Is Israel going the way of S. Africa?

This is gonna be controversial and emotional to some.

If you can't handle it leave.

If you remain remember this.  My house.  My rules.  If I think you've crossed the line then I don't have to explain myself, I just do what I do.

Having said all that let's get to it.

I notice many like to point out the current atrocities being suffered by White S. Africans.  That's understandable.  But what those same people fail to point out is the atrocities committed against Black S. Africans by the White Majority while they were in power.

What does that have to do with Israel?

I've been thinking about the violence yesterday.

While trying to balance my unwavering support for the Jewish state, the gas that Netanyahu poured on the situation by declaring Jerusalem the "undivided" capital of Israel, the timing of the embassy move by the US and the fact that we just made this move shortly after ending participation in the Iranian nuke deal (I don't believe in coincidence and all this happening in so short a time frame points to coordination...even I could have predicted the reaction to this mess and I'm not an Intel Analyst) makes me wonder why now.

More importantly is the fact that the images from the rioting is so reminiscent of the scenes just before the end of White Majority Rule in S. Africa.

Change the locale.

Change the skin color of the participants.

Compare and contrast the living conditions for those that are labeled the oppressed and those being oppressed with regard to the two countries and EVEN compare the political circumstances.

From my chair it's eerily similar.

S. Africa.  Surrounded by enemies that wanted to drive it into the sea.

Israel.  Surrounded by enemies that want to drive it into the sea.

S. Africa.  At the time a sophisticated, militarily advanced state.

Israel.  A sophisticated, militarily advanced state.

S. Africa.  Possessed nukes.

Israel.  Possesses nukes.

S. Africa.  The oppressed lived in ghettos/slums etc.

Israel.  The Palestinians live in the worlds largest open air prison.

S. Africa.  International pariah.

Israel.  International pariah.

I want Israel to live.  I want to see the nation flourish, but I'm worried that they've embarked on the same course that S. Africa did. 

If that's correct then consider this too.

All the stories we hear about atrocities being committed against white families in S. Africa today will pale in comparison to what will happen to the Israelis.

Don't get me wrong.  I think Israel has been foolish for trading land for peace.  I think the Palestinians have passed up numerous GREAT deals that could have raised their people out of poverty.

I also think there are some Arab states that WANT this tragedy to continue.

But having said all that I wonder if Israel needs to do something to help mitigate the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of their own inept leadership not for the sake of the Palestinians but for their own sake.

Even if Trump wins another term he can't serve forever.  Eventually there will be another President that isn't pro Israel.

When that eventually happens again the question must be asked.  Can Israel stand alone against massed modern Arab armies and Palestinians at their doorsteps in the modern age?  If they can't then we'll see a modern day holocaust.  If they can then it will mean nuclear hellfire.  Neither choice is appealing.

Open Comment Post. May 15, 2018

ACE and HSC-28 conduct aerial blue-green integration....pics by Cpl. Jonathan Sosner

UK to buy full allotment of F-35's? Ok then everything else will be slashed...

There are plenty of articles that have as their lead that the UK will buy its full allotment of F-35 fighters.

Ok.  I won't touch that debate (not this time).  What I will touch on is the real headline that everyone missed. From Forces.net.

Last Friday, the Public Accounts Committee warned that in a worst-case scenario, the UK armed forces could be £21 billion short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next decade. 

MPs warned the Government that the department "simply does not have enough money to buy all the equipment it needs".

For the UK the F-35 debate has become secondary.

Quite honestly the new debate becomes the future of their military.  Are they willing to fund one or will they take a step where the separate services become one and they're down to one tank, one airplane and a Royal Marine with a big shiny fighting knife instead of a rifle.

Make no mistake.

This is turning into a pick one debate for the UK.  The F-35 has trashed the USMC's budget but done worse to the UK's. 

Planes or a military.

Pick one but you can't have both.  God save the Brits cause they're fucked.

Canadian Army assaulting thru the front gate of Austere Village exercise area during Platoon Commander Course (pics)...

Netanyahu couldn't help himself. He had to pour fire on the US embassy move...

Just watched the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

I thought Trump's speech was bad enough.  Want to talk about taking pot shots at former President's?  The dude did that but fair enough.  He's doing what many haven't in the past haven't.  He's fulfilling campaign promises.

So while a bit incendiary I can live with his statement.

Netanyahu though.

Damn!

Dude has to play reverse fireman.  Instead of putting out fires dude had to waddle into  a simmering situation and take out those 10 gallon jugs of gas and get it raging.

WTF am I talking about?

Palestinians are already rioting and what does he say at the opening?  God Bless the US and God Bless Jerusalem...THE UNDIVIDED CAPITAL OF ISRAEL!

You think that might convince them to go home and chill the fuck out?  I don't!

Don't get me wrong.  I'd bet body parts the Iranians are pushing this rioting we're seeing but still.....he just tossed the media a bone to frame this move as a mistake and as further inflaming the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Major General James Lewis Day was once a BADASS Corporal of Marines!

