The US attempt to quickly reopen the Red Sea to all commercial shipping traffic has quickly run into complications. For starters, military experts—including those generally friendly to US global use of force—are skeptical about the chances of success. Certainly not in the short term. Without getting beyond the technicalities that we hinted at yesterday, Larry Johnson has an article today that reinforces all those considerations. In particular, he draws a distinction between and expeditionary navy—one which is supplied directly from the homeland—and a forward based navy, which relies for resupply and other logistical needs on bases located in foreign lands. The latter is what the USN has transitioned to, and it presents many problems in complex situations like the Houthi blockade of shipping traffic to Israel.
In 2005 or 2006 i was in a management class and Gladwell's book Blink was one of the texts. Gladwell wrote about Van Ripers destruction of the US Navy in the war game that Wil Schryver mentions. In the class was a Naval Lt. Commander and a Marine Major. After reading about the Millenial Challenge the navy guy professed no knowledge of the incident or war game. The Marine just smiled, a very proud smile. I don’t know if the Lt Commander was sandbagging us out of embarrassment or he really didn’t know. The major later told me “everybody” in the Marine Corp knows about it. I wonder if our Navy really is that dense that they wouldn’t teach about it at Annapolis.
Thank you for positing the imetatronink link. I am reading it now. It's great.
Even though I retired from the DOD/IC, I never present myself as a military expert, because, well, I am not a military expert. I am pretty good at making observations and drawing what I believe to be solid conclusions. Kind of a long detour to my points
My agency hosted Chris Beck, the Navy seal, who, for a while, was transgender. He spoke in our auditorium. He was very angry and did not act at all like a woman. Literally, our senior leadership, to include Sue Gordon, was beaming, clapping, etc.
When the president, Congress, generals and SESes don't know that a man can't become a woman, it follows that everything they believe about spending money, waging war, fostering morale, esprit de corps and all that, is going to be suspect. Hence, I have no doubt that you, SONAR 21, Douglas Macgregor, et al, are correct. We are heading for a major humiliation. I'd say I welcome it because the idiots who run this country have it coming. Then I pause and think about all the sons we'll lose, the wounded warriors who'll suffer both physically and mentally, the children who won't have a father and realize the real-world consequences.
I am hopeful that we have hit a nadir and we're going to be on the upswing; realistically, we still have a rough road ahead of us.
P.S. Chris Beck detransitioned and found God. I am watching a two-hour talk he had and he is so much calmer and gaining peace. He has had a tough life. I admire him for speaking out.
More proof that the Israelis (and their US backers) have vastly overplayed their hand and underestimated how much the world has changed. As Douglas MacGregor said yesterday, Netanyahu can't kill his way out of this one.
In the main, I don't believe they are thinking past November 2024. The crucial swing factor in their thinking being the November 2024 election. A 'Biden' win in 2024 means they have four more years to eff with their hot mess. A loss and they're out.
It seems that an inconvenient bug in our so-called 'Democracy' is that every four years they have to face the otherwise totally irrelevant electorate. At all other times they can lie to us and ignore us and do their contemptuous Uniparty thing, but once every four years they have to persuade American voters (or American election officials) to leave them in office.
This can be a big problem because, as we all know, the 'more we practice to deceive' the more tangled the web of explanations gets and next thing...the people don't believe you any more and want you gone.
Take the Lindsey Grahams of the world for example (I know he's not running in 2024). Ninety percent of the time he can sneak off to meetings with donors and lobbyists and take their money and kiss their a**es and vote for Endless War and Endless Fiat and suggest that someone simply assassinate Vladimir Putin to solve all our problems. I don't expect this strategy to work for good ol' Lindsey and friends in 2024. We're going to hear them all talk about ending the war(s), and balancing the budget and addressing our domestic chaos.
For Joe, of course, the problem of untangling the lies he has been telling is exponentially compounded.
Why stop with those 14. Its easier to list who should stay.
My list: Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Josh Hawley, JD Vance. Who else? On some days I like John Kennedy, Ron Johnson, Chuck Grassley. Even Ted Cruz. On other days, not so much. Who'm I missing?
When you think about it, its pretty hard to imagine Biden getting convicted in the Senate, isn't it? No matter the 'proof'.
Absolutely! But he's in the House. There're also 25 strong members of the House, but not nearly a majority. Just need to look at the spending votes on Ukraine and Israel.
LOL. I thought about listing who should stay. Maybe add Eric Schmidt of Missouri to the list. Kennedy and Johnson are okay. Rick Scott of Florida, okay, I guess. Grassley is honest, I think, but he doesn't seem to cast any fear in his opponent's hearts.
