optimist that I am, I note that this is political maneuvering within the (admittedly corrupt) system rather than being fought out in the streets with different military, police, and militias units backing different candidates.
FWIW, I am not panic buying. Just my usual weekly shopping. I generally have enough in the pantry and freezer to get by a while even if the variety will suffer from lack of fresh produce. And yeah, I have no idea why bottled water is flying off the shelves. In what virus scenario does the water stop flowing in the kitchen? And panic buying of toilet paper seems really odd. You probably have a shower next to your toilet that will suffice to cleanliness, without sharing too much. Or is this where the bottled water comes in handy?! This is overseas, although I did see a CVS this last weekend with a sign saying face masks were out. Anyway, I won't have any need to get in fist fights over the last rotisserie chicken at the deli counter. Of course, because I have children and a mother, I can't actually hunker down at home alone for a month while the plague passes (or misses)!
No epidemic is bad enough to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from cracking down on freedom advocates like Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai. Remember, the ultimate objective of the CCP is to remain in power and no price is too high for China or its people to pay in order to achieve that.
I'm assuming these beginnings of border closures--much like the Saudi decision "barring foreign Muslims from traveling to Mecca and Medina for the umrah pilgrimage"--will affect mostly Moslems. Haters.
The Air Force will get some new F-15EX fighters to act as missile trucks for F-35s that can use their sensors to direct the F-15EX firing without firing the F-35 weapons to expose the location of the stealth plane. The plane could also control wingman drones I noted that missile truck possibility before but thought the basic advantage was that it is a more appropriate plane for continental air defense or use against lesser aerial threats. And it fits into an existing support system. The latter reasons are less sexy and compelling than enabling the F-35 and controlling drones when it comes to budget discussions, I imagine.
It was unwise to place so much of the world's supply chain in China even before the coronavirus. This was already being corrected and the Wuhan Flu will accelerate that trend, no doubt.And note how the USMCA (rebooted NAFTA) will help Mexico fill that role, which will help intercept Central American refugees coming to America with opportunities closer to home. Still, the drug cartels loom over that opportunity for Mexico. Or would this be the opportunity for wealthy drug cartels to try to make the jump to legitimate businessmen? It would be nice to get a positive cascade out of this mess.
And yes, you Twitter-addled morons, Trump did not say the coronavirus is a "hoax." He said the efforts to blame him for the virus response so early is the hoax designed to get him--like all the prior pseudo-scandals. You have to admit that it would be odd if a man who held two recent press conferences on the coronavirus and who appointed VP Pence to coordinate the government response doesn't believe it is a potential crisis. That said, I don't actually believe Democrats literally want millions (or any number, really) to die in order to benefit them politically. I said that in the last data dump but that was hyperbole, and I hope that was clear. They just want you to think millions will die long enough to get them past November 2020.
The military is continuing its force protection measures in the face of the COVID-19 threat. Good. Our military is deployed overseas with a constant churn of people coming and going. We want to protect the force so it can protect us, and prevent it from being a Trojan Horse bringing the virus home.
Thanks China! Well, mullah-run Iran won't get its own 1984-style online surveillance network on its own, you know. Even Allah has limits, I guess.
The Navy is out of practice operating in heavy seas during bad weather. And smaller ships won't be able to safely operate in those environments without wearing out real fast. I've noted we need bigger hulls just from the distance it takes to cross oceans unlike other countries that can operate in close and sheltered waters.
The Army is putting electronic warfare back into its operations. Good, what we'd face against enemies with EW superiority greatly worries me.
Oh my! Quid pro quo?
By the Green's own environmental standards America should be cheered while China should be condemned. But the reverse happens. I guess government control is more highly valued by the "green" Western reds. At worst, you can say that fracking, coal-friendly policies, encouraging industry here, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords had no impact at all.
Communists are just disgusting people. If the Chinese Communist Party goes with the "blame America for the Wuhan Flu" line of attack, I'm sure plenty of Democrats will agree with the Chinese.
That is not going to turn out well for the faithful there. Same with this decision. The Saudis don't seem as blindly faithful in the face of earthly epidemics (and the Iranians displayed some sense).
"'The [IAEA] identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations in Iran that had not been declared by Iran,' the agency said in a report." No! Way!
A man has got to know his limitations. Good for him. Sometimes things are outside your lane and you should admit it.
So other than an Instagram call-out, how does the Navy plan to respond to the PLAN lasing one of our warplanes, as I noted in the last data dump.
Biden says he wants to put "Beto"--who said he'd take away our guns--in charge of taking away gun rights.