Citation.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a squad leader serving with the Second Battalion, Twenty-Second Marines, Sixth Marine Division, in sustained combat operations against Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands from 14 to 17 May 1945. On the first day, Corporal Day rallied his squad and the remnants of another unit and led them to a critical position forward of the front lines of Sugar Loaf Hill. Soon thereafter, they came under an intense mortar and artillery barrage that was quickly followed by a fanatical ground attack of about forty Japanese soldiers. Despite the loss of one-half of his men, Corporal Day remained at the forefront, shouting encouragement, hurling hand grenades, and directing deadly fire thereby repelling the determined enemy. Reinforced by six men, he led his squad in repelling three fierce night attacks but suffered five additional Marines killed and one wounded whom he assisted to safety. Upon hearing nearby calls for corpsman assistance, Corporal Day braved heavy enemy fire to escort four seriously wounded Marines, one at a time, to safety. Corporal Day then manned a light machine gun assisted by a wounded Marine, and halted another frenzied night attack. In this ferocious action, his machine gun was destroyed, and he suffered multiple white phosphorus and fragmentation wounds. Assisted by only one partially effective man, he reorganized his defensive position in time to halt a fifth enemy attack with devastating small arms fire. On three separate occasions, Japanese soldiers closed to within a few feet of his foxhole, but were killed by Corporal Day. During the second day, the enemy conducted numerous unsuccessful swarming attacks against his exposed position. When the attacks momentarily subsided, over 70 enemy dead were counted around his position. On the third day, a wounded and exhausted Corporal Day repulsed the enemy’s final attack and dispatched around 12 of the enemy at close range. Having yielded no ground and with more than 100 enemy dead around his position, Corporal Day preserved the lives of his fellow Marines and made a primal contribution to the success of the Okinawa campaign. By his extraordinary heroism, repeated acts of valor, and quintessential battlefield leadership, Corporal Day inspired the efforts of his outnumbered Marines to defeat a much larger enemy force, reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. 

Suffering white phosphorus and fragmentation wounds must have been unbelievably painful, but to do all that while killing over 100 enemy troops?

To be relieved in place and have those forces see the ground that you control littered with the bodies of those you vanquished?

Some within feet of his position?

That's beyond epic.

That's legendary! 

Modernizing the Marine Rifle Squad (Must Watch!!!!!)

Gotta chew on this some more.

One thing this video tried to highlight but I have a bit of problem accepting is the claim of a boost in firepower of 300%.

We've been locked into the 3 round burst of the M16 series for so long that we forget that back in the not so distant past we had fully automatic 16's along with M60 Machine Guns.

What's my point?

We just went thru a period of time where volume of fire for the Rifle Squad took a hit and increased accuracy was supreme.

But in the grand scheme of things that's just a little quibble.  It's nothing.  I still can't wrap my head around how a drone operator is suddenly gonna make up for the loss of a dedicated rifleman.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the missions that the Expeditionary Rifle Squad is picking up and how that one guy is gonna to fight his squad while engaging in so many other competing missions...locate, close with and destroy the enemy might remain the priority but secondary considerations are popping up.

Oh and one last concern.

That 1000 mile screwdriver.  All that extra comm gear is gonna have the big green dick, sipping coffee and watching porn on his computer all over you.  There will be no escaping it and he'll have a totally different perspective of things.  You know the deal.  Move 1 mile to the southwest.  Easy?  Not when you have to cut your way thru a mile of "wait a minute" vines or slog thru muddy water.

I'll chew on it and get back to you guys.  Meanwhile what do you think?

To be honest it looks good but I don't recall hearing much about testing of the concept.  All I heard is one week they were looking at it and the next they settled on 12 man.  My bet was to go to 15.

Rambling now.  I'm out.

Open Comment Post. March 14, 2018

South Korea's new 14,500-ton amphibious assault ship....are we building the right ships for amphibious assault?

via Korea Herald.

South Korea's new 14,500-ton amphibious assault ship will make its public debut Monday, boasting improved combat and radar systems using the country's own technology, the state arms agency said.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo plans to host the launch ceremony for the Marado ship at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. in Busan in the afternoon, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

The minister's wife Koo Ja-jeong is scheduled to cut the rope tethering the vessel with a hand axe in a symbolic tradition for the ceremonial launch of a naval ship.

Named after the nation's southernmost island, it will be the South Korean Navy's second large-scale transport ship after the Dokdo of the same class.

Story here.

I've always wondered why most of our allies have been able to produce and use "small" amphibs while even our LPD and future LSD are both heavier than their largest offerings.

Does our way of doing business make sense?

We have LHA's that can carry the equivalent of a full MEU's personnel solo.

We have bastardized the LPD's mission to become "aviation centric" and done the same to the upcoming future LSD.

Would it not make more sense to halt the madness and if "aviation centric" is going to be the way forward to have a fleet composed of Big Deck LHA's for the F-35 and every other amphib based on the excellent French Mistral class or even this ship?