This is going to be another of my busy days. What I’ll try to do here is to briefly mention stories I’ve looked at over the last few days but haven’t been able to fit in. Or which have taken on additional significance. Yesterday and today Simplicius the Thinker has provided detailed updates on the Russian offensive to encircle the Ukrainian stronghold at Avdeyevka (Avdiivka), which is the location from which much if not most of the Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk City has originated. Go to Simplicius for a step by step update, but this tweet gives the overall picture:
I think your post title is very telling Mark. I might be reading too much into it, but kinda seems like you might believe we have arrived at , “not if, but when” with stupidity and incompetence in ascendency.
But what do I know, I’m just a simple farmer from Kansas. :-)
Some old Cold War humor: two farmers were talking about nuclear war. One asked the other ‘Where would you want to be if the bombs go off?’ The answer? ‘Far enough away to say “What was that?”’
Didn't Obama once mention something about the 'junior varsity team'? It seems to me that that accurately describes the Unites States going back to, at least, Clinton.
And when I read this post about the Ukraine fighters and their being hemmed in by Russia like sheep in a pen about to be slaughtered, my mind can't help but think about McConnell and Graham and the claim that we are somehow strengthening our own country on the back of worthless Ukraine lives. Worthless to them, not to me.
Then we have Israel ready to wipe out a whole race of people.
I read that Gaza is 70 square miles and contains two million people. For comparison's sake, the independent City of St. Louis, i.e., not part of adjacent St. Louis County, is about 61.72 square miles. The population is currently about 284,000 people. From what I've seen in images, Gaza is more densely built-up than St. Louis. Imagine trying to raze most of St. Louis and kill its people. Then imagine the same scenario for Gaza.
The mind staggers at the indifference to the loss of men's lives. It is said that violent playing video games makes young people unaware of the reality of war and carnage. McConnell and Graham are in their 80s and 70s and probably don't play video games. What's their excuse?
Right on RSC. A WW2 veteran who piloted LST (I think it is Landing Ship: Troop but please correct me if I am wrong about this) said they called them Large Slow Targets in reference to Kamikazi attacks. The CVNs could now be LSTs. There are certainly smart people thinking about this but the carrier fleet has huge financial and cultural momentum behind it. After all it helped win the last war. Let us hope we do not have a huge loss of life if the carriers are deployed. I am very much afraid that our political leadership is going to have to learn the hard way about fighting the last war. If what MacGregor discusses is true and a lot of our leadership is looking to cash in then we might be in for some terrible shocks. Political leadership will cash out military leadership faster than Lincoln if there are a series of disasters. If they do not then we need new political leadership. That is assuming we still have civilian control of anything.
I did not realize the uss ford with all the cutting edge teething problems was the carrier off Cypress.
The San Diego 2 carrier surge I see it as more posturing / bluffing and the Biden Administration trying to delay Israel, and keep Iran out of a direct conflict with Israel.
Keep in mind the Biden Administration still dreams of a deal with Iran, and hates Netanyahu, while needing to keep U.S. Democratic Jewish Voters from revolting, while keeping Arab and Dei democratic foot soldiers happy.
Carriers in port are sitting ducks like Battleships on Dec. 7. Of course in the age of hypersonics they could be sitting ducks anywhere. A nuclear powered cruise missile. Do they have launch sites in Venezuela and Cuba yet? I wonder how our leadership will manage the next Cuban missile crisis when it is with nuclear powered hypersonics?
I'm certainly not a military expert, but it seems to me that you're correct. Carriers probably still have a place to launch our fighters, but they are also very vulnerable. In the old days, it was submarines. Now there are a lot more varied threats and an increase in the quantity of said threats.
There seem to be some contradictions concerning the stance of the Deep State concerning the ME and "Axis of Evil". These sources seem to say that the US government is at least trying to avert war, while the Duran boys say that the neocons, including Biden/Blinken, are totally in control and won't be denied their war against Iran. They acknowledge that there is opposition to this in the government but that the only thing that will stop the neocons is letting them get their war and receive a(nother) bloody nose. As you say, Mark, one can only speculate at this point.
If Biden is in “control” of anything, we are well and truly screwed. Just no other way to say it.
Guy can’t read a teleprompter or form a coherent thought without General Jill’s help! The idea that he might actually be in charge of anything is too horrifying to contemplate.
He's not in charge of anything. He's being run by Deep State goons. I'd still like to know what Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice do each day. I'm sure it's not yoga and home cooking.
I'm a Catholic so I can't practice divination, use a Ouija board or a crystal ball, but I'm slightly encouraged that our countrymen are waking up to wars, COVID, job losses, inflation, transgender madness and political prosecution of everyone who is not a liberal and/or Democrat.
Of course I've been wrong before overestimating my countrymen and hoping for a coming revival of morality.
