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Here and here.
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Saudi Arabia can't win its war in Yemen, wants to put troops into Syria...if we do the same...
via Al Jazeera.
Saudi Arabia is holding talks with the United States about sending troops into Syria as part of a wider international coalition, the kingdom's foreign minister has said.Story here.
In his comments on Tuesday, Adel al-Jubeir said the deployment offer was "not new", adding that Riyadh had previously proposed the idea to former US President Barack Obama.
"We are in discussion with the US, and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis about sending forces into Syria," al-Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh during a press conference alongside Antonio Guterres, the UN chief.
"We made a proposal to the [previous] Obama administration that if the US were to send forces … then Saudi Arabia would consider along with other countries sending forces as part of this contingent."
Want to know why I have a visceral hatred of Saudi Arabia? It's batshit STUPID stuff like this.
These people can't even win a war in Yemen and now they're begging the US to supply troops (in partnership with them) for a fight in Syria?
You have got to be shitting me!
The crazier thing?
I bet Bolton will be all over this idea. Haley too. I will never understand the thinking with regard to the war in Syria. I'm trying so hard not to believe the conspiracy theories but nothing else makes sense.
They want this war and they want it bad. Syria must have huge deposits of unobtanium buried beneath the soil or else people in power really don't value human life....or rather the lives of people they consider peasants.
Lockheed Martin is fighting the bill to repair it's jacked up F-35's...the US govt has become Lockheed Martin's bitch...
via Bloomberg
Lockheed Martin Corp. is contesting a repair bill of $119 million to $180 million on the $406.1 billion program to develop and build F-35 jets, according to Pentagon contract data.Story here.
The dispute over poor workmanship that resulted in corrosion damage last year on some of the fighter jets illustrates the disputes that arise from time to time between the Pentagon and its biggest contractor over its costliest weapons program.
The problem was linked to a primer that’s supposed to be applied as a protective layer on aluminum fasteners to prevent corrosion. The Defense Department temporarily stopped deliveries of F-35s for the month ending Oct. 20 to assess the issue. Delivery of five planes is currently on pause until the dispute over who pays is resolved.
Lockheed stands to make billions as production of the F-35 ramps up. The Defense Department estimates jet procurement will cost about $292 billion, according to its latest Selected Acquisition Report on the fighter. The final fiscal 2018 omnibus budget bill approved $10.2 billion for 90 aircraft, which is 20 aircraft and $2.6 billion more than the Trump administration’s request.
When you first buy drugs from the drug dealer (so I'm told), you get great prices. Sometimes the shit he sells is even free.
But once you're hooked and he knows it, that's when you become his bitch.
The US govt has become Lockheed Martin's bitch.
The solution is clear. It's similar to what a drug abuser needs to do. First he must acknowledge the problem, then he needs to seek help for the problem, then after all that he needs to stop cold turkey.
No half measures just stops doing the shit that is slowly killing him (or quickly if mojo, meth, flakka and other weird shit is his drug of choice).
The same applies to the US govt with regard to Lockheed Martin. The time for negotiations is over. Accept the fact that this program is screwed beyond recognition. Start implementing a plan B and make it stick.
In other words the govt needs to kick the fantasy F-35 habit.
The US has been at war for almost 20 years now. Why haven't we see a REAL antiwar movement?
Question.
The US has been at war for almost 20 years now. Why haven't we seen a REAL antiwar movement.
I've been chewing on this for a couple of days and I have a few points but not the complete picture so I'm tossing it to my readers.
What have I come up with?
1. Supporting the troops has become confused with supporting Middle East policy.
2. A "professional" military has allowed most of the public to check out of the burden of the war.
3. False tax cuts/bad policy has allowed the public to check out of the war.
4. In the same vein, Bush's call to "keep shopping", when the public wanted to know what they could do to support the troops gave a false sense of civic responsibility.
5. Irrational patriotism. Calls to "stay the course" when it was obvious that the policy was failing successfully muted the objections of those that new better.
The list goes on but that should help spark discussion while giving you an insight into what I believe is going on.
One thing is certain.
This is a dangerous game the Pentagon and policy makers are playing.
For the first time in our nation's history we are engaged in multiple conflicts with a small military and at the same time facing global competitors that appear to be getting stronger everyday.
Additionally if you look around we're facing some of the same pressures that we did during the 60's. From my seat we're seeing increasing racial strife, a still too slow economy for many, and general household insecurity all around.
We're living thru it so we can't tell or rather don't have proper visibility on how 20 years of continuous war is affecting our country but I'd bet body parts it isn't for the good.
Air National Guard Colonel went full retard? Or is it the fault of the people he reports to?
Oh shit moments have consequences. Ya still gotta man up to them, but you gotta deal with the consequences. Check this out via Air Force Times.
The Tennessee Air National Guard colonel who led a re-enlistment ceremony in which a senior noncommissioned officer recited her oath using a dinosaur puppet has been demoted and retired.Story here.