The Navy has access to the Omani port of Duqm outside of the Persian Gulf, and now wants money to expand facilities for our use there. I mentioned this port 6 years ago.
Could aerial tankers (and other "soft" support aircraft) be protected from enemy aircraft by using air-to-air "wingman" drones? Why not? But this just shifts the question of how to prioritize fighter planes between escort and air superiority missions to how to prioritize missions for air-to-air drones, doesn't it?
Biden did really well on Super Tuesday despite lack of money and time to campaign in the states voting, just after his surprisingly decisive South Carolina win. Contrast this with Bloomberg who face planted, with a wake of money splashing out behind him. So I don't want to hear another damned word from the Left about how billionaires can buy our elections. Bloomberg came out of nowhere with tons of money to have a presence, but that's not the same as buying an election, is it? Also, it is most illuminating to see how results play out when we go from the "voting" by the inbred left-wing Twitterverse (and the closely related caucuses) to actual mass voting by people. I hoped this would be so, as I wrote in a January data dump: "The Democratic presidential candidates act like Twitter represents the country and wage their primary season battles to get its approval. This will be an interesting presidential election to see if it is as much of a mistake as it seems to me to look for votes where the light is best and not where the votes are." And here's some data on that factor. But will the reporters learn this lesson: "Twitter is a small progressive bubble amplified to a wider audience by media reporters who are equally progressive. Again I'll say "Twitter is not the pulse of the nation. It's the pulse of the crazily intense political groupies" Who am I kidding? No lesson will be learned. Twitter makes "reporting" too easy to abandon. Carry on. Nothing to see here.
Can the new tentatively mistrusted president of Algeria actually make progress against corruption to keep the restive protesters from turning violent? There is some hope, it seems.
The mercurial president of the Philippines (he makes Trump look boringly predictable) might--if he just forgets China looming over them--eject American forces from the Philippines. What would we do to cope? Obviously, we'd leave just as we did just after the Cold War when told to go. But with the USSR collapsed and China yet a military power, it was easy to cope with the loss of bases back then. We aren't anywhere near there yet, of course. What is up for renewal is the ability to move American troops into the Philippines quickly without having to get visas for everyone entering the country. That lake of a status of forces-type agreement makes defense and disaster response rather too difficult to matter in the short run. Will Duterte ultimately eject America and force America (and our allies) to cope with the gaping hole in the screen that prevents China from easily pushing out into the Pacific? I doubt this will happen. But I did mention the mercurial part, right?
This justifies figurative tar and feathers, if true. Tip to The Morning Briefing.
Iran released 54,000 prisoners to combat the spread of the coronavirus. So, how sure are the Iranian authorities that a significant number of those prisoners aren't already infected and so will spread the epidemic more effectively?
Vegan anti-dairy protesters at a Biden speech push Peak Stupid ever higher. Got sanity?
While I'm relieved that Democrats have stepped back from their apparent embrace of a socialist (who is-tip to Instapundit--really a communist sympathizer, I think). It is horrifying that they have embraced the barely aware Biden (could he pass a Turing Test?) as the sane alternative. But if the Democratic Party is desperate to avoid dragging down their party in November 2020 with major losses in Congress and at the state and local levels with a Sanders presidential run--as amateur skateboarder "Beto" O'Rourke admitted--Biden makes sense. Biden can limit the damage and who cares if he loses? Since last summer I figured that the Democratic Party establishment wanted Biden as a sacrificial candidate to avoid damaging a viable candidate for 2024 with a defeat this year. I think I'm right. Although who knows what voters will actually do. That's why we vote and don't rely on polls or Twitter to measure the end result. Also, perhaps Sanders' showing this Super Tuesday reflects that in 2016 Sanders didn't almost beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination, but that "Not-Hillary Clinton" almost beat Hillary Clinton.
Tracking space debris. Maybe we don't need Space Force as much as we need Space Waste Management.
Who in Syria was dumb enough to store ammunition next to a chemical storage tank? Of course, that's what the Russians are saying and they lie with the ease of constant practice.
It seems as if the coronavirus is pretty bad in Iran--worse than the mullah-run government admits. If Iran got hit early because of contact with China where the epidemic started, is it possible that Iran's mistaken shooting down of Flight 752 on January 8th worked to limit the spread of the disease from Iran? That was pretty early so perhaps this is not even in the realm of possibility. And even if true is not a defense of the shoot down, of course. I'm just wondering.
A number of conservatives are worried that Trump will ruin the "brand" of the Republican Party, notwithstanding policies that conservatives can like. Here's another reason I don't worry about that at all.