Could well be, Ray. However, as the Duran chaps point out, the world has changed drastically since 2003. The opposing forces are far, far stronger and the West is much weaker, not just militarily, but economically and socially. It won't fly this time. However, as we know, that won't stop these fools from trying it.
But I can’t square the war on Iran discussion with the ideological beliefs of The One behind Zhou. The One shares the same desire for the elimination of Israel that Iran wants. The regime was literally providing pallets of physical cash under the cover of darkness. This whole thing is still squirrelly and it is rather unclear on where the regime is taking this. I believe it is war that is coming, just not sure against who, what, where, and why yet. It’s still muddled.
Alistair Crooke and Will Schryver have written some great stuff on this in recent days. The DS "logic" is so confused that I can perfectly see them sending Iran billions one day and the next day declaring them to the latest "evil" enemy that must be destroyed. According to Schryver at least, what seems to be driving the US's force build-up in the ME is that it has made their illegal bases in Syria the next line in the sand as they represent the US's last real foothold in the region. It will protect them at all costs and doesn't believe that Russia will call their bluff, or that Iran is strong enough militarily to oppose them. Of course, being neocons, they are completely wrong on both these last counts.
So bush went to Iraq for ME oil. And that failed. Now we are in Syria on the down low for oil. But we dare not say it out loud, it’s about fighting terrorists or something. But we curtail our own oil, and go green to reduce dependency on ME oil that nobody clearly articulates to anybody. Everything is wrapped in a riddle and lie and a muddled mess. No wonder people despise the regime.
If I'm reading that right, it looks like Israeli leadership is more interested in retribution and deterrence than they are in the lives of the hostages.
Of course, that's just one side of the story. Does anyone have links to Israeli statements about hostage negotiations?
Well, I doubt that the release of four hostages was a unilateral act by Hamas. Two were American citizens, and I understand Egypt was involved in the negotiations. But the other two were Israeli women.
That’s an up charge of course. Preferably after they are installed and not fully functional requiring an expensive new solution. Have to keep that gravy flowing
I think your post title is very telling Mark. I might be reading too much into it, but kinda seems like you might believe we have arrived at , “not if, but when” with stupidity and incompetence in ascendency.
But what do I know, I’m just a simple farmer from Kansas. :-)
Some old Cold War humor: two farmers were talking about nuclear war. One asked the other ‘Where would you want to be if the bombs go off?’ The answer? ‘Far enough away to say “What was that?”’
An oldie but a goodie! :-)
Mark - I thought you round appreciate this:
https://www.arkhaven.com/comics/comedy/stonetoss/murky-waters
Didn't Obama once mention something about the 'junior varsity team'? It seems to me that that accurately describes the Unites States going back to, at least, Clinton.
And when I read this post about the Ukraine fighters and their being hemmed in by Russia like sheep in a pen about to be slaughtered, my mind can't help but think about McConnell and Graham and the claim that we are somehow strengthening our own country on the back of worthless Ukraine lives. Worthless to them, not to me.
Then we have Israel ready to wipe out a whole race of people.
I read that Gaza is 70 square miles and contains two million people. For comparison's sake, the independent City of St. Louis, i.e., not part of adjacent St. Louis County, is about 61.72 square miles. The population is currently about 284,000 people. From what I've seen in images, Gaza is more densely built-up than St. Louis. Imagine trying to raze most of St. Louis and kill its people. Then imagine the same scenario for Gaza.
The mind staggers at the indifference to the loss of men's lives. It is said that violent playing video games makes young people unaware of the reality of war and carnage. McConnell and Graham are in their 80s and 70s and probably don't play video games. What's their excuse?
Right on RSC. A WW2 veteran who piloted LST (I think it is Landing Ship: Troop but please correct me if I am wrong about this) said they called them Large Slow Targets in reference to Kamikazi attacks. The CVNs could now be LSTs. There are certainly smart people thinking about this but the carrier fleet has huge financial and cultural momentum behind it. After all it helped win the last war. Let us hope we do not have a huge loss of life if the carriers are deployed. I am very much afraid that our political leadership is going to have to learn the hard way about fighting the last war. If what MacGregor discusses is true and a lot of our leadership is looking to cash in then we might be in for some terrible shocks. Political leadership will cash out military leadership faster than Lincoln if there are a series of disasters. If they do not then we need new political leadership. That is assuming we still have civilian control of anything.
Us carrier positions:
https://news.usni.org/category/fleet-tracker
I did not realize the uss ford with all the cutting edge teething problems was the carrier off Cypress.
The San Diego 2 carrier surge I see it as more posturing / bluffing and the Biden Administration trying to delay Israel, and keep Iran out of a direct conflict with Israel.
Keep in mind the Biden Administration still dreams of a deal with Iran, and hates Netanyahu, while needing to keep U.S. Democratic Jewish Voters from revolting, while keeping Arab and Dei democratic foot soldiers happy.
USNI updates this once a week usually on Mondays. Zhou’s got quite a bit of Erdogan in him… or is it vice versa?