In 2005 or 2006 i was in a management class and Gladwell's book Blink was one of the texts. Gladwell wrote about Van Ripers destruction of the US Navy in the war game that Wil Schryver mentions. In the class was a Naval Lt. Commander and a Marine Major. After reading about the Millenial Challenge the navy guy professed no knowledge of the incident or war game. The Marine just smiled, a very proud smile. I don’t know if the Lt Commander was sandbagging us out of embarrassment or he really didn’t know. The major later told me “everybody” in the Marine Corp knows about it. I wonder if our Navy really is that dense that they wouldn’t teach about it at Annapolis.
Wait. I did a real disservice to Senator Tuberville of Alabama. He stood up for life.
Thank you for positing the imetatronink link. I am reading it now. It's great.
Even though I retired from the DOD/IC, I never present myself as a military expert, because, well, I am not a military expert. I am pretty good at making observations and drawing what I believe to be solid conclusions. Kind of a long detour to my points
My agency hosted Chris Beck, the Navy seal, who, for a while, was transgender. He spoke in our auditorium. He was very angry and did not act at all like a woman. Literally, our senior leadership, to include Sue Gordon, was beaming, clapping, etc.
When the president, Congress, generals and SESes don't know that a man can't become a woman, it follows that everything they believe about spending money, waging war, fostering morale, esprit de corps and all that, is going to be suspect. Hence, I have no doubt that you, SONAR 21, Douglas Macgregor, et al, are correct. We are heading for a major humiliation. I'd say I welcome it because the idiots who run this country have it coming. Then I pause and think about all the sons we'll lose, the wounded warriors who'll suffer both physically and mentally, the children who won't have a father and realize the real-world consequences.
I am hopeful that we have hit a nadir and we're going to be on the upswing; realistically, we still have a rough road ahead of us.
P.S. Chris Beck detransitioned and found God. I am watching a two-hour talk he had and he is so much calmer and gaining peace. He has had a tough life. I admire him for speaking out.
https://rumble.com/v1y4nn2-1.-the-real-story-with-chris-beck.html
I just read that Spain has rejected a US request to join the blockade breaker coalition. Smart. Why would any country trust us at this point?
How has Egypt been affected by the limits on BlackbSea grain shipments? It seemed like they would be one of the countries most affected.
More proof that the Israelis (and their US backers) have vastly overplayed their hand and underestimated how much the world has changed. As Douglas MacGregor said yesterday, Netanyahu can't kill his way out of this one.
A hot war will get them into an even hotter mess. However, as they have the strategic outlook of a goldfish, they probably haven't thought it through.
In the main, I don't believe they are thinking past November 2024. The crucial swing factor in their thinking being the November 2024 election. A 'Biden' win in 2024 means they have four more years to eff with their hot mess. A loss and they're out.
It seems that an inconvenient bug in our so-called 'Democracy' is that every four years they have to face the otherwise totally irrelevant electorate. At all other times they can lie to us and ignore us and do their contemptuous Uniparty thing, but once every four years they have to persuade American voters (or American election officials) to leave them in office.
This can be a big problem because, as we all know, the 'more we practice to deceive' the more tangled the web of explanations gets and next thing...the people don't believe you any more and want you gone.
Take the Lindsey Grahams of the world for example (I know he's not running in 2024). Ninety percent of the time he can sneak off to meetings with donors and lobbyists and take their money and kiss their a**es and vote for Endless War and Endless Fiat and suggest that someone simply assassinate Vladimir Putin to solve all our problems. I don't expect this strategy to work for good ol' Lindsey and friends in 2024. We're going to hear them all talk about ending the war(s), and balancing the budget and addressing our domestic chaos.
For Joe, of course, the problem of untangling the lies he has been telling is exponentially compounded.
It will be 'fun' to watch.
Vote most of them out. Graham, McConnell, Schumer, Cornyn, Durbin, Ernst, Cruz, Rubio, Thune, Blumenthal, Cassidy, Caputo, Tillis, Cramer..........
I'm more disgusted with the Reps, because they should know better.
Why stop with those 14. Its easier to list who should stay.
My list: Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Josh Hawley, JD Vance. Who else? On some days I like John Kennedy, Ron Johnson, Chuck Grassley. Even Ted Cruz. On other days, not so much. Who'm I missing?
When you think about it, its pretty hard to imagine Biden getting convicted in the Senate, isn't it? No matter the 'proof'.
Thomas Massie?
Absolutely! But he's in the House. There're also 25 strong members of the House, but not nearly a majority. Just need to look at the spending votes on Ukraine and Israel.
LOL. I thought about listing who should stay. Maybe add Eric Schmidt of Missouri to the list. Kennedy and Johnson are okay. Rick Scott of Florida, okay, I guess. Grassley is honest, I think, but he doesn't seem to cast any fear in his opponent's hearts.