The coronavirus "black swan" and the limits of leadership in protecting us.
According to Democrats, Bloomberg could have won rather than drop out after wasting $500 million if he had just spent 100K on barely literate Facebook ads. I said much the same thing about Steyer a week ago!
I would like to extend my formal thanks to Turkey's parliament for making our Congress look like pillars of sober and reasoned debate.
Israel continues to strike targets inside Syria. I assume they are Iranian-controlled assets.
Sadly accurate.
Fingers crossed, but so far our economy is holding steady despite coronavirus worries.
Remember that complaints that Warren lost because of the patriarchy and sexism is a condemnation of Democratic voters. Recall that Obama's "bitter clingers" comments in 2008 were about Pennsylvania Democrats. These leftists don't just hate Republicans. They hate a lot of their own supporters. Face it, Warren's claim to have a plan for every conceivable issue apparently didn't leave her staff time to make a plan to win the Democratic nomination. Given the leftist gender line on their voters refusing to vote for a woman, I'm really looking forward to the Republican Nikki Haley candidacy in 2024
I've meant to link Eric's commentary on Germany's role in enabling Saddam. Which he sent me I think in response to my incredulous and outraged post on Germany's supposed moral authority.
Ukraine is still struggling to defeat corruption. Which is important if Ukraine wants to have a chance of beating Russia in a head-to-head fight.
Netahyahu gained ground in the third election in a year but it still isn't a majority. Thank the founders we don't have that kind of election system. The voting by states (mostly) system here really does provide a result.
"Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative has long been seen as a way to project China’s influence around the world. Now, the coronavirus is showing how the trade and infrastructure program can help export the country’s troubles." I was just wondering about that in the last data dump.
Pakistan is already a Hell hole of corruption, military control, jihadi nutballery, and now a freaking plague of freaking locusts. Are they sure Allah isn't punishing them?
Greece is holding the line for Europe as Turkey tries to invade Europe with cannon fodder refugees in order to blackmail Europe into confronting Russia in defense of Turkey.
Remember, too often state licensing of a profession is about reducing competition for those already in the profession, and not a stamp of approval for expertise. Good for Mats Järlström. And for God's sake, criticizing without a license is forbidden?! How can First Amendment rights be trampled by Oregon to defend a profession's monopoly? Tip to Instapundit. There are too many state occupational licenses with too many hurdles for the good of our economy and the well being of people trying to make a living.
The FAA warned American airlines about possible terror attacks on planes flying over Kenya. Is Iran trying to retaliate for the Soleimani killing by sending SAMs to jihadis in the region? Or is this the garden variety Sunni jihadi plot in action? The warning included hotels. Which is prudent given past terrorism directed at Americans in East Africa.
Not to say that any attempts to harm people based on physical characteristics is "normal," but isn't this just the most bizarre form of targeting based on physical characteristics? Jesus, those poor people.
Japan is rolling out a new air-launched welcome mat for the Chinese navy.
The headline of this truncated story says that Russia denies carrying out the air strike that killed about three dozen Turkish soldiers, which has sparked the current confrontation between Russia and Turkey. Which seems unlikely. Even if the plane was Syrian the pilot was likely Russian. And you have to consider the fact that the Russians reflexively lie.
Boko Haram continues to kill in Nigeria. The Nigerians had the jihadis down but took their boot off their neck.
Hypersonic weapons aren't just for Chinese and Russian research.
Army special forces Crisis Response Force (CRF) companies--formerly Commander’s-in-extremis (CIF) companies that can be used for hostage rescue or counter-terrorism--are being disbanded in order to focus on fighting enemy armies. These big war missions include various raids, irregular warfare, and stay-behind missions while enemies advance through an allied country. We have other special forces that can be used for the missions that the CRFs haven't been needed for over the last decade.
Riding out the coronavirus in comfort and style. It would be funny to make wealthy liberals who support universal state-run health care use only what that universal state-run system provides to everyone. Hopefully the worst-case scenarios don't happen. That's the way to bet right now, but not the way to prepare. I don't actually blame the rich for using their wealth to prepare. You can't take it with you, after all. Tip to Instapundit.
Just another example of the media rule that when a Republican does something wrong the media story is about the thing the Republican did wrong; but when a Democrat does something wrong the story is about how Republicans are "pouncing" on the thing to gain political advantage. It is amazing how often that happens.
Armies already have assault bridges for short and long river obstacles. It seems like this new construction method could be useful for more permanent spans behind the lines and to replace destroyed bridges to keep lines of supply open. Of course, the time saved in erecting the bridge is surely just largely moved to making the stuff before deployment. Tip to Instapundit.