Carriers in port are sitting ducks like Battleships on Dec. 7. Of course in the age of hypersonics they could be sitting ducks anywhere. A nuclear powered cruise missile. Do they have launch sites in Venezuela and Cuba yet? I wonder how our leadership will manage the next Cuban missile crisis when it is with nuclear powered hypersonics?
Let’s spend $40B to complete the remaining 3 Ford class editions!
I'm certainly not a military expert, but it seems to me that you're correct. Carriers probably still have a place to launch our fighters, but they are also very vulnerable. In the old days, it was submarines. Now there are a lot more varied threats and an increase in the quantity of said threats.
Carriers against most likely foes, except insurgencies, are obsolete. They are just big targets.
The US anti missile quantity is just not there, verses the missile capacity of our foes.
We squandered it all on useless wars that we provoked.
There seem to be some contradictions concerning the stance of the Deep State concerning the ME and "Axis of Evil". These sources seem to say that the US government is at least trying to avert war, while the Duran boys say that the neocons, including Biden/Blinken, are totally in control and won't be denied their war against Iran. They acknowledge that there is opposition to this in the government but that the only thing that will stop the neocons is letting them get their war and receive a(nother) bloody nose. As you say, Mark, one can only speculate at this point.
If Biden is in “control” of anything, we are well and truly screwed. Just no other way to say it.
Guy can’t read a teleprompter or form a coherent thought without General Jill’s help! The idea that he might actually be in charge of anything is too horrifying to contemplate.
He's not in charge of anything. He's being run by Deep State goons. I'd still like to know what Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice do each day. I'm sure it's not yoga and home cooking.
I'm closer to that.
I'm a Catholic so I can't practice divination, use a Ouija board or a crystal ball, but I'm slightly encouraged that our countrymen are waking up to wars, COVID, job losses, inflation, transgender madness and political prosecution of everyone who is not a liberal and/or Democrat.
Of course I've been wrong before overestimating my countrymen and hoping for a coming revival of morality.
Let's hope so. The craziness is getting so loud that it's hard for even the most NPC normie to ignore.
My guess is Neocons want war on terror 2.0, since 1.0 increased their power tremendously.
But don’t want war with Iran.
Can they be so choosy?
Could well be, Ray. However, as the Duran chaps point out, the world has changed drastically since 2003. The opposing forces are far, far stronger and the West is much weaker, not just militarily, but economically and socially. It won't fly this time. However, as we know, that won't stop these fools from trying it.
But I can’t square the war on Iran discussion with the ideological beliefs of The One behind Zhou. The One shares the same desire for the elimination of Israel that Iran wants. The regime was literally providing pallets of physical cash under the cover of darkness. This whole thing is still squirrelly and it is rather unclear on where the regime is taking this. I believe it is war that is coming, just not sure against who, what, where, and why yet. It’s still muddled.
Alistair Crooke and Will Schryver have written some great stuff on this in recent days. The DS "logic" is so confused that I can perfectly see them sending Iran billions one day and the next day declaring them to the latest "evil" enemy that must be destroyed. According to Schryver at least, what seems to be driving the US's force build-up in the ME is that it has made their illegal bases in Syria the next line in the sand as they represent the US's last real foothold in the region. It will protect them at all costs and doesn't believe that Russia will call their bluff, or that Iran is strong enough militarily to oppose them. Of course, being neocons, they are completely wrong on both these last counts.
So bush went to Iraq for ME oil. And that failed. Now we are in Syria on the down low for oil. But we dare not say it out loud, it’s about fighting terrorists or something. But we curtail our own oil, and go green to reduce dependency on ME oil that nobody clearly articulates to anybody. Everything is wrapped in a riddle and lie and a muddled mess. No wonder people despise the regime.
I just finished reading, hope to contrast as you.
https://news.sky.com/story/civilian-hostages-will-be-freed-if-israel-reduces-gaza-bombing-senior-hamas-leader-says-12991188
If I'm reading that right, it looks like Israeli leadership is more interested in retribution and deterrence than they are in the lives of the hostages.
Of course, that's just one side of the story. Does anyone have links to Israeli statements about hostage negotiations?
I haven't seen anything on the Israeli side that indicates that they want any kind of negotiation concerning hostages.
Yea a bunch of old Granny’s and such.
Well, I doubt that the release of four hostages was a unilateral act by Hamas. Two were American citizens, and I understand Egypt was involved in the negotiations. But the other two were Israeli women.
Those over the horizon radar sites should possibly be ready sometime in 2045. If they work at all after massive cost overruns and delays.
What if it rains. Will they still work or do you pay extra for that function? :)
That’s an up charge of course. Preferably after they are installed and not fully functional requiring an expensive new solution. Have to keep that gravy flowing
Hope the war waits for them!
Israel “officially” does not have nuclear weapons.
Yep. Everyone knows that.