Army Maj. Gen. Terry Haston, the adjutant general for the Tennessee National Guard, also announced in a Facebook post Wednesday that Master Sgt. Robin Brown, the SNCO whose videotaped re-enlistment ceremony created a firestorm online, has been removed from her full-time job with the Tennessee Joint Public Affairs Office and is facing other administrative actions.
Haston also said that another Tennessee Air National Guardsman — an unidentified SNCO who videotaped the event ― has been removed from his job as unit first sergeant and has been reprimanded. That SNCO will stay in the Guard.
Brown could be identified in the video because she said her name as part of the re-enlistment oath.
Randy Harris, the director of joint public affairs for the Tennessee Military Department, refused to identify the other airmen who have been punished.
William Jones, a spokesman for the joint public affairs office for the Tennessee National Guard, said that it was an official re-enlistment ceremony. Brown’s children were not in attendance, Jones said, but the video was made for them to watch later.
On a serious note the military has itself to blame on this one. Remember back during the height of the war in Afghanistan at Camp Bastion just a few weeks before it was attacked?
Marines at that base did a music video. It was applauded at HQMC.
Remember when Marines had this stupid craze of asking celebrities to the Marine Ball? It was applauded initially at HQMC, then the brakes were put on it when celebrities started balking at going. But remember it was initially applauded.
Remember when a few Marines posted a video of them singing the lines to FROZEN? The news media ate it up while I cringed my ass off. I don't know the stance of HQMC but their silence said everything I needed to hear.
I use these examples from the Marine Corps of a loosening of basic social discipline because I have limited visibility on what's going on inside the USAF.
All that was said to emphasize this. The lines for even senior leadership has become fuzzy.
If a Colonel and a Senior Airman are so confused about what is and isn't acceptable at a reenlistment ceremony then maybe it's not the Colonel that has gone full retard but the people he reports to.
China flexing its military muscle...jams US Navy aircraft...
via Sputnik.
When the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier cruised through the South China Sea last week, one US Navy pilot encountered Chinese jamming technology interfering with his plane’s equipment, according to a report.Story here.
"The mere fact that some of your equipment is not working is already an indication that someone is trying to jam you," an EA-18G Growler pilot told GMA News on April 14, adding that "we have an answer to that." The Growler is a carrier-based, electronic warfare variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
According to Omar Lamrani, a defense analyst at consulting company Stratfor, however, "this is not something that the US will look kindly on," Business Insider reported Wednesday. While the manned Growler plane is unlikely to be significantly impacted by jammers, Lamrani said, drones are more susceptible to electronic jamming threats.
This behavior is expected. It's almost directly out of their playbook. The goal? To placate American political and business leadership into believing that cooperation is possible just long enough to achieve military superiority.
The problem?
The plan is working.
But make no mistake. China is testing us. Flexing its muscle and will continue to push until they meet real resistance.
This is why all the A2/AD talk annoys the hell outta me. We aren't facing "Anti-Access"! We're already in their backyard.
WE SHOULD BE TALKING CONTAINMENT!
What annoys further is that the A2/AD talk instead of the more properly named containment concept won't change one bit of procurement we're working on. IT WILL HOWEVER properly orient our forces! Scattered bases around the region just won't do. Additionally this fight will be mostly Navy and Air Force. The Marines will have a part to play and so will select Army units but make no mistake this is a USN/USAF affair.
Acknowledge the threat. Attempt to contain the threat. If that fails then confront the threat. That is the mindset we need with China.
Israel withdraws its F-15's from upcoming Red Flag Exercise....are they closer to a fight with Iran than we thought?
via Haaretz.
The Israeli air force has cancelled the participation of its F-15 planes in a joint exercise with the U.S. air force due to rising tensions in the north of Israel. This is the first time the air force was to have participated in the Red Flag exercises. The air force may send some representatives, but no planes will participate.Story here.
The “Red Flag” exercise is scheduled to be held in Alaska, along with U.S. warplanes. The exercise is to be a unique one, meant to practice operating in scenarios of snow, ice and harsh weather.
On Tuesday, a commander in the Syrian army told Reuters that the action of aerial defense systems in Syria the previous night was the result of a cyberattack by the U.S. and Israel. The commander, who remained anonymous, said that this was an “electronic attack” on Syrian radar systems. He said that this conclusion was reached by Russian experts who had investigated the issue.
With the activation of these systems, the official Syrian news agency reported they had intercepted missiles launched at the al-Shayrat air base near Homs. Following the publication of these reports, the Pentagon announced there had been no U.S. army activity in the area.
Last week Russia and Syria announced that Israel had attacked the Syrian T4 air base near Homs. The Russian army announcement said that two Israeli air force jets had fired eight missiles at the base from Lebanese air space. Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that the attack on the Syrian base was a dangerous development. Israel did not respond to these claims.
Israel should have a care. Support remains but if they're found to be instigating another fight then that support could easily fall away.
This prolonged fight in Syria is doing as all prolonged fights do...they're spiraling from low and simmering to hot and deadly.
The longer the US is involved in this mess the closer we get to that regional war that all have been predicting.
Unfortunately I'm beginning to believe that Israeli actions, a country that I support, might be making matters worse.
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