I'm guessing that Elizabeth Warren sincerely wants a beer now.
I don't pretend to know how much of the recent stock market gyrations are due to the thought of a Sanders presidency or the coronavirus or what. And I kind of doubt the market commenters know the reasons.
Was it collusion in the summer of 1988? Or was Bernie just a useful idiot? If you wonder why I have a particularly sharp disgust of Bernie, I was doing something very different in the summer of 1988.
India actually made a good defense acquisition (for air defense) decision in a timely manner. Huh.
Joe Biden: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created, by the, you know, you know the thing.” I thought he was just afraid to mention the G word in front of a liberal audience. But what if it's much worse ...
About Castro's literacy "accomplishment." If communism was as wonderful in reality as Western leftists imagine it to be, I might be a communist.
Marines want anti-ship capabilities. Good!
The ICC only has an interest in portraying lawful American conduct in war as war crimes; while glossing over enemy actual war crimes. We should act accordingly to this decision.
This author thinks Russian strategic nuclear weapons modernization has hit its limit and that Russian cheating on INF limits for new shorter-range weapons gave them an edge there. So naturally Russia is pushing for a new nuclear treaty to lock in their gains. I've long assumed that Russian financial weakness was the only limit on Russian nuclear weapons strength, and that a deal just keeps us from challenging Russia. Heck, I wonder if Russia has a Potemkin nuclear deterrent concealed behind nuclear chest beating and flinging nuclear threats.
The fear of the unknown has plagued humans for a long time, and technology doesn't affect that reaction when thinking about the coronavirus. I'll add that chemical weapons are especially frightening despite lower casualty rates than bullets and bombs because of the unseen nature of gas--like viruses.
While the Democratic 25th Amendment fantasy was stupid from the start as a way to get rid of Trump, Biden should be careful who he selects for vice president and his cabinet because I think the precedent is more likely to be aimed at him if he wins in November and doesn't show better mental abilities once in office.
The WHO mortality estimate for the coronavirus is likely too high because we don't know the denominator to do the math with the more solid deaths numerator. It is likely that the death rate is lower than the worst case. WHO has an incentive to worst case it both to generate a response to stop it in case it is really bad and to increase its power and budget. WHO could be right, of course. But we just don't know. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I'm not worried now but know that new information could make me very worried on short notice.
Our left-wing colleges will not be the battleground to win the war against an ever-climbing Peak Stupid. Tip to Instapundit.
So I'm leaving my home one evening after dinner to take my daughter to her violin lesson. We go out and I pull the door closed to lock it--and boom. The latch would not retract as it went by the metal plate. I pulled harder. No go. I push in the latch. It won't budge. I can't close the door. I have my daughter text her mom to take her and I start hammering on the latch to see if it will retract. It won't. I lubricate it. Still frozen. Speaking of that it is cold outside and cold air is coming through. I pull off the door knob and plate in the door but the dead latch will not pull free from the door knob! So I use more lubricant. Nothing. I end up sawing through the interior metal and prying the door knob part away from the dead latch. And here's the good part. I remembered that I had an unused spare dead latch in my closet! I'd had it for many years. I'm not sure why I had it. But it was there so I put that in and reattached the door knob. And there you go. Forty-five minutes and my door worked again. Man, that would have been a real problem if it had frozen in the locked position after I'd closed the door on the way out, eh? This week I am absolutely going to go to a hardware store just to have a spare door knob assembly at home. I had no idea they could fail in that fashion.
All-Domain Operations may be nothing new, but that doesn't mean that our officer corps can't be failing to appreciate joint operations. And just as we pivot to face actual advanced militaries. I don't know enough to judge the claim but I worry it might be true. Stovepiping is all too easy without outside efforts to push--and reward--jointness. What is going on?
The Chinese deny our accusation that they fired a laser at our P-8 surveillance plane in the Pacific. And the Chinese double down by saying our plane was circling their warship at low altitudes for a long time. Are they denying firing a laser or trying to justify firing a laser? So that's how they're going to play this. If their ships are going to sail in international waters they have to expect we'll look at them.
Add another scandal to the list. With no whistleblowers and an incurious media, these things take time to come out.
Why would Russia try to divide America when the ill-educated oikophobes at the 1619 Project do so much damage on their own? The Russians do it because they can. But they'd be wiser to stand aside and let our Left do all the dirty work. Of course, you can't really trust the history profession to shut down that crap. As a newly minted history MA my trip to the American Historical Association annual meeting in Chicago in 1991 (?) was an eye-opener. People like me were clearly unwanted. I shudder to think how left-wing it is now. Tip to Instapundit.
Sometimes even the European Union can be right: "EU blasts Turkey for 'organized' migrant attack on Greece[.]" That's exactly what Turkey is doing. Although it is really an attack on Europe as a whole and not just Greece because of the open borders within the EU states.
Saying Bloomberg wasted half a billion dollars on his presidential campaign assumes he was trying to get the nomination, doesn't it? What did he want to achieve? Heck, if he did it for the fun of it, it was a cheap hobby for him, no?
Is Prime Minister Modi going to encourage the break up of India? I've speculated that China could do that. India is not immune to that fragmentation possibility, apparently.I admit I've been wary about Modi. But I can't tell how much is from reality and how much is from distance and media bias about anyone who isn't at least left of center-right. The boy who cried wolf tale would be relevant, perhaps.
Weakening Hezbollah requires reducing corruption in Lebanon and protecting protesters who are sick of the status quo. More aid just allows Hezbollah to siphon it off within a corrupt system they dominate.
Is the CDC failing? That's the problem for Republicans. Generally government is viewed as less effective. But the government is the basic tool we have for responding to a crisis out of nowhere. But other governments seem to be reacting better in some ways. Maybe if the Centers focused exclusively on disease control and prevention rather than public health issues it would be more effective at controlling and preventing diseases. Or maybe we aren't failing if the test kits get out there before we really get hit. Is it just that our government didn't want every nervous person with a runny nose demanding a coronavirus test when we had to husband the amount we had for an identified outbreak? Is the furor over the test kits supply just an effort to drag down Trump when all the other attempts failed? And is the rapid expansion of availability of those kits expected next week something only the Trump administration could have done or just business as usual for the CDC and our economy? I just don't know. But what I do know is that I'd be happier if this was treated as a health issue and not a campaign issue. I know little about disease and vectors and whatnot. I freely admit I have but opinions on this. But what I do know something about is our media and the Democratic Resistance. Tips to Instapundit.
Two suicide bombers struck outside our embassy in Tunisia when a security patrol approached the (I assume) jihadis on a motorcycle. This has gotten very little attention.
Hahaha!
Well, good. But I think it is a bit early to be spiking the football.
God help me, I like to watch Olympics curling, but this is spot on!
Are Democrats against everything Trump is for? Tip to Instapundit.
Nonexistent trucks don't hit mines, it is true: quantity has a quality all its own.
Yeah, we wouldn't call an old Nazi who still believed in the ideology a cute, old, curmudgeon who has been consistent in his beliefs over the decades.
Yeah, we really don't know if Covid-19 will be really, really, bad or fizzle out. Or something in between, of course. Tip to Instapundit.
You may recall that I said I hoped our foes controlled the coronavirus, in part because to do otherwise would be kind of evil: "People will die and celebrating their problems is only a cutout away from supporting biological warfare that does the same thing, isn't it?" Well, Ed Conway took that step: "Don’t take this the wrong way but if you were a young, hardline environmentalist looking for the ultimate weapon against climate change, you could hardly design anything better than coronavirus. Unlike most other such diseases, it kills mostly the old who, let’s face it, are more likely to be climate sceptics." Don't take this the wrong way? There is no other way to take it! Of course, if the Greens find the collateral damage is too much, they can also advocate for efficiency by just putting the old people in special fenced camps where they can be exposed to the coronavirus in a more controlled environment. I mean, it's for the goddamn master planet, right? Tip to Instapundit.
Don't forget Azerbaijan when discussing the containment and rolling back of Iran. I know I've mentioned them in relation to a potential Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Apparently it didn't occur to Oberlin College to fire highly paid useless administrators to pay for the lawsuit costs that highly paid useless administrators exposed the college to. Far better to fire 108 line workers who actually do useful things for the students. The college says the firings are unrelated to the lawsuit judgment costs.
The United Nations wants countries hit by the coronavirus to delay their peacekeeping contingent rotations by three months.
And remember, more testing will make it seem like the coronavirus is spreading, when all we are doing is identifying what already exists. Mind you, I'm not following where he wants to go after his common sense discussion of the testing issue. But the author is correct that if panic grows when testing results are reported, it will not be a panic about new developments but of new awareness of what was happening. So don't panic. I'm not buying crates of canned goods and ammo or selling off my stocks. Of course, testing helps with the denominator in determining lethality. So in the long run lower death rates may be reassuring. Or not. Panics rarely rely on analysis.
The United States Army has stopped travel to and from South Korea and Italy for troops and families.
